May 22:

“Practice as a lawyer was and remained for me a subordinate occupation. It was necessary that I concentrate on public work.”

–Gandhi (Autobiography, Chapter 19)

Before Gandhi launched his work in India proper, he had a bit of training under his belt in the Indian community in South Africa (Ok, so he was not wearing English dress at this time, so there was no real belt of which to speak…). On this day in history, in 1894, Gandhi and his associates formally established the Natal Indian Congress. Known as one of the first resistance movements in South Africa, the Natal Indian Congress was informally brought into being on the day of Gandhi’s attempt at leaving the country, just one year after he arrived as a lawyer. At his farewell party, he was asked to stay to work on the Indian cause because the colonial government was proposing a bill to disenfranchise them. He must have known that it was his destiny calling, or maybe it was just his desire for justice, and so he agreed to stay on for a bit longer. They immediately began a massive campaign to collect signatures against the act, totaling more than 10,000 (and this is before the internet!).

Gandhi served as the Congress secretary, collecting membership fees and keeping their accounting systems spick and span (seriously, an entire section in his Autobiography is dedicated to his precision and discipline as an accountant). Other functions of the Congress, besides working on the bill, included serving as a discussion forum and collective voice for Indian concerns in South African politics, as well as inform with the intent to persuade the British in South Africa and in England about the violence and discrimination overwhelming the Indians in the colony.

Not afraid the break the law, nor ashamed to work within it (he was a lawyer, after all), he always had a constructive vein in him. After all, he is the man who said, “My real politics is constructive work.”

Experiment in Nonviolence:

Get involved in an organization or movement for nonviolence and justice that needs some talent you possess.

Daily Metta 2015, a service of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, is a daily reflection on the strategic and spiritual insights of Mahatma Gandhi in thought, word and deed. As Gandhi called his life an “experiment in truth,” we have included an experiment in nonviolence to accompany each Daily Metta. Check in every day for new inspiration. Each year will be dedicated to another wisdom teacher.