Need for Spiritual Upliftment

B. A. Paramadvaiti Swami: Srila Prabhupada had great sympathy for Mahatma Gandhi. His struggle for Indian independence, his preaching for simple living and high thinking and his rejection of the consumer society and materialistic lifestyle - all of this was charming to these great souls. In fact, in their university days, they participated in Gandhi's propaganda and gatherings.

However, that was not as strong as the call of their spiritual master who immediately reached for the higher purpose of the soul. Mahatma Gandhi had a great lesson for India and for the whole world, but Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had an even purer and more urgent message for every single soul.

Therefore Srila Prabhupada wrote a letter to Mahatma Gandhi in which he tried to impress upon him the great need for spiritual upliftment in addition to the political accomplishment of independence and a simple way of living. They were pioneers of a new attitude, which receives more and more attention in today's world: the need for simplicity, for ecological awareness, for respecting each other in a non-sectarian way and for seeking the truth with full dedication.