It was 1904. Gandhi was travelling from Johannesburg to Durban on a train. His friend Henry Polak had given him a book by John Ruskin named ‘Unto this last’.He read this book during the long journey. This short book contained four essays written in 1860. The book drew from a parable of New Testament which was interpreted by Ruskin as a critic of the industrial society of late 19th century Britain. The book had a profound impact on Gandhi. He translated and paraphrased it as ‘Sarvodaya’. Debunking the utilitarian principle of ‘greatest good of the greatest number of people’, Gandhi insisted that true happiness of a society can be realised only by making the person standing at the lowest rung happy.

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Courtesy: Yojana Magazine