"... drew up a plan for restoring harmony in a place where some three hundred homes had been plundered and burnt down. His mind filled with the example of Jesus, 'a man who was completely innocent [, who] offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies'. Answering a rhetorical question as to the truth of Jesus' story he said: "To me it is truer than history because I hold it to be possible and enshrines an eternal law - the law of vicarious and innocent suffering taken in its true sense". [p253-4 How Ghandi interpreted and was influenced by Jesus' sacrifice]
Ghandi always took the pursuit of extreme brahmachari (pacifism) as the only valid response to conflict. Even with genocide occurring between Muslims and Hindus on the eve of the partition of Pakistan and India when more than 5000 had been killed, 20000 injured and hundreds of homes burnt, he stood by his principles! And even when there was a possibility Japan would invade India during the second world war! To Ghandi, to sway away from his values was to him a personal failure and an admission of the failure of his principles, even if it cost thousands of lives.
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