<P> Mohandas Gandhi's early life was a series of personal struggles to decipher the truth about life's important issues and discover the true way of living . He admitted in his autobiography to hitting his wife when he was young, and indulging in carnal pleasures out of lust, jealousy and possessiveness, not genuine love . He had eaten meat, smoked a cigarette, and almost visited a hustler . It was only after much personal turmoil and repeated failures that Gandhi developed his philosophy . </P> <P> Gandhi disliked having a cult following, and was averse to being addressed as Mahatma, claiming that he was not a perfect human being . </P> <P> In 1942, while he had already condemned Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and the Japanese militarists, Gandhi took on an offensive in civil resistance, called the Quit India Movement, which was even more dangerous and definitive owing to its direct call for Indian independence . Gandhi did not perceive the British as defenders of freedom due to their rule in India . He did not feel a need to take sides with world powers . </P> <P> There have been Muslim Gandhians, such as Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known as the "Frontier Gandhi"; under the influence of Gandhi, he organised the Pathans of the Northwest Frontier as early as 1919 . Christian Gandhians include Horace Alexander and Martin Luther King . Jewish Gandhians include Gandhi's close associate Herman Kallenbach . Atheist Gandhians include Jawaharlal Nehru . </P>

Critically examine the gandhian view point about the nature of the state