The beautiful Maison Cantonale de la Bastide (Bordeaux) welcomed Fernand Schwarz, founder of New Acropolis in France, for a conference on the theme of Gandhi: Warrior of Peace.

The Mahatma was approached mainly from an ethical and philosophical angle because, what distinguishes this figure from others was his very conception of man. In fact, in order to govern with wisdom, one must already know how how to be a master of oneself, that is to learn to obey oneself by through one’s own will, and not be a slave of one’s own passions and moods – to be free in the truest sense. This was the inspiration Gandhi drew from the Bhagavad Gita and the inner struggle of it’s central hero, Arjuna.

In his tours across India, Gandhi invited his compatriots to awaken humanity in them and asked them to spread this message and these values. Gandhi is one of the very few political individuals to have combined the conduct of a nation with a philosophical method. He was thus called Mahatma (the great soul) and still influences many contemporaries.