Next to truthfulness, humility was Gandhi's greatest virtue. He was essentially a man of the people.
"You are good enough they say, but your work has ruined the country", a visitor said. Gandhi replied: "I am but an erring mortal like anyone of you. I am full of shortcomings. Therefore, I beseech you to reject them and simply take the best of my capacity for service."
And on another occasion he affirmed "I am not a Mahatma. If I am one, the Mahatmanship is but the expression of some shakti (force). I am unworthy to give darshan. Even like you I am a vessel of clay full of the affections and passions that the flesh is heir to. Dismiss the mortal frame called Gandhi from your mind, its darshan will be of no avail."
In fact, at a certain meeting, Mr. Jinnah called him "Mr. Gandhi." The delegates and visitors asked Mr. Jinnah to call him "Mahatma Gandhi." Gandhi did not like this insistence. He said he was not a Mahatma. "I am an ordinary man. By coercing Mr. Jinnah Saheb to a particular choice of word, you are not doing me an honour. As long as there is nothing objectionable or derogatory in a man's language, he is at liberty to think, or say, whatever he likes about others." The people were then pacified.
When Gandhi visited a village in which a well which had been dry for many years, suddenly became full of water. The villagers said that it was due to the sanctity of his footprints in the village soil. He repudiated all such claims to divinity. He repeatedly declared himself to be a humble servant of India and that he wished to die so in the discharge of his duties.
"You are fools" was Gandhi's vehement reply. "Beyond doubt, it was an accident. I have no more influence with God than you have."
A lady from Singapore, a staunch "Khaddarite" once visited Gandhi and producing a five rupee note she said "I wish I had given more but this is all our poor purse could permit."
"Even a rupee would have been sufficient" said Gandhi "as it is given with all your heart. But, can you not give me something else? Why not give me your daughter and son-in-law for khadi work? I am not joking. In Africa, Nardeo gave me his four sons and they came with me to India."
The lady was taken aback for a moment; however, she realised the sincerity of the request and left her daughter and her son-in-law with Gandhi in the Ashram.
When Miraben met Gandhi for the first time, she was completely overcome with reverence and joy. She could see and feel nothing but a heavenly light. "I fell on my knees at Bapu's feet. He lifted me and taking me in his arms said 'You shall be my daughter', and so it has been from that day" she wrote.
He never imposed his personality on the man before him or with him. He was absolutely honest and truthful.
Lionel Curtis once said "Few men, if any, in my generation have commanded so great a following, have so changed the course of events and so influenced thought in more than one continent than Gandhi."
Dr. Montessori said that during Gandhi's stay in London the children in her schools gave him a reception. All sat on the floor round him serene and silent. "It was enough to be together, there was no need of singing, dancing or speeches. I then felt that there emanated from Gandhi a mysterious power."