Death of the father
When Gandhi's father dies, that sets a new dynamic into motion, because it shows Gandhi the truth about his own nature and death. He is like his father, and his father's life ended, and so therefore, Gandhi knows he will die as well. This raises the stakes of his life, because Gandhi must decide for himself what to do with his finite time on earth. The death of his father is a removal from innocence and an invocation of experience and suffering.
Law as constructed
After the father's death, Gandhi goes to law school at his family's request, and he learns about law and the history and philosophy that undergirds the law of his own land. The conceptual truth about law becomes a pinnacle influence in his life, because he sees that, although law seems automatically true and authoritative, the law is actually constructed by real people. If it is constructed, it can also be changed, so that the law is set in balance against the people; if the people are oppressed, the law can and must be adjusted until it actually serves the people it controls.
Dharma and Bhagavad Gita
Through studying the famous Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita, Gandhi gains an elaborate appreciation for the Hindu concept of Dharma, which is basically one's duty to follow one's destiny to completion. Instead of viewing one's life as an inherently self-serving experience to be enjoyed, Gandhi comes away from Hindu scripture understanding his fate as an essentially others-serving role; he sees his duty is to help his community by laying his life down as a sacrifice.
Jesus as the model sufferer
He also studies Christianity and writes about the teachings of the Gospel. He notes that Christianity is actually very different than the teachings of Jesus; by limiting his attention to the person of Jesus, he comes away from the Gospel narrative seeing Jesus as an archetypal symbol for sacrifice. By following one's call to lay one's life down for their community, they can likely expect persecution by the authorities of the powerful. Jesus's model of absolute non-violence becomes influential in Gandhi's worldview.
Non-violence as a tool
Through religion and political philosophy, Gandhi's writings begin to elaborate a theory of non-violence as a tool for social justice. By opposing the government's injustice in an obvious, intrusive way, without condemning the movement by violence, a people group can change the government through social pressure. This philosophy becomes Gandhi's strategy for successfully resisting the oppression of the British, and it influences Martin Luther King, Jr in America to use the same strategies in the much-needed Civil Rights movement.
