Gandhiji's basic ideas underwent no change during the forty years of his active public life, but their expression and application varied according to circumstances. While India struggled for freedom, large sections of its people remained divided by walls of communal, religious or linguistic prejudices; these barriers weakened and distracted the national will for freedom. Gandhiji made it his concern to reconcile differences and bring about harmony in place of conflict; he worked for heart-unity, not mere adjustments, for without such unity he felt that Swaraj, even if it did come, could not be genuine Swaraj.