When Gandhiji founded Phoenix Settlement in 1904 it represented a significant change in his thinking about what is family. This was the very first of his four communal settlements and it signaled how in his own life the difference between what was private and what was public was becoming very blurred. Family included anyone who shared his ideals and projects and all worked together for a common good purpose. There could be no private life based on the pursuit of individual interests. The individual's life is linked to the universe and so unlimited wants; individual freedoms or rights are a problem. Unbridled freedom leads to unrestrained individualism and results in conflict.

Freedom is based on self-control so that everyone can partake of the bounty of nature and no one need be deprived. This idea is based on the Hindu concepts of dharma (duty) and Yajna (sacrifice or labour)