truth and non violence essay

ARTICLES : Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution

Read articles written by very well-known personalities and eminent authors about their views on gandhi, gandhi's works, gandhian philosophy of peace, nonviolence and conflict resolution..

• Articles on Gandhi
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution : Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence

Peace, Nonviolence, Conflict Resolution

• Nonviolence and Multilateral Diplomacy
• Ahimsa: Its Theory and Practice in Gandhism
• Non-violent Resistance and Satyagraha as Alternatives to War - The Nazi Case
• Thanatos, Terror and Tolerance: An Analysis of Terror Management Theory and a Possible Contribution by Gandhi
• Yoga as a Tool in Peace Education
• Forgiveness and Conflict Resolution

Gandhi's Philosophy of Nonviolence

• Global Nonviolence Network
• Violence And Its Dimensions
• Youth, Nonviolence And Gandhi
• Nonviolent Action: Some Dilemmas
• The Meaning of Nonviolence
• India And The Anglo-Boer War
• Gandhi's Vision of Peace
• Gandhi's Greatest Weapon
• Conflict Resolution: The Gandhian Approach
• Kingian Nonviolence : A Practical Application in Policing
• Pilgrimage To Nonviolence
• Peace Paradigms: Five Approaches To Peace
• Interpersonal Conflict
• Moral Equivalent of War As A Conflict Resolution
• Conflict, Violence And Education
• The Emerging Role of NGOs in Conflict Resolution
• Role of Academics in Conflict Resolution
• The Role of Civil Society in Conflict Resolution
• Martin Luther King's Nonviolent Struggle And Its Relevance To Asia
• Terrorism: Counter Violence is Not the Answer
• Gandhi's Vision and Technique of Conflict Resolution
• Three Case Studies of Nonviolence
• How Nonviolence Works
• The Courage of Nonviolence
• Conflict Resolution and Peace Possibilities in the Gandhian Perspective
• An Approach To Conflict Resolution
• Non-violence: Neither A Beginning Nor An End
• Peacemaking According To Rev. Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Truth About Truth Force
• The Development of A Culture of Peace Through Elementary Schools in Canada
• Gandhi, Christianity And Ahimsa
• Issues In Culture of Peace And Non-violence
• Solution of Violence Through Love
• Developing A Culture of Peace And Non-Violence Through Education
• Nonviolence And Western Sociological And Political Thought
• Gandhi After 9/11: Terrorism, Violence And The Other
• Conflict Resolution & Peace: A Gandhian Perspective
• A Gandhian Approach To International Security
• Address To the Nation: Mahatma Gandhi Writes on 26 January 2009
• Truth & Non-violence: Gandhiji's Tenets for Passive Resistance
• The Experiments of Gandhi: Nonviolence in the Nuclear Age
• Terrorism And Gandhian Non-violence
• Reborn in Riyadh
• Satyagraha As A Peaceful Method of Conflict Resolution
• Non-violence : A Force for Radical Change
• Peace Approach : From Gandhi to Galtung and Beyond
• Gandhian Approach to Peace and Non-violence
• Locating Education for Peace in Gandhian Thought

Further Reading

(Complete Book available online)

• Conflict Resolution And Gandhian Ethics - By Thomas Weber
• A Contemporary Interpretation of Ahimsa
• The Tradition of Nonviolence and its Underlying Forces
• A Study of the Meanings of Nonviolence
• Notes on the Theory of Nonviolence
• Nonviolence as a Positive Concept
• Experimentation in Nonviolence: The Next Phase
• The Best Solver of Conflicts
• War and What Price Freedom
• A Coordinated Approach to Disarmament
• A Disarmament Adequate to Our Times
• The Impact of Gandhi on the U.S. Peace Movement
• The Grass-roots of World Peace
• Is There a Nonviolent Road to a Peaceful World?
• Nuclear Explosions and World Peace
• Aspects of Nonviolence in American Culture
• The Gandhian Way and Nuclear War
• A Nonviolent International Authority

Extrernal Links

• Gandhi, The Jews And Palestine A Collection of Articles, Speeches, Letters and Interviews Compiled by: E. S. Reddy

With Gandhi, the notion of nonviolence attained a special status. He not only theorized on it, he adopted nonviolence as a philosophy and an ideal way of life. He made us understand that the philosophy of nonviolence is not a weapon of the weak; it is a weapon, which can be tried by all.

Nonviolence was not Gandhi's invention. He is however called the father of nonviolence because according to Mark Shepard, "He raised nonviolent action to a level never before achieved." 1 Krishna Kripalani again asserts "Gandhi was the first in Human history to extend the principle of nonviolence from the individual to social and political plane." 2 While scholars were talking about an idea without a name or a movement, Gandhi is the person who came up with the name and brought together different related ideas under one concept: Satyagraha. Gandhi's View of Violence / Nonviolence Gandhi saw violence pejoratively and also identified two formsof violence; Passive and Physical, as we saw earlier. The practice of passive violence is a daily affair, consciously and unconsciously. It is again the fuel that ignites the fire of physical violence. Gandhi understands violence from its Sanskrit root, "himsa", meaning injury. In the midst of hyper violence, Gandhi teaches that the one who possess nonviolence is blessed. Blessed is the man who can perceive the law of ahimsa (nonviolence) in the midst of the raging fire of himsa all around him. We bow in reverence to such a man by his example. The more adverse the circumstances around him, the intenser grows his longing for deliverance from the bondage of flesh which is a vehicle of himsa... 3 Gandhi objects to violence because it perpetuates hatred. When it appears to do 'good', the good is only temporary and cannot do any good in the long run. A true nonviolence activist accepts violence on himself without inflicting it on another. This is heroism, and will be discussed in another section. When Gandhi says that in the course of fighting for human rights, one should accept violence and self-suffering, he does not applaud cowardice. Cowardice for him is "the greatest violence, certainly, far greater than bloodshed and the like that generally go under the name of violence." 4 For Gandhi, perpetrators of violence (whom he referred to as criminals), are products of social disintegration. Gandhi feels that violence is not a natural tendency of humans. It is a learned experience. There is need for a perfect weapon to combat violence and this is nonviolence.Gandhi understood nonviolence from its Sanskrit root "Ahimsa". Ahimsa is just translated to mean nonviolence in English, but it implies more than just avoidance of physical violence. Ahimsa implies total nonviolence, no physical violence, and no passive violence. Gandhi translates Ahimsa as love. This is explained by Arun Gandhi in an interview thus; "He (Gandhi) said ahimsa means love. Because if you have love towards somebody, and you respect that person, then you are not going to do any harm to that person." 5 For Gandhi, nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than any weapon of mass destruction. It is superior to brute force. It is a living force of power and no one has been or will ever be able to measure its limits or it's extend.Gandhi's nonviolence is the search for truth. Truth is the most fundamental aspect in Gandhi's Philosophy of nonviolence. His whole life has been "experiments of truth". It was in this course of his pursuit of truth that Gandhi discovered nonviolence, which he further explained in his Autobiography thus "Ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing that this search is vain, unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis." 6 Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills.For nonviolence to be strong and effective, it must begin with the mind, without which it will be nonviolence of the weak and cowardly. A coward is a person who lacks courage when facing a dangerous and unpleasant situation and tries to avoid it. A man cannot practice ahimsa and at the same time be a coward. True nonviolence is dissociated from fear. Gandhi feels that possession of arms is not only cowardice but also lack of fearlessness or courage. Gandhi stressed this when he says; "I can imagine a fully armed man to be at heart a coward. Possession of arms implies an element of fear, if not cowardice but true nonviolence is impossibility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness." 7 In the face of violence and injustice, Gandhi considers violent resistance preferable to cowardly submission. There is hope that a violent man may someday be nonviolent, but there is no room for a coward to develop fearlessness. As the world's pioneer in nonviolent theory and practice, Gandhi unequivocally stated that nonviolence contained a universal applicability. In his letter to Daniel Oliver in Hammana Lebanon on the 11th of 1937 Gandhi used these words: " I have no message to give except this that there is no deliverance for any people on this earth or for all the people of this earth except through truth and nonviolence in every walk of life without any exceptions." 8 In this passage, Gandhi promises "deliverance" through nonviolence for oppressed peoples without exception. Speaking primarily with regards to nonviolence as a libratory philosophy in this passage, Gandhi emphasizes the power of nonviolence to emancipate spiritually and physically. It is a science and of its own can lead one to pure democracy. Satyagraha, the Centre of Gandhi's Contribution to the Philosophy of Nonviolence It will be good here to examine what Stanley E. Jones calls "the centre of Gandhi's contribution to the world". All else is marginal compared to it. Satyagraha is the quintessence of Gandhism. Through it, Gandhi introduced a new spirit to the world. It is the greatest of all Gandhi's contribution to the world. What is Satyagraha? Satyagraha (pronounced sat-YAH-graha) is a compound of two Sanskrit nouns satya, meaning truth (from 'sat'- 'being' with a suffix 'ya'), and agraha, meaning, "firm grasping" (a noun made from the agra, which has its root 'grah'- 'seize', 'grasp', with the verbal prefix 'a' – 'to' 'towards). Thus Satyagraha literally means devotion to truth, remaining firm on the truth and resisting untruth actively but nonviolently. Since the only way for Gandhi getting to the truth is by nonviolence (love), it follows that Satyagraha implies an unwavering search for the truth using nonviolence. Satyagraha according to Michael Nagler literally means 'clinging to truth,' and that was exactly how Gandhi understood it: "clinging to the truth that we are all one under the skin, that there is no such thing as a 'win/lose' confrontation because all our important interests are really the same, that consciously or not every single person wants unity and peace with every other" 9 Put succinctly, Satyagraha means 'truth force' , 'soul force' or as Martin Luther Jr would call it 'love in action.' Satyagraha has often been defined as the philosophy of nonviolent resistance most famously employed by Mahatma Gandhi, in forcing an end to the British domination. Gene Sharp did not hesitate to define Satyagraha simply as "Gandhian Nonviolence." 10 Today as Nagler would say, when we use the word Satyagraha we sometimes mean that general principle, the fact that love is stronger than hate (and we can learn to use it to overcome hate), and sometimes we mean more specifically active resistance by a repressed group; sometimes, even more specifically, we apply the term to a given movement like Salt Satyagraha etc. It is worthwhile looking at the way Gandhi uses Satyagraha. Gandhi View of Satyagraha Satyagraha was not a preconceived plan for Gandhi. Event in his life culminating in his "Bramacharya vow", 11 prepared him for it. He therefore underlined: Events were so shaping themselves in Johannesburg as to make this self-purification on my part a preliminary as it were to Satyagraha. I can now see that all the principal events of my life, culminating in the vow of Bramacharya were secretly preparing me for it. 12 Satyagraha is a moral weapon and the stress is on soul force over physical force. It aims at winning the enemy through love and patient suffering. It aims at winning over an unjust law, not at crushing, punishing, or taking revenge against the authority, but to convert and heal it. Though it started as a struggle for political rights, Satyagraha became in the long run a struggle for individual salvation, which could be achieved through love and self-sacrifice. Satyagraha is meant to overcome all methods of violence. Gandhi explained in a letter to Lord Hunter that Satyagraha is a movement based entirely upon truth. It replaces every form of violence, direct and indirect, veiled and unveiled and whether in thought, word or deed. Satyagraha is for the strong in spirit. A doubter or a timid person cannot do it. Satyagraha teaches the art of living well as well as dying. It is love and unshakeable firmness that comes from it. Its training is meant for all, irrespective of age and sex. The most important training is mental not physical. It has some basic precepts treated below. The Basic Precepts of Satyagraha There are three basic precepts essential to Satyagraha: Truth, Nonviolence and self-suffering. These are called the pillars of Satyagraha. Failure to grasp them is a handicap to the understanding of Gandhi's non –violence. These three fundamentals correspond to Sanskrit terms: Sat/Satya – Truth implying openness, honesty and fairness Ahimsa/Nonviolence – refusal to inflict injury upon others. Tapasya – willingness to self-sacrifice. These fundamental concepts are elaborated below. 1.Satya/Truth: Satyagraha as stated before literally means truth force. Truth is relative. Man is not capable of knowing the absolute truth. Satyagraha implies working steadily towards a discovery of the absolute truth and converting the opponent into a trend in the working process. What a person sees as truth may just as clearly be untrue for another. Gandhi made his life a numerous experiments with truth. In holding to the truth, he claims to be making a ceaseless effort to find it. Gandhi's conception of truth is deeply rooted in Hinduism. The emphasis of Satya-truth is paramount in the writings of the Indian philosophers. "Satyannasti Parodharmati (Satyan Nasti Paro Dharma Ti) – there is no religion or duty greater than truth", holds a prominent place in Hinduism. Reaching pure and absolute truth is attaining moksha. Gandhi holds that truth is God, and maintains that it is an integral part of Satyagraha. He explains it thus: The world rests upon the bedrock of satya or truth; asatya meaning untruth also means "nonexistent" and satya or truth, means that which is of untruth does not so much exist. Its victory is out of the question. And truth being "that which is" can never be destroyed. This is the doctrine of Satyagraha in a nutshell. 13 2.Ahimsa: In Gandhi's Satyagraha, truth is inseparable from Ahimsa. Ahimsa expresses as ancient Hindu, Jain and Buddhist ethical precept. The negative prefix 'a' plus himsa meaning injury make up the world normally translated 'nonviolence'. The term Ahimsa appears in Hindu teachings as early as the Chandoya Upanishad. The Jain Religion constitutes Ahimsa as the first vow. It is a cardinal virtue in Buddhism. Despite its being rooted in these Religions, the special contribution of Gandhi was: To make the concept of Ahimsa meaningful in the social and political spheres by moulding tools for nonviolent action to use as a positive force in the search for social and political truths. Gandhi formed Ahimsa into the active social technique, which was to challenge political authorities and religious orthodoxy. 14 It is worth noting that this 'active social technique which was to challenge political authorities', used by Gandhi is none other than Satyagraha. Truly enough, the Indian milieu was already infused with notions of Ahimsa. Nevertheless, Gandhi acknowledged that it was an essential part of his experiments with the truth whose technique of action he called Satyagraha. At the root of Satya and Ahimsa is love. While making discourses on the Bhagavad-Gita, an author says: Truth, peace, righteousness and nonviolence, Satya, Shanti, Dharma and Ahimsa, do not exist separately. They are all essentially dependent on love. When love enters the thoughts it becomes truth. When it manifests itself in the form of action it becomes truth. When Love manifests itself in the form of action it becomes Dharma or righteousness. When your feelings become saturated with love you become peace itself. The very meaning of the word peace is love. When you fill your understanding with love it is Ahimsa. Practicing love is Dharma, thinking of love is Satya, feeling love is Shanti, and understanding love is Ahimsa. For all these values it is love which flows as the undercurrent. 15 3.;Tapasya (Self-Suffering); it remains a truism that the classical yogic laws of self-restraint and self-discipline are familiar elements in Indian culture. Self-suffering in Satyagraha is a test of love. It is detected first of all towards the much persuasion of one whom is undertaken. Gandhi distinguished self-suffering from cowardice. Gandhi's choice of self-suffering does not mean that he valued life low. It is rather a sign of voluntary help and it is noble and morally enriching. He himself says; It is not because I value life lo I can countenance with joy Thousands voluntary losing their lives for Satyagraha, but because I know that it results in the long run in the least loss of life, and what is more, it ennobles those who lose their lives and morally enriches the world for their sacrifice. 16 Satyagraha is at its best when preached and practiced by those who would use arms but decided instead to invite suffering upon them. It is not easy for a western mind or nonoriental philosopher to understand this issue of self-suffering. In fact, in Satyagraha, the element of self-suffering is perhaps the least acceptable to a western mind. Yet such sacrifice may well provide the ultimate means of realizing that characteristic so eminent in Christian religion and western moral philosophy: The dignity of the individual. The three elements: Satya, Ahimsa, Tapasya must move together for the success of any Satyagraha campaign. It follows that Ahimsa – which implies love, leads in turn to social service. Truth leads to an ethical humanism. Self-suffering not for its own sake, but for the demonstration of sincerity flowing from refusal to injure the opponent while at the same time holding to the truth, implies sacrifice and preparation for sacrifice even to death. Satyagraha in Action For Satyagraha to be valid, it has to be tested. When the principles are applied to specific political and social action, the tools of civil disobedience, noncooperation, nonviolent strike, and constructive action are cherished. South Africa and India were 'laboratories' where Gandhi tested his new technique. Satyagraha was a necessary weapon for Gandhi to work in South Africa and India. Louis Fischer attests that: "Gandhi could never have achieved what he did in South Africa and India but for a weapon peculiarly his own. It was unprecedented indeed; it was so unique he could not find a name for it until he finally hit upon Satyagraha." 17 South Africa is the acclaimed birthplace of Satyagraha. Here Satyagraha was employed to fight for the civil rights of Indians in South Africa. In India, Gandhi applied Satyagraha in his socio-political milieu and carried out several acts of civil disobedience culminating in the Salt March. Another wonderful way of seeing Satyagraha in action is through the fasting of Mahatma Gandhi. Fasting was part and parcel of his philosophy of truth and nonviolence. Mahatma Gandhi was an activist – a moral and spiritual activist. And fasting was "one of his strategies of activism, in many ways his most powerful." 18 Qualities of a Satyagrahi (Nonviolence Activist) Gandhi was quite aware that there was need to train people who could carry on with his Satyagraha campaigns. He trained them in his "Satyagraha Ashrams". Here are some of the basic qualities of expected of a Satyagrahi. A Satyagraha should have a living faith in God for he is his only Rock. One must believe in truth and nonviolence as one's creed and therefore have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature. One must live a chaste life and be ready and willing for the sake of one's cause to give up his life and his possessions. One must be free from the use any intoxicant, in order that his reason may be undivided and his mind constant. One must carry out with a willing heart all the rules of discipline as may be laid down from time to time. One should carry out the jail rules unless they are especially dense to hurt his self-respect. A satyagrahi must accept to suffer in order to correct a situation. In a nutshell, Satyagraha is itself a movement intended to fight social and promote ethical values. It is a whole philosophy of nonviolence. It is undertaken only after all the other peaceful means have proven ineffective. At its heart is nonviolence. An attempt is made to convert, persuade or win over the opponent. It involves applying the forces of both reason and conscience simultaneously, while holding aloft the indisputable truth of his/her position. The Satyagrahi also engages in acts of voluntary suffering. Any violence inflicted by the opponent is accepted without retaliation. The opponent can only become morally bankrupt if violence continues to be inflicted indefinitely. Several methods can be applied in a Satyagraha campaign. Stephen Murphy gives primacy to "noncooperation and fasting". Bertrand Russell has this to say about Gandhi's method: The essence of this method which he (Gandhi) gradually brought to greater and greater perfection consisted in refusal to do things, which the authorities wished to have done, while abstaining from any positive action of an aggressive sort.... The method always had in Gandhi's mind a religious aspect... As a rule, this method depended upon moral force for its success. 19 Murphy and Russell do not accept Gandhi's doctrine totally. Michael Nagler insists that they ignore Constructive Programme, which Gandhi considered paramount. A better understanding of Gandhi's nonviolence will be seen in the next chapter.

• M. SHEPARD, Mahatma Gandhi and his Myths, Civil Disobedience, Nonviolence and Satyagraha in the Real World, Los Angeles,
• Shepard Publications, 2002, http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/books/myths.html
• M. K. GANDHI, All Men Are Brothers, Autobiographical Reflections, Krishna Kripalani (ed.), New York; The Continuum Publishing Company, 1990, vii.
• M. K. GANDHI, Young India, 22-11-1928, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. xxxviii, Ahmedabad; Navajivan Trust, 1970, 69.
• M. K. GANDHI, Young India, 20-12-1928, in ibidem, 247.
• The New Zion’s Herald, July/August 2001, vol. 175, issue 4, 17.
• M. K. GANDHI, An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments With truth, Ahmedabad; Navajivan Trust, 2003, 254.
• NIRMAL KUMAR BOSE, Selections from Gandhi, Ahmedabad; Navajivan Trust, 1948,154.
• Mahatma Gandhi, Judith M. Brown, The Essential Writings, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008, 20. Also in Pyarelal Papers, EWMG, 60.
• Michael N. Nagler, Hope or Terror? Minneapolis, METTA Center for Nonviolence Education, 2009, p. 7.
• T. WEBER and R. J. Burrowes, Nonviolence, An Introduction, http://www.nonviolenceinternational.net/seasia
• Bramacharya Simply means Celibacy, Chastity.
• M. K. GANDHI, An Autobiography, 292.
• S. E. JONES, Gandhi, Portrayal of a Friend, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1948, 82.
• J. V. BONDURANT, Conquest of Violence, The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict. Los Angeles; University of California Press, 1965, 112.
• BHAGAVAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA, Discourses on the Bhagavad-Gita, Andhra Pradesh; Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust, 1988, 51-52.
• M. K. GANDHI, Nonviolence in Peace and War,(2nd ed.) Ahmedadad, Navijivan Trust, 1944, 49.
• L. FISCHER. Gandhi; His life and Message For the World, New York Mentor Books, 1954, 35.
• S. E. JONES, Gandhi, Portrayal of a Friend, 108.
• B. RUSSELL, Mahatma Gandhi, Boston, Atlantic Monthly, December 1952, 23.

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Twenty Eight Gandhi and Non-violence

• Published: October 2004
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This chapter talks of Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of non-violence. It explains that though Gandhi was the greatest exponent of the doctrine of ahimsa or non-violence in modern times, he was not its author because ahimsa has been part of the Indian religious tradition for centuries. However, he was able to transform what had been an individual ethic into a tool of social and political action. The chapter provides examples of non-violent struggles over the past two decades, and acknowledges that Gandhi’s ideas and methods are still appreciated by only a small enlightened minority in the world.

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On Gandhi and Nonviolence as a Spiritual Virtue

But it did illuminate his divine duty.

The more he took to violence, the more he receded from Truth.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi described “ahimsa,” nonviolence or more accurately love, as the “supreme duty.” This essay seeks to understand the necessity of nonviolence in Gandhi’s life and thought.

Toward the end of his life, Gandhi was asked by a friend to resume writing his autobiography and write a “treatise on the science of ahimsa.” What the friend wanted were accounts of Gandhi’s striving for truth and his quest for nonviolence, and since these were the two most significant forces that moved Gandhi, the friend wanted Gandhi’s exposition on the practice of truth and love and his philosophical understanding of both. Gandhi was not averse to writing about himself or his quest. He had written—moved by what he called Antaryami , the dweller within, his autobiography, An Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth . Even in February 1946 when this exchange occurred he was not philosophically opposed to writing about the self. However, he left the possibility of the actual act of writing to the will of God.

On the request for the treatise on the “science of ahimsa” he was categorical in his refusal. His unwillingness stemmed from two different grounds: one of inability and the other of impossibility.

He argued that as a person whose domain of work was action, it was beyond his powers to do so. “To write a treatise on the science of ahimsa is beyond my powers. I am not built for academic writings. Action is my domain, and what I understand, according to my lights, to be my duty, and what comes my way, I do. All my action is actuated by the spirit of service.” He suggested that anyone who had the capacity to systematize ahimsa into a science should do so, but added a proviso “if it lends itself to such treatment.” Gandhi went on to argue that a cohesive account of even his own striving for nonviolence, his numerous experiments with ahimsa both within the realms of the spiritual and the political, the personal and the collective, could be attempted only after his death, as anything done before that would be necessarily incomplete.

Gandhi was prescient. He was to conduct the most vital and most moving experiment with ahimsa after this and he was to experience the deepest doubts about both the nature of nonviolence and its efficacy after this. With the violence in large parts of the Indian subcontinent from 1946 onward, Gandhi began to think deeply about the commitment of people and political parties to collective nonviolence. In December 1946 Gandhi made the riot-ravaged village of Sreerampore his home and then began a barefoot march through the villages of East Bengal.

This was not the impossibility that he alluded to. He believed that just as it was impossible for a human being to get a full grasp of truth (and of truth as God), it was equally impossible for humans to get a vision of ahimsa that was complete. He said: “If at all, it could only be written after my death. And even so let me give the warning that it would fail to give a complete exposition of ahimsa. No man has been able to describe God fully. The same hold true of ahimsa.”

Gandhi believed that just as it was given to him only to strive to have a glimpse of truth, he could only endeavor to soak his being in ahimsa and translate it in action.

It is important for us to understand as to why it was a necessity of life for Gandhi to strive for nonviolence. This striving is captured by the epigram with which this essay begins. Violence takes us away from ourselves; it makes us forget our humanity, our vocation, and our limits, and for Gandhi such amnesia can only lead to destruction of self and others. The following section seeks to explain the complex set of arguments and practices through which Gandhi elucidated the relationship between nonviolence and self—recognition and freedom. For Gandhi freedom—both collective and personal—is predicated upon an incessant search to know oneself. This self-recognition, Gandhi believed, eluded all those who were practitioners and votaries of violence.

Gandhi described violence as “brute force” ( sharir bal or top bal , in Gujarati) and nonviolence as “soul force” ( atma bal or daya bal , in Gujarati). The distance between the two, between the beastly and the human, is marked by nonviolence. The idea of brute force locates violence in the body and the instruments that the body can command to cause injury or to inflict death. It connotes pure instrumentality. By locating violence within the realm of the beastly, Gandhi clearly points out the absence of the conscience, of the normative. He wrote: “Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute. The spirit lies dormant in the brute and he knows no law but that of physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law—to the strength of the spirit.” The term “soul force” is indicative of the working of the conscience, of the human ability to discern the path of rectitude and act upon this judgment. In a speech given before the members of the Gandhi Seva Sangh in 1938, he brought this distinction sharply into focus: “Physical strength is called brute force. We are born with such strength. But we are born as human beings in order that we may realize God who dwells within our hearts. This is the basic distinction between us and the beasts . . . .

Along with the human form, we also have human power—that is the power of nonviolence. We can have an insight into the mystery of the soul force. In that consists our humanity.” Gandhi clearly indicates two aspects: One, that nonviolence is a unique human capacity; it is because we are capable of restrain, of nonaggression, of ahimsa that we are human. Two, to be human is to fulfill the human vocation, which is to realize the God—Truth as God—who dwells in our hearts. This was Gandhi’s principle quest. In his autobiography, Gandhi clarified the nature of his pursuit. He wrote: “What I want to achieve—what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years—is self-realization, to see God face-to-face, to attain moksha. I live and move and have my being in pursuit of this goal.”

He worshipped Satya Narayan , God as Truth. He did not ever claim that he had indeed found Him, or seen Him face-to-face. But Gandhi was seeking this absolute truth and was “prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest.” Although Gandhi never claimed to have seen God face-to-face, he could imagine that state: “One who has realized God is freed from sin forever. He has no desire to be fulfilled. Not even in his thoughts will he suffer from faults, imperfections, or impurities. Whatever he does will be perfect because he does nothing himself but the God within him does everything. He is completely merged in Him.”

This state was for Gandhi the state of perfect self-realization, of perfect self-knowledge. It was a moment of revelation, a moment when the self was revealed to him. Although he believed that such perfect knowledge may elude him so long as he was imprisoned in the mortal body, he did make an extraordinary claim. This was his claim to hear what he described as a “small, still voice” or the “inner voice.” He used various terms such as “the voice of God,” “of conscience,” “the inner voice,” “the voice of Truth” or “the small, still voice.” He made this claim often and declared that he was powerless before the irresistible voice, that his conduct was guided by his voice. The nature of this inner voice and Gandhi’s need and ability to listen to the voice becomes apparent when we examine his invocation of it.

The first time he invoked the authority of this inner voice in India was at a public meeting in Ahmedabad, where he suddenly declared his resolve to fast. The day was February 15, 1918. Twenty-two days prior to this date, Gandhi had been leading the strike of the workers at the textiles mills of Ahmedabad. The mill workers had taken a pledge to strike until their demands were met. They appeared to be going back on their pledge. Gandhi was groping, not being able to see clearly the way forward. He described his sudden resolve thus: “One morning—it was at a mill hands’ meeting—while I was groping and unable to see my way clearly, the light came to me. Unbidden and all by themselves the words came to my lips: ‘unless the strikers rally,’ I declared to the meeting, ‘and continue to strike till a settlement is reached or till they leave the mills altogether, I will not touch any food.’”

He was to repeatedly speak of the inner voice in similar metaphors: of darkness that enveloped him, his groping, churning, wanting to find a way forward and the moment of light, of knowledge when the voice spoke to him. Gandhi sought the guidance of his inner voice not only in the spiritual realm, a realm that was incommunicable and known only to him and his maker, but also in the political realm. He called off the noncooperation movement against the British in February 1922 in response to the prompting of his inner voice. His famous Dandi March also came to him through the voice speaking from within. Gandhi’s search for a moral and spiritual basis for political action was anchored in his claim that one could and ought to be guided by the voice of truth speaking from within. This made his politics deeply spiritual. Gandhi expanded the scope of the inner voice to include the political realm. Gandhi’s ideas of civilization and swaraj were rooted in this possibility of knowing oneself.

In 1909, Gandhi wrote his most important philosophical work, the Hind Swaraj . Gandhi argued in the Hind Swaraj that modern Western civilization in fact decivilized it and characterized it as a blackage or satanic civilization. Gandhi argued that civilization in the modern sense had no place for either religion or morality. He wrote: “Its true test lies in the fact that people living under it make bodily welfare the object of life.” By making bodily welfare the object of life, modern civilization had shifted the locus of judgment outside the human being. It had made not right conduct but objects the measure of human worth. In so doing, it had closed the possibility of knowing oneself.

True civilization, on the other hand, was rooted in this very possibility. He wrote: “Civilization is that mode of conduct which points out to man the path of duty. Performance of duty and observance of morality are convertible terms. To observe morality is to attain mastery over our mind and passions. So doing, we know ourselves.” This act of knowing oneself is not only the basis of spiritual life but also of political life. He defined swaraj thus: “It is swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves.” This act of ruling oneself meant the control of mind and passions, of observance of morality, and of knowing the right and true path. Gandhi’s idea and practice of satyagraha with its invocation of the soul force is based on this. Satyagraha requires not only the purity of means and ends but also the purity of the practitioner. Satyagraha in the final instance is based on the recognition of one’s own conscience, on one’s ability to listen to one’s inner voice and submit to it.

Gandhi knew that his invocation of the inner voice was beyond comprehension and beyond his capacity to explain. He asked: “After all, does one express, can one express, all one’s thoughts to others?” Many tried to dissuade him from the  fast in submission to the inner voice. Not all were convinced of his claim to hear the inner voice. It was argued that what he heard was not the voice of God but was a hallucination, that Gandhi was deluding himself and that his imagination had become overheated by long years of living within the cramped prison walls.

Gandhi remained steadfast and refuted the charge of self-delusion or hallucination. He said that “not the unanimous verdict of the whole world against me could shake me from the belief that what I heard was the true Voice of God.” He argued that his claim was beyond both proof and reason. The only proof he could probably provide was the fact that he had survived the fiery ordeal. It was a moment that he had been preparing himself for. He felt that his submission to God as Truth was so complete, at least in that particular instance of fasting, that he had no autonomy left. All his acts were prompted by the inner voice. It was a moment of perfect surrender. Such a moment of total submission transcends reason. He wrote in a letter: “Of course, for me personally it transcends reason, because I feel it to be a clear will from God. My position is that there is nothing just now that I am doing of my own accord. He guides me from moment to moment.”

This extraordinary confession of perfect surrender perturbed many. The source of this discomfort is clear. Gandhi’s claim to hear the inner voice was neither unique nor exclusive. The validity and legitimacy of such a claim was recognized in the spiritual realm. The idea of perfect surrender was integral to and consistent with the ideals of religious life. Although Gandhi never made the claim of having seen God face-to-face, having attained self-realization, the inner voice was for him the voice of God. He said: “The inner voice is the voice of the Lord.” But it was not a voice that came from a force outside of him. Gandhi made a distinction between an outer force and a power beyond us. A power beyond us has its locus within us. It is superior to us, not subject to our command or willful action, but it is still located within us. He explained the nature of this power.

“Beyond us” means a “power that is beyond our ego.”

According to Gandhi, one acquires the capacity to hear this voice when the “ego is reduced to zero.” Reducing the ego to zero for Gandhi meant an act of total surrender to Satya Narayan , God as Truth . This surrender required the subjugation of human will, of individual autonomy. It is when a person loses autonomy that conscience emerges. Conscience is an act of obedience, not willfulness. He said: “Willfulness is not conscience. . . . Conscience is the ripe fruit of strictest discipline Conscience can reside only in a delicately tuned breast.” He knew what a person with conscience could be like. “A conscientious man hesitates to assert himself, he is always humble, never boisterous, always compromising, always ready to listen, ever willing, even anxious to admit mistakes.” A person without this tender breast delicately tuned to the working of the conscience cannot hear the inner voice or, more dangerously, may in fact hear the voice of the ego. This capacity did not belong to everyone as a natural gift or a right available in equal measure. What one required was a cultivated capacity to discern the inner voice as distinct from the voice of the ego, as “one cannot always recognize whether it is the voice of Rama or Ravana.”

What was this ever-wakefulness that allowed him to hear the call of truth as distinct from voice of untruth? How does one acquire the fitness to wait upon God? He had likened this preparation to an attempt to empty the sea with a drain as small as the point of a blade of grass. Yet it had to be as natural as life itself. He created a regimen of spiritual discipline that enabled him to search himself through and through. As part of his spiritual training, he formulated what he called the Ekadash Vrata , Eleven Vows or Observances. The ashram, or a community of co-religionists, was constituted by their abiding faith in these vrata and by their act of prayer. Prayer was the very core of Gandhi’s life. Medieval devotional poetry sung by Pandit Narayan Moreshwar Khare moved him. He drew sustenance from Mira and Charlie Andrews’s rendition of “When I survey the wondrous cross,” while young Olive Doke healed him with “Lead Kindly Light.” He recited the Gita every day. What was this intense need for prayer? What allowed him to claim that he was not a man of learning but a man of prayer? He knew that mere repetition of the Ramanama was futile if it did not stir his soul. A prayer for him had to be a clear response to the hunger of the soul. What was the hunger that moved his being?

His was a passionate cry of the soul hungering for union with the divine. He saw his communion with God as that of a master and a slave in perpetual bondage; prayer was the expression of the intense yearning to merge in the Master. Prayer was the expression of the definitive and conscious longing of the soul; it was his act of waiting upon Him for guidance. His want was to feel the utterly pure presence of the divine within. Only a heart purified and cleansed by prayer could be filled with the presence of God, where life became one long continuous prayer, an act of worship. Prayer was for him the final reliance upon God to the exclusion of all else. He knew that only when a person lives constantly in the sight of God, when he or she regards each thought with God as witness and its Master, could one feel Rama dwelling in the heart at every moment. Such a prayer could only be offered in the spirit of non-attachment, anasakti .

Moreover, when the God that he sought to realize is truth, prayer though externalized was in essence directed inward. Because truth is not merely that which we are expected to speak. It is that which alone is, it is that of which all things are made, it is that which subsists by its own power, which alone is eternal. Gandhi’s intense yearning was that such truth should illuminate his heart. Prayer was a plea, a preparation, a cleansing that enabled him to hear his inner voice. The Ekadash Vrata allowed for this waiting upon God. The act of waiting meant to perform one’s actions in a desireless or detached manner. The Gita describes this state as a state of sthitpragnya , literally the one whose intellect is secure. The state of sthitpragnya was for Gandhi not only a philosophical ideal but a personal aspiration.

The Gita describes this state as a condition of sthitpragnya . A sthitpragnya is one who puts away “all the cravings that arise in the mind and finds comfort for himself only from the atman”; and one “whose sense are reined in on all sides from their objects” so that the mind is “untroubled in sorrows and longeth not  for joys, who is free from passion, fear and wrath;” who knows attachment nowhere; only such a brahmachari can be in the world “moving among sense objects with the sense weaned from likes and dislikes and brought under the control of the atman.” This detachment or self-effacement allowed Gandhi to dwell closer to Him. It made possible an act of surrender and allowed him to claim: “I have been a willing slave to this most exacting master for more than half a century. His voice has been increasingly audible as years have rolled by. He has never forsaken me even in my darkest hour. He has saved me often against myself and left me not a vestige of independence. The greater the surrender to Him, the greater has been my joy.” What he craved was this absence of independence, the lack of autonomy, because that would finally allow him to see God face-to-face. He knew that he had not attained this state and perhaps would never attain it so long as his body remained as “no one can be called a mukta while he is alive.”

In this we have an understanding of Gandhi’s experiment and his quest. His quest is to know himself, to attain moksha that is to see God (Truth) face-to-face. In order to fulfill his quest, he must be an ashramite, a satyagrahi, and a seeker after swaraj. Swaraj had deep resonance during India’s struggle for freedom, and it continues to have both political and philosophical salience. Swaraj is composed of two terms “swa” (self) and “raj” (rule). Swaraj is thus self-rule; Gandhi used it in two very different ways: self-rule and rule over the self. He added two other practices to this search. One was fasting, the other brahmacharya.

Brahmacharya quite often is used in a limited sense of chastity or celibacy (including celibacy within marriage). Gandhi initially began with this sense, but as he thought deeper and struggled with a state devoid of sexual desire, he began to understand the root meaning of the term. “Brahma” is truth and “charya” is conduct. In the root sense, conduct that leads one to truth is brahmacharya. Fasting in its original sense is not mortification of the flesh but Upvas , to dwell closer to Him. Upvas is widely used to denote various acts of fasting. In the root sense, it is to dwell closer to God, wherein one of the modes of being close to God is fasting. In this sense, there could be no fast without a prayer and indeed no prayer without a fast. Such a fast was both penance and self-purification.

The ultimate practice of self-purification is the practice of brahmacharya. For Gandhi the realization of truth and self- gratification appears a contradiction in terms. From this emanate not only brahmacharya but also three other observances: control of the palate; aparigraha, or nonacquisition; and asteya, or nonstealing. The idea of nonacquisition has a place in all ascetic traditions of the world. Gandhi gave the term a profound ecological sense. It is only by nonacquisition that the earth could produce for the needs of all. Gandhi extended the meaning of the term “asteya.” He argued that to possess in excess of what one needs is an act of theft. He further argued that anyone who eats without performing bodily labor also commits an act of theft. Such bodily labor had to be performed in the service of others, which he termed as sacrificial labor.

This was his understanding of the biblical injunction of living by the “sweat of one’s brow.”

Brahmacharya, described as a mahavrata, a difficult observance or a great endeavor, came to Gandhi as a necessary observance at a time when he had organized an ambulance corps during the Zulu rebellion in South Africa. He realized that service of the community was not possible without the observance of brahmacharya. In 1906, at the age of 37, Gandhi took the vow of brahmacharya.

He had begun experimenting with food and diet as a student in England. It was much later that he was to comprehend the relationship between brahmacharya and the control of the palate.

These observances and strivings of self-purification were not without a purpose. He was later to feel that they were secretly preparing him for satyagraha. It would take him several decades, but through his observances, his experiments, Gandhi developed insights into the interrelatedness of truth, ahimsa, and brahmacharya. He came to regard the practice of brahmacharya in thought, word, and deed as essential for the search for truth and the practice of ahimsa. Gandhi, by making the observance of brahmacharya essential for truth and ahimsa, made it central to the practice of satyagraha and the quest for swaraj. Satyagraha involves the recognition of truth and the steadfast adherence to it; it requires self-sacrifice or self-suffering and use of pure, and that is nonviolent means by a person who is cleansed through self-purification. Satyagraha and swaraj are both modes of self-recognition.

This understanding allowed Gandhi to expand the conception of brahmacharya itself. He began with a popular and restricted notion in the sense of chastity and celibacy, including celibacy in marriage. He expanded this notion to mean observance in thought, word, and deed. However, it is only when he began to recognize the deeper and fundamental relationship that brahmacharya shared with satyagraha, ahimsa, and swaraj that Gandhi could go to the root of the term “brahmacharya.” Charya or conduct adopted in search of Brahma, that truth is brahmacharya. In this sense brahmacharya is not denial or control over one sense, but it is an attempt to bring all senses in harmony with one another. Brahmacharya so conceived and practiced becomes that mode of conduct that leads to truth, knowledge, and hence moksha. Thus, the ability to hear the inner voice, a voice that is “perfect knowledge or realization of truth,” is an experiment in brahmacharya.

Gandhi was acutely and painfully aware of the fact that “it is impossible for us to realize perfect truth so long as we are imprisoned in this mortal frame.” If perfect truth was an unattainable quest, so was the attainment of perfect brahmacharya. What was given to us, Gandhi argued, was to perfect the means to truth or brahmacharya. The means for him was the practice of ahimsa or love. Gandhi asserted that ahimsa be regarded as the means to be within our grasp. This places nonviolence in a different category. Nonviolence is for Gandhi attainable and hence it becomes the duty of those seeking truth to practice nonviolence.

It is the capacity to hear the inner voice that for Gandhi reveals the distance he has traversed in his quest. Each invocation of the inner voice indicated to him his submission to God. This listening required proximity with oneself. This proximity could be attained through the practice of ahimsa. Violence on the other hand increased the distance in this quest for self-realization. Violence is to be abjured for this reason. Gandhi clearly stated this aspect of violence: “the more he took to violence, the more he receded from truth.” Ahimsa is a necessity and a supreme duty for Gandhi in this sense. It made possible the realization of God, if not face-to-face, then through the mediation of the small, still voice speaking from within and pointing out to him the path of duty.

_____________________________________

From  The Power of Nonviolent Resistance   by M. K.  Gandhi , edited by Tridip Suhrud. Published by Penguin Classics, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Introduction and selection copyright © 2019 by Tridip Suhrud.

Tridip Suhrud

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22 Mahatma Gandhi and Non Violent Revolution

Dr.Vandana Arora

• Objective of the study

Brief sketch of Mahatma Gandhi

• Non-violent revolution or ahimsa: introduction
• Meaning of Non-Violence revolution or ahimsa Definition of Non-Violence
• Historical background of Non-Violence or ahimsa Gandhian concept and philosophy of Non-Violence Four
• pillars of ahimsa or Non-ViolenceRevolution
• Sarvodaya Swaraj
• Swadeshi Satyagraha
• The basic percept of satyagraha  Satya/truth: Ahimsa:
• Tapasya (self-suffering): Satyagraha in action
• Qualities of a satyagrahi (Non-Violence activist) Non-Violence and democracy
• Extent of Applicability of Non-Violence
• Are only the Indians suited for Non-Violence action? Gandhi as revolutionery thinker
• Community Prayer The Spinning Wheel The Broom-stick
• Relevance of non-violent revolution in the present scenario
• Self Assesment

The struggle in India during 1930-33 proves that there is remarkable power in the method of non-violent resistance which Gandhiji advocated and used. The perils of war and class conflict make it important for us to learn whatever may help to evolve peace. Is non-violent resistance applicable in the West or not? To what extent is it practical and why? Is it morally and intellectually respectable or not? The subject of pacifism in both individual and collective use should be removed from the profitless atmosphere of emotional adjectives and vague mysticism. We need to understand non-violent resistance much more clearly and fully.

Gandhi, Ahimsa, Satyagraha, Non-Violence, Tapasya, Sarvodya Democracy Objective of the study:

To analyse the idea of Non-Violence with contemporary situation not confining the explanation merely to Gandhi’s own concepts to India, but an attempt is made to explain and evaluate the principle in its application in any country, at any time, under any circumstances, for any cause.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in the town of Porbandar in the state of Gujarat on 2nd October 1869. He had his schooling nearby Rajkot where his father served as an advisor of a local Ruler. Though, India was then under the British rule, over 500 kingdoms principality revered the world over for his nonviolent philosophy of passive resistance. In his autobiography he admitted that as a boy he secretly ate meat with his friends so that they could become strong like the English. After some local education it was decided that he should go to England to study law. He gained his mother’s permission by promising to refrain from wine, women, and meat, but he defied his caste’s regulations which forbade travel to England. He joined the Inner Temple law college in London. In searching for a vegetarian restaurant he discovered its philosophy in Henry Salt’s A Plea for Vegetarianism and became convinced. He organized a vegetarian club and met people with theosophical and altruistic interests. He discovered the Bhagavad-Gita in Edwin Arnold’s poetic translation, The Song Celestial, and offered his limited knowledge of Sanskrit to others. This Hindu scripture and the Sermon on the Mount later became his bibles and spiritual guidebooks. He memorized the Gita during his daily tooth brushing and often recited its original Sanskrit at his prayer meetings.1

Known for his ascetic lifestyle, he inspired many people around the world. He faced jail terms during the journey of the freedom of India. Finally this legendary figure and the great fundamentalist laid to rest on 30th January 1948. But his principle of self-discipline, Non-Violence, ahimsa, satyagraha kept inspiring future generations ever after his departure to heavenly abode.2

He began his campaign and activism as an Indian immigrant in South Africa in the early 1900 and subsequently became the first leading figure in India’s struggle to gain Independence from the Great Britain.

Non-Violent Revolution or Ahimsa: Introduction

1 http://san.beck.org/GPJ20-Gandhi.html

2 www.history.com

Non-Violence is a weapon of the great leaders. It is the simplest method of persuasion. Non-Violence has divine qualities that take us near to God. So, everyone should know Non-Violence and why Non-Violence is necessary.Non-Violence guarantees freedom of conscience and people are free to base their behavior on their deeper conviction. In modern world violence has spreaded highly unjust message and promotes greed among few ignoring needs of vast majority of people and his heavily biased in favour of few rich nations to creatively applied Non-Violence methods of resistance to save humanity.3

Meaning of Non Violent Evolution or Ahimsa

The literal meaning of Non-Violence means not to be violent in action. One should not kill humans and the wilds. One should not hurt them in any manner. Non-Violence has been taken from the Sanskrit word ahimsa which refers to “lack of desire to harm or kill” is the personal practice of being harmless with self and with others under every condition. It comes from the belief that hurting people, animals or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and refers to a general philosophy of abstention from violence based on moral, religious or spiritual principles.

• “Non-Violence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.”- Martin Luther King Jr. the Quest for peace and Justice (1964)
• “Non-Violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man” by Mahatma Gandhi.
• “Non-Violence is not to be used ever as the shield of the coward. It is the weapon of the brave”- Mahatma Gandhi.

Historical background of Non-Violence or Ahimsa

3 www.gandhiashram.org

Ahimsa is considered the highest duty and accepted norm in Hinduism, Jainism and many other religious traditions. In ancient India, people exclusively used to abide by the principle of “Ahimsa Parmo Dharma” (Non-Violence is supreme conduct) in practicality and had a pragmatic approach of this principle. It is a novel device of the greats to pacify stormy situations and has been in practice since ages. Mahavir, Jaina, Gautam Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Ashok and Leo Tolstoy have been the chief exponents of Non-Violence.

Mahavir Jain and his followers were strictly the followers of Non-Violence. They used to put thin pieces of clothes on their nostrils to filter air to breathe in as they feared that worms might get into their bodies and killed. In modern times the same principles are followed by their disciples.

Gautam Buddha is yet another champion of Non-Violence. He repelled against the evil practices like animal sacrifice and human sacrifice of Hindus. Legendary Ashok was so much inspired by the practice of Non-Violence that he gave up war and bloodshed. He started preaching Non-Violence worldwide through his followers. He accepted Buddhist faith and switched over to vegetarian diet. He stopped killing animals in his kingdom. He opened many health Centres/dispensaries for men and animals.

Gandhian concept and philosophy of Non-Violence

With Gandhi, the notion of Non-Violence attained a special status. Mahatma Gandhi is also an ardent supporter of Non-Violence, he practiced Non-Violence right from his youth and preached the same worldwide. He said it is the weapon of strong and brave. By strong people he meant those who are morally and spiritually strong. He said that Non-Violence is much effective and stronger than violence. Gandhi’s Non-Violence is the search for truth.

Truth is the most fundamental aspect in Gandhi’s philosophy of Non-Violence. In the book “Experiments with Truth” a compilation of his pursuit of truth that Gandhi discovered the principle of Non-Violence, which he further explained in his autobiography thus “Ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing that this search is vain unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis”. Truth and Non-Violence are as old as the hills. He not only theorized on it, he adopted Non-Violence as a philosophy and an ideal way of life. He made us understand that the philosophy of Non-Violence is not a weapon of the weak; it is a weapon, which can be tried by all. Non-Violence was not Gandhi’s invention. He is however, called the father of Non-Violence because according to Mark Shepard, “He raised non-violent action to a level never before achieved”. Kripalani again asserts “Gandhi was the first in Human History to extend the principle of Non-Violence from the  individual to social and political plane.” While the other scholars were talking about an idea without giving it a nomenclature or a movement whereas Mahatma Gandhi is the person who came up with the name and brought together different related ideas under one concept Satyagraha.

Gandhi identified two forms of violence- Passive and Physical. The practice of passive violence is a daily affair, consciously and unconsciously. It is again the fuel that ignites the fire of physical violence. Gandhi understands violence from its Sanskrit root, “himsa” which means injury. In the midst of hyper violence, Gandhi teaches that the one who possesses Non-Violence is blessed. Blessed is the man who can perceive the law of ahimsa (Non-Violence) in the midst of the raging fire of himsa all around him. We bow in reverence to such a man by his example. The more adverse the circumstances around him, the intense grow his longing for deliverance from the bondage of flesh which is a vehicle of himsa… Gandhi objects to violence because it perpetuates hatred.

When it appears to do good, the good is only temporary and cannot do any good in the long run. A true Non-Violence activist accepts violence on himself without inflicting it on another leading towards heroism. When Gandhi says that in the course of fighting for human rights, one should accept Non-Violence and self-suffering, he does not applaud cowardice. Cowardice for him is “the greatest violence, certainly, for greater than bloodshed and the like that generally go under the name of violence.” For Gandhi perpetrators of violence (whom he referred to as criminals), are the products of social disintegration. Gandhi feels that violence is not a natural tendency of humans. It is a learned experience. There is need for a perfect weapon to combat violence and this is Non-Violence. Gandhi understood Non-Violence from its Sanskrit root Ahimsa is just translated to mean Non-Violence in English, but it implies more than just avoidance of physical violence. Ahimsa implies total Non-Violence, no physical violence, and no passive violence. Gandhi translates Ahimsa as love. This is explained by Arun Gandhi in an interview thus, “He (Gandhi) said ahimsa means love. Because if you have love towards somebody, and you respect that person, then you are not going to do any harm to that person”. For Gandhi, Non-Violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than any weapon of mass destruction. It is superior to brute force. It is a living force of power and no one has been or will ever be able to measure its limits or its extent.

For Non-Violence to be strong and effective, it must begin with mind, without which it will be Non-Violence of the weak and the coward. A coward is a person who lacks courage when facing a dangerous and unpleasant situation and tries to avoid it. A man cannot practice ahimsa and at the  same time be a coward. True Non-Violence is dissociated from the fear. Gandhi feels that possession of arms is not only cowardice but also lacks of fearlessness or courage.

Gandhi stressed this when he says, “I can imagine a fully armed man to be atleast a coward. Possession of arms implies an element of fear, if not cowardice but true Non-Violence is impossibility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness.” In the face of violence and injustice, Gandhi considers violent resistance preferable to cowardly submission. There is hope that a violent man may someday be non-violent, but there is no room for a coward to develop fearlessness.

As the world’s pioneer in nonviolent theory and practice, Gandhi unequivocally states that Non-Violence contained a universal applicability. In his letter to Daniel Oliver in Hanmana Lebanon on the 11th of 1937 Gandhi used these words: “I have no message to give except this that there is no deliverance for any people on this earth or for all the people of this earth except through truth and Non-Violence in every walk of life without any exceptions”.

In this passage, Gandhi promises “deliverance” through Non-Violence for the oppressed people without exception. Speaking primarily with regards to Non-Violence as a laboratory philosophy in this passage, Gandhi emphasizes the power of Non-Violence to emancipate spiritually and physically. It is a science of its own which can lead to pure democracy.

It will be good here to examine what Shanley E. Jones calls “the centre of Gandhi’s contribution to the world”. Satyagraha is the quintessence of Gandhism. Through, Gandhi introduced a new spirit to the world and it is his greatest contribution to the world.Gandhian nonviolence is a combination of constructive, base-building programs and satyagraha, often interpreted in the Global North as a form of spiritual direct action. Strategic nonviolence takes a more tactical tack and focuses on the tactics enumerated by Gene Sharp. Meanwhile, as Gandhi himself noted, revolutionary nonviolence suggests that it is better to engage in violence than to do nothing in the face of oppression His first use of civil disobedience on a mass scale began in September 1906 when the Transvaal government wanted to register the entire Indian population and passed what the Indians called the “Black Act.” In response they held a mass meeting in the Imperial Theatre of Johannesburg; some were so angry at the humiliating ordinance that they threatened a violent response if put to the test. However, with Gandhi’s advice they all decided as a group to refuse to comply with the registration  provisions. Gandhi suggested that they take a pledge in the name of God; even though they were Hindus and Muslims, they all believed in one and the same God. Every one of the nearly three thousand Indians present took the solemn pledge. Gandhi decided to call this technique of refusing to submit to injustice satyagraha4

The philosophy of nonviolence that has been developed through much of the 20th century has made an indispensable contribution to all theories of legitimate revolutionary social change. Gandhi himself has said that if one lacked the courage to fight injustice through nonviolent means, then one should pick up a gun. Gandhi advocated is not violence “as a last resort” or a “slippery slope” that opens the door to militarize violence rather he is pointing out that nonviolence means an activation of the universal spirit of humanity that is within all of us. He affirms that nonviolence is the activation in us of that true courage, honor, faithfulness, integrity and loyalty to truth and justice.

Gandhi understood that a nonviolent world order is not only a spiritual commitment on the part of persons everywhere but must be institutionalized both politically and economically in the form of democratic world government and federated democratic government at all levels of governing.

“The entire social order has got to be reconstructed”. He writes ‘’it is blasphemy to say that nonviolence can only be practiced by individuals and never by nations which are compound of nations”. Gandhi made clear, if we want real democracy on Earth, and real economic justice and prosperity on Earth, we will have to institutionalize nonviolence. With today system of militarized ‘’sovereign’ ’nations state and vast disparities between extreme wealth and extreme poverty, we have pervasive institutionalized violence. This violence requires the military to enforce its global system of injustice and exploitation.

But if we ratify the constitution for the federation of earth and create world institutions premised on the dignity, freedom and equality of every person on earth, we will eliminate the need not only for the military, but also for most personal or terrorist violence.”5

4 http://san.beck.org/GPJ20-Gandhi.html

5 The philosophy of nonviolence and world revolution through world law by Glen.T.Martin.

Four pillars of Ahimsa or Non Violent Revolution

Gandhi offers four pillars for the sustenance of Ahimsa:

1.      Sarvodaya

2.      Swaraj

3.      Swadeshi

4.      Satyagraha

1.  Sarvodaya

This is the core among these pillars i.e. the practice of economic, political, and moral justice for all. It is based on the idea that the earth is having sufficient to satisfy the need of all but when it comes of satisfying the greed of a single man it complains of paucity. Sarvodaya societies and communities endeavour the spirit of equal sharing. Sarvodaya serves to remind us, moment by moment, of our entire Earth family—interdependent, made of each other, inextricably interconnected.6

Gandhi’s idea of self-rule celebrates the freedoms born of the self-discipline necessary for Sarvodaya. Swaraj demands maximum power for self-organization and self-rule by people within their families, neighborhoods, villages, and bioregions, and minimal intervention by national governments. We assume full responsibility for our own behavior and for our decisions, made with others, on how to organize our communities. Swaraj celebrates personal freedom from poverty and all forms of domination. No one rules others, and no state imposes its laws without the free consent of the governed. Rather than human rights, Swaraj sees human duties: to Mother Earth and to our neighbors, both near and distant.7

3. Swadeshi

At the heart of Swadeshi is honoring and celebrating local economy, with people enjoying a right livelihood from the gifts of the natural resources of their own bioregions. The bread labor of

6 http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-

• paths-to-get-there

7  http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-

each place, drawing on the genius of local knowledge and skills, generates a surplus to share with others. Swadeshi is people-centered economics—the soul of “small is beautiful.”8

4. Satyagraha

Satyagraha pronounced Sat-Yah-Graha is a compound of two Sanskrit nouns satya, meaning truth (from ‘Sat’ being with a suffix ‘Ya’), and agraha meaning, “firm grasping (a noun made from the agra, which has its root ‘grah’-‘Scize’ ‘grasp’, with the verbal prefix ‘a’-‘to’- wards). Thus satyagraha literally means devotion to truth, remaining firm on the truth and resisting untruth actively but violently since the only way for Gandhi getting to the truth is by Non-Violence (love), it follows that satyagraha according to Michael Naglerliterally means “clinging to truth’ and that was exactly how Gandhi understood it.

“Clinging to the truth that we are all one under the skin, that there is no such thing as a ‘win/lose’ confrontation because all our important interests are really the same, that consciously or not every single person wants unity and peace with every other put succinctly. Satyagraha means ‘truth force’, ‘soul force’ or as Martin Luther jr. would call it ‘love in action’. Satyagraha has often been defined as the philosophy of nonviolent resistance most prominently employed by Mahatma Gandhi, in forcing an end to the British domination. GeneSharp did not hesitate to define Satyagraha simply as “GandhianNon-Violence”.

Today as Nagler would say, when we use the word Satyagraha we sometimes mean that general principle, the fact that love is stronger than hatred and we can learn to use it to overcome hatred and further we mean more specifically active resistance by a repressed group, sometimes, even more specifically, we apply the term to a specified movement like salt Satyagraha etc. It is worthwhile looking at the way when Gandhi applied Satyagraha.

Gandhi’s view of Satyagraha

Satyagraha was not a preconceived plan for Gandhi. Even in his life culminating in his “Bramacharya vow”, prepared him for it. “Events were so shaping themselves in Johannesburg as to make this self-purification on my part a preliminary as it were to Satyagraha. I can now see that

8 http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-paths-to-get-there

all the principal events of my life, culminating in the vow of Bramacharya were secretly preparing me for it.”

Satyagraha is a moral weapon and the stress is on the soul force over the physical force. It aims at winning the enemy through love and patient suffering. It deals with an unjust law, not by crushing, preventing or taking revenge against the authority by adopting coercive measures, but to convert and heal it. Though, initially it started as a struggle for political rights, thereafter, Satyagraha became in the long run a struggle for individual salvation, which could be achieved through love and sacrifice. Satyagraha is meant to overcome all methods of violence. Gandhi explained in a letter to Lord Hunter that Satyagraha is a movement based entirely upon truth. It replaces every form of violence whether direct and indirect, veiled and unveiled or in thought, words or deed.

Satyagraha is ornament of those people who are the strong in spirit. A person not having doubts regarding his convictions or a timid person cannot do it. Satyagraha teaches the art of living as well as dying. Love and unshakeable i.e. firmness are its indistinguishable constituents. It is uniformly apply to all, irrespective of age and sex. The most important training in Satyagraha is mental not physical. The concept of Satyagraha has some basic percepts which are being treated below.

The basic percept of Satyagraha

There are three basic percepts essential to Satyagraha: Truth, Non-Violence and self-suffering. These are called the pillars and foundation of Satyagraha. Failure to grasp them is a handicap and creates penumbra to the understanding of Gandhi’s Non-Violence. These three fundamentals correspond to Sanskrit terms:

Sat/Satya – Truth implying openness, honesty and fairness. Ahimsa/Non-Violence – refusal to inflict injury upon others. Tapasya – willingness to self-sacrifice.

I.  Satya/Truth:

Satyagraha as stated above in its etymological sense means truth force. Truth is relative term. Knowing the absolute truth is beyond the reach and capabilities of a common. Satyagraha is a device and mode working steadily towards a discovery of the absolute truth and converting the  opponent into a friend in the working process. What a person sees as truth may just as clearly be untrue for another. Gandhi made in his life a numerous experiments with truth. In holding to the truth, he claims to be making a ceaseless effort to find it.

Gandhi’s conception of truth is deeply rooted in Hinduism. The emphasis of Satya-truth is paramount in the writings of the Indian philosophers. “SatyannastiParodharmasti (SatyannastiParoDharmaasti)- there is no religion or greater than truth”, holds a prominent place in Hinduism. Reaching pure and absolute truth is attaining moksha. Gandhi holds that truth is God, and maintains that it is an integral part of Satyagraha. He explains it thus “The world rests upon the bedrock of Satya or truth, asatya or untruth also means “nonexistent” and satya or truth, means which is of untruth does not so much exist. Its victory is out of the question. And truth being “that which is’ can never be destroyed. This is the doctrine of Satyagraha is a nutshell.”

II.   Ahimsa:

In Gandhi’s Satyagraha, truth is inseparable from ahimsa. Ahimsa expresses as ancient Hindu, Jain and Buddhist ethical precept. The negative prefix ‘a’ plus himsa meaning injury make up the world normally translated ‘Non-Violence’. The term Ahimsa appears in Hindu teachings as early as the chandoyaupanishad, the Jain Religion constitutes Ahimsa as the first vow. It is cardinal virtue in Buddhism. Despite its being rooted in these Religions, the special contribution of Gandhi was:

To make the concept of Ahimsa meaningful in the social and political spheres by moulding tools for non-violent action is to use as a positive force in the search for social and political truths. Gandhi formed Ahimsa into the active social technique, which was to challenge political authorities and religious orthodoxy.

It is worth noting that this active social technique which was to challenge political authorities, used by Gandhi is none other than Satyagraha. Truly enough, the Indian milieu was already infused with the notions of ahimsa. Nevertheless, Gandhi acknowledged that it was an essential part of his experiments with the truth whose technique of action he called Satyagraha. At the root of Satya and Ahimsa is love while make discourses on the Bhagavad Gita, an author says:

Truth, peace, righteousness and Non-Violence, Satya, Shanti, Dharma and Ahimsa, do not exist separately. They are interrelated with each other and are essentially dependent on love. When love enters the thoughts it becomes truth. When it magnifies itself in the form of action it becomes truth. When love manifests itself in the form of action it becomes dharma or righteousness. When your feelings become saturated with love it become peace itself. The very meaning of the word  peace is love. When you feel your understanding with love it is Ahimsa. Practicing love is Dharma, thinking of love is Satya, feeling love is shanti, and understanding love is Ahimsa. For all these values it is love which flows as the under current.

III.Tapasya (Self-suffering):

It remains a truism that the classical yogic laws of self-restraint and self-discipline are familiar elements and engrossed within Indian culture. Self-suffering in Satyagraha is a test of love. Gandhi distinguished self-suffering from cowardice. Gandhi’s choice of self-suffering does not mean that he undermined the value life. It is rather a sign of voluntary help and it is noble, spritually and morally enriching. He himself says; “It is not because I value life to I can countenance with joys voluntary looking their lives for satyagraha, but because I know that it results in the long run in the least loss of life, and what is more, it enables those who lost their lives and morally enriches the world for their sacrifices.”

Satyagraha is at its best when preached and practiced by those who would use arms but does not desire to invite suffering upon them. It is not easy for a western mind or non-oriented philosopher to understand this issue of self-suffering. In fact, in Satyagraha, the element of self-suffering is perhaps the least acceptable to a western mind. Yet such sacrifice may well provide the ultimate means of realizing that characteristic so eminent in Christian religion and western modern philosophy: The dignity of the individual.

The three elements: Satya, Ahimsa, Tapasya must move together for the success of any Satyagraha campaign. It follows that Ahimsa which implies love, leads in turn to social service. Truth leads to an ethical humanism. Self-suffering not for its own sake, but for the demonstration of sincerity flowing from refusal to injure the opponent while at the same time holding to the truth, implies sacrifice and preparation for sacrifice even to death.

Satyagraha in action

For Satyagraha to be valid, it has to be tested when the principles are applied to specific political and social action, the tools of civil disobedience, non-cooperation, non-violent strike and constructive actions are cherished. South Africa and India were “laboratories” where Gandhi tested his new techniques for compaign again social maladies. Satyagraha was a necessary weapon for Gandhi to work in South Africa and India keeping in view the prevailing circumstances there. Louis Fischer attests “Gandhi could never have achieved that what did in South Africa and India but for a  weapon peculiarly his own. It was unprecedented indeed it was so unique he could not find a name for it until he finally hit upon Satyagraha.”

South Africa is the acclaimed birth place of Satyagraha. Satyagraha was employed to fight for the civil rights of Indians having pathetic condition in South Africa. In India, Gandhi applied Satyagraha in his socio-political milieu and carried out several acts of civil disobedience culminating in the salt March against British colonisation. Another wonderful way of describing Satyagraha in action is through the fasting of Mahatma Gandhi. Fasting was part and parcel of his philosophy of truth and Non-Violence. Mahatma Gandhi was an activist- a moral and spiritual activist. And fasting was “one of his strategies of activism, in many ways his most powerful.

Qualities of a Satyagrahi (Non-Violence activist)

Gandhi was quite aware that there was need to train people who could carry on with his Satyagraha campaigns. He trained them in his Satyagraha ashrams, here are some of the basic qualities of expected of a Satyagrahi:

a. A Satyagrahi should have a living and faith in God for him is his only Rock.

b. One must believe in truth and Non-Violence as one’s creed and therefore have faith in the inherent

goodness of human nature.

c. One must live a chaste life and be ready and willing for the sake of one’s cause to make sacrifice his life

and his belongings.

d. One must be free from the use any intoxicant, in order that his reason may be undivided and his mind

remains actively recipient.

e. One must follow from the core of one’s heart all the rules of discipline as may be laid down time to time.

f. One should abide by the jail rules unless they hurt one’s self-respect.

g. A satyagrahi must accept to suffer for a good cause i.e. in order to correct a situation. Concisely, Satyagraha is itself a movement intended to fight against social menaces and promote ethical values in the society. It is a whole philosophy of Non-Violence. It is undertaken only after all the other peaceful means have proven ineffective in a given situation seeking a solution. An attempt is made to convert or persuade or win over the conscience of the opponent. It involves applying the forces of both reason and conscience simultaneously, while holding aloof the indisputable truth of his/her position.

The satyagrahi also engages in the act of voluntary suffering in order mobilize the opinion of the other side. Any violence inflicted by the opponent is gracefully accepted without retaliation. The opponent only becomes morally bankrupt if violence continues to be inflicted indefinitely. Several methods can be applied in satyagraha campaign. Stephen Murphy gives primacy to ‘’non-cooperation and fasting’’ and Bertrand Russell has this to say about Gandhian method. As a rule, this method relied upon moral force for bringing it in reality.

Non-Violence and Democracy

Mahatma Gandhi has deep faith in Non-Violence and was of the opinion that all men made institutions are not free from risk, particularly a ‘State-like’ institution. He believed that in a state especially democracy can be survived only on the basis of Non-Violence. It cannot be evolved into its form until and unless if falls completely under the purview of Non-Violence. However, Gandhi himself was not sure about it. He admitted, “I am making efforts in this direction.”

For him, the correct approach was to improvise the working of the contemporary democracy and to strive towards a goal making sure that justice and freedom are availed of universally by all. Only then the true form of democracy can be established and fully materialized. This is what is known as Ram Rajya of his dreams. Naturally such a inspiring notion could not be confined to a particular country. But in context of India especially he believed that people had great inclination towards the application of nonviolence both in principle and in practice. Scholar commenting on Indian democracy says, “The most important phenomena of the post war era is the survival of the Indian democracy.”

This has been possible only because a great majority of Indians are more or less inclined towards nonviolence in practice. In a country like India which has unity in diversity, where people have remained committed to the divine value of nonviolence in practice and where the system of self-government lies deep rooted at the level of villages no form of government other than democracy can survive or work. That is why Gandhi himself said that it is most likely that even in democracy there may be misuse of power, the evils may creep in because it is a man-made not God made institution.

Democracy is essential therefore in a country like India. If we eliminate instances of misuse of democracy it can bring a real Ram Rajya or sincere efforts can be made to achieve that status. In this direction, Gandhiji put forward Non-Violence and satyagraha as the means to make a start from  India and set an example before the other nations of the world. While talking about the development of a democratic system Gandhiji preferred economic issues and considered them to be the foremost. He affirmed, “ aNon-Violence system of government is clearly an impossibility, so long as the wide gulf between the rich and hungry millions persist.”

But to bridge the gap between the rich and poor use of violent methods were strictly prohibited according to Mahatma Gandhi. He relied in Non-violent methods for this purpose. Besides that he was against class war also. “the class wars were against the basic nature and also against the message that nonviolence conveys. Those who consider class war necessary have not understood the essential meaning of nonviolence, or have got to know it superficially.”

To remove the disparity between the rich and the poor he put forward the principle of Trusteeship which was within scope of nonviolence. By the nonviolent method, we seek not to destroy capitalists, we target capitalism. We invite the capitalist to regard himself as a Trustee for those on whom he depends for the making, the retention and increase of the capital. He wanted to change their hearts. Gandhi’s principles and proposals are based on the ethical and the moral values of life. But it would serve significantly and commendably not only in India but also in other nations of the world as a guideline.

Gandhi reformed the concept of democracy by devising means to involve the people in power. Gandhi was vehemently against the concentration power in the hands of the few. He was very particular about decentralization of power. Concentration of power means keeping the power in the hands of few, who may misuse the power as and when according to their advantage.9 “True democracy cannot work by 20 men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below by the people of every village.” In democracy all the people must have access to power, then only power can be able to function within the purview of morality. Though outwardly power will be functioning through representatives of the people, in reality, the people will be the sole authority to delegate the power. The accountability rests on their representatives in case of abuse of power because, it is the people who are the Guardian of democracy.10

Democracy can only be saved through Non-Violence, because democracy, so long as it is sustained by violence, cannot provide for all and protect the weak. My notion of democracy is that

9 Gandhi on Non-Violence by Mahatma Gandhi

10 The Global Vision Of Mahatma Gandhi by Ratan Das

under it, the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest. This can never happen except through Non-Violence …..Western democracy, as it functions today, is Nazism or fascism.11

Non-violent insurrections were twice as successful as those that used arm struggle in general nonviolence form of the resistance and most surprising they led to greater democratic freedoms, even when they “failed then arms struggles that succeed.” No perfect democracy is possible without adoption of a perfect Non-Violence policy.

Democracy with nonviolence are not just methods of struggle, they are ways of discovering truth- of allowing the truth of each individual to be registered in the whole. Equally rooted in the inalienable dignity of the human being that is the core of the “New theory of nonviolence with democracy that properly and destroyed each other. They are really two sides of the same coin we cannot have one without the other, we badly need both”12

Extent of applicability of Non-Violence

The concept of Non-Violence was not to be confined for mere individual practice but to be applied by the groups and the communities and the nations at large. Mahatma Gandhi had great dedication in trying to realize it. His faith helped him to discover new truths every day. He said Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul, and therefore, to be practiced by everybody in all the affairs of life. If it cannot be executed in this spirit, it has no practical value. He believed that his faith in truth and Non-Violence was ever growing, and he was trying to follow them in all spheres of life. He felt growing with it every moment. He saw new implications about them.13

Are only the Indians suited for Non-Violence action?

There are the critics who say non-violent action worked fine in India, but they don’t think it would make sense to use it elsewhere. These critics believe that Indians are particularly suited to non-violent action, because of the ethic of Non-Violence built into their religion and inhibited in their personality. This is a very interesting myth for those who believe in it certainly possess a very selective filter. Gandhi’s philosophy of Non-Violence seems to has been consciously inspired firstly, by the New Testament-the Sermon, on the Mount. Only later, he found similar ideas in Hindu scriptures. Therefore, the concept was not originated in India. Though, it is surprising that we

11 www.Mettacenter.org

12 www.Non-Violencemag.com

13www.mkgandhi.org

too have an ethic of Non-Violence built into our society’s chief religion. We just do not happen to follow it.

But really, the easiest way to see that non-violent action is suitable outside India is simply to look at all the cases of nonviolent action outside India. Unless your filter is pretty murky, you can hardly miss them. It certainly can’t be easy to ignore the example of Martin Luther King, Jr., or to forget the Solidarity movement in Poland, or to overlook the coup of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

It is said non-violent action can work only against “easy” enemies like the British, and not against, say, the Soviets, or Central American dictators, or those villains of last resort, the Nazis. Here again, filters are in place, because non-violent action has been used with some success against all these.

In 1968, Czechoslovakian civilians non-violently held Soviet armed forces at bay for a full week and stopped the Soviet leaders from ever subjugating that country to the degree they had intended. In 1944, military dictators were ousted by resorting towards nonviolent techniques in both El Salvador and Guatemala. And during World War II, Norway nonviolently and successfully resisted Nazi attempts to reorganize its society along fascist lines.

Gandhi as Revolutionary Thinker

Every great thinker is a great revolutionary since each has a unique vision and original perspective which could change our thoughts in some way or the other. There are nevertheless a number of them who advocated for an effective change on monumental scale. Gandhi was one such political thinker who always wanted to make sea change in society at a comprehensive scale.Every revolution has its symbols, which are an index of its objectives. Gandhi gave us three symbols: (1) Community Prayer (2) The Spinning Wheel (3) The Broom-stick. Prayer stands for invoking the inner strength of men for the good of one another, the wheel for productive labour and the broom-stick for the abolition of social inequalities based on birth.

Community Prayer

To Gandhi, this world itself was the temple of God and not ‘Gods’. For when truth becomes denominational, it degenerates into dogma and freezes into a new orthodoxy. “Dogma” says Mao,  “is worse than cow-dung. Cow-dung can be used as manure.” To seek to impose a certain ideology on men’s minds is to violate the soul. Prayer precludes all such indoctrination.

The Spinning Wheel

The spinning wheel stands for productive labour and for a face-to-face community. Society is after all relationship of man with man. The spinning wheel represents Gandhi’s conception of a new relationship between among men. He sought with all the earnestness he could command, to transform the existing relations of production and distribution. He was against anonymity, de-personalization and de-humanization in the process of production and distribution. Gandhi’s conception of de-centralized social order was thus essentially different from the decentralization as generally understood.

The Broom-stick

The broom-stick is an instrument of the most unclean and the most despised social service rendered by the sweepers of India. It is thus the symbol of social equality. It reminds us of our common humanity, our oneness with ‘the lowliest and the lost’. The fundamental unity of all men is the plinth and foundation of all human relationship and human intercourse. It ought to be the motive force behind all our efforts of social change.14

The legend of Mahatma Gandhi has it that he returned to India from South Africa in 1915, took control of and radically transformed the Indian nationalist movement, and led three great popular movements that eventually wore down the British government and led to Indian independence. These were the Non-Cooperation Movement, 1920-22, in conjunction with the Khilafat Movement for the restoration of the Caliphate in Turkey after the First World War (a coalition he proposed with Muslim political leaders in which he required his colleagues to accept him as Dictator – his word); the Civil Disobedience Movement, 1930-31 (unsuccessfully sought to be revived from 1932 to 1934); and the Quit India Movement of 1942.15

Relevance of Non-Violent Revolution in the present scenario

14 Philosophy of Sarvodaya, AcharyadadaDharmadhikari, Popular prakashan 2000

15 http://www.historytoday.com/benjamin-zachariah/gandhi-Non-Violence-and-indian-independence

There was a time not long ago when any incident of violence was treated as a matter of great concern. But violence has become so pervasive in the world today that most of such incidents occurring on daily basis which attract scarce attention of the people. When something gruesome or shocking happens there is often debate about how to check violence. However, it has become a way with the world to treat evil with more evil. The whole issue of arms proliferation is based on the premise of promoting violence as a power and justifying use of weapons as a necessity to maintain peace, law and order. Is violence justified for a good cause? This is a critical question requiring a concrete answer today and most of people would support it by referring to crime related to terrorism, requisite for defense of vulnerable sections of society and so on.

But history has been the witness of the fact that violence begets more violence. We can subjugate an enemy by use of force but so far as eradication of hatred, resentment, mistrust and wickedness through force is concerned there is doubt regarding that aspect. The benefits of a non-violent culture are tremendous and enduring. If nations and their people adopt Non-Violence in their thinking, planning and in conduct, then there will be progress at all levels of human existence by leaps and bounds.

Nations will have no need for hoarding lethal weapons of mass destruction and to spend on defence to such a considerable amount. A world at war or violent conflict cannot progress when survival of basic human rights and security are threatened creating hurdles in the path of progress. Peace and Non-Violence are pre-requisites for the establishment of a developed world. Such a society or nation can devote itself to raising the bar to achieve the best in spirituality, science, commerce, art, education and other spheres of human activity. They can reach the highest level of human experience in terms of quality of work and relationship. Such a world is not a utopian dream but a reality that can be achieved in the present times. There was a period in human experience called Satyuga or heaven when people used to live with a completely non-violent attitude and believing in the policy of common brotherhood. In reality, today the entire human world has become hostage and in the grip of violent forces- vices such as lust, anger, greed, attachment and ego.

The Gandhian principles of Non-Violence were never irrelevant because Non-Violence is the fundamental belief. We cannot imagine this world without Non-Violence, because if everyone will become violent and cruel then they will fight against each other and high lofty aims of a country will end up in smoke ultimately danger to the existence of world. So his principle has to  become the most important principle to practice to have a peaceful world. Gandhi’s non-violent revolution played an important role in the freedom movement. The great thought given by Gandhi during the time of freedom movement is also relevant in today’s life.

The world is filled with disguising terrorism, violence, discrimination, etc. The politicians ignite religion based war among people for money and power. So people are tired and bored of being patient and tolerant. It seems that Gandhian principles are slowly vanishing from human heart and tolerance power is decreasing gradually. Ernest Cheguevara, Leon Trotsky, Frantz Fanon and Subhash Chandra Bose were fervent critics of Non-Violence argued that Non-Violence and pacifism are an attempt to impose the morals of the bourgeoisie upon the proletariat, that violence is the necessary accompaniment to revolutionary change or that the right to self-defense is fundamental. For example, the complaint of Malcolm X that “I believe it’s a crime for anyone being brutalized to continue to accept that brutality without doing something to defend himself.”George Orwell argued that Non-Violence resistance strategy of Gandhi could be effective in countries with “A free press and right of assembly” which could make it possible “Not merely to appeal to outside opinion, but to bring a mass movement into being, or even to make your intentions known to your adversary”, but he was skeptical of Gandhi’s approach being effective in the opposite sort of circumstances.

“Concept of Non-Violence is a false ideal. It presupposes the existence of compassion and a sense of justice on the part of once adversary. When this adversary has everything to lose and nothing to gain by exercising justice and compassion, his reaction can only be negative”. These political thinkers criticized Non-Violence as being ineffective racist, statist, patriarchal, tactically and strategically inferior to militant activism and deluded. They claimed traditional histories diluted the impact of Non-Violence, ignoring the involvement of militants in such movements as the Indian independence movement and civil rights movement.

They believed that sometimes Non-Violence can be effective but sometimes it can be dangerous to progressive movements. Non-Violence theory is troubled by moral dogma and mechanical logic. “Success is claimed for Non-Violence where failure occurred. Finally the insistence on non-violent politics has led to rigidity.”16

16 (Chapter –1)Gene Sharp, The Politics Of Non-Violent Action

George Orwell takes his criticism further. He claims that the imperialists themselves saw Gandhi as their right hand man. He made it easier for them to rule because he used his influence to make sure that no action was taken which would make a real difference. The British always treated Gandhi well and praise because they did not want him to die and perhaps be replaced by someone who believed less in force and more in bombs ‘’Soul force’’. They may have hated him for what he was doing-Raising the masses, but now they needed him for what he was doing-keeping those masses in control.17

Nonviolence, a potent force in the 1960s fight for civil rights, has become an “embarrassment, an instrument of the weak,” lamented Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch.18

Feminist criticized it by claiming that Non-Violence looks a lot like passivity and women have been expected to be passive in the face of violence. Nonviolence talks about accepting, suffering rather than inflicting it on others and this looks very much what women had been doing throughout the ages. They point out that while Gandhi asks for self-suffering to melt the heart of the opponent, in the case of women it has merely left them in a second class position. It can be noted that power is not given away, it has to be taken. They claim that public face of these campaign shows women as sacrificing martyrs- just what they have always been expected to be.

This argument is extended further stating that there is something inheritantly problematic with the very theory of power on which Gandhi and other nonviolent theorist found their activism. The claim is that the withdrawal of consent is not as easy as is implied by these theorists because in our society power is patriarchal and it excludes women.19

Ralph Summy adds that “a satyagraha that discounted the views and passions rife in its society and proceeded blindly on its own purist path was tantamount to pursuing merely personal redemption and not societal change.”20

17 George Orwell, ‘’letter to the Revered Iorworth Jones” in The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters

of George Orwell, Vol.2: My

Country Right or Left, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970, P.P.109-112, at p.111.

20  http://articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/nonviolence

19 Kate McGuiness, “Gene Sharp’s theory of power: A Feminist Critique of Consent”, journal of peace

research (1993), vol.30, pp- 101-115

20 Ralph Summy, Personal Communication

Gandhiji has always dreamt of the world where everyone is blessed with peaceful environment. Non-Violence is a peaceful phenomenon with utmost significance. It is the most innovative and inspiring solution to all kinds of problems and conflicts existing in the society, nation and the world. The antidote for violence is to promote a culture of ahimsa and Non-Violence. If Non-Violence is promoted as the highest ethic and way of life by all religious, political and social leaders, our world will become a paradise. The present scenario of violence and its related branch all over the world has once again made its importance significant.

Nations which are being the victim of corruption, communalism, dictatorship and power games are really in need to go back to Gandhi’s conviction of Non-Violence and truth as a last resort to escape from these maladies. By enforcing Non-Violence, these nations will surely get rid of social, political, economic and religious troubles. Beyond doubt, it can be said that social doctrine of Non-Violence promulgated by Mahatma Gandhi has now become the key to provide sustenance to the new social and political order and it is not a thing of the past but holds a bright future if enforced in proper manner all over world.

References :

• V.R. Mehta, Foundation of Indian Political Thought
• B.N. Ray, Tradition and Innovation in India Political Thought Dr. S.R. Myneni, Political Science Reprint: 2015
• The Political philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi by GN Dhawan Gene Sharp, The Politics Of Non-Violent Action
• Gandhi on Non-Violence by Mahatma Gandhi RatanDas :The Global Vision Of Mahatma Gandhi
• The philosophy of nonviolence and world revolution through world law by Glen.T.Martin Philosophy of Sarvodaya, AcharyadadaDharmadhikari, Popular prakashan 2000
• George Orwell, ‘’letter to the Revered Iorworth Jones” in The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Vol.2: My Country Right or Left, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970 http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/M/bo22353631.html http://www.historytoday.com/benjamin-zachariah/gandhi-Non-Violence-and-indian-independence http://www.mkgandhi.org/africaneedsgandhi/gandhi%27s_philosophy_of_nonviolence.htm http://www.importantindia.com/15320/essay-on-Non-Violence-of-mahatma-gandhi/ http://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/king-of-kindness.html http://articles.baltimoresun.com/keyword/nonviolence http://www.historytoday.com/benjamin-zachariah/gandhi-Non-Violence-and-indian-independence www.Mettacenter.org
• www.Non-Violencemag.com
• http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/peaceful-revolution-gandhi-s-four-
• http://san.beck.org/GPJ20-Gandhi.html
• www.gandhiashram.org
• www.history.com

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Truth and non-violence – The twin pillars of Gandhian thought

Mahatma Gandhi used the ideals of truth and non-violence as his tools as he led India's freedom struggle against British colonial rule.

Key Highlights

• Born on October 2, 1869, Gandhi is also known as the Father of the Nation
• To Gandhi, non-violence was not a negative concept but a positive sense of love
• During the freedom struggle, Gandhi introduced the spirit of Satyagraha to the world

Whenever we think of Mahatma Gandhi, two words come to our mind - truth and non-violence - as he was a staunch believer in these two ideals. Born on October 2, 1869, Gandhi is known as the Father of the Nation. A lawyer by profession, he used truth and non-violence as his tools during India's freedom struggle against British colonial rule. Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948, almost five months after India gained independence, but his ideals of truth and non-violence still remain relevant in the 21st century.

Gandhi believed that truth is the relative truthfulness in word and deed, and the absolute truth - the ultimate reality. This ultimate truth is God and morality, and the moral laws and code - its basis. According to Gandhi, non-violence implies uttermost selflessness. It means, if anyone wants to realise himself, i.e., if he wants to search for the truth, he has to behave in such a way that others will think him entirely safe.

To him, non-violence was not a negative concept but a positive sense of love. He talked of loving the wrong-doers, but not the wrong. He strongly opposed any sort of submission to wrongs and injustice in an indifferent manner. He thought that the wrong-doers can be resisted only through the severance of all relations with them.

During the freedom struggle, Gandhi introduced the spirit of Satyagraha to the world. Satyagraha means devotion to truth, remaining firm on the truth and resisting untruth actively but nonviolently.

According to Gandhi, a satyagrahi must believe in truth and nonviolence as one's creed and therefore have faith in the inherent goodness of human nature. Besides, a satyagrahi must live a chaste life and be ready and willing for the sake of one's cause to give up his life and his possessions, he would assert.

There are several examples in history which show how strictly Gandhi followed the practice of non-violence in his life and political journey. One of them is the withdrawal of the Non-cooperation movement, which began in August 1920. The movement was aimed at self-governance and obtaining independence, with the Indian National Congress withdrawing its support for British reforms following the Rowlatt Act of March 1919 and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of April 1919. 

However, Gandhi suddenly ended the Non-cooperation movement in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, though many Congress leaders wanted it to continue. The incident occurred at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur district of present-day Uttar Pradesh in February 1922, when a large group of protesters, participating in the Non-cooperation movement, clashed with the police, who opened fire. In the ensuing violence, the demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, killing several policemen. Gandhi, who was against violence in all forms, ended the Non-cooperation movement as a direct result of this incident.

Truth and non-violence were supreme to him, whatever the political and personal costs.

The views expressed by the author are personal and do not in any way represent those of Times Network.

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Drishti IAS Blog

• Gandhi, Truth and Ahimsa

Gandhi, Truth and Ahimsa  Blogs Home

• 02 Oct 2022

"My religion is based on Truth and Non-Violence. Truth is my God. Non-Violence is the means of realising him"

 – Mahatama Gandhi

We have learnt about the Indian National Movement in our school textbooks and everyone, without any exception, is well familiar with the name Mahatma Gandhi. Often revered as the Father of the Nation, sometimes referred to as Bapu, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an eminent lawyer, a social activist, a writer, a leader of the Indian National Movement and a known figure in Indian history.

Born in Porbandar, Mahatma Gandhi went to South Africa to pursue higher studies and work as a legal representative. He stood up against racial discrimination and developed his political views, ethics, and leadership. He arrived in India in 1915 and organised various Satyagrahas that emphasised the power of Truth. He launched the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Civil Disobedience Movement and finally, the Quit India movement, after which India gained Independence.

To put Gandhi's ideas in a quick read is rather a difficult thing to do. Scholars across the world have spent their lives studying the life of Mahatma and his various ideas. Thus it would be absurd to cramp all of his ideas into this blog. My attempt here would be to mention only a few of his thoughts on Truth and Non-Violence, which are still relevant in 2022.

Gandhi, Truth and Satyagraha

The idea of Truth is the principle on which Mahatma laid the thrust of the methodology he referred to as "Satyagraha", where he emphasised the need to search for Truth. For Gandhi, nothing exists in reality but the Truth. Devotion to what is true is the only justification for a person's existence. The general understanding of Truth only indicates that one must speak the Truth. However, the word Satya/Truth has a broader connotation for Mahatma. The Truth has to be observed not only in one's speech but also in thought and action.

Mahatma's idea of Satyagraha, where 'Satya' means Truth and 'agraha' translates to insistence, implies following the path of Truth. It is the demonstration of the Truth that does not seek vengeance but appeals to the oppressor's conscience to see what is true. Satyagraha is resistance, but it cannot be equated to passiveness. It is not the weapon of the weak. It is a power that only the strong have, as it demands intense activity. It neither implies any hatred nor destruction. It recognises the difference between evil and evil-doers. This is a significant distinction Satyagraha recognises. It understands that the oppressor is not the enemy but only away from the Truth and can be convinced (not forced) to know the Truth.

Gandhi and Ahimsa

The word Ahimsa is loosely translated to Non-Violence. Ahimsa means "lacking any desire to kill". It means to be harmless to oneself, others, and all living beings. But that is only a limited definition of what he meant by Ahimsa or Non-Violence. Gandhi gained an understanding of Hinduism and Jainism in his childhood, and perhaps, that was the significant influence that allowed him to advocate for Ahimsa. His belief in non-violence was demonstrated when he decided to call off the Non-Cooperation Movement at its height after a peaceful demonstration turned into a violent conflict at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur. For him, there was no space for violence. He advocated Ahimsa (Non-Violence) in his idea of Satyagraha, a method used for mass mobilisation. While the Truth was the foundation of his philosophy, Ahimsa was the guiding law that should be followed by each Satyagrahi.

Ahimsa has two different connotations. In the narrow sense, it means not harming the other or oneself by body or mind. In the positive and broader sense, it denotes infinite love and charity. He says,

"..in its negative form, [Ahimsa] means not injuring any living being whether by body or mind. I may not, therefore, hurt the person of any wrong-doer or bear any ill-will to him and so cause him mental suffering. In its positive form, Ahimsa means the largest love, the greatest charity. If I am a follower of Ahimsa, I must love my enemy or a stranger to me as I would my wrong-doing father or son. This active Ahimsa necessarily included Truth and fearlessness."

Gandhian thought and present generation

It would be a cliche, but still, it would be fitting to state that Ahimsa and Truth are two sides of the same coin. They are so intertwined that it is not possible to separate them. If Ahimsa is the means, then Truth is the end. It is Ahimsa that forms the base of the search for Truth. The goal of Truth is not to embarrass the wrong-doer but to bring a change of heart, and the aim of Non-Violence is not limited to non-injury but also infinite love for the other. As Gandhi states, "With truth combined with Ahimsa, you can bring the world to your feet".

Today's generation has not lived through the pre-independence time. We might be familiar with the names of our freedom leaders and their thoughts, but we do not realise the intensity with which their ideas inspired the masses. Gandhi's Truth and Ahimsa appealed to the masses and allowed a more significant mobilisation of the "common" people.

He rightfully recognised that if freedom had to be achieved, it could not come without the support of the common people of India. Truth, i.e. Satya, and Non-Violence, i.e. Ahimsa, continue to inspire millions of people all over the globe. Drawn from religious beliefs, he successfully managed to transition the two principles into civil understanding and bind people.

Undoubtedly, these ideas have a global appeal and rightfully so. In a world that has become accustomed to violence and war, unrest and disturbing events as ordinary pieces in their daily newspaper, it is crucial for us to go back to the ideas often considered "idealistic" and try to change the canvas of this world from bloodshed and darkness to the warmth of peace, cooperation and harmony. We can begin this journey by returning to Gandhi, understanding Gandhian thought and trying to imbibe those thoughts in our everyday lives.

 Annie Pruthi 

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Gandhian Concept of Truth and Non-Violence

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Conflicting global narratives on good or right living, based on conflicting truth-claims, can and often do lead to violence. We need not look far to find examples in contemporary religious, ethnic or ideological conflicts that confirm this. Yet, one of the central elements in the practice of nonviolence is that of satya, a Sanskrit term best translated as ‘truth’. In this paper I will address this paradox by arguing that satya points to a very specific conception of truth. By examining satya in the lives and work of both Mohandas Gandhi and Václav Havel, I will explore this notion as a practice of complexity handling. I explore this theme from the background of humanistic studies, a multi-disciplinary academic discipline that critically explores issues of (existential) meaning and humanization, or personal and social aspects of ‘good living’. In a globalising world in which people are confronted with conflicting global narratives on good living in an ever-increasing manner, and have no choice but to position themselves somewhere in this multiplicity of narratives, developing skills of handling complexity are crucial. I will argue in this paper that the theory and practice of nonviolence holds clues for how to do this. I use the term nonviolence here not only to point to the absence of violence in solving problems, but as a coherent set of ideas and practices that provide a framework for understanding (social) reality.

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One of the basic issues of modern times is how to construct a nonviolent and peaceful society and achieve the goal of a one-world community that lives in peace and harmony. Islam and Mahatma Gandhi’s approaches, in this regard, are remarkable. Both share same aims about common ethical concepts such as nonviolent, compassion for all creation, freedom, justice, patience and tolerance. There are remarkable similarities between the ideas of Gandhi and teachings of Islam, particularly in the concepts of peace and nonviolence are concerned. This article, thus, mentions about the concepts of peace and nonviolence (ahimsa) as propounded by them. It handles attributes of ahimsa and satyagraha such as “loving sinners and even your enemy”, “having no intention to harm others”, “rest on God”, “consistency of word and action”, which are held forth by Gandhi. Furthermore, this article deals with similarities of Gandhi’s teachings with “ehsan” (benevolence), “tavakol (trust in God), “al-niyyat” (intent) and “an-nasîha”(sincerity) in Islamic thought. Keywords: Ahimsa, Nonviolence, Peace, Satyagraha, Islam, Gandhi, Ehsan (Benevolence), Sincerity.

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Truth and non-violence: a foundation of a new world order.

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Truth and Non-Violence: A Foundation of a New World Order!

The ultimate objective of any society is to produce essential goods and to distribute them by following a just and an egalitarian procedure. Various institutions of any society could use different means for this purpose. Culture of a society depends on the nature of these means.

If these means are truthful, just and healthy, then the society emerged would surely be a constructive one. It reflects that only an ideal means would lead to an ideal society. Therefore, truth and non-violence are playing an utmost important role in Gandhian philosophy.

Based on the principles of truth and non-violence, what kind of a New World Order would emerge there? The article gives an extensive illustration on that. For that purpose it is divided into two parts while the first part deals with the basic principles of truth and non-violence, the second part describes nature of politics, economics, religion, education and position of women in this new world order.

Truth and Non-Violence in Gandhian Philosophy :

Truth and non-violence have been two foundational stones of Gandhian philosophy. Truth is the end and non-violence is the means to achieve this end. These are the two guiding principles for Gandhi. His whole life was devoted to these two principles.

To analysis the principle of truth in Gandhian philosophy, we can have three perspectives:

i. Etymological perspective,

ii. Religious perspective, and

iii. Moral perspective.

Let us start with the ethnological perspective. It is concerned with the origin of the meaning of the term truth, i.e., satya. The word ‘sat’ is employed in the sense of reality, goodness or praiseworthy action. Steadfastness in sacrifice, penance, and gift are also called sat, and so many actions for such purpose are called sat.

Whatever offering or gift is made, whatever rite is observed, without faith, is called asset. From the etymological perspective, what really is, what really can be said, and what really is to be done, in this worldly life, is called satya. Since, only truth is real, for Gandhi, it must be the ultimate objective of our life.

Accordingly:

Devotion to this truth is the sole justification for our existence. All our activities should be very breath of our being. When once this state in the pilgrims’ process is reached, all other rules of correct living will come without effort and obedience to them will be instructive. There should be Truth in thought. Truth in speech and Truth in action. To a man who has realized this truth in its fullness, nothing else remains to be known because all knowledge is neces­sarily included in it.

For Gandhi, essence of life lies in its simplicity and truth is the instrument, the medium to achieve it. An individual’s all small or big efforts are directed by truth only. As this is the truth, which will make an individual truthful in real sense of the term. Upanishads also correspond closely to these ideas. According to Mundaka Upanishad, “Truth prevails and not untruth”. Similarly, Taittiriya Upanishad says, “Speak the truth, observe duty, do not swerve from truth”.

The Gandhian conception of truth was equally influenced by all these ancient Indian religious-cum-philosophical writings. Truth­fulness is the only way which makes the seeker after truth a truthful person. Because truth is the ultimate knowledge, if we once learn how to apply this never-failing test of truth, we will at once be able to find out what is worth reading. Thus, etymologically only truth exists. To attain this truth is the ultimate objective of our life.

The real essence of life resides in this truth only. One who realizes this truth, nothing remains to be known because truth is the ultimate ruling authority. But one may raise this question: what is the inherent meaning of this truth? In which form we should accept it and how to obtain it? The religious perspective will satisfy all these queries in its fullest sense.

All our religious texts, scriptures, institutions and teachers accept only one existence on this earth and that is of God. Thus, if truth means sense of being or to be existed, then obviously it means God. For Gandhi, “to realize God, to realize the self and to realize truth are three experiences for the same development.” In his earlier days, Gandhi used to say that God is truth. It means to know about truth, one has to know God first.

For Gandhi:

God is self existent all knowing living force, which inheres every other force known to the world. God is even more intangible then other. He is both imminent and transcendent. In Gandhian philosophy the idea of God is explained from scien­tific, moral and philosophic perspectives.

Like a scientist, who usually propounds his thoughts on the basis of cause and effect relationship, Gandhi too explains if our beings are there along with our fathers and grandfathers then we are bound to accept this truth that there does also exist the father of the whole universe.

He again illustrates that there is a system in this world through which the whole universe of living beings is regulated. This system cannot be an abstract and immortal because abstract laws would not be applicable on living beings. And this law and system is nothing but the God himself. He himself is the law and the regulator of those laws.

According to Gandhi:

I do dimly perceive that whilst everything around me is ever changing all that change a living power that is changeless, that hold all together that creates, dissolves and regrets. This informing power and spirit is God. And since nothing else I see merely alone is.

And is this power benevolent or malevolent? See it as purely benevolent, for I can see in the midst of untruth, truth persists, in the midst of darkness, light persists. Hence, I gather that God is life, Truth and Light. He is love. He is the Supreme God.

In this manner, as a scientist, Gandhi tries his best to define the concept of God within the criteria of universally accepted definition by keeping aside all community, religion, time and space based definitions. But, it does not mean that universal-scientific-rational definition of God in Gandhian philosophy ignores the importance of individual­istic perspective. Gandhian philosophy even sees the God from moral perspective.

There are innumerable definitions of God, because His manifesta­tions are innumerable. They overwhelm me with wonder and are for a moment stun me. But I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found him, but I am seeking after him.

Accordingly, God can be seen from different perspectives. Even for theists its existence is there. “You may call yourself an atheist, but so long as you feel akin with mankind you accept God in practice. While defining God, sometimes, Gandhi also feels like oppor­tunist thinkers.

But Gandhi himself explains the reason in the following manner:

God is the indefinable something that we shall follow but do not know. To me God is Truth and Love; God is ethics and morality; God is fearlessness. God is source of light and life and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist … he embodies to those who need His touch.

He is purest essence. He simply is to those who have faith. He is all things to all man. He is in us and yet above and beyond us … He is long suffering. He is patient but He is also terrible … with Him ignorance is no essence. And withal He is ever forgiving for He always given us the chances to repent.

He is the greatest democrat the world knows, for He leaves us ‘unfettered’ to make our choice between evil and good. He is the greatest tyrant ever known, for He often dashes the cup from our lips and under the cover of the freewill leaves us a margin so wholly inadequate as to provide only mirth to himself… Therefore, Hinduism calls it all His sport.

Thus, like a spiritual thinker, Gandhi assumes God as knowledge, love, compassion, inner-consciousness, logic-reason etc. Not only this, but for him the reason and logical perception of atheists is also another form of God. And, ultimately, he said, “If it is possible for the human tongue to give the fullest description of God, I have come to the conclusion that for myself, God is Truth.” It shows that for Gandhi God can be defined from individualistic, pluralistic and in so many different universalistic perspectives.

Bhikhu Parekh, in his Gandhi’s Political Philosophy:

A Critical Examination says that earlier Gandhi used the term ‘Brahman’. But he was somewhat uneasy with its historical association and preferred to use such terms as eternal principle, supreme consciousness or intelli­gence, mysterious force and cosmic power, spirit or shakti.

Later, he preferred to call it satya or truth and thought that this was its only correct and fully significant description. Following Indian philo­sophical tradition, Gandhi used the term ‘satya’ to mean the eternal and unchanging, what alone persists in the midst of change and holds the universe together. For a long time he said that “God is Truth”, implying both that truth was one of God’s many properties and that the concept of God was logically prior to that of truth. In 1926, he reversed the proposition and said that truth is God. He regarded this as one of his most important discoveries and thought that it crystal­lized his years of grouping.

The new proposition implied that the concept of truth was prior to that of God, and that calling it God did not add anything new to it but only made it more concrete and comprehensible to the human mind. By following the norms of the Indian thinkers, Gandhi intended to distinguish between the impersonal and personal God, and preferred to call the Nirguna Brahman. Since the term ‘truth’ is likely to create confusion I shall use the more familiar terms cosmic spirit or power.

For Gandhi, the Brahman, truth or cosmic spirit was nirguna, i.e., beyond all qualities, including the moral. As he put it, “Fundamentally, God is indescribable in words …. The qualities we attribute to God with the purest of motives are true for us but fundamentally false.” And again beyond the personal God there is formless essence which our reason cannot comprehend.

The formless essence or cosmic spirit was not a ‘personal being’, and to think that it was represented a mistaken and ‘inferior’ conception of its nature. Although the cosmic power was without qualities, including personality, Gandhi argued that a limited being as man found it difficult to avoid attributing them to and personalizing it.

First, the human mind was so used the world of qualities that it did not find it easy to think in non-qualitative terms.

Second, man was not only thinking but also a feeling being and the ‘head’ and ‘heart’ had different requirements.

The quality-free cosmic power satisfied the head but was too remote, abstract and detached to satisfy the heart. The heart required a being with heart, one who could understand and respond to the language of feeling.

Even by accepting the various definitions and perceptions of truth discussed as above, Gandhian philosophy also present a universal notion of truth. Accordingly, “what is Truth?” “A difficult question, but I have solved it for myself by saying that it is what the voice within tells you. How then, you ask different people think of different and contrary truth? Well, seeing that the human mind works through innumerable media and that the evolution of the human mind is not the same for all, it follows that what may be truth for one may be untruth for another, and hence those who have made their experiments have come to the conclusion that there are certain condition to be observed in making those experiments….

It is because we have at the present moment everybody claiming the right of conscience without going through any discipline what so-even that there is so much untruth being delivered to a bewildered world. All that I can do true humility present to you is that truth is not to be found by anybody who has not got an abundant sense of humility. If you would swim on the bosom of ocean of Truth you must reduce yourself to a zero.”

It means, for Gandhi, there is no guarantee that we find the truth in any matter. But a continued selfless devotion in search of truth will make the seeker aware of errors and thus lead him further towards truth. What may appear as truth to one person will often appear untruth to another person. But that need not worry the seeker. Where there is honest effort, it will be realized that what appears to be different truth is like the countless and apparently different leaves of the same tree.

Does Not God Himself appear to difficult individuals in different aspects? But truth is the right designation of God. Hence, there is nothing wrong in everyone following truth according to his light. Indeed, it is a duty to do so.

That is why, Gandhi, while presenting the solution, suggested that “the golden rule of conduct… is mutual toleration, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall see Truth in fragment and from different angles of vision. Conscience is not the something for all. Whilst, therefore, it is a good guide for individual conduct, imposition of that conduct upon all will be an insufferable interference with everybody’s freedom of conscience.”

Thus, the etymological and ontological explanations reveal the physical and eternal meaning of truth. Now one may ask another question, how to achieve this truth which is both relative as well as absolute in nature. For Gandhi, life is the name of dialectics. Life persists in continuous experiments and consequent development. Absolute truth is the ultimate truth to be achieved. It is the eternal reality but it is not easy to achieve because human mind has its over limitations. Relative truth is the way towards absolute truth.

So long, according to Gandhi, “I must hold by the relative truth as I have conceived it. That relative truth must, meanwhile, be my beacon, my shield and buckler. Though this path is narrow and sharp as razor’s edge, for me, it has been the quickest and easiest. Even my Himalayan blunders have seemed trifling to me because I have kept strictly to this path. For the path has saved me from coming to grief, and I have gone forward according to my light.”

Two things are coming in mind at the same time. Firstly, it is only the continuous practice through which this absolute truth would be achieved. And secondly, the extent to which an individual is relating this absolute truth with his/her relative truth to that extent she/he will orient towards absolute truth.

That is why; this relative truth is different to different people. Therefore, Gandhi used to say that relative truth is the means to achieve the absolute truth. Thus, in Gandhian philosophy, we have both permanent and dynamic nature truth. Because, Gandhi never assumed that one’s truth is the ultimate truth.

Now we have knowledge about different meanings of truth, yet it is not easy to realize or internalize this truth in real sense of the term. Realization of truth is a continuous process for which moral values are essentially required to inculcate. Because for Gandhi “to realize God” is another expression for “to become God” and “to face God”.

Gandhi used to say, “I am but a seeker after truth. I claim to have found a way to it. I claim to be making a ceaseless effort to find it. But I admit that I have not yet found it. To find truth completely is to realize oneself and one’s destiny, to become perfect. I am painfully conscious of my imperfections and therein lies all the strength I possess, because it is a rare thing for a man to know his own limitations.

When the egotism-ego vanishes, something else grows that ingredient of the person that tends to identify itself with God, with humanity, all that lives. Therefore, once the reduction of one’s egotism self is complete, one comes face to face with God, find truth, and realizes the universal-self, the Self. The way of humanity is essentially the way of reducing egotism.

In Gandhian philosophy the concept of ‘self is considered from two perspectives: one is ‘universal self and second is ‘individual self. For Gandhian philosophy, the terms such as ‘the universal self can scarcely be given experimental meaning without resource of psychological and social processes of intense identification.

They cannot only be facilitated by the practice of yoga, but also by various kinds of voluntary social work as these are now carried out by dedicated people in many countries. According to Arne Naess, the recent development in psychiatry and psychology favouring reciprocity in the therapist-patient relation helps to make the identification easier.

There is an intimate relation between a belief in the ultimate oneness of all that lives and the belief that one cannot reach one’s own complete freedom without bringing about the freedom of others, or remove all feelings of pain without relieving the pain of others.

Gandhi says:

I do not believe … that an individual may gain spiritually and those who surround him suffer. I believe in advita (non-duality), I believe in the essentially unity of man and, for that matter, of all that lies. Therefore, I believe that if one man gain spiritually, the whole world gains with him and, if one man fall, the whole world fall to that extent.

Gandhi’s tendency towards collectivism and egalitarianism is beautifully expressed in the following words:

A drop torn from the ocean perishes without doing any good. If it remains a part of the ocean, it shares the glory of carrying on its bosom a fleet of mighty ships. And, an individual self, the seeker after truth, can become a universal self by putting himself last among his fellow creatures. Incul­cated moral values will impoverish a being in this way of becoming a universal being.

Hence, it can be said that truth is the sovereign principle. It is ultimate reality. It is the fundamental principle of all thought and action. Though it is ultimate and absolute by nature, even then, each and every living being can achieve it. A partial knowledge of this truth will never allow us to be perfect.

Hence, the different perspectives of truth in Gandhian philosophy, such as etymological perspective, religious perspective and moral perspective, try to give a complete meaning of truth. If etymological perspective believes in the existence of truth being the only reality, the religious perspective teaches the lesson that God is truth.

Whereas moral perspective says that God, love, compassion, motherhood etc. are the different shades of truth. Truth is the only universal principle which is prevailing everywhere. Moral perspective of truth encompasses all those different aspects of truth. A seeker after truth will never assume his truth as ultimate truth and thus will have respect for other’s truth also.

In this untruthful social order which is prevailing everywhere these days, Gandhi presents a very consistent, balanced, universally accepted definition of truth, which is the absolute reality and thus the ultimate goal of human life. It was the only purpose of all experiments which Gandhi did throughout his life. That is why, in his philosophy of ideal life, truth plays an important role.

Non-violence (Ahimsa):

For Gandhi, “It is practically impossible to disentangle Truth and non-violence. They are like the two sides of a coin, or rather of a smooth, unstamped metallic disc “who can say”, he asks “which is the observe, and which is the reverse.” Because of the fact, he says, “means and ends are convertible term in my philosophy of life. They say ends are after all everything. I would say, means are after all everything. As the means so the ends. There is no wall of separation between means and ends.

Indeed, the creator has given us control (and that to very limited) over means none over the ends. Realization of the goal is in exact proportion to that means. This is a proportion that admits of no expectations.” For Gandhi, to get the truth, ahimsa is the only instrument.

In his own words:

Ahimsa is my God. And Truth is my God. When I look for Ahimsa, Truth says find it out through me, when I look for Truth, Ahimsa says find it out through me. In fact, all the human values of a humanitarian society are inspired by the principle of ahimsa. In every religion, whether it is Hinduism, Buddhism or Jainism, this principle of ahimsa has played a very important role. In Indian philosophical tradition, this has been surviving since times immemorial.

Chandopnishad, Patanjali Yoga Sutras, and in so many philosoph­ical-intellectual traditions of India, Ahimsa has a very important place. Similarly, in the Jain philosophy, Ahimsa is assumed to be a big vow. In Trithankar Mahavir Swami’s words, “Ahimsa is a highest religion which is regulated by tolerance and strict practice of self-discipline.”

According to Jainism, all religions are the different branches of the same tree. The ultimate objective of all religions is self-realization or self-actualization. For Mahavir Swami, if the principle of ahimsa is required for an individual to regulate his/her life, then socially it is required just to secure the social life.

Accordingly, we are all part of an ultimate superpower. Whatever the sufferings, agonies and the problems we are facing in our life are also there in other’s life. We should try to understand this reality and ahimsa will teach us the importance of life. That is why; ahimsa is also called as a very strict principle of life.

Even in Buddhist tradition ahimsa plays important and centrifugal role. It is said in this tradition that ahimsa implies not to give injury to anyone by speech and action. The follower of this principle will never create problem for anyone and not even encourage anyone else to do so. Because to give injury or to encourage anyone for injury both are recorded as himsa.

Hence, in the philosophies of life, which were evolved with the evolution of human civilization in Indian society, ahimsa plays a very important and vibrant role. Its concept and norms are continuously changing according to the societal changes.

The Gandhian philosophy has its own significance to establish the notion of ahimsa in the modem context. By keeping all these issues in mind, we can say that for Gandhi, ahimsa was the biggest dharma and highest form of morality. It is the purest means to attain the end, i.e., God and truth.

Gandhi used to say:

By instinct I have been truthful, but not non-violent … I was capable of sacrificing non-violence for the sake of truth. In fact, it was in the course of my pursuit of Truth that I discovered non-violence. Gandhi accepted that truth is the end and ahimsa is the means.

The concept of ahimsa in Gandhian philosophy can be explained from two perspectives:

i. Negative ahimsa, and

ii. Positive ahimsa.

Negative Ahimsa :

From the negative perspective ahimsa means ‘a’+’himsa’, which again means, absence of himsa. The word is correctively written: hinsa or hinsa, meaning harming, hurting, injuring, from the root hins, harm, hurt, injure, slay…. The word hin may in turn have been a form of the verbal root han, which has a large number of meanings: strike, smite, slay, kill, destroy, dispel (darkness) etc. These meanings seem on the whole to be more predominantly physical than those of himsa. It reflects, in general conception, ahimsa means avoiding injury to anything on earth in thought, word or deed. But in this absolute sense, the applicability of ahimsa is not possible at all. Even Gandhi accepted this.

Perfect non-violence is impossible so long as we exist physically, for we would want some space at least to occupy. Perfect non-violence whilst you are inhabiting the body is only a theory like Euclid’s point or straight line, but we have to endeavor every moment of our lives.

If we turn our eyes to the time of which history has any record down to our own time, we shall find that man has been steadily progressing towards ahimsa. Our remote ancestors were cannibals. Then came a time when they were fed up with cannibalism and began to live on chase. Next came a stage when man was ashamed of leading the life of a wandering hunter.

He, therefore, took to agriculture and depended principally on mother earth for his food. Thus, from being a nomad he settled down to civilized stable life, founded villages and towns and from member of a family he became member of a community and a nation. All these are signs of progressive ahimsa and diminishing himsa.

Had it been otherwise, the human species should have been extinct by now, even as many of the lower species have disappeared. Prophets and avatars have also taught the lesson of ahimsa more or less. Not one should it be otherwise? Himsa does not need to be taught. Man as animal is violent, but, as spirit is non-violent.

The moment he awakes to the spirit within, he cannot remain violent. Either he progresses towards ahimsa or rushes to his doom. That is why, the prophets and avatars have taught us the lessons of truth, harmony, brotherhood, justice, etc., which are all attributes of ahimsa. Thus, evidences of the history prove it very well that in our life some himsa is inevitably essential. It is not possible to lead a life without himsa. Therefore, Gandhi explained the difference between himsa and ahimsa in detail. Firstly, to sustain a life, some himsa is essentially required and that must be exempted.

In Gandhi’s words:

Taking life may be a duty. We do destroy as much life as we think necessary for sustaining our body. Thus, for food we take life, vegetable and other, and for health we destroy mosquitoes and the like by the use of disinfectants etc. and we do not think that we are guilty of irreligious in doing so … for the benefit of the species we kill carnivorous beasts…

Secondly, to protect shelters if slaughter is required, then himsa can exempted.

In Gandhi’s own words:

Even man slaughter may be necessary in certain cases. Suppose a man runs amuck and goes furiously about, sword in hand and killing anyone that comes in his way and no one dares to capture him alive. Anyone who dispatches this lunatic will earn the gratitude of the community and be regarded as a benevolent man.

Thirdly, to take the life of a person, who is struggling for his life, is not himsa.

I see that there is an initiative horror of killing living beings under any circumstances whatever. For instance, an alternative has been suggested in the shape of confining ever rabid dogs in a certain place and allowing them to die a slow death.

Now my idea of compassion makes this impossible for me. I cannot for a moment bear to see a dog or for that matter any other living being, helplessly, suffering the torture of a slow death. I do not kill a human being thus circum­stanced because I have more helpful remedies. I should kill a dog similarly situated because in its case I am without a remedy.

Further, he added:

Should my child be attacked with rabies and there was no helpful remedy to relieve his agony, I should consider it my duty to take his life. Fatalism has its limits. We leave things to fate after exhausting all the remedies. One of the remedies and the final one to relieve the agony of a tortured child are to take his life.

All these statements prove that life itself involves so many violence but we have to choose the path of least violence. And negative concept of ahimsa in Gandhian philosophy tells us how to lead a non-violence life.

Positive Ahimsa :

“In its positive form, ahimsa means the largest love, greatest charity. If I am a follower of ahimsa, I must love my enemy. I must apply the same rules to the wrong-doer who is my enemy or a stranger to me, as I would do to my wrong-doing father or son. This active ahimsa necessarily includes truth and fearlessness. As man cannot deceive the loved one, he does not fear or frighten him or her.

Gift of life is the greatest of all gift; a man who gives it in reality, disarms all hostility. He has paved the way for an honorable understanding. And none who is himself subject to fear can bestow that gift. He must therefore be himself fearless. A man cannot then practice Ahimsa and be a coward at the same time. The practice of Ahimsa calls forth the greatest courage… For Gandhi, ahimsa really means that “you may not offend anybody; you may not harbour an uncharitable thought even in connection with one who may consider himself to be your enemy..”

Even all the scriptures of the world have registered emphatic and unequivocal testimony in favour of non-violence being practised by all, not merely singly but collectively as well. In all humanity, Gandhi had often felt that having no axes to grind and having by nature a detached mind, he gives a true interpretation of the Hindu, Islamic or other scriptures. For this humble claim, Gandhi anticipated the forgiveness of Sanatanists, Christians and Mussalmans.”

Defining the very concept of ahimsa in its positive form, Gandhi said: “Having flung aside the sword, there is nothing except the cup of love which I can offer to those who oppose me. It is by offering that cup that I expect to draw them close to me. I cannot think of permanent enmity between man and man and believing as I do in the theory of rebirth, I live in the hope that if not in this birth, in some other birth, I shall be able to hug all humanity in friendly embrace.”

It shows that by ahimsa Gandhi not only means avoiding injury to anything or anyone on earth in thought, words or deed, but it also implies active and creative love, charity, humanity etc. in order to create a peaceful, respectful and dignified world order.

Characteristics of the Devotee of Ahimsa :

We have explained the term ‘ahimsa’ above in a very wide spectrum from both negative and positive perspectives. But it is also essential to discuss about the characteristics of the devotee of ahimsa, as it will elaborate the meaning of the term in a more comprehensive manner. The first characteristic of a true devotee of ahimsa is love. Love in the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.

Ahimsa, in the form of love, is also related to other characteristics. It is ahimsa, from where the senses of forgiveness, generosity, tolerance, love etc. have its important role to play. That is why, Gandhi used to say that without ahimsa it is difficult to achieve the end of truth. But this love does not mean to love only your friends and fellow-beings.

In Gandhi’s words, “It is no non-violence if we merely love those that love us. It is non-violence only when we love those that hate us. I know how difficult it is to follow this grand law of love. But are not all great and good things difficult to do? Love of hater is the most difficult of all. But by the grace of God even this most difficult thing becomes easy to accomplish if we want to do it.” Gandhi assumes that God looks after us due to this love only. Hence, love is the first and foremost characteristic of the devotee of ahimsa.

He who seeks refuge in God ought to have a glimpse of the Atma that transcends the body; and the moment one has a glimpse of the imperishable Atma, one sheds the love of the imperishable body. Training in non-violence is thus diametrically opposed to training in violence. Violence is needed for the protection of things external; non-violence is needed for the protection of the Atma, for the protection of one’s honour.

In his manner, as a true devotee of the principle of ahimsa, Gandhi tried to flourish both the internal as well as external aspects of human personality. To inculcate this sense of ahimsa was his ultimate objective. Because, only a sensitive being will able to build a human society, which will be an ideal society in its own way. Further, fearlessness and self-confidence are other qualities of a devotee of ahimsa. In Gandhi’s words, “without fearlessness and self-confidence, ahimsa is not possible.”

He further says:

Non-violence and cowardice go ill together. I can imagine a fully armed man to be at heart a coward. Possession of arms implies an element of fear, if not cowardice. But true non-violence is impossi­bility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness. My creed of non-violence is an extremely active force. It has no room for cowardice or even weakness.

There is hope for a violent man to be some day non-violent, but there is none for a coward. I have therefore said more than once in these pages that if we do not know how to defend ourselves, our women and our places of worship by the force of suffering, i.e., non-violence, we must, if we are men, be at least able to defend all these by fighting.

For Gandhi, cowards can never be moral because they are uncommitted to their own integrity or moral projects, unless it is safe or convenient. Insisting that a person’s autonomy is always paramount, Gandhi repeatedly argues that open, straightforward violence on behalf of one’s own integrity is preferable to running away, but non-violence is superior to both.

Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence I would advice violence. Thus, when my eldest son asked me what he should have done, had he been present when I was almost fatally assaulted in 1908, whether he should have run away and seen me killed or whether he should have used his physical force which he could and wanted to use, and defended me, I told him that it was his duty to defend me even by using violence.

It shows, though Gandhi accepts the courage and bravery of soldiers, yet he finds the soldier’s courage is defective, incomplete and inferior to that of the Satyagrahi because the possession of arms implies an element of fear. But, true non-violence is impossibility without the possession of unadulterated fearlessness. Gandhi accepts fear but only in one condition and that is the fear of God.

The votary of ahimsa has only one fear that is of God. He who seeks refuge in God ought to have a glimpse of the Atma that transcends the body; and the moment one has a glimpse of the imperishable Atma one sheds the love of the perishable body.

In this way, ahimsa is a quality of Atma, which consists of the further qualities of love, generosity, fearlessness or in its holistic sense God itself. It does not mean not to fight against injustice and cruelty, but it means all these have to be avoided by conducive and truthful means. And it would be possible if the follower of ahimsa has proper control over his action and thought. It means, the devotee of ahimsa has to be tolerant and suffering-being.

It is not that I am incapable of anger, for instance, but I succeed on almost all occasions to keep my feelings under control. Whatever may be the result, there is always in me conscious struggle for following the law of non-violence deliberately and ceaselessly. Such a struggle leaves one stronger for it.

The more I work at this law, the more I feel the delight in my life the delight in the scheme of the universe. It gives me a peace and a meaning of the mysteries of nature that I have no power to describe. Thus, for Gandhi, qualities of toleration and patience are the biggest qualities of a devotee of ahimsa because it will expand the heart of the devotee where the other qualities like love, compassion, fraternity will naturally flourish. Even in religious field Gandhi welcomed toleration and compassion.

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all land to be blown about my house as freely as possible, but I refuse to be blown, of my feet by any of them. Mine is not a religion of the prison house, it has room for the least among God’s creatures, but it is proof against the insolent bride of race, religion or colour.

For Gandhi, ahimsa is the highest form of compassion and it is possible only if the seeker could remain himself humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should so humble that even the dust could crush him. Thus compassion, tolerance and forgiveness are some essential qualities of the devotee of ahimsa and truth.

In Gandhian philosophy, the concepts of ahimsa and truth can be applicable not only in religious and moral fields, but also in political, economic and social fields. He defined the new concept of ahimsa not only for individual life, but also for social life. For Gandhi, “non-violence is not an individual virtue but a course of spiritual and political conduct for the individual and community.”

A devotee of ahimsa must know how to control his emotions and anger in social and individual life. It is the collective being, community or society from where we can get inspiration for ahimsa. To have a balance and comprehensive society, ahimsa is mandatory.

Thus, a non-violent society would be a society where there would not be any discrimination on the basis of class, caste, sex, colour, creed, birthplace etc. If the individualistic concept of ahimsa means compassion, love, toleration and patience, then the socialistic concept of ahimsa means absence of exploitation and discrimination based domination, i.e., presence of a free society.

To conclude, ahimsa is a means not only to gain spirituality and salvation or Moksha for an individual, but also it is an instrument to preserve a comprehensive and balanced society. Consequently, ahimsa became first and foremost principle in the Gandhian philosophy and practice. To spread and disseminate it was the ultimate aim of his life for which he struggled throughout.

Other Aspects of a New World Order :

In the previous section we have seen how truth and non-violence have been playing significant role as foundational values for a new world order. It is a unique world order in the sense that nature of politics, economics, and religion as well as the system of educations are totally different in Gandhian plan of life. The section follows shall try to present a comprehensive picture of various tenets of this new world order one-by-one.

Politics of a new world order, which is essentially based on the principle of truth and non-violence, would be influenced by morality and spirituality. Gandhi’s ultimate aim was to spiritualize the politics. Different experiences, which he got through the different experi­ments, revealed him that truth and non-violence are those principles which govern our life. That is way; his politics is directed by spiritual and moral laws.

For him, even politics is a kind of social or religious work. Gandhi says, “For me politics bereft of religion are absolute dirt, even to be shunned. Politics concerns nation and that which must be one of the concerns of a man who is religiously inclined, in other words, a seeker after God and truth. For me, God and Truth are convertible terms, and if anyone told me that God is a God of untruth or a God of torture, I would decline to worship him. Therefore, in politics also we have to establish the kingdom of Heaven.”

That is why, Ronald J. Terchek says that “for Gandhi political life must be an echo of public life and there cannot be any division between the two and each to be morally directed.” As religion and morality provide a kind of inspiration to individuals personal life, similarly, his public life is also influenced by religion.

For Gandhi, politics is directly related with the development of nation and, it is possible, if we use truthful and non-violent means into political sphere. Politics, which is achieved through non-violent means and which is based on the religious values and moral norms in Gandhian philosophy, is explained in this section.

Non-Violent State :

Gandhi opines:

To me political power is not an end but one of the means of enabling people to better their condition in every department of life. Political power means capacity to regulate national life through national representatives. If national life becomes so perfect as to become self-regulated, no representation is necessary. There is then a state of enlightened anarchy. In such a state everyone is his own ruler.

He rules himself in such a manner that he is never a hindrance to his neighbours. In the ideal state therefore there is no political power because there is no state. But the ideal is never realized in life. Hence, the classical statement of Thoreau that Government is best which governs the least must be accepted…

Though Gandhi’s ultimate aim was to realize Ramrajya, yet Swaraj was his second best state. Ramrajya is an end, is an ideal, Swaraj is the way, Swaraj is the means, the reality. Swaraj is also based on the principles of satya and ahimsa. For Gandhi non-violence is the means to flourish the way of democratic life in real sense of the term.

Because the aim of democracy is to provide liberty as much as possible and it can be flourished only in a proper non-violent society. Therefore, non-violence should be cherished as much as possible. By criticizing the western concept of democracy Gandhi said that either they should declare themselves as dictators or should try to evolve themselves as democrats in real sense of the term.

For western philosophy the practice of non-violence is related with an individual’s personal life. But Gandhi applied it even in public and political spheres and presented a new form of politics oriented towards a peaceful, truthful, non-violent, humanitarian society.

By police force, he meant:

The police of my conception will, however, be of a wholly different pattern from the present day force. Its rank will be composed of believers in non-violence. They will be servants, not masters, of the people. The people will instinctively render them every help, and through mutual cooperation they will easily deal with ever-decreasing disturbances. The police force will have some kind of arms, but they will be rarely used, if at all. In fact, the policeman will be reformers.

Thus, in Gandhi’s non-violent society police force will adopt evolutionary steps for the sinner, not the discriminatory measures. In fact, the policemen would be reformers. Their police work would be confided primarily to robbers and dacoits. Similarly, there will be no room for communal disturbance. In this manner, Gandhi’s state is the synonym of real democracy.

Discussing about the internal set-up of a non-violent society, Gandhi says that it will be based on the principle of decentralization. For him, centralization of power is the main cause of exploitation and violence. Therefore, power must be decentralized. Within a decentralized structure, each and every state, institution, village and individual will get an opportunity for development.

In this structure composed of innumerable villages there will be ever widening, never ascending circles. Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual always ready to perish for the circle of villages, till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance but ever humble, sharing the majority of the oceanic circle of which they are integral units.

Accordingly, in such a scheme of non-violent society, villages will be ready to sacrifice themselves for the development of the state and similarly states will be ready to devote themselves for the development of the villages.

In this society all the members will help each other and no one would be assumed as more dominant and powerful. The concept of equality will be prevailed there in real sense of the term. All the members of the society would be totally devoted for the egalitarian and just development of the society.

It acknowledges that in the Gandhian non-violent society, state and other institutions will be treated as servants of the people. And as much as this sense of duty will be increased, the state will be withering away because now all the members are so conscious and alert for their duties and responsibilities that any regulating authority will not be required at all. It will now be a perfect enlightened anarchy, which is the ultimate objective to be achieved.

Autonomy of Individual in Gandhian State :

In Gandhian non-violent state every individual has to play his/her role in a right manner.

By accepting the importance of an individual, Gandhi said:

If the individual ceases to count, what is a society? Individual freedom alone can make man voluntarily surrender himself completely to the service of society. If it is wrested from him he becomes an automation and the society is ruined. No society can possibly be built on a denial of individual freedom.

Gandhi used to say that an individual is the combination of negative and positive instincts. Positively, he is the combination of spirituality, morality and rationality. Negatively, he looks for many hedonistic pleasures. Individual’s life is continuously struggling within all these positive and negative instincts.

Thus, the state should try to flourish the positive instincts in individual. As much the state will be non-violent, individual will consume his/her liberty and lead a moral life. For Gandhi, non-violent state will always be against the centralization of power.

I look upon an increase in the power of the state with the greatest fear, because although while apparently doing well by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality which lies at the root of all progress.

It shows that state represents violence in a concentrated and consolidated form. The individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence. Gandhi proposes the concept of voluntary organization to be replaced by the state.

It means that”… Real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. In other words, Swaraj is to be obtained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control authority.” Thus, in Gandhi’s non-violent state, moral individual is the ideal one.

Political Means: Satyagraha and Non-Violent Movement :

As politics and its various branches are based on the principles of truth and non-violence, similarly various institutions of politics are also influenced by these principles. Thus, an ideal state, which is non-violent, will be directed only by the ideal instrument.

And for Gandhi satyagraha is the main instrument in a non-violent ideal society. In fact, the philosophy, which works behind the action of satya­graha, is the philosophy of truth and non-violence itself. Satya is the end and ahimsa is the means. The term satyagraha stands for soul force.

According to Gandhi, “Passive resistance is a method of securing right by personal suffering; it is the reverse of resistance by arms. When I refuse to do a thing that is repugnant to my conscience, I use soul force. For instance, the government of the day has passed a law which is applicable to me. I do not like it. If by using violence I force the government to repeal the law, I am employing what may be termed body force. If I do not obey the law and accept the penalty for its breach, I use soul force. It involves sacrifice of self.”

Actually, satyagraha stands for two terms – satya and agraha. Satya means truth and agraha means insisting on something without becoming obstinate or uncompromising. When the two terms are combined, there is a beautiful duality of meaning, implying both insis­tences on and for truth.

A moral agent insists on truth as he sees it, but acknowledges that he might be wrong and invites his opponents to join him in a cooperative search for truth. That is why, sometimes, it is also called as sacrifice of self or active love for others.

Gandhi writes:

Passive resistance is an all sided sword, it can be used anyhow, it bless him who uses it and him against whom it is used. Without drawing a drop of blood it produces far reaching results. It never ruined and cannot be stolen. Competition between passive resistors does not exhaust. The sword of passive resistance does not require a scabbard. It is strange indeed that you should consider such a weapon to be weapon merely of the weak.

To become a passive resister is easy enough but it is also equally difficult. All satyagrahis are bound one and all to refrain at all hazard from violence, not to throw stones or in any-way whatever to injure anybody. Satyagrahi, in Gandhian formulation, would be a self-disciplined person.

Truth, non-violence, Brahmacharya, Aparigraha, Astaya, fearlessness is some guiding principles for a satyagrahi. By following all these principles in her/his individual life, an individual may become a true satyagrahi individually as well as socially. A true satyagrahi must have faith in good human nature.

A person, who himself is not free from all these whims, how he/she will handle the situations at individual or social spheres. Gandhi said after his great deal of experience that “those who want to become passive resister for the service of the country have to observe perfect chastity, adopt poverty, follow truth and cultivate fearlessness.”

He further said:

Chastity is one of the greatest disciples without which the mind cannot attain requisite firmness. A man who is unchaste loses stamina, becomes emasculated and cowardly. By following all these rules and regulations a satyagrahi can be a good and balanced person and can use all these practices in public and political affairs. Gandhi assumes that only self-disciplined, fearless and non-violent can become a true satyagrahi. And it is not difficult to be a satyagrahi because all these qualities are inherent in human nature.

As a political instrument, satyagraha can be exercised in the following ways:

Non-Violent Movement:

Gandhi believes that it is citizen only who allows the state to do exploi­tation. If people will not accept the bad laws, the state automatically will not be able to pass bad legislation. Accordingly, “that we should obey laws whether good or bad is a new fangled notion. There was no such thing in former days.

The people disregarded those laws they did not like and suffered the penalties for their breach. It is contrary to our manhood if we obey laws repugnant to our conscience. Such teaching is opposed to a religion and means slavery.” Law-abiding citizen means the satyagrahi citizen and a true satyagrahi will always protest against injustice and exploitation. But, the way to protest will always be unique in its terms.

Following are some non-violent programmes which Gandhi used during 1920s:

i. To resign from each and every kind of government services, honours and posts.

ii. Non-participation, directly or indirectly, in any public/government functioning.

iii. To close all the educational institutions funded by government.

iv. To protest against government laws, lawyers and conflicts rising by government and try to organized their own panchayat institutions.

v. To boycott all the foreign-based services protected by government.

vi. To popularize swadeshi and boycott of the foreign goods.

Satyagraha would be different in different context. If a satyagrahi is protesting against his opponent and he can do his work without any disturbance, then it will be called self-purification process in a very strict sense because apparently your opponent is not coming in the way.

In other aspect, satyagraha may be very radical in nature. Because here your opponent would not be able to do any work without your presence, without your help and cooperation. Hence, here lots of considerations are required before going through the path of satyagraha. If really an atmosphere becomes so stressful and unbearable then only one should adopt this type of protest for the sake of dharma, humanity and morality.

Civil Disobedience Movement:

Like non-cooperation, civil disobedience is another branch of the same tree i.e., satyagraha. According to Gandhi, it is the duty of every satyagrahi to resist and disobey all those laws, which he considers to be unjust and immoral. But he insisted that such disobedience must be civil in the sense of being polite, dutiful and non-violent.

Gandhi believes that if you are disobeying inhuman laws, there is not any harm. Actually, most people not understand the complicated machinery of the government. They do not realize that every citizen silently but nonetheless certainly sustains the government of the day in the way of which he has no knowledge.

Every citizen therefore renders himself responsible for every act of his government. And it is quite proper to support it so long as the actions of the government are bearable. But when they hurt his nation, it becomes his duty to withdraw his support.

With this conception in his mind, Gandhi insists that no government exists independently of its people. Citizens may accede to their government because they generally support it. Or, they may disagree with the state’s conduct but nevertheless acquiesce because the costs of dissent are high, because they are felicitous, or because they are preoccupied with their own individual concerns.

Whatever the reasons, Gandhi argues; government rests on their sufferance, even though the state or individuals might deny the relationship. By making power visible and by teaching people that they are the basis of power, he thinks he can domesticate it and make it accountable to clear-righted citizens.

Gandhi credits individuals with power appear in his call for the individual to stand alone, if necessary, to reclaim power. On his account, lonely assertion of power can have a powerful demon­stration effect as others come to see their complicity in their own domination and understand that they can recover the power they ceded to others.

By explaining the inherent meaning of civil disobedience, Gandhi tells if there is a democratic institution, government is very much cooperative to their citizens, and citizens are ready to do work with government and if it’s different agencies are very satisfactory, then there is no need to go for civil disobedience. Because for small cause one cannot launch civil disobedience movement. It does not mean that small cause is not important. It is important and can be solved by small gathering instead of going for a movement.

Tolerance and patience are playing an important role in civil disobedience. The person who is more tolerant and more patient will prove himself as a good follower of the principle of civil disobedience. By locating ‘civil disobedience’,

If civil disobedience movement is taking a form/shape where innocent people are losing their life and if Satyagraha is realizing the fact that it is going to be uncontrollable, then it would be better to take the movement back.

In this manner, one can infer that the disobedience of law will be called disobedience only if it is non-violent in real sense of the term. The ultimate objective of civil disobedience movement, which is non-violent, is to win the opponent by facing all the kinds of inhuman atrocities.

Strikes are also taken by Gandhi as a non-violent political action. For Gandhi, “I do not deny that such strikes can serve political ends. But they do not fall within the plan of non-violent non-cooperation. It does not require much effort of the intellect to perceive that it is most dangerous thing to make political use of labour until labours understand the political conditions of the country and are prepared to work for the common good. This is hardly to be expected of them all of a sudden and until they have bettered their own conditions so as to enable them to keep body and soul together in a decent manner.

The greatest political contribution that labourer can make is to improve their own condition, to become better informed, to insist on their rights, and even to demand proper use by their employers of the manufactured goods in which they have had such an important hand. The proper evolution, therefore, would be for the labourers to raise themselves to the status of part proprietors. Strikes, therefore, for the present situation should only take place for the direct betterment of labourers’ lot, and when they have acquired the spirit of patriotism, for the regulation of prices of the manufactured goods.

The basic conditions of a successful strike are as follows:

i. The cause of the strike must be just.

ii. There should be practical unanimity among the strikers.

iii. There should be no violence used against non-strikers.

iv. Strikes should be able to maintain themselves during the strike period without falling back upon union funds and such therefore occupy themselves in some useful and productive temporary occupation.

v. A strike is no remedy when there is enough other labour to replace strikers. In that case, in the event of unjust treatment or inadequate wages or the like, resignation is the remedy.

vi. Successful strikes have taken place even when the above condi­tions have not been fulfilled, but that merely proves that the employers were weak and had a guilty conscience.

Thus, it is clear that there should be no strike which is not justifiable on merits. No unjust strike should succeed. All public sympathy must be withheld from such strikes. The public have no means of judging the merits of a strike, unless they are backed by impartial persons enjoying public confidence. Interested men cannot judge the merit of their own case. Hence, there must be an arbitrator accepted by the parties or a judicial adjudication.

Fasting is a potent weapon for the satyagrahi. Like another means of non-violent resolution, fasting is also an instrument of self-purification and that of your opponent. It cannot be taken by everyone. According to Gandhi, “Mere physical capacity to take it is no qualification for it … it should never be mechanical effort or a mere imitation. It must come from the depth of one’s soul. It is, therefore, rare.”

A Satyagrahi should fast only as a last resort when all other avenues of redress have failed. There is no room for imitation in fasts. He, who has no inner strength, should not dream of it, and never with attachment to success … Ridiculous fasts spread like plague and are harmful.” For Gandhi, “there can be no room for selfishness, anger, lack of faith, or impatience in a pure fast…. Infinite patience, firm resolve, single mindedness of purpose, perfect clam and no anger must of necessity be there.

But since it is impossible for a person to develop these entire qualities all at once, no one who has not devoted himself to following the laws of ahimsa should undertake a Satyagrahi fast. It shows how Gandhi has made fast as a public/political instrument, which was earlier treated only as an individual effort. Public fasting increases the confidence of la5iTnen and also alert them for previous mistakes. It is the strongest instrument to change the heart of your opponent.

Hizrat is another very significant instrument of non-violent movement. Hizrat means to leave your place by your own consent or to leave the place of exploitation to protest against exploitation. For Gandhi, Hizrat is an important instrument in the hands of satyagrahi. To preserve their self-respect and self-esteem, the exploited people are bound to leave the place. To leave the place where imperialist or dominating rule is prevailing. Satyagrahi has to face all these physical, emotional and mental sufferings alone. Others will not be invited.

Thus, Gandhi tried his best to present new tools to protest. Actually, he intended to attach ‘Neeti’ with ‘Rajya’. His concept of politics revolved around the concept of morality or humanity. Politics is an instrument in one’s hand to establish a new world order which would be more humane and conducive.

Economics :

What Gandhi means by real progress is not merely material progress but integral human progress where moral progress is of high priority. He suspects that material advancement has a strong tendency to lead moral decay.

For Gandhi, “I must confess that I do not draw a sharp or any distinction between economics and ethics-economics that hurt the well-being of an individual or a nation are immoral and, therefore, sinful. Thus, the economics that permit one country to prey upon another are immoral. It is sinful to buy and use articles made by sweated labour.”

Accordingly, true economics never militates against the highest ethical standard, just as all true ethics to be worth its name must at the same time be also good economics. An economics that inculcates Mammon worship, and enables the strong to amass wealth at the expense of the weak, is a false and dismal science. It spells death. True economics, on the other hand, stands for social justice; it promotes the good of all equally including the weakest, and is indispensable for decent life.

Gandhi said that the economic constitution of India and for the matter of that of the world should be such that no one under it should suffer from want of food and clothing. In other words, everybody should be able to get sufficient work to enable him to make the two ends meet. And this ideal can be universally utilized only if the means of production of the elementary necessities of life remain in the control of the masses. These should be freely available to all as God’s air and water are or ought to be; they should not be made a vehicle for the exploitation of others.

Their monopolization by any country, nation or group of persons would be unjust. The neglect of this simple principle is the cause of the destitution that we witness today not only in this land but in other parts of the world too. Actually, Gandhi wants to propound such an economic order where each and everyone will be treated equally. Quarrel between capital and labour will be stopped for ever.

“I want to bring about an equalization of status. The working classes have all these centuries been isolated and relegated to a lower status. They have been shoodras, and the word has been interpreted to mean an inferior status. I want to allow no differentiation between the son of a weaver, of an agriculturalist and of a school- master.

For Gandhi, economic equality is the master to non-violent independence. Working for economic equality means abolishing the eternal conflict between capital and labour. It means the levelling down of the few rich in whose hands is concentrated the bulk of the nation’s wealth on the one hand, and a levelling up of the semi-starved naked millions, on the other.

A non-violent system of government is clearly an impossibility so long as the wider gulf between the rich and the hungry millions persists. The contrast between the palaces of New Delhi and the miserable hovels of the poor, labouring class cannot last one day in a free India in which the poor will enjoy the same power as the richest in the land.

But one may put this question: how to propound an economic order on the basis of equality? According to Gandhi, the first step in this direction would be the principle of controlling self or in other words the principle of trusteeship.

A violent and bloody revolution is a certainty one day unless there is a voluntary abdication of riches and the power which riches give and sharing them for the common good. I adhere to my doctrine of trust­eeship in spite of the ridicule that has been poured upon it. It is true that it is difficult to reach. So is non-violence difficult to attain. But we made up our mind in 1920 to negotiate that steep ascent.

According to the doctrine of trusteeship, one may not possess a rupee more than their neighbours. How is this to be brought about? Non-violently? Or should the wealthy be dispossessed of their posses­sions? To do this, we would naturally have to resort to violence. This violent action cannot benefit society.

Society will be the person, for it will lose the gifts of a man who knows how to accumulate wealth. Therefore, the non-violent way is eventually superior. The rich man will be left in possession of his wealth, of which he will use what he reasonably requires for his personal needs and will act as a trustee for the remainder to be used for society. In this argument honesty on the part of the trustee is assumed.

As soon as a man looks upon himself as a servant of society, earns for its sake, spends for its benefit, then purity enters into earrings and there is Ahimsa in his venture. Moreover, if man’s mind turn towards this way of life, there will come about a peaceful revolution in society, and that without any bitterness.

Further, Gandhi’s concept of economics is centered not only up to individual. Explaining his concept of economics at societal level, Gandhi criticized the western notion of economics where matter is at the centre. Contrary to this, in Gandhian philosophy, an individual is a supreme consideration.

For Gandhi, man himself is a big asset. That is why Gandhi used to say; whatever we are doing our supreme consideration must be for human cause. But, in modern economic set-up, we have ignored all the moral and human aspects of the society. Gandhi has criticized all the symbols of modern economy one by one. At the first step he has condemned machines.

In Hind Swaraj, He writes:

Today machinery merely helps a few to ride on the backs of millions. The impetus behind it all is not the philanthropy to save labour, but greed. It is against this constitution of things that I am fighting with all my might…. The supreme consideration is man. The machine should not tend to atrophy the limbs of man. The machinery which is developing today is becoming the means of exploitation and further domination by rich countries and rich people. Today’s machine-based industrialization of economy is centered on profit-making tendency.

Gandhi criticizes the machine being responsible for creating the panic situation of unemployment. Imagine a nation working only five hours per day on an average, and this not by choice but by force of circumstances, and you have a realistic picture of India. He also explains the reason why our average life rate is deplorably low, and why we are getting more and more impoverishment is that we have neglected our 7, 00,000 villages. We have indeed thought of them, but only to the extent of exploiting them.

We read thrilling accounts of the “glory that was India and of the land that was flowing with milk and honey; but today it is a land of starving millions. We are sitting in this time pandal under a blaze of electronic lights, but we do not know that we are burning these lights at the expense of the poor. We have no right to use these lights if we forget that we owe these to them.”

Gandhi was not against machines. He himself said, “How can I be when I know that even this body is a most delicate piece of machinery? The spinning wheel is a machine; a little toothpick is a machine. What I object to is the craze for machinery, not machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery.

Men go on ‘saving labour’ till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour not for a fraction of mankind but for all. I want the concentration of wealth, not in the hands of a few, but in the hands of all.” He looks for localized production as it is required there in the society.

When production and consumption both become localized, the temptation to speed up production, indefinitely and at price, disap­pears. All the endless difficulties and problems that our present day economic system presents, too, would then come to an end.

Gandhi believed that industrialization on a mass scale will necessarily lead to passive or active exploitation of the villages as the problems of competition and marketing come in. Therefore, we have to concentrate on the village being self-contained, manufacturing mainly for use.

Provided this character of the industry is maintained, there would be no objection to villages using even the modem machines and tools that they can make afford to use. Only they should not be used as a means of exploitation of others.

Gandhi’s industrialization will be established by industrious people. His industrialization will be non-violent in nature. As the non-violent nation will be self-dependent. And, our self-dependency will definitely reduce our dependence on machines. Gandhi propounds the philosophy of Village republic’. He was very much confident about the fact that Swaraj will be established by village industry (then only economic will be inspired by morality).

My idea of village Swaraj is that it is a complete republic, independent of its neighbours for its own vital wants and yet independent for many others in which dependence is necessary. Thus, every village’s first concern will be to grow its own food crops, and cotton for its cloth.

It should have a reserve for its cattle, recre­ation and playground for adults and children-. Then if there is more land available, it will grow useful money crops, thus excluding ganja, tobacco, opium and the like.

Thus, the economic world order based on truth and non-violence will totally be ethical in nature. It is possible only if each and every unit of the society will be self-sufficient and self-dependent. Therefore, in Gandhian philosophy, each and every aspects of life would be ethical and moral principles. In Gandhian philosophy economics is a part of moral life as its ultimate aim is to propound an ideal and moral world order.

In the new world order religion will play an important and vibrant role. In fact, God has always been the centre of Gandhian thought. In his philosophy the meaning of religion has its unique understanding.

Let me explain what I mean by religion. It is not the Hindu religion, which I certainly prize above all religion, but the religion which transcends Hinduism, which changes one’s very nature, which binds one indissolubly to the truth within and which-ever purifies. It is a permanent element in human nature which … leaves the soul restless until it has found itself.

Religion does not mean any particular religion or community. Religion is one which can flourish an individual’s moral and ethical nature. According to Gandhi, the essence of religion lies in morality and humanity. For a true morality religion plays a similar role as water plays for seed within clay. For Gandhi, religion is not only limited up to the concept and essence of God but it is a day-to-day practice. Our entire daily works, whether it is economics, politics, religion or all our deeds, are supposed to achieve the same distinctions.

They are intermingled. They are interlinked or interdepended. Separately, they do not have any importance and relevance. Ultimately, we want to know our own nature with different experiences gained in life as self-realization is the absolute end.

Actually, gandhian philosophy of religion propounds the concept of fraternity and brotherhood via different religions. Even then he finds the idea of religious convention profoundly irreligious and offensive. For Gandhi, every man is born into a particular religion.

Since no religion is wholly false, he should be able to work out his destiny in and through it. And if he feels attracted to some aspects of another religion, he should be at liberty to borrow them. Gandhi cannot see why a man should even need to give up his religion.

Gandhi acknowledges that men might find sufficient similarities between their conceptions of God to induce them to belong to a common religion. However, since men are naturally different, their conception and way of relating to God can never be completely identical. Every organized religion must therefore remain a loose fellowship of believers, and accommodate, even encourage, individual diversity. Insistence on total creedal conformity derives their individuality, violates their spiritual integrity and leads to untruth.

In fact, every major religion articulates a unique vision of God and emphasizes different features of the human condition. The idea of God as a loving father is most fully developed in Christianity, and the emphasis on love and suffering is also unique to it. I cannot say that it is singular, or that it is not to be found in other religions. But the presentation is unique. Rigorous monotheism and the spirit of equality are most beautifully articulated in and particular to Islam.

The distinction between the impersonal and personal conceptions of God, the principle of the unity of all life and the doctrine of ahimsa are distinctive to Hinduism. Every religion has a distinct moral and spiritual ethos and represents a wonderful and irreplaceable ‘spiritual composition’. To a truly religious man all religions should be equally dear.

Gandhi argues that since the cosmic power is infinite and the limited human mind can grasp only a ‘fragment’ of it, and that too inadequately, every religion is necessarily limited and partial. Even then we cannot say them as untruth. But again they won’t be called as perfect or absolute one. Those claiming to be directly revealed by God are revealed to men with their fair share of inescapable human limita­tions and communicated to others in necessarily inadequate human languages.

To claim that a particular religion offers an exhaustive or even definitive account of the nature of the cosmic spirit is to imply both that some men are free from inescapable human limitations and that God is partial and thus to be guilty of both spiritual arrogance and blasphemy. Since no religion is final and perfect, each can greatly benefit from a dialogue with other religion.

In fact, for Gandhi, every human being has a unique psycho­logical and spiritual constitution. He cannot leap out of it anymore than he can jump out of his body. Every God is therefore someone’s God, that is, his or her way of understanding the cosmic spirit.

No individual can avoid looking at the cosmic power through his own eyes and conceptualizing it in terms of his uniquely personal disposi­tions, tendencies and needs. Since the very idea of a personal God has its origin to man’s moral and emotional needs, and the latter vary from individual to individual, Gandhi insists that one cannot consis­tently accept the legitimacy of a personal God and deny each individual’s right to form his own distinctive conception of Him.

According to him, “Religion represents the way man conceives and relates himself to God”. At another place, he writes, “The formal, customary, organized or historical religions center on the personal, and the pure or eternal religion around the impersonal God. For Gandhi Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the other religion all based on specific conceptions of a personal God. They involve distinct forms of prayer, worship, rituals and beliefs about His nature and relation to the world, and are sectarian.”

The true or pure religion lies beyond them, and has nothing more and nothing less than recognizing that the universe is pervaded and governed by a cosmic and organizing one’s entire life accordingly. It is basically living in the contrast, intimate and unmediated presence of the cosmic spirit, and represents the purest form of spirituality. Thus, the true religion ‘transcends [but] does not supersede’ organized religions and constitutes their common ‘basis’ and connecting ‘link’.

Education :

In the new world order, which will be based on the foundations of truth and non-violence, education will also play a very healthy and positive role. For Gandhi, to establish a new society, a new approach to education will be required. That is why; he did a very serious and continuous effort with his fellow-beings.

For Gandhi, the ultimate aim of each and every type of education is to flourish inherent qualities of an individual. An education system, where an individual’s intellectual, spiritual and physical aspects are adhered, will be called as true education.

It can be assumed that an individual’s personality has three aspects, viz., intelligence, emotion and appetite. Theoretically, these may be termed by different terminologies but in actual practice they are not different from each other.

In psychology, these is called as intelligence, emotions and appetite, whereas in daily life as wisdom (Gyan), devotion (Bhakti) and service (Karma). All these three elements are there within an individual’s inherent personality. Now how to make a comprehensive, consistent and balanced development of these aspects of human personality would be the ultimate aim of education in Gandhian philosophy.

Through the proper constructive programme, Gandhi outlined the system of education in his own and unique way, in the following manner:

Basic Education :

The objective of the basic education is that of intellectual, physical and moral development of the children through the medium of a handicraft. But I hold that any scheme, which is sound from the educative point of view and effectively managed, is bound to be sound economically.

Basic education links the children, whether of the cities or the villages, to all that is best and lasting in India. It develops both the body and mind, and keeps the child rooted to the soil with a glorious vision of the future in the realization of which he or she begins to take his or her share from the very commencement of him or her career in school.

Let us now have a cursory glance at the fundamentals of basic education:

i. All education to be true must be self-supporting, that is to say, in the end it will pay its expenses excepting the capital which will remain intact.

ii. In it the cunning of the hand will be utilized even up to the final stage, that is to say, hands of the pupils will be skillfully working at some industry for some period during the day. All education must be imparted through the medium of the provincial language.

iii. In this scheme of education there is no room for giving sectional religious training. Fundamental universal ethics will have full scope.

iv. This education, whether it is confined to children or adults, male or female, will find its way to the home of the pupils.

v. Since millions of students receiving this education will consider themselves as of the whole of India, they must learn an inter-provincial language. This common inter-provincial speech can only be Hindustani written in Nagari or Urdu scripts. Therefore, pupils have to master both the scripts.

The introduction of manual training, as an important part of basic education, will serve a double purpose in a poor country like ours. It will pay for the education of our children and teach them an occupation on which they can fall back in after-life, if they choose, for earning a living. Such a system must make our children self-reliant. Nothing will demoralize the nation so much as that we should learn to despise labour.

Higher Education:

While discussing about higher education Gandhi said, “I would revolu­tionize college education and relate it to national necessities. There would be degrees for mechanical and other engineers. They would be attached to the different industries which should pay for the training of the graduates they need. Thus, the Tatas would be expected to run a college for training engineers under the supervision of the state, the mill associations would run among them a college for training graduates whom they need.”

Similarly, Gandhi said, for the other industries that may be named. Commerce will have its college. There remain arts, medicine and agriculture. Several private arts colleges are today self-supporting. The state would, therefore, cease to run its own. Medical colleges would be attached to certified hospitals.

As they are popular among moneyed men, they may be expected by voluntary contributions to support medical colleges. And agricultural colleges to be worthy of the name must be self-supporting. Gandhi said that he had a painful experience of some agricultural graduates. Their knowledge is superficial.

They lack practical experience. But if they had their apprenticeship on farms, which are self-restrained and answer the requirements of the country, they would not have to gain experience after getting their degrees and at the expense of their employers.

The suggestion has often being made that in order to make education compulsory, or even available to every boy and girl wishing to receive education, our schools and colleges should become almost, if not wholly, self-supporting not through donation or state aid or fees extracted from students, but through remuneration work done by the students themselves. This can only be done by making industrial training compulsory. And it is possible only when our students begin to recognize the dignity of labour. Gandhi was totally against the concept of scholarship.

Is it not far better that we find work for poor students than that we pauperize them by providing free studentship? It is impossible to exaggerate the harm we do to Indian youth by filling their minds with the false notion that it is ungentlemanly to labour with one’s hands and feet for one’s livelihood or schooling.

The harm done is moral and material, indeed much more moral than material. A free ship lies and should lie like a load upon a conscientious lad’s mind throughout his whole life. No one likes to be reminded in after life that he had to depend upon charity for his education.

Contrarily where is the person who will not recall with pride those days if he had the good fortune to have had them when he worked in a carpentry shop or the like for the sake of education himself – mind, body, and soul? Further, Gandhi presents a very unique concept of university education.

Universities will look after the whole of the field of education and will prepare and approve courses of studies in the various depart­ments of education. No private school should be run without the previous sanction of the respective Universities.

University charters should be given liberally to any body of persons of proved worth and integrity, it being always understood that the Universities will not cost the state anything except that it will bear the cost of running a Central Education Department.

About adult education, Gandhi said that if I had charge of adult education, I should begin with opening the minds of the adult pupils to the greatness and vastness of their country. The villager’s India is contained in his village. If he goes to another village, he talks of his own village as his home. Hindustan is for him a geographical term.

We have no notion of the ignorance prevailing in the villages. The villages know nothing of foreign rule and its evils … they do not know that the foreigner’s presence is due to their own weakness and their ignorance of the power they possess to rid themselves of the foreign rule.

Gandhi continues “My adult education means, therefore, first, true political education of the adult by word of mouth … side by side with the education by mouth will be the literary education. This is itself a specially. Many methods are tried in order to shorten the period of education.”

Gandhi believes that mass illiteracy is India’s sin and shame and must be liquidated…. Of course, the literacy campaign must not begin and end with knowledge of the spread of useful knowledge. The dry knowledge of the three R’s is not even now, it can never be, a permanent part of the village’s life.

They must have knowledge given to them which they must use daily. It must not be thrust upon them. They should have the appetite for it. What they today is something they neither want nor appreciate.

Give the villagers village arithmetic, village geography, village history and the literary knowledge that they must use daily, i.e., reading and writing letters, etc. They will treasure such knowledge and pass on to the other stages. They have no use for books which give them nothing of daily use.

About religious education, Gandhian philosophy is very much clear. Gandhi does not believe that state can concern itself or cope with religious education. He believes that religious education must be the sole concern of religious associations. He is against the mixing up of religion and ethics.

I believe that fundamental ethics is common to all religions. Teaching of fundamental ethics is undoubtedly a function of the state. By religion I have not in mind fundamental ethics but what goes by the name of denominationalism.

We have suffered enough from State-aided religion and a State Church. A society or a group, which depends partly or wholly on State aid for the existence of its religion, does not deserve, or, better still, does not have any religion worth the name.

By explaining the curriculum of religious education, Gandhi said that it should include a study of the tenets of faith other than one’s. For this purpose the students should be trained to cultivate the habit of understanding and appreciating the doctrines of various great religions of the world in a spirit of reverence and broad-minded tolerance.

This, if properly done, would help to give them a spiritual assurance and a better appreciation of their own religion … there is one rule, however, which should always be kept in mind while studying all great religion and, that is, that one should study them only through the writings of known votaries of the respective religions.

As for women’s education, Gandhi was not very much sure whether it should be different from men’s and when it should begin. But he was a firm supporter that women should have the same facilities as men and even special facilities where necessary.

The most important aspect of the Gandhian philosophy of education is the role played by teachers. For Gandhi, all teachers should essentially be men of character. Even if teacher is not an expert in his subject, he must be a man of character.

The teacher who is concerned only with syllabus to be taught, not with the character of his student, he would not be called as true teacher at all. Thus, education of character is much more important than the literary education. Apart from a man of character, a teacher must also be very much aware about the new development in his field. A teacher should always be ready for new initiative.

… Every teacher, if he is to do full justice to his pupils, will have to prepare the daily lesson from the material available to him. This, too he will have to suit to the special requirements of his class. Real education has to draw out the best from the boys and girls to be educated. This can never be done by packing ill-assorted and unwar­ranted information into the heads of the pupils.

It means, a teacher should lead a more scholastic life than a student. A good teacher should always try to evolve new and more better ways of teaching so that the students can raise questions and the teacher should try to solve them in a more gentle and intelligent way.

Like teacher’s responsibility, Gandhi also stresses on student’s sense of duty. He tells that students should keep their faith in their teachers. A good and healthy teacher-student relationship would be there in Gandhian scheme of education.

The above scheme of education in Gandhian thought shows that education system, which is very much unique here, will play vibrant role for societal reconstruction. As Gandhi said that the aim of education should be to reconstruct the whole society and not only a student. New society will be created by a new education system.

This system will definitely be not partial or individual in nature but it would be totally comprehensive and balanced one. It will produce such a kind of curious students who are really devoted for the devel­opment of their society.

Position of Women :

In the plan of life based on non-violence, women have as much right to shape their own destiny as men. But as every right in a non-violent society proceeds from the previous performance of a duty, it follows that rules of social conduct must be framed by mutual cooperation and constitution.

The non-violent society would be based on the following principle:

Woman is the companion of man gifted with equal mental capac­ities, she has the right to participate in every minute detail in the activities of man and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him. She is entitled to a supreme place in her own sphere of activity as man is in his.

This ought to be the natural condition of things and not as a result only of learning to read and write. By sheer force of a vicious custom, even the most ignorant and worthless men have been enjoying a superiority over women which they do not deserve and ought not to have.

Many of our movements stop half way because of the conditions of our women. Much of our work alone does not yield appropriate results; our lot is like that of the penny-wise and pound foolish trader who does not employ enough capital in his business. Gandhi tried to see the difference between the sexes in wider perspective and kept his faith in fundamental unity. He was of the opinion that both of them are the creation of God.

My own opinion is that, just as fundamentally man and woman are one; their problem must be one in essence. The two live the same lives have the same feelings. Each is a complement of the other. The one cannot live without the other’s active help. Nevertheless there is no doubt that at some point there is bifurcation.

Whilst both are fundamentally one, it is also equally true that in the form there is a vital difference between the two. Hence, the vocation of the two also must be different. The duty of motherhood, which the vast majority of women will always undertake, requires qualities which man need not possess.

She is passive, he is active. She is essentially mistress of the house. He is the breadwinner; she is the keeper and distributor of the bread. She is the caretaker in every sense of the term. The art of bringing up the infants of the race is her special and sole prerog­ative. Without her care the race would become extinct.

For Gandhi, equality of sexes does not mean equality of occupa­tions. Nature has created sexes as complements of each other. Their functions are defined as their forms. Gandhi was never in favour of the modern conception of equality of occupations. There may be no legal bar against a woman hunting or wielding a lance. But she instinctively recoils from a function that belongs to man.

It shows that in Gandhian philosophy man and woman are of equal rank but they are not identical. They are a peerless pair being supplementary to one another. Each helps the other, so that without the one the existence of the other cannot be expected, and therefore it follows as a necessary corollary from these facts that anything that impairs the status of either will involve the equal ruination of both.

Actually, Gandhi was of the view that man and woman are different in their physical construction, thus their nature and qualities are different. That is why, their education and workplace will automatically be different from each other.

In framing any scheme of women’s education this cordial truth must be constantly kept in mind. Man is supreme in the outward activities of a married pair and, therefore, it is the fitness of things that he should have a greater knowledge thereof. For Gandhi, home life is entirely the sphere of women and, therefore, in domestic affairs, in the upbringing and education of children, women ought to have more knowledge. Not that knowledge should be divided into watertight compartments, or that some branches of knowledge should be closed to any-one, but unless courses of instruction are based on a discriminating appreciation of these basic principles, the fullest life of man and woman cannot be developed.

Gandhi thought that it was the irrational social norms and practices which have degraded women’s position in the society. Accordingly, the legal and customary status of women is bad enough throughout and demands radical alteration.

Legislation has been mostly the handiwork of man; and man has not always been fair and discriminating in performing that self-appointed task. The largest part of our effort, in promoting the regeneration of women, should be directed towards remaining those blemishes which are represented in our Shastras as the necessary and ingrained charac­teristics of women. Who will attempt this and how?

Gandhi further added,

In my humble opinion, in order to make the attempt we will have to produce women, pure, firm and self-controlled as Sita, Damayanti and Draupadi. If we do produce them, such modem sisters will have the same authority as the Shastras. We will feel ashamed of the stray reflections on them in our Smritis, and will soon forget them.

Such revolutions have occurred in Hinduism in the past, and will still take place in future, leading to the stability of our faith,

In this way, in a unique non-violent and truthful world order, women will play a important role. By flourishing their feminine qualities women will contribute their essential role in the devel­opment of the society. Gandhi said that when a woman whom we all call abala becomes sabala, all those who are helpless will become powerful. Thus, women are more responsible for the societal devel­opment.

Hence, Gandhi presented a very comprehensive and balanced model of a new world order, which is morally oriented and spiritually directed. All the aspects of this society, whether it is politics, economics, education, religion etc., are aimed at flourishing human values.

For Gandhi all our social behaviour is oriented towards the implementation of truthful and non-violent society. Thus, politics, economics, education etc. will be assumed as instruments to achieve this aim. Therefore, all these different aspects of society are interlinked.

There is fundamental unity among these institutions and all of them are looking towards the development of truthful and non-violent society. Only a comprehensive physical, moral and spiritual enhancement of society will make it a just and all-encompassing society.

The above analytical discussion reveals that truth and non-violence, which may seem meta-narratives in its nature, are the basis of Gandhian philosophy. Gandhi believes that only truth and non-violence are the ultimate reality and therefore the last objective of life to be achieved. But, postmodernist thinkers are contrary to any conception of meta-narratives whether it is truth, culture or discourse on identity.

Related Articles:

• Mahatma Gandhi’s Views on Truth!
• Essay on Religion: Religion According to Gandhi

Non-Violence

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