Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of
discovering
truth, or
Satya. He tried to achieve this by learning from
his own mistakes and conducting experiments on himself.
He called his autobiography
The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight
was overcoming his own demons, fears, and insecurities.
Gandhi summarized his beliefs first when he said "God
is Truth". He would later change this statement to
"Truth is God". Thus, Satya (Truth) in Gandhi's
philosophy is "God".
Nonviolence
The concept of
nonviolence (ahimsa)
and
nonresistance has a long history in Indian religious
thought and has had many revivals in Hindu, Buddhist,
Jain, Jewish and Christian contexts. Gandhi explains his
philosophy and way of life in his autobiography
The Story of My Experiments with Truth. He was
quoted as saying:
"When I despair, I remember that all through
history the way of truth and love has always won.
There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time
they seem invincible, but in the end, they always
fall — think of it, always."
"What difference does it make to the dead, the
orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad
destruction is wrought under the name of
totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and
democracy?"
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
"There are many causes that I am prepared to die
for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for."
In applying these principles, Gandhi did not balk
from taking them to their most logical extremes. In
1940, when invasion of the British Isles by Nazi Germany
looked imminent, Gandhi offered the following advice to
the British people (Non-Violence in Peace and War):
"I would like you to lay down the arms you have
as being useless for saving you or humanity. You
will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take
what they want of the countries you call your
possessions.... If these gentlemen choose to occupy
your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not
give you free passage out, you will allow
yourselves, man, woman, and child, to be
slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance
to them."
However, Gandhi was aware that this level of
nonviolence required incredible faith and courage, which
he realized not everyone possessed. He therefore advised
that everyone need not keep to nonviolence, especially
if it were used as a cover for cowardice:
"Gandhi guarded against attracting to his
satyagraha movement those who feared to take up
arms or felt themselves incapable of resistance. 'I
do believe,' he wrote, 'that where there is only a
choice between cowardice and violence, I would
advise violence.'"
"At every meeting I repeated the warning that
unless they felt that in non-violence they had come
into possession of a force infinitely superior to
the one they had and in the use of which they were
adept, they should have nothing to do with
non-violence and resume the arms they possessed
before. It must never be said of the
Khudai Khidmatgars that once so brave, they had
become or been made cowards under
Badshah Khan's influence. Their bravery
consisted not in being good marksmen but in defying
death and being ever ready to bare their breasts to
the bullets."[21]
Vegetarianism
As a young child, Gandhi experimented with
meat-eating. This was due partially to his inherent
curiosity as well as his rather persuasive peer and
friend Sheikh Mehtab. The idea of
vegetarianism is deeply engrained in Hindu and
Jain traditions in India, and, in his native land of
Gujarat, most Hindus were vegetarian. The Gandhi
family was no exception. Before leaving for his studies
in London, Gandhi made a promise to his mother, Putlibai
and his uncle, Becharji Swami that he would abstain from
eating meat, taking alcohol, and engaging in
promiscuity. He held fast to his promise and gained more
than a diet: he gained a basis for his life-long
philosophies. As Gandhi grew into adulthood, he became a
strict
vegetarian. He wrote the book The Moral Basis of
Vegetarianism and several articles on the subject,
some of which were published in the London Vegetarian
Society's publication, The Vegetarian
. Gandhi, himself, became inspired by many great
minds during this period and befriended the chairman of
the London Vegetarian Society, Dr. Josiah Oldfield.
Having also read and admired the work of
Henry Stephens Salt, the young Mohandas met and
often corresponded with the vegetarian campaigner.
Gandhi spent much time advocating vegetarianism during
and after his time in London. To Gandhi, a vegetarian
diet would not only satisfy the requirements of the
body, it would also serve an economic purpose as meat
was, and still is, generally more expensive than grains,
vegetables, and fruits. Also, many Indians of the time
struggled with low income, thus vegetarianism was seen
not only as a spiritual practice but also a practical
one. He abstained from eating for long periods, using
fasting as a form of political protest. He refused
to eat until his death or his demands were met. It was
noted in his autobiography that vegetarianism was the
beginning of his deep commitment to
Brahmacharya; without total control of the palate,
his success in Bramacharya would likely falter.
Brahmacharya
When Gandhi was 16 his father became very ill. Being
very devoted to his parents, he attended to his father
at all times during his illness. However, one night,
Gandhi's uncle came to relieve Gandhi for a while. He
retired to his bedroom where carnal desires overcame him
and he made love to his wife. Shortly afterward a
servant came to report that Gandhi's father had just
died. Gandhi felt tremendous guilt and never could
forgive himself. He came to refer to this event as
"double shame." The incident had significant influence
in Gandhi becoming
celibate at the age of 36, while still married.
This decision was deeply influenced by the philosophy
of
Brahmacharya — spiritual and practical purity —
largely associated with celibacy and
asceticism. Gandhi saw brahmacharya as a means of
becoming close with God and as a primary foundation for
self realization. In his autobiography he tells of his
battle against lustful urges and fits of jealousy with
his childhood bride,
Kasturba. He felt it his personal obligation to
remain celibate so that he could learn to love, rather
than lust. For Gandhi, brahmacharya meant "control of
the senses in thought, word and deed."
Simplicity
Gandhi earnestly believed that a person involved in
social service should lead a
simple life which he thought could lead to
Brahmacharya. His
simplicity began by renouncing the western lifestyle
he was leading in South Africa. He called it "reducing
himself to zero," which entailed giving up unnecessary
expenditure, embracing a simple lifestyle and washing
his own clothes.
On one occasion he returned the gifts bestowed to him
from the natals for his diligent service to the
community.[25]
Gandhi spent one day of each week in silence. He
believed that abstaining from speaking brought him
inner peace. This influence was drawn from the Hindu
principles of mauna (Sanskrit:मौनं
- silence) and shanti (Sanskrit:शांति
- peace). On such days he communicated with others by
writing on paper. For three and a half years, from the
age of 37, Gandhi refused to read newspapers, claiming
that the tumultuous state of world affairs caused him
more confusion than his own inner unrest.
After reading
John Ruskin's
Unto This Last, he decided to change his life style
and create a commune called Phoenix Settlement.
Upon returning to India from South Africa, where he
had enjoyed a successful legal practice, he gave up
wearing Western-style clothing, which he associated with
wealth and success. He dressed to be accepted by the
poorest person in India, advocating the use of homespun
cloth (khadi). Gandhi and his followers adopted
the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread
they themselves spun, and encouraged others to do so.
While Indian workers were often idle due to
unemployment, they had often bought their clothing from
industrial manufacturers owned by British interests. It
was Gandhi's view that if Indians made their own
clothes, it would deal an economic blow to the British
establishment in India. Consequently, the
spinning wheel was later incorporated into the flag
of the Indian National Congress. He subsequently wore a
dhoti for the rest of his life to express the
simplicity of his life.
Faith
Gandhi was born a Hindu and practised
Hinduism all his life, deriving most of his
principles from Hinduism. As a common Hindu, he believed
all religions to be equal, and rejected all efforts to
convert him to a different faith. He was an avid
theologian and read extensively about all major
religions. He had the following to say about Hinduism:
"Hinduism as I know it entirely satisfies my
soul, fills my whole being ... When doubts haunt me,
when disappointments stare me in the face, and when
I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to
the
Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort
me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of
overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of
tragedies and if they have not left any visible and
indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of
the Bhagavad Gita."
Gandhi believed that at the core of every religion
was truth and love (compassion, nonviolence and
the Golden Rule). He also questioned hypocrisy,
malpractices and dogma in all religions and was a
tireless social reformer. Some of his comments on
various religions are:
"Thus if I could not accept
Christianity either as a perfect, or the
greatest
religion, neither was I then convinced of
Hinduism being such. Hindu defects were pressingly
visible to me. If untouchability could be a part of
Hinduism, it could but be a rotten part or an
excrescence. I could not understand the raison
d'etre of a multitude of sects and
castes. What was the meaning of saying that the
Vedas were the inspired
Word of God? If they were inspired, why not also
the
Bible and the
Koran? As Christian friends were endeavouring to
convert me, so were
Muslim friends. Abdullah Sheth had kept on
inducing me to study
Islam, and of course he had always something to
say regarding its beauty." (source:
his autobiography)
"As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to
be religious. There is no such thing as religion
over-riding morality. Man, for instance, cannot be
untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have
God on his side."
"The sayings of
Muhammad are a treasure of wisdom, not only for
Muslims but for all of mankind."
Later in his life when he was asked whether he was a
Hindu, he replied:
"Yes I am. I am also a Christian, a Muslim, a
Buddhist and a
Jew."
In spite of their deep reverence to each other,
Gandhi and
Rabindranath Tagore engaged in protracted debates
more than once. These debates exemplify the
philosophical differences between the two most famous
Indians at the time. On
January 15,
1934, an earthquake hit
Bihar and caused extensive damage and loss of life.
Gandhi maintained this was because of the sin committed
by upper caste
Hindus by not letting untouchables in their temples
(Gandhi was committed to the cause of improving the fate
of untouchables, referring to them as Harijans, people
of
Krishna).
Tagore vehemently opposed Gandhi's stance,
maintaining that an earthquake can only be caused by
natural forces, not moral reasons, however repugnant the
practice of untouchability may be.
