Mahatma Gandhi

A/N:  Please pay no attention to the references; they are as my prof. told us to do them.



Gandhi’s philosophy was an eclectic one, drawing on his formal education in England, his personal roots in Hinduism, and the extensive traveling he did throughout his life.  At different times in his life he seems to have contradicted himself, but as he is only human, this is understandable.  Also, these contradictions tend to be on the finer points of his philosophy, the major tenets of his philosophy, once established, remained unchanged.  It is these tenets and a few of their practical applications which will be discussed here.

Gandhi’s personal background in Hinduism and his exposure to many other religions and ways of life made him very tolerant of other religions.  He believed that all religions had some element of truth in them, but that no one religion held the whole truth (class notes, 12-3-07).  Gandhi once said, “Truth is God”; by this, he meant that there is an ultimate truth and that it can be sought as the ultimate, as God.

Gandhi believed that the unending search for the truth was in some ways more important than actually finding the truth.  He believed that human beings by nature will never be able to know the absolute truth anyway and that the search for the truth can never be exhausted.  Despite this, the ultimate truth should still be sought because “the purer I try to become the nearer to God I feel myself to be” (2:7).  People should constantly strive towards God and the ultimate truth because it is the personal struggle and journey that will follow that will better a person spiritually.

All truth is relative, Gandhi believed.  Each person has his or her own truths, but there is only one ultimate Truth (class notes, 12-3-07).  This is congruous with his extreme tolerance of all other religions.  All religions, Gandhi said, are like “different roads converging to the same point; what does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same point?” (2:17).  Gandhi did not want people to convert to his native Hinduism as most other religious activists do, but he wanted them to follow their own religions to the spiritual core.  Since each religion has at least part of the truth in it, Gandhi believed it didn’t matter which religion a person followed so long as that person followed it deeply; eventually this would bring them to God and the ultimate truth (class notes, 12-3-07).  Gandhi advised people not to convert because, since no religion is inherently better or closer to the truth than any other, it would be more beneficial to each person if that person stayed with the religion he or she is most familiar with, which is usually the one in which he or she grew up.  As an alternative to conversion, Gandhi suggested adopting good aspects of other religions and assimilating these things into one’s own belief system.

Gandhi believed that everyone should follow his or her spiritual tradition to the core.  Even atheists were not exempt from this search for truth.  Even if a person does not affiliate himself or herself with any religion, he or she is obliged as a human being to search for the truth of reality (class notes, 12-3-07).  Gandhi believed that the atheist’s search for the truth would lead him or her to it just as surely as any religious person’s search would.

Religions were not to be practiced only at certain times or in certain places, Gandhi believed.  A person’s religious beliefs should manifest themselves in every aspect of that person’s life; otherwise, the person is deceiving himself or herself and is not being true to those beliefs.  Of politics and religion, for example, Gandhi said, “…those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means” (2:11).  Gandhi’s point is that religion, or the pursuit of truth, should be practiced unceasingly.

Perhaps the most notable and memorable aspect of Gandhi’s philosophy is his idea of ahimsa.  This Hindu word means “non-violence” and is in opposition with the Hindu word himsa, meaning “violence.”  Gandhi lived during a time of much civil unrest.  His native India was firmly downtrodden by the more technologically advanced and militarily organized Britain.  Gandhi was one of many Indians who wished for India to be free from Great Britain’s oppressive tyranny.  Gandhi’s solution to this problem was ahimsa.

Gandhi’s ahimsa, or non-violence, was not meant just for the realm of physical violence.  All violence, hatred, and other negative forces must not be allowed to dwell in the mind.  In fact, it is perhaps more important that a person is able to discipline his or her mind than body because the discipline of the body will inevitably follow the discipline of the mind, for Gandhi believed that “to conquer the subtle passions seems to me to be far harder than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arm” (2:13) and that “all great and good things [are] difficult to do” (4:4).  If a person does no outward, physical violence but harbors ill thoughts of a person, Gandhi says that person is not practicing ahimsa.  Gandhi defined ahimsa as not only lack of physical violence but the positive act of loving.  In addition, “it is no nonviolence if we merely love those that love us,” Gandhi asserted.  “It is nonviolence only when we love those that hate us” (4:4).

Many have said that ahimsa is the way of the coward who doesn’t want to fight or of the weak who cannot take up arms.  Gandhi said this is not true.  Non-violence, he argued, was a tactic for the strong because those who practiced it could do violence, but were restraining themselves (class notes, 12-5-07).  It showed strength of character as well as unwavering conviction in doing the right thing.

Ahimsa is also not a tactic for the impatient, according to Gandhi.  Violence always seems as if it will work in the short-term, but always fails because it creates more problems than it really solves (class notes, 12-5-07).  More violence only perpetuates the cycle of violence, which only non-violence can break.  Ahimsa solves that problem right at its core, thus making it a more permanent (and therefore more logical) solution to the problems of the world.  Ahimsa strikes at the true target – untruth, oppression, ignorance, etc. – rather than the person.  Gandhi once said that if a man kills his evil brother, he has not succeeded in destroying evil; he has only destroyed his brother (class notes, 12-5-07).

Ahimsa is to be practiced in all aspects of life; this also means honesty, openness, and sincerity in all of one’s actions.  These things are known as Satyagraha, or firmness in the truth.  If a person is sure that he or she is in the right and knows the truth, then there is a fundamental force behind that person which underlies all of reality.  The openness Gandhi displayed to the British occupying India (telling them when and where he and his followers would be demonstrating, for instance) is both an inevitable consequence of adherence to ahimsa and useful because it builds trust so that one’s opponent will be more willing to listen to the other side.

Gandhi believed that in every case where it was applied correctly and consistently, ahimsa would always be successful in uprooting the wrong because it appealed to better nature of the people doing the violence (class notes, 12-5-07).  Gandhi believed that all humans have a spiritual core, or Atma, which is inherently good, and it is that to which non-violence appeals.  It is important to understand that the person practicing ahimsa is never working against the people who consider themselves to be his or her opponent; instead he or she is working on behalf of his or her enemies in order to win them over to the side of good.

Despite the fact that it would always eventually produce this end, Gandhi thought it important to stress that ahimsa was not simply a means to an end.  Gandhi believed that “…nonviolence is needed for the protection of the Atma, for the protection of one’s honor” (4:3).  Ahimsa to Gandhi was so such more than simply a tactic – it was a way of life that, as a byproduct, would bring about positive changes in people and in the world.

In accordance with this view, Gandhi was heavily involved in politics.  Unlike many religious people who refrain from participating in politics because they feel their beliefs don’t allow it, Gandhi had no problem with making himself known in the political realm.  Since ahimsa is a way of life and should be applied to all aspects of life, it doesn’t matter what a person does so long as he or she does it while practicing ahimsa.

Gandhi also had very strong thoughts on economics, especially the economic situation in India.  He saw the large gap that existed between the rich and the poor and thought that this was wrong.  He realized that this was a sort of structural violence, a more subtle but just as debilitating form of himsa – subtle because it lay in the very structure of the society (class notes, 12-7-07).  Gandhi realized that these large inequalities would eventually lead to overt violence and therefore that attention needed to be paid to economics and of course, Gandhi being Gandhi, he applied his principle of non-violence to the economics sphere, believing that “that economics is untrue which ignores or disregards moral values” (8:1).

Such assertions on the part of Gandhi were quite radical to those economists who thought that economics should operate by the laws of economics, like supply-and-demand.  Gandhi, on the other end of the spectrum, asserted that morals should regulate commerce.  Gandhi was trying to strike a compromise between the two competing economic systems of the day, capitalism and socialism.  He thought that both took the power away from the everyday workers, who he thought should be more involved in deciding the future of the company.  Gandhi’s “ideal is equal distribution, but so far as I can see it is not to be realized; therefore, I will work for equitable distribution” (8:3).  Gandhi believes that each person should be able to get what they need to make ends meet; it is when these basic needs cannot be met that poverty ensues (8:2).  Not only should each person have the opportunity for enough work, but everyone has the duty to work, according to Gandhi.  In a fair economic system there is no room for people who inherit their fortunes or live off of society.  This is because work gives purpose (class notes, 12-7-07).

In the spirit of his ideal of equal distribution, Gandhi believed that no one should hoard for tomorrow what could be put to use by someone else today.  “I suggest that we are thieves in a way.  If I take anything that I do not need for my own immediate use, and keep it, I thieve it from somebody else…You and I have no right to anything that we really have until these three million are clothed and fed better” (8:5).  Gandhi was not against anyone having possessions as is easy to misunderstand; Gandhi simply realized that there was a surplus of food, clothing, and other goods in some parts of the world and a lack of the same things in other parts and that this created problems for all involved.

Gandhi’s philosophy is at the least interesting but at the most enlightening.  He has carefully constructed a way of life that, if put into practice, might very well solve many issues.  His thoughts on ahimsa and appealing to the better part of a person are seductive because after careful consideration they do seem to be the only solution that will ultimately solve all the problems of the world today.