MAHATMA GANDHI

 

 

 

 

 

Gandhian Philosophy

 

I know the path.

It is straight and narrow.

It is like the edge of a sword.

I rejoice to walk on it.

I weep when I slip.

God's word is: 'He who strives never perishes.'

I have implicit faith in that promise.

Though, therefore, from my weakness

I fail a thousand times,

I will not lose faith,

but hope that I shall see the Light

when the flesh has been brought

under perfect subjection,

as some day it must.⁸⁴

 

 

^{My soul refuses to be satisfied}

^{so long as}

^{it is a helpless witness of a single wrong or a single misery.}

^{But it is not possible for me,}

^{a weak, frail, miserable being,}

^{to mend every wrong or}

^{to hold myself free of blame}

^{for all the wrong I see.}

^{The spirit in me pulls one way,}

^{the flesh in me pulls in the opposite direction.}

^{There is freedom from the action of these two forces,}

^{but that freedom is attainable}

^{only by slow and painful stages.}

^{I cannot attain freedom}

^{by a mechanical refusal to act,}

^{but only by intelligent action}

^{in a detached manner.}

^{This struggle resolves itself}

^{into an incessant crucifixion of the flesh}

^{so that the spirit may become entirely free.85}

 

 

Search for Truth

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,

i.e., to become perfect.

I am painfully conscious of my imperfections,

and therein lies all the strength I posses,

because it is a rare thing for a man to know his own limitations.

If I was a perfect man,

I own I should not feel the miseries of neighbors as I do.

As a perfect man

I should take note of them,

prescribe a remedy,

and compel adoption

by the force of unchangeable Truth in me.

But as yet I only see

as through a glass darkly

and, therefore,

have to carry conviction

by slow and laborious processes,

and then, too,

not always with success.

That being so,

I would be less than human if,

with all my knowledge of avoidable misery

pervading the land

and of the sight of mere skeletons

under the very shadow of the Lord of the Universe,

I did not feel with and for all the suffering

but dumb millions of India. 86

 

Trust in God

I am in the world

feeling my way to light

'amid the encircling gloom'.

I often err and miscalculate…

My trust is solely in God.

And I trust men only because I trust God.

If I had no God to rely upon,

I should be like Timon,

a hater of my species.87

 

I will not be a traitor to God to please the whole world.88

 

Whatever striking things I have done in life,

I have not done prompted by reason

but prompted by instinct,

I would say, God.89

 

I am a man of faith.

My reliance is solely on God.

One step is enough for me.

The next step

He will make clear to me

when the time for it comes.90

 

No Secrecy

I have no secret methods.

I know no diplomacy save that of truth.

I have no weapon but non-violence.

I may be unconsciously led astray for a while,

but not for all time.91

 

My life has been an open book.

I have no secrets

and I encourage no secrets.92

 

I am but a poor struggling soul

yearning to be wholly good-wholly truthful

and wholly non-violent in thought,

word and deed,

but ever failing to reach the ideal

which I know to be true.

I admit it is a painful climb,

but the pain of it is a positive pleasure for me.

Each step upward

makes me feel stronger and fit for the next.93

 

When I think of my littleness and my limitations

on the one hand

and of the expectations

raised about me on the other,

I become dazed for the moment,

but I come to myself

as soon as I realize

that these expectations are

a tribute not to me,

a curious mixture of Jekyll and Hyde,

but to the incarnation,

however imperfect

but comparatively great in me,

of the two priceless qualities of truth

and non-violence.

I must, therefore,

not shirk the responsibility of giving

what aid I can to fellow-seekers

after truth from the West.94

 

 

Guidance

I claim to have

no infallible guidance or inspiration.

So far as my experience goes,

the claim to infallibility

on the part of a human being

would be untenable,

seeing that inspiration too

can come only to one

who is free from the action of opposites,

and it will be difficult to judge

on a given occasion

whether the claim to freedom

from pairs of opposites

is justified.

The claim to infallibility

would thus

always be a most dangerous claim to make.

This, however,

does not leave us

without any guidance whatsoever.

The sum-total of the experience of the world is

available to us

and would be for all time to come.

Moreover,

there are not many fundamental truths,

but there is only one fundamental truth

which is Truth itself,

otherwise

known as Non-violence.

Finite human being

shall never know

in its fullness Truth and love

which is in itself infinite.

But we do know

enough for our guidance.

We shall err,

and sometimes grievously,

in our application.

But man is a self-governing being,

and self-government necessarily

includes the power

as much to commit errors as

to set them right

as often as

they are made.95

 

I deny being a visionary.

I do not accept the claim of saintliness.

I am of the earth, earthly . . .

I am prone to as many weakness as you are.

But I have seen the world.

I have lived in the world

with my eyes open.

I have gone through

the most fiery ordeals

that have fallen to the lot of man.

I have gone through this descipline.96

 

 

Self-sacrifice

I am asking my countrymen in India

to follow

no other gospel than the gospel of self-sacrifice

which precedes every battle.

Whether you belong to the school of violence or non-violence,

you will still have to go through

the fire of sacrifice and of discipline.97

 

I want to declare to the world,

although I have forfeited

the regard of many friends in the West

- and I must bow my head low;

but even for their friendship or love,

I must not suppress the voice of conscience,

- the promptings of my inner basic nature today.

There is something within me

impelling me to cry out my agony.

I have known humanity.

I have studied something of psychology.

Such a man knows exactly what it is.

I do not mind how you describe it.

That voice within tells me,

"You have to stand against the whole world

although you may have to stand alone.

You have to stare in the face the whole world

although the world may look at you

with blood-shot eyes.

Do not fear.

Trust the little voice

residing within your heart."

It says:

"Forsake friends, wife and all;

but testify to that for

which you have lived and

for which you have to die."98

 

 

No Defeatism

Defeat cannot dishearten me.

It can only chasten me....

I know that God will guide me.

Truth is superior to man's wisdom.99

 

I have never lost my optimism.

In seemingly

darkest hours hope

has burnt bright within me.

I cannot kill the hope myself.

I must say

I cannot give an ocular demonstration

to justify the hope.

But there is no defeat in me.100

 

I do not want to foresee the future.

I am concerned with taking care of the present.

God has given me

no control over the moment following…

 

 

Trust

It is true

that I have often been let down.

Many have deceived me

and many have been found wanting.

But I do not repent

of my association with them.

For I know

how to non-co-operate,

as I know

how to co-operate.

The most practical,

the most dignified way

of going on in the world

is to take people at their word,

when you have

no positive reason to the contrary.101

 

I believe in trusting.

Trust begets trust.

Suspicion is foetid and only stinks.

He who trusts

has never yet lost in the world.102

 

A breach of promise

shakes me to my root,

especially when I am

in any way

connected with the author of the breach.

And if it cost my life which,

after all,

at the age of seventy

has no insurance value,

I should most willingly give it

in order to secure due performance

of a sacred and solemn promise.103

 

To my knowledge,

throughout my public and private career,

I have never broken a promise.104

 

 

My Leadership

They say

I claim to understand human nature

as no one else does.

I believe I am certainly right,

but if I do not believe

in my rightness and my methods,

I would be unfit to be

at the helm of affairs.105

 

As for my leadership,

if I have it,

it has not come for any seeking,

it is a fruit of faithful service.

A man can

as little discard such leadership

as he can the color of his skin.

And since I have become

an integral part of the nation,

it has to keep me

with all my faults and shortcomings,

of some of

which I am painfully conscious

and of many others of

which candid critics,

thanks be to them,

never fail to remind me.106

 

It is a bad carpenter

who quarrels with his tools.

It is a bad general

who blames his men

for faulty workmanship.

I know I am not a bad general.

I have wisdom enough to know my limitations.

God will give me strength enough

to declare my bankruptcy

if such is to be my lot.

He will perhaps take me away

when I am no longer wanted for the work

which I have been permitted to do

for nearly half a century.

But I do entertain the hope

that there is yet work for me to do,

that the darkness

that seems to have enveloped me will disappear,

and that, whether with another battle

more brilliant than the Dandi March

or without,

India will come to her own demonstrably

through non-violent means.

I am praying for the light

that will dispel the darkness.

Let those

who have a living faith in non-violence

join me in the prayer.107

 

 

My work

I am content with the doing

of the task in front of me.

I do not worry about

the why and wherefore of things…

Reason helps us to see

that we should not dabble in things

we cannot fathom.108

 

My work will be finished

if I succeed

in carrying conviction to the human family,

that every man or woman,

however weak in body,

is the guardian of his or her

self-respect and liberty.

This defense avails,

though the whole world

may be against the individual resister.109

 

It will be time

enough to pronounce a verdict

upon my work

after my eyes are closed

and this tabernacle is consigned

to the flames.110

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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