Excerpts from
His Life, Work, and Ideas",
an Anthology edited by
Louis Fischer, Vintage Books,
Random House, 1962
Foreword
by
Louis Fischer:
No man knows himself
or can describe himself
with fidelity.
But he can
reveal himself.
This is especially true
of Gandhi.
He believed
in revealing himself.
He regarded secrecy
as the enemy of freedom --
not only the freedom of India
but the freedom of man.
He exposed
even the innermost
personal thoughts
which individuals
usually regard as private.
In nearly a half-century
of prolific writing,
speaking,
and subjecting his ideas
to the test of actions,
he painted
a detailed self-portrait
of his mind,
heart, and soul.
Gandhi was a unique person,
a great person,
perhaps the greatest figure
of the last nineteen hundred years.
And his words
have been preserved
as they came
from his mouth and pen.
Then let the Mahatma speak.
What he said
has an intimate relevance
to many of our problems today.
+++
Chapter Twenty
[On January 4 (1932)
Gandhi was arrested
and lodged in Yeravda Jail.
Since he worshipped God in prison
he called it his "mandir" -- temple --
and there wrote a book
entitled "From Yeravda Mandir".
His thoughts turned
to questions of religion,
God and prayer.
Mahadev Desai,
Gandhi's secretary
who had also been
arrested and imprisoned
at Yeravda,
noted that Gandhi leaned
"on a wooden board.
Very often
he keeps it close to the wall
and not at an angle.
I remarked that
if it was kept at an angle
it would not fall down
from time to time
and
would be more comfortable."]
"Perhaps,
but
the proper thing to do
is to keep it straight
so that the backbone and waist
remain straight in their turn
and
do not bend.
It is a general principle
that
if you keep one thing straight
it will tend to straighten
everything else
and
crookedness at one point
will make for
crookedness
at many other points."
[From
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 142,
entry for May 31, 1932]
"Instead of thinking
of
improving the world
let us concentrate
on
self-improvement.
We can
scarcely find out
if the world
is
on the right
or
the wrong path.
But if we take
the straight and narrow path
we shall find all taking it too
or discover the method
of inducing them to take it ..."
[From
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 276,
entry for August 7, 1932]
"... If the world is on fire
we cannot extinguish it
by our impatience.
In fact
it is not for us
to extinguish it
at all.
Do you know
that
when there is a big blaze
the firemen
do not waste any water on it
at all.
They only try
to save
the neighborhood ...
When we have done
our individual duty
that is as good
as having extinguished
the whole of the fire.
In appearance
it is still burning
but we may rest assured
that it
has been put out.
This is all I have found
as a result of
my quest of truth ...
We can only insist
upon what is possible.
It is no use
pining after the air
of
the mountains on the moon,
as it is beyond our reach,
The same is true
of our duty ..."
[From a letter
written by Gandhi
to
Chhaganlal Joshi,
August 30, 1932,
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
pages 296 - 297]
"... We tend to become
what we worship ..."
[Gandhi's stay in prison
stimulated his thinking
about himself
and about jails.
Gandhi's reply
to a co-worker's letter,
June 13, 1932,
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 160]
"... Jail for us
is no jail at all ..."
[Remark
in conversation
with
fellow-prisoners,
March 15, 1932,
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 12]
"[We] have
no strangers.
All strangers
are friends,
including
criminals,
as also
jailors.
We have here
[in Yeravda prison]
learned to recognize
friends
among animals.
We have a cat
who is a revelation.
And if we had vision enough,
we should appreciate
the language of trees and plants
and value their friendship."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
August 31, 1932,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 117]
"... If a dying man
has his heart
in the world
he is unhappy
himself
and
the cause of unhappiness
in others;
the same is the case
with a prisoner in jail,
who should cease to think
of the outside world,
for imprisonment
means civil death ...
This prescription of mine
is no new discovery.
Bunyan
could not have written
The Pilgrim's Progress
and
Lokamanya Tilak
his commentary on the Gita
if in prison
they had continued to worry
about the outside world."
[Letter
to fellow-prisoners
August 15, 1932
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 288]
"... Self-control
is the best thing
for a prisoner
and his friends
and dear ones.
But self-control to be
self-control
must brace one up.
It becomes
mechanical
or
superimposed
when it unnerves
or saddens one ..."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
February 4, 1932,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 97]
"[Train]
yourself
to ...
feel happy.
In a manner
everybody trains himself
to do without things
when he cannot get them.
A follower
of the Gita dharma
[duty]
trains himself
to do without things
with happiness...
for
happiness of the Gita
is not
the opposite
of unhappiness.
It is superior
to that state.
The devotee
of the Gita
is neither happy
nor unhappy.
And when
that state
is reached,
there is
no pain,
no pleasure,
no victory,
no defeat,
no deprivation,
no possession.
Prison life
is a life of privilege
if we learn
to practice
the Gita teaching ..."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
March 4, 1933,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 142]
[...]
"We must make
the best possible use
of the invaluable leisure
in jail.
Perhaps the best of uses
would be
to cultivate the power
of independent thought.
We are often thoughtless
and therefore
like only to read books
or,
worse still,
to talk ...
As a matter of fact,
there is an art
of thinking
just as there is an art
of reading.
We should be able to think
the right thought
at the right time
and not indulge
in
thinking useless thoughts
as well as in
reading useless books ...
It is my experience
during every incarceration
that it affords us
a fine opportunity
of thinking ...
to some purpose ..."
[From
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 156,
entry for June 10, 1932]
[...]
"[Never] write
in a bad hand
whether there is hurry
or not.
This lesson
everyone should learn
from my misfortune.
Bad writing
and
bad everything
is truly [violence].
We have a rare opportunity
of learning
the virtue of patience
in prison life."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
November 3, 1932,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 126]
"...The word
'criminal'
should be taboo
from our dictionary.
Or
we are all
criminals.
'Those
of you
that
are without sin
cast
the first stone.'
And no one
was found
to dare cast the stone
at the sinning harlot.
As a jailer once said,
all are criminals
in secret ...
Let them
therefore
be
good companions.
I know
this is easier said
than done.
And that is
exactly
what the Gita
and
as a matter of fact
all religions
enjoin upon us
to do."
[...]
"... The more we punish,
the more
persistent
crimes become.
They may change color
but
the substance is the same.
The way to serve
the adversary's soul
is
to appeal
to the soul.
It defies destruction,
but
it is amenable to appeals
tuned
to the required pitch.
Souls
must react upon
souls.
And since non-violence
is essentially
a quality of the soul,
the only effective appeal
to the soul
must lie
through non-violence.
And do we
not arrogate to ourselves
infallibility
when we seek
to punish our adversaries?
Let us remember
that
they regard us to be
as harmful ...
as
we regard them ..."
[From
"Young India"
April 30, 1925]
"... I would draw
the distinction
between killing
and detention...
I think there is
a difference
not merely in quantity
but also in quality.
I can
recall the punishment
of detention.
I can
make reparation
to the man
upon whom I inflict
corporal punishment.
But
once a man is killed,
the punishment
is beyond
recall
or
reparation.
God alone
can take life
because
He alone
gives it."
[From
"Young India"
October 8, 1925]
[the above section
was selected
from pages 272 - 276.]
+++
Chapter Twenty-Four
(incomplete)
"Gandhi About Himself"
"... I have
never yet
copy-righted
any
of my writings.
... I dare not be
exclusive ..."
[From
"Young India"
March 25, 1926]
"... I own no property
and yet
I feel that I am
perhaps
the richest man
in the world.
For I have never been
in want
either
for myself
or
for my public concerns.
God
has always
and invariably
responded
in time...
It is open
to the world,
therefore,
to laugh
at my
dispossessing myself
of all property.
For me
the dispossession
has been a positive gain.
I would like people
to compete with me
in my contentment.
It is
the richest treasure
I own ..."
[From
"Young India"
April 30, 1925]
[...]
"Mine is a life
full of joy
in the midst
of incessant work.
In
not wanting
to think
of what
tomorrow
will bring for me
I feel
as free as a bird ..."
[From
"Young India"
October 1, 1925]
[...]
"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."
[From
"Young India"
December 26, 1924]
"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."
[From
"Young India"
April 2, 1931]
"[Prayer]
has
saved my life ...
I had my share
of the
bitterest
public
and
private experiences.
They threw me
into
temporary despair.
If I was able
to get rid of that despair
it was because of prayer.
It has not been
a part of my life
as truth has been.
It came
out of sheer necessity
as I found myself
in a plight
where I could not
possibly be happy
without it.
And as time went on
my faith in God
increased
and
more irresistible
became the yearning
for prayer.
Life
seemed to be
dull and vacant
without it ...
In spite of
despair
staring me in the face
on the political horizon,
I have never lost my peace.
... That peace
comes from prayer ...
I am indifferent
as to the form.
Everyone
is a law unto himself
in that respect ...
Let everyone
try and find
that
as a result of daily prayer
he adds something new
to his life."
[At a prayer meeting
on board
ship to London, 1931,
in D. G. Tendulkar,
"Mahatma",
Volume III, pages 139 - 140.]
"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 ..."
[From
"Young India"
December 4, 1924]
"... It is
to me
a matter
of perennial satisfaction
that I retain
generally
the affection
and the trust
of those
whose principles
and policies
I oppose..."
[From
"Young India"
March 17, 1927]
"Differences of opinion
should never mean
hostility.
If they did,
my wife and I
should be sworn enemies
of one another.
I do not know
two persons
in the world
who had no difference
of opinion
and
as I am a follower
of the Gita
I have always attempted
to regard those
who differ from me
with the same affection
as I have
for my nearest and dearest."
[From
"Young India"
March 17, 1927]
"... I have no desire
to carry
a single soul
with me
if I cannot appeal
to his or her
reason."
[From
"Young India"
July 14, 1920]
"... I do not claim
to lead
or have
any party,
if only for the reason
that I seem to be
constantly changing
and shifting my ground ...
I must respond
to varying conditions
and yet remain
changeless within.
I have no desire
to drag anybody.
My appeal
is continuously
to the head
and heart
combined..."
[From
"Young India"
August 20, 1925]
"... The highest honor
that my friends can do me
is to enforce in their own lives
the program I stand for
or resist me to their utmost
if they do not
believe in it.
Blind adoration
in the age of action
is perfectly valueless,
is often embarrassing
and equally,
often painful."
[From
"Young India"
July 12, 1924]
"In the majority
of cases
addresses [compliments]
presented to me
contain adjectives
which I am ill able
to carry ...
They unnecessarily
humiliate me
for I have to confess
I do not deserve them.
When they are deserved
their use is superfluous.
They cannot add
to the strength
of the qualities
possessed by me.
They may,
if I am not
on my guard,
easily
turn my head.
The good a man does
is more often than not
better left unsaid.
Imitation
is the sincerest
flattery."
[From
"Young India"
May 21, 1925]
"When I think
of my littleness
and my limitations ...
and of the expectations
raised about me ...
I become dazed
for the moment
but I come to myself
as soon as I realize
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."
[From
"Young India"
October 8, 1925]
"Truth to me
is infinitely dearer
than the
'mahatma-ship'
which is
purely a burden.
It is my knowledge
of my limitations
and my nothingness
which has so far saved me
from the oppressiveness
of 'mahatma-ship.'..."
[Statement in 1928
in D. G. Tendulkar,
"Mahatma",
Volume II, pages 43 - 44.]
"The Mahatma
I must leave
to his fate.
Though
a non-cooperator
I shall gladly
subscribe
to a bill
to make it criminal
for anybody to call me
Mahatma
and
to touch my feet ..."
[From
"Young India"
March 17, 1927]
"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 ...
I cannot attain freedom
[from the two forces
of spirit and flesh]
by
a mechanical refusal to act,
but
only by
intelligent action
in a detached manner..."
[From
"Young India"
November 17, 1921]
"... Let good news
as well as bad
pass over you
like
water
over a duck's back.
When we hear any,
our duty
is merely to find out
whether any action
is necessary,
and if it is,
to do
as an instrument
in the hands of Nature
without being
affected by
or
attached to
the result..."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
December 13, 1930,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 79]
"... If you work
with detachment,
you will
refuse
to be rushed
and you will
refuse
to let anything
get on your nerves ...
You know the story
of King Janak
[of Hindu scripture].
He was Duty
personified.
His capital
was in flames.
He knew it.
But some busybody
reported it to him.
His answer was
'What care I
whether my capital
is
reduced to ashes
or
remains intact!'
He
had done
all he could
to save it.
His going
to the scene of operations
and fussing
would have
distracted the attention
of the fire-brigade
and others,
and made matters worse.
[He] had
done his part
and was
therefore quiet
and at ease.
So may --
must --
we be,
if we have
done our best,
whether our work
flourishes
or perishes."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
October 19, 1930,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 75]
"... Time and again
in my life,
contrary
to all wise counsels,
I have allowed myself
to be guided
by the inner voice --
often
with spectacular success.
But success and failure
are of no account.
[They] are God's concern,
not mine."
[Manu Gandhi,
"Eklo Jane Re",
(Ahmedabad:
Navajivan Publishing
House, 1954), p. 181.]
"... On
the lonesome way
of God
on which
I have set out
I need
no earthly companions.
Let those who will,
therefore,
denounce me
if I am the imposter
they imagine me to be
though
they may not say so
in
so many words.
It might disillusion
the millions
who persist
in regarding me
as a Mahatma.
I must confess
the prospect
of being so debunked
greatly pleases me."
[Conversation
with disciples,
February 25, 1947,
in Pyarelal,
"Mahatma Gandhi:
The Last Phase,"
Volume I, Chapter 23,
page 586.]
"... There is
a state in life
when a man
does not need ...
to proclaim
his thoughts,
much less
to show them
by outward action.
Mere
thoughts
act.
They
attain
that power.
Then it can be
said of him
that his seeming
inaction
constitutes
his action ...
My striving
is in
that direction."
[From "Harijan",
October 26, 1947]
"... I regard it
as self-delusion,
if not worse,
when a person says
he is
wearing himself away
in service.
... The body
is like a machine
requiring to be well-kept
for full service ...
I have not felt ashamed
to take the required rest ...
Rest
properly
and in due time
taken
is like
the proverbial
timely stitch."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
September 28, 1930,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 74 - 75]
"You need not
worry
about my health ...
I am taking the rest
that is possible.
Blood Pressure
is under control.
Jumpy,
I fear,
it will remain
unless I lead
the forest life
and cease
all outward activity.
But this
would be wrong.
I must discover
the art of living long
though
full of activity
to the end... "
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
January 20, 1939,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 190]
"... In my pursuit
after Truth
I have discarded
many ideas
and learnt
many new things.
Old as I am
in age
I have no feeling
that I have ceased
to grow
inwardly
or
that my growth
will stop
with the dissolution
of the flesh ..."
[From "Harijan",
April 29, 1933]
"... I am not
a perfect being.
Why should you
see
eye to eye with me
in my errors?
That would be
blind faith.
Your faith in me
should enable you
to detect my
true error
much quicker
than a fault-finder ...
Therefore,
you should not
paralyze
your thought
by
suppressing
your doubts
and
torturing yourself
that you
do not agree
with my view
in particular things.
You should ...
pursue the discussion ...
till you have
the clearest possible
grasp
of all my ideals
about it."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
April 27, 1933,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 145]
"I have
never made
a fetish
of consistency.
I am
a votary of Truth
and I must say
what I feel
and think
at a given moment
on the question
without regard
to what
I may have said
before
on it ...
As my vision
gets clearer
my views
must grow clearer
with
daily practice ..."
[From "Harijan",
September 28, 1934]
+++
[the above section
was selected
from pages 308 - 314]
+++
His Life, Work, and Ideas",
an Anthology edited by
Louis Fischer, Vintage Books,
Random House, 1962
Foreword
by
Louis Fischer:
No man knows himself
or can describe himself
with fidelity.
But he can
reveal himself.
This is especially true
of Gandhi.
He believed
in revealing himself.
He regarded secrecy
as the enemy of freedom --
not only the freedom of India
but the freedom of man.
He exposed
even the innermost
personal thoughts
which individuals
usually regard as private.
In nearly a half-century
of prolific writing,
speaking,
and subjecting his ideas
to the test of actions,
he painted
a detailed self-portrait
of his mind,
heart, and soul.
Gandhi was a unique person,
a great person,
perhaps the greatest figure
of the last nineteen hundred years.
And his words
have been preserved
as they came
from his mouth and pen.
Then let the Mahatma speak.
What he said
has an intimate relevance
to many of our problems today.
+++
Chapter Twenty
"How to Enjoy Jail"
[On January 4 (1932)
Gandhi was arrested
and lodged in Yeravda Jail.
Since he worshipped God in prison
he called it his "mandir" -- temple --
and there wrote a book
entitled "From Yeravda Mandir".
His thoughts turned
to questions of religion,
God and prayer.
Mahadev Desai,
Gandhi's secretary
who had also been
arrested and imprisoned
at Yeravda,
noted that Gandhi leaned
"on a wooden board.
Very often
he keeps it close to the wall
and not at an angle.
I remarked that
if it was kept at an angle
it would not fall down
from time to time
and
would be more comfortable."]
"Perhaps,
but
the proper thing to do
is to keep it straight
so that the backbone and waist
remain straight in their turn
and
do not bend.
It is a general principle
that
if you keep one thing straight
it will tend to straighten
everything else
and
crookedness at one point
will make for
crookedness
at many other points."
[From
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 142,
entry for May 31, 1932]
"Instead of thinking
of
improving the world
let us concentrate
on
self-improvement.
We can
scarcely find out
if the world
is
on the right
or
the wrong path.
But if we take
the straight and narrow path
we shall find all taking it too
or discover the method
of inducing them to take it ..."
[From
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 276,
entry for August 7, 1932]
"... If the world is on fire
we cannot extinguish it
by our impatience.
In fact
it is not for us
to extinguish it
at all.
Do you know
that
when there is a big blaze
the firemen
do not waste any water on it
at all.
They only try
to save
the neighborhood ...
When we have done
our individual duty
that is as good
as having extinguished
the whole of the fire.
In appearance
it is still burning
but we may rest assured
that it
has been put out.
This is all I have found
as a result of
my quest of truth ...
We can only insist
upon what is possible.
It is no use
pining after the air
of
the mountains on the moon,
as it is beyond our reach,
The same is true
of our duty ..."
[From a letter
written by Gandhi
to
Chhaganlal Joshi,
August 30, 1932,
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
pages 296 - 297]
"... We tend to become
what we worship ..."
[Gandhi's stay in prison
stimulated his thinking
about himself
and about jails.
Gandhi's reply
to a co-worker's letter,
June 13, 1932,
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 160]
"... Jail for us
is no jail at all ..."
[Remark
in conversation
with
fellow-prisoners,
March 15, 1932,
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 12]
"[We] have
no strangers.
All strangers
are friends,
including
criminals,
as also
jailors.
We have here
[in Yeravda prison]
learned to recognize
friends
among animals.
We have a cat
who is a revelation.
And if we had vision enough,
we should appreciate
the language of trees and plants
and value their friendship."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
August 31, 1932,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 117]
"... If a dying man
has his heart
in the world
he is unhappy
himself
and
the cause of unhappiness
in others;
the same is the case
with a prisoner in jail,
who should cease to think
of the outside world,
for imprisonment
means civil death ...
This prescription of mine
is no new discovery.
Bunyan
could not have written
The Pilgrim's Progress
and
Lokamanya Tilak
his commentary on the Gita
if in prison
they had continued to worry
about the outside world."
[Letter
to fellow-prisoners
August 15, 1932
from
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 288]
"... Self-control
is the best thing
for a prisoner
and his friends
and dear ones.
But self-control to be
self-control
must brace one up.
It becomes
mechanical
or
superimposed
when it unnerves
or saddens one ..."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
February 4, 1932,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 97]
"[Train]
yourself
to ...
feel happy.
In a manner
everybody trains himself
to do without things
when he cannot get them.
A follower
of the Gita dharma
[duty]
trains himself
to do without things
with happiness...
for
happiness of the Gita
is not
the opposite
of unhappiness.
It is superior
to that state.
The devotee
of the Gita
is neither happy
nor unhappy.
And when
that state
is reached,
there is
no pain,
no pleasure,
no victory,
no defeat,
no deprivation,
no possession.
Prison life
is a life of privilege
if we learn
to practice
the Gita teaching ..."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
March 4, 1933,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 142]
[...]
"We must make
the best possible use
of the invaluable leisure
in jail.
Perhaps the best of uses
would be
to cultivate the power
of independent thought.
We are often thoughtless
and therefore
like only to read books
or,
worse still,
to talk ...
As a matter of fact,
there is an art
of thinking
just as there is an art
of reading.
We should be able to think
the right thought
at the right time
and not indulge
in
thinking useless thoughts
as well as in
reading useless books ...
It is my experience
during every incarceration
that it affords us
a fine opportunity
of thinking ...
to some purpose ..."
[From
The Diary of
Mahadev Desai,
page 156,
entry for June 10, 1932]
[...]
"[Never] write
in a bad hand
whether there is hurry
or not.
This lesson
everyone should learn
from my misfortune.
Bad writing
and
bad everything
is truly [violence].
We have a rare opportunity
of learning
the virtue of patience
in prison life."
[Letter
to Mira Behn,
November 3, 1932,
in M. K. Gandhi
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple",
page 126]
"...The word
'criminal'
should be taboo
from our dictionary.
Or
we are all
criminals.
'Those
of you
that
are without sin
cast
the first stone.'
And no one
was found
to dare cast the stone
at the sinning harlot.
As a jailer once said,
all are criminals
in secret ...
Let them
therefore
be
good companions.
I know
this is easier said
than done.
And that is
exactly
what the Gita
and
as a matter of fact
all religions
enjoin upon us
to do."
[...]
"... The more we punish,
the more
persistent
crimes become.
They may change color
but
the substance is the same.
The way to serve
the adversary's soul
is
to appeal
to the soul.
It defies destruction,
but
it is amenable to appeals
tuned
to the required pitch.
Souls
must react upon
souls.
And since non-violence
is essentially
a quality of the soul,
the only effective appeal
to the soul
must lie
through non-violence.
And do we
not arrogate to ourselves
infallibility
when we seek
to punish our adversaries?
Let us remember
that
they regard us to be
as harmful ...
as
we regard them ..."
[From
"Young India"
April 30, 1925]
"... I would draw
the distinction
between killing
and detention...
I think there is
a difference
not merely in quantity
but also in quality.
I can
recall the punishment
of detention.
I can
make reparation
to the man
upon whom I inflict
corporal punishment.
But
once a man is killed,
the punishment
is beyond
recall
or
reparation.
God alone
can take life
because
He alone
gives it."
[From
"Young India"
October 8, 1925]
[the above section
was selected
from pages 272 - 276.]
+++
Chapter Twenty-Four
(incomplete)
"Gandhi About Himself"
"... I have
never yet
copy-righted
any
of my writings.
... I dare not be
exclusive ..."
[From
"Young India"
March 25, 1926]
"... I own no property
and yet
I feel that I am
perhaps
the richest man
in the world.
For I have never been
in want
either
for myself
or
for my public concerns.
God
has always
and invariably
responded
in time...
It is open
to the world,
therefore,
to laugh
at my
dispossessing myself
of all property.
For me
the dispossession
has been a positive gain.
I would like people
to compete with me
in my contentment.
It is
the richest treasure
I own ..."
[From
"Young India"
April 30, 1925]
[...]
"Mine is a life
full of joy
in the midst
of incessant work.
In
not wanting
to think
of what
tomorrow
will bring for me
I feel
as free as a bird ..."
[From
"Young India"
October 1, 1925]
[...]
"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."
[From
"Young India"
December 26, 1924]
"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."
[From
"Young India"
April 2, 1931]
"[Prayer]
has
saved my life ...
I had my share
of the
bitterest
public
and
private experiences.
They threw me
into
temporary despair.
If I was able
to get rid of that despair
it was because of prayer.
It has not been
a part of my life
as truth has been.
It came
out of sheer necessity
as I found myself
in a plight
where I could not
possibly be happy
without it.
And as time went on
my faith in God
increased
and
more irresistible
became the yearning
for prayer.
Life
seemed to be
dull and vacant
without it ...
In spite of
despair
staring me in the face
on the political horizon,
I have never lost my peace.
... That peace
comes from prayer ...
I am indifferent
as to the form.
Everyone
is a law unto himself
in that respect ...
Let everyone
try and find
that
as a result of daily prayer
he adds something new
to his life."
[At a prayer meeting
on board
ship to London, 1931,
in D. G. Tendulkar,
"Mahatma",
Volume III, pages 139 - 140.]
"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 ..."
[From
"Young India"
December 4, 1924]
"... It is
to me
a matter
of perennial satisfaction
that I retain
generally
the affection
and the trust
of those
whose principles
and policies
I oppose..."
[From
"Young India"
March 17, 1927]
"Differences of opinion
should never mean
hostility.
If they did,
my wife and I
should be sworn enemies
of one another.
I do not know
two persons
in the world
who had no difference
of opinion
and
as I am a follower
of the Gita
I have always attempted
to regard those
who differ from me
with the same affection
as I have
for my nearest and dearest."
[From
"Young India"
March 17, 1927]
"... I have no desire
to carry
a single soul
with me
if I cannot appeal
to his or her
reason."
[From
"Young India"
July 14, 1920]
"... I do not claim
to lead
or have
any party,
if only for the reason
that I seem to be
constantly changing
and shifting my ground ...
I must respond
to varying conditions
and yet remain
changeless within.
I have no desire
to drag anybody.
My appeal
is continuously
to the head
and heart
combined..."
[From
"Young India"
August 20, 1925]
"... The highest honor
that my friends can do me
is to enforce in their own lives
the program I stand for
or resist me to their utmost
if they do not
believe in it.
Blind adoration
in the age of action
is perfectly valueless,
is often embarrassing
and equally,
often painful."
[From
"Young India"
July 12, 1924]
"In the majority
of cases
addresses [compliments]
presented to me
contain adjectives
which I am ill able
to carry ...
They unnecessarily
humiliate me
for I have to confess
I do not deserve them.
When they are deserved
their use is superfluous.
They cannot add
to the strength
of the qualities
possessed by me.
They may,
if I am not
on my guard,
easily
turn my head.
The good a man does
is more often than not
better left unsaid.
Imitation
is the sincerest
flattery."
[From
"Young India"
May 21, 1925]
"When I think
of my littleness
and my limitations ...
and of the expectations
raised about me ...
I become dazed
for the moment
but I come to myself
as soon as I realize
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."
[From
"Young India"
October 8, 1925]
"Truth to me
is infinitely dearer
than the
'mahatma-ship'
which is
purely a burden.
It is my knowledge
of my limitations
and my nothingness
which has so far saved me
from the oppressiveness
of 'mahatma-ship.'..."
[Statement in 1928
in D. G. Tendulkar,
"Mahatma",
Volume II, pages 43 - 44.]
"The Mahatma
I must leave
to his fate.
Though
a non-cooperator
I shall gladly
subscribe
to a bill
to make it criminal
for anybody to call me
Mahatma
and
to touch my feet ..."
[From
"Young India"
March 17, 1927]
"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 ...
I cannot attain freedom
[from the two forces
of spirit and flesh]
by
a mechanical refusal to act,
but
only by
intelligent action
in a detached manner..."
[From
"Young India"
November 17, 1921]
"... Let good news
as well as bad
pass over you
like
water
over a duck's back.
When we hear any,
our duty
is merely to find out
whether any action
is necessary,
and if it is,
to do
as an instrument
in the hands of Nature
without being
affected by
or
attached to
the result..."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
December 13, 1930,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 79]
"... If you work
with detachment,
you will
refuse
to be rushed
and you will
refuse
to let anything
get on your nerves ...
You know the story
of King Janak
[of Hindu scripture].
He was Duty
personified.
His capital
was in flames.
He knew it.
But some busybody
reported it to him.
His answer was
'What care I
whether my capital
is
reduced to ashes
or
remains intact!'
He
had done
all he could
to save it.
His going
to the scene of operations
and fussing
would have
distracted the attention
of the fire-brigade
and others,
and made matters worse.
[He] had
done his part
and was
therefore quiet
and at ease.
So may --
must --
we be,
if we have
done our best,
whether our work
flourishes
or perishes."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
October 19, 1930,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 75]
"... Time and again
in my life,
contrary
to all wise counsels,
I have allowed myself
to be guided
by the inner voice --
often
with spectacular success.
But success and failure
are of no account.
[They] are God's concern,
not mine."
[Manu Gandhi,
"Eklo Jane Re",
(Ahmedabad:
Navajivan Publishing
House, 1954), p. 181.]
"... On
the lonesome way
of God
on which
I have set out
I need
no earthly companions.
Let those who will,
therefore,
denounce me
if I am the imposter
they imagine me to be
though
they may not say so
in
so many words.
It might disillusion
the millions
who persist
in regarding me
as a Mahatma.
I must confess
the prospect
of being so debunked
greatly pleases me."
[Conversation
with disciples,
February 25, 1947,
in Pyarelal,
"Mahatma Gandhi:
The Last Phase,"
Volume I, Chapter 23,
page 586.]
"... There is
a state in life
when a man
does not need ...
to proclaim
his thoughts,
much less
to show them
by outward action.
Mere
thoughts
act.
They
attain
that power.
Then it can be
said of him
that his seeming
inaction
constitutes
his action ...
My striving
is in
that direction."
[From "Harijan",
October 26, 1947]
"... I regard it
as self-delusion,
if not worse,
when a person says
he is
wearing himself away
in service.
... The body
is like a machine
requiring to be well-kept
for full service ...
I have not felt ashamed
to take the required rest ...
Rest
properly
and in due time
taken
is like
the proverbial
timely stitch."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
September 28, 1930,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 74 - 75]
"You need not
worry
about my health ...
I am taking the rest
that is possible.
Blood Pressure
is under control.
Jumpy,
I fear,
it will remain
unless I lead
the forest life
and cease
all outward activity.
But this
would be wrong.
I must discover
the art of living long
though
full of activity
to the end... "
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
January 20, 1939,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 190]
"... In my pursuit
after Truth
I have discarded
many ideas
and learnt
many new things.
Old as I am
in age
I have no feeling
that I have ceased
to grow
inwardly
or
that my growth
will stop
with the dissolution
of the flesh ..."
[From "Harijan",
April 29, 1933]
"... I am not
a perfect being.
Why should you
see
eye to eye with me
in my errors?
That would be
blind faith.
Your faith in me
should enable you
to detect my
true error
much quicker
than a fault-finder ...
Therefore,
you should not
paralyze
your thought
by
suppressing
your doubts
and
torturing yourself
that you
do not agree
with my view
in particular things.
You should ...
pursue the discussion ...
till you have
the clearest possible
grasp
of all my ideals
about it."
[From a letter
to Mira Behn,
April 27, 1933,
in M. K. Gandhi,
"Gandhi's Letters
to a Disciple", p. 145]
"I have
never made
a fetish
of consistency.
I am
a votary of Truth
and I must say
what I feel
and think
at a given moment
on the question
without regard
to what
I may have said
before
on it ...
As my vision
gets clearer
my views
must grow clearer
with
daily practice ..."
[From "Harijan",
September 28, 1934]
+++
[the above section
was selected
from pages 308 - 314]
+++
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