Waging peace
THE UN declared October 2 as The International Day of Non-Violence; the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. The Gandhian thought of peace and nonviolence is globally recognised and acknowledged.
The contribution of Gandhi to humanity is enormous and monumental.
Gandhi was a person with many great attributes. He was an inventor, but of a different kind — an inventor of a unique way of protest, struggle, emancipation and empowerment.
His philosophy was not in making war but in waging peace. His weaponry was not arms and ammunition but “truth force”, “satyagraha” as he called it.
He was a man of peace who fought for what he believed to be right. He was a political strategist who shunned conventional politics and held no office.
He was pragmatic and adapted himself to changing situations without compromising or abandoning his values.
He was deeply religious. But his was a religion that drew from every faith, a religion that was all-inclusive.
He embodied spirituality. But his was a spirituality rooted in an abiding concern for the poor and the deprived, of service to and empowerment of the disadvantaged and underprivileged.
Gandhi showed us three guiding principles: Ahimsa (or non-violence), satyagraha (or the force born of truth and nonviolence) and sarvodaya (or upliftment and progress of all).
Gandhi developed the famous social technique of “satyagraha” — peaceful social action, a social philosophic system that enjoins nonviolent personal behaviour and social responsibility.
His was a lifelong struggle against “untouchability”, that is, against the ideological, discriminatory, psychological, caste and colonial notions of “race” superiority and inferiority.
Gandhi’s thoughts on education are wonderful: Gandhi believed that education should be the “training of the head, the heart and the hands” which is even so meaningful and relevant today.
He emphasised that nurturing of cognitive part of the brain (head), combined with the development of feelings (heart) and appropriate actions - psychomotor skills (hands) is an essential element of education.
His thoughts on education included: Education means all round development; the basis of true education is character building; education should be self-supporting as far as possible and also equip the student to better his/her own economic conditions; education should be based on non-violence and should work for communal harmony.
The life and teachings of Gandhi embody the concept of striving to attain friendship based on mutual trust, faith, and compassion.
Gandhi very effectively articulated the value of forgiveness: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
Forgiveness cannot be only a mental process through rationalisation, thoughts, and words, but must also be felt within the heart and given from the heart.
Some people think that compassion is just a passive emotional response. It is also a sense of responsibility. Gandhi was not a mere onlooker but was an active participant. Sacrifice was a key part of his life.
He helped people in need without expecting anything in return. He never asked anyone to do anything, but showed everyone how to do it. He lived a simple need based life because he knew that needs have an end whereas greed is endless.
Gandhi captured the spirit of friendship in these beautiful words: “The test of friendship is assistance in adversity and that too, unconditional assistance”.
In fact, Gandhi throughout his life was incessantly striving to achieve friendship, forgiveness, love and tolerance.
Gandhi said: “Love never claims it ever gives; love never suffers, never resents, and never revenges itself. Where there is love there is life”.
His nature of feeling the pain of his fellow citizens showed his empathy towards human beings.
As the world is faced with depleting resources and climate change issues, “sustainable development” has become important for survival. At the core of this concept is the Gandhian philosophy of “needs-based” approach.
Gandhi had said: “The future depends on what we do in the present”, and “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.”
These views of Gandhi reflect upon how human behaviour destroys the environment and how a sustainable way of living is important for humans to survive.
Gandhi placed great emphasis upon cleanliness or “wwacchta”.
He used to say “swacchta hi seva”.
This cleanliness ideology is more than physical cleanliness as Gandhi used to emphasise upon the internal cleanliness of a person.
Thus, along with cleaning the environment, he advised on having clean thoughts and imbibing good values. Gandhi’s message has much significance today because society is witnessing the degradation of values and morals.
He advocated the basic philosophy of “be the change that you want to see”, and “you can never force your teachings on others, unless you follow what you preach”.
Gandhi led by example; he was the
change that he wanted to see in others. Once, a lady asked Gandhi to advise her son not to eat too much sugar.
Gandhi asked the lady to come after a week. The lady then brought her son back to Gandhi after a week.
Gandhi talked with the boy and very convincingly told him not to eat too much sugar and the boy finally agreed to not eat much sugar.
The lady asked Gandhi on why she was asked her to come one week later.
Gandhi replied, “last week I was taking sugar, now I don’t take sugar. I am now in a position to advice your son”.
This simple story teaches us that we must change first before we preach things that would change the people around us, and we should practice what we preach.
Perseverance is one trait many of us lack, but Gandhi was absolutely resolute in his decisions and actions. He never gave up unless he achieved what he had set out to do. Sometimes, some of us suffer because of our wavering interests, laziness and lack of determination.
During India’s freedom movement, Gandhi’s satyagraha proved how perseverance and hard work brought about independence for India.
Gandhi taught us not get distracted t if one is unable to achieve success in a short time. He emphasized to stay focused, and persevere without giving up till the end.
Apart from his principles and values, Gandhi was a creative writer. He documented his principles, experiments with his life in writing.
His inspiring quotes range from education, peace, non-violence, satyagraha, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, spirituality and above all Love.
These are well narrated in his autobiography: “My experiments with truth”.
Another concept he stood up for passionately and practiced was truth. In his autobiography, my experiments with truth, Gandhi confesses, “for me truth is the sovereign principle. Truth is not truthfulness in word, but is truthfulness in thought also, and not only relative truth of our conception, but the absolute truth. I worship God as truth only”.
Gandhi’s concept of truth is very aptly captured in: “Satye mei Jayate” – truth always triumphs – it reminds us to be truthful all the times.
His ideas on peace, non-violence, truth, education, sustainable development, cleanliness, friendship, forgiveness, perseverance, simplistic living, and practicing what one preaches are still very relevant today.
Everyone should follow the key Gandhian ideologies in their day to day life for a happy, prosperous, healthy, harmonious and sustainable future.
I wish to conclude with a poem “Living Enigma”. I call Gandhi a living enigma because of his complex personality, principles, and philosophies.
■ Bhagwanji Bhindi is a lecturer at the Fiji National University’s School of Communication, Literature & Language, College of Humanities and Education. The views expressed are the author’s and does not reflect the views of this newspaper.