Gandhi’s Relevance Increasing In Our Violent World

As violence related distress and tensions escalate to alarming levels, Mahatma Gandhi’s enduring message of peace and non-violence is becoming more and more relevant. The costs of violence are most widely seen in the context of various war/conflict situations and acts of terrorism. There is no doubt that these problems are extremely serious. Much more so in terms of weapons of mass destruction, but no less serious is the silent distress caused by violence in everyday, routine life. Partly this is reflected in the alarming statistics of domestic violence, school violence or work-place violence. But the toll taken by ‘the violence within’ or ‘violent thoughts’ is even wider and this again is only partly reflected in the disturbing data on mental health problems.

The beauty of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas is that these are not only rooted in non-violence, in addition Gandhi’s non-violence is so all-encompassing that if adopted in the right spirit, it can not only contribute in a significant way to finding durable solutions to conflicts, it’ll also help to significantly reduce the everyday violence around us. Last but not the least, being so comprehensive and covering all form of life, the widespread adoption of Gandhi’s views on non-violence will also greatly help the cause of animal welfare and compassion to animals.

The most important aspect of the message of non-violence as spread by Gandhi is that it is deeply attached to justice and equality. A peaceful world can only be built on the foundation of justice and equality, but when injustice prevails, then the means to fight and remove this injustice should be non-violent. Capturing the power and spirit of the non-violent struggle, Gandhi wrote: “I seek entirely to blunt the edge of the tyrant’s sword, not by putting up against it a sharper edged weapon, but by disappointing his expectation that I would be offering physical resistance. The resistance of the soul that I should offer instead would elude him. It would at first dazzle him and at last compel recognition from him, which recognition would not humiliate him but would uplift him.”

Speaking optimistically of his vision of a future world he wrote: “The world of tomorrow will be, must be, a society based on non-violence. That is the first law: out of it all other blessings will flow.

“... An individual can adopt the way of life of the future—the non-violent way—without having to wait for others to do so. And if an individual can do it, cannot whole groups of individuals? Whole nations? Men often hesitate to make a beginning, because they feel that the objective cannot be achieved in its entirety. This attitude of mind is precisely our greatest obstacle to progress—an obstacle that each man, if he only wills it, can clear away.

“...Equal distribution—the second great law of tomorrow’s world as I see it—grows out of non-violence. It implies not that the world’s goods shall be arbitrarily divided up, but that each man shall have the wherewithal to supply his natural needs, no more.” (The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, pp 458-60)

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For Gandhi, religion was clearly a place for peace and there was absolutely no room in his thinking for religious differences turning violent. He wrote: “I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world. I believe that they are all God given, and I believe that they were necessary for the people to whom these religions were revealed. And I believe that, if only we could all of us read the scriptures of different faiths from the standpoint of the followers of those faiths we should find that they were at bottom all one and were all helpful to one another.” (Harijan, 16.2.34, pp. 5-6)

Linking wider issues with our everyday live, Gandhi said: “If one does not practice non-violence in one’s personal relations with others and hopes to use it in bigger affairs, one is vastly mistaken. Non-violence, like charity, must begin at home.” (Harijan, 28-1-39, p. 441)

“The alphabet of Ahimsa is best learnt in the domestic school, and I can say from experience that, if we secure success there, we are sure to do so everywhere else.” (Harijan, 21.7.40, p. 214)

What is more, he emphasised that non-violence is not only absence of violent action, it must also include absence of thoughts of violence and hostility. This is where his ideas can contribute greatly to reducing problems of mental health. He wrote:

“Non-violence, to be a potent force, must begin with the mind.” (Young India, 2-4-31, p. 58)

“...unless there is a hearty co-operation of the mind the mere outward observance will be simply a mask, harmful both to the man himself and to others. The perfect state is reached only when mind and body and speech are in proper co-ordination. (Young India, 1.10.31, p. 287)

The challenge before us is whether in a world troubled increasingly by violence, we can take forward this approach in such a way—integrating principle with practical reality—that non-violence can emerge as a true ray of hope, instead of remaining merely a precept that is praised but not practised.

Bharat Dogra is a free-lance journalist who has been involved with several social initiatives and movements.