For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Ahimsa and Mahatma Gandhi- XXV

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

E-mail- dr.yadav.yogendra@gandhifoundation.net;

dr.yogendragandhi@gmail.com

Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

Ahimsa and Mahatma Gandhi- XXV

Ahimsa does not work in any other way. The defects that you have pointed out are there, but our Sangh is a mixed crowd. All sorts of people are there. If we can put up with them, we can bear with the world. If by keeping them with us we live happily, we can then someday hope for a complete non-violent order. But there are certain rules we have to observe. The question is how to put these rules into practice. As long as I live, the way I put them into practice becomes our rule. Look, patience will solve all problems. Don’t take to heart our shortcomings. It is enough if you know that they exist. You are trying to remove them. You are bound to succeed. 1 I know for certain that wherever you go and whatever you do ahimsa and truth will always be there. Keep writing to me, and give your address. And, if possible, keep me informed of your activities. Whenever you want to come back does come. If you want to talk to me about this, do so. Why grieve, when we part with goodwill? Joy consists in performing one’s duty. 2

The matter is important. Therein lays the test of ahimsa. Both were attracted towards each other. If this is considered a defect and they are turned out, their lives can be embittered. If we tolerate them, their self-control can increase, and they can progress step by step. Their progress depends on us. This line of thought is in favour of their staying [in the Ashram], and this should be sufficient. We should put up with the temper of others to the extent that we ourselves are not weighed down by it. A proof of this is that others are influenced by us. This is an outward proof. Inner proof is the testimony of the soul. If our fearlessness goes on increasing, it is ahimsa, otherwise it is cowardice. 3 I discovered that whilst he accepted in the abstract the principle of ahimsa with all its implications, he felt the greatest difficulty in acting upon it, the more so as with his intimate knowledge of Bombay he was sure that he could not carry the Hindus with him, much less the Muslims. He knew that the numerous Hindus who were under his influence would look to him for guidance and would seek his advice. He saw no way of convincing them that they could defend themselves through ahimsa. As a political weapon and therefore of immediate use in the midst of the riots which looked more like a miniature civil war, he could not make any effective use of ahimsa. With him the question was not one of interpretation of Congress resolutions but of being truthful to himself and to the country. In view, therefore, of the following resolution by the A.I.C.C. explaining the Wardha statement, I advised that the only dignified and brave course for him was to resign from the Congress and attain freedom of action unhampered by restrictions entailed by the Congress non-violence. 4

The path of ahimsa can lead to success only if all those who adopt it believe in it whole-heartedly. Nobody can be non-violent merely by professing non-violence. 5 The men whose statements you have translated had no notion of the working of ahimsa. If they had the courage of non-violence they could not have come away alive except by converting their assailants miscalled Police without retaliation. That would mean ahimsa of the highest order. This does not come except by long previous training. It is rarely seen. But if one cannot exhibit such courage, one must not be a coward. One has not only the right but it is a duty to retaliate in a vigorous manner. This again requires great courage. I have, seen it exhibited successfully. It should not matter how heavy the odds are. Resistance may mean death. It must be faced in preference to a cowardly resignation to brutal and indecent treatment. It is this self-defence which is not taboo to a Congressman. It is the inherent right and the bounden duty of a man to defend honour non-violently if he knows how, otherwise violently. There is no other way. Such a man will soon be able to learn the virtue of non-violence. But that is only by the way. My advice is clear and emphatic. There is too much of this assaulting in Orissa, assuming the truth of statements that have been sent to me from time to time. If you have assimilated my advice you will act in a methodical and deliberate manner. You will be at liberty to publish this letter with a carefully thought out programme as to how to go about it. You may send me the draft manifesto for approval or you may come when you like for a discussion before acting. The matter is too important to be ignored. 6

The truth is that no one is able to act upon a great principle, like that of non-violence, in its entirety. Like the geometrical line, it can only be imagined, but never drawn. In practice, we have to be content with drawing only such fine lines as we can with our instruments. There is no wall which can be called ‘straight’ according to Euclid. And yet, walls have stood the test of time for thousands of years. It is the same with ahimsa. We must put it into practice as best as we can. It would have been easy for me to forbid the sale of the blankets. It was a question of only a few thousand rupees, a small amount for an establishment whose turnover is in lakhs. But the prohibition would have been a matter of shame for me. I could have done so only by concealing my real view of the matter. Where should I draw the line from which such prohibition should commence? If I were a grain merchant, should I decline to sell it to soldiers? Or, if I were a chemist, should I refuse to sell quinine and other drugs to them? If I should, what could be the reason for my doing so? Does my ahimsa prevent me from entertaining such customers? In other words, does it require of me to look into the occupations of my customers? The clear reply is that provided I deal in goods which conduce to the welfare of society, I may not look into the occupations of my customers. This means that I may sell my innocuous articles even to soldiers. 7

The slaughter that is going on does not raise my hair. The civil war mentioned in the Bhagawat may be imaginary, but in real life it is true. When violence increases in the world internecine wars are bound to take place. Out of this will non-violence be born if there are some truly non-violent people? I believe we are such people. I cannot say how ahimsa will be born. This power is beyond description. It can be seen only in its impact. God alone regulates it. My peace and my firmness are based on this faith: See what Russia has done. Once it took help from Germany and now from England. Who can say what Russia will do if she loses? From the point of view of ahimsa today we can be no more but mute witnesses of this slaughter. Yes, but when an occasion arises we should be ready for sacrifice. 8

We should keep our stores open only for reasonable periods, not from six in the morning till twelve at night. In England the stores are closed at fixed hours by law. We should follow that practice voluntarily. The English in India do so. But irrespective of their practice, we should arrange our affairs on the basis of the law of ahimsa. We should, therefore, plan the whole thing from that point of view. 9 Ahimsa was born along with man. Hitler too does not kill his own people. This is ahimsa though in a very limited measure. As ahimsa is the very nature of the atman, either man comes to it out of weariness or accepts it willingly, as we are trying to do. Know that our endeavour in comparison with the achievement of a siddha is like a drop in the ocean. But the drop also has the essence of the ocean, so it is no small thing. 10

In ahimsa there is no scope for such sudden miracles. Ahimsa does not admit of sudden spurts. But those who will can always see the miracles of ahimsa. We watch the sky every day but we see no miracles there. But those who have an eye for it are spellbound by the spectacle. They see new miracles every moment. And the sky is only a small fragment of Divine Power.

That Divine Power is also the source of ahimsa which works according to the Divine Law. That Law is so mysterious that even its miraculous effects do not appear to be such. They look like a natural course of events. Our non-violent struggle will also evolve according to the same Law. When independence comes through nonviolence it will blossom forth so naturally that we may never notice the miracle having taken place. Some people expect a miracle this very day. In ahimsa there is no scope for such sudden miracles. Ahimsa does not admit of sudden spurts. But those who will can always see the miracles of ahimsa. We watch the sky every day but we see no miracles there. But those who have an eye for it are spellbound by the spectacle. They see new miracles every moment. And the sky is only a small fragment of Divine Power. That Divine Power is also the source of ahimsa which works according to the Divine Law. That Law is so mysterious that even its miraculous effects do not appear to be such. They look like a natural course of events. Our non-violent struggle will also evolve according to the same Law. When independence comes through nonviolence it will blossom forth so naturally that we may never notice the miracle having taken place. Ahimsa dictates: ‘Consider no one your enemy. Love even him who considers you his enemy.’ How can we then think of taking advantage of England’s predicament? You may say, ‘Then we are sure to be destroyed. We will suffer defeat at the hands of the British.’ This betrays lack of faith. A follower of non-violence suffers defeat at no one’s hands. I may repeat once again that ‘defeat’ has no place in the dictionary of ahimsa.

Victory and defeat are the results of violent war. In ahimsa there is only victory and nothing else. At the moment I cannot tell you how our ahimsa is ultimately going to succeed. Not to embarrass Britain does not mean that we should help them. They are resorting to violent methods. We have to stand firm on our principle of ahimsa. This will no doubt create some difficulty for them. But we cannot help it. How can we give up a principle which is bound to lead to the welfare of the world including that of Britain? But if we violate our principle, we shall be guilty of violence. I wish you to keep this in mind. Civil disobedience is a powerful weapon. But for employing it, we must fulfil the thirteen-point constructive programme which I have outlined. Till then this weapon cannot be effective. I know that the crores of people in India cannot court arrest nor is that necessary. But it is essential that crores of people should have faith in the constructive programme. Khadi is the pivot of the constructive programme. It is essential that crores of people should wear khadi; they should not wear foreign or mill-made cloth and they should not observe any untouchability. If they are not prepared to do even this, how can freedom are won through ahimsa? What right do they have to desire freedom, which are not prepared to take even a little trouble? If we wish to win swaraj through ahimsa, this is the only way. If, however, we wish to use force, then Hitler would point the way. There are only two courses open either Hitler’s, that is, the way of violence, or mine, that is, the way of non-violence.

Hitlerism and Churchillism is in fact the same thing the difference of only one of degree. By presenting this yarn and this money to me, you are telling me that you do not want to tread the path of violence. It is my belief that a time will come when everyone in India will realize that the only correct course is to follow ahimsa. The day is soon arriving for khadi when the entire country will be convinced that any cloth other than khadi must be discarded. I shall utilize all the money I have received on the occasion of Khadi Jayanti for encouraging khadi. People ask me, ‘Why do you not utilize this money for Congress work?’ In a way khadi work is also Congress work. But it is only the parliamentary programme or the movement against the Government that people regard as Congress work. This is a wrong notion. This amount will be utilized only for khadi work. The ahimas required for driving the British out of India need not be of so high a quality; but the steps we shall have to take to cleanse our own hearts cannot be taken without ahimsa of a very high order. For instance, the Hindu-Muslim tension cannot be removed without true ahimsa. We followed the path of ahimsa to face the British because we had no violent force.

This was not true ahimsa. Ahimsa dwells not in the hearts of the cowards but in the hearts of the brave. The Negroes are physically robust, their chests are worth admiration but the British have filled them with fear, so much so that a sturdy Negro trembles at the sight of a white child. The same is the plight of the Indians. Although in physical strength, we are nothing compared to the Negroes, our experiments, imperfect as they are, in ahimsa have had a profound impact. My faith in human nature is progressively growing. I have concluded, on the basis of my experiments, that human nature can be easily moulded. We have come to assume, because of our inertia, that human nature is always the same and seldom amenable to progress. Churchill and Hitler are striving to change the nature of their respective countrymen by forcing and hammering violent methods on them. Man may be suppressed in this manner but he cannot be changed. Ahimsa, on the other hand, can change human nature and sooner than men like Churchill and Hitler can. 11

Then let me put it to you in a nutshell. The resolution means that, if the Government gave a guarantee that full freedom would be given after the war, the Congress would help in keeping this Empire alive. It was not that the bargain had been actually made, but the terms had been agreed upon, whereas, if I did not want to enter into any bargain at all, I should plainly say so. If you feel that on your agreeing to offer full co-operation in the war effort, India will have complete independence after the war, that the British will thereafter remain in India at your mercy and sufferance, that even during the war you will run your own affairs provided of course that your Defence Minister will carry on the war to victory, you must confirm the Bardoli Resolution. The temptation is very great indeed. If for that sake you are ready to reverse the Congress policy and purchase swaraj and pay as price there of ahimsa, you must confirm the resolution. Remember that the very greatest of our leaders are party to the resolution and they have not chosen to do so lightly. As against this there are those who think that ahimsa is a pearl of great price and that it cannot be given up, that it can never be the price of swaraj, then their position is different. But if you are in doubt, if you feel that in sticking to ahimsa you lose both ahimsa, because you are incapable of it, and swaraj, that Gandhi is a good man but it would be prudent not to go the whole length with him, then you must accept the resolution. Only those will express their disapproval of it that are sure in their heart of hearts that prudence, political insight, policy, every consideration demands that ahimsa may not be sacrificed for swaraj. Now let those who will vote for the Bardoli Resolution raise their hands. Good. Now let the acharyas (masters) of ahimsa raise their hands. 12

We have sworn by ahimsa and pledged ourselves to win swaraj by ahimsa. It is twenty years since we took the pledge, yet we do not know how to redeem it. What then is the thing that will enable us to work for swaraj, and to stand erect and strong in the face of this conflagration? It is the charkha and all it means. Land we have, but the land system, uneconomic holdings and methods, have reduced us to the level of beasts of burden, it does not yield us enough to eat all the year round, and we are workless for almost half the year. We have, therefore, to take up subsidiary industries. Those are the charkha and the allied activities. 13

Please note that I am, as I have said, an ordinary mortal like you. Had this not been the case, we should not have been able to work together these twenty years. Ahimsa with me is a creed, the breath of life. But it is never as a creed that I placed it before India or, for that matter, before anyone except in casual or informal talks. I placed it before the Congress as a political weapon, to be employed for the solution of political problems. It is a new experiment in ahimsa which I have undertaken. As far as I am aware, no one has hitherto employed ahimsa in the political arena in this manner. If someone has, at least I am not aware of it. Maybe it is a novel method, but it does not on that account lose its political character. I tried this for the first time in South Africa, with good results. I have brought it from there. The question there was exclusively of the political existence of Indians who had no political consciousness but had settled in South Africa as merchants, petty hawkers, etc. And there I used ahimsa as a political weapon. It was for them a question of life and death. The whites wanted them to quit. They had only two alternatives.

They could either quit or stay there with the status of animals. We tried everything that was humanly possible. We found that all the so-called constitutional remedies, with which the Congress work in India had made me familiar, had failed. I was an expert in petition-writing which had yielded me lots of money. I have been for long a draftsman for the Congress here, which work I used to do there also. They submitted many petitions, but when all other methods failed they resorted to Satyagraha The various measures that I adopted there were not the work of a visionary or a dreamer. They were the work of an essentially practical man dealing with practical political questions. As a political method, it can always be changed, modified, altered, even given up in preference to another. If, therefore, I say to you that our policy should not be given up today, I am talking political wisdom. It is political insight. It has served us in the past, it has enabled us to traverse many stages towards independence, and it is a politician that I tell you that it would be a grave mistake to think of giving it up.

If I have carried the Congress with me all these years, it is in my capacity as a politician. It is hardly fair to describe my method as religious because it is new. You should all remember that non-violence is the common factor among Jawaharlal, Rajaji, Rajendra Babu and Maulana Saheb. We are all agreed that today we have to work only through nonviolence. We will think of other things at the appropriate time. That is why I find myself supporting this resolution. Rajendra Babu can today propagate to his heart’s content the message of ahimsa from the Congress platform. This resolution leaves him free to do so. Besides this, the instructions about the constructive programme for Congressmen will promote ahimsa. It includes almost all the items of the thirteen-point constructive programme put forward by me. The U. P. Congress Committee has recently passed a resolution which is praiseworthy. It refers to ahimsa too. It covers everything that I should like it to. We have made a clean breast of everything in this resolution. When all of us are sailing in the same boat, why do you want to introduce a new resolution? Ahimsa is not a thing which can be established through mechanical means. Did I serve the Congress for the last twenty years on the strength of a ‘vote’? On the contrary, when matters reached the stage demanding a ‘vote’ I voluntarily retired from the Congress. Voting is all right in small matters, but our work will be hampered if we decide larger issues by ‘vote’. The Congress is like a non-violent army. Our effort will be to keep it nonviolent to the end. I am not going to restrain it if on the basis of experience we realize that we were on the wrong path.

The real strength of the Congress lies in those people who are outside the Congress but rally to its support when the call goes out. They do not care for name or fame, nor have they any personal axe to grind. We have to become their true representatives. You have to forge the Congress into a strong, solid and disciplined organization. In the past 15 months Congressmen have evinced some sense of discipline. Occasionally there were lapses but I tolerated them because I had to steer the Congress ship. But now we shall have to observe stricter discipline. The time has now arrived when the Congress should act with one mind. The ultimate weapon of the Congress today is ahimsa. Until this creed is altered, no Congressman can preach violence openly or secretly. If he does so, he will be disloyal. No one can however judge what lies inside a man’s heart. But we will have to enlist all those who promise to march in step with us. This resolution keeps the door open for every honest Congressman. Finally, some friends ask, ‘What has the Congress done, after all?’ They complain that the resolution has no operative clause. The complaint is true so far as the resolution is concerned. The Congress will issue separate instructions for this purpose. The resolution had to be merely explanatory. It is addressed less to Congressmen than to the world. It is not even addressed to the Government. Let there be no misunderstanding or lack of zeal among Congressmen because the resolution has postponed Satyagraha. Neither Jawaharlal nor Rajaji will let you remain idle. I certainly will not. Let those who think the constructive programme is insipid know that there is nothing in the Working Committee’s resolution to prevent a Congressman at his own risk from leading civil disobedience individual or mass. If he succeeds, he will win nothing but praise from all and I myself will kiss his feet. The more a person advances in ahimsa, the more proud will the Congress feel of him. But such advance should not need any imprimatur from the Congress. But let me warn the enthusiasts that they will not handle the weapon with any success. They will only damage themselves and the cause by any hasty or ignorant action. And let me say as an expert in the art of Satyagraha that those who regard the constructive programme as insipid do not know what non-violence is and how it works. 14

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