My Imperfections – Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

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

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My Imperfections – Mahatma Gandhi

 

What this correspondent says is of course true. I do use honey; I have not completely given up its use so far. I am more conscious of my imperfections than others can be. The fact is there are a number of things that I would like to give up but I have not yet been able to do so. Honey has been considered good for my health. I have not had the courage to give up honey, though I know that its use involves violence, as I have already given up a good many items of diet. To be intellectually convinced that a certain thing should be given up is one thing, to really give it up with one’s heart is another. Having said this I must also say that my effort to give up honey continues. But if one gives up honey one must also give up sugar and jaggery. From the point of view of vikriti, sugar is the worst thing. Preparation of sugar involves a lot of violence also. Honey has not harmed me in any way. The doctors maintain that honey is very good for health. Then there is this in its favour: the modern methods of bee-keeping do not involve destruction of the bees. But of course that is no argument in favour of eating honey. All enterprise carries with it some defect.

 All industry involves sin. The less of this the better. I would now like to digress a little. The readers should understand that ahimsa does not end with consideration of what should or should not be eaten. But the ahimsa which has been described as the supreme dharma is much more than this. Ahimsa is the noblest feeling of the heart. So long as our relations with others are not pure and so long as we consider anyone our enemy, we cannot be said to have touched even the fringe of ahimsa. A man who observes ahimsa scrupulously in eating and drinking, but is unscrupulous in business, does not hesitate to cheat and selfishly cause unhappiness to others, cannot be said to be observing ahimsa. But a man who, though a non-vegetarian, and not so particular about what he eats, is compassionate and has dedicated himself to helping others, must be considered a saint who knows the dharma of ahimsa and follows it whole-heartedly. Straying from this central point we have forgotten our dharma. That is why I wish we would see the great himsa that the ever-growing distrust between us involves and prove our manliness in removing it. How should we behave with the English, with the Muslims or other communities?

The search for an answer to this question provides the real field for ahimsa. The research in pure food is the job of physicians endowed with noble qualities. The public in general cannot understand it. For this work knowledge of science is essential. Whether I declare honey harmless or harmful does not matter at all. We should simply accept the views of one who has studied the technique of production of honey and has observed its effects. All enterprise is clouded with defect. Eating anything at all involves some violence. Having realized this duty is clear: we should give up whatever we can do without. We should eat nothing to please the palate. One’s body is the abode of God and one is merely its custodian. Therefore we should try our utmost to keep it pure as far as possible. We should never treat it as a means of indulgence. We should treat it as something meant to practise restraint upon and should increasingly cultivate self-control. Having once decided upon this, we are rid of the problem of what to eat and what to eschew.

 

Reference:

Hindi Navajivan, 25-7-1929