For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Simplicity and Mahatma Gandhi-II

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

Simplicity and Mahatma Gandhi-II

I ask you to continue the tradition of your forefathers, I ask you not to forget their simplicity and their frugal ways by aping the showy fashion of the West. Your community has been known throughout the world for its charity, and luxury-loving ease and extravagance go ill together with charity. I am glad to find that you here have retained some of your simplicity and your Indian ways. You are known for your business capacity and your people have made fortunes wherever they have gone. But remember that it is not their riches but their large-hearted charity that made them famous. 1 Its living message of simplicity is applicable to all lands and you will admit that if your boys and girls and even grown-up men and women devoted an hour every day to self-spinning and if you become self-reliant and self-contained regarding your clothing requirements, it would do not only no harm to you but would add dignity and self-confidence to this nation. I have been watching not without considerable anxiety the craze for fashion which I see has seized your young men and women belonging to the higher classes. Little do they know how by becoming slaves to this hypnotic dazzle from the West they are isolating themselves from the poor of the country who can never aspire after such fashion? I cannot help thinking that it would be a great national catastrophe, a great tragedy, if you were to barter away your simplicity for this tinsel splendour. 2

Live there the life of simplicity that you have pictured to yourself in the Ashram at Sabarmati. After all minds is the greatest factor. And if your mind is married to the idea of simplicity and purity no power on earth can divorce it from their idea. 3 You will guard your wife’s honour and be not her master, but her true friend. You will hold her body and her soul as sacred as I trust she will hold your body and your soul. To that end you will have to live a life of prayerful toil, and simplicity and self-restraint. Let not either of you regard another as the object of his or her lust. 4 I would just like to say that whilst I am a passionate devotee of simplicity in life, I have also discovered that it is worthless unless the echo of simplicity comes from within. The modern organized artificiality of so-called civilized life cannot have any accord with true simplicity of heart. Where the two do not correspond, there is always either gross self-deception or hypocrisy. 5

Simplicity is a matter of heart. But lest we deceive ourselves, the ideal is not to possess anything which the poorest on earth do not. You cannot force you wife to abandon ornaments against her will, but you must seek to conquer her through selfless love devoid of animal passion and through your own daily-increasing self-denial. 6 I attach importance to two things in his life. He did what he preached. His simplicity was extraordinary; it was not merely outward; outward simplicity of course he had. Though he was born in an aristocratic family and had all the good things of life to enjoy, had at his disposal all that wealth and possessions could give a man, he changed the direction of his life’s voyage in the prime of youth. Though he had enjoyed all the pleasures and tasted all the sweetness which life can offer, the moment he realized the futility of that way of life he turned his back on it, and he remained firm in his new convictions till the end of his life. I have, therefore, stated in some message I have sent that Tolstoy was the very embodiment of truth in this age. He strove uncompromisingly to follow truth as he saw it, making no attempt to conceal or dilute what he believed to be the truth. He stated what he felt to be the truth without caring whether it would hurt or please the people or whether it would be welcome to the mighty emperor. Tolstoy was a great advocate of non-violence in his age. I know of no author in the West who has written as much and as effectively for the cause of non-violence as Tolstoy has done. I may go even further and say that I know no one in India or elsewhere who has had as profound an understanding of the nature of non-violence as Tolstoy had and who has tried to follow it as sincerely as he did. 7

Taking recent examples, Lenin, Sun Yat-sen and others have placed before the world instances of simplicity, endurance of hardship, sacrifice of enjoyments, single-minded devotion and eternal vigilance that would put even yogis to shame. Their followers have placed before us equally illustrious examples of devotion and discipline. We must perforce make such sacrifices. Our sacrifices are no sacrifices, they are only trifling. Our capacity to observe rules is small, our simplicity is comparatively little, our devotion is almost insignificant, and our determination and concentration show themselves only in the beginning. Hence youths should remember that they have yet to accomplish much. I have not forgotten what they have achieved; they need no praise from me. If one friend praises another, he ceases to be a friend and becomes a professional panegyrist and forfeits the title of friend. A friend’s job is to point out failings and try to get these remedied. The extreme forms in which my passion for self-help and simplicity ultimately expressed itself will be described in their proper place. The seed had been long sown. It only needed watering to take root, to flower and to fructify, and the watering came in due course.

It has already been seen that, though household expenses were heavy, the tendency towards simplicity began in Durban. But the Johannesburg house came in for much severer overhauling in the light of Ruskin’s teaching. I introduced as much simplicity as was possible in a barrister’s house. It was impossible to do without a certain amount of furniture. The change was more internal than external. The liking for doing personally all the physical labour increased. I therefore began to bring my children also under that discipline. Instead of buying baker’s bread, we began to prepare unleavened whole meal bread at home according to Kuhne’s recipe. Common mill flour was no good for this, and the use of hand ground floor, it was thought, would ensure more simplicity, health and economy. So I purchased a hand-mill for £7. The iron wheel was too heavy to be tackled by one man, but easy for two. Polak and I and the children usually worked it. My wife also occasionally lent a hand, though the grinding hour was her usual time for commencing kitchen work. Mrs. Polak now joined us on her arrival. The grinding proved a very beneficial exercise for the children. Neither this nor any other work was ever imposed on them, but it was a pastime to them to come lend a hand, and they were at liberty to break off whenever tired. But the children, including those whom I shall have occasion to introduce later, as a rule never failed me. Not that I had no laggards at all, but most did their work cheerfully enough. I can recall few youngsters in those days fighting shy of work or pleading fatigue. We were all vegetarians on Tolstoy Farm, thanks, I must gratefully confess, to the readiness of all to respect my feelings. The Mussalman youngsters must have missed their meat during Ramzan, but none of them ever let me know that they did so. They delighted in and relished the vegetarian diet, and the Hindu youngsters often prepared vegetarian delicacies for them, in keeping with the simplicity of the Farm. 8

But I make a better and sporting offer. I would undertake to take six young men here free of charge and give them a full course of training here. Only they will have to accommodate themselves to the discipline and simplicity of life that prevails here. 9 I do believe that there is much room yet for simplicity in our life at the Mandir. But I see that Kishorelal’s analogy is incomplete. The children in Ville Parle may be living in great simplicity, but they are not imprisoned by the chain of rules and may, therefore, be looked upon as living without self-control. Theirs is enforced simplicity. The labourers living near the Ashram live in still grater simplicity, but their simplicity has no value. Though you and I take milk every day, we deliberately abstain from using many other things which are available to us and, therefore, our life is simpler than that of the labourers. This is the principle of the matter. If, however, we get conceited because of this and believe ourselves on a higher pedestal, we shall fall. Our duty is to emulate the involuntary simplicity of our friends, the labourers, and, till we have succeeded in reaching the ideal, to nurse the purer type of discontent in regard to ourselves. 10

We cannot show even a hundredth or a thousandth part of the spirit of sacrifice that Tilak Maharaj had in him and what of his simplicity? No furniture or any other decoration was to be found in his apartment. A stranger would not feel that this was the residence of some big man. Let us emulate his innate simplicity. Similar was his patience. He would remain steadfast and go on doing his duty and never neglect it. Even when he got news of his wife’s death, his pen did not pause. We wish to enjoy great luxuries and to win swaraj. These are contradictory things. In this age, hypocrisy, irresponsibility and self-willed conduct are rampant. If we wish to win swaraj, self-control should be our motto, capricious conduct never. Can we point out a single moment in his life when he had spent it in enjoyment? He had infinite patience. Hence he could take work from the worst of men. A leader of men ought to have this capacity. That does not do harm. If we are so particular that we will not take work from any given person, we should either repair to the forest or sit at home leading a householder’s life, provided we keep ourselves aloof. 11

The simplicity of his palace reminded me of the simplicity of Hazrat Omar. No one should interpret this to mean that the Bhopal palace was as simple as the shack of the great Khalifa. It only meant that I did not find even a multi storied building like that of an ordinary rich man where I had expected to see a gorgeous palace costing lakhs of rupees. The mansions of many of our millionaires in Ahmadabad are a hundred times superior to the palace of the Nawab Sahib. The philosophers and critics of the administration in the native States can be said to have reached the limit of intolerance, if they cannot bear even what little I have said on seeing the simplicity of the palace which I liked very much. 12 Supposing what you say is true, is it not all the more necessary that you should write to him and tell him what you feel about his views? Don’t you as a friend of two years ago owe it to him to write freely and fully? After all, he is the one true and honest man in Europe after Tolstoy. Like your father he is old, worn-out, and unhappy over the tendencies of the present age and he has your father’s childlike simplicity of never taking a correction amiss, no matter whether it came from a wise man or a fool. 13

There must be a return to simplicity and proper proportions. The flesh has taken precedence over the spirit. The machine age is ruining Western civilization. Over-production and lack of means of proper distribution may finally spell the doom of capitalistic society. The only solution I see is a return to hand industry and the emancipation of the individual from factory slavery. 14 I distinguish between optimism and simplicity of heart. Panditji is endowed with both. That person is an optimist who continues to hope despite the discouraging signs on the horizon and his own knowledge of them. This quality can be found in Panditji in plenty. To accept in good faith someone’s encouraging utterances is simplicity of heart. Panditji possesses that too, which in my opinion is undesirable. Panditji, by virtue of his nobility, has come to no harm on account of this quality. But we should not emulate it. Optimism is dependent upon the inner voice while credulousness is dependent upon external factors. 15

But some of the inmates seem to tremble even at the suggestion for simplicity in food which I have made. Those who tremble and cannot overcome their misgivings are at any rate truthful, and deserve compliments for that. How long can self-restraint practised through false shame endure? Those who remember the story of the pilgrim should reflect over how the other characters who, blindly following his example, got tired in two or three days and returned. 16 I believe that you will never deceive me. I am not in the least unhappy at your simplicity of mind. If your simplicity is a cause of fear for you, it also acts as a shield for me. You yourself may tell G. V. Pant, Harivallabh or any other of your acquaintances in Almora to guide and help you. Do not think of the high or low social status of the girl concerned, consider only her character. Write to Devdas. He may possibly have some girl in view. It would be good if you spend about a month in Kosamba and learn the harmless method of extracting honey. The whole course takes a month and a half to complete. But really speaking, it should not require even that much time. I am firmly of the view that for industrious people like us, a week or fifteen days at the most are sufficient. 17

You should preserve the utmost simplicity in your life except in regard to things which may be necessary for conforming to the standard of life there. Do not discontinue the daily recitation of the Gita; Chapter XII is in fact your spiritual food in the journey of life. Not only should you be able to recite the verses from memory but they should have also sunk into your heart. If they have, you will find that they contain the essence of all Shastras. 18 This means that there should be increasing simplicity in our life in the Ashram and the rules should be observed more and more strictly. If fire preserves its nature, creatures which cannot endure it simply cannot live near it. That is the virtue of fire and not its defect. It is because, unlike fire, we are not true to ourselves that all the problems arise. My suggestion about simplicity and strictness in observing the rules concerns us. We should cultivate them in ever greater degree. We seek protection for ourselves in our inner selves and not outside of us– “we” here means all of us who voluntarily stay in the Ashram, you, I and everybody else. And one should not observe only as many rules as the other inmates do. One must observe every rule as strictly as one can. In this lies the secret of the progress of the Ashram. The rule should be, a liberal attitude towards others and strictness towards oneself. Even so, we shall preserve some minimum decency in our attitude to ourselves, for very often our liberal attitude towards others will not be sincere and our strictness towards ourselves will be so only in appearance. 19

What I want you to show is simplicity of heart, tenderness, humility, patience, forbearance and generosity towards others. You can show these things only if you come down from the sky to the earth. When will you begin to feel that you are nothing? Is it proper to bow down to Mother Earth every day and then kick her every day? If our prayer to her is sincere, we should make ourselves mere particles of dust and learn to suffer the kicks of the world. Mother Earth then will not feel our feet, as we shall have become ash, though still alive. “Scatter the dust of separateness”, as the poet says. 20 Another noteworthy point is to cut down our expenses, reduce our families as well as our own wants. The need to make our lives simpler is becoming more and more obvious to the whole world. There is an English adage recommending ‘plain living and high thinking’. In India, simplicity is not just a virtue, it is part of dharma. 21

Development along this line must mean greater simplicity, greater self-abnegation, greater advance towards truth and ahimsa, uttermost brahmacharya in thought and word and deed. The contemplation of the girl must mean to Kanti exclusion of every other woman from his thought for the gratification of his sexual impulse. 22 It is clear that they cannot flourish on mere pecuniary support. They will always need it, but it must come as a direct fruit of honest work. Therefore, what is necessary is character above suspicion, ceaseless effort accompanied by ever-increasing knowledge of the technique of the work and a life of rigorous simplicity. Workers without character, living far above the ordinary life of villagers, and devoid of the knowledge required of them for their work, can produce no impression on the villagers whether Harijan or other. 23

You could not but have noticed the grand simplicity of the procession that was organized for our President, especially the beautifully designed and decorated chariots drawn by six pairs of bullocks. Well, all that was designed in order to prepare you for what awaited you here. No city amenities or comforts, but everything that poor villagers could provide. The place is thus a place of pilgrimage for us all, our Kashi and our Mecca, where we have come in order to offer our prayers for freedom and to consecrate ourselves to the nation’s service. You have not come here to lord it over the poor peasants but to learn how to get off their backs by participating in their daily toil, by doing the scavenger’s job, by washing for yourselves, by grinding your own flour, etc. For the first time in the history of the Congress you are being given here rice unpolished of its substance and chapatis made out of hand-ground floor, plenty of fresh air and clean mother earth to rest your limbs upon. But you will please bear with all the poor organizers’ shortcomings, for in Khan Saheb’s language we are all Khudai Khidmatgars servants of God, come here not to take but to tender service. 24 I advise all-round simplicity. That is to say, everything superfluous should be discarded. No new purchases should be made till the existing stock is exhausted. Wants should be reduced, not multiplied. There should be an accurate account kept of private expenses even as it is of office expenses. 25

References: