Ekalavya and 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

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Ekalavya and Mahatma Gandhi

 

Being turned away by Dronacharya, he kept an image of the latter in front of him and learnt archery. I don’t want to be an archer, and you do not know how to shoot arrows. You have broken your bow and made it into a plough. I, too, wish to plough in fields. 1 He wanted my permission to sell off his car. Soon after, I got a wire from Thakkar Bapa, informing me that he was really willing to sell it. I, therefore, gave my consent, although I didn’t understand the position at all. In such matters I depend entirely on you. I, therefore, often follow the example of Ekalavya. He made a clay image of Dronacharya and learnt archery by practising before it so that he could become Arjuna’s equal. I form a mental image of you and consult it. Assuming that you would advise me to give my consent in this matter, I sent a wire saying yes. 2 

There is the story of Ekalavya in the Mahabharata. Think over it. It is not mere poetry. There is truth in it. Clay is not sentient and an image has no strength, but for Ekalavya, the image of Dronacharya was not clay. He saw in it Guru Dronacharya himself. How could his indomitable faith fail? If we have such a faith in the charkha, it can become for us a living image. We can then put into it all our resolve. The charkha is for us a symbol of ahimsa. The real thing here is not the image, but our attitude towards it. In one sense the world is real, in another God alone is the one thing real. Both are true in different ways. If we can see God in our symbol it represents truth for us. Nonviolence is not for fools. We will have to use our intelligence. Nonviolence has place both for knowledge and action, that is, both for the intellect and the organs of the body. Today these are used for the destruction of non-violence. What we want is that these should become hand-maidens of non-violence. Only when we make the organs of our body hand-maidens of non-violence will they acquire strength. If non-violence cannot be effective in this field, where else can it be so? I shall not leave any field out of fear. If I leave any field fearing that non-violence will be of no use, then there can be no such thing as non-violence. And what field shall I give up? My body will continue to function; the organs of the body will continue to be active. I do not wish to commit suicide. I shall not block my ears and my nose. What then shall I do? There is only one way open to me and that is to make all the limbs of my body hand-maidens of non-violence. 

Even if I should be the only one with faith in the charkha, I shall be proud to die working for it. My pride while plying the charkha or serving the Harijans will be pardonable. After all we have to commune with God through some means or other. Why not then through the charkha? You may say that I have worked for the charkha or that the charkha has worked for me. If the devotee is the slave of God, God also is the slave of the devotee’s slave. It is in this sense I am speaking to you. If we cannot create an atmosphere in which the charkha can bring about the development of the mind, Kanti and Bal have no alternative but to go to the college. They do not have the originality of Ekalavya. If you understand what I am trying to say, there will be no reason for you to be in two minds. The main thing is concentration—one-wontedness of attention. Kishorelal prepared his speech with such concentration as if it was meant for the entire world. I was witness to it. To him the Sangh is the whole world.

He also prepared a summary of it for your convenience. He works without attachment. He is another Yudhishthira, which I am not. I shall be happy if I can acquire the strength of even a Bhima or an Arjuna. People call me a karmayogi. I do not know whether I am a karmayogi or any other yogi, but I cannot live without work this I know. When something sinks into my heart, I cannot be at peace till I have put it into practice. People may say I am mad in saying that I wish to die with the charkha in my hand. I do not wish to die holding a string of beads. For concentration the charkha is my beads. God appears to me in thousands of forms. Sometimes I see him in the charkha, sometimes in Hindu-Muslim unity, sometimes in the eradication of untouchability. I move as my feeling draws me. When I wish to enter a room in an institution, I do so and I feel there the presence of God. In the Gita God has said that He looks to the well-being of those who worship Him. You must be firm in this faith if you have understood me. 3

 

References:

1. Letter to Vallabhbhai Patel, November 5, 1933
2. Letter to Vallabhbhai Patel, January 8, 1934
3. Gandhi Seva Sangh ke Tritiya Varshik Adhiveshan (Hudli, Karnatak) ka Vivaran, pp. 54-67