Intellectual work 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

E-mail- [e-mail];

[e-mail]    

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

 

 

Intellectual work and Mahatma Gandhi 

 

 

In the West, they have invented games like cricket for such people. Another way is to observe some days in the year as holidays, when more games are played, and to do some light reading by way of mental exercise. This is one method which we may consider. To be sure, spending time in sports does give some exercise to the body, but exercise of this kind does nothing to improve the mind. We can see the truth of this from numerous instances. What proportion of men of high intellectual caliber shall we find among those who regularly play cricket or from among the large number who play football? In India, what do we observe as regards the mental development of the princes who give their time to sports? Again, how many of those with well-developed intellectual powers are sportsmen? Experience shows that highly intellectual men are seldom sportsmen as well. The British nowadays are very much given to sports. Their own poet, Kipling, has described these sportsmen as enemies of the mind, and adds that they will also prove themselves enemies to their country.

In India, our intellectuals seem to have found a different way. They provide exercise for their minds but relatively very little or none for their bodies. These people are lost to us. Their bodies are enfeebled by excessive intellectual work. They are continually pursued by some ailment or other and just when they have gained enough experience to be of real use to the country, they pass away. From this we may conclude that neither exercising the brain alone nor the body alone is enough and also that exercise which serves no useful purpose, namely, that derived from sports, has little meaning. Real exercise is that which trains, continuously, both mind and body alike. He alone who takes such exercise can preserve good health. The farmer is the only such person. 1 You may come. But I warn you again. I may simply give you a corner in my verandah for your abode. There may be no intellectual work for you at all and there may be all labour including, of course, sanitation work, water carrying, etc. You may be put on spinning or the like for eight hours per day. 2 

Along with yajna the Lord created men.” Which type of yajna is meant here? Does the term have any special meaning? I think it has. The reference here is not to mental or intellectual work. Brahma did not ask human beings to multiply and prosper merely by working with their minds; what He meant was that they should do so through bodily yajna, by working with the body. Scriptures of other religions enjoin the same thing. The Bible says: “With the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn thy bread.” Thus bodily labour is our lot in life; it is best, then, to do it in the spirit of service and dedicate it to Shri Krishna. Anyone who works in that spirit all his life becomes free from evil and is delivered from all bonds. Such a person is like a soldier in the King’s army, who is content to carry out orders. He is as worthy as the General. Both have equal value in God’s eyes, for He looks only to the attitude. Arjuna’s arrows availed him not when Krishna was no longer by his side, and he was robbed by a Kaba. The verse, commencing with sahayajna then, talks of bodily yajna, of a kind, moreover, through which gods and men would serve each other’s needs. By gods we may understand all living beings or God’s sustaining energy. Gods are the invisible forces. So long as a person has someone in sight for which he works, he is not engaged in service; real service consists in working for those whom one does not know personally. The thirty-three crores of gods belong to the world of imagination. Children cannot even conceive this number. We cannot take in with our eyes so many beings assembled at one place, nor count them. We cannot see these gods, as we see our children, and yet we cultivate a living relationship with them. By and by, the sphere of our service will enlarge itself to embrace the whole world. We have thus left aside the word gods and interpreted the verse to mean that we should serve the humblest human beings, even those whom we never see, with respect and honour and looking upon them as gods and not as our servants; we should, in other words, serve the whole world. 3 

If a labourer does all his work dedicating it to God, then thereby he can attain self-realization. Self-realization means purity of self. Strictly speaking, only those who do bodily labour get self-realization; because ‘God is the strength of the weak’. By ‘weak’ is not meant ‘weak in body’, though for them also their strength is God—but we should take it to mean weak in means and materials. The labourer must cultivate humility, for mere developing of intelligence may lead to the development of asuri intelligence. By doing merely intellectual work, we develop asuri tendencies. It is, therefore, that the Gita says that one who eats without labour eats stolen food. Humility is inherent in labour. And that is why it is karmayoga or activity that leads to salvation. Doing physical work simply for wages is no karmayoga, since the idea is simply to earn money. Cleaning of latrines for earning money is no yajna (sacrifice). But the same work if done by way of service, for the sake of sanitation and for the good of others, becomes yajna. One who does bodily labour out of a spirit of service, in all humility and for self-realization, gets self-realization. Such a one should never feel reluctant to work. He should be ever awake. 4 

In an ideal state no one can demand a higher reward for his intelligence. He who acquires more ought to use it for social ends. 5 Both courses may be adopted. We shall surely pay the workers. But apart from it the villagers or the worker himself can take up a craft for the sake of the village. It may be possible for a good intelligent worker to work in the village and meet his own expenses as also those of his entire activities by his own intellectual work and take nothing from friends. But earning money thus by the use of intellect alone is, as I have often said, a misuse of the intellect. All such income must go to the country. 6 Intellectual works is important and has an undoubted place in the scheme of life. But what I insist on is the necessity of physical labour. No man, I claim, ought to be free from that obligation. It will serve to improve even the quality of his intellectual output. I venture to say that in ancient times Brahmins worked with their body as with their mind. But even if they did not, body labour is a proved necessity at the present time. In this connection I would refer to the life of Tolstoy and how he made famous the theory of bread-labour first propounded in his country by the Russian peasant Bondaref. 7

The charkha occupied an important place much before Nayee Talim was even conceived of. I knew almost nothing about the charkha when I first referred to it in South Africa in 1908. It was only later on that I learnt more about it. Afterwards came the days of civil disobedience and the Ali Brothers, and the charkha continued to hold an important place. Yesterday in my prayer meeting I had drawn before you the picture of khadi as I visualize it. Khadi of my conception is that which can take the place of all mill-cloth. I would not insist on including khadi in Nayee Talim, if you could suggest some other means for the eradication of poverty. In that case I would gladly admit my mistake. I had discussed this point with Vinoba, Krishnadas and Narandas. To me it is a simple calculation. I feel that if everyone spins for an hour daily all would be able to have the cloth required. If, however, it would require six hours a day from everybody to achieve this, khadi was bound to perish. For people have to do other work also. They have to produce food and do some intellectual work as well. Moreover, Nayee Talim would lose its meaning if one was ever to toil like a bullock under it. An hour spent in spinning is an hour of self-development for the spinner. When Saiyidain Saheb said that at least in the post-basic stage the mechanical processes in the mills would have to be taught, I could not accept it.

I hold that if khadi is sound as a foundation for basic education, it ought to be further developed during the post-basic stage. Yesterday Dev Prakash showed me an article which he had written on the takli and the broom. He has done some work under Nayee Talim. If all that he writes is true, a lot of knowledge including the knowledge of higher engineering can be gained through Nayee Talim. But only when we have assimilated all this knowledge can we impart it to others. We have not evolved the science of these essential crafts. The British cloth mills evolved out of our takli and loom. They planned the mills because they wanted to exploit us. We do not want to exploit anyone. We do not, therefore, need mills, but we must build up the science of the takli and the loom. If India were to copy Europe in this matter, it would mean destruction for India and the world. Of course, if you are in favour of mills then let us talk about them. 8

 

References:

 

1. Indian Opinion, 12-4-1913
2. Letter to Giri Raj Kishore, November 12, 1926
3. April 13, 1926 
4. Bapuna Patro—Ashramni Behnone, pp. 77
5. Young India, 26-11-1
6. Khadi: Why and How, pp. 166
7. Harijan, 23-2-1947  
8. Harijan Sevak, 9-11-1947