Sovereign Remedy – 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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Sovereign Remedy – Mahatma Gandhi  

 

Your new note in nature cure reciting of Ramanama as the sure Remedy leaves me completely bewildered. The modern youth refrains from challenging some of your views out of toleration. Their attitude may be summed up in the following: ‘Well, Gandhiji has taught us a whole lot of things; he has elevated us to unimaginable heights; he has, above all, brought swaraj within our reach; why not ‘suffer’ his Ramanama ‘fad’? Inter alia you have said the following: “No matter what the ailment from which a man may be suffering, recitation of Ramanama from the heart is the sure cure” (Harijan, 3-3-’46) “Man should seek out and be content to confine he means of cure to the five elements of which the body is composed, i. e., earth, water, akasha, sun and air” (Harijan, 3-3-’46). “And my claim is that the recitation of Ramanama is a sovereign remedy for our physical ailments also” (Harijan, 7-4-’46).6 At first, when you introduced this new note in the system of nature cure, I thought you were merely putting in other words a kind of psycho-therapy or Christian Science based on faith.

I interpreted my first quotation above in that light. The second sentence quoted above is difficult to grasp. After all, it is physically impossible for medicines to be composed of anything but the five elements to which you refer, and which you say must be the sole means of cure. If faith is what you insist on I have no quarrel; it is necessary for the patient to co-operate in getting well also by faith. But it is difficult to accept that faith alone would cure “our physical ailment also”. Two years ago, my little daughter was struck by infantile paralysis; it was the most modern treatment that saved the child from becoming a cripple for life. You would agree that it would not avail to ask a two-and-a-half-year-old child to recite Ramanama to be rid of infantile paralysis; and I would like to see you persuade any mother to do the recitation (and recitation alone) on her child’s behalf. The authority from Charka that you have quoted in the issue of March 24,2 leaves me cold; you have taught me not to accept anything, however ancient and however authoritative it may be, if it does not appeal to my heart. Thus writes a teacher of youth. While I am eager to be in the good graces of the student world, my eagerness has well-defined limitations. For one, I must please them with the rest of the world, which is admittedly much larger. In no case should a servant of the public pander to any person or class. If those whom my correspondent represents really think that anything I have done has taken India to unimaginable heights, they should extend to my so-called fads slightly more than toleration.

Toleration by itself will do them and me no good. It may easily promote laziness in them, and false self-assurance in me. Let them think well before rejecting even a fad. Faddists are not always to be despised. Fads have before now made owners mount the gallows. Ramanama has the flavour of faith-healing and Christian Science; yet, it is quite distinct from them. Recitation of Ramanama is a mere symbol of the reality for which it stands. If one of knowingly filled with the presence of God within, one is that moment free from all ailments, physical, mental or moral. That we do not see the type in life is not to disprove the truth of the statement. My argument is admittedly useless for those who have no faith in God. Christian scientists, faith-healers and psychotherapists may, if they will, bear witness somewhat to the truth underlying Ramanama. I cannot take the reader a long way with me through reason. How is one to prove to a person who has never tasted sugar, that sugar is sweet, except by asking him to taste it? I must not reiterate here the conditions attendant upon the heart recitation of the sacred syllable. The authority of Charka is good for those who have some belief in Ramanama. Other may dismiss the authority from their consideration. Children are irresponsible. Ramanama is undoubtedly not for them. They are helpless beings at the mercy of their parents. They show what tremendous responsibility parents bear to them and society. I have known parents who have trifled with their children’s diseases even to the extent of trusting them to their (the parent’s) recitation of Ramanama. Lastly, the argument about everything, even medicines, being from panch mahabhutas betrays a hasty confusion of thought. I have only to point it out to remove it.

 

Reference:

 

Harijan, 28-4-1946