Mahatma Gandhi

Charles F. Andrews

Description

An intimate biography of one of the greatest social and
religious reformers of the modern world.

"Gandhi's work in nonviolence was comprehensive and not simply confined to politics or human rights. It was about building positive relationships based on respect, understanding, acceptance, and appreciation. It was about eliminating exploitation of all kinds and creating harmony."
—from the Foreword by Dr. Arun Gandhi, cofounder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) was one of the most important and influential social and religious reformers of the past century, spending his life striving for justice, peace, and equality among countries, races, and classes. His ideas and ideals have inspired generations of activists—from Martin Luther King Jr. to Vaclav Havel—and acted as catalysts for change in every corner of the globe.

In this intimate biography, Charles ("Charlie") Andrews-Englishman, Anglican priest, and a close friend and colleague of Gandhi's in both South Africa and India-explores the life and times of this great soul, providing fascinating insight into the spiritual, political, and historical environment that affected Gandhi, playing key roles in the development of his thought and action.

Mahatma Gandhi: His Life and Ideas uses letters, personal reminiscences, and excerpts from Gandhi's many published and private writings to paint a vivid and accessible portrait of the personality and spirit of one of the most prominent figures in Indian—and world—history.

This updated edition showcases a new foreword about the continuing impact and importance of Gandhi's message today, written by Dr. Arun Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's grandson and cofounder of the M. K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence.

Sujets

• Religious
• Lettres et linguistique
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Biography
• History of India
• Autobiography
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 27 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781594734465
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

MAHATMA
GANDHI
HIS LIFE AND IDEAS
Charles F. Andrews
With a new foreword by
Dr. Arun Gandhi
O THER B OOKS IN THE S KY L IGHT L IVES SERIES
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by Robert Coles, M.D.
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by Monica Furlong
The Life of Evelyn Underhill:
An Intimate Portrait of the Groundbreaking Author of Mysticism
by Margaret Cropper
with a new foreword by Dana Greene

Mahatma Gandhi circa 1930
C ONTENTS
Foreword to the SkyLight Lives Edition
Preface
Introduction
A Short List of Common Indian Words
Part I
The Religious Environment
1. The Background of Hinduism
2. The Hindu-Muslim Problem
3. The Christian Contact
4. The Place of Jesus
5. The Ashram of Soul-Force
6. The Religious Meaning of Swadeshi
7. The Teaching of Ahimsa
8. The Ethics of Khaddar
9. Our Shame and Theirs
Part II
The Historical Setting
10. A Confession of Faith , 1909
11. Passive Resistance in South Africa
12. Tolstoy Farm
13. Satyagraha in India
14. To Every Englishman
15. The Great Sentinel
16. The Bombay Riots
17. Trial and Imprisonment
18. The Fast at Delhi
19. The Women s Movement in India
20. A Morning with Gandhi
21. Conclusion
A Note from the Editors at SkyLight Paths
Appendices
Acknowledgments
Index
Photographs
Mahatma Gandhi circa 1930
Gandhi in South Africa circa 1900
Gandhi as a law-student in London
Satyagrahis with Gandhi seated in the middle
Tolstoy Farm
About the Author
Copyright
Also Available
About SkyLight Paths
F OREWORD
Establishing a Culture of Nonviolence
While this resurrected book by Reverend Charles Freer Andrews adds immensely to the understanding of Mohandas K. Gandhi and his philosophy of nonviolence, a word of caution is necessary. When reading Gandhi we must remember what he said when he was accused of being inconsistent. Truth, Gandhi said, is always changing and if I hold on to what I said earlier it would be wrong. My perception or understanding of a situation must be based on Truth as it appears to me today. Gandhi advised his readers to take the last statement on any subject to be his stand on that particular issue. This was good advice to follow while he was alive, but how do we now arrive at what he would have thought about a particular subject or situation more than fifty years after his death? The danger in such a situation is that we either accept dogmatically what he said at a different time and under different circumstances or we reject Gandhi and his philosophy as being irrelevant today. Since Gandhi s philosophy is based on love, respect, understanding, acceptance, and compassion, can we say that these positive attributes are irrelevant?
Gandhi always maintained that his life and his work should be described as The Story of My Experiments with Truth, which eventually became the title of his autobiography. The key word here is experiment. It required a great deal of humility for him to acknowledge that throughout his life he was pursuing Truth, which is in stark contrast to the present position when most of us, in our arrogance, feel we already possess the Truth. Whether we pursue or possess makes a very big difference in our outlook on life. Pursuit of truth requires us to be honest, humble, open in mind and spirit, and willing to listen and evaluate a situation impartially. And, when we make errors of judgment we should have the magnanimity to acknowledge them and rededicate our search for Truth with greater diligence. It is this form of positiveness that leads to the creation of a culture of nonviolence.
Possession of the Truth is an attitude that has its roots in arrogance and leads to a closed mind and spirit. It also leads to a rejection of all thoughts and influences that are contrary to our own. This form of outright rejection of differences evokes negative attributes in human beings like suspicion, prejudice, hate, division, and so on, leading to a culture of violence.
The word nonviolence in Gandhi s lexicon is a literal translation of the Sanskrit word ahimsa , which comes from the Hindu scripture known as the Bhagavad-Gita. At the heart of the scriptural message contained in the Gita is the acceptance of ahimsa parmo dharma , meaning ahimsa as the prime duty of every individual. It is the literal translation of the word ahimsa , according to Gandhi, that has done the greatest harm to its universal acceptance. A majority of the Hindus and all of the Jain community have translated ahimsa to mean nonviolence, as in not doing any harm to anyone under any circumstances. The consequence of such absolutism is hypocrisy. The absolutists, therefore, will not commit any violence themselves but will get someone else to do it for them. This also leads others to believe that nonviolence is impractical and unattainable.
Gandhi once made a statement that there is much violence in nonviolence and nonviolence in violence. It sounds confusing to the layperson but it comes from the acceptance that as long as there is the will to live among human beings, some violence is an inevitable part of life. This is why Gandhi said ahimsa cannot be translated to mean nonviolence ; it should really mean love. Explaining this concept Gandhi said, Sometimes out of Love we are required to commit some violence. For example, a surgeon who cuts through a human body to relieve the patient of suffering is committing selfless violence. When some misguided thugs in South Africa attacked Gandhi, his eldest son asked how he should have protected his father nonviolently if he had been there at the time of the attack. To protect someone nonviolently, Gandhi said, one must be willing to offer his or her life by placing himself or herself in the line of fire without attacking the assailant. However, if one did not have the courage to sacrifice one s life then one would be justified in resorting to violence.
Gandhi s unorthodox translation of ahimsa and his controversial support of the war effort are issues that Reverend Andrews attempts to discuss in detail in this book. Since we have to take this book as the final version of Reverend Andrews thoughts on the subject, we must conclude that he was not quite convinced by Gandhi s interpretation. Also, to be fair, we must acknowledge that Gandhi did change his mind about supporting the war effort when World War II engulfed the world.
Earlier, as a faithful and patriotic citizen of the British Empire, Gandhi s feelings about the war can best be explained with the analogy of a family unit. In a hypothetical situation, if a thief were to break into a family home with the intention to steal, destroy, and even usurp the house by killing all the inhabitants, it would be wrong for some members to claim they are nonviolent and would therefore not do anything to protect the house or the family. Everyone must shoulder the responsibility toward the family and its welfare. However, this argument would be justified only insofar as an outside threat endangers the family. In the event the family becomes aggressive and decides to acquire by force the adjoining property because they want to expand, it is not incumbent on the nonviolent members of the family to participate in the violence.
As already stated, consistent with his changing perception of Truth Gandhi changed his views about supporting the war effort during World War II. Once again, he did not reject the war effort altogether but only to the extent that he refused to endorse the war, to recruit soldiers for the effort, and to participate in any indirect activity relating to war. However, he said, he would not dissuade individuals or even the nation of India if they decided to get involved.
Gandhi strongly believed that wars at the national level and violence at the personal level have their origins in the culture of violence and unless we work to replace that culture we will be unable to reduce the violence that dominates our lives. Thus, instead of supporting or protesting the war effort Gandhi bent his energies to creating a culture of nonviolence.
Ahimsa is as much about positively doing some good as about negatively not doing any harm. The positive and negative aspects of ahimsa are as inseparable as the head and tail of a coin. Just as we cannot accept one side of the coin as legal tender, we cannot practice ahimsa effectively by ignoring the positive and focusing only on the negative. If we try to put this theory in the context of the Iraqi war in which the United States and Britain were involved, Gandhi would say protest against the war should be accompanied by action for better understanding and relations between people in the country and outside. When we indulge only in the negative without the positive then we have disasters like the hippie movement of the sixties. Millions came out against the establishment but there was not much thought given to the positive aspect of an acceptable replacement. Being against something is understandable, but the action becomes laudable if there is a clear definition of what we are for . To most people all over the world peace has come to mean the absence of war or the absence of violence. Gandhi said peace can only be achieved if we are able to eliminate all forms of exploitation.
There is a story from the Hindu scriptures that my grandfather was very fond of repeating. It is the story of six blind men who were placed at different strategic places around an elephant and asked to describe the animal by feeling it. Each had a different perspective. The one who was feeling the trunk of the elephant said the elephant looked like a huge pipe. The one who had the tail said it was like a snake, and so on. None of them was entirely wrong because they had only an iota of the Truth. It is only through openness, dialogue, and a willingness to know that they would reach somewhere close to the whole Truth. In many ways we human beings are like the six blind men. We have j