A Universal Law

Swadeshi is a universal law. A man’s first duty is to his neighbour. This does not imply hatred for the foreigner or partiality for the fellow-countryman. Our capacity for service has obvious limits. We an serve even our neighbour with some difficulty. If every one of us duly performed his duty to his neighbour, no one in the world who needed assistance would be left unattended to. Therefore, one who serves his neighbour serves all the world. As a matter of fact, there is in Swadeshi no room for distinction between one’s own and other people. To serve one’s neighbour is to serve the world. Indeed, it is the only way open to us of serving the world. One to whom the whole world is as his family, should have the power of serving the Universe without moving from his place. He can exercise this power only through service rendered to his neighbour. Tolstoy goes further and says that, at present, we are riding on one another’s backs; it is enough only if we get down. This is another way of putting the same thing. No one can serve others without serving himself. And whoever tries to achieve his private ends without serving others, harms himself as well as the world at large. The reason is obvious. All living beings are members one of another, so that a person’s every act has a beneficial or harmful influence on the whole world. We cannot see this, near-sighted as we are. The influence of a single act of an individual on the world may be negligible. But that influence is there all the same, and an awareness of this truth should make us realize our responsibility.

Swadeshi , therefore, does not involve any disservice to the foreigner. Still, Swadeshi does not reach everywhere, for, that is impossible in the very nature of things. In trying to serve the world, one does not serve the world and fails to serve even the neighbour. In serving the neighbour one, in effect, serves the world. Only he who has performed his duty to his neighbour has the right to say: ‘All are akin to me’. But if a person says, ‘All are akin to me’ and neglecting his neighbour gives himself up to self-indulgence, he lives to himself alone.

The Law of Life

We find some good men who leave their own place and move all over the world serving non-neighbours. They do nothing wrong, and their activity is not an exception to the Law of Swadeshi. Only their capacity for service is greater. To one man, only he who lives next door to him is his neighbour. For a second man, his neighbourhood isco-extensive with his village; and, for a third, with ten surrounding villages. Thus, everyone serves according to his capacity. A common man cannot do uncommon work. Definitions are framed with an eye to him alone, and imply everything which is not contrary to their spirit. When he observes the Law of Swadeshi, the ordinary man does not think that he is doing any service to anybody. He deals with the neighbouring producer, as it is convenient for him. But an occasion may arise when this is inconvenient. One who knows that Swadeshi is the Law of Life, will observe it even on such occasions. Many of us at present are not satisfied with the quality of goods made in India, and are tempted to buy foreign goods. It is, therefore, necessary to point out that Swadeshi does not simply minister to our convenience, but is a rule of life. Swadeshi has nothing to do with hatred of the foreigner. It can never be one’s duty to wish or do ill to others.

Khadi as Image of Swadeshi

Khadi has been conceived as the image of Swadeshi, because India has committed a heinous sin by giving it up and thus failing in the discharge of her natural duty.

The importance of Khadi and the spinning wheel first dawned on me in 1908, when I had no idea of what the wheel was like, and did not even know the distinction between the wheel and the loom. I had only a dim consciousness of the condition of India’s villages, but still I clearly saw that the chief cause of their pauperization was the destruction of the spinning wheel, and resolved that I would try to revive it when I returned to India.

Ashram Experiences

I returned in 1915, with my mind full of these ideas. Swadeshi was one of the observances ever since the Ashram was started. But none of us knew how to spin. We, therefore, rested content with setting up a handloom. Some of us still retained a liking for fine cloth. No Swadeshi yarn of the requisite fineness for women’s Saris was available in the market. For a very short time, therefore, they were woven with foreign yarn. But we were soon able to obtain fine yarn from Indian mills.

It was no easy job even to set up the handloom at the Ashram. None of us had the least idea of weaving. We obtained a loom and a weaver through friends. Maganlal Gandhi undertook to learn weaving.

I conducted experiments at the Ashram and at the same time carried on Swadeshi propaganda in the country. But it was like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark so long as we could not spin yarn. At last, however, I discovered the spinning wheel, found out spinners and introduced the wheel in the Ashram. The whole story has been unfolded in the Autobiography.

But that did not mean that our difficulties were at an end. On the other hand, they increased, as such of them as were hidden till now became manifest.

Discovery of the Wheel

Touring in the country, I saw that people would not take to the spinning wheel as soon as they were told about it. I knew that not much money could be made by spinning, but I had no idea of how little it was. Then again, the yarn that was spun would not at once be uniform as well as fine. Many could spin only coarse and weak yarn. Not all kinds of cotton were suitable for spinning. The cotton must be carded and made into slivers, and in carding much depended upon the condition of the cotton. Any and every spinning wheel would not do. To revive the spinning wheel thus meant the launching of a big scheme. Money alone could not do the trick. As for man-power, too, hundreds of workers would be needed, and these men should be ready to learn a new art, to be satisfied with a small salary and to live out their lives in villages. But even that was not enough. The rural atmosphere was surcharged with idleness and lack of faith and hope. The wheel could make no headway, if this did not improve. Thus, a successful revival of the wheel could be brought about only with an army of single-minded men and women equipped with infinite patience and strong of faith.

At first, I was alone in having this faith. Faith, indeed, was the only capital I had, but I saw that if there is faith, everything else is added unto it. Faith enlightens the intellect and induces habits of industry. It was clear that all experiments should be conducted at and through the Ashram which, indeed, existed for that very purpose. I realized that spinning should be the principle physical activity of the Ashram. Thus only could it be reduced to a science. Therefore, spinning was at last recognized as a Mahayajna (primary sacrifice), and everyone who joined the Ashram had to learn spinning and to spin regularly every day.

Sacrificial Spinning

But Yajna implies skill in action ( deZlq d©'kye~). To spin some yarn somehow cannot be called a Yajna. At first, the rule was that members should spin for at least half an hour everyday. But it was soon found that if the spinning wheel went out of order, one could not spin even a couple of yards in half an hour. Therefore, the rule was modified and members were asked to spin at least 160 rounds, one round being equal to four feet. Again, yarn was no good if it was not uniform as well as strong. Tests of strength and uniformity were, therefore, devised and we have now made such progress that spinning yarn coarser that 20s does not count as Yajna.

But granted that good yarn is spun, who would make use of it? I was sure from the first that the person who does spinning as a sacrament must not use his own yarn, but I was unable to carry conviction to others. Where was the harm if the spinner paid the wages and purchased his yarn himself? I deceived myself and agreed that one who paid the wages and bought his own yarn should be considered a spinning-sacrificer. This error has not still been fully rectified. Errors, not dealt with a strong hand at their first appearance, tend to become permanent, and are difficult to eradicate like chronic diseases.

Faith and Knowledge Needed

As a consequence of this Yajna, spinning has made great strides in India, but it has still to take root in each of our villages. The reason is obvious. My faith was not coupled with knowledge. Some knowledge was acquired after mistakes had been committed. Co-workers have joined me, but too few for the great task in hand. There are hundreds of workers, but perhaps they have not in them the requisite faith and knowledge.The root being thus weak, one may not expect to enjoy the ripest fruit.

But for this I cannot find fault with anybody. The work is new and as wide as the ocean, and it bristles with difficulties. Therefore, though the result of our activity is not gratifying, it is still sufficient for sustaining our faith. We have every right to hope for complete success. Faithful workers, men as well as women, have joined in adequate numbers and have accumulated a fund of valuable experience, so that this movement is certainly destined not to perish.

-Ashram Observances in Action: P. 67.