Redefining and Reconstructing Religions: Evaluating Gandhi's Concept of Religions |
- By Abdulrahim P. Vijapur*AbstractGandhi believed in the unity of all religions, with Muslim Allah, the Christian God, and the Isvara of Hindus being one and the same. He opposed dogmatic, sectarian, and ritualistic religions and advocated for reinterpreting Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. He believed that every living faith must have the power of rejuvenation to live. This paper aims to understand Gandhi's concept of religion and his views on reforming Indian and non-Indian religions. Key words: Mahatma Gandhi, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity. IntroductionReligion was central to Mahatma Gandhi's life, thought and work. Romain Rolland once remarked "[t]o understand Gandhi's philosophy, it should be realized that his doctrine is a huge edifice composed of two different floors or grades. Below is the solid groundwork, the basic foundation of religion. On this vast and unshakable foundation is based his political and social campaign".1 Therefore, Gandhi's political philosophy and political techniques are only two corollaries of his religious and moral principles. It is a strange paradox that though Gandhi's attitude to religion holds the key to the understanding of his life and thoughts, its nuances and significance have been often missed or underestimated by his admirers and critics. Hence, he has been often misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented by his political opponents. On Gandhi's seminal contribution to religious and political thought, Sir S. Radhakrishnan, the eminent philosopher and the second President of Indian Republic, wrote in 1939 that "The greatest fact in the story of man on earth is not his material achievement, the empires he has built and broken, but the growth of his soul from age to age in its search for truth and goodness. Those who take part in this adventure of the soul, secure an enduring place in the history of human culture. ... The greatness of Gandhi is more in his holy living than in his heroic struggles, in his insistence on the creative power of the soul and its life-giving quality at a time when the destructive forces seem to be in the ascendant [italics added]".2 Gandhi's "religious message" holds key to the solution of many contemporary socio-religious and political crises the world over. If we adopt the Gandhian approach to religion in our political system, the world (particularly India) will hopefully remain free from religious and ethnic conflicts. "What made Gandhi the centre of so powerful a field of spiritual force was the fact that his ideas were always incarnated in his actions", said John Hick, an eminent British philosopher of religions, writing a Foreword to Chatterjee's book.3 He lived his religion, i.e., Hinduism. Gandhi does not believe in dogmatic, sectarian, and ritualistic religion. He was opposed to institutionalized / organized religion. He interpreted the Hindu religious scriptures in rational manner. He said, "Nothing can be accepted as the word of God which cannot be tested by reason or capable of being spiritually experienced".4 "Every true scripture only gains by criticism".5 Every formula of every religion had to be subjected to the acid test of reason; no scriptural sanction was valid if it resulted in unjust or inhuman practices, like the practice of untouchability or animal sacrifices. Every claim made on behalf of revelation should be capable of being tested "on the anvil of truth with the hammer of compassion". Moreover, religious doctrines must appeal to one's conscience. His agenda of reforms was not confined to Hinduism alone. It applied to other religions also – Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. His faith in religious pluralism springs from the fact that he considers all religions as imperfect. In 1930 he said "... if we are imperfect ourselves, religion as conceived by us must also be imperfect.... Religion of our conception, being thus imperfect, is always subject to a process of evolution and reinterpretation".1 On this issue, let us look at three statements of Gandhi: (i) "Every living religion", he says, "must have within itself the power of rejuvenation if it wants to survive"7, otherwise it will become part of history. (ii) He also said: "If a man reaches the heart of his own religion, he has reached the heart of the others too".8 (iii) "Personally, I think the world as a whole will never have, and need not have, a single religion".9 These three quotes of Gandhi capture his concept of religion. Thus, in his quest for religious harmony Gandhi advocated reforms in all religions. The objectives of this paper are to understand Gandhi's views on reforming Indian religions, including semitic religions. Our aim here is to explore answers to the questions such as: What were the sources of Gandhi's thoughts on reforming religions? Why and how did Gandhi reconstruct Hinduism? How he tries to reconcile the concept of "violence" in Gita, justification of varna system and the practice of untouchability, and the duty of cow protection? Does he support proselytizing? What reforms he suggests in other religions of India? Why did he believe in religious pluralism and in the principle of respect for all religions? What criticisms were advanced by his contemporaries on his religious thoughts and how did he silence them? What is the Gandhian concept of religion and what is its significance? Sources of Gandhi's Religious ThoughtGandhi grew up in a devout and educated Vaishnavite family in a religious atmosphere. In his formative years, he was exposed to strong Jain influences. An uncle of Gandhi's mother was a Jain. Gandhi's father, being a public official, had numerous visitors to the house Muslim, Jain, Christian, and Hindu; Gandhi's closest companion in early experiments with truth was a Muslim classmate. In fact, he was administered vows by a Jain monk, who was a close acquaintance of Gandhi's, while he was leaving for England. His mother belonged to a Pranami sect, followers to the Gujarat saint, Mahamati Prannath, who taught equal respect for Hindu and Muslim beliefs, synthesizing the two. The Pranami temples had no images. Pranamis worshipped God without form. An 18th century report indicates that at the centre of Pranamis' worship was a bed with a turban on it and on either side a stool with the Quran and a stool with the Puranas. Till the age of twenty, his knowledge of Hinduism was extremely limited. He had not even read the Gita until persuaded to do so in England by theosophists, when they invited him to read Sir Edwin Arnold's The Song Celestial, the English rendering of Gita. He also came across another book of Sir Edwin's, The Light of Asia, which told the story of Buddha's life, renunciation, and teachings. It was also in England that a fellow vegetarian enthusiast introduced young Gandhi to the Bible. The New Testament, particularly, the Sermon on the Mount, went straight to his heart. He was highly influenced by the verses of Bible, which said: "But I say unto you that Ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also". In his autobiography, he said that "the idea of returning love for hatred and good for evil captivated me".10 Gandhi said that in shaping his religious attitudes for reforms in religions, three 'moderns' had influenced him most - Leo Tolstoy, John Ruskin and Rajchandra (Gandhi used to call him as Rajchandrabhai). Tolstoy's book, The Kingdom of God is Within You, had influenced him deeply. In his classic work, Tolstoy had exposed the contradictions of organized religion, which helped Gandhi to fend off the proselytizing missionaries in South Africa. Ruskin's book, Unto the Last, which was given to him by his friend Polak, also left a lasting impression on him. He learnt the value of a life of simplicity and the dignity of manual labour from this book. Later, he translated this book in Guajarati as "Sarvodaya" (The Welfare of All). It was Rajchandrabhai who had given a sense of direction to Gandhi's religious quest. He was a Guajarati Jain, Mumbai jeweller; Gandhi was in close touch with him and admired him for his renunciation. In fact, he was Gandhi's mentor on his conception of religions. "I never saw him tempted by objects of pleasure or luxury in the world...He disproved the prevalent idea that a man who is wise in the sphere of dharma will not be wise in the affairs of practical life. As a student of philosophy of religion, he tried to practise what he believed.11 Rajchandrabhai, who was older to Gandhi by just two years and died at young age of 33, taught him that it is the way a man lived, not the recital of a verse or the form of a prayer which made him a good Hindu, a good Muslim, or a good Christian. Though he was a Jain, he restored Gandhi's faith in Hinduism. He also explained "the doctrine of the many sidedness of religious truth". He regarded different faiths like any walled enclosures in which men and women confined themselves. On the meaning of religion, he said "Dharma does not mean any particular creed or dogma. Nor does it mean reading or learning by rote books known as shastras (sacred texts) or even believing all that they say" rather Dharma is the quality of the soul present in every human being. Dharma is the means by which we can know ourselves. No organized religion is a special repository of dharma. We may accept this means from wherever we get it whether from India or Europe or Arabia".12 So, Rajchandrabhai enabled Gandhi to find the answer to the question he had been struggling with since his childhood, i.e. "Which was the one true religion that he could adopt and reject the other as false". To answer this Rajchandrabhai said "Religion is not an 'ism' and it is not merely intellectual knowledge or belief in any set of doctrines, but an innate attribute of the soul. It enables to define the human duties in life and establish correct relationship with the fellow beings. Religion is the means of the self-realization or realization of the true nature of self".13 He used to say that the real test of spiritual progress was the extent to which one could translate one's belief in day-to-day life. The influence of Rajchandrabhai was greatest on Gandhi as far as his concept of religion was concerned. In fact, Gandhi's idea of "religion which underlies all religions" has its source in him. Gandhi's Concept of ReligionGandhi's notion of religion was unique. It transcended all historical religions. The most representative statement which captures his basic religious ideas reads: Let me explain what I mean by religion. It is not the Hindu religion, which I certainly prize above all other religions, but the religion which transcends one's very nature, which binds one indissolubly to the truth within and whichever purifies. It is the permanent element in human nature which counts no cost too great in order to find full expression and which leaves the soul utterly restless until it has found itself, known its Maker and appreciated the true correspondence between the Maker and itself.14 This Gandhian manifesto on religion contains five main points: religion transforms our nature, it binds us with Truth, it purifies us, it establishes the "correspondence" between us and our "Maker", and it transcends all historical religions. Gandhi's idea of religion transcends sectarian boundaries. It is a living spiritual experience which cannot be conceptualized or verbalized. "The one religion," writes Gandhi "is beyond speech".15 In essence, to Gandhi "true religion is not narrow dogma. It is not external observance. It is faith in God, and living in the presence of God, it means faith in future life, in truth and in ahimsa. There prevails today a sort of apathy towards these things of the spirit. Our temples appear today to be meant only for the simple and the ignorant. Few visit the real temples of God. Let the educated class take up the work of reform in this direction [italics added]".16 Thus, Gandhi expands the horizons of religion with an endless vision of the 'All Serene' and advises to nurse the living spirit of God present within each one of us in the society. The central focus of Gandhian framework of religion is always man. The wellbeing of man is the touchstone of effectiveness of religion. He went so far as to say that the only way to find God was to "see Him in His Creation and be one with it".17 If religion is an awakening, it embraces humanity. Gandhi and the Reconstruction of HinduismBefore Gandhi many eminent persons like Raja Rammohan Roy (founder of Brahmo Samaj) and Dayanand Saraswati (who founder of Arya Samaj) attempted to reform Hinduism. Gandhi appreciated the Brahmo Samaj movement for its crusade against sati and polytheism and the campaign for the widow remarriage. He felt that it brought all the good from the Christianity and the Islam. In fact, it rationalized and liberalized Hinduism. It has cultivated toleration for the other faiths.18 Gandhi was highly critical of Arya Samaj movement. He wrote: I have read Satyartha Prakash, the Arya Samaj Bible.... I have not read a more disappointing book from a reformer (Dayanand Saraswati) so great. He had claimed to stand for truth and nothing less. But he has unconsciously misrepresented Jainism, Islam, Christianity and Hinduism itself. One having even cursory acquaintance with these faiths could easily discover the errors into which the great reformer strayed. He had tried to make narrow one of the most tolerant and liberal faiths on the face of the earth. And an iconoclast though he was, he has succeeded in enthroning idolatry in the subtlest form. He has idolised the letter of the Vedas and tried to prove the existence in the Vedas of everything known to science.19 He was critical towards Arya Samaj for erecting blocks between communities and paving way for communal disharmony. Although its success was greater, its appeal was limited by its very belligerence and sectarianism. But Gandhi's reformist agenda was far more comprehensive than that of any of his predecessors. He was very radical in certain matters. He was convinced that Hindu society needed moral regeneration, "a new system of ethics". He was certain that this new framework of ethics could not be developed out of the available resources of Hindu traditions alone. Some of its fundamental values were sound and represented its greatest contribution to mankind. However, they have been traditionally defined in negative, passive and asocial terms and required reinterpretation and reform. According to Gandhi, Hinduism could, therefore, greatly benefit from the moral 'insights' and 'truths' discovered by other religious traditions including Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity.20 Thus, Gandhi adopted a liberal, rational method to radically redefine, deconstruct and reconstruct the orthodox Hindu traditions. Gandhi makes a distinction between the idea of religion, which is timeless, and religion as institution, which is time bound. It was the institution of religion which he wanted to reform as it had evolved many social practices like the practice of untouchability, animal sacrifice, lower status to women etc., which had no scriptural sanction. He reshaped and redefined the time-honoured concepts of Hinduism. It must be kept in mind that Gandhi does not recognize the sole authority of the modern-day Shankracharyas (successor to the original Sankara) and shastris - the traditional interpreters of the Hindu scriptures - to interpret the scriptures. He did not think that they were meeting the criterion of “experiencing the truth" that they were interpreting. In his view they did not practice the necessary virtues - truth, non-violence, celibacy, and detachment - in sufficient degree. Their status as gurus therefore could no longer be recognized. It was a rare thing today, he remarked, to find in them a combination of purity of life and depth of learning. The "millions" therefore have to go without their help.21 Gandhi's first major attack on Hinduism was with regard to the practice of untouchability. He considered it as a heinous crime against humanity. He emphasized that caste had nothing to do with religion. It was a later excrescence on what originally been basically the principle of division of labour and of duties. For him untouchability had no sanction in Hindu scriptures. When B. S. Mooneji, the Mahasabha leader, tried to prove that untouchability was an integral part of Hinduism, Gandhi retorted: "Happily for me, my Hinduism does not bind me to every verse because it is written in Sanskrit... in spite of your literal knowledge of the Shastras, yours is a distorted kind of Hinduism. I claim in all humility to have lived Hinduism all my life".22 On a visit to Hrishikesh Gandhi discussed the significance of the sacred thread and the Shikha (tuft of hair which orthodox brahmins have) and said that the right to wear the sacred thread could only come after Hinduism had purged itself of untouchability.23 Similarly, on the position of women, his views were far ahead of his time and were similar to those of modern women reformers. He brought a large number of women into public life, which neither Lenin nor Mao was able to do. "Woman is the companion," he affirmed as early as 1918, "with equal mental capacities... and she has the same right of freedom and liberty." He advocated equal legal status and the right of vote for women. The oft-quoted text, "for women there can be no freedom", ascribed to Manu, he dismissed it as an interpolation, and if it was not an interpolation, he could only say that, in Manu's days, women did not have the status they deserved.24 Gandhi also opposed animal sacrifices and described it as irreligious. Wherever popular religion was on the wrong track in his opinion, Gandhi did not hesitate to speak out boldly. On the occasion of the Calcutta Session of the Congress Party in 1901 he visited the Kali temple and was repelled by the sight of goats being slaughtered leading to "rivers of blood", saying that he considered this to be "positive irreligion" and that he did "not consider it to be part of Hinduism".25 The most innovative interpretations of Gandhi pertain to his understanding of Gita or the story of Mahabharata. His interpretations were novel, unorthodox and based on reasoning, morality and common sense. No book, however sacred, he said, could be limited to a single interpretation irrespective of time and place; the meanings of great writings were subject to a process of evolution. Gandhi put forward the view that the epic, the Mahabharata, was an allegorical and not a historical work. The real object of the Gita, as he understood it, was to point to the goal of self-realization and to show that nishkam karma (detached activity) was the way to achieve the goal. He did not accept the traditional interpretation of the Gita as the poetic presentation of Lord Krishna's exhortation to Arjuna, the warrior, to go forward and meet his cousins in combat; the battlefield of Kurukshetra was only a symbol of the battle between good and evil which rages in every human heart, Duryodhan and his party being the baser impulses in man, Arjuna and his party the higher impulses, and Krishna "the dweller within". To those who insisted on taking the story of Mahabharata literally, Gandhi pointed out that if the story was taken at its face-value, the Mahabharata had demonstrated the futility of violence: the war had ended in universal devastation in which the victors had been no better off than the vanquished. Thus, Gandhi does not agree with the interpretation that Gita believes in violence.26 Gandhi challenged age-old notions and prejudices with impunity. He had a healthy aversion to occult phenomena and never encouraged superstition in any form. When asked about miracles he said that "What was the good of overturning nature? He did not think of God in anthropomorphic terms as Truth for him was God" and God's law and God were not different things or facts in the sense that an earthly king and his law were different.27 When Gandhi's interpretations were called in question, he dismissed his critics by suggesting that the text on which they relied could be an interpolation. However, he did not make any claim that his interpretations are infallible. He wrote: "The opinions I have formed, and the conclusions I have arrived at are not final. I may change them tomorrow".28 In sum, Gandhi's concept of religion had little in common with what generally passes for organized religion: dogmas, rituals and rites, superstitions, and bigotry. Indeed, shorn of these accretions, his religion was simply an ethical framework for the conduct of daily life. True or pure religion, to Gandhi, transcends but does not supersede organized religions. He reduced Hinduism to a few fundamental beliefs: in the supreme reality of God, the unity of all (life)) and the value of ahimsa (love) as a means of realizing God. In this bedrock religion there was no scope for exclusiveness or narrowness. It was in his view a beauty of Hinduism that: "in it there is a room for the worship of all the prophets of the world. It is not a missionary religion in the ordinary sense of the word... Hinduism tells everyone to worship God according to his own faith or Dharma and so it lives at peace with all religions".29 He considered that in Hinduism there is enough room for Jesus, Mohammed, Zoroaster and Moses. For him the different religions were beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they were branches of the same majestic tree. Thus, he considered all religions truly equal.30 To buttress his analysis he compares the fact of existence of many religions with the story of "Seven Blind Men and the Elephant". He stated: "The seven blind men who gave seven different descriptions of the elephant were all right from their respective points of view, and wrong from the point of view of one another, and right and wrong from the point of view of the man who knew the elephant. I very much like this doctrine of the manyness of reality".31 Gandhi on Other ReligionsFor Gandhi, all the major religions in the world are equal in the sense that they are all true. They are supplying a felt want in the spiritual progress of humanity. He assigns divinity to all religions. No religion is perfect. He said: "... if we are imperfect ourselves, religion as conceived by us must also be imperfect.... Religion of our conception, being thus imperfect, is always subject to a process of evolution and reinterpretation".32 Gandhi advocated reforms in other religions of the world. He wanted that the followers of different religions should reinterpret the precepts of their beliefs in the light of rationality and should get rid of any interpolations that have crept into their faiths. He rejects the claim of maulvis (Muslim theologians) and Christian clergy to give final interpretation to the messages of Islam and Christianity. Both these messages have to be interpreted in the lives of those who are living these messages in silence and in perfect dedication. Let us examine how did Gandhi perceive or interpret other religions. Gandhi on BuddhismGandhi does not regard Buddhism as an independent religion. He considers it as a part of Hinduism. In his view Buddha did not give the world a new religion; he gave Hinduism a new interpretation. Buddha made the most daring effort to reform and revitalize the sanatan Hindu tradition of India. Gandhi saw it as the most revolutionary attempt to propagate the doctrine of ahimsa, or nonviolence, in its widest sense.33 Buddhism, according to his interpretation, was a movement welcomed by some of the Hindus as their own.34 He saw the Buddha as one of the greatest reformers of Hindu dharma who taught us truth and ahimsa, self-purity, sacrifice and renunciation, and faith in the ultimate morality, which Gandhiji called God.35 Gandhi was not in favour of reviving Buddhism in India. Instead, he said that whatever 'revival' was necessary could take place by the purification of oneself.36 Revival of Buddhism is possible if one supports conversion of Hindus (like B.R. Ambedkar) to Buddhism. Hinduism resents any attack upon the Vedas. It regarded the new interpretation (of Buddha) as such an attack. Buddha taught Hinduism not to take life (as animal sacrifice was very common then) but to give life. True sacrifice was not of others but of self. Buddha suggested some reform in the Hindu religion. His piety greatly affected the minds of the Brahmins, and the killing of animals for sacrifice was stopped to a great extent. Gandhi considered the Buddha as the greatest preacher of peace. He wrote: "I have the greatest veneration for the Buddha. He is one of the greatest preachers of peace. The gospel of the Buddha is the gospel of love".37 Buddha understood Nirvana (salvation) in a different way. "Nirvana is undoubtedly not utter extinction. So far as I (Gandhi) was able to understand the central fact of Buddha's life Nirvana is utter extinction of all that is base in us. Nirvana is not like the black dead peace of the grave, but the living peace, the living happiness of a soul which is conscious of itself and conscious of having found its own abode in the heart of Eternal".38 Buddhist contribution to humanity lies in its teaching to regard for all life. Sanctity of life - whether human or animal was upheld by Buddhism. This aspect of Buddhism attracted Gandhi much. King Ashoka sent missionaries to different lands for the propagation of Buddhism, and spread that religion in Ceylon (Sri Lanka), China; Burma (Myanmar); and other countries. A distinctive beauty of Hinduism was revealed during this process: no one was converted to Buddhism by force. People's minds were sought to be influenced only by discussion and argument and mainly by the pure conduct of the preachers themselves. According to Gandhi, the Hindus regarded Buddha's new interpretation as an attack on their religion. Therefore, while it accepted the central truth of Buddha's teaching, it fought against Buddhism and regarded it as a new and anti-Vedic cult. Many people say that India's downfall dates from her acceptance of Buddha's teachings. Gandhi disagrees with such criticism. He says that it is his unalterable belief that India has fallen not because it accepted Buddha's teaching, but because it failed to live up to it. The reformation that Buddha attempted was remarkable. He taught us to defy appearances and trust in the final triumph of Truth and Love. According to Gandhi this was his matchless gift to Hinduism and to the world.39 Gandhi on ChristianityGandhi tells us in his autobiography how certain aspects of Christianity % the life and death of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount and the crystalline purity of some Christians appealed to him. The verses of New Testament, concerning the Sermon on the Mount, went straight to his heart, which read: “But I say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away the coat, let him have thy cloak also". He appreciated the beauties of Christianity. He called Jesus the "Prince of Satyagrahis",40 as he employed non-cooperation against the hypocrites, the liars and men drunk with pride. He opposed, all alone, the mighty Roman Empire for the sake of moral principles. Christianity has had a very considerable influence on Hinduism. Christian priests imparted education of a high order and pointed out some of the glaring defects in Hinduism, which paved way for the birth of great social reformers / teachers like Kabir, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Devendra Tagore and Dayanand Sarswati and others.41 Despite his great love for Christianity, Gandhi had many objections to the prevailing orthodox understanding of this belief. He reinterpreted and rediscovered the original creed of Christ. He could not subscribe to the view that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God and only those believing in him could attain salvation. He said God cannot be the exclusive father and that he cannot ascribe exclusive divinity to Jesus. According to him, Jesus was one like Krishna or Rama, the Buddha or Mohammed and the belief that Jesus was the only son of God is an invention of the theologians. Gandhi says that this invention contradicts Jesus' own teaching implied in the words spoken to his hearers: I go to your Father and my Father", and the emphatic declaration of John: “Now are we the sons of God".42 Gandhi's criticisms of Christianity were influenced by his readings of the works of Tolstoy and Edward Maitland and Anna Kingsford. Like Tolstoy, Gandhi does not accept the immoral doctrine of vicarious atonement. He does not think that it was ever taught by Jesus, it was interpolated by the Jewish writers who were used to the idea of a scapegoat. There is no basis whatever for moral responsibility in the belief that one's sins can be forgiven through the suffering of someone else and such an idea implies injustice in the Godhead we are supposed to worship. Gandhi clearly perceived the serious danger of such a teaching. On his objection to the doctrine of vicarious atonement, he wrote in his autobiography "If this be the Christianity acknowledged by all Christians. I cannot accept it. I do not seek redemption from the consequences of my sin. I seek redemption from sin itself, or rather from the very thought of sin. Until I have attained that end, I shall be content to be restless".43 Gandhi also opposed the doctrine of proselytization. He chided Christian missionaries for their "irreligious gamble" for converts. He opposed conversion from one religion to another. Mirabehn (Miss Slade) was never converted to Hinduism. Similarly, Richard Gregg, who wrote extensively on non-violence and stayed in his ashram, was called Govind, but never became a Hindu. He disallowed conversions in his Ashrams. The reason why he opposed proselytization was because he recognized that all faiths are true and divinely inspired. Gandhi believed that Jesus and his message did not belong only to Christians or to any community; He and his lessons belonged to the whole world. Once he had told Mrs. Polak that to be a good Hindu was to be good Christian and that there was no need to "become" a Christian to be "a believer in the beauty of the teachings of Jesus or to try to follow his example".44 According to Gandhi, “God, Allah, Rama, Narayan, Ishwar, Khuda were descriptions of the same Being". And "God's grace and revelation were not the monopoly of any race or nation". It logically followed from this that no one religion could claim that it alone was true or superior and that others were false or inferior. He rejected the idea of conversion from one religion to another because all religions are one and the same.45 Gandhi on IslamGandhi appreciated Islam for its two distinctive contributions to India's national culture -one, for its unadulterated belief in the oneness of God and second, for its practical application of the truth of the brotherhood of man for all believers. Gandhi opined that in Hinduism the spirit of brotherhood has become too much philosophized. He said: "though philosophical Hinduism has no other god but God, it cannot be denied that practical Hinduism is not so emphatically uncompromising as Islam".46 Gandhi read a translation of the Quran and the life of the Prophet Mohammed and was struck by the humiliations and hardships heaped upon him and his followers. In fact, Gandhi had advised Mirabehn, his English disciple, who had been reading the Upanishads, to read the Quran, and assured her that she would find many "gems" in it. When Gandhi was told that Islam and its Prophet had prescribed the use of sword in certain circumstances, Gandhi replied: "I suppose most Muslims will agree. But I read religion in a different way. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan derives his belief in non-violence from the Koran... I derive my belief in non-violence from the Gita, whereas others who read violence in it. [Even] if I came to the conclusion that the Koran teaches violence, I would still reject violence.... It is enough that my non-violence is independent of the sanction of scriptures".47 At another place Gandhi expressed his view that in the Quran, "non-violence is enjoined as duty, violence is permitted as a necessity".48 Gandhi on ConversionsGandhi's strong views on proselytization needs to be studied in the context of his quest or advocacy for redefining or reconstructing all religions. He opposed religious conversions. He made a strong statement in this regard: "If I had the power and could legislate, I should stop all proselytizing".49 He did not only oppose proselytization, but also expressed his incomprehension towards conversion in the sense of an individual converting from one religion to another: "I cannot understand a man changing the religion of his forefathers at the instance of another".50 He did not support any Hindu converting to another religion like Christianity, Islam or even Buddhism. He even objects to the practice of Shuddhi that the 19th century Hindu reform movements had introduced in order to "re-convert" Muslims and Christians to Hinduism: My Hindu instinct tells me that all religions are more or less true. All proceed from the same God, but all are imperfect because they have come down to us through imperfect human instrumentality. The real shuddhi movement should consist in each one trying to arrive at perfection in his or her own faith. In such a plan character would be the only test. What is the use of crossing from one compartment to another, if it does not mean a moral rise?51 Here, shuddhi is described as a process whereby the individual achieves a greater moral perfection "in his or her own faith" and which is incompatible with crossing from one religion to another.52 Gandhi wants that people should remain within their own religions, as they all are true religions, and if there are any wrong practices like sati, devadasi system or practice of untouchability (Gandhi finds such wrong and unjustifiable practices in other religions), they should reform their religions from within rather than converting to other religions, which in no way will lead to their moral or spiritual rise. According to Gandhi, since all great religions are bearers of excellent moral guidelines and capable of internal improvement, conversion to another religion is unnecessary and divisive. Conversion to another religion is justified only in so far as it makes an individual morally superior compared to before.53 Since all religions, according to Gandhi, were true and also that all of them had some error, there is need to purify them from such errors. If the "faith" one belongs to is defiled by impurities, these should be transformed.54 If you purify, reform, or modify the ill practices or impurities existing in your religion, that process, according to Gandhi, can be considered as "conversion". Thus, the "equality of all religions" is the foundation of Gandhi's reasoning on religious conversion. Gandhi's philosophical opposition to conversion stemmed from the conviction that it presupposes a hierarchy of faiths, at least on the part of those who proselytize, just as it presupposes that those who are candidates for conversion have a poor understanding of the spiritual resources of their own faith.55 Therefore, he advocates that instead of engaging oneself in an attempt to convert another person to one's own religion/faith, our prayer should be that a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian.56 Another reason why he was opposed to conversion was that Hinduism is not a proselytizing religion. There is no provision of becoming Hindu by conversion. If one wants to be a Hindu, he/she should take birth in a Hindu family. It is paradoxical to know that while Gandhi strongly opposed any programme/mission of conversions, yet he is willing to accept conversion if it is purely a matter of change of heart and reason. His following statements illustrate this. Gandhiji had visited Rawalpindi to meet Hindu refugees and Muslims of Kohat, where forceful conversion of Hindus to Islam was carried out during Kohat riots. He spoke on 19-3-1925 at Tirupur: I would personally like the stopping of all conversions and shuddhis. One's faith is a personal matter with oneself. It is open to any person of mature age to change his or her faith when and as often as he or she wishes. But if I could do so, I would stop all propaganda except through one's conduct. Conversion is a matter of heart and reason. An appeal to heart and reason can only be made through conduct.57 At another place Gandhi says that proselytization has done more harm than good. Though it is regarded as a matter purely of the heart and one between the Maker and oneself, it has degenerated into an appeal to the selfish instinct.58 In an article he published in 1931, Gandhi stated that his position had been misrepresented, and he went on to affirm: "I am, then, not against conversion. But I am against the modern methods of it. Conversion nowadays has become a matter of business, like any other".59 Religious Pluralism: Equal Respect for All ReligionsReligion was viewed by Gandhi as the cementing foundation of the human community; for he believed that various religions were beautiful flowers from one garden or branches of the gigantic tree that all of them were equally true. "The Allah of Islam", Gandhi wrote in 1938 in Harijan, "is the same as the God of the Christians and the Isvara of the Hindus. Living faith in this God means equal respect for all religions. It would be the height of intolerance – and intolerance is a species of violence - to believe that your religion is superior to other religions". In fact, he could claim, with little seeming contradiction, that being an adherent of the sanathana dharma (eternal religion) he could be a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Christian at the same time.60 Gandhi believed that each major religion defined a distinct understanding of God and focused on his various features. Christianity was the religion that most fully and movingly created the concept of God as a loving Father and the focus on unconditional love, forgiveness, and unremitting suffering that went along with it. Gandhi was unable to determine whether such understanding is unique or whether it is present in other religions. Nevertheless, the presentation is special. Austere and rigorous monotheism, the rejection of intermediaries between human beings and God, and the spirit of equality were 'most beautifully' articulated in Islam. The clear distinction between the impersonal and personal conceptions of God, the emphasis on non-attachment to the world while remaining active within it, the principle of the unity of all life, and the doctrine of non-violence were unique to Hinduism. For Gandhi, every religion had a distinct moral and spiritual ethos and represented a wonderful and irreplaceable 'spiritual composition'.61 He said institutional religions were roads that led to the same destination.62 Or, they were the rivers that flowed into the same ocean.63 In reality, Gandhi said, there are as many religions as there are individuals.64 Gandhi was highly influenced by the Jain theory of anekantavada, the many-sidedness of the reality. He applied this theory to his concept of religion. That is why he said that many religions exist because there is many-sidedness of truth. All of them are equal in the sense that no single religion has the absolute or exclusive truth. Gandhi quoted the saint Narasimha that the different shapes into which gold was beaten gave rise to different names and forms; but ultimately it was all gold. God's grace and revelation were not the monopoly of any race or nation; they descended equally upon all who waited upon God. The one true religion, he asserted, subsequently became many "as it passed through the human medium".65 In other words, God had revealed himself to the whole of humanity. At the same time, humanity expressed the meaning of the received revelation differently, depending on language and culture. The unity of religious truths was guaranteed because of their divine source, but their diversity became unavoidable because of culture, and the philosophical or theological systems that arose from them."66 So, Gandhi opined that no religion was absolutely perfect. In fact, all religions are equally imperfect or more or less perfect.67 Gandhi says that religious pluralism is part of Indian culture, as we read in Rig Veda: “To what is One, sages give many a title". According to Gita humans could approach God by different paths: "In whatsoever way any come to Me, in that same way I grant them favor".68 Equal respect for all religions recognizes the equality of all religions (sarvadharma samanatva). Gandhi saw two great values in the theory of religious pluralism. In the first place, it provided an objective basis for religious toleration within the state, and in the second place it supplied the foundation for the dialogue between religions.69 Moreover, as Gandhi wrote "Looking at all religions with an equal eye, we would not only not hesitate, but would think it our duty, to blend into our faith every acceptable feature of other faiths".70 Elaborating his concept of unity of all creations and religions, Gandhi said: "If all religions are one at source, we have to synthesize them. Today they are looked upon as separate and that is why we kill each other. When we are tired of religion, we become atheists and then, apart from the little self, nothing not even God, exists. But when we acquire true understanding, the little self perishes and God becomes all in all".71 "My approach to other religions", he wrote, "therefore, is never as a fault-finding critic but as a devotee hoping to find the like beauties in other religions and wishing to incorporate in my own the good, I may find in them and miss in mine".72 For Gandhi, every religion was inescapably partial and constrained since God was limitless and the limited human mind could only comprehend a "fraction" of him and that too inadequately.73 This also applied to faiths that claimed to have had direct revelation from him because they were communicated through human language, which was naturally flawed and revealed to fallible humans. Therefore, there was much that different religions might contribute to one another, and this was advantageous. Gandhi adopted the attitude of sadbhava (goodwill) towards other religions, rather than mere respect or even tolerance towards them. Tolerance suggested that other religions were erroneous, even though one was prepared to tolerate them for a variety of reasons, and that one's own faith was "true" and had nothing to learn from them, thus leading to 'spiritual arrogance'. Respect was a more positive attitude, but it too implied both an unwillingness to learn from others and a desire to keep them at a safe distance. By contrast sadbhava implied 'spiritual humility', a 'feel for other religions', and a willingness to see them flourish and learn from them.74 Gandhi's New Year message to his Hindu readers in 1907 advocating religious tolerance in Indian Opinion sums up his thoughts on religious pluralism. His message read: If the people of different religions grasp the real significance of their own religion, they will never hate the people of any religion other than their own. As Jalaluddin Rumi has said, or as Shri Krishna said to Arjun, there are many rivers, and they appear different from one another, but they all meet in the ocean. In the same manner there may be many religions, but the true aim of all is the same... Hence, if we look at the aim, there is no difference among religions.75 According to Gandhi all religions are essentially identical because (a) it is the truth /God that inspires all religions; (b) all seek truth; they are different paths to the same goal; (c) all believe in moral order / a universe governed by moral law; this law is truth / god; (d) all affirm the same fundamental morality; and religion is essentially morality (non-violence, truth, love); (e) all respect a higher power; (f) all religions have served in embellishing mankind, all have produced great saints - i.e., self-sacrificing persons. The Buddha, Christ, Mohammad, Guru Nanak all lived lives of self-sacrifice and renunciation. So, there was an underlying unity in all religions. The time has passed when the followers of one religion could stand up and say, ours is the only true religion and all others are false. Gandhi said, "I don't believe in the exclusive divinity of the Vedas. I believe the Bible, the Koran and the Zend Avesta to be as much divinely inspired as the Vedas".76 Gandhi's concept of religious pluralism was inclusive, as it included atheists also along with all religions. He recognises that atheists have right to be atheists. On this Margaret Chatterjee says: "he does not even speak out against atheism, for he finds in many atheists that very desire for truth which he himself believed was identical with the religious impulse".77 Gandhi's belief in religious tolerance and opposition to conversion to another religion flows from his statement that: "I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my houses as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any".78 Critics of GandhiGandhi had many critics. Among the British critics were Archbishop Cosmo Lang and Lord Reading, the Viceroy of India. The former described him, in a letter to Lord Irwin, as "a mystic, fanatic and anarchist", and the latter wrote after his first meeting with Mahatma that "Mr. Gandhi's religious and moral views are... admirable, but...difficult to understand the practice of them in politics".79 The leaders of the Muslim League, the protagonists of the two-nation theory, maligned Gandhi who insisted that the function of religion was to unite rather than divide people, and religion was an unsatisfactory basis for nationality. Three left-wing critics – M. N. Roy, R. P. Dutt and E.M.S. Namboodripad – have accused Gandhi of exploiting religion to rouse the masses, and then deliberately curbing their political consciousness in the interest of the Indian bourgeoisie. Many of his own supporters were uncomfortable with the moral constraints he imposed on the struggle with the British. Finally, some latter-day historians have advanced the thesis that by using Hindu symbols, Gandhi contributed to the communal polarisation which culminated in the division of India.80 M.N. Roy, a communist and Radical Humanist, who had been sharply critical of Gandhi's 'religious approach to politics', confessed later that he had failed to detect the secular approach of the Mahatma beneath the religious terminology and that essentially Gandhi's message had been "moral, humanist, cosmopolitan".81 The greatest contribution of Gandhi is that he strengthened the concept of secularism in India. Though he was a deeply religious person, he said that he would have opposed any proposal for a state religion even if the whole population of India had professed the same religion. He looked upon religion as a personal matter. He told a missionary later: "The State would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern", he wrote.82 Concluding ObservationsGandhi was one of the outstanding religious pioneers of all times. Several Christian leaders have spoken of him as the greatest since the time of Jesus.83 His first biographer, Joseph Doke, wrote that his religious views were too closely allied to Christianity to be entirely Hindu, and too deeply saturated with Hinduism to be called Christian. His sympathies were so wide and catholic that the formulae of sects appeared meaningless.84 In his lifetime he was variously labelled, a Sanatanist (orthodox), Hindu, a renegade Hindu, a Buddhist, a theosophist, a Christian and a "Christian Muhammadan". He was all these and even more. Such novel comment was possible only because he was constantly redefining and reconstructing his religious beliefs and also assimilating from other religions. Gandhi advocated redefining and reconstructing all religions only by their respective followers. He favoured reforms from within. Let us recall here his two statements in this regard: (i) "Nothing [in religious text] can be accepted as the word of God which cannot be tested by reason or capable of being spiritually experienced". (ii) "Every true scripture only gains by criticism". To him all religions are imperfect and contain certain wrong practices, like Hinduism's practices of untouchability, animal sacrifice, sati, etc. For him religion should be a lived experience. Religion, for him, is to be searched out in the service of mankind, and not in rituals. He dedicated and devoted his whole life to the service of the masses, which, in fact was the essence of his religion. By religion, Gandhi did not mean any conventional religion but 'universal religion' which is at the root of all religions and that this fundamental religion harmonises the historical religions and makes them valid. The soul of religions is one, but it is encased in a multitude of forms. Therefore, he believes in religious pluralism and mutual respect of religions and religious tolerance. He believes in the unity and equality of all religions. The resolution on fundamental rights passed by the Karachi Congress in 1931 with Gandhi's cordial approval, affirmed the principle of religious freedom and declared that "the State shall observe neutrality in regard to all religions". This doctrine of secularism was enshrined in the constitution of free India even after the Muslim League waged and won the campaign for the partition of the country on the basis of religion. Louis Fischer, Gandhi's American biographer, noted the strange paradox that Jinnah, who had grown up as a secular nationalist in his younger days and who apparently had little interest in religion, founded a State based on religion, while Gandhi, wholly religious, worked to establish a secular State.85 Two scholars - Vinay Lal and Unto Tahtinen – summarize Gandhi's concept of religion and his reformative agenda very well. The former said: "in the matter of religious belief and conduct, Gandhi was unusually reflective, practical, and wise – all at the same time. He emphasized reason, a need to understanding all faiths, and the freedom of religious conversion. He came to the realization that 'Truth is God' and had an unshakeable conviction that it was not possible to have a religion without politics or a politics without religion".86 The Concept of universal religion as propounded by Gandhi is best summarised in the words of Tahtinen: "Gandhi's religiousness does not exclude or reject the criticism of religion, since the recognition of the fundamental equality of all religions does not destroy the distinction between religion and irreligion. We must not tolerate irreligion. Sanctifying a cruel custom is not religion, but irreligion. Religion which does not take the practical things of life into account and does not try to explain them is not true religion".87 Although we may feel at the end of our study that now we understand Gandhi's conception of religion better, in conclusion, "we must admit that paradoxes remain", to quote Jordens, who said, Gandhi, Hindu to the core, was rejected by orthodoxy; believer in tolerant relativism, he was stubbornly dogmatic in his personal view of religion; fanatically non-violent, he accepted that sometimes violence may be a sacred duty; mercilessly ascetic, he was overflowing with tenderness. It was in his life and his actions that these paradoxes resolved themselves as on the loom of his life he doggedly criss-crossed the warp of asceticism with the weft of love. It was by looking at his actions that we discovered under the homespun shawl a giant who in our age gave active witness to the reality of the divine.88 Notes and References
Courtesy: This article was originally published in the Gandhi Marg, Volume 46, Number 4, January-March 2025 * Abdulrahim P. Vijapur, is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya. Techno City, Kiling Road, Baridua, 9th Mile, Ri-Bhoi, Meghalaya 793101. Formerly he was Professor of Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University. Email: arvijapur@gmail.com |