Gandhi and Science

Pankaj S. Joshi*

“Gandhi and Science? Gandhi was a saint, he was a Mahatma, which is all certainly true. But what connection he has had with Science, if any at all.” Such remarks or questions are made in the intellectual classes of India today, if we talk of Gandhi and Scien-tific temper. We hear many times statements to the effect that, Gandhi of course knew how to collect the people and mesmerise the masses, he helped bring the Indian free-dom, however, his thought processes were highly unscientific and in fact, he was anti-science. These impressions are prevalent in the well-read and highly educated people as I found. I have on many occasions heard the point being made in our high-class debates that Gandhi was essentially a religious person, but with a rather non-scientific attitude, and in the modern scientific age, his thoughts are therefore rather backward and largely irrelevant.

Aldous Huxley was among the first to brand Gandhi and his movements 'anti-science': “Tolstoyan's and Gandhiites tell us to 'return to nature', in other words, abandon science altogether and live like primitives....the trouble with this advise is it cannot be followed... science and technology allowed human population to double… but they advocate slaughter... compared to which Timur and Changiz Khan would look trivial. Nehru responded to Huxley: "It [Gandhi's] may not be a correct attitude; its logic may be faulty..."

This was followed up by Indian Science policy makers and scientists such as Meghnad Saha, who told Russians that he and his brother scientists had “as little regard” for Gandhi's economic and social theories as you 'the Russians' have for Tolstoy… All in all, Gandhi was then branded as entirely retrograde.

This eventually resulted into clear divisions made by the intellectuals of the time: Gandhi was someone who could mobilize masses, and therefore useful in that way, but he was a 'religious man' and not a 'science man', and to that extent irrelevant in the modern age, with retrograde views. Even today, these views are shared by a large section of Indian intelligentsia, even when they readily acknowledge Gandhi's ability to mobilize people for freedom movement.

Subsequent to Gandhi's passing away, and in post-independence years, this attitude grew and developed to such an extent that finally Science policy writings in India, or the Economic Planners creating the Vision of a Future India thus made no mention of Gandhi.

The final result in Modern India has been this: There is in a way a 'Missing Gandhi' in the Economic, Science and Intellectual policies of India, and at the same time there is a missing 'Science' in the Gandhian studies as well to an extent. In my view, this is not good for a healthy intellectual and cultural growth of the Nation.

However, it is worth asking and investigating without a prejudice: Was Gandhi anti-Science? Was Gandhi really Unscientific?

In fact, this is one of the strongest criticism against Gandhi in modern times, and may deserve a careful attention and investigation, especially when the world is witnessing "Gandhi@150".

The issue in fact is vast and has many facets, and we do not claim to be complete here within the framework of this article here. Our purpose really is to create a discussion and search on the issue, which I have no doubt, will be greatly beneficial towards creating a healthier perspective on Gandhian philosophy and thoughts. This could in turn benefit our Future Vision of India, and might even help the perspective of the future Economic and Science planners.

We can begin with a somewhat simple question, namely, Was Gandhi always against Machinery and Industrialisation? It may be worth noting here that, 'The sewing machine', Mahatma Gandhi declared, 'was one of the few useful things ever invented'.

What we need to understand basically is one of the key tenets of Gandhi's world-view, namely, Machines are merely tools and not our Masters, and that is exactly how they must be treated.

Actually, Gandhi's image of being anti-science dates back from the early days of his book HIND-SWARAJ, which just completes 110 years in the year 2019. Probably he just made many statements there rather too strongly, perhaps in order to be somewhat emphatic, and it appeared to many that he was plainly anti-Science.

It is, however, not realized often that he was a severe critic of Modern Civilization, but not of Science or Scientific Method. As we try to show and point out here, Gandhi did not condemn the scientific temper of the West, but he objected to the use of scientific discoveries against humanity.

At this juncture, it is well worth understanding, and discussing in some detail the Real Nature of Science.

What is Science?

In its key essence, it is the Search for Truth; namely that of the fundamental laws that govern the Universe. Science always follows the path of carrying out many Observa-tions of the Natural Phenomena, and conducting a Series of Experiments, before arriv-ing at any conclusions.

From such a perspective, Gandhi's method had its scientific basis. As he explained clearly:

“...my life consists of nothing else but numerous experiments with truth... If I can narrate them in a dispassionate and humble spirit... Far be it from me to claim any degree of perfectness.

“I claim for them nothing more than does a scientist who, though he conducts his experiments with utmost accuracy, forethought and minuteness, never claims any finality on conclusions, but keeps an open mind...

“I have gone through deep self-introspection, searched myself through and through, and examined and analysed every situation.

We must emphasise that Introspection and going into the Finest and Minutest Detail was Gandhi's key strength, whenever he worked on any problem. If you study his Thoughts, Actions and Writings, you find that he analysed and investigated his own life in same microscopic manner, going to the smallest details.

His was clearly an extremely Logical Mind...no question on that:

“Geometry was a new subject in which, I was not particularly strong ...and the English medium made it still more difficult for me.

“When, however, with much effort I reached thirteenth proposition of Euclid, the utter simplicity of the subject was suddenly revealed to me. A subject which only requires a pure and simple use of one's reasoning power could not be difficult. Ever since... geometry has been both easy and interesting for me.

Gandhi's comments on mother tongue instruction are both interesting as well as worth debating in some detail:

“English became the medium of instruction in most subjects from the fourth standard. I found myself completely at sea... If our education were more systematic, and if children were free from the burden of having to learn subjects through a foreign medium...”

“A scientific knowledge of one language makes a knowledge of other languages comparatively easy.

Throughout his life, he kept making these points, and went on telling this in one way or other. Below is an example:

“...Tomorrow Dr J C Bose will be making a speech. If he speaks in Bengali I will have no quarrel with him. I will have quarrel with him if he speaks in English...

Gandhi and Scientists

What is quite important and interesting to know is, Gandhi was in contact with best of the scientific authorities of his day.

Sir J.C. Bose came and met him (Mumbai, 1924). Previously, in 1917, he went to Cal-cutta to attend the “opening of Bose's research Institute”, and said,

“It was spiritual affair rather than a public show.

“Thanks to the marvellous researches of ... Bose...his discoveries are revolutionizing the accepted...

Sir C V Raman and Lady Raman came and discussed with him (1936). In fact, important scientists such as J.C. Bose, C.V. Raman and P.C. Ray were put as Members of the Khadi Development Board.

Gandhi established 'Gandhi Seva Sangh' (1935), which was meant for post-graduate study, and thinking and research. He suggested that other institutions, mainly busy with 'Action' would not have time to do this. Gandhi Seva Sangh must study, understand and investigate the key principles and basics on 'khadi', 'charkha', 'Ekadasha Vrata', and such other basics, he pointed out.

From various such examples, it is obvious that Gandhi laid enormous emphasis on Study, Thinking & Research and analysing the Fundamentals. So it is worth inquiring and finding out, whether Gandhi was aware of the enormous scientific progress and discoveries being made in his times.

For example, let us ask: Was Gandhi aware of the Amazing Universe around us, the Profound Puzzles that it brings, and the Future Directions and New Perspectives Emerging on the Cosmos.

The Evolving Cosmos

On that note, it is worth noting that breakthrough developments were happening in Cosmology and Astrophysics in the times of Gandhi. In the earlier part of the twentieth century Albert Einstein discovered his Theory of Relativity, and Edwin Hubble ob-served the expansion of Universe in the 1920s. Major telescope missions were being initiated which started observing the Universe in great depths of space and time. The world of Galaxies was discovered then, each of the galaxy containing billions of stars like our Sun. An enormous panorama describing the vast universe was opening up.

The visible Universe is made of Stars and Galaxies. Each Galaxy contains some 400 to 500 Billions of Stars. Again, the Universe has Billions of such Galaxies, which are ex-panding away from each other, thus giving an Expanding Universe scenario, and thus emerged a new paradigm in our knowledge on Cosmos.

Gandhi and Cosmos

From this perspective, I searched the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi volumes, and interestingly, several relevant quotations from Gandhi were found! Some of these are revealing and provide us an idea on how Gandhi thought about and perceived the Cosmos:

"...this Universe which is millions of times vaster than the earth..."

"...and what are we in this mighty Universe? We are less than...And what about the magnificent canopy of heaven...

"if... heavenly bodies do not work like machines, the Universe would come to a standstill...

"... like atom in this Universe... our existence as embodied beings is purely momen-tary...

"... An all pervading, conscious Power fills our Universe which we call God...

"... If we carefully observe and examine the Universe, we shall see that...

"... As in the body so in universe. The body everdies, yet lives. Similarly the Cosmos as expressed in the creation ever dies yet remains alive...

"... that talent which can see the Universe in an atom...

"... would befall the universe if the sun became capricious and went in for a variety of pastimes.. there is a monotony that sustains...

"... A man of world can as little comprehend the Universe as a fish living in the ocean can fathom its depths...

So, would Gandhi be interested in a Telescope? Perhaps he might have taken interest in the Space Telescope of Modern Times, because just as he analysed his own life in Mi-croscopic detail, in the same way, he had a Telescopic vision and always wanted and tried to see things faraway. In any case, he used Telephone, a modern invention of his times, quite extensively.

It would appear from the comments above that Gandhi was always interested in know-ing more about New Discoveries and Developments in Science. He was aware that we need New Eyes to See the Universe. He also looked aware of the Deep relation of Hu-man Mind and the Universe. Specifically, He never said why bother about Universe; Do We not have enough problems on Earth?

Another relevant point here is, he was always totally against Blind Faith, and said, for example on Astrology: "I KNOW NOTHING OF THE SCIENCE OF ASTROLOGY AND I CONSIDER IT TO BE A SCIENCE, IF IT IS A SCIENCE, OF DOUBTFUL VALUE, TO BE SEVERELY LEFT ALONE BY THOSE WHO HAVE ANY FAITH IN PROVI-DENCE."

He emphasized the need for Research and Investigations again and again, be it Khadi, Ayurveda or any other discipline. Another specific example is, he criticized strongly the Lack of Research in Ayurveda. His dialogue with Vaidyas continued for a while and he strongly emphasized that we must not just have Blind Faith in all that is "Old" and all that is "Traditional".

Within such a context, Gandhi's National as well as International Connections with Scientists and Philosophers of his times are indeed worth noting.

As it turned out, famous scientist Madam Marie Curie's daughter, Eve Curie met Gandhi in 1942. She presented to Gandhi the Madam Curie biography. Gandhi read the Curie book, and had the following to say to his companion Dr Sushila Nayar: "Vah to Sacchi tapaswini the. Muze hota hai, Paris jake uska ghar dekh aau. Hamare kisi vigyani ne aisa dukh nahi bhoga...Hamane to Angrezo ki maherbani se Angrezo ke dhang se kam karana hi sikha.

(Hers was the true and real penance! I have a strong urge now to go to Paris and visit and see her home. Who of our own scientists have taken such pains for research. All we did is to seek the blessings of the English, and we just blindly copied their styles.)

He then went on to add: "Shodh vibhag aadi ke Safed Hathi khade kar liye. Itana paisa kharch hota hai. Itani badi prayogshala e Tata ne, sarkar ne khadi ki, par kam vaha par kitana hota hai? (From Sushila Nayar, 'Karavas ki Kahani'.)

His great affection to genuine Scientists and the Scientific Method is again reflected in what he said further, as reported by Sushila Nayar: "Madam Curie ki kitab se to bas Bapu chipak gaye hain. Is kitab ki lekhika, unki ladaki Eve Curie Bapu se milane Delhi main aayi thi. Bole, us ladki se muze aachhi jan-pahechan karani thi...syam ko muz se bole, Tuze is kitab ka Hindi main sunder anuvad karana hoga..."

Gandhi-Einstein Correspondence

These two greats never met, but have had an exchange of letters where they deeply ap-preciated each-other's work. Einstein writes to Gandhi for the first time in in 1931, when he was in UK, telling, "...your work shows to the world that goal can be achieved without violence... I hope to meet you in future.."

Gandhi replies to him in Berlin, "...it is a matter of great satisfaction that you found my work useful... I look forward to meet you, that too in India, in my Ashram.."

The great respect they have had for each other is obvious.

When Gandhi established and created a University, the Gujarat Vidyapeeth, in 1920, He invited Dr Prafullchandra Ray, a well-known Chemist of his times, to inaugurate the same. IN FACT, ANY POLITICIAN OR FAMOUS STATESMAN WOULD HAVE OBLIGED HIM, BUT IT IS INTERESTING THAT HE THOUGHT OF A SCIENTIST. Dr P. C. Ray came over and did the Inaugural.

The Gandhi-Tagore Debate

It has to be noted, however, that despite his contacts with best of the minds of his times, Gandhi was highly unconventional, and there were major debates he have had with intellectuals. A well-known one is, The Gandhi-Tagore Controversy.

A major earthquake took place in Bihar. This was a major tragedy, and Gandhi related the same to the Sin of Untouchability. Rabindranath Tagore was furious with Gandhi on this, and he wrote a strong protest letter, saying This is highly Unscientific!! No doubt, Gandhi sticks to his guns, and he owned full responsibility, saying, "Yes, I believe so, and that was what I said!"

But to top this, He then asked: Does your Science know All Answers? Is it really perfect in all its Aspects? Having said this, He then made a somewhat prophetic statement: "The Science of Love and that of Life is much greater than that of Matter; and much greater Discoveries will come in the former in Future."

We thus see an element of the mystic Gandhi in this episode!

In a famous talk recorded by BBC, he also suggested: ‘'.... There is a mysterious force that pervades the Universe... it can work wonders if we allow it to work through our-selves..." No Question that he was a Deeply Religious Person in some appropriate sense, despite being very non-conventional and highly anti-blind faith.

The important point here is, Gandhi appreciated and respected Scientific Investigations and the Scientific Method. He never asked questions like, "Why bother on Universe? Do we already not have enough problems right here? What is the Use?" Probably he un-derstood quite well that, Firstly, at Some Stage or Other in your life, you cannot resist asking Questions on your Very Existence. Who You are, Where You Come from and Where You Go; What is All this Universe around You.

Also, the examples we gave and discussed above show that Gandhi was always interest-ed in the practical benefits that may have resulted from the Study of Universe, whenev-er that happened in a non-violent way, without hurting the dignity of human being.

What Gandhi really opposed was the dominance of Machine over Man. He was clearly against this kind of misuse of Technology. He understood, however, that Universe is One, and that narrow views do not help, Life must be viewed in entirety.

Man and Universe

From Gandhi's statements on the Universe, his comments on the Scientific Method, his Contacts and Conversations with Important Scientists of his time, it appears that he was well-aware of this Global Perspective, He did not want to see Cosmos in a frag-mented way, that he was aware in some sense of our place in this vast Universe, and he was aware of Our great Ignorance on Universe and its Basic Laws.

There is the Smallest World of Atoms, from our Scale, and then there is the Vast Uni-verse round us. What is our Place in the Universe? These are the questions we must think about and which we cannot escape.

In fact, we must note that Gandhi did that in an extensive manner throughout his life.

There are Numerous Examples that show this. His very Initial list of Questions to Shrimad Rajchandra, a Saint and Mystic, that he discussed with him in his younger age, are well worth a look in this respect. The Vinoba-Gandhi dialogue, and also his Interac-tions with very many Scientists and Philosophers of his day, allude to this fact. Gandhi also have had contacts with Saints such as Maa Anandmayi, Raman Mahashi, Swami Yogananda and such others. The essential point that comes over is, Gandhi was DEFI-NITELY NOT A SINGLE TRACK PERSON, HE WAS always VERY OPEN FOR SEARCH OF TRUTH in different possible ways.

Our discussion and analysis so far show, I hope, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Gandhi was certainly NOT anti-Science.

In fact, he always enjoyed taking interest in the things scientific, was himself an ex-tremely logical person who greatly respected and liked the methods and workings of science, and who always emphasized and valued the need for research, as is clear from the examples we discussed so far.

Can we fathom Gandhi's Mind, his Priorities and Actions, were he alive Today?

This would be the task Modern Gandhians and Gandhian institutions must undertake today, if we were to follow his path in a correct manner, and Do What we can in our own Humble Ways.

It may be worth speculating how Gandhi would have viewed and tackled the Explosive Growth of Science and Technology that has taken place in the Modern Age; What Gandhi would have done Today?

If we venture into mentioning a few possibilities, perhaps Gandhi would have recom-mended an extensive Research and Development work on Solar energy, and other clean sources of Energy. Perhaps he would suggest a Massive Use of Mobile and TV and Communication Technology to create a big and wide-spread Worldwide Awareness on Global Problems of the day. Considering his enormously creative ways of thinking, there is little doubt, he would make extremely novel and totally unforeseen uses of these technologies! He would certainly create powerful Initiatives on Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development.

Environmental concerns featured always very strongly in his work and writings, even though he never used this specific term any time explicitly. So today, he would have criticised and objected to the Modern Culture of Polluting Machines even much more strongly!!

He would perhaps have launched a Major Environment Protection Movement of an ab-solutely International Magnitude, using all the currently available Modern Communi-cation Tools!!

On another note, GANDHI WAS VERY AWARE ALWAYS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION. SO, He would have communicated and interacted much better with Edu-cationalists and Scientists, once He got more time after the extensive freedom struggle that engaged him so much and all the time, for all precious years of his life.

HE WOULD HAVE PERHAPS LOVED THE IT AND NANO REVOLUTIONS, CALLING THEM 'NON-VIOLENT SCIENCE', COMPARED TO THE ROCKETS AND NUCLEAR, AND HE WOULD MAKE THEIR FULL USE.

Such a list would be long, there are many more things to say, and we can go on. But the Key Point is; It is a pity that this aspect of Gandhi's personality is not, and was not ful-ly or properly realized or understood by the Thinkers, Scholars, Intellectuals and Poli-cy Makers of our times, as seen for example, in the Huxley remarks quoted earlier.

That has been a real loss to the Humanity and Mankind as a whole! SO, WHAT IS RE-ALLY NEEDED TODAY IS a Gandhian Science & Gandhian Cosmology. In other words, what is needed is, A deeper Dialogue and Thinking on the Gandhi's Way of Looking at the Universe.

The current juncture, namely the Gandhi@150 is the right time and ripe time to accom-plish and initiate such a task in an International and Global Way, and that indeed is the Need of the Time.

Acknowledgements

My study on this rather fascinating topic was initiated when the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad, and especially the renowned Gandhian Shri Narayan Desai, very warmly invited me to give the first Kaka Saheb Kalelkar lecture on this theme. The task was rather chal-lenging as I found there was hardly any literature existing or available in a systematic way. This led me into several forays into the Gandhian times and literature, and most of the references or quotes cited here are from the Collected Works of Mahat-ma Gandhi. Many interesting details were found, some of which reported here, and this finally resulted into the talk delivered at the Sahitya Parishad, Ahmedabad, on 18 April 2009. The talk was very kindly displayed and was made available soon on the extensive Gandhi website of the Mumbai Sarvoday Mandal, and a Gujarati version, in the form of a booklet was made available by the Yagna Prakashan, Vadodara.

While my interest in the topic continued and has evolved ever since, many parts of that talk have been used to write the present article. It is my great pleasure to thank again the Parishad for their kind invitation that offered me this wonderful opportunity to think on this important subject, taking time off from my Astrophysics and Cosmology research. I am also very grateful to very many friends and colleagues, too numerous to name all here, for their very vital inputs and discussions.

Courtesy: This article has been reproduced from University News, Vol 57, No 39, September 30, 2019; pp 95-102;
A Weekly Journal of Higher Education by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU).

* Dr Pankaj S. Joshi, an internationally acclaimed scientist, was a Senior Professor in the department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, before joining CHARUSAT as their Provost, and Founding Director for the International Center for Cosmology (ICC). More popularly, he is regarded as a scholar, physicist, and an expert on cosmology.

He has won many recognitions for his work internationally. The well-known 'Scientific American' magazine included and displayed his work as their international cover story article in 2009, which was translated in more than seventeen international languages. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India, and a winner of the Gravity Research Foundation prize (USA), amongst other recognitions. Email: psjcosmos@gmail.com