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The Impact of Indian Traditions on Gandhi

- By B Sambasiva Prasad*

Introduction

The objective of this paper1 is to analyze the impact of Indian philosophical tradition on the thinking and practices of Mahatma Gandhi and discuss their relevance to the contemporary world.

No doubt Gandhi was influenced by Western thinkers like Tolstoy, Ruskin and Thoreau; however, Indian philosophy and its values too made a profound influence on his thinking and practices. Gandhi was influenced by the Vedas, which are the source of Indian philosophy. He remarked that for him "the Vedas are divine and unwritten... the spirit of the Vedas is purity, truth, innocence, chastity, humility, simplicity, forgiveness, godliness, and all that makes a man or woman noble and brave.”2 He was also influenced by Bhagavad Gita. The philosophical insights of Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga and Vedanta made a profound impact on the thinking of Gandhi. In his writings and speeches, he often quotes the values, embedded in these systems. Gandhi was not only influenced by the moral and spiritual values of Indian philosophical thought, but also he had reformulated them to suit the social, political and religious situation of his time. Let me discuss these aspects in detail.

Gandhi and the Gita3

Gandhi was influenced by the values found in Bhagavad Gita. He said at a meeting in July 28, 1925: "...When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow.”4

In his Autobiography, Gandhi wrote that it was in 1890 when he was about 21 years old, while studying in England, he was invited by two theosophist brothers to read the Gitain original with them. He started reading Sir Edwin Arnold’s translation of the Gita The Song Celestial. Gandhi said that its verses 62 and 63 of chapter two made a deep impression on his mind.5 The Gitastruck him as priceless. Gandhi said: "... to me the Gitabecame an infallible guide of conduct. It became my dictionary of daily reference. Just as I turned to the English dictionary for the meanings of English words that I did not understand, I turned to this dictionary of conduct for a ready solution of all my troubles and trials.

Words like aparigraha (non-possession) and samabhava (equanmity) gripped me.....”6 Gandhi also advocated the significance of bread-labour through his study of the Gita where it is told that he who eats without "sacrifice” eats stolen food. In this context, Gandhi had construed the word 'sacrifice’ as 'bread-labour’. When Gandhi was jailed in South Africa on October 14, 1908, to undergo two months rigorous imprisonment, he read the Bhagavad Gita, which he had carried with him. All this reading had the effect of confirming his belief in "satyagraha”.

In his speeches, writings and interviews Gandhi referred to the Gitaas "the book par excellence for the knowledge of Truth”7 and the "staff of life’.8 He called it "Mother Gita”.9 He considered it as his "spiritual dictionary”,10 "spiritual treasury”,11 and "lexicon of the soul”.12 He also called it "the Divine song”13 and the "Book of Life”.'14

In spite of his hectic activities, Gandhi took some time to place before us the teachings of the Gitathrough the following works:

(1) Gitapadharthakosha (1923 /1936) - a concordance-cum-dictionary of all Sanskrit words and terms in the Gita with their translation into Gujarati.

(2) Gitashikshan (1926) - covering the full Gitain 218 discourses delivered by him in Gujarati.

(3) Anasaktiyoga (1930) - a translation of the Gitainto Gujarati.

(4) Gitabodh (1930-32) - letters written in Gujarati from jail, explaining the essence of each of the 18 chapters of the Gita; published as 'Discourse’ in English translation.

(5) Gitapraveshika (1934) - selection of 41 verses of the Gita for his son Ramdas.

Gandhi and Jainism

Gandhi was not a Jain by birth, but was influenced by the Jain tradition. He was a Jain in spirit because of his ideals and philosophy. Like a Jain, he was also a vegetarian. Another great influence of Jainism on Gandhi was simplicity. In his later life, he wore only bare minimum clothes made of cotton, that too of white colour. Gandhi's greatest contribution to Jainism was that he made Jain principles practical by applying them on a large scale involving masses. He was the first man to apply Jain principle of ahimsa to solve social and political problems of his time.

While discussing the influence of Jainism on Gandhi, it is pertinent to discuss the impact of Rajchandrabhai, who was a Jain by birth. Gandhi was introduced to him by Dr. Pranjivan Mehta. Rajchandra led his life in a spirit of highest detachment. Gandhi said that he had learnt much from the lives of many persons. He remarked that three persons had left a deep impression on his life and captivated him. They are Raychadrabhai, Tolstoy and Ruskin - "Raychandbhai by his living contact; Tolstoy by his book The Kingdom of God Is Within You; and Ruskin by his Unto This Last".15

There is no doubt that Jainism has contributed richly in the areas of epistemology and metaphysics, but its chief contribution is in ethics. Its ethics is centred round the principle of ahimsa (nonviolence). Gandhi drew on Jainism in developing his philosophy of ahimsa, which informs his social philosophy, political philosophy, economic and religious philosophy. To Gandhi, satya and ahimsa (truth and nonviolence) are inter-related. Wherever there is truth, there is nonviolence and wherever there is nonviolence, there is truth. They are inseparable as two sides of the same coin. To Gandhi, while truth is the end or goal, nonviolence is the means. The means, he said, should be as pure as the end. Truth cannot be realized through violence.

Though Gandhi was influenced by the Jain principle of ‘ahimsa’, his interpretation of ‘ahimsa’ is unique. Unlike in Jainism, it is relative in nature. For Jains, to pluck a flower or a leaf is a kind of violence; they consider killing of micro-organism as violence. This is the reason why they suggest wearing a face mask while breathing and walking with utmost care to avoid killing micro-organisms. The Jain monks have to follow the principle of ahimsa to its minute detail. They call it as a mahavrata. Unlike in Jainism, Gandhi's notion of ahimsa is relative in nature. He said that a human being cannot sustain his body without killing some form of life for his food, and such destruction of life is therefore justified. Gandhi allowed the destruction of some lower species for health and hygiene. The destruction of animal life that causes injury to human life is also, according to Gandhi, permissible in certain contexts. Therefore, he supported the killing of monkeys (which destroyed food-crops and fruits), carnivorous animals, poisonous snakes and rabid dogs. In his ashram, Gandhi recommended killing of an ailing calf, which was suffering with acute pain. Even killing of a man, considered Gandhi, may be needed in certain cases. Suppose a lunatic kills indiscriminately everyone at his sight. Under these circumstances, said Gandhi, it is our duty to catch that person and even to end his life. He observed:

Taking life may be a duty. We do destroy as much life as we think necessary for sustaining our body. Thus for food we take life, vegetable and other, and for health we destroy mosquitoes and the like by the use of disinfectants, etc., and we do not think that we are guilty of irreligion in doing so...for the benefit of the species, we kill carnivorous beasts.... Even man slaughter may be necessary in certain cases. Suppose a man runs amuck and goes furiously about, sword in hand, and killing anyone that comes in his way, and no one dares to capture him alive. Anyone who despatches this lunatic will earn the gratitude of the community and be regarded as a benevolent man."16

Therefore, to Gandhi “ahimsa does not simply mean non-killing. Himsa means causing pain to or killing any life out of anger, or for selfish purpose, or with the intention of injuring it. Refraining from so doing is ahimsa.”17 According to him, the motive behind the act is the basic consideration in deciding whether a particular act of killing amounts to violence or not.

Gandhi not only considered the Jain principle of “ahimsa” as an ethical value, but also applied it as a political value in getting India freedom (Swaraj) from the British yoke. He led several satyagraha movements which are based on the principle of non-violence. Soon after Gandhi returned to India from South Africa, he undertook Champaran satyagraha (1917) and ended the century old tinkathia system and the planters Raj, that exploited the poor indigo farmers of Champaran. The next satyagraha that Gandhi experimented upon was to address the grievances of the Kheda farmers (1918). So also Gandhi undertook the epic march from Sabarmati to Dandi (a distance of 241 miles) on foot and broke the salt law, imposed by the British rule on the poor salt makers from sea water (1930). On similar grounds, Gandhi resorted to fasts against untouchability and against communal riots in India.

The Jain doctrines of syadvada and anekantavada influenced Gandhi deeply. Syadvada or the saptabhangi holds that all knowledge to be only probable; every proposition gives us only a perhaps, a may be (syad). We cannot affirm or deny anything absolutely of any object. It holds that there are seven different ways of expressing a thing or its attributes. Its logical corollary is anekantavada, the doctrine of manyness of reality. Both syadvada and anekantavada are two aspects of the same teaching - realistic and relativistic pluralism. They are like two sides of the same coin. The metaphysical side that reality has innumerable aspects is called anekantavada, while its epistemological and logical side that we know only some aspects of reality and that therefore all our judgements are necessarily relative, is called syadvada. Gandhi remarked that he was influenced by both syadvada and anekantavada.

Referring to the latter, he said: “I very much like this doctrine of manyness of reality. It is this doctrine that has taught me to judge a Musalman from his own standpoint and a Christian from his own.”18

Being influenced by the Jain doctrine of syadvada, Gandhi said that religion is one; different men put it in different ways. We cannot say that one interpretation is correct and the other is false. Everybody is right from one’s own perspective but it is impossible that every person is wrong. Therefore, “the necessity of tolerance, which does not mean indifference to one’s own faith, but a more intelligent and purer love for it.”19 Gandhi further opined that we should not merely tolerate but also respect the other faiths as our own. He preferred the term ahimsa to the term ‘tolerance’ because tolerance may imply an assumption of the inferiority of other’s faiths to one’s own, but ahimsa teaches the same respect for other religious faiths as we accord to our own. Gandhi remarked: “Various religions were like leaves on a tree. No two leaves were alike, yet there was no antagonism between them or between the branches on which they grew. Even so, there is an underlying unity in the variety which we see in God’s creation.”20

From the above discussion, it is obvious that Gandhi was influenced by Jainism and its doctrines of ahimsa, syadvada and anekantavada. However, he had modulated them to suit his times and age.

Gandhi and Buddhism

Buddhism too made a profound impact on Gandhi's thinking. Its philosophy of “ahimsa” captivated him. So also its notion that “desire (thrisna) is the root cause of misery (dukha)”, enthralled Gandhi's thinking. Like Buddha, Gandhi believed that multiplication of wants is the root cause of all misery. Therefore, he advocated the philosophy of “wantlessness”. Gandhi felt that civilization consists not in the multiplication of wants, but in their voluntary reduction.

Gandhi distinguishes between “needs”, “wants” and “greed”. “Needs” are the basic necessities for human living - nutritious food, simple house to live in, minimum dress, and hygiene. But human being increases his wants out of greed. He multiplies his wants beyond necessity. Therefore, Gandhi preached the philosophy of aparigraha (non-possession) or voluntary poverty or wantlessness. Wants go beyond needs and when we do not meet them we enter into sorrow, and this leads to anger and depression. Gandhi's philosophy of wantlessness is based upon his conception that individual good consists in social good. If one reduces his wants, he will procure less and makes others happy in sharing surplus goods. This amounts to participation in social good. Gandhi advocated voluntary poverty, which means limiting one’s needs to the minimum level. We must think of necessities and avoid luxuries. Gandhi said, “There should be no wasteful expenditure. Money is not the only wealth for us. Every useful commodity is real wealth. We may not throw away even water. If one glass of water would do, why take two? ... We may not overeat a delicious dish. If we do, we cannot practice truth and ahimsa.”21 Gandhi opined that greed was also the root cause of war and economic crisis. He said, “man’s avarice reaches up to the highest heavens and down to the lowest regions of the earth. Hence it should be controlled.”22

Gandhi observed that man procures more and more out of fear for his future. “Perfect fulfilment of the ideal of Non-possession requires that man should, like the birds, have no roof over his head, no clothing and no stock of food for the morrow. He will indeed, need his daily bread, but it will be God’s business, and not his to provide for it.”23 He added: “If we will take care of today, God will take care of tomorrow.”24 Referring to the distinction between needs, wants and greed, captivatingly Gandhi remarked: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not for every man’s greed.”25

Gandhi and Yoga

Gandhi was also influenced by Patanjali’s philosophy of Yoga. Especially he was attracted towards ethical observances laid down in “yama” that constitutes the founding step to astanga-yoga. According to Patanjali, yama is the ethical preparation necessary for the practice of yoga. The yama consists of five principles namely satya (truth), ahimsa (nonviolence), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharaya (celibacy) and aparigraha (non-possession). Gandhi called these five principles as the Cardinal Virtues. He added to this list another six principles. Together, they constitute the “eleven vows”, that he prescribed to his ashramites. The six additional principles that Gandhi prescribed are sarira-shrama (bread-labour), asvadha (control of the palate), abhaya (fearlessness), sarvadharma samabhava (equal respect to all religions), swadeshi (use of locally made goods) and sparsa-bhavana (removal of untouchability). These eleven vows that Gandhi prescribed to his ashramites were originally introduced by him in South Africa but were formulated in India when he set up the Satyagraha Ashram in 1915 (later known as Sabarmati Ashram) at Ahmedabad. Gandhi “reviewed and updated these observances from time and time based on his experiences and formalized them in his book From Yeravada Mandir, published in 1932.”26

Gandhi and Vedanta

Gandhi was also influenced by the seminal teachings of Vedanta. Accepting the oneness of Reality as advocated by Sankara, Gandhi remarked:

“I believe in advaita. I believe in the essential unity of man and, for that matter, of all that lives. Therefore I believe that if one man gains spirituality, the whole world gains with him and, if one man falls, the whole world falls to that extent.”27

Equally, Gandhi accepted the manyness of Reality of Ramanuja. He said: “I believe God to be creative as well as non-creative. This too is the result of my acceptance of the doctrine of the manyness of reality. From the platform of the Jains I prove the non-creative aspect of God, and from that of Ramanuja the creative aspect.”28

Gandhi was thus equally influenced by the philosophy of advaitism and dvaitism. He said:

I am Advaitist and yet I can support Dvaitism (dualism). The world is changing every moment, and is therefore unreal, it has no permanent existence. But though it is constantly changing, it has something about it which persists and it is therefore to that extent real. I have therefore no objection to calling it real and unreal, and thus being called an Anekantivadi or a Syadvadi.29

The above passages indicate that Gandhi was influenced by different schools of Vedanta.

Conclusion

In this paper, I made an attempt to show how Gandhi was influenced by the Indian philosophical tradition and its values. I began my essay by showing how he was influenced by the Vedic literature. Subsequently, I explained how Gandhi was influenced by the teachings of the Gita Jainism and Buddhism. I have also illustrated the influence of Yoga and Vedanta on Gandhi. But it should be remembered that Gandhi did not simply copy the ethical and spiritual values embedded in these systems, but modulated and interpreted them to suit his times and age. This is the originality we find in Gandhi.

Gandhi's conception of ethical and spiritual values is more relevant now than ever. In the name of modern civilization, and is forgetting his cultural and philosophical roots. He is content with material and bodily comforts alone, and overlooks moral and spiritual dimensions of life. To put it in the language of Bertrand Russell, the modern man concentrates only on the “goods of the body” and ignores the “goods of the mind”. Under these conditions, “Gandhian philosophy and practices could be the soothing syrup to the congested minds coughing abuse and conflict and spitting terror and violence.30

Notes and References

  1. This is the modified version of my paper, submitted for the Teachers’ Meet on “Revitalizing Indian Philosophy In 21st Century “, held at Chennai on 5-7" December 2019.
  2. Young India, 19-1-1921: 22.
  3. While understanding Bhagavad Gita’s influence upon Gandhi, I am deeply benefitted by reading Y.P. Anand’s compilation on “M.K.Gandhi on the Bhagavad Gita”, published in GITAM Journal of Gandhian Studies, Vol.1, No.2.
  4. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi in 100 Vols. (hereafter CWMG), (New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India) Vol. 27: p. 435.
  5. The English translation of the verses 62 & 63 of the Gita(Chapter II)
    Verse 62: “Pondering over objects, one gets attached to them. Attachment breeds desire, from desire anger is born”.
    Verse 63: “Anger leads to delusion, from delusion memory gets clouded, from clouding of memory the intellect gets destroyed, when the intellect goes one is ruined.
  6. CWMG, 39: 211-12.
  7. Ibid., 39: 60-61.
  8. Ibid. , 61:63.
  9. Ibid. , 49: 291-92.
  10. Ibid., 47: 367; 63: 310-12 & 80: 210.
  11. Ibid., 82: 152.
  12. Ibid., 80: 186-87.
  13. Ibid., 55: 41.
  14. Ibid., 47: 204 & 51: 344-45.
  15. M.K. Gandhi, An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth, (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1927/2000), p. 75.
  16. M.K. Gandhi, All Men are Brothers (Calcutta: UNESCO & Orient Longman, 1959), p.92.
  17. Young India, 4-11-1926, p.385.
  18. Ibid., 21-1-1926, p. 30.
  19. M.K. Gandhi, From Yeravada Mandir, (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Trust, 1932/2016), p.31.
  20. Harijan, 26-5-1946, p.154.
  21. CWMG, 71:240.
  22. Ibid., 79:437.
  23. M.K.Gandhi, From Yeravada Mandir, Op.cit., p. 22.
  24. Young India, 13-10-1921, p. 326.
  25. Pyarelal, Nayyar, Mahatma Gandhi (10 vols.) (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1958), Vol. 10: p. 552.
  26. Shugan, C. Jain Gandhi & Jainism, (New Delhi: International School for Jain Studies, 2017), p.153.
  27. Young India, 4-12-1924, p.398.
  28. Ibid., 21-1-1926, p.30.
  29. Ibid., 21-1-1926, p.30.
  30. KR. Rao, Gandhirama 2012: A Feast of Ideas and a Festival of Art. (New Delhi: ICPR., 2012), p.vii.

Courtesy: Gandhi Marg, October-December 2020, Vol. 42, No.3

* SAMBASIVAPRASAD, B. is the former Professor & Head, Department of Philosophy, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupathi, Andhra Pradesh, and former Director, GITAM School of Gandhian Studies, GITAM University, Visakhaptnam, Andhra Pradesh. He was awarded the ICPR Senior Research Fellowship (2017-18), and completed his project on “Economics & Ethics: Gandhian Perspective”. Some of his articles were published in Gandhi Marg and IBA Journal of Management & Leadership. He was the Executive Editor of the GITAM Journal of Gandhian Studies. E-mail: b.sambasivaprasad@gmail.com