A Living Tree of Religions: M.K. Gandhi's Interpretation

- By Elena A. Bitinayte

Abstract

M. K. Gandhi's views on religious unity are presented in the paper. He uses the tree metaphor to explain that all religions have one root. They all show different paths to one God, leading to salvation. At the same time, each religion is imperfect. Gandhi represents the ideal conceptual religion as the tree trunk and real religious systems as its branches. He compares individual religious ideas with tree leaves because each person has a unique vision of God. Such an approach to religious diversity may help us respect other cultures and offer another way of thinking and understanding the world.

THE TREE IS a popular image in mythology, literature, and religious thought. Almost all cultures have their own archetype of the world tree (lat. Arbor mundi) or tree of life. This magic tree connects the universe in two perspectives: spatial and temporal. Firstly, the world tree depicts the unity of several aspects of being. In many cultures, its roots symbolize the underworld, the trunk means the earthly world, and its branches reach heaven. In some cultures, the world tree is represented in an inverted mood - its roots are in heaven, and the crown symbolizes the human world. This way, Indians represent the eternal sacred Asvattha tree.¹ Secondly, the tree combines three forms of time: past (roots), present (trunk) and future (branches). Moreover, a tree, as we usually see it in nature (without roots), illustrates motion from the integrity of the trunk to the plurality of branches and leaves. In other words, it is a metaphor for evolution from simplicity and unity to complexity and diversity. All these make a tree an ideal symbol of unity in diversity, harmony, and agreement.

Unity in diversity is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's ideal of relationships between various religions, cultures, and countries. Also, unity is the central idea of his understanding of the universe. All beings are connected by one spiritual power, which is usually called God. The Indian thinker writes: "I believe in absolute oneness of God and therefore also of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but one soul."² His attention to spiritual unity brings him closer together with such thinkers as the Russian philosopher Vladimir S. Solovyov and American writers-transcendentalists, who believed that every individual soul is "identical with the world" and considered it as "a microcosm of the world itself."³ In the East, the philosophers of Advaita Vedanta were the most famous apologists of spiritual unity. Gandhi often declared his sympathy for them or defined himself as Advaitist.⁴ He confesses:

I want to realize brotherhood or identity not merely with the beings called human, but I want to realize identity with all life, even with such things as crawl upon earth. I want, if I don't give a shock, to realize identity with even the crawling things upon earth, because we claim descent from the same God, and that being so, all life in whatever form it appears must be essentially one.⁵

Gandhi also uses the metaphor of the world tree to explain his understanding of the unity of the world. He says in his commentary on Bhagavad Gita XI: 10-13:

The whole universe, despite its manifold divisions, is gathered there in Him (Like a tree and its leaves. The tree is like the cosmic form of the Lord, the root and the leaves being one. The root contains the whole world of the tree, and the leaves represent that world divided into many forms). Arjuna saw thus the [cosmic] form of the God of gods."⁶

In these shlokas of the original text, Arjuna sees Krishna's real image - he sees the whole universe in the body of the God of gods. This passage about the tree in brackets in the quotation above is absent in the Gita. The ashvatth tree is described in the Gita – in chapter XV: 1-4. Gandhi explains these shlokas in his "Discourses on the Gita": "The world is a holy gift made by God out of His grace; the tree of the world grows from the navel of Brahma. But there is another world with its root below, whose leaves are the various objects of sense- pleasure; that world is the world of desire."⁷ Also, he comments on these shlokas in "Anasaktiyoga" (The Message of the "Gita"):

Shvah means tomorrow, and ashvattha (na shvopi sthata) means that which will not last even until tomorrow, i.e., the world of sense which is every moment in a state of flux. But even though it is perpetually changing, as its root is Brahman or the Supreme, it is imperishable.⁸

Gandhi firmly believed that God is the one. Therefore, he considers all religions as different paths to the same goal. All main religions of the world are "based on common fundamentals. They have all produced great saints."⁹ Also, Gandhi says:

For, I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world. I believe that they are all God-given, and I believe that they were necessary for the people to whom these religions were revealed. And I believe that, if only we could all of us read the scriptures of different faiths from the standpoint of the followers of those faiths we should find that they were at bottom all one and were all helpful to one another.¹⁰

Does it mean that humanity does not need religious diversity? One day a 'great Muslim' asked Gandhi: "Let me be plain. I do not believe in Akbar's dream. He aimed at fusing all religions into one and producing a new faith. Do you have some such aim?" Gandhi answered: "I do not know what Akbar dreamt. I do not aim at any fusion. Each religion has its own contribution to make to human evolution. I regard the great faiths of the world as so many branches of a tree, each distinct from the other though having the same source."¹¹ In another abstract Gandhi explains: "In theory, since there is one God, there can be only one religion. But in practice, no two persons I have known have had the same and identical conception of God."¹² Different people generate different theories of God. Potentially, the number of concepts of God may be equal to the number of the human race. In Gandhi's words, "We may all have different definitions for 'God'. If we could all give our own definitions of God there would be as many definitions as there are men and women."¹³ This diversity of ideas takes the form of different religions in different civilizations.

Usually, Gandhi uses two metaphors for religious unity: flowers in the same garden and branches of one tree. He says: "For me the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree."¹⁴ The last variant is clearer and more exact than the former one. Moreover, in his texts, the image of a tree occurs more often than the comparison of religions with flowers.

It is important the way Gandhi understands real (not metaphoric) trees and nature as a whole. One evening, his disciple Mirabehn brought him the branch of a tree with folded leaves. He looked pitifully and said: “Trees are living beings just like ourselves. They live and breathe, they feed and drink as we do, and like us they need sleep. It is a wretched thing to go and tear the leaves off a tree at night when it is resting!"¹⁵ Nature is a grandiose example of God's creative power for him. Gandhi saw in nature harmony that had not been destroyed by human activity. He values nature more than the most famous pieces of art. Similarly, he estimates civilizations by whether they are far from this ideal natural life ('modern civilization') or close to it ('true civilization').

As it was mentioned above, God is the root of the world's tree for Gandhi. All of God's creations are inseparable from their Creator. God does not merely create the world. He embodies Himself in each of His creations. But there is a great difference between God's manifestation in nature and social life. From a religious-philosophical point of view, we can conditionally define nature as the first stage of the immersion of the Spirit into matter. At this stage, one spiritual power (God) turns into plurality. The second stage is the immersion of God in the 'body of culture.'

In both cases, the same mechanism works: oneness becomes plurality. However, on the first level, i.e., when the Spirit is embodied in nature, the connection with the Creator persists better than on the level of cultural life. At the first level, the harmony of God's plan is not yet distorted by the imperfect human mind.

However, when the culture arose, people began to move further from spiritual sources. Gandhi, in a traditional Indian manner, recognizes the historical process as a regression from the ancient Golden age (Satya Yuga) to the modern Dark age (Kali Yuga). These views determine his understanding of the tree of religions.

Using this metaphor, Gandhi usually speaks about trunks, branches, and leaves, not roots. However, we can conditionally say that in the Indian thinker's imagination, the root of the religious tree could be God, because He is the world tree's root. Also, in some texts, Gandhi gives ethical characteristics of the religious root. He says: "Compassion is at the very root of religion and one who forsakes it, forsakes God; one who forsakes the poor forsakes everything. If we do not look after the poor and the untouchables, we are sure to perish."¹⁶ He repeats these words about compassion over and over again with reference to Tulsidas.¹⁷

All religions grew out of one root and one trunk. According to Gandhi, there is only one ideal religion in reality. He does not clarify where it exists or when it was in the past. We can suppose that this one true religion belongs to the divine world (or, according to Plato, to the world of ideas). And many centuries ago, when different religions arose, great teachers and prophets saw the light of true spiritual knowledge and tried to transmit it to people. But it is impossible to render this light without loss and deformation. Gandhi says:

Why should there be so many different faiths? The Soul is one, but the bodies which She animates are many. We cannot reduce the number of bodies, yet we recognise the unity of the Soul. Even as a tree has a single trunk, but many branches and leaves, so is there one true and perfect religion, but it becomes many, as it passes through the human medium. The one religion is beyond all speech. Imperfect men put it into such language as they can command, and their words are interpreted by other men equally imperfect.¹⁸

From a psychological point of view, a single “true religion" can be explained by the similarity of the spiritual needs of different people. Thus, people of all religions aspire to realize their own true spiritual Self and feel relation with their Creator. Gandhi writes:

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 Hinduism, which changes 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 should utterly restless until it has found itself, known its Maker and appreciated the true correspondence between the Maker and itself.¹⁹

We cannot find this one ideal religion in our cultural reality, but we can imagine it. This is the source of all religions. This is the trunk of the religion's tree, and all the great religious systems are its branches. Gandhi explains: “Just as a tree has many branches but one root, similarly the various religions are the leaves and branches of the same tree. Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism are the main branches but as for varieties of religion, they are as numerous as mankind."²⁰

The leaves of the tree symbolize the diversity of human ideas about God. Gandhi does not limit the number of religions to such great religious teachings as Hinduism, Islam, etc. As mentioned above, he distinguishes as many religious directions as human beings. Overthinking this theme, he emphasizes that a tree symbolizes harmony. He said, "Various religions were like the 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."²¹ People should strive to achieve such harmony in their social life. Gandhi says:

No two leaves of this very tree, under whose shadow we are sitting, are alike, though they spring from the same root, but even as the leaves live together in perfect harmony and present to us a beautiful whole, so must we, divided humanity present to the outsider looking upon us a beautiful whole. That can be done when we begin to love each other and tolerate each other in spite of differences.²²

This ideal harmonic life of many leaves is possible due to their connection with the branches. Through the branches, leaves are linked to the spiritual trunk and root. Once, Gandhi was asked: "If there is only one God, should there not be only one religion?" He answered:

This was a strange question. Just as a tree had a million leaves similarly though God was one, there were as many religions as there were men and women though they were rooted in one God. They did not see this plain truth because they were followers of different prophets and claimed as many religions as there were prophets.²³

Figuratively speaking, we can say that leaves are not "aware" of their connection with the trunk and root, and therefore, with the whole tree, they can only feel a relationship with their own branch. This means that it is easy for each of us to see our connection with the particular religious system and tradition, but only a few people feel their relation with one spiritual root: God Himself. This also means that only a few can feel their spiritual connection with other religious branches.

Is this feeling important for a person? For Gandhi, this sense of spiritual kinship with other creations (including people of other faiths) and with God is the key to preventing and solving religious conflicts. Such an understanding of life makes the very idea of enmity senseless. How can a person hate somebody if he recognizes himself and others as parts of spiritual oneness? To kill a human or even animal in this context is the same as to hurt your hand or another part of the body.

The Indian thinker felt his relation with all religious systems and called others to respect all faiths. Sometimes, though rarely, Gandhi spoke about his religious universalism. American journalist Louis Fischer depicts such an episode:

In 1942, when I was Gandhi's guest for a week, there was only one decoration on the mud walls of his hut: a black and white print of Jesus Christ with the inscription, 'He Is Our Peace.' I asked Gandhi about it. 'I am a Christian,' he replied. 'I am a Christian, and a Hindu, and a Moslem, and a Jew.'²⁴

On the other hand, he often defined himself as a sanatani Hindu (traditional Hindu).²⁵ It seems that these two statements contradict each other. How can a person call himself a follower of all faiths and at the same time claim that he is a Hindu? However, there is no contradiction due to Gandhi's understanding of each particular religion as a synthesis of all religious systems. Once, an American pacifist and Christian asked him: "Would you say then that your religion is a synthesis of all religions?" Gandhi replied: "Yes, if you will. But I would call that synthesis Hinduism, and for you the synthesis will be Christianity."²⁶ Another time, he clarified that his view of Hinduism is subjective and said: "My Hinduism is my own I personally think it embraces all faiths."²⁷

The ability to see one's religion as a synthesis of all faiths, that is, to see connection of one's own religious branch with other branches, is a characteristic of a spiritually developed person. When somebody respects other religions, this expands his view of his own religion. Gandhi wrote about his friend Anglican priest Charles F. Andrews: "...he has given the same love to others as he has for his own, and thereby broadened his Christianity..." And further, Gandhi adds about himself: "as I broadened my Hinduism by loving other religions as my own."²⁸

Someone can also expand his own religion by studying other religions and taking their best elements. Gandhi writes: “I hold that it is the duty of every cultured man or woman to read sympathetically the scriptures of the world. If we are to respect others' religions as we would have them to respect our own, a friendly study of world's religions is a sacred duty."²⁹ He exhorts that we should study other scriptures, like their followers. In his words, "If you read the Koran, you must read it with the eye of the Muslim, if you read the Bible, you must read it with the eye of the Christian, if you read the Gita, you must read it with the eye of the Hindu."³⁰ And after that, “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."³¹

If all religions proceed from one root and each may be considered as a synthesis of others, does it mean that a person can choose and change his faith? Gandhi was against the change of religion. He compares the link between a devotee and his faith with marriage. He writes: "The closest though very incomplete analogy for religion I can find is marriage. It is or used to be an indissoluble tie. Much more so is the tie of religion."³² In his words, "we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu, or if we are Mussalmans, not that a Hindu or a Christian should become a Mussalman, nor should we even secretly pray that anyone should be converted, but our inmost prayer should be that a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Christian a better Christian."³³

All religions have a common base and unique features. It seems paradoxical, but according to Gandhi, different religions are equal and unequal at the same time. On the one hand, all religions are equally true and equally imperfect. On the other hand, they are unequal due to they are permanently changing. These two statements lead to the same conclusion: it is senseless to consider somebody's faith as the best one. Gandhi says:

The finer the line you draw, the nearer it approaches Euclid's true straight line, but it never is the true straight line. The tree of Religion is the same, there is not that physical equality between the branches. They are all growing, and the person who belongs to the growing branch must not gloat over it and say, 'Mine is the superior one'. None is superior, none is inferior, to the other.³⁴

Let's return to the marriage image mentioned above. Gandhi teaches us that love for one's mate should not mean disrespect to other people, and the same is true with religion. He writes: "And just as a faithful husband does not need in order to sustain his faithfulness to consider other women as inferior to his wife, so does not a person belonging to one religion need to consider others to be inferior to his own."³⁵ Further he continuous his reasoning, saying that "even as faithfulness to one's wife does not presuppose blindness to her shortcomings, so does not faithfulness to one's religion presuppose blindness to the shortcomings of the religion."³⁶

We should regard the tree of religions impartially. In Gandhi's words, "All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect and liable to error."³⁷ In another text, comparing religions with flowers from the same garden and with branches of the same tree, he adds: "Therefore they are equally true, though being received and interpreted through human instruments equally imperfect."³⁸ Thus all scriptures are equally inspired by God and, at the same time, are deformed by interpolations. And we should attentively read them, dividing human and Divine elements. Also we should be brave to see virtues of other faiths and confess weak sides of our religion. Gandhi says:

I do not like the world tolerance but could not think of a better one. Tolerance may imply gratuitous assumption of the inferiority of other faiths to one's own, whereas ahimsa (i. e. non-violence. – E. B.) teaches us to entertain the same respect for religious faiths of others as we accord to our own, thus admitting the imperfection of the latter.³⁹

Therefore, Gandhi teaches that every religion has its positive and negative features. We can suggest that positive features arose because prophets and saints understood one divine Truth differently. The weak sides of all religions come from the imperfection of human reason, language and traditions. Recognizing the faults of another religion should not lead to hatred of its adepts. This is the fundamental principle of Satyagraha: resistance to the bad system without hatred of people who support it. Regarding respect for followers of other faiths, Gandhi says: "My doctrine of toleration does not include toleration of evil, though it does the toleration of the evil-minded."⁴⁰

Moreover, when evaluating another religion, we should carefully consider its cultural context and respect the feelings of the people of other faiths. Gandhi clarifies:

So long as there are different human heads, so long will there be different religions, but a secret of a true religious life is to tolerate one another's religion. What may appear evil to us in certain religious practices is not necessarily evil to those who follow those practices. I cannot, I dare not, blind myself to existing differences. I cannot rub them off the slate, if I would, but knowing those differences, I must love even those who differ from me.⁴¹

Misunderstanding of this point was one of the reasons for bloody fights between Hindus and Muslims shortly before and soon after getting Indian independence in 1947. Both sides blamed each other for traditions and habits, which are normal in the opposite culture. For example, Muslims kill cows, which are the sacred animal for Hindus. Hindus from low castes eat pork meat and use pigskin, while Muslims recognize a pig as an impure animal. Gandhi warns Hindus that cow protection should not turn into a reason to hate Muslims. He says: "I think it is sin for Hindu to look upon Mussalman as an untouchable, and the Hindu ought not to do so, irrespective of a Mussalman killing or sparing the cow. If Hinduism teaches hatred of Islam or of non-Hindus, it is doomed to destruction."⁴² He suggests the ideal model of Hindu-Muslim unity where cow-protection can help both sides to achieve mutual understanding and respect. Maulana Hasrat Mohani (1875-1951) once told Gandhi, "that the Mussalmans ought to protect the cow for the sake of the Hindus, and Hindus should cease to regard the Mussalmans as untouchables, as he said they are regarded in North India." Gandhi replied: “I will not bargain with you in this matter. If the Mussalmans think it their duty to protect the cow for the sake of Hindus, they may do so, irrespective of how the Hindus behave towards them."⁴³ They both opposed the division of the country on a religious principle. But as we know, their dream did not come true.

However, let us return to the image of the religious tree. When communicating with other people, we constantly deal with different points of view, including religious questions. Gandhi's metaphor of a religious tree can help us see unity in this diversity of views and ideas. In our imagination, we can investigate this tree from its roots to its branches and leaves and in the reverse direction. Thus, we can realize the connection between different religious branches and even find our spiritual origin in God, who is the world tree's root. This gives us the opportunity to feel our spiritual kinship with all creations. For Gandhi, understanding someone's spiritual relationship with all creation is the criterion of personal development. Realizing spiritual kinship with all beings, a person comprehends his connection with God. This way, he achieves spiritual freedom – moksha.

This is not a mere spiritual matter but also the ideal of intercultural, interreligious, and international relations. Gandhi's ideal is the perception of the whole humanity as a great family. He writes in his Autobiography: "We are all one family."⁴⁴ He began understanding this in youth when he was acquainted with the Bible. He recalls his disagreement with the Christian dogma that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God: "If God could have sons, all of us were His sons. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself."⁴⁵

Gandhi's ideal of an all-human family is related to his idea of common welfare (Sarvodaya). People and other creations are connected so closely that the achievements and failures of someone affect everyone else. Gandhi says:

There is not a single virtue which aims at, or is content with, the welfare of the individual alone. Conversely, there is not a single moral offence which does not, directly or indirectly, affect many others besides the actual offender. Hence, whether an individual is good or bad is not merely his own concern, but really the concern of the whole community, nay, of the whole world.⁴⁶

The ideal of the all-human family on the level of international relationships gives us the opportunity for a broad understanding of patriotism. Gandhi confesses that his mission is a brotherhood of humanity and his patriotism is all-embracing. He concludes: "The conception of my patriotism is nothing if it is not always, in every case without exception, consistent with the broadest good of humanity at large."⁴⁷

This applies not only to social life, but also to spiritual one. No religion has the right to claim that only its path leads to God. Moreover, even no one can achieve spiritual salvation alone. Gandhi suggests us the ideal of collective spirituality and collective moksha. He argues:

I do not believe that an individual may gain spiritually and those that surround him suffer. 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 spiritually, the whole world gains with him and, if one man falls, the whole world falls to that extent.⁴⁸

Using the metaphor of a religious tree, we can conditionally compare a person who strives for individual spiritual salvation with a leaf torn from a branch. As mentioned above, we achieve spiritual power when we realize our inner connection with other beings. On the contrary, breaking spiritual links makes us weaker. Religion, love, and social service for Gandhi were the forces that help us understand the unity of the world. He says: "In nature there is fundamental unity running through all the diversity we see about us. Religions are given to mankind so as to accelerate the process of realization of fundamental unity."⁴⁹ An ideal religion is incompatible with hatred of other faiths. Otherwise, it presupposes love to all beings and social service as one of the expressions of this love. Gandhi concludes:

Though there is repulsion enough in Nature, she lives by attraction. Mutual love enables Nature to persist. Man does not live by destruction. Self-love compels regard for others. Nations cohere because there is mutual regard among individuals composing them. Some day we must extend the national law to the universe, even as we have extended the family law to form nations – a larger family.⁵⁰

Investigation of Gandhi's religious tree image can help us to understand more deeply the philosophical foundation of his peacekeeping activity, especially interreligious peacekeeping. We can see his ideal of unity in diversity through this metaphor. As the world tree has one root in God, all religious branches are equally true because they proceed from one divine source. In addition, at the same time, they are all equally spoiled by the imperfection of human nature and reason. Understanding these two statements leads to the realization that all claims to the superiority of one religion over another are meaningless. Moreover, Gandhi's ideal of all-embracing inner unity shows us the meaninglessness of all conflicts and wars. The connection between all beings on the spiritual level means the impossibility of individual salvation. The Indian thinker teaches us that only united people can achieve collective moksha, and in the same way we can resolve the problems of our earthly life. According to Gandhi, religion should not be the cause of disagreements, but it should be one of the forces that helps us understand the necessity of unity.

Notes and References:

1. Similarly the Russian visionary and poet Daniil L. Andreyev depicts the Rose of the world (Roza Mira, literally) in his book of the same name. He uses metaphor of the flower as a symbol of religious unity in diversity. The roots of the rose are in heaven and petals touch the earth. Every petal is the sign of one religion which helps us to feel the connection with divine world.
2. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Ahmedabad: The Publications Division. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Government of India, 1958–1994, 100 volumes), vol. 25, p. 199 (further – CWMG).
3. Kathryn VanSpanckeren, Outline of American Literature. Revised Edition (Washington: United States Department of State, 2007), pp. 26-27.
4. CWMG, vol. 29, p. 411.
5. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, All Men are Brothers: Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as Told in His Own Words (Paris: UNESCO, 1969), р. 119.
6. CWMG, vol. 32, p. 293.
7. Ibid., vol. 32, p. 323.
8. Ibid., vol. 41, p. 130.
9. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (Lahore: The Indian Printing Works, 1945), p. 479.
   Gandhi also explains:
   All religions are essentially identical because:
   a) It is one 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 universal governed by moral law; this law is God/truth.
   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 person (Quoted from: Mohammad Ali Modarresin, Gandhiji on the Harmony of Religions – a Critical Study. A Thesis Submitted to the University of Mysore for the Award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Mysore, University of Mysore, 2013), p. 170).
10. Harijan, vol. II, no. 1, 16.02.1934, pp. 5-6.
11. Ibid., vol. VI, no. 51, 28.01.1939, p. 448.
12. Ibid., vol. I, no. 52, 2.02.1934, p. 8.
13. CWMG, vol. 26, p. 224.
14. Harijan, vol. IV, no. 51, 30.01.1937, p. 407. See also: Mohammad Ali Modarresin, op.cit. p. 141.
15. CWMG, vol. 42, p. 238.
16. Ibid., vol. 25, p. 603.
17. Ibid., vol. 88, p. 42; vol. 90, pp. 79, 333. Gandhi repeats about significance of compassion and its connection with religion in the last months of his life, when Hindu-Muslim conflicts reached their culmination.
18. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (Lahore: The Indian Printing Works, 1945), p. 478.
19. CWMG, vol. 17, p. 406.
20. Ibid., vol. 85, p. 31.
21. Harijan, vol. X, no. 16, 26.05.1946, p. 154.
22. CWMG, vol. 26, p. 296.
23. Harijan, vol. XI, no. 7, 16.03.1947, p. 63.
24. Louis Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (London: Jonathan Cape, 1957), p. 360.
25. Vide: CWMG, vol. 19, p. 327-328; vol. 26, p. 265.
    For example, he writes:
    I call myself a sanatani Hindu, because,
    1. I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas and all that goes by the name of Hindu scriptures, and therefore in avatars and rebirth,
    2. I believe in the varnashrama dharma in a sense in my opinion strictly Vedic but not in its present popular and crude sense,
    3. I believe in the protection of the cow in its much larger sense than the popular,
    4. I do not disbelieve in idol-worship (CWMG, vol. 21, p. 246).
26. Harijan, vol. V, no. 4, 6.03.1937, p. 27.
27. CWMG, vol. 77, p. 352.
28. Ibid., vol. 35, p. 462.
29. Ibid., vol. 31, p. 350.
30. Harijan, vol. V, no. 5, 13.03.1937, p. 38.
31. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (Lahore: The Indian Printing Works, 1945), p. 478.
32. Ibid., p. 482.
33. CWMG, vol. 35, p. 461.
34. Harijan, vol. V, no. 5, 13.03.1937, p. 38.
35. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (Lahore: The Indian Printing Works, 1945), p. 482.
36. Ibid., p. 482.
37. Ibid., p. 478.
38. Harijan, vol. IV, no. 51, 16.02.1934, p. 407.
39. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (Lahore: The Indian Printing Works, 1945), p. 477.
40. CWMG, vol. 35, p. 462.
41. Ibid., vol. 26, p. 296.
42. Ibid., vol. 25, p. 137.
43. Ibid., vol. 25, p. 136.
44. Ibid., vol. 39, p. 247.
45. Ibid., vol. 39, p. 112-113.
46. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, All Men are Brothers: Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as Told in His Own Words (Paris: UNESCO, 1969), p. 118.
47. Ibid., p. 119.
48. Ibid., p. 118.
49. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi (Lahore: The Indian Printing Works, 1945), p. 480. See also: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, All Men are Brothers: Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as Told in His Own Words (Paris: UNESCO, 1969), p. 338.
50. Ibid., 118.

Courtesy: This article was originally published in the Gandhi Marg, Volume 46, Number 4, January-March 2025