By Dr. Satish C. Aikant
One of the defining images and indeed the highlight of the recently concluded G 20 (now G 21, with the inclusion of African Union) Summit in New Delhi was the visit of the world leaders to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at his samadhi in Rajghat, against the backdrop of the replica of Bapu Kuti (located at Sewagram Ashram in Wardha). We in India and the larger world must realize that there is no getting away from the Mahatma and his message to bring about lasting peace and harmony in the world which is increasingly threatened with violence, social strife, religious bigotry, and environmental degradation. The message is crucial for us Indians as much as it for the outside world.
Every visiting dignitary to India is usually shown around the places associated with Gandhi, in the manner of a ritual, but even as symbolism it has great significance. Let us not harbour any illusion that Gandhi is accepted and hero -worshipped by one and all in India. The number of those vehemently critical of him under the current political dispensation is growing by the day as uncritical admiration grows for Savarkar and Godse, the two well-known detractors of the Mahatma. However, such is the appeal of Gandhi among the people across the world that Narendra Modi feels obliged, even if reluctantly, to take the visiting dignitaries to Gandhi Memorial at Rajghat and not on a guided tour of the memorials associated with Savarkar, Godse, Hedgewar or Golwalkar, despite his undisguised belief in their ideology. Gandhi, therefore, it must be admitted, is a man for all seasons and for all nations. There may be attempts to lower his image but he cannot remain out of our collective consciousness.
Why is Gandhi so irresistible? We could follow several keywords to enter the worldview he envisioned and practiced. But let me confine myself briefly to his take on modernity, religion and non-violence.
When we talk about modernity we think inevitably about the uncontrolled production, relentless modification and innovation of technology. We tend to call ourselves modern when we construct mammoth concrete structures, polluting even the smallest rivers that are around, jamming every road, destroying natural habitats of millions of creatures, even causing their extinction, and finally we ourselves become totally self-centred, individualistic, and discontented. We forget that there is violence inherent in the modern technologies towards both the animate and inanimate environment. Gandhi’s interpretation of technological modernity has a much wider connotation. He focused more on the degradation of human values, morality, and integrity. He preached consistently about the primacy of the spiritual and the importance of individuals turning inward to find the real purpose of existence. While we are seduced by the enchantments of modernity danger lurks behind the fact that we are discontented with everything. We tend to believe that we will be satisfied when we have material progress in abundance. Gandhi argues that ‘An ant is perfect, because it does not wish to become better. But we have got to progress!’
According to Gandhi the modern civilization, although it had many achievements to its credit, was fundamentally flawed, as is evident in the fact that it is aggressive, exploitative, brutal, unhappy, restless, and devoid of a sense of direction and purpose. But the irony is that the modern man, mesmerised by the allurement of technological modernity, has failed to be reflective and acts immorally. He lives in a new form of slavery.
Swaraj for Gandhi was not merely freedom from the British rule but rather a vision of self-dignity, self-reliance, and self-sustenance. It is a dynamic philosophy to decolonise the derivative and consumerist mindset to reconstruct a welfare society. One indispensable aspect of any Gandhian initiative was the inclusion of a strict ethical framework. According to Gandhi, economics without ethics cannot sensibly work.
Modernisation and mechanisation have caused deforestation and environmental degradation. There is depletion of natural resources and problems of pollution, socioeconomic inequality, and discontentment. The future is expected to have more technology from the innovative human mind. We need to re-affirm our cultural values and morality in the body of technology to become more useful without subverting human values. Morality, which was central to Gandhi’s ideals and principles, is still relevant, notwithstanding the changing present-day realities. A strong sense of spirituality, and most importantly, the purity of intention is what remained summum bonum for Gandhi’s ethical framework. Gandhi’s opposition to technology was not because he disliked technology but rather, according to him, technology was dehumanising. Though he overlooked certain important aspects of modernity and modern technology, he is right in saying that it has the tendency to dehumanise. The disillusionment about modernity is that its key imagination continues to hold a disengaged, autonomous, and atomistic self, which leads to a destructive moral failure. Extremely sensitive to Indian civilizational values and cultural nuances he devised the methods of satyagraha, sarvodaya, and swadeshi to redress social, political, and economic inequity.
Gandhi described himself as a devotee of Ram, and venerated the Ramacharitmanas of Tulsidas, but he unequivocally rejected passages in the text that he found offensive or degrading to women and the lower castes. Though he viewed himself as much of a Hindu as anyone else, Gandhi seldom visited temples and did not generally view temple worship as intrinsic to Hinduism: if anything, considering the care with which he tended to the body, he would have agreed with the 12th century Virasaiva saint Basavanna: ‘My legs are pillars,/the body the shrine, the head a cupola of gold’ (Translation by A. K. Ramanujan).
The inclusion of African Union in G 20 is particularly welcome since in no other community did Gandhi have a more stellar role than among African-Americans. Everyone is aware of Martin Luther King’s embrace of Gandhian ideas of non-violent resistance. Nelson Mandela followed Gandhi in letter and spirit.
Gandhi’s commitment to non-violence was total. It is true that nowhere in the world has pure non-violence been entirely successful. But then nor has violence. This is so because we tend to adopt ahimsa merely as an instrument and are ready to jettison it the moment it seemed to have served our purpose. Also, technology today is advancing at such speed that if the weapons of destruction produced by it were used extensively, humankind would not survive, and nature, too, would be severely harmed. So now, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘The choice is not between violence and non-violence but between non-violence and non-existence.’
In the words of Gandhi: ‘Nonviolence is not a cover for cowardice, but it is the supreme virtue of the brave. Non-violence is a conscious deliberate restraint put upon one’s desire for vengeance. But vengeance is any day superior to passive, effeminate and helpless submission. When Non-co-operation was the fashion (during the freedom movement) the law of non-violence was broken. Let there be no cant about non-violence. It is not like a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart and it must be an inseparable part of our very being.’
We can witness the sincerity as well as the audacity of Gandhi’s mind. Asked by the American journalist Margaret Bourke-White as to how he would ‘meet the atom bomb,’ Gandhi told her: ‘I would meet it by prayerful action.’ Baffled by the calm cryptic reply, she asked what form his ‘prayerful action’ would take. Gandhi elaborated: ‘I will not go underground. I will not go into shelters. I will come out in the open and let the pilot see I have not the face of evil against him.’ Here he paused, resumed for a moment his spinning, and continued: ‘The pilot will not see our faces from his great height, I know. But that longing in our hearts that he will not come to harm would reach up to him and his eyes would be opened. Of those thousands who were done to death in Hiroshima, if they had died with that prayerful action – died openly with that prayer in their hearts – then the war would not have ended so disgracefully as it has. It is a question now whether the victors are really victors or victims of our own lust and omissions.’
In a famous scene in the film Deewar Shashi Kapoor confronted by brother Amitabh Bachchan delivers his iconic line: ‘Mere Paas Maan Hai.’ We as Indians might as well declare with immense pride:‘Hamare Paas Gandhi Hai,’ to a world puffed up with armaments, lucre and power.
(The writer is former Professor and Head of the Department
of English, H.N.B. Garhwal University)
