Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy

Sukanto Kumar

Every year on 2 October, the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi), Indian civil rights leader, leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy and strategy of "ahimsa" or Non-violence, is observed as world non-violence day.

This day is referred to in India as Gandhi Jayanti. The world celebrates the day as the International Day of Non-violence. It is, the United Nations writes, an opportunity to "disseminate the message of non-violence" with the global of "Securing a culture of peace, tolerance and understanding".

Gandhiji was an ardent champion of non-violence. He practiced non-violence. He preached non-violence. He said that non-violence is the weapon of the strong people. Strong people mean those people who are morally and spiritually strong. He said that non-violence is stronger than violence.

He preached for truth and non-violence till he breathed his last. Gandhiji also said, "I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent". Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr., Mother Teresa, Gautam Buddha, Ashok, Confucius, Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama¸ James Bevel, Cesar Chavez, Leymah Gbowee were the chief exponents of non-violence.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. opines that, "Non-violence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him". Mother Teresa opines that, "We do not need gun and bombs to bring peace. We need love and compassion".

Gautam Buddha as the champion of non-violence. He and his followers revolted against the animal-sacrifice of the Hindi priests. Buddha preached non-violence until his death. Since then the Buddhists have been preaching this faith. Ashok was violent in his youth. But the horror of the Kalinga war brought about a change in his hard.

He gave up battle. He accepted Budhist faith. He preached non-violence inside and outside India through a religious department. He himself stopped to eat meat. He stopped animal killing inside his kingdom. He opened dispensaries for men and animals. Dalai Lama said, "Non-violence doesn't mean we have to passively accept injustice.

We have to fight for our rights, we have to oppose injustice. Gandhi fervently promoted non-violence but that didn't mean he was complacently accepting of the status quo. He resisted, but he did so without doing harm". Gandhi has said, "Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man".

The United Nations defines non-violence as rejecting the use of physical violence in order to achieve social or political change. There are ample examples in history to show how the use of non-violence has been successful in the past. Non-violence has existed in our world for more than 1000 years now, and it is very difficult to tell as to when and how it exactly started.

The first major leaders who put forth the idea of non-violence were said to be Confucius (a great Chinese philosopher) and Gautam Buddha, who is believed to have started the religion of Buddhism. However the teaching of these great leaders died out over the years.

Non-violence is one of the divine qualities. It means not to be violent in thought and action. One should not kill men and animals. One should not hurt men and animals. One should not pain men and animals. One should not terrorize men and animals. One should not assault or annoy others.

One should not think ill of others. One should not deprive others of their due. One should not do any harm to others. This is non-violence. This would have been deemed necessary due to the excess violence going around in the world at all levels.

Violence has many disadvantages for individuals, communities and even nations. So many people are killed or maimed due to physical violence at a large scale. Children are left homeless and orphaned, people are displaced and become jobless and refugees. There is outbreak of diseases when large numbers of displaced people live in refugee camps.

All this suffering happens because of violence perpetuated by a group of people against fellow human beings. Apart from this, the affected individuals get traumatized mentally due to the shock of witnessing such violent inhuman acts. Rohingya Refugee crisis, Arab Israeli conflict are the best examples of violence. Violence is basically of 3 kinds. First is by speech.

A person can hurt his fellow human being by using harsh words. An individual can incite riots by giving a hate filled speech. This kind of violence is as bad as the act of physical violence, i.e hitting anybody physically. This second type of violence by action is the one which people mostly interpret as violence and understand it.

The third type of violence is violence by thought. A person may not hit anybody directly, not speak any bitter harmful words, but in his mind, he may abuse or hurt somebody. Such violent thoughts do not hurt anybody, but are considered to be violence of a kind. True sate of absolute non-violence can be reached only when violence by words, action and thoughts, all can be removed.

Ego, greed and jealousy are the main basic causes underlying violence, an individual with inflated ego usually does not like anybody opposing his views and may become violent. Greed for acquiring power, fame and wealth has been the basic cause for much violence perpetuated at community as well as global level.

Greed to capture resources or wealth of another person is yet another reason for many actions of violence committed by criminals. Jealousy on seeing another person with better things or resources, also leads of violence.

There are eight characteristics of non-violence, such as negotiation and fairness, economic partnership, shared responsibility, responsible parenting, honesty and accountability, trust and support, respect and non-threatening behavior.

Gandhi, who led his country's battle for independence, is perhaps the best-known practitioner of non-violence. He inspired countless others with his philosophy, including Nobel Prize-winning scientist Albert Einstein. Einstein wrote- "Gandhi's views were the most enlightened of all the political men of our time.

We should strive to do things in his spirit: not to use violence in fighting for our cause, but by non-participation in anything you believe is evil". When Gandhi wrote in 1947 that "the non-violence of the strong is the strongest force of the world" and that "there is no hope for the aching world except through the narrow and straight path of non-violence".

The most valuable lesson that we all learnt was to persevere for a peaceful resolution to conflicts even if the odds were against us. We learnt through the legacy of Gandhi that even in the face of extreme injustice, acts of violence cannot lead to true and lasting peace.

Non-violence and tolerance was weapon used by many great leaders during the Second World War. Violence and discrimination has always caused suffering and pain to millions of people around the world. Lack of tolerance and non-violence leads to wars and fighting which brings about destruction in the lives of people involved.

In modern times, non-violent methods of action have been a powerful tool for social protest and revolutionary social and political change. There are many examples of their use.

Here certain movements particularly influenced by a philosophy of non-violence should be mentioned, including Mahatma Gandhi leading a successful decades-long non-violent struggle against British rule in India, Martin Luther King's and James Bevel's adoption of Gandhi's non-violent methods in their campaigns to win civil rights for African Americans, and Cesar Chavez's campaigns of non-violence in the 1960's to protest the treatment of farm workers in California.

The 1989 "Velvet Revolution" in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of the communist government is considered one of the most important of the largely non-violent revolutions of 1989. Most recently the non-violent campaigns of Leymah Gbowee and the women of Liberia were able to achieve peace after a 14 year civil war.

Arab Spring, a series of anti-government uprisings in various countries in North Africa and the Middle East, beginning in Tunisia in December 2010. (Oxford dictionary). Arab spring was started off as a non-violence protest in Tunisia, and spread to other neighboring North African countries including Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.

The main aim of these revolutions were to instill fear in the dictators, hoping that they would be relieved of the grief of unemployment, rising prices and corruption. This was more successful than it was expected to be, perhaps because it was a nonviolent protest and had gained worldwide recognition.

To adopt a policy of absolute non-violence, it is necessary that people understand the underlying causes of violence. If every person can overcome his ego and greed, it will be a big step in curbing violence. Jealousy is yet another negative trait which needs to be controlled.

If a person learns to be happy in the achievement of others, feels good to see others prosper, he will always remain happy and carefree. No thoughts of violence will enter his head. If all people practice to shun these negative traits, the violence going around will be much reduced and the world will become a much better place.

Therefore to make the world a better place, it is important to shun violence and understand the importance of non-violence. If there is peace all around, people can work fearlessly for long hours. There is no stress of any kind, thus people at large would be happy and healthy. This would automatically result in increased productivity in the society and prosperity and happiness for all.

The writer is a teacher under the Ministry of Primary and

Mass Education

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