Gandhian
Philosophy in Short : By Mahatma Himself
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I know the path. It is
straight and narrow. It is like the edge of a sword. I rejoice to walk on
it. I weep when I slip. God's word is: 'He who strives never perishes.' I
have implicit faith in that promise. Though, therefore, from my weakness I
fail a thousand times, I will not lose faith, but hope that I shall see the
Light when the flesh has been brought under perfect subjection, as some day
it must.
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My soul refuses to be
satisfied so long as it is a helpless witness of a single wrong or a single
misery. But it is not possible for me, a weak, frail, miserable being, to
mend every wrong or to hold myself free of blame for all the wrong I see.
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The spirit in me pulls one
way, the flesh in me pulls in the opposite direction. There is freedom from
the action of these two forces, but that freedom is attainable only by slow
and painful stages.
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I cannot attain freedom by
a mechanical refusal to act, but only by intelligent action in a detached
manner. This struggle resolves itself into an incessant crucifixion of the
flesh so that the spirit may become entirely free.
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Search for Truth
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I am but a seeker after
Truth. I claim to have found a way to it. I claim to be making a ceaseless
effort to find it. But I admit that I have not yet found it. To find Truth
completely is to realize oneself and one's destiny, i.e., to become perfect.
I am painfully conscious of my imperfections, and therein lies all the
strength I posses, because it is a rare thing for a man to know his own
limitations.
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If I was a perfect man, I
own I should not feel the miseries of neighbors as I do. As a perfect man I
should take note of them, prescribe a remedy, and compel adoption by the
force of unchangeable Truth in me. But as yet I only see as through a glass
darkly and, therefore, have to carry conviction by slow and laborious
processes, and then, too, not always with success.
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That being so, I would be
less than human if, with all my knowledge of avoidable misery pervading the
land and of the sight of mere skeletons under the very shadow of the Lord of
the Universe, I did not feel with and for all the suffering but dumb
millions of India.86
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Trust in God
I am in the world feeling my way to light 'amid the
encircling gloom'. I often err and miscalculate… My trust is solely in
God. And I trust men only because I trust God. If I had no God to rely upon,
I should be like Timon, a hater of my species.
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I will not be a traitor to
God to please the whole world.88
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Whatever striking things I
have done in life, I have not done prompted by reason but prompted by
instinct, I would say, God.
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I am a man of faith. My
reliance is solely on God. One step is enough for me. The next step He will
make clear to me when the time for it comes.
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No Secrecy
I have no secret methods. I know no diplomacy save that of truth. I have no
weapon but non-violence. I may be unconsciously led astray for a while, but
not for all time.
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My life has been an open
book. I have no secrets and I encourage no secrets.
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I am but a poor struggling
soul yearning to be wholly good-wholly truthful and wholly non-violent in
thought, word and deed, but ever failing to reach the ideal which I know to
be true. I admit it is a painful climb, but the pain of it is a positive
pleasure for me. Each step upward makes me feel stronger and fit for the
next.
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When I think of my
littleness and my limitations on the one hand and of the expectations raised
about me on the other, I become dazed for the moment, but I come to myself
as soon as I realize that these expectations are a tribute not to me, a
curious mixture of Jekyll and Hyde, but to the incarnation, however
imperfect but comparatively great in me, of the two priceless qualities of
truth and non-violence. I must, therefore, not shirk the responsibility of
giving what aid I can to fellow-seekers after truth from the West.
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Guidance
I claim to have no infallible guidance or inspiration. So far as my
experience goes, the claim to infallibility on the part of a human being
would be untenable, seeing that inspiration too can come only to one who is
free from the action of opposites, and it will be difficult to judge on a
given occasion whether the claim to freedom from pairs of opposites is
justified. The claim to infallibility would thus always be a most dangerous
claim to make. This, however, does not leave us without any guidance
whatsoever. The sum-total of the experience of the world is available to us
and would be for all time to come.
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Moreover, there are not
many fundamental truths, but there is only one fundamental truth which is
Truth itself, otherwise known as Non-violence. Finite human being shall
never know in its fullness Truth and love which is in itself infinite. But
we do know enough for our guidance. We shall err, and sometimes grievously,
in our application. But man is a self-governing being, and self-government
necessarily includes the power as much to commit errors as to set them right
as often as they are made.
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I deny being a visionary. I
do not accept the claim of saintliness. I am of the earth, earthly . . . I
am prone to as many weakness as you are. But I have seen the world. I have
lived in the world with my eyes open. I have gone through the most fiery
ordeals that have fallen to the lot of man. I have gone through this
descipline.
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Self-sacrifice and Ahimsa
I am asking my countrymen in India to follow no other gospel than the gospel
of self-sacrifice which precedes every battle. Whether you belong to the
school of violence or non-violence, you will still have to go through the
fire of sacrifice and of discipline.
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I want to declare to the
world, although I have forfeited the regard of many friends in the West -
and I must bow my head low; but even for their friendship or love, I must
not suppress the voice of conscience, - the promptings of my inner basic
nature today. There is something within me impelling me to cry out my agony.
I have known humanity. I have studied something of psychology. Such a man
knows exactly what it is. I do not mind how you describe it. That voice
within tells me, "You have to stand against the whole world although
you may have to stand alone. You have to stare in the face the whole world
although the world may look at you with blood-shot eyes. Do not fear. Trust
the little voice residing within your heart." It says: "Forsake
friends, wife and all; but testify to that for which you have lived and for
which you have to die."
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No Defeatism
Defeat cannot dishearten me. It can only chasten me . . . . I know that God
will guide me. Truth is superior to man's wisdom.
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I have never lost my
optimism. In seemingly darkest hours hope has burnt bright within me. I
cannot kill the hope myself. I must say I cannot give an ocular
demonstration to justify the hope. But there is no defeat in me.
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I do not want to foresee
the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me
no control over the moment following…
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Trust
It is true that I have often been let down. Many have deceived me and many
have been found wanting. But I do not repent of my association with them.
For I know how to non-co-operate, as I know how to co-operate. The most
practical, the most dignified way of going on in the world is to take people
at their word, when you have no positive reason to the contrary.
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I believe in trusting.
Trust begets trust. Suspicion is foetid and only stinks. He who trusts has
never yet lost in the world.
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A breach of promise shakes
me to my root, especially when I am in any way connected with the author of
the breach. And if it cost my life which, after all, at the age of seventy
has no insurance value, I should most willingly give it in order to secure
due performance of a sacred and solemn promise.
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To my knowledge, throughout
my public and private career, I have never broken a promise.104
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My Leadership and Non Violance
They say I claim to understand human nature as no one else does. I believe I
am certainly right, but if I do not believe in my rightness and my methods,
I would be unfit to be at the helm of affairs.
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As for my leadership, if I
have it, it has not come for any seeking, it is a fruit of faithful service.
A man can as little discard such leadership as he can the color of his skin.
And since I have become an integral part of the nation, it has to keep me
with all my faults and shortcomings, of some of which I am painfully
conscious and of many others of which candid critics, thanks be to them,
never fail to remind me.
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It is a bad carpenter who
quarrels with his tools. It is a bad general who blames his men for faulty
workmanship. I know I am not a bad general. I have wisdom enough to know my
limitations. God will give me strength enough to declare my bankruptcy if
such is to be my lot. He will perhaps take me away when I am no longer
wanted for the work which I have been permitted to do for nearly half a
century. But I do entertain the hope that there is yet work for me to do,
that the darkness that seems to have enveloped me will disappear, and that,
whether with another battle more brilliant than the Dandi March or without,
India will come to her own demonstrably through non-violent means. I am
praying for the light that will dispel the darkness. Let those who have a
living faith in non-violence join me in the prayer.
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My Work
I am content with the doing of the task in front of me. I do not worry about
the why and wherefore of things… Reason helps us to see that we should not
dabble in things we cannot fathom.
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My work will be finished if
I succeed in carrying conviction to the human family, that every man or
woman, however weak in body, is the guardian of his or her self-respect and
liberty. This defense avails, though the whole world may be against the
individual resister.
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It will be time enough to
pronounce a verdict upon my work after my eyes are closed and this
tabernacle is consigned to the flames.
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