The Ethical and Religious Ideas of

THE ETHICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF
MAHATMA GANDHI

Among the contemporary thinkers and constructive meta-physicians of our age, of India’s philosophical thought and religious wisdom, harmonised with the best in modern science and thought, Mahatma Gandhi’s name occupies a unique place. His name will ever remain high, because he was, above all, a practical idealist who preached and practised without swerving from truth at every moment during his long career as a social reformer, a political leader, a saint, a true lover of humanity, and an apostle of peace and non-violence.

Gandhiji does not formulate any theoretical philosophy of life, but his life and activities embody a living sermon. He sets out to solve the problems of life as they confront him in the course of his rich and varied career. “I have not the qualifications for teaching my philosophy of life. I have barely qualifications for practising the philosophy I believe.” (Harijan, 12th July, 1942) He conveys his message and teachings through actions and utterances that have a bearing on concrete situations. He does not merely proclaim ideals of conduct, but follows them up in his own personal life to their logical conclusion and thus puts them to test through experimental verification.

Gandhiji is essentially a man of religion, and morality according to him is synonymous with religion. “Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.” (My Experiments with Truth)The fundamentals of religion are focused in his personality and he expresses them in his manifold activities in diverse spheres of life. His life is a ceaseless endeavour to solve problems by methods derived from his innermost convictions regarding the nature of God and man. All claims and interests, both individual and corporate, receive devoted attention and service at his hands and he deals with them in accordance with a basic religious insight.

Religion does not consist merely in a set of beliefs or a code of rituals, it grips one’s whole personality and expresses itself in the way in which one lives. “The whole gamut of man’s activities today constitutes an indivisible whole. You cannot divide social, economic, political and purely religious work into watertight compartments. I do not know religion apart from human activity. It provides a moral basis to all activities which they would otherwise lack, reducing life to a maze of sound and fury signifying nothing.” (Harijan, 24th December, 1938) He reconciles the spiritual and temporal interests of life into a harmonious system on the basis of religion. “The soul of religion is one, but it is encased in a multitude of forms.” (Young India 25th September, 1925) One’s religion grows and develops in the course of one’s life, and contact with those who follow other religions should deepen and enrich one’s own rather than supplant it.

Gandhiji’s approach to every problem is from the standpoint of the human spirit. His unremitting efforts to promote Hindu-Muslim unity and the eradication of untouchability which he characterizes as “a hideous untruth” are not prompted by motives of political expediency, but are matters of religious significance: “Service of Harijans is for me, as it must be for you, a question of repentance and reparation for the wrong we have done to our fellow-men.” (Young India, 13th November, 1924)

Gandhiji judges customs, habits, laws and institutions in the light of ethical values. Nothing that has any retarding effect upon the development of the divine spirit in man should be permitted. His advocacy of cottage industries, Khadi, his conception of village Swaraj, his exaltation of the dignity of manual labour and his dread of totalitarianism–all these become intelligible when we grasp the basis on which his whole philosophy of life rests–sanctity of human personality and the integrity of the individual will.

Gandhiji’s passion for simplicity and opposition to the use of machinery have been misunderstood and he has been charged as seeking to put the clock of human progress. But when viewed in the context of the present circumstances and the operating motives behind the industrial life of today, it will be clear that it is not opposition to machinery as such, but his love of the common man that has determined his attitude.

Gandhiji listed the evils of our age and held that truth and non-violence alone could set them right. He enumerated seven evils and strove hard to set them right with some success though not with complete success. The seven evils according to him are: (1) Politics without principles; (2) Wealth without work; (3) Pleasure without conscience; (4) Knowledge without character; (5) Commerce without morality; (6) Science without humanity; and (7) Worship without sacrifice. The evils, when analysed to their roots, are different forms of exploitation and use of violence.

Gandhiji places before the world to-day an alternative for capitalism and communism based on enlightened individualism which is psychologically individualistic but ethically universalistic. He pleads for a democratic way of life in economic, social and political spheres. His opposition to the Russian economic order is on account of compulsion and restraint on the individual that it involves. “If it were not based on force I would dote on it. But to-day since it is based on force, I do not know how far and where it will take us.” He hates privilege and monopoly of every kind. Whatever cannot be shared by all is taboo to him. His loin cloth and abstemious life are more due to his desire to identify himself with the starving and naked masses than to any spirit of self-immolation for its own sake.

Gandhiji stands for integrated life, both for the individual and society in consonance with Truth, i.e., God. He lives his principles and his life in his message to humanity. There may be differences of opinion on some of the views expressed by him and difficulties in the practical application of his principles. He is himself aware of these. He asks every one to think for himself and follow the inner light. One may be incapable of attaining the ideal, but on that account we should not lower the ideal. “We may never be strong enough to be entirely non-violent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep non-violence as our goal and make steady progress towards it. The attainment of freedom, whether for a man, nation or the world must be in exact proportion to the attainment of non-violence by each.” (Young India, 20th May, 1926)

Gandhiji is more concerned with effort than achievement. Means must be as pure as the end itself and ultimately the means and the end are identical. This identity gives the clue to appraise life. The real aim is not the attainment of any concrete result, but the preservation of the spirit underlying the effort. The goal may not be reached, but that does not mean the method has failed. For the adoption of the method in its purity is itself a triumph of the spirit. He seeks to draw out the best in human nature and true heroism is not in the success achieved but in the noble endeavour. In the very failure lies the seed of future success for only Truth will ultimately prevail. His influence on others is in the words of the late Rabindranath Tagore, “ineffable like beauty, like music,” and its claim upon others is “great because of its revelation of a spontaneous self-giving.”

Gandhiji seeks to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Verily, he is himself an incarnation of God, typifying the common man to teach every one how to become an ideal man. He is indeed the prophet of democracy who identifies himself with the humblest and who every one may not merely worship and adore, but emulate and follow. He has, by example, precept and practical guidance, shown us the way to overcome our greed, cupidity and thus rise from animality to humanity. He not only heralds peace and goodwill between men and nations, but stands on the threshold of a new era and exhorts “Awaken the Spirit of Divinity within and unify Heaven and Earth!”