E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & Timesaccept the formula "Art brings joy and is good" but on the condition Imentioned. To achieve truth in art I do not expect exact reproductions ofexternal things. Only living things bring living joy to the soul and must elevatethe soul.'Rolland did not differ but he stressed the pain of searching for truth and forGod. He took a book from his shelf and read from Goethe. Rolland laterconfessed that he thought Gandhi's God found pleasure in man's sorrow; Rollandwas trying to modify this Gandhian view.They talked about the perils of another war. 'If one nation possessed theheroism to submit without answering violence with violence,' Gandhi declared,'it would be the most effective lesson. But for this an absolute faith isnecessary.'Rolland: 'Nothing should be done by halves, no matter whether it is bad orgood.' Rolland's sister, Madeleine, and Miss Kondachev, a Russian secretary,were taking notes. Neither recorded Gandhi's reaction to this assertion.The last day, December 11, Rolland requested Gandhi to deal with somequestions submitted by Pierre Monatte, the editor of a Paris magazine calledThe Proletarian Revolution. Response to one query, Gandhi asserted that iflabour was perfectly organized it could dictate conditions to the employers;labour is the only power in the world'. But Rolland interposed that thecapitalists might divide the workers; there might be scabs; 'then the consciousminority of labour must set up a dictatorship of the proletariat and force themass of labour to unite in its own interest'.'I am absolutely opposed to that,' Gandhi affirmed. Rolland dropped the subjectand quickly introduced several others: non-violence in relation to criminals,etc. etc., and 'What do you call God? Is it a spiritual personality or a forcewhich rules over the world?''God,' Gandhi replied, 'is not a person... God is an eternal principle. That is whyI say that Truth is God... Even atheists do not doubt the necessity of truth.'www.mkgandhi.org Page 332