E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi’s Pancha Mahavrat… 61fears, viz. fear of disease, body injury, death, fear ofdispossession and loss of near and dear ones as well as that ofone’s reputation. But this fearlessness (abhaya) must beimbedded in a deep feeling of love for the adversary whichfrees him from malice and hatred towards the perpetrator ofinjustice. He was so convinced of the symbiotic relationshipbetween ahimsa and abhaya that he often repeated his offquotedformulation that if he had to choose between ‘violenceand cowardice, he would choose violence’. It was this feelingof abhaya he wanted to inculcate in everybody who came intohis contact or even among the general masses. He amplydemonstrated this feeling of abhaya in the worst days ofcommunal riots in Noakhali, Bihar Calcutta and Delhi during1946-48. Not only that, during his South African days headvised his son, Manilal, if occasions were to arise, he shoulddefend his father (Gandhi) non-violently if possible andviolently if he fails to do so. Thus, it is clear that for Gandhi,non-violence and fearlessness are eternally wedded. This iswhat he called the ‘non-violence of the brave’. He himselfdefined the ahimsa of the brave in the following words: ‘If Isucceed in curbing my temper every time, and though able togive blow for blow, I refrain, I shall develop the ahimsa of thebrave’. 13Non-violence and Constructive WorkUnlike the Marxists, Gandhi never believed in themaximal state to bring about the required social change. In fact,he always favoured minimal state and strengthening the fibersof the civil society. Besides, he found a symbiotic relationshipbetween non-violence and Constructive Programme. He wasfirmly of the opinion that the common man could beempowered only through non-violent Constructive Programme.Further, his non-violence was not meant for a chosen few but itwas primarily meant for the common man. Hence, for him thesurest way to train the common man was to engage him in