E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

120 Contextualising Gandhian Thoughtnot of the world... He does without attachment the things we dowith attachment ..." 5 Again, let us look at the advice Gandhigave to a deputation of the Buddhist religious orders that methim during his tour of Burma. “Yours should not be merelypassive spirituality that spends itself out in idle meditation, butit should be an active thing which will carry the way into theenemy's camp and set the spirit of Burma ablaze from onecorner of the land to the others. It should burn out all the slothin you and the impurity from your surroundings. You will nottoday hurt a fly. Such is your peaceful nature, but that is notenough; no 'phoongy' who does not feel hurt when a fly is hurt,and go out of his way to save it has a right to wear thephoongy's dress. You have renounced the world and taken to alife of religion. A person in your position would fear neitherkings nor emperors, nor even the public. For what matters it tohim, whether he gets even food and raiment or not? Walkingalways in the light of God, steadfast in his devotion to truth, heshould stand four square to all injustice, impurity and wrong,wherever it may be found. Such is the internal strength I wantyou to cultivate." 6 In the face of all this evidence, one mayanswer that what he is warning against or condemning is "partypolitics"; but that is futile, almost retreat, when one isconstantly 'condemning "politics", without any limitingadjective, thus creating the impression that all politics is toolow and, selfish, and, therefore, taboo for those who want tofollow Gandhi.IIIThe second fallacy concerns Satyagraha. To suggestthat Gandhi's concepts of Satyagraha and the methods ofstruggle that he employed were meant merely to be usedagainst the foreign ruler, or in a non-democratic society, is tobetray a readiness to overlook, the patient, comprehensive andrepeated statements that Gandhi himself made to explain hisSatyagraha. One hears it said that the situation today is