E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi’s Philosophy of Swadeshi 238this Dharma and Swadharma. To him, therefore, Satyagrahaand Swadeshi were both Dharmik or ethical imperatives andoperational necessities of his Sadhana. They were thecorollaries of Dharma (Swadharma) and the application of theLaw of Dharma to the field of social life, including economicand political activity. Thus, to Gandhi Swadeshi was a Law orprinciple that applied to all fields of human activity, -economic, political, cultural and religious.He therefore defined Swadeshi as a Law of Nature. Noone can go against the Laws of nature, and hope to succeed orprosper or build anything sustainable. Gandhi's Swadeshitherefore was not negative or exclusive. It was positiveadherence to the Law of nature which compels us to recognisethe importance of the proximate as a means of progress towardsthe ultimate or distant. It is a fundamental axiom of nature thatprogress towards the ultimate is possible only through theproximate. Any effort to reach the ultimate or distant exceptthrough the proximate or the immediate is fraught with the riskof failure; it will be infructuous, illusory, self-defeating andfutile. One has only to look at time or space or motion to seethe working of this Law of nature. There can be difference inthe choice of the vehicle, speed, acceleration, the choice of themedium through which one traverses, like land or water or air;but there is no escape from the Law that one has to move fromand through the proximate to reach the distant or the ultimategoal. Swadeshi is the same Law of nature applied to humanactivity and the environment. Here, environment includes thesocial as well as the natural environment.It has already been pointed out that the Law ofSwadeshi, since it is a Law of nature applies not only to thefield of economic activity, but also the fields of politics, cultureand religion.Let us first look at the field of economic activity.