E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi and the Encounter …. 27sacred duty”. 20 So Gandhi called upon every one of us to do areverential and sympathetic study of the scriptures of otherreligions. He said that it was the duty of every cultured manand woman to do so. Such a study, he believed, would certainlycreate an atmosphere of mutual understanding, sympathy andrespect.In this context Gandhi introduced another significantidea concerning inter religious encounter. We know and admitthat there are certain ideas and practices in all religions that arenot universally acceptable. Some of them are found to be evenrepugnant to human reason and morality. Gandhi’s idea relatesto the right of a person to point out and criticize such defects.Gandhi drew a fine but crucial distinction between one’s rightto criticise one’s own religion and other religions. While it wasthe right and perhaps even the duty of a person to point out thedefects in one’s own religion with a view to purify it andimprove it, his duty in terms of other religions must be ofunreserved reverence. The responsibility of pointing out andcorrecting the defects in other religions must be left to thefollowers of those religions. One must try to set one’s ownhouse in order rather than attempting to set the others’ right.Gandhi wrote: “But it is no business of mine to criticize thescripture of other faiths or point out their defects. It is andshould be, however, my privilege to proclaim and practice thetruths that may be in them. I may not, therefore, criticise orcondemn the things in the Koran or the life of the Prophet that Icannot understand…..” 21 What Gandhi suggests is to do areverential study of the scriptures of other faiths with a view toimbibing what is good in them so that we may better ourselvesas a true believer of our own faith and thus make it better andnobler.Sarva Dharma Samabhava or equality of religions wasnot merely a theoretical proposition for Gandhi. For him it was