'The whole world is but one family' - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

April 2010 Vol. 7 No. 10
likely to continue—a litany of unresolved problems
because of the failure to deal with the deeper social
and intellectual causes to many of which Gandhi
tried to draw the attention of his fellowmen at home
and in the world at large. His overall effort was at
once as a thinker and as an activist and through
that combination as one trying to change the world.
Gandhi—and what he thought and taught and debated
with his contemporaries—were at bottom intellectual
and philosophical matters. He dwelt deep into the
human enterprise and on that basis transcended
categories of time, space, and various other divides.
It is for this reason that he today once again is gaining
in resonance after having been forgotten for so long.
It is in the context of this timelessness of Gandhi that
we have to understand his relevance for all times and
ages. He himself suffered from a deep sense of guilt
and anguish for having “failed” on matters he had
identified himself with during his life’s journey for
“truth”. While we too can and must pass judgements
on this journey of his—which still continues in our
own time and is still available like an open book to us
all—and while we should chart our own path suited to
the call of our own time, and the times that lie ahead,
we could also, in so doing, benefit from the thoughts
and lessons left behind from his journey in his own
time. As in many ways those lessons have a bearing
on the challenges emerging before us, we could think
of joining him on his unfinished journey.
The portrait of Gandhi emerges slowly from the timid
and somewhat cowardly Kathiawari childhood, the
awkward years as a student in England, the growing
confidence as a lawyer in South Africa, a self-assurance
that ironically emerged from his humiliation, and his
emergence as a leader in India. Gandhi is our only
serving national icon, even though our reverence for
him is confined mainly to the ritualistic celebration of
the birth and death anniversaries. Many idolize Gandhi
even today and consider him as one of the tallest
men to have visited this earth. But it is a historical
necessity to reappraise, reinterpret and reevaluate
once in a while every great movement, every great
leader, to assess their contemporary relevance. This
portrayal of Gandhi’s ideas will be useful for those
who would like to explore his tactics, experiment with
them, perhaps adopt them as their own. It might also
be valuable to those who want to compare Gandhi’s
ideas with other forms of conflict resolution and social
action. Perhaps it will also be useful to those who are
determined to rebuke Gandhi and prove him wrong.
Gandhi would have approved of all of these purposes.
For if one follows Gandhi’s own advice, nothing
should go unchallenged—not even Gandhian concepts.
In order to understand Gandhi’s way of fighting,
therefore, we will eventually have to fight a bit with
him ourselves.
Gandhians, as well as non-Gandhians, are divided
on what constitutes “the true Gandhi” and the
true Gandhian approach to political reality. Both
proponents and opponents often appeal to an essential
decontextualized Gandhi, usually identified with a
rather clear, static, and rigid political approach, and then
disagree on whether this essential Gandhi is relevant or
irrelevant to contemporary political development. Not
only was Gandhi’s political thinking flexible, eclectic,
and at times contradictory, but our attempts at relating
Gandhi’s approach to contemporary political thinking
always involve a dynamic process of contestation with
the reinterpretation, reconstruction, and development
of diverse Gandhian positions. Looking to the nature
and vastness of the Gandhian crusade, it may seem
inappropriate to describe it as a ‘failure’ despite all
its shortcomings. Rabindranath Tagore may have been
right in his comments that Gandhi will not succeed.
Perhaps he will fail as the Buddha failed and as Christ
failed to wean men from their inequities, but he will
always be remembered as one who made his life a
lesson for all ages to come.
Gandhi was not a preacher, but a doer. He engaged
in political activity with the objective of achieving
specific goals. He believed that every age has its
yugadharma, and the dharma of his age was politics.
His singular aim in life was to attain moksha, and he
firmly believed that his moksha lay in the practice
of politics. He did not attach any importance to his
speeches and sermons, and said, ‘As a matter of fact
my writings shall be cremated with my body. What I
have done will endure, not what I have said or written.’
When he said, ‘My life is my message,’ he meant that
he had delivered his message through his praxis.
The field of Gandhigiri is vast, and Gandhi’s life and
ideas explored are so minute. Gandhi’s life was his
message by collapsing the divide between the political
and the religious. “Gandhi’s struggle is not merely
political. It is religious and therefore quite pure.”
Every generation reexamines the past, trying
to understand it anew. It may be a difference in
perspective, or the knowledge of new facts which
alter the picture—sometimes superficially, sometimes
totally. India today is clearly reassessing the legacy
of Gandhi, and his continuing relevance. That is as it
should be.
*Ramjas College, University of Delhi
Source: Excerpts from Preface of his Book, Gandhigiri:
Satyagraha after Hundred Years, Kaveri Books, New Delhi