mindofmahatmagandhi

The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi
destruction. Thus situated, mankind has to make its choice—for its sheer
survival—between the moral and the material forces. The latter are leading
humanity headlong on the road to self-annihilation. Gandhiji shows the other
road, because he represents the moral forces. Maybe, it is no new road. But it
is the road which the world has either forgotten so long or has not had the
courage to take, and which it can now ignore only at the cost of its very
existence.
Here in this book of his own words, the Mahatma speaks, and speaks for
himself, with no interpreter between him and the reader, for none is
necessary. Western people have sometimes expressed difficulty in
understanding him. Note, for instance, Horace Alexander's statement that, in
some ways, Gandhiji's deep metaphysical reasonings could be very baffling to
the Anglo-Saxon mind. This volume offers basic material for understanding
Gandhiji's mind on matters moral, social, political and spiritual. The advanced
student of psychology, however, may need to probe deeper into the
fundamental origins and sources of Gandhiji's motivation and conduct. To him
this work can only be a source of reference.
The present revised and enlarged edition appears over twenty years after the
earlier ones. It incorporates what they could not: the thought and philosophy of
Gandhiji's crucial final years: 1946-48, when he rose to the transcendental
heights of the human spirit—above caste, creed, party, and even country. Then
he belonged, more truly than ever, to all humanity. For, in those years which
led him inevitably to the supreme denouement of martyrdom in defence of his
faith, he preached and practised the religion of humanity, the religion by which
alone mankind can survive. And it is because of this that the views and opinions
which he had expressed in those last year’s assume for us and posterity a
sanctity and a valedictory finality which make them indispensable to the
comprehension of the totality of his mind. Their assimilation in the present
volume has involved the introduction of some new chapters and the
enlargement of several of the old ones.
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