The Gita and Satyagraha
The Philosophy of Non-violence
I have admitted in my introduction
to the Gita known as Anasakti Yoga that it is not a treatise on non-violence,
nor was it written to condemn war. Hinduism, as it is practised to-day or has
even been known to have ever been practised, has certainly not condemned war as
I do. What, however, I have done is to put a new but natural and logical
interpretation upon the whole teaching of the Gita and the spirit of Hinduism.
Hinduism, not to speak of other religions, is ever-evolving. It has no one
scripture like the Koran or the Bible. Its scriptures are also evolving and
suffering addition. The Gita itself is an instance in point. It has given a new
meaning to karma, sannyasa, yajna, etc. It has breathed new life into Hinduism.
It has given an original rule of conduct. Not that what the Gita has given was
not implied in the previous writings, but the Gita put these implications in a
concrete shape. I have endeavoured, in the light of a prayerful study of the
other faiths of the world, and what is more, in the light of my own experiences
in trying to live the teaching of Hinduism as interpreted in the Gita, to give
an extended but in no way strained meaning to Hinduism, not as buried in its
ample scriptures, but as a living faith speaking like a mother to her aching
child. What I have done is perfectly historical. I have followed in the
footsteps of our forefathers. At one time they sacrificed animals to propitiate
angry gods. Their descendants, but our less remote ancestors, read a different
meaning into the word 'sacrifice', and they taught that sacrifice was meant to
be of our baser self, to please not angry gods but the one living God within. I
hold that the logical outcome of the teaching of the Gita is decidedly for
peace at the price of life itself. It is the highest aspiration of the human
species.
The Mahabharata and Ramayana, the
two books that millions of Hindus know and regard as their guides, are
undoubtedly allegories as the internal evidence shows. That they most probably
deal with historical figures does not affect my proposition. Each epic
describes the eternal duel that goes on between the forces of darkness and of
light. Anyway, I must disclaim any intention of straining the meaning of Hinduism
or the Gita to suit any preconceived notions of mine. My notions were an
outcome of a study of the Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads, etc.
(Harijan,
3rd October 1936)
Truth
The word 'Satya' (Truth) is derived
from 'Sat' which means being. And nothing is or exists in reality except Truth.
That is why 'Sat' or Truth is perhaps the most important name of God. In fact, it is more correct to say that Truth is God than to say that God is Truth. But
as we cannot do without a ruler or a general, names of God such as King of
Kings or the Almighty are and will remain more usually current. On deeper
thinking, however, it will be realized that 'Sat' or 'Satya' is the only
correct and fully significant name of God.
And where there is Truth, there also
is knowledge, pure knowledge. Where there is no Truth, there can be no true
knowledge. That is why the word 'Chit' or knowledge is associated with the name
of God. And where there is true knowledge, there is always bliss (Ananda).
Sorrow has no place there. And even as Truth is eternal, so is the bliss
derived from it. Hence we know God as 'Sat-chit-Ananda', one who combined in
Himself Truth, Knowledge, and Bliss.
Devotion to this Truth is the sole
reason for our existence. All our activities should be centred in Truth. Truth
should be the very breath of our life. When once this stage in the pilgrim's
progress is reached, all other rules of correct living will come without
effort, and obedience to them will be instinctive. But without Truth, it would
be impossible to observe any principles or rules in life.
Generally speaking, observing the
law of Truth is merely understood to mean that we must speak the truth. But we
in the Ashram understand the word Satya or Truth in a much wider sense. There
should be the Truth in thought, Truth in speech, and Truth in action. To the man
who has realized this Truth in perfection, nothing else remains to be known,
because all knowledge is necessarily included in it. What is not included in it
is not Truth, and so not true knowledge, and there can be no inward peace
without true knowledge. If once we learn how to apply this never-failing test
of Truth, we will at once be able to find out what is worth doing, what is
worth seeing, what is worth reading.
But how is one to realize this Truth,
which may be likened to the philosopher's stone or the cow of plenty? By
single-minded devotion (abhyasa) and indifference to every other interest in
life (vairagya) - replies the Bhagavadgita. In spite, however, of such
devotion, what may appear as truth to one person will often appear as untruth
to another person. But that need not worry about the seeker. Where there is honest
effort, it will be realized that what appear to be different truths are like
apparently different countless leaves of the same tree. Does not God Himself
appears to different individuals in different aspects? Still, we know that He is
one. But Truth is the right designation of God. Hence there is nothing wrong in
everyone following Truth according to one's lights. Indeed it is one's duty to
do so. Then if there is a mistake on the part of anyone so following Truth, it
will be automatically set right. For the quest of Truth involves tapas -
self-suffering, sometimes even unto death. There can be no place in it for even
a trace of self-interest. In such a self-less search for Truth, nobody can lose
his bearings for long. Directly one takes to the wrong path one stumbles and
is thus redirected to the right path. Therefore the pursuit of Truth is true
bhakti (devotion). It is the path that leads to God, and therefore there is no
place in it for cowardice, no place for defeat. It is the talisman by which
death itself becomes the portal of life eternal.
Non-possession or Poverty
Civilization, in the real sense of
the term, consists not in the multiplication, but in the deliberate and
voluntary reduction of wants. This alone promotes real happiness and
contentment and increases the capacity for service.
From the standpoint of pure Truth,
the body too is a possession. It has been truly said, that desire for enjoyment
creates bodies for the soul. When this desire vanishes, there remains no
further need for the body, and man is free from the vicious cycle of births and
deaths. The soul is omnipresent; why should she care to be confined within the
cage-like body, or do evil and even kill for the sake of the cage? We thus
arrive at the ideal of total renunciation and learn to use the body for the
purposes of service so long as it exists, so much so that service, and not
bread, becomes with us the staff of life. We eat and drink, sleep and awake,
for service alone. Such an attitude of mind brings us real happiness and the beatific vision in the fullness of time. Let us examine ourselves from this
standpoint.
We should remember, that
Non-possession is a principle applicable to thoughts, as well as to things.
One, who fills his brain with useless knowledge, violates that inestimable
principle. Thoughts, which turn us away from God, or do not turn us towards
Him, constitute impediments in our way. In this connection, we may consider the
definition of knowledge contained in the 13th chapter of the Gita. We are there
told, that humility (amanitvam) etc. constitute knowledge, and all the rest is
ignorance. If this is true - and there is no doubt that it is true - much that
we hug today as knowledge is ignorance pure and simple, and therefore, only
does us harm, instead of conferring any benefit. It makes the mind wander, and
even reduces it to a vacuity, and discontent flourishes in endless
ramifications of evil. Needless to say, this is not a plea for intertia. Every
moment of our life should be filled with activity, but that activity should be
sattvika, tending to Truth. One, who has consecrated his life to service,
cannot be idle for a single moment. But one has to learn to distinguish between
good activity and evil activity. This discernment goes naturally with a
single-minded devotion to service.
Fearlessness
Every reader of the Gita knows that
fearlessness heads the list of the Divine Attributes enumerated in the 16th
chapter. Whether this is merely due to the exigencies of metre, or whether the
pride of place has been deliberately yielded to fearlessness, is more than I
can say. In my opinion, however, fearlessness richly deserves the first rank
assigned to it there. For it is a sine qua non for the growth of the other
noble qualities. How can one seek Truth, or cherish Love, without fearlessness?
As Pritam has it, 'the path of Hari (the Lord) is the path of the brave, not of
cowards'. Hari here means Truth, and the brave are those armed with
fearlessness, not with the sword, the rifle and other carnal weapons, which,
strictly speaking, are affected only by cowards.
Fearlessness connotes freedom from
all external fear - fear of disease, bodily injury and death, of dispossession,
of losing one's nearest and dearest, of losing reputation or giving offence,
and so on. One, who overcomes the fear of death, does not surmount all other
fears, as is commonly but erroneously supposed. Some of us do not fear death but flee from the minor ills of life. Some are ready to die themselves, but
cannot bear their loved ones to be taken away from them. Some misers will put
up with all this, will part even with their lives, but not their property;
others will do any number of black deeds in order to uphold their supposed
prestige. Some will swerve from the strait and narrow path, which lies clear
before them, simply because they are afraid of incurring the world's odium. The
seeker after Truth must conquer all these fears. He should be ready to
sacrifice his all in the quest of Truth, even as Harishchandra did. The story
of Harishchandra may be only a parable, but every seeker will bear witness to
its truth from his personal experience, and therefore that story is more
precious than any historical fact.
Perfect fearlessness can be attained
only by him who has realized the Supreme, as it implies freedom from delusions.
One can always progress towards this goal by the determined and constant endeavour,
and by cultivating self-confidence.
As I have stated at the very outset,
we must give up all external fears. But the internal foes we must always fear.
We are rightly afraid of animal passion, anger, and the like. External fears
cease of their own accord, when once we have conquered these traitors within
the camp. All fears revolve around the body as the centre, and would, therefore, disappear, as soon as one got rid of attachment for the body. We thus find that all fear is the baseless fabric of our own vision. Fear has no place in
our hearts when we have shaken off the attachment for wealth, for family and
for the body. 'Enjoy the things of the earth by renouncing them' is a noble
percept. Wealth, family and body will be there, just the same; we have only to
change our attitude towards them. All these are not ours, but God's. Nothing
whatever in this world is ours.' Even we ourselves are His. Why, then, should
we entertain any fears? The Upanishad, therefore, directs us 'to give up
attachment for things, while we enjoy them'. That is to say, we must be
interested in them, not as proprietors, but as only trustees. He, on whose
behalf we hold them, will give us the strength and the weapons requisite for
defending them against all usurpers. When we thus cease to be masters and
reduce ourselves to the rank of servants, humbler than the very dust under our
feet, all fears will roll away like mists; we shall attain ineffable peace, and
see Satyanarayana (the God of Truth) face to face.
Tolerance
I did not like this word, but could
not think of a better one. Tolerance implies a gratuitous assumption of the
inferiority of other faiths to one's own, whereas ahimsa teaches us to
entertain the same respect for the religious faiths of others as we accord to
our own, thus admitting the imperfection of the latter. This admission will be
readily made by a seeker of Truth, who follows the law of Love. If we had
attained the full vision of Truth, we would no longer be mere seekers, but
become one with God, for Truth is God. But being only seekers, we prosecute our
quest and are conscious of our imperfection. And if we are imperfect
ourselves, religion, as conceived by us, must also be imperfect. We have not
realized religion as in its perfection, even as we have not realized God. The religion of our conception, being thus imperfect, is always subject to a
process of evolution and reinterpretation. Progress towards Truth, towards God,
is possible only because of such evolution. And if all faiths outlined by men
are imperfect, the question of comparative merit does not arise. All faiths
constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect, and liable to error.
Reverence for other faiths need not blind us to their faults. We must be keenly
alive to the defects of our own faith, and must not leave it on that account,
but try to overcome those defects. Looking at all religions with an equal eye,
we would not only not hesitate, but would think it our duty, to adopt into our
faith every acceptable feature of other faiths.
The question then arises: Why should
there be so many different faiths? The soul is gone, but the bodies which she
animates are many. We cannot reduce the number of bodies, yet we recognize the
unity of the Soul. Even as a tree has a single trunk, but many branches and
leaves, so is there one true and perfect religion, but it becomes many, as it
passes through the human medium. The one Religion is beyond all speech.
Imperfect men put it into such language as they can command and their words are
interpreted by other men equally imperfect. Whose interpretation is to be held
to be the right one? Everyone is right from his own standpoint, but it is not
impossible that everyone is wrong. Hence the necessity for tolerance, which
does not mean indifference towards one's own faith but a more intelligent and
purer love for it. Tolerance gives us spiritual insight, which is as far from
fanaticism as the North Pole is from the South. True knowledge of religion
breaks down the barriers between faith and faith. Cultivation of tolerance for
other faiths will impart to us a truer understanding of our own.
Tolerance obviously does not disturb
the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil. The reference here
throughout is naturally to the principal faiths of the world. They are all
based on common fundamentals. They have all produced saintly men and women.
Humility
Humility cannot be an observance by
itself. For it does not lend itself to being practised. It is, however, an
indispensable test of ahimsa. In one who has ahimsa in him, it becomes part of
his very nature.
But although humility is not one of
the observances, it certainly as essential as, and perhaps even more essential
than, any one of them. Only it never came to anyone by practice. Truth can be
cultivated, as well as Love. But to cultivate humility is tantamount to
cultivating hypocrisy. Humility must not be here confounded with mere manners
or etiquette. One man will sometimes prostrate himself before another, although
his heart is full of bitterness against the latter. This is not humility, but
cunning. A man may repeat Ramanama, or tell his beads all day long, and move in a society like a sage; but if he is selfish at heart, he is not meek, but only
hypocritical.
A humble person is not himself
conscious of his humility. Truth and the like perhaps admit of measurement, but
not humility. Inborn humility can never remain hidden, and yet the possessor is
unaware of its existence. The story of Vasistha and Vishvamitra furnishes a
very good case in point. Humility should make the possessor realize that he is
as nothing. Directly one imagines oneself to be something, there is egotism. If
a man who keeps observances is proud of keeping them, they will lose much, if
not all of their values. And a man who is proud of his virtue often becomes a
curse to society. Society will not appreciate it, and he himself will fail to
reap any benefit out of it. Only a little thought will suffice to convince us,
that all creatures are nothing more than a mere atom in this universe. Our
existence as embodied beings is purely momentary; what are a hundred years in
eternity? But if we shatter the chains of egotism, and are melted in the ocean
of humanity, we share its dignity. To feel that we are something is to set up a
barrier between God and ourselves. To cease feeling that we are something is to
become one with God. A drop in the ocean partakes of the greatness of its
parent, although it is unconscious of it. But it is dried up, as soon as it
enters upon an existence independent of the ocean. We do not exaggerate when we
say that life is a mere bubble.
A life of service must be one of
humility. One, who would sacrifice his life for others, has hardly time to
reserve for himself a place in the sun. Intertia must not be mistaken for
humility, as it has been in Hinduism. True humility means most strenuous and
constant endeavour entirely directed to the service of humanity. God is
performing continuous action without resting for a single moment. If we would
serve Him or become one with Him, our activity must be as unwearied as His.
There may be rest in store for the drop which is separated from the ocean, but
not for the drop in the ocean, which knows no rest. The same is the case with
ourselves. As soon as we become one with the ocean in the shape of God, there
is no more rest for us, nor indeed do we need rest any longer. Our very sleep
is action. For we sleep with the thought of God in our hearts. This
restlessness constitutes true rest. This never-ceasing agitation holds the key
to peace ineffable. This supreme state of total surrender is difficult to
describe, but not beyond the bounds of human experience.