Gandhi was a creative reader. After studying all the religious principles prevalent in his time, he had prepared a new life-values compatible with the age religion. While preparing this Navneet, he had to deal with adversity along with pain and dilemma. They went through a process of suffering, conducting bold and imaginative experiments, reflecting on their results and organizing the innate insights gained from them into values of life. Helping him in this was the Indian Arsh-Drishti which proclaims 'Satyan Dharma: Pratishtha' at its starting point itself. Gandhi's secretary Mahadev Desai asked him on one occasion in 1940 that how would you fight an armed enemy without an army? Gandhi, with a smile, pointed to his army and the value of life through the context described in the Lankakand of Manas and said -
“ Sauraj Dheeraj Tehi Rath Chaka. Truth Seal Strong Flag Ensign.
Bal Bibek ghre without heart. Chhama grace samata raju jore.
Go to the chariot of God's life. Jeetan kahan kahan na kathun repu takne.
It is a fact that the real key to understanding Gandhi - 'Satya-Ahimsa and Abhay' - is hidden in these lines. From these interest we can understand the value of life of Gandhi. In just two hundred and fifty words of this episode of Manas, we can see the formulas of Gandhi's value-vision and life-vision.
Gandhi was an experimental person. He did many experiments in his personal, professional and political life. His experiment in the advocacy profession was amazing. They decided that they would not lie in court, would not deceive the judge, would not indulge in wrongful cases and would try everything possible to reach a settlement between the two sides. Needless to say that he always followed it not only in the advocacy profession but in various walks of life. He experimented with the best way to gain absolute control over the senses and found that none of them could be conquered by separating them from the rest. When he felt that a life of self-discipline was not easy, he experimented with the practice of taking vows to build willpower and concluded that they (pledges) were indispensable to life-discipline. He learned from his own experience that the first step on the path of self-conquest seems difficult, but once tasted it, then each subsequent step will become progressively easier and a disciplined life will begin to feel bliss.
Gandhi Gita is infant. He has given Geeta the status of mother. It is the Bhagavad Gita from where he has been getting instructions on the art of living. The study of his politics, economics, non-violent resistance etc. can tell the real source of his power. He also accepts this with a very innocent feeling - 'She is my mother. I look to him for guidance in every difficulty, ... If you are to benefit from his guidance, you must turn to him with complete reverence. ..... This spiritual mother always gives new knowledge, hope and strength to her devotee in her life.” In the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the values of which 'truth-non-violence and fearlessness' show the most insistence and allegiance to him, he got the formulas from the Gita itself. On the surface these three are definitely visible but in reality all three are present in each other. Yes, depending on the subject, the emphasis is sometimes on one and sometimes on the other. He clearly says – “Non-violence and truth are so mixed together that it is difficult to separate them. They are like two sides of a coin or a metal coin which is not stamped. Who can say that it is upper and this is lower." When Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan went to meet Gandhi for the first time, he was armed with weapons. Gandhi told him, "You are afraid, otherwise you would not have needed a gun." He kept listening to them in shock. No one had ever said such a thing to him before. Gandhi said again, "I have no fear, therefore I am unarmed. This is what nonviolence means." Abdul Ghaffar Khan threw his gun. Gandhi believed that “the whole world is one family for the non-violent man. He will not be afraid of anyone, nor will others be afraid of him." This is the correct and scientific definition of the power that comes from non-violence.
Gandhi has created his values of life with pure scientific integrity and experimentation. So they come to the conclusion that 'any man or woman can achieve what I have attained. The condition is that he should try whole-heartedly for it and inculcate that faith in himself. That's why he said that we should not consider truth and non-violence as objects of use only in individual life, but should motivate the organization, community and nation to use it. This is my dream. I will live and die to have it. My faith helps me discover new truths every day.
The values of 'truth-non-violence and fearlessness' have been established and accepted since time immemorial in the Indian thought tradition. Gandhi's greatness lay in that he re-invented these private values as public values of social and political resistance, saying "non-violence is not an exclusive quality to be adopted by the individual for the pursuit of his own peace and salvation." Rather, it is a law of social conduct... Practice of non-violence in everyday affairs reveals its true value." He believed that a virtue which is not useful in every sphere of life, has no value. There was a big reason behind this attachment to non-violence. They realized that violence solves the problem for a show, but in reality it sows the seeds of bitterness and creates enmity which make the situation worse. He also says- “I have used it in every sphere of life like domestic, institutional, economic, political. There is hardly any case in which I have tasted failure."
Often we think that non-violence is synonymous with humility. This is a flawed idea in the eyes of Gandhi. In fact, non-violence confronts its adversary under the shelter of mercy and compassion. But there is a strong will in him that whatever the situation of opposition may be, it will not budge from its place. The truth is that unlike violence, non-violence is subtle and pervasive. Hence it needs to be understood. Its quality does not diminish in detail. In turn, it becomes difficult for the opponent to oppose it. The truth is that Gandhi's values are the seeds of eternal importance within the value of life. It is necessary that their meaning should be recognized in the new terminology in today's context. A day will surely come when the common man will be free from attachment and he will find it essential to have the value of Gandhi's life.
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