There is no need to introduce Mahatma Gandhi, as he was such a brilliant sunshine in the history of India that one can identify him from a small hint about him.
Born on 2nd October 1969 in Porbandar, Gujarat. He not only help India to win freedom but he is also a philosopher in himself, who tried to guide us on many issues.
His guiding lights in his life were many but some of the important ones are listed below:-
- 'The Kingdom of God is Within You' - by Leo Tolstoy
- 'Unto this Last' - by Ruskin Bond (brought magical spell in Gandhi's life)
- Gopal Krishna Gokhale (a moderate leader) - His 'Political Guru' from whom he learnt value of life and ethics.
- Gita, Upnishad, Bible, Buddha, Sukrat and Prophet Muhammad were also guided him throughout his life.[post_ads]
Also Read: Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi Part 2
Religious Basis of Politics
According to Gandhiji religion tames the savage nature of man. It not only binds a man to god but also man to man. He argued that spiritualisation of politics helps in genuine claims of the society and human kind.
Basically religious nature of politics according to him is the concept of spiritualised and moralised form of politics or Karmyog.
When he talks about religion in politics, he is not emphasising on 'Theocracy', instead it is aimed at progressive nature of politics which can help in attaining justice and truth.
His thoughts on Religious Basis of Politics can be summarised from following quote:
I can say without the slightest hesitation and yet in all humility ,that who says that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means? Politics bereft of religion is a death trap because they kill the soul. - Mahatma Gandhi
Non Violence
According to Gandhi when a person claims to be non-violent, he is expected not to be angry on those who hurt/injured him.
His philosophy of non-violence is not limited to only human being, but it extends to all forms of life.
But he made it clear that non-violence does not mean cowardice, but putting one's whole soul against the will of the tyrant.
Further he quoted that:-
A person who can express non-violence in life, excercises force greater than all the forces of brutality. - Mahatma Gandhi
He was so committed to Non-violence that once he said:-
I would certainly retire from the political life if I find that India can not imbibe my message of non-violence and that India wants a bloody revolution. I should have no part in that movement because I do not believe in it's utility either for India or for the world.[post_ads_2]
Satyagraha
According to Gandhi world is resting on the bedrock of Satya or truth. According to Gandhi 'Satyagraha' is not a weapon of the weak, coward, unarmed or helpless. It is a weapon of morally vigilant and active one.
According Simone Panter Brick(Gandhi's Biographer), Gandhi's Satyagraha rejects. violent but not fighting. It is a war without violence. Satyagraha is not a resistance of evil by evil. It is the resistance of evil by it's opposite i.e. 'good'. It is war between two opposite forces instead of two like forces.
Gandhiji believed that evil can be fought only by good not evil as fire can be extinguished only w by not by fire. Fighting evil by evil multiplies evil.
The famous quote of Gandhi regarding this is
An eye for an eye would certainly make the whole world blind. - Gandhi
Means and Ends
According to Gandhi Means and ends are independent from each other but both are equally important. He believed that to achieve good end/goal the means must be good otherwise goal can't be achieved or if the goal is achieved disvalue or loss in addition must be realised .
He prophesied that if our means are good than end/goal will be reached surely, whether sooner or later.
He said that end/goal is 'Satya' or Truth, while the means/way is 'non-violence'. similarly as the seed is the way and tree as the end result.
He had not wanted to achieve political independence by way of violence. He said that if India takes up arms, it might get independence rapidly but the prides of India in his heart would have been fade down. A goal achieved by wrong means is not a real goal, but proves before long to be an illusion.
Trusteeship
Concerning the ownership of property Gandhiji proposed his famous theory of Trusteeship, an economic extension of his philosophical concept in which every man is deemed to be the trustee of everything what he had including his powers, capacities, energy and time.
According to him, industrialists who employ more than certain number of workers should not deem his company as a property but it should be deemed as a Social trust.
Industrialists should work along with his workers, to take no more than what he is needed for a moderate life and ensure good wages, healthy working conditions and welfare schemes to workers.
Both workers as well as industrialists should regard themselves as a trustee of customers and ensure that shoddy products is not to be produced nor the exorbitant prices is to be charged.
One part of the profit from business should be devoted to the welfare of society and the remaining should be devoted to the development of the industry.
He further cleared that his theory of trusteeship should not be confused with the 'state socialism'. According to him 'state socialism' is bound to dictatorship.
For the development of economy, industries should be free from 'state socialism'. Hence He proposed that in the trusteeship, industrialists are to be free to bequeath his company to his son or anyone he likes. He said that trusteeship should be enforced only through educated and organised public opinion or Satyagraha if all these couldn't work, government can enforce trusteeship by a law.
The current concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of PSUs and other big companies is somewhat based on this principle of trusteeship.