Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present SituationGandhi, Mahatma
Religion
Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
Gandhi, Mahatma
British -- India; India -- Politics and government -- 1919-1947; Nonviolence
My reading of the Gita is diametrically opposed to Sir Narayan's. I do
not believe that the Gita teaches violence for doing good. It is
pre-eminently a description of the duel that goes on in our own hearts.
The divine author has used a historical incident for inculcating the
lesson of doing one's duty even at the peril of one's life. It
inculcates performance of duty irrespective of the consequences, for, we
mortals, limited by our physical frames, are incapable of controlling
actions save our own. The Gita distinguishes between the powers of light
and darkness and demonstrates their incompatibility.
Jesus, in my humble opinion, was a prince among politicians. He did
render unto Caesar that which was Caesar's. He gave the devil his due.
He ever shunned him and is reported never once to have yielded to his
incantations. The politics of his time consisted in securing the welfare
of the people by teaching them not to be seduced by the trinkets of the
priests and the pharisees. The latter then controlled and moulded the
life of the people. To-day the system of government is so devised as to
affect every department of our life. It threatens our very existence. If
therefore we want to conserve the welfare of the nation, we must
religiously interest ourselves in the doing of the governors and exert a
moral influence on them by insisting on their obeying the laws of
morality. General Dyer did produce a 'moral effect' by an act of
butchery. Those who are engaged in forwarding the movement of
non-co-operation, hope to produce a moral effect by a process of
self-denial, self-sacrifice and self-purification. It surprises me that
Sir Narayan should speak of General Dyer's massacre in the same breath
as acts of non-co-operation. I have done my best to understand his
meaning, but I am sorry to confess that I have failed.
THE INWARDNESS OF NON-CO-OPERATION
I commend to the attention of the readers the thoughtful letter received
from Miss Anne Marie Peterson. Miss Peterson is a lady who has been in
India for some years and has closely followed Indian affairs. She is
about the sever her connection with her mission for the purpose of
giving herself to education that is truly national.
I have not given the letter in full. I have omitted all personal
references. But her argument has been left entirely untouched. The
letter was not meant to be printed. It was written just after my Vellore
speech. But it being intrinsically important, I asked the writer for her
permission, which she gladly gave, for printing it.
I publish it all the more gladly in that it enables me to show that the
movement of non-co-operation is neither anti-Christian nor anti-English
nor anti-European. It is a struggle between religion and irreligion,
powers of light and powers of darkness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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