Gandhi's Religious Thought - (review part-2)

INNER VOICE

Chatterjee has dedicated one complete chapter to talk about Gandhi’s view of spirituality. From Indian perspective, it is hard to talk about religion and spirituality in rigid terms like what it means to the west. These terms have no exact counterpart in either Hinduism or Indian languages which would mean and express the same sentiments that these terms express. Hinduism is centred on the concept of Dharma where questions of God’s existence become ancillary. For Gandhi, God is Truth and his spiritual and physical endeavours are directed towards the search of the latter. Chatterjee mentions how Gandhi has digressed from traditional Hindu practices of YajnA and PUjA and has replaced them with soul-force and prayer respectively. This is where Chatterjee embarks upon understanding an important concept in Gandhi’s scheme of things, the inner voice. She says that the link between the soul-force and prayer is the inner voice. It is the power which is released through self-sacrificing acts especially when embarked upon collectively.

Her efforts are to understand this inner voice and Gandhi’s experience of prayer. She starts by understanding Gandhi’s attitude towards rituals and sacraments. It is important over here to mention his views on this topic. He said that works done without faith and prayers were like artificial flowers without fragrance. Nevertheless, Gandhi was sensitive to the presence of symbolism in religious life. He thought symbolism was instrumental to give shape to what was invisible to the human eye but clearly visible to the eye of human imagination.

Indian religious life was full of symbolism whether in food, dress, dances, Kirtan so on and so forth. Gandhi accepted them gladly but was also critical of the accompanying cruelty, unhygienic conditions, rudimentary practices like untouchability etc. He himself introduced new symbols like wearing Khadi - a symbol of self-sufficiency and doing one’s own things that would reduce dependencies. Chatterjee is trying to show that for Gandhi, the insistence on prayer and devotion was also somehow linked to the expression of symbols like those mentioned above.

Chatterjee pays special attention to digging deep in Gandhi’s inner voice. For Gandhi, the inner voice could mean a message from either God or Devil since both wrestle in the human breast. Act determine the nature of voice. This is his attempt at ultimately making the man responsible for his acts done out of responding to the inner voice. The purity of the final act would determine if it was the God or the Devil who spoke initially. This is similar to saying that everything is pre-defined however we can still shape our destiny. Whatever shape we give to it, it was pre-destined to receive that shape.

Gandhi clarifies his position on inner voice, for those to whom it sounded obstructionist in current form, as it simply being the dictates of reason. He said that these dictates contained both authority and power but revealed themselves only to those men who had undergone purificatory discipline of a Satyagrahi and have faith in God. Gandhi held the view that if one listened to his inner voice then he would come in tune with the universe which will gives the power to stand alone in the harshest of the harsh conditions. He was very fond of a song that Tagore wrote during independence movement. ‘Ekla Cholo’- the song motivates the lone worker to struggle for freedom even when no one responds to the call in dark.

Chatterjee mentions that Gandhi never really liked the titles that were given to him. Neither Karmaveer nor Mahatma. He considered himself a humble seeker after truth and a devotee of God. Gandhi found it hard to accept anything that made him stand apart from his fellow brothers and sisters. His belief in Advaita stood in front of him as a roadblock. In one of the paragraphs that Chatterjee mentions, his belief in Advaita is clearly stated by him. He said God and his laws were one. Anything attributed to God was not a mere attribute. God was the attribute. God was the truth, love, law and a million things that human ingenuity could name. That if one individual gained spiritually, all gained around him. If he fell the whole world would fall.

As the chapter closes, Chatterjee explores that important conduit through which the inner voice is approached- prayer. For Gandhi, prayer was a means of self-purification. It arose from the hunger of the soul. When he prayed for an ailing friend, we also see his rational outlook towards prayer. He said that he didn’t know if prayer would add even a single second to the life for which he prayed. But it definitely comforted those who were prayed for and elevated those who prayed. Gandhi paid special attention to congregational prayers. These were accompanied not by a sermon or homily but a public address which dealt with very practical day to day matters of the ashram, the political events of the day and social challenges needed to be met. These mass prayer sessions were also a lesson in self-discipline. Even when no idols and images were used in his prayer gatherings, even when they were held under open skies, hundreds of thousands flocked. Gandhi was training them to listen to their inner voice. 

Gandhi's Religious Thought by Margaret Chatterjee - Review (P-1)

I recently wrote an in-depth review of Margaret Chatterjee's book Gandhi's Religious Thought.

Here is the review in piecewise format.

Margaret Chatterjee has divided the book into broad theme-based chapters. These themes are ideas and concepts which Gandhi believed in. I have tried to divide the review into these themes and also separate them under different headings for convenience. These are Dharma, Inner Voice, Truth, Suffering and Secularism. Her research covers Gandhi’s correspondence with several peers, his written works and his dialogues with interviewers, his public speeches, Indian National Congress’ addresses so on and so forth. The tract written, by and large to understand Gandhi from a religious perspective is a multidimensional endeavour. It is rich with anecdotes from Gandhi’s life which stem out several sub-themes and often lead the discussion in unrequited directions. Chatterjee confesses herself that to put Gandhi into a religious perspective inside some limited calculated pages is not a very good idea. To give an example to this would be to mention chapter 4 where Chatterjee discusses Gandhi’s experimentation with truth. She starts with talking about the ontological presence of truth in the Indian school of thought, goes on to talk about truth from the perspective of dharma as present in Mahabharata. However, after that she talks about the way Gandhi looks at the relationship between man and nature which digresses the discussion on truth for some pages. She is indeed trying to drive home some points from these little offline discussions, but I find them confusing at times.

There is a lot of content that Chatterjee wants to talk about. She has also included commentaries and responses of Gandhi’s peers and critics to give a multi-sided view of several issues. This is not to say that she is neutral in her approach towards Gandhi. After reading the chapters, one realizes that Chatterjee has endeavoured to understand Gandhi from a religious perspective rather point out fallacies in his complex and often misunderstood scheme of things.

DHARMA

Chatterjee believes that Dharma is the central religious concept of Hinduism.  Its understanding is very important in order to understand various other concepts that stem out of it. However before moving in that direction, Chatterjee want us to understand the basis of Gandhi’s religion. Gandhi believed it was pity, daya. He also mentioned that is was necessary to revive Hinduism of its pity and compassion. Gandhi linked pity for his fellow beings in the same way as Hanuman held devotion for Lord Rama. For Gandhi finds the reflection of his God in people, he showed the same dedication to them as Hanuman showed it to his God. He said that Hanuman tore his heart to show that there was nothing inside but Ramnama and that although he did not have same power but if someone would feel the need to do so, he would only find love for Ram whom he saw in the faces of the starving millions of India.

She proceeds to explain the meaning of Dharma. It is an ethico-religious concept which is perhaps also closer to the Judaic idea of righteousness. Etymologically, it stood to hold an ideal society where each person would do his designated work and it in turn had to be held by the society. Another related term called Swadharma stems out from Dharma, which mean self-Dharma. This idea means doing what is one’s proper business to do and setting up limits to ambitions enabling a man to develop his potentialities. Gandhi believed in the notion of hereditary occupation for which he gave dual reasoning. One, an ideal one that if everyone did their designated jobs communities will become self-sufficient and second, that industrialisation would erode traditional hereditary occupations leading to unemployment. For these reasons, he supported the Varna-ashram dharmas or the caste duties. He however was completely against the abhorrent activity of untouchability or throwing people out of the system of four castes, the outcastes.

Gandhi’s understanding of Dharma lies on a categorical path. This is to say that there is a near-Kantian element in his belief that man must know how to differentiate between dharma and its anti-thesis.

Gandhi, Chatterjee says, was never guilty of academic verbiage. He was a man of people and not a professional philosopher of theologian. If he would speak in a formal language which the people would not understand, his motive would fail. His understanding of dharma was something like complete categorical dedication to the God with a humble heart. This has to be done with a sense of duty, nishkam-karma, with a certain sense of detachment and without the expectation of fruits. The humility stems from Anasakti – selfless action and bhakti of the God.

Chatterjee talks more about concepts of God in chapters to come.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi- the saint of action

Gandhi emerged as an exceptional political strategist with an unconventional personality. He took an active interest in the lives of people and community at large which made him a man of politics albeit a very peculiar one. This is because he didn’t work within the traditional paradigm of politics. He was not systematic at all. He did not follow the traditional rules of politics. People defy political orders and histories of every country are a living testimony to it. People resist with all strength and anger. But Gandhi’s lesson of defiance was different. He said, ‘one can disobey only if there’s scope to obey, but in our case there’s no question to obey anything.’ His disobedience had an element of detachment. This is the important juncture where he juxtaposed the spiritual with the practical. The detachment stemmed out of the spiritual and the spiritual out of religion. This shall be my aim- to understand how Gandhi reconciles religion with politics.

First look at his qualities will present a plethora of contradictions. Such as Religion and Politics; a combination that every modern nation wants to shy away from. Secularism is the motto of the day. But Gandhi enforced that politics must be reformed through religion. In my opinion, he even believed that politics is an outgrowth of religion. More contradictions- he was ideal and romantic but also realistic and shrewd. Believed in universal equality but still accepted the castes and Varnashrama Dharma. However after reading more and understanding him better I realized that Gandhi understood these ideas from a standpoint where they were not contradictions at all. Gandhi justified how idealism will go hand in hand with realism, how equality and freedom will go hand in hand with caste duties and how politics was a subset of religion. He also admitted that his views may become inconsistent with the time, but that was also justified in his system of things.

To understand this extraordinary personality and how he cultivated himself, we must understand his scheme of things, his influences and his objectives- immediate and long term.

Let us for a moment not look at Gandhi as the Mahatma or a politician who fought for our independence but instead as a middle class boy born and brought up in a traditional religious Gujarati family belonging to the Bania (Merchant) caste. If we read his autobiography we will find the early sources of his religious leanings. Ladha Maharaj, a friend of his father would often visit his home to read Tulsidas’ Ramayana and young Gandhi often listened with rapt attention. He was exposed to Jain beliefs through his mother’s contacts. Very soon, he came in contact with Raychandbhai, a Jain philosopher, who later became his spiritual guide during his years in South Africa. He was very impressed by the teachings of Bhagavad Gita and went so far to translate them. His western influences were John Ruskin’s ‘Unto this last’ which mainly discussed the Sermon on the Mount and Tolstoy’s ‘Kingdom of God is within you.’ ‘Offer the other cheek also if someone slaps you,’ repeated Gandhi very often from the Sermon. He was also influenced by folk traditions, stories, and hymns, especially that of Narsinh Mehta’s. The Bhagavad Gita and the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta had the most significant influence on him. The retelling of these influences is very important because they had been instrumental in shaping Gandhi’s thoughts.

From a psychological point of view, I am trying to understand the way in which Advaita Vedanta of Gita and Upanishads, the Jain, folk and epic literary texts had shaped his mind and thoughts. His own individual endeavours to train himself with vows and forced discipline were equally instrumental. But I see that even his self-training was an outcome of religion. He was training himself to be a seeker. What was he seeking? Later. Once we understand his thoughts, we would see why he was unlike ordinary men and women and did not qualify as any traditional politician. We will also see how he observed the world around him and will get justifications of his actions in his private spheres like relations with his wife, sons and extended family friends and in public life which were mostly political and social in nature.

What was Gandhi interested in? Were these interests political in nature? Did he have any self-interests?

Gandhi was a religious man and he believed that he was only a humble servant of the Lord of the universe. The Bhagavad Gita had taught him the theory of Nishkan-karma which meant to be simultaneously in a state of action and detachment both. In Gita, Krishna told Arjun that he was a Karmayogi therefore he must follow his Dharma. Gandhi also took himself to be a karmayogi - the humble servant of the Lord- who had to pursue his dharma. But before proceeding we must understand the meaning of these terms and the central concept of Advaita around which all of them are woven.

Gandhi thought in a certain way that subscribed to the school of non-dualism. He was aware of the Atman present in each and every person, animal and objects of nature. He was also aware of the universal Brahman that existed independently. ‘Brahma is the imperishable supreme aspect of God and Adhyatama is the individual soul living in the body of all beings as the doer and the enjoyer,’ [1]he said. He asserted the Advaita when he said ‘the supreme state of Brahma is reached by sages who have freed themselves from the likes and dislikes by observing Brahmacharya.’[2] Gandhi was of the view that humans were perfectible and that the Atman could reach the universal Brahman. Bhagavad Gita gave ample evidence of this perfectibility by presenting Krishna as the mortal who carried the Supreme God within him. In Bhagavad Gita, Krishna said, ‘the man of vision (who loves me, does my bhakti) and I are one. His whole soul is one in me and I am his supreme path.’[3] Gandhi’s views on human perfectibility were also corroborated by his belief in the Jain ideal of Syadvad. These views were formed mostly by staying in touch with Raychandbhai. Syadvad means the presence of multiplicity of individual truths. Everyone holds fast their own truths and they are false only if they are considered to be exclusive. Syadvad believes that the universal truth is the collective whole of all the individual truths. This is similar to saying that the Atman is the truth within and the universal Brahman is the ultimate truth. One must hold fast to his individual truth and seek towards the ultimate truth. Gandhi believed that the journey from Atman to Brahman can take place only when the ego within is extinguished and we served ourselves humbly to the universal lord. The seeker must pursue the absolute.

Back to the first question. Why did he seek at all? What were his interests? Does this absolute truth also mean Moksha?

At this important point we must understand that Gandhi was not seeking the absolute truth out of any interests. He was seeking it as a duty. Why? Because in the affairs of mortal life a karmayogi must follow his dharma, which in the Upanishadic sense means right conduct or righteous duty. Just as Arjun finally decided to fight for righteousness when Krishna exhorted him to follow his dharma, Gandhi decided to follow his dharma which was his duty to pursue the absolute truth or the universal God. He did not questions this and performed it with a sense of detachment, the nishkam-karm. Moksha comes later. We must first understand the nature of this universal God, in Gandhi’s scheme of things.

Gandhi gave his own interpretation to the God of Gita. He called him the Daridranarayan or the God of the weak. Borrowing from Advaita, he saw the absolute Brahman as a collective of individual Atmans of all people. This was similar to Vivekananda’s interpretation and explained the etymology of the word Harijan. ‘God lives in the starving millions,’ he said many a times. The 3 supreme ideas mentioned in Bhagavad Gita are of Gyan (Light), Bhakti (Love) and Karma (Life). As mentioned above, Krishna said in Gita that the supreme Lord could be attained only by doing his bhakti. Since Gandhi’s God resided in people he did the bhakti of the masses by dedicating his karma towards them.

So far we have understood that Gandhi as a seeker was pursuing the absolute truth (ultimate Brahman) because a karmayogi must follow his dharma. Dharma dictates righteous duty, which in turn means complete dedication to the Lord Almighty- ultimate Brahman. The Lord resided in the weak so dharma dictated complete devotion to the service of the destitute. We should also look at his ways to serve God, the starving millions.

Gandhi was a Hindu but he accepted the religion in a selective manner. He did not blindly followed all sacraments and tenets. He went so far to say that those Vedas which asked for sacrifices and indicated towards subjugation of the weak must be ignored. He paid immense importance to the Jain ideals of Brahmacharya, Aparigraha, Satya, Asteya and Ahimsa and very craftily added them into his scheme of things which was originally inspired from the wisdom of Gita and stories from the epic literatures of India namely Ramayana and Mahabharata. For him these ideals were instrumental in serving the poor. He invoked the element of pity, daya from Bhagvad Gita as crucial for this service. His favourite hymn ‘Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je, peed paraayi jaane re’ originally written by Narsinh Mehta means Vaishnava (devotees of Lord Vishnu) people are those who feel the pain of others. He was a staunch believer of reincarnation, which is a central tenet of classic Hinduism but was of the opinion that he wanted to be born again and again to serve the weak endlessly. This was his definition of serving and dedicating himself forever to the lord almighty. We can see that these ideas emerge out of Bhagvad Gita but Gandhi shaped them in a certain way that suited his understanding of dharma- duty to the Lord. This makes me remark on the beauty of the Bhagavad Gita and its ability to be interpreted by the seeker for what he or she is looking for.

Moksha for Gandhi was complete liberation from any impure thoughts. Any deviance from the route of serving others was an impediment to Moksha. To immerse oneself into dharma, the right conduct, one’s own truth of serving the almighty lord with Anasakti- selfless action, would lead to Moksha. Gandhi wanted to be born again and again so that he can serve the people endlessly and this was Moksha for him. Jain influences made him see life in all beings. Gandhi saw in each being a small part of the Brahman. For him all was sacred so he enforced Ahimsa with all his might. ‘Love your neighbour as your God’. This was his idea of Loksangraha, a collective effort for universal brotherhood. He taught Ahimsa not just in physical aspect but also in spirit. Even a thought of ill-will would broke the principle and was an aberration from Moksha.

He was a karmayogi who wanted to follow his dharma to serve others with detachment and bhakti for endless time. He believed in teaching through setting example. He never forced anyone, but exemplified the life of a karmayogi with tenacious will and determination. He believed that if everyone lived their lives as karmayogis then the human civilisation would set up the Kingdom of God right here on earth. The Advaita reinforced itself again and again as reflected in this thought. Earth and Heaven were same. This was his concept of Ram-Rajya.

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[1] Discourses on the Gita- Mahatma Gandhi Chapter 8.

[2] Discourses on the Gita- Mahatma Gandhi Chapter 8.

[3] Bhagvad Gita- Chapter 7 Verse 18.