The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi : Compiled & Edited by R.K. Prabhu & U. R. Rao

Part 15 : Orbiter Dicta
XV. ORBITER DICTA SOURCES A An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth: M.K. Gandhi : translated from Gujarati by Mahadev Desai :Navajivan Publishing House. Ahmedabad; vol. I, 1927; Vol. II, 1929; edition used: 1959 AA Asia and the Americas: Monthly Magazine published from New York. ABP Amrita Bazar Patrika: English daily published from Calcutta. AG Among the Great: Dilip Kumar Roy; introduction by S. Radhakrishnan; Nalanda Publication, Bombay, 1945; edition used; reprint: Jaico Publications, Bombay, 1950 AOA Ashram Observances in Action: Translated from Gujarati by V.G. Desai ; Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad,1955. BC The Bombay Chroni... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 14, Chapter 96 : Brotherhood: The World of Tomorrow
96. THE WORLD OF TOMORROW PERHAPS NEVER before has there been so much speculation about the future as there is today. Will our world always be one of violence? Will there always be poverty, starvation, misery? Will we have a firmer and wide belief in religion, or will the world be godless? If there is to be a great change in society, how will that change be wrought? By war, or revolution? Or will it come peacefully? Different men give different answers to these questions, each man drawing the plan of tomorrow’s world as he hopes and wishes it to be. I answer not only out of belief but out of conviction. The world of tomorrow will be, must be, a society based on nonviolence. That is the first law; out of it all other blessings will flow. It may seem a distant goal, an impractical Utopia. But it is not in the least unobtainable, since it can be worked for here and now. An individual can adopt the way of life of the future-the nonviolent way-without having t... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 14, Chapter 95 : Brotherhood: The Way to Peace
95. THE WAY TO PEACE (A) Disarmament I DO suggest that the doctrine [of nonviolence] holds good also as between States and States. I know that I am treading on delicate ground if I refer to the late War. But I fear I must, in order to make the position clear. It was a war of aggrandizement, as if have understood, on either part. It was a war for dividing the spoils of the exploitation of weaker races-otherwise euphemistically called the world commence... It would be found that, before general disarmament in Europe commences, as it must some day unless Europe is to commit suicide, some nation will have to dare to disarm herself and take large risks. The level of nonviolence in that nation, if that every happily comes to pass, will naturally have risen so high as to command universal respect. Her judgments will be unerring, her decision firm, her capacity for heroic self-sacrifice will be great, and she will want to live as much for other nations as for herse... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 14, Chapter 94 : Brotherhood: The Atom Bomb
94. THE ATOM BOMB There have been cataclysmic changes in the world. Do I still adhere to my faith in truth and nonviolence? Has not the atom bomb exploded that faith? Not only has it not done so, but it has clearly demonstrated to me that the twins constitute the mightiest force in the world. Before it the atom bomb is of no effect. The two opposing forces are wholly different in kind, the one moral and spiritual, the other physical and material. The one is infinitely superior to the other which by its very nature has an end. The force of the spirit is ever progressive and endless. Its full expression makes it unconquerable in the world. In saying this I know that I have said nothing new. I merely bear witness to the fact. What is more, the force resides in everybody, man, woman and child, irrespective of the color of the skin. Only, in many it lies dormant. But it is capable of being awakened by judicious training. It is further to be observed that, without th... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Part 14, Chapter 93 : Brotherhood: War and Peace
93. WAR AND PEACE My Participation in War EVEN AFTER introspection during all these years, I feel that, in the circumstances in which I found myself, I was bound to adopt the course I did both during the Boer War and the Great European War and, for that matter, the so-called Zulu ‘rebellion’ of Natal in 1906. Life is governed by a multitude of forces. It would be smooth sailing if one could determine the course of one’s actions only be one general principle whose application at a given moment was too obvious to need even a moment’s reflection. But I cannot recall a single act which could be so easily determined. Being a confirmed war resister, I have never given myself training in the use of destructive weapons in spite of opportunities to take such training. It was perhaps thus that I escaped direct destruction of human life. But so long as I lived under a system of Government based on force and voluntarily partook o... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Freedom: The Gospel of Freedom
XII. FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY 64. THE GOSPEL OF FREEDOM THERE IS no such thing as slow freedom. Freedom is like a birth. Till we are fully free, we are slaves. All birth takes place in a moment. (YI, 9-3-1922, p. 148) Gilded Slavery Golden fetter are no less galling to a self-respecting man than iron ones. The sting lies in the fetters, not in the metal. (YI, 6-6-1929, p. 188) To my mind golden shackles are far worse than iron ones, for one easily feels the irksome and galling nature of the latter, and is prone to forget the former. If, therefore, India must be in chains, I would they were of iron rather than of gold or other precious metals. (YI, 16-1-1930, p. 17) Right to Freedom Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom t... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Of Myself: My Fasts
06. MY FASTS MY RELIGION teaches me that, whenever there is distress which one cannot remove, one must fast and pray. (YI, 25-9-1924, p. 319) They [fasts] are a part of my being. I can as well do without my eyes, for instance, as I can without fasts. What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner. (YI, 3-12-1925, p. 422) Higher Dictate I am not responsible for these fasts. I do not undertake them for my amusement. I would not torture the flesh for the love of fame. Though I bear joyfully the pangs of hunger and many other discomforts of fasting, let no one imagine that I do not suffer. These fasts are bearable only because they are imposed upon me by a higher Power and the capacity to bear the pain also comes from that Power... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Swadeshi: Meaning of Swadeshi
87. MEANING OF SWADESHI Spirit of Swadeshi SWADESHI is that spirit in us which restricts us to the use and service of our immediate surroundings to the exclusion of the more remote. Thus, as for religion, in order to satisfy the requirements of the definition, I must restrict myself to my ancestral religion. That is, the use of my immediate religious surrounding. If I find it defective, I should serve it by purging it of its defects. In the domain of politics, I should make use of the indigenous institutions and sere them by curing them of their proved defects. In that of economics I should use only things that are produced by my immediate neighbors and serve those industries by making them efficient and complete where they might be found w... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Trusteeship: Non-Violent Economy
54. NONVIOLENT ECONOMY Economic, Ethics I must confess that I do not draw a sharp or any distinction between economics and ethics. Economics that hurt the moral well-being of an individual or a nation are immoral and, therefore, sinful. Thus the economics that permit one country to prey upon another are immoral. It is sinful to buy and use articles made by sweated labor. (YI, 13-10-1921, p. 325) The economics that disregard moral and sentimental considerations are like wax works that, being life-like, still lack the life of the living flesh. At every crucial moment thus new-fangled economic laws have broken down in practice. And nations or individuals who accept them as guiding maxims must perish. (YI, 27-10-1921, p. 344) That economics is ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Brotherhood: No Culture Isolation For Me
90. NO CULTURE ISOLATION FOR ME I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. I refuse to live in other people’s houses as an interloper, a beggar or a slave. (YI, 1-6-1921, p. 170) Nothing can be farther from my thought than that we should become exclusive or erect barriers. But I do respectfully contend that an appreciation of other cultures can fitly follow, never precede, an appreciation and assimilation of our own. It is my firm opinion that no culture has treasures so rich as ours has. We have not known it, we have been made even to deprecate its study and depreciate ... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)