Gandhi

Introduction	Ideas of Gandhi
father of indian nationalism next logical step in evolution of indian nationalism after Aurbindo Ghosh Prof Humanyu Kabir : Gandhi was not a philosopher but a strategist. more than philosopher, he was phychologist who understood the mass psychology man of actions never claimed to know the truth, urged to find the truth survey of Times Magazine: second most loved personality after Jesus Christ	non violence satyagraha swaraj sarvodaya critic of modern civilization views on end and means views on rights and duties view on state concept of ram rajya
Source of influence	1. Non-violence/Ahimsa
religious texts like ramayana, buddhist and jain texts, bible, quran Leo Tolstoy book- Kingdom of God within You John Ruskin's book- Unto this lasts influenced by Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau	foundational principle of gandhi path of attainment of truth or god based on ends and means theory if objective of life is attainment of truth, ahimsa is the path (continuity of ends and means) features more than just non-commital of violence feeling of love, fraternity only when feeling of brotherhood for others practiced not just among humans, but animals, birds, environment belongs to world of humans since they have soul humans have reason, consciousness
2. Satyagraha	3.  Critic of Modern Civilization
insistence for truth based on foundational principle of Gandhi non-violence ends and means defined by gandhi conflict between good and evil indians represented good, british state represented evil since aim of movement is to establish ramrajya, methods can't be of ravan gandhi called satyagraha different from passive resistance passive resistance was given by Thoreau  and in indian context by Aurbindo in passive resistance, violence is not used since it is considered not appropriate in a context in passive resistance, the person thinks other as enemy features of satyagraha non-violence is act of faith satyagraha is against evil and not evil doers if someone is my enemy, it is due to me hence i will have to reform myself first hence satyagraha requires sacrifice which is possible only when we love enemy scope of application of satyagraha all scopes of life: from personal to political started the technique in south africa, modified and perfected it proposed mass satyagraha as well as individual satyagraha violence is not quality of humans	tradition of criticizing started with Rousseau due to its nature utilitarianism: reduces man to level of animal, just concerned about satisfaction of appetite materialism: over emphasis on material pleasures, sacrifice of spiritual satisfaction imperialism, fascism are manifestation of modern civilization modern civilization is satanic degrades man to level of animal harmed humans as well as environment source of influence Edward Carpenter demonstrated negative consequences of modern medicine true civilization? rather makes man better human being minimization of wants does not harm society, environment in context of india, didn't favour excessive mechanisation or production by machines favoured production by masses called Machiavellianism defining feature of western civilization purpose of criticising war of position, attempt to build counter hegemony discussed in Hind swaraj
4. Swaraj	5. Gandhi's Sarvodaya
indian version of liberty goal of freedom movement concept kept on evolving moderates: getting greater representation extremists: self govt Aurbindo was first to identify it as complete freedom from foreign rule, rather than dominion status spiritualised the concept freedom means inner freedom concept of freedom should be compatible with peace and harmony of the society Upnishad: swaraj imply self control no real swaraj without self discipline inspired by Leo Tolstoy: kingdom of god is within you swaraj in different spheres political sphere: panchayati raj, democratic decentralisation individual is at the centre ramrajya= stateless society economic sphere life of dignity to millions of people living in poverty included land reforms, revival of cottage industries, promotion of khadi sustainable development kind of model social swaraj fighting against evils of communalism, untouchability cultural sphere one should respect one's own culture culture is part of identity we should accept good things from all culture I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible, but I refuse to be flown off my feet by any.	gandhi's socialism not much originality, translation of John Ruskin's  book- Unto this last theme constructive programme aimed at giving life of dignity to poors we can make people equal in terms of dignity work of barber= work of lawyer concepts bread labour: every person should perform little amount of physical work to realise pain and hardship of those who work trusteeship:  to deal with conflict between labour and capital harmony of classes similar to socialist before Marx capitalist should consider himself not as owner but trustee capital is social production, not contribution of individual gandhi's prescription capitalist can keep what is necessary for self and industry and distribute the rest similar to Aristotle's theory of poverty: private ownership, common use corporate social responsiblity criticism MN Roy: means to protect the interest of capitalist class rather than provide justice to poor land reforms revival of cottage industries
7. Gandhi on role of Ethics in Politics	8. Rights and duties
critical of Machiavellianism separation of ends and means is source of corruption Gokhale emphasised on spiritualisation of politics inspired by plato and socrates politics without ethics is death trap purity of means over ends: illogical to expect rose flower by sowing babool seed ends and means continuity in movements called as satyagraha	rights are present in duty in embryonic form keeps balance between rights and duties Nishkama Karma: in Geeta which suggest performing duty when we do duty, we automatically get rights rights and duty are neither anti-thetical nor independent like Laski's theory of rights and duties (functional theory of rights)
9. State	10. Education
state is antithetical to idea of freedom anarchist state=violence state is symbol of weakness of man	Nayee Taleem learn from book of life focus on vocational education education is life long, person should be capable to finance priority to social forestry, nursing, home science, handicrafts
11. Women	Relevance of Gandhi
successful association of women in national struggle leading role in constructive programmes criticism; feminist term it as traditional, patriarchal sita, draupadi should be ideals for indian women both are symbols of moral strength	man of thought and action non-violent current time of religious fundamentalism frightened religion's response to crisis of identity and integrity can be cured by protest from within interdependence of human we are what we are due to sacrifice of many man should pay back by sacrifice
Daily Views	6. Gandhi on ends and means
Gopalkrishna Gandhi- book: The Oxford India Gandhi: Essential Writings gandhi was a man of deep conviction and man of intense passions Narsinh Mehta's idea was to use harijan for depressed class many people had said gandhi that antyaj, achhut, asprishya hurt their community David Hardiman - book: The Nonviolent Struggle for Indian Freedom, 1905-19 passive resistance brought the freedomo struggle to the subaltern level and it was no more the fight of the educated middle class against the rulers alone himsa and ahimsa were always a matter of debate and they shifted according to time Ramin Jahanbegloo Gandhi and Socrates are similar both preferred self-sacrifice for attainment of goal when fighting injustice, not fear death