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: Panchayat Raj
78. PANCHAYAT RAJ Village Republics INDIA HAS had experience of..... village republics, as they were called by Mayne. I fancy that they were unconsciously governed by nonviolence..... An effort has now to be made to revive them under a deliberate nonviolent plan. (H, 4-8-1940, p. 240) The best, quickest and most efficient way is to build up from the bottom..... Every village has to become a self-sufficient republic. This does not require brave resolutions. It requires brave, corporate, intelligent work..... (H, 18-1-1922, p. 4) Independence must begin at the bottom. Thus, every village will be a republic or Panchayat having full powers. It follows, therefore, that every village has to be self-sustained and capable of managing its affairs ev... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Trusteeship: Economic Equality
55. ECONOMIC EQUALITY Inequalities in intelligence and even opportunity will last till the end of time. A man living on the banks of a river has any day more opportunity of growing crops than one living in an arid desert. But if inequalities stare us in the face, the essential equality too is not to be missed. (YI, 26-3-1931, p. 49) My Idea of Society My idea of society is that while we are born equal, meaning that we have a right to equal opportunities, all have not the same capacity. It is, in the nature of things, impossible. For instance, all cannot have the same height, or color or degree of intelligence, etc.; therefore, in the nature of things, some will have ability to earn more and others less. People with talents will have more, a... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)

Freedom: All-Round Village Service
77. ALL-ROUND VILLAGE SERVICE THE REAL India lies in the 7,00,000 villages. If Indian civilization is to make its full contribution to the building up of a stable world order, it is this vast mass of humanity that has….to be made to live again. (H, 27-4-1947, p. 122) We have to tackle the triple malady which holds our villages fast in its grip: (I) want of corporate sanitation; (ii) deficient diet; (iii) inertia ... They [villagers] are not interested in their own welfare. They don’t appreciate modern sanitary methods. They don’t want to exert themselves beyond scratching their farms or doing such labor as they are used to. These difficulties are real and serious. But they must not baffle us… We must have an unquen... (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.)

FOREWORD TO THE REVISED EDITION It gives me pleasure that a new, revised and enlarged edition of The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, edited by Shri Prabhu and Shri Rao is being published by the Navajivan Trust. The first two editions of the book were very popular and its translations had appeared in several languages. In the new edition, Gandhiji’s thoughts in the last few years of his life have been incorporated. Thus the book has been brought uptodatc. “Who, indeed, can claim to know the mind of the Great?” is a famous saying of the Poet Bhavabhuti. Gandhiji was a great man; nevertheless, he had laid bare his mind in its fullness before the world. For his part, he had permitted no secrecy. Even so, I must confess, the last chapt... (From : TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)