Eternal Gandhi - Gandhi's Relevance in Modern India


Eternal Gandhi - Gandhi's Relevance in Modern India

Gandhi and Cleanliness

Gandhi was a champion of cleanliness. His experience of living in the west taught him the importance of maintaining clean surroundings, and also about the dignity of labor. He felt that Indians fell short of maintaining clean spaces, although great stress was laid by them of personal cleanliness as part of ritual purity.

Gandhi and Environment

Gandhi's concern for the environment is evident from his views on industrialization and the unrestricted pursuit of the materialism of the west. He had cautioned against the latter and said that though the earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, yet it cannot provide for every man's greed.

Gandhi and Peace

Gandhi's concept of peace was linked to his dual philosophy of non-violence or social justice. Non-violence for Gandhi was a way of life which was based on truth and love for all creatures. It was opposed to violence or Himsa, which sprang from hatred, and caused death and destruction.

Gandhi and Gender Equality

Gandhi forcefully advocated various rights of women, which would put them on par with men in all spheres of life. He believed in gender equality, which was based on non-violence. For him, non-violence meant a capacity for infinite love and conversely a capacity for infinite suffering, which according to him, was possible only for women.

Gandhi and Untouchability

Gandhi considered the social practice of untouchability to be a curse and a blot on Hinduism. He realized that it was one of the main obstructions in socially reforming and uniting Hindus. Gandhi himself belonged to one of the three upper castes of the Hindus and also defended the caste system based on the Vanrashrama.

Gandhi and Education

Gandhi was convinced that the socio-economic independence of India's masses would emerge through the means of education based on truth and non-violence. However, for this to happen the scheme of education had to be indigenous. Although he himself was a product of Western education, yet by his thirties, he completely rejected it and said that 'to give millions a knowledge of English is to enslave them.'

Gandhi and Economy

Gandhi's economic ideas were governed by the principles of ethics and morality. It advocated Sarvodaya which means 'good of all', which in simple terms held that the good of individual was contained in the good of all. Sarvodaya was to be achieved through the precepts of non-exploitation, non-possession, and trusteeship.