A young Indian lawyer, who received excellent education in England, comes to work in South Africa. He buys a first -class ticket, but the conductor throws it out of the car: there is no place with color. Lawyer Named Mohandas Gandhi time – the end of the XIX century. The shock from what happened made such a coup in the soul of a young man that he decided to devote his life to the struggle for justice.
The shock from what happened made such a coup in the soul of a young man that he decided to devote his life to the struggle for justice. However, this struggle was of a special nature. Faced with monstrous discrimination, Gandhi did not become a radical and terrorist – he chose the path of non -violent actions, which he called “Satyagraha” – translated from Sanskrit, “perseverance in the truth”.
Among his teachers, Gandhi numbered Leo Tolstoy, with whom he was in correspondence and whose name he called the farm in South Africa. However, first of all, the roots of its teachings still lie in the field of Indian culture:
first of all, it relies on the key to Hinduism, the concept of “Achims” (non -objection of harm) and on traditional methods of moral conviction. However, despite its local, Indian origin, the Dr. Gandhi was extremely universal. “Wherever a quarrel arises, wherever the opponent is opposed to you, conquer him with love. Spontaneously I have developed it in my life. This does not mean that all my problems have been resolved. But I found that this law of love is acting as the law of destruction has never been in force, ”wrote Gandhi. The law of love turned out to be equally urgent both for the East and for the West. India, under the spiritual leadership of her Mahatma, gained independence;America, inspired by the follower of Gandhi Martin Luther King, refused racial discrimination. Now other times have come, and the struggle for justice both in society as a whole and in relations between individuals, unfortunately, is often inseparable from power pressure. But this does not mean that the law of love has ceased to act: humanity has not yet come up with a different way to break the vicious circle of violence.
His dates
- October 2, 1869: Mohandas Karamcand Gandhi was born in the principality of Porbandar (India).
- 1891-1893: After receiving a legal education in England, he is engaged in advocacy in Bombay.
- 1893-1914: serves as a legal adviser to the Indian trading company in South Africa, where he leads the struggle against racial discrimination, organizing peaceful demonstrations and sending petitions to the government.
- January 1915: Returns to his homeland, where the Indian National Congress is coming closer to the party and soon becomes its spiritual leader.
- 1919-1922: The campaign of non-violent refusal to cooperate with the British authorities.
- 1922-1924, 1930-1931, 1942-1944: Gandhi is in conclusion, where hunger strikes are repeatedly announced, forcing the British concessions.
- 1946-1947: The last phase of India’s struggle for independence. Gandhi condemns bloody clashes between Indians and Muslims, caused by the country’s division into two states – India and Pakistan.
- January 30, 1948: Gandhi was killed by a member of the Indian nationalist organization in Delhi.
Five keys to understanding
The language of non -violence
Love and non -power can really achieve goals that are unattainable in any other way. However, non -power can only be effective when those against whom it is directed is also not devoid of moral feeling. Although Winston Churchill ridiculed Gandhi, calling him a “half -naked fakir”, the ruling elite of Britain could not calmly give orders to kill unarmed people who participated in the campaigns of disobedience. At the same time, non -violence is useless in relation to those to whose morality it is pointless, and this must be remembered.
Idealism in practice
Idealism and faith in the original nobility of human nature do not exclude certain practicalism. In the case when an absolute victory is impossible, a reasonable compromise is preferable to an uncompromising struggle. At the same time, Gandhi always emphasized: the more people will learn non -power (and it is quite possible to learn to him, because the craving for good is laid down in every person), the more likely to leave the world and he will change for the better.
Be indifferent
Gandhi insisted that Satyagraha had nothing to do with passivity, and did not like when his teaching was called “passive resistance”. He considered apathy and indifference the most dangerous enemies of man and once in his hearts noted that indifference is worse than violence. Indeed, everything is indifferent to the apathetic person, which means that to convince him and turn to good is much more difficult than the one who committed violence, obeying his gusts and passions.
Learn with women
Non -power, of course, requires courage, but courage of a special sense – completely devoid of aggression. Gandhi noted that this kind of courage is more often inherent in women, primarily focused on maintaining existing values than men aimed at conquering a new. Therefore, he urged his supporters not to be afraid of accusations of female weakness and learn persistence and patience from the weak half of humanity.
Avoid blackmail
The doctrine of non -violence should be applied with caution, since its tricks lurk in it. The most serious is that it is very difficult to determine when voluntary suffering ceases to be an appeal to the moral feeling of the opponent and turns into a conscious blackmail, that is, into a form of psychological violence. Gandhi understood this danger and warned about it, but insisted that a person could only cope with her independently, based on his own feelings.
