The Essential Gandhi (14 page)

 … I was practising in Johannesburg at the time of the Zulu “Rebellion” in Natal.… I felt that I must offer my services to the Natal Government. [The] work set me furiously thinking in the direction of self-control.… It became my conviction that procreation and the consequent care of children were inconsistent with public service. I had to break up my household at Johannesburg to be able to serve during the “Rebellion.” … During the difficult marches that had then to be performed, the idea flashed upon me that, if I wanted to devote myself to the service of the community … I must relinquish the desire for children and wealth and live the life of a Vanaprastha—of one retired from household cares.

The “Rebellion” did not occupy me for more than six weeks, but this brief period proved to be a very important epoch in my life. The importance of vows grew upon me more clearly than ever
before. I realized that a vow, far from closing the door to real freedom, opened it.… I realized that in refusing to take a vow man was drawn into temptation and to be bound by a vow was like a passage from libertinism to a real monogamous marriage.…
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After full discussion and mature deliberation I took the vow [of celibacy] in 1906. I had not shared my thoughts with my wife until then, but only consulted her at the time of taking the vow. She had no objection.

[Let] no one believe that it was an easy thing for me.…

Brahmacharya means control of the senses in thought, word and deed.… An aspirant after Brahmacharya will always be conscious of his short-comings, will seek out the passions lingering in the innermost recesses of his heart and will incessantly strive to get rid of them.…
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[The] path of self-purification is hard and steep. [One] has to become absolutely passion-free in thought, speech and action, to rise above the opposing currents of love and hatred, attachment and repulsion. I know that I have not in me as yet that triple purity in spite of constant ceaseless striving for it. That is why the world’s praise fails to move me, indeed it very often stings me. To conquer the subtle passions seems to me to be harder far than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arms.
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[In his studies of the Bhagavad Gita, Gandhi defined the ideal man, or the perfect Karma yogi.]

He will have no relish for sensual pleasures and will keep himself occupied with such activity as ennobles the soul. That is the path of action. Karma yoga is the yoga [means] which will deliver the self [soul] from the bondage of the body, and in it there is no room for self-indulgence.

He is a devotee who is jealous of none, who is a fount of mercy, who is without egotism, who is selfless, who treats alike cold and heat, happiness and misery, who is ever forgiving, who is always contented, whose resolutions are firm, who has dedicated mind and soul to God, who causes no dread, who is not afraid of others, who is free from exultation, sorrow and fear, who is pure, who is
versed in action yet remains unaffected by it, who renounces all fruit, good or bad, who treats friend and foe alike, who is untouched by respect or disrespect, who is not puffed up by praise, who does not go under when people speak ill of him, who loves silence and solitude, who has a disciplined reason. Such devotion is inconsistent with the existence at the same time of strong attachments.

As a matter of fact, he who renounces reaps a thousandfold. The renunciation of the Gita is the acid test of faith. He who is ever brooding over results often loses nerve in the performance of duty. He becomes impatient and then gives vent to anger and begins to do unworthy things, he jumps from action to action, never remaining faithful to any. He who broods over results is like a man given to objects of senses, he is ever distracted, he says goodbye to all scruples, everything is right in his estimation and he therefore resorts to means fair and foul to attain his end.
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It has always been my regret that, although I started the Settlement at Phoenix, I could stay there only for brief periods. My original idea had been to gradually retire from practice, go and live at the Settlement [and] earn my livelihood by manual work there.… I have found by experience that man makes his plans to be often upset by God, but, at the same time, where the ultimate goal is the search of truth, no matter how a man’s plans are frustrated, the issue is never injurious and often better than anticipated.…
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During my professional work it was … my habit never to conceal my ignorance from my clients or my colleagues. Wherever I felt myself at sea I would advise my client to consult some other counsel, or if he preferred to stick to me, I would ask him to let me seek the assistance of senior counsel. This frankness earned me the unbounded affection and trust of my clients.… This affection and trust served me in good stead in my public work.
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It may be of some interest to know how the Indians used to
name me.… None, fortunately, ever insulted me by calling or regarding me as “saheb” [master]. Abdulla Sheth hit upon a fine appelation—”bhai”—i.e., brother. Others followed him and continued to address me as “bhai” until the moment I left South Africa. There was a sweet flavor about the name when it was used by the ex-indentured Indians.
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[My] object in practising in South Africa was service of the community. [For] this purpose, winning the confidence of the people was an indispensable condition. [When] I advised them to suffer the hardships of imprisonment for the sake of their rights, many of them cheerfully accepted the advice not so much because they had reasoned out the correctness of the course as because of their confidence in and affection for me.

 … Hundreds of clients became friends and real co-workers in public service and their association sweetened a life that was otherwise full of difficulties and dangers.
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 … Happiness, the goal to which we all are striving is reached by endeavoring to make the lives of others happy, and if by renouncing the luxuries of life we can lighten the burdens of others … surely the simplification of our wants is a thing greatly to be desired! And so, if instead of supposing that we must become hermits and dwellers in caves in order to practice simplicity, we set about simplifying our affairs, each according to his own convictions and opportunity, much good will result and the simple life will at once be established.
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[Throughout 1904, 1905 and 1906, the Transvaal Government’s Asiatic Department diligently carried out all anti-Indian regulations and showed special aptitude in inventing new ones. Gandhi’s writings in
Indian Opinion
criticized them.]

[The] great bulk of the Indian members of the cosmopolitan community of the Transvaal are, with the ushering in of the year 1904, to be made to leave the homes that have sheltered them, however humbly, and the businesses they have built up, and literally take up their beds and walk to a place of complete segregation,
where their existence may be forgotten, and life be made as difficult and profitless as their worst enemies might wish. Pledges and obligations are to go for naught, professions are to be tossed carelessly aside, the faith of one people in another they have been taught to regard as brothers is to be crushed and forever destroyed, and all because the harsh voice of prejudice, the son of ignorance, has caught the ears of our rulers, and the petty soul of the small trader prompts the cry which may rid him of some small measure of competition. For this the ban of excommunication is to fall upon a people. For no crime, nor for any legitimate complaints.… Homes will have to be rebuilt, businesses be reconstructed. Their needs are to be ignored, for they will be far removed from any European influences that might benefit them. Equally, they are to be made impotent in respect of such usefulness as they might yield.…

 … Not so very long [ago], the doctrine of “The White Man’s Burden” was heard propounded on every hand, and was endorsed with fervid acclamation. It was felt that power involved not only rights … but serious and weighty responsibilities and duties.… As it is the function of the Judge to adjudicate impartially … so surely is it the business of the Ruler to rule painstakingly and with careful regard to the needs and claims of every section of his subjects.… From the stronger, more was to be expected, because of their strength.… They who urge that Britain conquers but for the lust of possession might be made to stand confounded by a wise, impartial, sympathetic rule of the weaker, more helpless and more dependent sections of the community. [It] is to those who cultivate the attitude of indifference that we would make the strongest appeal.… The tacit contributor is not exempt from the retribution which must fall … for evil
is
wrought by want of thought, and all who help in the working must partake of its harvest.

But is this monstrous injustice to be really done? Even at the eleventh hour … we cannot abandon hope that the better nature, the truer self, of our white brothers, will yet assert itself.…
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Sacrifice is the law of life. It runs through and governs every walk of life. We can do nothing or get nothing without paying a
price for it.… If we would secure the salvation of the community to which we belong, we must pay for it, that is, sacrifice self.… True sacrifice lies in deriving the greatest pleasure from the deed, no matter what the risk may be. Christ died on the Cross of Calvary and left Christianity as a glorious heritage.… Joan of Arc was burnt as a witch, to her eternal honor and to the everlasting disgrace of her murderers—the world knows the result of her self-sacrifice. The Americans bled for their independence.

We have given these illustrations to draw a contrast between the very little the Indians as individuals have to sacrifice so that the community may gain a great deal.… The Indians in South Africa in general, and the Transvaal in particular, are undergoing many troubles. Their fate … hangs in the balance. Their very means of livelihood may be ruthlessly snatched.… They may be unceremoniously driven to Ghettos. What then is the self-sacrifice to be performed …? Every Indian must consider the question as if it affected him personally, put his hands into his pocket for the common good, give his time and energy. Individual differences must be sunk in the face of common danger. Personal ease and personal gain should be surrendered. To all this must be added patience and self-control. The slightest deviation from the straight and narrow path mapped out here would bring us down the precipice, not because the cause is at all unjust or weak, but because the opposition set up against us is overwhelming.

No race or community has ever achieved anything without the communal spirit.… A chain is no stronger than the weakest link in it, and unless we are prepared to stand and work shoulder to shoulder without flinching and without being daunted by temporary disappointments, failure would be the only fit reward, or, rather, punishment.…
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[At the] anti-Asiatic meeting … the usual fallacies were dished up with an increasing mixture of spices in order to render them palatable.… For instance, one of the speakers said the Indians lacked “the desirable qualities of residents of towns” in that they did not leave “something of a lasting and progressive nature.” … To degrade a class of people with deliberation, to coop them up in
pens, to deprive them of the right of buying land, and then to turn round upon the very men and charge them with want of qualities desirable in citizens is a fine game. If any of these worthy speakers have traveled beyond the boundary of the district of Zoutpansberg, we might venture to direct their attention to what [the Indians] have done … in Cape Town, Durban and other places where they are allowed some rights. They have built business places in each of these towns which would compare favorably with any, and … they employed European architects, European contractors, European builders, bricklayers, carpenters, etc., and some of these buildings are tenanted also by Europeans.… One of the speakers said … “the true solution of the Asiatic question lies in the application of the maxim ‘the greatest good for the greatest number.’ ” [We] are not blind believers in that maxim, we think it has worked untold mischief in many cases, and is yet likely to do so in the history of the world’s progress.… The crime committed by the Indian is that he competes with [the European traders], he lowers the price of the necessaries of life, and having a fund of patience at his command, is a better seller, especially to those whose pockets are not too full, whether they be Europeans or Natives. Even then, if the Indian trader is of any disadvantage to the European traders, which we deny, he is … of great benefit to the largest number of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, and in proof of that [is] the very fact that he has to depend for his business on the support received from the poor whites, including the Dutch, and the Natives.…
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 … Men, in the selfishness that blinds their reason, may think to score by injustice and oppression.…

Peoples are associated for their mutual advantage, and so between East and West the interaction must eventually operate to the benefit of both.… ’Twere as unreasonable to doubt that hidden in the murky smoke of Western materialism are immortal qualities … as … to ignore the existence in the Orient of the splendid monument of spiritual lore—the heritage of a long line of Eastern saints and sages.…

Branches from a common root, Oriental and Western have each
their mission, their place in the grand economy.… It rests with both to recognize that differences are not necessarily synonymous with superiority or inferiority and to patiently cultivate that spirit of self-restraint and toleration which … will … destroy the senseless rind of misunderstanding.…

It is worse than futile for the Oriental to pose within the cloak of Eastern dignity, to trade upon a past reputation, while at the same time greedily assimilating the very Western weaknesses he affects to despise and condemn. Let him hold fast to what is best … in the history of his people and … while retaining his self-respect, the more surely win the respect of his Western neighbors. Equally, the Western should abandon an attitude as stupidly inconsistent as that which demands from his Oriental neighbor conformity to his own ideals of propriety, while denying him every facility and encouragement.
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