The Power of Non-violence
NON-VIOLENCE IN its dynamic condition means conscious suffering.
It does not mean meek submission to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the
pitting of one's whole soul against the will of the tyrant. Working under this
law of our being, it is possible for a single individual to defy the whole
might of an unjust empire to save his honour, his religion, his soul and lay
the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration. (YI, 1-8-1920, p3)
Active
Force
The non-violence of my conception is a more active and more real
fighting against wickedness than retaliation whose very nature is to increase
wickedness. I contemplate a mental and, therefore, a moral opposition to
immoralities. I seek entirely to blunt the edge of the tyrant's sword, not by
putting up against it a sharper-edged weapon, but by disappointing his
expectation that I would be offering physical resistance. The resistance of the
should that I should offer instead would elude him. It would at first dazzle
him, and at last compel recognition from him, which recognition would not
humiliate him but would uplift him. It may be urged that this again is an ideal
state. And so it is. The propositions from which I have drawn my arguments are
as true as Euclid's definitions, which are none the less true because in
practice we are unable to even draw Euclid's line on a blackboard. But even a
geometrician finds it impossible to get on without bearing in mind Euclid's
definitions. Nor may we...dispense with the fundamental propositions on which
the doctrine of Satyagraha is based. (YI, 8-10-1925, p346)
I admit that the strong will rob the weak and that it is sin to be
weak. But this is said of the soul in man, not of the body. If it be said of
the body, we could never be free from the sin of weakness. But the strength of
soul can defy a whole world in arms against it. This strength is open to the
weakest in body. (YI, 6-5-1926, p164)
Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It
is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity
of man. Destruction is not the law of the humans. Man lives freely by his
readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing
him. Every murder or other injury, no matter for what cause, committed or
inflicted on another is a crime against humanity.
(H, 20-7-1935, pp180-1)
Non-violence is like radium in its action. An infinitesimal quantity of it embedded in a malignant growth acts continuously, silently and ceaselessly till it has transformed the whole mass of the diseased tissue into a healthy one. Similarly, even a little of true non-violence acts in a silent, subtle, unseen way and leavens the whole society. (H, 12-11-1938, p327)
Matchless
Bravery
An armed soldier relies on his weapons for his strength. Take away
from him his weapons-his gun or his sword, and he generally becomes helpless.
But a person who has truly realized the principle of non-violence has the
God-given strength for his weapon and the world has not known anything that can
match it. (H, 19-11-1938, pp341-2)
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith
in their mission can alter the course of history. (ibid, p343)
Non-violence of the strong is any day stronger than that of the
bravest soldier fully armed or a whole host. (H, 12-5-1946, p128)
Exercise
in Faith
The hardest metal yields to sufficient heat. Even so the hardest
heart must melt before sufficiency of the heat of non-violence. And there is no
limit to the capacity of non-violence to generate heat.
Every action is a resultant of a multitude of forces even
of a contrary nature. There is no waste of energy. So we learn in the books on
mechanics. This is equally true of human actions. The difference is that in the
one case we generally know the forces at work, and when we do, we can
mathematically foretell the resultant. In the case of human actions, they
result from a concurrence of forces of most of which we have no knowledge. But
our ignorance must not be made to serve the cause of disbelief in the power of
these forces. Rather is our ignorance a cause for greater faith. And
non-violence being the mightiest force in the world and also the most elusive
in its working, it demands the greatest exercise of faith. Even as we believe in
God in faith, so have we to believe in non-violence in faith.
(H, 7-1-1939, p417)
Violence like water, when it has an outlet, rushes forward
furiously with an overwhelming force. Non-violence cannot act madly. It is the
essence of discipline. But, when it is set going, no amount of violence can
crush it. For full play, it requires unsullied purity and an unquenchable
faith... (H, 21-3-1939, p433)
A
Science
Ahimsa is a science. The word 'failure' has no place in the vocabulary of
science. Failure to obtain the expected result is often the precursor to
further discoveries. (H, 6-5-1939, p113)
If the function of himsa is to devour all it comes across, the
function of ahimsa is to rush into the mouth of himsa. In an atmosphere of
ahimsa one has no scope to put his ahimsa to the test. It can be tested only in
the face of himsa. (H, 13-5-1939, p121)
Violence can only be effectively met by non-violence. This is an old, established truth...that the weapon of violence, even if it was the atom bomb, became useless when matched against non-violence. That very few understand how to wield this mighty weapon is true. It requires a lot of understanding and strength of mind. It is unlike what is needed in military schools and colleges. The difficulty one experiences in meeting himsa with ahimsa arises from weakness of mind. (H, 1-6-1947, p172)
The
Deed, not Doer
'Hate the sin and not the sinner' is a precept which, though easy
enough to understand, is rarely practised, and that is why the poison of hatred
spreads in the world.
This ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing
every day that the search is vain unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis.
It is quite proper to resist and attack a system, but to resist and attack its
author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself. For we are all tarred
with the same brush, and are children of one and the same creator, and as such,
the divine powers within us are infinite. To slight a single human being is to
slight those divine powers, and thus to harm not only that Being but with Him
the whole world. (A, p203)
Man and his deed are two distinct things. Whereas a good deed
should call forth approbation and a wicked deed disapprobation, the doer of the
deed, whether good or wicked, always deserves respect or pity as the case may
be. (ibid)
Those who seek to destroy men rather than manners adopt the latter
and become worse than those whom they destroy under the mistaken belief that
the manners will die with the men. They do not know the root of the evil. (YI,
17-3-1927, p85)
It is the acid test of non-violence that, in a non-violent
conflict, there is no rancour left behind, and in the end the enemies are
converted into friends. That was my experience in South Africa, with General
Smuts. He started with being my bitterest opponent and critic. Today he is my
warmest friend.
(H, 12-11-1938, p327)
The principal implication of ahimsa is that the ahimsa in us ought
to soften and not to stiffen our opponents' attitude to us; it ought to melt
him; it ought to strike a responsive chord in his heart.
As ahimsa-ites, can you say that you practice genuine ahimsa? Can
you say that you receive the arrows of the opponent on your bare breasts
without returning them? Can you say that you are not angry, that you are not
perturbed by his criticism? (H, 13-5-1939, p121)
By reason of life-long practice of ahimsa, I claim to be an expert
in it, though very imperfect. Speaking in absolute terms, the more I practice
it the clearer I see how far I am from the full expression of ahimsa in my
life. It is his ignorance of this, the greatest duty of man in the world, which
makes him say that in this age non-violence has little scope in the face of
violence, whereas I make bold to say that in this age of the Atom Bomb unadulterated
non-violence is the only force that can confound all the tricks put together of
violence. (H, 16-11-1947, p412)
Training
For Non-violence
"HOW
ARE we to train individuals or communities in this difficult art?"
There is no royal road, except through living the creed in your life which must
be a living sermon. Of course, the expression in one's own life presupposes
great study, tremendous perseverance, and thorough cleansing of one's self of
all the impurities. If for mastering of the physical sciences you have to
devote a whole life-time, how many life-times may be needed for mastering the
greatest spiritual force that mankind has known? But why worry even if it means
several life-times? For, if this is the only permanent thing in life, if this is
the only thing that counts, then whatever effort you bestow on mastering it is
well spent. Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and everything else shall be
added unto you. The Kingdom of Heaven is ahimsa. (H, 14-3-1936, p39)
Arms
are surely unnecessary for a training in ahimsa. In fact the arms, if any, have
to be thrown away, as the Khansaheb did in the Frontier Province. Those who
hold that it is essential to learn violence before we can learn non-violence,
would hold that only sinners can be saints.
Fearlessness
the Pre-requisite
Just as one must learn the art of killing in the training for violence, so one
must learn the art of dying in the training for non-violence. Violence does not
mean emancipation from fear, but discovering the means of combating the cause
of fear. Non-violence, on the other hand, has no cause for fear. The votary of
non-violence has to cultivate the capacity for sacrifice of the highest type in
order to be free from fear. He racks not if he should lose his land, his
wealth, his life. He who has not overcome all fear cannot practice ahimsa to
perfection. The votary of ahimsa has only one fear, that is of God. He who
seeks refuge in God ought to have a glimpse of the Atman that transcends the
body; and the moment one has a glimpse of the Imperishable Atman, one sheds the
love of the perishable body. Training in non-violence is thus diametrically
opposed to training in violence. Violence is needed for the protection of
things external, non-violence is needed for the protection of the Atman, for
the protection of one's honour.
This
non-violence cannot be learnt by staying at home. It needs enterprise. In order
to test ourselves we should learn to dare danger and death, mortify the flesh,
and acquire the capacity to endure all manner of hardships. He who trembles or
take to his heels the moment he sees two people fighting is not non-violent,
but a coward. A non-violent person will lay down his life in preventing such
quarrels. The bravery of the non-violent is vastly superior to that of the
violent. The badge of the violent is his weapon-spear, or sword, or rifle. God
is the shield of the non-violent.
This
is not course of training for one intending to learn non-violence. But it is
easy to evolve one from the principles I have laid down. (H, 1-9-1940, p268)
Non-violence
of the Brave
Non-violence
does not require any outside or outward training. It simply requires the will
not to kill even in retaliation and the courage to face death without revenge.
This is no sermon on ahimsa but cold reason and the statement of a universal
law. Given the unquenchable faith in the law, no provocation should prove too
great for the exercise of forbearance. This I have described as the
non-violence of the brave. (H, 8-9-1946, p296)
That
non-violence which only an individual can use is not of much use in terms of
society. Man is a social being. His accomplishments to be of use must be such
as any person with sufficient diligence can attain. That which can be exercised
only among friends is of value only as a spark of non-violence. It cannot merit
the appellation of ahimsa. 'Enmity vanishes before ahimsa' is a great aphorism.
It means that the greatest enmity requires an equal measure of ahimsa for its
abatement.
Cultivation
of this virtue may need long practice, ever extending to several births. It
does not become useless on that account. Traveling along the route, the pilgrim
will meet richer experiences from day to day, so that he may have a glimpse of
the beauty he is destined to see at the top. This will add to his zest. No one
is entitled to infer from this that the path will be a continuous carpet of
roses without thorns. A poet has sung that the way to reach God accrues only to
the very brave, never to the faint-hearted. The atmosphere today is so much
saturated with poison that one refuses to recollect the wisdom of the ancients
and to perceive the varied little experience of ahimsa in action. 'A bad turn
is neutralized by a good' ,is a wise saying of daily experience in practice.
Why can we not see that if the sum total of the world's activities was
destructive, it would have come to an end long ago? Love, otherwise, ahimsa,
sustains this planet of ours. This much must be admitted. The precious grace of
life has to be strenuously cultivated, naturally so because it is uplifting.
Descent is easy, not so ascent. A large majority of us being undisciplined, our
daily experience is that of fighting or swearing at one another on the
slightest pretext.
This,
the richest grace of ahimsa, will descend easily upon the owner of hard
discipline.
(H, 14-12-1947, p468)