Teaching's Of Gandhiji

How does Gandhiji conceptualize God?

God is an Impersonal force and benevolent governor of the world. God is present in every human soul. The ultimate goal of a man is to realize the vision of God. Gandhiji further says that realization of God is impossible unless one follows the path of truth, love, non-violence and service to humanity. Gandhiji regards God as truth, love, fearlessness, and the source of light and life. He says that God and his law are the same. God is also Truth-Knowledge-Bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda).

What are ethical conducts according to Gandhiji?

Men should at most emulate divine attributes in their conduct. According to Gandhiji virtue of truth, love, non-violence, tolerance, fearlessness, charity and service to mankind are divine attributes and one should follow this path with one’s all strength irrespective of personal consequences. He says truth is itself God and so love is. One can love when follows the path of non-violence. One may say that is love is also non-violence.

Purity of Heart

Gandhiji identified God with virtue. He says that man should by pure in heart. Gandhiji insisted on cleanliness even in its physical manifestations. According to him Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Further he advocated for self-purification which is part of the personal morality derived from religion.

End and Means

There are many views in this regard. Many says that for attaining Noble goal, one may go for wrong means. Machaivelli argues that bad means can be used to achieve good ends. But there are many who counter this argument and say by giving examples of human experiences that in the name of pursuing noble ends, untold misery and suffering have been inflicted on innocent men and women. Gandhiji says that means have to be pure. His view follows ipso facto from his conception of Gad as the embodiment of virtues. Even for attaining noble objectives, men have to only adopt good means. "The path to hell is paved with good intentions."

Conception of Truth

It is ideal of human conduct. This idea of Gandhiji has genesis in his lofty discussion of religion, theology and metaphysics. In this regard Tolstoy says, "The heroine of my writing is she, whom I love with all the force of being. She who always was, is and will be beautiful is truth."

Human Nature

The world is such that men can realize their moral ideas. Man has a divine spark in him. As a spiritual being, he can't follow the mores of animal life or its ruthless struggles. Violence and self-assertion are alien to him. Rather he is benevolent with a desire to help others. The will to power, the desire to subjugate and crush others are not a part of human nature. Human is gentle, huble, kind, generous, loving and considerate. Gandhiji believes in the philosophy of Rousseau and David Hume who regard man as inherently good and benevolent. Gandhiji also believed that men are reasonable, willing to see the viewpoints of others, and partly accommodate them through rational discussion.

Ahimsa

Gandhiji is also identified with Ahimsa. Ahimsa is refraining from killing and injuring others. One should harm anyone by thought, word and deed. Further violence has to be shunned in all its aspects. One should show overflowing love to mankind and all living beings.It is closely linked to truth and to man's search of God. He prescribes prerequisites for pursuit of Ahimsa:
1. Truthfullness and fearlessness (doctrine of Satyagrah) 2. Complete self-purification. One should have faith in the existence of soul which is distinct from body. Ahimsa is also described as "soul force", "power of Atma", "power of love and utter selflessness".Selflessness in turn signifies total indifference body. 3. Anger and hatred are the opposite poles of Ahimsa ("Love thy Enemy")4. Non-violence is not for a creed of inaction. Nor it is for the weak or the timid. It is better to violent than to be cowardly. 4. Ahimsa requires humility for it relies solely on God.
Further he says that Ahimsa comprises truthfullness, selflessness, absence of anger, pride and hate, benevolence, altruism, courage, magnanimity, humility and total submission to God.

Satyagrahi     

Gandhiji describes the desired attributes of a Satyagrahi:

Humility, Silence, Renunciation, Self Sacrifice, Thought Control, Non-Violence, Universal Benevolence and Non use of drinks and drugs

Seven Social Sins

1. Politics without principles

2. Wealth without work

3. Commerce without morality

4. Education without character

5. Science without Humanity

6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Pleasure without conscience

Religious Tolerance

God is unfathomable and unknowable and reigns above us all. God reveals himself in many ways all the time and evokes human religious sentiments. Non-violence is a central theme of all religions. All religions are prone to errors and imperfections. All religion are continually evolving towards realization of higher truth. He propounded the idea of spiritual brotherhood. 

Gandhiji's Economic Idea

Gandhiji says that everyone should earn his bread with his own hands or through manual labour (bread labour). It is impossible for a few to amass wealth without exploiting the rest. Wealth should be shared equitably. He propounded the Doctrine of Trusteeship and told riches to spend their surplus money on social work. 

Unlike Gandhiji, Marx advocates communist revolution through violent overthrow of the capitalist state. Gandhiji favours class harmony, non-violence and voluntary sharing of wealth by the rich.