How Gandhi’s writings continue to reshape global politics and everyday life

Formative role of Hind Swaraj in Gandhian politics 

Gandhi wrote his first political treatise, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, in just ten days between 13 and 22 November 1909 on board a ship from London to South Africa. It was originally written in his native language, Gujarati, and later translated into English by himself. 

Gandhi was disturbed to see Indian revolutionaries’ political defence of the Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary Madan Lal Dhingra, who assassinated the British official William Curzon Wyllie. Gandhi’s political ideas in Hind Swaraj were primarily an immediate and indirect response to this belief by some Indian students abroad in violence as a means to fight colonialism. He found that political unrest and discontent were useful to awaken the colonised people at an early stage of national movement, but he feared that it might lead to disastrous consequences in the long run. 

Although Gandhi was convinced that the British had been using brute force in India, he urged his followers to use the force of love to fight colonialism, since violent means, he believed, would render the future nation “soulless”. For him, force of love and pity were infinitely superior to force of arms. His popular thesis that there is an inviolable connection between means and ends – illustrated through the analogy of seeds and trees – stemmed from this political milieu.

Critique of modernity

Gandhi was one of the most uncompromising critics of modern civilization and its advocates, both in the West and in India. He traced the roots of violence in a form of modern civilization grounded in irreligion (adharma) and obsessed with bodily comforts at the cost of spirituality. In Hind Swaraj, he vehemently criticised British institutions and dismissed Parliament as unproductive. 

Gandhi challenged the perceived civilizational superiority of the West by placing spirituality above material comforts. He categorically stated that Swaraj could be attained only after escaping from the grip of modern civilization; otherwise, the future nation risked becoming just an English rule without English people. 

In addition to the idea of nonviolence and a critique of modernity, Gandhi developed methods like passive resistance and a vision of Indian education in this text. In sum, Hind Swaraj set the ideological stage for the shaping of his later political tools like the force of love, nonviolence, passive resistance, means-ends schema, freedom, and religion.  

Moral Philosophy in Conquest of Self 

The book Conquest of Self, a compilation of Gandhi’s speeches and writings, forms the cornerstone of his moral philosophy. It engages extensively with themes like celibacy (brahmacharya), self-restraint, ideal marriage, sex education, rights of women, modern youth, health, and diet. One of the important preconditions for the cultivation of virtues and the practice of self-restraint, argues Gandhi, is living faith in the indomitable will of God, which is living Truth. 

He defined brahmacharya as control of all the senses – at all times and in all places – in thought, word, and deed. He believed that control over thought is a path towards freedom from sin and that such discipline would render the body immune to diseases. He held that self-restraint is an escape from animal passion, which is harmful, sinful, and unnecessary. 

Unlike brute creatures governed solely by instinct, human beings are distinguished by their capacity for moral and spiritual progress. Hence, passions are neither natural nor uncontrollable. The core of self-restraint and of all other virtues, for Gandhi, is one main principle – Truth. Nonviolence, rooted in universal love, cannot be observed without practicing brahmacharya. 

In sum, truth and nonviolence grounded in observation of brahmacharya form the touchstone of Gandhi’s politics and morality. Any actions or ideas – both in religion and politics – that did not conform to these twin virtues were staunchly opposed by Gandhi. 

The story of my experiments with truth

Unlike conventional autobiographies that highlight struggles and successes in life, Gandhi’s memoir, the story of my experiments with truth, reads like a diary of confession, detailing struggles, failures, weaknesses, and constant self-questioning. It is less a political autobiography than a text that intermixes the political and the personal life of a votary of nonviolence and truth. First published between 1925 and 1929 as serialised weekly in his Gujarati journal Navajivan, the text traces the roots of Gandhi’s ethical and political philosophy, including ideas like ahimsa, satyagraha, brahmacharya, and his views on health and diet. 

The narrative of experiments in his life conveyed that personal discipline and spiritual striving cannot be separated from public action. Gandhi held that his experiments in life were spiritual and therefore left no room for self-praise in the text. His autobiography preaches the inviolable relation between politics and spirituality. 

His interweaving of politics with his views on prayer, diet, sexuality, etc. shows that the public is inseparable from the self and from religion. For instance, in a chapter titled Result of introspection, Gandhi illustrates how the ideas of equability and non-possession, inspired by the Gita, emerged as his infallible guide of conduct. 

The deep self-introspection in the autobiography establishes Truth as the sovereign principle, which Gandhi equated with God. Reading Gandhi’s experiments with nonviolence, celibacy, and other principles feels like a genuine and open dialogue with the reader. He sought to convince his readers that whatever was possible for him was possible even for a child. The text preaches the humble way of seeking Truth through humility and self-discipline. The book also offers rich accounts of his unique political methods in South Africa and India. 

Continuing resonance of Gandhi’s political and ethical ideas

Mahatma Gandhi was primarily a Karmayogi (a man of action), not a philosopher preoccupied with metaphysics and abstract speculations. Yet, his words, rooted in experiments with spirituality and public life, continue to have a lasting impact on socio-political movements across the world. 

His writings offer a timeless grammar of resistance that continues to inspire struggles ranging from civil rights to environmental activism, and figures from Martin Luther King Jr. to Nelson Mandela. His moral vocabulary is even invoked in contemporary international conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine war. Therefore, a careful and deeper reading of his works is necessary to grasp the subtleties of his political and ethical ideas for their meaningful practice. 

Post read questions

Gandhi was not merely a political leader but a moral philosopher in action. Examine this statement in the light of his writings.

What did Gandhi mean by the ‘inseparable relation between means and ends’? Explain its significance in his politics.

Examine the centrality of Truth and Nonviolence in Gandhi’s political and moral thought.

Discuss how Hind Swaraj laid the ideological foundations of Gandhian political methods such as satyagraha and nonviolent resistance.

Discuss the relevance of Gandhi’s critique of consumerism and materialism in the present age. How can Gandhian ethics contribute to resolving contemporary global conflicts?

(Dileep P Chandran is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science in P M Government College, Chalakudy, Kerala.)

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