Gandihi's Social Spirituality

August 2002
Gandhi's Social Spirituality by T.K. John

Gandhi, who claimed that he was a “practical dreamer” one who is desirous of converting his dreams into realities, did not want to speculate on the nature of God or expound the mysteries of God or try to prove God’s existence. He was deeply aware of the presence of the Divine in and around him and came to the conclusion that Truth as God is a concretely realizable goal, however limited. This goal becomes real by means of a faithful adherence to what he called the relative truth:

But as long as I have not realized this
Absoute Truth, so long must I hold by the
relative truth, as I have conceived it. That
relative truth must, meanwhile, be my
beacon, my shield and buckler. ––Gandhi

The Upanishadic insight suggests the relationship between the empirical realities and the Supreme. The empirical realities are termed truths, or fragments of truths, emanating from the Absolute Truth. Here Gandhi discovers his way to the Supreme: relative truth, consistently pursued, will inevitably lead one to closer and closer approximations of the Absolute Truth or God. One of the merits of this distinction between absolute and relative truth lies in the acceptance of the need and possiblity of a self-corrective process of experimentation with one’s own vision of life and one’s goals. The very term experiment implies a disclaimer of any finality or absoluteness in what one finds as truth and a certain open-endedness as far as the outcome is concerned. Therefore this distinction does away with any claim to fullness of truth which often leads to intolerance of other perceptions and prevents progress in investigation. For Gandhi it implied a willingness to admit one’s failures, the humility to be a seeker and not a possessor of truth, and a desire for harm ony between thought, word, and action.

Gandhiji’s new way may be best understood in the context of India’s long history of men and women searching for God. Some have undertaken this journey by going to holy places, shrines and sacred rivers. Other have spent their time in rituals and sacrifices. Some have sought God in yogic practices and in meditations. Still others frequented caves and mountains in search of the Absolute. In any case, rigorous austerities, the renunciation of personal family possessions and relations, and insistence upon meditation and other techniques characterizes most ventures in this line.

In the religio-cultural history of India, Gandhi’s insight is significant as a corrective to a great tradition. Drawing inspiration from the theology of the Gita, and led by his instinct, Gandhi came to the conclusion that his path was different: “For me the road to salvation lies through the incessant toil in the service of my country and of humanity” (Prabhu 1955).

In place of the activities normally held as religious, Gandhi offered a new approach to the same goal, namely, service of humankind. In this way Gandhi restores to each individual his or her role as a dynamic agent of the historical process in which each person’s contribution becomes significant. It is the free response to the relevation of God in history that renders a person religious or ethical. It is in our history and its struggle that we discover ourselves. Concretely this is a call to accept others in their totality, to love them as they are, to care for them in all their needs, to share all their sufferings, limitations, and agonies as well as their joys and aspirations.

The immediate service of all human beings becomes a necessary part of the endeavour simply because the only way to find God is to see Him in His creation and be one with Him. This can only be done by the service of all. ––Gandhi, Harijan, Agust 29, 1939

August 2002

Gandhi's Social Spirituality

by T.K. John