Clifford Manshardt

“ All creatures are nothing more than a mere atom in this universe. Our existence as embodied beings is purely momentary; what are a hundred years in eternity? But if we shatter the chains of egotism, and melt into the ocean of humanity, we share its dignity. To feel that we are something is to set up a barrier between God and ourselves; to cease feeling that we are something is to become one with God. ”

“ Gandhi had a feeling of kinship with all religions. Since “all faiths outlined by men are imperfect, the question of comparative merit does not arise. All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect and liable to error. Reverence for other faiths need not blind us to their faults. We must be keenly alive to the defects of our own faith also, yet not leave it on that account, but try to overcome those defects. ”

“ Satyagraha has no desire whatever to injure the opponent. It looks towards the conquest of the opposite party by suffering in one’s own person—in other words, by love. The object of Satyagraha is positive—to effect such a change of heart in the opponent that he becomes a better and stronger person.
Since Satyagraha is based on Truth, it can only be offered in a righteous cause. Gandhiji has referred to Satyagraha as dharma-yuddha—righteous war. Righteous war, in this sense, does not mean the same thing as the traditional holy war, where men killed in the name of religion. ”

“ Since human beings are fallible, what may seem to be Truth to one person may appear as Untruth to another. But just as God himself appears to different individuals in different aspects, so every man must follow Truth according to the best of his abilities. In the quest for Absolute Truth, or God, the seeker must be faithful to relative Truth—the faithful carrying out of his daily duties. “To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face,” says Gandhi, “one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. ”

“ The death of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on January 30, 1948, marked the end of an era in India. It brought to a close a period of personal leadership which has had few parallels in world history , and the like of which may never be seen again. A frail, half-naked little brown man was revered almost as a god by millions of Hindus and honored by Hindus and Muslims alike. His word was of more power than the orders of government, enforced by armies and all the administrative machinery of a mighty empire. The world has lost one of the great figures of history. ”

“ In developing the principle of sacrifice (yajna) , Gandhiji departed from the traditional Hindu view of sacrifice as renunciation. The holy man, to the great majority of Hindus, is the man who abandons the world. Renunciation, as interpreted by Gandhi, means living in the world, but carrying the principle of renunciation into all the activities of life. All men must live the dedicated life. Thus life becomes a duty rather than an indulgence, and livelihood instead of becoming the major objective, is the by-product of one’s vocation. ”

“ In Gandhi’s thinking, theft was not just a matter of one person taking another person’s property. With millions starving for lack of food , he regarded it as theft for any person to take food that he did not require, or in larger quantities than his bodily needs demanded. “Perfect fulfilment of the ideal of non-possession requires, that man should, like the birds, have no roof over his head, no clothing and no stock of food for the morrow.” ”

“ When Truth be comes the organizing principle of one’s life, all other rules of correct living follow naturally, and obedience to these rules becomes spontaneous.
Intertwined with Truth is the principle of Ahimsa, Love, Non-violence. As Truth is the end, ahimsa is the means. “By concentration an acrobat can walk on a rope,” says Mr. Gandhi, “but the concentration required to tread the path of Truth and ahimsa is far greater. The slightest inattention brings one tumbling to the ground. One can realize Truth and ahimsa only by ceaseless striving.” ”

“ But Gandhiji has emphasized the positive side of ahimsa. “Not to hurt any living thing is no doubt a part of ahimsa,” he says. “But it is its least expression. The principle of ahimsa is hurt by every evil thought, by undue haste, by lying, by hatred, by wishing ill to anybody.” [4]
Mr. Gandhi’s life was organized around the principle of love. It is easy to love within narrow limits, but Gandhiji’s love was all-inclusive. It took in the outcaste at the bottom of the Hindu social scale and it transcended religious lines to include Muslims. ”

“ Gandhi’s philosophy is the principle of Satya or Truth. Satya is derived from Sat, which means ‘being’. Satya thus is being. Nothing exists in reality save Truth. Hence Sat or Truth becomes the most important name for God. ”

“ And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means. ”

“ During Gandhi’s lifetime I was often asked by American friends: “Why does Mr. Gandhi dress as he does?” The answer is that Gandhiji identified himself completely with the Indian masses. Since the great majority of the peasants are so poor that they can afford only a minimum of clothing, Mr. Gandhi accepted their lot as his own and dramatized Indian poverty to the world at large. He lived as a humble peasant, though he could have maintained himself in luxury. ”

“ Gandhi spent days and nights in prayer seeking divine guidance, and on September 18 announced that he would undertake a fast of three weeks as an act of penitence because of the sins of his own people. The fast was a truly vicarious one—where a man who was innocent undertook to punish himself for the sake of the guilty. As news of the fast spread through the country, the masses were overcome with fear and wonder. They turned to prayer for their beloved leader, and the terrible riots ceased. ”

“ Gandhi, “to say that Truth is God, than to say that God is Truth.” [1] Without Truth there can be no true knowledge . Hence the Hindu scriptures associate Chit or knowledge with the name of God. Devotion to Truth is the sole justification for our existence.
Observation of the law of Truth does not mean simply speaking the Truth. It means Truth in thought, Truth in speech, and Truth in action. There can be no inward peace without true knowledge, which is the realization of Truth in its fulness. ”

“ Gandhi believed that the scriptures of the world are sounder treatises on the laws of economics than many modern textbooks. Jesus, Mahomed, Buddha, Nanak, Kabir, Chaitanya, Shankara, Dayanand and Ramakrishna were all men who made the world the richer, and all of them had voluntarily accepted poverty as their lot. ”

“ They are honest men and women. For them congregational prayer is like the daily bath, a necessity of their existence. These places of worship are not a mere idle superstition to be swept away at the first opportunity. They have survived all attacks up to now and are likely to persist to the end of time.” [12]
It was while going to his daily prayers that Mr. Gandhi met his death.
The two ruling principles of Gandhi’s life—Truth and Non-violence—came to significant expression in the movement first known as passive resistance and later designated as Satyagraha. ”

“ If we will but cleanse our houses, our palaces and temples of the attributes of wealth and show in them the attributes of morality, we can offer battle to any combination of hostile forces without having to carry the burden of a heavy militia. ”

“ A drop in the ocean partakes of the greatness of its parent, although it is unconscious of it. But it is dried up, as soon as it enters upon an existence independent of the ocean. We do not exaggerate, when we say that life on earth is a mere bubble. ”

“ India today is free, not through the use of guns, airplanes or tanks, but through the discipline of self-suffering. And is it an overstatement to say that Britain too is cleansed, because she had the moral courage to grant this freedom? ”

“ Where there is fear there is no religion. The charge is a compliment in that it is a reluctant acknowledgment of my capacity for appreciating the beauties of Christianity. Let me own this. If I could call myself, say, a Christian or a Mussalman, with my own interpretation of the Bible or the Quran, I should not hesitate to call myself either. For then Hindu, Christian and Mussalman would be synonymous terms.” [16]
India has always opened her heart to great leaders. ”

“ In the story from the Ramayana, which we have summarized, Vishvamitra underwent great austerities in order to gain the powers of a Brahmin. But in his hour of triumph he insisted that his old enemy Vasishtha be present personally to convey him his title, on behalf of the gods . Other stories show a more definite trend in the direction of utilizing tapas for the realization of moral and less selfish aims. When Mr. Gandhi fasted he put positive moral and social content into the ancient principle. To achieve a result was not enough. The whole act must be entered into in the spirit of love. ”

“ The principle of ahimsa is often distorted in the West by overemphasis of the unwillingness of Hindus to take animal life. Buddha preached the sacredness of all created life and that nothing blessed with the breath of life should be killed by the hand of man. ”

“ There is a verse in the Gita which declares: “When ever there is decay of righteousness, and there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I myself come forth; for the sake of firmly establishing righteousness, I am born from age to age.” ”

“ Gandhi engaged in one of his numerous fasts—his final fast being in the interest of Hindu-Muslim unity. “Why does Mr. Gandhi fast?” has been an other familiar question. Fasting is rooted deep in the religious history of India. Austerity, called tapas in Sanskrit, was practiced centuries before the birth of Christ, when religious devo tees punished themselves in unusual ways in the attempt to secure unusual powers generally for personal benefit. The Hindu sacred scriptures abound in instances of men, who, by torturing themselves, gained power over the gods or over other men. ”

“ A congregational prayer is a mighty thing . What we do not often do alone, we do together... It is a common experience for men who have no robust faith to seek the comfort of congregational prayer. All who flock to churches, temples, or mosques are not scoffers or humbugs. ”

“ Each person must recognize his own limitations and then serve whole-heartedly within the framework of these limitations. Every man thus has a useful function in society, and no man has a right to glory in pride of place. ”

“ While the fast was in progress a Unity Conference met in Delhi, bringing together outstanding religious and political leaders from all communities, seeking to find a way to promote harmonious relations between the contending religious groups. ”