Gandhian principles are about choices we make...

Here is the essay by Prathibh Ryali from PGDSM-MIT which won the first prize in the Essay competition conducted on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi by CoLosSeuM.

Non-violence. Is it a term in itself or a truth of the higher magnitude which when pondered over would bolster the very shards of our perceived laws of existence? Is it the compassion and empathy which distinguishes our race from the wilder species or is it a mute passivity of an acceptance of imminent fate harboured by the inability to fight back? Worse still, is it another one of those be-laboured ideals which stand unperturbed, confined to the sheets of moral science textbooks and goes down as a farcical ridicule obsolete in present scenario and thus, just another one of those numerous holidays?

And this very same term was momentous enough to have generated undercurrents in one of the strongest colonial empires of the world. The same principle which the world genuflects to; a principal which has been reduced to cliché of a national holiday for us and has been adopted as an international peace campaign by others.

A sweeping glance at the situation around the world would be a more relevant questioning exercise. Men have lost all sense of honour and discretion of when to go for war. The decisions of whether or not to strike is direct function of an individual’s greed; an individual man, an individual state, an individual vengeance. If one government can dispense away all its security systems for just one hour and not be scared I would say we are not at war. We are a war and we have been in that condition for past one century. Bloodshed to retaliate, bloodshed to protect, bloodshed for revenge, bloodshed for weapons, bloodshed to civilize, bloodshed as an ally, bloodshed for survival; there isn’t one higher end goal which one would achieve by just not retaliating which resounding brutality or so we have come to believe.

It is here that I bring to your notice the recurrent debate of what exactly then, would a non-violent approach. More importantly the agitation with respect to India’s going nuclear for the first time in the aftermath of disarmament campaigns world-wide. We, as a country were the strongest proponents of non-violence historically. India has known to never have invaded a country at its own accord in the 5000 years. The famous non-violence movement launched in our freedom struggle was but a comprehension of an age old principle. Then what was it that inspired us to go against the supposed theories and support nuclear weapons? The necessity to reaffirm the fact that non-violence doesn’t mean non-competence!

This one example speaks volumes for all the questions we have been addressing in this passage.
Let us now understand the rationale behind this strife if at all there is one. The need for an overt attack is a sign of insecurity within oneself. It is but a natural instinct to react in such fashion when a being is being threatened. However, there is another kind of insecurity and fear that we people have been building up within our own accord. It is not nature driven but mankind perpetrated. Man was inherently not created to destroy. We have the ability to think along with the ability to love. More importantly we have the ability to protect. Thus, we ought not to strike unless either of these is challenged love or protection. Unfortunately, we have savagely inverted the laws of creation and turned ourselves into brutal war creatures who strike for love but love of material things. Now that we understand that the basic cause of violence stems from the fear and insecurity clouded in the minds. It is but a battle which starts and ends in the mind. Weapons are a means to prove that mental prowess. If the war has to be stopped, it is but in the minds of the perpetrators. Striking back would help in the short term but it is the change in psyche which would bear results in the long run.

Now that we understand the significance of combating the destructive forces prevalent in the world, we would be able to appreciate the relevance on non-violence in the present scenario. It is not text-book ideology. Nor is it a salvation sought after wherein one denounces all weapons. It simply means we choose not to strike outside the dimensions of necessity. We are smarter and tougher warriors. We choose to influence the mind of the opponent. And our actions speak for themselves. Non-violence thus, is not just a combative force; it is a way of life. It is slow and effective struggle for a long drawn cause, a cause to change the way men behave with each other, a cause to address and eliminate the roots of artificially induced insecurity outside our natural habitat so that man may once again love and live.

And this kind of non-violence is not a historic or a Gandhian principle. It si something you and I practise everyday in the lesser dimensions of life. A little child strikes you after he or she thinks that you broke his toy. Wouldn’t you laugh away his moves to harm you? Better still, a teacher handling the outburst of a student who fails to score well in an examination is expected to be wise and mature towards one who knows lesser than he does. In effect in the situations, it is incumbent upon the more learned to endure and teach with love. Then what is it stops us and blinds us from reacting in a similar fashion when it gets to higher-end situations in which societies on a whole are involved? A pure mental block. No, non-violence is something that we are born with, have nurtured and lived with. Nothing should stop us from practising it. And then does one holiday really matter? Let us remind ourselves of this innate ability we posses to combat and heal on this international non-violence day; no more a holiday!