Relevance of Christ's life in Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophical thoughts of Satyagraha

- By Dr. Suja George Stanley*

Abstract

Gandhi's philosophy and ideology are relevant even today. Gandhi's philosophy was influential not only because it reflected his foresight and problems, but also because his ideas were an expression of inner courage and unprecedented morale. This paper attempts to discuss Gandhi's philosophical thoughts by analyzing the role of Christ's life which he ascribes to Satyagraha. Gandhi linked India with practice and theory. Gandhi welcomed other religions and assimilated good things. The life of Christ has had a significant influence on Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha. Gandhi is demonstrating in action how the lessons of Jesus, can be applied to emerging current issues. Jesus was a great figure of historical persuasion and to reduce the use of force and Gandhi who was the apostle of non-violence experimented with it in his own life and inspired millions to pursue the ideal. This paper examines the role of Christ in Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy. This paper unveils another pathway to understanding Gandhi’s life and thoughts.

Introduction

Gandhi was born into a Hindu family, despite the fact that he was a deeply religious Hindu, 'Sarvadharma samabhav' (equal respect for all religions) was Gandhi's fundamental approach to all religions. Gandhi became aware of Christianity from his toddlerhood; however, Gandhi disliked Christianity in his toddlerhood. Gandhi's autobiography, “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” describes the reasons for his 'dislike for Christianity'. However, when he went to England to study and South Africa to start a legal practice, his views changed. In England, he read the Bible for the first time and the Sermon on the Mount touched him immensely¹. In his autobiography, he writes that the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament, "went straight to my heart"² as the teaching of Jesus Christ in the Bible was a source of inspiration for Gandhian thoughts. Gandhi's incredible regard for Christ and the degree to which he drew motivation from him are exposed in his following explanation: "What does Jesus mean to me? To me, he was one of the greatest teachers humanity has ever had.³ I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity but to the entire world. Jesus lived and died in vain if He did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal law of love."⁴

Gandhi’s first biographer, Joseph Doke, found that Gandhi’s views were closely connected to Christianity. He quoted Jesus' words in the bible: How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God.⁵ Once Gandhi was invited to talk at an Evangelist Meeting in Calcutta. One speaker questioned whether Christianity is the experience of the Living Christ? For that question, Gandhi responded with memorable words like:

"I do not know what you mean by the Living Christ. If you mean the historical Jesus, then I do not feel his presence. But if you mean a spirit guiding me, a presence nearer to me than hands and feet, than the very breath in me, then I do feel such a presence. If it were not for the sense of that presence the waters of the Ganges would long ere this have been my destination. Call it Christ or Krishna: that does not matter to me. That I believe is a crucial statement a testimony to a living experience of spiritual power, borne out by a life of heroic activity, but mediated apart from Christian channels, and therefore testifying to a Source of Power beyond all labels, beyond and behind all historical manifestations of it in time and space”⁶.

After reading the life of Christ as presented in the Bible and in the writings of some renowned Christian authors, like the book written by Tolstoy in 1893 called 'The Kingdom of God is within you' or 'Christianity Not as Mystical Teaching but as a New Concept of Life” and 'The Gospel', these different books which had profound impact on him and its higher moral teachings overwhelmed young Gandhi and began to realize more and more the infinite possibilities of universal love.⁷ Martin Luther King was captivated by Gandhi's teachings because of the similarities between Christ's teachings and Gandhi's philosophy. King wrote that Gandhi was probably the first person in history to lift the love of Jesus above mere interaction between individuals to powerful and effective social forces on a large scale.⁸ The person of Jesus was a source of great attraction to Gandhi as Gandhi himself lived every word of what he taught doing good. Jesus was a living faith, a faith that he lived in and every article of faith that believed in. Jesus went around every detail. Jesus meant truth and love for him. He says, "Thus I say that Jesus occupies in my heart the place of one of the great teachers who have made a considerable influence on my life".⁹ Gandhi appreciated the Message on the Mount which formed his entire way of thinking of life.

Gandhi incorporated into his philosophical thoughts in Christ's qualities of unconditional love, forgiveness, sacrifice willingness, and meekness, etc Gandhi got two key words from Christianity: the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and the Symbol of the cross.¹⁰ From Jesus's life, he learned the values of faith, love and charity. The missionary, Stanley Jones wrote what he gained an understanding of practical Christianity in Gandhi:

"Gandhi has taught me more of the spirit of Christ than has others in the East or West... The world which calls itself Christian talks of truth but Gandhi puts it into practice. Here is the difference... Never in human history has much light been thrown on the cross. It is only through this man who was not a Christian."¹¹

Sermon on the Mount and Gandhi

The New Testament and particularly the Sermon on the Mount part of St. Mathew's Gospel attracted him, which he described very elaborately in his autobiography.¹² The Sermon on the Mount is the teachings of Jesus Christ, which he gave to his disciples sitting on top of the mountain and it was found in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. This sermon propounds the values of compassion, purity, righteousness, nonviolence and self-sacrifice. He tells that his first reading of certain verses of the Sermon on the Mount like "whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man takes away they coat let him have they cloak also" immediately reminded him of the Gujarati verses of Shyamal Bhatt, which was as follows: "For a bowl of water give a goodly meal; For a kindly greeting bow thou down with zeal; For a simple penny pay thou back with gold; If their life be rescued, life do not withhold. But the truly noble know all men as one, and return with greatness good for evil done.¹³ In this sermon, he was fascinated by these words: "But I say to you, that ye resist not evil: but whosoever smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."¹⁴ Gandhi wrote "The New Testament gave me comfort and boundless joy, as it came after the revulsion that parts of the Old Testament had given me. Today, supposing I was deprived of the Gita and forgot all its contents but had a copy of the Sermon on the Mount, I should derive the same joy from it as I do from the Gita".¹⁵. The Person of Jesus projected in the New Testament became for him an embodiment of Truth and Love: "His sacrifice is a type and example for us. Every one of us has to be crucified for Salvation".¹⁶. He writes in the Harijan how the example of Jesus‘ suffering was a factor in the composition of his undying faith in non-violence which rules all his actions, worldly and temporal.¹⁷

Gandhi was experiencing the Christ ideal, that he showed how the Message on the Mount can be a philosophical idea. Gandhi was much impressed and inspired by the life of Jesus Christ as he taught the gospel of love and a spirit of sacrifice. Through his readings of the New Testament, he learned that the gospel of personal suffering to win over the enemy is a lesson. Mahatma Gandhi showed the way of Suffering Love, Love resisting evil, bearing upon itself the consequences of evil, but refusing to yield to it, or to repay evil with evil, but overcoming it the way supremely illustrated by Jesus.

Satyagraha, the foundation of Gandhian Thoughts

Gandhi was a practical philosopher. The Gandhian principle of satyagraha is the central framework in Gandhian philosophy. Gandhi's satyagraha is Christianity in action. Gandhiji's method of satyagraha, of nonviolent resistance to evil, supplies the technique of action whereby Love can resist injustice. The Sermon on the Mount has influenced Gandhi's philosophy of Satyagraha. Gandhi got great inspiration from Jesus' teachings in the Sermon relating to the words of the Bible “Love your enemies and do good to them that hate you”. Later the Sermon became an important source for developing his Satyagraha philosophy of non-violence and non-resistance. For Gandhi, Satyagraha had been very pulse of his thinking. Satyagraha is derived from two Sanskrit words, Satya and Agraha. Satya means Truth and Agraha means Firmness. Satyagraha literally means "holding on to truth". Using the banyan tree as a metaphor, Gandhi said that "Satya (Truth) and Ahimsa (Non-vio-lence) together make the parent trunk from which all innumerable branches shoot out. Gandhi developed the concept of Satyagraha, which involved a search for satya (truth), ahimsa (Non-violence) and self-suffering, which are called the pillars of Satyagraha. Satyagraha is a total and integral way of life, based on truth and non-violence”¹⁸ So Satyagraha is a human force born out of love of truth, self-suffering and non-violence. The purpose of Satyagraha is to resist injustice by changing the heart of the offenders by awakening through love, self-suffering and one’s sense of justice.

Although Gandhi‘s life was rooted in Hinduism; Gandhi carried on an intense study of Christianity, especially in South Africa and this study had a major impact on the evolution of satyagraha.¹⁹ His philosophical thoughts have been greatly influenced by the life of Jesus Christ and The Holy Bible. The major principles of Satyagraha like Truth, non-violence and self-suffering, were spurred by the life of Christ. He saw all of these in the life of Jesus and he called Christ the Prince of Satyagrahis.²⁰ According to Gandhi “Jesus was the most active resister known perhaps to history. He was non-violence par excellence. Jesus expressed only the will of God. And because the life of Jesus has the significance and the transcendence to which I have alluded, I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity but to the entire world, to all races and people. It matters little under what flag, name or doctrine they may work, profess a faith or worship a God inherited from their ancestors."²¹ The leading principle of Gandhi’s Satyagraha was Christ's statement “Resist no evil; if anybody smite your right cheek, show him the left also”. Gandhi converted this concept into a new weapon against evil. Mukalel J.C. says “For Gandhi, Satyagraha is everything: the whole and soul of Gandhian thought and movement.”²² As a challenge S.K. George said, “a true Christian in India must necessarily be a Gandhian because Gandhi through Satyagraha gave a practical demonstration of the applicability of the teaching of Jesus the master of modem problems”.²³

Gandhi's life and actions, goals and thoughts permeated with the concept of self-sacrifice and self-denial, which is the most central to the Gandhian satyagraha, which is also derived from the values in Christianity. These values Satyagraha, lead to the love of man, one's neighbour in an encounter of humble service. Satyagraha, as we have seen in orientations to the neighbour. Here Gandhi brings in self-denial, self-sacrifice and dedicated service of the needy and the poor.²⁴ According to Gandhi, the cross is the symbol of sacrifice and satyagraha stands for supreme sacrifice. In the last hours of Jesus' life, Jesus showed great strength that he forbade violent opposition to his captors and tormentors, but even protected them and prayed to God “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do “(Luke 23:24). It infuses the spirit to suffer and to overcome any dangerous situation. “how Christ passed through the test of nonviolence through his virtues of mercy, nonviolence, love, truth, forgiveness. Gandhi also admired the gentle Christ, who was so patient, kind, loving and full of forgiveness that he taught his followers to turn the other cheek rather than retaliate when they were abused.

Love

Satyagraha is an atonement based on love. Love indeed is sacrifice - the welfare of others. Sacrifice is another side of the coin of love. The Sermon on the Mount provided the motivating ideal of love. The love advocated by Jesus was expressed by the Greek word agape which was defined as unconditional, disinterested goodwill towards all men and aims to preserve and community at the same time.²⁵ The hardest thing melts in the fire of love. It is necessary to oppose the oppressor, but not by causing him harm; rather, love must win his heart. Gandhi immovably accepted that love could never fail. ” Mukalel J.C. writes Love becomes roots and flowering of satyagraha.”²⁶

Gandhi loved Christianity because of its absolute emphasis on Love and Christianity firmly says that ‘God is Love’ and the New Testament is filled with the word ‘Love’. The life of Jesus shows an example of love and sacrifice for others. Jesus' commandment of love one another as he lay down his life, is the most exalted proof of that love which could be given. Jesus’ death on the Cross, showed the courage in which he faced evil, nonviolently with love and kindness for even those who were responsible for his crucifixion. Jesus’ prayer on the Cross was another example of the meeting of the evil with love and nonviolence. Gandhi viewed that “the cross taught the overcoming of evil and hatred by love and goodwill”.²⁷ An enemy should be won over through the power of love.

Christ gave the concept of brotherhood, making it a universal brotherhood in which all people are children of the same father who is God and Gandhi followed this concept. The vision of Jesus as Love and Truth incarnate enabled Gandhi to arrive at the fullness of the message of Gita. Gandhi believed that if man cannot build his life on the law of love that Jesus embodied and taught, then the life and death of Jesus would be a waste: "Jesus lived and died in vain if he did not teach us to regulate the whole life by the eternal law of Love".²⁸ According to Mahatma Gandhi 'All my actions have their rise in my inalienable love of mankind. I have known no distinction between Brothers relatives and strangers, countrymen and foreigners, white and coloured, Hindus and Indians of other faiths whether Mussalmans, Parsees, Christians or Jews. I may say that my heart has been incapable of making any such distinctions.' 'By a long process of prayerful discipline, I have ceased for over forty years to hate anybody.' All men are brothers and no human being should be a stranger to another”.²⁹ He was inspired by the teachings of Jesus, in particular the emphasis on love for everyone, even one's enemies.³⁰

Truth and Nonviolence

Gandhi’s metaphysics and ethics, which he preached and practiced, are centered on truth and nonviolence. Truth is satya. Satya is derived from Sat, which means being or exists. It is the truth that permeates or exists everywhere. The only two everlasting principles are Truth and Nonviolence (Ahimsa). Gandhi closely associated truth with nonviolence; he attempted to realize truth by practicing nonviolence. To Gandhi, ‘truth is God and Nonviolence is the means of realizing Him’. He also opined that ‘the only way to realize truth is the practice of ahimsa’. I would even go further and say that the only eternal principle is Truth. For, although Truth and Nonviolence are one and the same thing if circumstances arise in which I have to choose between the two, I would not hesitate to throw Nonviolence to winds and abide by Truth, which is supreme in my opinion.³¹ Gandhi provided the method of mass non-violent direct action. Non-violence is a way of life, devoid of all extremes of passion like anger, enmity, pleasure and pain. Ahimsa (Non-violence) is never static but ever-changing, embracing all aspects of human life.³² He closely associated truth with non-violence and Satyagraha, the passion for truth. The whole of the Bible bears witness to Truth as the greatest attribute of God: "God is Truth". Jesus himself says, “I am the Way, Life and Truth". Jesus tells Pontius Pilate, "I have come to bear witness to truth." (John: 18:37) Gandhi believed that it is through the commitment to truth above all that the world could attain peace which is essentially a Christian message. Jesus said Ye shall know the truth and truth shall make you free (John10:8) Gandhi's principles were profoundly influenced by Jesus' teachings. Gandhi's ideas are based on the truth. According to Gandhi “Nothing is or exists in reality except Truth. That is why Satya or Truth is the most important name of God. So it is more correct to say that Truth is God than to say that God is Truth".³³ Truth enables one to rise from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge.

The knowledge of reality is one of God in truth and entering him and abiding in him.

Ahimsa means non-injury and hence non-killing which is translated as non-violence. Non-violence is love without attachment. Non-violence comprises kindness and compassion for all living beings, non-injury or non-harm in thought, speech action in respect of others. Non-violence is the largest love and greatest charity. Gandhi was the first person to use ahimsa to find solutions to everyday problems that humans face. He was inspired by the teachings of Jesus, in particular the emphasis on love for everyone, even one's enemies, and the need to strive for justice. He says, "For a happy and contented human life truth and non-violence are essential. The absence of these will inevitably result in anarchy, and presence in peace".³⁴ He proclaimed that to be a Christian one has to practice nonviolence. His influence on Christianity is particularly important.³⁵ Jesus gave mankind the message of non-violence and maintained that hatred could be overcome not by hatred but by love. Jesus taught the disciples in the mount of the sermon “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you’ (Mathew 5:44). . . It is strength without ill feeling and inaction, tolerance without fear, and peace without being cowardly.

Martin Luther King's philosophy of non-violence was a synthesis of the teachings of Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi. The Sermon on the Mount provided the motivating ideal of love. Gandhi provided the method of mass non-violent direct action.³⁶ According to Martin Luther King, Jr., it is evident that today the Christian doctrine of love is operated through the Gandhian method of non-violence. Gandhi was walking in the footprints of Jesus as he followed non-violence and Satyagraha. "Christ died on the cross with a crown of thorns on his head defying the might of a whole empire. And if I raise resistance of a non-violent character, I simply and humbly follow in the footsteps of the great teachers. Gandhi wrote in Young India, "For me, non-violence is only a philosophy... It is not only a doctrine of the mind, it is the fabric of my life. It is not a thing but a thing of the heart.³⁷ Gandhi emphasized that the two principles of ahimsa and truth could be used to achieve God's kingdom. Love for others is implied by nonviolence, and love is inextricably linked to God and truth. Gandhi believed that suffering was a more powerful and effective way to change than talking and thinking.

Conclusion

Remarkably, the influence of Christ is seen in the life of Gandhi who is a zealous adherent of his own faith. The concept of Satyagraha is Gandhi's unique contribution to modern thought, Gandhi’s concept of Satyagraha is fully in keeping with Jesus Christ's life thoughts. Satyagraha can be taken to be the practical application of the teachings of Christ, even though It was probably developed from the ideas which he absorbed from the different books. Gandhi’s thoughts of satyagraha were percolated through the life of Christ. Jesus Christ shows the love of self-dedication, self-gift and self-sacrifice for the love of one’s fellowmen. Gandhi’s philosophy of Satyagraha and non-violent resistance were greatly influenced by the New Testament and the Sermon on the Mount.

Notes and References:

1. Gandhi, M.K., (2014) The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Rupa Publication, Noida, p. 124-135.
2. ibid, p. 49
3. Deshpande, MS (ed) (1978) Light of India or Message of Mahatmaji, 3rd ed. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House
4. Gandhi, M.K. (1948): Non Violence in Peace and War, Volume I, p. 181
5. Prabhu, R. K., (ed) (1959) Gandhi, M.K., What Jesus Means to Me, Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, pp. 19.
6. Quoted by George S.K “Gandhis Challenge to Christianity” .(page no.20)
7. Autobiography, P.99
8. King M.L Profiles of Gandhi p. 207
9. Thekkinedath J, Love of neighbor, P26
10. T.J. RYNNE, Paper delivered at “Justice and Mercy Shall Kiss: A conference of peacemaking in the World of many faiths” in Marquette University, September 2004, 22-24, http://fatherlasch.com/article/472/jesus-and-gandhi
11. Quoted by P.T. Subrahmanyan Mahatma Gandhi and the Sermon on the Mount https://www.mkgandhi.org/articles/mahatma-gandhi-and-sermon-on-the-mount.php
12. M.K. Gandhi, An Autobiography, 63-64
13. M.K. Gandhi, Autobiography, I.X
14. M.K. GANDHI, Autobiography, Washington, D.C., Public Affairs press, 1948, 92.
15. Gandhi, MJK. (1955), My Religion, op cit. p. 25
16. Gandhi MK, Young India 4 sep 1924
17. Tidrick, Kathryn, (2008) Gandhi: A Political and Spiritual Life, I. B. Tauris & Co, New York, p. 33, 45.
18. Mukalel, quoted in Thekkinedath P,86
19. Johnson, Richard L. and Ledbetter, Eric (1997) “Spiritualizing the Political”: Christ and Christianity in Gandhi’s Satyagraha, Peace & Change, Vol. 22 No. 1, p. 2.
20. Nanda, B. R., (1995) “Gandhi and Religion”, In Mahatma Gandhi 125 years by B.R. Nanda, New Age International Publishers Limited, New Delhi, p. 130
21. Gandhi, M.K. (1955), My Religion, Compiled/edited by Bharatan Kumarappa, Ahmedabad: Navjivan Publishing House, p. 25
22. Mukalel J.C, Gandhian Education P,136
23. George Pattery, SJ, Gandhi the Beliver;An Indian Christian perspective, 109
24. Mukalel J.C, Gandhian Education P,140
25. James A. Colaiaco. Martin Luther King Jr. An Apostle of Militant Non-violence, p. 24.
26. Mukalel J.C, Gandhian Education P,148
27. Ibid., P. 38
28. Gandhi M.K Harijan 7th January 1939
29. All Men Are Brothers (Life & thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as told in his own words) Compiled & Edited by: Krishna Kripalani Printed and Published by: Navajivan Publishing House, Ahemadabad, India.P.5
30. Kotturam George. Ahimsa - Gautama to Gandhi, p. 6.
31. The Diary of Mahadev Desai, p.271
32. Kotturam George. Ahimsa - Gautama to Gandhi, p. 6.
33. Gandhi M.K Harijan 29thSeptember 1946
34. Gandhi MK, Young India 31Dece 1931
35. Quoted by Rao S (2015) Mahatma Gandhi and Religion http://hdl.handle.net/10603/385182 page No 3/43
36. Hames Walton J.R. The Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr.
37. Young India, 12, May 1920.

* Dewan Institute of Management Studies, Meerut (Affiliated to Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut). Email: drsujageorgestanley5818@gmail.com