29. India and the World

When India becomes self-supporting, self-reliant, and proof against temptations and exploitation, she will cease to be the object of greedy attraction for any power in the West or the East, and will then feel secure without having to carry the burden of expensive armament. Her internal economy will be India's strongest bulwark against aggression.

Y.I., 2-7-'31, p. 161

My notion of Puma Swaraj is not isolated independence but healthy and dignified independence. My nationalism, fierce though it is, is not exclusive, is not devised to harm any nation or individual. Legal maxims are not so legal as they are moral. I believe in the eternal truth of sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas (use thy own property so as not to injure thy neighbour's).

Y.I., 26-3-'31, p. 51

A free democratic India will gladly associate herself with other free nations for mutual defence against aggression and for economic co-operation. She will work for the establishment of a real world order based on freedom and democracy, utilizing the world's knowledge and resources for the progress and advancement of humanity.

H., 23-9-'39, p. 278

It only means that the Western nations have to use their skill. If they want to use their skill abroad, from philanthropic motives, America would say, 'Well, we know how to make bridges, we won't keep it a secret, but we say to the whole world, we will teach you how to make bridges and we will charge you nothing.' America says, 'Where other nations can grow one blade of wheat, we can grow two thousand.' Then, America should teach that art free of charge to those who will learn it, but not aspire to grow wheat for the whole world, which would spell a sorry day for the world indeed.

H., 2-11-'34, p. 302

[Africans wanted to know what India could give them and how they could achieve co-operative industrialization in order to be saved from the terrible exploitation under which they were suffering.]

The commerce between India and Africa, will be of ideas and services, not of manufac-tured goods against raw materials "after the fashion of Western exploiters. Then, India can offer you the spinning wheel. If I had discovered it when I was in South Africa, I would have introduced it among the Africans who were my neighbours in Phoenix. You can grow cotton, you have ample leisure and plenty of manual skill. You should study and adopt the lesson of the village crafts we are trying to revive. Therein lies the key to your salvation.

H., 24-2-'46, p. 18

'Has the spinning wheel a message for America ? Can it serve as a counter weapon to the atom bomb?'

I do feel that it has a message for the U.S.A. and the whole world. ... I have not the slightest doubt that the saving of India and of the world lies in the wheel. If India becomes the slave of the machine, then, I say, Heaven save the world.

H., 17-11-'46, p. 404

I feel in the innermost recesses of my heart... that the world is sick unto death of blood-spilling. The world is seeking a way out, and I flatter myself with the belief that perhaps it will be the privilege of the ancient land of India to show that way out to the hungering world.

India's Case for Swaraj, 1932, p. 209

If India fails, Asia dies. It has been aptly called the nursery of many blended cultures and civilizations. Let India be and remain the hope of all the exploited races of the earth, whether in Asia, Africa or in any part of the world.

H., 5-10-'47, p. 354

We do not want to cut adrift from the whole world. We will have a free interchange with all nations, but the present forced interchange has to go. We do not want to be exploited, neither do we want to exploit any other nation. Through the scheme we look forward to making all children producers, and so to change the face of the whole nation, for it will permeate the whole of our social being. But that does not mean that we cut adrift from the whole world. There will be nations that will want to interchange with others because they cannot produce certain things. They will certainly depend on other nations for them, but the nations that will provide for them should not exploit them.

'But if you simplify your life to such an extent that you need nothing from other countries, you will isolate yourselves from them; whereas I want you to be responsible for America also.'

It is by ceasing to exploit and to be exploited that we can be responsible for America. For America will then follow our example and there will be no difficulty in a free interchange between us.

H., 12-2-'38, p. 2

I know that the work (of shaping the ideal village) is as difficult as to make of India an ideal country... But if one can produce one ideal village, he will have provided a pattern not only for the whole country but perhaps for the whole world. More than this a seeker may not aspire after.

Towards New Horizons, 1959, p. 99

'In free India whose interest shall be supreme? If a neighbouring State is in want, would India adopt an attitude of isolationism, saying that her own needs must come first?'

A truly independent and free India would rush to the help of her neighbours in distress. A man whose spirit of sacrifice does not go beyond his own community, himself becomes, and makes his community, selfish. The logical sequel of self-sacrifice is that the individual sacrifices himself for the com-munity, the community for the district, the district for the Province, the Province for the nation, and the nation for the world. A drop from the ocean perishes without doing any good. As a part of the ocean, it shares the glory of carrying on its bosom whole fleets of mighty ships.

Towards New Horizons, 1959, p. 200

Let no one commit the mistake of thinking, that Ramarajya means a rule of the Hindus. My Rama is another name for Khuda or God. I want Khudai Raj, which is the same thing as the Kingdom of God on Earth. The establishment of such a Rajya would not only mean welfare of the whole of the Indian people but of the whole world.

Towards New Horizons, 1959, p. 200

I would like to see India free and strong so that she may offer herself as a willing and pure sacrifice for the betterment of the world. The individual, being pure, sacrifices himself for the family, the latter for the village, the village for the district, the district for the province, the province for the nation, the nation for all.

Y.I., 17-9-'25, p. 321

Through Swaraj we would serve the whole world.

Y.I., 16-4-'31, p. 79

There is no limit to extending our service to our neighbours across our State-made frontiers. God never made those frontiers.

Y.I., 31-12-'31, p. 427