________________
JAINISM AND INFLUENCES FROM WESTERN SOCIAL REFORMERS IN GANDHIJI'S WELTANSCHAUUNG
Dr. Heimo Rau
Dealing with some outlines of Gandhiji's Weltanschauung I have first to dwell on the Mahatma's Indian heritage before entering the western scene with some remarks on Gandhiji's relations to Ruskin, Thoreau and Tolstoy. Commemorating the centenary of Tagore's birth, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote that Gandhi had struck the Indian scene like a thunderbolt that had dazzled the mind and set aglow the heart. He compares him with Tagore and declares that the poet's influence had not shaken the country with the suddenness of an earthquake, but had spread its light over the Indian landscape like the gentle dawn creeping over the mountains. Nehru sees in Tagore the thinker, in Gandhi the man of action: Tagore represents the cultural tradition of India in all its profuse diversity while Gandhi stands for the tradition of asceticism and self-abnegation. ... Each is in his own way altogether and entirely Indian.
Gandhiji's Indian Heritage
When Jawaharlal Nehru termed Gandhiji as a man of acuon he was in full accordance with the Mahatma himself, who considered himself to be a Karma-yogin and thus placed himself in the traditional system of the Indian path to salvation. The goal for all men is the same, only the paths vary. Man feels himself drawn more to one or the other path of yoga according to the stress of one's spiritual and mental capabilities and will guide his striving in the direction desired. Even Gandhi chose. He chose the path of action, in the sense of Karma Yoga, the path of selfless action which has been defined by Vivekananda in his famous lectures on yoga. But Gandhiji got his inspiration from
145
M.M.-19
.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
