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If I could popularize the use of soul-force, which is but another name for love-force, in place of brute force, I know that I could present you with an India that could defy the whole world to do its worst. In season and out season therefore, I shall discipline myself to express in my life this eternal law of suffering, and present it for acceptance to those who care, and if I take part in any other activity, the motive is to show the matchless superiority of that
law.71
The rule of not killing the venomous reptiles has been practised for the most part at Phoenix, Tolstoy Farm and Sabarmati Ashram. At each of these places we had to settle on wastelands. We have had, however, no loss of life occasioned by snakebite. ....Even if it be a superstition to believe that complete immunity from harm for twenty five years in-spite of a fairly regular habit of non-killing is not a fortuitous accident but a Grace of God, I should still hug that superstition.” 72
Gandhi continued to be always transparent in his efforts to mobilize public support for his movement. He felt that his Ahimsa would be put to its severest test and that the question presented the widest field for his experiments in Ahimsa. His support to Khilafat movement by Muslims is a case that involved deep introspection by Gandhi about the importance of Muslims in Satyagraha. So he went to Delhi for discussions with Viceroy Chelmsford for the support for Muslims but ended up supporting involvement of Indians in British engagements in the war. He agreed to address a letter to the Viceroy for support to Muslim demand
He forewarned the people about the dangers that lay ahead and to resist oppression / hardships peacefully without retaliating or using force. He always experienced sufferings of oppressed himself by being one of them like travelling third class, living in Harijan settlements, using only one piece of cloth as women
Pg. 100 | Gandhi & Jainism
