Gandhi Before Gandhi

Author(s): Bipin Doshi, Priti Shah
Publisher: Jain Academy Educational Research Center Promotion Trust Mumbai

Page 61

GANDHI BEFORE GANDHI
quote of one of the greatest Oriental Scholars, in Max Muller:
object is not grass or other things, but fruit. In the same manner there may be many occult powers which will come from the observance of all these rules, but that is not the object of the soul and if this is made the object of the soul. It is degraded to a certain extent, it is not like saying, "Be good for the sake of goodness," and no other purpose with any idea of getting any other fruitor having any reward.
Actually we when we want spiritual reward, any possible price is very little in consideration or in comparison with materialistic life. I could at the same time tell you many things where results were actually derived from the practice of the moral rules, but anyone who practices them will find out for themselves that these results are facts. But when they are practiced only for the purpose of gain of some kind, there is no real value in them. The occult powers may be possessed by soul, but if they are not used in the right way it is a loss rather than a gain.
"I confess, it has always seemed to me one of the saddest chapters in the history of the world to see the early inhabitants of India, who knew nothing of the rest of the world, of the mighty empires of Egypt and Babylon, of their wars and conquests, who wanted nothing from the outside world and were happy and content in their own earthly paradise, protected as it seemed by the mountain ramparts in the north and watched on every other side by the zealous waves of the Indian Ocean, to see these happy people suddenly overran by foreign warriors, whether Persians, Greeks or Macedonians, or at a later time, Scythians, Mohammedans, Mongolians and Christians, and conquered for no fault of theirs, except that they had neglected to cultivate the art of killing their neighbors; They themselves never wished for conquests, they simply wished to be left alone and to be allowed to work out their views of life which was contemplative and joyful, though deficient in one point namely, the art of self defense and destruction of others."
Sad lesson of history
Because of these principles and doctrines of universal welfare, tolerance and inner happiness underlying our lives as a people from the earliest ages we have been the victims of misgovernment and tyranny through oppression, from the first Persian invasion to the latest Christian invasion and conquest, but through it all we have borne ourselves with patience, a patience of hope, without a parallel in history, firmly adhering to our ancient faith, believing that in the end, goodness will triumph over all oppression, all tyranny, for it is an axiom with us that goodness is the highest power and will eventually prevail. Here, you may say, that such is not the history of India, I will, therefore, confirm my own statement by
*They had no idea that, a tempest could break upon them and when the black clouds came suddenly driving through the northern and western mountain-passes, they had no shelter, they were simply bogged down by superior brute force. To certain extent they seemed to have realized this mistake but before that they were discovered and disturbed by the outer "barbarians'. The whole world was to be a fighting and a huckstering world, and even the solution of the highest problems of religion and philosophy was in future to be determined, not by sweet reasonableness, but by the biggest battalions. We must all learn that lesson, but even to the hardened historianit is a sad lesson to learn."