________________
Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi
69
fulfilling himself in the world. Man comes to full consciousness by actualizing his full potentity. It becomes immaterial then, whether we say God limits himself in the form of man or man rises to God working through his nature. Yet an avatāra means a God who limits himself for some purpose on the earth, and possesses even in his limited form the fullness of knowledge.
In the opinion of Mahatma Gandhi, no man has ever been able to describe God fully. Man is far from being God so long as he is imperfect. God is invisible, beyond the reach of the human eye. All that we can do, therefore, is to try to understand the words and action of those whom we regard as man of God.
According to Gandhiji, God cannot be realized through reason. God has to be understood through faith. Intellect or reason can lead only to certain extent and no further, Intellectual knowledge is a somewhat, mixture of sense experience and reason, which is unable to get something about supra-sensuous. Our senses have no capacity to reach a perfect God. Reason is unable to go beyond this physical world. But God is beyond this world. Hence Gandhiji is of the view that it is a matter of faith and the experience derived from that faith. One might rely on his own experience. Full faith does not feel the want of experience. Gandhiji does not outline the condition or the nature of such an experience. At times, he does refer to moral sense and to moral experience ; but that also is done not to outline the faith. Thus, it is apparent that, according to Gandbiji, God not only transcends senses, but also defies rational proof. God is a matter of inner realisation and faith. He cannot be described, as, He is indescribable. As Kathopanishad says :
naiva Vācha na manasă
prăptun sakyo na chak shuşă astīti bubatoanyam
katham tadupalabhyate.8
God, according to Gandhiji, defies definition. Even then, if we must, bowever, define him, we may say that the sum
