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The first sense of the term, also brings to Gandhi the honour of a philosopher. I need not discuss how. But here he mostly followed the schools of Indian philosophy like the Upanisad, Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga, etc.
In the fifth sense of the term Gandhi is a fullfledged philosopher. His doctrine of end and means, non-violence, love; subjectivity, Satyagraha, self-analysis etc illustrate his concern with fundamental human situations. In addition to other things he was moved by the suffering of the masses and wanted to remove the suffering of humanity in general and India in particular.
If Gandhi is a philosopher in some senses of the term, the question is what is his contribution to philosophy? The most significant contribution of Gandhi to philosophy is his transition from "God is Truth" to "Truth is God." He writes, "Denial of God we have known, denial of truth, we have not known." When Gandhi says that God is Truth, he is simply emphasizing the Upanisadic expression that Brahman is Truth, knowledge and Infiniteness. God is in us, thus we are partakers of the highest reality. This is just like saying that the kingdom of God is within us. This is not something original in Gandhi. The originality lies in saying that "Truth is God."
Though the conversion of the proposition God is Truth to Truth is God may seem trivial from the logical point of view, yet it is very important for Gandhi who says, “And I came to the conclusion after a continuous and relentless search after truth which began fifty years ago." Reason can reject everything but not truth. Truth has the greatest appeal to all human beings. The hope of humanity lies in organization based on appeal to reason, rather than to blind religious notions about God which have wrought havoc in
Spiritual Awakening (Samyagdarśana) and Other Essays
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