Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin 3

Author(s): R P Poddar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 15

In VaishÁLI REŠBARCH BULLETIN NO.3
2 The tyrannical group leaders and governments which are the repositories of violence are to be firmly resisted by the Satyagrahi, if they are proved to be in the wrong. Non-violenec is only the replacement of retaliation and is no surrender to wickedness. But resistance does not imply hatred for the adversary. Gandhi holds that it is possible and advisable to resist a perverse system but “to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself.” Hence Ahimsa is the attitude of harmlessness even to the wrong-doer. Gandhi goes a step further and says that it implies positive love even to the wrong-doer. But this does not mean rendering any help to the wrong-doer in the prolongation of his wrong.
The practice of Ahimsa requires faith in the reality and compassion of God and deep self-introspection. The votary of non-violence has to cultivate the acquisition of freedom from envy, hatred, malice, lust, cupidity and uncharitableness. 12 This leads to the acceptance of an elevated standard of virtues. The code of vows or Vratas has to be followed by the non-violent Satyagrahi and bas to become the standard for cultivation by others. The acceptance of the norm of non-volence would thus almost amount to a moral transvaluation of values. The law of love if courageously practised is bound to lead to the elevation of the accent, quality and character of politics and civilization.
As a Vedantist and a Vaishnava, Gandhi regarded all life as sacred and precious. Hence he had deep faith in the sanctity of the right to life. He would not kill even a snake. He said: "God alone can take life, because He gives it." The believer in Ahimsa would regard even the lives of the opponents as worthy of reverence. In an article in the Harijan Gandhi wrote: “You are no Satyagrahis if you remain silent or passive spectators while your enemy is being done to death. You must protect him even at the cost of your life.”18 He accepted the supremacy of the right to life not merely because man as an individual is the subject of social and political rights bat because in his inmost essence man is a soul. Hence like Tolstoy, Gandhi accepted the immutability and obligatory character of the law of love. For himself, he regarded the law of Ahimsa as absolutel4 although he had acquired it after a long struggle. He considered it an infallible weapon, mightier than the force of arms and believed in it as a categorical imperative.
Like Rousseau, Gandhi thinks that the growth of the military art 12. “Non-Violence begins and ends by turning the searchlight inward."
(M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 1940). 13. Harijan, April 7, 1946. 14. "I shall of course die with non-violence on my lips". (M.K, Gandhi,
Harijan, 1940 ).