World of Philosophy

Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan

Page 252

Long before Gandhi, ahimsa or nonviolence had been designated as an absolute value by several sages and seers of ancient India. We know that the great Indian epic Mahabharatha proclaimed nonviolence as one's supreme duty: ahimsa paramodharma. In the Indian ethical system human values or aspirations are characterized as purushartha and they are classified into dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Moksha is referred to as the paramapurushartha, the supreme human value or goal. According to one school of thought moksha occupies a cardinal place in the scheme and it is therefore considered the end/intrinsic value whereas artha and kama are means/instrumental values. (S. Gopal, Hindu Social Philosophy, 1979). For the realization of the ultimate value, the instrumental values of artha which connotes the normal material and economic necessities and activities of human life and kama which includes all normal human desires ranging from instinctive desires sentiments and emotions to the aesthetic yearning of the spirit for beauty have to be properly nourished with the value of dharma playing a regulative and restrictive role on the other two instrumental values. Thus it is clear that in the Indian value system a dharmic (good) life is a sine qua non for the realization of the ultimate goal of life. In the purushartha paradigm satisfying one's material and physical needs and fulfilling one's emotional, intellectual and spiritual requirements are given due recognition and importance. But a condition is attached that they should be pursued only within the parameters of dharma or what in ethics is termed 'ought'. (For a detailed discussion of this, see M.P.Mathai, Mahatma Gandhi's Worldview, 2000, Chapter IV, Gandhian Teleology). We can see that Gandhi accepted the spirit of this position and followed it rigorously. In fact, the whole theory of life enunciated by Gandhi could be explained within the frame work of the purushartha.
Dharma for Gandhi was the unifying principle or 'the law of cohesion', to use his own expression. He wanted every human activity to be organized on the basis of this moral imperative of dharma which consists of truth and nonviolence. Examine his views on economics. It is appropriate to mention here that economists consider their science to be a value-free or valueneutral domain. Acknowledging this Gandhi said: "I must confess that I do not draw a sharp or any distinction between economics and ethicsḤTrue economics never militates against the highest ethical standard, just as a true ethics to be worth its name must at the same time be also good economics. An economics that inculcates Mammon worship and enables the strong to amass wealth at the expense of the weak is a false and dismal science. It spells death. True economics, on the other hand, stands for social justice; it promotes the good of all equally including the weakest and is indispensible for a decent life." This challenging statement makes it amply clear that Gandhi wanted ethics or dharma to guide economic activities. This penchant for values was not limited to economics only. Value orientation should be all
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