Editing Mahatma Gandhi (section)

=== Truth and Satyagraha ===
[[File:Mahatma Gandhi on Rumours.jpg|thumb|Plaque displaying one of Gandhi's quotes on rumour]]
Gandhi dedicated his life to discovering and pursuing truth, or ''[[Satya]]'', and called his movement [[satyagraha]], which means "appeal to, insistence on, or reliance on the Truth."<ref>{{cite book |last=Sharp |first=Gene |url=https://archive.org/details/gandhiwieldsweap00shar |title=Gandhi Wields the Weapon of Moral Power: Three Case Histories |publisher=Navajivan |year=1960 |page=[https://archive.org/details/gandhiwieldsweap00shar/page/4 4]}}</ref> The first formulation of the ''satyagraha'' as a political movement and principle occurred in 1920, which Gandhi tabled as "Resolution on Non-cooperation" in September that year before a session of the Indian Congress. It was the ''satyagraha'' formulation and step, states Dennis Dalton, that deeply resonated with beliefs and culture of his people, embedded him into the popular consciousness, transforming him quickly into Mahatma.{{sfnp|Dalton|2012|pp=30–32}}

[[File:God is Truth.jpg|thumb|left|"God is Тruth. The way to Тruth lies through [[ahimsa]] (nonviolence)" – [[Sabarmati Ashram|Sabarmati]], 13 March 1927]]

Gandhi based ''Satyagraha'' on the Vedantic ideal of self-realisation, ahimsa (nonviolence), vegetarianism, and universal love. William Borman states that the key to his ''satyagraha'' is rooted in the Hindu [[Upanishads|Upanishadic]] texts.{{sfnp|Borman|1986|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=U6DE9OUvrTEC&pg=PA26 26]–34}} According to Indira Carr, Gandhi's ideas on ''ahimsa'' and ''satyagraha'' were founded on the philosophical foundations of Advaita Vedanta.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Indira Carr |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UZQqBgAAQBAJ |title=Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-134-92796-8 |editor-last=Stuart Brown |page=264 |display-editors=etal}}</ref> I. Bruce Watson states that some of these ideas are found not only in traditions within Hinduism, but also in Jainism or Buddhism, particularly those about non-violence, vegetarianism and universal love, but Gandhi's synthesis was to politicise these ideas.<ref name="Watson">{{Cite journal |last=Watson |first=I. Bruce |year=1977 |title=Satyagraha: The Gandhian Synthesis |journal=Journal of Indian History |volume=55 |issue=1/2 |pages=325–35}}</ref> His concept of ''satya'' as a civil movement, states Glyn Richards, are best understood in the context of the Hindu terminology of [[Dharma]] and ''[[Ṛta]]''.<ref name="richards1">{{cite journal |last=Richards |first=Glyn |date=1986 |title=Gandhi's Concept of Truth and the Advaita Tradition |journal=Religious Studies |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=1–14 |doi=10.1017/S0034412500017996 |issn=0034-4125 |jstor=20006253 |s2cid=170379545}}</ref>

Gandhi stated that the most important battle to fight was overcoming his own demons, fears, and insecurities. Gandhi summarised his beliefs first when he said, "God is Truth." Gandhi would later change this statement to "Truth is God." Thus, ''satya'' (truth) in Gandhi's philosophy is "God".<ref name="Parel2006">{{cite book |last=Parel, Anthony |title=Gandhi's Philosophy and the Quest for Harmony |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-86715-3 |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQhz0fW0HZUC&pg=PA195 |access-date=13 January 2012 |archive-date=21 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721073617/https://books.google.com/books?id=MQhz0fW0HZUC&pg=PA195 |url-status=live }}</ref> Gandhi, states Richards, described the term "God" not as a separate power, but as the Being (Brahman, Atman) of the [[Advaita Vedanta]] tradition, a nondual universal that pervades in all things, in each person and all life.<ref name="richards1" /> According to Nicholas Gier, this to Gandhi meant the unity of God and humans, that all beings have the same one soul and therefore equality, that ''atman'' exists and is same as everything in the universe, ahimsa (non-violence) is the very nature of this ''atman''.<ref name=gier40>{{cite book|author=Nicholas F. Gier|title=The Virtue of Nonviolence: From Gautama to Gandhi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tVLt99uleLwC&pg=PA40|year=2004|publisher=[[State University of New York Press]]|isbn=978-0-7914-5949-2|pages=40–42|access-date=1 June 2017|archive-date=21 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721073707/https://books.google.com/books?id=tVLt99uleLwC&pg=PA40|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Salt March.jpg|thumb|Gandhi picking salt during [[Salt March|Salt Satyagraha]] to defy colonial law giving salt collection monopoly to the British.<ref>{{cite web|title=Salt March &#124; Definition, Causes, History, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Salt-March|access-date=20 February 2023|website=Britannica |first1=Kenneth |last1=Pletcher |archive-date=21 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191121121103/https://www.britannica.com/event/Salt-March|url-status=live}}</ref> His ''satyagraha'' attracted vast numbers of Indian men and women.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sita Anantha Raman|title=Women in India: A Social and Cultural History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KwKrCQAAQBAJ |year=2009|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-01440-6|pages=164–166}}</ref>]]

The essence of [[Satyagraha]] is "soul force" as a political means, refusing to use brute force against the oppressor, seeking to eliminate antagonisms between the oppressor and the oppressed, aiming to transform or "purify" the oppressor. It is not inaction but determined passive resistance and non-co-operation where, states Arthur Herman, "love conquers hate".{{sfnp|Herman|2008|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tquxD6dk914C&pg=PA176 176]}} A euphemism sometimes used for Satyagraha is that it is a "silent force" or a "soul force" (a term also used by Martin Luther King Jr. during his "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech). It arms the individual with moral power rather than physical power. Satyagraha is also termed a "universal force", as it essentially "makes no distinction between kinsmen and strangers, young and old, man and woman, friend and foe."{{efn|name="rules"|<ref>{{cite book |last=Gandhi |first=M.K. |contribution=Some Rules of Satyagraha ''Young India (Navajivan)'' 23 February 1930 |title=The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi |volume=48 |page=340}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Misra |first=Bijoy |date=18 October 2017 |title=Mahatma Gandhi's Rules for Satyagraha |website=www.lokvani.com |url=https://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=13907 |access-date=5 July 2024 |archive-date=30 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730054534/https://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=13907 |url-status=usurped }} (Young India, 27 February 1930, The Gujarati original of this appeared in Navajivan, 23 February 1930)</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Yadav |first=Yogendra |date=9 January 2013 |title=Some Rules of Satyagraha |website=The Gandhi-King Community |url=https://gandhiking.ning.com/profiles/blogs/some-rules-of-satyagraha-1 |access-date=5 July 2024 |archive-date=11 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240811213050/https://gandhiking.ning.com/profiles/blogs/some-rules-of-satyagraha-1 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Gandhi wrote: "There must be no impatience, no barbarity, no insolence, no undue pressure. If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy, we cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause."<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Prabhu |editor1-first=R.K. |editor2-last=Rao |editor2-first=U.R. |year=1967 |chapter=Power of Satyagraha |chapter-url=http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap34.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902015645/http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap34.htm |archive-date=2 September 2007 |title=The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi |location=Ahemadabad |publisher=Navajivan Mudranalaya |isbn=81-7229-149-3}}</ref> [[Civil disobedience]] and non-co-operation as practised under Satyagraha are based on the "law of suffering",<ref name="CollectedWorks20">{{cite book |title=Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi |chapter=156. The Law of Suffering |last=Gandhi |first=M.K. |volume=20 |year=1982 |orig-year=Young India, 16 June 1920 |publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India |location=New Delhi |edition=electronic |pages=396–99 |chapter-url=http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL020.PDF |access-date=14 January 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128150127/http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL020.PDF |archive-date=28 January 2012}}</ref> a doctrine that ''the endurance of suffering is a means to an end''. This end usually implies a moral upliftment or progress of an individual or society. Therefore, non-co-operation in Satyagraha is in fact a means to secure the co-operation of the opponent consistently with [[truth]] and [[justice]].<ref name="Sharma2008">{{cite book|last=Sharma|first=Jai Narain|year=2008 |title=Satyagraha: Gandhi's approach to conflict resolution |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxJvoBWTAXoC&pg=PA17|access-date=26 January 2012|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|isbn=978-81-8069-480-6|page=17|archive-date=21 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230721073713/https://books.google.com/books?id=XxJvoBWTAXoC&pg=PA17|url-status=live}}</ref>

While Gandhi's idea of ''satyagraha'' as a political means attracted a widespread following among Indians, the support was not universal. For example, Muslim leaders such as Jinnah opposed the ''satyagraha'' idea, accused Gandhi to be reviving Hinduism through political activism, and began effort to counter Gandhi with Muslim nationalism and a demand for Muslim homeland.<ref>{{cite book|author=R. Taras|title=Liberal and Illiberal Nationalisms|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Npt_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA91|year= 2002|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-230-59640-5|page=91 | quote=In 1920 Jinnah opposed satyagraha and resigned from the Congress, boosting the fortunes of the Muslim League.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Yasmin Khan |year=2007 |title=The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan |url=https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan/page/11 |publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12078-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/greatpartitionma00khan/page/11 11–22]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Rafiq Zakaria|title=The Man who Divided India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RdITXUpyVgC |year=2002|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7991-145-7|pages=83–85}}</ref> The untouchability leader [[B. R. Ambedkar|Ambedkar]], in June 1945, after his decision to convert to Buddhism and the first [[Ministry of Law and Justice (India)|Law and Justice minister]] of modern India, dismissed Gandhi's ideas as loved by "blind Hindu devotees", primitive, influenced by spurious brew of Tolstoy and Ruskin, and "there is always some simpleton to preach them".{{sfnp|Herman|2008|p=586}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cháirez-Garza |first=Jesús Francisco |s2cid=145020542 |title=Touching space: Ambedkar on the spatial features of untouchability |journal=Contemporary South Asia |publisher=Taylor & Francis |volume=22 |issue=1 |date=2 January 2014 |doi=10.1080/09584935.2013.870978 |pages=37–50}}</ref><ref>Ambedkar, B. R. (1945), [https://archive.org/stream/Dr.BabasahebAmbedkarWritingsAndSpeechespdfsAllVolumes/Volume_09#page/n15/mode/2up/search/ahimsa What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables], Thacker & Co. Editions, First Edition, pp. v, 282–297.</ref> [[Winston Churchill]] caricatured Gandhi as a "cunning huckster" seeking selfish gain, an "aspiring dictator", and an "atavistic spokesman of a pagan Hinduism." Churchill stated that the civil disobedience movement spectacle of Gandhi only increased "the danger to which white people there [British India] are exposed."{{sfnp|Herman|2008|pp=359, 378–380}}