Abstract
By critical standards, the most powerful legacy Gandhi left to the world was the technique of satyāgraha(literally, holding steadfastly to the truth, or truth force). It was a direct outcome of his adherence in all his actions to truth and nonviolence, the two cardinal principles of his life and thought. As EknathEaswaran has observed, “Ahimsa is the bedrock of satyagraha, the ‘irreducible minimum’ to which satyagrahaadheres and the fnal measure of its value.”1 Satyagraha is an umbrella term that brings noncooperation and civil disobedience in its wake—although, as we will see, it is much broader in scope. It is believed that Gandhi’s unique interpretation of nonviolence as nonharm in the widest possible sense galvanized contemporary movements such as ecosustainability and ecofeminism and helped lay the foundation of a broader movement toward a nonviolent future.
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Notes
Eknath Easwaran, Gandhi the Man: The Story of His Transformation (California: Nilgiri Press, 1997), 151.
M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa (Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Publishing House, 2008, Reprint), 307.
Joan V. Bondurant, Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1958/1988), vi.
Joseph J. Doke, M. K. Gandhi Indian Patriot in South Africa (Varanasi, UP: Akhil Bharat Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan, 1909), 78.
Cited in Michael Nagler, Principled Non-Violence, Metta Center for Nonviolence. Retrieved: August 15, 2014. http://mettacenter.org/ definitions/principled-nonviolence/.
Michael N. Nagler, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World (San Francisco: Inner Ocean Publishing, 2004), 100.
M. K. Gandhi, “Letter to Mr.,” January25, 1920, cited in M.K. Gandhi, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (electronic book) (New Delhi: Publications Division, Government oflndia, 1999), Vol. 19, 350. Retrieved: February 13, 2015. http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL019.PDF.
Glyn Richards, The Philosophy ofGandhi (London: Curzon Press, 1991), 157.
Quoted in Thomas Merton (ed.), Gandhi on Non-Violence (New York: New Directions, 1965), 79.
M. K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1938), 115.
Raghavan Iyer, The Moral and Political Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), 364.
Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means (London: Chatto and Windus, 1941), 52.
Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, 105; Young India (November 10, 1921).
Michael Nagler, Law of Suffering, Metta Center for Nonviolence. Retrieved: August 15, 2014. http://mettacenter.org/tag/law_of_suffering/.
Kailash Satyarthi: The Seeker of Truth. Biographical information retrieved: October 19, 2014. http://www.kailashsatyarthi.net/biography/ index.php.
Sean Mclain, Niharika Mandhana, and Kjetil Malkenes Hovland, “Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai, India’s Kailash Satyarthi: Committee Seeks to Draw Attention to Violations of Children’s Rights and Persistence of Child Labor,” The Wall Street Journal, October 10, 2014. Retrieved: October 10, 2014. http://online.wsj.com/articles/ nobel-peace-prize-awarded-to-kailash-satyarthi-malala-yousafzai-1412933020.
Louis Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World (New York: A Mentor Book, 1982), 76.
M. K. Gandhi, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (electronic book), Vol. 79, p. 295. Retrieved: February 14, 2015. http://www.gandhiserve.org/e/cwmg/cwmg.htm.
Michael Nagler, Fasting, Metta Center for Nonviolence. Retrieved: September 15, 2014. http://mettacenter.org/definitions/fasting/.
M. K. Gandhi, Fasting in Satyagraha, Its Use and Abuse, compiled by R. K. Prabhu and Ravindra Kelekar (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1965), 25, 27, 45, 66.
Sri Aurobindo, Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest (Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 2006), 14.
Judith Brown, “Introduction,” in Judith M. Brown and Anthony Parel, eds., The Cambridge Companion to Gandhi (New York: The Cambridge University Press, 2011), 1.
Young India, August 11, 1920, as quoted in Bondurant, Conquest of Violence, 28.
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© 2015 Satinder Dhiman
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Dhiman, S. (2015). Satyāgraha: A Higher Approach to Ethics. In: Gandhi and Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137492357_7
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