Satyagraha

In his Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda, quoted Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s idea of nationalism in his own words thus:

”I call myself a nationalist but my nationalism is as wide as the universe; it embraces all nations. My nationalism includes the prosperity of all nations. I want a strong India able to transfuse its strength to other nations …. Let us look for something new; let us try the power of love and God which are the truth.”

Elsewhere, Gandhi had proclaimed that ‘loyalty to the country is always subordinate to loyalty to God’ and reemphasized that his nationalism was ‘not exclusive’ but is of ‘intense internationalism’.

His averment that ‘nationalism is as wide as the universe’, indeed, is the upanishadic concept of vasudhaiva kutumbakam but as it does not sync with the absolutist precepts of the Semitic faiths, obviously it is of no avail to further the cause of Indian nationalism. Be that as it may, it enabled Gandhi to ascend the throne on international moral high ground that is while leaving the Indian nationalism bereft of, so to say, any space.

This is the PDF-PowerPoint I used for the lecture held together with Mag.a Kathrin Bouvot on Saturday, 25 September 2021 at the International Webinar Series Spirituality, “Satyagraha and Pragmatism: New Dimensions in Gandhian Philosophy”, jointly organised by Mahatma Gandhi Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies Lady Keane College, Shillong, Meghalaya, India & North East Institute of Social Sciences and Research, Dimapur, Nagaland, India. & Peace Channel, Dimapur, Nagaland, India & St. Xavier College, Jalukie, Nagaland, India. The title of the lecture was: “Gandhi's interpretation of Atman: Awakening, Enlightenment, Transcendence”.

La particularidad de la palabra “nosotros” por su condición vinculante es que la empleamos para aproximarnos a otros seres humanos, bien para cooperar, bien para imponer mi “nosotros” o tú “nosotros” (esos como tu o yo) a un nuestro “nosotros” que acabamos por asumir obligatorio para todos. Con esas minucias vuelvo al sur, y al diseño del sur, que mencioné en pasadas columnas. Pues creo que todo diseño, asumido como técnica sin mediación reflexiva, reduce a quienes lo practican a una suerte de desarrolladores de aplicativos para un jamás-cuestionado sistema operativo consumista y productivo asumido como único y natural. Esto es propio de la verticalidad, de tener un ‘norte’ (cuyas acepciones también diversas comparten la cualidad de inclinarnos a valorar el mundo y la historia como piramidales y jerárquicamente ordenadas comarcas donde ante la voz dominante callan todas las demás) .

Palabras clave: Sur, Diseño del Sur, Nosotredad, Satyagraha, Antillanidad

Non-violence is neither an act of cowardice nor compromise; rather it is a way of life in itself – a philosophy to realize man’s true nature. Gandhi personified this message in life and spirit. This essay highlights the essence of non-violent attitude and, through the Gandhian framework, shows how it logically leads to the path of truth. The truth that shall set us free, from maladies of 'misconceived notions’ and ‘chaotic understanding of events’. Realizing this fact is imperative towards engendering harmony in today’s world.

This paper historically analyzes a primary source, which is a compendium of letters, cataloged and published as Li. Shastri Yagnapurushdasji. Written in Gujarati, these letters comprise of theological preaching and administrative reports. Out of 337 letters ranging from 1888 and 1951, I have analyzed only 44 letters that were exchanged between the devotees in India and in East Africa between 1933 and 1950. In this paper, despite accessibility to various genres and several potential historical-theological questions at hand, I will be particularly asking two mutually independent questions. Firstly, as part of my critical analysis of the documents, I will be theoretically
looking for the consciousness of ‘nation’ amongst the subjects of these letters as devised by modern social-scientists like Benedict Anderson and Partha Chatterjee. I historically contextualize the letters to find out any links between the subjects of the letters and the nascent Nationalist movement developing in India. Secondly, I find one particular genre recurring in the subjects of these letters: the new and unique theological understanding of the religious organization BAPS, which was the primary
reason for the schism in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya in 1907. Thus, to historicize this historical event, I take theoretical recourse to Gandhi’s idea of Satyagraha. I question whether the ideological convincing by Shastriji Maharaj to the devotees of East Africa through letters can be called a form of Satyagraha. To show why I intend to use this theoretical model, I will be substantiating it with a theoretical discussion and documented evidence in the paper.

"Won't it remind one of Gandhi's experiments with truth?" "I have no quarrel with Gandhi the man but I have problem with the Mahatma of his," he said and as if to remonstrate his apathy for the Gandhian values, he had an extended sip of that Laphroaic. "I'm no Gandhian and I don't intend to be one," he continued from where he had left. "But as is being done, I see it's a disservice to his legacy to deify him; it's when I approach him as man that I value him as a human being, but in his picture of mahatma, I see many a wart in his atma. Credit him for cleaning up the public toilets but why not condemn him for having forced his spouse to do the same; why laud him for his quixotic abstinence unmindful of his wife's conjugal plight; was he not an inveterate autocrat in the democratic garb; what about his falling afoul of Prakasam, and how he played favorites with Nehru. Why bother about him as he'd been reduced for long as a political mascot of the slavish-minded of the self-serving Nehru family that hijacked his name to grind its dynastic axe! What an irony it is that his party that sundered the British yoke should have rendered the political reins into Italian hands? Bemoan the congress party."

This dissertation studies nonviolence in the context of Humanistic Studies, a multi-disciplinary academic field that criticallly explores issues of (existential) meaning and humanization; the personal and social aspects of 'good living'. From this background this study focusses on contemporary nonviolence, using this term not only to point to the absence of violence, but to that which can take its place. Nonviolence is thus understood as a substantive method to create societal and interpersonal change, and even as a paradigm.
The aim of the study is twofold. Firstly to descern if it is possible to understand nonviolence a concept independent from specific cultural, religious or practical context. Secondly to see if from such an independent notion it is possible to develop a framework for analysis and practice.
The Gandhian understanding of nonviolence is the startingpoint ot this study. However, many developments in nonviolence theory and practice have taken place after Gandhi. This dissertation studies the way Gandhian concepts have caried over, and are changed and expanded by other thinkers and practitioners and what remains the same. From this search it is concluded that five basic elements form the core of contemporary nonviolence: satya (truthseeking), ahimsa (non-harming), tapasya (self-suffering), sarvodaya (the welfare of all) and swadeshi/swaraj (relational autonomy). Together  they point to a specific way of wielding power called integrative power, which lies at the heart of nonviolence.

"Khadi: Gandhi's Mega Symbol of Subversion" investigates the power of a symbol to qualitatively transform society by studying Mahatma Gandhi's use of clothing as a metaphor for unity, empowerment and liberation from imperial subjugation.

The book brings together historical evidence of Gandhi's search for a semiotics of attire in his quest for personal integrity and socio-political change. From a multidisciplinary perspective, it closely examines the 'subversion' underlying his sartorial communication.

The symbolic potential for change which khadi has, is therefore seen, not merely as 'revolution' or 'sedition', but as a sustained, well-organised strategy for achieving full independence or purna swaraj.

The author also discusses the complex challenges in Gandhi's highly polarized environment, such as the conflict between the British Empire and the Indian National Congress, Hindu-Muslim tensions, the urban-rural divide, and the question of untouchability.

Photographs, illustrations and an extensive appendix considerably add to the historical value of the study, making it useful for students and scholars in various fields of South Asian research." - Sage Publications

'Khadi: Mega Symbol...' is also translated into Hindi and Marathi by Sage-Bhasha, India.

the country. The term 'popular' has been applied here to address class consciousness leading to political conflict and Indian response to colonial rule has also been deliberated. It also examines how literary tradition of the country and its impact on Indian society confront with the 'Raj' has also been discussed. For about two hundred years of the British rule, Indian experienced various kinds of challenges and changes in their socio-religious matters that affected them enormously., We have also chosen some vernacular (proscribed) literature published from various parts of the country to construct the history of the resistance movement that manifested in armed revolts, social protests, cultural assertions and intellectual dissent in colonial India. Most of the literatures dealing with British rule published in the first half of the twentieth century in colonial India were declared proscribed and its circulation was banned by the British. The purpose behind writing such pamphlets and circulating it among the masses, was obvious, that was to create national consciousness among the masses as to how the British introduced new system of administration to exploit Indian resources and at the same time how did they undermine the Indian social system in the garb of modernization and 'civilizing missions'. It also argues that those writing truth of the British rule were punished and their publications were banned under Section 124-A and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code and 99-A of Cr.P.C. ABSTRACT The present article seeks to examine the changes noticed under the colonial South Asia which has been argued by Karl Marx as 'destructive' and 'regenerative' phase of British rule. These two terminologies of Marx became an example for the writers of the 20th century to look into it in their literary tradition of India. While dealing with these two phases of history under the Raj, this article analyses the role of vernacular press, published from various parts of the country, in shaping Indian minds and bringing about political consciousness in

A discourse to peace educators and activists from Palestine and Israel on the techniques of 'Satyagraha', created and employed by Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for Indian independence. While the techniques are identified and briefly explained, a diagrammatic presentation of the context within which he acted reveals the courage and discipline required in a Gandhi-inspired subversion of structural and cultural injustice.
Date of discourse: 10, March, 2007.
Date of publication on Academia.edu: 2012

Sivil itaatsizlik, insanlık tarihi kadar eski bir pratiktir. Vicdani Ret pratiği ise üniter devletle birlikte ortaya çıkmıştır. Farklı dönemlerde ortaya çıksalar da, iki pratiğin ortak yönlerinin farklı yönlerinden fazla olduğu kesindir. Sivil itaatsizliğin temel unsurları vicdani ret pratiğinde de görulmektedir. Temel unsurların yanısıra her iki pratik de kolektif, politik ve savaş karşıtıdır ve demokratik olmayan yasaya karşı ciddi bir eylem biçimini ifade eder. Bu çalışmada, sivil itaatsizlik örneği olarak vicdani reddin Türkiye’deki meşruluğu ve olanaklılığı, özellikle Türkiye’deki son olaylar dikkate alınarak incelenmiştir. Vicdani ret pratiği, Türkiye’de sürekli olarak değişmekte ve dönüşmektedir. Vicdani reddin sivil itaatsizlik yöntemi ile yakınlaşmasına sebep olan TCK’nın halkı askerlikten soğutma ile ilgili 318. maddesine, vicdani retçilerin son günlerdeki tepkisi, geçmisten farklı olarak, kurdukları dernekler, platformların yanısıra, fanzinler ve yasal olmayan sokak eylemleri aracılığıyla olmaktadır. Dolayısıyla, Türkiye’deki vicdani ret eylemleri, her geçen gün daha çok sivil itaatsizlik pratiğinden beslenmeye başlamıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, sivil itaatsizliğin ve vicdani reddin tarihi süreç ışığında geçirdiği değişim ve dönüşümleri somut örneklerle ortaya çıkarmak ve iki pratiğin ortak yönlerini vurgulamaktır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Sivil itaatsizlik, vicdani ret, politik eylem, kolektiflik, mesruluk, savas karsitligi, TCK 318. madde, olanaklılık.

Resumen
El diseño no acontece en el vacío. Es fruto del ejercicio de personas que agrupadas llamamos ‘sociedades’, aunque podríamos designarlos de otros modos. Si no lo hacemos es porque desde un lugar del Occidente fueron clasificados todos los demás lugares planetarios y asumida la generalidad de lo diferente con los conceptos de lo mismo. Algunos humanos catalogaron en sus términos a todos los demás. Ahora, en nuestra Abya-Yala/Latinoamérica del siglo XXI, muchos reconocemos viejas novedades, mundos dentro del mundo y algunos abogamos por desclasificar las claves del expansionismo occidental y de sus doctrinas avasalladoras ayer y coexistentes hoy (capitalismo, marxismo, ecumenismo, colonialismo, globalización), todas producto de quienes profesan conocimientos o ‘epistemologías’ del norte mediante las cuales se hicieron pasar las ideologías y prácticas de una parte normal de la humanidad como si fuesen La ‘norma’. Ante a eso, reflexiono sobre el sur del diseño (aquello que al diseñar los mapas, o fue destinado a lugares inferiores, o fue excluido o negado) y sobre el diseño del sur (como construcción de sur o sures, lugares de rumbos otros y de realidades otras). Con mi ejercicio intento aproximarme a formas de conocer y decidir surgidas de personas concretas con saberes combinados, aquí y ahora, más que de sujetos abstractos en instancias ideales. Desconfío del conocimiento experto procedente invariablemente de quienes se sienten dispensados de todo cuestionamiento, superiores en saber y entender a los demás humanos. Defiendo como destino lo múltiple, lo confuso y lo mezclado, más para equilibrar la ilusoria e impuesta unicidad de lo puro que para negarlo. Infiero que es posible identificar, pues de hecho ya existen, correlatos de lo que profesionalmente llamamos diseño, gestados desde saberes otros (o sureños), tales como: las nociones andinas de la vida en plenitud (según el grupo humano Sumak Kawsay, Annaa Akua’ipa, Ñande Reko, etc.), las nociónes africanas de vínculo con el todo (Ubuntu, Hunhu), las formas maoríes de hacer las cosas (Tikanga), la insistencia gandhiana en la fuerza de la verdad (Satyagraha), etc. Emocionado con ello acudo, para sustentar mi asunto, a pensadores de frontera (Walter Mignolo, Serge Gruzinski, Bolívar Echeverría) o “al sur” (Alberto Acosta, Luis Macas, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Antonio García, Emmanuel Lizcano, Franco Cassano, etc.). Planteo retomar un presente construido para el ahora diverso y no para un porvenir único acorde con concepciones de progreso mediante las cuales la multiplicidad es asumida como caos e invasión. Según lo concibo, el futuro está signado por el cuidado, más que por la acumulación. En tal aproximación el diseño, o diseños, del sur, así como quienes conforme a ello diseñan, tienen otros nombres y hacen sus prácticas con otras intenciones.

Palabras clave: Saberes otros, saberes sureños, Multisur, Compluridad, Diseño del sur, Desclasificación.

http://www.disuda.net/salon-de-diseno/cronograma/

India’s GDP in 1710 was 24.2% of the world and  in 1947, prior to the independence of India its GDP was less than 4%. India's literacy rate in 1947 was  meager 12%. The British after ruling India for almost 200 years left India in a  state of destitution. The financial problems frustrated both India and Pakistan.  The Indo-Pak resentment was like an intimate couple after facing financial problems turning unfriendly towards each other. The blend of illiteracy, religious zealotry and destitution yielded explosive mixture of war mongering hostility between the two nations. The time has come for both nations to join hands and work jointly to reach the higher level of civility and prosperity. Necessarily the first step would be to replace violence with peace and hate with love.

Although he did not march on the front lines, Howard Thurman is one of those often-overlooked heroes. He played a key role in providing the theological foundation for the civil rights movement and helped pave the spiritual path upon which King and others would trod. As Thurman argued, “It was important that individuals who were in the thick of the struggle for social change would be able to find renewal and fresh courage in the spiritual resources of the church.” His efforts demonstrate that effective social action requires a community working together for change that is bonded together by a coherent ethical, theological or philosophical foundation.

The essay is found here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/12/11/overlooked-heroes-civil-rights-movement/?utm_term=.47b1eb310541

Our work is an attempt to elucidate the role of truth and how it is considered in the foundations of nonviolence expressed by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy and Mohandas K. Gandhi.
Once  the  difference  between  relative  truth  and  ontological  truth  has  been  proposed  and  analyzed, this  review  reflects  on  some  daily  manifestations  which  could  express  this  ontological  truth.
Accepting that we are dealing with an ineffable and elusive concept, we reflect on whether its daily expression can be found -as we propose- in the virtuous practice of love, justice or humility, among other values.
In the first part we will compilate the reflections bequeathed by these two mentors of nonviolence; in  the  second  part  we  will  offer  some  keys  to  interpret  those  expressions  of  this  ontological  truth.
These keys will be matched with the ideas spreaded by the authors themselves, and will be offered as the ethical values that may be cultivated by the nonviolence thinking.

To conclude the 150th year of Gandhi's birth, this brief article highlights the great regard and admiration (Saint) Pope John Paul II had for the Mahatma. It places on record his efforts to promote Gandhi's 'Satyagraha' among members of the "Solidarność", the Movement that freed Poland from Communist rule.
Published also in «Gandhi Marg» 41/4 (2020) pp 465-472.

Lecture delivered on "Gandhi Ji and Satyagrah", as part of the Departmental Lecture Series 2021,  organized by the Dept. of Politics and International Relations, School of Humanities and Social Science, Central University of Jharkhand, Ranchi on Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021 at 11 AM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQRsve9rfIY

RSS/BJP DEMAGOGY
If there can be a single word to explain the overflowing love of RSS/BJP clan for Sardar Patel, it will surely be the word FRAUD. It is mysterious because Sardar Patel as the first home minister of India banned RSS for being involved in the assassination of Father of the Nation, Gandhi. Sardar is being upheld as the only maker of India by the believers in Hindutva politics, who are working overtime to convert India into a Hindu rashtra, despite the fact that Sardar as a Congress leader played great role in the establishment of a democratic-secular India and served it till his last breath. The latest to join Sardar Patel fan club is vice-president of our Indian Republic, M Venkaiah Naidu and a senior RSS/BJP ideologue. In a signed article on Sardar's birthday (October 31) he wrote: "Patel was the greatest unifier of India. There is, perhaps, no parallel in modern history to this achievement." So Sardar overshadows Gandhi, Father of the Nation and leaders like Nehru, the first PM and Rajendra Prasad, the first president of the Republic. Sardar is also praised for demanding "utmost impartiality…A civil servant cannot afford to, and must not, take part in politics. Nor must he involve himself in communal wrangles". There is no reason to doubt the words of Sardar quoted by our Vice-President. But what about the officials, specially senior, in BJP governments kowtowing to their political bosses and working zealously for Hindutva project. This fact is not brought out by critics only but judiciary including Supreme Court has been constantly raising this issue. The latest incident in Haryana proves that officials are not working to uphold the Rule of Law but serve the sectarian and communal goals of the RSS/BJP rulers. In the sensational murder case of Junaid Khan (who was alleged to have been killed for being Muslim in a train) the presiding judge at the Faridabad sessions court found that the government prosecutor, Naveen Kaushik was helping the defence lawyer of the main accused Naresh Kumar during hearings. The judge complained to the High Court on this serious violation of propriety by Naveen Kaushik who also happens to be an active member of RSS.
READ THE WHOLE STORY....

In this thesis I compare the social history of movements against hydropower projects in two states of India, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, from 1921 to 2004 in three phases. The specific aim of this project is to demonstrate the shifting notion of subaltern political subjectivity and `state-formation' in postcolonial India. Here I argue that the subalterns played significant causal and constitutive roles in transforming the structure of postcolonial Indian state in a more democratic direction and in that process considerably changed their political discourses, practices and strategies. The two extended historical cases of movement against large dams illustrated in this thesis mark the different types of subaltern politics that emerged in postcolonial India.

The article addresses the impact of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas in the US, Latin America and Africa, especially on important political figures. The influence of Gandhi’s ideas in Latin America started very early in the twentieth century. By 1930 and perhaps even earlier, important Latin American intellectuals began to refer to Gandhi, one of whom was José Carlos Mariátegui. Gandhi’s non-violent struggle also had a great impact in America, particularly in the 1950s and the 1960s, the years of peak resistance against the Jim Crow laws––a collection of state and local statutes that legalised racial segregation which had existed for about 100 years from the post-Civil War era until 1965. In the twenty-first century, the Satyagraha philosophy motivated those who were involved in the struggle for human rights, the defenders of indigenous peoples and those fighting against globalisation. We can include among them the Argentinian Nobel Peace Prize awardee Adolfo Pérez Esquivel whose work in the ...

As Fanon and Biko also did, Gandhi smashes the facade of colonial benignity and places blame at the door of India in a manner typical of a politician attempting to provoke his people into action. He implores Indian's to abandon the supposed dream of becoming civilised and charges them with becoming satyagrahi's. " You can govern us only so long as we remain the governed, " he stated, in a quote that sums up his approach to civil disobedience. " The English have not taken India; we have given it to them. They are not in India because of their strength but because we keep them. " The economic, political and cultural subjection that Indian's were subject to did in fact end. It was due to many of Gandhi's teachings and policies that enabled and emboldened the masses to rid themselves of those shackles. " Swaraj was, for Gandhi, founded upon Indians taking responsibility for their own lives. "

PDF-PowerPoint presentation of the talk I gave on Wednesday, 23 October 2019 at the International Seminar “Gandhi 150 – Satyagraha in the 21st Century Social, Ethical and Spiritual Dimensions of the Global Pursuits of Truth”, Venue India International Centre, New Delhi, Multipurpose Hall and Seminar Rooms-I, II and III, Kamladevi Complex, Oct 22-Oct 24, 2019. The title of the talk was: “Satyagraha, Three Gunas and the Calling of Hope: Plato, Gandhi, Moltmann and Beyond”.

The article addresses the impact of Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas in the US, Latin America and Africa, especially on important political figures. The influence of Gandhi’s ideas in Latin America started very early in the twentieth century. By 1930 and perhaps even earlier, important Latin American intellectuals began to refer to Gandhi, one of whom was José Carlos Mariátegui. Gandhi’s non-violent struggle also had a great impact in America, particularly in the 1950s and the 1960s, the years of peak resistance against the Jim Crow laws––a collection of state and local statutes that legalised racial segregation which had existed for about 100 years from the post-Civil War era until 1965. In the twenty-first century, the Satyagraha philosophy motivated those who were involved in the struggle for human rights, the defenders of indigenous peoples and those fighting against globalisation. We can include among them the Argentinian Nobel Peace Prize awardee Adolfo Pérez Esquivel whose work in the defence of human rights and non-violent resistance forcefully showed the influence of Gandhi and his powerful legacy.
Keywords Satyagraha, Latin America, Africa, human rights, non-violent practices

Автор изучает социально-философские взгляды М.К. Ганди через призму современной трактовки понятия «внутреннее достоинство человека». В статье уточняются антропологические взгляды индийского философа и его представления об индивидуальном развитии. Борьба Ганди за права лиц, имевших в традиционном индийском обществе низкий социальный статус, представлена как практическое выражение признания их достоинства со стороны мыслителя. Автор рассматривает сатьяграху как взаимно соотнесенное нравственное развитие двух вовлеченных в нее субъектов: сатьяграха (человека, практикующего сатьяграху) и его оппонента через практическое воплощение комплекса идей, связанных с понятием человеческого достоинства. На основании категориального анализа уточняется содержание ключевых понятий философии  Ганди (достоинство  человека, развитие, свобода, самоограничение, стойкость в страдании, чувство стыда, диалог) и исследуются связи между ними. Анализируя сатьяграху с помощью современных представлений о внутреннем достоинстве человека, сложившихся в западной мысли, автор предлагает толковать различные компоненты философии Ганди как подчиненные идее развития. В статье впервые в
отечественной науке исследован механизм передачи импульса развития от сатьяграха к его оппоненту в результате их взаимодействия в ходе кампании сатьяграхи. Осознание и взращивание собственного достоинства, сопряженное с уважительным отношением к достоинству Другого, которое практикует сатьяграх, рассматривается как условие аналогичных изменений во внутренней жизни его оппонента и трансформации изначально конфликтной ситуации в диалог.

The article presents the results of research carried out mainly on Mahatma Gandhi’s written statements which the authors refer to both a historical and socio‑political background. It is the first part of the planned two‑part study on mutual relations between Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha and South Africa, therefore it is focused on the interdependencies between the origin of the idea and the place where it was invented. The authors seek to answer two main questions: 1) whether Gandhi has entered into a dialogue with the native people of South Africa, and 2) whether Gandhi’s idea of non‑violent fighting for social rights included the native population of South Africa. The study also presents an outline of the evolution of Gandhi’s attitudes towards Africans and the Coloured People.

This essay highlights the importance of experimentation to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s political epistemology. It examines some core concepts – such as, Satyagraha, Ahimsa, Swaraj – in Gandhi’s thought, and demonstrates the interlinkages between them. In so doing, the essay argues that Gandhi’s epistemology is an amalgam on both empiricism and spirituality, the latter of which draws upon Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Christian sources. Gandhi’s experimental epistemology has a specifically political purpose: It tries to bridge racial, ethnic, religious, and linguistic divides by inviting each party in a political conflict to explore Truth. For Gandhi, Truth is never univocal; Truth is perspectival and can be accessed only through the sincere engagement of all parties in political and ethical experimentation. By learning to see the spiritual and the empirical costs of our decisions, the political actor can come closer to the pursuit of Truth.

The article presents the results of research carried out mainly on Mahatma Gandhi's written statements which the authors refer to both a historical and socio-political background. It is the first part of the planned two-part study on mutual relations between Mahatma Gandhi's satyagraha and South Africa, therefore it is focused on the interdependencies between the origin of the idea and the place where it was invented. The authors seek to answer two main questions: 1) whether Gandhi has entered into a dialogue with the native people of South Africa, and 2) whether Gandhi's idea of non-violent fighting for social rights included the native population of South Africa. The study also presents an outline of the evolution of Gandhi's attitudes towards Africans and the Coloured People.

Mahatma Gandhi succinctly deployed the ethical principles of non-violence and satyagraha against the British during the freedom struggle in India. Despite the coercive nature of the colonial power, Gandhian deployment of non-violence and satyagraha inspired many groups and communities in India, hitherto apolitical and divided on socio-economic criterion. It brought them together to start a powerful mass-mobilization and resistance against the British. His method made them fearless and fight for freedom without resorting to violence. This novel method of non-violence has become an effective and inspiring weapon against various types of oppressions in India and abroad. In the post-colonial India, the poor and marginalized groups like farmers, tribals or adivasis have deployed this method of non-violence and satyagraha in the anti-dam or environmental movements or fight against forcible land acquisitions.
This chapter intends to examine the philosophical meaning and essence of the principle of Gandhian non-violence and satyagraha. What makes it most favored weapon against the oppressions? How is it deployed in the anti-dam resistances, particularly, in the post-colonial period in India? It also aims to examine the continuity and change in the ways of using the Gandhian ideology of non-violence in the anti-dam resistance movements during the initial decades of independence and in contemporary times. How to understand the contributions of different groups of resisters, civil society or voluntary organizations participating in such resistance movements?

1 From Porbandar to The Face on all the denominations of our currency notes, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, with his calm demeanour and head held high, walked on the path of Non-violence without giving a second thought about the tortuous fate that lay ahead. A doctrinaire of truth and an imperative benefactor of India's independence, Mahatma Gandhi is an inspiration to not only me but to millions of others around the globe as well. Dante Alighieri, a renowned poet from the era of Italian renaissance, stated in one of the Cantos of his most celebrated work-Inferno that "The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis". Gandhiji personified what Dante wrote some 500 years before India's independence by raising a voice against the adversities faced by the poor and the vulnerable. A voice which soon became a movement. Instead of rebelling against the suppressions by British Raj, he simply chose not to comply with their rules and regulation, hence giving rise to the historic Non-Cooperation movement. His Modus Operandi, like a typical advocate of justice, was neither submissive, nor pugnacious. Fortunate were those who lived in the same era as Gandhiji did. They were fortunate that they could understand the true meaning of non-violence and truth by following the path lit by the quintessence of peace himself. For less fortunate ones like me, his Autobiography-'My Experiments with Truth' has been a great source of inspiration. Even though he was born into an affluent Gujarati family, he was not a hedonist. He had a decent upbringing and a good education about Indian polity and western culture. He went to London to study law and later to South Africa to practice his first case as a lawyer for a fellow Gujarati merchant. The vicissitudes of his first few weeks in South Africa were full of hardships, and even more, despair. The insults he faced from European colonisers in South Africa compelled him to fight for his and other Black brothers' rights. The hardship to which he was subjected was superficial-only a symptom of the deep disease of colour prejudice. Gandhiji decided to root out the disease and suffer the hardships in the process. Ultimately, through his diligence, perseverance and jurisprudence, he was able to put away the hardships and sufferings that people of Black community were prone to in South Arica. And in this process, Gandhiji devised a new way of asserting his demands through movement for insistence on truth, more popularly known as Satyagraha. Gandhiji knew as a fact that Satyagraha was essentially a weapon to the truthful and a Satyagrahi was pledged to non-violence, and, unless people observed it in thought, word and deed, he could not offer mass Satyagraha. He said-"I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills." After coming back to India, Gandhiji realised that situation here was no different from that in South Arica where the poor were submerged in infinite depths of hardships and sufferings. Discrimination and prejudices had divided India and the British Authorities exploited the peasantry in rural areas for their own lucrative businesses. This time, for Gandhiji, the stakes were higher, the people were his own, the fight was for a different cause, but his principles and ideology remained the same. Unlike any other sophist demagogue, Gandhiji was true to his principles and thus gained popularity among the poor and the vulnerable. Soon he had several thousands of followers throughout the country who not only believed in him and his principles, but were also courageous enough to die for his cause– Poorn Swaraj, or complete independence. Gandhiji praised such courage. He needed such courage.

The Indian Railways, one of the great cornerstones of imperial control and administration, changed their tune with the advent of Mahatma Gandhi, into the Indian political scene. While in the 19th century, the railways were centres of policing, exploitation and portable European dwellings, in the early 20th century, they became sites of active contestations, with the imperial railway narrative coming in for a major rewriting in Gandhi's Hind Swaraj (1909), and Third Class in the Indian Railways (1917). Gandhi made the Indian railway stations the new theatres of nationalism, and the railways in turn made the Mahatma. However, the nationalist movement which he gave rise to also came back to haunt him as the emerging face of a jingoist mobocracy. In this excerpt from The Purveyors of Destiny: A Cultural Biography of the Indian Railways (Bloomsbury, 2017) I talk about the ways in which the evolution of the culture of Gandhian nationalism aboard the railways happened, how the railways were used for crowdfunding and finally how the railway movement alienated the Mahatma, himself.

This is the PDF-PowerPoint which I used for my lecture at the International Webinar "Gandhi in the Twenty-First Century", organized jointly by Mahatma Center for Conflict Resolution & Peace StudiesLady Keane College, Shillong, Meghalaya, India, andNorth East Institute of Social Science (NEISSR), Dimapur, Nagaland, India. The Webinar took place on Friday, 2 October 2020.
The title of my lecture was "Remarks on Gandhi’s Interpretation of Bhagavad Gita". I possess the video of the whole Webinar.
The intent of the present contribution is to show some aspects of Gandhi’s interpretation of Gita. Through his meditation on Gita, Gandhi aims to find the foundation of the moral thought for the individuals and as a consequence to find the foundation of the correct political action within the society. The foundation as such of the correct moral action needs the Revelation of Gita, since only the Revelation of Gita makes available the fundamental elements of knowledge of the reality, of the position of the individuals in the reality, of the general human condition, and of the correct moral behaviour of the individuals. Individuals are, as such, entities consisting of the three gunas sattva, rajas, and tamas. As regards their moral constitution, individuals are dynamic entities; the direction of their moral development depends on the guna which prevails within them. Individuals have to reach the correct moral disposition on their own; the correct moral disposition has to be achieved, it is not given. In order to reach the correct moral development, individuals ought to strengthen in themselves the positive guna, sattva, through the learning process and the consequent application of the directives of Gita. The assimilation of the contents of Gita will transform the mind of the individual. The knowledge of Gita proves, therefore, to be a transformative knowledge. Our corporeal dimension puts precise limits to our capacity of self-improvement. Within this dimension, the presence of the negative gunas, rajas, and of tamas, can be diminished, but it cannot be completely eliminated. We have to accept the limits due to our bodily dimension; at the same time, we ought to steadily try to better ourselves by furthering the virtues connected to sattva.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, is credited with having rekindled the ancient Indian discourse of an interrelation between spirituality, religion, and politics. This has been mostly studied from the perspective of faith or spirituality. The last five decades or so have seen rising scholarship on the not-so-spiritual perspectives of Gandhian thought on politics. Ajay Skaria presents the most recent, and arguably the most engaging to date, scholarship on Gandhi’s idea of religious or spiritual politics in Unconditional Equality. Skaria is careful to be clear about his secular roots and deftly sifts the philosophical and historical from the spiritual or religious in Gandhi’s writings.