Mahatma Gandhi on Satyagraha | MK Gandhi
/0 Comments/in Historical & Political Figures/by rathodkethan1@gmail.comAbout Mahatma Gandhi : who led revolution without weapons

Satyagraha was not originally related to MK Gandhi. Even before him, the idea of Satyagraha is widely mentioned in religious texts like Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, Quran and many other books. The work of putting it into practice has been done from time to time by many Indians and Westerners like Prahlad, Raja Harishchandra, Sakurat, Plato, Jesus Christ, Emperor Ashoka. Prahlad was perhaps the first person to practice Satyagraha against the atrocities of his cruel father. At that time, it was not understood in the true sense of Satyagraha. According to MK Gandhi, “The principle of Satyagraha came into existence before its naming. In fact, when it was born I myself did not know what it was.”
Some Westerners believe that Gandhi derived the idea of Satyagraha from the New Testament of Jesus Christ, especially the Teachings on the Father. Some others believe that he derived the idea from the writings of Tolstoy, while Tolstoy himself derived it from the New Testament. In fact Gandhi’s idea of Satyagraha was inspired neither by Jesus Christ nor by Tolstoy, but the main basis of his inspiration was his own Vaishnavite faith in which he had unshakable faith.”
If observed carefully, Satyagraha appears to have originated from Indian traditions. Meaning and Origin of Satyagraha.

The word Satyagraha is basically a Sanskrit word. It is a combination of two words Satya and Agraha. Its literal meaning is insistence on truth. In other words, Satyagraha means sticking to truth and persevering in the attainment of truth.
Defining Satyagraha, Gandhi writes:
“Truth demands the insistence of love and thus this insistence becomes a synonym for strength. This is why I began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha instead of Passive Resistance, which means a force based on the strong pillars of truth, love and non-violence.”
Gandhi in ‘Indian Opinion’ outlined Satyagraha as firmness in a sacred cause. In Young India he points out that Satyagraha is only a new form of the ‘doctrine of self-suffering’ and in Hind Swaraj he declares that “self-sacrifice is infinitely more preferable than the sacrifice of others” and a self-sacrificer, i.e. a self-sufferer, does not by his actions injure others. Satyagraha, which was Gandhi’s supreme invention, discovery or creation, talks of a relentless, unceasing pursuit of truth where there is no room for violence, hatred, envy, conceit and malice. His concept means inaction, It was not meekness, helplessness or self-indulgence. In fact it refers to a way of thinking and a philosophy of life of the human mind which rests on a strong desire to achieve a noble goal, an unflinching faith in the principle of the victory of love over hatred, voluntary self-suffering for the transformation of hearts and the patient and active use of non-violent and just means to achieve these goals. In the words of the famous Gandhian Acharya J. B. Kripani, “Satyagraha demands something more than just attack. It refers to the continuous moral upliftment of the struggling masses. It also means moral defeat of opponents. A satyagraha is non-cooperative rather than a strike. Satyagraha in its truest sense is a continuous and active search for truth and non-violent struggle against untruth. Satyagraha also means the assertion of the power of the human soul against political and economic domination, which always rejects truth for

its false ends. So satyagraha is the highest expression of human consciousness. Consciousness motivates man strongly to non-violent struggle for the attainment of truth.
Satyagraha is the greatest expression of faith, trust, conscience, love and humility. It is a great victory in itself.Satyagraha is the relentless pursuit of truth and the attainment of it. It shows its tenacity, stability but sharpness.
In fact there is no force in the world as resilient, gentle and clear as it. It raises the self-force against injustice, injustice, oppression and exploitation. Literally it means. “The pressure of truth” which finds its expression in self-suffering, faith, determination, self-realization and self-confidence. The principle of Satyagraha is not a new discovery. It is as old as Patanjali. MK Gandhi made a strong effort to connect its origin with the idea of enmity. Calling Satyagraha Kamadhenu, Gandhi said that it is useful for both the Satyagraha and its opponents. Satyagraha has also been related to Vedic Ayugs. Between its original form of ‘human and animal sacrifice’ and its contemporary expression in Satyagraha, (it has gone through a period of sharp divergences in the intellectual rationalization of the Upanishads and the humanistic concerns of the Jains and the Buddhists.)
MK Gandhi discovered this unique weapon during his non-violent struggle against racial discrimination in South Africa. In 1906 Gandhi organised the Indian diaspora in South Africa and devised a novel method of resistance against unjust laws and public practices which Gandhi called ‘Passive Resistance’ but with the passage of time and the intensification of the struggle this name came under suspicion and doubt and it came to be regarded as a weapon of the weak. As a result, it would be considered shameful to use an English word that was not easily comprehensible.
He felt that the movement he had started had deeper implications than passive resistance. So, feeling the need to revive this new kind of resistance, Gandhi announced a small prize in his weekly paper Indian Opinion for suggesting a new and appropriate word. One of his colleagues, Magan Lal Gandhi suggested the word Sadagrah, which means unceasing effort to achieve a noble goal.
Gandhi liked it but also felt that it did not fully express his ideas as he saw it as a truth force whose expression was driven by the divine qualities of truth, love and non-violence. He therefore modified it slightly and named it ‘Satyagraha’ which literally means ‘insistence on truth’. While discussing the origins of Satyagraha with Joseph J. Bock, Gandhi expressed the following views. He said, ‘I remember how a line from a Gujarati poem I learnt in school attracted me immensely.’
It meant something like this: If someone satisfies your lust and in return you also satisfy his lust, there is nothing remarkable in it. The best thing is when you give goodness in return of badness. That line made a strong impression on me in my childhood and I tried my best to apply it in my behaviour. Then came the mention of the teachings on the Father. ‘But surely the Bhagavad Gita must have had the first influence on you?’ he replied, ‘No’. Although I am thoroughly familiar with the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit, I never made its teachings the reference for this particular work. In fact the New Testament explained to me the value and usefulness of passive resistance. When I read these lines in the ‘Precepts on the Lord’ – ‘Resist evil and not evil.’ If somebody slaps you on your right cheek, quickly put forward your left cheek also and love your enemy as your loved ones and pray for his well-being because he may be one of the sons of my Father living in heaven, then I will be filled with joy and happiness and I will know that this is the reason why God has given me so much happiness.