Women's Honour
I HAVE always held that it is
physically impossible to violate a woman against her will. The outrage takes
place only when she gives way to fear or does not realize her moral strength.
If she cannot meet the assailant’s physical might, her purity will give her the
strength to die before he succeeds in violating her.
Take the case of Sita. Physically
she was a weakling before Ravana, but her purity was more than a match even for
his giant might. He tried to win her with all kinds of allurements, but could
not carnally touch her without her own physical strength or upon a weapon she
possesses, she is sure to be discomfited whenever her strength is exhausted.
(H, 1-9-1940, p. 266)
It is my firm conviction that a
fearless woman, who knows that her purity is her best shield can never be
dishonoured. However beastly the man, he will bow in shame before the flame of
her dazzling purity....
I therefore recommend women…to
try to cultivate this courage. They will become wholly fearless if they can and
cease to tremble as they do today at the thought of assaults…. Parents and
husbands should instruct women in the art of becoming fearless. It can best be
learnt from a living faith in God. Though He is invisible , He is one’s unfailing
protector. He who has this faith is the most fearless of all….
When a woman is assaulted she may
not stoop to think in terms of himsa or ahimsa. Her primary duty is
self-protection. She is at liberty to employ every method or means that come to
her mind in order to defend her honour. God has given her nails and teeth. She
must use them with all her strength and, if need be, die in the effort. The man
or woman who has shed all fear of death will be able not only to protect
himself or herself but others also through laying down hi (or her) life. (H,
1-3-1942, p. 60)
In the society in the midst of
which we are living, such outrages take place…. A non-violent man or woman will
and should die without retaliation, anger or malice, in self-defence or in
defending the honour of his womenfolk. This is the highest form of bravery. (H,
15-9-1946, p. 312)
The art of dying bravely and with
honour does not need any special training, save a living faith in God. (H,
5-10-1947, p. 334)
Prostitution
Prostitution is as sold as the
world, but I wonder if it was ever a regular feature of town-life that is
today. In any case, the time must come when humanity will rise against the
curse and make prostitution a thing of the past, as it has got red of many evil
customs, however time-honoured they might have been. (YI, 28-5-1925, p. 187)
The proper method of dealing with
brothels is for the women to carry on a double propaganda, (a) amongst women
who sell their honour for a livelihood, and (b) amongst men whom they must same
into behaving better towards their sisters whom they ignorantly or insolently
call the weaker sex.
I remember years and years ago in
the early nineties when the brave salvation Army people, at the risk of their
own lives, used to carry on picketing at the corners of the notorious streets
of Bombay which were filled with houses of ill-fame. There is no reason why
some such thing should not be organized on a large scale. (H, 4-9-1937, p. 233)
"Prostitutes" is
commonly supposed to apply to women of lewd character. But the men who indulge
in vice are just as much, if not more, prostitutes than the women, who, in many
instances, have to sell their bodies for the sake of earning a livelihood. The
evil practice should be declared illegal. But the law can only help to a point.
The evil exists clandestinely in every country in spite of the law. Vigorous
public opinion can help the law as it also hinders. (H, 15-9-1946, p. 310)
This is the maxim of life which I
have accepted, namely, that no work done by any man, no matter how great he is,
will really prosper unless he has religious backing. But what is religion?…. I
for one would answer; not the religion which you will get after reading all the
scriptures of the world; it is not really a grasp by the brain, but it is a heart
grasp. It is a thing which is not alien to us but it is a thing which has to be
evolved out of us. It is always within us; with some consciously so; with the
other quite unconsciously. But it is [always] there; and whether we wake up
this religious instinct in us through outside assistance or by inward growth,
no matter how it is done, it has got to be done if we want to do any thing in
the right manner and anything that is going to persist.
Our scriptures have laid down
certain rules as maxims of life and as axioms which we have to take for granted
as self-demonstrated truths… believing in these implicitly for all these ling
years and having actually endeavoured to reduce to practice these injunctions…,
I have deemed it necessary to seek the association of those who think with me
in founding this institution... the rules that have been drawn up and that have
to be observed by every one who seeks to be a member of that Ashram [are as
follows]:
The Vow Of Truth
Not truth simply as we ordinarily
understand it, not truth which merely answers the saying, ‘Honesty is the best
policy,’ implying that, if it is not the best policy, we may depart from it.
But here Truth as it is conceived means that we have to rule our life buy this
flaw of Truth at any cost; and in order to satisfy the definition, I have drawn
upon the celebrated illustration of the life of Prahlad. For the sake to Truth
as he knew it , he was prepared to die without caring to return the blows that
he had received from his father, or from those who were charged with his
father’s instructions. Not only that, he would not in any way even parry the
blows; on the contrary, width a smile on his lips, he underwent the innumerable
tortures to which he was subjected, with the result that at last Truth. That
fact was there; but if he had died in the midst of tortures, he would still
have adhered to Truth. that is the truth which I would like to follow … in our
Ashram we make it a rule that we must say ‘No’ when we mean ‘No’ regardless of
consequences.
The Doctrine Of Ahimsa
Literally speaking, ahimsa means
‘non-killing’. But to me it has a world of meaning, and takes me into the
realms much higher, infinitely higher…. Ahimsa really means that you may not
offend anybody; you may not harbour an uncharitable thought, even in connection
with one who may consider himself to be your enemy. For one who follows this
doctrine there is no room for an enemy…. But there are people who consider
themselves to be his enemies…. So it is held that we may not harbour an evil
thought even in connection with such persons. If we return blow for blow, we
depart from the doctrine of ahimsa. But when I say that we should not resent, I
do not say that we should acquiesce; but by ‘resenting’ I mean wishing that
some harm should be done to the enemy; or that he should be put out of the way,
not even by any action of ours, but by the action of somebody else, or, say,
buy divine agency. If we harbour even this thought, we depart from this doctrine
of I ahimsa. Those who join the Ashram have literally to accept that meaning.
That does not mean that we
practise that doctrine in its entirety. Far from it. It is an ideal which we
have to reach, and it is an ideal to be reached even at this very moment, if we
are capable of doing so. But is not a proposition in geometry; it is not even
like solving difficult problems in higher mathematics-it is infinitely more
difficult than solving those problems. Many of you have burnt the midnight oil
in solving those problems. If you want to follow out this doctrine, you will
have to do much more than burn the midnight oil . you will have to pass many a
sleepless night, and go through many a mental torture and agony, before you can
even be within measurable distance of this goal. It is the goal, it is the
goal, and no-thing less than that, which you and I have to reach if we want to
understand what a religious life means.
…. A man who believed in the
efficacy of this doctrine find s in the ultimate stage, when he is about to
reach the goal, the whole world at his feet… if you express your love – ahimsa-
in such a manner that it impresses it self indelibly upon your so-called enemy,
he must return that love…… under this rule there is no room for organized
assassinations, or for murders openly committed, or…. For any violence for the
sake of your country or even for guarding the honour of precious ones that may
be under your charge. After all, that would be a poor defence of their honour.
This doctrine tells us that we may guard the honour of those under our charge
by delivering ourselves into the hand s of the man who would commit he
sacrilege. And that requires far greater physical and mental courage than the
delivering of blows. …. If you do not retaliate, but stand your ground between
your charge and the opponent, simply receiving the blows without retaliating,
what happens? I give you my promise that the whole of his violence will be
expended on you, and your friend will not left unscathed. Under this plan of
life there is no conception of patriotism which justifies such wars as you
witness today in Europe.
The Vow Of Celibacy
Those who want to perform
national service, or to have a gleam of the real religious life, must lead a
celibate life, whether married or unmarried. Marriage only brings a woman
closer to man, and they become friends in a special sense, never to be parted
either in this life or in the lives to come. But I do not think that, in our
conception of marriage, our lusts should enter. Be that as it may, this is what
is placed before those who come to the Ashram. I do not deal with that at any
length.
The Vow Of The Control Of The
Palate
A man who wants to control his
animal passions easily does so if he controls his palate. I fear this is one of
the most difficult vows to follow …. Unless we are prepared to rid ourselves of
stimulating, heating, able to control the over-abundant, unnecessary, and
exciting stimulation of the animal passions…. If we do not do that …., we are
likely to abuse the sacred trust of our bodies that has been given us , and to
become less than animals and brutes, eating, drinking and indulging in passions
which we share in common with the animals. But have you ever seen a horse or
cow indulging in the abuse of the palate as we do? Do you suppose that it is a
sign of civilization, a sign of real life, that we should multiply our eatables
so far that we do not even know where we are; and seek dishes until, at last,
we have become absolutely mad and run after the newspaper sheets which give us
advertisements about these dishes?
The Vow Of Non-Thieving
I suggest that we are thieves in
a way. If I take anything that I do not need for my own immediate use and deep
it, I thieve it from somebody else. It is the fundamental law of Nature , without
exception, that Nature produces enough for our wants from day to day; and if
only everybody took enough for himself and nothing more, there would be no
pauperism in this world, there would be no man dying of starvation. I am no
Socialist, and I do not want to dispossess those who have got possessions; but
I do say that personally those of us who want to see light out of darkness have
to follow this rule. I do not want to dispossess anybody; I should then be
departing from the rule of non-violence. If somebody else possesses more than I
do , let him. But so far as my own life has to be regulated, I dare not possess
anything which I do not want. In India, we have got many millions of people who
have to be satisfied with one meal a day, and that meal consisting of a
chapatti containing no fat in it and a pinch of salt. You and I have no right
to anything that we really have until these many million are clothed and fed.
You and I, who ought to know better, must adjust our wants, and even undergo
voluntary privation in order that they may be nursed, fed and clothed.
The Vow Of Non-Possession
This follows as a matter of
course.
The Vow Of Swadeshi
The vow of swadeshi is a
necessary vow. We are departing from one of the sacred laws of our being when
we leave our neighbourhood and go out somewhere else in order to satisfy our
wants. If a man comes from Bombay and offers you wares, you are not justified
in supporting the Bombay merchant so long as you have got a merchant at your
very door, born and bred in Madras.
This is my view of swadeshi. In
your village you are bound to support your village barber to the exclusion of
the finished barber who may come to you from Madras. If you find it necessary
that your village barber should reach the attainments of the barber from
Madras, you may train him to that. Send him to Madras by all means, if you
wish, in order that he may learn his calling. Until you do that you are not
justified in going to another barber. That is Swadeshi. So when we find that
there are many things that we cannot get in India , we must try to do without
them. We may have to do without many things ; but believe me, when you have
that frame of mind, you will find a great burden taken off your shoulders, even
as the Pilgrim was a carrying unconsciously dropped from him and he get a freer
man than he was when he started on the journey. So will you feel freer men than
you are now, if immediately you adopt this Swadeshi life.
The Vow Of Fearlessness
I found through my wanderings in
India that my country is seized with a paralyzing rear. We may not open our
lips in public ; we may only talk about our opinions secretly. We may do
anything we like within the four walls of our house; but those things are not
for public consumption.
If we had taken a vow of silence,
I would have nothing to say. I suggest to you that there is only one whom we
have to fear, that is God. When we fear God, then we shall fear no man, however
high –placed he may be; and if you want to follows the vow of Truth, then
fearless-ness is absolutely necessary. Before we can aspire to guide the
destinies of India , we shall have to adopt this habit of fearlessness.
The Vow Regarding The
‘Untouchables'
There is an ineffaceable blot
that Hinduism today carries with it. I have declined to believe that it has
been handed down to us from immemorial times. I think that this miserable,
wretched, enslaving spirit of ‘untouchableness’ must have come to us when we
were at our lowest ebb. this evil has stuck to us and still remains with us. It
is, to my mind, a curse that has come to us; and as long as the curse remains
with us, so long I think we are bound to consider that every affliction in this
sacred land is a proper punishment for the indelible crime that we are
committing. That any person should be considered untouchable because of his
calling passes my comprehension; and you, the student world, who receive all
this modern education, if you become a party to this crime, it were better that
you received no education whatsoever.
Education Through The Vernaculars
In Europe, every cultured man
learns not only his own language but also other language in India.
In order to solve the problem of
language in India, we in this Ashram must make it a point to learn as many
Indian vernaculars as possible. The trouble of learning these languages is
nothing compared to that of mastering English. How dare we rub off from our
memory all the years of our infancy? But that is precisely what we do when we
commence our higher life through the medium of a foreign tongue. This creates a
breach for which we shall have to pay dearly. And you will see now the
connection between this education and untouchability- this persistence of the
latter in spite of the spread of knowledge and education. Education enables us
to se the horrible crime, but we are seized with fear, and, therefore, we
cannot take this doctrine to our homes.
The Vow Of Khaddar
You may ask, ‘Why should we use
our hand?’ You may say, ‘Manual work has got to be done by those who are
illiterate. I can only occupy myself with reading literature and political
essays.’ We have to realize the dignity of labour. If a barber or shoe-maker
attends a college, he ought not to abandon his profession. I consider that such
professions are just as good as the profession of medicine.
Last of all, when you have
conformed to these rules, you may come to:
The Religious Use Of Politics
Politics, divorced from religion,
have absolutely no meaning. If the student world crowd the political platforms
of this country, that is not necessarily a healthy sign of national growth ;
but this does not mean that you, in your student life, ought not to study
politics. Politics are a part of our being; we ought to understand our national
institutions. We may do this from our infancy. So, in our Ashram every child is
taught to understand the political institutions of our country and to know how
the country is vibrating with new emotions, with new aspirations, with new
life. But we want also the steady light, the infallible light of religious
faith; not a faith which merely appeals to the intelligence, but a faith which
is indelibly inscribed on the heart. First we want to realize our religious
consciousness, and immediately we have done that, the whole department of life
is open to us; and it should then be a sacred privilege of all, so that, when
young men grow to manhood, they may do so properly equipped to battle with
life. Today what happens is this ; much of the political life is confined to
the students, but immediately they cease to be students, they sink into
oblivion, seeking miserable employments, knowing nothing about God, nothing of
fresh air or bright light, or of real vigorous independence, such as comes out
of obedience to those laws that I have placed before you …….. (Address at YMCA
Auditorium, Madras, February 16, 1916; SW, pp. 377-90)
