Mahatama Gandhi Ji: Miscellaneous Quotes

Mind: Control over the mind is alone necessary, and when that is attained, man is free like the king of the forest and his very glance withers the enemy.

Passive Resistance: Kings will always use their kingly weapons. To use force is bred in them. They want to command, but those who have to obey commands do not want guns; and these are in a majority throughout the would. They have to learn either body-force or soul-force. Where they learn the former, both the rulers and the ruled become like so many madmen: but where they learn soul-force, the commands of the rulers do not go beyond the point of their swords, for true men disregard unjust commands. Peasants have never been subdued by the sword, and never will be. They do not know the use of the sword, and they are not frightened by the use of it by others. That nation is great which rests its head upon death as its pillow. Those who defy death are free from all fear. For those who are labouring under the delusive charms of brute-force, this picture is not overdrawn. The fact is that, in India, the nation at large has generally used passive resistance in all departments of life. We cease to co-operate with our rulers when they displease us. This is passive

Education: Our ancient school system is enough. Character building has the first place in it and that is primary education. A building erected on that foundation will last.

Gandhi Ji: How to tackle a robber

Quoting Gandhi Ji:

"Let us proceed a little further. That well-armed man has stolen your property; you have harboured the thought of his act; you are filled with anger; you argue that you want to punish that rogue, not for your own sake, but for the good of your neighbours; you have collected a number of armed men, you want to take his house by assault; he is duly informed of it, he runs away; he too is incensed. He collects his brother robbers, and sends you a defiant message that he will commit robbery in broad daylight. You are strong, you do not fear him, you are prepared to receive him. Meanwhile the robber pesters your neighbours. They complain before you. You reply that you are doing all for their sake, you do not mind that your own goods have been stolen. Your neighbours reply that the robber never pestered them before, and that he commenced his depredations only after you declared hostilities against him. You are between Scylla and Charybdis. You are full of pity for the poor men. What they say is true. What are you to do? You will be disgraced if you now leave the robber alone. You therefore, tell the poor men: "Never mind. Come, my wealth is yours, I will give you arms, I will teach you how to use them; you should belabour the rogue; don't you leave him alone." And so the battle grows; the robbers increase in numbers; your neighbours have deliberately put themselves to inconvenience. Thus the result of wanting to take revenge upon the robber is that you have disturbed your own peace; you are in perpetual fear of being robbed and assaulted; your courage has given place to cowardice. If you will patiently examine the argument, you will see that I have not overdrawn the picture. This is one of the means. Now let us examine the other. You set this armed robber down as an ignorant brother; you intend to reason with him at a suitable opportunity: you argue that he is, after all, a fellow-man; you do not know what prompted him to steal. You, therefore, decide that, when you can, you will destroy the man's motive for stealing. Whilst you are thus reasoning with yourself, the man comes again to steal. Instead of being angry with him you take pity on him. You think that this stealing habit must be a disease with him. Henceforth, you, therefore, keep your doors and windows open, you change your sleeping-place, and you keep your things in a manner most accessible to him. The robber comes again and is confused as all this is new to him; nevertheless, he takes away your things. But his mind is agitated. He inquires about you in the village, he comes to learn about your broad and loving heart, he repents, he begs your pardon, returns you your things, and leaves off the stealing habit. He becomes your servant, and you find for him honourable employment. This is the second method. Thus, you see, different means have brought about totally different results. I do not wish to deduce from this that robbers will act in the above manner or that all will have the same pity and love like you, but I only wish to show that fair means alone can produce fair results, and that, at least in the majority of cases, if not indeed in all, the force of love and pity is infinitely greater than the force of arms. There is harm in the exercise of brute force, never in that of pity."

Gandhi Ji: About Lawyers and Doctors

About Lawyers:

The lawyers, therefore, will, as a rule, advance quarrels instead of repressing them. Moreover, men take up that profession, not in order to help others out of their miseries, but to enrich themselves. It is one of the avenues of becoming wealthy and their interest exists in multiplying disputes. It is within my knowledge that they are glad when men have disputes. Petty pleaders actually manufacture them. Their toots, like so many leeches, suck the blood of the poor people. Lawyers are men who have little to do. Lazy people, in order to indulge in luxuries, take up such professions. This is a true statement. Any other argument is a men pretension. It is the lawyers who have discovered that theirs is an honourable profession. They frame laws as they frame their own praises.

They decide what fees they will charge and they put on so much side that poor people almost consider them to be heaven-born.

Why do they want more fees than common labourers? Why are their requirements greater? In what way are they more profitable to the country than the labourers? Are those who do good entitled to greater payment? And, if they have done anything for the country for the sake of money, how shall it be counted as good?

About Doctors:

Doctors have almost unhinged us. Sometimes I think that quacks are better than highly qualified doctors. Let us consider : the business of a doctor is to take care of the body, or, properly speaking, not even that. Their business is really to rid the body of diseases that may afflict it. How do these diseases arise? Surely by our negligence or indulgence. I overeat, I have indigestion. I go to a doctor, he gives me medicine, I am cured. I overeat again, I take his pills again. Had I not taken the pills in the first instance, I would have suffered the punishments deserved by me and I would not have overeaten again. The doctor intervened and helped me to indulge myself. My body thereby certainly felt more at ease; but my mind became weakened. A continuance of a course of medicine must, therefore, result in loss of control over the mind.

I have indulged in vice, I contract a disease, a doctor cures me, the odds are that I shall repeat the vice. Had the doctor not intervened, nature would have done its work, and I would have acquired mastrey over myself, would have been freed from vice and would have become happy.

Hospitals are institutions for propagating sin. Men take less care of their bodies and immorality increases. European doctors are the worst of all. For the sake of a mistaken care of the human body, they kill annually thousands of animals. They practise vivisection. No religion sanctions this. All say that it is not necessary to take so many lives for the sake of our bodies.

These doctors violate our religious instinct. Most of their medical preparations contain either animal fat or spirituous liquors; both of these are tabooed by Hindus and Mahomedans. We may pretend to be civilized, call religious prohibitions a superstition and wantonly indulge in what we like. The fact remains that the doctors induce us to indulge, and the result is that we have become deprived of self-control and have become effeminate. In these cirsumstances, we are unfit to serve the country. To study European medicine is to deepen our slavery.

It is worth considering why we take up the profession of medicine. It is certainly not taken up for the purpose of serving humanity. We become doctors so that we may obtain honours and riches.

The lawyers, therefore, will, as a rule, advance quarrels instead of repressing them. Moreover, men take up that profession, not in order to help others out of their miseries, but to enrich themselves. It is one of the avenues of becoming wealthy and their interest exists in multiplying disputes. It is within my knowledge that they are glad when men have disputes. Petty pleaders actually manufacture them. Their toots, like so many leeches, suck the blood of the poor people. Lawyers are men who have little to do. Lazy people, in order to indulge in luxuries, take up such professions. This is a true statement. Any other argument is a men pretension. It is the lawyers who have discovered that theirs is an honourable profession. They frame laws as they frame their own praises.

They decide what fees they will charge and they put on so much side that poor people almost consider them to be heaven-born.

Why do they want more fees than common labourers? Why are their requirements greater? In what way are they more profitable to the country than the labourers? Are those who do good entitled to greater payment? And, if they have done anything for the country for the sake of money, how shall it be counted as good?

Gandhi Ji: How India was portrayed wrongly

From Hind Swaraj:

Macaulay betrayed gross ignorance when he libelled Indians as being practically cowards. They never merited the charge. Cowards living in a country inhabited by hardy mountaineers and infested by wolves and tigers must surely find an early grave. Have you ever visited our fields? I assure you that our agriculturists sleep fearlessly on their farms even today; but the English and you and I would hesitate to sleep where they sleep. Strength lies in absence of fear, not in the quantity of flesh and muscle we may have on our bodies.

..

There is a charge laid against us that we are a lazy people and that Europeans are industrious and enterprizing. We have accepted the charge and we therefore wish to change our condition. Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and all other religions teach that we should remain passive about worldly pursuits and active about godly pursuits, that we should set a limit to our worldly ambition and that our religious ambition should be illimitable. Our activity should be directed into the latter channel.

Slavery of Luxuries (विषय-कषाय) in current civilization

Mahatama Gandhi said: "Formerly, men were made slaves under physical compulsion. Now they are enslaved by temptation of money and of the luxuries that money can buy. .. This civilization takes note neither of morality nor of religion. ..after twenty years' experience, I have come to the conclusion that immorality is often taught in the name of morality. ... Civilization seeks to increase bodily comforts, and it fails miserably even in doing so.

This civilization is irreligion, and it has taken such a hold on the people in Europe who are in it appear to be half mad. They lack real physical strength or courage. They keep up their energy by intoxication. They can hardly be happy in solitude. Women, who should be the queens of households, wander in the streets or they slave away in factories. ..If you will sufficiently think over this, you will entertain the same opinion and cease to blame the English. They rather deserve our sympathy."

This is so true.. which we definitely see happening in the last 3-4 centuries in India.. and the world overall.

Also important thing is.. even after realizing this, Gandhi Ji does not have any hatred feelings for the English.

Affect of Computer on Society

Computer is a curse to society. It is making globalization happen at a rapid race.

• Serious impact on respect system: In Indian culture, we used to take knowledge from our teachers, parents, friends and society. And we used to have respect for them. Now since we have computers, we get all the knowledge/information from computer, and we have less value for our teachers and parents. This way computer in the future will break the backbone of respect system in our society.
• Interaction with neighbours: Because of TV and computer, we do our entertainment and fill our needs through them and we do not need our neighbors. In ancient Indian culture, there used to be a strong bond between neighbors. TV and computer are big criminals to devastate that culture.
• Wrong knowledge: In earlier system, parents or teachers used to tell us knowledge acording to our Prakriti(nature). And used to tell us the right thing specific to us. Now one can get all good and bad things from internet, and many times people divert towards more bad than good. Therefore computer is a bad thing for a healthy society.

Computer is a curse to Human race. Like TV, computer is doing bad things to Indian youth and kids. If computer is to be used, it should be used only for the purposes where it is beneficial. Computer should be limited to only organizations and not to the masses.

Affect of Television on Society

One sees sex and voilence on TV, and remains glued to it. Its affects are on social interaction with neighbour and 5 Paap.

• Interaction with neighbour: Because everybody is busy watching TV, so no time to interact with neighbours. It hampers one's development of human values by interacting with neighbours. It hampers development of tolerance because of all kind of neighbours. The whole structure of society has changed because of TV
• Sex, Voilence and other Paap: Because one watches all kind of bad things, it increases bent towards Paap.

Values are learnt from living people and stories

I have always believed that one can purify his heart by learn the right thing logically. For example, in order to fulfill oneself with compassion, one should learn how compassion is useful logically. In order to be devoid of anger, one should learn why anger causes us problems logically.

Recently, I have learnt that rather than theory, the greater impact is done by the living examples who live those qualities. For example, in order to learn morality we do not need to go to school and learn all the theorems and axioms of morality- rather we should stay with a person with high moral.

Staying with someone who is living example of the right character, is the path to get the right character. Also, one should read about the great personalities in past of great character. Stories and our ideal persons play a big role in our development of our character.