Courage: Mohandas Gandhi
 |
| Gandhi's Dandi [Salt] March |
Courage is not a macho roar of defiance. More often,
it is the quiet and tenacious refusal to hate. Today’s world needs to relearn
that lesson and Mahatma Gandhi can be an ideal teacher.
History usually confuses courage with
the ability to strike. It celebrates those who conquer, defeat, and dominate.
But every once in a while, a figure emerges who redefines courage. In their
definition, courage is not the power to destroy, but the strength to endure.
Courage is not domination, but restraint.
Nathuram Godse, Gandhi’s assassin, as
well as his burgeoning number of followers today, failed to understand the
profundity of Gandhi’s vision. Godse argued in the court that Gandhi’s nonviolence
made Hindus “weak.” It replaced what Godse saw as assertive, masculine strength
with emasculated restraint. Godse lacked the ability to understand that
restraint was moral courage, not enfeebling passivity.
The brutal might of the British
Empire was opposed by Gandhi not with weapons but with truth and nonviolence.
Fighting a violent oppressor without using violence of any form requires
immense courage as well as a profound vision.
Gandhi knew how to employ symbols
effectively. His fasts were such symbols. His 400-km march to Dandi was a
symbol which drew thousands of people who knew they could be beaten by the
British police or imprisoned. The readiness to face physical assault, imprisonment,
and even ridicule requires tremendous courage. Courage, in Gandhi’s vision, was
not invincibility, but endurance. To be vulnerable requires more courage than
to be a tyrant or autocrat.
Godse’s vision was as pedestrian as
the street bully’s violent aggressiveness. It is easy to attack out of anger
and vindictiveness. Godse thought that violence was a proof of courage. Gandhi
viewed violence as a sign of moral weakness. Gandhi’s vision absorbed violence
while Godse’s view inflicted violence.
The question we should ask ourselves
is:
Is courage the ability to kill for a
cause? Or is it the ability to suffer for one?
Gandhi teaches us that true courage
lies not in overpowering the opponent, but in refusing to become like them. It
is not the courage of the arms (pun intended), but of the conscience.
Martin Luther King Jr, American
social activist, civil rights champion, and Christian theologian, was deeply
inspired by Gandhi’s idea of nonviolence. “Christ gave us the goals,” he said,
“and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics.”
King was not merely paying tribute to
two great figures, but mapping a profound relationship between faith and
action. His religion gave him the moral vision founded on love, forgiveness,
and the dignity of every human being. Gandhi demonstrated how such a vision
could be lived in reality. Gandhi translated spiritual truth into political
method.
We live in a world where too many
leaders make use of religion for achieving narrow political ends. Gandhi and
King show us that if faith leads only to identity, it divides. If faith leads
to genuine spirituality, it transforms.
On the evening of 30 Jan 1948, when a
misconceived notion of courage fired bullets into the feeble chest of the
personification of real courage, the cry that emanated from that noble heart
was: “Hey Ram!” Today, hundreds of people are killed in the name of that same
Ram in India. “Jai Sri Ram!” is their war cry. The distance between the two
cries is the measure of our moral fall.
Tailpiece: By coincidence,
today is Good Friday, a day that commemorates the execution of Jesus who finds
a mention in this post. ‘The Second Crucifixion’ is the title of the
last chapter of Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins’ magnum opus, Freedom
at Midnight and the title refers to Gandhi's assassination. The authors quote Louis Mountbatten comparing Mahatma
Gandhi to Jesus and Buddha.
PS. This post is a part
of Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2026
Previous Posts in the
series:
Tomorrow: Dissent –
Bertrand Russell
Comments
Post a Comment