The Personal Practices of Ghandi

From reading about Ghandi and discussing his life in class, I have found his internalization of nonviolence rather inspiring. The simplicity of how he dressed, how he chose to go about knowledge, everything seemed to reinforce his worldview. In my project of abstaining from complaining, I am finding Ghandi a wonderful inspiration. He is able to remain calm despite the most profound circumstances, and seemed to embody the idea of nonviolence. At the beginning of the semester, we talked briefly about those who choose not just to live nonviolence strategically, but to make nonviolence a part of their worldview and embody it. I found Ghandi has done that. What was most profound about the chapter on his life and work was that even after India had won its independence from Britain, Ghandi did not celebrate or attend any party. He was way too concerned with the ongoing violence between Hindus and Muslims. The fact that he stood up for peace even though many of his Hindu supporters criticized his celebration of Islam is very inspiring. Ghandi was very set by his convictions, despite what others were thinking.

When thinking about Ghandi's life, it is interesting comparing his take on nonviolence to pacifists such as Garrison, who recoiled from his pacifism with the belief that war may actually solve the slavery problem when it got too bad. Ghandi seemed to become even more committed to his concept of nonviolence despite how it seemed less promising. I wonder what difference there was between Ghandi and Garrison? From studying Ghandi it seems that Ghandi commitment to nonviolence was more spiritually driven than Garrison. To Ghandi, good will always naturally trump evil so even if his Satyagraha did not work out, there was some higher force working for good in the world that Ghandi was steadfast in his commitment to. This is what I find most inspiring about Ghandi, his commitment to nonviolence despite everything that may have told him otherwise.

One other aspect that I think is very interesting in Ghandi's life is his treatment of knowledge. The book talks about how Ghandi seldom read and when he did it was very deliberately and thought out. Reading one book at a time to fully absorb its wisdom. I really like that idea and I wish I could apply it to many different aspects of my life. Since being in college does not make reading one book at a time practical, I can see how I can do this with other things. I am a musician and I think that instead of playing through a songbook trying to learn all of the songs, I should follow Ghandi's example and play one at a time until I have fully absorbed it. I think I could possibly learn much more from life if I followed this example. I find the small personal things that Ghandi did in his life more indicative of his commitment to nonviolence than all of the satyagrahas and campaigns.