Mohandas K. Gandhi

Discussion of the Metaphysics / Philosophy of (Mahatma) Mohandas K. Gandhi. Civil Disobedience, Satyagraha (satya - Truth, agraha - Firmness) Truth Force, God is Truth. Gandhi Pictures, Quotes, Biography, Information

All our philosophy is dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service.
Live simply that others may simply live.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
('Mahatma' Mohandas Gandhi)

Gandhi was a wonderful moral person, as Einstein so beautifully wrote;

A leader of his people, unsupported by any outward authority: a politician whose success rests not upon craft nor the mastery of technical devices, but simply on the convincing power of his personality; a victorious fighter who always scorned the use of force; a man of wisdom and humility, armed with resolve and inflexible consistency, who had devoted all his strength to the uplifting of his people and the betterment of their lot; a man who had confronted the brutality of Europe with the dignity of the simple human being, and thus at all times risen superior. Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked on this earth. (Albert Einstein on Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi)

His devotion to truth is an important and profound lesson for all of humanity.

But for me, truth is the sovereign principle, which included numerous other principles. This truth is not only truthfulness in word, but truthfulness in thought also, and not only the relative truth of our conception, but the Absolute Truth, the Eternal Principle, that is God. There are innumerable definitions of God, because His manifestations are innumerable. They overwhelm me with wonder and awe and for a moment stun me. But I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest. Even if the sacrifice demanded be my very life, I hope I may be prepared to give it. But as long as I have not realised this Absolute Truth, so long must I hold by the relative truth as I have conceived it. (Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi)

Geoff Haselhurst, Karene Howie, Email

Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi Quotes

What I want to achieve - what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years - is self-realisation, to see God face to face, to attain moksa (liberation). I live and move and have my being in pursuit of that goal. All that I do by way of speaking and writing, and all my ventures in the political field, are directed to this same end. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Man is not at peace with himself until he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realisation. This self-realisation is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures… to be a real devotee is to realise oneself. Self-realisation is not something apart.(Mahatma Gandhi)

I am an Advatist and yet I can support Dvaitism (dualism). The world is changing every moment, and is therefore unreal, it has no permanent existence. But though it is constantly changing, it has something about it which persists and it is therefore to that extent real .. Joy or what men call happiness may be, as it really is, a dream in a fleeting and transitory world ... But we cannot dismiss the suffering of our fellow creatures as unreal and thereby provide a moral alibi for ourselves [which the example quotes from Bharati, above, presents as the practical upshot of the dominant Indian religious tradition.] Even dreams are true while they last and to the sufferer his suffering is a grim reality. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Gandhi was committed to Advaita Vedanta (i.e. monistic or, more literally, nondual Hinduism), to the belief that all life comes from “the one universal source, call it Allah, God or Parmeshwara.” He expressed this belief by conceiving of all entities as drops in the ocean of life:

“The ocean is composed of drops of water; each drop is an entity and yet it is a part of the whole; ‘the one and the many’. In this ocean of life, we are little drops. My doctrine means that I must identify myself with life, with everything that lives, that I must share the majesty of life in the presence of God. The sum-total of this life is God.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Links / Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi

These pages are on Eastern Philosophy. If you read them with the wave structure of matter in mind you will find them easy to understand. Reality is ultimately simple - only one thing exists, Space and its wave motions that form matter (and thus humans!).

Metaphysics: Problem of One and the Many - Brief History of Metaphysics and Solutions to the Fundamental Problems of Uniting the; One and the Many, Infinite and the Finite, Eternal and the Temporal, Absolute and Relative, Continuous and Discrete, Simple and Complex, Matter and Universe.

Philosophy: Absolute Truth - Absolute Space - Absolute Truth comes from Necessary Connection which requires One Thing, Absolute Space, to Connect the Many Things (Matter as Spherical Wave Motions of Space). On the Absolute Truth and Reality of the Existence of Absolute Space as a Wave Medium. And ending such nonsense as 'The ONLY ABSOLUTE TRUTH is that there are NO ABSOLUTE TRUTHS' (Feyerabend) as Aristotle wrote, 'Finally, if nothing can be truly asserted, even the following claim would be false, the claim that there is no true assertion.'

Philosophy: Importance of Truth & Reality to Humanity - Wisdom from Truth from Reality. (Thus Humanity must know Reality to be Wise.)

Govinda, Lama - Tantric Buddhist Lama Govinda correctly realised the importance of Space (Akasa) and Motion (Prana) as the Foundations of Eastern Philosophy and Dynamic Interconnection of Brahman.

Eastern Philosophy: Buddha: Buddhism Religion: Nirvana - 'All phenomena link together in a mutually conditioning network.' The Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) explains Nirvana (Truth) Karma (Interconnection).

Eastern Philosophy: Hinduism - Hinduism (Hindu Religion) correctly realised that Reality / Brahman is One and Dynamic. On Space (Akasa) and Motion (Prana), Illusion (Maya), Ignorance (Avidya), rebirth / cycles (Samsara). Information and links on Hinduism, Hindu Religion.

Eastern Philosophy: Kama Sutra - 'Praised be the three aims of life, virtue (dharma), prosperity (artha), and love (kama), which are the subject of this work.' Kama Sutra (Kamasutra, Karma Sutra, Kama Shastra). Discussion and Quotes / Quotations, Pictures, Positions from Famous Indian Sexual Philosophy of the Kama Sutra.

Eastern Philosophy: Kundalini - Discussion of the Philosophy and Metaphysics of Kundalini, the divine / cosmic energy that lies within every human being. When Kundalini is awakened we experience our true nature, Self as Universe.

Eastern Philosophy: Taoism - Ancient Chinese Philosophy correctly realised that One Thing (Tao) must Exist to Cause and Connect the Many Things we Experience.