ABSTRACT
Though Mahatma Gandhi is not an academical philosopher, one can best understand Indian idealism by studying his life and work. Though he does not give us a system of philosophy in writing, yet his life itself is a system of philosophy. In him does the statement that Indian Philosophy is a way of life and not merely a way of thought find a worthy illustration. For him philosophy is a way of life first and a way of thought next. His life systematized its plan of work and expressed it in practice, not exactly in theory. Philosophy as life reflected on itself is life that has become self-conscious, and his self-consciousness expresses itself now and then as a theory of his practice. Mahatma Gandhi did not start either as a poet or as a philosopher. Like Buddha he was urged on to experiment with truth by the evil present in the world, the inequalities and injustices meted out by man to man. Certainly he did not start his life without a philosophical background; and that background is Hindu Philosophy. But Hindu Philosophy is so vague and comprehensive a term that it may mean anything or nothing. It may mean some sectarian religion without any philosophy worthy of the name or it may mean a most thoroughly developed system. A number of philosophical ideas that are found in many Indian systems including Jainism and Buddhism are the common property of almost every Indian and are woven into the web of his thought and action. But the mere possession of these ideas does not make a philosopher. Mahatma Gandhi must have started with the same stock and gathered other ideas from Tolstoy, Ruskin, etc. But what makes his writings particularly interesting is not this philosophical background, but the fact that he rediscovered his philosophical ideas by the sheer necessity of his life demanding a plan of action with a theoretical justification. These ideas, like the idea of truth, are therefore not dead concepts for him but living forces that guide and demand obedience. Professor Radhakrishnan rediscovered our philosophical concepts and infused life and vigour into their petrified forms by approaching them from the living philosophers of the West and comparing them with the concepts of the latter. Mahatma Gandhi infused life into some of them by coming across them in the very course of his life, which is a struggle for the discovery of truth. The results of his struggle, the conclusions of his life, are not the results of an “ideal experiment” as Bradley would call it, in which theory is compared to theory, and concept with concept, but the results of actual experiment on his own life. As he is not an academical philosopher, he may not have given the full implications of his discoveries. But these implications can be developed, and his philosophy can be presented in a systematic form. It is beyond our present purpose to deal at length with his ethical and political ideas. We are mainly concerned with his conception of reality, that is, only with the metaphysical side of his teaching. Books have been written by eminent men praising his principles of ahimsā or non-violence and love, admiring him for preaching it, and comparing him to Christ and Buddha. Critics too of this principle are not wanting. Simply to follow either of them in praising or condemning the principle would only be the expressing of our own prejudices. If we are to understand the metaphysical basis of Mahatma Gandhi’s own ideas, we must go deeper into his mind, and bring out his guiding ideas in a coherent form. Then only can we fix his philosophical position, and understand the real significance of ahimsā and why he lays so much emphasis upon it. Mahatma Gandhi approves his metaphysics as presented https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315888361/183def3a-4d69-4f51-ac51-b6d2375a7b27/content/figu7_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
