Mahatama Gandhi, the face on the currency note of India, father of the nation, the uplifter of the poor and the downtrodden, the very image of self control and discipline, the lawyer turned reformer and the most humble of all writers. There are many ways to remember the man but I want to remember him as someone who brought the divergent ideas of truth and moral conduct, rituals and reality, believers and nonbelievers, together.
Indian philosophy (Hindu philosophy if you take it in geographical sense) is a very fluid idea. There has been a constant urge to understand the subtle reality of life. This has fairly divided the study of philosophy under two major groups, the Aastika (आस्तिक ) and the Nastika (नास्तिक). The Nastika school of thought consists of Charvaka ( चार्वाक), the Buddhist and the Jain Philosophy. While the Aastika school of thoughts consists Yoga-Samkhya, Mimansa-Vaisheshika, Nyaya-Vedanta.
Aastika and Nastika concepts do not question the existence of eternal power, the ultimate consciousness, Brahman but they have a difference in the approach. Aastikas believe in the Vedas, which focus primarily on the rites and rituals, the ultimate aim being realisation of the the "Truth". Great amount of stress is given on following the customs correctly as things are considered right only when the tone, words and rhythm are all put together in a perfect composition of a mantra. Brahmins, who knew the right kind of Mantras and who could recite them in the right manner for every specific occasion became the agents of God on the earth. If you want to connect to the God, Brahmins were the way to reach them. The ideal image of a Brahmin was someone who doesn't lie, one who understands the value of truth. However these rituals were not bound by their righteousness, the rituals often involved sacrifices of animals, the only thing that was made sure was that the rituals were performed by the book and truth remained the ultimate goal. Nastikas believed in living a moral life, great stress was put on understanding the sensitivity of the surrounding, Non violence being one of the greatest pillar.
Great reforms have taken birth in India have shaped the Indian Philosophy according to the contemporary need. From Buddha to Shakardev to Ramanuja to Chaitanya to Vivekananda each one of them have taken up the one of these sides, the Aastikas and the Nastikas. All of them were able to understand the contemporary reality and were able to mould ideas accordingly, but the dichotomy between the truth and the moral life always remained.
When Mahatama Gandhi came into picture, it was for the first time in India that someone was able to dissolve this dichotomy between truth and non violence. He extended the definition of Non Violence from physical to emotional domain. With the example of his own life, the freedom struggle on the path of Non Violence and his experiments with the truth he was able to solve the biggest mystery that was keeping the two Indias away, The Puritans and The Pragmatists.
I think when we remember Gandhi each year we should acknowledge his contribution to this fluid hindu philosophy. India in the globalised world of 21st century is also in a social crises, where we do not know what to preserve and what to reject, Perhaps Gandhi was able to foresee the future when he said the following words which can greatly help India in answering these questions.
"I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any"
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