4. Gandhi’s religion: A global experience
Gandhi was born and brought up in a Vaishnav family of the princely state of Porbandar in the Kathiawad region of India, away from the direct intervention of the colonial power and the socio-religious reform movements of British India. There was a liberal religious atmosphere in his family. There were followers of Jainism in Porbandar, and the principles of Jainism, like non-violence, chastity, non-stealing and non-possession, left a deep impact on Gandhi in his formative years. The evolution of Gandhi’s religious thoughts was the outcome of a global experience. His stays in London and South Africa, and his lifelong interaction with the followers of different religions made him accepting of social differences. He assimilated noble thoughts of all religions in his idea of Hinduism. There was a meeting of East and West in his religious thought. He said that the revelation of passive resistance came to him after reading the Sermon on the Mount in 1893. In 1920, when an English clergyman asked Gandhi about the book which influenced him most, he replied that it was the New Testament. Tolstoy played a major role in shaping Gandhi’s religious outlook. In his book The Kingdom of God Is within You,[6] Tolstoy criticized the institutional Christian church and its role in spreading idolatrous rituals and blind beliefs among the people. Tolstoy emphasized good works instead of ritualized sacraments and prayer. He also criticized muscular Christianity and its attempt to reconcile Christian teaching with the use of force.
Gandhi was a deeply religious person whose religiosity affected all facets of his life. However, his political, social and economic thoughts sprang from his religious ideas on the backdrop of colonialism. For him, the struggle against racial discrimination in South Africa and against colonialism in India was a spiritual endeavor. Gandhi considered belief in God as one of the indispensable qualifications to be a satyagrahi, or seeker of truth. He was liberal enough to accommodate different perceptions of religion in his religious worldview. He even considered the belief of an atheist in atheism as religion.
Gandhi believed that all religions were more or less true. All proceeded from the same God and all were imperfect. He disapproved the efforts of some Christian missionaries to win over converts to Christianity. He considered it a kind of invasion. Gandhi firmly believed that no one should convert to another religion but try their best to reform one’s own religion. He also said that if a Hindu wanted to believe in the Bible, they should do it but there was no reason for disregarding their own religion. In other words, Gandhi was a pluralist who believed that one could hold multiple religious traditions to be true.[7]
[6] Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God Is within You, translated by Constance Garnett, New York: Cassell Publishing, 1894. The book left a deep impact on Gandhi’s spiritual thoughts.
[7] Dinanath Gopal Tendulkar, Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, vol. 4, Bombay: Vithalbhai K. Jhaveri & D. G. Tendulkar, 1952, pp. 121–127, 166–173.