PHILOSOPHY OF GANDHI 

1. Background

• Mahatma Gandhi was a champion of communal harmony and wanted all Indians, be they of any religion, to unite against the colonial government. 
• He never found serious differences between the Hindus and Muslims and other minority communities like the Christians and the Sikhs or Parsis. 
• Gandhiji saw an inviolable harmony existing in all creation enshrined in all religions, and it was this principle that led him to accord equal respect to all faiths. 
• He stressed universal peace, brotherhood, and reverence for all life. Mahatma Gandhi said that all religions' final goal is to realize this essential oneness. 

2. Gandhian perspective of Communal Harmony

• Mahatma Gandhi was born at the crossroads of our history and gave the country a purposeful direction. 
• He made his mark as a reformer, a thinker, and a liberator. He was a practical idealist. His sense of observation, analysis, and experimentation even at a comparatively younger age gave him a distinctive mental quality and approach to the matters that he confronted. He was, as Romain Rolland remarks, "familiar with the best that Europe and America have produced." He was as familiar with the Bible as the Quran believer. Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads had a new meaning for him. He drew the best out of these. In his constructive programme, he gave the first place to communal harmony among the people of different faiths. The result was the famous book, The Way To Communal Harmony, written by Gandhi himself. 
• In this collection of his writings and speeches, one is struck again and again by the passion and sincerity with which he pleaded for the cause of better understanding among individuals and communities. The book is a compilation of Gandhi's reflections on certain problems that divide mankind. 
• Everywhere in the world, individuals and groups are divided because of fear, suspicion, and hatred towards each other, which further depends on whether the division expressed itself along religious, economic, political, caste, or colour lines. Whatever the form, insecurity is perhaps the major cause of individual or social dissensions. A person, who is integrated and sure of himself, fears none and consequently provokes no fear. We have examples of such heroic individuals. But we do not have till now instances of societies or communities that are fully integrated and therefore fearless.
• Gandhi felt the need for community unity during his stay in South Africa. 
• The principal question before him was harmony between Hindus and Muslims who inhabited this country. 
• Gandhi felt that if Hindu-Muslim unity was established, unity with other communities which were already there could easily be strengthened. 
• He never found serious differences between the Hindus and Muslims and other minority communities like the Christians and the Sikhs, not to speak of the small community of Parsis. Naturally, therefore, he turned to the question of Hindu-Muslim unity. 
• He insisted that the Hindus who are in a majority in the country should help the Muslims and should never entertain any idea of enforcing their rights but try to win the hearts of the minority community. 

Gandhi expressed:

• "I am striving to become the best cement between the two communities. My longing is to be able to cement the two with my blood, if necessary. There is nothing in either religion to keep the two communities apart. In nature, there is a fundamental unity running through all the diversity. Religions are no exception to the natural law. They are given to mankind to accelerate the process of realization of fundamental unity. The need of the moment is not an establishment of a Universal religion but there is a greater need to develop mutual respect towards the different religions."
• The basic principle, Truth, inspired all his thought and action. It was the realization that an inviolable harmony exists in all creation and any violation of that harmony would create disaster. 
• He saw this principle enshrined in all religions, which led him to accord equal respect to all faiths. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam of the Vedic tradition to him was no different from the Quranic belief that Allah the Beneficent and Merciful was the creator of all that we see and hear about and that He would dispense justice based on deeds and not the professed faith of each person. 
• Nor was it different from the Christian faith that God's love and benediction were for all without any distinction. All religions insist on the equality of the human race and on developing a harmonious relationship with the entirety of creation. Any violation of the principle of equality gives way to conflict and violation.
• Gandhi regards Islam as a religion of peace in the same sense as Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism. 
• No doubt, there are differences in degree. He says in this regard that he knew the passages that can be quoted from the Holy book Quran to the contrary. But it is possible to quote from the Vedas to the contrary. "My reading of the Quran has convinced me that the basis of Islam is not violence but unadulterated Peace. It regards forbearance as superior to vengeance. The very word "Islam" means peace, which is nonviolence. My experience in India tells me that the Hindus and the Muslims know how to live at peace among themselves. I decline to believe that the people have said goodbye to their senses, to make it impossible to live at peace with each other, as they have done for generations. The enmity cannot last forever."
• Gandhi had never accepted in principle the theory of the Hindus and the Muslims being two distinct nations and he tried to convince both of them of the pernicious character of this principle. He continued to the last day of his life to instiling the lesson of unity among the communities of India. It is remarkable how he enraged many of the Muslims and a negligible few of the Hindus with nest and fearless advocacy of communal unity. 
• The Muslims looked upon him as an enemy, while some Hindus felt that by showing humility, respect, regard and partiality for the Muslims, he was jeopardizing the cause of the Hindus. 
• Those Hindus, who did not like his efforts, conceived the idea of getting rid of him. So he was shot to death on the prayer ground. It was a tragic end.
• The great leader, however, clearly saw the time coming when people belonging to different faiths will have the same regard for the other faiths that they have for their own. Just as in nature a fundamental unity runs through all the existing diversity, so also in religions there is a fundamental unity, which one has to recognize and realize. To discover this underlying unity among all religions, Gandhi had with him a master key of Truth and nonviolence. He stressed universal peace, brotherhood, and reverence for all life.
• He emphatically stressed ethical teachings in the school curriculum, as he believed that the fundamentals of ethics are common to all religions. The conflict of the creeds and religious recrimination, he detested most. He preached that we must eradicate from our midst the secret pride that our religion is truer than the other religions. 
• Our attitude towards all other religions must be clear and sincere. He wanted unity of heart and mind among Hindus and Muslims. Communal harmony always received priority over other programmes.
• All religions teach men to be good and peaceful. Intolerance is the religion of the negative. The Gita, the Quran, the Bible, the Granth Sahib, and the Zend Avesta contain gems of wisdom, although the followers might believe their teachings. "The essence of true religious teaching is that one should serve and befriend all. I learned this in my mother's lap.

3. Philosophical parallels between Gandhi and Savarkar.

• Religious identity: Both were conscious of their Hindu identity and were orthodox Hindus.
• On language: Both advocated for Hindi as a common language for the unification of Bharat.
• Social reformers: Both opposed untouchability. For instance, Savarkar was engaged in a social reform project in Ratnagiri. He worked to uproot the caste system and advocated inter-caste dining, inter-caste and interregional marriages, widow remarriage, female education and temple entry for all castes.
• Even Gandhiji was for reforming Hinduism from within and eradicating caste-based differences.
• As authors: Both were authors and wrote extensively on contemporary political and social issues. Both wrote books in the same year, 1909. Gandhi’s “Hind Swaraj” and Savarkar’s The “Indian War for Independence” on the 1857 uprising.
• Partition: Both were against the idea of dividing India.

4. What were the differences in their opinions?

• State: Gandhi championed the cause of Ramrajya-an ideal state where equality and justice prevail. For Savarkar, it was the Hindu Rashtra in which anyone who is born in the motherland and loves his country is a Hindu irrespective of their religion.
• For him, Hinduness was not sectarian or religious, but a cultural identity emanating from a shared history and bloodline.
• Complete independence: Savarkar was unambiguous in his conception of independence — complete independence. Gandhi developed the idea of complete independence gradually. The resolution for complete independence moved in 1927 Madras session was even opposed by Gandhiji.
• Uprising of 1857: Savarkar hailed 1857 as the first war of independence. Interestingly, Karl Marx also called this the first war of independence in his articles in the New York Tribune. Gandhi did not have any clear enunciation of the uprising of 1857.
• Means vs Ends: For Gandhi, the end had to be justified through the means. Non-violence, Satyagraha, “changing the mind of the oppressor” was essential.
• For Savarkar, the goal of complete and immediate independence was more important than the means.
• On religious rituals: Gandhi was more assertive — he described himself as a Sanatani Hindu and cow worshipper.
• Savarkar was more progressive in his approach — he was averse to the ritualistic aspects of the Hindu religion.

Conclusion

• In conclusion, any freedom struggle has two aims. 
• One is to achieve independence from colonialism; the other is seeding and nurturing the ideas and values on which nation-building is to be done. Irrespective of the differences, the two great personalities gave their contribution for the same purpose of “Bharat”.