CULTURE: The Liberation of a Nation with a Handful of Salt

Written by Gabriel Woods 

Indian people often spoke to me about their struggle for independence as if they had been liberated last year. I think possibly they knew this was an immediate link between me as an Irish person and themselves. I found that an Indian person was an expert at mentioning a subject they might have in common with you. Irish and Indian independence was then a subject that I often found myself talking about. Possibly this was because India only gained independence in 1947, a not so distant historical achievement when I backpacked throughout India in 2000. I was backpacking, not on a tour bus and I was separate from the local people. I found many Indian people that were really fascinating. At times I thought people that came from my country were bland in comparison because Indian culture was so new to me.

Mahatma Gandhi

What I did not understand was the leader of Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi, was very rarely mentioned. In the Western world, people revered him, even now. In India, among the people I spoke to he was very seldom mentioned. I became curious and studied the history of the man and his beliefs. To this day I sometimes pick up a book about him, my curiosity still fuelled by an amazing man who did so much for his people and the world with a peaceful method - Satyagraha. 

Mahatma had experienced the civil strife caused by colonialism that had occurred in South Africa where he had lived for a few years. He learned lessons from the experiences of the people living there and eventually applied them to the Indian people and later at an international level. 

Gandhi started a revolution by walking a thousand miles from his home to the coast. As he walked, thousands of followers joined him. He sat down by a beach and scooped up several jars of sea water. He took out a small machine and separated the salt out of the water. Gandhi was committing one of the most heinous crimes against the Raj. This was the making of salt and not paying tax. In India, salt for consumption in large amounts is necessary for survival due to its climate. The British government had applied a tax to salt, bringing in a huge amount of revenue. It was illegal and a punishable crime to make salt or/and not pay tax. British soldiers moved in swiftly and arrested 60,000 people. This caused outrage and the revolution began in earnest.

Central to Gandhi`s approach to not only the freedom of India but also the encouragement of peace across the world was Satya (truth) and Amhimsa (non-violence). Gandhi was strongly influenced by Buddhism. Gandhi believed in Buddhist teaching that all of life is one, this is what he meant by Satya. Amhimsa, non-violence, is not a passive behaviour or state of mind that is implied in the Western world. The Compassionate Buddha, the man that first taught Buddhism, taught that hatred kills and love heals. Ultimately it is the aggressor that dies or falls ill emotionally, psychologically or physically due to his generation of harmful hating or violent energy. Ahimsa is a method used to eradicate all negative emotion, thinking and behaviour until what is left is intense love. Gandhi believed it is the love from the person internally that dispels all negativity in the external environment. The coming together then of Satya and Amhimsa is Satyagraha which is the method to establish truth. This is the recognition that you and your opponent are one. It is because of this there is no need for fear. According to the Buddhist religion as espoused by Gandhi, Satyagraha is holding this truth in every situation no matter how fierce the antagonism or violence. The true Satyagraha wants nothing for himself and so is not afraid of entering conflict as he never forgets that he and his opponent are one in essence. This belief states that our true nature is love. Our purpose, for every one of us, is not just to love others but to be love itself.

“In Satyagraha, it is never the numbers that count; it is always the quality, more so when the forces of violence are uppermost. Then it is often forgotten that it is never the intention of a Satyagraha to embarrass the wrongdoer. The appeal is never to his fear; it is, must be, always to his heart. The Satyagraha object is to convert, not to coerce, the wrongdoer.” Mahatma Gandhi 

Images: Wikipedia