1 Gandhi: “A One-Man Boundary Force!” 1
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Notes 1 Gandhi: “A One-Man Boundary Force!” 1. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (Electronic Book), New Delhi, Publications Division Government of India, 1999, 98 vol- umes, Vol. 96, p. 303. Retrieved: October 27, 2014, http://www. gandhiserve.org/e/cwmg/cwmg.htm. Considered to be the most authoritative and exhaustive collection of Gandhi’s writings, The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) is a collection of Gandhi’s writings, including letters, essays, personal notes and inter- views, comprising over 50,000 pages, which took about 40 years to compile. They cover the period from 1884 to 1948 in chronological order. The first edition of the CWMG was published between 1960 and 1994 by the Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. The second printed edition of The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi was issued in 1998, and a CD came out in 1999. The page and volume numbers of this edition are not identical with the original print version published during 1960–1994. Gandhians across the world protested against this edi- tion and the CD, claiming a number of errors and omissions. In mid- 2005, the ministry issued an order to withdraw the revised edition and the CD. Originally, the CWMG consisted of 98 volumes; Volume 98 comprises the Index of Subject. In the 100-volume edition of the CWMG, Volume 99 consists of the Index of Person and Volume 100 comprises Prefaces. See: https://www.gandhiheritageportal.org/the- collected-works-of-mahatma-gandhi 2. A quote widely attributed to Gandhi. Embedded on a large stone at the Union Square, New York City. 3. See: John Hick, Who or What Is God? And Other Investigations (New York: Seabury Books, 2009), 162. 4. See Arvind Sharma, Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013), 54; also see Ved Mehta, Mahatma Gandhi and His Apostles (New York: The Viking Press, 1977), ix. 5. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, 1999, 98 volumes. 210 Notes 6. Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi: The Man, His People, and Empire (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008), ix. 7. Will Durant, The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1954), Vol. 1, p. 628. Note: Only a part of the quo- tation appears here. Durant is reported to have said the first and last lines of the quotation during his visit to India. Durant reportedly said this when he heard about Gandhi’s assassination. 8. Cited in John Adair, The Art of Creative Thinking: How to Be Innovative and Develop Great Ideas (London: Kogan Page, 2009), 52. 9. The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 48, p. 63. Emphasis added. 10. Homer A. Jack, Ed., The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi (Boston: Beacon Press, 1979), 202. 11. Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography (New York: Dover Publication, 1983), viii. 12. Margaret Chatterjee, Gandhi’s Religious Thought (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame, 1983), ix; Glyn Richards, The Philosophy of Gandhi (London: Curzon Press, 1991); Gandhi, Autobiography, 28–31. 13. Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), 97. 14. Gandhi, Autobiography, viii. It is generally believed that the honorific title “Mahatma” was first applied to Gandhi by Nobel laureate Sir Rabindranath Tagore. “‘Great Soul in peasant’s garb,’ the poet wrote,” says Louis Fischer, “and the crown sat forever on the politician-saint’s head.” Louis Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World (New York: A Mentor Book, 1982), 50. 15. Young India, January 20, 1927, 21. 16. Mark Shepard, Mahatma Gandhi and His Myths (Los Angeles, CA: Shepard Publications, 2002), 6. 17. Yogesh Chadha, Gandhi: A Life (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997), vii. 18. Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World, 176. 19. Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1969), 14. 20. Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World, 176. 21. Rajmohan Gandhi, Gandhi: The Man, His People, and Empire, xi. 22. Contribution to “Gandhi: His Life and Work,” July 1944, AEA, arch. no. 28-608. Also see Chadha, Gandhi: A Life, 1. 23. Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World, 143. 24. Cited in D. G. Tendulkar, Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (New Delhi: The Publications Division, Government of India, 1961), Vol. 1, p. 8. E-book edition retrieved on July 10, 2014, http:// www.mkgandhi.org/imp_bks_mahatma.html 25. Ibid. 26. Cited in Louis Fischer, ed., The Essential Gandhi (New York: Vintage Books, 2002), 1. 27. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of Great Philosophers (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953), x. Notes 211 2 A Hero’s Life Journey: Defining Moments of Life and Leadership 1. Cited in Yogesh Chadha, Gandhi: A Life (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997), 1. 2. Cited in Vishwanath S. Naravane, Sarojini Naidu: An Introduction to Her Life, Work and Poetry (Hyderabad, India: Orient Longman, 1996), 39. 3. Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1969), 16. 4. Chadha, Gandhi: A Life, 1. 5. Louis Fischer, ed., The Essential Gandhi (New York: Vintage Books, 2002), 1. 6. Ibid. 7. Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (New York: Dover Publications, 1983), viii. [Emphasis added]. 8. Ibid., ix. 9. This expression, ‘sharp as razor’s edge,’ occurs in Kathopaniṣ aḍ 1.3.14: uttisṭhạ jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata | ksurasyạ dhārā niśitā duratyayā durga pathas tat kavayo vadanti || Arise, awake, seek the wise and gain understanding. The path is as sharp as a razor, difficult to cross, so say the wise. [author’s rendition]. The famous English novelist, W. Somerset Maugham, named his 1944 novel, The Razor’s Edge, based on Kathopaniṣ ad.̣ It is well-known that Maugham was exposed to the teachings of Upanisads.̣ Maugham visited Sri Ramana Ashram, where he had a direct interaction with Ramana Maharshi, the great seer, in India in 1938. See, Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi (Tiruvannamalai, India: Sri Ramanasramum, 2000), 537. 10. Gandhi, Autobiography, ix. 11. Ibid. 12. See Payne, The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi, 14. 13. Between his Autobiography and his book, Satyagraha in South Africa, one gets the complete genesis of the making of the “Mahatma”—Great Soul—a title he received from India’s Poet Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. 14. The phrase is attributed to Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister from 1874 to 1881. Cited in Jenny Sharpe, Allegories of Empire: The Figure of Woman in the Colonial Text (Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota Press, 1997), 149. 15. Louis Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950), 12. See also: Gandhi, Autobiography, 1. 16. Chadha, Gandhi: A Life, 2. 17. Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, 13. 18. Gandhi, Autobiography, 2. 19. Ibid., 1. 212 Notes 20. Ibid., 28. 21. Ibid., 4. 22. Ibid., 22. 23. Ibid. 24. Ibid., 4. 25. Ibid., 29. 26. Śrīrāmacaritamānasa, Sundarkānd, doha 40.8, author’s translation. Literally, Rāmacaritamānasa means “the lake of life and deeds of Lord Rama.” 27. The “Japa” or the repetition of a holy name or word is a religious practice that helps the aspirant to focus on a chosen subject or thought and builds up a reservoir of spiritual power. The analogues of this practice are found in all religions. Some Christian prayer forms (e.g., the prayer of the heart), the practice of dhikr by Sufis, traditional Jewish prayer, and the practice of nembustu in Pure Land Buddhism are a few examples of the universal nature of this practice. The Cloud of Unknowing (New York: Harper Collins Spiritual Classics, HarperOne, 2004) and Philokalia (London: Faber & Faber, 1983) are examples of works that describe this practice within the Christian tradition. 28. Chadha, Gandhi: A Life, 5. 29. Gandhi, Autobiography, 28. 30. Young India, March 24, 1927, 93. 31. See: Fischer, The Essential Gandhi, 16. 32. Jad Adams, Gandhi: The True Man Behind Modern India (New York: Pegasus, 2012), 33. 33. Fischer, The Essential Gandhi., 16. 34. Gandhi, Autobiography, 27. 35. Ibid., 23–30. 36. Ibid., 27. 37. Ibid., 54–55. 38. S. Gambhirananda, tr., Bhagavad Gita with the Commentary of Śankaṙ ācārya (Calcutta, India: Advaita Ashrama, 1984), 302. 39. Krishna Kripalani, Gandhi: A Life (New Delhi: National Book Trust, India, 2013, reprint edition), 9. 40. Ibid. 41. Bhikhu Parekh, Gandhi (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 2. 42. Krishna Kripalani, Gandhi: A Life (New Delhi: National Book Trust, India, 2013, reprint edition), 18. 43. See: Arvind Sharma, Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography (New Haven, CT.: Yale University Press, 2013), 54–56. Sharma devotes a whole chapter on the theme of Gandhi’s conversion experience. For its details in Gandhi’s own words, see Gandhi, Autobiography, 92–98. 44. Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, 41. 45. Gandhi, Autobiography, 97. 46. Ibid., 96–97. 47. Ibid., 113. Notes 213 48. Cited in Fischer, The Essential Gandhi, xx. 49. Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy, 3rd ed. (New York: A Touchstone Book, 1984), 116. 50. Gandhi, Autobiography, 100. 51. Parekh, Gandhi, 3. 52. Gandhi, Autobiography, 135. 53. Fischer, The Essential Gandhi, 38. 54. Gandhi, Autobiography, 138. 55. M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa (Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Publishing House, 2008, reprint), 308. 56. Fischer, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World, 132. 57. Ruskin’s ideas of reviving traditional rural handicrafts appealed to Gandhi greatly. As we will see in the next chapter, Gandhi was highly influenced by Ruskin’s Unto This Last and paraphrased the work in his native lan- guage, Gujarati.