A Statue for Mahatma Gandhi’s Killer? (Mathew Chakola)

There is an old saying, “Ignorance is tolerable but candid confession of ignorance is punishable.” This is what came to my mind when I read about the shocking move to install statues of Mahatma Gandhi’s killer, Nathuram Godse, in some parts of India. Adding insult to injury, various right-wing Hindu organizations issued ridiculous statements justifying this. Now, you might wonder why I am so deeply disturbed by news of something that happened in a country far, far away. After all, I left India and chose to make a new life for myself in the United States of America over forty years ago.

There are good reasons for the way I feel.  I was born and brought up in India, in a peaceful, multi-cultural, multi-religious state called Kerala.  There, over the centuries, amazing changes had been effected through education. The standard of living had improved, people had the freedom to worship according to their beliefs, and above all, no one was oppressed or discriminated against because of caste or religion.  (Unfortunately, there are still many pockets in India that have never seen the light of love, hope and justice. There, people have closed minds and their actions are driven by illogical prejudices.)

For us to be enlightened, to progress as individuals and as a nation, wisdom and knowledge must go together and guide our thinking. But how many are willing to expend the effort to acquire them? Not everyone with wisdom has knowledge; and those with knowledge are often lacking in wisdom. When either is missing, we find ourselves in trouble. One man with an enlightened mind changed India’s destiny and won the hearts and minds of millions of his countrymen. He was a nationalist leader who led India’s struggle for freedom from British rule, and helped the country achieve its Independence through nonviolent resistance. It was Mahatma Gandhi. And that is why we need to take another look at Gandhi, the man, his ideas and beliefs, and the relevance of his legacy, in the light of what is happening today.

Gandhi’s Faith

The driving force in Gandhiji’s life was his faith in God. “First focus on God, then everything else will come into focus in time,” was his advice to others. Intertwined with this was his conviction that you serve God by serving humanity. Although he was a Hindu, his spirituality was not anchored in any particular religion. In fact, some Hindus accused Gandhi of being a closet Christian. Always tolerant and fair-minded, Gandhi refused to believe that only the sacred Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, were the revealed word of God. “Why not the Bible and the Koran?” he asked. He disliked the antagonism and rivalry between religions, and saw the good in all of them. 

In 1942, when Louis Fisher was Gandhi’s house guest, he noticed the one decoration on the mud walls of his little hut – a black and white print of Jesus Christ under which were inscribed the words, “He is our peace.”  Louis Fisher was puzzled by this, and said, “But you are not a Christian!” And Gandhi replied, “I am a Christian, and a Hindu, a Muslim, and a Jew.”  

His all-inclusive view of religion made a deep impression on other progressive men and women. Dr. Stanley Jones, a Methodist Christian missionary, wrote “God may have used Mahatma Gandhi to Christianize unchristian Christianity.” 

K. Mathew Simon, of the Syrian Christian Church of Malabar, India, said of Gandhi, “It was his life that proved to me more than anything else that Christianity is a practicable religion even in the twentieth century.”

Charles Freer Andrews, the British missionary, and Gandhi grew so close that the Mahatma said of him “He is more than a blood brother.”  And Andrews affectionately called him “Mohan” (a shortened version of his first name). The Hindu saint found no better kindred soul than Andrews, the Christian; the Christian missionary found no better Christian than Gandhi, the Hindu.

Gandhiji believed in the idea that we are all bound with one another.  That “me” is always subordinate to “we.”  That no man is an island.  It used to be the tradition in India to look upon all the children within the extended family as one’s own.  “Then what about others and their children?” questioned Gandhi. “Why should they be any different?” 

The truth of Buddha’s words struck a chord in him: the source of all happiness is thinking about others; the source of all suffering is thinking about oneself. Is it any wonder that the Mahatma played a significant role in rooting out social ills through personal effort?  Today, in free India, there are thousands of leaders, but we do not have such heroes.  Not even a hero who believes in the common people’s basic needs.  Or a hero who would risk his own political career prospects let alone his life, for the good of the suffering masses.

Gandhiji, however, was willing to sacrifice his personal comfort, and put his career and reputation on the line for the sake of making positive changes in the values and character of society.  His actions were sometimes controversial and angered others, but he did not stop if he felt he was doing the right thing. But at times people’s bitter opposition to the values and beliefs that he held dear must have wounded him deeply. For instance, he was immensely saddened by the partition of India after Muslim leaders, such as Jinnah, insisted on a separate country based on religion. But he did not hold grudges, and never demonized his opponents.  He fought against them valiantly, but always with grace. He did wonder occasionally about the sacrifice of his private life, although he eventually decided it had all been worth it. 

Some would ask, “Why try to understand your enemy; just defeat him.”  Gandhi would say to such people, “At what cost?”  He always preferred to defeat his enemies with love, kindness and non-violence.  “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” he explained, defending his choice. In any case, he did not consider anyone his enemy in spite of any differences he might have had with them. He put Hindu teachings to use, applied Christian values too, and his big heart always had room for Muslims, Jews, and others.

John Wesley once wrote to William Wilberforce in the context of his heroic efforts against the slave trade, “Unless the divine power has raised you up to be Athanasius contra mundum [against the authority] I see not how you could go through everything you went through.  But if God be for you, who can be against you?”

So it was with Gandhi, who always acknowledged that whatever he undertook was not done alone.  God was the one behind every battle and every victory. Gandhi disagreed with those who said that everything happens for a reason.  He would say, “We are the reason, and we are the ones who make things happen with God’s help. With His help, we can overcome all our miseries.” It was his view that our troubles have nothing to do with bad karma, which many Hindus believed in. This proved to be a source of great strength for him. It was almost as if God had said to him: Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah, 41:10) 

The Mahatma’s humility was authentic.  He was motivated by love, the love of God and the love of his fellow men, more than a simple sense of right and wrong, or justice and injustice. He had reached out to all without discriminating against anyone. “Our salvation can come only through seeing each other as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of Bharat (India) …  It is only our conduct that will fit us for it.”  (In fact, about the treatment of the poor and the untouchables, he had said very emphatically in his autobiography, “How can men feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their fellow-beings?”)

Gandhi wanted a new India, with committed Indians who would work to fulfill the hopes and dreams of all Indians.  He himself gave the lead by walking in truth. And he devoted his life to fight for the liberty of all.  To him, true freedom for India meant the emergence of a new, free India, without the bondage of caste and religion.  He believed with Tagore, that India’s shackles were self-made.  (Tagore wrote: “Prisoner, tell me who was it that brought this unbreakable chain?”  “It was I” said the prisoner, “who forged this chain very carefully.”)

Gandhi’s Assassination

The Background:  India got its freedom from the British and became an independent nation on August 15, 1947. The country’s independence came at a price. The Muslim leaders wanted a separate country based on religion. This led to the division of the sub-continent into India and Pakistan, and led to the displacement of people because of religion. It gave rise to so much anger and hatred that riots broke out between Muslims and Hindus soon after the partition. Gandhi worked hard to heal the wounds caused by the communal conflicts. However, many Hindus felt that he was far too partial to the Muslims, jeopardizing the interests of his own community. Nathuram Godse was one such Hindu. On January 30, 1948, this young man shot and killed Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Free India’s most iconic leader.

The Father of the Nation: Gandhi’s countrymen called him “Bapu” (which means “Father”). The name symbolized their love and respect, and the high esteem in which they held him. All this was reflected several times over during Gandhi’s funeral. Almost a million people waited in the sun for the funeral procession to reach Rajghat, where his body was cremated a few hundred feet from the holy waters of the River Yamuna. 

At 4:45 p.m., Ramdas, the third son of the Mahatma, lit the funeral pyre. As the logs burst into flames, women wailed and men wept. Then, as Gandhi’s body was being reduced to ashes, there was respectful silence.

At the time of his death, Gandhi was what he had always been, a private citizen without wealth, property, title, official position, academic distinction, or scientific achievement. Yet national leaders and religious heads from around the world paid homage to this thin brown man of seventy-eight, in a loincloth. His is a story of unusual success through extraordinary means. The only weapons in Gandhiji’s arsenal were kindness, honesty, humility and non-violence, but with these weapons he won a multitude of victories. Besides, he had unexpected strengths, which fuelled his achievements. He never had a hunger for wealth, status or power, and that set him free to pursue higher goals. As the scholar Professor Gilbert Murray once wrote, “Be careful in dealing with a man who cares nothing for sensual pleasures, nothing for comfort or praise or promotion, but is simply determined to do what he believes to be right.  He is a dangerous and uncomfortable enemy because his body, which you can always conquer, gives you so little purchase over his soul.” 

Winston Churchill had contemptuously referred to Gandhi as a “half-naked fakir”. Yet, when Gandhiji fell to the assassin’s three bullets, tributes poured in. General George C. Marshall, then U.S. Secretary of State, said, “Mahatma Gandhi was the spokesman for the conscience of mankind.”

French Premier Leon Blum wrote, “I never set foot in his country, and yet I feel the sorrow as if I had lost someone near and dear. The whole world has been plunged into mourning for this extraordinary man.”

“Gandhi made humility and truth more powerful than empires,” added U.S. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg.

Sir Stafford Cripps, British statesman declared, “I know no other man of any time or indeed in recent history, who so forcefully and convincingly demonstrated the power of the spirit over material things.” This quality of his was something that others had long felt about Gandhiji. For instance, in March 1922, he was tried before Justice Broomfield, for sedition in respect of two articles, which he had written in his paper, "Young India".  While pronouncing sentence, the judge had said, “The law is no respecter of persons. Nevertheless it will be impossible to ignore the fact that you are in a different category from any person I have ever tried, or am likely to have to try.  In the eyes of millions of your countrymen, you are a great patriot and a great leader.  Even those who differ from you in politics look upon you as a man of high ideals and of noble and saintly life.”

Over the years, Gandhi’s influence continued to rise, and he was looked upon as a highly respected leader and role model by people around the world. So his death made dramatic headlines everywhere even as his body lay in state, illuminated by a lamp with five wicks representing the five elements – air, light, water, earth, and fire – and also to light his soul to eternity according to Hindu belief. “The New York Times”, for instance, reported Gandhi’s death on the front page: Gandhi Killed – India Shaken – World Mourns.

Pandit Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, delivered Gandhiji’s memorial address over the radio, late in the evening.  In a quivering voice he said:  “Gandhi has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere.  The Father of our Nation is no more – no longer will we run to him for advice and solace.  This is a terrible blow to millions and millions in this country.

“Our light has gone out, but the light that shone in this country was no ordinary light.  For a thousand years that light will be seen in this country and the world will see it. Oh, that this has happened to us!  There was so much more to do.”

Referring to the assassin, Pandit Nehru said, “I can only call him a madman.”  He pleaded for a renewed spirit of peace, which had been the Mahatma’s last endeavor, saying: “His spirit looks upon us – nothing would displease him more than to see us indulge in violence.  All our petty conflicts and difficulties must be ended in the face of this great disaster… In his death he has reminded us of the big things in life.”

Such was the greatness of this exceptional man! So, those who want to build a statue to Mahatma Gandhi’s killer, such as Abhisek Aggarwal, Sakshi Maharaj (who gave him the title, I wonder), the Hindu Pride Group, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, and Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, should reflect on the Sanskrit proverb which says, “Forgiveness is the ornament of the brave.”

This Indian Boy without Feathers, along with the majority of the loving, caring people of the world, will pray for the rays of enlightenment to root out such clouds of darkness, so that the resulting positive energy can be used for the good of all. For now, “it is time for the world to make goodness fashionable.”

God bless you all!

The Indian Boy without Feathers

7/1/2015

(Mathew Chakola was born and grew up in Kerala.

Mr. Chakola is currently the owner and CEO of the multimillion-dollar Maryland Paper Company, Alabama Paper Products and California Paper Products. He is one of the biggest producers of roofing felt from recycled paper, and his clients are spread across the USA and Canada.