Mahatma Gandhi's View of Religion in Context of the Value of Religious Pluralism in India

Important to know in contemporary crisis of communalism in India

1. Reevaluating Gandhi’s View of Religion in Context of the Value of Religious Pluralism in India Dr. Rajib Saha Assistant Professor Department of Teacher Education The West Bengal University of Teachers’ Training, Education Planning and Administration

2. Religious Pluralism

3. Religious Pluralism in India Religion Percent Hindu 79.80 % Muslim 14.23 % Christian 2.30 % Sikh 1.72 % Buddhist 0.70 % Jain 0.37 % Other Religion 0.66 % Not Stated 0.24 %

4. Max Muller Says, " Take religion and where can you study its true origin, its natural growth, and its inevitable decay better than in India, the home of Brahmanism, the birth place of Buddhism and the refuge of zoroastrianism even now the matter of new superstitions - and why not, in the future the regenerate child of the purest faith, if only purified from the dust of nineteen centuries ?” Religious Pluralism in India

5. What is Religion? In India : Religion = “ Dharma ” Originated from ' Dhre ' which means to 'sustain‘ The goal of 'Dharma' is to create mental and spiritual fellowship among all men and to regulate its relation with all living entities.

6. God? "To me God is Truth and Love. God is Ethics and Morality. God is Fearlessness. God is essence of life and light and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist. For in his boundlessness, God permits the atheist to live. He is the searcher of hearts. He is a personal God to those who need his personal presence. He is embodied to those who need his touch. He is the purest essence.... He is all things to all men. He is in us and yet above and beyond us." ( M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India', 5.3.1925.)

7. Gandhi’s Religion " There is no religion higher than truth and Righteousness." Mahatma Gandhi's mission was not only to humanise religion but also to moralise it. E very cultured man and woman to read sympathetically the scriptures of the world. To respect other religion, a study of their scriptures, is a sacred duty . To understand the point of view of another faith requires tolerance, sympathy, broad mindedness, humility and willingness to recognize Truth wherever it is to be found .

8. Gandhi’s Hinduism "The chief value of Hinduism lies in holding the actual belief that all life is one i.e. all life coming from one universal source, call it Allah, God or Parameshwara ." ( M.K. Gandhi, ' Harijan ' , December 1936.) He was very much against Casteism in Hinduism. "My Krishna is not the historical Krishna . I believe in the Krishna of my imagination as a perfect incarnation, spotless in every sense of the word, the inspirer of the Gita, and the inspirer of the lives of millions of human beings. But if it is proved to me ... that the Krishna of the Mahabharata actually did some of the acts attributed to Him, even at the risk of being banished from the Hindu fold, I should not hesitate to reject that Krishna as God incarnate." (M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India,' 1.10.1935.)

9. Gandhi’s View of Islam "I do regard Islam to be a religion of peace in the same sense as Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are." ( M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India,' 10.7.1924 .) The charges of fanaticism against Islam cannot be justified, according to Gandhi, as there are several passages in the Koran which speak of religious tolerance. Gandhi on Jihad: " where is the unerring general to order Jihad? Where is the suffering and love and purification that much precede the very idea of drawing the sword? We are too imperfect and impure and selfish to resort to an armed conflict in the name of God .“ ( M.K. Gandhi, 'Young India,' 10.7.1924 .)

10. Gandhi’s View of Christinanity New Testament: " You have heard that it hath been said: An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil; but if one strikes thee on thy right cheek, turn to him thy other also" "Today supposing I was deprived of the Gita and forgot all its contents but had a copy of the Sermon, I would deprive the same joy from it as I do from the Gita .” C onversation with C.F. Andrews: “ If a person wants to believe in the Bible let him say so, but why should he discard his own religion? This proselytization will mean no peace in the world … My position is that all the great religions are fundamentally equal. We must have innate respect for other religions as we have for our own. Mind you, not mutual tolerance, but equal respect”. ( Harijan . 28(11):36.)

11. Gandhi’s view of Conversion "A rose does not need to preach. It simply spreads its fragrance. The fragrance is its own sermon. The fragrance of religion and spiritual life is much finer and much subtler than that of a rose." ( M.K. Gandhi, 'In search of the Supreme' Vol III P.83.) "If any one hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one religion and the destruction of the others, to him I say, 'Brother, yours is an impossible hope.' Do I wish that a Christian would become a Hindu ? God forbid. Do I wish that a Hindu or Buddhist would become a Christian ? God forbid ... The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth." ( Complete works of Swami Vivekananda Vol I. P.24.)

12. Gandhi’s Crystalized View of Religion “all religions are more or less true. All proceed from the same God, but all are imperfect because they have come down to us through imperfect human instrumentality”. ( Young India . 29(05): 24 ) “In reality there are as many religions as there are individuals”. ( Hind Swaraj . 1939) “I do not share the belief that there can or will be on earth one religion”. ( Young India. 31(07):24.) “So long as there are different religions, everyone of them may need some outward distinctive symbol. But when the symbol is made into a fetish and an instrument of proving the superiority of one's religion over other, it is fit only to be discarded”. ( Autobiography. 1948)

13. Gandhi’s Crystalized View of Religion All Worship The Same Spirit: “The Allah of Islam is the same as the God of Christians and the Ishwara of Hindus. Even as there are numerous names of God in Hinduism, there are many names of God in Islam. The names do not indicate individuality but attributes, and little man has tried in his humble way to describe mighty God by giving Him attributes, though He is above all attributes, Indescribable, Immeasurable .” One Spirit, Many Forms: “The need of the moment is not One Religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of the different religions. We want to reach not the dead level, but unity in diversity. The Soul of religion is One but it is encased a multitude of forms. Truth is the exclusive property of no single scriptures .” Light of India or Message of Mahatmaji by M. S. Deshpande

14. Gandhi’s View of Tolerance “Tolerance gives us spiritual insight, which is as far from fanaticism as the North Pole from the South.” “True knowledge of religion breaks down the barriers between Faith and Faith. Cultivation of tolerance for other Faiths will impart to us a true understanding of our own. Tolerance obviously does not disturb the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil.” “The golden rule of conduct ... is mutual toleration, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall always see Truth in fragment and from different angles of vision. Even amongst the most conscientious persons, there will be room enough for honest differences of opinion. The only possible rule of conduct in any civilized society is, therefore, mutual toleration .” Light of India or Message of Mahatmaji by M. S. Deshpande

15. Gandhi’s “ Ramarajya ” “BY RAMARAJYA I do not mean Hindu Raj. I mean by Ramarajya Divine Raj, the Kingdom of God. For me Rama and Rahim are one and the same deity. I acknowledge no other God but the one God of truth and righteousness .” “Whether Rama of my imagination ever lived or not on this earth, the ancient ideal of Ramarajya is undoubtedly one of true democracy in which the meanest citizen could be sure of swift justice without an elaborate and costly procedure. Even the dog is described by the poet to have received justice under Ramarajya .” ( YI, 19-9-1929, p. 305 ) Ramarajya of my dream ensures equal rights alike of prince and pauper. ( ABP, 2-8-1934)

16. Thank You