GANDIAN CONCEPT OF PEACE

Lincy chacko P

ABSTRACT
Generation to come ,it may be, will scare believe that such a one as this even in and blood trod upon this
earth" - where ever he walked a Temple grew"- these are the words of Eienstein on Gandhi. Gandhi was
not a philosopher like Sankaracharya, Hegel or Kant and he did not preach any startling theory or ism. He
never claimed to have originated a new ism; he had merely tried to apply the eternal truths in his own
way to every day life and its problems. He also did not say that his opinions or the interpretation of truth
was final and unchangeable. They were amenable to change is new contexts. He had nothing new to
teach to the world. His principles of truth and Non violence were as old as the hills of India. His efforts
had been only to make new experiment with truth and non-violence in a broader field and that made him
a great soul- The Mahatma.

Gandhiji was a religious man in the strictest sense of the word. Humanism was the key note of his out
look and behaviour. Politics and religious were for him two sides of the same coin. To Gandhiji truth was
the law that governed the Universe. It is this law that determines the nature of the universe. Gandhiji
noblest gift to mankind is Satyagraha, which literally means 'holding on to truth ; he used to call it
spiritual force of love. Satyagraha is a real Karmayogi who accept no defeat. He fight for truth with full
awareness of the ordeals on the way. He accepts death cheerfully as a fate way to heaven and welcomes
imprisonment as a step towards freedom, but never violence.

.Childhood

Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1969, at Porbandar in Kathiawar, a small
peninsula on the extreme west of Indi. His family belonged to the merchant caste (Baniya) and to the
Vaishnava sect of the Hindu religion. His father Karamchand Gandhi, was Prime Minister of Porbandar
state and the office had been made hereditary for some generations. Because the family was one of the
most important in Porbandar and the Gandhi’s were known for their in corruptibility abd integrity of
character. When Mohan Das was about seven years old, his father left Porbandar with his family for
Rajkot, where soon he was appointed Prime Minister. Thus it was easy for Mohandas to have a better
education, because Rajkot was one of the few place where higher education was available in those days.

His Father never had any ambition to accumulate riches and left his children very little property.
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Though he had no education he was a man of experiences. His religious life that of ordinary Hindus
consisted in frequent visits to temple and in listening to religious discourses. But the real religious
influence Gandhi received was from his mother. As he says in his autobiography "The outstanding
impression my mother has left on my memory is that of saintliness. She was deeply religious. She
would not think of talking meals without her daily prayers. Going to Haveli- The Vaishnava Temple
was one of her daily duties she would take the hardest vows and keep them without flinching illness
was no excuse for relaxing them.

PEOPLE WHO INFLUENCED GANDHI

In this world everybody has a role to play. Ache acts as per the potentially he inherits and the scope that
is provided to him by the surroundings. Gandhi derived his moral and physical nourishment from the
patio-temporal relations from the traditions of human civilization, both oriental and occidental and
above all, from his ceaseless and varied experiments with truth in the course of his life. He
acknowledges debt to the forerunners in the same long at thinking without any reservation. His writings
especially the autobiography brilliantly exposes this which from brings in to our views the roots the
influence which gave shape and form to his thought.

Influence of father

Truth and nonviolence for which Mohandas stood was inherited to a considerable degree from his father
Karam Chand Gandhi. Kaba Gandhi's encounter with the assistant political agent of British Empire
contributed to this end. "Once the political agent put Kaba Gandhi who protested vehemently against
his ill-behavior under detention. But Kaba was adamant and did not demand himself by abject
capitation. The agent could not bet help release him. 'Later in his life Mohandas recollects this valorous
exploit of his father and was perhaps inspired by it.

On another occasion Kaba Gandhi refused a huge monetary offer from the ruler on the plea that it was
not in the original terms. The anticipation the Gandhian style of saying no to all
guiltanduntouch.IndeedMohandas inherited from his father a mature moral sense and a firm
determination to follow truth which manifested itself bit by bit, in his life.
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Influence of Mother

Putalibai, the mother had strong common sense and sharp intelligence. The outstanding impression
which she left on Gandhi was that of saintliness. She was deeply religious and never took meals without
offering daily prayer. The practice of itself restraint that Gandhi observed through fasting and daily
prayers had undoubtedly its roots in that of his mother. An analytical study of his life reveals that the
basic tenets of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism were first influenced in to the mind of Moniya of his
mother. The virtue of non-violence was also instilled in to his mind by his saintly mother. Once a
scorpion was about to bite puthalibai of which young Moniya grew alarmed instantantaneously. She
gently said to her son, " Now it will neither harm me, nor its". BF . Fisher comments on this incidence,
"Lesson like this coming from no printed page, but from she book of life, influenced the future life of a
discerning boy. This gentle puritan mother was one of the biggest factoirs in making Gandhi what he is
today a prophet of self mastery of rational control through control of self".

.Influence of wife

Since their marriage in1882 till her death in 1944 - a long life for aboutn62 years. They went hand in
hand with out any break. She followed Gandhiji footsteps day and night like the shadow this back. She
became an indivisible part of his being, and was woven in to him like Warf and woof. In the words of
Gandhi "Kasturba has beenmy mother, friend nurse, cook bottle washer and all there things.... We have
come to reasonable understanding that I should have all the honour and she should have all the
drudgery.

.Influence of Rambha

Gandhiji's contact with Rambha although short lived and trifling gad a deep rooted influence on his
mind. In his youth he losst interest in temples on account of glitter and pomp and are rumours of
immortality. Rambha suggested the repetition of Ramanama as a remedy for the fear of ghosts and evil
spirits. This suggestions acted as an armour in moments of vrisis throughout his life to quote Gandhi, " I
think it is due to the seed sown by the good woman Rambha that today Ramanama is an infallible
remedy for me" thus two of cardinal virtues; Truth and fearlessness; that he preached of larger period of
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his life, owes directly or indirectly to Rambha.

THE RELEVANCE OF GANDHIGI

The world's present status of development picture is dark and likely to be further destroyed and put
the coming generation in more trouble. The area in which world is going to suffer most can be in the
direction of peace, non-violence, sociaL-economic growth and pollution free atmosphere. Inb fact we
have eaten up the coming generation's bread by way of over utilization of forest, water, land and air
etc. Looking to the present way of solution of this problem faced by the world, one can hardly have
optimize view for the better solution of these problems. In such a situation the only ray of hope lies
in the Gandhian way of solution of the problems.

Gandhism is a living thought for solving the social, economic and political problems of the day.
Gandhism is becoming more and more relevant with the passing of time due to the use of moral
principles in each and every field. In fact, the future generations will recall Gandhi's ideas particularly
in two boarder specific areas: like the use of non-violent methods and for reflecting violence for the
resolution of social and political conflicts; and secondly, for trying to come to grips with the problems
of the culture of 'consumerism' in the post industrial era. Not only that , his ideas will be relevant in
21st century because the combined theory with practice, individual religions out look with life-
affirmation, mortality with public activity, non-coperation with evil with adherence to non-violence,
developing methodology of action with effective force but without malice towards the opponents and
rational and experimental, attitudes together with the fundamental acceptance of an ethical
position.

Violence became a cult in contemporary world, where it is east or west. 20 million people were killed
in some 150 wars since 1945 , more than the soldiers killed in Second World War. Even the domestic
violence have increased tremendously. We are living under the shadow of violence and no life is safe
on this earth. The developed countries in the name of national security spent twenty times as much
as military expenditure as they provided for economic aid. 70 per cent of world military spending is
by six major military powers, 15 percent by developing countries. The world military expenditures
doubled between 1960 and 1983 to reach 800 billion dollars per year, and by the beginning of the
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21st century it will be doubled again.

Gandhi had warned of doom to mankind when he commented on the armament race and the military
expenditure and he also asserted his firm faith in non-violence thus; "one thing is certain. If the mad
race of armaments continues, it is bound to result in a slaughter such as has never occurred in
hostory. If there is a victor left , the very victor will be a living death for the nation that emerges
victorious. There is no escape from the impending doom save through a bold and unconditional
acceptance of the non-violent method with all its glorious implications".

Satyagraha will be also an important means by which individuals and groups can have an immediate
effect on government policy and programmers. Individuals and groups can organize the people and
draw the attention of the Government and masses on issues of, terrorism, exploitation, deteriorating
law and order, pollution, poverty, malnutrition etc. to save society. And the non-violent action for
the desirable social change have much significance today; "it is an empirical fact that the number of
unarmed insurrections is increasing in incidence even as violence persists, and they often arise as
improvised responses to oppression and grievances.

The other important Gandhian direction is the close association of the people of an area with their
plan. Local planning must be done at the local level by the local people. This will ensure that
planning will be able to take care of the real local needs, it will enable the local population to relate
their needs to local

In fact, in an age of highly devastating weapons, widely scattered small scale industries can be
nation's best industrial defence against surprise serial attack. If on the other hand a nation's
industrial power or potential is concentrated within a narrow range of territory, it would be relatively
easy for the invader to paralyze the nation's economy at one stroke and secure early victory.

Another problem is of centrism which is just against the individual dignity, greed and harmful for the
social welfare. Today the mentality of a nation is to run after power and wealth even at the cost of
humanitarian values. Thus we have to took back to Gandhi. A system that would be free from any sort
of violence at the individual as well " at the as the social level. Here comes the relevance of Gandhi

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who advocated a new socio political system based on human values of love and compassion. It could
be achieved, firstly, by invoking the spirit of voluntarism, which is hidden inside every human being,
to serve the down trodden, and secondly, by imbibing the life of complementary in place of
competition, to compliment the life of the local community or village through social and economic
activities, without exploiting one another's skill, and also without exploitation of the mother earth
for satisfying lust and greed of material powers and consumerism this pattern of life at the local and
global level can build " Regional Peace and International Security global level.

Conclusion
The basic cause of war is that the wants and ambitions of certain individuals and nations clash
with similar wants and ambitions of other individuals and nations. Lasting and successful
establishment of peace is possible only when the nations and their builders curb and limit their
ambitions willingly. Each war was fought with the aim of ending wars for all time, but in
succeeded only in leaving a legacy of hatred and sowing the seeds of a future war.

Mahatma Gandhi saw that it was futile to wash mud with mud, similarly war could not ended
by war, by inventing more and more dreadful weapons or by horror regimentation of the
people. When we think of world peace, we must not over look one vital fact.

Hence, we can conclude that the Gandhian ideals regarding the World peace is a positive one,
which stand for the welfare of each and everybody. And these ideals are based on realistic
approach to life with emphasis on human value and human dignity. The Gandhian technique to
tackle with the severe problems can be employed anywhere at any time because of its moral
basis. His conception of peace is to be got functioned to overcome the problems of the
contemporary world because of its holistic approach towards welfare of the organic system of
the cosmos.