“The world rests upon a bedrock of satya or truth. Asatya or untruth also means non-existent, and satya or truth also means that which is. If untruth does not so much as exist, its victory is out of the question.  And truth being that which is can never be destroyed. This is the doctrine of Satyagraha in a nutshell. ~ Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa, p. 260

Throughout the pages of Gandhi’s classic Satyagraha in South Africa (one of the only two full-length books he ever wrote, taking advantage of his imprisonment in the mid 1920’s; the other being the Autobiography, or My Experiments with Truth), there are brilliant obiter dicta that illustrate how he saw the Eternal shining through everything he experienced—the deep principles illustrated by the particulars of his narrative. Of all those gems, this one (found at the end of Chapter 40) can be regarded as the most significant; shall we say, his credo. All mystics see the One, positive reality behind appearances. Only a few, like Jesus, Buddha and Gandhi, turned that vision into a world-changing force.

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About Daily Metta

Stephanie Van Hook, the Metta Center’s executive director, launched Daily Metta in 2015 as a way to share Gandhi’s spiritual wisdom and experiments with nonviolence.

Our 2016 Daily Metta continues with Gandhi on weekdays. On weekends, we share videos that complement Michael Nagler’s award-winning book, The Search for a Nonviolent Future: A Promise of Peace for Ourselves, Our Families, and Our World. To help readers engage with the book more deeply, the Metta Center offers a free PDF study guide.

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