Satyagraha
Truth: The Backbone of Nonviolence
“The world rests upon the bedrock of satya, or truth. Asatya meaning 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
By the year 1908, Gandhi realized that he needed a new term for the transformative force he was introducing into politics. “Passive resistance” was misleading and nonviolence, the direct translation of the ancient Sanskrit term ahimsa, was not yet in vogue (that would come some 20 years later). He held a contest and sadagraha or “clinging to the Real” was selected, but then modified for grammatical reasons to Satyagraha. The great benefit of this term lay in the deep meaning of satya in Indian languages: not just “true” as opposed to false, but also “real” as opposed to unreal, and “good” as opposed to harmful.
The term Satyagraha is used in two senses. For one, it can stand for the entire principle of nonviolence, or the active and resistant dimension of it, as opposed to mere petitioning or constructive program. Secondly, we speak of individual campaigns such as the Salt Satyagraha, the Temple Road Satyagraha or we could coin the Budrus Satyagraha in Palestine today. The struggle for civil rights by various groups, from the GBLTQ community to women’s rights and indigenous autonomy, all contain essential elements of Satyagraha in so far as they are nonviolent and attempt to “speak truth to power.”
Satyagraha is sometimes contrasted with its opposite, duragraha, or “clinging to the bad,” which implies the use of coercion. The ultimate aim of Satyagraha is always to bring parties closer together, and so in “clinging to truth” one prefers persuasion to coercion wherever possible. (If you haven’t yet read it, see Introduction for a story about the power of persuasion).
Satyagraha is sometimes contrasted with its opposite duragraha “clinging to the bad,” which implies the use of coercion or force. The ultimate aim of Satyagraha is always to bring parties closer together, and so in one’s “clinging to truth” one prefers persuasion to coercion wherever possible.
