December 17: “Time is always on the side of those who will wait upon it.” –Gandhi (Collected Works, Vol. XXVI, p. 268) Wait. Wait. This is not what it sounds like. Gandhi is not telling us to refrain from acting, he is talking about what attitude to cultivate once the wheels of nonviolence are set… read more
Tag Archives: Nonviolence
“Gandhi’s admiration of Jesus”–Daily Metta
December 16: “Jesus lived and died in vain if he did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal Law of Love.” –Gandhi (Harijan, January 7, 1939) A journalist once challenged Gandhi’s views on nonviolence suggesting that it is fine for personal issues but it could not work on a large… read more
“Was Gandhi angry?”–Daily Metta
December 15: “It is not that I am incapable of anger, for instance; but I succeed almost on all occasions to keep my feelings under control.” –Gandhi (Young India, October 1, 1931) Hold on. Don’t get excited. When Gandhi said that he succeeds in keeping his feelings “under control” he is not making the case… read more
“Right efforts in nonviolence”–Daily Metta
December 14: “It takes a fairly strenuous course of training to attain to a mental state of nonviolence.” –Gandhi (Young India, October 1, 1931) Gandhi will emphasize time and again that we do not become nonviolent overnight, and certainly not by reading a few books about it or even attending a training or two. It… read more
“Can hatred be understood?”–Daily Metta
December 13: “The hater hates not for the sake of hatred, but because he wants to drive away from his country the hated being or beings. He will, therefore, as readily achieve his end by nonviolent as by violent means.” –Gandhi (Harijan, February 24, 1946) After the Bataclan attack in Paris, a very courageous gentleman… read more
“More and more nonviolence”–Daily Metta
December 12: “I plead for nonviolence and yet more nonviolence. I do so not without knowledge but with sixty years’ experience behind me.” –Gandhi (Harijan, February 24, 1946) Gandhi faced much of the same questions in his time that many nonviolence practitioners face today. Property destruction was on the top of that list, and within… read more
“Leadership through service”–Daily Metta
December 11: “I take up my task of leading you in this struggle, not as your commander, not as your controller, but as the humble servant of you all.” –Gandhi (Press Report: August 8, 1942) There’s a saying about leadership that I first came across while reading the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna: “Everyone wants to… read more
“Thoughts on Freedom”–Daily Metta
December 10: “In placing civil disobedience before constructive work I was wrong and I did not profit by the Himalayan blunder that I had committed.” –Gandhi (Harijan, July 21, 1940) Freedom is a powerful word. Everyone responds to it on some level. So, whenever we talk about freedom, we have to be clear whether we… read more
“Evolution and perfection”–Daily Metta
December 9: “Maybe, some of you may be that perfect teacher who is to come.” –Gandhi (Harijan, July 21, 1940) Gandhi by no means thought that he would be the end-game of nonviolence. He was a prophet, but in no way the last one. To make that claim would require a refusal to understand the… read more
“Intelligent and Creative Efforts”–Daily Metta
December 8: “A mere belief in ahimsa or the charkha will not do. It should be intelligent and creative.” –Gandhi (Harijan, July 21, 1940) Once when Gandhi was asked about Hitler, he said we should look seriously at the efforts he was putting forward. It was partly to stress, I think, that violence isn’t “natural;”… read more
