“Khadi mentality means the decentralization of the production and distribution of the necessities of life.” ~ Gandhi, Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 406 Everywhere the progressive world is struggling today to come up with alternative forms of organization to the hierarchical, top-down model that has been followed by practically every institution in the modern, corporate… read more
Tag Archives: swadeshi
“Progress without exploitation”–Daily Metta
October 5: “All motion is not progress. We have no reason to believe that the people of Europe are progressing.” –Gandhi (Young India, February 11, 1920) The movement for localism–swadeshi–in the Free India Struggle had an enormous purpose at its core: to deracinate exploitation itself, especially as it manifests through the unfettered accumulation of material… read more
“Novelty in New Education”–Daily Metta
September 6: “I admit that my proposal is novel. But novelty is no crime.” –Gandhi (Harijan, September 18, 1937) A controversial element in Gandhi’s vision for primary education was that it should be self-supporting. Students, as they learn a craft, should be able to earn the funds necessary to cover the costs of schooling, instead… read more
“On the importance of ‘Swadeshi'”–Daily Metta
July 9: “I work for India’s freedom because my swadeshi teaches me that, being in it and having inherited her culture, I am fittest to serve her and she has prior claim to my service.” –Gandhi (Young India, April 3, 1924) Swadeshi is a Sanskrit term comprised of two parts: swa- meaning “one’s own” and… read more
“Sparks of hope in Koodankulam”–Daily Metta
July 8: “This force is to violence and, therefore, to all tyranny, all injustice, what light is to darkness.” –Gandhi (Young India, November 3, 1927) In late 2013, a few of us from the Metta Center journeyed to India to learn about the Gandhian movement today. The group that stands out in our minds was… read more
“A Solid Basis for Nonviolence”–Daily Metta
April 2: “You cannot build nonviolence on a factory civilization, but it can be built on self-contained villages.” –Gandhi (1-20-1940, p. 423) As we transition toward a nonviolent future, Gandhi warns us, the way that we do business will need to change. A “civilization” based on the factory is no civilization worth speaking of, because… read more
“What is necessary?”–Daily Metta
April 1: “A Swadeshist will learn to do without hundreds of things which today he considers necessary.” —Gandhi (Selected Writings pp. 336-44) Many people still feel that localism, or swadeshi, is a far-fetched, unrealistic notion. Certainly, it is not without its complexities, but it is not beyond us to strive toward it regularly, even… read more
“My swadeshi”–Daily Metta
March 31: “My Swadeshi, therefore, chiefly centers around the hand-spun Khaddar and extends to everything that can be and is produced in India.” –Gandhi (Young India 3-12-1925, p. 88) Swadeshi was a very important concept for Gandhi and the Indian Freedom Struggle. Swa- meaning ‘one’s own,’ and desh–meaning ‘country,’ the practice of swadeshi was the… read more
In Memoriam: Marshall Rosenberg (1934 – 2015)
Photo: Kirk Crippens I am typing this while listening in on a memory circle—a conference call joined by people all over the planet to memorialize Marshall Rosenberg, the late founder of Nonviolent Communication (NVC). Marshall passed from this life last weekend. I knew him best from the years he taught regularly in the San Francisco… read more
The “Real Wheel”
That man came back from South Africa, having realized God, and quietly set about solving every problem in the modern world. When Michael Nagler heard this quiet, dramatic statement by his meditation teacher, Sri Eknath Easwaran of the Blue Mt. Center of Meditation, it changed his life. These two pictures are an attempt to illustrate… read more
