On Gandhi and His Message

On Gandhi and His Message

Mohandas Gandhi himself was deeply influenced by the gospels, not directly through the New Testament, but still more indirectly through Ruskin and Tolstoy. Thus, the social gospel of Christianity has come to be accepted in modern India and has been incorporated, one must say, into Hinduism. But this process, this social gospel, has undergone a most significant transformation…

Gandhi has shown how the principles from The Sermon on the Mount can be applied  to social and political life in a way which no one before him had done: He made the Beatitudes a matter of practical concern in a way which few Christians have realized.

Bede Griffiths Cited in Christian Mystics

Matthew Fox expands this observation by Griffiths through these thoughts and words:

“Bede Griffiths gives Gandhi credit, and rightly so, for applying the principles of Jesus’ teachings of the Sermon on The Mount to his work of nonviolence and his nonviolent overthrow of the British Empire in India. 

“Griffiths also shows deep ecumenism at work: how to take what is useful and profound from the world’s spiritual traditions and apply them. Sometimes this is a conscious, direct decision, but sometimes the influence is indirect; as Griffiths says, Gandhi encountered the Christian social gospel from writers such as Tolstoy and this in a roundabout way. 

Tolstoy also influenced modern Hinduism. As Griffiths says, few Christians have realized how to apply Jesus teachings to real-life social change as Gandhi did– and Gandhi was not a Christian! Why do you think that is? Martin Luther King Jr., would be an exception, however.”

Without getting too distracted, I would choose to add the influence of H.D. Thoreau on Gandhi and how Thoreau’s essay on Civil Disobedience was also instrumental and foundational to Gandhi’s awareness of the social gospel. That book has had a lasting impact as a philosophical foundation for nonviolent and non-cooperative social change. It has been commonly accepted that both Gandhi and King carried a copy of Civil Disobedience with them during their prison stays.

I have always deeply appreciated the pioneering efforts of Bede Griffiths. This is especially true when it comes to the recognition of comparative truths, and the capacity for inspiration that all the great Scriptures and spiritual traditions can provide for humanity and for one another.

In particular, from my vantage point, his work has served to open up the Catholic approaches to comparative religion and interfaith spirituality that few others before him were able to do so comprehensively and so well. More directly to the point… As Fox asks, how is it that we have relegated the Gospel to mere personal behavioral advice? 

As I see it, the long and short of it is that the Gospel provides us with a compelling set of truths and a cogent list of systemic behaviors that run almost completely counter to our contemporary culture or to a humanitarian and compassionate outlook. 

Simply said, there is a profound conflict between the Gospel and the unselfish, altruistic compassion that is encouraged and shown by Jesus, and our materialistic and capitalistic operations as an American society! 

As Jesus said and repeated during many of his parables spurning property, wealth, and status, “[you cannot serve materialistic and competitive values and still serve or worship God].