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Hinduism Is A Living Organism. One And Indivisible At The Root, It Has Grown Into A Vast Tree With Innumerable Branches. Knowledge Is Limitless And So Also The Application Of Truth. Everyday We Add To Our Knowledge Of The Power Of Atman (soul) And We Shall Keep On Doing So.

-Mahatma Gandhi

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Hinduism Is A Living

Mahatma Gandhi

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Hinduism Is A Living Organism. One And Indivisible At The Root, It Has Grown Into A Vast Tree With Innumerable Branches. Knowledge Is Limitless And So Also The Application Of Truth. Everyday We Add To Our Knowledge Of The Power Of Atman (soul) And We Shall Keep On Doing So.

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A Fearless Woman Who Knows That Her Purity Is Her Best Shield Can Never Be Dishonoured.

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Of All The Black Crimes That Humanity Is Committing Against The Great Creation, Vivisection Is The Blackest.

I Felt That God Could Be Realized Only Through Service. And Service For Me Was The Service Of India, Because It Came To Me Without My Seeking, Because I Had An Aptitude For It.

Experience Convinces Me That Permanent Good Can Never Be The Outcome Of Untruth & Violence. Even If My Belief Is A Fond Delusion, It Will Be Admitted That It Is A Fascinating Delusion.

Truth Has Drawn Me Into The Field Of Politics; And I Can Say Without The Slightest Hesitation, And Yet In All Humility, That Those Who Say That Religion Has Nothing To Do With Politics Do Not Know What Religion Means.

It Is A Tragedy Of The First Magnitude That Millions Of People Have Ceased To Use Their Hands As Hands. Nature Has Bestowed Upon Us This Great Gift Which Is Our Hands. If The Craze For Machinery Method Continues, It Is Highly Likely That A Time Will Come When We Shall Be So Incapacitated And Weak That We Shall Begin To Curse Ourselves For Having Forgotten The Use Of The Living Machines Given To Us By God.

There Is No School Equal To A Decent Home And No Teacher Equal To A Virtuous Parent.

Civil Disobedience Can Only Lead To Strength And Purity.

Self-realization Is The Object Of The Gita, As It Is Of All Scriptures.

Satisfaction Lies In The Effort, Not In The Attainment, Full Effort Is Full Victory.

Religion Is One Tree With Many Branches. As Branches, You May Say, Religions Are Many, But As A Tree, Religion Is Only One.

One's Everyday Life Is Never Capable Of Being Separated From His Spiritual Being.

I Literally Believe In The Possibility Of A Sudhanva Smiling Away Whilst He Was Being Drowned In Boiling Oil.

It Is Derogatory To The Dignity Of Mankind, It Is Derogatory To The Dignity Of India, To Entertain For One Single Moment Hatred Towards Englishmen.

When The Ego Dies, The Soul Awakes.

The Alphabet Of Ahimsa Is Best Learnt In Domestic School And I Can Say From Experience That If We Secure Success There, We Are Sure To Do So Everywhere Else.

The Human Voice Can Never Reach The Distance That Is Covered By The Still Small Voice Of Conscience.

I Know That Not Only Is Swaraj Our Birthright, But It Is Our Sacred Duty To Win It.

My National Service Is Part Of My Training For Freeing My Soul From The Bondage Of The Flesh.

Without The Study Of Samskrit One Cannot Become A True Indian And A True Learned Man.

Man Is Neither Mere Intellect Not The Gross Animal Body, Nor The Heart Or Soul Alone.

Wherever You Are You Will Always Be In My Heart.

Long Distance Relationship

Throughout The History Of Mankind There Have Been Murderers And Tyrants; And While It May Seem Momentarily That They Have The Upper Hand, They Have Always Fallen. Always.

Measures Must Always In A Progressive Society Be Held Superior To Men, Who Are After All Imperfect Instruments, Working For Their Fulfilment.

Progressive Society

It Was Through The Hindu Religion That I Learnt To Respect Christianity And Islam.

Birth And Death Are Not Two Different States, But They Are Different Aspects Of The Same State.

Don't Let Anybody Walk Through Your Mind With Dirty Feet.

The Truth Is Far More Powerful Than Any Weapon Of Mass Destruction.

Mass Destruction

Democracy Will Break Under The Strain Of Apron Strings. It Can Exist Only On Trust.

Religion Taught Us To Return Good For Evil.

If Love Or Non-violence Be Not The Law Of Our Being, The Whole Of My Argument Falls To Pieces.

Swaraj Of A People Means The Sum Total Of The Swaraj (self-rule) Of Individuals.

Wildlife Is Decreasing In The Jungles, But It Is Increasing In The Towns.

People Engaged In A War Do Not Lose Temper Over Matters Which Affect The Fortunes Of War.

Men Say I Am A Saint Losing Himself In Politics. The Fact Is That I Am A Politician Trying My Hardest To Become A Saint.

Trying My Hardest

We Must Learn To Be Self-reliant And Independent Of Schools, Courts, Protection And Patronage Of A Government We Seek To End, If It Will Not Mend.

A Nonviolent Struggle Necessarily Involves Construction On A Small Scale. It Cannot Therefore Lead To Tamas Or Darkness Or Inertia.

A Coward Is Incapable Of Exhibiting Love; It Is The Prerogative Of The Brave.

I Believe In The Essential Unity Of All That Lives. Therefore, I Believe That If One Person Gains Spiritually, The Whole World Gains, And That If One Person Falls, The Whole World Falls To That Extent.

I Consider Myself A Hindu, Christian, Moslem, Jew, Buddhist And Confucian.

Contraceptives Are An Insult To Womanhood.

Untouchability Is An Error Of Long Standing.

Good Travels At A Snail's Pace. Those Who Want To Do Good Are Not Selfish, They Are Not In A Hurry, They Know That To Impregnate People With Good Requires A Long Time.

A Leader Is Useless When He Acts Against The Promptings Of His Own Conscience.

Force, Violence, Pressure, Or Compulsion With A View To Conformity, Are Both Uncivilized And Undemocratic

He Who Runs May See That Opium And Such Other Intoxicants And Narcotics Stupefy A Man's Soul And Reduce Him To A Level Lower Than That Of Beasts.

The Principle Of Majority Does Not Work When Differences On Fundamentals Are Involved.

I Must Say That, Beyond Occasionally Exposing Me To Laughter, My Constitutional Shyness Has Been No Dis-advantage Whatever. In Fact I Can See That, On The Contrary, It Has Been All To My Advantage.

God Has His Own Way Of Choosing His Instruments.

God Cannot Be So Cruel And Unjust As To Make The Distinctions Of High And Low Between Man And Man, And Woman And Woman.

A Satyagrahi Must Ceaselessly Strive To Realize And Live Truth. And He Must Never Contemplate Hurting Anyone By Thought, Word Or Deed.

To Me The Mahabharata Is A Profoundly Religious Book, Largely Allegorical, In A Way Meant To Be A Historical Record.

Old As I Am In Age, I Have No Feeling That I Have Ceased To Grow Inwardly Or That My Growth Will Stop At The Dissolution Of The Flesh. What I Am Concerned With Is My Readiness To Obey The Call Of Truth, My God, From Moment To Moment, No Matter How Inconsistent It May Appear. My Commitment Is To Truth, Not To Consistency.

Happiness Is When What You Think, What You Say, And What You Do Are In Harmony.

I Am But A Poor Struggling Soul Yearning To Be Wholly Good, Wholly Truthful And Wholly Non-violent In Thought, Word And Deed, But Ever Failing To Reach The Ideal Which I Know To Be True. It Is A Painful Climb, But Each Step Upwards Makes Me Feel Stronger And Fit For The Next.

God Gifted Man With Intellect So That He Might Know His Maker. Man Abused It So That He Might Forget His Maker.

Ahimsa In Theory No One Knows. It Is As Indefinable As God.

Our Non-co-operation Is With The System The English Have Established In India, With The Material Civilization And Its Attendant Greed And Exploitation Of The Weak.

The Man Of Prayer Will Be At Peace With Himself And With The Whole World.

That Prince Is Acceptable To Me Who Becomes A Prince Among His People's Servants.

What We Can Do, We Will Try To Do.

Ahimsa Means Infinite Love, Which Again Means Infinite Capacity For Suffering.

Don't Talk About It. The Rose Doesn't Have To Propagate Its Perfume. It Just Gives It Forth, And People Are Drawn To It. Live It, And People Will Come To See The Source Of Your Power.

Bullies Are Always To Be Found Where There Are Cowards.

Khaddar Is An Attempt To Revise And Reverse The Process And Establish A Better Relationship Between The Cities And Villages.

No One Should Dogmatize About The Capacity Of Human Nature For Degradation Or Exaltation.

Perfect Nonviolence Is Difficult. It Admits To No Weakness.

The First Condition Of Nonviolence Is Justice All Round, In Every Department Of Life.

All Education In A Country Has Got To Be Demonstrably In Promotion Of The Progress Of The Country In Which It Is Given.

Swaraj Means, A State Such That We Can Maintain Our Separate Existence Without The Presence Of The English.

Freedom Of Worship, Even Of Public Speech, Would Become A Farce If Interference Became The Order Of The Day.

If We Want To Cultivate A True Spirit Of Democracy We Cannot Afford To Be Intolerant. Intolerance Betrays Want Of Faith In One's Cause.

The Collectors Of Revenue And The Policeman Are The Only Symbols By Which Millions In India's Villages Know British Rule.

It Was Only In South Africa That I Got Over This Shyness, Though I Never Completely Overcame It. It Was Impossible For Me To Speak Impromptu. I Hesitated Whenever I Had To Face Strange Audiences And Avoided Making A Speech Whenever I Could. Even Today I Do Not Think I Could Or Would Even Be Inclined To Keep A Meeting Of Friends Engaged In Idle Talk.

Distinguish Between Real Needs And Artificial Wants And Control The Latter.

I Own No Property And Yet I Feel That I Am Perhaps The Richest Man In The World.

Love Can Never Express Itself By Imposing Sufferings On Others. It Can Only Express Itself By Self-suffering, By Self-purification.

I Am Wedded To India Because I Owe My All To Her.

Woman Is The Embodiment Of Sacrifice And Suffering And Her Advent To Public Life Should, Therefore, Result In Purifying It, In Restraining Unbridled Ambition And Accumulation Of Property.

My Idea Of Village Swaraj Is That Is A Complete Republic, Independent Of Its Neighbors For Its Own Vital Wants, And Yet Interdependent For Many Others Which Dependence Is A Necessity.

It's More Important To Put The Own Heart In The Prayer Than To Put Other's Words With Nothing Of The Own Heart.

Jesus, To Me, Is A Great World Teacher Among Others.

Art To Be Art Must Soothe.

I Would Rather Drown Myself In The Waters Of The Sabarmati Than Harbour Hate Or Animosity In My Heart.

I Learnt From Hussein How To Achieve Victory While Being Oppressed.

A Free India Will Throw All Her Weight In Favour Of World Disarmament And Should Herself Be Prepared To Give A Lead In This.

God Demands Nothing Less Than Self - Surrender As The Price For The Only Real Freedom That Is Worth Having.

It Is Any Day Better To Stand Erect With A Broken And Bandaged Head Then To Crawl On One's Belly, In Order To Be Able To Save One's Head.

We Shall Make Progress Towards Swaraj Only If We Do Everything Thoughtfully And With Understanding.

Celibacy Is A Great Help, Inasmuch As It Enables One To Lead A Life Of Full Surrender To God.

Ours Is A Civil Fight, And Imprisonment As A Civil Prisoner Has Got To Be Earned By The Strict Observance Of The Programme.

When You Know The Truth, The Truth Makes You A Soldier.

What The Two Hands Of The Labourer Can Achieve, The Capitalist Will Never Get With All His Gold And Silver.

The Indian Struggle Is Not Anti-british, It Is Anti-exploitation, Anti-foreign Rule, Not Anti-foreigners.

No Confirmed Satyagrahi Is Dismayed By Dangers, Seen Or Unseen, From His Opponent's Side.

No Police Officer Could Compel A Satyagrahi To Give Evidence Against A Person Who Has Confessed To Him. A Satyagrahi Would Never Be Guilty Of A Betrayal Of Trust.

Let India Become Alive By Self-purification, That Is Self-restraint And Self-denial, And She Will Be A Boon To Herself And Mankind.

The Function Of Nayee-talim Is Not To Teach An Occupation, But Through It To Develop The Whole Man.

Freedom And Slavery Are Mental States.

I Find A Solace A In The Bhagavadgita And Upanishads That I Miss Even In The Sermon On The Mount.

I Am Not Built For Academic Writings. Action Is My Domain.

I Call Myself A Sanatani Eternal Hindu, Because I Believe In The Vedas, The Upanishads, The Puranas, And All That Goes By The Name Of Hindu Scripture, And Therefore In Avataras And Rebirth.

Man Should Earnestly Desire The Well - Being Of All God's Creations And Pray That We May Have The Strength To Do So.

My Effort Should Never Be To Undermine Another's Faith But To Make Him A Better Follower Of His Own Faith.

Conversion Without A Clean Heart Is A Denial Of God And Religion.

While Everything Around Me Is Ever Changing, Ever Dying, There Is Underlying That Change A Living Power That Is Changeless, That Holds All Together, That Creates, Dissolves And Recreates.... For I Can See In The Midst Of Death, Life Persists, In The Midst Of Untruth, Truth Persists, In The Midst Of Darkness Light Persists.

My Religion Teaches Me That Whenever There Is Distress Which One Cannot Remove, One Must Fast And Pray.

Under My Plan, The State Will Be There To Carry Out The Will Of The People, Not To Dictate To Them Or To Force Them To Do Its Will.

The History Of The World Is Full Of Men Who Rose To Leadership, By Sheer Force Of Self-confidence, Bravery And Tenacity.

Self Confidence

I Cannot Conceive Of A Greater Loss Than The Loss Of One's Self-respect.

The Fight Of Satyagraha Is For The Strong In Spirit, Not The Doubter Or The Timid. Satyagraha Teaches Us The Art Of Living As Well As Dying.

The Outward Freedom That We Shall Attain Will Only Be In Exact Proportion To The Inward Freedom To Which We May Have Grown At A Given Moment. And If This Is A Correct View Of Freedom, Our Chief Energy Must Be Concentrated On Achieving Reform From Within.

I Have Repeatedly Stated That Satyagraha Never Fails And That One Perfect Satyagrahi Is Enough To Vindicate Truth.

Faith Is Like The Himalaya Mountains Which Cannot Possibly Change.

Poverty Is The Worst Form Of Violence.

Hunger And Poverty

Fear Of Death Makes Us Devoid Both Of Valour And Religion. For Want Of Valour Is Want Of Religious Faith.

Nonviolence Is Not A Weapon Of The Weak. It Is A Weapon Of The Strongest And Bravest.

Between The Two, The Nationalist And The Imperialist, There Is No Meeting Ground.

The Khadi Spirit Means Also An Infinite Patience.

The Greatness Of A Nation Can Be Judged By The Way Its Animals Are Treated.

Truth, Which Is Permanent, Eludes The Historian Of Events. Truth Transcends History.

Disobedience To Be Civil Has To Be Open And Nonviolent.

Civil Disobedience

My Religion Is A Matter Solely Between My Maker And Myself.

A Man Of God Never Strives After Untruth And Therefore He Can Never Lose Hope.

The Muslim Is As Much An Indian As I Am And Of The Same Blood.

Hinduism With Its Message Of Ahimsa Is To Me The Most Glorious Religion In The World.

My Respectful Study Of Other Religions Has Not Abated My Reverence For Or My Faith In The Hindu Scriptures.

It Is Necessary First To Purify The Drunken And Dissolute Worshippers In Charge Of Some Of These Temples.

There Being No Absolute And Universal Standard Of Right, Terrorism Must Be Held To Be Wrong In Every Case.

Champions Are Made From Something They Have Deep Inside Of Them-a Desire, A Dream, A Vison.

Openness Of Mind Strengthens The Truth In Us And Removes The Dross From It, If There Is Any.

When I Despair, I Remember That All Through History The Way Of Truth And Love Has Always Won.

It Is Not That I Do Not Get Angry. I Don't Give Vent To My Anger. I Cultivate The Quality Of Patience As Angerlessness, And Generally Speaking, I Succeed. But I Only Control My Anger When It Comes. How I Find It Possible To Control It Would Be A Useless Question, For It Is A Habit That Everyone Must Cultivate And Must Succeed In Forming By Constant Practice.

Evil Is, Good Or Truth Misplaced.

To Call Woman The Weaker Sex Is A Libel; It Is Man's Injustice To Woman.

My Swaraj Takes Note Of Bhangis, Dheds, Dublas And The Weakest Of The Weak, And Except The Spinning Wheel I Know No Other Thing Which Befriends All These.

My Commitment Is To Truth Not Consistency.

We Do Want To Drive Out The Beast In Man, But We Do Not Want On That Account To Emasculate Him.

I Do Regard Spinning And Weaving As A Necessary Part Of Any National System Of Education.

A Country That Is Governed By Its National Army Can Never Be Morally Free And, Therefore, Its So-called Weakest Member Can Never Rise To His Full Moral Height.

Some Form Of Common Worship And A Common Place Of Worship Appear To Be A Human Necessity.

I Know Of No System Other Than Hinduism Under Which A Class Has Been Set Apart From Generation To Generation For The Exclusive Pursuit Of Divine Knowledge And Consigned To Voluntary Poverty.

Each And Every One Of You Should Consider Himself To Be A Trustee For The Welfare Of The Rest Of His Fellow Labourers And Not Be Self-seeking.

I Do Not Accept The Orthodox Teaching That Jesus Was Or Is God Incarnate In The Accepted Sense Or That He Was Or Is The Only Son Of God.

It Is A Heavy Downpour Of Rain Which Drenches The Soil To Fullness; Likewise Only A Profuse Shower Of Love Can Overcome Hatred.

The Man Who Coerces Another Not To Eat Fish Commits More Violence Than He Who Eats It.

And Everyone Who Wills Can Hear The Voice. It Is Within Every One. But Like Everything Else It Requires Previous And Definite Preparation.

The End Is Inherent In The Means.

The Light Of The World Will Illuminate Within You When You Fast And Purify Yourself.

True Prayer Is Not A Prelude To Inaction.

Running Away For Fear Of Death, Leaving One's Dear Ones, Temples Or Music To Take Care Of Themselves, Is Irreligion; It Is Cowardice.

The Ideal Is A Synthesis Of The Different Cultures That Have Come To Stay In India, That Have Influenced Indian Life, And That, In Their Turn, Have Themselves Been Influenced By The Spirit Of The Soil.

There Are Innumerable Definitions Of God Because His Manifestations Are Innumerable.

The Message Of The Gita Is To Be Found In The Second Chapter Of The Gita Where Lord Krishna Speaks Of The Balanced State Of Mind, Of Mental Equipoise.

Victory Attained By Violence Is Tantamount To A Defeat, For It Is Momentary.it Is Better To Be Violent, If There Is Violence In Our Hearts, Than To Put On The Cloak Of Nonviolence To Cover Impotence. Violence Is Any Day Preferable To Impotence. There Is Hope For A Violent Man To Become Non-violent. There Is No Such Hope For The Impotent.

Public Opinion Alone Can Keep A Society Pure And Healthy.

Hinduism Dies If Untouchability Lives, And Untouchability Has To Die If Hinduism Is To Live.

The Satyagrahi Should Not Have Any Hatred In His Heart Against The Opponent.

Rama Was Not Only On The Lips Of Hanuman. He Was Enthroned In His Heart. He Gave Hanuman Exhaustless Strength.

The Best Way To Find Yourself Is To Lose Yourself In The Service Of Others.

Nearly Everything You Do Is Of No Importance, But It Is Important That You Do It.

Khaddar Has The Greatest Organizing Power In It Because It Has Itself To Be Organized And Because It Affects All India.

Whenever You Are Confronted With An Opponent. Conquer Him With Love.

A Born Democrat Is A Born Disciplinarian.

If You Must Kill English Officials, Why Not Kill Me Instead?

I Do Not Believe In The Doctrine Of The Greatest Good Of The Greatest Number. The Only Real, Dignified, Human Doctrine Is The Greatest Good Of All.

Non-co-operation And Civil Disobedience Are But Different Branches Of The Same Tree Called Satyagraha.

It Has Always Been A Mystery To Me How Men Can Feel Themselves Honoured By The Humiliation Of Their Fellow Beings.

I Have Always Felt That The True Text-book For The Pupil Is His Teacher

Persistent Questioning And Healthy Inquisitiveness Are The First Requisite For Acquiring Learning Of Any Kind.

A Satyagrahi Lays Down His Life, But Never Gives Up. That Is The Meaning Of The 'do Or Die' Slogan.

The Pursuit Of Truth Does Not Permit Violence On One's Opponent.

I Believe In The Fundamental Truth Of All Great Religions Of The World.

Violent Means Will Give Violent Swaraj. That Would Be A Menace To The World And To India Herself.

Nobody In This World Possesses Absolute Truth.

It Only Confirms Me In My Belief That There Is No Swaraj Without A Settlement With The Mussalmans.

Complete Independence Will Be Complete Only To The Extent Of Our Approach In Practice To Truth And Nonviolence.

Even Swadeshi, Like Any Other Good Thing, Can Be Ridden To Death If It Is Made A Fetish.

No Swaraj Government With Any Pretension To Being A Popular Government Can Possibly Be Organised And Maintained On A War-footing.

A Clear Victory Of Satyagraha Is Impossible So Long As There Is Ill Will.

A Jailer Is As Much A Prisoner As His Prisoner.

We Shall Dig Our Own Grave If We Do Not Purge Ourselves Of This Curse Of Untouchability.

Hitler Killed Five Million Jews. It Is The Greatest Crime Of Our Time. But The Jews Should Have Offered Themselves To The Butcher's Knife. They Should Have Thrown Themselves Into The Sea From Cliffs. As It Is, They Succumbed Anyway In Their Millions.

A Man Of Faith Will Remain Steadfast To Truth Even Though The Whole World Might Appear To Be Enveloped In Falsehood.

A Nation That Is Capable Of Limitless Sacrifice Is Capable Of Rising To Limitless Heights. The Purer The Sacrifice The Quicker The Progress.

It Is No Religion To Have For One's Wife A Girl Who Is Fit Only To Sit In One's Lap, It Is The Height Of Irreligion.

Nonviolent Defence Presupposes Recklessness About One's Life And Property.

To Run Away From Danger, Instead Of Facing It, Is To Deny One's Faith In Man And God, Even One's Own Self. It Were Better For One To Drown Oneself Than Live To Declare Such Bankruptcy Of Faith.

Can A General Fight On The Strength Of Soldiers, Who, He Knows, Have No Faith In Him?

Of What Avail Is My Love If It Be Only So Long As I Trust My Friend?

We Cannot, In A Moment, Get Rid Of Habits Of A Lifetime.

Corruption And Hypocrisy Ought Not To Be Inevitable Products Of Democracy, As They Undoubtedly Are Today.

Man The Law-giver Will Have To Pay A Dreadful Penalty For The Degradation He Has Imposed Upon The So Called Weaker Sex.

My Life Is An Indivisible Whole, And All My Attitudes Run Into One Another; And They All Have Their Rise In My Insatiable Love For Mankind.

Perfection Is Only An Ideal For Man; It Cannot Be Attained, For Man Is Made Imperfect.

Imperfect Men Have No Right To Judge Other Imperfect Men.

Action Is No Less Necessary Than Thought To The Instinctive Tendencies Of The Human Frame.

Man Cannot Be Transformed From Bad To Good Overnight.

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