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Hinduism Is Like The Ganga, Pure And Unsullied At Its Source But Taking In Its Course The Impurities In The Way. Even Like The Ganga It Is Beneficent In Its Total Effect. It Takes A Provincial Form In Every Province, But The Inner Substance Is Retained Everywhere.

-Mahatma Gandhi

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Hinduism Is Like The

Mahatma Gandhi

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Hinduism Is Like The Ganga, Pure And Unsullied At Its Source But Taking In Its Course The Impurities In The Way. Even Like The Ganga It Is Beneficent In Its Total Effect. It Takes A Provincial Form In Every Province, But The Inner Substance Is Retained Everywhere.

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Many Could Forgo Heavy Meals, A Full Wardrobe, A Fine House, Etcetera. It Is The Ego They Cannot Forgo.

It Was Our Love Of Foreign Cloth That Ousted The Wheel From Its Position Of Dignity.

Tolerance Gives Us Spiritual Insight, Which Is As Far From Fanaticism As The North Pole Is From The South.

Freedom And Slavery Are Mental States.

Indolence Is A Delightful But Distressing State; We Must Be Doing Something To Be Happy.

Religions Are Not For Separating Men From One Another, They Are Meant To Bind Them.

When Two Nations Are Fighting, The Duty Of A Votary Of Ahimsa Is To Stop The War.

A Jailer Is As Much A Prisoner As His Prisoner.

I Will Not Have The Power Of Nonviolence To Be Underestimated In Order To Cover My Limitations Or Weaknesses.

Nonviolence Is A Quality Not Of The Body But Of The Soul.

I Believe That There Is No Prayer Without Fasting, And There Is No Real Fast Without Prayer.

That Which You Look Upon As Your Own You May Keep Only So Long As The World Allows You To Own It.

There Is A Sufficiency In The World For Man's Need But Not For Man's Greed.

You May Pluck Out My Eyes, But That Cannot Kill Me. You May Chop Off My Nose, But That Will Not Kill Me. But Blast My Belief In God, And I Am Dead.

It Is Difficult To Judge, When Both Sides Are Employing Weapons Of Violence, Which Side 'deserves' To Succeed.

In The Characteristics Of The Perfected Man Of The Gita, I Do Not See Any To Correspond To Physical Warfare.

In The Application Of Satyagraha, I Discovered, In The Earliest Stages, That Pursuit Of Truth Did Not Admit Of Violence Being Inflicted On One's Opponent, But That He Must Be Weaned From Error By Patience And Sympathy. For, What Appears To Be Truth To The One May Appear To Be Error To The Other. And Patience Means Self-suffering. So The Doctrine Came To Mean Vindication Of Truth, Not By Infliction Of Suffering On The Opponent But One's Own Self.

God Is Not Outside This Earthly Case Of Ours.

Was Not War Itself A Crime Against God And Humanity, And Therefore, Were Not All Those Who Sanctioned, Engineered And Conducted Wars, War Criminals?

When A Man Gives Way To Anger, He Only Harms Himself.

A Small Body Of Determined Spirits Fired By An Unquenchable Faith In Their Mission Can Alter The Course Of History.

It Is A Travesty Of True Religion To Consider One's Own Religion As Superior And Other's As Inferior.

A Certain Degree Of Physical Harmony And Comfort Is Necessary, But Above A Certain Level It Becomes A Hindrance Instead Of A Help. Therefore The Ideal Of Creating An Unlimited Number Of Wants And Satisfying Them Seems To Be A Delusion And A Snare.

Civil Disobedience Is The Inherent Right Of A Citizen.

In This Day Of Wonders No One Will Say That A Thing Or An Idea Is Worthless Because It Is New. To Say It Is Impossible Because It Is Difficult Is Again Not In Consonance With The Spirit Of The Age. Things Undreamt Of Are Daily Being Seen, The Impossible Is Ever Becoming Possible.

If We Would Be Pure, If We Would Save Hinduism, We Must Rid Ourselves Of This Poison Of Enforced Widowhood.

The Only Virtue I Want To Claim Is Truth And Nonviolence.

God Will Rule The Lives Of All Those Who Will Surrender Themselves Without Reservation To Him.

A Vow Must Lead One Upwards, Never Downwards Towards Perdition.

My Idea Of Society Is That While We Are Born Equal, Meaning That We Have A Right To Equal Opportunity, All Have Not The Same Capacity.

A Man Who Has Broken With His Past Feels A Different Man. He Will Not Feel It A Shame To Confess His Past Wrongs, For The Simple Reason That These Wrongs Do Not Touch Him At All.

The Religion Of Nonviolence Is Not Meant Merely For Therishis And Saints.

The Human Body Is Meant Solely For Service, Never For Indulgence.

God Will Cease To Be God, If He Brought Into Being A Single Person With The Hall-mark Of Inferiority.

It Is Through Truth & Non-violence That I Can Have Some Glimpse Of God. Truth & Non-violence Are My God. They Are The Obverse And Reverse Of The Same Coin.

Full Effort Is Full Victory.

The Cow To Me Is A Sermon On Pity.

If You Will Express The Requisite Purity Of Character In Action, You Cannot Do It Better Than Through The Spinning Wheel.

All I Want To Say, With The Utmost Emphasis At My Command, Is That The Description Of India As A Military Country Is Wrong.

As Soon As We Lose The Moral Basis, We Cease To Be Religious. There Is No Such Thing As Religion Over-riding Morality.

There Can Be No Nonviolence Offered By The Militarily Strong.

Nowhere In The World Would You Find Such Skeletons Of Cows And Bullocks As You Do In Our Cow-worshipping India.

Be The Change That You Want To See

Ahimsa Is The Height Of Kshatriya Dharma As It Represents The Climax Of Fearlessness.

You Can Only Have Lasting Peace Based On Justice.

Though We May Know Him By A Thousand Names, He Is One And The Same To Us All.

I Call God Long-suffering And Patient Precisely Because He Permits Evil In The World. I Know That He Has No Evil In Him And Yet If There Is Evil, He Is The Author Of It And Yet Untouched By It.

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

No Government On Earth Can Make Men, Who Have Realized Freedom In Their Hearts, Salute Against Their Will.

I Well Remember How The Thoughts I Had Up To The Time Of My Discharge From The Jail On Every Occasion Were Modified Immediately After Discharge, And After Getting First-hand Information Myself. Somehow Or Other The Jail Atmosphere Does Not Allow You To Have All The Bearings In Your Mind.

If All Simply Insist On Rights And No Duties, There Will Be Utter Confusion And Chaos.

Civil Disobedience Can Only Lead To Strength And Purity.

Happiness, The Goal To Which We All Are Striving Is Reached By Endeavoring To Make The Lives Of Others Happy, And If By Renouncing The Luxuries Of Life We Can Lighten The Burdens Of Others.... Surely The Simplification Of Our Wants Is A Thing Greatly To Be Desired! And So, If Instead Of Supposing That We Must Become Hermits And Dwellers In Caves In Order To Practice Simplicity, We Set About Simplifying Our Affairs, Each According To His Own Convictions And Opportunity, Much Good Will Result And The Simple Life Will At Once Be Established.

Khaddar Delivers The Poor From The Bonds Of The Rich And Creates A Moral And Spiritual Bond Between The Classes And The Masses.

Swaraj Will Favour Hinduism No More Than Islam, Nor Islam More Than Hinduism.

It Is Necessary To Correct The Error That Vegetarianism Has Made Us Weak In Mind, Or Passive Or Inert In Action. I Do Not Regard Flesh-food As Necessary At Any Stage

You Assist An Administration Most Effectively By Obeying Its Orders And Decrees. An Evil Administration Never Deserves Such Allegiance. Allegiance To It Means Partaking Of The Evil. A Good Man Will Therefore Resist An Evil System Or Administration With His Whole Soul.

Mere Mental, That Is, Intellectual Labour, Is For The Soul And Has Its Own Satisfaction.

Modern Civilization Has Taught Us To Convert Night Into Day And Golden Silence Into Brazen Din And Noise.

The End Of Nonviolent 'war' Is Always An Agreement, Never Dictation, Much Less Humiliation Of The Opponent.

Untouchability, I Hold, Is A Sin, If Bhagavadgita Is One Of Our Divine Books.

My Ahimsa Is My Own. I Am Not Able To Accept In Its Entirety The Doctrine Of Non-killing Of Animals.

There Is No 'as Far As Possible' On The Question Of Untouchability. If It Is To Go, It Must Go In Its Entirety From The Temples As From Everywhere Else.

A Prayerful Study And Experience Are Essential For A Correct Interpretation Of The Scriptures.

The Fullest Life Is Impossible Without An Immovable Belief In A Living Law In Obedience To Which The Whole Universe Moves.

If Intellect Plays A Large Part In The Field Of Violence, I Hold That It Plays A Larger Part In The Field Of Nonviolence.

What I Call The Law Of Satyagraha Is To Be Deduced From An Appreciation Of Duties And Rights Flowing Therefrom.

Let Not The Spirit Wander While The Words Of Prayer Run On Out Of Our Mouth.

The Charkha In The Hands Of A Poor Widow Brings A Paltry Price To Her, In The Hands Of Jawaharlal; It Is An Instrument Of India's Freedom.

I Would Not Flinch From Sacrificing Even A Million Lives For India's Liberty.

Non-cooperatio N With Evil Is A Sacred Duty.

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 Purification Required Is Not Of Untouchables But Of The So-called Superior Castes.

Total Nonviolent Non-cooperation Has No Place In Popular Raj, Whatever Its Level May Be.

It Is My Own Firm Belief That The Strength Of The Soul Grows In Proportion As You Subdue The Flesh.

The Lives Of Zoroaster, Jesus And Mohammed, As I Have Understood Them, Have Illumined Many A Passage In The Gita.

Permanent Good Can Never Be The Outcome Of Untruth And Violence

Real Non-co-operation Is Non-co-operation With Evil And Not With The Evil-doer.

True Art Must Be Evidence Of Happiness, Contentment And Purity Of Its Authors.

If What Passed As Nonviolence Does Not Enable People To Protect The Honour Of Women, Or If It Does Not Enable Women To Protect Their Own Honour, It Is Not Nonviolence.

A Religious Act Cannot Be Performed With The Aid Of The Bayonet Or The Bomb.

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

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

I Claim To Be A Simple Individual Liable To Err Like Any Other Fellow Mortal. I Own, However, That I Have Humility Enough To Confess My Errors And To Retrace My Steps.

It Is As Much Our Obligation Not To Cooperate With Evil As It Is To Cooperate With Good

What The Sermon Describes In A Graphic Manner, The Bhagavadgita Reduces To A Scientific Formula.

What We Are Doing To The Forests Of The World Is But A Mirror Reflection Of What We Are Doing To Ourselves And To One Another.

You Cannot Neglect The Nearer Duty For The Sake Of A Remote.

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

The Propagation Of Truth And Nonviolence Can Be Done Less By Books Than By Actually Living On Those Principles.

All Society Is Held Together By Nonviolence Even As The Earth Is Held In Her Position By Gravitation.

Jesus Never Uttered A Loftier Or A Grander Truth Than When He Said That Wisdom Cometh Out Of The Mouths Of Babes.

Indeed, A Civil Resister Offers Resistance Only When Peace Becomes Impossible.

Cow Protection Means Protection Of The Weak, The Helpless, The Dumb And The Deaf.

If Fighting For The Legislatures Meant A Sacrifice Of Truth And Nonviolence, Democracy Would Not Be Worth A Moment's Purchase.

There Is Force In The Universe, Which, If We Permit It, Will Flow Through Us And Produce Miraculous Results.

God Cannot Be Realized Through Intellect.

I Retain The Opinion That Council Entry Is Inconsistent With Non-co-operation As I Conceive It.

Non-cooperation With Tyrants Is A Duty.

The Rich Cannot Accumulate Wealth Without The Co-operation Of The Poor In Society.

The Mentality Which Made One Section Of The Indians Look Upon Another As Enemies Was Suicidal; It Could Only Serve To Perpetuate Their Slavery.

My Firm Belief Is That He Reveals Himself Daily To Every Human Being But We Shut Our Ears To The Still Small Voice.

War Is An Unmitigated Evil. But It Certainly Does One Good Thing. It Drives Away Fear And Brings Bravery To The Surface.

Music Has Given Me Peace. I Can Remember Occasions When Music Instantly Tranquillized My Mind, When I Was Greatly Agitated Over Something. Music Has Helped Me To Overcome Anger.

No Sophistry, No Jugglery In Figures Can Explain Away The Evidence That The Skeletons In Many Villages Present To The Naked Eye.

Every Man Has An Equal Right To The Necessaries Of Life Even As Birds And Beasts Have.

No Two Leaves Were Alike, And Yet There Is No Antagonism Between Them Or Between The Branches On Which They Grow.

Mother Cow Is As Useful Dead As When She Is Alive.

Those Who Cannot Renounce Attachment To The Results Of Their Work Are Far From The Path.

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

I Do Not Believe That The Spiritual Law Works On A Field Of Its Own. On The Contrary, It Expresses Itself Only Through The Ordinary Activities Of Life. It Thus Affects The Economic, The Social And The Political Fields.

I Believe In The Absolute Oneness Of God And, Therefore, Also Of Humanity. What Though We Have Many Bodies? We Have But One Soul. The Rays Of The Sun Are Many Through Refraction. But They Have The Same Source. I Cannot, Therefore, Detach Myself From The Wickedest Soul (nor May I Be Denied Identity With The Most Virtuous).

It Is Difficult, But Not Impossible, To Conduct Strictly Honest Business.

The Cause Is Everything. Those Even Who Are Dearest To Us Must Be Shunted For The Sake Of The Cause.

You Can't Shake Hands With A Closed Fist.

It Is My Unmistakable Belief That Not A Blade Of Grass Moves But By The Divine Will.

The Goal Ever Recedes From Us. The Greater The Progress The Greater The Recognition Of Our Unworthiness. Satisfaction Lies In The Effort, Not In The Attainment. Full Effort Is Full Victory.

People Say True Friends Must Always Hold Hands, But True Friends Don't Need To Hold Hands Because They Know The Other Hand Will Always Be There.

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

It Was Ba's Inspiration Which Helped Me Reach The Heights Of My Inner Self. She Was My Priceless Jewel.

My Own Opinion Is That Just As Fundamentally Man And Woman Are One, Their Problems Must Be One In Essence.

Newspapers Have Become More Important To The Average Man Than The Scriptures.

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.

For Me, The Different Religions Are Beautiful Flowers From The Same Garden, Or They Are Branches Of The Same Majestic Tree. Therefore, They Are Equally True, Though Being Received And Interpreted Through Human Instruments Equally Imperfect.

At The Moment The British Common-wealth Is A Commonwealth Of White Nation.

The Sacrifice Which Causes Sorrow To The Doer Of The Sacrifice Is No Sacrifice. Real Sacrifice Lightens The Mind Of The Doer And Gives Him A Sense Of Peace And Joy. The Buddha Gave Up The Pleasures Of Life Because They Had Become Painful To Him.

Freedom Is Never Dear At Any Price. It Is The Breath Of Life. What Would A Man Not Pay For Living?

It Is Quite Proper To Resist And Attack A System, But To Resist And Attack Its Author Is Tantamount To Resisting And Attacking Oneself, For We Are All Tarred With The Same Brush, And Are Children Of One And The Same Creator, And As Such The Divine Powers Within Us Are Infinite. To Slight A Single Human Being, Is To Slight Those Divine Powers And Thus To Harm Not Only That Being, But With Him, The Whole World.

Take Care Of This Moment.

If It Is By Force That We Wish To Achieve Swaraj, Let Us Drop Nonviolence And Offer Such Violence As We May.

I Came Alone In This World, I Have Walked Alone In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death, And I Shall Quit Alone When The Time Comes.

My Plea Is For Banishing The English Language As A Cultural Usurper, As We Successfully Banished The Political Rule Of The English Usurper.

The World Is Weary Of Hate. We See The Fatigue Overcoming The Western Nations.

For A Nonviolent Struggle, There Is No Age Limit. The Blind, The Maimed And The Bed-ridden May Serve, And Not Only Men But Women Also.

The World Is Changing Every Moment, And Is Therefore Unreal. It Has Non Permanent Existence.

An Awakened People Who Rely Upon Their Nonviolent Strength Are Independent In The Face Of Any Conceivable Combination Of The Armed Powers.

So Far As I Can See The Atomic Bomb Has Deadened The Finest Feeling That Has Sustained Mankind For Ages.

Withholding Of Payment Of Taxes Is One Of The Quickest Methods Of Overthrowing A Government.

External Fears Cease Of Their Own Accord When Once We Have Conquered These Traitors Within The Camp.

Dignity Of Human Nature Requires That We Must Face The Storms Of Life.

India's Way Is Not Europe's. India Is Not Calcutta And Bombay. India Lives In Her Seven Hundred Thousand Villages.

To Change One's Religion Under The Threat Of Force Is No Conversion But Rather Cowardice.

Tolstoy's So-called Inconsistencies Were A Sign Of His Development And His Passionate Regard For Truth.

My Nonviolence Is Made Of Stern Stuff. It Is Firmer Than The Firmest Metal Known To Scientists.

The Greater Our Innocence, The Greater Our Strength And The Swifter Our Victory

Violence Will Prevail Over Violence, Only When Someone Can Prove To Me That Darkness Can Be Dispelled By Darkness

All Satyagraha And Fasting Is A Species Of Tyaga. It Depends For Its Effects Upon An Expression Of Wholesome Public Opinion Shorn Of All Bitterness.

As A Splendid Palace Deserted By Its Inmates Looks Like A Ruin, So Does A Man Without Character, All His Material Belongings Notwithstanding.

My Imperfections And Failures Are As Much A Blessing From God As My Successes And My Talents And I Lay Them Both At His Feet.

The Most Violent Weapon On Earth Is The Table Fork.

Swaraj Does Not Depend On Jail Going. If It Did, There Are Thousands Of Prisoners In Jail Today. It Depends On Everyone Doing His Or Her Own Task.

My Religion Has No Geographical Limits.

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.

God Is Continuously In Action, Without Resting For A Single Moment.

Satyagraha Thrives On Repression Till At Last The Repressor Is Tired Of It And The Object Of Satyagraha Is Gained.

God Is The Hardest Taskmaster I Have Known On This Earth And He Tries You Through And Through.

Satyagraha Is A Purely Spiritual Weapon.

God Is Not A Person. God Is An Eternal Principle.

Literacy In Itself Is No Education.

Justice Does Not Help Those Who Slumber But Helps Only Those Who Are Vigilant.

Real Suffering Bravely Borne, Melts Even A Heart Of Stone. Such Is The Potency Of Suffering. And There Lies The Key To Satyagraha.

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

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

Everything I Have Personally Experienced, And That Also Has Been Expressed By The Leaders Of The Great Religions Points To The Fact That A Global Spirituality Already Exists And Was Intrinsically There From The Start As God (by Whatever Name) Is One And Is Indivisible - Everywhere Outside Time And Place.

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

Whatever May Be The Pros And Cons Of Going To The Public Theatre, It Is A Patent Fact That It Has Undermined The Morals And Ruined The Character Of Many A Youth In His Country.

Truth Is My Religion And Ahimsa Is The Only Way Of Its Realization.

It Was Not As Easy To Commit Suicide As To Contemplate It.

India Unarmed Would Not Require To Be Destroyed Through Poison Gas Or Bombardment.

Anger And Intolerance Are The Twin Enemies Of Correct Understanding.

Earth Provides Enough To Satisfy Every Man's Needs, But Not Every Man's Greed.

Hindu Religious Literature, Indeed All Religious Literature, Is Full Of Illustrations To Prove The Truth.

To Bear All Kinds Of Tortures Without A Murmur Of Resentment Is Not Possible For A Human Being Without The Strength That Comes From God.

Man Can Only Describe God In His Own Poor Language.

Whatever Can Be Useful To Those Starving Millions Is Beautiful To My Mind.

The English Peace Is The Peace Of The Grave.

The Law Which Governs All Life Is God.

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

Unless We Learn The Lesson Of Nonviolence Fully, We Shall Never Do Away With The Deadly Feuds Which Have Been The Curse Of The Frontier People.

Every Person, As Every Institution, And, Above All, Every Religion Is To Be Judged Not By The Amount Of Atrocities Or The Wrong Committed But By The Right Conduct.

My Nonviolence Does Recognize Different Species Of Violence, Defensive And Offensive.

Non-violence Should Never Be Used As A Shield For Cowardice. It Is A Weapon For The Brave.

Renunciation Is The Central Sun, Round Which Devotion, Knowledge And The Rest Revolve Like Planets.

No Reform Is Possible Unless Some Of The Educated And The Rich Voluntarily Accept The Status Of The Poor, Travel Third, Refuse To Enjoy The Amenities Denied To The Poor And, Instead Of Taking Avoidable Hardships, Discourtesies And Injustice As A Matter Of Course, Fight For Their Removal.

Nonviolence Is The Summit Of Bravery.

Adversity Is The Mother Of Progress.

Prayer Can Come In Only When Fasting Has Done Its Work. It Can Make Fasting Easy And Bearable.

That Atomic Energy Though Harnessed By American Scientists And Army Men For Destructive Purposes May Be Utilised By Other Scientists For Humanitarian Purposes Is Undoubtedly Within The Realm Of Possibility. ... An Incendiary Uses Fire For His Destructive And Nefarious Purpose, A Housewife Makes Daily Use Of It In Preparing Nourishing Food For Mankind.

Not To Believe In The Possibility Of Permanent Peace Is To Disbelieve In The Godliness Of Human Nature.

When The Fear Of Jail Disappears, Repression Puts Heart Into The People.

Blind Adoration, In The Age Of Action, Is Perfectly Valueless, Is Often Embarrassing And, Equally, Often Painful.

A Satyagrahi Loves His So-called Enemy Even As He Loves His Friend. He Has No Enemy.

Desirelessness Or Renunciation Does Not Come For The Mere Talking About It.

One Can Measure The Greatness And The Moral Progress Of A Nation By Looking At How It Treats Its Animals.

What Better Book Can There Be Than The Book Of Humanity.

A Wretched Parent Who Claims Obedience From His Children, Without First Doing His Duty By Them, Excites Nothing But Contempt.

For Me, Rama And Rahim Are One And The Same Deity.

The Practice Of Truth And Nonviolence Melted Religious Differences, And We Learnt To See Beauty In Each Religion.

The Path Of Bhakti, Karma And Love As Expounded In The Gita Leaves No Room For The Despising Of Man By Man.

A Man Can Give Up A Right, But He May Not Give Up A Duty Without Being Guilty Of A Grave Dereliction.

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