BOOK REVIEW
GANDHI
THE SOUL FORCE WARRIOR
BY P.A. NAZARETH
G
andhi is most often lauded as an “Apostle of Non
Violence”. Though heartwarming, it is inaccurate as
it fails to present his far greater commitment to Truth
and attenuates the radical nature of his ideology and praxis
and his remarkable achievements in diverse fi elds.
Gandhi was primarily a seeker of Truth even though the
title of his autobiography suggests he was an “experimenter”
with it. He was willing to give up non-violence under certain
circumstances but never to abandon Truth, which for him was
God. Besides, he became a fi rm adherent of non violence
only after becoming acquainted with Leo Tolstoy’s writings
particularly his ‘The Kingdom of God is within you’ and ‘A
letter to a Hindu’.
Gandhi’s seminal contribution was to combine Truth and
non-violence and create a revolutionary ideology and praxis
with this combination. Its revolutionary nature is clearly
indicated in his revelation that he wrote his 1909 book
‘Hind Swaraj’ “in answer to the Indian School of Violence”
and presented in it “the gospel of love in place of that of
hate” and that “It was an attempt to off er the revolutionary
something infi nitely superior, retaining the whole of the
spirit of self-sacrifi ce and bravery that was to be found in
the revolutionary”. In essence, his objective was to convert
the hate-fi lled, armed revolutionary into a Soul Force one
dedicated to the cause of Truth and love. The incredible fact
is that he succeeded in doing so in large measure. With the
millions of Indians he inspired and led, he not only plucked
the “brightest jewel” from the British Crown but also sounded
the death knell of all European imperialism and subsequently
of all Racist, Fascist and Communist regimes worldwide as
also of untouchability, women’s subjugation, feudalism, and
the Indenture, Zamindari & Begar systems in India. Within
fi fty years of India’s independence over 120 former European
colonies had attained freedom and over 20 countries had
brought down diverse types of dictatorial regimes. It was
the largest transformation, and democratization, of global
political geography in history
The objective of this book is to present Gandhi’s Swaraj,
Satyagraha, Sarvodaya and Trusteeship concepts as “a
revolutionary ideology”, and its ultimate objective, viz to
create a new civilization based on Truth, Justice, love and non
violence - as a far more radical, and achievable, objective in
the long run, than the diverse “paradises” espoused/ promised
by the Girondin, Jacobin, Fascist, National – Socialist,
Marxist-Leninist, Maoist and other revolutionaries who have
greatly bloodied human history in the last 23 decades.
In making this presentation the spiritual and other
components of Gandhi’s “Soul Force” ideology and praxis,
their broad spectrum achievements, his “magical” impact on
Indian & foreign disciples, renowned intellectuals, freedom
movements, security analysts, academic disciplines, spiritual
activists, dramatists, music composers, movie makers and
others will be analysed. In the last two chapters critical as well
as positive assessments of his concepts, praxis, leadership and
achievements, and his pertinence to the future of Humanity
and Planet Earth are presented.
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 4 • April-May 2019, Noida • 47