Gandhi Journal Article-II ( August 2016 ) - Community of Ark: Hind Swaraj Perspectives in Practice

Gandhi Journal Article-II ( August 2016 )

Community of Ark: Hind Swaraj Perspectives in Practice

By Siby K. Joseph 

It is a befitting tribute to Gandhi to reflect on his work Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule and its practical applications during its centenary year. One who scrutinises Gandhi's philosophy and methods will see their seeds in his work Hind Swaraj.¹ That is why this booklet is often hailed as Gandhi's ‘seminal work'. Though Gandhi wrote this book keeping in mind mainly the Indians, his concept of Swaraj is not confined to the Swaraj of India alone. In fact, the ideas presented in this book constitute the foundation of Gandhi's philosophy of life. It may be said that it is on the foundation of Hind Swaraj that the whole edifice of Gandhi's theory of life is built. The values presented in this booklet are eternal and transcend geographical boundaries. Also, while this booklet is a severe condemnation of modern western civilization and its institutions, it also presents Gandhi's concept of an alternative way of life based on moral values, and spirituality.

Records show that Hind Swaraj gave rise to a lot of controversies. Discussions and debates were aplenty at the theoretical level. It is to be noted that several experiments were also undertaken by people of idealistic orientation to put the Hind Swaraj insights into practice. The Community of Ark in Southern France, for example, is an attempt to apply the Hind Swaraj perspectives on nonviolence as a way of alternative living.

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Gandhi Journal Article-III :

Hind Swaraj - Its Relevance Today

By T. S. Ananthu
 

The quintessence of Gandhi's thinking was contained in his little booklet Hind Swaraj. Its import is so revolutionary, so different from what most of us are used to, that a real paradigm shift is a basic pre-requisite to grasping what he had in mind. That is why even close followers and admirers of his, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, just could not stomach what he had said in Hind Swaraj.
The most important thing that Gandhi conveyed through this booklet is a meaning to Swaraj which is totally removed from the political context in which we normally understand this concept. He looked at the root meaning of the word Swaraj = Swa+Raj, that is apne ooper raj. As he explained in his booklet: Real home rule is self-rule or self-control.1 In other words, for him Swaraj stood for our taking control of ourselves, freeing ourselves from the slavery to the mind and its desires. As he explained, the way to it is the awakening of the soul- force or love-force which frees us from the ‘I’-ness of the mind. Thus, his concept of Swaraj is very different from, and in many ways diametrically opposite of, the 'independence' that we Indians celebrate on every 15th Aug.

 

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Bapu's first Swaraj text now in French too

Bapu's first Swaraj text now in French too

One of the most important scholarly works by Mahatma Gandhi, the Hind Swaraj or 'Indian Home Rule', first published in 1910 has now been translated into French language. This feat has been achieved by a team of scholars from The Nantes Institute for Advanced Study in France. It is in the Hind Swaraj that Bapu first expressed his views on Swaraj, modern civilization and mechanization.

The translated work called 'Hind Swaraj: L'emancipation a I'indienne' carries a preface by renowned a linguist and anthropologist Charles Malamoud, who is a specialist of religions in India. The French version of Hind Swaraj relies on the Gujarati version that Bapu originally wrote as well as 'Hind Swaraj- A critical edition' by Suresh Sharma and Tridip Suhrud. The translation work was led by Annie Montaut in the institute.

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New Book Published: Gandhiji's Hind Swaraj

Gandhi's Hind Swaraj

A New Paradigm, Agenda and Programme

By : L. M. Bhole

Pages : 10+198

Price : Rs. 650/-

Published by : Shipra Publications, New Delhi, India.
Tel. +91 96500 280 65 | Email: info@shiprapublications.com |

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About the Book:

The book seeks to contribute to the debate, understanding and exegesis of Hind Swaraj. It presents an in-depth analysis of a number of themes discussed by Mahatma Gandhi. The book shows that Hind Swaraj is a very relevant book even today. In fact, one can say that its relevance has grown over the period of time as the human civilization is reaching its end.

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Gandhi Journal Article - III

Hind Swaraj : A Fresh Look

By Jai Narain Sharma

Abstract

In Hind Swaraj Gandhi does not provide a rigorous social analysis from which his political conclusions could be logically derived. His was a moral response to what he perceived as the evils of modern civilization. A fresh look at Hind Swaraj can, then, frustrate a mere intellectual approach that seeks either to lay bare the structure of Gandhian Thought as a means to reducing Gandhi to a formulae or to sharpen one's understanding of the forces that have created or sustained modern civilization in its present form. The sensibility underlying Hind Swaraj has its roots not in the intellectual but in the moral. As such, what is thus essentially a moral sensibility cannot be fully grasped by intellectual effort alone. No doubt, intellectual effort is necessary; but this intellectual effort will bear fruit only after it has been touched with the transforming illumination of moral sensibility.

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