Thought For The Day ( RELIGION )

Gandhi’s interview with Nirmal Kumar Bose* (On Trusteeship)

Gandhi’s interview with Nirmal Kumar Bose* (On Trusteeship)

Q. Is love or non-violence compatible with possession or exploitation in any shape or form? If possession and nonviolence cannot go together, then do you advocate the maintenance of private ownership of land or factories at an unavoidable evil which will continue so long as individuals are not ripe or educated enough to do without it? If it be such a step, would it not be better to own all the land through the State and place the State under the control of the masses?

A. Love and exclusive possession can never go together. Theoretically when there is perfect love, there must be perfect non-possession. The body is our last possession. So a man can only exercise perfect love and be completely dispossessed, if he is prepared to embrace death and renounce his body for the sake of human service.

But that is true in theory only. In actual life, we can hardly exercise perfect love, for the body as a possession will always remain with us. Man will ever remain imperfect, and it will always be his part to try to be perfect. So that perfection in love or non-possession will remain an unattainable ideal, as long as we are alive, but towards which we must ceaselessly strive.

Those who own money now are asked to behave like trustees holding their riches on behalf of the poor. You may say that trusteeship is a legal fiction. But if people meditate over it constantly and try to act up to it, then life on earth would be governed far more by love than it is at present. Absolute trusteeship is an abstraction like Euclid’s definition of a point, and is equally unattainable. But if we strive for it, we shall be able to go further in realizing a state of equality on earth than by any other method.

Q. If you say that private possession is incompatible with nonviolence, why do you put up with it?

A. That is a concession one has to make to those who earn money but who would not voluntarily use their earnings for the benefit of mankind.

Q. Why then not has State-ownership in place of private property and thus minimize violence?

A. It is better than private ownership. But that too is objectionable on the ground of violence. It is my firm conviction that if the State suppressed capitalism by violence, it will be caught in the coils of violence itself, and will fail to develop nonviolence at any time. The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence. Hence I prefer the doctrine of trusteeship.

Q. Let us come to a specific instance. Supposing an artist leaves certain pictures to a son who does not appreciate their value for the nation and sells them or wastes them, so that the nation stands to lose something precious through one person’s folly. If you are assured that the son would never be a trustee in the sense in which you would like him to be, do you not think the State would be justified in taking away those things from him with the minimum use of violence?

A. Yes, the State will, as a matter of fact, take away those things, and I believe it will be justified if it uses the minimum of violence. But the fear is always there that the State may use too much violence against those who differ from it. I would be very happy indeed if the people concerned behaved as trustees; but if they fail, I believe we shall have to deprive them of their possessions through the State with the minimum exercise of violence. That is why I said at the Round Table Conference that every vested interest must be subjected to scrutiny, and confiscation ordered where necessary with or without compensation as the case demanded.

What I would personally prefer would be not a centralization of power in the hands of the State, but an extension of the sense of trusteeship; as in my opinion the violence of private ownership is less injurious than the violence of the State. However, if it is unavoidable, I would support a minimum of State-ownership.

Q. Then, sir, shall we take it that the fundamental difference between you and the Socialists is that you believe that men live more by self-direction or will than by habit, and they believe that men live more by habit than by will; that being the reason why do you strive for self-correction while they try to build up a system under which men will find it impossible to exercise their desire for exploiting others?

A. While admitting that man actually lives by habit, I hold that it is better for him to live by the exercise of will. I also believe that men are capable of developing their will to an extent that will reduce exploitation to a minimum. I look upon an increase of the power of the State with the greatest fear, because although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality, which lies at the root of all progress. We know of so many cases where men have adopted trusteeship, but none where the State has really lived for the poor.

Q. But have not those cases of trusteeship which you sometimes cite been due to your personal influence rather than to anything else? Teachers like you come infrequently. Would it not be better, therefore, to trust to some organization to effect the necessary changes in man, rather than depend upon the casual advent of men like yourself?

A. Leaving me aside, you must remember that the influence of all great teachers of mankind has outlived their lives. In the teachings of each prophet like Mohammed, Buddha or Jesus, there was a permanent portion and there was another which was suited to the needs and requirements of the times. It is only because we try to keep up the permanent with the impermanent aspects of their teachings that there is so much distortion in religious practice today. But that apart, you can see that the influence of these men has sustained us after they have passed away. Moreover, what I disapprove of is an organization based on force which a State is. Voluntary organization there must be.

The Hindustan Times, 17-10-1935

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*Nirmal Kumar Bose met Gandhi on November 9 and 10, 1934. The report was published after correction by Gandhi.

असहयोग आंदोलन

असहयोग आंदोलन

गांधी के अफ्रीका से भारत आने के पांच साल भी नहीं हुए थे भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस की कमान पूरी तरह गांधी के हाथ में आ गयी थी |  पूर्व से पश्चिम और उत्तर से दक्षिण तक कहीं भी किसी बडे आंदोलन की जरूरत हो हर तरफ गांधी के नेतृत्व की बात उठती थी |  कहने के लिए पंजाब में लाला लाजपत राय, बम्बई में लोकमान्य तिलक, कलकत्ता में देशबंधु, मद्रास में राजाजी और इलाहाबाद में मोतीलाल नेहरू आदि बहुत से नेता सक्रिय थे लेकिन खेडा से लेकर चंपारन तक के आंदोलन में जैसी सफलता गांधी को मिली थी वैसी 1885 में कांग्रेस के बनने से 1915 में गांधी के आने तक कभी नहीं मिली थी |

गांधी के आने का सबसे बडा लाभ कांग्रेस को यह हुआ था कि गांधी की वजह से आम भारतीय कांग्रेस से गहरे जुडने लगे थे |  यही कारण था कि गांधी के आव्हान पर 1920 में देशव्यापी असहयोग आंदोलन की शुरुआत हुई थी जिसने पूरे देश को एक सूत्र में जोड़ कर अंग्रेजी शासन को ऐसी ऐतिहासिक चुनौती दी थी जिसकी उसने कल्पना भी नहीं की थी |  कांग्रेस के 1920 के नागपुर अधिवेशन में अहिंसक मार्ग से स्वराज प्राप्ति का लक्ष्य रखा गया था |  इसके बाद पूरे देश में असहयोग आंदोलन की जबरदस्त लहर चल पडी थी |  इसी दौरान 1 अगस्त 1920 को तिलक की मृत्यु हो गई थी  |  बम्बई की चौपाटी पर उनका अदभुत दाह संस्कार हुआ था जिसमें अपने प्रिय नेता को अंतिम श्रद्धांजलि देने के लिए बेतहासा भीड़ जुटी थी |  "स्वराज मेरा जन्म सिद्ध अधिकार है " नारा देने वाले तिलक के काम को आगे बढ़ाने के लिए गांधी ने स्वराज फंड में एक साल के अंदर एक करोड़ की बडी दान राशि जुटाने का लक्ष्य रखा था |  कठिन दिखाई देता यह लक्ष्य भी गाँधी और उनके साथियों के सहयोग से समय रहते पूरा हो गया था |  कलकत्ता से 31 जुलाई 1921 को तार से देशबंधु ने सूचित किया था कि बंगाल से 15 लाख मिलने से लक्ष्य से अधिक राशि एकत्र हो गई है |  गांधी की लोकप्रियता का यही आलम था कि पारस की तरह वह जिस काम में हाथ डालते वह तदनुरूप पूरा हो जाता था |

असहयोग आंदोलन में नेता और जनता दिल खोल कर समर्थन दे रहे थे |  नेताओं में त्याग और सादगी की होड़ लगी थी मानो इन दो मूल्यों में सब एक दूसरे से आगे निकलने की कौशिश कर रहे हैं |  देशबंधु चितरंजन दास ने वकालत के साथ कोठी और अन्य संपत्ति का त्याग कर दिया था  |  उनकी पत्नी वासंती देवी ने मिट्टी के बर्तन में भात पकाया था |  देश भ्रमन के दौरान विशेष रूप से ग्रामीण देशवासियों की भयंकर गरीबी का साक्षात्कार होने पर 21 सितम्बर 1921 में मद्रास की सभा में गांधी ने ऊपर का वस्त्र त्याग केवल घुटने तक की आधी धोती और चप्पल पहन स्वैच्छिक गरीबी अपनाकर सबको चौंका दिया था |  इस दिन के बाद गांधी आजीवन एक गरीब देहाती किसान और मजदूर की वेशभूषा ही पहनते रहे |  यहां तक कि जब उन्हे गोलमेज सम्मेलन में कांग्रेस का नेतृत्व करने के लिए इंग्लैंड जाना पडा तब भी उन्होंने अपने लिबास में कोई परिवर्तन नहीं किया |

इस दौरान बिहार में चंपारन आंदोलन में अग्रनी भूमिका निभाने वाले राजेन्द्र प्रसाद और बृजकिशोर बाबू ने भी जमीदारी छोड दी |  बृजकिशोर बाबू की पुत्री प्रभावती को, जिनकी शादी बाद में जयप्रकाश नारायण से हुई, गांधी और कस्तूरबा ने अपना लिया |  स्वदेशी शिक्षा के विकास के लिए देश मे पांच विधापीठ अहमदाबाद, बनारस, पटना ,पूना और दिल्ली (जामिया मिलिया) में स्थापित की गई  |

त्रिलोकी सिंह आदि विद्वानों का मानना है कि यदि गांधी के असहयोग आंदोलन में हिंसा के कारण बीच में व्यवधान नहीं हुआ होता तो देश 1923 में ही आजाद हो सकता था और उस समय देशबंधु पहले प्रधान मंत्री बनते |  नियति को शायद आजादी के लिए भारतीय जनता को काफी इंतजार कराना था इसलिए असहयोग आंदोलन को अचानक बीच में ही रोकना पडा  |

- राकेश कुमार पालीवाल

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Thought For The Day ( PRAYER )

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