by A K Bhagwat
M. K. GANDHI
Gandhiji did not subscribe to the belief that the ideal of equality, or for that matter, any ideal such as non-violence, would have to be modified in practice. Gandhiji accepted the two main propositions of Lokmanya that ethics must have a spiritual basis and that the validity of mystic experience has to be acknowledged. He, however, laid less stress on knowledge and more on intuition. Whereas Gandhiji talked of the purity of heart, Tilak always referred to the pure reason (Shuddha Buddhi).
It is futile to sum up two great personalities in so brief a manner. The problem as to what extent Gandhiji shared the ideals of Lokmanya Tilak and to what extent he carried on the mission of Lokmanya, has been discussed by a number of eminent persons. But we can turn to the best of them all, Gandhiji himself:
“A strange anonymous letter has been received by me admiring me for having taken up a cause that was dearest to Lokmanya’s heart, telling me that his spirit was residing in me, that I must prove a worthy follower of his.... I cannot claim the honour of being a follower of the late Lokmanya. I admire him like millions of his countrymen for his indomitable will, his vast learning, his love of his country and above all, the purity of his private life and great sacrifice. Of all the men of modern times he captivated most the imagination of the people. He breathed into us the spirit of Swaraj. No one perhaps realised the evil of the existing system of government as Tilak did. And in all humility I claim to deliver his message to the country as truly as the best of his disciples. But I am conscious that my method is not Tilak’s method.... And his last word to me in the presence of several friends just a fortnight before his death was, that mine was an excellent method if the people could be persuaded to take to it. But he said he had doubts.... Nor am I unaware of my limitations. I can lay no claim to scholarship, I have not his powers of organisation, I have no compact disciplined party to lead and having been an exile for twenty-three years I cannot claim the experience that Lokmanya had of India. Two things we had in common in the fullest measure love of the country and the steady pursuit of Swaraj.”