Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/11

 of means was so great, that even the achievement of the end was subordinated to the nature of the means used, because he believed that the right end could not be achieved by wrong means and what could be achieved by the use of wrong means would be only a distortion of the right end.

The undoubted and abiding worth of this collection of his writings and speeches is apparent. Here are the words of the Master covering some six decades of a superbly human and intensely active public life—words that shaped and nurtured a unique movement and led it to success; words that inspired countless individuals and showed them the light; words that explored and showed a new way of life; words that emphasized cultural values which are spiritual and eternal, transcending time and space and belonging to all humanity and all ages. It is well, therefore, that it is sought to preserve them.

His method constituted a soul-stirring assertion of man’s abiding trust in man, of the belief that the sense of morality is inherent in the spiritual equipment of human beings. The freedom of his concept cannot be attained through mere legislation and decrees, nor can it be had through mere scientific and technological advance. A society, to be really free, has to be organized for freedom and that organization has to be started with the individual himself. To the extent that the Indian national life remains inspired by and patterned after his ideas, it will continue to be a source of inspiration. To the extent free India works his ideas and attains progressively higher integration, she will succeed in extending the frontiers of culture and blazing a new trail.

Many of his ideas, however, have yet to be fully imbibed. While it is agreed that the liberating role of any social order must be judged by the degree of actual freedom it allows to its members, there is not adequate appreciation of the fact that a centralized organization, industrial, social or political, implies a corresponding curtailment of freedom of the individual. The golden mean remains to be discovered and adopted. His economics is often confounded with austerity, if not scarcity. His discipline is confused with rigid morality, destitute of colour and beauty. With his few and limited needs, he lived a full and rich life, and in his own living, he demonstrated the truth of his beliefs, which in the background of eroded faith appeared too noble to be true. It is in this light that we have to understand the vows and observances of the inmates of his ashram, which used to be repeated morning and evening at prayer time, and comprised non-violence, truth, non-stealing, brahmacharya or chastity,