Ahimsaand satyagraha The other concept guiding Gandhi’s life was ahimsa. In Hindi, himsa means the perpetual destruction and pain of normal existence: the way of the world. We can, however, adopt an outlook of compassion— ahimsa—which requires us to do all we can to avoid the recurrence of suffering and aggression. Gandhi believed ahimsato be central to a quest for truth, because any effort to achieve an aim is ultimately self-defeating if it involves mental or physical injury to our fellow sentient beings. Attacking another person, for instance, is like attacking our own selves, since we are all simply representations of the Creator. But how exactly was this concept translated into Gandhi’s famous political activism? He discovered the principle of satyagraha—non-cooperation or nonviolent struggle—which represents the way of getting things done in the world within the understanding of ahimsa. Unlike normal conflict, in which we are inflamed by emotion, the action of satyagrahais based on a detached stubbornness that gains strength from the quality of its principles. 50 SPIRITUAL CLASSICS 87 Gandhi first practiced it in his various battles for the rights of Indians in South Africa, and his success inspired a young African freedom fighter by the name of Nelson Mandela. Later, the principle was used in the civil disobedience and non-cooperation campaigns against British rule in India, when military might gave way to unstoppable moral force.
