Darryl Naranjit, Truth and Power
Gandhi’s diagnosis of the disease of modern civilization concludes, therefore, that it was because of the covering over of reality, which was in truth governed by the moral law, and the creation of a world grounded in untruth and deception, that the oppressed were suffering at the hands of the oppressors. In a world grounded in truth, men would see the ‘ordered moral government of the universe’, and would see behind it the hands of a just God. Good would triumph over evil in such a world. Violence, oppression, injustice appeared to be ascendant because of the pervasiveness of untruth. The solution that Gandhi proposed was to oppose the untruth with truth – satygraha, the force of truth.
Truth, when insisted upon, when proclaimed, overcomes untruth and ignorance as light dispels darkness. According to Gandhi, the web of maya, the deceptive power of maya, must be fought by proclaiming and insisting upon the truth. Non-being persists when the truth is not known, or when falsehood is deliberately propagated. Since untruth is ultimately violence and destruction, it can persist only when it takes the form of the Good, when disguised as the Good, otherwise its destructive nature would be immediately seen.
India, according to Gandhi, had fallen into the clutches of imperialism because India had lost sight of its ancient wisdom – the importance of the Good, the unity of all Being, the ‘ordered moral government of the universe’, and had become morally decrepit. Untouchability and other social evils had dulled its moral sensibility. It was, therefore, prey to modern western civilization, which under the guise of the ‘mission of civilization’, exploited its people. The ‘mission of civilization’, the banner under which the West exploited the ‘dark races’, was a veneer which hid the real motives of the West – love of wealth and power. Thus the British, Gandhi believed, could not be driven out of India through violence, but only through uncovering the reality behind the facade of its ‘mission of civilization’ by insisting on truth – satygraha. The truth would set you free, Gandhi believed.
For Gandhi, one must prepare oneself if one is to realize the truth. He compares it to solving mathematical problems, “No person, even if grown up in age, is qualified to understand difficult problems in Algebra without preparation,” and he says further, “Tapascharya is certainly necessary for the realization of truth.” The satyagrahi must first insist on the purity of his motives. He must realize swaraj in his own life – self-rule, literally – where he is in control of his own desires. He must practice ahimsa, not only in the negative sense of non-violence, but also in the positive sense of love for all existing creatures. Only through a stringent process of self-transformation is the satyagrahi ready to insist on truth from his opponents.
The function of the satyagrahi is to transform the world, by being the spokesperson for truth, by being the conscience of the world. The satyagrahi, by insisting on truth, by speaking on behalf of truth, becomes the agent of truth, the point where the light of truth shines forth to dispel ignorance and untruth. His duty is to educate the people about the truth. The satyagrahi, however, is also a political being who must organize the people to achieve political goals. The satyagrahi must have absolute faith in God, for faith in God is the antidote to violence. The satyagrahi must be convinced that, by the will of God, good triumphs over evil. He must see the ‘ordered moral government of the universe’. The satygrahi must also be able to communicate this absolute faith to the people, so that they too believe in the eventual triumph of good over evil, truth over falsehood.
Gandhi thought, therefore, that modern western civilization had become entrenched throughout the world because the non-western world had fallen asleep, had become intellectually and spiritually dead. As such, the task of the satyagrahi was to awaken those who were sleeping, and quicken and resurrect their spirit. The people had to turn back to the ancient path from which they had departed. They had to be imbued with a sense of mission, since ultimately they had to construct a new civilization based on the values of love and the unity of all existence.
Gandhi embarked upon then no less a task than building a new civilization, based on ahimsa and truth, to replace modern civilization that was, in his opinion, responsible for creating an exploitative world order; an order which was designed to serve the self- interest of elites in imperialist countries. The agency for this transformation of the world was this invisible group of satygrahis, connected only through shared beliefs and ideals, who would see themselves as having the responsibility of bringing about true civilization.
This new civilization will be based upon the realization of an ‘ordered moral government of the universe’, to which human beings, in order to find liberation, should have faith in. In submitting to the moral order, man would find true happiness. This moral order operates in all spheres of human activity, as the governing principle that guides man in his economic, social and political activities. When human beings are guided by the moral order then the world is aligned to its true purpose and it develops according to God’s will. When human beings transgress this moral order then the world loses its way and becomes a violent, meaningless and unhappy place.
In order to bring the world back on course, the satyagrahi must know, firstly, that it is untruth, maya or ignorance that brings about this disorder. The satygrahi must, therefore, insist upon truth and take upon himself/herself the task of restoring the moral order. To do this he must awaken the people and help build the true world civilization through his sacrifice and toil.
The philosophy of Darryl Naranjit 