From: baindur@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Satyen G Baindur)
Subject: Gandhi, Emerson, Thoreau, Christianity, etc.
Organization: HAC - Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 22:42:21 GMT

In article <1992Nov8.202513.22306@tamsun.tamu.edu> rgopu@cs.tamu.edu (Rangarathnam Gopu) writes:
>In article <1992Nov6.231542.17741@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu> baindur@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Satyen G Baindur) writes:
>>
>>I just wanted to add in the context of Gandhi that while his influence on
>>Martin Luther King is celebrated, the influence of the 19th Century American 
>>thinkers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau on the evolution of 
>>Gandhi's philosophy is relatively less well known. Thoreau died a few 
>
>	Actually, most Westerners around 1940 and 1950 believed that Emerson
>	and Thoreau (and Tolstoy too, BTW) had a great influence on Gandhiji,
>	greater than they actually did. The Bible had a greater impact on
>	Gandhiji than the writings of any of these three, but after Gandhiji
>	realized that Hindu scriptures like the Gita were a repository of
>	philosophy richer than all these, he became a very devout Hindu.

This is absurd ! I will quote from Gandhi's autobiography, 'My Experiments 
with Truth', so people can decide for themselves !


1. Influence of Tolstoy:

 \begin{quote}

  I made an intensive study of Tolstoy's books. 'The Gospels in Brief', 'What 
to Do? ' and other books made a deep impression on me. I began to realize 
more and more the infinite possibilities of universal love.

\end{quote}


2. Difficulty with Bible and its interpretation.

  During his stay in England, Gandhi was befriended by a Quaker by the name 
of Coates, who tried his best to convince Gandhi of the superiority of 
Christian beliefs, and gave him several books.  The following is what 
happened, according to Gandhi. 

\begin {quote}
As we came closer to each other, he began to give me the books of his own 
choice until my shelf was filled up...

... I do not remember the names of them all, but they included the *Commentary*
of Dr. Parker, Pearson's *Many Infallible Proofs*, and Butler's *Analogy*. 
Parts of these were unintelligible to me. ... *Many Infallible Proofs* had 
no effect on me....*Commentary* ...  could not be of any help to one who had 
no faith in the prevalent Christian beliefs. ...

But Mr. Coates was not the man easily to accept defeat. ...He wanted to 
convince me that, no matter whether there was some truth in other religions, 
salvation was impossible for me unless I accepted Christianity which 
represented *the* truth, and that my sins would not be washed away except 
by the intercession of Jesus, and that all good works were useless.

... The argument utterly failed to convince me. I humbly replied :
 
   "If this be the Christianity acknowledged by all Christians, I cannot 
accept it. I do not seek redemption from the consequences of my sin. I seek 
to be redeemed from sin itself, or rather, from the very thought of sin.
Until I have attained that end, I shall be content to be restless."

... So, although Mr. Coates was very much disturbed by this latest 
experience of mine, I was  able to reassure him and tell him that the 
distorted belief of a Plymouth Brother could not prejudice me against 
Christianity. 

My difficulties lay elsewhere. **They were with regard to the Bible and 
its accepted interpretation**.

\end{quote}


>>noble ideal. While Gandhi phrased his philosophy in terms which were rooted 
>>in the Indian ethos e.g.,  *satyagraha* or *ahimsa*, leading one to 
>>think of it as having derived inspiration mainly from ancient Indian thought,
>>Western thinkers, and particularly Emerson and Thoreau did indeed influence 
>>Gandhi strongly. This tends to get glossed over in India, for any number
>>of reasons, from chauvinism to ignorance, but Indian Americans ought to 
>>
>>Satyen
>
>	They did influnce his thinking. But he had launched his first 
>	satyagraha and civil disobedience movement in SA before Thoreau
>	or Emerson wrote about the latter concept.

What ? I thought I had emphasized that both Emerson and Thoreau were 
dead before Gandhi attained adulthood. 

              Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

              Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

              Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

Gandhi went to South Africa around 1895. 

>
>	Indians have a very bad habit of glorifying someone but generally
>	not heeding his/her preachings. It is often carried to the extreme,
>	and the hero-worship cult both of politcians and film-stars, is
>	part of the reason. And when this glorifiying is at its zenith, rarely
>	does any ratiocination enter into it. Ignorance reigns supreme,
>	unfortunately.
>
>	Gopu
>--

You said it !


Satyen