Describe Gandhi's idea of non violence.

Gandhi had rejected the established understanding of non-violence and articulated an altogether different philosophy of non-violence.

(i)Gandhi changed the  meaning in two fundamental ways. For him non-violence meant not just refraining from causing physical harm, mental harm or loss of livelihood. It also meant giving up even the thought of harming someone. For him ‘causing’ did not mean doing the harm oneself.

(ii)For Gandhi, “He would be guilty of violence, if he helped someone in harming someone else or if he benefited from a harmful act.” In this sense Gandhi’s notion of violence was close to ‘structural violence’.

(iii)The second major change that Gandhi introduced was to give the idea of nonviolence a positive meaning. Not causing harm was not enough.

(iv)Ahimsa required an element of conscious compassion. Gandhi was opposed to passive spiritualism. For him non-violence meant a positive and active pursuit of well-being and goodness.

(v)Therefore those who practise nonviolence must exercise physical and mental restraint under the gravest provocation. Nonviolence is an extremely active force that has no room for cowardice or weakness.

(vi)Gandhi in fact went to the extent of stating that if non-violence were inadequate to defend oneself, then it would be better to resort to violence than take refuge in passivity in the name of non-violence.