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India of My Dreams

www.mkgandhi.org Page 6

36. Village Diet

37. The Village Worker

38. All-around Village Service

39. A Call to Youth

40. The Nation’s Health, Hygiene and Diet

41. Drink and Drugs

42. Urban Sanitation

43. Evil Wrought by the Foreign Medium

44. My Own Experience

45. India’s Cultural Heritage

46. The New Education

47. Basic Education

48. Higher Education

49. Ashram Ideal of Education

50. National Language and Script

51. Provincial Languages

52. Hindi in the South

53. A Code for Students

54. Regeneration of Indian Women

55. Women’s Education

56. Birth-Control

57. Sex Education

58. Children

59. Communal Unity

60. Varnashrama Dharma

61. The Curse of Untouchability

62. Religious Tolerance in India

63. Proselytization

64. Problems of Administration

65. Reorganization of Provinces

66. The Problem of Minorities

67. An India Governor

68. The Press

69. Peace Brigades

70. Indian Nation Congress

71. India, Pakistan and Kashmir

72. Foreign Settlements in India

73. India and World Peace

74. The message of the East

75. Obiter Dicta

Glossary

Sources

India of My Dreams


TO THE READER

I would like to say to the diligent reader of my writings and to others who are interested

in them that I am not at all concerned with appearing to be consistent. In my search after

Truth I have discarded many ideas and learnt many new things. Old as I am in age, I have

no feeling that I have ceased to grow inwardly or that my growth will stop at the

dissolution of the flesh. What I am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of

Truth, my God, from moment to moment, and, therefore, when anybody finds any

inconsistency between any two writings of mine, if he has still faith in my sanity, he

would do well to choose the later of the two on the same subject.

Harijan, 29-4-’33, p. 2 M.K.GANDHI

India of My Dreams


Chapter 01

INDIA OF MY DREAMS

verything in India attracts me. It has everything that a human being with the highest

possible aspirations can want.

Young India, 21-2-‘29

India is essentially karmabhumi (land of duty) in contradistinction to bhogabhumi (land

of enjoyment).


India is one of the few nations on the earth which have retained some of their ancient

institutions although they have been overlaid with superstition and error. But she has

hitherto shown an inherent capacity for purging herself of error and superstition. My

faith in her ability to solve the economic problems that face her millions has never

been so it is today.


I feel that India’s mission is different from that of others. India it fitted for the

religious supremacy of the world. There is no parallel in the world for the process of

purification that this country has voluntarily undergone. India is less in need of steel

weapons, it has fought with divine weapons, it can still do so. Other nations have been

votaries of brute force. The terrible war going on in Europe furnishes a forcible

illustration of the truth. India can win all by soul force. History supplies numerous

instances to prove that brute force is as nothing before soul force. Poets have sung

about it and seers have described their experiences.

Speeches and Writings of Mahatma Gandhi, p. 405

If India takes up the doctrine of the sword, she may gain momentary victory. Then

India will cease to be the pride of my heart. I am wedded to India because I owe my all

to her. I believe absolutely that she has a mission for all the world. She is not to copy

India of My Dreams


Europe blindly. India’s acceptance of the sword will be the hour of my trial. I hope I

shall not be fund wanting. My religion has no geographical limits. If I have a living faith

in it, it will transcend my love for India herself. My life dedicated to service of India

through the religion of non-violence.


If India makes violence her creed, and I have survived, I would not care to live in India.

She will cease to evoke any pride in me. My patriotism is subservient to my religion. I

cling to India like a child to its mother’s breast, because I feel that she gives me the

spiritual nourishment I need. She has the environment that responds to my highest

aspirations. When that faith is gone, I shall feel like an orphan without hope of ever

finding a guardian.


I would like to see India free and strong so that she may offer herself a willing and

pure sacrifice for the betterment of the world. India’s freedom must revolutionize the

world’s outlook upon peace and war. Her importance affects of mind.


I am humble enough to admit that there is much that we can profitably assimilate from

the West. Wisdom is no monopoly of one continent or one race. My resistance to

Western civilization is really a resistance to its indiscriminate and thoughtless imitation

based on the assumption that Asiatics are fit only to copy every thing that comes from

the West….I do believe that if India has patience enough to go through the fire of

suffering and to resist any unlawful encroachment upon her own civilization which,

imperfect though it undoubtedly is, has hitherto stood the ravages of time, she can

make a lasting contribution to the peace and solid progress of the world.


India’s destiny lies not along the bloody way of the West, of which she shows signs of

tiredness, but along the bloodless way of peace that comes from a simple and godly

India of My Dreams


life. India is in danger of losing her soul. She cannot lose it and live. She must not,

therefore, lazily and helplessly say, “I cannot escape the onrush from the West.” She

must be strong enough to resist it for her own sake and that of the world.


European civilization is no doubt suited for the Europeans but it will mean ruin for

India, if we endeavour to copy it. This is not to say that we may not adopt and

assimilate whatever may be good and capable of assimilation by us as it does not also

mean that even the Europeans will not have to part with whatever evil might have

crept into it. The incessant search for material comforts and their multiplication is

such an evil, and I make bold to say that the Europeans themselves will have to

remodel their outlook, if they are not to perish under the weight of the comforts to

which they are becoming slaves. It may be that my reading is wrong, but I know that

for India to run after the Golden Fleece is to court certain death. Let us engrave in our

hearts the motto of a Western philosopher, ‘plain living and high thinking.’ Today it is

certain that the millions cannot have high living and we the few who profess to do the

thinking for the masses run the risk, in a vain search after high living, of missing high

thinking.


I shall strive for a constitution, which will release India from all thralldom and

patronage, and give her, if need be, the right to sin, I shall work for an India, in which

the poorest shall it is their country in whose making they have an effective voice; an

India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; an India in which all

communities shall live in perfect harmony. There can be no room in such an India for

the curse of untouchability or the curse of the intoxicating drinks and drugs. Women

will enjoy the same rights as men. Since we shall not be at peace with all the rest of

the world, exploiting, nor being exploited, we should have the smallest army

imaginable, all interests not in conflict with the interests of the dumb millions will be

scrupulously respected, whether foreign or indigenous. Personally, I hate distinction

between foreign and indigenous. This is the India of my dreams….I shall be satisfied

with nothing less. Young India, 10-9-‘31

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