Gandhi’s Perception of “Man”

“Man” is a complex, multi dimensional organism
consisting of different elements of matter, life,
consciousness, and intelligence. The search on man is
being conducted since centuries and is still on, from
the angles of natural and social sciences. It would be
interesting to know Gandhi’s thought on man, and also
on his relationship to other human beings, i.e. the human
society. The reader will find that they are quite similar
to a professional social worker’s perception of the man.
Brutal Ancestry of Man
Gandhi doesn’t discard man’s animal ancestry. In his
own words, “I am prepared to believe that we have
become men by a slow process of evolution from the
brute.” At the same time he adds that it is more natural
for man to be good than to be evil, though apparently
descent might seem easier than assent.
Faith in Human Nature
He further said that man will ever remain imperfect
and it will always be his endeavor to be perfect. There
is definitely the theoretical possibility of his further
development towards the goal of perfection. For this, he
is bestowed with infinite divine powers within him. Man
is not merely a bundle of bones and flesh, but essentially,
he is the “Soul” – a part of the divine power or almighty
God himself. He often used to say that man is not God
but neither he is different from the light of God.
Man and his Environment
Gandhi recognizes the impact of environment on human
personality and behaviour. According to him, despite
the greatest effort for being detached no man can
altogether undo the effects of his environment...... but
man is not merely a creature of circumstances. It is his
privilege to overcome adverse circumstances.
Change in Human Behaviour and Personality
There may be several ways to bring about change in
human behaviour and personality. One of them,
according to Gandhi, is self-restraint. It is a positive
factor in man’s life. The brute by nature knows no self
restraint. Man is man because he is capable of, and
only is so for as he exercises self-restraint, which implies
control of the basic tendencies such as hatred and
selfishness and improving the quality of life with
goodwill and love.
Man’s Ultimate Goal
According to Gandhi, although man was born with brute
strength, but during this birth he was to realise the
God who dwells within him and in everybody. That
indeed is the privilege of man and it distinguishes him
from the brute creation. It should therefore be ultimate
goal of every human being to know the God dwelling in
him, which is synonymous to self realisation. His every
thought and action should be directed towards the
ultimate goal of self-realisation.
Dignity and Equality of Human Beings
The fact that every man has the divine element within
him is the sufficient proof of dignity of man. Hence the
question of discrimination among human beings on the
basis of caste, creed, colour etc. does not arise – all
men are equally related to God and therefore are equal
among themselves.

Gandhi: An Emerging Social Worker and Activist

Although Gandhi asserted emphatically that there is
nothing like Gandhism and similarly he would have
discarded the term “Gandhian Social Work” as well, but
his way and style of Social Work is now accepted as
Gandhian Social Work. It can not be understood properly
unless we know the Social Work facet of Gandhi’s
personality. Known as the Mahatma – The Great Soul,
Father of The Nation or simply Bapu, he was a charismatic
leader, having led the freedom movement of India, a
Journalist, Advocate, Naturopath, a Socio-Political
philosopher, a Reformer, Social Engineer and Therapist
– all rolled into one. He invented some methods of social
work, which have survived the test of time and have
been used by the international dignitaries like Dr. Martin
Luther King and Nelson Mandela. Acknowledging
Gandhi’s debt, the Noble Laurite Dr. King wrote “the
intellectual and moral satisfaction that I did not receive
from the Utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill
revolutionary methods of Marks and Lenin, the social
contracts theory of Hobbes, ‘the Back to Nature’
optimism of Rousseau and the ‘Superman’ philosophy
of Niezche, I found in non-violence resistance philosophy
of Gandhi. I came to feel that this was the only morally
and practically sound method open to oppressed people
in their struggle for freedom. In this small treatise, it is
not possible to shed light on different facets of his
personality. We will keep ourselves limited only to
Gandhi as a Social Thinker and Social Worker.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi born on 2nd October
1869 in a middle class family of Porbander, Gujrat, got
his schooling in India, went to England to study law
and came back as a Barrister-at-Law in 1891. The Social
Worker in him started emerging when he proceeded to
South Africa in the year 1893 where he organized the
Indian community and launched his crusade against
apartheid. It was here that he became a journalist by
launching the newspaper Indian Opinion. He started
reading Shrimadbhagvadgita and Ruskin’s book Unto This
Last which laid the foundation of his life as a sociopolitical
leader. In Ruskin’s book, he found three
fundamental principles:
1) The good of the individual is contained in the good
of all.
2) A lawyer’s work has the same value as the barber’s
in as much as all have the same right of earning
their livelihood from their work.
3) A life of labour i.e. the life of the tiller of the soil
and the handicraftsman is a life worth living.
These three principles are reflected in Gandhi’s
methodology and constructive program which he
presented later before the Indian people. He also
invented the word ‘Satyagraha’ in South Africa in 1906
and he started using this non-violent weapon from the
very next year. He came back to India as a victorious
leader in the year 1915, which is regarded as the
beginning of Gandhian era in India and which lasted
for a full period of 33 years until his assassination in
the year 1948 on January 30th. There was hardly any
field in the country, like politics, social welfare, rural
development, journalism, even literature and films
which remained unaffected from Gandhian influence.
He struggled, no doubt, against the British regime but
his ultimate goal was not merely the political
independence of India. His ultimate goal was “Purna
Swaraj” – the “total independence” which consisted of
political, social and economic independence. His idea
was to build a new society and he was very clear in his
thinking of the means and methods of its realization. In
the following pages, we are presenting Gandhi’s
perception of ‘Man’ and his views on an ideal society.

An introduction to Gandhi’s Perception of an Ideal Society

Professions are highly regarded by the society because
they have been granted sanction to perform essential
services that ensure survival and enhancement of the
quality of life. They emerge from the society and take
time to develop. They do not evolve in vacuum. For their
survival as well as growth, they have to be in continuous
interaction with the surroundings. A series of events
affect their development and continue to shape them.
The profession of Social Work is no exception to this
rule. Being practiced all over the world, its process of
indigenization is going on since its inception. It is due
to this adaptation as per the socio-economic norms and
culture of a particular society, that the Professional
Social Work is surviving and flourishing. This is equally
true in the Indian context.
India has one of the longest and richest histories of
social welfare. There are a large number of schools of
thought and approaches in the field of Social Welfare.
Some of these are secular in nature while the remaining
is based on particular religious or political ideologies.
Among these, Gandhian approach to Social Work is
having one of the largest networks consisting of
Gandhain institutions and workers. A professional
Social Worker in India cannot afford to ignore it since it
is hundred percent indigenous, and is fully based on
Indian philosophy, culture and traditions. There is
tremendous scope of collaboration between these two
approaches of Social Work in the country in terms of
philosophy, experience in various fields, methods and
techniques. The process has already begun and the
enlightened and optimistic thinkers at the two sides
are even sensing a remote possibility of fusion between
these two approaches of Social Work in India. An
understanding of Gandhian Social Work may enable a
professional Social Worker to develop a deeper insight
in the ethos and psyche of the Indian society resulting
in better output of the services.