First posted January 29, 2015 Ahara-nidra-bhaya-maithunam ca // samanyam etat pasubhir naranamdharmo hi tesam adhiko viseso // dharmena hinah pasubhih samanah (Hunger, sleep, fear and sex are common to men and animals What distinguishes men from animals is the knowledge of right and wrong) (Bhagwadgita; Tr S. Radhakrishnan, 1948, 1971, p 79) For the Hindi version of… Read More The Abolition of truth
First posted January 19, 2018 NEW DELHI, January 20, 1948: Source: CWMG, Vol 90, pp 464-467 Link to Gandhi Heritage Portal Gandhiji was carried in a chair to the prayer meeting. As the microphone was not working and Gandhiji’s voice was feeble the substance of his speech was repeated aloud by Sushila Nayyar. BROTHERS AND SISTERS,The… Read More January 20, 1948. Mahatma Gandhi’s speech at his prayer meeting, where an attempt was made on his life
First posted Friday, March 18, 2016 NB: This is the text of my keynote address to the Eighth East-West Inter-cultural Relations Conference held at Ramjas College, the University of Delhi, on March 17, 2016. The details of the conference may be read here A pdf file of the address is downloadable here – DS Satyagraha – An answer to modern nihilism… Read More Satyagraha: An answer to modern nihilism
[This article by Mahatma Gandhi was published towards the end of March 1930. It was part of a series of Gandhi’s articles and was a prelude to his arrest in the first week of May 1930] There is no halfway house between active loyalty and active disloyalty. There is much truth in the late Justice… Read More Duty of disloyalty. M. K. Gandhi (1930)
Deeply researched and lucidly written, Gandhi’s Assassin does a good job in its portraiture of Nathuram Godse and in reporting details of the plot to kill MK Gandhi NB: The murder of Gandhiji has been immersed in ideological sophistry ever since 1948. Thousands of Sangh Parivar allies celebrate his assassination on the one hand (especially… Read More Gandhi’s Assassin. By Dhirendra K Jha
First posted September 23, 2019 NB: Thank you Ayush. You are a brave and conscientious boy. Many of us are proud of you – DS Ye kisne kahaa aapse aandhi ke saath hun // Main Godse ke daur me Gandhi ke saath hun If the Danish child who swam against the adult tide to speak the truth about… Read More Ayush Chaturvedi: Main Gandhi ke saath hun / Samar Halarnkar: A search for Hindus who will stand with Gandhi
(This is a selection of Gandhi’s observations on consistency and changing one’s mind) My Inconsistencies I DECLINE to be slave to precedents or practice I cannot understand or defend on a moral basis. (YI, 21-7-1921, p228) I must admit my many inconsistencies. But since I am called ‘Mahatma’, I might well endorse Emerson’s saying that… Read More Mohandas Gandhi: My Inconsistencies
First posted October 03, 2019 NB: This article appeared today in the Deccan Chronicle, as part of a series commemorating Mahatma Gandhi’s 150 birth anniversary. This is an audio-visual recording of a talk with the same title, given on October 4, 2019, under the auspices of the Raza Foundation. DS The Compass Gandhi’s life-work combined a complex of ideals, concepts and practical… Read More The Compass
Gandhi’s Last Fast: January 13-18, 1948 First posted March 30, 2012 This article is based on a lecture I prepared for university students, named Mahatma Gandhi’s Legacy. It includes the text of the Delhi Declaration on communal harmony, January 18, 1948. Citations are from Gandhi’s Collected Works Gandhi’s Last Fast: January 13-18, 1948 From September 1947,… Read More Another time, another mosque
First posted January 31, 2015 यह चिट्ठी महात्मा मोहनदास करमचंद गाँधी को पहुंचे. महात्माजी, मैं न संसद-सदस्य हूँ, न विधायक, न मंत्री, न नेता. इनमें से कोई कलंक मेरे ऊपर नहीं है. मुझमें कोई ऐसा राजनीतिक ऐब नहीं है कि आपकी जय बोलूं. मुझे कोई भी पद नहीं चाहिये कि राजघाट जाऊँ. मैंने आपकी समाधि… Read More हरिशंकर परसाई: महात्मा गाँधी को चिट्ठी पहुँचे (1977)
After the truth-shower 