5. The vow of non-stealing. It is not enough not to steal what is commonly considered other men's property. It is theft if we use articles which we do not really need. Nature provides us from day to day just enough and no more for our daily needs.
6. The vow of non-possession. It is not enough not to possess and not to keep much, but it is necessary not to keep anything which may not be absolutely necessary for our bodily wants. Think constantly of simplifying life.
To these main vows are added a few secondary rules:
1. Swadeshi. Use no articles about which there is a possibility of deception. Do not use manufactured articles. Laborers suffer much in mills, and manufactured articles are products of misery exploited. Foreign goods and goods made by complicated machinery should be tabooed by a votary of Ahimsa. Use simple clothes, made simply in India.
2. Fearlessness. He who is acted upon by fear cannot follow truth or Ahimsa. He must be free from the fear of kings, people, caste, families, thieves, robbers, ferocious animals, and death. A truly fearless man will defend himself against others by truth-force or soul-force.
Once established the main points of this iron foundation, Gandhi refers rapidly to the other requirements, of which the two most remarkable are that the teachers must set the example of performing bodily labor, preferably agricultural work, and that they must know the principal Indian tongues.
As for the pupils, who can enter the Ashram from the age of four up (students will be admitted at any age), they must remain in the Ashram for the whole course of studies, which lasts about ten years. The children are separated from their parents and families. The parents renounce all authority over them. The children never visit their parents. The pupils wear simple clothes, eat simple food of a strictly vegetarian nature, have no holidays in the ordinary sense of the word, though once a week they are allowed a day and a half in which to do individual creative work. Three months of the year are spent in traveling on foot through India. All pupils must study the Hindi and Dravidian dialects. As a second language, they must learn English, and they must also familiarize themselves with the characters of the five Indian languages (Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, and Davanagri). They are taught, in their own dialect, history, geography, mathematics, economics, and Sanskrit. At the same time they are taught agriculture and spinning and weaving. It goes without saying that a religious atmosphere pervades the whole education. When they have completed their studies, the pupils are allowed to choose between taking the vows, like their teachers, or leaving the school. The tuition is entirely free.
I have described Gandhi's educational system rather fully because it shows the high spirituality of his action, and because he considers this system the mainspring of the whole movement. To build a New India, a new soul, strong and pure, must be wrought out of Indian elements. And this soul can only be developed by a sacred legion of apostles who, like those of Christ, will be as the salt of the earth. Gandhi, unlike our European revolutionaries, is not a maker of laws and ordinances. He is a builder of a new humanity.
§ 4
Like all governments under similar conditions, the English Government had no realization of what was going on. At first its attitude was one of ironical disdain. The viceroy, Lord Chelmsford, characterized the movement in August, 1920, as "the most foolish of all foolish schemes." But these heights of comfortable condescension had to be abandoned before long. In November, 1920, the Government published a surprised and slightly alarmed proclamation, where threats and paternal advice commingled, warning the people that while the leaders of the movement had not been molested so far because they had not preached violence, orders had now been given to arrest any one who overstepped the bounds and whose words might stir up revolt or in other ways incite to violence.