Gandhi's real doctrine is much broader, much more human, much more universal[111] than that expressed in the "Gospel" which he has approved. Why did Gandhi lend his name to this "Gospel"? Why does he let his magnificent ideal, a message for the whole world, be imprisoned within the narrow bonds of an Indian theocracy? Beware of disciples! The purer they are, the more pernicious. God preserve a great man from friends who only grasp part of his ideal! In codifying it, they destroy the harmony which is the real blessing of his living soul.
But this is not all. While the disciples who live near the master are at least tinged by his noble spirituality, what about the disciples of his disciples, and the others, the masses to whom the doctrine comes merely as vague and broken echoes? How much and what do they absorb of the gospel of spiritual purification and creative renouncement? Unfortunately, to them the doctrine appears in its most rudimentary and material form, in a sort of Messianic waiting for the advent of Swaraj, home rule, by the spinning-wheel! This is the negation of all progress. It's the old fuori Barbari. Tagore is alarmed, and not without reason, at the violence of the apostles of non-violence, and even Gandhi is not absolutely free from it. Gandhi says that he would "withdraw from the field if he felt hatred for the English," for one must love one's enemies while hating their deeds, "hate Satanism while loving Satan." The distinction, however, is a little too subtle for the average man to grasp. And when at each session of the congress the leaders dwell with fiery eloquence on the crimes and treachery of the English, anger and rancor pile up behind the sluices; and beware when the sluices burst! When Gandhi, explaining why he advocates the burning of precious stuffs in Bombay in August, 1921, says to Andrews, Tagore's friend, that "He is transferring ill will from men to things,"[112] he does not realize that the fury of the masses is gathering impetus, and that instinctively these masses reason, "Things first, men next!" He does not foresee that in this same Bombay, less than three months afterward, men will be killing men. Gandhi is too much of a saint; he is too pure, top free from the animal passions that lie dormant in man. He does not dream that they lie there, crouching within the people, devouring his words and thriving on them. Tagore, more clear-sighted, realizes the danger the non-coöperators are skirting when they innocently lay bare the crimes of Europe, profess non-violence, and simultaneously plant in people's minds the virus which will inevitably break in violence! But this they do not realize, these apostles whose hearts are free from hatred. But he who would lead men in action must know the heart-beats of the others, not merely his own. Beware the mob! Cave canem! The moral precepts of a Gandhi will not be able to curb it. The only way, perhaps, to prevent it from running wild, the only way, perhaps, of making it yield docilely to the austere discipline of the master, would be for him to pose as an incarnated god, as those who paint him as Sri-Krishna secretly hope he will do. But Gandhi's sincerity and his humility prevent him from playing the role.
And then, planing above the roaring human ocean alone, remains the single voice of the purest of men, but only a man. How long will it be heard? Grandiose and tragic waiting!
[67]Etymologically, swa, self, oneself; deshi, country. Hence, national independence. The non-coöperators usually interpret it in the narrower sense of economic independence. It will be seen, further on, the sort of social gospel which Gandhi's followers make out of the idea. ("Gospel of Swadeshi.")
[68]September 8 and 24, October 20, 1920.
[69]August 11 and 25, 1920.
[70]At least so Gandhi interprets the texts. Dare a European venture that he finds in the Bhagavad Gitâ serene indifference to violence perpetrated and suffered?
[71]August 25, 1920.
[72]May 12, 1920.