Satyagraha

2021-02-02T05:06:49Z

2406:7400:73:DA44:A149:9113:BEDF:73:

'''Satyagraha''' ({{lang-sa|सत्याग्रह}} ''satyāgraha'') is the idea of non-violent resistance (fighting with [[peace]]) started by [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]] (also known as "Mahatma" Gandhi). Gandhi used ''satyagraha'' in the [[Indian independence movement]] and also during his earlier struggle in South Africa.

''Satyagraha'' helped shape [[Nelson Mandela]]'s struggle in South Africa under [[apartheid]], [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]]'s campaigns during the [[civil rights movement]] in the [[United States]], and many other similar movements. Someone who does ''satyagraha'' is a '''satyagrahi'''.

He also used in his peculiar movements and in numerous non - violent struggles in the motherland of India. Like Daandi March , Non - Cooperation Movement , Salt March ; ect.

==Meaning of the term==
[[Image:Marche sel.jpg|thumb|250px|Gandhi leading [[Salt Satyagraha]], a notable example of Satyagraha]]

The word ''Satyagraha'' is from the Sanskrit words ''satya'' meaning truth and ''Agraha'' insistence", or "holding firmly to"). For Gandhi, ''Satyagraha'' went far beyond just "passive resistance" (resisting without taking action) according to him it was a moral force born of truth and non-violence. His non-violence also became his strength. He said that he chose the name because Truth means Love, and Insistence means Force, and the Sanskrit name showed it was a force born from Truth and Love (non-violence).<ref>In his words: "Truth (satya) implies love, and firmness (agraha) engenders and therefore serves as a synonym for force. I thus began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence, and gave up the use of the phrase 'passive resistance', in connection with it, so much so that even in English writing we often avoided it and used instead the word 'satyagraha'...." ''Satyagraha in South Africa, 1926'' from Johnson, p. 73.</ref>

He also wrote that he liked the term "Civil Resistance" better than "Civil disobedience".<ref>In a letter to P.K.Rao, Servants of India Society dated September 10, 1935, quoted in Louis Fischer's, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, Part I, Chapter 11, pp. 87–88, "The statement that I had derived my idea of Civil Disobedience phrase to explain our struggle to the English readers. But I found that even "Civil disobedience" failed to convey the full meaning of the struggle. I therefore adopted the phrase "Civil Resistance."</ref> Gandhi also translated it as "love force" or "soul force".<ref>"I have also called it love-force or soul-force. In the application of satyagraha, I discovered in the earliest stages that pursuit of truth did not admit of violence being inflicted on one’s opponent but that he must be weaned from error by patience and compassion. For what appears to be truth to the one may appear to be error to the other. And patience means self-suffering. So the doctrine came to mean vindication of truth, not by infliction of suffering on the opponent, but on oneself. Gandhi, M.K. ''Statement to Disorders Inquiry Committee'' January 5, 1920 (''The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi'' vol. 19, p. 206)</ref>

==Idea of Satyagraha==
===Main Points of Satyagraha ===
In ''Satyagraha', the goal, Gandhi said, is to change the mind of the wrong-doer, not to force him.<ref>"The Satyagrahi’s object is to convert, not to coerce, the wrong-doer. Gandhi, M.K. “Requisite Qualifications” ''Harijan'' 25 March 1939</ref> Winning means getting along with the enemy to make what is wrong right again, which they might not realize is wrong. For this to happen, the enemy's mind must change to realize that he is stopping a goal that is right.

# Nonviolence ([[ahimsa]])
# Truth — this includes honesty, but also means living fully for what is true, and agreeing with it
# Not stealing
# Chastity ([[brahmacharya]]) — this means keeping moral sexually, but also giving more attention to following truth than to satisfying urges.
# Non-possession or nor owning (not the same as being poor)
# Body-labor or bread-labor
# Not eating much that is not good
# Not being afraid
# Equal respect for all religions
# Fighting with [[boycott]]s (not spending or buying from those who are a problem)
# Freedom from [[Dalit|untouchability]], or the idea of a [[caste]] (a group of people with the same amounts of money and power) that is so low that it "cannot be touched".

Another time, Gandhi gave seven important rules:<ref name="qualifications">Gandhi, M.K. “Qualifications for Satyagraha” ''Young India'' 8 August 1929</ref> A satyagrahi:
# must have a living faith in [[God]]
# must believe in truth and non-violence, and have faith in the goodness of human nature
# must be leading a chaste (moral) life, and be willing to die or lose all he owns
# must be a ''[[khadi]]'' wearer and spinner
# must stay away from alcohol
# must follow all other rules of discipline he gave them .
# if he is put in jail, he must obay the jail rules, unless they are specially made to hurt his self-respect

== References==
<references />

== Other websites ==
* [http://www.democracynow.org/2006/9/8/satyagraha_100_years_later_gandhi_launches 'Satyagraha 100 Years Later'], with [[Arun Gandhi]] from '''[[Democracy Now!]]'''
* [http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/satyagraha.htm The Story of Satyagraha by Dr. Jyotsna Kamat]

[[Category:India]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Peace]]
[[Category:Violence]]

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Satyagraha