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{{Short description|Part of the ethical system prescribed by Mahatma Gandhi}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2024}}
'''Eleven vows''' (''Ekadash vrat'') were part of the ethical system prescribed by [[Mahatma Gandhi]] mainly for all those residing in the ashram.

Gandhi insisted on observance of these eleven vows in Ashram.
<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parikh |first1=Nilam |title=Gandhi wrote to his sons and daughter-in-law |date=2008 |publisher=National Gandhi Museum |location=[[Raj Ghat and associated memorials|Rajghat]] |isbn=978-81-87458-17-3 |page=194 |edition=First}}</ref>

==The vows==
A book originally published in Gujarati and later in English titled 'Character And Nation Building' is a summary of 'Ashram observances and constructive programme' discusses these vows.<ref>{{cite book|title=Character and Nation Building|isbn=81-7229-093-4 |last =Gandhi |first= M.K.|publisher= Navjivan Trust|date=1959}}</ref>
The eleven vows were:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gandhi |first1=Mahatma |title=The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Apr. 25-Sept. 30, 1935 |date=1975 |publisher=Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India |pages=44–45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_BsrZtWvFEC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=James | first=G.A. | title=Ecology Is Permanent Economy: The Activism and Environmental Philosophy of Sunderlal Bahuguna | publisher=State University of New York Press | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-4384-4674-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VAGMXm3_cn4C&pg=PA209 | access-date=2023-08-05 | page=209}}</ref>

=== Ahimsa ([[non-violence]])===
The vow of non-killing or love for all. For Gandhi, 'ahinsa' meant universal love, love for the oppressed as well as the oppressor, love for the labourer as well as the landlord.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mkgandhi.org/voiceoftruth/meaningofnonviolence.htm|title=Gandhi ji's views on non-violence }}</ref>

=== [[Satya]] (truth)===
Truth was paramount for Gandhi. He equated it with God.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mkgandhi.org/faq/q9.php|title=Eleven vows}}</ref>

=== [[Asteya]] (Non-Stealing) ===
Mahatma Gandhi sums up this vow as : {{blockquote|I suggest that we are thieves in a way. If I take anything that I do not need for my own immediate use and keep it, I thieve it from somebody else.{{sfn|Prabhu|p=293}}}}

=== [[Brahmacharya]] (self-control)===
Celibacy towards other women and men and even towards one's own partner, seeing him/her as a lifelong friend.

===Asangraha ([[Non-possession|renunciation of possession]])===
Gandhi asked for progressive simplication of one's life by renouncing things that one doesn't need.

===Sharir shram (Bread labour)===
Gandhi ji writes ::{{quote|Man can be saved from injuring society as well as himself only if he sustains his physical existence by physical labour.{{sfn|Gandhi|pp=11}}}}

===Asvada (control of the palate)===
For strict observance of brahmacharya, this vow was found to be important. It meant abstinence from delicacies and feasts etc.

===Swadeshi (self-reliance)===
Men can best serve the world by serving his neighbour.

===Sarv Dharma Sambhav (equal respect for all religions)===

===Abhaya (fearlessness on all occasions)===
Fear hinders spiritual progress and therefore observance of this vow was mentioned separately.

===Asparsh (no [[untouchability]])===
No one was treated as an untouchable at the Ashram.

== Speech and book ==
In 1915 Gandhi delivered an address to the students at Madras in which he discussed these vows. It was later published as "The Need of India".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gandhi |first1=Mohandas K. |title=Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches |url=https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Mahatma_Gandhi,_his_life,_writings_and_speeches/The_Need_of_India&oldid=4687397 |chapter=The Need of India}}</ref>
He would deliver a speech on the Ashram vows every Tuesday after prayers. These speeches were published as a book ''[[Mangal Prabhat]]''<ref>{{cite book|author=Pyarelal|title=Mahatma Gandhi: Salt satyagraha: the watershed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRFWAAAAYAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Navajivan Publishing House|isbn=978-81-7229-133-4|page=xvii}}</ref> in 1958.

== See also ==
* [[Practices and beliefs of Mahatma Gandhi]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite book|title=The mind of Mahatma Gandhi|last=Prabhu|first=R.K. and U.R. Rao|url=https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/mind-of-mahatma-gandhi/the-ashram-vows.php}}

{{Mohandas K. Gandhi}}

[[Category:Mahatma Gandhi]]

Eleven vows - Revision history

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