Gandhi's views on Man and Environment
Gandhi's views on man and environment derive primarily from his conception of man, his needs and greed. His views about man and his place in society was influenced by the Indian philosophical tradition represented by Vedas, Jainism, Buddhism and then by Christianity and theosophists. Bhagwad Gita influenced him the most. His ideas were also inspired by the writing of Thoreau, Ruskin, and Tolstoy. The moral man of Gandhi lies at the root of his philosophical tree represented by the branches of truth, Ahimsa, (Non-violence), Satyagraha and Right conduct. Gandhi's concern for the poor, the impoverished, the marginalized and the disadvantaged takes shape in this philosophical background when Gandhi sees the need to emancipate man from the social constraints and economic structures of exploitation. Gandhi was well aware of the fact that the huge population of India and its mammoth food requirements required a balanced and environment friendly approach and reckless industrialization, which might reduce the natural resources drastically, was not an answer. He was also aware that the colonial rule had undermined the nature friendly traditional institutions in India including agriculture, handicraft and local market. The western alternative for the needs of man was recklessly blind as technology and machines had displaced man from his traditional position, which was more sound and secure. Therefore, he turns to local self-reliant governance system based on Panchayati raj and and decentralized powers of the state. His idea of minimal state didn't aim at eliminating the institution completely rather strengthening the man which was possible by strengthening democracy at the grassroots level. His concept of democratic decentralization is also based on his passionate belief in non-violence, truth and individual freedom. He wants to see each village a little republic, self-sufficient in its vital wants, organically and non-hierarchically linked with the larger spatial bodies and enjoying the maximum freedom of deciding the affairs of the locality.
Gandhi's Concepts Basis
The passage explicitly states the foundation of Gandhi's core philosophical concepts.
Identifying the Root of Concepts
According to the passage:
- "The moral man of Gandhi lies at the root of his philosophical tree..."
- "...represented by the branches of truth, Ahimsa, (Non-violence), Satyagraha and Right conduct."
This directly links Gandhi's concepts of truth, Ahimsa (Non-violence), and Satyagraha to the foundational idea of the moral man.
Conclusion
Therefore, Gandhi's concepts of truth, Ahimsa, and Satyagraha are based on the idea of the 'Moral Man'.
Important Questions from Reading Comprehension (Notes)
Rearrange the following sentences into a logical and meaningful paragraph.
(A) A famous Japanese rock garden is at Ryoan-si in Northwest Kyoto, Japan.
(B) The rocks of various sizes are arranged on small white pebbles in five groups, each comprising five, two, three, two and three rocks.
(C) The garden is 30 meters long from East to West and 10 metres from North to South.
(D) The garden contains 15 rocks arranged out on surface of white pebbles in such a manner that visitors can see only 14 of them at once from whichever angle the garden is viewed.
(E) There are no trees, just 15 irregularly shaped rocks of varying sizes, some arranged by gravel that is raked everyday.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:- Choose the most appropriate sentence from the options given below to logically complete the following paragraph:
The highest ideals of the age today are humanism and scientific spirit. There has been an apparent conflict between the two. But the great upheaval of thought today, with its questioning of all values, is removing the old boundaries between the external world of science and the internal world of introspection. - The full form of CABE is ______
- ______ was appointed as a chairman of the Secondary Education on 1952.
- The commission which determines and coordinates the standards of teaching, examination and research in Universities is ______.
