A correspondent says in substance:
"Individual Ahimsa I can understand. Corporate Ahimsa between
friends is also intelligible. But you talk of Ahimsa towards avowed
enemies. This is like a mirage. It will be a mercy if you give up
this obstinacy of yours. If you do not, you will forfeit the esteem
you enjoy. What is worse, you, being considered a Mahatma, mislead
many credulous persons to their own and society's harm."
That non-violence which only an individual can use is not of much
use in terms of society. Man is a social being. His accomplishments
to be of use must be such as any person with sufficient diligence
can attain. That which can be exercised only among friends is of
value only as a spark of non-violence. It cannot merit the
appellation of Ahimsa. 'Enmity vanishes before Ahimsa,' is a great
aphorism. It means that the greatest enmity requires an equal
measure of Ahimsa for its abatement. Cultivation of this virtue may
need long practice, even extending to several births. It does not
become useless on that account. Travelling along the route, the
pilgrim will meet richer experiences from day to day so that he may
have a glimpse of the beauty he is destined to see at the top. This
will add to his zest. No one is entitled to infer from this that the
path will be a continuous carpet of roses without thorns. A poet has
sung that the way to reach God accrues only to the very brave, never
to the faint-hearted. The atmosphere today is so much saturated with
poison that one refuses to recollect the wisdom of the ancients and
to perceive the varied little experiences of Ahimsa in action. 'A
bad turn is neutralized by a good', is a wise saying of daily
experience in practice. Why can we not see that if the sum total of
the world's activities was destructive, it would have come to an end
long ago? Love, otherwise Ahimsa, sustains this planet of ours.
This much must be admitted. The precious grace of life has to be
strenuously cultivated, naturally so because it is uplifting.
Descent is easy, not so ascent. A large majority of us being
undisciplined, our daily experience is that of fighting or swearing
at one another on the slightest pretext.
This, the richest grace of Ahimsa will descend easily upon the owner
of hard discipline.
New Delhi,
8-12-'47
Harijan,
14-12-1947