Truth and Non-Violence - Condensed from The Search for Freedom Rohit Mehta

Ever since Gandhiji’s entry into Indian politics the words Truth and Non-violence have been very freely used in the public life of India. But their true significance is hardly understood. We are told that the problems of the world could be solved in no time if only the nations of the world would make truth and non-violence the very basis of their political life. Words have a hypnotic effect on the minds of men. When the same words are repeated over and over again and are uttered through hundreds and thousands of mouth-pieces, the mind of man begins to come under the spell of their hypnotic influence. Then it is that man regards the word as the thing itself. To break the illusion created by words, it is necessary to challenge them and thus to go deeper and deeper into the meaning and significance of those words. It is not the words that matter so much as that which is conveyed through the words.

© "Theosophical Digest" (4th Quarter, 2003) published by Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Chennai 600 020. Website: www.theosophy.ph/index.htm. Reprinted with permission.

<< Back