Gandhi and Matthew 25

The famished millions are famishing not because there is not enough food produced in India but because they have no work to do. The only work for the millions is the spinning wheel. I know the Industrial Mission House in Calcutta. It is good in its way, but it does not touch even the fringe of the question. The problem is how to take work to the cottages of these men, cottages which are scattered over a surface 1900 miles long and 1500 broad. They will not take the spinning wheel unless they learn the art themselves and unless they spin to set an example to these men who have lost faith in themselves and faith in everything and everybody. And the spinning wheel is useless unless you and I wear khadi. Hence it is that I have not hesitated to say to Lord Reading or to Lord Willingdon* that I will not be satisfied unless they and their orderlies are dressed from top to toe in khadi. Young India, August 6, 1925

*Lord Reading and Lord Willingdon-respectively Viceroy and Presidency Governor of India.

Gandhi and Matthew 25

What definite work would you suggest that a missionary should do for and among the masses?
Since I have been challenged I must unhesitatingly answer,"The spinning wheel."* You naturally laugh, but if you knew the masses as I do, you will look upon this very simple instrument of torture (takli) with seriousness. You cannot present the hungry and famished masses with God. Their God is their food. General Booth** knew what he was doing when at his numerous depots the first thing he did to the hungry men and women who flocked there was to give them a plate of soup. Before he would give them their next meal he called upon them to make splinters for his match factory and then he introduced them to God. To be continued next week.

*The spinning wheel, or charka, was the Gandhian symbol of swadeshi, or self-reliance. The British colonial economy forced India to exchange cotton for British fabric, thus undermining the local economy and fostering economic dependence. In response Gandhi embraced the spinning wheel and the production of homespun "khadi," which provided employment for the masses, affirmed the dignity of labor, and offered a form of real economic resistance to colonialism.
**William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army.

Gandhi and Matthew 25

...I am here to tell you that there are ... Brahmins (the highest Hindu caste) who are as fine specimens of humanity as you will find in any place on the earth. There are Brahmins today in India who are embodiments of self-sacrifice, godliness, and humility. There are Brahmins who are devoting themselves body and soul to the service of untouchables, with no expectation of reward from the untouchables, but with execration from orthodoxy. They do not mind it, because in serving Pariahs (untouchable, Hindu outcaste) they are serving God. I can quote chapter and verse from my experience.

Young India, August 6, 1925

Gandhi and Matthew 25

"This reminds me of a French book translated for me by a French friend. It is an account of an imaginary expedition in search of knowledge. One party landed in India and found Truth and God personified, in a little Pariah's hut. I tell you there are many such huts belonging to the untouchables where you will certainly find God. They do not reason, but they persist in their belief that God is. They depend upon God for His assistance and find it too. There are many stories told throughout the length and breadth of India about these noble untouchables. Vile as some of them may be there are the noblest specimens of humanity in their midst."
Gandhi on Christianity