Satyagraga

Satyagraga

Gandhi is known as one of the greatest minds our world has ever seen. To completely understand him and the reasons why he is looked at the way he is, you need to be able to grasp the concept of non-violence, Satyagraha. Satyagraha by definition means the insistence on truth, and force derivable from such insistence” (Meaning of Satyagraha Gandhi 447). This is just the beginning of a very in depth and intriguing philosophy of how to deal with evils that appear. This theory has been passed through many generations leading to Martin Luther King Jr. He takes some of the basic ideas from Gandhi’s Satyagraha concept but adds his own twists to the logic. Both of these people have played a vital roll in the practices of non-violence throughout history. I am not a firm believer in passive resistance so much I can say it does not accomplish much if not anything. There are many cases in which it has not worked; two specific cases are the Battle of Maetwan and the Sharpeville Massacre. In both of these incidents people have tried to use passive resistance to solve their problem but it just ends in blood shed.

Gandhi’s theories are extremely impressive and unique. Satyagraha is the beginning of his brilliance. The whole basis of if is that nothing can be accomplished by fighting evil with evil, “We cannot remedy evil by harboring ill will against the evil doer” (Meaning of Satyagraha Gandhi 447). What this is saying is that healing evil is impossible if you use ill will techniques against the evil person. I would agree with this in some instances. If someone hits you trying to start a fight, turning the other cheek is a better idea, not because you will win, but it will end right then and there. In small cases like that you can use non-violence to be successful. But in large cases it is quicker and more efficient to use violence.
In a later passage in Cultural Conversations Gandhi addresses the suffering part of Satyagraha. He writes, “ The purer the suffering...