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Was Gandhiji a Freemason ? the question
may appear funny and to some even profane. But in this
year which marks the centenary of the Mahatma's birth,
the question is both relevant and important of Freemasonry.
To the superfical observer the answer
to the question posed above is "No". Unike
Pandit Motilal Nehru an Rajaji, both of whom were Freemasons,
Gandhiji was not a member of our Order, but he was in
every sense of the term a true Freemason. One could
only wish that Freemasons all over the world, especially
in India, would lead such a pious, pure life as he led
every moment of his existence.
There was no greater exponent of the
basic principles of the Craft-brotherly love, relief
and truth -a and few practised them in their lives as
he did. Of godliness he was the most outstanding examplar
of our times and inded of all ages. Admirers and critics
alike have acclaimed him as a legitimate sucessor in
the long line of seers ad saints = avataras, the Rishis
adn Buddha, Christ, mahomed, Zoroaster and the Sikh
Gurus.
His attitude was one of complete faith
in, and total surrender to God. A candidate to Freemasonry
is told at the threshold of his career that "Where
the name of God is invoked we trust no danger can ensure".
When his eldest sone Manilal was gravely ill and he
was giving him only naturopathic treatment, Gandhiji
simply resigned himself unto the Lord and prayed, "My
honour is in Thy hands, oh God, in this hour of peril".
In a short while Manilal turned the corner and was well
on the way to recovery. It is in such a spirit that
Freemasons are exhorted to surrender themselves to the
will of the Great Architect of the Universe. As Lord
Krishna says in the Bhagavadgita,
cgwuka tUeuk;Urs Kkuoku~ eka izi|rs A
oklqnsoLloZfefr l egkRek lqnqYHkZ% AA
"At the end of many births the wise man comes to
me realising that all this is Vaasudeva (the innermost
Self); such a great soul (Mahatma) is very hard to find".
Gandhiji was the embodiment of undying
faith in the True and Living God Most High, for he has
said, Religion to me is a living faith in the Supreme
Unseen Force." He never concerned himself with
the results of his actions; instead he concentrated
on the means- "When I am sure of the purity of
means, faith is enough to lead me on".
The masonic motto of brotherly love,
relief and truth was Gandhiji's creed in life which
he not only preached but unfailingly practised. A firm
believer in the Fatherhood of God and Brotherehood of
man, Parian service, the service of lives, was for him
the only gion. "Humanity", he said, "is
divided into water-tight compartments. Men may occupy
one thousand rooms, but they are all related to one
another". Like Pope John, Gandhiji believed that
what is important is to continue to love one another,
to take hold of what unites men, leaving aside those
little things which turn men against one another. As
was said of Jesus Christ, while talking to people about
individual problems, Gandhiji always applied to them
the principle of love; yet he never for a single moment
appeared to doubt the reality of right and wrong or
the need for right moral judgement.
He always dropped a tear of sympathy
over the filings of others and poured the healing balm
of consolation into the bosom of the afflicted. Charity,
in the widest sense of the term - respect for others'
conscience, consideration for others' feelings, understanding
sympathy - was the rule of his life. He once remarked:
"By nature I am so framed that every calamity moves
me, irrespective of the people whom it may overtake."
And, as for truth, who does not know
Gandhiji's unshaken fidelity to truth ? His truth was
not merely honesty or oneness of thought,word and deed.
It had a wider comprehension: "All that appears
and happens about and around us is uncertain, transient,"
he said; "but there is a Supreme Being hidden therein
as a certainty. The quest for that Truth is the Summum
bouum of life". Again, "I want to see God
face to face. God I know is Truth. For me the only certain
means of knowing God is non-violence and truth".
Freemasons are told about the 24 hours
of the day and how they are to be spent. Gandhiji spent
all of them in prayer to Almighty God, during his waking
hours and even in his dreams, in laour (and not much
of refreshment) and in serving mankind. Although a staunch
Hindu, his conception of God was charged with rear catholicity.
he has said: "There is only one God for us all
whether we find Him through the Koran, the Bible, the
Zend-Avesta, the Talmud or the Gita. And He is God of
Truth and Love. I have no interest in living save for
proving this faith."
His personal and public activities
were raised to sublime heights - in masonic phraseology,
"Glory to God on high, peace on earth and goodwill
towards men". He thought, spoke and acted throughout
in the spirit of the famous words of Abraham Lincoln:
"With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with tirmness in the right as God gives us to see the
work we are in, to do all which may achieve and cherish
a just and lasting peace amongst ourselves and with
all nations". Many were the occasions when he offered
his life as a sacrifice at the altar of peace, harmony
and love.
For sheer courage of conviction and
steadfastness of purpose, as well as for the purity
and morality of his attitude, he had few parallels in
his life-time or in recorded history. In a memorable
speech he said: "That something in me which never
derives me tellsme now: 'You have to stand against the
whole world, although you may have to stand alone. You
have to stare the world in the face, although the world
may look you with bloodshot eyes. Do not fear. Trust
that litle thing which resides in the heart'. It says,
'Forsake friends, wife and all, but testify to that
which you have lived and for which you have to die."
To him his life was as nothing compared to his devotion
to his duty and to the trust reposed in him by God.
As Hiram Abiff did of old, Gandhi faced death cherfully
in the performance of his duty after his conscience.
One may be permitted to record that
one two points he differed from a Freemason, but only
superficially. He abhorred secrecy as a sin, while Freemasons
have certain secrets which they are enjoined to guard
zealously. But secrecy has distinct connotations. A
Freemason's secrets are personal, Godly and moral, not
like those of the Klu Klux Klan involving conspiracy,
violence and injury to others. Gandhiji's objection
to secrecy was that it was surreptitions, dishones and
harmful.
The other thing is a matter of controversy,
although here again it is only apparent. Our regulations
call upon us to obey the rules of our land and to submit
to the edicts of the legislature, supreme and subordinate.
But they also charge us ever to remember that nature
has implanted in our breast a sacred and indissoluble
attachment towards that country whence we derived our
birth and infant nurture. Obviously, therefore, the
injunctions aldi aon Freemasons in this behalf pertain
to a truly national set-up and refer only the laws enacted
by a sovereign legislature elected by our own suffrage.
Such was not the case in the politics of Gandhiji's
days. A former High Court Judge makes a distinction
between laws passed by a self-governing country and
those imposed on it by a foreign power. He says: "As
citizens of a self-governing country, we have no right
to break a so called lawless law. The laws passed by
the sovereign legislature of a self governing democratic
country carry the seal of approval of the community
as represented in the legislature. Such laws, having
been enacted by the community itself and not imposed
upon it by an outside power, have a sanction not possessed
by laws inflicted by an alien power on an unwilling
people". (Italics by aothor).
Moreover, Gandhiji's approach was not
just political, but moral and religious. he generally
hated unconstitutionalism and illegalities, but he did
not make a fetish of them when larger national, human
and moral issues were involved. By and large his satyagraha
was against obnoxious laws. he was for enthusiastic
cooperatiion with measures which have a moral backing
or which conduced to men's welfare and happiness. When
he started his cult of disobedience of laws, he said:
"Whilst we disobey certain selected laws, it is
incumbent on us to show our law-abiding character by
respecting all other laws."
Further, his breach of law was open,
inviting punishment and suffering in consequence of
such breach. Here, then, was his objection to secrecy.
Truth and non-violence were inseparable attributes of
his breach of law. his defiance of law stemmed from
morality, and Socrates-like, he cheerfully submitted
to the penalty. he said: "Satyagraha is like a
banyan tree with innumerable branches. Civil disobedience
is one such branch. Satya (truth) and ahimsa (non-violence)
make the parent trunk from which many branches shoot
out".
The present writer owes and apology
- and tenders it- to those in the Order who may taken
exception to the foregoing diversion into "political"
controversy. But there are two extenuating factors:
first, no assessment of Gandhiji can be complete without
a reference to his political activities; secondly, it
is necessary to emphasis that his "politics"
were an effort at sublimation designed to uplift both
sides, indeed all mankind.
With this caveat, one feels justified
in affirming that, by any and every standard, Mahatma
Gandhi was a great Freemason, although he was not a
regular member of the Craft. He advocated and practised
the religious spirit and a sense of moral values which
are the basis of Freemasonry. Every member of our Order
may regard him as a Brother worthy of emulation in any
field of human endeavour. The 100th anniversary of his
jayanti, which falls on the 2nd October 1969, deserves
to be celebrated by all Freemasons as the centenary
of one of the greatest among them--for godliness, morality,
high character, partiotism and, above all, for upholding
our motto, brotherly love, relief and truth.
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