Being Conscious of Your Conscience
Amanda V. Stanford

            The essence of Gandhi’s satyagraha techniques and nonviolent methods is his search for Truth rooted in his confidence in the human conscience.  His campaigns could elicit change within people by appealing to their sense of a moral code, because people know they ought to do what is right and avoid evil.  In the search for Truth, conscience becomes the standard of moral truth.  Gandhi touched the world by appealing to that standard.

            Conscience is an abstraction, and individuals put it into practice differently.  This can cause questions about what conscience is.  Society tends to think of conscience as that little voice in the back of the mind that speaks when a person is confronted with an ethical situation.  Conscience is “the faculty of recognizing the distinction between right and wrong in regard to one’s own conduct; conformity to one’s own sense of right conduct” (The American Heritage Dictionary 149).  The grayness of this principle lies in the individual’s life experiences to distinguish right from wrong.  It is so subjective because people are reared in different environments and take part in different experiences.  Even if experiences were the same for people, their reactions to these events would be unique to their personalities.

            On a moral level some explain conscience as an indicator of “the innermost nature of man” (New Catholic Encyclopedia 197).  Conscience can also be divided into parts because “there can and must be a good and bad conscience, one that is active not only after the deed but also before and during it, because in this kind of knowledge man as a whole, i.e., as an ethical being, is continuously present” (New Catholic Encyclopedia 196).  This is in regard to particular acts that may be committed by a person.  Again, these feelings of regret or acknowledgment of wrongdoing are subjective to the individual in question.

            Given the definition of conscience, we can see that Gandhi’s techniques revolved around his faith that human conscience would reign over evil and falsehoods.  He felt that people were equipped with a built-in monitor of right and wrong and were able to distinguish between the two through experiments, discussion, inward thought, and reason.  Gandhi was convinced that humans possessed the capability to know when they had done something wrong because we all possess a part of the truth.  It is that part of truth that a person has that will eventually illuminate their wrongdoing.

            Gandhi was aware that humans are far from being infallible, but there is hope for each of us to do what is right.  We are creatures with a choice, an ability to decide how we will act in a given situation.  We will do what is right as long as our path is directed by a search for Truth.  Gandhi’s confidence in human conscience can be seen because “Gandhi insisted that for the satyagrahi, ‘an implicit trust in human nature is the very essence of his creed,’ so ‘he will repose his trust in the adversary’ (Dalton 199).  This trust is in the adversary’s ability to see the good in the satyagrahi’s methods or cause and that he will be influenced and see the wrong in his own methods or cause.  Even Hindus in general believe according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia that conscience is ‘the invisible God who dwells within us’, and to Gandhi, Truth is God.

            Gandhi’s satyagraha method of nonviolence encouraged self-learning by experiments, evaluating possibilities, and trial and error techniques.  This kind of learning “employed a kind of power that encouraged reflection and reexamination of motives, needs and interests” (Dalton 193).  Moral guidance by a leader could “‘raise[s] the expectations and help[s] shape the values’ of others” (Dalton 193).  This shaping of values connects back to the idea of conscience.  As our basis of knowledge and exposure to ethical problems increases, so does our ability to reason and distinguish truth from falsehood.  As a result, conscience is a key element of Gandhi’s ideal of swaraj for his people.

            Gandhi’s swaraj was a concept of a twofold freedom.  It encompassed freedom from foreign political rule and a freedom of the spirit.  An individual will never truly be free if he or she is still held in bondage to fear or worldly possessions.  It is personal liberation (Dalton 33-34).  Gandhi is described as “urging those he meets to be fully themselves, confident that with a gentle lead, individuals will learn self-discipline and self-awareness necessary for swaraj” (Dalton 195).  This points out his encouragement to others to listen to their inner voices, or conscience, and to be themselves.  It also repeats the idea that freedom of the spirit brings with it a freedom of the mind and an ability to do good and to seek truth.  At that point a person’s conscience remains dominant and defeats tendencies to stray away from the path of Truth.

            One specific example of Gandhi’s success due to the conscience of a group of people is the Calcutta Fast.  First, the events leading up to the fast must be explained.  Hindu-Muslim violence had gradually been increasing in the early to mid 1940s especially in the city of Calcutta.  The riots and killings climaxed during the period of time between August 1946 and September 1947.  The disturbances in Calcutta escalated due to political party differences; the Muslim League openly asserted their desire to break from India to form a new Muslim country, Pakistan (Dalton 141-2).  Gandhi began to see an opportunity to try his nonviolent methods against this intense religious strife (Dalton 145).

            The Great Calcutta Killing occurred August 16, 1946, and the massacre continued for four days (Dalton 146); it was proof that “the government had clearly lost control” (Dalton 149).  In the months to follow, the city remained stricken by fear and violence (Dalton 149).  Gandhi began trying compromises with the Muslim League by early 1947, but the city saw little improvement (Dalton 149-150).  By August, he proposed an experiment to Suhrawardy, the chief minister of Bengal during the Great Calcutta Killing, which consisted of both of them living together in one of the most affected Muslim communities (Dalton 151).

            As a result of the city’s backslide into violence, Gandhi used his most powerful and affective weapon, a fast until death (Dalton 155).  He believed in the innate goodness of humans and their wish to better themselves; now, he merely needed to illustrate to them that they were on the wrong path.  By the second day of the fast, a calm fell over the city of Calcutta, and sympathizing groups began to join in Gandhi’s fast (Dalton 155).  By the third and final day, Gandhi’s influence on the mass conscience of the city was evident.  On this day, members of the feuding groups brought a pile of weapons to Gandhi asking for forgiveness and for Gandhi to immediately end his fast (Dalton 155-156).  Gandhi’s prescribed penance was for each of them to ‘go immediately among the Muslims and assure them full protection’; he refused to end his fast until he was convinced that they were sincere in their actions (Dalton 156).  Not one single act of vengeance occurred on the third day, and crowds of people arrived at the home where Gandhi and Suhrawardy were living pleading for Gandhi to end his fast (Dalton 156).

            Gandhi still refused to end the fast; he felt that he had to be sure that the people of the city had truly changed their ways and were ready to live together peacefully (Dalton 157).  He wanted to teach them that the feuding groups could live together and create a better community as a result.  After seventy-three hours of fasting an incredible event happened, a group of Congress leaders arrived to plead with Gandhi (Dalton 158).  The men had to make two promises to Gandhi: “first, that communal violence would not recur in Calcutta; second, that if it did recur, they would . . . lay down their lives to resist it” (Dalton 158).  “If these pledges were given and broken then he vowed that he would begin an irrevocable fast until death” (Dalton 158).

            The human conscience had proved to be stronger than the religious prejudices of the Indian people.  Gandhi had come to deserve such immense respect and love from people that they could not bare the idea of losing him because of their own crimes.  He was innocent and the epitome of selflessness and goodness; no one could endure the weight of harm coming to Gandhi because of their own evil deeds.  They were moved by guilt, an emotion created by a burdened conscience.  Gandhi’s success in this test proved that nonviolent methods could be used against communal violence and that it was possible to appeal to the human conscience to see right for wrong when presented in a clear cut manner.

            Another example in which Gandhi’s techniques relied on his opponent’s conscience was the Vykom Temple Road Satyagraha.  It was not as colorful or distinctive as the Calcutta Fast; however, it does show the affect that satyagraha can have on conscience.  Orthodox Hindus and the local police forbid untouchables to use the road by the temple, so local Hindus began a satyagraha campaign (Bondurant 46).

            Although Gandhi was not directly involved in this case, his methods were applied and followed precisely (Bondurant 46-47).  The satyagraha began with prayer and education of the methods of satyagraha to the locals (Bondurant 48).  There was a “procession of untouchables and caste Hindus taken along the forbidden road” and “submission to arrest”; the satyagrahis even continued to hold their posts at police barricades during a monsoon (Bondurant 48-49).

            After sixteen months of opposing the prejudice law, the barricades were removed and the Brahmans allowed the untouchables to use the roadway (Bondurant 50).  The Brahmans stated that they could no “longer resist the prayers that have been made to us, and we are ready to receive the untouchables” (Bondurant 50).  This expresses the appeal to the Brahmans’ conscience that the satyagraha made.  They were able to see the error of their prejudice ways and reformed accordingly.  Gandhi’s response to the Brahmans’ change of heart complies with his belief in how satyagraha taps into human conscience of the opponent, “Satyagraha is a process of conversion.  The reformers, I am sure do not seek to force their views upon the community; they strive to touch its heart” (Bondurant 51).

            From these two examples alone, the appeal of Gandhi’s methods of satyagraha to conscience is obvious.  Without this fascinating arbitrator of the mind, Gandhi could not have been as successful in his movements as history has shown him to have been.  How could Gandhi have appealed to human’s sense of right and wrong if they did not possess a capacity to distinguish the two.  That ability lies within the human conscience.  If it is absent from humans then it would be impossible for people to determine truth and falsehoods.  It is the conscience that gives man a sense of “responsibility for himself, his fellow men, and civilization” (New Catholic Encyclopedia 197).

            Gandhi’s ability to make so many advances with his nonviolent methods reveals how people must have a conscience.  Gandhi could see a light of purity and hope within every person regardless of how dim it might be.  It is that light that he remained focused on when faced with stiff opposition.  He believed that if true satyagraha and swaraj were attained then at that point, as a human race “we become liberated from fear and distrust as we are empowered by truthfulness and nonviolent action; that freedom is not merely license because it must also mean a social awareness and responsibility that comes with a sense of human connectedness” (Dalton 200).  That “human connectedness” is the common thread among the human race; it is our goodness; it is our inner voice; it is our light that shines through our conscience.


References

Bondurant, Joan V. Conquest of Violence:  The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict.  Princeton, New Jersey:  Princeton University Press, 1958.

Dalton, Dennis.  Mahatma Gandhi:  Nonviolent Power in Action.  New York:  Columbia University Press, 1993.