Why Truth is Love and Love is Truth
Mohandas K Gandhi


One of the axioms of religion is, there is no religion other than truth. Another is, religion is love. And as there can be only one religion, it follows that truth is love and love is truth. We shall find too, on further reflection, that conduct based on truth is impossible without love. Truth-force then is love-force.

We cannot remedy evil by harbouring ill will against the evil-doer. This is not difficult of comprehension. It is easy enough to understand. In thousands of our acts, the propelling power is truth or love. And we therefore consciously or unconsciously apply satyagraha in regulating these relations. If we were to cast a retrospective glance over our past life, we would find that out of a thousand of our acts affecting our families, in nine hundred and ninety-nine we were dominated by truth, that in our deeds, it is not right to say we generally resort to untruth or ill will. It is only where a conflict of interests arises, then arise the progeny of untruth, namely, anger and ill will, and then we see nothing but poison in our midst.

A little hard thinking will show us that the standard that we apply to the regulation of domestic relations between rulers and the ruled, and between man and man. Those men and women who do not recognise the domestic tie are considered to be very like brutes or barbarous, even though they in form have the human body. They have never known the law of satyagraha. Those who recognise the domestic tie and its obligations have to a certain extent gone beyond that brute stage. But if challenged, they would say ‘what do we care though the whole universe may perish so long as we guard the family interest?’ The measure of their satyagraha, therefore, is less than that of a drop in the ocean.

When men and women have gone a stage further, they would extend the law of love, that is, satyagraha, from the family to the village. A still further stage away from the brute life is reached when the law of satyagraha is applied to provincial life, and the people inhabiting a province regulate their relations by love rather than by hatred. And when as in Hindustan we recognise the law of satyagraha as a binding force even between province and province and the millions of Hindustan treat one another as brothers and sisters, we have advanced a stage further still from the brute nature. In modern times, in no part of the earth have the people gone beyond the nation stage in the application of satyagraha. In reality, however, there need be no reason for the clashing of interest between nation and nation, thus arresting the operation of great law. If we were not in the habit generally of giving no thought to our daily conduct, if we did not accept the current coin, we would immediately perceive that to the extent that we bear ill will towards other nations or show disregard at all for life, to that extent we disregard the law of satyagraha or love, and to that extent we are still not free from the brute nature.

But there is no religion apart from that which enables us entirely to rid ourselves of the brute nature. All religious sects and divisions, all churches and temples, are useful only so long as they serve as a means towards enabling us to recognise the universality of satyagraha.

Courtsey- Indiatimes.com