Duty Quotes - Quotes, The Story Of My Experiments With Truth | The Story of My Experiments with Truth - Summary & Themes - Novels PDF Download

I had a very bad night afterwards. A horrible nightmare haunted me. Every time I dropped off to sleep it would seem as though a live goat were bleating inside me, and I would jump up full of remorse. But then I would remind myself that meat-eating was a duty and so become more cheerful. (1.7.2)

This passage shows just how seriously Gandhi takes duty.

I began to think of my duty. Should I fight for my rights or go back to India, or should I go on to Pretoria without minding the insults, and return to India after finishing the case? It would be cowardice to run back to India without fulfilling my obligation. The hardship to which I was subjected was superficial—only a symptom of the deep disease of colour prejudice. I should try, if possible, to root out the disease and suffer hardships in the process. Redress for wrongs I should seek only to the extent that would be necessary for the removal of the colour prejudice. (2.8.23)

Most people would accept an injustice as just the way the world is and decide they can do nothing about it. Not Gandhi. He sees it as his duty to make the world a better place.

We all knew that this [the passing of the Franchise Bill] was a foregone conclusion, but the agitation had infused new life into the community and had brought home to them the conviction that the community was one and indivisible, and that it was as much their duty to fight for its political rights as for its trading rights. (2.17.7)

In this case, as in many others, people start off not invested in political change. They have to be woken up by agitators.

The bills considerably increased my public work and made the community more alive than ever to their sense of duty. (3.4.6)

Just asking people to make the world a better place isn't enough. They have to have something specific to fight for or fight against. In this case, particular pieces of legislation provided the motivation.

When the war was declared, my personal sympathies were all with the Boers, but I believed then that I had yet no right, in such cases, to enforce my individual convictions. [...] Suffice it to say that my loyalty to the British rule drove me to participation with the British in that war. I felt that, if I demanded rights as a British citizen, it was also my duty, as such, to participate in the defence of the British Empire. I held then that India could achieve her complete emancipation only within and through the British Empire. (3.10.2)

This is a surprise. Gandhi, despite being a top figure associated with non-violence, participates in war. He feels it is his duty to defend the British Empire since he demands rights from it, putting him and the empire in a reciprocal relationship.

To my brother, who had been as father to me, I wrote explaining that I had given him all that I had saved up to that moment, but that henceforth he should expect nothing from me, for future savings, if any, would be utilized for the benefit of the community. [...]

My brother gave me up and practically stopped all communication. I was deeply distressed, but it would have been a greater distress to give up what I considered to be my duty, and I preferred the lesser. (4.5.3-5)

Do we have a duty to support our family members? Or, does our duty to the community allow us to cut them off and give our savings to public causes? You might say that your family helped you in infancy and so you're obliged to help them, or you might say you never chose to be born into your family and your relationship with them is a coincidence that doesn't impose responsibilities on you. Gandhi feels distress over not helping his brother, but he makes his choice.

The papers brought the news of the outbreak of the Zulu "rebellion" in Natal. I bore no grudge against the Zulus, they had harmed no Indian. [...] But I then believed that the British Empire existed for the welfare of the world. A genuine sense of loyalty prevented me from even wishing ill to the Empire. The rightness or otherwise of the "rebellion" was therefore not likely to affect my decision. Natal had a Volunteer Defence Force, and it was open to it to recruit more men. [...]

So I wrote to the Governor, expressing my readiness, if necessary, to form an Indian Ambulance Corps. (4.24.1-2)

You don't often hear about Gandhi's participation in war, right? But he takes duty seriously.

It was quite clear to me that participation in war could never be consistent with ahimsa. But it is not always given to one to be equally clear about one's duty. A votary of truth is often obliged to grope in the dark. (4.39.3)

Okay, what's going on here? Mr. G. seems to say even he's unsure. Participation in war is contrary to non-violence. But, he says, duty is an obligation, too. Hmm.

So long as he continues to be a social being, he cannot but participate in the himsa that the very existence of society involves. When two nations are fighting, the duty of a votary of ahimsa is to stop the war. He who is not equal to that duty, he who has no power of resisting war, he who is not qualified to resist war, may take part in war, and yet wholeheartedly try to free himself, his nation and the world from war. (4.39.5)

Non-violence is pretty famously anti-war. But, if you can't avoid getting entangled in war, you should participate in war in a constructive way. That seems to be what Gandhi is saying.

I had hoped to improve my status and that of my people through the British Empire. Whilst in England I was enjoying the protection of the British Fleet, and taking shelter as I did under its armed might, I was directly participating in its potential violence. Therefore, if I desired to retain my connection with the Empire and to live under its banner, one of three courses was open to me: I could declare open resistance to the war and, in accordance with the law of Satyagraha, boycott the Empire until it changed its military policy; or I could seek imprisonment by civil disobedience of such of its laws as were fit to be disobeyed; or I could participate in the war on the side of the Empire and thereby acquire the capacity and fitness for resisting the violence of war. I lacked this capacity and fitness, so I thought there was nothing for it but to serve in the war. (4.39.6)

Here, Gandhi seems to be saying that he couldn't stop war, but participating in it might show him how to do so in the future. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and then beat 'em in the future. (Non-violently, that is.)