Gandhi’s self-proclaimed purpose in life was to free the indigenous Indian population from the expanding colonial empire of England. Pitting himself against such an adversary proved to be a formidable task, for at the time England was one of the greater powers of the world. But with Gandhi’s many experiments with truth and his own personal experiences, he was able to objectively decide the best way to end the long reign of English oppression. He noted that “Power is usually associated with coercion and violence” This statement epitomized his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, because that very thought process was exactly what he desired to change. Gandhi put forth everything into the realization of his vision, and fought for the fate of India in accordance with it.

Gandhi deemed that the current political and social schemes of the world in his time had firm roots in both violence and coercion. He determined that such a system would be its own downfall, its inferiority being detrimental to itself and eventually propagating its own inevitable collapse. This is demonstrated by the fact that coercion is not truth, because force or intimidation is used to obtain compliance, and lacks a substantial base to support its continuation. Gandhi claimed that “the existing social order reflects a power structure based on coercion and violence and a better, qualitatively superior, social order should be built up by radically replacing such a power structure by a different kind of power, a non-coercive, persuasive, non-violent power.” Gandhi wanted to establish a system that would prove much stronger and resilient than the current system. A system that could last through all the trials and tribulations faced by civilization; one that would represent all the people because in essence it was the people, and not just a domineering brutal order. Gandhi viewed the so-called “modern” forms of governing as reverting back to barbaric days, unable to cope with humanities problems and instead finding solutions in crude, brutish ways. To this end, Gandhi fought to establish a non-violent, supreme society that would eventually take prominence over the current state of affairs after the power of violence waned.

Gandhi viewed such a society as having ultimate superiority over a violent power because non-violence breeds non-violence, and a society based on such is a content one. A society strictly ruled by violence lives in a perpetual state of fear and unrest, and eventually this unrest breeds revolt. This therefore implies that a violent rule is in an imperfect state, and Gandhi strived for the best society that man could possibly achieve. Yet human nature, in reality, is in a perpetual state of upheaval. Never content with a static lifestyle, man constantly causes chaos and discontent in order to feel at ease. The harsh reality is that humans may never reach a state of perfection because we are innately incapable of doing so. However, Gandhi believed without a doubt that as near a Utopian society as possible could be accomplished if everyone were to adopt a non-violent philosophy, thereby uniting everyone under a common banner and a single state of mind.

A collective consciousness with a single goal in mind is essentially the most powerful force on this planet, and could accomplish almost anything it set out to do. Gandhi once stated that, “Such a mobilization will be voluntary and based on renunciation, self-sacrifice and pursuit of truth. It will result in harmony that generates a power that is qualitatively different. When such power is directed against social injustices, i.e. structural violences of many kinds, it assumes even greater strength. This kind of power does not leave any stain after its operation. On the contrary, there is every possibility that the individuals or groups against which such a non-violent power is used, get converted, thus adding to the qualitative dimension of non-violent power” Gandhi viewed non-violence as possessing a snowball effect. He saw that his movement would start off slowly, its momentum gradually building. Over time as more supporters rallied for the cause and its influence began to spread, a vast quantity of people would succumb to the movement because non-violence possesses the innate ability to convert as it is done so out of one’s free will. And once in effect, the momentum of such a movement would reach far and wide and would be immensely difficult to halt as the sheer power of numbers would gravitate towards the cause.

Gandhi believed that participation in such a movement would have to be completely up to the individual. He believed that anyone could participate in nonviolence if one thoroughly acquiesced to the cause. Perceived as a powerful force that was not limited to just a select few, he thought that everybody possessed the ability to stand up to oppression and that non-violence was the only true path to salvation. “Non-violence is a power which can be wielded equally by all – children, young men and women or grown-up people, provided they have a living faith in the God of Love and have therefore equal love for all mankind. When non-violence is accepted as the law of life it must pervade the whole being and not be applied to isolated acts” Gandhi stressed that once one adopted the non-violent approach, he must exhibit it in all aspects of his life; for doing otherwise would disavow any credibility that the movement maintained due to such hypocrisy. He likened this to some Christians who are truly only “Christians” once a week. Those who fit in this category are the ones who attend church service on Sundays and believe themselves to be devout Christians, when in reality they do not practice their beliefs within their daily routines. They will go a full week without thinking about God, or without living a spiritually clean life. The Bible stresses the importance of not being a Christian only when it suits the individual, proclaiming that “faith without works is fruitless.” And this is exactly what Gandhi was emphasizing when he said that the non-violent way of living must be adopted in every action of your daily life.

What Gandhi proposed was the likes of which the world had never seen. So completely unorthodox, an approach unlike any other, his ideals began to take tangible form. “Gandhi’s revolution was different from others in history. He believed that people could free themselves from tyranny without using violent tactics.” As history clearly reflects, humans tend to fight violence with violence. When oppressed, the primal side of man assumes control. This is seen throughout a variety of historical events, whereupon an issue is solved with violence rather than an alternative way because violence yields a quick and desirable outcome – though traditionally not usually a permanent one. The difference with Gandhi was that he proposed a way of fighting back without succumbing to violence, a way that would result in a more desirable and longer lasting outcome as well. “Gandhi called this nonviolent means of revolution Satyagraha, which is a combination of two Sanskrit words, satya, meaning truth and love, plus agraha, meaning firmness.” This, in and of itself, is the basis of Gandhi’s philosophy. Satyagraha can be construed to mean any effort to discover, discern, obtain, or apply truth. Satyagraha was the crux of Gandhi’s efforts, his most vital and crucial standpoint; without which his movement would almost certainly have been non-existent. Everything that Satyagraha exemplified was what Gandhi lived for. And with this new form of resistance, Gandhi went about changing the way India handled its oppression from England. He searched for a way that would be a permanent end to the current state of affairs and would not cause further unrest, thereby eliminating an endless circle of violence.

Gandhi also had the foresight to predict the possibilities and implications of such a movement. He looked beyond just fighting colonial expansion. He foresaw non-violence as a means to end many, if not all, of the world’s problems in a peaceful and just manner. “Gandhian Satyagraha movement was directed not merely against colonial rule; it was directed against all forms of suppression, colonial or indigenous. Liberation of the individual from the many forms of socio-political and religico-social oppressions was the fundamental objective of his satyagraha movement” Gandhi was convinced that Satyagraha was the final solution to all the strife in the world and would someday illuminate the only path to freedom for all humanity.

In conclusion, Gandhi’s Satyagraha extended far beyond England’s control over India. It even transcended his own time into the Civil Rights era of the 1960’s where blacks would utilize Gandhi’s policies to gain their rights in America.  Yet it is not isolated there as well for instances all over the world in the past few decades have reflected a Gandhian philosophy. “Gandhian theory of social change is essentially a paradigm for non-violent national social reconstruction, or non-violent power reconfiguration towards achieving a creative altruistic social order where individuals, groups and socio-cultural institutions will generate and sustain peace, harmony and altruistic relationships not only within but also between national societies. In other words, it is a theoretical frame to direct the non-violent reconstruction of …Gandhi’s dreams.” If all the people of the world were to incorporate Gandhi’s beliefs on non-violence into their daily routine then perhaps someday his dream of not only an ideal India, but an ideal world, would be fully realized.