His weekly paper Harijan, 28 March 1936
As Old as the Hills
In March 1936 the Gandhi Seva Sangh met in the village of Savli. Kishorilal Mashruwala, the president of the group, sat with Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and dozens of workers under a tent. The delegates wanted to organize. Some of them proposed a central office, a formal creed, and a book to spread what they called Gandhism. Mahatma Gandhi stopped them. He told the gathering that there was no such thing as Gandhism, and he refused to leave a sect behind him. Then he said the sentence that settled the debate: "I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and non-violence are as old as the hills."
People often look for a brand-new philosophy to solve their trouble. They want a special doctrine or an expert system they can argue about. Gandhiji saw that this was just a way to avoid the actual work. Everyone already knows they should tell the truth and avoid hurting others. The difficulty is not understanding those two rules. The difficulty is putting them into practice when things go wrong at work or at home.
Therefore
Do not wait for a new theory before you behave well. Practice the basic rules you already know.
Harijan, 28 March 1936
Mahadev Desai, Gandhiji's secretary, took down the talk and published it on 28 March 1936 in Harijan, his weekly paper. Gandhiji had started the paper in 1933 while held in Yeravda jail. The name was the word he used for the untouchable castes, meaning children of God. After the talk at Savli, the workers dropped the idea of an 'ism' entirely. They went back to sanitation work, carding cotton, and spinning yarn. Gandhiji himself lived at Sevagram near Wardha, working on village crafts. He answered their request for an ideology by sending them back to ordinary chores. A good principle lives only when someone uses it.
A small reminder, on the desk or the notebook, that you do not need a new theory to start doing what is right.
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