Question by *imagiinarydivaa*: How did Leo Tolstoy influence Gandhi?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Charles K
Tolstoy and Gandhi’s Law of Love http://www.sgiquarterly.org/feature2013jan-1.html —————– Tolstoy had a profound influence on the development of anarchist thought.. Tolstoy believed that a Christian should look inside his or her own heart to find inner happiness rather than looking outward toward the church or state. His belief in non-violence when facing oppression is another distinct attribute of his philosophy. By directly influencing Mohandas Gandhi with this idea Tolstoy has had a huge influence on the nonviolent resistance movement to this day. He believed that the aristocracy were a burden on the poor, and that the only solution to how we live together is through Anarchy. He also opposed private property and the institution of marriage and valued the ideals of chastity and sexual abstinence.
A letter Tolstoy wrote to an Indian newspaper entitled “A Letter to a Hindu” resulted in a long-running correspondence with Mohandas Gandhi, who was in South Africa at the time and was beginning to become an activist. The correspondence with Tolstoy strongly influenced Gandhi towards the concept of nonviolent resistance, a central part of Tolstoy’s view of Christianity.More……………….
http://www.guidetorussia.com/leo-tolstoy.asp ——- Tolstoy believed that a true Christian could find lasting happiness by striving for inner self-perfection through following the Great Commandment of loving one’s neighbor and God rather than looking outward to the Church or state for guidance. His belief in nonresistance (nonviolence) when faced by conflict is another distinct attribute of his philosophy based on Christ’s teachings. By directly influencing Mahatma Gandhi with this idea through his work The Kingdom of God is Within You (full text of English translation available on Wikisource), Tolstoy has had a huge influence on the nonviolent resistance movement to this day. He believed that the aristocracy were a burden on the poor, and that the only solution to how we live together is through anarchism. He also opposed private property and the institution of marriage and valued the ideals of chastity and sexual abstinence (discussed in Father Sergius and his preface to The Kreutzer Sonata), ideals also held by the young Gandhi. Tolstoy’s later work derives a passion and verve from the depth of his austere moral views. In 1908, Tolstoy wrote A Letter to a Hindoo outlining his belief in non-violence as a means for India to gain independence from British colonial rule. In 1909, a copy of the letter fell into the hands of Mohandas Gandhi who was working as a laywer in South Africa at the time and in the beginnings of becoming an activist. Tolstoy’s letter was significant for Gandhi who wrote to the famous writer seeking proof that he was the real author, leading to further correspondence between them. Reading Tolstoy’s The Kingdom of God is Within You also convinced Gandhi to avoid violence and espouse nonviolent resistance, a debt Gandhi acknowledged in his autobiography, calling Tolstoy “the greatest apostle of non-violence that the present age has produced”. The correspondence between Tolstoy and Gandhi would only last a year, from October 1909 until Tolstoy’s death in November 1910, but led Gandhi to give the name, the Tolstoy Colony, to his second ashram in South Africa. Besides non-violent resistance, the two men shared a common belief in the merits of vegetarianism, the subject of several of Tolstoy’s essays
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy#Religious_and_political_beliefs
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