The Kodaikanal Gandhi Prize 2022
Honourable Mention
PRANVI KHARE
‘Be the change you want to see’ is a paraphrase of what Gandhi said in 1913,
‘We but mirror the world... If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in
the world would also change... We need not wait to see what others do.’ In
which social and political context did Gandhi say those words and how would you apply them today?
Abstract
As the world changes and India reaches 75 years of Independence, the sayings of Mahatma Gandhi remain relevant to our day-to-day lives. One especially important quote of his that remains relevant to the future of our generation, and those to come is – ‘We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do’. This essay therefore will discuss the importance and relevance of this quote to the current sociocultural environment of the world.
Essay
‘Be the change you want to see’. Posters, flyers and infographics all around India, in schools,
offices, colleges and malls have this quote up for Gandhi Jayanti, however, this a misquote, and Mahatma Gandhi said ‘We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do’
The statement we are so accustomed to hearing and seeing is not completely correct, and to explore what it means, this essay will look at this saying in its entirety from a historical context and how ittranslates to today’s context. In its historical context, it was published in 1913 in the Indian Opinion, in an article titled ‘12. Snake Bites’ written by Mahatma Gandhi. This article details not only snake bites but also the ways one’s external environment is influenced by them and vice-versa.
What makes this quotation more interesting, is not only the context it is published, but also the fact that at this point Gandhi-ji was still in Africa, and hadn’t started taking part in the Indian struggle for independence.
It is also interesting to see the historical context of the quote. At this point, Gandhi had begun his ‘Swaraj movement’ in both India and Africa. In 1913, Mahatma Gandhi was in Africa as a lawyer, where he fought for justice. He once said reported to have said something along the lines of ‘I was born in India but made in South Africa’. He was extremely compassionate and spiritual which was reflected in his ideologies that changed the world. Gandhi in Africa fought for people whom the British discriminated against in Africa.
The article in itself is an interesting read, on its surface being an article about ‘snake bites’ and how men are afraid of snake bites — how though we may worship them, there exists a dread about facing the snakes. How Indians are faced with the prevalent problem of venomous snakes, and how the government intervened — by killing the snakes. However, Gandhi, reflecting a similar outlook as he does almost a decade later in India, has a different solution for the ‘snake problem’ – ridding oneself of animosity towards snakes as ‘...compassion is the root of the higher life.’ And that compassion is reflected back at those who are compassionate. This is very similar to his thoughts in the future, as he battles at the forefront for Indian Independence. His idealogy stays true, and relevant as an idealogy even 75 years after Independence.
1. Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 13, pg.239
The essay written by Mahatma Gandhi Refer to the snakes as poisonous, but they are in reality venomous.It will remain relevant as the world fights battles, wars and conflicts at innumerable scales -- in the neighbourhood, in the town, in the country and in the world. Compassion is what is needed, for no matter what governments may think and do, it is the people, the citizens of the country who suffer. With a little bit of compassion for people who live daily on the streets, in outcast groups, and people who you might not like -- you will get the compassion reflected back at you.
However, that is not the only takeaway from the quote or the saying. In the next few passages, I will break down the quote sentence by sentence to find new meanings
'‘We all but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in
the world of our body.’ – We reflect the worlds and the times we live in. Take for example during the coronavirus, there was a 25% increase in mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
But as the world slowly begins to open up mental health is slowly improving. There are
psychological reasons for this. Humans are social learners, and therefore we learn from people around us and our environment, and therefore we mirror the thoughts that are shared by the community. As our communities and environments change, our thoughts also begin to change.
If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change - Once we begin
to change, the people around us 'learn' from us. For example, once we go to school, our school communities influence us, and we change ourselves, and this change is also reflected in our community at home. On a larger scale, as one small community begins to change, the same change is reciprocated by other communities with some association with the original community.
As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. As
an individual, once you start embodying the attitudes and natures, you become a leader, and people become trusting of you. You become a role model, whether bad or good.
This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness.
We need not wait to see what others do.’ This change and sense of community is what creates
and promotes happiness within self and community.
We, as humans expect people around us to be the ones to do/make any change. If many people are sitting in a dark room, and the light bulb isn't working. If none of the people moves and change the bulb, the room will be involved in darkness. There is a theory in psychology called the bystander effect - ‘when greater the number of people present, the less likely people are to help a person in distress.’ Humans make a risk assessment before they take any action. This means that if we think that a person can change the light bulb, we don't need to do it as it may harm us. This might seem random, and unrelated but this is where the quote is important. If we all are waiting for the change, then no one will change but as the first person takes action, others also begin to change which causes a chain of change.
This sort of phenomenon is extremely common in the changing world, such as the
environmentalism movement - people do not make changes at their level as their reasoning is ‘one person can't change the world’ or ‘what difference will I make when the people around me are not changing’. If one person makes a change, they influence their community, are the cycle continues to happen to create change at a larger scale. This cycle is extremely important in creating any form of change.
This is something that can be termed as a ‘domino of change’ and can be seen everywhere, all the biggest revolutions in the world have started because of individuals acting on their beliefs, by changing their actions in order to work towards the world they desire,
Even if many people think alike, if none of them acts on their thoughts, there will be no change.
And as cliche as it may sound ‘be the change you want to see’ is some of the best advice that can be Statistics from the WHO given to new generations of leaders and communities in general. The larger quotation is also great advice to future generations about how they must be the ones creating the domino of change.
The domino of change is essential not only to the history of our country, our world and our daily lives but also for the lives of future generations, and the world around us. It is a popular saying, that everyone has heard more than once ‘change is the only constant’. Since change is the only constant in the world that makes the world better (or worse). Gandhi's saying will always remain relevant to our lives.
Works Cited
1. The collected works of Mahatma Gandhi Volume 13 <http://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-
literature/mahatma-gandhi-collected-works-volume-13.pdf>
2. World. ‘COVID-19 Pandemic Triggers 25% Increase in Prevalence of Anxiety and Depression
Worldwide.’ Who.int, World Health Organization: WHO, 2 Mar. 2022, www.who.int/news/item/
02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-
worldwide.
3. ‘Bapu in Africa: 10 Things Mahatma Gandhi Did in South Africa.’ India Today, India Today, Oct. 2016,
www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-&-current-affairs/story/bapu-in-africa-344314-2016-10-01.
4. https://www.facebook.com/verywell. ‘What Psychology Says about Why Bystanders Sometimes Fail to
Help.’ Verywell Mind, 2020, www.verywellmind.com/the-bystander-effect-2795899.
5. ‘Return to India | Gandhi Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth.’ Mkgandhi.org,
2022, www.mkgandhi.org/autobio/chap66.htm.
6. Readings provided by the foundation
PRANVI KHARE
NEEV ACADEMY, BANGALORE
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