Indian Civilization and Culture Summary

SUMMARY

Mahatma Gandhi in his essay “Indian Civilization and Culture” has described the importance of Indian civilizatio

The sound foundation of Indian civilization has successfully with stood the passage of time. The western civilization which has the tendency to privilege materiality cannot match the Indian civilization that elevates the moral being.

The Indian civilization is unparalleled and can not be beaten in the world. The seeds sown by our ancestors were deep-rooted and had developed miraculously in a big tree with many of its branches spread over the heart of India. Rome, Greece and many other centers of an ancient civilization were diminished or no longer exist in their former glory. Japan has become westernized and China has also shifted from its past culture. Civilization points out to man the path of duty, performance of duty and observance of morality are exchangeable.

It is a charge against India that her people are uncivilized and they do not adopt any change. It is a charge really against our merit. In the midst of such allegations, India remains firm and immovable and that is her glory. “Mind is a restless bird”, is but a fact. The more it gets the more it wants and still remains unsatisfied. As such our ancestors set a limit to our indulgences. They persuaded us against luxuries and pleasures. For them, large cities were burden and trap. People would not be happy there, because there would be gangs of thieves, robbers, prostitutes and antisocial elements there.

The Indian civilization elevates the moral being whereas the western – civilization is to propagate immortality. Hie latter is godless, the former is based on a belief in God. The ancient civilization is an imperative restriction upon an indefinite multiplicity of human wants whereas modern civilization is just the reverse.

In the west, wonderful discoveries in things material have been made. In India similarly, Hinduism has made still more marvelous discoveries in things of religion, the spirit, and the soul. There is something in Hinduism that has kept alive up till now. It has witnessed the fall of so many civilizations like Baby Ionia, Syria, Egypt and so on.

Our civilization, culture, and swaraj depend upon restricting wants and self-denial instead of multiplying our wants and self-indulgence. European civilization is suited for the Europeon and will ruin us (India) if we copy it. Civilization in the real sense of the terms consists of the deliberate and voluntary restriction of wants not in the multiplication, as already mentioned.

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