HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 18: Model Answer

Question: Write about the Gandhi’s belief on religious conversion. (4Marks)   60 words

Answer: 

All religions are as dear to me as my own Hinduism, in as much as all human beings should be dear to one as one’s own close relatives. Gandhi disapproved religious conversion.

• My own veneration for other faiths is same as that for my own faith ; therefore no thought of conversion is possible.
• The aim of fellowship should be to help a Hindu to be a better Hindu , a Muslim to become a better Muslim and a Christian to be a better Christian…I do not believe in people telling others of their faith , especially with a view to conversion.
• Faith does not admit of telling. It has to be lived and then it becomes self-propagating.
• I consider myself a Hindu of Hindus. I believe that I have a fine perception of the truth of Hinduism and the priceless lesson I have learnt from it is that I should not wish that others may become Hindus but that they become best specimens in their own faith…I love Christianity , Islam and many other faiths through Hinduism.”
• He strongly opposed the evil of Untouchability and considered it as a soul destroying sin. For him Caste was a social evil and strived until his last breath to eradicate such evils which were related to Hinduism during his time. Therefore he rightfully believed that “religion of our conception is always subject to a process of evolution and re-interpretation” and progress towards the Truth is possible only because of such evolution
• The leaders and the statesmen of the world need to remember that the extra-constitutional factors active and existing in the modern societies include many divisive forces . Hence the need for promoting Universal Religion of Toleration as advocated by the Mahatma as also avoidance of politics without morality