Is Gandhi out of date? by Dr. Vishwanath Tondon.

"Is Gandhi out of date?" a booklet by Dr. Vishwanath Tondon. This consists of two parts, an award winning essay by author written in 1969 and his thoughts today.

Author has covered Gandhi's principles one by one.
Philosophy: His religiousness consisted of an abiding faith in absolute values of truth, love & justice. There are chords in every human heart. If we only know how to strike the right chord, we bring out the music.
Ethical ideas: Truth is highest law, nonviolence is highest duty.
Brahmacharya however is not well defended by the writer.
Swadeshi is defined as that spirit in us which restricts us to the use and service of immediate surroundings to the exclusion of more remote.
Economic: Urbanization harms both cities and villages. He was not opposed to machinery but the craze for it and it's dominance over humans.
Political: That government is best which governs the least.
Education: Education must be woven around craft.
Satyagraha: Moral equivalent of war.
Non stealing, trusteeship, life, sarvoday are also covered.

In second section author says following in today's context:
There is enough in world for everyone's need but not everyone's greed.
There is increasing need of acceptance of nonviolence due to danger of nuclear annihilation.
Deal with terrorism by removing their economic and political greviances.

Author states the obivious, in the end, that his ideas have relevance today and would prove relevant in future. He also states that there is greater realization in west than in India.

This booklet is a crash course in Gandhian philosophy. I have tried to give you a gist of it. The quotes in this booklet can be used effectively in any speech, Gandhian or otherwise.

I had a feeling that the author has tried to show that there are similarities in Gandhi's philosophies and those of various western scholers, in order to justify or validate Gandhi. This seemed unnecessary and artificial.

Gandhiji was great and his greatness lies in the massive support he mobilized and his simple living and high thinking.

Those interested in quotations can read it.