Satyagraha

Gandhi wasn't to coin the word satyagraha, but a relative of his, Maganlal Gandhi who responded to the invitation of the same Mahatma find a word more representative of passive resistance for the movement and the struggles of Indians in South Africa.

Maganlal proposed Sadagraha which Gandhi then changed to Satyagraha.

Satya is a Sanskrit word that comes from the root sat and essentially indicates the verb to be and, consequently, the true real, what does not change, that is the Truth, and ultimately God.

Agraha instead refers to a concept of perseverance, firmness, can be translated as insistence on something, or likely to be stubbornly attached to something.

The word Satyagraha, therefore, can be translated as firmness in truth, obstinate defense of the truth or, in the words of Gandhi, "insistence on truth, and force derivablefrom such insistence."

The satyagraha, is "the force that is born from truth and love."

Satyagraha is not a technique, or a movement, or a tool, for Gandhi's satyagraha is a preparation of the own soul.

To implement the satyagraha is therefore necessary first to act upon themselves. "Satyagraha - Gandhi reminded - is the complete annihilation of self, the greatest humiliation, greatest patience and faith brighter."

In perfect keeping with the Hindu thought, Gandhi knows that the truth is not in the I and in my and therefore to reach the Truth and be steadfast in the truth, you must cancel the ego and his every desire.

First rule of satyagraha is therefore self-discipline: domestic relations, diet, individual behavior must all be characterized by the abandonment of the ego, desire and hatred towards others.

"We have to have strict self-control - Gandhi says - if it is necessary for this preparation to live in forests and caves, we should do so."

After, the satyagraha can move in social relations and in the political struggle where its real purpose is the inner transformation of the opponent.

"A satyagrahi - Gandhi says - is already dead in the body before the enemy tries to kill him, that is freed from attachment to their own bodies and lives only for the victory of the soul." Of what use then kill a man already dead?

The opponent who sees this patience, this capacity to suffer for the truth, this self-annihilation in the affirmation of truth, this acceptance of the hardest consequences (even the prison or even his own death) to remain "steadfast in the Truth", leads to final victory, indeed it is already in itself a victory, in a reversal of perspective that displaces the opponent and, eventually, change him and wins him.

"In the satyagraha - reminds us of the Mahatma - the defense of truth is not inflicting suffering opponent, but to themselves."