Question: “But do you not think a man’s life is worth more than an animal’s? Take yourself now. You are the leader of a great movement which you believe to be for the good of your country. Supposing you were confronted by a crocodile and you could only escape by injuring it, would you not think your duty and responsibility as a leader were more important than the life of that reptile?”
Gandhiji: No, I should say¾or at least I ought to say¾to this crocodile, “Your need is greater than mine”, and let it devour me. You see, our life does not finish with the death of the body. God knows all about it. We none of us know what will happen next. If I escaped the crocodile, I could not escape the flash of lightning that might come next minute.
“But surely,” I urged, “ a man’s soul is different from that of a crocodile¾ if it has one at all. You remember what Chesterton says about it, ‘when a man is taking his sixth whiskey and soda, and is beginning to lose control over himself, you come up to him and give him a friendly tap on the shoulder and say, ‘Be a man’. But when the crocodile is finishing his sixth missionary, you do not step up to it and tap it on the back and say. ‘Be a crocodile’. Doesn’t this show a man has an ideal in him to strive after in a way no animal has?”
The Mahatma laughed and said:
Gandhiji: True, there is a difference between the souls of men and of animals. Animals live in a sort of perpetual trance; but man can wake up and become conscious of God. God says, as it were, to man, “Look up and worship Me; you are made in My image.”
“And the souls of animals, where do they come from?” I queried. “Do you think the soul of a man can become the soul of an animal?”
Gandhiji: Yes, I think all these horrible and evil creatures are inhabited by the souls of men who have gone wrong ¾snakish men, greedy, unmerciful crocodile men, and so on.
“But look at the infinite number of animals, the countless millions upon millions of insects, to mention only one group of the animal kingdom; are they all souls¾the mosquitos, the sandflies, the microbe?”
Gandhiji: Who are we, to set a limit to God’s sphere of action? Are there not countless other suns and planets in this universe?
It was time for me to go, for I had another appointment, so at this point I rose to take my leave. I went to the edge of the little carpet on the verandah where we had
(p. 375)
been sitting and began to put on my shoes (for I had removed them, eastern fashion, being in a manner his guest).
As I lifted one shoe, I saw a spider in it. “See,” I said to him, laughing, as I shook out the loathsome thing, and resisting the impulse to crush it, let it run away. “Look; it has been sent to me as a temptation, to try if I have profited by your sermon.”
He laughed—he has an infectious and hearty laugh—and said:
Gandhiji: Yes, a spider may be a great matter. Don’t you remember the story of Mohammed and the spider?
I confessed my ignorance, wondering vaguely if he had got the story muddled up with Robert Bruce.
Gandhiji: Yes, one day Mohammed was fleeing from his enemies in great danger. In desperation he turned into a sort of cave in the rock. A few hours afterwards the pursuers came along. “Ah,” said one, “let’s look in here; this is a likely place.” “No” replied the other, “he couldn’t be in here, for, see, there is a spider’s web across the entrance.” Not realizing how recently it had been spun, they passed on, and so Mohammed escaped by the help of the spider and the will of Allah.1 The Hindu, 15-8-1922 [non-cooperation; soul; animal etc.]— INTERVIEW TO “MANCHESTER GUARDIAN”
, Collected Works of Mahatama Gandhi, vol. 26, pp. 371- 376
Leave a Reply