By chhotebhai
Kanpur, September 25, 2026: It is no coincidence that Gandhi Jayanti, to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, is celebrated on October 2 and the feast of St Francis of Assisi on October 4.
They have much in common, especially their extreme form of renunciation and humility. I am clubbing these two virtues because I don’t think that either of them can stand alone. Renunciation is a sine` qua non for humility and vice versa.
Francis was born six centuries before the Mahatma. But the latter would have definitely been influenced by the former. That is why Francis’ prayer “Make me a Channel of Your Peace” is incorporated in Gandhi’s inter-religious daily prayer book.
Since I strive to be both a Gandhian and a Franciscan the comparisons, and sometimes the contrasts, fascinate me.
However, in this piece I will focus on just one aspect of Gandhi’s life – his vow of brahmacharya (celibacy). He took it in 1906 when he was still 37 years of age and very much in the prime time of his life.
Let us examine his understanding of brahmacharya in his own words, as found in his autobiography “My Experiments with Truth” written in 1925, a good nineteen years after he had taken the oath.
By then he would have experienced it in its fullness. I will be now quoting extensively from his two chapters on brahmacharya. For brevity and clarity I am stringing together his disparate thoughts.
“It was in South Africa that I came to realize the importance of observing brahmacharya even with respect to my wife”. This was because of “the influence of Raychandbhai”, a poet to whom he had earlier “eulogized conjugal love”.
He now makes what I consider an outrageous comparison. He says, “The devotion of a servant was, I felt, a thousand times more praiseworthy than that of a wife to her husband”.
He again goes off on a tangent when he says, “Did my faithfulness consist in making my wife the instrument of my lust? … She was never the temptress. It was therefore the easiest thing for me to take the vow of brahmacharya”.
With due respect to the Mahatma, as a married man myself, I do not think that conjugal love is for satisfying one’s lust. It is a form of sharing and bonding between spouses. It is God’s gift to them.
He now makes another startling revelation about his motivation. “My main object was to escape having more children”.
While in England he had become acquainted with some form of artificial contraceptiHHe now makes another startling revelation about his motivation.
“My main object was to escape having more children”. While in England he had become acquainted with some form of artificial contraception but concluded that “self-control had a greater effect”.
Hence “We began to sleep in different beds. I decided to go to bed only after the day’s work had left me completely exhausted”.
So was strenuous physical exhaustion the antidote to sexual desire? I recall a South African cricket coach to the Indian team advocating active sex to raise the players’ testosterone levels.
He now justifies brahmacharya by saying “It became my conviction that procreation and the consequent care of children were inconsistent with public service … If I wanted to devote myself to the service of the community … I must relinquish the desire for children and wealth”.
Here there is convergence of thought with St Paul who wrote “From now on those who have wives should live as though they had none … those who enjoy life as though they did not enjoy it, those who have been buying property, as though they had no possessions” (1 Cor 7:30).
What was Paul’s logic for this exhortation? “I should like you to have your minds free from all worry.
The unmarried man gives his mind to the Lord’s affairs and to how he can please the Lord, but the man who is married gives his mind to the affairs of this world and how he can please his wife and he is divided in mind” (v 32-33).
Paul came to these erroneous conclusions “because the world as we know it is passing away” (v 31). The only redeeming grace is that he begins this exhortation with the caveat “I have no direction from the Lord, but I give my own opinion” (v25).
Both Gandhi and Paul had adopted a binary position of black or white while most such scenarios are different shades of grey.
Here in India we have confirmed bachelors/ spinsters in public life like Rahul Gandhi, Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and late Jayalalitha. Former prime minister, late A.B. Vajpayee was also unmarried but those who knew him closely could not vouch for him being a celibate.
Nevertheless, for every unmarried person in public life there are millions who are married and yet work for society. For every Sr Rani Maria there is a Graham Staines.
Having spent almost 60 years in public life, both in church and society, I strongly affirm that there is no definitive co-relation between brahmacharya and marriage, when it comes to dedication and commitment to a cause.
There are good as also mediocre or ineffective people on both sides of the fence.
I have a rider here, especially after observing the functioning style of Jayalalitha, Mayawati and Mamata. They demand fierce personal loyalty and brook no dissent.
This is not so marked in unmarried male leaders. I have no psychological explanation for this phenomenon.
But one thing I can affirm is that it is difficult for married people to have bloated egos because there is always someone in the family to prick the balloon and deflate the ego!
Back to Gandhi. He now compares sex to a poisonous snake. It is not enough to “make an effort to flee from it … that mere effort may mean certain death”. Resolve is not good enough.
One must make a vow of renunciation. But “renunciation without aversion is not lasting. Where therefore the desire is gone a vow of renunciation is the natural and inevitable fruit”. Here again I differ. Conjugal sex is not a serpent or an aversion.
In Christian spirituality celibacy is not because of any aversion, but because of an informed choice. As Jesus said, it is “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 19:12).
Earlier Gandhi saw physical exercise as a tool for self-control. His next tool was diet. “Control of the palate is the first essential in the observance of the vow … The brahmachari’s food should be limited, simple, spiceless and, if possible, uncooked.
“… The brahmachari’s ideal food is fresh fruit and nuts”. He even found that “milk diet makes the brahmachari’s vow difficult to observe”.
I would question the scientific basis and practicality of such a diet. At the other end there are many celibates within the church whose food and drink is at stark contrast to what Gandhi advocates. Gandhi has one more practical observation.
“As an external aid to brahmacharya fasting is as necessary as selection and restriction of diet. … Fasting undertaken with a view to control the senses is, I have no doubt, very helpful … Sexual passion is as a rule impossible to control without fasting”.
Here I would agree with Gandhi. Voluntary fasting is a powerful spiritual exercise for self-control. As is the abstention from various pleasures (though not wrong in themselves); like movies, TV, non-vegetarian food etc.
Many Christians keep these observances during Lent and Advent. On my part I enjoy doing the sudoko puzzle in the morning newspaper. It is my one personal indulgence. I give it up during those seasons of preparation.
At the same time we must admit that the “official” Catholic fast is a farce. You can have soup, eggs, fish, and one and a half meals.
That’s more than what a lot of Indians have in their normal diet. In contrast Muslims fast without food or water from sunrise to sunset during the holy month of Ramzan.
Hindus have various fasts, some without cereals, salt or water. They have their merits, though Gandhi cautions: not if they are “thinking all the while what they will eat or drink after the fast terminates”.
From renunciation let us turn to the other virtue of humility. Brahmacharya means control of the senses in thought, word and deed … An aspirant after brahmacharya will always be aware of his shortcomings”.
This is why I said at the beginning that we cannot separate renunciation from humility. Even St Francis had warned when he saw a friar strutting around in a torn habit. “I can see his pride shining through the holes in his garment”.
As we approach the twin occasions of Gandhi Jayanti and the feast of St Francis of Assisi let us draw inspiration from their lives.
While we may not necessarily agree with many of the reasons and arguments propounded by the Mahatma we can nevertheless learn much from his life of sacrifice, renunciation, dedication and humility.
Gandhi’s last utterance was “Hey Ram”. Francis was placed naked on the ground to die because naked he came and naked he would return” (cf Job 1:22). With Jesus on the cross we too can say “It is accomplished” (Jn 19:30) and “Into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46)
(The writer is the Convenor of the Indian Catholic Forum)