IISER MOHALI

Abstract: Gandhi did many things: he was the leader of India’s freedom struggle, a lawyer who fought for the rights of the racially discriminated Indians in South Africa, the mobilizer of the Indian masses, a spiritual leader or Mahatma, a human being who responded to difference with an equality of deference, a philosopher and, most importantly, a man of inspiring integrity and goodness. The lecture will argue that the integrity of Gandhi’s life and ideas is best appreciated when we look at his thought in the light of his fundamental insights about the good human life. Most of his ideas really flow from his basic moral convictions such as satya (Truth), ahimsa (nonviolence), daya (compassion), yama/niyama (cardinal/casual virtues), swaraj (freedom), yajna (sacrifice), tapasya (voluntary acceptance of pain), and abhaydaan (gift of fearlessness). It will unpack the most important aspect of Gandhian ethics (for our world) as a non-violent/ ahimsanat and loving response to the ‘otherness’ of the different- and frequently hostile- ‘other’. In this connection it will also be revealing to reflect on the continuities that mark Gandhi’s conception of the good human life - continuity between the past and the present, between the religious and the moral, between the moral-religious and the political, and between man and nature.

About the Speaker: Bindu Puri is a professor of contemporary Indian philosophy at the centre for philosophy, school of social sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru university. Her main interests are in the areas of modern Indian philosophy, moral and political philosophy. Puri has over 58 papers in edited anthologies and philosophical and interdisciplinary journals. She has authored three monographs; Gandhi and the Moral Life (2004), The Tagore-Gandhi Debate: On Matters of Truth and Untruth (Springer Nature Publications: 2015); and The Ambedkar-Gandhi Debate: On Identity, Community and Justice (Springer Nature Publications: 2022). Her most recent book co-authored with Mrinal Miri entitled Gandhi For the 21st Century: Religion, Morality and Politics has been published by Springer Nature Publications in July 2023. She has a forthcoming book Rabindranath Tagore: Peace in an Enchanted world with Routledge, India. She has eight edited volumes, the most recent being Reading Sri Aurobindo - Metaphysics Ethics and Spirituality(Springer Nature Publications:2022)which has been translated into German by Springer nature publications Singapore with the title Sri Aurobindo Lesen. Metaphysik, Ethik und Spiritualitaet in 2024.Puri is the general editor of the book series on ‘Indian Philosophy: past and present’ being published by Springer Nature Publications. She has presented over 180 papers and lectures at national and international forums. Professor Puri is a member of the prestigious Indian council for philosophical research and of the Governing body of the same council. She is a fellow of the Australia India Institute, university of Melbourne and was the Sugden fellow at Queen’s College, university of Melbourne for the year 2023. Puri delivered the prestigious annual ‘M K Gandhi lecture on Peace and the Humanities’ 2017 for the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Council of Ottawa as well as the Johnson and Hastings lectures at the university of Mount Allison in Canada for the same year.Puri has also delivered the prestigious annual Sugden Oration 2023 at Queen’s college, university of Melbourne and lectures at the Australia India Institute and the Asian law centre of the Melbourne Law school at the university of Melbourne in the same year.