Lessons From Gandhi In Truthful Communication

In 2025, My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi completed 100 years, yet it continues as a global bestseller, reflecting the enduring relevance of Gandhian ethics in contemporary public and personal life.

The Shift in Communication

• Modern “Effective” Communication: Modern communication emphasises marketing, optics, and the manipulation of audience impulses.
  • It relies on images and emotional triggers to maximise impact and profit.
  • Success is measured through visibility, virality, and influence rather than truth.
• Gandhian Expression: Gandhian communication centres on truthful expression rooted in lived experience.
  • It involves sharing heartfelt insights based on honest cognition and thinking.
  • Its goal is connection and truth, not persuasion, profit, or image-building.
    

The Youth’s Existential Angst

• The Question: Many young people ask whether focusing on “what should be” (ethics) makes one unfit to deal with “what is” (functional reality).
• The Fear: There is deep anxiety about being left behind in competitive, outcome-driven systems.
• The Consequence: This fear leads people to ignore moral principles, thereby normalising unethical behaviour.

Workings of Gandhi’s Mind

• Biographer’s Observation: Louis Fischer observed that Gandhi “thought aloud”.
• Method of Thinking: Gandhi did not conceal confusion or uncertainty in his thinking. 
  • He revealed every step of his reasoning process with complete transparency.
• Result: He communicated like a friend rather than a propagandist, thereby inviting trust instead of compliance.
  

The Digital Age Challenge

• The Guiding Question Before Posting: Before sharing anything, one must ask whether it is for self-service, driven by personal profit, ego, or agenda.
• The Ethical Alternative: Alternatively, one must consider whether it serves Sarve Sukhina, meaning the well-being of all and the larger good.
  

Fact vs. Opinion- A Crucial Distinction

• Common Claim: It is often argued that there is no truth, only points of view.
• Necessary Clarification: A vantage point is what a person sees from a particular position and is subjective. An opinion is how one interprets what is seen and is also subjective. 
  • A material fact is what actually happened and is objective.
• Warning: Mixing up facts, opinions, and vantage points enables manipulation and distorts truth.

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Way Forward

• Face Material Facts: Individuals must pay unwavering attention to facts and avoid reliance on rumours.
• Keep an Open Mind and Heart: One should observe diverse responses to facts and listen without judgment.
• Remain Grounded in Moral Values: Even when facts are unclear, core values such as Satya and Ahimsa must remain unshaken.

Conclusion

Gandhi’s relevance today lies not in communication tactics or strategy, but in moral clarity and truthful expression. In an age of noise and manipulation, honesty rooted in ethics remains the most enduring source of influence.

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