Mahatma Gandhi and his wife Kasturba at Santiniketan, 1940

"Supreme Man" (1933)

We see the piece of iron to be iron, and yet it is only a physical symbol revealing the mysterious spirit of relationship which cannot be seen by the bodily eye. Likewise, the distinctions of time and place between individual men are very great, and yet there is a large and deep unity encompassing all men. This unity, imperceptible by the senses, is not that of a numerical aggregate, for it transcends all aggregates. Those who have in them the great capacity of feeling within themselves the one Spirit in all men, are the people to whom we give the name Mahātmā or Great Soul. It is they who can lay down their lives for the good of all men. It is they who can address the comprehensive spirit within and without them and say:

He is dearer than a son, dearer than wealth, dearer than all else is this spirit who is in our inmost heart.

The scientist condemns such statements. He says that we attribute humanity to God in calling Him our Beloved. I reply that it is not attributing but realizing humanity. It is by developing the sense of the dignity of his human truth that man has attained to his God.