Brahmacharya, Nonviolent Social Praxis, and Leadership

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Gandhi, the youngest of the three icons examined in the book, and elaborates how for Gandhi, sexual life, sensuality generally, and politics, are intricately interconnected. It examines how the intellectual and cultural influences on Gandhi are essential to his ideas on the connection between sensual austerity and moral leadership, since these cannot be understood without also considering the foundational philosophical-spiritual traditions upon which his thinking was predicated. Despite Gandhi’s popularity and influence, his ideas on sensual austerity and moral leadership, like those of the other thinkers considered here, remain largely unexplored in the literature. Gandhi remained unabashedly candid about the connection between sensual austerity and political leadership throughout his writings, insisting that any legitimate leader must lead by example in this regard. After examining Gandhi’s worldview in the first section to place his moral psychology and political theory within a comprehensive philosophical framework, the chapter focuses on the link between sensual austerity and moral leadership specifically, and how establishing this link is necessary for a moral leader to serve his constituency. It also focuses on Gandhi’s own experiments with the idea of sensual austerity and the necessary connection between spiritual self-cultivation, moral excellence, and selfless service via leadership.