Mahatma Gandhi's Autobiography
In Gandhi's Words - His Early Years and Experiments with Truth
Jan 5, 2008
Born in 1869, Ghandi was assassinated in January 1948. He is best remembered for his consistent teaching and practice of Ahimsa which means non-violence in thought, word, and deed. With the knowledge that Mahatma (Sanskrit title meaning Great Soul) Gandhi was instrumental in bringing about India’s independence from British rule, this book is essential reading for understanding his early years and how they shaped the great teacher he became.
Gandhi’s autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, begins with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s boyhood. He was clearly deeply influenced by both his mother, whom he remembers as saintly, religiously devout, and intelligent; and his father whom he describes as “incorruptible” and “strictly impartial” in matters relating to the family as well as in his career as prime minister of the region.
Early Experiments
Written in the first person in a simple narrative style, the book is a tender and honest read. Ghandi talks with some shame, of his early marriage at 13, to a girl of the same age. As was the Hindu custom in India, his young illiterate wife moved into the Gandhi family home and he continued to go to school during the day. He describes his unfounded jealousy and remembers daydreaming with feelings of carnal longing during his daily lessons. One of his earliest experiments with truth, and one to which he returned, was that of trying to break free from “the shackles of lust.”
Dancing Lessons
Parts of the book are touchingly funny, particularly when he explains how he set about trying to become an English gentleman during his law student days in Britain. Not content with buying British clothes and having a standard haircut under his tall black hat, he writes:
“I decided to take dancing lessons at a class and paid down £ 3 as fees for a term. I must have taken about six lessons in three weeks. But it was beyond me.”
He bought a violin instead, and added elocution lessons to the regime. It is typical of his single-mindedness that he would do all that he could to achieve his desire to be accepted into British society. However, when the “truth” dawned on him that England was not, and never would be his home, he immediately sold the violin and withdrew from his diction classes.
Reluctant Vegetarian
Another experiment and an important theme of these memoirs is vegetarianism, and diet in general. Originally a reluctant vegetarian, he eventually embraced the philosophy of a meatless diet and was elected to the committee of the Vegetarian Society in England.
Religious Enquiry
Gandhi’s religious experiment began in earnest after his graduation as a lawyer, and during the time spent in South Africa. He writes without bitterness, of the racism he encountered alongside his enquiry into Christianity and Islam. It was here that his practice of non-violence was born, and from here that he would develop his great sense of justice and the right to personal freedom.
Tribute
The final chapters describe the beginning of his experiment with politics and civil disobedience, and end with his introduction of the spinning wheel. This book is a realistic tribute to the ways of honesty and simplicity, inspirational as a guide to looking deeply into the truth of one’s own life.
The seeds of non-violence are evident throughout and fascinating as a background for the great things to come in the life of Mahatma Gandhi.
- Re-mastered DVD, Gandhi, follows his life to the end.
