my experiments with truths

8/12/2019 my experiments with truths

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BOOK REVIEW

The Story of My Experiments WithTruth

Submitted by :-Sidharth Gupta


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Part I. From Childhood to Passingthe Bar

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, asmall town in northwest India. His father, Karamchand Gandhi, was a localstatesman who had not studied much history or geography but hadaccumulated valuable experience in local government. His mother, Putlibai, hisfather's fourth wife, was illiterate. Nonetheless, she took great interest inreligious and spiritual matters and observed rules and customs mandated by

religion with intense devotion. She showed particular willpower in herdecisions to observe religious fasts. Though lacking sophistication, the familywas well-to-do by local standards and could afford a good education forGandhi.

As child, Gandhi appeared shy and academically mediocre. He did not

participate in athletics. He harbored no religious convictions as a young man,despite his mother's notable dedication as a practicing Hindu, and the factthat his father's friends included Muslims, Parsis, and Jains, who frequentlyengaged in philosophical debates in the house. Gandhi witnessed thesediscussions from an early age and found them boring. He also found Hindutemples too ostentatious, pompous and even distasteful. He did not exhibit an

interest in politics either.


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Gandhi writes about his relationship with Kasturbai with a lot of self-criticismand even regret. He believes that if her had devoted enough time to teachingher to read, she would have become educated quickly and led a much moremeaningful life. Such actions would have required him to consider her hismate and companion, and not his possessions, as many male Indiansconsidered their wives. But Gandhi was only 13 when he married her and themost natural course of action seemed to treat his wife the way older men inhis family treated their own wives. Only much later did he become cognizantof his errors and wished he had spent more time teaching her, rather thanengaging in carnal pleasures.

When Gandhi's father passed away in 1885, his relatives decided that, as themost likely successor of his father's position as a local politician, and as headof the family, Gandhi should go to England to obtain a law degree. Gandhi'smother Putlibai did not approve of this choice as she worried that animmersion in English society would corrupt the young man's morals. Gandhi,however, decided to pursue the opportunity to study in England, and, for thecomfort of his mother, took an oath to avoid wine and meat (both proscribedby the Hindu faith) as well as relationships with women while in England. He

then went to Bombay to sail for Southampton in England.


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But other individuals in Gandhis extended family also shared Putlibai'spreoccupation. Gandhi belonged to a merchant caste, which did not rankas high as the priest caste of Brahmins or the lowest class ofuntouchables. Three of the elders of his caste, who lived in Bombay,objected to the idea of Gandhis education abroad. Their protestemphasized the danger of moral corruption that they thought Gandhicould not escape. Their main concern involved the fact that Hinduism wasnot practiced in Europe, and they declared that Gandhi would be expelledfrom his cast if he chose to proceed with the plan.

Determined to go to England, Gandhi accepted his faith as an outcast for

the rest of his life and sailed for England in September of 1888, at the ageof 19. At that time, his first son, Harilal, was only three-months old.


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While in London, Gandhi adhered strictly to the oath he made in front ofhis mother, despite the fact that Victorian England did not provide manyoptions for a vegetarian diet, and many other Hindus had abandoned theirpromise not to eat meat. Gandhi ate oatmeal porridge until he found asuitable vegetarian restaurant, where he also stumbled upon the book "APlea for Vegetarianism" which helped him convert him from being avegetarian by birth and by oath to a vegetarian by conviction, a position hemaintained for his entire life.

During his studies in England, Gandhi first seriously read the Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred book of the Hindu tradition, written between the fifth and

second centuries B.C. as a dialogue between Arjuna, a legendary Indiangeneral, and the hero Krishna, whom Hindus worship as a god.


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Gandhi discovered the work through some friends who shared an interestin theosophy, and quickly embraced its message while also becoming

fascinated with the book's poetic style. He also found in the book severalideas that guided his career and personal path: the ideas of suppressingappetite, attachment, and desire itself in the name of a greater good.

While studying the Bhagavad-Gita made a profound impact on Gandhi'spersonal belief, he also became friends with many Christians, and read the

Bible for the first time. He readily embraced the Christian idea of humilityand "the poor in spirit, as expressed by Jesus Christ's Sermon on theMount in the New Testament.

However, Gandhi never accepted the idea of sin and redemption. As hisphilosophical, legal and religious education progressed rapidly, he beganto consider a universalist view of religion. He also took some lessons inviolin, French and dancing for a short while. Although Gandhi is known fordressing in a simple cloth, during his stay in England, he dressed as aWestern man and tried to integrate himself in British culture to the extentpossible, but without breaking his promise to his mother or going againsthis personal convictions.


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Part II. From Arrival in South Africa to Return to India

While Gandhi enjoyed living close to his family and improving his relationshipwith his wife, the fact that he found work less than inspiring motivated him toaccept an offer from a Muslim Indian firm in order to provide advice on a lawsuit.Gandhi viewed the trip to South Africa as a temporary assignment and anopportunity to escape professional mediocrity.

After a long history of antagonism, the British and the Dutch shared power inSouth africa, with Britain ruling the regions of Natal and Cape Colony, while theDutch settlers known as the Boers taking charge in the Orange Free State and theTransvaal, two independent republics. The white settler and the independentBoer states continued to engage in volatile interactions with the British so a

threat of violent eruptions always loomed large. In order to placate both the Boerand other white settlers, the British adopted a number of racist policies, andwhile the Indians, most of them working on sugar and coffee plantations, did notsuffer as much as the black population, they clearly experienced a treatment assecond-class citizens. From his very arrival in South Africa, Gandhi experiencediscrimination himself as he was forced to wait overnight in a Transvaal trainstation when he refused to give up his first- class seat to a white passenger.


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Very soon after his arrival, Gandhi's initial bafflement and indignation at racistpolicies turned into a growing sense of outrage and propelled him into

assuming a position as a public figure at the assembly of Transvaal Indians,where delivered his first speech urging Indians not to accept inequality butinstead to unite, work hard, learn English and observe clean living habits.Although Gandhi's legal work soon start to keep him busy, he found time toread some of Tolstoy's work, which greatly influenced his understanding ofpeace and justice and eventually inspired him to write to Tolstoy, setting the

beginning of a prolific correspondence. Both Tolstoy and Gandhi shared aphilosophy of non-violence and Tolstoy's harsh critique of human societyresonated with Gandhi's outrage at racism in South Africa.

Both Tolstoy and Gandhi considered themselves followers of the Sermon onthe Mount from the New Testament, in which Jesus Christ expressed the ideaof complete self-denial for the sake of his fellow men. Gandhi also continuedto seek moral guidance in the Bhagavad-Gita, which inspired him to view hiswork not as self-denial at all, but as a higher form of self-fulfillment. Adoptinga philosophy of selflessness even as a public man, Gandhi refused to acceptany payment for his work on behalf of the Indian population, preferring tosupport himself with his law practice alone.


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Part III. In South Africa with the Family,the Boer War, Bombay and South Africa

AgainIn 1896, Gandhi made a brief return to India and returned with his wife andchildren. In India, he published another pamphlet, known as the GreenPamphlet, on the plight of Indians in South Africa. For the first time, Gandhirealized that Indians had come to admire his work greatly and experienced ataste of his own popularity among the people, when he visited Madras, anIndian province, where most manual laborers had originated. Although hisfellow-Indians greeted him in large crowds with applause and adulation, hesailed back to South Africa with his family in December 1896.

Gandhi had become very well known in South Africa as well, to the point wherea crowd of rioters awaited him at Port Natal, determined that he should not beallowed to enter. Many of them also mistakenly believed that all the dark-skinned passenger on the ship that took Gandhi to Natal were poor Indianimmigrants he had decided to bring along with him, when, in reality, thesepassengers were mostly returning Indian residents of Natal. Fortunately, Gandhiwas able to establish a friendly relationship with the British in South Africa sothe Natal port's police superintendent and his wife escorted him to safety. Afterthis incident, local white residents began to actually regard him with greaterrespect.


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As Gandhi resumed his work at the Natal Indian Congress, his loyalty tothe British guided him to assist them in the Boer War, which started threeyears later. Because Gandhi remained a passionate pacifist, he wanted to

participate in the Boer War without actually engaging in violence so heorganized and led an Indian Medical Corps which served the British in anumber of battles, including the important battle of Spion Kop in Januaryof 1900.

The armed conflict between the British and Dutch raged on for over threeyears of often brutal fighting with the British conquering the Transvaal andOrange Free state territories. Gandhi expected that the British victorywould establish justice in South Africa and present him with anopportunity to return to India. He wanted to attend the 1901 meeting ofthe Indian National Congress, whose mission was to provide a social andpolitical forum for the Indian upper class. Founded in 1885 by the British,the Congress had no real political power and expressed pro-Britishpositions. Gandhi wanted to attend its meeting nevertheless, as he washoping to pass a resolution in support of the Indian population in SouthAfrica. Before he left for Bombay, Gandhi promised the Natal IndianCongress that he would return to support their efforts, should they needhis help.


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Gandhi did not waiver when a South African General by the name of JanChristiaan Smuts promised to eliminate the registration law, but broke hisword. Gandhi went all the way to London in 1909 and gathered enough

support among the British to convince Smuts to eliminate the law in 1913.Yet, the Transvaal Prime Minster continued to regard Indians as second-classcitizens while the Cape Colony government passed another discriminatorylaw making all non-Christian marriages illegal, which meant that all Indianchildren would be considered born out of wedlock. In addition, thegovernment in Natal continued to impose crippling poll tax for entering

Natal only upon Indians.

In response to these strikingly unjust rules, Gandhi organized a large-scalesatyagraha, which involved women crossing the Natal-Transvaal borderillegally. When they were arrested, five thousand Indian coal miners alsowent on strike and Gandhi himself led them across the Natalese border,where they expected arrest.

Further, the import of indentured laborers from India was to be phased outby 1920. In July of 1914, Gandhi sailed for Britain, now admired as"Mahatma," and known throughout the world for the success of satyagraha.


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Part IV. Mahatma in the Midst ofWorld Turmoil

Gandhi was in England when World War I started and he immediately beganorganizing a medical corps similar to the force he had led in the Boer War, buthe also faced health problems that caused him to return to India, where heapplauding crowds met him with enthusiasm once again. Indians continued torefer to him as "Mahatma" or "Great Soul," an appellation reserved only for theholiest men of Hinduism.

Although Gandhi had withdrawn from public life, he briefly met with the BritishGovernor of Bombay (and future Viceroy of India), Lord Willington, whomGandhi promised to consult before he launched any political campaigns. Hestayed away from the political trend of Indian nationalism, which many of themembers of the Indian National Congress embraced. Instead, he stayed busyresettling his family and the inhabitants of the Phoenix Settlement in SouthAfrica, as well as the Tolstoy Settlement he had founded near Johannesburg. Forthis purpose, on May 25, 1915, he created a new settlement, which came to beknown as the Satyagraha ashram (from the Indian word for "communal") nearthe town of Ahmedabad and close to his place of birth in the western Indian

province of Gujarati. All the inhabitants of the ashram,which included onefamily of untouchables, swore to poverty and chastity.


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In September 1920, Gandhi also passed an official constitution for theCongress, which created a system of two national committees andnumerous local units, all working to mobilize a spirit of non-cooperationacross India. Gandhi and other volunteers travelled around India furtherestablishing this new grass roots organization , which achieved greatsuccess. The new British Viceory in India, Lord Reading, did not dare to

interfere because of Gandhi's immense popularity.

By 1922, Gandhi decided that the initiative of non-cooperation had totransform into open civil disobedience, but in March 1922, Lord Readingfinally ordered Gandhi's arrest after a crowd in the city of Chauri Chauriattached and killed the local representatives of British authority. Gandhi,

who had never encouraged or sanctioned this type of conduct,condemned the actions of the violent crowds and retreated into a periodof fasting and prayer as a response to this violent outburst. However, theBritish saw the event as a trigger point and a reason for his arrest.


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Part V. Jail Time and the Fightfor IndependenceThe British authorities placed Gandhi on trial for sedition and sentenced him tosix years in prison, marking the first time that the faced prosecution in India.Because of Gandhi's fame, the judge, C.N. Broomfield, hesitated to impose aharsher punishment. He considered Gandhi clearly guilty as charged, despite thefact that Gandhi admitted his guilt and even went as far as requesting theheaviest possible sentence. Such willingness to accept imprisonment conformed

to his philosophy of satyagraha, so Gandhi felt that his time in prison onlyfurthered his commitment and goals. The authorities allowed him to use aspinning wheel and receive reading materials wile in prison, so he felt content.He also wrote most of his autobiography while serving his sentence.

However, in Gandhi's absence, Indians returned to their British jobs and their

every day routines. Even worse, the unity between Muslims and Hindu, whichGandhi advocated so passionately, had already begun to fall apart to the pointwhere the threat of violence loomed large over many communities with mixedpopulation.The fight for Indian independence could not continue while Indiansthemselves suffered disunity and conflict, all the more difficult to overcome in ahuge country like India, which had always suffered religious divisions, as well asdivisions by language, and even caste.


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Gandhi realized that Independence and that the British had lost the willand power to sustain their empire, but he always acknowledged thatIndians could not rely simply on the weakening of Britain in order toachieve independence. He believed that Indians had to become morallyready for Independence. He planned to contribute to such readinessthrough his speeches and writing, advocating humility, restraint, good

sanitation, as well as an end to child marriages. He acknowledged that hehad changed his position on many issues, like child marriages, and that hehad not always managed to discern the most moral course of action in hislife.

After his imprisonment ended, he resumed his personal quest for

purification and truth. He ends his autobiography by admitting that hecontinues to experience and fight with "the dormant passion" that liewithin his own soul. He felt ready to continue the long and difficult path oftaming those passions and putting himself last among his fellow humanbeings, the only way to achieve salvation, according to him.

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