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Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth (平装)
by M. K. Gandhi
| Category:
Autobiography, Non-violence |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
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¥ 148.00
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Written with brutal honesty by Gandhi, a towering personality in human history, this book reveals Gandhi's mind and his relentless pursuit of truth. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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Collins Maranga (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
Barrister Gandhi, in his book Gandhi and Autobiography: The Story of my Experiments With Truth is a real account of experiments with truth or what is percieved to be the truth. Gandhi, the youngest of three sons was born and brought up in Porbandar, India. His love for truth and respect for all humanity was put in him by his father who was "...a lover of his clan, truthful, brave and generous... " His mother too left him with an "... outstanding impression... of saintliness" as "she was deeply religious", a woman devoted to prayer and fasting. It's on this background that Mr. Gandhi built his life of Experiments on.
After reading the whole book I came out with the impression that he conducted the experiments to validate his parents' belief systems. One outstanding thing that jumped out at me is the fact that while his father, though uneducated, believed in literary education and sent him to school, Gandhi, though educated, did not believe in it. The result is that his boys, like their mother, never got a formal education as they were taught by their father at the "Tolstoy Farm" in Phoenix, South Africa. The hunger for literary education is seen in his eldest son who "... has often vent to his distress privately before me and publicly in the press..." about his lack of literary education.
Nevertheless, he used his education to teach everyone he came across. As a result, he helped start an organisation to help Indians in South Africa as well as led his Country to independence.
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Kramerizio (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
The book is truly the story of his experiments with defining his life style and credos: it is not a chronicle of the struggle with the British Empire.
It is an excellent description of his personal journey toward a philosophy that preaches extreme humility and non-violence. The towering personality of this man is evident especially in moments of contrast with the rest of the world, when normal people attack him and he responds with grace, kindness and respect. The apparent simplicity of his philosophy hides the greatest challenge we have as humans: to control ourselves, to conquer our inside before even thinking of influencing the outside. Obviously, the shortcut everybody takes is to neglect the all-too-difficult control of the inside for the much easier conquest of the material world.
His search for Truth is a real adventure: perhaps the only adventure we should all pursue. His quest ties together with Zorba, the Bible, Jim Rohn: Truth will set you free, free to amend your errors, to live your own life, to blossom to the person you are really set to be. But Truth is upstream, as any other great thing: it is difficult to pursue.
And Truth can only be achieved through joyful service rendered to others.
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Daniel Lawler (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
In the book's introduction, Gandhi ascribes these words of the Hindu poet to himself:
Where is there a wretch
So wicked and loathsome as I?
I have forsaken my Maker,
So faithless have I been.
The cause of this wretchedness, Gandhi wrote, was "the evil passions within that keep me so far from Him, and yet I cannot get away from them." These thoughts echo those of the Apostle Paul who, while desiring to do good, found that evil worked within him. He bemoaned, "Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" Both men realized they could not perform what the truth required, and because they loved truth, it made them feel wretched.
Who then is righteous, if not Gandhi and Paul? The prophet Ezekial spoke of God's promise to "put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes." But such righteousness is seldom seen. Gandhi wrote disapprovingly of one Christian acquaintance "who knowingly committed transgressions, and showed me that he was undisturbed by the thought of them." Paul saw among his own converts in Corinth such immorality "that does not even exist among the heathens."
The promise does not fail, but faith wavers. The promise must be put to the test, as an experiment with truth. Then those who love the Truth may be revealed.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
I'd strongly recommend everyone to read Gandhi's bio (www.gandhismriti.org) and learn about India's freedom struggle before even touching this book. This book is an unedited translation of Gandhi's original work in Gujarati. As others have mentioned, it not a history textbook or an encyclopedia of Gandhi's acheivements. As the title says, the book is about only the personal experiments that Gandhi had conducted from his childhood to the 1920's when he was imprisoned at the Yeravada jail. It is a very personal account and includes the smallest of the details of his daily life. It is not for casual reading.
Personally I found the autobiography to be very very thought provoking. Being an Indian, Gandhi was always a "mahatma" to me. But only after reading this book, could I truly appreciate the greatness and super human qualities of this man. I was completely blown away by the transparency. This book was written when Gandhi's popularity was at it's peak in India. I don't think anyone but Gandhi could have admitted their mistakes and transgressions so matter-of-factly. Every single decision that Gandhi made in his life, the composition of his diet to the political strategies he espoused, was given equal thought and was grounded on truth. Many think Gandhi's concept of satyagraha and non-cooperation were brilliant political strategies. I always thought his fast-unto-death concept to be emotional blackmail. After reading the book I realized that Gandhi adopted those techniques only because he thought that those paths would take him nearer to the truth. In fact it appears that Gandhi's only all consuming passion in life is to achieve the truth and nothing else. India's independence appears to be a by product of that process. Many of his controversial and not so popular decisions - his initial allegiance to the British throne, his support for the British during the Boer war and the First world war, the suspension of the non-cooperation movement - now make sense. He made those decisions only because he actually thought he would deviate from the truth if he did otherwise.
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Ilaxi Patel (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
Gandhiji was a person who believed in the dignity of man and left us all a legacy of ahimsa, love and tolerance. His life was guided by a search for truth. In the My Experiments of the Truth, Gandhiji stressed that truth was god and his aim in life was to achieve truthfulness in thought, word and deed. Ahimsa, to him was the highest virtue. By non violence, Gandhi meant not merely the absence of violence but also loving concern for all life. He believed that truth could be known only through tolerance and concern for others and that find a truthful way to solutions required constant testing. He taught that to be non-violent required great courage. He adopted Satyagraha based on principles of courage, non-violence and truth. This method was used to fight for India's independence and to bring about social change. The book has exceptional revelations of Gandhiji's own life, his experiences, his beliefs and the stepping stone of his career. A widely read and an inspiring collection, Gandhiji's Autobiography gives a glimpse into the Indian culture and living on path towards Truth & Non violence. A pick for every one who believes in peace n calm.
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K. Karri (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
This book will change your perspective of Gandhi as being a mahatma, and a saint. One can clearly understand the other side of gandhi, the self questioning youngman and the dilemmas he faced on being caught in the middle of history. It shows his broad perspective of life and the book definitely offers insight into what could have made the man into what he was. But the book has no account of the period when he refined his concepts of satyagraha and of his involvement in the freedom struggle. This is not a history book, but a book that offers a glimpse into his thought process and his principles, and how he conceived them in the first place. Some of the events that Gandhi describes in the book are surprising. Among these is his first introduction to the bhagavad gita through reading Edwin Arnold's translation of Gita (Song Celestial), and the shame of his ignorance of hinduism. Equally surprising is his stand towards the british empire, whom he goes forth to serve among the ambulance corps in the boer war and in other ways during worldwarI. A very good book if one were to try to understand this great person. |
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G. Rodgers (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
I approached this book with some trepidation as my Indian friends are divided in their attitude to Gandhi (some regard him almost as a saint, others are far more ambiguous). There's no doubting Gandhi's place as a major figure in twentieth century history, but would learning more about him create a good or disappointing image?
I would start with a word of caution. This book only covers Gandhi's life from 1869 to 1921. Therefore I treated this book as an introduction to the man, a preparation for further reading. I suppose an equally legitimate method would be to adopt an opposite approach and start with a biography then finish with this book.
I reflected that any comments I made here might only serve to reveal my ignorance of Indian culture and history - I'm sure I missed (or misinterpreted) many nuances. Full appreciation of this book may only be possible if you are either Indian or have a better knowledge than mine.
Nonetheless, I found it an easy book to read - the short chapters helped me keep up a good pace. Indeed Gandhi's style is to pick episodes from his life and reflect on them. Although the book is written chronologically, it very much has a "dipping in and out" feel rather than a linear narrative.
I was left with the impression that this man was no saint (and would have been horrified at the very thought). There were aspects of his character I found puzzling or frustrating: I've never been impressed by anyone who advocates physical self-denial after having produced a litter of offspring; much of the book is devoted to dietetics - a subject Gandhi was so obsessed with it affected his health very badly; and his treatment of his children was, well to be charitable, distinctly odd.
I felt that there was a large amount of self-righteousness in the man, and an obsessive delight in self-denial. Yet withal, should we expect any human to be without fault, and how should Gandhi's faults be judged when compared with his role in securing Indian independence - without Satyagraha would it have been even more bloody than it was? That might be a better mounument to him than this book.
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A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
I started reading this book for a honors paper in school expecting to find a boring read. I admit that some parts, it was a boring read. However, it was the book as a whole that stood out for me. The rest of the book was great and you will forget those boring sections in the book.
I was expecting an autobiography where the euthor embelishes his acts and himself. However, I found something quite different. Ghandi is truthful throughout the whole book. It takes a lot of courage to put down all your faults and mistakes you have made during life onto paper and then to have it published for millions of people to read. I do not know if I could do that myself.
This is the ultimate read for those who wish to find more about Ghandi. The book does not finish his whole mission in freeing India but the book is very imformative on Ghandi's life and what he went through (obviously, Ghandi did write the book himself). I learned a lot about Ghandi that I did not know before and it shows the reader his/her own faults in their life. I've related my life to Ghandi's in more ways than one and you learn more from this book than just about Ghandi's life.
This autobiography is one of the best autobiographies ever written and I recommend it to anyone who wants a good read. I was surprised wit the book, reading it for a school paper. I recommend it to anyone who wants a good read.
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Carl Gunther (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-21 00:00>
From this book we can see that Gandhi took everything in his life, from the smallest details of his diet to the grandest political decisions, very, very seriously. He believed that only a blade of the purest metal could cut through illusion to reveal the underlying truth of a society and of a world. The key to this purity for Gandhi was integrity and consistency in every word and deed. If he made a promise to abstain from milk, or to support a particular political position, he would keep that vow even at the risk of his life.
This concept of integrity started from Gandhi's personal life and extended outward to each community and each nation that he touched with his message and with his political campaigns. When he worked to elevate the status of the Indian community in South Africa, he worked simultaneously to improve the sanitary habits and internal justice of that community, thereby ensuring that there was integrity not only in the nation of South Africa, but also in the Indian community itself. The same pattern can be seen in his work with the Champaran peasants ("ryots") to remove the crushing feudal tribute of indigo required of them by their landlord masters. As he led that campaign, he simultaneously established schools in the region and once again taught the rudiments of sanitation to the oppressed farmers. And of course his tireless campaign against untouchability, and his work to heal the rifts between Muslims and Hindus were both attempts to ensure the integrity of Indian society itself, which he considered a necessary part of attaining Indian independence from Britain, thereby helping to heal the inconsistency of colonialism at the global level, which in turn brought greater integrity to international relations.
Likewise, his promotion of the use of Hindi and Gujarati (this book was written by Gandhi in Gujarati) rather than English in Indian public life, his promotion of homespun Indian cloth and revival of a cottage industry to create it, his civil disobedience in the making of Indian salt from seawater, were all attempts to ensure that the Indian nation and people could define themselves as a more self-sufficient entity having a distinct identity, rather than describing themselves as they related to an external entity, i.e., the British government.
At every level, then, he desired and sought to create one thing: integrity. His ethics seemed to be: every person, every family, every community, every nation, that is founded upon an organic set of relationships, has a right to exist, to strengthen its own identity and to shine forth with its own kind of light. The process of integrating smaller such entities into larger ones must be a dialectical, interactive one that respects differences, rather than one of control or subsumption. In this way, the material world comes to reflect the infinite diversity, and the inviolable integrity, of the All, and the Divine thus creates an expression of itself in that material substrate, however transient and imperfect that expression may be.
Part of his genius as a political organizer lay in his understanding that control hierarchies such as the British colonial administration depended upon the organic processes of Indian society to create the value that they wished to extract and exploit. A policy of peaceful non-cooperation, when carried out in a determined and disciplined fashion, could rob the imperial power of the very wealth upon which it is based, thereby forcing it to release its hold. This exposes the fundamental paradox of imperialism: that it can only rule by breaking down and compromising the very social fabric that generates the wealth upon which it depends. Therefore, there are limits to the measures that it can take to coerce obedience from an organized and disciplined population.
As imperialism breaks down the internal relations of a society, it simultaneously presents that breakdown as a justification for its continued dominance, since otherwise (it claims) the disparate parts of the organic system would surely attack and consume each other in internecine conflicts. Thus, Gandhi's implicit answer to Hobbes' notorious quote that without the state life would be "nasty, brutish and short" was evidently to re-build the fraternal relationships of the sundered parts of the organic social and political animal (e.g., Hindus and Muslims), thereby rendering the state-based control structure a superfluous and unnecessary "remedy."
Although there are many aspects of this book that could be improved for the naive reader (of which I count myself as one) by creating an annotated edition, the narrative retains its hold because of the sense of discovery and self-revelation that emerges from every page.
As we each grapple with the finiteness of our own lives and the question of how meaning can be derived from something so transient as this life and this world, Gandhi's integration of the material with the spiritual in his own life provides a rare and helpful example. As he writes at the end of the book, "I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means." In a world that is increasingly run by totalitarian corporations that impose their control over people, governments and the environment with results that are utterly destructive to the integrity of each, Gandhi's struggle for a spiritual politics and a political spirituality shines in a way that can still give us hope today, if only we will take our lives as seriously as he took his own. |
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David Marshall (MSL quote), Japan
<2007-01-21 00:00>
Unlike a couple readers below, I was pleasantly surprised to find this a very readable and well-written story. I felt like I was meeting the great reformer in person, with no interpreters or spin doctors between us.
Gandhi surprised me with his transparency. He honestly expresses doubts about (or limited awareness of) God, his own weaknesses, and the mistreatment of women in Hinduism. He frankly relates quarrels with his wife ("numerous bickerings" that end in peace, with the wife the victor - I wonder about that part, though) and that his son disagreed with his ascetic lifestyle. I gave this book five stars not because I agree with all of Gandhi's ideas, but because he explains them well, the stories he tells are so interesting, because the search for truth is what life is all about, and because Gandhi is one of the great figures of the 20th Century.
A couple years ago I did a research paper on the young Mao Zedong. One thing that surprised me here was to find that, despite their very different attitudes about violence, the fathers of the world's two biggest modern states shared much in common. Both agreed that "the life of labor is the only life worth living," and founded communes with friends as young men. Both strengthened themselves through ascetic self-disciplines. Both were men of contemplation and action. Both shared an ambivalent relation to the party that was the vehicle of their success, yet were also masters at the use of power. Both freed their countries from foreign domination over many decades, by use of dialectic strategy and an appeal to the peasants.
Gandhi was a man of ideas and of action, and also I think of passion, despite his philosophical commitment to "desirelessness." I found the book engaging on all three levels, though I also was disappointed that it ended without relating later actions in the history of India's movement towards independence.
Gandhi seemed to live with a great deal of guilt, which he relates to the death of his father, revealed in his attitude towards sex and eating. "Renunciation without aversion is not lasting," he quotes a pundit. He seemed to feel life itself was occasion for guilt. "Man cannot for a moment live without commiting outward himsa, destruction of life." In this regard, of course, Gandhi and Mao were opposites, the latter embracing an ideology that encouraged him to locate guilt in the other, the former one by which he took on the guilt of others.
As a Christian, one of the most interesting parts of the book was his visit to the temple to Kali. He was horrified by the animal sacrifices he saw. "To my mind the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being," he noted. "I must go through more self-purification and sacrifice, before I can hope to save these lambs... " He said he prayed constantly that "some great spirit" of a person would bring an end to these "immoral" sacrifices. Yet the people doing the sacrifices were themselves looking for a solution to the same problem of guilt that haunted Gandhi, as well as Tolstoy, his hero.
This shows that the wisdom of Gandhi was not all the wisdom of India, still less of humanity. The Rig Veda says that sacrifice is "the mainstay of the world" and the only way to find forgiveness of sins. It spoke of a God who would sacrifice himself for the sins of the people, in prophetic imagery remarkably similar to the events recorded in the Gospels. And, when Jesus died, animals were no longer sacrificed. I wonder if it ever occurred to Gandhi that his prayer for lambs (not to mention guilt-ridden people) had already been answered at the cross?
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1 Total 1 pages 10 items |
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