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In the mid-1920s, prompted by a "small, still voice" that encouraged him to lay bare what was known only to him and his God, M. K. Gandhi began writing and publishing his autobiography. Drafted during a period of intensive fasting and "in-dwelling" at his ashram in Ahmedabad, his story of the soul portrayed the deeper, more inward experiences that made him externally an innovator in the struggles against violence, racism, and colonialism. The book, written in Gujarati and translated into English by Mahadev Desai, would become an international classic, hailed as one of the "100 Best Spiritual Books of the 20th Century." This first critical edition of this seminal work by leading Gandhi scholar Tridip Suhrud offers an unprecedented window into the original Gujarati text. Including both alternative English translations and illuminating notes, as well as a deeply researched introduction, it will bring renewed critical attention to one of the world's most widely read books.… (more)
User reviews
I had no idea how much time he had spent in both England and South Africa. The film started in South Africa but gives you the impression that this was a brief visit, however the book makes it clear that his last time in South Africa was for something like ten years. Before that he's been to South Africa on a number of occasions fighting for racial equality and he spent three years in London studying for his law degree.
There is a lot in here about his development of ideas such as non violence and passive resistance as well as his thoughts on vegetarianism and health issues. You get a really good idea of him as a political campaigner both as a lawyer and running newspapers. There is also a lot about his efforts to set up various communes and communities.
The only weakness of the book is that it's quite hard to follow the names of people and places as well as the non English terms. Someone has made an attempt to add clarification the text but it's simply not possible with every non English term. It is possible to look them us as you go (most of them have useful pages on Wikipedia that explain them) but after a while it's a bit difficult to keep track of.
Having said that it's still a good read and very enlightening, giving a real insight into the man and his values. The book only goes up to the mid twenties and so doesn't cover the last twenty years of his life but I'd recommend it all the same.
That said, if you're really interested in the inner workings of Gandhi's mind, this is an excellent discussion of events that influenced him and ways in which he came to think and believe the things that he did.
There is good and wise and interesting stuff interspersed, but I’m having a hard time slogging through the minutia to get to it. Of course, he would probably say the minutia is the point and that concentrating on it is the way to live well, but that doesn’t make reading the endless details of his particular case any less mind-numbing. I’ll probably keep going because it’s freaking Gandhi, but I think I would have been better off reading a biography of him by someone else.
However, I had set myself the task of finishing this book, and I have been greatly rewarded, as chapters 39 - 41 deal with spinning, weaving and khadi cloth. For me this was worth having slogged through the rest. Next time I'll just read those chapters.
This has not reduced my respect for Gandhiji, but it has reinforced my impression that I'd I'd rather not have to deal with saints.
You're not going to get a complete overview of his life and thinking from this work, since he stops the account at 1921 and he lived until 1948. Too often key events would be glossed over and he'd refer the reader to other writings to fill the gap. But having seen the famous film based on his life, it was interesting to read material not covered there from his childhood in India and his time in England as a young man. I was surprised at how accepted he seemed to be studying in England--he didn't relate encountering much color prejudice there--more the opposite--and this was in the late 1880s. It was a very different story in South Africa where he gained his first experience of law practice and political activism. At one time he was literally kicked to the curb as Indians weren't allowed on the pavement. I would have liked to read more about his development of Satyagraha (active non-violent resistance), particularly his use of Civil Disobedience, especially since I know it greatly influenced Martin Luther King. It was interesting to find out Ghandi himself was greatly influenced by Tolstoy's non-violent principles in The Kingdom of God Is Within You. He even called his ashram in South Africa "Tolstoy Farm" and I can see a lot of commonality between the two men. I could wish this was annotated, or at least a glossary provided. There were a lot of Hindu/Indian terms I had to jot down to look up later: ashram, darbar, darshan, dhoti, haveli, vakils, Khilafat, Madras, Parsi, Swaraj, Vaishnavas. Maps would have been nice too. But I found there was value enough in getting a feel for the man that on the whole I found it worth the read.
One still has to marvel at Gandhi's tact and ability, even if only for a while, to bring together communities across locations, languages and creeds. Gandhi takes Truth to another level: to say as you think and to do as you say. He shows how to practise such noble precepts in journalism, law and politics. A vow taken is important to fulfil just as much in order not to break one's word as for its desired purpose.
For a more factual biography, and one which delves deeper into his early influences and followers, I recommend Ramachandra Guha's Gandhi Before India.
Gandhi is by no means perfect in my eyes. He writes about his exposure to Christianity while in England and why he saw no need to convert to it from the Hinduism of his upbringing. Further, he describes why he spent much of his life as an adamant vegetarian and refused even taking milk for the sake of his health. Finally, Gandhi’s family life seems arranged around patriarchy, and Gandhi never seems to wrestle with this inequality. While still disagreeing in reading this work, I found evident respect for his reasons as to why.
Even more, I found respect for how he overcame discrimination in South Africa and in India under the British Empire. He did so with an optimistic view of the law – that the law, at its best, is a chronicle of humans struggling with each other. He holds an unwavering faith in the eventual triumph of justice in human affairs on earth, and it seems that this faith is rooted in the very nature of the universe’s life as being sustained by God.
This autobiography describes Gandhi’s life from its earliest days (including an arranged marriage at age 13!), to his youth as a student, and to his adult years as a lawyer in South Africa and India. It covers his role in Indian independence and ceases with the assumption of his public role. Like most memoirs (and this book could certainly be categorized as a memoir), this work elucidates the formative events in his life and describes these events from the inside out.
Any reader will have to grow comfortable with the mixing of words from many languages. Many non-English words, when pertaining to specific concepts rooted in culture, are not translated in this edition. This can serve as a good introduction to the subcontinent, however, and as a pericope into the linguistic challenges present in Indian life. These challenges persist today.
Gandhi does not come off as a self-absorbed narcissist. Rather, as the subtitle implies, Gandhi sees this story as “experiments with truth,” as a scientific, objective approach to human affairs. Although readers will be struck by Gandhi’s high view of justice, he does not seem particularly hung up on his ego needs. Rather, he seems genuinely concerned with speaking up with integrity for his fellow humans – particularly those who are not from a privileged background. That ethical excellence, combined with wide-ranging experience, is why this work is a classic and should continue to be read as a treasure by all.
Admirable, Inspiring life journey of Gandhi.
Reading this gives a glimpse of Gandhi's life.
Mahadev Desai, Gandhi's Personal Secretary has done excellent work.
He's translated, written it concisely. It's easy for readers to follow paragraphs.
Chapters, Paragraphs
Why?
A Tamil reader had posted a copy from another book, I peaked at it:
-No spaces
-Entire Page filled with one paragraph
-A Blob of Text
I thought, "Orae Vai la full plate sapadu sapdamudiyuma?", "Oru Vai Sapadu at a time."
[Can't eat entire rice in a plate, eat step by step]
As I lived abroad, I could deeply connect with Gandhi's stories.
Maybe, if I had read this 15 years ago, I would not have understood his life story much.
My Favorite Part, Gandhi's reaction, impression with Tolstoy's writings.
"Truth" is my sole objective.
I'd recommend this for everyone.
Deus Vult,
Gottfried
For some reason, he does not write much about his thoughts and feelings concerning the age of the times, and how he got to where he
A good book, but one written by a seasoned politician.
This reminds me of a character from
Just read it slowly, people. Read one or two at a time, and don’t expect it to be over and done with immediately. [I’ll admit it’s not paced like a novel; it’s more like a historical or scientific work. A lecture on mathematics or economics doesn’t necessarily have a passionate climax. “And That, is why the answer is two point five!” It’s incremental. Real life is often the same. It’s not meaningless, however; every increment of the book is a little sliver of India, and truth.]
Read more than one book at a time. And be patient. Books telescope years and years into maybe a dozen hours or whatever, but this generation (“what shall I say about this generation?”) expects everything to be like a movie—by the time you get up, it’s over. One and done. Also, I think an unfortunately post-feminist and anti-intellectual generation has substituted the easy weak of whining about great men for the difficult work of raising up free women and men—and becoming one yourself.
I’m a vegetarian myself, so I admire Gandhi for being one, despite the fact that it sounds like it was more difficult in his day. Personally, I haven’t encountered much anti-vegetarian sentiment, so I’m a little surprised to read about the whining people feel the need to burden us with when they have to learn about what some people do to avoid animal cruelty. (I’m actually a vegan during Lent, by the way; cheese is what I give up.)
[Of course, I’m not sure I can approve of Gandhi’s dietary experiments on technical grounds, but it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the medical advice he was offered was anti-vegan. (Eat like an Englishman, Gendhy.) And of course, I approve of his motivation rather than I do of Churchill’s diet, which was to eat too much, and drink too much. On non-technical grounds, I think you have to choose between them, too. Either you are more like the one’s restraint, or the other’s lack of restraint.]
Gandhi may not have been a Christian and may have had a somewhat negative opinion of the imperial Christians of his day, but I think he shows far more charity than he received. Peas are good food; they have protein, but if you served them laced with rat poison a body could be forgiven for saying, I think something’s off about those peas. Christian imperialism was laced with racism, like most things that white people did at that period in history. People pretend to be so woke nowadays, I wonder why most do not see fit to mention that the central struggle of Gandhi’s life was combating white British racism. Is it not sensational enough? Is it not as interesting as the movie? Are we seriously that *paranoid* about people who try to abstain from sex?
At that time in Indian history, like in many places, women were seen as whores or mothers, but either way as breeders, and Gandhi identified this attitude as the reason why people seldom bothered to teach them to read. Gandhi’s choice to abstain from sex has to be seen in this light, this background. Why should his wife live only to serve his sexual needs, and to care for an ever-growing family? Why, because we apparently are such orthodox little post-Freudians that we think that man must live for sex, or else be an external loser. Try to keep up!
Freud: Why does Gandhi refuse me the pleasure of knowing he’s having sex.
Nehru: Gandhi is India’s MLK; he’s leading a struggle. Living for sex would distract him from living a life of service to others.
Freud: He must be thwarted in his desire to have sex with his mother and be normal like me, and that’s why you say these big words.
Nehru: I’m an atheist too you know, but I think you have a dirty mouth.
Freud: The truth is cynical. You’re afraid of the truth.
Nehru: Where is the West headed nowadays, man. Where are you people going?
Einstein: Future generations will wonder that such a one as this walked the earth.
Future Generations: Mommy I don’t like Gandhi. Mommy I want candy. Mommy why does Gandhi have such a funny name; Sue and Billy don’t have names like that. Mommy I want candy. Mommy it must be time for my nap.
Tolstoy: In the future, you have to say something sensational within the first ten to sixty pages, and keep it under 225 pages, or be considered a blast from the past, a blast from the past.
Future Generations: Mommy where’s Daddy? Mommy why didn’t you become an astronaut? Mommy why is the opinion of the multitudes of so little value? Why do people want want want until they kill kill kill Mommy? Mommy are some people in the world intelligent?
Medieval mob: *heresy baiting/doing theology* No, it means, it means: it means that if I don’t understand something, that means you’re not allowed to say it!
…. Nehru: I can’t believe those people don’t like you!
Gandhi: Don’t punish yourself; your blood pressure will thank you.
…. N.B. I also think it’s nice to know that Gandhi was a Gujarati, coming from Gujarat, the Indian state where the language Gujarati is spoken—much like an Italian would probably identify as being from Italy, the region of Europe where Italian is spoken. Indians were driven together by colonialism in a way that Europeans weren’t, despite the fact that Europeans have largely tentatively come together in the shadow of America and China and so on. But most people don’t confuse French and German the way they don’t know (care?) about Hindi and Gujarati. [Also, according to Wikipedia, Gujarat has about a tenth of the per capita GDP of Italy.]
So, there’s that.
[…. Re: his brief official statement in Hindustani, by a Gujarat, as the only use of an Indian language in a British imperial conference in India about India—
It would be like if an American President were allowed by his Chinese overlords to say something, maybe not in English, but perhaps Spanish or French.
To be a cracker is to have double standards. If you don’t have double standards, you must not be quite like that, you know.]
[non-co-operation = non-Coletting lol]
[politics/religion—The business of life is worth nothing if it is based on pillaging and looting, however artfully devised and effective; our love is worth nothing unless we can see the other as our sibling, and include him or her when it is our business to do so.]