The story of my experiments with truth
Gandhi: The story of my experiments with truth
Gandhi
I used to be very shy and avoided all company. My books and my lessons were my sole companions.
“Why should not all be truthful like Harishchandra?” was the question I asked myself day and night. To follow truth and to go through all the ordeals Harishchandra went through was the one ideal it inspired me.
God ultimately saves him whose motive is pure.
I had formed a habit of taking walks, which has still remained with me. These walks gave me a fairly hardy constitution.
Let every young man and woman be warned by my example, and understand that good handwriting is a necessary part of education. I’m now of opinion that children should first be taught the art of drawing before learning how to write. Let the children learn his letters by observation as he does different objects such as flowers, birds, etc., and let him learn handwriting only after he has learnt to draw objects. He will then write a beautifully formed handwriting.
One golden rule is to accept the interpretation honestly put on the pledge by the party administering it. Another is to accept the interpretation of the weaker party. where there are two interpretations possible. Rejection of these rules gives rise to strife and iniquity, which are rooted in untruthfulness. He who seeks truth alone easily follows the golden rule. He should not seek learned advice for interpretation.
I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been no disadvantage whatever. In fact I can see that, on the contrary, it has been all to my advantage . My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words. I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts. And I can now give myself the certificate that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen.
Silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary truth
Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.
One of the Plymouth Brethren confronted me with an argument for which I was not prepared:
“You cannot understand the beauty of our religion. From what you say it appears that you must be brooding over your transgressions every moment of your life, always mending them and atoning for them. How can this ceaseless cycle of action bring you redemption? You can never have peace. إou admit that we are all sinners. Now look at the perfection of our belief. Our attempts at improvement and atonement are futile. And yet redemption we must have. How can we bear the burden of sin? We can throw it on Jesus. He is the only sinless Son of God, It is His word that those who believe in Him shall have everlasting life. Therein lies God’s infinite mercy. And as we believe in the atonement of jesus, our own sins do not blind us . Sin we must, It is impossible to live in this world sinless. And therefore Jesus suffered and atoned for all the sins of mankind.Only he who accepts his great redemption can have eternal peace. Think what a life of restlessness is yours, and what a promise of peace we have”. The argument utterly failed to convince me. I humbly replied: “If this be the Christianity acknowledged by all Christians, I cannot accept it. I do not seek redemption from the consequences of my sin. I seek to be redeemed from the sin itself, or rather from the very thought of sin. Until I have attained that end I shall be content to restless”
Facts mean truth, and once we adhere to truth, the law comes to our aid.
“Gandhi, I have learnt one thing, and it is this, that if we take care of facts of a case, the law will take care of itself”
The convention lasted for three days. I could understand and appreciate the devoutness of those who attended it. But I saw no reason for changing my belief my religion. It was impossible for me to believe that I could go to heaven or attain salvation only by becoming a Christian. When I frankly said so to some of the good Christian friends, they were shocked. But there was no help for it.
My difficulties lay deeper. It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God, and that only he who believe in him would have everlasting life. If god could have sons, all of us were His sons. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men can be God or God Himself. My reason was not ready to believe literally that Jesus by his death and by his blood redeemed the sins of the world.
Metaphorically there might be some truth in it. Again, according to Christianity only human beings had souls, and not other living beings, for whom death meant complete extinction; while I held contrary belief. I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. His death on the cross was a great example to the world, but that there were anything mysterious or miraculous virtue in it my heart could not accept
I had learnt at the outset not to carry on public work with borrowed money. One could rely on people’s promises in most matters except in respect of money
I had long learnt the principle of never having more money at one’s disposal than necessary.
I saw my limitations. The turban that I had insisted on wearing in the district Magistrate’s court I took off in obedience to the order of the supreme court. Note that, if I had resisted the order, the resistance could not have been justified. But I wanted to reserve my strength for fighting bigger battles .I should not exhaust my skill as a fighter in insisting on retaining my turban, It was worthy of a better cause.
The very insistence on truth has taught me to appreciate the beauty of compromise.
Truth is hard as adamant and tender as a blossom
The heart’s earnest and pure desire is always fulfilled.
If I found myself entirely absorbed in the service of the community, the reason behind it was desire for self-realization. I had made the religion of service my own, as I felt that God could be realized only through service.
I read Washington Irving’s life of Mahoment and his successors and Carlyle’s panegyric on the prophet. These books raised Muhammad in my estimation.
The church didn’t make a favourable impression on me. The sermons seemed to be uninspiring. The congregation did not strike me as being practically religious. They were not an assembly of devout souls; they appeared rather to be worldly-minded people, going to church for recreation and in conformity to .
Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy
The text of the Gita was clear and emphatic: “Finally this is better, that one do his own task as he may, even though he fail, than take tasks not his own, thought they seem good. To die performing duty is no ill; But who seeks other roads shall wander still”
It is idle to adjudicate upon the right and wrong of incidents that have already happened. It is useful to understand them and, if possible, to learn a lesson from them for the future.
It’s far better to remain unlettered and break stones for the sake of liberty than to go in for a literary education in the chains of slaves
I do not hold the assailants to blame. They were given to understand that I had made exaggerated statements in India about the whites in Natal and calumniated them. If they believed these reports it is no wonder that they were enraged. The leaders are to blame. You could have guided the people properly, but you also believed Reuter and assumed that I must have indulged in exaggeration.
I once went to an English hair cutter in Pretoria. He contemptuously refused to cut my hair. I certainly felt hurt, but immediately purchased a pair of clippers and cut my hair before the mirror
I saw that I could not easily count on the help of the community in getting it to do its own duty, as I could in claiming for its rights. At some places I met with insults, at others with polite indifference. It was too much for people to bestir themselves to keep their surroundings clean. To expect them to find money for the work was out of the question. These experiences taught me, better than ever before, that without infinite patience it's impossible to get the people to do any work. It is the reformer who is anxious for the reform not the society, from which he should expect nothing better than opposition, abhorrence and even mortal persecution. Why may not society regard as retrogression what the reformer holds dear as life itself?
I am definitely of opinion that a public worker should accept no costly gifts.
I had inured myself to an uncertain life. I think it is wrong to expect certainties in this world, where all else but God that is truth is an uncertainty. All that appears and happens about and around us is uncertain transient. But there is a supreme being hidden therein as a certainty, and one would be blessed if one could catch a glimpse of that certainty and hitch one's wagon to it. The quest for the truth is the summum bonum( the highest good) of life.
A writer almost always presents one aspect of a case, whereas every case can be seen from no less than seven points of view, all of which are probably correct by themselves, but not correct at the same time and in the same circumstances.
I know it is argued that the soul has nothing to do with what one eats or drinks, as the soul neither eats nor drinks; that it is not what you put inside from without, but what you express outwardly from within, that matters.
Man and his deed are two distinct things. Whereas a good deed should call forth approbation and a wicked deed disapprobation, the doer of the deed, whether good or wicked always deserves respect or pity as the case may be, ;Hate the sin and not the sinner' is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.
True beauty after all consists in purity of heart.
Man is man because he's capable of, and only in so far as he exercises, self restraint.
I regarded character building as the proper foundation for their education and, if the foundation was firmly laid, I was sure that the children could learn all the other things themselves or with the assistance of friends.
I never attempted to disguise my ignorance from my pupils. In all respects I showed myself to them exactly as I really was. Therefor in spite of my colossal ignorance of the language I never lost their love and respect.
I have always felt that the true text-book for the pupil is the teacher.
In the march towards truth, anger, selfishness, hatred, etc., naturally give way, for otherwise truth would be impossible to attain. A man who is swayed by passions may have good enough intentions, may be truthful in word, but he will never find the truth. A successful search for truth means complete deliverance from the dual throng such as love and hate, happiness and misery.
A votary of truth is often obliged to grope in the dark.
In fixing my fees I do not recall ever having made them conditional on my winning the case. Whether my client won or lost, I expected nothing more nor less than my fees.
The woes of third class passengers are undoubtedly due to the high-handedness of railway authorities. But the rudeness, dirty habits, selfishness and ignorance of the passengers themselves are no less to blame. The pity is that they often do not realize that they are behaving ill, dirty or selfishly. They believe that everything they do is in the natural way. All this may be traced to the indifference towards them of us 'educated' people.
My life is based on disciplinary resolutions.
The conditions of a successful strike:
1. Never restore to violence.
2. Never to molest blacklegs.
3.Never to depend upon alms, and
4. to remain firm, no matter how long the strike continued, and to earn bread, during the strike, by any other honest labor.
The beggars, their desperate struggle for bread renders them insensible to all feelings of decency and self respect.
In spite of the criticism I feel that I've not reason to revise it or to regret my co-operation with the Muslims. I should adopt the same attitude, should a similar occasion arise.
The congratulations and the discovery that I was the first to speak in Hindustani at a Viceregal meeting hurt my national pride. I felt like shrinking into myself. What a tragedy that the language of the country should be taboo in meeting held in the country, for work relating to the country, and that a speech there in Hindustani by a stray individual like myself should be a matter of congratulation? Incidents like there are reminders of the low state to which we have been reduced.
The will to live proved stronger than the devotion to truth.
It was duly explained to the people that they were liable to be arrested and imprisoned for purchasing the proscribed literature. But for the moment they had shed all fear of jail-going.
"We police officers know better than you the effect of your teaching on the people"
"I tell you that the people are sure to go out of your control. Disobedience of law will quickly appeal to them; it is beyond them to understand the duty of keeping peaceful. I have no doubt of you intentions, but the people will not understand them. They will follow their natural instinct".. "It's there that I join issue with you", I replied. "The people are not by nature violent but peaceful."
From the very start I set my face against taking advertisements in these journals. I do not think that they have lost anything thereby. On the contrary, it is my belief that it was in no small measure helped them to maintain their independence.
My object in writing these chapters is simply to describe how certain things, as it were spontaneously, presented themselves to me in the course of my experiments with truth.
To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect and their oneness, and should insist upon choosing as their representatives only such persons as are good and true.
My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no God than Truth.
To see the universal and all-pervading spirit of truth face-to-face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to truth has drawn me into the field of politics.
Those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.
To attain to perfect purity one has to become absolutely passion-free in thought, speech and action; to rise above opposing current of love and hatred, attachment and repulsion.
A writer almost always presents one aspect of a case, whereas every case can be seen from no less than seven points of view, all of which are probably correct by themselves, but not correct at the same time and in the same circumstances.
I know it is argued that the soul has nothing to do with what one eats or drinks, as the soul neither eats nor drinks; that it is not what you put inside from without, but what you express outwardly from within, that matters.
Man and his deed are two distinct things. Whereas a good deed should call forth approbation and a wicked deed disapprobation, the doer of the deed, whether good or wicked always deserves respect or pity as the case may be, ;Hate the sin and not the sinner' is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.
True beauty after all consists in purity of heart.
Man is man because he's capable of, and only in so far as he exercises, self restraint.
I regarded character building as the proper foundation for their education and, if the foundation was firmly laid, I was sure that the children could learn all the other things themselves or with the assistance of friends.
I never attempted to disguise my ignorance from my pupils. In all respects I showed myself to them exactly as I really was. Therefor in spite of my colossal ignorance of the language I never lost their love and respect.
I have always felt that the true text-book for the pupil is the teacher.
In the march towards truth, anger, selfishness, hatred, etc., naturally give way, for otherwise truth would be impossible to attain. A man who is swayed by passions may have good enough intentions, may be truthful in word, but he will never find the truth. A successful search for truth means complete deliverance from the dual throng such as love and hate, happiness and misery.
A votary of truth is often obliged to grope in the dark.
In fixing my fees I do not recall ever having made them conditional on my winning the case. Whether my client won or lost, I expected nothing more nor less than my fees.
The woes of third class passengers are undoubtedly due to the high-handedness of railway authorities. But the rudeness, dirty habits, selfishness and ignorance of the passengers themselves are no less to blame. The pity is that they often do not realize that they are behaving ill, dirty or selfishly. They believe that everything they do is in the natural way. All this may be traced to the indifference towards them of us 'educated' people.
My life is based on disciplinary resolutions.
The conditions of a successful strike:
1. Never restore to violence.
2. Never to molest blacklegs.
3.Never to depend upon alms, and
4. to remain firm, no matter how long the strike continued, and to earn bread, during the strike, by any other honest labor.
The beggars, their desperate struggle for bread renders them insensible to all feelings of decency and self respect.
In spite of the criticism I feel that I've not reason to revise it or to regret my co-operation with the Muslims. I should adopt the same attitude, should a similar occasion arise.
The congratulations and the discovery that I was the first to speak in Hindustani at a Viceregal meeting hurt my national pride. I felt like shrinking into myself. What a tragedy that the language of the country should be taboo in meeting held in the country, for work relating to the country, and that a speech there in Hindustani by a stray individual like myself should be a matter of congratulation? Incidents like there are reminders of the low state to which we have been reduced.
The will to live proved stronger than the devotion to truth.
It was duly explained to the people that they were liable to be arrested and imprisoned for purchasing the proscribed literature. But for the moment they had shed all fear of jail-going.
"We police officers know better than you the effect of your teaching on the people"
"I tell you that the people are sure to go out of your control. Disobedience of law will quickly appeal to them; it is beyond them to understand the duty of keeping peaceful. I have no doubt of you intentions, but the people will not understand them. They will follow their natural instinct".. "It's there that I join issue with you", I replied. "The people are not by nature violent but peaceful."
From the very start I set my face against taking advertisements in these journals. I do not think that they have lost anything thereby. On the contrary, it is my belief that it was in no small measure helped them to maintain their independence.
My object in writing these chapters is simply to describe how certain things, as it were spontaneously, presented themselves to me in the course of my experiments with truth.
To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect and their oneness, and should insist upon choosing as their representatives only such persons as are good and true.
My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no God than Truth.
To see the universal and all-pervading spirit of truth face-to-face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life. That is why my devotion to truth has drawn me into the field of politics.
Those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.
I must reduce myself to zero. So long as a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him.
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