An Autobiography; or, The Story of My Experiments with Truth

"Actions done without an authentic desire for truth are just fetishism"
I often wondered if Gandhi caught the irony of writing this, later in his life. He took everything upon himself- a failure on his followers' part was seen by him as his own- resulting in him taking fasts (which I don't think was good on the vegan diet during 1910s) as a penance. Though not included- everytime great riots happened, he became and felt more guilty as he saw it has his fault in not being chaste/virtuous enough- particularly in his private diaries, he spoke of trying to cut out all lust because he had "nocturnal emissions" which he tried to cure by sleeping (I mean that very literally) in the same bed with naked women (which some, happened to be related show more to him).
I mean nothing ill- I simply wish to see everything. Gandhi, much like Malcolm X won't be remembered for his " show less

Gandhi’s name sticks out in bold in twentieth-century history. Words associated with this great include India, non-violence, independence, integrity, and freedom. Yet those (like me) who have been schooled in a different religious tradition (for me, Protestant Christianity) might not be aware of the depth of Gandhi’s greatness because of differing idioms. That’s why I originally picked up this book, and that’s why I suggest that your reading of this book is important, too.

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 show more 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. show less

Not what I was expecting.

Of late I have been more and more interested in Gandhi and Gandhisim. Born and brought up in India, Gandhiji was a well known figure introduced to all children very early and quite frequently. However, what we heard where only glimpses of what transpired during the freedom struggle. So, I wanted to read more about Gandhiji to understand his thoughts and ideas about non-violence and Satyagraha, which he pioneered in the early nineteen hundreds. I became more interested in Gandhiji after watching Shyam Benegals "Making of the Mahatma", which provides a glimpse of Mohandas K Gandhi became Mahatma Gandhi. Earlier movies only focused on the freedom struggle and cursorily skimmed over his stay in South Africa.

To quite show more some extent, the book did satisfy my desire to understand Gandhiji. His early life during childhood days and then his days in South Africa do provide and adequate introduction to Gandhiji as a person. Gandhiji as a Mahatma is well known to most Indians. I also read some reviews of the book and a few complained that the book was fairly mundane and went into several details that weren't necessary to understand him. However, I beg to differ. The very fact that Gandhiji goes into those details, we get better acquainted with him. He was a humble person was well know and very few might ever refute this. So, obviously, he spoke more about his environment than himself in the book. It provides a human side to the Mahatma. Quite often, I felt that he wasn't quite right with this decisions but it was clear that Gandhiji rarely ever did something that he himself didn't believe in. He obviously was a learned man and build his philosophy over several years, correcting it on the way. True some of his methods did seem to be outdated but then this was in the early nineteen hundreds. Had he been born in this era, he might have just been the same, albeit modern w.r.t other aspects such as his beliefs in medicine and tradition.

Overall, this is a good read. If you like to understand the mundane aspects of Gandhiji and his early life then this is worth reading. You might want to read other biographies to understand the history better as this book delves more on the why than the what and when. show less

Lifetime accomplishments aside, I found myself unimpressed by Gandhi as a man. He is hailed for his humility, yet his own words show he took much pride in his humility. His treatment of his wife and children is appalling. He searches widely for truth and ends by making a god of himself in the name of his own subjective Truth. Finally, he really could have benefitted from a good editor as 500 pages of tedious detail about every aspect of his life (even bowel movements) is a bit much!

I totally agree with the reviewers who talk about the boring aspects of this book, about how sorry they feel for his wife and family, about the aspects of his dietary and medical experiments that are excentric, to say the least. His insistence on the importance of avoiding sex for spiritual reasons, and of avoiding meat, milk, and other animal products to help in avoiding even the slightest thought of sex are luckily not going to take hold. Any reader not conversant with Indian history of the early 20th century will need to keep the internet or other reference source handy. The South African parts are easier to follow as he assumes that his reader needs to have that part explained.

However, I had set myself the task of finishing this show more 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. show less

I am very torn in writing a review. To be honest, I want to give the 'book' 2 stars, but wait you say… How can I give Gandhi 2 stars? I mean everyone knows you can't touch the holy trinity of Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Princess Diana. It's the book I have problems with, it's bland. Obviously, he has reduced his ego to zilch and I think that is the problem, nothing is important, I want to know how he 'felt' about things in degrees of passion. But its bland. I give it three stars because it's Gandhi, but it failed to move me.

Este libro necesitaba un editor, entiendo por qué Ghandi decidió no tener uno, dada su fijación con la verdad pero eso no quita que el libro necesita un editor.

Todo lo que Ghandi piensa e hizo es muy interesante, pero también se va por las tangentes mencionando gente y lugares y cosas que solo le importan a él, lo que hace al libro muy pesado y te saca las ganas de leer de a ratos.

Dejando eso de lado el libro me hizo pensar igual, y si bien no voy s recordar los nombres de la gente con la que Ghandi trabajó espero por lo menos recordar sus principios.

Ghandi de chico era muy tímido, no el tipo de persona que esperarías llegar a ser, bueno, Mahatma Ghandi! Pero sin embargo así y todo llego, porque más allá de su timidez siempre show more le fue fiel a sus principios y cuando vio que era necesario resistir puso todo su esfuerzo en superar sus propias barreras para luchar por lo que creía correcto.

En estos años escuché bastante sobre la controversialidad de Ghandi y después de leer este libro creo que no puede haber controversia alguna, Ghandi creía en el bien común, el bien del mundo, mucho más que en el bien personal, que en la vida propia, su idea de que los judios tendrían que haberse sacrificado no pasaba por antisemitismo ni nada por el estilo, sino más bien el hecho de que tantos judios igual murieron, Ghandi tomaba el suicidio en este caso como un ejemplo de Satyagraha, los judios hubiesen llegado al mismo resultado pero sin darles el placer a los nazis, es medio complicado de explicar, sacrificarse antes que dejarse atrapar y matar por el enemigo, se entiende? No coincido con Ghandi pero digo, conociendo uno su filosofía es fácil comprender cómo llegó a dicha conclusión.

Lo mismo se puede decir de que se acostara a dormir con chicas desnudas, Ghandi era raro, muy raro, y sus experimentos eran ridículos, ese fue uno más nomas.

Ghandi cambió el mundo, sin jamás lastimar a nadie, promulgando amor y resistencia pasiva únicamente, como humano erró, también admitió sus errores cuando así los vio, Ghandi no fue perfecto pero fue un gran hombre, y su filosofía debería ser por lo menos conocida por todos, por más que el libro sea pesado definitivamente vale la pena leerlo. show less