Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth - Softcover

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; Mahatma Gandhi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0486245934 ISBN 13: 9780486245935

Publisher: Dover Publications, 1983

Synopsis

"My purpose," Mahatma Gandhi writes of this book, "is to describe experiments in the science of Satyagraha, not to say how good I am." Satyagraha, Gandhi's nonviolent protest movement (satya = true, agraha = firmness), came to stand, like its creator, as a moral principle and a rallying cry; the principle was truth and the cry freedom. The life of Gandhi has given fire and fiber to freedom fighters and to the untouchables of the world: hagiographers and patriots have capitalized on Mahatma myths. Yet Gandhi writes: "Often the title [Mahatma, Great Soul] has deeply pained me. . . . But I should certainly like to narrate my experiments in the spiritual field which are known only to myself, and from which I have derived such power as I possess for working in the political field."
Clearly, Gandhi never renounced the world; he was neither pacifist nor cult guru. Who was Gandhi? In the midst of resurging interest in the man who freed India, inspired the American Civil Rights Movement, and is revered, respected, and misunderstood all over the world, the time is proper to listen to Gandhi himself — in his own words, his own "confessions," his autobiography.
Gandhi made scrupulous truth-telling a religion and his Autobiography inevitably reminds one of other saints who have suffered and burned for their lapses. His simply narrated account of boyhood in Gujarat, marriage at age 13, legal studies in England, and growing desire for purity and reform has the force of a man extreme in all things. He details his gradual conversion to vegetarianism and ahimsa (non-violence) and the state of celibacy (brahmacharya, self-restraint) that became one of his more arduous spiritual trials. In the political realm he outlines the beginning of Satyagraha in South Africa and India, with accounts of the first Indian fasts and protests, his initial errors and misgivings, his jailings, and continued cordial dealings with the British overlords.  
Gandhi was a fascinating, complex man, a brilliant leader and guide, a seeker of truth who died for his beliefs but had no use for martyrdom or sainthood. His story, the path to his vision of Satyagraha and human dignity, is a critical work of the twentieth century, and timeless in its courage and inspiration.

About this title

About the Author

Mohandas Gandhi was born in Western India in 1869. After studying law in London and living in South Africa for many years, he returned to India in 1915, where he spent the rest of his life campaigning for India's independence and promoting his fundamental principles of truth and non-violence. He died in 1948.

From AudioFile

To his credit, Bill Wallace reads this book with no attempt at an accent. To do so easily could devolve into parody. So he plays it straight. Nonetheless, for the first several minutes of listening one has to get used to not hearing an Indian accent. The book covers Gandhi's life from youthful rebellion to his law practice in South Africa and his leadership of the movement to free India from British rule. Gandhi explains how he developed his concept of active nonviolent resistance. His life propels the work, so Wallace does not try to artificially embellish it with vocal bombast. Yet he reads with emotion as befits the writing. He pronounces Indian words and locations clearly and with facility. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0486245934
• ISBN 13: 9780486245935
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 494