Vaghani Hitesh s
Roll no. - 38
SEM - I
Department of English
Paper no. – 2
Year – 2010-11
Topic:
The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Submitted to Mr. Devarshi Mehta
Department of English,
Bhavnagar University.
The Story My Experiments with Truth
M.K. Gandhi was primarily a man of God. Truth alone was his pole star and the words he spoke, the ideas he expressed are always studied in relation to his religion of truth. His greatness was an unusual greatness. He belonged to that race of great men who race great men who are great at many things and whose greatness beholds large areas of human experience.
His Autobiographical Record:-
In his autobiographical record, “The Story My Experiments with Truth”, Gandhiji had unfolded the various stages of the development of his personality. in it he had described in candid detail the events and circumstances of his life from birth to the launching of the events and circumstances of his life from birth to the launching of the non-co-operation movement in India in 1920. He did not continue the story beyond 1920 because it was already known to the public, his life having been lived in the limelight, in the continual blaze of controversy and political action. The latter part of Gandhi’s life till he was assassinated on 30th January on his way to prayer, was the life of the nation as well. As he grew in stature, the nation grew in strength and ultimately he was celebrated as the father of the nation.
Gandhiji: The Humanist:-
Gandhi was primarily a humanist and a man of religion more than nationalist and patriot. He always identified himself with the lowest of the low and was a friend of the poor and the underdog. Although he worked for the freedom of India from the British rule, there was no hatred in his heart for the British. The Proverb, “Hate the sin, but love the sinner” was applicacable on him.
The degrading and inhuman condition of woman and untouchables, whom he called Harijans, appalled him. He spent all of his energy for the emancipation of the untouchables and the downtrodden. He believed in the fundamental equality of all human beings. None are high and none are low for one who would devote his life to service. The distinction between high and low is a blot on Hinduism, which we must obliterate”.
Gandhiji labored all though his life fore the welfare of Harijans. He advocated that harijans should be granted religion, economic, social and educational equality. For him independence had no meaning if the Harijans were deprived of their essential rights.
The protection of cow was a subject as dear to Gandhi’s heart as Ramanama. In his opinion cow protection included cattle-breeding, improvement of the stock, humane treatment of bullocks and formation of model dairies etc. He condemned those so-called Hindus who made their bullocks work beyond their capacity and who cruelly belabors the poor animal, thus disgracing his religion. He defended cow-slaughter and wrote.
“The cow is the purest of sub-human life. She pleads before us on behalf of the whole of the sub-human species for justice to it at the hands of man, the first among all that lives. She seem to speak to us through her eyes; you are not appointed over us kill us and eat our flesh or otherwise ill treat us, but to be our friend and guardian.
It is for me a poem of pity. I worship it and shall defend its worship against the whole world.”
Satyagrahi Gandhi:-
Gandhiji was a profound reader. His reading was selective, not voracious and his mind absorbed all the creative, though that aimed at the regeneration of man. A chance reading of ‘Unto This Last’ by Ruskin made a deep impression on him. Consequently, he organized the Phoenix settlement near Durban and eater the Tolstoy Farm near Johannesburg. An acquaintance with Tolstoy’s and Thoreau’s seminal writings made him develop his technique of passive resistance or Satyagraha. According to him, “Satyagraha is a method of securing rights by personal suffering: it is the reverse of resistance by arms. When I refuse to do a thing that is repugnant to my conscience, use soul force, if I do not obey the law, and accept the penalty for its breach, I use soul force.”
Morality and Gandhi:-
In his boyhood bays Gandhiji acquired faith in morality. He was convinced that morality is the basis of things and that truth is the substance of all morality. Thus Gandhiji once remarked that while God has given us some limited control over the means, we have none over the ends. In his philosophy of life, he said that ends means were convertible, which means that the far vision and the near vision are complementary and one must not be up against other. The distant goal is a necessity but present cannot be ignored and responsibility should not be cast aside.
Lawyer Gandhi:-
After matriculation in 1887, Gandhiji sailed for England in 1888 to study law. He returned to India in 1891 after being called to the bar. He started practicing at Rajkot and Bombay but did not prove to be successful. Two years later he sailed for South Africa as counsel for n Indian firm and this was the turning point in his life.
As a practicing lawyer he put great premium on truth and honesty. He had no intention of earning either position or money by lying. He warned every new client at the beginning that he would not accept any false case. Consequently he built up such a reputation that no false case to come to him. Gradually most of his legal work was done in the interest of public
GANDHI THE PHILOSHOPHIST:-
Gandhiji gave the practical message of spiritually, love truth and non -violence, but he did not enunciate any system of philosophy academic sense of term. He led a life of action and sacrificed him self for the welfare of humanity. Indeed there is a concord the between his philosophy and his daily conduct. He bulk of writing contain imperishable value which for the sake of convenience may be called ‘Ghandhism’ or’Ghandhianphilosophy’ but he did not consciously formulate any system of philosophy either or speculation or empirical evidence. His ideas on god, truth non-violence, satyagarh, politics religion education and social problem have permanent validity and are relevant in the fast changing world of science and technology. Summing up Mahatma Gandhi as a practical idealist, V.S.Mohan Rao writes:”…while Gandhi was idealistic in his approach, he was eminently pragmatic in the translation of his ideals into practice, that while his belief in fundamental principles like Truth and non-violence was unshakable, his application of these principles was governed by a continuous process of experimentation “. Gandhi an ideology or Gandhism is not a compendium of dogmas and doctrines, rules and regulation, inhibitions and injunctions; but it is a way of life. Gandhiji did not say any new thing but he allied the old ideals of love, Truth and non-violence to modern problems.
Gandhi, the writer:-
Gandhiji was in fact no writer, nor was he particularly interested in the art of writing, but he had to write or talk a great deal in English. Though he had neither the time nor the inclination to become a writer, he had left behind him an imagination large volumes of writing, the whole of which is yet not fully collected, edited and published. Writing becomes for him merely a medium to convey, to explain, to clarify his thoughts and message. And these writings established him as a writer of distinction among Indian Masters of English.
Gandhiji used language as a necessary tool for achieving communication, for conveying information, for converting people to his point of view. In South Africa, Indian opinion served a similar purpose in India. Gandhiji merely wrote straight on, as a result there is no straining effect after emphasis. His words often appear insipid or anemic, yet they are Gandhi’s words, and their very bareness depicts their strength. His mastery over language, however, bare and simple, was always adequate to the place, mood and occasion. Its greatest strength lies in its utter sincerity and transparent honesty. Simplicity, economy, frankness and unpretentiousness were the virtues that Gadhiji practiced all these virtues strengthened his writing.
By deliberate choice and conscious practice Gandhi was the master of his medium. The bulk of Gandhi’s writings is full of statements memorable for their clarity and pointed ness as for example:
“Swaraj can never be a free gift by one nation to another. It is a treasure to be purchased with a nation’s best blood. Swarwj will be the fruit of incessant labor, suffering beyond measure.”
Another such statement of Gandhi is also one of the imperishable classic. The following words could be carved for ever in our racial memoirs:
“I have no desire whatsoever to conceal from this court the fact that to preach disaffection towards the existing system of government has become almost a passion with him…..I knew that I was playing with fire. I ran the risk, and if I was set free, I would still do the same….I wanted to avoid violence, I want to avoid violence. Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of creed. But I had to take my choice. I had either to submit to a system which I considered had done irreparable harm to my country, or incur the risk of the mad fury of my people bursting fourth when they understood the truth from my lips.”
National Problem and their Reform:-
For Gandhiji, fight on the political front was only a small part total flight that he felt bound to sustain throughout his life. To him, national realization also meant the ending of political subjection and economic degradation, the removal of social inequalities like unsociability, cast arrogance, occupational prejudices etc., the reform of education and giving new life to literature and language. These were all inter-related problems, but they had to be treated individually also. He felt that through Satyagraha, political freedom could be achieved and with it the freedoms will come, but only if the necessary effort was to be put forth. Gandhiji saw that apart from the evil of foreign tulle, there were two formidable evils. There evils were idleness and poverty. The cure for idleness was work and cure for poverty was, firstly, the mobilization of all resources, secondly equitable distribution and thirdly, limiting population growth thought through brahamcharya.
Gandhi’s Educational Views:-
His education insights also had a fundamental sanity, especially in the context of the rural characters of India. The British system wanted to create an ‘educational middle class’, far from the hard actualities of life. This type of education brought forth the aversion to all forms of manual labor. Gandhiji said,”do and learn”. He believed that education meant to make the child participate in the creative life and acquire an intimate understanding of his environment. Through such participation and understanding the child was expected to develop a sense of responsibility for the well-being of the community.
Conclusion:-
If Gandhiji was the ‘Mahatma’, he was also ‘Bapu’, everybody’s friend and mentor. He is not of India only, but belongs to the whole world, even as a Jesus or a Buddha belongs to all humanity. His greatness was not sudden but his greatness was of an ordinary man who though a long process of trial and error achieved a unique greatness of his own. He is no more with us but his soul still beacons us to the path of peace, non-violence, virtue and righteousness. The light he showed is still shining and will shine for ever.
Gandhiji won the political freedom with the weapon of Satyagraha. It is absolutely a non-violent weapon. The aim of Satyagraha movement is not to capture power but to control and guide power effectively. A Satyagrahi’s object is to convert and not to coerce the wrong doer. He never ignores the distinction between evil and the evil doer. He was both the propounded of the technique of Satyagraha as also its practitioner. The greatest achievement and lasting contribution of Mahatma Gandhi consists in giving the shape of action to the ideal of Satyagraha.
Such was Gandhi the prophet whom espoused truth and defied violence, banished fear and unfurled the flag of Sarvodaya. He tried to build the edifice of humanity’s future, not on the quicksand’s of advance technological and global industrial strife, but on the durable foundation of love, truth, chastity, honest labor, equitable sharing, simple living and the uncompetitive ordering of national and international affairs. We can never reject his ethics and we can do it only if we are sure that there is a better and surer way to human salvation.
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