A BRIEF SUMMARY OF GANDHIJIS THE STORY OF MY

EXPERIMENTS WITH TRUTH

INTRODUCTION

Mahatma Gandhi , The Father of India, always has been a source of

inspiration .It is true to say, without Gandhi there is no Independent India .
Bappuji, in reality, must be regarded as the greatest epitome of truth, ahimsa
and satyagraha. The present world respects Mahatma by celebrating his
birthday as the International Day of Non violence. Though The Story of My
Experiments With Truth published in pre-independence era; it had its
motivational impact on the present era. Original work published in 1925 has
later been translated to English by Mahadev Desai.

SUMMARY OF PART 1

This part focused on few instances in life of Gandhiji since birth, about his marriage,
education in England, self-traits,about religion and a few other stories about
childhood , experiments, tragedies etc.

M.K.Gandhi was born to Putlibhai and Karamchand Gandhi at Porbandhar on

October 2nd 1869. He was the youngest among his siblings. He started school at the
age of 7 and then got shifted to suburban school. He was a shy boy in school who
used to go there at the stroke of the hour.

Gandhiji here mentioned a story about the arrival of school inspector Mr.Giles in
his school for inspection. Giles took a word spelling test in which gandhiji couldnot
spell the word kettle inspite of the school teacher prompting him to copy from
others. He never learnt the art of copying or cheating instead he was greatly
interested in plays of Harishchandra and Shravana kumara.

Gandhiji got married at the age of 13 to Kasturba. For him, marriage was nothing
more than the prospect of celebration. Kasturba was illiterate unlike her husband
but was an independent girl. He continued studies after marriage. He worked very
hard to learn newer languages but was not interested in sports. In latter part of life
Gandhiji himself stated the significance of physical education and language learning
in school curriculum.

M.K.Gandhi has also penned down some tragedies that he come across in
friendship, communication and loss of dear ones . He has further stated about the
death of his father and his condition after that.
Gandhi got versed with different religions and had faith in the Ram Raksha. After
passing matriculate exams, Gandhiji went to England for further learning. But he
was nervous about adjusting to the British ways of living as he was not a meat eater
or alcoholic. The noise of untruth troubled him. He was helpless at times as he was
torn with doubts and anxieties.

PART 2

This part mentions about the returning back of Gandhi to India . There he met
Dr. Mehta who introduced him to Shri. Revashankar Jagjivan. The news of the death
of mother shattered Gandhi much. Jagjivan ,later, introduced him to poet Raychand.
Gandhiji here talks about the 3 moderns that have left a deep impression in his life.
The 3 models include Raychand by his living contact , Leo Tolstoy by his book , The
Kingdom of God Is Within You; and Ruskin by his Unto The Last.

Because of his foreign voyage, Gandhis caste got splitted into 2 camps : one
readmitted Gandhi and the other group kept him out. With great effort his elder
brother solved the issue. Later , Gandhiji decided to go to Bombay to study law.
But , the incompetency made him difficult to survive and Gandhiji returned back to
Rajkot .

Gandhiji, with elder brothers compulsion, tried to solve the issue between
elder brother and political agent. But the attempt turned out futile. Later, the elder
brother introduced him to Sheth Abdul Karim and thereby led Gandhi to serve the
position of barrister at South Africa.

On the journey, gandhiji was disgusted at his own weakness of not saying no
to Captain. But Gandhi remained firm on his ideals. Here the reader come across the
term coolic barrister instead of Indian barrister. The disastrous train journey to
Standerton set the example of the condition and attitude of colonies to the
colonizers and in between the colonies. Gandhiji got Islamic experience of
brotherhood from Abdulla Sheth ,and, later got introduced to religion of Christianity
by Mr. Baker.

Gandhiji made an intimate study of the hard condition of the Indian settlers in
South Africa who were deprived of all their rights. Gandhiji later got settled in Natal
and formed Natal Indian Congress. The comparative study of religions made by
Ganhiji on this time require special mentioning. After 3 years , Gandhiji returned
back to Bombay. He prepared green pamphlet , a pamphlet on the situation of
South Africa and its 10,000 copies were distributed at every part of India. THE
PIONEER ,the news daily, prepared an editorial about green pamphlet. Gandhiji paid
great esteem to British tradition and equal respect was given to their national
anthem, an emblem of constitution. Gandhiji arranged meetings on Poona and
Madras inorder to discuss the issues. With Dada Abdullas help , Gandhiji returned
back to south Africa along with his family.
PART 3

The first voyage of family along with Gandhi to south Africa and the problems
followed by it gain the significance here. At the time of arrival , the family were
taken to Mr.Rustomjis place while Gandhi remained on the shore. Mrs.Alexander ,
the wife of police superintendent , partially succeeded in her effort to protect
Gandhi from the enraged crowd. After the initial escape, Gandhiji cleared the
misunderstanding of mob successfully . the bills introduced in Natal Legislative
Assembly increased his public work for the Indian Community. Gandhiji , even
started an improvised school for the children of Satyagrahi parents in South Africa.
Gandhiji made a thorough learning about brahmacharya and the concept of
moksha.

The white barbers were not ready to touch ready to touch the hair of Indian
and black men. Gandhiji developed the passion for self-help and simplicity. The Boer
war got started . Gandhiji had personal sympathy for Boers , but he participated in
the defence of British Empire. The service of Indians in south Africa revealed the
new implication of truth to Gandhi. After the war, Gandhiji returned back to India by
providing all his expensive gifts received during the farewell to the organized trust.
Gandhiji was of the opinion that a public worker should accept no costly gifts.

In India, Gandhiji passed his resolution unanimously in the congress .Gandhiji

stayed with Gokhale and established many relations with foremost Bengali families.
During this time, Gandhiji met Sister Nivedita and later went to Benares. Gokhale
wanted him to start practice at Bombay but Gandhiji preferred Rajkot. But Gandhiji
was destined to return to south Africa to solve the major issues.

PART 4

South Africa was under the epidemic of colour prejudice. The governmental
laws and the consequences made Indians to find themselves between the devil and
the deep sea. Gandhiji narrated about the struggle for the Indian settlers rights in
Transvaal and their dealings with Asiatic department. Asiatic officers were not ready
to protect Indians, Chinese and others. Here Gandhiji regards ahimsa as the basis
for the search of truth. Even at the time of serious illness , Gandhiji and his family
were not ready to give up vegetarianism.

In European Contacts, Gandhiji mentioned about Miss Dick , Miss Schlesin etc.
Gokhale considered Miss Schlesin as combination of sacrifice, purity ,and the
fearfulness.The news journal INDIAN OPINION in those days, like YOUNG INDIA
and NAVAJIVAN , was a part of his life.

The Black Plague got started in Johannesburg Gold Mine. Gandhiji along with Sjt.
Madanjit and Dr. William Godfrey took care of the patients. After evacuation , the
loction was put to flames to avoid further spread of disease.
 Unto the Last was later translated to gujarati by Gandhiji by providing the title
Sarvodaya . His family was brought back to south Africa. The new friend Polak was
like a blood brother to Gandhiji with whom he shared his perspectives regarding
various topics. Zulu rebellion was the other notable event.The concept of
brahmacharya was still there and it even affected the diet of Gandhiji.

Tolstoy Farm where Gandhi stayed along with Mr.Kallenbach and a few satyagrahi
families. They followed every religious practices. An atmosphere of self-restraint
naturally sprang upon the farm. Literary training and character building were given
more importance.

Inorder to meet Gokhale , Gandhi went to England and have to remain there as
Gokhale went to have treatment in Paris. Gandhiji often thought about miniature
satyagraha. It marked the beginning of great satyagraha struggle of 8 years. Later
in 1914, Gandhiji met Gokhale on England and took the decision to return back to
India.

PART 5

Gandhiji, after reaching back to India, constructed Sabarmati

Ashram : the worldly abode of simplicity and sacrifice. It also focused on
Gandhijis own experience to stand on face to face with god, ahimsa and
truth. The labour strike at Ahmedabad by sticking on to the satyagraha
principles held by providing newer dimensions. Kheda Campaign launched
but the deadly war was still on Europe. Satyagraha now turned out to be the
act of self purification. With the continuous satyagraha, the health condition
of Bappuji got worsened but somehow survived. Whole India got united on
march 30th 1919 at the hartal organized against Rowlatt act and thus making
it a success.

Through the journals NAVAJIVAN and YOUNG INDIA Gandhiji put his
effort on the work of educating the reading public in satyagraha. The
congress proceedings at Amritsar marked the real entrance of Gandhiji to
Congress politics. This time period witnessed the birth of khadhi, the true
Indian symbol.

In the Farewell Gandhiji conveyed the message that there is no god

other than truth. By bidding farewell Gandhiji state,

I ask him to join with me in prayer to the god of truth that

He may grant the boon of Ahimsa in mind, word and deed.
REFERENCES/ WORKS CITED

1. Gandhi, Mohandas. Autobiography: The story of My Experiments With Truth,

New York. Dover publications, 1983.
2. http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.k.Gandhi/