It is in this sense that he calls his book “The Story of My Experiments with Truth”, offering it also as a reference for those who would follow his footsteps. Gandhi says that his attempt to get closer to this divine power led him seek purity through simple living, dietary practices (he called himself a fruitarian), celibacy and ahimsa- a life without violence.

Gandhi explains that he was after truth rooted in devotion to God and attributed the turning point, success and challenges in his life to the will of God. Gandhi’s Non-violent struggle in South Africa and India had already brought him to such a level of notoriety, adulation and controversy that when asked to write an autobiography mid way through his career, he took it as an opportunity to explain himself.Īccepting his status as a great innovator in the struggle against racism, violence and colonialism, Gandhi felt that his ideas needed deeper understanding. This Autobiography is divided in five parts starting from his childhood days, his experience in South Africa where he experimented with the powerful weapon of Satyagraha and his transformation from Mohan to Mahatma, his various experiments on fundamental principles of Truth and God, till the year 1921, after which his life was so public that he felt there was hardly anything to write about. It is a detailed account of Gandhi’s consisting of Gandhi’s self penned essays (105 essays in all) on his experiments and covers all aspects of the Mahatma’s spiritual life.

Read an abridged version of Gandhi's AutobiographyĪn immortal book and a legacy for ages to come. 30 being subsidized by the Navajivan Trust, Ahmedabad. The paper back edition of the book costs Rs. I live and move and have my being in pursuit of this goal.' The introduction reads, 'What I want to achieve - what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years - is self-realization, to see God face to face, to attain Moksha.

In the last chapter he writes, 'My life from this point onward has been so public that there is hardly anything about it that people do not know.' The book is in five parts, beginning with his birth, up until the year 1921. The original was in Gujarati, and was later translated into English and other Indian languages. Most importantly, the author should have experienced all these. Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography Sathiya Sodhani is one book which guides you as to what is right and wrong.

Gandhi's experiments with truth