MONSOON SEMESTER 2018

ENGLISH PROJECT

SAMARTH SANSAR

218099(SECTION - B)

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 GANDHIJI’S EXPERIMENT WITH BRAHMACHARYA

Ask a tenth grader and he will be able to give out couple of lines if not a perfect response,
Brahmacharya, is where men and women refrain from carnal knowledge of each other.
Mutual glances should be free from all suggestions of carnality. Men and women should not
touch each other with carnal thoughts, in fact they should refrain from it even in dreams.

Gandhiji was passionately fond of his wife, Kasturbai. Walking by the path he used to think
of her, the thought of nightfall and of their subsequent meetings kept haunting him. Men and
women, old and young without exception are caught in meshes of sensuality. Mostly blinded
by part of lust, they lose sense of right and wrong. Gandhiji admitted he too behaved likewise
under similar influences.

There was once, during his father’s last moments when he demanded wakeful service,
Gandhiji had his urgent carnal desire and for sake of momentary pleasure, he sacrificed all
stock of his vital energy that he had accumulated. He claimed “his devotion for his parents
knew no bounds, yet it was weighed and found unpardonably wanting because his mind at the
same time was in grip of lust”. He remembers this moment of his father’s death as a great
shame for him because of his carnal desire and something he could never overcome. Also, a
common phenomenon to which Gandhiji agrees in the 4th chapter (Part-1), Kasturbai was
illiterate, Gandhiji wanted to educate her but then NO! Lust came in between. He himself
said at a point that had he not been driven by lust, Kasturbai would have been a learned lady.
The only time he could have taught her was during night, but that was the time he was
engrossed with carnal thoughts.

But then if we entirely analyse, Gandhiji was not entirely at fault either. He was a regular
teen with hormones turning upside down. In his sixteenth summer he was expecting a baby.
He did feel bad about this for he couldn’t restrain himself, that his carnal lust got the better of
him and what else, his devotion to parents. This was something he himself acclaimed as
“Double Shame” in the 9th chapter (Part -1). Gandhiji kept tossing the coin but
Brahmacharya failed him each time.

It was in 1906, Phoenix, where after full discussion and mature deliberation Gandhiji took
vow of celibacy. He said perfect observance of Brahmacharya means ‘realization of
Brahman’. The great potentiality of Brahmacharya became more and more patent to him. He
observed, in chapters 61 and 62 (Part-3) “Those who want to perform national service, or

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have gleam of religious life must lead a celibate life. Life without Brahmacharya appears to
me to be insipid and animal like. Man is man because he is capable of exercising self-
restraint. I hope that a life of perfect continence in thoughts, speech and action is necessary
for reaching spiritual perfection. Brahmacharya is impossible without complete control of all
senses”. He believed that in order to regenerate India, he himself had to become as pure a
spirit as he possibly could. He claimed every day of his vow took him nearer to the
knowledge that in Brahmacharya lies the protection of the body, the mind and the soul. It was
not a hard process but a matter of consolation and joy.

He adopted the term “BRAHMACHARYA” to refer to his own practice of celibacy. While
Gandhiji’s words to his followers were laudable, there exists controversy about whether his
personal life was different from what he preached. There exists a gap between broader
political philosophy and personal conduct. These facts aren’t fully discussed and indeed not
well known. It is possible that Gandhiji was celibate at certain times, which is when he did
his writing, but at other times he may not be so. It is possible that his obsession with the idea
of Brahmacharya rebounded upon him in strange ways. He didn’t seem to have a guidance
from a guru who was competent in the practice. He himself claimed “he grew upon with
experience”. Brahmacharya includes 4 stages- first being “student life” students while
learning about spirituality must retain celibacy, in contrast Gandhiji was married at a younger
age of 13 and by age of 16 expected a baby. He admits that “even after his conscience rouse
in this matter, he failed twice and that was because his motive that actuated the effort was
none the highest”.

There is a tendency that men of status take advantage of power. We can draw the fact that
Gandhiji got around as a monk to enlighten, what is more he did this while preaching
celibacy to others. And who was there to challenge him? After all we labelled him nation’s
untouchable hero and his iconic status eclipsed all his wrong doings. It is an open secret that
Gandhiji slept naked with his great granddaughter and the wife of his great grandson 1. Maybe
he wanted to test his drive but to me, to us, it was no less than an experiment. For me, this
itself is unacceptable and moreover, to do such things, he choose teenagers and that too blood
relations over adult women, which I agree would be an interesting gossip. It is as much
unforgivable as much it is unbelievable. To me, such practices by no means sound reasonable
and is in fact extremely absurd. After all why would a Brahmachari indulge in such practices

1
https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/the-interviews-blog/gandhi-was-obsessed-with-sex-while-preaching-
celibacy-to-others-kusoom-vadgama

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and what was the need and justification of such ‘soul strengthening exercises’ 2? But again
who would answer such critics, for the status enjoyed by Gandhiji was far bigger than such
questions. This portion of the book “The story of my experiments with truth” dealing with
Brahmacharya life of Gandhiji is something which I completely disagree with and question
upon. I found rest of the book, whatever I could grasp, very enlightening and for sure will
have an impact on my life, but I will put a question mark to this very part.

Though, may be while expressing my views on this Brahmacharya life of Gandhiji, once or
twice it came to my mind “are all ideas of Gandhiji false”? For a while I thought that way
but, NO keeping this element aside there are plethora of instances which prove Gandhiji’s far
sightedness. It is the harvest of his ideologies and sacrifices that the present and coming
generations will reap. I have a great faith in his ideology of Ahimsa and Satyagraha as these
principles are equally effective, if not more, in present times. Well, as I have said enough not
supporting the Brahmacharya life of his, many people will agree many won’t but it’s fine as
Gandhiji himself claimed , it is not necessary that everyone will agree with our opinion and
we shouldn’t force our opinions on others as well. I will learn to live with it as so did
Gandhiji, for he is not just Gandhi but Nation’s father.

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https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20130617-mahatma-gandhi-relationship-young-women-
celibacy-764010-1999-11-30