Palak Bansal

English 3B
Roll no.: 535

Elucidate Gandhi’s autobiography as an autobiography of

resistance.
The introduction to The Story of My Experiments with Truth is written by Gandhi himself
mentioning how he has resumed writing his autobiography at the insistence of Jeramdas, a
fellow prisoner in Yerwada Central Jail with him. He mulls over the question a friend asked
him about writing an autobiography, deeming it a Western practice, something "nobody
does in the east". Gandhi himself agrees that his thoughts might change later in life but the
purpose of his story is just to narrate his experiments with truth in life. He also says that
through this book he wishes to narrate his spiritual and moral experiments rather than
political. Thus, his autobiography itself is a resistance to the form of autobiographies.

Gandhi dedicated his life to the wider purpose of discovering truth, or Satya. He tried to
achieve this by learning from his own mistakes and conducting experiments on himself and
thus, he named his autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth. Gandhi found
that uncovering the truth was not always popular as many people were resistant to change,
preferring instead to maintain the existing status quo because of either inertia, self-interest
or misguided beliefs. However, he also discovered that once the truth was on the march
nothing could stop it. All it took was time to achieve traction and gain momentum. As
Gandhi said:

"The Truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction".

Gandhi said that the most important battle to fight was in overcoming his own demons,
fears and insecurities. He thought it was all too easy to blame people, governing powers or
enemies for his personal actions and well-being. He noted the solution to problems could
normally be found just by looking in the mirror.

He recalls an incident from his childhood when a teacher tried to prompt him with the point
of his boot, to copy his neighbour in spelling examination, but with no effect. He thought
teachers were there to supervise against cheating and he could never learn the art of
“cheating” despite various external prompts. Truth and honesty, were he weapons that he
used to resist against his own demons, time and again.
He further talks about the two incidents from his childhood that clings to his memory, and in
some way, influenced the course of his future thoughts. One, was a book from his father’s
library that fell into his hands: “Shravana Pitrubhakti” and two, a play called
“Harishchandra” which he had watched. He often asked himself, “What is it that stops all of
us from being dedicated like Shravana and truthful like Harishchandra?”
Before starting to talk about his early marriage at the age of 13, Gandhi states, “Much as I
wish that I had not to write this chapter, I know that I shall have to swallow many such bitter
draughts in the course of this narrative.” It brings out how the very form of autobiography
needs an individual to resist against one’s desire to portray only good aspects of oneself and
needs one to swallow all the bitter draughts and talk with equal emphasis about all the
negative aspects of one’s life, including shame, disgust and others. He discusses his child
marriage and all the festivities, which only meant good clothes, drum beatings, rich dinners
and a strange girl to play with when he was a child. But now, he looks back at it with a lot of
shame and contempt.
Gandhi talks about another incident where his friend tries to convince him to become a
meat eater explaining its benefits to him saying “We are a weak people because we do not
eat meat. The English are able to rule over us, because they are meat-eaters. You know how
hardy I am, and how great a runner too. It is because I am a meat-eater. Meat-eaters do not
have boils or tumours, and even if they sometimes happen to have any, these heal quickly.
Our teachers and other distinguished people who eat meat are no fools. They know its
virtues. You should do likewise. There is nothing like trying. Try, and see what strength it
gives.” Slowly by his friend and brother’s influence Gandhi turned to meat-eating and
relished meat dishes multiple time. However, soon he was haunted by the thought of lying
to his parents and the shock they would experience if they got to know the truth. Therefore,
he said to himself: 'Though it is essential to eat meat, and also essential to take up food
'reform' in the country yet deceiving and lying to one's father and mother is worse than not
eating meat. In their lifetime, therefore, meat-eating must be out of the question. When
they are no more and I have found my freedom, I will eat meat openly, but until that
moment arrives I will abstain from it.' Despite all the temptations and a slight deviation from
the path off truth, he resisted and rectified himself.
Similarly, he talks about another incident where his friend took him to a brothel and he was
saved from the sin of faithlessness to his wife because of his resistance. He acted like a
jealous husband and pained his wife by acting on his friend’s information but soon he
turned to Brahmacharya and realized that the wife is not the husband's bond slave, but his
companion and his help-mate, and an equal partner in all his joy and sorrows - as free as the
husband to choose her own path.
Stealing was another such temptation that Gandhi struggled to resist against but preserved
himself. He became fond of smoking and started stealing for the same. However, burdened
by his own thoughts, he confessed everything to his father and promised not to steal ever
again. His father instead of punishing him shed a pearl of tear, atoning his sins. This incident
of sublime forgiveness later becomes a prime example of “ahimsa” for Gandhi, guiding him
throughout his life.
Gandhi turned his individual resistance to various temptations like lust, meat, wine, money
and violence into a national movement called Satyagraha. Satyagraha is the philosophy of
non-violent resistance that Gandhi employed in forcing an end to the British Raj and also
against Apartheid in South Africa. He adopted non-violence and continued to resist
everything that deviated him from his path of experimenting with the truth.