Gandhi, the Yogi

I was meaning to read this book since high school, but never got to do it until now. Better late than never, as the saying goes. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Gandhi’s experiments.  This post is not a book review, I cannot do justice to the book. Although the book is about experiments with truth, ahimsa is also featured extensively. Every yogi must read this book, for Satya and ahimsa are the highlights of this book and Gandhi’s life. One can get the true meaning of what Ahimsa is.

This book is simple, humble and quite chatty. You get to know Gandhi at such a personal level. This book was first released in 1925, it does not cover all of Gandhi’s life. It stops when his life has become completely public, so the actual nonviolent fight for freedom is not covered. This book covers his childhood, education in England, his life in South Africa and a few years after he returned to India. I am impressed with the little details he mentions that goes all the way back while he was in his teens or a kid. The book was written when he was serving a prison sentence.

Ahimsa as Gandhi explains is the same as the yogic definition. It means non-hurting, non-violence in thoughts, action and speech. Interestingly, he does not mention the word ahimsa when he explains his dietetic experiments not to eat anything related to animals. Every time, he mentions ahimsa, it is always in the context of hurting or torturing someone’s feelings by one’s behavior.

As a child, he experiments with smoking. He and his friends need money to buy fresh cigarettes as they get tired of smoking the left overs from where they can find. Gandhi decides to steal a copper (coin, I guess) from someone who works at his house. This probably was the only wrong that he ever did. It chews him out. He decides to confess it to his father by writing a letter and asking for forgiveness. This is a touching chapter and Gandhi understands that he has caused a lot grief and this he considers himsa.

Gandhi got married at the age of 13. His wife Kasturbai was also of the same age. He was a typical Indian husband of those times, always controlling each and every move of his wife. He says that he was a devoted and a jealous husband. He caused a lot of grief to his wife. It was only later on in life, after having understood the true meaning of ahimsa in all its bearings, that he has regrets for his behavior towards his wife. He says that only a Hindu wife could have tolerated those hardships. For a Hindu wife has really nowhere to go even when a husband treats her badly. She is described in a few places that she did not agree with him in a few things and would end up crying, red eyed, pearls dropping. For she had no choice but to accept what Gandhi told her to do. Gandhi was no easy man to live with, what with constant new diet ideas and other experiments. This is why he considers woman as an incarnation of tolerance.

It is interesting to note that Gandhi did not have a role model. His father was not well educated and he did not look up to anyone for inspiration or guidance. His obsession with truth was inspired by the Indian story of Satya Harishchandra. He felt everyone ought to be able to live like that. Although he picked up a lot of habits by reading books, most of the truths that are in the spiritual texts were figured out on his own. Time and time again, the need for ahimsa and truth were being felt by him. Brahmacarya is something he has struggled a lot with. He felt it over time, that if he did not follow brahmacarya, he will not be able to serve the humanity. Again, curbing the senses was something he felt from within. I am so impressed that he felt the need for satya, ahimsa, brahmacarya, aparigraha and detachment on his own, that these were the ideals that defined his life. He was one of the best yogis known to mankind.

He did pick up his fondness for walking and his dietetic quack experiments from some books he read while in London. I was quite amused by his dietary trials. He did give up on milk initially to follow brahmacarya. Then he comes to know about the atrocities done to the animals in Calcutta and that supports his decision not to drink milk. He mentions that it is important to take vows, for without them it is easy to lose the focus. I quite see meaning in this statement. This is the only vow that he breaks and drinks goat milk to maintain his health.

I felt he was so simple and impressionable. He reads the book Unto This Last, by Ruskin. He is so impressed with this book, he decides to live the rest of his life according to the book as soon as he has finished reading the book. For the longest time he did not think that the British imperial rule was bad at all. He even volunteered to help with the war that the British had to fight. It is only after he moves to India, it slowly dawns on him that India should be a free country.

He was a shy kid and a teenager. He would not even speak to anyone when he went to London as a teenager. Later on, he got better. He does mention that his shyness actually worked well.

My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words. I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts. And I can now give myself the certificate that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen. Experience has taught me that silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth. Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man and silence is necessary in order to surmount it.

No wonder his letter writing skills have been amazing, for he thinks quite a bit before he puts it on paper. It is a treat to read some of the letters to the British government, saying why there will be a protest. It is written well and so dignified. He would never take any of his insults lightly. Every time he was denied his right in South Africa, he would write a letter to  the people responsible explaining why things need to be changed. You must be the change you want to see in the world. He says he had to pocket a few insults a few times for greater good.

The idea of fasting as penance must be Gandhi’s original idea. After he found success with this method to sort out very complex issues, he used this quite often ruining his health in the process. I can only imagine how difficult this must have been for him, but he says he was always guided by a higher purpose. Apart from fasting, his dietary experiments did make his life miserable. He suffered from pleurisy and once he was very close to death. He was in agony, doing nothing, watching the body slowly wearing away. He says he never liked living for the sake of living.

Gandhi wrote this book while serving a prison sentence.  I would have liked to read more about how exactly he came to dress in such a simple way. I can’t wait to see the film Gandhi again and read his other books like Satyagraha in South Africa.

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