book review of autobiography of mahatma gandhi

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My Experiments With Truth Book Review [Best Review]

In this post “The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Book Review”, we review this whole book in-depth, So you will know whether you should read this book or not.

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The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Book Review

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About The Book

“The Story of My Experiments with Truth” is the autobiography book of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, which runs from his childhood to the year 1921.

In the year 1998, by a committee of religious authorities, this book was nominated as one of the “ Best 100 Spiritual Books of the 20th Century “.

In this book, Gandhi Ji describes his all life events like birth and parentage, childhood, experiences at school, child marriage, relationship with his wife and parents, his study tour to London, and many more.

Gandhiji wrote this book in his mother tongue Gujarati, later it was translated by Mahadev Desai, best remembered as a personal secretary of Gandhi Ji.

The book ends after a discussion of the Nagpur session of the Congress party in 1915.

Now, Let’s discuss The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Summary.

The Story Of My Experiments With Truth Summar y

The Story of My Experiments With Truth Summary, In the below section we give a brief summary of this book.

Introduction

This book of Gandhi Ji starts with an Introduction, the introduction is written by Gandhi Ji himself, mentioning how he has written his autobiography.

The goal of his story is simply to narrate his experiments with truth in life.

Gandhi Ji also says through this book he wishes to narrate his moral experiment and spiritual experience rather than political ones .

The first part describes the incidents of Gandhi Ji’s childhood, his experiments with smoking, eating meat, drinking, stealing, and after satisfaction.

The second part of the book tells about Gandhi’s experiences in the Cape Colony during a period of stress between the different ethnic groups in the region.

When Gandhi Ji succeeded in growing his own practice to about twenty Indian merchants who contracted him to manage their affairs, It was then that he ended up working in South Africa after almost twenty years.

After success in work, he allowed him to earn a living while also finding time to devote to his mission as a public figure. 

During Gandhi Ji’s struggle against inequality and racial discrimination in South Africa, He became known among Indians all around the world as “Mahatma,” or “Great Soul.”

In 1896, Gandhi Ji returned to India to be with his wife and children, Gandhiji continued his work on the Natal Indian Congress, and his loyalty to the British Empire guided him to help them during the Second Boer War.

In the year 1914 in July, He sailed for Britain, now admired as “Mahatma,” and popularly known throughout the world for the success of satyagraha.

When World War I started, Gandhi Ji was in England, he immediately began organizing a medical team similar to the unit he had led in the Boer War, but he also faced some health problems that caused him to return to India.

The British colonial authorities put Gandhi on trial for  sedition  and punished him with six years in prison, this was the first time that he faced prosecution in India. 

The government allowed him to use a spinning wheel and reading materials while in prison, so he felt content and, he also wrote most of his autobiography in prison.

Conclusion of My Experiments With Truth Book Review

Gandhi Ji wrote a suitable conclusion to the readers, in his “Farewell” for an autobiography that he never intended to be an autobiography, but a tale of experiments with truth, and life.

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Why to read My Experiment With Truth

• The author of this book was Mahatma Gandhi, later it was translated by Mahadev Desai.
• This book was nominated as one of the “ Best 100 Spiritual Books of the 20th Century “.
• This book is based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, He is also known among Indians all around the world as  “Mahatma”  or  “Great Soul.”
• This is an inspirational book and autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, which inspires you a lot to do something big.
• The book’s content is about moral teachings, His morality is deeply rooted in Indian culture and Hindu religion.

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Book Review- An Autobiography or The story of my experiments with Truth

In this review, I gave a brief account of the author of this book M.K. Gandhi and the reason behind him in writing this autobiography. I gave an explanation why Gandhi gave the tittle 'The story of my experiments with truth' rather than 'An autobiography' to his book which he used it only as a sub-tittle. I gave a brief summary of the various things present in different parts of this book for the benefit of the reader. I gave my personal opinion about this book as well as what makes this book worth reading.

About the Author The author of this book is the most popular legendary person of the twentieth century, Father of our Nation, Mahatma in the eyes of people, the person who sacrificed his whole life for the cause of independence to the country, the person who advocated principles of Truth, Satyagraha, Non-violence and spiritual thoughts of Self realization to the people, who is none other than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Why Gandhi wrote his Autobiography? At around year 1920, some of his co-workers insisted him to write his autobiography. He was unable to carry out this work at that time because he was deeply involved in independence movement. Later on the insistence of one of his co-worker Swami Anand, Gandhi agreed to write his autobiography little by little in the form of small chapters to a magazine Navajivan to which Gandhi usually write his articles. But one of his close friend advised him that the principles what he advocate today in his autobiography, for any reason, if he changes in future there may not be any value for his words in people. This advise affected Gandhi very much and so he changed his mind regarding this autobiography. Finally Gandhi decided to write his personal experiences of the experiments what he has conducted on truth during his life time. The reason for this Gandhi made it clear in his introductory words of this book that he never want to boast himself as a hero in the minds of the people but he wants to transfer some good thoughts to the reader that he experienced during his life time. What is there in this book? 'The story of my experiments with truth' is in five parts which begins with Gandhi's birth and his experiences in his personal life till 1921. The original script was written in Gujarati language by M.K. Gandhi to Navajivan magazine and it was later translated into English by Mahadev Desai. According to Mahadev Desai the sub-tittle Autobiography was given by Gandhi himself for his 'The story of My experiments with Truth'. In this book, Gandhiji mainly emphasized his experiments on his principles of truth, non-violence, spiritualism, celibacy, self realization, vegetarianism etc. Gandhi requested the readers to conduct similar such experiments in their life in their own way in quest of truth. A brief summary of the five parts found in this autobiography was given below for the interest of the readers. Part one In this part Gandhiji introduced his family members and the details about his birth to the readers. He narrated about his childhood days in this part in an interesting way. He rated himself as an average student with a shy character to intermingle with others. At the same time Gandhi's rejection to copying incident at school, an anecdote one has to know through Gandhi's words only. Two things which literally helped in his character building at this age are a play let Shravana Pitribhakti Nataka (a story about Shravanas devotion to his elderly parents) and the other is Satyaharischandra (a character of purana who never speaks lie even at the cost of his life) play. His child marriage with Kasturba, death of his father, his journey to England to earn law degree, the problems he faced there with their culture as well as his strict adherence to vegetarianism, religious foundation he got through Gita and Bible are the interesting things that the reader can get a first hand information from this part. Part Two To deal with a case Gandhi went to South Africa and there he was humiliated by racial discrimination incident in a first class coach. Gandhiji was very much moved by the oppressive and racial discrimination methods shown by South African rulers over the Indians who are living there. This heart throbbing situation of local Indians in South Africa made him a confident and strong leader. Part three Along with his family Gandhi went to South Africa to work with local Indians. He decided to completely dedicate his life to human service. He used to attend hospitals daily for two hours to clean the wounds of the patients and even clean toilets. At this time he developed the concepts of Brahmacharya, Non-violence and Satyagraha which later helped in the battle against British rulers in India. Finally the mission lead by Gandhi in South Africa has tasted success and that is the first win for Gandhi as a leader. Part Four Gandhi's increased interest in practicing vegetarianism, experiments of truth in court cases, experiments with satyagraha, experimenting Naturopathy in treating diseases, fasting method to self restraining, training of the spirit, meeting with Gokhalae are the interesting things found in this part. Part Five People treated Gandhiji as hero after his successful mission at South Africa. On the request of his political guru Gokhale, Gandhiji traveled throughout India and that made him realize the poor condition of Indians at the hasty rule of British. Champran satyagraha, Ahamedabad satyagraha, Kheda satyagraha, Satyagraha against Rowalat's act are important events we can know from this part. What makes this book worth reading? 1. A legendary and most popular person like Gandhi in his own words giving about the experiences of his personal life and an account of various events which occurred during independence struggle at that time will create a lot of interest among the people to read this book. Those who want to know history of Indian independence struggle, by reading this book they get a first hand information from a person who actually lead the struggle from front. 2. In writing this book Gandhi hide nothing the information that can reach the people whether it is good or bad.He was harsh on himself in admitting his mistakes as well as the ways he used to correct his mistakes. This sincerity or honesty of this great person had an influence on increasing the value of this book. 3. An average ordinary person who is shy even to mingle with others how he became 'Mahatma (great soul)' in the eyes of the people? How this simple person with his magnificent power of attraction able to bring millions of people together to fight against British?To know the answers for these questions one has to read the autobiography of M.K. Gandhi. 4. The simple and lucid style of his writing will help the readers to understand things easily. The various events and incidents which he experienced during his life time he put forth in this book in a very interesting way. These experiences enrich the reader with the values and principals followed by Gandhiji during his life time. Gandhiji used to practice anything before he actually preach to any body. This principle that Gandhiji followed throughout his life brought millions of admirers to him to unite and fight against British. 5. Readers can experience the values of spiritualism, truthfulness, non-violence, self realization etc. from the illustrations he made in this book. From Tolstoy form experience in South Africa, Gandhiji realized that the young can be trained only through spiritual training. Spiritual training helps to mold the character of an individual. Without character building there is no value for education in young. Similarly in Gandhiji's opinion Truth is God. Through truth only self realization occur in a person. The experiments on truth that Gandhiji carried through out his life for the purpose of this self realization only. During independence struggle Gandhiji preached non-violence to people which became a weapon in achieving independence to India. My opinion about this book 'An autobiography or The story of my experiments with truth' written by M.K. Gandhi is highly inspiring book and in my opinion it ought to be read by every Indian. After reading this book, definitely every reader will appraise Gandhi's honesty and sincerity in presenting every minute details of his personal life without hiding anything to the reader, even though such incidents presented by him may derogate his value. I really appreciated this nature of Gandhi in my mind after reading this book. Gandhi put to practice the things before he actually preach them to others. I really appreciate this attitude of Gandhi and sincerely believe that this is the reason why millions of people through out the World whether supporters or opponents admired him and like to have a glimpse of him at least once in their life time. One more thing I realized about Gandhiji after reading this book and I really appreciate is the modest way he lead his life. The autobiography that Gandhi wrote is simply superb, especially he narrated all the events which occurred in his life very interestingly as well as the language used for this narration is very simple even to the understanding level of a common man. Conclusion Without doubt this is one of the most popular and famous book of this century. Gandhi gave utmost importance to principals, values and humanity rather than his life itself. Gandhiji lived his whole life as an example to others rather than simply preaching values to others. The great scientist, Albert Einsteen rightly remarked, the generation to come may not believe such a person like Gandhi with blood and flesh has walked on this earth. People have realized the importance of the principals and values of Gandhiji at present than before. Big people like Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and American President Oboma became ardent admirers of Gandhi. Without any doubt the centuries to come Gandhiji will be remembered by people of any generation for the non-violent way he got independence to India.

Amazing work. Thank you for the ton of information which also helped me in a project.

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• Books - Non Fiction

My Experiments with Truth – M K Gandhi (Book Review)

• November 16, 2015

‘The Story of My Experiments with Truth’  is a partial autobiography of M K Gandhi. He explains how various events molded his character, how he developed his philosophies, and how he followed them stringently even through periods of extreme trial. This book contains the important events of the his life from the time of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth (Oct. 02, 1869) to 1921, when the book was published.

We know Mahatma Gandhi. But how did M K Gandhi become Mahatma Gandhi? How was one person able to live truthfully, able to convince millions of people to follow him – given his unconventional method of fighting, able to gain enough strength to bring a powerful empire to its knees, all by following non-violent methods of protest? 

Practically, he suffered, and asked people to suffer along with him. To understand how he was able to do it, we nee a glimpse of his early life. That’s exactly what the great man himself offers us in his own words.

If you are looking for history and details on his political activities, this book may not satisfy you, although some history is included. This book is more of a spiritual exploration where M K Gandhi tells us how he developed his life’s principles and how he kept up with them (successfully) in spite of huge obstacles.

Some interesting nuggets of info I found in this book:

• M K Gandhi studied law in England and ate only vegetarian food even there. He eventually gave up cow’s milk when he came to know how cows were mistreated on large farms, and drank only goat’s milk which also he tried to avoid. Practically, he was a vegan!
• He went to South Africa to practice law but found himself drawn towards public work (initially legal) after looking at the hardships faced by Indians in South Africa. He fought for their rights, while there.
• M K Gandhi supported the British Govt. during the Boer War in South Africa and during the First World war while in India by becoming a volunteer (nurse) and by recruiting volunteers for them.
• In South Africa when he came to know that a few Indians were affected with Plague, he (along with a few friends) personally attended to them in spite of a grave risk of getting affected themselves.
• In South Africa, he tried to set up a farm and live a simple life outside the city, but was not able to continue as friends kept calling him into the city to address their grievances.
• In India, he traveled around with a third class railway ticket, although the conditions of third class compartments were very bad in those days.
• One of his initial Satyagraha campaigns in India was the Champaran movement where he fought the law against farmers that forced them to cultivate indigo on a significant portion of their lands. His fight took two years but he was successful.
• There upon he led the protest for the Kheda farmers who were forced to pay a huge tax in spite of a famine. Although the lands were confiscated and people were arrested, the large majority did not flinch and the Govt. agreed to withdraw taxes for two years while returning the property.

I should agree that before studying this book, my knowledge about this great man was limited. Now I know something more. I love the way in which he brings his internal debates and confusions — no wonder he is the champion of truth!

This book (and others) are available to download for free from here .

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5 thoughts on “ My Experiments with Truth – M K Gandhi (Book Review) ”

its good book Its autobiography in real sense , today majority biographies just glorify the person

I had read this book almost a decade before… Respects for the great man!

I want to read this book from a very long time… hope to do soon. Thanks for the link to download the book

i love this book..

Very inspire story but not much in detail.

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Review: My Experiments With Truth by M.K. Gandhi

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An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth

Translated by (from Gujarati): Mahadev Desai

General editor: shriman narayan, isbn 81-7229-149-3, navajivan mudranalaya, ahemadabad 380014, india..

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Gandhi: An Autobiography - The Story of My Experiments With Truth Paperback – November 1, 1993

• Print length 560 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Beacon Press
• Publication date November 1, 1993
• Dimensions 5.5 x 1.25 x 8 inches
• ISBN-10 0807059099
• ISBN-13 978-0807059098
• Lexile measure 1010L
• See all details

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Although Gandhi presents his episodes chronologically, he happily leaves wide gaps, such as the entire satyagraha struggle in South Africa, for which he refers the reader to another of his books. And writing for his contemporaries, he takes it for granted that the reader is familiar with the major events of his life and of the political milieu of early 20th-century India. For the objective story, try Yogesh Chadha's Gandhi: A Life . For the inner world of a man held as a criminal by the British, a hero by Muslims, and a holy man by Hindus, look no further than these experiments. --Brian Bruya

From the Publisher

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Beacon Press (November 1, 1993)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 560 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0807059099
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0807059098
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1010L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.45 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.25 x 8 inches
• #649 in India History
• #4,464 in Political Leader Biographies
• #26,639 in Memoirs (Books)

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General Press publishes high-quality POD books in almost all popular genres including Fiction, Nonfiction, Religion, Self-Help, Romance, Classics, etc.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

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