from the book
Four or five years ago, at the instance of some of my nearest co-workers, I agreed to write my
autobiography. I made the start, but scarcely had Iturned over the first sheet when riots broke out
in Bombay and the work remained at a standstill. Then followed a series of events which
culminated in my imprisonment at Yeravda. Sjt. Jeramdas, who was one of my fellow-prisoners
there, asked me to put everything else on one side and finish writing the autobiography. I replied
that I had already framed a programme of study for myself, and that I could not think of doing
anything else until this course was complete. I should indeed have finished the autobiography
had I gone through my full term of imprisonment at Yeravda, for there was still a year left to
complete the task, when I was discharged. Swami Anand has now repeated the proposal, and as
I have finished the history of Satyagraha in South Africa, I am tempted to undertake the
autobiography forNavajivan. The Swami wanted me to write it separately for publication as a
book. But I have no spare time. I could only write a chapter week by week. Something has to be
written for Navajivanevery week. Why should it not be the autobiography? The Swami agreed to
the proposal, and here am I hard at work.
But a God-fearing friend had his doubts, which he shared with me on my day of silence. 'What
has set you on this adventure? he asked. 'Writing an autobiography is a practice peculiar to the
west. I know of nobody in the East having written one, except amongst those who have come
under Western influence. And what will you write? Supposing you reject tomorrow the things you
hold as principles today, or supposing you revise in the future your plans of today, is it not likely
that the men who shape their conduct on the authori ty of your word, spoken or written, may be
misled. Don't you think it would be better not to write anything like an autobiography, at any rate
just yet?'
This argument had some effect on me. But it is not my purpose to attempt a real
autobiography. I simply want to tell the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my
life consists of nothing but those experiments, it is true that the story will take the shape of an
autobiography. But I shall not mind, if every page of it speaks only of my experiments. I believe,
or at any rate flatter myself with the belief, thata connected account of all these experiments will
not be without benefit to the reader. My experiments in the political field are now known, not only
in India, but to a certain extent to the 'civilized ' world. For me, they have not much value; and the
title of Mahatma that they have won for me has, therefore, even less. Often the title has deeply
pained me; and there is not a moment I can recall when it may be said to have tickled me. But I
should certainly like to narrate my experiments in the spiritual field which are known only to
myself, and from which I have derived such power asI posses for working in the political field. If
the experiments are really spiritual, then there can be no room for self-praise. They can only add
to my humility. The more I reflect and look back onthe past, the more vividly do I feel my
limitations.
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./1/ I live and move and have my being
in pursuit of this goal. All that I do by way of speaking and writing, and all my ventures in the
political field, are directed to this same end. Butas I have all along believed that what is possible
for one is possible for all, my experiments have not been conducted in the closet, but in the open;
and I do not think that this fact detracts from their spiritual value. There are some things which are
known only to oneself and one's Maker. These are clearly incommunicable. The experiments I
am about to relate are not such. But they are spiritual or rather moral; for the essence of religion
is morality.
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