An Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth

by M K Gandhi

  So the community was asked to submit the names of the representatives who were to form the Deputation. Colour prejudice was of course in evidence everywhere in South Africa, but I was not prepared to find here the dirty and underhand dealing among officials that I was familiar with in India.M1 In South Africa the public departments were maintained for the good of the people and were responsible to public opinion. Hence officials in charge had a certain courtesy of manner and humility about them, and colouredM2 people also got the benefit of it more or less. With the coming of the officers from Asia, came also its autocracy, and the habits that the autocrats had imbibed there.M3 In South Africa there was a kind of responsible government or democracy, whereas the commodity imported from Asia was autocracy pure and simple; for the Asiatics had no responsible government, there being a foreign power governing them.M4 In South Africa the Europeans were settled emigrants. They had become South African citizens and had control over the departmental officers. But the autocrats from Asia now appeared on the scene, and the Indians in consequence found themselves between the devil and the deep sea.18

  I had a fair taste of this autocracy. I was first summoned to see the chief of the department, an officer from Ceylon.19 Lest I should appear to exaggerate when I say that I was ‘summoned’ to see the chief, I shall20 make myself clear. No written order was sent to me. Indian leaders often had to visit the Asiatic officers. Among these was the late Sheth Tyeb Haji Khan Muhammad. The chief of the office asked him who I was and why I had come there.

  ‘He is our adviser,’ said Tyeb Sheth, ‘and he has come here at our request.’

  ‘Then what are we here for? Have we not been appointed to protect you? What can Gandhi know of the conditions here?’ asked the autocrat.M5

  Tyeb Sheth answered the charge as best he could: ‘Of course you are there. But Gandhi is our man. He knows our language and understands us. You are after all officials.’

  The Sahib ordered Tyeb Sheth to fetch me before him. I went to the Sahib in company with Tyeb Sheth and others. No seats were offered, we were all kept standing.

  ‘What brings you here?’ said the Sahib addressing me.

  ‘I have come here at the request of my fellow-countrymen to help them with my advice,’ I replied.

  ‘But don’t you know that you have no right to come here? The permit you hold was given you by mistake. You cannot be regarded as a domiciled Indian. You must go back. You shall not wait on Mr. Chamberlain. It is for the protection of the Indians here that the Asiatic Department has been especially created. Well, you may go.’ With this he bade me good-bye, giving me no opportunity for a reply.

  But he detained my companions. He gave them a sound scolding and advised them to send me away.

  They returned chagrined.M6 We were now confronted with an unexpected situation.

  III

  POCKETED THE INSULTM1

  I smarted under the insult, but as I had pocketed many such in the past, I had become inured to them. I therefore decided to forget this latest one and take what course a dispassionate view of the case might suggest.

  We had a letter from the Chief of the Asiatic Department to the effect that, as I had seen Mr. Chamberlain in Durban, it had been found necessary to omit my name from the Deputation which was to wait on him.

  The letter was more than my co-workers could bear. They proposed to drop the idea of the Deputation altogether. I pointed out to them the awkward situation of the community.

  ‘If you do not represent your case before Mr. Chamberlain,’ said I, ‘it will be presumed that you have no caseM2 at all. After all, the representation has to be made in writing, and we have got it ready. It does not matter in the least whether I read it or someone else reads it. Mr. Chamberlain is not going to argue the matter with us. I am afraid, we must swallow the insult.’

  I had scarcely finished speaking when Tyeb Sheth cried out, ‘Does not an insult to you amount to an insult to the community? How can we forget that you are our representative?’

  ‘Too true,’ said I. ‘But even the community will have to pocket insults like these. Have we any alternative?’

  ‘Come what may, why should we swallow a fresh insult? Nothing worse can possibly happen to us. Have we many rights to lose?’ asked Tyeb Sheth.

  It was aM3 spirited reply, but of what avail was it?21 I was fully conscious of the limitations of the community. I pacified my friends and advised them to have, in my place,22 Mr. George Godfrey, an Indian barrister.

  So Mr. Godfrey led the Deputation.23 Mr. Chamberlain referred in his reply to my exclusion. ‘Rather than hear the same representative over and over again, is it not better to have someone new?’ he said, and tried to heal the wound.

  But all this, far from ending the matter, only added to the work of the community and also to mine. We had to start afresh.

  ‘It is at your instance that the community helped in the war, and you see the result now,’ were the words with which some people taunted me. But the taunt had no effect. ‘I do not regret my advice,’ said I. ‘I maintain that we did well in taking part in the war. In doing so we simply did our duty. We may not look forward to any reward24 for our labours, but it is my firm conviction that all good action is bound to bear fruit in the end. Let us forget the past and think of the task before us.’ With which the rest agreed.

  I added: ‘To tell you the truth, the work for which you had called me is practically finished. But I believe I ought not to leave the Transvaal, so far as it is possible, even if you permit me to return home.25 Instead of carrying on my work from Natal, as before, I must now do so from here. I must no longer think of returning to India within a year, but must get enrolled in the Transvaal Supreme Court. I have confidence enough to deal with this new department. If we do not do this, the community will be hounded out of the country, besides being thoroughly robbed. Every day it will have fresh insults heaped upon it. The facts that Mr. Chamberlain refused to see me and that the official insulted me, are nothing before the humiliation of the whole community. It will become impossible to put up with the veritable dog’s life that we shall be expected to lead.’M4

  So I set the ball rolling,26 discussed things with Indians in Pretoria and Johannesburg, and ultimately decided to set up office in Johannesburg.

  It was indeed doubtful whether I would be enrolled in the Transvaal Supreme Court. But the Law Society did not oppose my application, and the Court allowed it.27 It was difficult for an Indian to secure rooms for office in a suitable locality. But I had come in fairly close contact with Mr. Ritch,28 who was then one of the merchants there. Through the good offices of a house agent known to him, I succeeded in securing suitable rooms for my office in the legal quartersM5 of the city, and I started on my professional work.29

  IV

  QUICKENED SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE

  Before I narrate30 the struggle for the Indian settlers’M1 rights in the Transvaal and their dealings31 with the Asiatic Department, I must turn to some other aspects of my life.

  Up to now there had been in me a mixed desire. The spirit of self-sacrifice was tempered by the desire to lay by something for the future.M2

  About the time I took up chambers in Bombay, an American insurance agent had come there—a man with a pleasing countenance and a sweet tongue. As though we were old friends he discussed my future welfare.32 ‘All men of your status in America have their lives insured. Should you not also insure yourself against the future? Life is uncertain. We in America regard it as a religious obligation to get insured. Can I not tempt you to take out a small policy?’33

  Up to this time I had given the cold shoulder to allM3 the agents I had met in South Africa and India, for I had thought that life assurance implied fear and want of faith in God. But now I succumbed to the temptation of the American agent. As he proceeded with his argument, I had before my mind’s eye a picture of my wife and children. ‘Man, you have sold almost all the ornaments of your wife,’ I said to myself. ‘If something were to happen to you,
the burden of supporting her and the children would fall on your poor brother, who has so nobly filled the place of father. How would that become you?’ With these and similar arguments I persuaded myself to take out a policy for Rs. 10,000.

  But when my mode of life changed in South Africa, my outlook changed too.34 All the steps I took at this time of trial were taken in the name of God and for His service.M4 I did not know how long I should have to stay in South Africa. I had a fear that I might never be able to get back to India; so I decided to keep my wife and35 children with me and earn enough to support them.36 This plan37 made me deplore the life policy and feel ashamed of having been caught in the net of insurance agent. If, I said to myself, my brother is really in the position of my father, surely he would not consider it too much of a burden to support my widow, if it came to that. And what reason had I to assume that death would claim me earlier than the others? After all the real protector was neither I nor my brother, but the Almighty. In getting my life insured I had robbed my wife and children of their self-reliance. Why should they not be expected to take care of themselves? What happened to the families of the numberless poor in the world? Why should I not count myself as one of them?

  A multitude of such38 thoughts passed through my mind, but I did not immediately act upon them. I recollect having paid at least one insurance premium in South Africa.

  Outward circumstances too supported this train of thought. During my first sojourn in South Africa it was39 Christian influence that had kept alive in me the religious sense. Now it was theosophical influence that added strength to it. Mr. Ritch was a theosophist and put me in touch with the Society at Johannesburg. I never became a member, as I had my differences, but I came in close contact with almost every theosophist.40 I had religious discussions with them every day. There used to be readings from theosophical books and sometimes I had occasion to address their meetings.41 The chief thing about theosophy is to cultivate and promote the idea of brotherhood. We had considerable discussion over this, and I criticized the members where their conduct did not appear to me to square with their ideal. The criticism was not without its wholesome effect on me. It led to introspection.42

  V

  RESULT OF INTROSPECTION

  When, in 1893, I came in close contact with Christian friends, I was a mere novice. They tried hard43 to bring home to me, and make me accept, the message of Jesus,M1 and I was a humble and respectful listener with an open mind. At that time I naturally studied Hinduism to the best of my ability and endeavoured to understand other religions.

  In 1903 the position was somewhat changed. Theosophist friends certainly intended to draw me into their society, but that was with a view to getting something from me as a Hindu. Theosophical literature is replete with Hindu influence, and so these friends expected that I should be helpful44 to them. I explained that my Samskrit study was not much to speak of, that I had not read the45 Hindu scriptures in the original, and that even my acquaintance with the translations46 was of the slightest. But being believers47 in samskara (tendencies caused by48 previous births) and punarjanma (rebirth), they assumed that I should be able to render at least some help. And so I felt like a Triton among the minnows.49 I started reading Swami Vivekananda’s Rajayoga50 with some of these friends and M.N. Dvivedi’s51 Rajayoga with others. I had to read Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras with one friend and the Bhagavad Gita with quite a number. We formed a sort of Seekers’ Club where we had regular readings. I already had faith in the Gita, which had a fascination for me. Now I realized the necessity of diving deeper into it. I had52 one or two translations, by means of which I tried to understand the original Samskrit. I decided also to get by heart one or two verses every day. For this purpose I employed the time of my morning ablutions. The operation took me thirty-five minutes,53 fifteen minutes for the tooth brush and twenty for the bath. The first I used to do standing in western fashion. So on the wall opposite I stuck slips of paper on which were written the Gita verses and referred to them now and then to help my memory.54 This time was found sufficient for memorizing the daily portion and recalling the verses already learnt. I remember having thus committed to memory thirteen chapters. But the memorizing of the Gita had to give way to other work55 and the creation and nurture of satyagraha,56 which absorbed all my thinking time, as the latter may be said to be doing even now.

  What effect this reading of the Gita had on my friends57 only they can say, but to me the Gita became an infallible guide of conduct. It became my dictionary of daily reference.M2 Just as I turned to the English dictionary for the meanings of58 English words that I did not understand, I turned to this dictionary of conduct for a ready solution of all my troubles and trials.M3 Words like aparigraha (non-possession) and samabhava (equability) gripped me. How to cultivate and preserve that equability was the question. How was one to treat alike59 insulting, insolent and corrupt officials, co-workers of yesterday raising meaningless opposition, and men who had always been good to one? How was one to divest oneself of all possessions? Was not the body itself possession enough? Were not wife and children possessions? Was I to destroy all the cupboards of books I had? Was I to give up all60 I had and follow Him? Straight came the answer: I could not follow Him unless I gave up all I had. My study of English law came to my help. Snell’s discussion of the maxims of Equity came to my memory. I understood more clearly in the light of the Gita teaching the implication of the word ‘trustee’.61 My regard for jurisprudence increased, I discovered in it religion. I understood the Gita teaching of non-possession to mean that those who desired salvation should act like the trustee who, though having control over great possessions, regards not an iota of them as his own. It became clear to me as daylight that non-possession and equability presupposed a change of heart, a change of attitude. I then wrote to Revashankerbhai to allow the insurance policy to lapse and get whatever could be recovered or else to regard the premiums already paid as lost, for I had become convinced that God, who created my wife and children as well as myself, would take care of them. To my brother, who had been as father to me, I wrote explaining that I had given62 him all that I had saved up to that moment, but that henceforth he should expect nothing from me, for future savings,63 if any, would be utilized for the benefit of the community.64

  I could not easily make my brother understand this. In stern language he explained to me my duty towards him. I should not, he said, aspire to be wiser than our father. I must support the family as he did. I pointed out to him that I was doing exactly what our father had done. The meaning of65 ‘family’ had but to be slightly widened and the wisdom of my step would become clear.

  My brother gave me up and practically stopped all communication.66 I was deeply distressed, but it would have been a greater distress to give up what I considered to be my duty, and I preferred the lesser. But that did not affect my devotion to him,67 which remained as pure and great as ever. His great68 love for me was at the root of his misery. He did not so much want my money as that I should be well-behaved towards the family. Near the end of his life, however, he appreciated my view-point. When almost on his death-bed, he realized that my step had been right and wrote me a most pathetic letter. He apologized to me, if indeed a father may apologize to his son. He commended his sons to my care, to be brought up as I thought fit, and expressed his impatience to meet me. He cabled69 that he would like to come to South Africa and I cabled in reply that he could. But that was not to be. Nor could his desire as regards his sons be fulfilled. He died before he could start for South Africa.M4 His sons had been brought up in the old atmosphere and could not change their course of life. I could not draw them to me. It was not their fault. ‘Who can say thus far, no further, to the tide of his own nature?’ Who can erase the impressions70 with which he is born? It is idle to expect one’s children and wards necessarily to follow the same course of evolution as oneself.

  This instance to some extent serves to show what a terrible responsibility it is to be a parent.

 
; VI

  A SACRIFICE TO VEGETARIANISM

  As the ideals of sacrifice and simplicity were becoming more and more realized,M1 and the religious consciousness was becoming more and more quickened in my daily life, the passion for vegetarianism as a mission went on increasing. I have known only one way of carrying on missionary71 work, viz., by personal example and discussion with searchers for knowledge.

  There was in Johannesburg a vegetarian restaurant conducted by a German72 who believed in Kuhne’s hydropathic treatment. I visited73 the restaurant myself and helped it by taking English friends there. But I saw that it could not last as74 it was always in financial difficulties. I assisted it as much as I thought it deserved, and spent some money on it, but it had ultimately to be closed down.

  Most theosophists are vegetarians more or less, and an enterprising lady belonging to that society now came upon the scene with a vegetarian restaurant on a grand scale.75 She was fond of art, extravagant and ignorant76 of accounts. Her circle of friends was fairly large. She had started in a small way, but later decided to extend the venture by taking large rooms, and asked me for help. I knew nothing of her finances when she thus approached me, but I took it that her estimate must be fairly accurate. And I was in a position to accommodate her. My clients used to keep large sums as deposits with me. Having received the consent of one of these clients,77 I lent about a thousand pounds from the amount to his credit. This client was most large-hearted and trusting. He had originally come to South Africa as an indentured labourer. He said: ‘Give away the money, if you like. I know nothing in these matters. I only know you.’78 His name was Badri. He afterwards took a prominent part in satyagraha, and suffered imprisonment as well. So I advanced the loan assuming that this consent was enough.