An Autobiography or the Story of My Experiments with Truth

by M K Gandhi

  M4 sowed the seeds of the attack on me in Natal

  M5 little suffering seen from afar seems large

  M6 The work was play for the boys.

  M7 officials and statesmen

  M8 The wilderness is our latrine.

  M9 at the Haveli

  M1 Loyalty and Nursing

  M2 ‘God Save the King’

  M3 British national anthem, ‘God Save the King’

  M4 I discharged my loyalty thinking of it as a debt.

  M5 I perceived some pretence in it. It seemed that tree planting was to be done only to please the Sahibs.

  M6 it grew.

  M7 ‘God Save the King’

  M8 singing of the anthem

  M9 relatives

  M10 Bombay

  M11 severe

  M12 brother-in-law

  M13 hobby

  M14 I describe this inclination as a hobby because I have seen that such qualities are sustained only when they become a source of joy.

  M1 speech

  M2 even standing room

  M3 stood up, took the papers from Deshpande and fulfilled my task

  M4 For me it was akin to having bathed in the Ganga.

  M5 Judge Cursetji, however, moved the Parsi friend from his resolve. The reason was a Parsi sister.

  M6 why would he come to South Africa?

  M7 language

  M8 I felt that even from his point of view I should cling to it

  M1 In Poona

  M2 an impartial

  M3 He embraced me affectionately and made me one of his own.

  M4 had met before

  M5 there is the fear of being drowned in

  M6 an impartial

  M7 parties

  M8 A large portion of it was sold

  M1 other visitors

  M2 I could not even wet my beak there

  M3 wanderer

  M4 as they left one after another

  M5 Englishmen as well

  M6 were aware of

  M7 could. He asked me to write to him even after I had returned to South Africa and promised to do his best. He

  M8 late brother-in-law

  M1 family

  M2 and hence she must dance to his commands

  M3 worn-out skin

  M4 does not sink all of a sudden

  M5 I can say that I had no fear of the storm or at any rate the least fear

  M1 A dinner is always followed by speeches.

  M2 heavy losses

  M3 plunged them into suffering

  M4 I did not even know the passengers of the Naderi.

  M5 I described the Western civilization as predominantly violent; the Eastern as non-violent.

  M1 ‘Please disembark Gandhi and his family at dusk. The whites are highly enraged against him and his life is in danger. The Port Superintendent Tatum would escort him in the evening.’

  M2 regarding Mr. Gandhi

  M3 in a clandestine way after dark

  M4 and it was quite a crowd

  M5 The moment she saw me, she came and stood beside me and opened her parasol though there was no sun then.

  M6 I landed from the steamer bravely and when subsequently, faced with real danger, I escaped in disguise?

  M7 mere speculation as the examination is incomplete

  M8 the assailants, but what do I gain by

  M9 ‘My views on the matter are formed. It is certain that I do not wish to bring prosecution on anyone, and I will give that to you in writing just now.’

  M1 there was recession in Natal. The Transvaal had better prospects for earning

  M2 clarification

  M3 whites

  M4 Thus the end result was to my benefit. And benefit to me was benefit to the cause.

  M5 The whites realized that the Indians had the capacity to fight with determination, and this increased their fear.

  M6 The dispute eventually reached England. But the laws were not annulled.

  M7 in South Africa

  M8 of the establishment and management of many public institutions

  M9 no public institution should run

  M10 the public is not willing to support

  M1 woman

  M2 We pulled along somehow. My dealings with the boys were only through Gujarati, and they learnt some Gujarati through this.

  M3 Therefore for the most part they stayed with me.

  M4 on his own will left South Africa

  M5 in the context of the satyagraha

  M6 knowledge of letters

  M7 knowledge of letters

  M8 have any regret

  M9 painful results

  M10 unconsciousness

  M11 At a time which I consider to be my period of stupefaction and indulgence, he was at an age where he would have clear recollections. How is he to believe that it was my period of unconsciousness? Why should he not believe that it was my period of wisdom and the subsequent changes were undesirable and born of delusion? Why should he not believe that at that time I was on the royal road, recognized by the world as such, and for that reason secure, and the subsequent changes are the signs of refined egotism and ignorance?

  M12 my boys had acquired degrees of barrister and suchlike

  M13 I have carried out, or helped others carry out, different experiments on some other children,

  M14 in terms of humanity

  M15 Despite raising the boys under my care, had I given up self-respect and not cherished the idea of restraining my desire to give my own what was not available to other Indian children

  M1 bodily service

  M2 person disabled and suffering from leprosy

  M3 I lacked the wherewithal and courage

  M4 nursing

  M5 to take on this responsibility

  M6 It is difficult to get a trained Indian nurse in India, what to speak of South Africa?

  M7 in the initial period I bathed and cleaned the infants

  M8 have an effect on

  M9 progeny.

  M10 I think it is deep, dark ignorance to believe that sexual gratification is an autonomous act.

  M11 with great effort

  M1 It is time now to consider brahmacharya. Monogamy as an ideal had a place in my heart

  M2 I read this out

  M3 prepared tea for him

  M4 affection

  M5 like a magnet

  M6 Husband and wife have a sense of oneness, hence love between them is not surprising.

  M7 aggressor

  M8 external remedies

  M9 was not bondage but a door to freedom

  M10 pleasures. What can impede complete renunciation of a thing that is undesirable?

  M11 to renounce

  M12 appropriateness of giving up that thing

  M1 And yet I could clearly see that it was my duty. My intentions were pure. I launched forth thinking that God would give me strength.

  M2 The desire for self-control had been intense since 1901 and I did practise it as well.

  M3 Now passions became incapable of riding over me.

  M4 been a preparation for it

  M5 but a source of joy

  M6 Brahmacharya was natural and effortless

  M7 point out such fruit or grains

  M8 in matters of food, drink and seeing etc.

  M9 the one practising self-control and the one leading a licentious life, between the life of one who submits to passions and one who renounces them

  M10 prays to Rama enthroned in his heart

  M11 eat. But one eats only to pay rent to sustain the temple of God in the form of the body

  M12 the millions

  M13 if the atman exists, even this is attainable

  M14 in my pride I had believed

  M15 such brahmacharya as I have described

  M16 they have faith in God along with confidence in their endeavour

  M1 Simplicity

  M2 I failed to cultivate any attraction for it

  M3 established a household

  M4 I
would not allow you to use your skill as a washerman on this scarf

  M5 I got an opportunity to rid myself of the

  M6 found it extremely difficult to cut the hair at the back. They were not even in any case

  M1 shall

  M2 act according to

  M3 read that account

  M4 also

  M5 With the help of Dr. Booth and accompanied by him

  M6 also had the opportunity

  M7 We were only too eager for this risk

  M1 The desolate state of any aspect of the social body has pinched me.

  M2 municipal officers

  M3 threat to his life

  M4 considers reform? If not retrogression, why would society not remain indifferent to it?

  M5 taught me a number of things one after another

  M6 the opportunities for service

  M1 I could have certainly done some service sitting in South Africa

  M2 the gifts and the scenes at the meeting this time overwhelmed me

  M3 spent a sleepless night like a man whose sense had taken his leave

  M4 remain unaffected by them

  M5 One cannot return

  M6 Kasturba

  M7 personal

  M1 Dinshawji and Chimanlal Setalvad of that time

  M2 pitying

  M3 as soon as the train stopped at the next station, I hurried out and ran into my compartment

  M4 not among the three, or the thirteen or even counted among the fifty-six

  M5 I had a fairly good experience of what Akha Bhagat calls ‘superfluous limb’. Many practised untouchability.

  M6 defecating

  M1 You are an old servant of

  M2 I did not feel prejudiced against anyone

  M1 unnerved

  M2 was oppressed by the thought

  M3 the speed of today’s aeroplanes

  M4 scene

  M5 suffering

  M1 Prominent Indian leaders often stayed at this club

  M2 take from you Congress-related work

  M3 at

  M4 anguish

  M5 was told by someone

  M1 by the cleanliness of my attire of that period

  M2 language

  M3 When you will be known to as many people as I am,

  M1 found

  M2 There was a river of blood facing us.

  M3 oppressed

  M4 idealism

  M1 as much

  M2 giving a sermon

  M3 Bengal

  M4 During that month I also swam across to Brahmadesh. I visited the foongis there.

  M5 brass

  M1 The third-class compartments were practically as dirty, and the closet arrangements as bad, then as they are today.

  M2 seemed to be

  M3 never found the regulation limit observed

  M4 spitting at the place where one is seated, throwing left-overs on the floor,

  M5 gentlemen

  M6 ritualistic

  M7 ritual worship

  M8 outer as well as inner

  M9 I seethed within.

  M10 became

  M11 like myself

  M12 washed off his hands

  M13 sought darshan of

  M1 created

  M2 That was also my wish. But I lacked self-confidence that I would get professional work.

  M3 I hesitated to take the risk of this case.

  M4 ‘In case of a loss, it will be our loss, isn’t it?

  M5 This

  M6 Some vakil friends had wired me

  M7 let you stay here

  M8 But even the lowliest of the low will not give me work there.

  M1 kind

  M2 the child

  M3 and the like

  M4 unlettered intellect

  M5 It would be enough for God that I gave

  M6 make a gift of life

  M7 In His name and with faith in Him, do not give up your path.

  M8 Won’t you perspire a little more?

  M9 a great deal

  M1 seemed

  M2 doze off

  M3 thought it desirable to leave the

  M4 I wanted those among them who desired to be independent to be encouraged to do so.

  M5 carefully built nest

  M6 if one could have a glimpse of it, if one could have faith in it, only then would life be meaningful. The quest for this is the highest vocation.

  M1 take

  M2 only nominal

  M3 Was Mr. Chamberlain’s response wrong?

  M4 Mr. Chamberlain was to stay for only a few weeks. South Africa is not a small province. It is a country, a continent. Africa consists of many sub-continents.

  M5 net

  M1 but here I smelled the decay of dirt and corruption like in India

  M2 black- and yellow-skinned

  M3 its intrigues and other rottenness

  M4 for in Asia people had no power, there was only power over people

  M5 Sahib.

  M6 embittered

  M1 Swallowed the Bitter Draught

  M2 hardships

  M3 I liked this

  M4 We cannot tolerate that we would live like dogs here.

  M5 a good locality

  M1 community’s

  M2 Hitherto there was in me a desire to accumulate wealth, service to others was mixed with self-interest.

  M3 not given into any of

  M4 with God as witness

  M1 the Bible

  M2 That book became for me a spiritual reference.

  M3 I turned to Gitaji for difficulties in mode of conduct and other such conundrums

  M4 in India

  M1 grew

  M2 We are guided by our confidence in you.

  M3 As a result your public work would suffer.

  M1 take me back

  M2 It cured me of my constipation.

  M3 associates, and I can scarcely remember it failing on someone

  M4 at every moment

  M5 I should not prolong the description of my present condition. Hence, we turn towards the period of 1904–05.

  M1 body and the mind

  M2 the choice with regard to diet—both its acceptance and rejection—is as essential as the choice—both its acceptance and rejection—of thought and speech

  M3 I should not only not advise them to follow it but actively dissuade them from doing so

  M4 any vaidya, doctor, hakim or anybody else

  M1 dismissing the matter altogether

  M2 the tyranny of the officers was so much that they could not find too many to spy for them

  M3 used

  M4 to help

  M5 White classes

  M6 This matter

  M1 Atonement

  M2 but the clerk born in a Panchama family

  M3 to remove his chamber-pot

  M4 this

  M5 But I was a loving as also a cruel husband.

  M6 quarrel

  M7 I had forgotten God. Not a drop of compassion remained in me.

  M8 The Ganga and the Jamuna flowed from her eyes

  M9 You have no shame, but I do. Have some sense of decency at least.

  M10 Feel some shame

  M11 If someone were to see us, neither of us would look good.

  M12 Kasturbai can, if she wishes, scold me today.

  M13 From the year 1900 onwards

  M14 has

  M15 sought fulfilment in her life

  M1 the dweller within

  M2 I do not know with any certainty whether all my actions may be considered as those of the dweller within.

  M3 inspired by the dweller within

  M4 describing my faith in God in pure form

  M5 in submission to the prompting of the invisible dweller within

  M6 about that sacred recollection

  M7 Autobiography of My Experiments with Truth

  M8 dweller

  M9 I began to have

  M10 mode of life and food

  M1 clerks. I cannot say whether they shoul
d be called clerks or sons.

  M2 no Indian

  M3 typewriting person, man or woman, who would not object to working under a ‘black’ man. In South Africa stenographers and typists are mostly women. This agent

  M4 at one time even

  M5 She feared no one.

  M6 I am not fully acquainted with her mind at present

  M7 When all of us were in prison, when hardly any responsible man was outside,

  M8 lakhs

  M9 he was fond of giving marks to each one’s character

  M1 community

  M2 writings

  M3 terms

  M1 Scavengers’ Quarters

  M2 The Indians who lived there were not well-educated, ideal Indians knowledgeable about the rules of municipal sanitation and hygiene, and, therefore, could not do without the help or the supervision of the municipality. If those Indians who went there had been the kind who could make merry in the forest and transform dust into wealth, theirs would have been a different history. We do not know anywhere large numbers of people of this type prospecting in foreign lands.

  M3 free

  M4 three kinds of sorrows

  M5 Who would either call me or regard me a ‘Sahib’?

  M1 according to

  M1 items necessary for the patients

  M2 others

  M1 faults regarding

  M2 enforce its will

  M3 There was heaps of money at my place.

  M1 constructive

  M2 us

  M3 not all have good ideals in equal measure