The most popular book. A book that has become the favorite of all the sections of the society. From a housewife to the CEO of a corporate giant use this book. The greatness of this book lies in the fact that everyone gets what they want.
A book written in Gujarati in the year 1925, created waves all over the world and earned a place in the list of '100 best books on philosophy and spirituality' picked by the best of the Business schools of the world.This book originally written in Gujarati was translated in to all the Indian and a plethora of foreign languages. And still this book is getting reprinted every year.
A book that serves everybody's purpose
As a favorite gift from an elder to a student, as a reference book for tomorrow's young managers and a manual on self development ,this book has carved a niche for itself in the literary world.
What book is this ?
This is the book written by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, long before he was known to the world as Mahatma Gandhi.And the name of the book is, "My experiments with truth."
Secret behind the popularity of the book
Many wonder at this tiny book's popularity. What are the ingredients of this book,that catapulted it to the pinnacles of fame ?
Is it due to It's incredible theme?
Is it due to its inimitable style?
Is it due to nail biting suspense ?
No, none of the above. Just a down to earth narration dealt with simple truths of life. It takes hardly an hour to complete this book. But it doesn't mean that the book is an "one time read and throw Book. " This book is like a book of science meant for using as a reference book all along the life. It has to be studied keenly and carefully at first. Then the contents are to be assimilated. Next, we have to mould ourselves in to a test tube and start experimenting with " truth."
A seasoned person, who experimented with truth may not become a Mahatma or a great soul ,but, certainly will become a "Complete individual".
As a son, as a father, as a husband,as an employee, as a businessman,an individual will emanate the human values.
" A book written 8 decades ago can be relevant today? There is a sea of differences in conditions.", is the question generally crops up in the minds of many people.
True. Times changed. Society changed. Politics changed. Everything around us changed. But truth remained unchanged. And it remains unchanged.Like Sun and Moon, truth remains unchanged for ever. Owing to this reason, the truths evolved by Gandhi's experiments with truth, "Satyagraha" are still in vogue. Are we not using ' non - cooperation, fasting ' and a plethora of non - violent methods invented by Gandhi through his experiments with truth as tools for expressing resentment and anger?
Even the tinsel world accepted Gandhi's principles.
Movies made on Gandhi's principles like, "munnabhai lage Raho" and "Satyagraha" became popular.It's not all. "Corporate social responsibility","Stress on rural marketing, respect towards customers " are all the products of Gandhian principles. A global survey by global CEOs, conferred on Gandhi the title "the best leader".The greatest aspect of Gandhian principles is, today's youth found a great role model in Gandhi.
A Panacea for modern miseries.
With globalization,economic reforms and free trade, many changes took place in the lives of human beings all over the world. These changes led to a plethora of miseries. The lure for Materialism increased beyond leaps and bounds. This in turn led to selfishness,cheating and to a plethora of unwanted societal evils.
Gandhi's book has ready answers for all the above said evils.
Education, status and riches are not the measuring devises to respect a man. Gandhi, in his book says,An individual who practices, to see an individual with a Spiritual and Moralistic point of view,can solve most of the problems related with Human relations. Akin to the above solutions, Gandhi's book offers many guidelines to students, teachers, parents, social workers, politicians
My experiments with truth - in brief
"Gandhi family's business was selling the groceries. But my ancestors worked as ministers in the courts of the royalties belonging to Kathiawad. " are be beginning lines of the book. Thereafter,Gandhi dealt in detail his marriage with Kasturba, his father'death, journey to England , his stint as a lawyer in South Africa, movement against racial discrimination, coming back to India, Champaran struggle, non - cooperation movement, Nagpur Congress convention and all the key events till 1921. After this Gandh's life has become an open book. Nothing about his life was hidden. Gandhi never intended to rain all the events of his life. His aim was not to tell his experiments with truth with the people in glorious terms.
His sole aim was to reveal his experiments with truth in a simple way.
Non - violence is the ultimate of humility.
Gandhi affirmatively says, "unless one is humble, nothing can be realized in life. I pray god for blessing me with humility. Hare Ram."
Commitment is the criteria.
Anybody can commit himself to truth. One need not be a great person of repute. Gandhi says 'If a commoner like me tried and got the fruits of my experiments with truth, why not you.?'To emphasize his point of view, Gandhi quotes an example from his life. He, before leaving for England, Gandhi takes an oath before his mother, that he would not touch meat,liquor and other women.
Gandhi is going to that country where meat eating is a way of life. He is aware how difficult it would be to stick to his oath. But his fierce commitment to truth, made him stronger and made him to tolerate many difficulties. Some times he had to starve. He was ridiculed. But he refused to break away from his commitment to truth. In a similar manner Gandhi dealt with the problems associated with the oath to his mother.
He further adds, non - violence, celibacy are but the parts of truth. If truth is the Sun, all the above said aspects are its rays.It's of everybody's knowledge that in the days of yore, seers went to deep forests,ascended the mountains bearing innumerable hardships to find the truth. Gandhi took the way of experimentation to find the truth. In this process, Gandhi never ignored to review his efforts. Never ignored to find his mistakes and amend them.
No one can quench his thirst with saline water.
Gandhi compares the lure for materialism with trying to quench one's thirst with saline water. The more you drink saline water, the more you become thirsty. We have been seeing people who are drawn towards materialism, will not hesitate to achieve their goals. They go for big loans. They use their credit cards indiscriminately , ultimately leading to a life of restlessness , dissatisfaction and mental suffocation.
Gandhi also led such life in his early days but realized how fatal is the lure for materialism, after he started his experiments with truth.He shifted from a 2 roomed house to a single roomed house. He started his cooking,avoiding the expensive hotels.This change not only made him a satisfying soul,his health too improved. His confidence levels raised.
Truth makes you see in to yourself.
Commitment to truth widens one's thinking base.The incident at the railway station of Maritzberg, South Africa did not prompt Gandhi to take vengeance on the white man who subjected him to humiliation. But, Gandhi treated the incident as a warning symptom of a deadly disease. It's here his experiments with truth, whispered in his ear,that the antidote for the deadly disease is "Satyagraha."
Satyagraha seed germinated in to a powerful weapon that uprooted the mighty British empire.
"Sab ko Sanmati De Bhagwan."- the essence of, " My experiments with truth."
Hamsa, during her stint in New Jersey, her colleagues used to behave roughly with her. Unable to bear the bad treatment, at one time, she thought of getting transferred to another office. During this period, one of the members by name Chad, who used to humiliate Hamsa, asked her to tell about Gandhi..after giving a brief account of Gandhi, Hamsa ,gave Chad,the book, "My experiments with truth ".
From that day Chad stopped coming to office. Her colleagues made fun of her saying, "Your book has gone for ever."After many days of this incident,One day, suddenly Chad made his appearance with his wife and child. Chad's wife, with her emotion choked voice started thanking Hamsa. She said, "I don't know, what was written in the book. After reading the book, my husband stopped his chronic habit of boozing. He stopped his another heinous habit of beating me. Now he's a normal person. We owe our gratitude to the book and you."
Truth is nothing but God.
When you are committed to truth, you are creating a link with god. And it's due to this link, you will be getting valuable advises from the God. It's the advise that comes from within. And the greatest people have the trait of hearing and following their inner voice.
Simplicity and frankness all the way.
By the time, Gandhi's book My experiments with truth has become popular, he too has won the hearts of millions of people as "The Father Of The Nation and Mahatma" ,he never hesitated to mention openly in his book even the most embarrassing incidents of his life. Never for a moment he shied away from telling the truth. Never for a fraction of a second thought that being open would jeopardize his popularity as "Mahatma."
He never attempted to prove his mettle in writing. He used to be a poor and hesitating writer even unable to write a simple legal document.That's why we see his down to earth writing style. No mind boggling figures of speech. No bombastic jargon.And this is the major factor that is responsible for his book's immense popularity.
Repentance
The way, we clean the mud ridden body with water, one can wash away one's sins and undoings with repentance . And this fact of life was proved by Gandhi in his book.
Every time ,whenever Gandhi felt that he has committed a grave and unpardonable mistake, he used to write letters to the related persons begging their pardon. In an incident,wherein he had to sell the gold bracelet of his brother stealthily to pay the loans made for his smoking expenses, admitted his faults through repentance. Quoting many such examples, Gandhi writes in his book, "I could eradicate the carbuncle of untruth through repentance."
Fasting is a form of Repentance
In Gandhi’s footsteps.
Many world leaders and even spiritual Gurus walked in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi. His every principle from simplicity to Satyagraha inspired many from all walks of life.
Martin Luther King Jr, who fought for the civil rights of non- white Americans said, “"Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics." King even visited the workplace of Gandhi in 1959 and said, "In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation."
Prior to becoming the president of America, then senator Barack Obama said. “ My biggest inspiration came from Mahatma Gandhi. Without his inspiration I wouldn't have become the President of the USA.”
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese leader and the winner of Nobel peace prize winner said, she was elated when one of the magazine described her as the Burma Gandhi.. This appreciation, she considers as much higher than the Nobel prize.
Dalai Lama, one of the great spiritual leader said, Mahatma Gandhi is not only for me, for the entire world is a Pathfinder.
Malala, peace envoy to the UN said that if a person who hurt her stands before her and even if she has gun in her hands would not harm him. Mahatma Gandhi’s non- violence principle is her ideal.
Irome Sharmila, known as the ‘Iron lady of Manipur’ and a social activist says that Mahatma Gandhi’s non- violent ways are her inspiration. She considers Gandhi as the leader of her movement.
‘The wall street attack’ was a movement to protest against the ever growing economic disparities in the USA. This movement was led by Marcio. He says that his historical movement was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s principles.