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1-Page Summary of The Story Of My Experiments With Truth
Translator’s preface
The book was originally published in two volumes, the first in 1927 and second in 1929. The price of each volume was 1 rupee. There were five editions by the time this preface was written. 50,000 copies had been sold but since it wasn’t translated into English it prevented Indians from purchasing it. A cheaper English version is needed so that more people can read about Gandhi’s philosophy and learn how to apply his ideas to their life. Chapters XXIX–XLIII of Part V were translated by Desai’s friend Pyarelal Nayyar
Introduction
Gandhi has written this book at the request of his friend Jeramdas who is a fellow prisoner. He wonders if writing an autobiography is something that Easterners do, since it’s a Western practice. However, he decides to write about his experiments with truth in life through this book. In addition, he wants to discuss spiritual and moral matters rather than political ones.
Part I
The first part of the book is about Gandhi’s childhood, including his experiments with meat eating and smoking. He also talks about stealing from a shopkeeper when he was young. In addition to that, he also explains how he felt bad for his actions later on in life and decided not to steal again. The two books that had an impact on Gandhi were Harishchandra and Shravana Pitrabhakti Nataka. Both of these books made him realize just how important it was to be honest with yourself and others around you. Later in this part we find out more about Gandhi’s marriage at such a young age; 13 years old! It says here that Gandhi wasn’t too happy about getting married so early but did it anyway because of societal pressure put upon him by those who knew him best (his family). Another big event discussed in this section is the death of Karamchand Gandhi (Gandhi’s father) due to dysentery which happened when Mohandas was only 12 years old.
Part II
The British and the Dutch shared power in South Africa. The Boers, who were mostly farmers, controlled two independent republics: the Orange Free State and Transvaal. The white settlers and the Boers had a history of violence with each other, so there was always a threat of an eruption. To keep peace between them, Britain adopted racist policies to appease both sides; however, Indians suffered less than blacks because they mostly worked on plantations for whites. Gandhi’s experiences in South Africa are well known—he was thrown off trains for being Indian or not having money to pay for first-class travel. He also experienced racism when he stayed at hotels or tried to eat at restaurants that would only serve whites.
Gandhi was outraged at the racist policies in South Africa and decided to speak up. He urged his fellow Indians not to accept inequality but instead work hard, learn English, and live a clean lifestyle. Gandhi’s legal practice kept him busy, so he found time to read some of Tolstoy’s writing which inspired him to write back. Both men shared a philosophy of non-violence and their correspondence helped them spread that message around the world.
Both Tolstoy and Gandhi were inspired by the Sermon on the Mount, which is a passage in the New Testament that talks about how you should live your life for others. They also looked to other sources of inspiration like Hinduism’s Bhagavad-Gita. The Gita taught them that selfless work was actually a higher form of fulfillment rather than self-denial. As public figures, both men refused payment for their work so they could focus solely on helping others.
Gandhi was deeply religious, but he also had a strong interest in philosophy. He studied Hinduism and other religions’ sacred texts to see if they could help him define his own philosophy of religion. However, after studying many different faiths, Gandhi came to the conclusion that it is better not to rely solely on external sources for knowledge about God or spirituality.
