An Autobiography by Mohandas K. Gandhi (1993, Paperback, Reprint)

Mohandas K. Gandhi became known in India, first, then, around the world, as "The Mahatma," (Great Soul) a title he rejected in the same humble way that Jesus rejected being called "Good." For Gandhi, pomp, praise, and elevated status was antithetical to his path of nonviolence. In fact, unequal status, according ot Gandhi, is one cause of violence.

In his autobiography, MK Gandhi (a young Indian lawyer at the turn of the 20th century), is an eloquent yet familiar writer who is easy to read. He's a marvelous story teller. Gandhi's autobiography is broken down into tiny 3 page chapters most of the time; thus, it's a 506 page book that can be read a chapter at a go in minutes.

The subtitle is: "The Story of My Experiments With Truth." The very inspiration of early 20th century nonviolence freely admits that being perfectly truthful and nonviolent were probably not quite possible for a human being living in this world. We learn in this candid, reader-friendly story of experiments with it, that Gandhi believed, "Truth is God." Nonviolence is then Truth expressed in love, meaning nonviolently.

Gandhi's autobiography reveals how he brought a nation with at least 817 gods and goddesses spiritually together long enough to enact one of the greatest nonviolent revolutions of the 20th century. He was harder on himself then he was Satyagrahis (his followers--literally the term means truth-force, but ML King, Jr., who studied nonviolence from Gandhi for his own 20th century nonviolence revolution in the US, called it Soul-force, instead).

When Gandhi's followers became violent, he would go on lengthy hunger-strikes until he was completely satisfied the violence was halted. His style of nonviolence was to create such public tension, through direct actions, that they brought the world's attention to the violence against Indian people and unjust laws imposed by British imperialism.

One chapter is about a question from members of Gandhi's African ashram (communal living). Snakes were infesting the ashram, cohabitants were fearful of being bitten & killed by poisonous venom. But, they were vowed to nonviolence, & thus, to do no harm to the poisonous snakes. So they went to Bapu-an endearing familiar term they called Gandhi-asking him what to do about the snake infestation problem. Gandhi gave it thought then his answer: if the ashram is killed to the last person by the snakes, then the Satyagrahi survivor could then destroy the snake if it refused to be captured & placed outside the ashram. But, Gandhi added, he would rather die than kill a snake. The Satyagrahis in the ashram developed ways to capture & remove snakes, nonviolently, without being bitten or killed.

It isn't until p.318 that the reader gets to the chapter, "The Birth of Satyagraha." One key to comprehending Gandhi's thinking processes is knowing how he viewed passions. Passions are like obsessions if not controlled. They can distract a Satyagrahi from Truth-seeking & self-discipline, essentials to nonviolent practices. Gandhi became a married practitioner of Brahmacharya--asexuality. (This is still the most controversial of Gandhi's path to nonviolence). Sexuality is one such passion that has the power to over-take much energy away from self-discipline & purity of spirit. In fact, according to Gandhi, sexuality is so over-powering that it leads to loss of self-independence. He was seeking national independence which requires self-independent people whose freedom is all.