An Autobiography

Fülszöveg

THE STORY OF MY EXPERIMENTS
withtruth.
. . . It is not my purpose to attempt a real autobiography. I simply want to teli the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, ít is true that the story will take the shape of an autobiography. But I shall not mind, if every page of it speaks only of my experiments. I belíeve, or at any rate flatter myself with the belief, that a connected account of all these experiments will not be wíthout benefit to the reader. My experiments in the polítical field are now known, not only to India, but to a certain extent to the 'civílized' world. For me, they have not much value; and the title of 'Mahatma' that they have won for me has, therefore, even less. Often the title has deeply pained me; and there is not a moment I can recall when ít may be said to have tickled me. But I should certainly üke to narrate my experiments in the spiritual field which are known only to myself, and from... Tovább

Fülszöveg

THE STORY OF MY EXPERIMENTS
withtruth.
. . . It is not my purpose to attempt a real autobiography. I simply want to teli the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, ít is true that the story will take the shape of an autobiography. But I shall not mind, if every page of it speaks only of my experiments. I belíeve, or at any rate flatter myself with the belief, that a connected account of all these experiments will not be wíthout benefit to the reader. My experiments in the polítical field are now known, not only to India, but to a certain extent to the 'civílized' world. For me, they have not much value; and the title of 'Mahatma' that they have won for me has, therefore, even less. Often the title has deeply pained me; and there is not a moment I can recall when ít may be said to have tickled me. But I should certainly üke to narrate my experiments in the spiritual field which are known only to myself, and from which I have derived such power as I possess for working in the political field. If the experiments are really spiritual, then there can be no room for self-praise. They can only add to my humility. The more I reflect and look back on the past, the more vividly do I feel my limitations.
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY pp. IX-X
My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no other Göd thanTruth. And if every page of these chapters does nőt proclaim to the reader that the only means for the realízation of Truth is Ahimsa, I shall deem all my labour in writing these chapters to have been in vain. And, even though my efforts in this behalf may pro ve fruítless, let the readers know that the vehicle, not the great prínciple, ís at fault. After all, how-ever sincere my strívíngs after Ahimsa may have been, they have still been ímper-fect and ínadequate. The little fleeting glimpses, therefore, that I have been able to have of Truth can hardly convey an idea of the indescribable lustre of Truth, a millión times more intense than that of the sun we daíly see wíth our eyes. In fact what I have caught ís only the faintest glimmer of that mighty effulgence. But this much I can say with assurance, as a result of all my experi-ments, that a perfect vision of Truth can only follow a complete realization of Ahimsa.
Vissza