Simple Life By M. K. Gandhi

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Recommended: Annotated autobiography about Gandhis life

In Chapter titled as Simple Life in his autobiography Gandhi writes;
I once went to an English hair-cutter in Pretoria. He contemptuously refused to cut my hair. I certainly felt hurt, but immediately purchased a pair of clippers and cut my hair before the mirror.
. . . The barber was not at fault in having refused to cut my hair. There was every chance of losing his custom, if he should serve black men. We do not allow our barbers to serve our untouchable brethren. (Here, Gandhi refers to customs of untouchability in caste systems in India.) I got the reward for this in South Africa, not once, but many times, and the conviction that it was the punishment for our own sins saved me from becoming angry.
(My Experiments with Truth;
M.K.Gandhi)
When Gandhi was insulted by an English barber, he must have thought about how painful it is to be insulted by a fellow human being. The feeling of pain made him think about the cause. He found that the pain was caused by a custom that had no respect for humanity which, in turn, made him think about the custom of untouchability and discrimination of the lowly castes in his own country. However, the most important thing was being ashamed of inhuman deeds of one’s ancestors. This is what ‘sticking to truth is’.
We have already read about the incident given in Chapter ‘Stealing and Atonement’ (Part I, Chapter 8) of his autobiography. First confession, then asking for appropriate punishment, then committing not to repeat the mistake and finally requesting his father not to punish himself for misdeed . . . that was another example of ‘sticking to truth’.
It is not possible to stick to truth without penance. The entire world knows about frequent fasting by Gandhi. The word used for penance in Sansakr...

... middle of paper ...

...ghosts and spirits. This was of course short lived, but the good seed sown in childhood was not sown in vain. I think it is due to the seed sown by that good woman Rambha that today Ramanama is an infallible remedy for me.
[Note: Ramanama means name of Rama. For many Indians Ram means God himself although technically Rama is considered as incarnation of God born on this earth as a King. Here Gandhi is referring to taking God’s name repeatedly.]
God shows me the path I tread. He is my doctor also. He never makes any mistake. He is all powerful. If he wants some more work to be done by making use of my fragile body, He would get it done; irrespective of what these doctors have to say. I am in the hands of the God. Please believe me, I am neither afraid of death nor of living with a body with many handicaps.
(Speech in New Delhi: 01.16.1948 &
Haijan Sevak; 01.25.1948)

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