The autobiography of Mohan is a startling revelation. It is an intimate confession. Mohan is fearless in admitting his flaws and weaknesses. He opens his soul to the reader and illustrates the journey of a life from when he was little 'Monio' till people start calling him Mahatma. Mohan has told this story without any frills or fancy dressing. It is the story of a continuing voyage of discovery of the self. It is the story of Mohan's quest to discover his own soul and becoming able to listen to what he calls his 'still faint' inner voice.
Very few people have the courage to be so honest, especially public personalities who mostly prefer to keep their public and private persona separate. Mohan discards the difference between these identities and merges the two without any inhibitions to pen down his experiences, shortcomings and learnings.
What gives him the courage to be so brutally honest and bravely accept his faults and mistakes?
Mohan's transition begins in South Africa, where he emerges as an activist-crusader for the equal rights for Indians residing in this colony of the British Empire. It is here that he adopts the tenets of an ideal communal life by constantly experimenting with it. It is here that he takes the 11 pledges to live by in the ashram community he establishes in Phoenix near Durban in the Natal province.
Here he sets out on a lifelong quest to come as close to becoming an ideal human being as described in his favourite hymn, bhajan 'vaishnavajan toh tene re kahiye' - written by poet-saint Narsinh Mehta. For Mohan, it is a scale by which he can measure his evolution as a person.
The 11 vows of the ashram are ideals by which a dedicated and sustainable community can follow a moderate lifestyle. Before one reads Mohan's autobiography, one must understand what influenced him and what are the ideas that brought about the change within him that ultimately led to his transformation.
It is not my purpose to attempt a real autobiography or story of my life. I simply want to tell the story of my numerous experiments with truth, and as my life consists of nothing but those experiments, the story will take the shape of an autobiography. My experiments in the political field are now known. But I should certainly like 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. The experiments I am about to relate are spiritual, or rather moral; for the essence of religion is morality.
Only those matters of religion that can be understood as much by children as by older people, will be included in this story. If I can narrate them in a dispassionate and humble spirit many other experiments will obtain from them help in their onward march.
"
Hindu (934)
Agriculture (121)
Ancient (1085)
Archaeology (755)
Architecture (563)
Art & Culture (911)
Biography (709)
Buddhist (544)
Cookery (167)
Emperor & Queen (564)
Islam (242)
Jainism (308)
Literary (896)
Mahatma Gandhi (373)
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist