This paper looks at Gandhi’s unique approach to the genre of the autobiography. In particular it examines how he responds to a general philosophical problem about the nature of autobiographies, as well as how his guiding principles in writing contribute to the ultimate purpose of the work. By analyzing the answers and principles Gandhi himself lays out in the work’s introduction, I will show how he reinvents the genre of autobiography to suit his own philosophical and spiritual purposes. In short, I will demonstrate the appropriateness of his method to the work as an intellectual autobiography and a guidebook for those questing after truth.
Gandhi wrote his autobiography while in his 40s, the full title of which is An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth. This title provides us many clues into the unconventional nature of Gandhi’s project. One is immediately struck by the unorthodox use of the indefinite article, which the author employs in order to avoid sounding entirely-authoritative. Already with the first article, Gandhi is subverting the traditional notion of autobiography by labeling it something other than the definitive account of his life so-far. With Story, Gandhi hints at the both the narrative aspect of his account and the historical pitfalls of narrativity. In this, he seems profoundly aware of the artificiality and impossibility of presenting a life in a total and comprehensive account. Most fascinating, however, is the formulation, My Experiments with Truth, which implies that Gandhi doesn’t view life primarily as a causal chain of events (born in India → studied in Britain → went to South Africa), but rather as an attempt to reconcile oneself to (the divine] truth. The title also bears out what Gandhi expounds time and again in the book; he sees his life as a quest for absolute truth, where truth is defined as “the sovereign principle, which includes numerous other principles.” We clearly see this commitment to truth in the way he describes the purpose of the book: “[I]f every page of these chapters does not proclaim to the reader that the only means for the realization of truth is Ahimsa [non-violence, one of several virtues that Gandhi considers crucial to virtue], I shall deem all my labour in writing these chapters to have been in vain” (pp. 503-504).
That Gandhi’s work is unconventional can be seen by way of a brief comparison to two Western examples that inhabit opposite sides of the autobiographical spectrum. One the one hand, Gandhi shies from the sort of autobiography St. Augustine presents us with in his Confessions. In that book, Augustine relates his spiritual trials and tribulations that culminate in his conversion to Christianity (in a garden, no less!). The focus of the book is merely on Augustine’s encounters with religion and all other aspects of his life are dropped and omitted. While Gandhi’s book is likewise the record of a spiritual quest, how he conceives of his quest makes it an altogether different project; since the subject book and the quest for truth itself - which he can see manifest in everything – he excludes nothing from the equation, with the result that it is much more episodic than the Confessions. The episodic nature of Gandhi’s work feels closer to something like Casanova’s encyclopedic multi-thousand-page History of My Life. However, it needs little proving that Gandhi is somewhat less out to glorify himself and to boast than the Venetian lover is. Indeed, Gandhi is even somewhat ashamed of the fact that he’s been asked to write an autobiography. The way Gandhi combines the scope of Casanova with the spiritual purpose of Augustine makes Gandhi’s work utterly unique.
Another unique feature is that he is working in what is essentially a Western idiom. Early on – in fact on the very first page – he cites a colleague who objects to Gandhi’s dabbling in a Western genre: “Writing an autobiography is a practice peculiar to the West. I know of nobody in the east having written one, except those who have come under Western influence” (p. xi). This objection is trivial to Gandhi since he remains open to all types of truth from any source. But a far more serious philosophical objection about the nature of autobiographies anticipates and influences Gandhi’s own approach: “Supposing you reject tomorrow the things you hold as principles today, or supposing you revise in the future, your plans of today, is it not likely that the men who shape their conduct on the authority of your word, spoken or written, may be misled?” (pp. xi-xii). Gandhi finds this argument compelling and rejects the idea of writing a “real autobiography.” Instead he opts to details only his “numerous experiments with truth,” as his life consists of nothing but those experiments. He offers the following response to the above autobiographical quandary, in which he proposes an analogy between his own experiments and those of science: “I claim for [these experiments] nothing more than does a scientist who, though he conducts his experiments with the utmost accuracy, forethought and minuteness, never claims any finality about his conclusions, but keeps an open mind regarding them” (p. xiii).
To call life a series of “experiments” can also be seen as a way to simplify experience. Gandhi, concerned as he is in pursuing the quest for knowledge and truth, embraces simplification as it is allows him to focus on what truly matters in life: not who you are or what you do; but the ways in which you actively seek out truth. In this context, all the episodes of Gandhi’s life take on significance beyond being merely parts of his narrative. They are transformed from individual tales to backdrops against which his various experiments with truth take place. Though himself a highly engaging writer, Gandhi wants the reader to come away from his book with an understanding of what it means to pursue truth. This consideration naturally affects the way in which Gandhi narrates to us. Thus, when we read of his childhood marriage and later of his vegetarian activities, they are not merely tales of Gandhi’s life distilled for our enjoyment, but rather all episodes to which Gandhi has applied morals. All in all, he seems to take a very synthetic approach to all that he encounters in his life, weighing them against each other and opining this way or that depending on what his experience has taught him. On the whole, Gandhi’s point seems to be that the judgment counts more than the experience that precipitated it. Or to state the point differently, judgment - or ability to judge - is what gives experience meaning.
Gandhi sees the account of his own attempts at finding truth as something that could potentially help others on their quests. Gandhi feels that since the world is familiar with his experiments in the political sphere, it could benefit from learning of the “spiritual experiments” that have enabled those political experiments. And if he can show his experiments with truth to be of a purely spiritual nature, then he will avoid all accusations of self-praise.
His book isn’t merely about academic principles, but rather how to apply those principles practically. Thus, he proposes that his autobiography be read as a guidebook. “Let those, who wish, realize how the conviction has grown upon me; let them share my experiments and also my conviction if they can,” writes Gandhi (p. xiv). This purpose of the work is can also be seen in the uniform clarity and simplicity of style and Gandhi’s conscious choice not to burden it with difficult religious concepts. As he writes, “If I can narrate them in a dispassionate and humble spirit, many other experimenters will find in them provision for their onward march” (p. xiii). Still, he reminds the reader time and again not to take his conclusions as authoritative, but merely to regard his experiments as “illustrations.”
In order for his book to serve is purpose both as a philosophical autobiography and a guidebook for truth, Gandhi adheres to certain guiding principles of honesty, modesty (about himself and the quality of his judgments), and accuracy. He intends this to be a “warts and all” autobiography, as he writes: “I am not going to conceal or understate any ugly things that must be told. I hope to acquaint the reader fully with all my faults and errors. My purpose is to describe experiments in the science of Satyagraha, not to say how good I am. In judging myself, I shall try to be as harsh as truth, as I want others also to be” (p. xv). Gandhi’s concern for modesty is clearly seen in the conclusion of his introduction, where he speaks to the possibility of his ego creeping into the book from time to time: “If anything that I write in these pages should strike the reader as being touched by pride, then he must take it that there is something wrong with my quest, and that my glimpses are no more true than mirage.” He expresses his commitment to accuracy in the concluding chapter, “Farewell.” He writes, “I set a high value on my experiments…I can only say that I have spared no pains to give a faithful narrative. To describe truth, as it has appeared to me, and in the exact manner in which I have arrived at it, has been my ceaseless effort.” (503)
In this paper, we have examined how Gandhi redefines the autobiographical genre to suit his own spiritual and philosophical project as well as the sense in which the work may be considered his intellectual autobiography, its raison d’être being the illustration of one man’s journal towards truth rather than a simple first-hand account of a life-lived. Though hugely entertaining, Gandhi certainly intends it to serve a didactic purpose. It is thus crucial to understand that Gandhi intended his work as a guidebook to lead others on the path to truth. This can be seen clearly in comments he makes throughout extolling the virtues of Ahimsa (non-violence), Brahmacharya (self-purification) and Satyagraha (passive restraint), all of which he sees – as all truths are – as unified and inseparable. All of Gandhi’s experiments are about the pursuit of truth and revelation. This is no different as regards his experiment in autobiography: a work whose message can be summed up as follows: “Any number of experiments is too small and no sacrifice is too great for attaining […] symphony with nature” (p. 321)
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