I read this book first time in Hindi long long time ago. Recently I read
it again in English. What is truth really ? is it not subjective and
depends on factors such as culture, economic situation of the person,
and the time and age one is born. Gandhi's fanatic emphasis on vegetarianism has always been a mystery. Gandhi should have asked himself what if he were
born as a Eskimo, would he be a vegetarian? The strangest part of the whole vegetarian episode of Gandhi is that while he
experimented with eating meat in India, a mostly vegetarian country, and
"relished" it (to use his own words), yet he steadfastly stuck to
vegetarianism in a predominantly meat eating society. Why ? Because his
mother asked him to take a vow of being vegetarian.
Basically
to understand Gandhi one must try to understand his background. He was
psychologically hurt by racism in South Africa. He was helpless and
powerless. Gandhi belonged to a trading community and he inherited traits like diplomacy and non
aggressiveness from his background. He was also a lawyer by education. Thus he took to a philosophy of non
violence and pseudo experiments with truth as the only diplomatically
sane option. Gandhi wanted to be good to everyone. And in this effort he
left no stone unturned. It seems that the truth for Gandhi was to appease people and
be liked by everyone. His support for Caliphate movement in Turkey was
absolutely deplorable.
The history books in school are taught in a very one-dimensional sense. There is no deep analysis in them, as the basic purpose these books have is to provide a curriculum against which students can be measured. It is time that we took a critical look at our historical figures. Otherwise in a thousand years, we might end up with another God to worship in a blinded fashion. This has done no good to our race and country. Could a person of Gandhi's temperament ever be a scientist ? It is hard to imagine this.
