MG's Experiments with Truth

I think the best way to document my own progression through this trip is by posting some responses to my reading. After all, I've probably spent more time reading than anything else so far. I read most of Gandhi's autobiography (called An Autobiography or My Experiments with Truth) during my lengthy travel to Karigiri.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, or MG as he is affectionately known here, seems to be everywhere. There are several statues of him just in Vellore, and there is an MG road in almost every city (and it's usually the center of shopping, attractions, hotels, etc.). I can't properly convey to you the amazement with which I read about his moral sensitivity, his simplicity, his earnest seeking after truth and peace, his wisdom, his love for his parents! I selected a few quotes to share below because they really show what made him tick and also because I found some passages of Scripture that correlate with his struggles:


MG: “What I want to achieve—what I have been striving and pining to achieve these thirty years—is self-realization, to see God face to face, to attain Moksha. I live and move and have my being in this goal.” (xii)
MG: “But for me, truth is the sovereign principle, which includes numerous other principles…not only the relative truth of our conception, but the Absolute Truth, the Eternal Principle, that is God…but I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest.” (xiii)
MG: “For it is an unbroken torture to me that I am still so far from Him, Who as I fully know, governs every breath of my life, and Whose offspring I am. I know that it is the evil passions within that keep me so far from Him, and yet I cannot get away from them." (xv)

John 14:6-10: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me"…Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?
John 1:17: For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ
John 8:31-36: If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free…Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain in the house forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
2 Corinthians 5:21: He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

As you can imagine, it pains me to only select these few passages of Scripture when there are so many that speak about these issues. I could write several books just with my own thoughts about what this great little man had to say to the world.

Coming soon: Livio's The Golden Ratio, Foster's Freedom of Simplicity, and Hesse's Siddhartha