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Summary: I'm giving this a 4 because...
Review: ....I wish it had been longer; it leaves off before some of Gandhi's most interesting experimenting with "soul-force." Still, it's very much worth reading, the initial pages dedicated to devotional sentiments about his parents and pointed remarks about his badness giving way to good autobiography mixed with his other interests. A remarkable man.
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Summary: A must read for anyone interested in Gandhi.
Review: A facinating self-portrait of possibly the greatest soul of this century. In a number of polls to name the "Person of the Century" taken by various media, Gandhi's name invariably shows up on the top. After reading this book, most will conclude the same. What impressed me the most about this book (not the person Gandhi)is the breadth of coverage in time, geography, politics, spirituality, economics, human psychology and many other things! After you have read this I suggest you read an outsider's view on Gandhi by Louis Fischer, "Gandhi: His life and message for the world."
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Summary: The honesty in this book is absolutely relentless.
Review: As notable as they are, Gandhi's political successes are not what attracts me to this man.He had a sincere desire to know his own faults and arrogances (and to therefore, rid himself of them).This is the key to curing human relations.In my own life, this is what I look for in people.They don't even have to like me, so long as they are genuine in their attempt to see me as I truly am, and themselves for what they truly are.
Gandhi's infamous 'non-violence' beliefs and abstaining lifestyle sprout from this attitude.I think it is imperative that we realize that noble actions are the 'sprouts', whilst the courage to face one's own arrogances is the 'core' of successful humanity.I mean, what happens when the 'actions' are credited as core? eg.Many people express noble slogans like "NO RACISM", yet feel hateful whilst doing so, perhaps even desiring harm come to the racists.Isn't yielding a peaceful slogan whilst feeling hateful, putting across mixed messages? Gandhi expressed genuine compassion for his 'enemies'.He wanted them to learn, not hurt.Even if 'non-violence' is a noble slogan, it isn't guarenteed to have positive effects.A slogan-yielder must show genuine desire to learn of his own arrogances (and not just desire to point out the target's arrogances), otherwise -the target will feel that you expect more of him than you do of yourself (hence, he will inevitably rebel).Brainwashing (nasty word!) is ALWAYS negative, regardless of how well-intended the founding cause was.Hence, Gandhi's successful influence on people was actually founded in his attitude toward himself.He was well trusted by people because his 'lack of hateful feelings' corresponded with the 'words they heard him speaking'.
What is the true nature of non-violence? Gandhi obviously meant this spiritually, even though he applied it to physical actions.He is 100% correct that violence has no role in the spiritual realm.But physically? His physical application is undoubtedly a rebellion against the human habit passing off ill-intended action as acts of neccessity.(eg. Nazi's later would explain away their racial exterminations as "survival of the fittest").
My definition of survival (and 'competition'); "survival= gain for the self, at the least cost to all else".Humans currently neglect the "at the least cost to all else" part of the equation.And Gandhi rebelled against this neglect.But, in his abstainance he may have overshot, with the naturally occuring "gain for the self" part lagging behind.As selfish as that phrase may sound, it is only selfish if "in absence of the other part" of the equation.However, abstainance can be a great learning experience so long as it is free flowing and freely chosen, and isn't obsessive or guilt-driven.Gandhi did inherently abstain with nature/God/love in mind.But, it did eat away at him also.So, it wouldn't be accurate to say that he'd perfected a balance, despite getting many things right.Does all this mean I'm claiming he was incorrect? No.I'm merely claiming that his philosophy was incomplete.He made great spiritual progress, obviously.His advancement of humankind's understanding of physical combat's true role, is endlessly helpful.But to make sure his wisdoms don't go to waste, we mustn't sell ourselves short by assuming that we can't possibly add to his wisdom with our own (as if we daren't know something that he didn't).We need to allow ourselves to build on Gandhi's platform.That's the whole reason he set the platform.Not so we'd stagnate on it.
On a side note; I can relate to some reviewers using the word 'boring' to describe his writing (though I dare not use it myself, thru fear of UNhelpful votes.ha, ha).It's just that; Compassionate people are so determined not to feed arrogance into their world that -in abstaining their negative attributes, some of their positive ones can accidentally get caught up in the abstainance also.Hence the phenomenon "nice guys finish last".Nice people do risk 'being boring', in their efforts to not just -blurt out absolutely every (potentially destructive) urge that goes through their bodies and minds.So, I urge (controlledly 'urge', i assure:)) readers to be patient with him.You'll find no cheap comments here designed to 'pheign' being interesting.He much prefered to actually 'be' interesting.Much harder an art.
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Summary: An Imprint of the Divine on the Material World
Review: From this book we can see that Gandhi took everything in his life, from the smallest details of his diet to the grandest political decisions, very, very seriously. He believed that only a blade of the purest metal could cut through illusion to reveal the underlying truth of a society and of a world. The key to this purity for Gandhi was integrity and consistency in every word and deed. If he made a promise to abstain from milk, or to support a particular political position, he would keep that vow even at the risk of his life.
This concept of integrity started from Gandhi's personal life and extended outward to each community and each nation that he touched with his message and with his political campaigns. When he worked to elevate the status of the Indian community in South Africa, he worked simultaneously to improve the sanitary habits and internal justice of that community, thereby ensuring that there was integrity not only in the nation of South Africa, but also in the Indian community itself. The same pattern can be seen in his work with the Champaran peasants ("ryots") to remove the crushing feudal tribute of indigo required of them by their landlord masters. As he led that campaign, he simultaneously established schools in the region and once again taught the rudiments of sanitation to the oppressed farmers. And of course his tireless campaign against untouchability, and his work to heal the rifts between Muslims and Hindus were both attempts to ensure the integrity of Indian society itself, which he considered a necessary part of attaining Indian independence from Britain, thereby helping to heal the inconsistency of colonialism at the global level, which in turn brought greater integrity to international relations.
Likewise, his promotion of the use of Hindi and Gujarati (this book was written by Gandhi in Gujarati) rather than English in Indian public life, his promotion of homespun Indian cloth and revival of a cottage industry to create it, his civil disobedience in the making of Indian salt from seawater, were all attempts to ensure that the Indian nation and people could define themselves as a more self-sufficient entity having a distinct identity, rather than describing themselves as they related to an external entity, i.e., the British government.
At every level, then, he desired and sought to create one thing: integrity. His ethics seemed to be: every person, every family, every community, every nation, that is founded upon an organic set of relationships, has a right to exist, to strengthen its own identity and to shine forth with its own kind of light. The process of integrating smaller such entities into larger ones must be a dialectical, interactive one that respects differences, rather than one of control or subsumption. In this way, the material world comes to reflect the infinite diversity, and the inviolable integrity, of the All, and the Divine thus creates an expression of itself in that material substrate, however transient and imperfect that expression may be.
Part of his genius as a political organizer lay in his understanding that control hierarchies such as the British colonial administration depended upon the organic processes of Indian society to create the value that they wished to extract and exploit. A policy of peaceful non-cooperation, when carried out in a determined and disciplined fashion, could rob the imperial power of the very wealth upon which it is based, thereby forcing it to release its hold. This exposes the fundamental paradox of imperialism: that it can only rule by breaking down and compromising the very social fabric that generates the wealth upon which it depends. Therefore, there are limits to the measures that it can take to coerce obedience from an organized and disciplined population.
As imperialism breaks down the internal relations of a society, it simultaneously presents that breakdown as a justification for its continued dominance, since otherwise (it claims) the disparate parts of the organic system would surely attack and consume each other in internecine conflicts. Thus, Gandhi's implicit answer to Hobbes' notorious quote that without the state life would be "nasty, brutish and short" was evidently to re-build the fraternal relationships of the sundered parts of the organic social and political animal (e.g., Hindus and Muslims), thereby rendering the state-based control structure a superfluous and unnecessary "remedy."
Although there are many aspects of this book that could be improved for the naive reader (of which I count myself as one) by creating an annotated edition, the narrative retains its hold because of the sense of discovery and self-revelation that emerges from every page.
As we each grapple with the finiteness of our own lives and the question of how meaning can be derived from something so transient as this life and this world, Gandhi's integration of the material with the spiritual in his own life provides a rare and helpful example. As he writes at the end of the book, "I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means." In a world that is increasingly run by totalitarian corporations that impose their control over people, governments and the environment with results that are utterly destructive to the integrity of each, Gandhi's struggle for a spiritual politics and a political spirituality shines in a way that can still give us hope today, if only we will take our lives as seriously as he took his own.
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Summary: Truth and Non-Violence as delivered in Gandhi's own words
Review: Gandhi changed the way the world thinks. His life and message for the world has influenced MLK's fight for civil rights in the USA. Gandhi revolutionized the fight for freedom. All revolutionary wars before India's independence were fought by using brute force. Gandhi used Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" as the basis for India's fight for freedom from over 200 years of British rule. In Gandhi's own words, the reader is given a truthful account of the man who gave his life so that the posterity of Indians could enjoy what his own ancestors had not. Gandhi's fervent devotion to truth can be seen in his description of many details that one would find embarassing and awkward, but Gandhi does not leave out any minor detail. His honesty and philosophy is one capable of moving the citizen, whether he be an Indian, American, or of any other country.
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Summary: Another experiment with Truth
Review: Gandhi mentions in this book that it is yet another experiment with truth. This book definitely lives up to its title because it is one of the most frank and honest pieces of writing I have read. Gandhi has not attempted to embellish his actions by using fancy words, but rather, given us a true account of what he felt and perceived. I had expected this book to read as if the writer were a wise man, but it reads like the writer is another human. Gandhi maintains that human connection throughout the book, and while it is sad to end the book, so much of Gandhi stays within you after finishing, that it is as if the book never ended.
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Summary: Gandhi's personal experiences - powerful lessons for all
Review: Gandhi remains one of the largest figures of the 20th century. His book describes his personal experience with honesty - one of the principles he had fought to uphold. Although some of his values may not be shared by others, one cannot but admire his unfailing commitment to the truth - and how this commitment provided him strength to shake of the bonds of colonialism and to bring India to freedom. There are lessons here - for those who wish to understand Gandhi. Even if one is not curious about Gandhi, his narrative provides a keen insight into the principle of truth and human nature. It is a great book, with important lessons for all of us.
Rating: 
Summary: Good ideas, so-so writing
Review: Gandhi was a great citizen, a true model for anyone of any religion, adored by good Christians like Jim Wallis, Robert Ellsberg and Martin Luther King Jr., Jews, Muslims, Hindus, even atheists. His stand for pacifistic beliefs and resistance was truly magnificent and he seems to have been a wonderful person from all accounts. He comes across as self-questioning, modest and sincere, thankfully not fulfiling Jungian ideas of "wellness". The bad point is that his writing isn't that great - it's not enough to keep you hooked consistently and your mind wanders at times. Perhaps it is the translation but others explain Gandhi better than he explains himself unfortunately. Perhaps also his modesty gets in the way of a complete self-analysis.
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Summary: A Most Revealing Search for Truth.
Review: Gandhi's autobiography is a remakable testimony to one souls great spiritual triumphs over the world of habit and matter. A real dedication to know and live truth. One of the many significant areas in the mahatma's life seldom written about is his formal initiation into Kriya Yoga by the world prophet Paramahansa Yogananda in 1935. It was after this historic initiation that Gandhi fulfilled his greatest achievements. Also recommeded; Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, Self-Realization publishers...........God Talks With Arjuna(Bhagavad Gita)
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Summary: A++
Review: Gandhi's hosnesty and non-judgemental writing stile are noval things to see comitted to paper. Gives a very clear sence of a life of non-violence.
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