Gandhi's Mastery of Self

PASSION FOR TRUTH

Gandhi's childhood and youth, seemingly uneventful with no acts of courage or theatrical tantrums, were marked with a maturity and wisdom far beyond his years.

'The fact that I recollect nothing more of those days than having learnt, in company with other boys, to call our teacher all kinds of names, would strongly suggest that my intellect must have been sluggish, and my memory raw... There is hardly anything to note about my studies, (so) I could only have been a mediocre student...I used to be very shy and avoided all company...and as rule, I had a distaste for any reading beyond my school books.

During this period of mediocre childhood, he developed a strong love for truth. From age seven, (which was as far back as he could remember) to high school he recollects as "I do not remember having ever told a lie, during this short period, either to my teachers or to my school-mates." This love for truth seemed to have its beginnings in the Hindu mythological play on the legendary King Harishchandra, the incomparable king of honor who adhered to truth despite all odds.

"This play - Harishchandra - captured my heart. I could never be tired of seeing it...It haunted me and I must have acted (it) to myself times without number. 'Why should not all be truthful (like him)?' was the question I asked myself day and night. To follow truth and to go through all the ordeals...was the one ideal it inspired in me."

This ideal of truth became the center of his life and work. His love for truth and his regard for truth as God show his ascendance to the highest form of religion. His concept of truth reflects the enlightened proclamation of the Hindu sages "Truth is One, the wise call It by many names," honoring all religions as an expression of this Truth. In his own words, Gandhi defines what truth means to him as follows:

"For me, truth is the sovereign principle, which includes numerous other principles. This truth is not only truthfulness in word, but truthfulness in thought also, and not only the relative truth of our conception, but the Absolute Truth, the Eternal Principle, that is God. There are innumerable definitions of God, because His manifestations are innumerable...But I worship God as Truth only.

Nazareth, "Gandhi ardently believed that Truth was an objective moral reality as real and mighty as God himself. Truth was what constituted the 'Right Path'. Therefore it was not 'Might which was Right' but 'Right which was Might'.

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