Power of Ramanama - Mahatma Gandhi

A correspondent asks the following question:

I do not know the writer. The fact that he had the letter delivered to me through his brother when I was leaving Bombay shows the strength of his curiosity in this matter. Ordinarily, such questions should not be discussed in public. It is evident that, if it became the general practice with the public to probe into the private life of an individual, most unpleasant results would follow. But I cannot escape being the object of such curiosity, whether it is worthy or unworthy. I have no right to try to escape. Neither do I wish to do so. My private life has become public life. For my part there is not a single thing in the world which I would conceal from others. My experiments are spiritual. Some of them are novel. They depend very much on self-examination on my part. I have carried them out, following the maxim: "As in one’s body, so in the universe". The underlying assumption is that what is possible to me must be so to all others. Hence I have to answer some questions about private matters too.

1. Not reproduced here. The correspondent had mentioned Gandhiji’s statement in a speech that he had thrice been saved from sin by Ramanama. Pointing out that a local paper, Saurashtra, had commented on this statement and drawn inferences which were not clear, he had asked Gandhiji himself to explain what he had meant.

© `The Spirit of Hinduism’ by Mahatma Gandhi, published (1980) by Pankaj Publications, 3, Regal Building, New Delhi 110 001. Reprinted with permission.

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