Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi is perhaps the most discussed and also the most misunderstood man in the world today. As in the case of shakespeare, there has been a plethora of books on Gandhi the man and his philosophy of life and action. Some of the writers are among the most distinguished in their own field or discipline. Here’s a book that is, in a sense, off the beaten track. Dr. Tahtinen, the author, has made a commendable attempt to interpret Gandhi’s thought in terms of general western philosophical ideas, which constitutes its especial merit. The author has sifted and analysed a large body of authentic material available at the various Gandhi Ashrams at Sevagram, Sabarmati, Sevapuri, Khadigram and Almora (Lakshmi Ashram) and has also had informal discussions with Vinoba the saint of Paunar Ashram when he joined him on three padayatras. The author had endeavoured to distinguish historical religions from universal religion and to analyse the different meanings of truth. He has also discussed the teleological nature of the Mahatma’s ethics, in which purity of means was always supreme. Here’s a book for the lay reader as also for the student of Gandhism.