A very touching incident from Gandhiji's life (Reproduced from the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.1):
When Gandhiji was 15, he had removed a bit of gold from his brother’s armlet to clear a small debt of the latter. He felt so mortified about his act that he decided to make a confession to his father. Parental forgiveness was granted to him in the form of silent tears. The incident left a lasting mark on his mind. In his own words, it was an object-lesson to him in the power of ahimsa.
The original not being available; his own report of it, as found in An Autobiography, is reproduced here:
"I wrote it on a slip of paper and handed it to him myself. In this note not only did I confess my guilt, but I asked adequate punishment for it, and closed with a request to him not to punish himself for my offence. I also pledged myself never to steal in future."
When Gandhiji was 15, he had removed a bit of gold from his brother’s armlet to clear a small debt of the latter. He felt so mortified about his act that he decided to make a confession to his father. Parental forgiveness was granted to him in the form of silent tears. The incident left a lasting mark on his mind. In his own words, it was an object-lesson to him in the power of ahimsa.
The original not being available; his own report of it, as found in An Autobiography, is reproduced here:
"I wrote it on a slip of paper and handed it to him myself. In this note not only did I confess my guilt, but I asked adequate punishment for it, and closed with a request to him not to punish himself for my offence. I also pledged myself never to steal in future."
According to Mahatma Gandhi : The Early Phase, p. 212, one of the sentences in the confession was : “So, father, your son is now, in your eyes, no better than a common thief.”
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