The Story of My Experiments with Truth · Chapter
Whom God Protects explained
Gandhi decides to send for his wife and children from India, and his son Ramdas arrives with a broken arm.
What happens
Gandhi decides to send for his wife and children from India, and his son Ramdas arrives with a broken arm. He treats the wound using earth poultices, which deepens his faith in natural remedies. He also encourages his friend Henry Polak to marry without delay, and later facilitates the wedding of Albert West. These events illustrate Gandhi's growing confidence in self-experimentation and his efforts to build a communal, interracial family at Phoenix.
Themes in this chapter
Truth and Self-Experimentation
Gandhi's earth treatment for Ramdas's wound exemplifies his belief in experimenting on oneself to discover truth, with faith that God protects the honest experimenter.
Family and Personal Relationships
Gandhi reunites his family, encourages marriages among friends, and fosters a heterogeneous communal family at Phoenix, emphasizing heart union over financial or racial barriers.
Characters to notice
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Treats his son's broken arm with earth poultices; encourages Polak and West to marry; acts as best man at Polak's wedding.
- Ramdas Gandhi
Breaks his arm on the voyage to South Africa; trusts Gandhi to dress the wound with earth treatment.
- Henry Polak
Gandhi persuades him to marry immediately; he marries Mrs. Polak with Gandhi as best man.
- Mrs. Polak
Marries Henry Polak after Gandhi's intervention; a Christian by birth, she and Polak share a religion of ethics.
- Albert West
Gandhi advises him to marry; he returns from Louth with Mrs. West and her mother.
Key passages
“My object is only to show that he who would go in for novel experiments must begin with himself. That leads to a quicker discovery of truth, and God always protects the honest experimenter.”
Gandhi argues that anyone pursuing new experiments should first test them on themselves, as this accelerates the discovery of truth and ensures divine protection for the sincere.
Gandhi reflects on his nature cure experiments and the principle of self-experimentation.
“When there is a heart union, as in your case, it is hardly right to postpone marriage merely for financial considerations. If poverty is a bar, poor men can never marry.”
Gandhi tells Polak that a genuine emotional bond should not be delayed for money, since poverty would otherwise prevent all poor people from marrying.
Gandhi persuades Henry Polak to marry immediately despite financial concerns.