VIII. A WARNING
I am afraid I must continue the digression until the
next chapter. Along with my experiments in earth
treatment, those in dietetics were also being carried on,
and it may not be out of place here to make a few
observations as regards the latter, though I shall have
occasion to refer to them again later.
I may not, now or hereafter, enter into a detailed
account of the experiments in dietetics, for I did so in
a series of Gujarati articles which appeared years ago in
Indian Opinion, and which were afterwards
published in the form of a book popularly known in
English as A Guide to Health. Among my little
books this has been the most widely read alike in the
East and in the West, a thing that I have not yet been
able to understand. It was written for the benefit of the
readers of Indian Opinion. But I know that the
booklet has profoundly influenced the lives of many, both
in the East and in the West, who have never seen Indian
Opinion. For they have been corresponding with me on
the subject. It has therefore appeared necessary to say
something here about the booklet, for though I see no
reason to alter the views set forth in it, yet I have
made certain radical changes in my actual practice, of
which all readers of the book do not know, and of which,
I think, they should be informed.
The booklet was written, like all my other writings,
with a spiritual end, which has always inspired every one
of my actions, and therefore it is a matter for deep
distress to me that I am unable today to practise some of
the theories propounded in the book.
It is my firm conviction that man need take no milk at
all, beyond the mother's milk that he takes as a baby.
His diet should consist of nothing but sunbaked fruits
and nuts. He can secure enough nourishment both for the
tissues and the nerves from fruits like grapes and nuts
like almonds. Restraint of the sexual and other passions
becomes easy for a man who lives on such food. My
co-workers and I have seen by experience that there is
much truth in the Indian proverb that as a man eats, so
shall he become. These views have been set out
elaborately in the book.
But unfortunately in India I have found myself obliged
to deny some of my theories in practice. Whilst I was
engaged on the recruiting campaign in Kheda, an error in
diet laid me low, and I was at death's door. I tried in
vain to rebuild a shattered constitution without milk. I
sought the help of the doctors, vaidyas and
scientists whom I knew, to recommend a substitute for
milk. Some suggested mung water, some mowhra
oil, some almond-milk. I wore out my body in
experimenting on these, but nothing could help me to
leave the sickbed. The vaidyas read verses to me
from Charaka to show that religious scruples about diet
have no place in therapeutics. So they could not be
expected to help me to continue to live without milk. And
how could those who recommended beef-tea and brandy
without hesitation help me to persevere with a milkless
diet?
I might not take cow's or buffalo's milk, as I was
bound by a vow. The vow of course meant the giving up of
all milks, but as I had mother cow's and mother buffalo's
only in mind when I took the vow, and as I wanted to
live, I somehow beguiled myself into emphasizing the
letter of the vow and decided to take goat's milk. I was
fully conscious, when I started taking mother goat's
milk, that the spirit of my vow was destroyed.
But the idea of leading a campaign against the Rowlatt
Act had possessed me. And with it grew the desire to
live. Consequently one of the greatest experiments in my
life came to a stop.
I know it is argued that the soul has nothing to do
with what one eats or drinks, as the soul neither eats
nor drinks; that it is not what you put inside from
without, but what you express outwardly from within, that
matters. There is no doubt some force in this. But rather
than examine this reasoning. I shall content myself with
merely declaring my firm conviction that, for the seeker
who would live in fear of God and who would see Him face
to face, restraint in diet both as to quantity and
quality is as essential as restraint in thought and
speech.
In a matter, however, where my theory has failed me, I
should not only give the information, but issue a grave
warning against adopting it. I would therefore urge those
who, on the strength of the theory propounded by me, may
have given up milk, not to persist in the experiment,
unless they find it beneficial in every way, or unless
they are advised by experienced physicians. Up to now my
experience here has shown me that for those with a weak
digestion and for those who are confined to bed there is
no light and nourishing diet equal to that of milk.
I should be greatly obliged if anyone with experience
in this line, who happens to read this chapter, would
tell me, if he has known from experience, and not from
reading, of a vegetable substitute for milk, which is
equally nourishing and digestible.
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