The dark side of Mahatma Gandhi’s life, He slept naked with women.
Mahatma Gandhi has made an important contribution to India’s freedom movement, we have never forgotten that contribution and we will never forget it in the future, but there are several dark aspects of his life that no one talks about. It is said that he was very strong on the issue of sexuality, although many of his subjects were not acceptable in those days, even Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was a senior leader of India at that time, raised many objections. He married a 13-year-old girl despite belonging to an educated society, which still stirs controversy. Even this was unusual for the day and there was much controversy about it even then. Gandhiji wrote a piece of his that he always felt lust for his wife even when he was in his work he lived in lust for his wife by publicly writing such things he created enough divisions. Although he wrote in his essay that he always wanted to teach his illiterate but he was so engrossed in love and desire for her that he did not have time for it, although later his thoughts on sexuality changed and he was openly ashamed of his earlier thoughts.
Gandhi wrote in his autobiography that when his father was sick, his wife became pregnant when he was supposed to be tending to his father, he had intercourse with his wife and as a result, he himself thought that his wife had become pregnant. He felt very ashamed. He even wrote that when his father passed away, he was having an intimate moment with his wife, which was too shameful for him. However, for all this he later repented and publicly apologized to his late heavenly father.
Later on his thoughts about sex changed completely and when he was 38 years old he adopted brahmacharya and he started living separately from his wife i.e. no physical intercourse between them. He also stated that he took his wife’s opinion on the matter and there was no objection from his wife. According to gandhiji sex was a completely different matter one should have sex only for procreation and in all other cases sex should be avoided because every man is born for the sense of duty to his country so country should be thought first then if something is alive then family should be thought of. He believed that there was no need for sex. So we can understand how much his thinking about sexuality changed later and practically he made it possible by his extraordinary thinking power and his own celibacy.
One of the most controversial aspects of his life about sexuality was when he was practically experimenting with various aspects of celibacy. In fact, he began to challenge himself with all the resolutions he had taken. He then went on to conduct one experiment after another which would never be accepted in today’s age and was strongly opposed by many people even then. He made a rule where boys and girls would bath together and sleep together with no clothing on their bodies. There was a rule that they were punished for talking about sex. There was a rule that all the couples living in his ashram, i.e. wives, could not sleep together at night. Not only that, Gandhiji suggested that husbands should never be alone with their wives, how he could take such a controversial decision is a big wonder even in today’s world. He also said that when a person feels the urge to have sex, it should be done with cold water.
But strangely all these rules applied to others but not to himself. He walked around with his hands on women’s shoulders which was considered indecent in those days. Besides, he used to message his body by all the women who lived in his ashram. From bathing Gandhiji to massaging his body and all the rest of his personal belongings, the presence of women was mandatory. A woman was always present during his bath. He used to sleep naked with his granddaughter and all the other women. As Gandhiji grew older, the number of women in his ashram doubled. He never hid all these experiments which he conducted on women, he disclosed them to all. And he also said that all the women who participated in this experiment with him were willing participants but it can be argued that Gandhiji was so powerful then that it was impossible for anyone to say no to him. Although many refused to be a part of this experiment, Gandhiji excluded them from this experiment. However, it can be said for sure that if anyone wants to do such an experiment, legal action will be taken against him.
When Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru came to know about this he told Gandhiji that you may be experimenting with celibacy but the way you are doing it will never be well received by people even Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel called it a grave mistake. And at that time various eminent persons requested Gandhiji to stop this strange experiment but Gandhiji did not listen to all those requests he continued this experiment for a long time.
