Selected Letters of Gandhi : Part-1

YERAVDA MANDIR


Chapter-47: Hypocrisy

I have discovered one great defect in our women, namely that they hide their thoughts from the world. They thus become hypocritical. Hypocrisy comes easy to those alone who are wedded to untruth. I do not know of anything so injurious as hypocrisy, but the hypocrisy of our middle class women who are always subject to pressure eats into their vitals like a veritable cancer. Every now and then they do things which they do not like, and believe that they must do so. If they apply their mind to the subject a little, they will see that there is no reason why they should yield to outside pressure, no matter from what quarter. Let them master this first lesson that they must cultivate the courage to stand before the world just as they are, and everything else will be added unto them

Translated from Gujarati