Why is it said that Gandhi considered his body as a thing to be experimented with?

Answer 1

Aristotle once wrote that mankind is chiefly distinguished from brutes by it's reasoning power and C.E.M.Joad corrected it by saying that Aristotle's pronouncement is only a hint at the truth and not itself the statement of truth. Only detached men can be reasonable and thereby be distinguished from the brutes. Attachment is an animal instinct, to many. It was by virtue of his detachment that Gandhi gained his powers and is considered a great man. He was powerful in politics as well as in religion. Detached men gain this power by separating their bodies from their true selves. A detached man gains the power of reasoning by gaining power and control over his body. Such detached was Gandhi that he was able to use his body as in the cases of his epic fasts, as an instrument for his true purposes. He considered his body as a thing to be experimented with. But for this reason he has often been called a fanatic. But he needn't be, for he was also able to abandon his path if he chose to. It may simply be said that he chose to live without attachments. Interest leads to attachment and desire, desire to lust, and lust to anger and destruction. So it is safe to be simply non-interested.