Importance of Diary
When I think about diary, I find, it has become an invaluable asset to me. For one devoted to truth, it serves as a sentry, because its entries have to be true. If indolence done, work shirked, it has to be mentioned. Thus the diary becomes a sentry in all respects. It is, therefore, necessary that we all realize its importance. Once we regularly start writing, we ourselves will know what to write and how. Of course, there is one condition. We will have to be honest; otherwise the diary becomes a counterfeit coin. But if it contains truth, it becomes more valuable than a sovereign.

After deciding to write the diary, there should be no lapse. It will surely prove advantageous, if not now, but later on. The practice to maintain the diary will save us from many evils, as it will be a witness to our faults. Our wrong-doing must be mentioned in it. No comments on them are necessary. The criticism will follow itself. Today we lost temper on ‘A’, today we deceived ‘B’, this much mentions is enough. “O mind! This is very bad, it should not be done in future”, etc. should not necessarily be written. No self-praise be recorded. It is enough to write about the work done and evils committed. Faults of others should not be stated. Control in the form of diary helps in self-purification.

-M.K.GANDHI

‘Harijan-Bandhu’
20.1.1933