Service Which Is Rendered Without Joy

From Gandhi's autobiography An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Chapter 50, "Two Passions." The chapter recounts Gandhi's devotion to nursing the sick, including his brother-in-law, and his reflection that nursing done out of obligation rather than genuine care fails both parties. Gandhi's full passage continues: "But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy." The autobiography, originally published in Gujarati installments beginning in 1925 and translated into English in 1927, was named one of the top 100 spiritual books of the twentieth century.