K. Santanam and Mahatma Gandhi

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

Gandhi International Study and Research Institute, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Mailing Address- C- 29, Swaraj Nagar, Panki, Kanpur- 208020, Uttar Pradesh, India

 

 

K. Santanam and Mahatma Gandhi 

 

K. Santanam, secretary to the Commission appointed by the Punjab Subcommittee of the Indian National Congress to report on the Punjab disturbances. I sent you a telegraphic reply yesterday. It broke my heart to have to send you that reply but I  did not want Krishna here when I cannot give her and the children any personal attention and when the Ashram is so fearfully crowded and is daily becoming more so owing to my presence. Though I am attending to some work, most of my time I pass in bed. Mrs. Gandhi is at her wit’s end. I should not forgive myself if Krishna came and was neglected or was crowded into a room. At the same time, this is her home and if she wants to come in spite of the warning let her come by all means and shares the difficulties and troubles of the inmates of the Ashram. I am not likely to leave for any hill-station before the end of March. I hope both of you are spinning. 1

Rajagopalachari discussed with me your difficulties when he was at the Ashram. I sympathize with you. But it is difficult to conform to an absolute rule of conduct. Whilst it is proper to exact the utter-most from oneself, to refuse to serve till one had attained the ideal height would be to cut off the possibility of reaching that height. We rise only by actual service and by taking the risk of making mistakes whilst we are serving. Not one of us is perfect. Not one of us is able to realize the whole of our spiritual ambition. All the same, in the hum-blest manner possible we have to continue to serve and hope that thro-ugh that service we may someday realize that ambition. If we all refuse to serve, until we attain perfection, there will be no service. The fact is that perfection is attained through service. If you were to say we must not take or accept power till we are perfect, I should entirely agree with you. And, therefore, it is best never to take any power, and, when it is thrust upon us to use it for service only. I hope therefore that, in spite of the weaknesses that you may detect in yourself, you will not refuse to render khadi service so long as the weaknesses do not interfere with that service. Thus a man who has the weakness of dishonesty or drunken nesses or the like is naturally unfit for that service. But a man who in spite of strenuous effort is unable (say) to regulate himself with his wife as if he was her brother is not unfit for service. I hope I have made myself quite clear and that you will return to the khadi work you love and do so well. 2

The best thing I could do was to forward your letter to Sjt. Ambalal Sarabhai. Beyond that you won’t expect me to go. I am sorry about Krishna. I hope she will soon be well. Is her illness the reason for her long silence? I note what you say about Punjab politics. 3 You have to be firm and strong if you want the Punjab to come out well during the Congress. Unless the Congress is put on a proper footing, you should refuse to give any help and even make a public statement. As it is I am sending your letter to Motilalji and asking him to do whatever is possible. If I were you, I should not bring in Lalaji Memorial in discussing the subject. Let the Memorial stand on its own footing. You should go on with collections irrespective of whether the Congress is to be held in Lahore or not. Those who want to revere Lalaji’s memory will pay in any case. What I am anxious about is that the Congress in the Punjab should be a genuine register of representatives. You will see the letter I have published in Young India. Of course, you will easily guess that it is from the Punjab. What a heartbreaking revelation. It is this root evil which I am likely to deal with. I am leaving for Sind tomorrow and shall return on the 15th instant. The enclosed is my programme. 4

I enclose herewith copy of reply from Satis Babu of Khadi Pratishthan in reply to my enquiry. Chhaganlal Joshi and Subramaniam are now with you. You will do whatever you think proper. 5 I have just heard from Rajaji the awful news of your wife’s death. But I know that you are god-fearing and brave for those who believe in Him nothing is awful. He gives and has the right to take away. If you are permitted let me have a line that you are at peace with yourself. 6 I must dictate my letter to you to save time. I was delighted to see your old familiar hand but sorry to learn that you had not been keeping well. You must not put on fat. Though I am a quack, I am a quack who has tried experiments on himself and therefore can speak with some authority. You ought to take plenty of exercise. Walking is the prince of exercises, and you should give up all prepared fat, such as, oil or ghee, and take as little milk as possible and live on juicy fruit and brown bread without butter. In a month’s time you will find yourself a changed man. You may take green, non-starchy vegetables simply boiled. We do not realize how we become prey to disease by criminal ignorance of the right dietary and the absolute necessity of exercises in the fresh air. I shall keep a letter with this for Krishna. 7

 

References:

 

1. Letter to K. Santanam, February 9, 1926
2. Letter to K. Santanam, May 11, 1926
3. Letter to K. Santanam, November 14, 1928
4. Letter to K. Santanam, February 1, 1929
5. Letter to K. Santanam, November 8, 1929
6. Letter to K. Santanam, February 2, 1931
7. Letter to K. Santanam, February 23, 1933