Speech of Mahatma Gandhi at Seva Sangh Meeting, Brindaban

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

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Speech of Mahatma Gandhi at Seva Sangh Meeting, Brindaban

 

 

You have just heard Kishorelalbhai. I do not intend to comment today on the topics he has covered in his speech. Nor do I intend doing so later. I would like to dwell briefly on the four or five questions that were placed before me last evening. But even before I proceed to do this perhaps if I recapitulate here what I have written about Rajkot it will help to clarify my position today. I would like to draw your attention to a point on which Kishorelal has dwelt in the course of his speech. He has said that if we are truly non-violent, the heart of the person who considers himself our enemy will, in the face of our non-violence, gradually melt. It is in the very nature of nonviolence to rush into the jaws of violence. And it is the nature of violence to rush forward to devour anything that comes its way.

Nonviolent people cannot practice non-violence among themselves, because they are all non-violent. The test for a non-violent person comes when he has to face a violent person. I have assumed all this from the beginning and I have been conducting various experiments in non-violence in my own life. But I cannot say that I have always been successful—successful in the sense of melting the heart of the opponent. I even doubt if I have been able to carry on these experiments exactly in accordance with my idea of non-violence. The realization that I had not been able to reach the point I had intended came to me with added force in Rajkot. I repeatedly asked myself the question why we had failed to melt Durbar Virawala heart. The simple answer I got was that in our dealings with him we had not been wholly non-violent. Even those who considered themselves Satyagraha is abused Virawala. I have myself been saying things. I could not control the tongues of all. I have no doubt been trying to control my own tongue. But I could not control the tongues of my colleagues. Many satyagrahis do not even realize that in giving tongue to such things we violate non-violence. It is my laxity that I have ignored this. Take the Ali Brothers for instance. Their tongues were sharp. I knew them intimately. Even today I can certify that there was time when they never held back anything from me. When we were touring in connection with the Khilafat they used to tell me frankly whatever they had in their hearts. Even if they had some terrible thought they would express it to me. I still cherish many such sweet memories of them. Subsequently their opinion of my non-violence and my love for Muslims changed considerably. The bitter experiences of the later times have not diminished the sweetness of our earlier relations. They created considerable bitterness among Muslims with regard to truth and nonviolence.

But I have forgotten all those things. There were other colleagues too who similarly used harsh words. They said what they liked of opponents. In short, I have not been as firm in this matter as I should have been. So long as our people did not go beyond words I paid no attention to what they said. I remained indifferent to violence in speech. Later this became a habit and I even stopped taking notice of it. I suddenly saw a new light when I proposed to Mr. Gibson at Rajkot that the Thakore Saheb should form a Committee of his own choice. Even Mr. Gibson admitted that I had made a sporting offer. Whatever I had been doing prior to that was self-evident in my life. In trying to accomplish my purpose I even showed the British Government there duty. I pointed out that it was its duty to protect its subjects. That was the reason why I wired to the Viceroy. I did not beg for anything from the British Government. I just made them do their duty. But one great flaw in this was that I brought Government pressure to bear on the Thakore Saheb, or say, Durbar Virawala. The feeling came to me again and again that the experiment I was conducting was fraught with risks. So I went to Mr. Gibson and told him that the Thakore Saheb should form his own Committee. This was a new thing for me and for the country. I acquired a new tool and a new method. It was like changing my house. But even today I am not prepared to tear up the Gwyer Award.

I wish to make use of it. Such is my weakness. But what am I to do? I can only follow the dictates of my heart. But, if I can summon the strength to obey the dictates of non-violence, I would tear to bits or burn the Award. I should have reassured Virawala. I should have told him: ‘See, I have torn up the Gwyer Award. I shall have nothing to do with the British Government. If I have to resort to Satyagraha now it will be against you. And the experiment will be my sincere effort. What would it matter even if I had to die in my attempt to convert the Rajkot authorities? As yet I have not been able to persuade myself that I do not want British help in the Rajkot matter. But this thing is boiling inside me. Now Rajkot is for me the wonderful laboratory of pure non-violence. My reason prompts me to conduct my experiment in total non-violence in that very place. Let the world say I am mad. Let people mock at me for throwing away a thing I had got with such great difficulty. My reason says that is what I should do. The heart is still not ready. This is my weakness. This means that there is still something lacking in our non-violence.

That is why our experiment in Rajkot was not pure and did not succeed. The blame does not entirely lie with Virawala. Let us see what he can do when we offer pure nonviolence, I cannot conduct such an experiment in pure non-violence, just sitting here in Champaran. I shall have to turn Rajkot into my laboratory. But right now my heart does not prompt me to do such a thing. This is a sign of my weakness. There is no doubt that we are making some mistake somewhere in the matter of Rajkot. We must have the courage to correct that mistake. What applies to Rajkot applies also to the Congress. There are dissensions in the congress, and for these too we are responsible. Those who call themselves Gandhian are not less so.

I say to you once again that you should not call yourselves Gandhian. It is meaningless label. Call yourselves votaries of non-violence. Gandhi is worthless—imperfect, a mixture of good and bad, strength and weakness, power and impotence. Let your claim therefore be that you pursue truth, are votaries of truth, you pursue non-violence, are votaries of non-violence. That claim is sufficient. The term ‘Gandhian’ is meaningless. Non-violence does not contain any such mixture. If you search your hearts from the point of view of nonviolence, you would realize that the responsibility of the rift within the Congress lies with us and none else. Can you truthfully say that you have followed non-violence within the Congress? Did you base your chests to the arrows of your opponents? Did you not try to turn and shoot them in this direction and that? Did we welcome criticism from others? No. We challenged it with our tongues. We were pleased when other people criticized the critics. All this is a sign of violence. You can say that so far I had not set such a harsh test. My words, too, occasionally tend to be harsh. But the fault lies with me, not with nonviolence. You can also say that you have never claimed to have followed non-violence to this extent. But this too is the fault of my method of working. I have been somewhat lax in this regard. Let us acknowledge these faults as our own and not ascribe them to nonviolence. Let us not bring non-violence to ridicule for faults which are ours. Let us look upon the faults of our colleagues in the Congress as bits of straw or as dust particles and get on with them; let us see our own faults mountains.

Even if others consider us their opponents, let us not consider them so. We are as fuller of violence as they are. It is the nature of a serpent to hiss. But we have taken a pledge of non-violence. We wish to conquer that propensity of ours. We assert that we shall protect, not devour, the Princes. We even talk of converting them. But I am afraid that we talk of converting them. But I am afraid that we talk of converting them because it has become a fashion to do so. Deep in our hearts we do not believe in it. This is a sign of violence in us. Truly speaking we do not have the slightest hope that the Princes will ever be converted. We feel the same about our colleagues in the Congress. I must frankly tell you that this is a sign of violence, and it is precisely because of this that there is so much dissension in the Congress. This is what I am constantly thinking and that is why I am trying out new technique with Durbar Virawala. Please believe me when I say that I am not going to run away like a coward from the Rajkot problem. I am not going to let down my co-workers thus. Nothing so perverse will happen. If I do any such thing, you can take it that I have lost my reason. I have certainly grown old. But there is not as yet any evidence of mental decay. I am doing my work with great care.

In the last resort we are going to fight. But we shall have to change our strategy. We shall have to revise the logistics of our forces. So I am working to strengthen the position of our co-workers in Rajkot. I have dwelt on this point at some length so that you may understand it. I shall now say few things about the Sangh. From what I have said you will understand the way my mind is working. I have a feeling that we shall have to retrace our steps a little. I had said at Hudli that we must expand our field a little, that we should also take part in politics. But, even if we have plunged into politics, we must practice non-violence in that field too. We must be very firm in this. Don’t mind if on that account only twenty members are left in place of todays two hundred. I also find that the Sangh too is not free from the faults which are in the Congress. The Congress is a big organization, the Sangh is small. The evils that are found in the Congress in a larger measure are to be found in the Sangh in a smaller measure. There are mutual jealousies, quarrels and also conceit. I do not see people working with one heart, one mind. I am not saying this from personal experience.

I do not even know all the members. I do not recognize all the faces. I do not know the names of many. I do not know where each of them comes from and what work he is doing. I am saying this on the strength of the material I have received. It is a pity that Jamnalalji is not present here today. He is connected with a number of institutions. He keeps on telling me about his difficulties. Why do we have to face so many difficulties in running institutions? Why do all these faults creep in? If two hundred individuals could work with one mind, one heart, we could, without mentioning any particular worker, call any one of them and tell him, ‘Go to Travancore and achieve success in the work there’. But Kishorelal today does not have the courage to say this. He has to consider the qualifications, temperament and inclination of each individual worker. I am not saying all this to find fault with you. This speaks of the shortcomings of all of us.

It seems to me that we shall have to give thought to this matter. We shall have to be more firm in the principles and in observing the rules of our institution. If this leads to depletion in our membership, it cannot be helped. I have already stated that the strength of satyagrahis lies not in numbers but in the spirit, in other words, in God. Hence it is that I expect every satyagrahi to have a living faith in God. A satyagrahi possesses no other strength. One can derive strength from God only if one has boundless faith in Him. How can one ever offer Satyagraha without such faith in God? Anyone who says that he has no such faith in God should leave the Sangh and forget about Satyagraha. I would like to ask how many of you have a living faith in the spinning-wheel. About the spinning-wheel, I have said boldly and unashamedly that it is the infallible means to swaraj. It is a unique symbol of non-violence. You may become a great expert with the spinning-wheel, but your working at it would be futile if you did not regard it as a symbol of non-violence. If we have a living faith in the spinning-wheel we shall find in it immeasurable strength. I regard the spinning-wheel as a greater symbol of non-violence than civil disobedience. In civil disobedience there is a possibility of jealousy and violence. But the spinning-wheel is faultless. Some people may make fun of it. The spinning-wheel can evoke ridicule but never violence. Even those who ply the spinning-wheel and ply it with diligence and faith do not regard it as a symbol of non-violence. Those who have entered politics do not regard it as a symbol of nonviolence. They ply it as a ritual.

I have been lax in this respect too. Now I am paying the price. I had expressed my faith in the spinning wheel way back in 1920. Now 1940 is approaching. I repeat on the strength of my experience of twenty years that there is nothing so effective as the charkha for demonstrating the power of non-violence and winning swaraj. Today I have acquired knowledge also along with faith. This combination of faith and reason has strengthened my conviction. I stand by whatever I have written so far on the subject of the spinning-wheel. I would once again tell those who want to be satyagrahis but have no faith in the spinning-wheel that they should forget about Satyagraha.

 Prajapati Misra said that spinning-wheels are being plied in five villages. This is just a mockery. Why is not the spinning-wheel plying in every home in Champaran? I can make fun of the spinning-wheels plying in five villages, and if I so choose, I can also make you cry. There is nothing very exciting even in the exhibition here. Poor Laxmi Babu and Mathuradas are doing some spade work. But how is that going to satisfy me? Bihar has so many wonderful workers. Why is the charkha not plying in every house in Champaran? When they realize that the spinning-wheel is a thing that can give them extraordinary strength, the whole face of Bihar will be transformed. But the few workers that are there are not enough. There are thousands of women plying the charkha today—women to whom I cannot pay a wage of eight annas. They do it for their bread. I do not speak of those who do it for a living. I speak of those who will ply the spinning-wheel, considering it a symbol of non-violence. The spinning-wheel will transform the life of the individual who becomes a votary of non-violence and truth. He will render an account of his every minute. He will consider it sinful to waste time. God alone is witness to one’s thoughts. But such a man will have no useless thought in his mind. His speech will have a unique quality and everything pertaining to him will have a divinity about it. The spinning-wheel possesses all this power.

But it is not self-evident. Outwardly the spinning-wheel is a lifeless object. It acquires power from determination. Let us look at it with devotion. What is there in clay? But if a devotee shapes a lump of it into a ball and decides that Lord Shankara is residing in it, that same lump of clay can become a Kamadhenus. What is there in mere clay? Another man would just throw it away. Shankara does not reside in the clay. It is the faith that is Shankara. What is in Ramanama? What is the secret of the power it possesses today? Millions of people have uttered the name of Rama with great faith. It is the power or their devotion. Thousands of people are in the habit of repeating Ramanama. They derive no benefit out of it, because they have no devotion in their hearts. In Kaliyuga, even Ramanama can deceive. But the spinning-wheel can never deceive. It will at least produce yarn. I have got hundreds of people who would stand witness to the fact that even physical desire loses its edge if one sits down to spin with determination.

Prabhashanker Pattani is dead. He was not a man who could have ever deceived me. He had written to me that when he sat with the spinning wheel at night, he forgot all mundane affairs. The miracle of the spinning-wheel was revealed to him. It is another matter if he could not stick to it for good. It was necessary to say this much in praise of the spinning-wheel because it is the most important among all the weapons that we possess. Let all of you make a resolution. That is why so much emphasis is laid on it. That is the reason why it has become so essential for the Satyagraha of my conception. I wrote Hind Swaraj in 19092. Its language may be crude but even today my pen is not prepared to polish it. I had not seen even a single spinning-wheel at the time. Not only this, I had even confused a loom with a spinning wheel. That was exactly why I had mentioned the loom rather than the spinning-wheel in that book. But I have continued to have faith in the spinning-wheel right from those days. It has been for me a symbol of non-violence from that time on. Today I have this much strength that I can tell those who do not share this belief to quit. If those people from Travancore or Mysore or Jaipur tell me that they do not believe in such a thing, I would tell them that I cannot carry on the Satyagraha with their help. They may offer Satyagraha on their own responsibility, but I cannot help them. Thus, I have presented this thing to you in a new form. Each one of us has come here to perform a yajna for five or six days, to purify his thoughts, and subject him to rigorous introspection.

He will tell himself that judging by the language, he gave way to anger, showed malice towards this or that person, betrayed the Sangh. Many of those who realize their errors will voluntarily remove themselves and serve the Sangh from outside, even as I am serving the Congress from outside. I claim to serve the Congress more than I did when I was a four-anna member. I have absolutely no doubt about it. Similarly let some people serve the Sangh from outside. Let those who choose to remain inside constantly examine their thoughts. All of us are probably aware that some people have got into the Sangh who have proved to be conceited and corrupt. We certainly cannot claim that everybody who has got into the Sangh has got a stamp of purity. I do hope some members of this kind will go out of their own accord. They will be serving better from outside. Let me now come to the circular. I do not wish to find fault with it. Whatever has happened has happened. Let the members of the Gandhi Seva Sangh be in the Congress. Let Sardar, Rajendra Babu, etc., be in the Congress. Let other members support them. It is their business.

But the Gandhi Seva Sangh as an institution should not get involved in this. This is not within the purview of the Sangh. If the members of the Gandhi Seva Sangh feel called upon to interfere in political matters let them do so on their own responsibility. But even here it can only mean their carrying out the tenets of truth and nonviolence. We shall no doubt face defeat if we do not remain within the limits of truth and non-violence. We cannot be party to all the things that are permissible there, because, being members of the Sangh, we become trustees of truth and non-violence. We can certainly allow those members to function who enter politics carrying with them the yardstick of truth and non-violence. But the function of the Gandhi Seva Sangh is altogether different. The Sangh is not concerned with what happened at Tripuri or who voted in whose favour. That is not our field. That is the field of Sardar, or those who went to Tripuri so much for the circular. Let me now come to the corruption within the Congress. The best remedy for the corruption is first for us to become pure. Let us make the atmosphere as clean as we can through our personal contact, because the Congress too wants to attain independence with truth and non-violence.

The Congress too is a nonviolent organization and, if I can have my way, I would lay down strict conditions for it. But the Gandhi Seva Sangh is not opposed to the job of purifying the Congress. From one point of view the burden of our heads is light and also heavy. Those of us who wish to shoulder the burden of purifying the Congress may well do so. But that burden does not fall on everybody. On the other hand, our responsibility is very heavy because we have made ourselves the self-appointed trustees of non-violence. Thirteen of our members are on the Congress Working Committee. They will look after the task of purifying the Congress. If they do not, they will be proved worthless. I shall now take up the question of the spread of Gandhian thought. Gandhian thought can hardly spread through books. Indeed it will be propagated best through being lived. Truth and non-violence are propagated in this manner. If we place a million books on one side and a living example on the other, the value of the example will be grater. Books are lifeless. I do not suggest that we should write no books at all. We may write books and also publish newspapers if we wish. But I want to suggest that they are not a necessary means for us. Intellectual growth of a satyagrahi depends on his following his principles. We go on repeating ‘ahimsa’, ‘ahimsa’ with our tongues but do nothing to sharpen our intelligence. We have become somewhat lethargic. The Gita says that there should be unity between mind and heart. When the mind and the heart are untied, we become unconquerable. The mind acquires the powers to solve all questions. We do not become non-violent simply because we do not hit anyone. We indulge in violence through our thought and reasoning. This is not a sign of a sharp intellect. Keeping ourselves alert is an indication of sharp intelligence. When we are faced by an opponent, we should understand his viewpoint. Let us see what Jayaprakash there is saying.

There is an ocean of difference between him and me. But non-violence means that we must have the patience to listen to the opponent. This is the characteristic of non-violence. This is what is meant by rushing into the mouth of the enemy. A non-violent person tells his opponent not to trouble himself too much for he is going to him on his own. It does not mean that we should become soft. We must keep our intelligence sharp. If we can, we should reply to the arguments of our opponent. We should try to understand his arguments from his point of view, and accept whatever may be acceptable. If I try to understand the point of view of my opponent, it does not mean that I have accepted everything he has said, or that I have flattered him. If we train our mind thus, we can continue to propagate truth and non-violence all through our life. This cannot be done through a monthly or bi-monthly or quarterly. My co-workers will tell you how carelessly young India used to be brought out by me. Young India did serve a useful purpose. In the end it just died, but Satyagraha did not die. My work did not stop where Young India ceased publication. A satyagrahi knows that he cannot depend on external aids. Rather, He depends on inner strength. He who has faith in God will go ahead with faith in himself.

It has also been asked what we should do in the face of considerable opposition to Gandhian thought and the needless poisoning of the minds in Maharashtra. I have already answered this question. We should purify ourselves. If things are going wrong in Maharashtra, let us kill Shankarrao Deo. If things are going wrong in Karnataka, let us kill Gangadharrao. Do you agree, Shankarrao, Gangadharrao? What more can I say in this matter? I have been asked my opinion of the Aryasamajists Satyagraha. After much testing I must tell you what I feel about it. What is going on in Hyderabad in the name of Satyagraha is not dharma. Nor is it being conducted for the defence of dharma. There is much fraud in it. No one who believes in truth and non-violence can participate in it. I have got enough evidence. I have passed it on to Guptaji. The poor man had come to me. He is very much upset. 

 

Reference:

 

Gandhi Seva Sangh ke Panchama Varshik Adhiveshan (Brindaban, Bihar) ka Vivaran, pp. 7-5