Swaraj, Self-Purification 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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Swaraj, Self-Purification and Mahatma Gandhi

 

What is self-purification? Those who are addicted to drink should give it up. Drink yields revenues to the tune of Rs. 17 crore to the Government. Obviously the Government will not allow us to rest in peace if there is fear of its losing this money. The education provided to our children from funds derived from drink should be unacceptable to us. Under swaraj, income from drink ought to be considered dishonorable. I am convinced that we can provide education without these revenues. I have read the speech delivered by Dr. Cholkar. The magistrate may or may not deal him justice, but I assert most emphatically that Dr. Cholkar has said nothing that was not discussed openly in the Congress. He has used the word ‘republic’. To have a republic, however, is our birthright? India has had village republics from time immemorial. The Government of Bihar is trying hard to break up the panchayats. Did we get justice at the hands of General Dyer or Sir Michael O’Dwyer? I testify that we got injustice instead of justice. You need not, however, be sorry for the sake of Dr. Cholkar. You should congratulate him. You should plead with drink-addicts to give up drink. Entreat the owners of liquor shops not to sell drink; persuade those who intend to take out licences for such shops not to do so. But at no stage should you resort to compulsion. You should not even use the word ‘Satanic’ to describe the Government. Do not get infuriated over the Punjab. Leave criticism on these matters to me alone. You should strive to put a stop to the consumption of liquor but do not condemn or abuse anybody while doing so. The days of harsh words are past. It is time to put in solid work. If you are imprisoned not for speech-making but for solid work and the Government is welcome to treat refusal to drink as a sin it will be utterly exposed and will be destroyed by its own misdeeds. 1

Self-purification means being free form sins. So long as the Antyajas’ untouchability has not ended, that of he Hindus will not end either. The one is intimately connected with the other. How can swaraj ever be won so long as the sinful practice of treating the Antyajas as untouchables is not given up? I think, therefore, that those of Shri Juthabhai way of thinking need to keep patience and take full part in this movement for swaraj. It is not other Hindus who will grant swaraj to Antyajas; they will win their own swaraj. No one who understands the idea of swaraj will fail to see the need for non-cooperation. 2 It is a matter of great joy to me as it is I hope to the readers of Young India that numerous men and women took on the Motilal Shraddha Day vows leading to self-purification for the purpose of swaraj. My faith in self-purification tells me that these vows if carried out to the full will bring us many steps nearer our goal. From the letters and information otherwise received I know that those who have taken vows include men and women, boys and girls drawn from all classes and all religious groups. Of these Hindu, Mahomedan and Christian names have already come under my observations.

The vows are varied. Some have vowed to observe brahmacharya, some to abstain from smoking, some to refrain from using any cloth but khadi. The reader will not ask me or himself how these vows can possibly advance swaraj. It is not a matter for demonstration through reason. The experience of the world shows that wherever people have taken to purity of life there has been self-rule, in other words swaraj. And self-rule by millions is swaraj of millions. Any other is not swaraj but mirage. The history of past twelve months is a progressive realization of the fact that purification undertaken not merely for the purpose of individual peace but for the purpose of national happiness does result in promoting such happiness. Happiness here means an enlightened realization of human dignity and a craving for human liberty which prides itself above mere selfish satisfaction of personal comforts and material wants and would readily and joyfully sacrifices these for self-preservation.  This Congress Committee congratulates the country in its spontaneous response to the principle of self-purification underlying the movement of non-violent non-co-operation by taking up the campaign against the drink evil and trusts that the habit of taking intoxicating drinks and drugs will totally disappear from the land by the persistent and continued efforts of self-sacrificing workers. 3 

The more I think, the more numerous grow the conditions for our winning swaraj. If it is our desire to win swaraj through self-purification, where shall we fix a limit to the process? Will the limit be reached when we have come to treat our Bhangi brethren as we do our own blood brothers? What of our other brothers and sisters the animals? What is the difference between the soul in them and in us? They eat and sleep, feel happiness or suffer, just as we do. At most, we may be their elder brethren. What else can there be, besides this?  Thus, if we only think we shall see that there is no limit to the degree of self-purification to be achieved for winning swaraj. The earlier we achieve it, the sooner shall we get swaraj? Swaraj means the rule of dharma. If the present method of government is replaced by another of the same description, it will not be swaraj; it will not advance people’s welfare. As there are conditions for winning swaraj, so there are signs which are evidence of swaraj. I referred to these in my speech at Nadiad. Someday I shall put them down in an article. 4

 

References:

 

1. Navajivan, 5-4-192
2. Navajivan, 8-5-1921
3. The Hindu, 1-4-1921
4. Navajivan, 5-4-1921