For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Mahatma Gandhi Reply to Welcome Address

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar, Professor, Editor and Linguist

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

Contact No. – 09404955338, 09415777229

E-mail- dr.yadav.yogendra@gandhifoundation.net;

dr.yogendragandhi@gmail.com

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

Mahatma Gandhi Reply to Welcome Address

I thank you for the address of welcome to Mr. Ally and myself. I sympathize with the labourers in their hardships. We did put up a stiff fight when the £3 tax was imposed on them. It is very difficult now to get any redress in the matter. We cannot do much about work taken on Sundays. As desired by you, I shall convey the message of your address and your thanks to Mr. Ally. 1 I do not propose to speak at length, as it is already late. Both Mr. Ally and I are very grateful to you for the kind sentiments you have expressed about us. Unity is our greatest need here. We are sure to obtain our just rights if we stand united and demand them politely but firmly. We could not have achieved anything in England but for the help we received from the people there. We have seen that British rule is essentially just and we can find redress for our grievances through representations. But we should not be elated by our success. Our struggle has just begun. Now it is up to us to retain the fruits of victory. We have to explain things to the politicians here. Before I conclude, I would appeal to all of you to do your duty, working actively, with body mind and wealth, for the good of the community. 2

Mr. Gandhi said he took the liberty of speaking in Hindi having ascertained previously from the Principal that the European staff of the College understood the language of the people and he was glad to know that they did. In the course of his address he said that it would be premature for him to offer any advice in regard to Indian problems, for he had been long away from the motherland. He needed to learn first before he spoke. He had come to learn and hoped to live and die in India now. Long years ago when he met his Master Mr. Gokhale, he felt he had found his guru in the sphere of politics and he had tried humbly and faithfully to follow him. In the religious sphere he had not met with a religious guru yet. But he must not leave people under a false impression in this respect. His Master, Gokhale, was a deeply religious man. Nobody worked with him in the closest contact but felt the depth of the reality of his essential religious temper. To Mr. Gokhale God was a great reality and truth was a great reality. This it was which explained his incessant and indefatigable labours which tried his physical powers at last. He was a Hindu but one of the right type. A Hindu sannyasi once came to him and made a proposal to push the Hindu political cause in a way which would suppress the Mahomedan and he pressed his proposal with many specious religious reasons.

Mr. Gokhale replied to this person in the following words: “If to be a Hindu I must do as you wish me to do, please publish it abroad that I am not a Hindu.” But Mr. Gokhale was a Hindu and his religion was fearlessness. He had a deep belief in God, in the eternal triumph of truth. This explained his arduous toil in mastering facts and in investigating truth. India’s greatest need was this great fear of God the fear of God alone and therefore no fear of man. That was the one thing we needed. Anarchism was not necessary. If it existed, it showed there was no fear of God. To face evil we must stand in the strength of God and truth; and there was that ancient text on the College walls that truth, not falsehood, eternally triumphed. Evil of any kind could not stand the searching light of truth and could only be rooted out in the strength of God through personal suffering and not through the infliction of suffering on others. That was the secret. Fear God, therefore, and do not fear men, and remember that ahimsa is our religion, the great gift of our rishis. What we have got to do is to bring this religion of the Fear of God into all our lives and even into politics. Nothing but this and the passionate love of truth will help us. I would exhort you therefore to obey your teachers and to be true to your College motto, to be rooted in the truth of it, so that you may worthily enter the citizenship of your motherland.” Then thanking the students for their splendid help in the South African crisis and their hospitality and kindness to the Phoenix boys when they were the guests of the Principal, Mr. Gandhi resumed his seat amidst loud and prolonged applause. 3

Mr. Gandhi in his reply thanked them for the honour shown to his wife and himself and said that the credit for their success in South Africa should be given to other people who have settled in South Africa. He said it was not the time for him to detail all they were doing in South Africa The Indians in South Africa were petty agriculturists, hawkers and petty traders. The cause of the trouble was the stubborn competition which our people offered to the Europeans domiciled in South Africa. There were many other things also which accounted for the struggle but the chief reason was the competition. Although a settlement had been arrived at for the time being, he said, they might assume that some kind of irritation remained and would remain so long as that competition remained. He said our people there were not men with scholarship or university men, but he told them that they were men that would enable India to be raised in the scale of nations. 4

I am exceedingly thankful to the people of Mayavaram for presenting this beautiful address to me on the occasion of our simply passing through your town or village whatever it may be called, on our way to places where I had hoped to see two widows of men who were shot during the struggle that went on for eight years in South Africa. I was able to see only one and I was not able to see the other whom I hope to see before I leave this great Presidency. It is therefore a matter of greater pleasure to me that you would not allow us to pass unnoticed even though it were simply a passing tour through Mayavaram. But if we have appreciated or if we have received this great and warm welcome from you, may I, for the first time after my return to the sacred land, commence to make a return for the great love that has been shown to us and with your permission I shall try to do so this evening. It was quite by accident that I had the great pleasure of receiving an address from my Panchama brethren, and there they said that they were without convenience for drinking water, they were without convenience for living supplies and they could not buy or hold land.

It was difficult for them even to approach courts. Probably, the last is due to their fear, but a fear certainly not due to themselves and who is then responsible for this state of things? Do we propose to perpetuate this state of things? Is it a part of Hinduism? I do not know; I have now to learn what Hinduism really is. In so far as I have been able to study Hinduism outside India, I have felt that it is no part of real Hinduism to have in its hold a mass of people whom I would call “untouchables”. If it was proved to me that this is an essential part of Hinduism, I for one would declare myself an open rebel against Hinduism itself but I am still not convinced and I hope that up to the end of my life, I shall remain unconvinced that it is an essential part of Hinduism. But who is responsible for this class of untouchables? I have been told that wherever there are Brahmins, it is they who are enjoying supremacy as a matter of right, but today are they enjoying that supremacy? If they are, then the sin will fall upon their shoulders and that is the return I am here to declare and that is the return I shall have to make for the kindness you are showing to me; often my love to my friends, relations and even to my dear wife takes devious ways. So my return here for your kindness is to suggest a few words which you were probably not prepared to listen to and it does seem to me that it is high time for Brahmins to regain their natural prerogative. I recall to my mind the beautiful verse in the Bhagavad Gita. I shall not excite the audience by reciting the verse, but give you simply a paraphrase. “The true Brahmin is he who is equimindedness towards a Pundit and a Pariah.” Are the Brahmins in Mayavaram equimindedness towards the Pariah and will they tell me if they are so equimindedness and, if so, will they tell me if others will not follow? Even if they say that they are prepared to do so but others will not follow, I shall have to disbelieve them until I have revised my notions of Hinduism.

If the Brahmins themselves consider they are holding a high position by penance and austerity, and then they have themselves much to learn, then they will be the people who have cursed and ruined the land. My friend the Chairman has asked me the question whether it is true that I am at war with my leaders. I say that I am not at war with my leaders. I seemed to be at war with my leaders because many things I have heard seem to be inconsistent with my notions of self-respect and with self-respect to my motherland. I feel that they are probably not discharging the sacred trust they have taken upon their shoulders; but I am not sure I am studying or endeavouring to take wisdom from them, but I failed to take that wisdom. It may be that I am incompetent and unfit to follow them. So, I shall revise my ideas. Still I am in a position to say that I seem to be at war with my leaders whatever they do or whatever they say does not somehow or other appeal to me. The major part of what they say does not seem to be appealing to me. I find her words of welcome in the English language. I find in the Congress programme a Resolution on Swadeshi. If you hold that you are Swadeshi and yet print these in English, then I am not Swadeshi. To me it seems that it is inconsistent. I have nothing to say against the English language. But I do say that, if you kill the vernaculars and raise the English language on the tomb of the vernaculars and then you are not favouring Swadeshi in the right sense of the term. If you feel that I do not know Tamil, you should pardon me, you should excuse me and teach me and ask me to learn Tamil and by having your welcome in that beautiful language, if you translate it to me, then I should think you are performing some part of the programme.

Then only I should think I am being taught Swadeshi. I asked when we were passing through Mayavaram whether there had been any handlooms here and whether there were handloom weavers here. I was told that there were 50 handlooms in Mayavaram. What were they engaged in? They were simply engaged chiefly in preparing sarees for our women. Then, is Swadeshi to be confined only to the women? Is it to be only in their keeping? I do not find that our friends, the male population, also have their stuff prepared for them in these by these weavers and through their handlooms. (A voice: There are a thousand handlooms here.) There are, I understand, one thousand handlooms; so much the worse for the leaders! If these one thousand handlooms are kept chiefly in attending to the wants of our women, double this supply of our handlooms and you will have all your wants supplied by your own weavers and there will be no poverty in the land. I ask you and ask our friend the President how far he is indebted to foreign goods for his outfit and if he can tell me that he has tried his utmost and still has failed to outfit himself, or rather to fit himself out with Swadeshi clothing and therefore he has got this stuff, I shall sit at his feet and learn a lesson. What I have been able to learn today is that it is entirely possible for me, not with any extra cost to fit myself with Swadeshi clothing. How am I to learn, through those who move or who are supposed to be movers in the Congress, the secret of the Resolution? I sit at the feet of my leaders, I sit-at the feet of Mayavaram people and let them reveal the mystery, give me the secret of the meaning, teach me how I should behave myself and tell me whether it is a part of Swadeshi, whether it is a part of the national movement that I should drive off those who are without dwellings, who cry for water and that I should reject the advances of those who cry for food. These are the questions which I ask my friends here. Since I am saying something against you, I doubt whether I shall still enjoy or retain the affection of the student population and whether I shall still retain the blessings of my leaders. I ask you to have a large heart and give me a little corner in it. I shall try to steal into that corner. If you would be kind enough to teach me the wisdom, I shall learn the wisdom in all humility and in all earnestness. I am praying for it and I am asking for it. If you cannot teach me, I again declare myself at war with my leaders. 5

I have been travelling in various parts of India, and in the course of my travels, I have been struck with the fact that throughout India the hearts of the people are in a special degree drawn towards me. All brothers of Hindustan without distinction of creed or caste have been showing this attachment. But I feel convinced that this remarkable attachment to me is meant not for me but as a fitting tribute of admiration to all those noble brothers and sisters of ours in South Africa, who underwent such immense trouble and sacrifices including incarceration in jails for the service of the Motherland. It is undoubtedly this consideration which leads you to be so very kind to me. It was they who won the struggle and it was by reason of their unflinching determination to “do or die” that so much was achieved. Hence I take it that whatever tribute is paid to me is in reality and in truth paid to them. In the course of my tour in India, I have been particularly struck with one thing and that is the awakening of the Indian people.

A new hope has filled the hearts of the people, hope that something is going to happen which will raise the Motherland to a higher status. But side by side with this spirit of hope, I also had amongst my country-men, awe not only of the Government but also of heads of castes and the priestly class. As a result of this, we are afraid to speak out what is in us. As long as this spirit remains, there will be, and there can be, no true progress. You know that at the last session of the Congress, a re-solution was passed about self-government. For the attainment of that ideal, you and I, all of us, must work and persevere. In pursuance of that resolution, the Committees of the Congress and the Moslem League will soon meet together and they will decide what they think proper. But the attainment of self-government depends not on their saying or doing anything but upon what you and I do. Here in Karachi, commerce is predominant and there are many big merchants. To them, I wish to address a few words. It is a misapprehension to think that there is no scope in commerce for serving the Mother-country.

If they are inspired by the spirit of truth, merchants can be immensely useful to the country. The salvation of our country, remember, is not in the hands of others but of ourselves, and more in the hands of merchants in some respects than the educated people; for I s strongly feel that so long as there is no Swadeshism, there can be no self-government and for the spread of Swadeshism Indian merchants are in a position to do a very great deal. The swadeshi wave passed through the country at one time. But I understand that the movement had collapsed largely because Indian merchants had palmed off foreign goods as swadeshi articles. By Indian merchants being honest and straightforward in their business, they could achieve a great deal for the regeneration and uplift of the country. Hence merchants should faithfully observe what Hindus call dharma and Mohammedans call iman in their business transactions. Then shall India be uplifted. In South Africa, our merchants rendered valuable help in the struggle and yet because some of them weakened, the struggle was prolonged somewhat. It is the duty of the educated classes to mix freely with Indian merchants and the poor classes. Then will our journey to the common and cherished goal be less irksome. 6

The welcome address was certainly not in English, it was in sweet Hindustani, printed in the Urdu script. It was not printed either on silk, calico cloth or paper. That welcome address was printed on khadi. That khadi had been sent to Mecca Shariff and hallowed. The mother of a Jullundur lawyer, Naziruddin Shah, had supplied a piece from the khadi she had preserved for many years for use as her own shroud and the welcome address was printed on it. Today one hears stories of Muslims purposely using khadi for the bier. 7 I must say that just as not every man can eat or digest a rich dish, I wonder whether I can digest the glowing praises showered on me. Someday, perhaps, I shall deserve them. I am doing my best in that direction. I have been striving to be able to vanquish untruth with truth and anger by refusing to oppose it with anger, and I wish that I should lay down my life in the effort. But, at present, the epithets you have applied to me are misplaced. If, hearing them, I become indifferent or overbearing or smugly assume that I already deserve them because people have offered them to me, immediately my degradation would begin. My effort should be, above everything else, to maintain humility and see that I do not transgress the limits of propriety. The country’s good and mine lie in my working with this vigilance.

Your giving me a welcome address bespeaks the marvellous awakening in the country. It only means that the Municipality has realized its role. I hope to get much work for the country done through municipalities. And that is the reason why, in the resolutions adopted at the last two sessions of the Congress, municipalities have not been asked to join the non-co-operation movement. Being what they are, the municipalities involve some element of co-operation, but then, at present, there is not a single thing of ours which is free from it. There is co-operation even in eating one single grain of wheat. The non-co-operation we are employing at present is so light that even a child can shoulder its burden. If we can carry out intensive non-co-operation, it has such miraculous power that we can get swaraj in a day. But I have taken care to put before the country only a simple form of non-co-operation which the country will have strength enough to carry out, and every municipality can join it. If the municipalities in the country understand this and organize whatever work they can do, swaraj will be easy to win.

As regards what this Municipality can do, all I have to say is keep the promise you have given to make an effort to act upon the advice of the Congress. Gird up your loins for the removal of untouchability. I have mentioned this first, leaving aside the spinning wheel. The latter represents the supreme task to which we should bend all our efforts, but there is a still more important task for the Hindus, which is to see that not the slightest trace of untouchability survives. Work has to be done in the spinning-wheel movement, but in this our very mentality has to be transformed. Last night I went to the Bhangi quarters in Godhra. I was in agony at the sight of the conditions there. I wonder why Hindus, sharp-eyed as they are, cannot see what is visible even to the naked eye, why they do not know that there is a carbuncle on their back. You have been elected to get the city cleaned of its refuse, to look after the health of the people, to provide education for the children and to prevent diseases. You can do this only by raising the status of Bhangis. There will be no meaning in swaraj if you think merely of filling your pockets, just as England served its own interests on the pretence that it was fighting the War for the sake of small states like Belgium. Why do I call this Government Satanic? It had drawn the sword not for defending the weak but for devouring them. In our swaraj, in our dharmarajya, there will be only one aim, to serve the weak.

We can be called true Swarajists only if we do tapascharya to get pure swaraj which will provide cool shelter to all. Thus, the uplift of the Bhangis is your first duty. Their streets must be clean, their houses tidy; they should have a convenient source of water. I now call myself a Bhangi. Personally, I delight in spending some time in a Bhangi locality. That is, indeed, a recreation for me. Fondling their children gives me joy. The Municipality, therefore, cannot be said to have discharged its duty so long as the Bhangi quarter is not in such condition that a man like me can stay there and observe the rules of hygiene. By a national school, we should at the present time understand a school for spinning, for our education should provide us with the sustaining nourishment, which would make us free and radiant with vigour. I have been correcting my mistake with regard to education. If we try to impart no better education than what the Government provides, we shall go down. If we want to infuse strength into our people, the spinning-wheel is the only effective remedy. It is the basis of a golden plan for education. Introduce it in the schools and then you will not have to go begging to maintain them. 8

Mr. Gandhi, in his joint reply, said that he did not deserve the words of praise heaped upon him, for he had done nothing to their city or district. He repeated the suggestions he made on similar occasions recently at Bombay, Calcutta and Ahmadabad, and asked them to read and understand them. In the present political condition of India, the municipalities of India should take part in the national movement, but not at the sacrifice of their primary duties, cleanliness and sanitation. He was not an admirer of Western civilization, but in matters of sanitation, India had to learn a good deal from the West. India was essentially an agricultural country, and it ought to have been impossible for plague and other epidemics to spread in our cities, which were small compared to cities in Western countries. He felt pained whenever he heard people saying that these epidemics were divine dispensations. He was himself a believer in God, but human efforts had considerable scope for alleviating human miseries. When we ourselves break God’s or Nature’s laws, it is absurd to attribute these epidemics to God. He was glad to note that the relations between Brahmins and non-Brahmins, and Hindus and Mussalmans, were cordial, and while advising the audience to continue those relations, asked them to extend their love to the untouchables. 9

I am grateful to the citizens of Porbandar for arranging that this address should be presented to me by the Diwan Saheb, and compliment them on their good sense in giving me a cheque for Rs. 201 instead of presenting the address in a casket of silver or sandalwood. If the people of this place do not understand my wishes and fulfil them, where else in this wide world can I expect the people to do so? I have said at so many places that I have no provision for the safe custody of articles of silver and other valuables. To make such provision is to invite trouble. I have been able to preserve my freedom only because I have refused to possess such articles. I have been, therefore, telling the country that those who wish to follow the path of Satyagraha should be ready to live in poverty and embrace death at any moment. How can I spare space for preserving a silver casket? I am, therefore, glad that you gave me a cheque instead. But, while on the one hand I offer compliments to you, on the other I pity myself for my avarice. My appetite is more than can be satisfied by this piece of paper.

A sum of two hundred and one rupees is not good enough for me. I say this because I can assure you that you will get from me twice as much as what I take from you or even more. I do not receive a single pice which does not grow into a veritable tree raining coins not through interest but through the manner of its use. It would be much better to perish than to live on interest. I put every pice to the best possible use and profit. I will use every pice I receive to help the country to preserve its purity and to clothe it’s naked. Every pie, more-over, will be accounted for. I have not come into contact with any person whom I might have told that he had given me enough. This is why my Memon friends always keep away from me. Were it not so, persons like Omar Haji Amod Zaveri would be present in this meeting. They tell me that wherever I meet them I try to rob them. It is, thus, very risky to be a friend of mine in these hard times. Only such persons who, being Hindus, are ready to offer their money freely for the service of the Bhangis, or are ready to use all their strength and their money to win the country’s freedom only such persons can afford to be my friends in these hard times.

The Thakore Saheb of Rajkot showered his love on me so much that I was almost drowned in the flood. But all the time I was trembling, wondering how long I would be able to retain his friendship. Why should I not feel happy at receiving an address from the hands of the Ruler of a State in which my father was a Diwan? My grandfather was the Diwan of the State during the rule of the present Maharana’s grandfather, and my great grandfather was Diwan to the latter’s father. The Rana Saheb’s father was my friend and client. Having received material benefit from him, is it possible that I would also not be pleased by an invitation from the present Maharana Saheb? But it is difficult to retain all friendships, for instance, I have not been able to retain that of the British. The reason is that I think it necessary to preserve only one friendship in this life, namely, God’s. God means the voice of conscience. If I hear it say that I must sacrifice the world’s friendship; I would be ready to do so. I am eager for your friendship and would not feel satisfied even if I could take away all your money. I will always ask you for more and, should you send me away, I would seek a place in God’s house.

My field of work is India. So long as a fire is raging in the country, I cannot possibly think of leaving it to go anywhere else. South Africa would welcome me, but at present I would not like to go even there as the fire in South Africa can be put out only when the fire in India has been put out. I have been appealing to all Princes for help in extinguishing that fire. Is it unreasonable of me to expect most from Porbandar in this matter? I expect similar help from the people too. I ask for co-operation from you all. If you give it, the result may be that all of us will resume co-operation with the British. I do not mean that we shall go running to them; rather, they will come running to us. They tell me that I am a good man, but that my co-workers are rogues, that incidents like the one at Chauri Chaura will betray me. But I believe in human nature. Everyone has a soul and can exercise soul-force as much as I. You can see the soul-force in me because I have ever kept my soul wide awake by humbly entreating it, or beating a drum or dancing before it. Yours may not be equally awake, but we are all equal in our innate capacities. The Rulers and their subjects, Hindus and Muslims, all are fighting one another but without God’s help they cannot move even a blade of grass. If the subjects think that they will cultivate strength and harass the Rulers and the latter think that they can be strong enough to crush the subjects, if Hindus believe that it is no difficult matter for them to crush seven crores of Muslims and the latter think that they can easily crush the twenty-two crores of Hindus nourished on no strength-giving food, then the Rulers and the subjects, Hindus and Muslims, all are thoughtless. It is khuda’s injunction; it is said in the Vedas and in the Bible that all men are brothers.

All religions proclaim that the world is held together by the chain of love, and learned students of Shastras tell us that, without this chain, the atoms would fall apart, that water would lack the property of existing as liquid and each drop would exist by itself. If the same chain, likewise, did not bind human beings to one another, we would all be dead. We should, therefore, have such a chain to bind us if we want swaraj or Ramarajya. That chain of love is nothing but the thread of handspun yarn. If the yarn is foreign, it would only serve as iron shackles on your feet. Your links should be with your villages, with the Rabaris and with the Mers of Barda. If, instead, you have your links with Lancashire or Ahmadabad, of what profit will that be to Porbandar? What the people really want is that we should have some use for their labour, that we should not force them to remain idle and so starve them. Is it right that instead of getting stone from Ravana, you should order your requirements from Italy? How can you afford to order your cloth or ghee from Calcutta in preference to the cloth woven in your own villages and the ghee made from the milk of your own cows and buffaloes? If you do not use your own products but order your needs from elsewhere, I would say that you were chained with fetters. I have been a free man ever since I discovered this sacred principle of complete swadeshi and understood that my life should have a link with the poorest among the poor. Neither the Rana Saheb nor Lord Reading nor even King George can deprive me of my happiness. I should like to tell the women that I will regard myself sanctified by their sight only when I see them adorned with khadi and know that they spin.

You go to the temple regularly to preserve your dharma, but only those among you who spin will have hearts as holy as temples. I want to know from you whether you will listen to me only if I tell you about some miracles in the Himalayas. Will you say that I have lost my head because I tell you that you should have a spinning-wheel in each home as you have a stove? I am quite sane. I am wise, and have been proclaiming what I have known from experience. Someone asked me what I hoped to gain by accepting an address in Porbandar, and advised me to ascertain first what class of persons here wears khadi. Instead of asking what class of persons wears khadi, I may ask whether anyone at all does so. You like to wear fine cloth. Some rich millionaires told me that even they could not afford to wear such cloth always. You will, however, get fine cloth to wear if you spin fine yarn with the same care with which you prepare thin her in your homes. So long as this problem of yarn is not solved, you will not be able to forge the chain of love with which to bind people together. If you wish to bind the whole world with such a chain, there is, assuredly, no way but this; nor is there any other way of bringing about Hindu- Muslim unity. When I went to Rajkot, I was accompanied by Shri Shuaib Qureshi.

The local Muslims told him that I was deceiving him that in asking the people to propagate khadi my motive was to ruin Muslim merchants. But Shuaib is not a man who can be misled in this manner. He knows that I would never concern myself about the handful of merchants engaged in the foreign cloth trade. He himself is a lover of khadi, and he knows that I have not been able to serve the cause of khadi or the country as well as I have served Islam. Our Muslim brethren should know that India is the land of their birth, and that they cannot hope to free the Islamic countries without first securing India’s freedom. This may turn out to be my last tour of Kathiawar. Perhaps I have only a few years to live. It was with the utmost reluctance that I accepted the Presidentship of the Congress, and also of the Kathiawar Political Conference. Only ten months remain now. I have, therefore, come here to tell you that if you look upon me more especially as your brother though I regard myself as a brother of all living creatures listen to my appeal and spin for half an hour daily. You will lose nothing thereby, and the country will have her problem of poverty solved. On how many things shall I pour out my heart to you? If you do not get rid of the evil of untouchability, our dharma will perish. True Vaishnava dharma is the most life-giving.

At present, on the contrary, Antyajas are being destroyed in the name of that dharma. The essence of Hinduism does not lie in the practice of untouchability. Eradication of untouchability, Hindu-Muslim unity and khadi these are the three sacred articles of my faith, and I appeal to both men and women, to the prince and the pauper, to work for them. The evil of drink must go, and that through the people’s own efforts. I have no doubt that people can end this evil by their own efforts. If some unthinking persons had not adopted methods of coercion, this evil would have disappeared from the country long ago. I have heard that many sea-men in Porbandar have given up drinking, and also that the Rana Saheb approves of this movement and is ready to help. We cannot hope to be free till we are free from the evil of drink. The methods adopted in Europe for winning freedom will not help us. There is a world of difference between the temper of the people in Europe and the climate there, on the one hand, and on the other, the temper of our people and our climate. The people of Europe can harden their hearts against pity, our people cannot. Muslims of other countries tell me that Muslims of India are comparatively of a mild temper. Whether this is a good thing or not, only the Hindus and the Muslims, or the world, can say. Personally, I feel that we stand to lose nothing by their being mild. Being compassionate does not mean being timid or forsaking the use of arms; the really strong man is he who, though armed, does not strike the enemy but stands before him boldly, ready to be killed. It is the ruling principle of a brave man’s life, and the essence of the Kshatriya spirit, that he never abandons his post of duty, never turns back. It is necessary for anyone who wants to cultivate these qualities to give up the use of intoxicants. I, therefore, would be happy to hear that the people of Porbandar had totally given up drinking. In Rajkot, the evil is spreading wide.

The shopkeepers are competing with those in the civil station, with the result that liquor is sold at the same price as soda. But those who get liquor thus cheap shed tears of blood afterwards. Workers’ wives come and ask me if I cannot persuade the Thakore Saheb to close the liquor-booths. The evil of drinking, they tell me, has ruined their homes and introduced discord in their families; their husbands have taken to immoral ways and their homes are sinking into poverty. If we want to earn the blessings of these poor women, we shall have to take courage in our hands in asking the Rulers to save the people from this terror. That the drink-trade is a source of income to the State or that drinking makes people happy for a while should be no consideration with them. If the evil spreads, the condition of the country will become so frightful that it will automatically perish; no one will have to try to destroy it. May God bless you and give you the good sense to listen to my words and understand what I say, so that the entire world may benefit through you. 10

I am grateful to you for this beautiful address. I have, throughout my wanderings, come across thousands of students representing every variety of opinion. I have had discussion with them on all sorts of matters, not merely political. I carry on constant correspondence with them to the present day and therefore I understand the aspirations of the student world. I realize their difficulties and I know their ambitions. You have asked me not to lose faith in the students. How can I? I have been a student and it was at Madras, I think, at a meet vying, that I addressed them as “fellow-students”, but that in a different sense. It is a true I claim to be a student and, therefore, I can realize my identity with them. A student is a searcher after truth. I do not talk here of the student in the restricted sense, who learns or studies a few books, memorizes some of them, attends lectures and passes the examinations all that, in my opinion, is the least part of a student’s work or a student's duty. But a student is he who continuously uses his faculty of observation, puts two and two together and carves out for himself a path in life. He must first think of duty in life more than of securing rights. If you do your duty, the rights will follow as day follows night. The students should lay greater stress upon this aspect of life than on any other. I have been urging the students all through India that whatever they may do in the colleges and schools, let them not forget that they are the chosen representative of the nation, that our schools and colleges represent an infinitesimal portion of the youth of the country and that our villagers do not come in contact with the student world at all as education is at present arranged. So long as education remains in that condition, it is, I believe, the duty of the students to understand the mass mind and to serve the masses.

In order to serve the masses and to prepare themselves for it, let me recall the beautiful story that Mr. C. F. Andrews wrote for Young India about the students of Santiniketan. Continuing, Mahatmaji next narrated how a batch of students of the Santiniketan Ashram went to some villages nearby in order to render service. But this party of students went to the villagers as patrons but not as servants. At first they were disappointed because the villagers did not respond to them. They asked the villagers to do something and when they returned to the village the next day to see what the villages had turned out, they found nothing was done. The students at once found out the difference when they themselves took up the spade and shovel and bent their backs. Mahatmaji, proceeding, pointed out how those students introduced the spinning-wheel in the villages and how the villagers co-operated with the party in all their endeavours to do service. He next referred to Dr. Dev of the Servants of India Society who was sent on a medical mission to some of the villages near Champaran where Mahatmaji was then helping the villagers in removing some of their grievances. Dr. Dev, he said, was endeavouring to establish model villages by bringing forward reforms in sanitation and removal of dirt and disease. He next described the way in which Dr. Dev with the co-operation of the villagers and others introduced sanitary principles in the village by themselves cleaning the wells, and removing dirt and filth from the houses. Dr. Dev and his co-workers soon found a ready response from the villagers in such kinds of social service, and the villagers out of their own shame came forward not only to help Dr. Dev and others but to learn how they themselves could do the work. Proceeding, Mahatmaji exhorted the students in these words to equip themselves for rendering social service: Your real education begins after you leave your colleges and schools. You learn things there from day to day, but you should know how to apply what you have learnt there.

Very often what you have learnt there has to be unlearnt by you, viz., those ideas of false economics which have been dinned into your ears and ideas of false history that are given to you. You have, therefore, to use the faculty of observation and see beneath the surface of things, rather scratch the surface and see what is hidden underneath it. The foundation of service to the nation and the foundation of your education is to be laid not by reading Shakespeare, Milton and other poets or prose writers in English or by reading Sanskrit works of Kalidasa or Bhavabhuti. The foundation of service and your real training lie in spinning khaddar. Why do I say that? Because you have to deal with millions of people and you have to make two blades of grass grow where only one blade is growing today. If you want to add to the wealth of the country and its output, then believe me that the spinning-wheel is the only salvation. The classes alone read the shlokas of Kalidasa or even of Rabindranath Tagore. I know the life of Bengal and can say that these things are read only in the classes. How to link the classes with the masses is for me one of the greatest problems. I have hundreds and thousands of students in the Gujarat Vidyapith for whose welfare I am supposed to be one of the trustees. This problem puzzles me. But I consider that their real work lies not in the big cities where they receive education, but in going out to villages after finishing their education and in spreading the message that they have learnt into the villages, thereby establishing a living relationship with the villagers. I defy anybody to say how that can be established except on their own terms. The villagers want bread and not butter and disciplined work, some work that will supplement their agricultural avocations which do not go on for all the 12 months. My friends, if you will seriously consider your avocation in life, let this be the foundation of your work and I am sure you will do it. 11

I am obliged to you for having invited me to meet you. I am obliged to you also for your address. I appreciate and understand your sentiments; the more so, as you may not admit it, but some day even you will admit that I am engaged in running the greatest cooperative society that the world has ever seen. I may fail miserably and if I fail it will be because of your weakness or want of response. I am engaged in running a cooperative society in which 300 millions of people of this earth may become willing members, men, women and children, lepers and men men who are in perfect health and lepers in mind, body and soul. So you see that at least here there is a desire to follow literally the maxim that you have got, viz., “Each shall live for all and all shall live for each.” If you really measure the value of that teaching, you will find the hidden meaning of that truth and understand the deep and hidden meaning of the spinning wheel. Therefore, I invite you, the co-operators, to join the greatest cooperative society in the world. You cannot begin to do that unless you make up your minds to spin for at least half an hour per day, and unless you adopt khaddar as your costume. 12

Mahatmaji said that perhaps those responsible for the function did not realize that he seemed to be entirely out of tune there. They did not know that he made these remarks even when he performed the opening ceremony of a medical college with which his esteemed friend Hakim Ajmal Khan, was connected. From his chair on that occasion he had to dissociate himself from much that went under the name of Unani, Ayurvedic or European medicine. He was opposed to indiscriminate use of drugs. It did not give any pleasure to him to hear that Dr. Sri Ramacharlu was able to distribute his medicines amongst two lakhs of people or twenty lakhs of people. He could not congratulate the doctor on his successful advertisement of makaradhwaja. What was wanted among their physicians was a real touch of humility. It was a matter of good fortune to him to have friends among both allopathic doctors and Ayurvedic and Unani physicians; but they all knew his mind thoroughly that he could not possibly endorse their activities in the distribution of drugs. He wished the physicians of the modern day took the role of the physicians of old, when they gave their lifetime to make researches and distribute relief among the people without taking a single farthing. That was unfortunately not the case today. What he noticed at present was that the Ayurvedic physicians were trying to live on the past glories of Ayurveda. The system of diagnosis was still in the primitive stage and it could not be in any measure compared with that prevailing under the Western system.

Whatever might be said of the Western system he had said a great deal on that subject thing must be said in its favour, that it had got humility and it had got research; and there were physicians and surgeons who gave their whole time to this work, the world not knowing them. He wished that spirit would fire the Ayurvedic physicians. But unfortunately what he noticed today was hunger for wealth and renown and hunger for coming to the top. That was not the way in which they would be able to serve Ayurveda. He knew there were most potent and efficacious drugs in Ayurveda. But today because they had forgotten the art, they had really lost the use of that. He had discussed these things with many physicians and they had nodded assent to all that he had been saying. You would not call me a dear friend of yours, when you have purposely invited me to come here, if I do not utter this truth that is lying deeply rooted in me. And it is a result not of a day’s thought or a hurried thought; but it is the result of nearly 40 years of observation and also experiments in hygiene and sanitation.

As a result of these things, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that the best physician is one who administers the least number of drugs. The surgeon, who performed the operation on the late King Edward and so successfully performed it, has said that in his pharmacopoeia there were but two or three drugs that he used. Otherwise he left nature to do its own work. I trust that our physicians understand the secret that nature is the sweetest, the quickest and the best restorer of health, whereas what I find is that all kinds of experiments are being made, arousing the basest passions of humanity. The advertisements that I see of medicines made me sick. I feel that physicians are rendering no service to humanity whatsoever but the greatest disservice by claiming every medicine as the panacea for all ills of life. I plead for humility, simplicity and truth. 13

I thank you all for presenting me with an address. Receiving it from Thakore Saheb’s hand, I feel honoured all the more. All kinds of praises have been showered on me in the address. These are nothing new to me now. Wherever I go, I find the same words arranged in different ways. When I listen to them all, I am so touched that I feel like praying to God to grant me that whatever is said in these addresses may come true. Let me tell you something else which has been left out in the address. Only one side has been referred to in the address but it must not be forgotten that there is another side to the medal. I find those who praise me and take part in these functions are indifferent to the ideas they praise me for. It is my fate that wherever I go, I should criticize. But that is unavoidable. I do not ask blind faith from the public; neither do I seek polite phrases from rajas and maharajas. Those may be pleasant to hear. But I wish to become a link between the ruler and the subjects. I shall deem my duty done if I can bring them together and explain the views of one to the other.

I have maintained the same relationship with the British. It is my intention to bring the British and the Indians together. I shall not be able to achieve this task if I don’t receive the full co-operation of the subjects. I do not say “of the ruler” because I am myself a subject and wish to remain so. I am therefore better able to understand the distress of the people and their words and I can expect greater cooperation from them. Let me ask of them therefore that what they praise [in me] they should praise themselves. I have often said that the maxim, “As the king, so the subjects” is true and so too its converse, “As the subjects, so the king”. If the subjects are truthful then there is no likelihood of disrespect for the king. There would be nothing wrong with the king. If the subjects are indolent and untruly, what is there that the best of rulers can do? Think over it. Our rishis have not conceived of a better king than Janaka. Rama was an avatar and accepted as God. So we cannot regard him as an ideal [for a king]. But Kalidas has attributed all the [kingly] qualities to Janaka. Suppose the people of Janaka’s times were not attuned to his ways, what could the king have done? If today the people do not respond, what can the ruler do? I have seen in Travancore that if the subjects do their duties, the Maharani will manage to do hers. But if the subjects remain recalcitrant, the Maharani cannot do anything, however much she wants. If today I alone were to declare my rejection of untouchability, it will be of no avail. I am telling you all this in the presence of Thakore Saheb with a somewhat selfish motive. Today you have praised me, but if you do nothing tomorrow and I reprimand you for it, you would be nasty to me.

On subjects such as these, I expect more from the people than from the ruler. What work can the ruler get out of idlers and drunkards? I had a talk with Thakore Saheb about drinking. He told me that there were no liquor shops here, not even a tea shop; but there are many who would take smuggled drinks. Where things have come to such a pass, what can the ruler do? Can a ruler cure one of one’s bad habits? All that can be expected to him is that he should not be a party to the corrupting of his people. That is why unless the people of Kathiawar are steadfast in their conduct, nothing can be achieved. Without that the prosperity we aspire for, we are not likely to attain. I entertain especial hopes of the people because I see promise of prosperity in Kathiawar. I we can get help from the people we shall get it from the ruler. And that is the bhiksha I beg for. There was a time when I asked for money. And people were not slow to respond. Women took off their jewellery and gave it. People have given away their diamonds and pearls. But today I ask for something else and that is a change in conduct. I ask that the defects in our character should be removed.

But I get no response. Wealth you can give me. I thank you for presenting me a purse. It will have its uses. But that will not satisfy me. You must have compassion. Palitana is sacred and the greatest among the places of Jian pilgrimage. But its people have not yet imparted to others the lesson which they should. Seeing the women did not make me happy; on the contrary I felt unhappy. These women do not understand even the common ethics of compassion. If the poor people of Kathiawar have to leave the State for earning a paltry two or four annas a day to whom is it a disgrace? I regret to say that it is to both the ruler and the subjects. If the matter were in my hands, I would permit no one to leave and would even pass a law to that effect. For the sake of adventure, let them go from one end of the globe to the other. Today there is not a corner of the earth without a Kathiawari. They include caste men, Vagheals and Rajputs. Tod has stated that there were many Thermopylaes in Rajputana. How many Thermopylaes do we see here in Kathiawar? Let the people seek adventure to become millionaires. Let them seek adventure for the sake of education. But I feel sorry when Kathiawari say that they go elsewhere because they have nothing to eat at home. There is a shortage of water in Kathiawar. So it is in South Africa, but there the adventurous Boers lifted water from deep wells. I was a member of such a farm where a drop of water could not be had. We tried hard and succeeded in watering 1100 acres of land by digging a well in a small spring.

We have to dig deep down before we strike water. The deeper we go the more water we get. Minerals as well as springs of water occur inside the earth. But these are conditions of extreme scarcity. It would be exile for the poor of Kathiawar if its industry of a hundred years is not revived. But to keep poverty at bay, people needs wear khadi. There is no salvation unless we wear khadi, coarse or fine. I urge the ruler and the subjects to practise this simple religion. There is nothing to lose by doing so; no one can stop us from practising it and there is no need for machinery. I do not demand self-sacrifice or penance. It only needs a change of heart. Merely by wearing a particular kind of cloth, one fulfils a great dharma. I feel upset that though I receive all these addresses, I cannot persuade the ruler or the subjects to do this little thing. I believe in heeding the inner voice and therefore think that there is something wanting in my tapascharya. But I do not give up hope. I my sadhana is true, a time will come when the whole of India will put on khadi. I repeat my words to Lord Reading and Lord Willington. My soul will not abide in peace so long as the king, the queen, the porter, the officer, the people and the Bhangi do not all become khadiminded for there is no other means for eradication of poverty than this. There is no other way but that of the spinning-wheel. Hence I call it Kamadhenus and value it higher than the sword. Rama did not give up the bow and arrow, but he gathered firewood for Vishwamitra. He did nothing which the people had not done. As long as the king does not win the hearts of his subjects, he cannot understand them well. The king must do that which is vital for the people’s livelihood.

That is why training in the Navy is obligatory for the British kings. Their King George drank black coffee and ate cheese. The king takes on the people’s habits. Because the subjects are virtuous, the king enjoys happiness. If they overcome their bad habits he will be happy for ever. We can't say when they would do that. But when they do that, their virtues will be there for the whole world to see. I wish that our rulers and the people may emulate the virtues and adventures of those people. I wish that we may overcome our shortcomings. During the War the barristers and the professors carried thread and needle in their hands and with these they sewed gowns. I was drafted for ambulance work. Those who could not go to the front in Belgium and France did have this work at any rate. They made the work so easy that even an untrained person could sew as many gowns as the expert. I can cite many such instances. If all that you have said in the address is true, you should imbibe all these virtues. Why have you become so lax? Why is machine yarn used in the Antyaja colony? Can’t you produce that much yarn in Palitana? I do not want you to encourage Ahmadabad mills. I want you to make the finest khadi. I visited the Antyaja School and was unhappy. There was not a single non-Antyaja teacher that could be found for the school. Whose fault is it? The Thakore’s?

You look upon yourselves as pious. But is not there even one among you who is ready to do this work? It is my hope that Brahmins and Banias will come forward offering to teach. In that school one does not get even drinking-water. This is also your job, Thakore Saheb! Why should your subjects not get water? Those people dig in the river bed and try hard to extract water. There are wells even in dharmashala. But Antyajas cannot draw water from there! What kind of dharma is it that even the travellers can get water but not the Antyajas? Who brothers about them? Who among you claims to be compassionate? How can you call yourselves Hindus? There is no place in our religion for the kind of untouchability being practised these days. After reflection on the Shastras, purifying myself, and much introspection, I have come to the conclusion that the way we practise Hinduism will prove to be its destruction. That is why I ask you to beware. It is the duty of the ruler and the subjects to protect Hinduism. The only way of reform Hinduism is to serve the Antyajas. We cannot wash off our sins without self-purification. I request you therefore to befriend the Antyajas. Just as you have come here tidied, provide them with the means with which to clean them. If in spite of this they do not clean themselves, tell them that they are unclean and therefore untouchable. But I know that there are thousands of Antyajas who are no less clean that I am. They have every capacity and no shortcomings. Whatever shortcoming we see in them, is due to us. That is why I ask you to take the matter into your own hands and apply for service in the school. One person had asked for a salary of Rs. 150 but how can we afford such large amounts? Demand what you need or your livelihood and start an Antyaja school from tomorrow. No man may dump his dirt into his neighborhood. 14

It will be a mere formality on my part to thank you for this welcome address, for, as you yourselves have admitted, I too have had a share in bringing this Ashram into existence. When I was preparing to visit Bengal, I had a keen desire to meet young men like you and see their work. I know very well the sacrifices which they have made. I know that, until we have many such persons in the country who come forward to make sacrifices, we cannot hope for swaraj. For every young man, renunciation should be his enjoyment. I have never believed that renunciation means suffering, and, if anyone believes that it is so, his renunciation will not endure. Hence, whenever in the course of my tours I come across instances of renunciation and see young men giving up positions of Rs. 500 to Rs. 1000 a month and accepting just a few pice for their livelihood, I do not feel unhappy. On the contrary, I feel that such youths have lost little, having freed themselves from the burden of heavy emoluments. But I wish to stress one thing, for when we give up a thing for the sake of service, we generally embrace something else in its place. I know that some young men think of self-sacrifice as sufficient in itself. But this is a great error. While giving up something, one should know what other work one must take up. Only then will our life be filled with contentment. We should thus use discrimination in all our activities. According to me, the youths who come forward today to serve the country should have before them only one aims how to provide work for the idle millions.

They will see then that we have no other means of doing so except the spinning-wheel. Hence I regard the medical work and the running of a medical school here as unimportant activities. Both these activities have a place only in so far as they can supplement the spinning movement. I was, therefore, glad to learn that in your school, too, spinning and other khadi work is going on. I should advise the workers who run this school to take a vow that, after a fixed date, no boy or girl not wearing khadi would be admitted to this school. The parents should be informed that their children would be obliged to spin and wear khadi. The same rule should be followed in running the dispensary. It would be my wish to see everyone whom I treated here dressed in khadi. There are, of course, many other dispensaries. Running a dispensary is nothing new and that is why young men are able to take up this work. I hope that all persons who have taken a vow of service and renunciation will go in only for those activities which are most difficult, which can be universally adopted and will be most productive of results in our country. 15

You have given me addresses of welcome and you have given me a purse, and I thank you for the same. I am also pleased to hear of your khadi work and your invitation to open your Khaddar Cooperative Society. I must also thank you for your work in the uplift of the Adi Karnataka. In doing so, let me remind you that this great work cannot be fully accomplished merely by the establishment of a school, etc. You must do the work in your heart. You must get rid of the untouchability-feeling from your thoughts. You must know that there is no sanction in the Shastras for such thinking. When you get that feeling of brotherliness, when you get that oneness of feeling between you all, Hindus and Mussalmans, and both sexes, when you get that feeling by using khadi, every one of you, then only our condition, and the condition of our country is going to improve and not until then. That is the force of khadi and, in establishing your Khadi Co-operative Society, you must all co-operate in this great task.

That task is to give food to the starving poor of your place, for, when you take khaddar and make others purchase it, the weavers who wove and the spinners who spun are sure of their wages and of their food. Are you going to help this cause? I am appealing to you for your help. I once more express my satisfaction at your efforts to establish an institute for the Adi Karnataka on the lines of the Tuskegee Institute of Booker T. Washington. Friends, now, the need is for many such institutions all over the country. The names of General Armstrong and Booker T. Washington are very great names of service and sacrifice; I want you to understand and realize the amount of their work. I want our educated friends to realize this. I want them also to realize that when they are propagating intellectual culture, they must also inculcate the principle of dignity of labour as is done in those institutions. Please remember this. I thank you all for your reception. 16

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