For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Parasram Mehrotra and Mahatma Gandhi

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Senior Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, 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

Parasram Mehrotra and Mahatma Gandhi

Parasram Mehrotra was at this time working in the office of the Independent, later he became a member of Gandhiji’s Secretariat and Hindi teacher in the Ashram. Is any work in connection with the spinning-wheel being done in Allahabad? 1 I hope your work will now be regular. 2 Study the Ramayana very carefully. It won’t do to read it only once. I am sure the Ramayana will give you peace of mind. Are all the patients improving? 3 Never mind if the post at the Vidyapith has been filled up. Even if you are late the other post will not be filled up. You can come even after finishing the work there. It is good that you are practicing typewriting. 4 I would now like to know when you can come. Wire me the final date. I want to utilize you for Hindi Navajivan and work should be done with expedition. 5 Do as Shankerlal say. You must go on with your task despite the world’s ridicule. Do not picket the dealers in mill-made slivers, but persuade them with love on no account give up truth and non-violence. You will then automatically acquire mental strength. Continue to write to me. 6

Why do you ask whether or not I have confidence in you? If I had none, could I have exhorted you to make big sacrifices? Yet, I may tell you that I cannot pronounce you free from restlessness. Can you spin 250 yards in an hour on the takli? The pictures you have sent are highly objectionable. All of them deserve to be burnt up. 7 I am glad that Vimal’s head has been shaved clean. It does not seem, at least from here, that there is anything about your Hindi teaching that deserves special notice. If you can attract all to the study of the Ramayana you shall have gained two purposes at one stroke. 8 Those girls writing in Hindi write very nice letters. Why should God bend to every prayer? We hardly know when he is pleased or offended. Prayer is its own reward As a matter of fact, Truth is the best policy. It is tact as well as delicacy. Tact can be called gentleness. Than truth there is no better policy on earth, nothing more tactful or delicate. 9

Brushing the teeth with datan should be supplemented by the use of fingers. That is, rub the gums vigorously with the fingers while gargling after you have brushed the teeth with datan and cleansed the tongue with the twig. One suffering from pyorrhea should brush the teeth with datan twice daily, and I would not think it too much to give half an hour each time. I have come across Negroes brushing their teeth at all times in the day. The benefit from the use of datan is not merely that the teeth are brushed with it, but also that all the poisonous matter in the gums is thrown out with the fluids discharged from the mouth while crushing the datan, as we spit out the fluids entirely. I myself use nothing else except common salt with the datan. Of course, my brushing the teeth does not mean much, because I have not a single tooth left in the upper jaw and even in the lower only a few remain. Both the babul and the neem twigs are good for datan but perhaps the neem is likely to be better for one suffering from pyorrhea as the bitterness of the neem is highly beneficial. There is not the slightest need for the girls to use a fountain pen. Really speaking, nobody in the Ashram should need a fountain pen. Why should anybody be in such hurry? For students at any rate, it is certainly a harmful thing to use. The reed-pen is the best for writing Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu and other Indian scripts. We should teach the children to use it properly.

During prayers at the Ashram, none should start reciting or singing before the leader begins. And again, the rule is that when he leads, only those can join in the recitation or singing who can do so in tune. When the whole community sings harmoniously in one tune, their singing never fails to produce an effect nor does silence fail. Both are beneficial, each in its proper place. In offering oblations, etc., at a sacrifice, the incantations used to be chanted aloud in the belief that thousands were witnessing the ceremony with reverence. Once that became a custom, even when only five or ten persons are present the incantations at a sacrifice continue to be chanted aloud. The observance of one principal vow mostly includes that of several minor ones. Just as a neem tree comes out of another neem tree, so human beings are born from human beings, and just as the general properties of the neem are transmitted from one to another, so are those of human beings. But because of several other factors which also operate, the transmission of all characteristics is not, as it should not be, maintained. Moreover, we observe certain peculiarities in man also because of the difference that exists between man and other living creatures. 10

Questions were being left unanswered. The thing which is seen settling down in urine is the natural salt. Everyone has some of it more or less. It is good if a new entrant is medically examined. The question remains whether we can cope with it or no. Neem stick, like babul stick, gives good service. 11 The slivers given by Mirabehn are still not exhausted. Moreover, Mahadev has begun carding from the 5th and I also get a share from the slivers which he makes. I discontinued the massage during my last imprisonment. However, Mahadev rubs ghee on the soles of my feet. I shall write on the subject of teachers if I can. It is through love and not through fear that a child can be made to give up habits like stealing things. Scolding a child has little effect. The difference between flattery and pure service is as great as that between falsehood and truth. In regard to other things which one should avoid doing, fear of social criticism has a legitimate place. We need not fear it but we should not disregard it either. Morality is both absolute and relative. No harm may result from chemistry itself but its misuse will certainly do harm. It is being misused very much. 12

You certainly wrote a fine poem for Vimal. After all you are a father and do love him, and it is right that you should. I do not believe that he does not take interest in study. In a proper atmosphere, children learn spontaneously. I have often found that they learn more outside the class-room than inside it. It is our duty, therefore, to create the school atmosphere even at home so that the children may spontaneously go on learning all the time what they can. This is the true Montessori Method. But this means that all the grown-up members should behave as teachers, that is, should have purity of character and should love the children. This does not mean that we should close our schools, but it certainly means that we should, as quickly as we can, make the whole atmosphere of the Ashram like that of a school, and that all the grown-up men and women should regard themselves as the children’s guardians and make themselves fit to be so. If we do this, the children will no longer feel the hours in the class-rooms boring. You should not include for reading Saket and Anagh just because I have made that suggestion. You may do so only if you like the suggestion and feel that some at least in the Ashram will appreciate it. 1. You may give the children some work to be done outside the class-room. 2. When you go for a walk, sometimes being alone may be good for you, sometimes talking and sometimes reading and teaching, depending upon your mood at the time. You should follow your inclination. 3. All persons who deserve to be looked upon as our parents or gurus are also worthy of being revered as God! 4. Anybody who joins the Ashram should follow only the rules of the Ashram, since even the best inmates are imperfect and, therefore, their actions should not be taken as examples to be followed. It is, after all, in human nature that persons who are eager to follow rules will spontaneously be drawn to those who observe them most scrupulously. 13

Who helped you to write the letter in Gujarati? Whoever it was, his handwriting is excellent. I assume that the actual language was yours. One may certainly enter into loving rivalry with a fellow-disciple of one’s guru or with anybody else. That is, we can take everybody who can do something better than we as our ideal and advance. There should be no trace of envy in this. I have used the adjective ‘loving’ above to suggest this. In such rivalry, we should wish in our heart that the person whom we have accepted as our ideal will improve his skill day by day, so that the ideal which we seek to attain will always be rising higher as we progress. Such a wish will have a beneficial result for us too, since we shall be continually advancing. I am firmly of the view, and it is my experience too, that, if a person has violated a moral principle in any one sphere of his life, his action will certainly have an effect in other spheres. In other words, the belief generally held that an immoral man may do no harm in the political sphere is quite wrong. And so is the other belief that a person who violates moral principles in his business may be moral in his private life or in his conduct in family affairs. Hence, whenever we do an evil we should overcome the tendency towards it. 14

It does not befit us to ask the questions you have asked about Maulana Shaukat Ali. We should not pay attention to the short-comings of other people or sit in judgment over anybody. We should exhaust all our energies in examining ourselves. As long as we can detect even a single weakness in ourselves and, despite it, inwardly wish that our relatives, acquaintances and friends should not cut off relations with us, we are not entitled to see short-comings in others or criticize them. If we unintentionally see such short-comings in anybody, we may, if it lies in our power and if it is proper for us to do so, ask the person concerned about them, but nobody else. There is no gain in asking other people. However, since you wished to ask me, you did quite well in doing so. For otherwise I would not have had an opportunity to lecture to you in this way. And now I reply to your question. From a distance and on the basis of the known facts only, we should not approve of the Maulana’s activities. However, I cannot arrive at any definite opinion without hearing in detail about his activities from his own mouth. According to me, it is not correct to say that the followers of the Prophet ought to, or may, do all things done by him. All people are not entitled to do everything that the great men may have done. We have seen that such imitation leads to undesirable results. However, we find that Hindus, Muslims and followers of other faiths do not only not follow this golden rule always, but even act as if they were entitled to do certain things because the Prophets or avatars had done them. Seeing that this is the general attitude, I am not surprised that the Maulana has cited the Prophet’s example. 2. What we do about Bhishma and others we may also apply to social workers of the present day. I feel that the present practice of (offering) jalanjali needs reform. Everyone who has written to me on the subject had nothing but praise about the Ramayana class which you have been conducting. Go on in the same interesting way. It would be in my view a great achievement if all at the Ashram come to love speaking in Hindi and become interested in the Ramayana. I am, therefore, very much pleased that you have thrown yourself heart and soul into this work. 15

The report is excellent. It is not proper to take the name Kishorikant, and the motive also behind taking such a name is unworthy. It would have been better if the article about me had not been written. But now you need not feel sorry for having written it. You should not write any such article in future. Your possessing books do not violate the vow of non-possession. They are not “yours”. This is also true about slips of paper. There is no universal rule that a person who has no children has an unfeeling heart. We can try to know God through the study of chemistry, etc. But that is possible only for a few. Study of the sky is quite easy. The effect of a diary depends on the kind of diary it is. 16 You should write in your diary anything which occurs to you. You can write even your most secret thoughts. Nothing concerning ourselves need be kept secret from other people, and you should not, therefore, worry who will read your diary. For that reason, however, you cannot record others’ short-comings or what anybody may have told you in confidence. Only the secretary of the Ashram or a person authorized by him has the right to read anybody’s diary. But, on our part, we should not wish our diary to be kept secret from any person. You should not in any circumstances stop spinning on the takli and be out of practice, no matter even if you can give to it only half an hour every day. Have you become methodical now? 17

I was glad to hear that Nirmala’s enthusiasm for Hindi was increasing. By all means teach Hindi poems. I do not know whether the lines on the palms (of our hands) have any significance, but there is no profit in trying to know what the future holds whether through these or through astrology or by any other means; on the contrary, it is definitely harmful. And, one who is a lover of the Gita, i.e., who leaves the results of one’s work to God, should never desire to know the future. I have not received the booklet, but will go through it when I get it. Destruction of small creatures as a result of essential activities is unavoidable. As far as possible, we should be careful about those which we can see with our naked eyes; more than this, we cannot do. Tiny insects like ants are not crushed under our feet when we walk They are protected by their very smallness. But larger insects may be so crushed. Hence it has been regarded as our duty to look at the ground in front of us while walking. All these precautions are signs of our kind-heartedness, but non-violence is something more far-reaching and wonderful. It should be apparent in all our work, in our relationship with one another and in all our dealings with our fellowmen. We should remain unconcerned when we see a peacock devouring a snake. The latter is food for the former and we cannot interfere with it. Tulsidas’s quatrain about women which you have quoted is not only applicable to all women but it is not even a criticism of women. It criticizes man’s sensuality. Tulsidasji point in it is that man, being lustful, thinks only of women, and he has written these lines to show what man becomes like when he is seized by lust. 18

I got your two letters pinned together. I find that the short letter with paragraph headings is a summary of the first one and that it would be enough to read that alone. But it appears that you have also sent the original letter so that I may know more details if I wish. You should certainly not strain your will to use the limb which pains, that is, use it disregarding the pain. If you feel that because of such self-restraint the pain is gradually decreasing, you may conclude nothing else is necessary. If the pain does not decrease gradually even though you take care not to use that limb, there is no option but to take complete rest. There can be no one rule for all as to the time required for a meal. If somebody’s meal consists only of milk, it would take him only five to seven minutes to sip it. If somebody else’s meal consists only of one pomegranate and he has no teeth but has to eat the seeds instead of extracting the juice and drinking it, he may even take an hour to do so. Hence the following should be the rule: A meal should take up as much time as is required for chewing it properly, taking into consideration the type and quantity of the food. Ordinarily, twenty to thirty minutes should be regarded enough for those who have good teeth and who eat rotlis, dal, rice and vegetables. I have no faith in the common belief about sleeping with the head in a certain direction. I have never followed that rule. It is my belief that the Peepal tree is considered sacred because it is very big, covers a large area with shade and can be grown almost everywhere. I understand what you say about the Hindi translation of my letters, etc. I shall be satisfied if everybody else is satisfied in this matter. I used to keep cloves and sugar crystals in my mouth merely to prevent my voice getting hoarse. They were discontinued when I stopped making so many speeches and to such large audiences and I never resumed the practice afterwards. 19

Judging from your letter the children seem to have made good progress. You speed with the takli is also good. Do give half an hour daily to it; if you can in what time spin 160 rounds, nothing can be better than that. What does kule ki haddi mean? The word Kula is not to be found in the Hindi dictionary. Why did the haddi get swollen? Has the swelling subsided now? If it has not, you must take immediate steps to cure it. The replies to the questions which you have put to Mahadev are: 1. I consider a minimum of half an hour’s walk morning and evening essential for you and others. It is not necessary to sit in one position for more than an hour. One should stand up for a minute at least, or change the posture. 2. It is natural that a mother should desire to see her son, but every mother ought to restrain such a with and, if the son is engaged in some activity of service, he must cure his mother of such attachment. 3. When a son goes abroad and lives in a foreign country for ten years, his mother has no choice but to bear the separation. There are innumerable poor mothers in India who possibly never again see the face of their son after he has gone out to earn a living. One may console the mother through a letter, and cheer her as much as one can by reasoning with her and citing other similar instances. 4. At the moment my heart has become as hard as stone so that the incidents in Bombay may have affected me, if at all, only unconsciously, and I am not aware that they have. I felt sad for a while but I think I have quietened down after that. 20

I have not yet received your booklet. Mahadev will go through the Press cutting. Do something about the swelling and cure it. You did quite right in not running up to Vimal’s elder brother, but you yourself should feel so. The knowledge that he is under the care of your brother and that the latter is looking after him properly should be enough for you. If you have some special remedy for his illness or if you think that your very presence will cure him, then it may be your duty to go. That is, if you can become free from your work you should go in such circumstances. You should go, however, not only for the sake of Vimal’s brother but for any person who may be ill and whose illness is likely to be cured by your presence. It is only thus that one learns to overcome the weakness of one’s heart. Let us hope that the child is all right now. I think that it would be desirable to fix the maximum number of hours for work, it that is possible. But it seems to me that the limit would be different for each person. In an institution in which all the members regard one another as members of a family and everybody has the same sense of responsibility, it would not only be impossible, but may even be improper to fix a uniform limit for all. How can we frame a rule which would not permit a person, whose health is good enough, who is himself willing and who has no other work of service to claim his time, to give all his time to the service of the institution? The conclusion which I draw from this is that, if we exercise discretion in all our work, do it calmly and selflessly and without hurry, no one would feel the burden of work. We feel work to be a burden only when we do it under compulsion. Work done willingly and cheerfully is never felt as a burden. But those who have a demoniac nature are impelled by their selfishness to take all manner of work from their body and then break down. Such persons have no peace of mind and we should never take them as examples. The line about women which you have quoted has no other sense but what I have explained. It is true only for lustful men. There is no injustice in saying that for immoral men, women are a mine of evil, just as for the greedy, a mine of gold is like hell. For the world, however, it is not so. Gold is useful in many ways. 21

I had no fear or anxiety about Kamal’s illness. Children often get fever, etc. If they do not fall into the clutches of ill-informed doctors and if the parents do not, through ignorant love, go on loading their stomachs with food, most of them recover without any medicine. Children have the vitality to recover from illnesses and regain strength sooner than grown-up people. You should ask those who used formerly to attend the Ramayana classes but do not do so now, the reason why they do not attend them, not with a view to pressing them to attend but in order that, if they point out any defect in your manner of explaining, you may remove it. You may, if you wish, read Saket to all who attend. But my suggestion was not that. It was that you should teach selected portions from the work to those who had made some advance in the study of Hindi, so that, when their interest was aroused in it, they might read the work by themselves and bring their difficulties to you. Anasakti certainly means freedom from attachment to anything concerning oneself and one’s relations, but also such deep attachment to the ‘other’, that is, to Truth, to God, so much so that one must lose oneself in Him, become one with Him. It is because we do not understand this that our enthusiasm wanes and other difficulties arise. You have used the word nirutsaha as a noun. Mahadev immediately pointed out to me that it is an adjective. I told him that you had used it as a noun and that you were not likely to make such a mistake. But he told me that you had made a mistake. So we consulted a small Hindi dictionary which we have and found that it gives the word as an adjective. Solve this problem. 22

I do not see any harm in your encouraging the girls to write to me in Hindi and correcting their language. Only see that, instead of constructing the sentences themselves, they do not write them down as you speak them. They themselves should write the letters first. Otherwise, only their handwriting will improve and their language will not improve. The questions also should be their own. There is no rule that they must ask questions. They should describe what new things they have learnt during the week, what they have observed, what made them happy or unhappy, or things which happened during the week or have left an impression on their minds. This will mean more work for you, but you can teach them to write about these things even during their Hindi lessons. I also see that Pushpa has begun to take interest in her work and is eager to make progress. 23

Whenever there is doubt about the grammar of a Hindi word, is not consulting a dictionary the right course? One who knows Sanskrit will commit fewer mistakes in using his words. But a word used in Sanskrit in a particular sense would not, as a rule, be used in the same sense in Hindi. We should therefore regard the dictionary as an authority. And where the help of the dictionary is not available, we should regard one who knows Sanskrit as an authority. I looked up the word nirutsaha wanting in enthusiasm in the Hindi dictionary which is with me, and there also it is termed an adjective. Hence one who knows Sanskrit and the dictionary both agree about it. I write all this merely out the love of language. I expect a higher knowledge of the language from those who know a particular language. I also expect them to use it correctly. Hence I asked about the word nirutsaha in my last letter. I have always thought your knowledge of Hindi to be sound and I expect you to be more and more vigilant about it day by day. Someone must dedicate his life in the service of Hindi. Politics is always on our neck. But this cannot be nor should it be an exclusive field. We might have willingly or unwillingly plunged into it, but as soon as its activities calm down, we should return to our pursuit. Also not all of us need plunge into politics at all times. Hence we should select, according to our capacity and inclination, any of the many permanent and constructive activities. You certainly have a liking for Hindi. Now I would like you to think of dedicating your life for the spread of Hindi after adding to your knowledge of Hindi as much as you can. I do not mean to say that you should make this resolve soon. For the present you may carry on what you are doing. Most of your time is already taken up by Hindi. Whether you should stick to Hindi till the end of your life will become clear by itself in course of time. Just now I have simply sown the seed now about the Ramayana. What you write on this subject is true. I do not regard the Ramayana’s such as by Radhasoami, etc., to be refined works. The Ramayana of Tulsidas is a work of great refinement. We only have to create interest in it. We can surely bring out an abridged Ramayana in Tulsidas’s own language. I had made an attempt with regard to the ‘Balakanda’. Most probably there is a copy in the Ashram. Twenty years have passed since then. If I were to take up the task again, perhaps I would choose entirely different quatrains and couplets from it. Prabhudas has also made an attempt in this direction. As you are engaged in teaching, it will be useful if you did something in this direction. Also you ought not to have much difficulty. Mahadev tells me that two or three such attempts have already been made in the U.P. But that need not deter you. There is no harm if a fourth is added to them. People of different temperaments, keeping in mind children or people of a different class, would make different sections. I will not insist if you do not get time during the evening prayer. The Hindi classes are always there. Try to create interest in the Ramayana whenever possible. Also if some wish to study the Ramayana out of devotion, and if you can spare time, you may arrange for such a class once or twice a week. But I do not at all insist on it. I am only expressing my desire. You alone can say how and to what extent it can be carried out. You must be perturbed, as I write all this. I think your work is going on well. Comparatively you were never more at ease than now and I do not at all wish to disturb you or make your mind unsteady by putting before you new ideas or schemes. These thoughts came to my mind on reading your letter and so I have placed them before you. Accept out of them whatever you can fully understand, digest and put them into execution, and forget the rest. Even if you discarded the whole lot, I would not be shocked. I have only one mighty desire for you that you may feel yourself entirely at ease and may not be embarrassed at all. 24

In India also, if our leaders live long they would rise very high. I have not read Aristotle’s writings and have read very little even of Plato’s. I can, therefore, say nothing about their ideas. All the virtues mentioned by you are essential for universal service. Children need good company. Tulsidas has explained the meaning of good company. I have not read the article in The Times of India. Anybody who has tasted the sweetness of honey in my company will taste similar sweetness wherever he goes, for he will find even bitter things sweet. I did not receive the Anantapur report. The same thing seems to have happened regarding the takli. I will inquire. I do not know who Emerson was. Don’t you know that my reading is more limited than even that of a good matriculate? Anybody who seeks happiness in his own mind should have the same qualities as the sthitaprajna described in Chapter II of the Gita. I have not read L’Allegro and I Penseroso either. My ignorance has been tested fairly well. But I do not mind. 25

I got your am all booklets of nine pages. I could hardly hold my sides with laughter. I remember to have laughed like this only once in my youth when I had drunk some bhang. But please do not conclude from this that you should go on sending amusing books. It is for you to teach the boys to say sthira or khade ho instead of “stop”. Under the intoxicating effect of your letter, I mix Hindi with Gujarati. I cannot explain from here how you can persuade the boys to do so. They must feel the power of your love and knowledge so that they will start using a Hindi or Urdu word for “stop”. As you become more and more frank and loving and humble, those who are learning Hindi will increasingly come to love the language. Any boy or boys who acquire sufficient proficiency in Hindi to be able to teach it to small children may certainly be given charge of their class. By showing that even Arjuna gets exhausted and that no one remains alive, the author of the Mahabharata has demonstrated the folly of armed war. The Lord’s description of Himself in the Gita is put by the author in His mouth. In fact God is formless and speaks or does nothing. The question, then, is whether such words can be put in God’s mouth. I feel that it can certainly be done. God it’s omnipotent and omniscient. Anything that an omniscient Being speaks is perfect truth, and therefore it cannot be described as boasting. Such description of himself by a human being would not be proper, since man cannot know his strength and power rightly. If, however, in reply to a question, a man gives his correct height, his doing so is not boasting but simple statement of truth. If a person who is five feet tall says that he is four feet tall, that is not humility on his part. It is either inexcusable ignorance or hypocrisy. Lady Cat and her children are always enjoying themselves and turn up at meal-times to claim their share. They never touch anything except what is offered to them. 26

I have your letter and the questions. You may leave me if you like that may happen though I do not wish it to happen. I, however, will never leave you, for I still want many services from you. There is a prescription which I always recommend, and you should never forget it. As soon as we feel the slightest anger or aversion against a co-worker or think that he has done us injustice, we should sink into deep meditation and tell ourselves: ‘I certainly deserve such treatment. The fault is not my co-worker’s but mine. Knowingly or unknowingly, I must have given him some cause to be angry with me or feel aversion against me.’ When the mind is so persuaded and has calmed down, you should immediately go to the co-worker and ask him what fault he had seen in you. We should then examine ourselves to see that fault and overcome it. If we follow this method, we shall always enjoy peace, feel generous towards the whole world and never feel offended with anyone. I am satisfied if the massage has really cured the pain. In such a matter, one should never deceive oneself. Do not be afraid of a surgical operation if it becomes necessary. Of course there was the hand of Fate in the sinking of that boat, but we can see from it the fear which rules our people. It also shows how great the fear of death in us is. If the people had kept their reason to see that the serpent could not have bitten all of them, any one of them could have picked it up and thrown it into the river or even killed it, if he so wished. But where nobody thinks of others and everybody is seized with fear, the result is bound to be what happened. The only lesson we have to draw from this is that we should never have fear of any kind and we should pray to God to grant us good sense when we unexpectedly find ourselves in such situations. 27

No parallel can be drawn at all between what was said during the conversation with Acharya Gidwani and the question of inter-dining with Harijans. Those who arrange such dinners have already goodwill in their hearts for the latter. Hence the students who join such dinners for sharing in their pleasure cannot be compared with them. And in any case the Harijans cannot be compared with such students who are attracted to the parties by the thought of enjoyment, for what we do for Harijans cannot be described as temptation held out to them. Those who do prayaschittam do it not as a temptation to anybody but for self-purification. Is not all this as clear as daylight? Whether or not mixed dinner parties are proper is a separate issue. In certain circumstances such a party may be proper and in certain other circumstances it may not be so. Thus it is entirely a question of the circumstances of each case. 28

I understand about Father. You can write about me on these conditions:

(1) Your writing should not interfere with the work there.

(2) You should not write at the cost of your health.

(3) You should not mention any facts about my life here which the people do not know.

(4) You should not let yourself be carried away and become hyperbolical.

If you have really put your life in my hands, your statement that you have no joy in life has no meaning or, if it has any, it is this, that you have put your life in my hands unwillingly and, therefore, it has become uninteresting. Anybody who has willingly accepted the path of service must feel his life to be full of joy, for he finds joy in service itself. Grams are pulses. No one can digest roti made of gram flour. Give up the idea Wheat, milk and greens that are the best diet. 29

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