Preface to Bapu’s Letters to Mira

[Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav]

Prof. Dr. Yogendra Yadav

Gandhian Scholar

Gandhi Research Foundation, Jalgaon, Maharashtra, India

Contact No. – 09415777229, 094055338

E-mail- [e-mail];[e-mail]

 

 

Preface to Bapu’s Letters to Mira

 

 

In order that the reader may have a clearer background, I will explain briefly the outline of events in my life which led me to Bapu. Having been brought up in an English country home, I was familiar with rural life, besides which there was, inherent in me from the beginning, a profound love of Nature. At the age of 15, I first heard the music of Beethoven. Forthwith my spirit within was awakened to a living sense of the Divine Power, and prayed to God became a reality. Through Beethoven’s music I was led to Romain Rolland and through Romain Rolland to Bapu. These were not just easy stages. On the contrary, turmoil, darkness, hope, despair all had to be passed through before the pure Light of Truth broke in upon my troubled soul and led me to my destination. All along a power was impelling me. I did not understand it for a long while, but, by the time I came to know of Romain Rolland, this force was becoming apparent to me, and from the time of our first meetings at Villeneuve, an extraordinary sense of mellow happiness possessed me.

I felt something was coming. I had not the slightest idea what. I only knew that all would be well. Even when Romain Rolland talked to me about Bapu, and said a little book he had written about him was in the Press, I did not realize more than that I must read the book. Then the day came when the book was published. I went to the publisher’s shop in the Latin Quarter of Paris, where I was then staying. The whole shop window was full of a little book with an orange coloured cover on which was printed in black ‘Mahatma Gandhi’. I bought a copy, took my lodging and began to read. I could not put it down. I read and read, and as I read the dawn in my heart glowed brighter and brighter, and by the time I had finished, the Sun of Truth was pouring his rays into my soul. From that moment I knew that my life was dedicated to Bapu. That for which I had been waiting had come, and it was this. I straightaway went to London and booked a passage to India at the P. & O. office. I also sought out and devoured all the literature I could; writings of Bapu, writings of Tagore, English and French translations of the Bhagavad Gita; and even the Upanishads and Vedas I peeped into. But very soon I began to realize that I was a fool to think that I could rush to Bapu like this. I was wholly unfit spiritually and physically, and I must first put myself through a severe training. I accordingly went back to the P. & O. office and changed my reserved berth for one a year later. I now set about things in a thorough and systematic way. First I studied the rules and regulations of the Sabarmati Ashram in every detail. Then I began changing my diet item by item, until I reached pure vegetarian food.

I started sitting cross-legged on the floor. Ten minutes at a stretch was all I could do in the beginning, but with steady practice I became perfectly at ease. I commenced lessons in Urdu and of course learnt carding, spinning and weaving. This had to be in wool, but gave me good practice. At the same time study of the literature continued. In the midst of this training news came in the papers that Bapu had gone on a 21 days’ fast for Hindu-Muslim unity. As the days went by, the papers began saying that Bapu would probably not survive. I prayed to God in anguish. The days dragged on. But I never slackened in my training because, even if Bapu were to pass away in his physical form, I knew I must go to India to serve his cause. It seemed an eternity, but at last the 21 days were over and the news came that the fast had been safely broken. Up to now I had not written a word to Bapu. But on the successful completion of the fast, my heart was so full of thankful joy that I just had to write.