For Global Peace with Social Justice in a Sustainable Environment

Youth and Mahatma Gandhi - III

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

Youth and Mahatma Gandhi - III

I do not want to strive with you. I shall continue to think of the Mrs. Besant whom from my youth I had come to regard as a great and living illustration of fearlessness, courage and truth. 1 Let me add further that the advent of Satyagraha has, to my knowledge, weaned many an anarchist from his blood-thirsty doctrine. He has found that secret societies and methods of secret murder have brought nothing but a military and economic burden on this unhappy land, that it has tightened the coil of the Criminal Investigation Department, and that it has demoralized and wrecked the lives of hundreds of youths who have been led astray by it. Satyagraha has presented the rising generation with a new hope, an open road and an infallible remedy for most ills of life. It has armed that generation with an indestructible and matchless force which anyone may wield with impunity. Satyagraha tells the Youth of India, self-suffering is the only sure road to salvation economic, political and spiritual. 2 Of course I have answered that before Mr. Guider and I think I must answer that here also. I do not want to misguide the youth of the country, but my answer is that even then he cannot go and give evidence against his brother, and when I say against his brother there is no distinction here of country or anything of that kind at all. 3

In a second this youth, who had looked as if he could never die, passed away. The two brothers came down from the carriage on the instant, asked for a cot to be brought and laid the body on it. They both bore it on their shoulders and went with the procession for some distance. Others then took their places and they went away to their work. The procession which had started as a celebration now accompanied a bier. The day was darkened. 4 The insult to Mrs. Besant brings disgrace to us. The incomparable service which this good lady had in a few years' time rendered to India, very few Indians have done. Maybe at present her views do not appeal to us, maybe we see her errors all the time; even so, by insulting one who has rendered such magnificent service to India, one who. In her old age, displays enthusiasm worthy of youth, still continues to contribute her share for the advancement of India--we insult ourselves. It is our duty to clear the air immediately of this noxious wind of rudeness. When Daniel disregarded the laws of the Medes and Persians which offended his conscience, and meekly suffered the punishment for his disobedience, he offered Satyagraha in its purest form. Socrates would not refrain from preaching what he knew to be the truth to the Athenian youth, and bravely suffered the punishment of death. He was, in this case, a satyagrahi. Prahlad disregarded the orders of his father, because he considered them to be repugnant to his conscience. He uncomplainingly and cheerfully bore the tortures to which he was subjected at the instance of his father. Mirabai is said to have offended her husband by following her own conscience, was content to live in separation from him and bore with quiet dignity and resignation all the injuries that are said to have been done to her in order to bend her to husband’s will. Both Prahlad and Mirabai practiced Satyagraha. 5

While making this suggestion I do not wish that the youth should be left altogether unprovoked with education. Not for a moment do I wish people’s education to stop. But I believe that, even when the schools have been deserted, we can look after people’s education all right. I know that the suggestions I have made are quite serious and I do not expect to be able to convince readers all at once. I shall take up these subjects time and again and place my arguments before the public. 6 It is not an easy thing for me to write a foreword to a life-sketch of Mr. Andrews between whom and me there exists a tie closer than between blood-brothers. But if I may say without presumptions, I would like to note down my conviction that there does not exist in India a more truthful, more humble and more devoted servant of hers than C. F. Andrews. May the lesson of his life prove to the youth of India an encouragement for greater devotion to the motherland? 7 I have no hesitation in wishing that the youth of India, both boys and girls, will, if they have felt personally the deep humiliation of abtrocities of the Punjab, or understood the meaning of the violation of the khilafat pledge, without any further reflection, empty the Government controlled schools and colleges. The moral educations that they will gain in a moment when they take that step will more than make up for the temporary loss of literary education. For the day that the boys and the girls empty the Government-controlled schools will be the day that will mark a very definite advance towards the goal. 8

I am asking for the form to be changed, I do not seek to destroy the soul. Even as we leave bodies which we have out-grown, so must we leave the institutions which we have out-grown, and bring into being others, more in accord with our needs. How can scholastic institutions which represent the youth of a nation lag behind when the nation is marching forward? Several high schools having a more or less distinguished record have thrown off the yoke of grant and affiliation in Gujarat. They are none the worse for it. They are all the purer for it. The principals and the trustees can train the youth under their charge in a freer atmosphere. 9 I know that the best of my friends are bewildered at many of my doings at the present moment, not the least among which is my advice to the youth of the country. I do not wonder at their bewilderment. I have undergone a complete transformation in my attitude toward the system of Government under which we are labouring. To me it is Satanic even as was the system under Ravana’s rule according to the scriptures of my religion. But my friends are not as convinced as I am of the supreme necessity of ending this rule, unless the system undergoes a radical change and there is definite repentance on the part of the rulers. 10

I know that in the majority of cases the youth of our country have the determining of their higher education in their own hands. I know cases in which parents find it difficult to wean their children from what to them (the parents) appears to be the infatuation of their children about higher education. I am convinced that I am doing no violence to the feelings of parents when I address our young men and ask them to leave their schools or colleges even in spite of their parents. You will not be astonished to learn that, of the parents of hundreds of boys who have left schools or colleges, I have received only one protest and that from a Government servant whose boys have left their college. 11

This Congress lays the greatest stress upon the desirability of immediate stopping of the education received by the youth of the nation under the aegis or influence, direct or indirect, of a Government that has forfeited the confidence of the nation by its utter disregard of the sacred sentiments of the Mussulmans of India and the outraged feelings of the whole of India regarding the wanton atrocities of the Punjab administration during the satyagraha year and therefore advises the parents to withdraw their children from such schools and colleges and the grown-up students of the age sixteen and over to withdraw from such schools and colleges. In order to continue the education of the youth of the country in a free and untainted atmosphere this Congress advises the owners, trustees and educationists in charge of aided or affiliated institutions to give up grants and affiliation and render them independent of all Government control and influence and advises the monied men and educationists of the country to establish national universities, new schools and colleges so as to render it possible for every child to receive suitable education in accordance with the needs of the nation. 12

I have never made the arrogant statement that I do not care for the Congress. Nor have I claimed to be a Congressman. The Congress is a great body and I hold it in the highest esteem. I have respected it since my youth and, therefore, I have always tried to attend its sessions. But I have never regarded the resolutions of the Congress as gospel truths. When I feel any of them to be against my personal creed, I consider myself free to go against them, and I also believe that everybody else should have that freedom. Though acting in this way, one can remain a genuine admirer of the Congress. 13 The famous jurist, Dr. Rash Behari Ghose Bengal, died last Monday at the age of 76. His learning was unfathomable. His charity was of equal grandeur. His patriotism was not of the ordinary kind. His indefatigable diligence put to shame many a youth. His command of English was highly eulogized. Nevertheless he would be considered a man of bygone age. Dr. Rash Behari Ghose was the most striking example of how the most eminent of India’s men of learning become useless owing to a foreign domination and national education. He passed his youth in cultivating an English style which surpassed European writers, instead and then of devoting all his parts to his mother tongue. 14

There were many of his companions who were deeply interested in the conversation. Their chief too came in. I repeated my argument to him and asked him to tax himself and stimulate the inquiring spirit of the grown-up young men whom he was guiding. Hardly was the absorbing topic exhausted, when the train steamed out of the station. I felt sorry for the splendid lads and understood better the deep meaning of the movement of non-co-operation. There can be but one universal creed for man that is loyalty to God. It includes, when it is not inconsistent, loyalty to King, country and humanity. But it equally often excludes all else. I hope that the youth of the country as well as their tutors will revise their creed and set themselves right where they are convinced of their error. It is no small matter for tender minds to have formulas presented to them which cannot bear scrutiny. 15

As a youth, when I heard this defence, I could not appreciate it. Now with years of experience and use, I understand how true it was. I have found some of the truest of my friends capable of indefensible acts. For me there are we truer men than V. S. Srinivasa Sastriar, but his actions confound me. I do not think he loves me less because he believes that I am leading India down to the abyss. 16 The Youth of a nation are its hope. I hold that as soon as we discovered that the system of government was wholly, or mainly, evil, it become sinful for us to associate our children with it. 17 The educated youth read newspapers, know all the arguments for and against. Visitors to liquor shops read nothing, and not being in the habit of attending meetings, hear nothing. Picketing, therefore, in the case of colleges and schools was not only superfluous, but in the manner it was carried out, constituted a sort of violence utterly unjustified in any event, and for a non-cooperator a breach of his pledge. I am glad, therefore, that the picketing stopped, if it did, as a result of my severe criticism. 18

At no stage of our struggle has the youth of the country been encouraged to adopt an attitude of licence. Only those young men who were disciplined and could endure suffering were advised to leave Government schools and colleges even though they might be getting useful knowledge in them. There are many who continue in schools to please their parents. Only a few have left schools in defiance of their parents’ wishes, and of these, fewer still have subsequently taken to undisciplined ways. 19 The shooting of a Mussulman youth by a European “youth,’ (are European youths armed?) For the crime of wearing or selling (whichever it was) a khaki cap, cannot be passed by in silence. We must avenge the wrong if necessary by inviting the shooting on our own heads. 20

If Ramdas wishes to continue his studies, he may do so. If his father who is now old can study like a boy, Ramdas who is only just entering upon his youth easily can. Or he may take up the commercial life or find himself a place in the Ashram or the Ashram Seminary or he may wish to join his brother Harilal. My strong advice is that he should not think of marrying until he has tried himself for one year in the calling of his choice. 21 As the principle of Satyagraha comes to be better understood, it is being put to ever new applications. It is used not merely in fighting the Government, but we find it being applied within the family and the caste as well. In a certain community there prevails the inhuman practice of offering girls in marriage for a consideration and a youth has felt the urge to end it. It has been asked what he should do. An easy form of Satyagraha is non-cooperation. The young man wishes to banish this custom from his community. His intention is good But should he start non-co-operation and, if so, how and against whom? 22

He challenged superstitious beliefs. By the chastity of his own life he raised the tone of the society in which he lived. He taught fearlessness and gave a new hope to many a despairing youth. Nor am I oblivious of his many services to the national cause. The Samaj has supplied it with many true and self-sacrificing workers. It has encouraged female education among Hindu girls as perhaps no other Hindu institution save the Brahmo Samaj has done. Ignorant critics have not hesitated to insinuate that my remarks about Shraddhanandji were due to his criticism of me. But the insinuation does not prevent me from re-acknowledging the pioneer work done by him in Gurukul. Whilst, therefore, I am unable to withdraw a single word of my criticism of the Samaj, the Satyarth Prakash, Rishi Dayanand and Swami Shraddhanandji, I repeat that my criticism was that of a friend with the desire that the Samaj may render greater service by ridding itself of the shortcomings to which I drew attention. I want it to march with the times, give up the polemical spirit and, whilst adhering to its own opinions, extend that toleration to other faiths which it claims for itself. I want it to keep a watch on its workers and stop all discreditable writings. It is no answer in justification that Mussalmans commenced the campaign of calumny. I do not know whether they did or not. But I do know that they would have been tired. Of repetition if there had been no retaliation. I have not even urged the Samajists to give up their shuddhi. But I do urge them, as I would urge Mussalman, to revise the present idea of shuddhi. 23

The writer has thrown the entire blame on the old folk. There must be some exaggeration in this. But if the old should remain still obstinate owing to their proud temper, youth organizations should take control. If the young would firmly decline to participate in expensive weddings, the extravagance would at once stop. For this neither discourtesy nor great effort is called for. The deplorable thing is that till today the youths have regarded such matters as outside their sphere of activity. They have never used their educational attainments for securing social reform. 24 The whole affair is said to have been due to an assault alleged to have been committed by some Hindus on a Mussalman youth. What though the youth had died? The aggrieved Mussalmans could have had their remedy either through the recently appointed arbitration board or through the Government courts. 25

Pandit Sunderlal saw me here and asked me if I had received your letter. I told him I had and that I had also sent you a reply. Sunderlal says that you had not received my letter till you left for Hardwar and wants me to write another. I do not wish to write to you anything concerning the financial help asked of you. If you want any advice as to whether or not you should give Sunderlal any financial help, you had better consult Jamnalalji. Sunderlal says he wants your help independently of me and wants me only to write to you about his work. I can certainly say that Sunderlalji is a patriot, a non-cooperator, full of enthusiasm, has great capacity for work and commands influence over youth. He is very independent-minded. 26

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