By
Mahatma Gandhi
Announcing the death of the Buddhist scholar Shri Kosambi, Gandhiji said:
Perhaps you have not heard his name, and so cannot feel grieved. Even otherwise we should not grieve over anyone’s death. But it is human nature to grieve over the death of one’s dear or revered ones. We are so made that we raise to the skies anyone who goes about beating his own drum and indulges in political acrobatics but fail to appreciate the silent worker.
Kosambiji was one such silent worker. He was born in a village. He was a Hindu by birth, but he had come to believe that no other religion, not even the Vedic religion, gave as much importance to non-violence, piety, etc., as Buddhism did. So he embraced Buddhism and gave himself up to the study of Buddhist scriptures. He acquired such proficiency in the subject that he had no equal in India in scholarship. He taught Pali at the Gujarat Vidyapith and the Kashi Vidyapith and freely gave of his profound learning.
He sent to me Rs. 1,000 which somebody had given him. He wrote to me that I should send someone to Ceylon for the study of Pali. But I asked him whether anyone would acquire insight into Buddhism by studying in Ceylon. I have told the Buddhists the world over that if they want to understand Buddhism they can do so only in India, its birthplace, that they must seek it where it first emerged as an offshoot of Vedic religion. They would grasp the deep significance of Buddhism only when they had also studied the works of Shankaracharya, that unrivalled scholar who was described as a Buddhist in disguise.
But in scholarship I cannot compare myself with Kosambiji. I am merely a barrister who became one by attending dinners in England! I have a very meagre knowledge of Sanskrit. If I have become a Mahatma today it is not because I read for the bar in England, but because I have devoted myself to service through truth and non-violence. If I command any respect today it is due to the little success I have achieved in my pursuit of truth and non-violence.
When Kosambiji realized that he was no longer physically fit to carry on any work, he decided to give up his life through fasting. At Tandonji’s instance I made Kosambiji, very much against his wishes, give up his fast. But his digestion had been severely affected and he was not able to eat anything at all. So, in Sevagram, he again gave up food and keeping himself only on water gave up the breath after forty days. During his illness he refused all nursing and all drugs. He even abandoned the desire to go to Goa where he was born. He commanded his son and others not to come to him. He left instructions that no memorial should be set up after his death. He also expressed the desire that he should be cremated or buried according to whichever was cheaper. Thus, with the name of the Buddha on his lips he passed into that final #sleep which is to be the estate, one day or another, of all who are born. Death is the friend of everyone. It will visit us as destined. One may be able to predict the time of birth, but no one has yet been able to predict the time of death. We saw the same thing in the case of Chakrayya.
I beg you to forgive me for taking so much of your time over this.
I received a telegram yesterday saying that I had been talking so loftily for four or five days about not yielding even an inch of land for Pakistan under coercion, that they could take anything by appealing to our hearts. Now that Pakistan has come to be, why am I not undertaking a fast against it?
I am asked why I indulged in such talk then and why I have cooled off now. Why do I not rebel against the Congress? Why am I slavishly toeing their line? How can I remain a servant of the Congress? Why do I not undertake a fast and give up my life?
They are entitled to say these things. But I have no right to be angry with the correspondent. Getting angry means losing one’s balance. There is an English saying: ’Anger is short madness.’ The Gita also says: ’Wrath breeds stupefaction, stupefaction leads to loss of memory.’¹ Then how can I who have studied the Gita give way to anger?
How can I go on a fast because somebody wants me to do so? I believe I have to undergo one more fast in my life. Ever since my fast in the Aga Khan Palace² I have had a strong feeling that that was not my last fast, that I shall have to undertake one more fast. But I will not do it at anyone’s bidding. I will do it when God commands.
I have said that I have become a witness of Jinnah Saheb. He wants peace in the country. I too desire peace. But if, in spite of that, riots continue to rage everywhere throwing the country into turmoil and God tells me, that is, my own heart tells me, that now I must depart from the world, I shall do so. Jinnah Saheb persuaded me to sign the appeal that there should be no violence in politics. Lord Mountbatten also cast his spell on me and had me sign the appeal instead of Kripalani or Nehru. I signed the appeal on Jawaharlal’s advice. Hence, we are three partners to this deal: the two of us because we have put our signatures to it, and Lord Mountbatten-not in his capacity as Viceroy, but as Mountbatten-for he is more than a mere witness.
In other words, there has to be peace in the whole country. If there is not, Jinnah Saheb will be guided by his God, Mountbatten by his and I by mine.
But through you I wish to convey to both of them that the moment they ask me to, I shall accompany them on foot or in a vehicle, whichever way they prefer. I cannot go by air. What shall I be able to see down below from an aeroplane? Besides I have never travelled by a plane. Of course I have seen aeroplanes from below and they look like fishes.
Gurgaon is still burning. I have not received any information about it today, but the Jats and the Meos are in confrontation there. Fortunately they do not wish to indulge in the mad frenzy of killing women and children and old people. They are fighting like soldiers. But why should they fight at all? That they fight is a matter of shame to me, to Jinnah Saheb and also to Lord Mountbatten. It is similarly a matter of shame for Sardar Baldev Singh and Jawaharlal. Fortunately, nothing much happened on June 2 or on June 4.
But one thing has definitely come to pass. Hindustan and Pakistan have come into being and their separate Constituent Assemblies have been formed. Should I now die to nullify them? I am not going to die that way.
I have a very big job to attend to. It is said that now India is going to be industrialized. But industrialization of my conception has to be carried out in the villages with the charkha plying in every home, and cloth being produced in every village.
I would not approve of their idea of having a thousand mills in the place of one Birla Mill. I mention Birla’s name because he is my friend. But I have all mill-owners in mind. I would not be disturbed if there was an earthquake or the Birla Mill caught fire, I would shed no sympathetic tears before the Birla brothers. Of course, if someone deliberately sets out to destroy his mills, I would take that person to task.
It seems that now the Congress has decided to set up a large number of mills all over India and spread a network of mechanized industries. And it wants to have a large army in the country. But I have nothing to do with that. Did I have anything to do with the violence in Bihar? And what is there now left in India that can gladden my heart? But I am still here, because the Congress has now grown into a great institution and I cannot go on a fast in protest against it. But I feel as if I was thrown into a fire-pit and my heart is burning. God alone knows why I continue to live in spite of this. Whatever I am, I am after all a servant of the Congress. If the Congress is seized with madness, should I also go mad? Should I die in order to prove that I alone was right? I want to appeal to the reason of you all, of the Congress, of the Muslims, of my friend Jinnah Saheb and win their hearts.
I would like to ask Jinnah Saheb, now that his slogan of Pakistan Zindabad has been realized, why he still goes to Lord Mountbatten. Why does he not go to the Congress? Why does he not invite Badshah Khan and Dr. Khan Saheb? Why does he not show them what a pretty rose Pakistan is?
But I have been receiving complaints about Pakistan. I have a letter today which says that a British firm will be going to Lahore to manufacture arms. It is also being said that the Muslim League has decided to remain in the Commonwealth, and that it will confine itself to the Dominion Status.
The Congress has committed no crime in accepting Dominion Status. It has accepted it provisionally, with a view to putting an end to the British rule immediately. It will opt for complete independence as soon as the Constitution is ready. Will the Muslim League still keep to the Dominion Status? Both our countries should have uniform Constitutions. Both have declared complete independence as their objective. Then it also becomes Jinnah’s duty to have nothing less than complete independence. That duty cannot be performed by indulging in mutual fights.
All the Hindus got tired of persuading him, and they conceded Pakistan in the hope that at last they would have peace.
One may ask why I allowed such a thing to happen. But should I then insist that the Congress should do everything only after consulting me? I am not so mad. And, if I rebel against the Congress, it will mean that I am rebelling against the whole country, because the Congress belongs to the whole country. I shall do such a thing only when I find the Congress has gone over to the capitalists.
But so far, I think, the Congress is working for the poor. It may be following a path different from mine and have its mind fixed on armaments, an army and factories but I have to convince them by arguments, not by resorting to a fast.
Even fasting can be devilish. May God also protect me from such devilish fasting. May He keep me from devilish actions, devilish speech and devilish thoughts. Better far that He takes me away before I succumb to any such thing. If I undertake a fast it will only be a pure and godly fast.
[From Hindi]
Prarthana Pravachan-I, pp. 124-30
Notes
- 1. II. 63.
- 2. From February 10, 1943 to March 3, 1943
Notes
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