By
Mahatma Gandhi
BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
Brajkishan tells me that the gentleman who protested yesterday is protesting today also. I like his protest and at the same time I do not like it. I like it because of its peaceful and dignified nature. If he disapproves of something, why should he not express it? And you too maintained silence here and outside and did not argue with him. So, from that point of view I liked the protest. But what pains me is that he is not convinced by what I explained yesterday with such humility and firmness. It was not such a difficult matter after all, and could be grasped by people with ordinary intelligence. But when a person is angry at heart, I feel happy when that anger is expressed in a peaceful manner. That is why I am happy as well as sad. I take it for granted and hope that today also you will not show any anger and treat him with love as you had done yesterday. Then of course I would start my prayer. I do not see any harm when people protest with such politeness. Such a protest would carry for us a lesson in peace and we would learn how the lofty principle of non-violence works. If we continue to behave like this, we will realize what miraculous strength ahimsa possesses.¹
Today also you heard a bhajan in the same melodious voice. Is it not said in the bhajan that “we belong to a land where there is no sorrow and no suffering”? Then the bhajan also says that “there is no illusion and no greed, and such other enemies of ours are also not there”. But where can we find such a land? On an earlier occasion when Sucheta Devi² had sung that bhaJan for us I had given two interpretations.³ My first interpretation was that the poet had India in his mind. He had a wish, a dream of what he would like his country to be. But that is not the situation at present. The bhajan was composed before August 15, but such was not the condition even then. Anger, greed, attachment, pride, infatuation, jealousy, all these six enemies of man were there. These six include all other enemies of humankind. Then there was hunger and there was poverty and there were no clothes to wear- we were then surrounded by all those troubles. But did the poet not wish that his country should be free from those troubles? But how could our country be free from these troubles? This calls for the second interpretation. Is this not the country which has been described in the Gita as Kurukshetra⁴ as well as dharmakshetra⁵. If our mind is the temple of God then it is dharmakshetra, but if the mind gives itself up to self-indulgence it becomes Kurukshetra, a battlefield. We have innumerable enemies like the Kauravas⁶ whose father was blind. But isn’t Yudhishthira⁷ the symbol of dharmakshetra? That is why Yudhishthira was named Dharmaraja. Such is our land where there is no sorrow and no suffering. We can all be like this; but have I not mentioned the conditions we have to fulfil to be so? Then ours would be the land where God resides. Later on, the poet has also called it swadesh and swaraj. And he is right. After independence India would be a country without misery and sorrow. But I have never found our country in a poorer state than today. Even the history that I have read from my childhood days does not depict India as I find her today. This bhajan is intended only to end that situation. It is said in the bhajan that everything will be well if we make our mind a temple and install God in it.
While there are people who are hungry and have nothing to wear, here we are seated fully clothed. I have also wrapped myself in a sheet so that I may not feel cold. A lady doctor came to me today. She came from Kurukshetra⁸. She had been doing a lot of work in the Punjab. She had been nursing Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and the rest. She had to run away from there and had come as a refugee. Sushila⁹ suggested to her to work at Kurukshetra as there was nothing else to be done, and took her with her. Today she has come here to report the situation there. Today our Munshiji is present here. His daughter too has become a doctor. Instead of just sitting idle she said she would do something. So she also went there. That lady doctor told me today that people did receive medical attention there but there were not enough doctors. So many people have been crowded into that place and there is so much hardship and suffering that two or three lady doctors are not enough. A large number of doctors is needed there. If doctors go there they will be of some help. They are not quacks like me. They should have allopathic medicines since they are allopathic doctors. They do not have enough medicines with them, but medicines should be supplied to them. There are women and there are children. Those women were not always beggars. There are also women with one child in the womb and another in the lap. Such is our condition at present.
Whom should we blame for this? Somebody may say that the Government is inefficient. But did the Government know that there would be so much trouble? We had never had any experience of ruling the country. It is just two months since the Government came into power. How could we have coped with such a calamity? We have got to put up with it. But, while putting up with it if we lose our heads and do not control our anger and insist on giving two blows for one, this thing will never end. We shall then have no right to sing this bhajan. If we sing the bhajan, we should do so with genuine feeling. If we possess a melodious voice it should not be confined only to singing sweet songs. It should be used for worshipping God. It will be well if that melody kindles a divine feeling in some heart.
On the one hand we are facing such a situation and on the other is the problem of Kashmir. From the number of planes going from here, I guess they are all carrying soldiers.¹⁰ Some cowards are running away from there. Why should they do so? And where will they go? Why should they not put up a brave fight and lay down their lives? At this rate even if the whole of Kashmir is razed to the ground I am not going to be affected. I would gladly ask you also to rejoice over it, but on the condition that everybody, young and old, should die there valiantly. If anyone asks why the children also should die there, I will say that the children cannot go anywhere. In any case they stay with their parents. Those people are all there in Kashmir, how can we provide them with arms? A person like me does not need arms. After all, if we are alive, we have to sacrifice our lives. Then alone can we say that the soul is immortal. If we do not do this, it means that we confuse our soul with our body and worship the body. But the body has to die one day. If the child is on the mother’s lap, when the mother dies he also dies. And when one has got to die, let him die willingly. Let them say that if the Afridis have come to destroy them they will prefer to perish of their own accord. Even the soldiers who have gone there would die with pleasure. They have gone there to die. When can they remain alive? Only when they know that everything is safe and there is no invasion on Kashmir and peace is well-established. Now Kashmir is in the hands of Sheikh Abdullah. He regards the Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs as his brothers. He is a friend of all foreigners, including the Englishmen, who go and live in Kashmir. He invites everyone to enjoy the beauty of Kashmir and taste its fruits. Kashmiri crafts are wonderful. People weave beautiful cloth with their own hands and charge any price they want. Why should they not do so since Kashmir ultimately lives by its crafts? So, the Sheikh is now the ruler of Kashmir. The Maharaja is there of course. But the Sheikh is the ruler in the name of the Maharaja. The Maharaja himself has told him that he may do whatever he wants. If Kashmir is to remain it will remain and if it has to pass out of their hands it will pass out.
Look at what is happening at Kurukshetra on the one hand, and Kashmir on the other, and also think of all the hardships that have to be faced here. So many Muslims have fled to Pakistan. Those who are running away without any reason may well do so. Who can stop them? But some of them also go away because they are afraid of us. I feel ashamed when some Muslim friends come and tell me that they can no longer stick to their places, for they do not know when they might be killed. It pains me that fear has taken such roots in their hearts. Then a woman came and told me that she was feeling scared because a Pathan was after her. My heart cries out when I hear such things. Still I ask, why should there be any fear of a Pathan or anyone else when one has the support of God? But one can be fearless only when one knows that one has God with him. When a chaste woman faces a rogue who may be a Pathan or a Hindu or a Sikh—for it is not that only the Pathans are rogues; there are rogues to be found everywhere and they too can be as lustful —she would tremble at the sight of him. But why should she be scared? You do believe that Sita was never scared. She was not frightened even when Ravana carried her away on his shoulder. She went on repeating that her husband was Rama and he was right beside her. And as Rama was God incarnate, she warned Ravana that he would be reduced to ashes if he dared to touch her. She was just a tiny woman but she was pure and because of her purity she was not afraid. Purity is the most powerful weapon. If we wish to free ourselves from such a misfortune, we must all follow what is said in the bhajan. If all the women and men who come to attend the prayer follow this, this transformation will spread throughout the country like the fragrance of the rose. Today we have all lost our senses. But with the coming of purity the present calamity will be swept away like dirt. I would only pray to God that we may all be good, that Kashmir may be free from the present trouble and all may be well with the people who have come here as refugees.
As that lady doctor has reported, some goondas have entered the Kurukshetra Camp. Even after getting a blanket, the same person comes again for a second blanket. Such persons do not realize that all the people there do not have enough to wear and cover themselves. There are countless women at Kurukshetra who are still wearing the same clothes with which they had arrived. I cannot even bear to hear about these things-who knows what will happen if I have to see these things? Surely that lady doctor cannot be exaggerating when she claims to have seen with her own eyes that that is the way things are going on there.
All I wish to say is that we should realize where our adharma¹¹ is taking us. We should think whether or not we are settling down at any point and then ask ourselves if we are residing in a land where there is no suffering and no sorrow.
[From Hindi]
Prarthana Pravachan-II, pp. 26-32
Notes
- 1. After this the prayer went off peacefully. Dilip Kumar Roy sang the bhajan, “We belong to a land where there is no sorrow and no sigh.”
- 2. Sucheta Kripalani; in-charge, Foreign Department in A. I. C. C.; JointSecretary, Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust; Member, Constituent Assembly; President, Delhi Central Refugee Committee; Minister of Labour, U. P., 1962; Chief Minister, U. P., 1963
- 3. Vide Vol. LXXXIV, pp. 161 and 189-90.
- 4. Literally ’field of Kuru’-the scene of war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Symbolically it means a battlefield.
- 5. The field of duty; Ch. I, 1
- 6. The hundred sons of Dhritarashtra. The Kauravas represent the forces of evil.
- 7. The eldest of the five Pandava brothers, known for his righteousness. The Pandavas represent the forces of good.
- 8. More than twenty-five thousand Hindu and Sikh refugees were living in the refugee camp at Kurukshetra.
- 9. Dr. Sushila Nayyar
- 10. Besides the Indian Air Force transport, a large number of civilian aircrafts were commandeered by the Government to fly soldiers and ammunition to Kashmir.
- 11. Failure to act according to one’s duty
Notes
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