Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present SituationGandhi, Mahatma
Religion
Freedom's Battle: Being a Comprehensive Collection of Writings and Speeches on the Present Situation
Gandhi, Mahatma
British -- India; India -- Politics and government -- 1919-1947; Nonviolence
I have given to you these qualities of this
government in order not to excite your angry passions, but in order that
you may appreciate the forces that are matched against you. Anger will
serve no purpose. We shall have to meet ungodliness by godliness. We
shall have to meet their untruth by truth; we shall have to meet their
cunning and their craft by openness and simplicity; we shall have to
meet their terrorism and frightfulness by bravery. And it is an
unbending bravery which is demanded of every man, woman and child. We
must meet their organisation by greater organising ability. We must meet
their discipline by grater discipline, and we must meet their sacrifices
by infinitely greater sacrifices, and if we are in a position to show
these qualities in a full measure I have not the slightest doubt that we
shall win this battle. If really we have fear of God in us, our prayers
will give us the strength to secure victory. God has always come to the
help of the helpless and we need not go before any earthly power for
help.
You heard this morning of the bravery of the sword, and the bravery of
suffering. For me personally I have forever rejected the bravery of the
sword. But, to-day it is not my purpose to demonstrate to you the final
ineffectiveness of the sword. But he who runs may see that before India
possesses itself a sword which will be more than a match for the forces
of Europe, it will he generations. India may resort to the destruction
of life and property here and there but such destructive cases serve no
purpose. I have therefore presented to you a weapon called the bravery
of suffering, otherwise called Non-co-operation. It is a bravery which
is open to the weakest among the weak. It is open to women and children.
The power of suffering is the prerogative of nobody, and if only 300
millions of Indians could show the power of suffering in order to
redress a grievous wrong done to the nation or to its religion, I make
bold to say that, India will never require to draw the sword. And unless
we are able to show an adequate measure of sacrifice we shall lose this
battle. No one need tell me that India has not got this power of
suffering. Every father and mother is witness to what I am about to say,
viz., that every father and mother have shown in the domestic affairs
matchless power of suffering. And if we have only developed national
consciousness, if we have developed sufficient regard for our religion,
we shall have developed power of suffering in the national and religious
field. Considered in these terms the first stage in Non-co-operation is
the simplest and the easiest state. If the title-holders of India
consider that India is suffering from a grievous wrong both as regards
the Punjab and the Khilafat is it any suffering on their part to
renounce their titles to-day? What is the measure of the suffering
awaiting the lawyers who are called upon to suspend practice when
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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