This problem of race unity which we have been trying to solve for so
many years has likewise to be faced by you here in America. Many people
in this country ask me what is happening as to the caste distinctions in
India. But when this question is asked me, it is usually done with a
superior air. And I feel tempted to put the same question to our
American critics with a slight modification, "What have you done with
the Red Indian and the Negro?" For you have not got over your attitude
of caste toward them. You have used violent methods to keep aloof from
other races, but until you have solved the question here in America, you
have no right to question India.
In spite of our great difficulty, however, India has done something. She
has tried to make an adjustment of races, to acknowledge the real
differences between them where these exist, and yet seek for some basis
of unity. This basis has come through our saints, like Nanak, Kabir,
Chaitnaya and others, preaching one God to all races of India.
In finding the solution of our problem we shall have helped to solve the
world problem as well. What India has been, the whole world is now. The
whole world is becoming one country through scientific facility. And the
moment is arriving when you also must find a basis of unity which is not
political. If India can offer to the world her solution, it will be a
contribution to humanity. There is only one history--the history of man.
All national histories are merely chapters in the larger one. And we are
content in India to suffer for such a great cause.
Each individual has his self-love. Therefore his brute instinct leads
him to fight with others in the sole pursuit of his self-interest. But
man has also his higher instincts of sympathy and mutual help. The
people who are lacking in this higher moral power and who therefore
cannot combine in fellowship with one another must perish or live in a
state of degradation. Only those peoples have survived and achieved
civilization who have this spirit of co-operation strong in them. So we
find that from the beginning of history men had to choose between
fighting with one another and combining, between serving their own
interest or the common interest of all.
In our early history, when the geographical limits of each country and
also the facilities of communication were small, this problem was
comparatively small in dimension. It was sufficient for men to develop
their sense of unity within their area of segregation. In those days
they combined among themselves and fought against others. But it was
this moral spirit of combination which was the true basis of their
greatness, and this fostered their art, science and religion. At that
early time the most important fact that man had to take count of was the
fact of the members of one particular race of men coming in close
contact with one another. Those who truly grasped this fact through
their higher nature made their mark in history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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