{"id":1048,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:15","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1048"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:15","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:15","slug":"07-notes-and-comments-26-6-1909-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/02-karmayogin-volume-02\/07-notes-and-comments-26-6-1909-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-07_Notes and Comments 26-6-1909.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

Notes and Comments<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Volume I –
\nJune 26, 1909 – Number 2<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n\tThe
\n Message of India<\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n                The
\nground gained by the Vedantic propaganda in
\nthe West, may be measured by the growing insight in the occasional utterances
\nof well-informed and intellectual Europeans on the subject. A certain Mrs. Leighton Cleather
\nspeaking to the Oriental Circle of the Lyceum Club in London on the message of
\nIndia has indicated the mission of India with great justness and insight. We
\nneed not follow Mrs. Cleather into her dissertation on the Kshatriyas, whom for some mysterious reason she
\ninsists on calling the Red Rajputs, but it is true that the first knowledge of
\nVedantic truth and the Rajayoga was the
\npossession of the Kshatriyas till Janaka, Ajatashatru and others gave it to the Brahmins.
\nBut the real issues of this historical fact are inevitably missed by the
\nlecturer. She is on a surer ground when she continues, "India’s message to
\nthe world today she considered to be the realisation of the life beyond
\nmaterial forms. The East has taken for granted the reality of the invisible and
\nhas no fear. The recognition of the soul in ourselves and others leans to the
\nrecognition of the universal soul and the great word of the Upanishads: ‘This
\nsoul which is the self of all that is, this is the real, this the self, that
\nthou art.’ Modern civilisation had lost
\nsight of the fundamental law of self-sacrifice as conditioning man’s
\nevolution."<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

We have here, very briefly put, the triple message of India,
\npsychical, spiritual and moral. India believes in and has the key to a
\npsychical world within man and without him which is the source and basis of the
\nmaterial. This it is which Europe is beginning dimly to discover. She has
\ncaught glimpses of the world beyond the gates, her hands are fumbling for the
\nkey, but she has not yet found it. Immortality proved and admitted, it becomes
\neasier to believe in God. The spiritual message is that the universal self is
\none and that our souls are not only brothers, not only<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 29<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

of one substance
\nand nature, but live in and move towards an essential oneness. It follows that
\nLove is the highest law and that to which evolution must move. Ānanda<\/i>, joy and delight, are the object of the
\nlīlā<\/i> and the fulfilment of love is
\nthe height of joy and delight. Self-sacrifice is therefore the fundamental law.
\nSacrifice, says the Gita,<\/i> is the law
\nby which the Father of all in the beginning conditioned the world, and all
\nethics, all conduct, all life is a sacrifice willed or unconscious. The
\nbeginning of ethical knowledge is to realise this and make the conscious
\nsacrifice of one’s own individual desires. It is an inferior and semi-savage
\nmorality which gives up only to gain and makes selfishness the basis of ethics.
\nTo give up one’s small individual self and find the larger self in others, in
\nthe nation, in humanity, in God, that is the law of Vedanta.
\nThat is India’s message. Only she must not be content with sending it, she must
\nrise up and live it before all the world so that it may be proved a possible
\nlaw of conduct both for men and nations.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n Lord Honest John<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the converse side a passage from Mr.
\nAlgernon Cecil’s "Six Oxford Thinkers" is instructive. He dwells on
\nthe self-contradictory and ironic close of John Morley’s
\nlife. "He the philosophic Liberal, the ardent advocate of Home Rule, the
\npersistent foe of war and coercion, is closing his fine record of public service
\nwith a coronet on his head as the ruler of India, of the child of Clive and Warren Hastings, of the creature of
\nstrife and fraud; as
\none might say, a benevolent despot in an absolute constitution imposed and
\nadministered by an alien race." We in India are sure of the despotism but
\nhave some doubts about the benevolence. Nor can we accept the phrase, absolute
\nconstitution, as anything but an oxymoron, a "witty folly", a happy
\nand ironical contradiction in terms. But for the rest the implied criticism is
\njust.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\tThe
\n Failure of Europe<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mr. Cecil sees in this ending of Honest John as Lord Morley the<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 30<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

failure of
\nLiberalism; and it must be remembered that
\nthe failure of Liberalism means the abandonment of the gospel of Liberty,
\nEquality and Fraternity as a thing unlivable,
\nand that again means the moral bankruptcy of Europe. "Liberalism in any
\nintelligible sense cannot last another generation. In a score of years the
\nstrange adventure on which the nations of Europe embarked in 1789 will be
\nconcluded, and we shall revert, doubtless with many and formidable changes, to
\nan earlier type. The principles of unchecked individual liberty and
\nunrestricted competition have, to use the ancient phrase, been tried in the
\nbalance and found wanting. The golden dreams which so lately cheated the
\nanxious eyes of men have tarnished with time. Their splendour has proved
\nillusive and they have gone the way of other philosophies down a road upon
\nwhich there is no returning. The old aristocrats have been swept away and some
\nmalicious spirit has given us new ones bathed in the most material sort of
\ngolden splendour. And Misery, Vice and Discontent stalk among the drudges of
\nsociety much as they did before." Mr. Cecil like most Europeans sees that
\nEuropean liberalism has failed but like most Europeans utterly misses the real
\nreason of the failure. The principles of 1789 were not false, but they were
\nfalsely stated and selfishly executed.
\nEurope had not the spiritual strength, nor the moral force to carry them out.
\nShe was too selfish, too shortsighted, too materialistic and ignorant. She
\ndeserved to fail and could not but fail. It is left for Asia and especially for
\nIndia to reconstruct the world.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n British
\n Fears<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe
\ngenesis of the Imperial Press Conference is to be found in that feeling of
\ninsecurity which is driving England to seek allies on the Continent and gather
\nround her the children of her loins beyond the seas. During the better part of
\nthe nineteenth century after her triumph over Napoleon and her amazing
\nexpansion in India, she felt too strong to need extraneous assistance. Mistress
\nof the seas, enormously wealthy, monopolist almost of the world’s commerce, she
\nfollowed on the Continent a policy of splendid isolation broken only by the
\nill-starred alliance with the<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 31<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

third Napoleon.
\nShe fought for her own hand everywhere and felt strong enough to conquer. Her
\nColonies she regarded only as a nuisance. They were a moral asset, probably,
\nbut hardly a material. They assisted her in no way, they excluded her commerce
\nby tariffs, they took her protection without
\npayment and yet exacted internal independence with an inordinate and querulous
\njealousy of her interference and unwillingness to allow even the slightest iota
\nof British control to mar the perfection of their autonomy. But a change has
\ncome over the spirit of her dream. Mighty powers have arisen in the world,
\nyoung, ardent, ambitious, rapidly expanding, magnificently equipped, moving
\nwith the sureness and swiftness of material
\nforces towards empire and aggrandisement. Their armies are gigantic forces
\nagainst which England’s would be as helpless as a boy in the hands of a Titan.
\nTheir wealth increases. They are beating England out of the chosen fields of
\nher commercial expansion, and it is only by bringing out all the reserves of
\nher old energy that she can just keep a first place;
\nworst of all, their navies grow and if they cannot keep pace  with hers in numbers, equal it in efficiency. On
\nthe other hand India, her passive source of wealth, strength and prestige is
\nstruggling in her turn to exclude British commerce and assert autonomy without
\nBritish control. England is uneasy; she
\ncannot slumber at night for thinking of her
\nprecarious future. To her excited imagination German airships fill the skies
\nand the myriad tramp of the Teuton is heard already marching on London, while
\nhuge conspiracies spring up like mushrooms in India and evade the eager grasp
\nof the Police with a diabolical skill which leaves behind only arrests and
\npersecution of innocent men, hard judicial comments, a discredited C.I.D. and a desperate weeping
\nEnglishman<\/i>.
\nOne can no longer recognise the strong, stolid, practical, invincible Britisher
\nin the emotional, hysterical, excitable, panic-stricken race dancing to the
\ntune of its newly liberated Imagination.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n The
\n Journalistic War Council<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is not surprising under such circumstances that leading English-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 32<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nmen
\nshould call a Press Conference and turn it into a War Council full of such
\nthemes as military conscription and naval expansion and always looking out of
\nthe corner of its eye at Imperial Federation. The aid and backing of the
\nColonies has now become a necessity to British imagination. England seeks an
\nAmerican alliance and hungers after the unity of the Anglo-Saxon world, but
\nthere are hostile elements in America which militate against that dream.
\nParting with her old friends of the Triple Alliance she embraces France, her
\nancient and traditional enemy; she courts her bug-bear Russia and many of her
\npublicists are ready to excuse and condone the most savage, merciless and
\ninhuman system of tyranny in the world provided she gets a friend in need. But
\nthese are uncertain and transitory supports, while the Colonies are bound by
\nties of blood and interest. The objective of the Press Conference is therefore
\nthe Colonies, the union of the English throughout the Empire. And although Srijut Surendranath
\nhas been led to the gathering in gilded fetters and is "the most
\npicturesque figure" in the Conference, that is all he is, a picture, even
\nif a speaking picture, \u2014 nothing else. For
\nthe rest it is Anglo-India that has been called to the great journalistic War
\nCouncil, not India. The real India has no place there. We wish Srijut
\nSurendranath could have realised it. It might have prevented him from indulging
\nin rhetorical hyperboles about "the wise and conciliatory policy of Lord Morley" \u2014 forgetful of the nine deportees,
\nforgetful of the many good and true men in jail for Swadeshi, forgetful of Midnapore and all it typifies.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n Forgotten
\n Eventualities<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt is strange that British statesmanship should be blind to certain
\npossibilities which will follow from their new Colonial policy. Among the first
\nresults of the new idea has been the federation of Australia and the federation
\nof South Africa. The former event is not of such importance to the world as the
\nlatter. The referendum in Natal is indeed an event of the first significance,
\nbut what it portends is the rise of a new and vigorous nation, per-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 33<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n


\nhaps a new empire in South
\nAfrica, \u2014 certainly not the consolidation of the British Empire. Great
\norganisms like these tend inevitably to separate existence. The one thing that
\nstands in the way is the present inability of these organisms to defend their
\nseparate existence. Australia lies under the outstretched sword of Japan to say
\nnothing of the subtler, less apparent but more ominous menace of Germany.
\nCanada is kept to England by the contiguity of a powerful, well-organised and
\nexpanding foreign State. South Africa on the other hand is occupied by a strong
\nmilitary race with a stubborn love of independence in its very blood. In the
\nlast war it has become aware of its supreme military capacity but also of its
\ninability to hold its freedom without a navy. Yet the main cry of England now
\nis that the Colonies should organise military and naval defence in order to
\nlighten the burden of England and help her in her wars!
\nThey are not satisfied with the contribution of a Dreadnought. They want an
\nAustralian navy, a South African navy. Surely, God has sealed up the eyes and
\nwits of these Imperialistic statesmen. They have eyes but they cannot see; they have minds but they are allowed only to
\nmisuse them.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n National
\n Vitality<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nNothing
\nis stronger than the difference presented by Europe and Asia in the matter of
\nnational vitality. European nations seem to have a brief date, a life-term
\nvigorous but soon-exhausted; Asiatic races
\npersist and survive. It was not so in old times. Not only Greece and Rome
\nperished, Assyria, Chaldea, Phoenicia are
\nalso written in the book of the Dead. But the difference now seems
\nwell-established. France is a visibly dying nation, Spain seems to have lost
\nthe power of revival, Italy and Greece have been lifted up by great efforts and
\nsacrifices but show a weak vitality, the Anglo-Saxon race is beginning
\neverywhere to recede and dwindle. On the other hand in Asia life pulsates
\nvictoriously. Japan has risen at one bound to the first rank of nations; China untouched by her calamities renovates her
\nhuge national life. The effect on India of an accumulation of almost all the condi-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 34<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

\n
\ntions which bring
\nabout national death, has been a new lease of life and a great dynamic impulse.
\nOf the Mahomedan races, not a single one is
\ndecadent. Persia rises from her weakness full of youthful enthusiasm and
\ncourage though not yet of capacity. Arabia in her deserts surges with life.
\nEgypt after calamities is undergoing new birth; as far as Morocco the stir of
\nlife is seen. And today Turkey, the sick man, has suddenly risen up vigorous
\nand whole. What is the source of this difference ?
\nIs it not in this that Asia has developed her spirituality and Europe has
\nturned from it ? Europe has always tended to
\nlive more in matter and in the body than within;
\nand matter when not inert is always changing; the body is bound to perish. The
\nhigh pressure at which Europe lives only tends to disintegrate the body more
\nrapidly when the spiritual sources within are not resorted to for stability.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 35<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notes and Comments Volume I – June 26, 1909 – Number 2 The Message of India                   The ground gained by the Vedantic propaganda…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-karmayogin-volume-02","wpcat-23-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}