{"id":1068,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1068"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:22","slug":"12-jhalakati-speech-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\/12-jhalakati-speech-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-12_Jhalakati Speech.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div class=\"Section5\">\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\"><b><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"4\"><span lang=\"EN-US\">Jhalakati Speech*<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\" style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:98pt;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><br \/>\n\t<b><span><font size=\"4\">F<\/font><\/span>ELLOW<\/b>&#8211;<font size=\"3\">countrymen,<br \/>\n\tdelegates and people of Barisal and Backergunge, I have first to express to<br \/>\n\tyou my personal gratitude for the kindly reception you have accorded to me.<br \/>\n\tFor a year I have been secluded from the fellowship and brotherly embrace of<br \/>\n\tmy fellow-countrymen. In me, therefore, the kindliness of your welcome must<br \/>\n\tawake much keener feelings than would have been the case in other<br \/>\n\tcircumstances. Especially it is a cause of rejoicing to me to have that<br \/>\n\twelcome in Barisal. When I come to this District, when I come to this soil<br \/>\n\tof Backergunge which has been made sacred and ever memorable in the history<br \/>\n\tof this country \u2014 I come to no ordinary place. When I come to Barisal, I<br \/>\n\tcome to the chosen temple of the Mother \u2014 I come to a sacred <i>p&#299;t&#61482;hasth&#257;n<\/i><br \/>\n\tof the national spirit \u2014 I come to the birth-place and field of work of<br \/>\n\tAswini Kumar Dutt.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:98pt;line-height:150%;text-align:left\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\"><b><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\">t<\/font><\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-variant: small-caps\"><font size=\"2\">roubles<br \/>\n\tOF<\/font><font size=\"3\"> <\/font><\/span><br \/>\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\">b<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">arisal<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24pt;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">It is now the fourth year since I came to Barisal first on<br \/>\n\tthe occasion of the Provincial Conference. Three years have passed since<br \/>\n\tthen \u2014 they have been years of storm and stress to the country, \u2014 they have<br \/>\n\tbeen years during which history has been making, during which the people of<br \/>\n\tIndia have been undergoing a process of rebirth. Many things have happened<br \/>\n\tin these years, especially in the last few months. One sign of what has been<br \/>\n\thappening in the past is this empty chair (pointing to the chair upon which<br \/>\n\tAswini Kumar&#8217;s photo was placed). One aspect of these years has been a<br \/>\n\tseries of repressions. They have been years in which the country has had to<br \/>\n\tundergo the sufferings and sacrifices which repression involves. Barisal has<br \/>\n\thad its full share of these sufferings. They had begun even before I last<br \/>\n\tcame among you. You had then the regulation lathi of the Police and the<br \/>\n\tGurkha visitation. After that there have been other forms of coercion. In<br \/>\n\tthis very town of Jhalakati you had to pay a punitive police<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"right\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"2\">* A<br \/>\n\tspeech delivered on 19th June 1909 in the conference at Jhalakati, district<br \/>\n\tBarisal.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t\t\t<span lang=\"en-us\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 57<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Section6\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\ttax. It was a punitive tax, punitive not of any offence of which you have<br \/>\n\tbeen guilty, \u2014 for, you have been guilty of none. In Barisal, there was no<br \/>\n\tdisturbance, no breach of the law. On the contrary, you have always been<br \/>\n\tpatient and self-restrained \u2014 you have always kept within the four corners<br \/>\n\tof the law. What you have been punished for was your patriotism \u2014 you were<br \/>\n\tpunished for Swadeshism \u2014 you were punished for your successful<br \/>\n\torganisation of Boycott. The tax was borne by the Mahajans of Jhalakati with<br \/>\n\tthe readiness and uncomplaining endurance of large-hearted patriotism.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-weight:700\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">t<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">he <\/span>d<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">eportations<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24.0pt;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\">And now there have come the deportations.<br \/>\n\tYou have been called to endure the exile of those who have been dearest to<br \/>\n\tyou, who stood for all that was patriotic and noble in the district. Of the<br \/>\n\tdeportations Barisal has had more than its full share. Of those deported<br \/>\n\tthree are sons of this district. The man whose name will live for ever on<br \/>\n\tthe lips of his countrymen as one of the great names of the age \u2014 one of the<br \/>\n\tmakers of the new nation \u2014 Aswini Kumar Dutt has been taken away from you.<br \/>\n\tHis active and devoted lieutenant has been taken away from you. That<br \/>\n\twarm-hearted patriot whom I am proud to have had the privilege of calling my<br \/>\n\tpersonal friend \u2014 Monoranjan Guha \u2014 has been taken away from you. Why have<br \/>\n\tthey been exiled ? What was their offence ? Can anyone in Barisal name a<br \/>\n\tsingle action \u2014 can anyone of those who have sent him into exile name<br \/>\n\tdefinitely any single action which Aswini Kumar Dutt has committed, of which<br \/>\n\tthe highest and noblest man might not be proud ? Can anyone name a single<br \/>\n\taction of Krishna Kumar Mitra&#8217;s which would be derogatory to the reputation<br \/>\n\tof the highest in the land ? There have indeed been charges \u2014 vague charges,<br \/>\n\tshameless charges \u2014 made. The law under which they have been exiled requires<br \/>\n\tno charge. The law under which they have been exiled has been impugned in<br \/>\n\tParliament as an antiquated and anomalous Regulation, utterly out of place<br \/>\n\tand unfit to be used in modern times. When it was so attacked and its use by<br \/>\n\tthe Government of India challenged, Lord Morley, the man<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n<span lang=\"en-us\"><font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 58<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"Section7\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\twho rules India with absolute sway and stands or should stand to us as the<br \/>\n\tincarnation of British statesmanship, made an answer which was not the<br \/>\n\tanswer of a statesman but of an attorney. &quot;The law,&quot; he said, &quot;is as good a<br \/>\n\tlaw as any of the Statute Book.&quot; What is meant \u2014 what does Lord Morley mean \u2014 by<br \/>\n\ta &quot;good law&quot; ? In a certain sense every law is good law which is passed by<br \/>\n\tan established authority. If there were a law which made Swadeshi illegal,<br \/>\n\tby which to buy a Swadeshi cloth would become a criminal action punishable<br \/>\n\tby a legal tribunal \u2014 there have been such laws in the past \u2014 and if that<br \/>\n\twere enacted by the Legislative Council, it would be in Lord Morley&#8217;s sense<br \/>\n\tof the word as good a law as any upon the Statute Book. But would it be a<br \/>\n\tgood law in the true sense or a travesty of law and justice ? Lord Morley<br \/>\n\tsays it is a good law. We say it is a lawless law, \u2014 a dishonest law, \u2014 a<br \/>\n\tlaw that is, in any real sense of the word, no law at all. For what is its<br \/>\n\tsubstance and purpose ? It provides that when you cannot bring any charge<br \/>\n\tagainst a man which can be supported by proofs \u2014 and when you have no<br \/>\n\tevidence which would stand for a moment before a court of justice, in any<br \/>\n\tlegal tribunal \u2014 when you have nothing against him except that his existence<br \/>\n\tis inconvenient to you, then you need not advance any charge, you need not<br \/>\n\tbring any evidence, you are at liberty to remove him from his home, from his<br \/>\n\tfriends, from his legitimate activities and intern him for the rest of his<br \/>\n\tlife in a jail. This is the law which is as good a law as any on the Statute<br \/>\n\tBook ! But what does its presence on the Statute Book mean ? It means that<br \/>\n\tunder certain circumstances or whenever an absolute authority chooses, there<br \/>\n\tis no law in the land for any subject of the British Crown \u2014 no safety for<br \/>\n\tthe liberty of the person. It is under this law that nine of the most<br \/>\n\tdevoted workers for the country have been exiled, some of whose names are<br \/>\n\thousehold words in India and incompatible with any imputation of evil. When<br \/>\n\tthe authorities were pressed in Parliament for an account of the reasons for<br \/>\n\ttheir action they would not bring and refused to bring any definite<br \/>\n\taccusation. Once indeed under the pressure of cross-examination a charge was<br \/>\n\tadvanced, \u2014 wild, vague and baseless. It was said in effect that these men<br \/>\n\twere instigators and paymasters of anarchy and bloodshed. What was the<br \/>\n\tauthority under which<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n<span lang=\"en-us\"><font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 59<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"Section8\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\tsuch a charge was made ? How was it that this monstrous falsehood was<br \/>\n\tallowed to proceed from the mouth of His Majesty&#8217;s Minister and pollute the<br \/>\n\tatmosphere of the House of Commons ? Is there a man in his senses who will<br \/>\n\tbelieve that Aswini Kumar Dutt was the instigator and paymaster of anarchy<br \/>\n\tand bloodshed or that Krishna Kumar Mitra was the instigator and paymaster<br \/>\n\tof anarchy and bloodshed, \u2014 men whose names were synonymous for<br \/>\n\trighteousness of action and nobility of purpose and whose whole lives were<br \/>\n\tthe embodiment of uprightness, candour and fair and open living before all<br \/>\n\tmen ? We have been told that it was not only on police evidence that they<br \/>\n\twere exiled. That was not what was said at the beginning. At first it was on<br \/>\n\tpolice information that the deportations were justified and any attempt to<br \/>\n\timpugn that authority was resented. But now that police information has been<br \/>\n\tshown to be false and unreliable, it is said that there was other than<br \/>\n\tpolice information to justify the action of the authorities. We know what<br \/>\n\tthat information must have been. I will not make any sweeping charge against<br \/>\n\ta whole body of men without exception. I know that even among the police<br \/>\n\tthere are men who are upright and observe truth and honesty in their<br \/>\n\tdealings. I have met such men and honoured them. But we know what the<br \/>\n\tatmosphere of that department is, we know what the generality of Police<br \/>\n\tofficers are and how little reliance can be placed upon them. Of the value<br \/>\n\tof police information Midnapore is the standing and conclusive proof.<br \/>\n\tBesides this police information what else has there been ? Obviously, the<br \/>\n\tinformation on which the police has relied in certain of these cases \u2014 the<br \/>\n\tevidence of the hired perjurer and forger, of the approver who to save<br \/>\n\thimself from a baseless charge makes allegations yet more unfounded against<br \/>\n\tothers and scatters mud on the most spotless reputations in the land. If<br \/>\n\tthere were any other source besides this, we know too what that must have<br \/>\n\tbeen. There are a sprinkling of Vibhishans among us \u2014 men who for their own<br \/>\n\tends are willing to tell any lie that they think will please the authorities<br \/>\n\tor injure their personal enemies. But if the Government in this country have<br \/>\n\tupon such information believed that the lives of Aswini Kumar Dutt and<br \/>\n\tKrishna Kumar Mitra are a mere mask and not the pure and spotless lives we<br \/>\n\thave<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n<span lang=\"en-us\"><font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 60<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"Section9\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\tknown, then we must indeed say, &quot;What an amount of folly and ignorance rules<br \/>\n\tat the present moment in this unhappy country!&quot;<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-weight:700\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">t<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">he <\/span>h<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">ammer<br \/>\n\tof <\/span>g<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">od<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24pt;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">Well, we have had many other forms of repression besides<br \/>\n\tthese deportations. We have had charges of sedition, charges of dacoity and<br \/>\n\tviolence brought against the young men who are the hope of our country \u2014<br \/>\n\tcharges such as those which we have seen breaking down and vanishing into<br \/>\n\tnothing when tested by a high and impartial tribunal. This is the nature of<br \/>\n\tthe repression we have been called upon to suffer. It has been so engineered<br \/>\n\tby the underlings of the Government that it strikes automatically at those<br \/>\n\twho are most energetic, most devoted, most self-denying in the service of<br \/>\n\tthe mother-country. It addresses itself to the physical signs, the outward<br \/>\n\tmanifestations of our national life, and seeks by suppressing them to put an<br \/>\n\tend to that national life and movement. But it is a strange idea, a foolish<br \/>\n\tidea, which men have, indeed, always cherished under such circumstances, but<br \/>\n\twhich has been disproved over and over again in history, \u2014 to think that a<br \/>\n\tnation which has once risen, once has been called up by the voice of God to<br \/>\n\trise, will be stopped by mere physical repression. It has never so happened<br \/>\n\tin the history of a nation, nor will it so happen in the history of India.<br \/>\n\tStorm has swept over us today. I saw it come, I saw the striding of the<br \/>\n\tstorm-blast and the rush of the rain and as I saw it an idea came to me.<br \/>\n\tWhat is this storm that is so mighty and sweeps with such fury upon us ? And<br \/>\n\tI said in my heart, &quot;It is God who rides abroad on the wings of the<br \/>\n\thurricane, \u2014 it is the might and force of the Lord that manifested itself<br \/>\n\tand his almighty hands that seized and shook the roof so violently over our<br \/>\n\theads today.&quot; A storm like this has swept also our national life. That too<br \/>\n\twas the manifestation of the Almighty. We were building an edifice to be the<br \/>\n\ttemple of our Mother&#8217;s worship \u2014 were rearing her a new and fair mansion, a<br \/>\n\tplace fit for her dwelling. It was then that He came down upon us. He flung<br \/>\n\thimself upon the building we had raised. He shook the roof with his mighty<br \/>\n\thands and part of the building was displaced and ruined. Why has He done<br \/>\n\tthis ? Repression is<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"en-us\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 61<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Section10\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\tnothing but the hammer of God that is beating us into shape so that we may<br \/>\n\tbe moulded into a mighty nation and an instrument for his work in the world.<br \/>\n\tWe are iron upon his anvil and the blows are showering upon us not to<br \/>\n\tdestroy but to re-create. Without suffering there can be no growth. It is<br \/>\n\tnot in vain that Aswini Kumar Dutt has been taken from his people. It is not<br \/>\n\tin vain that Krishna Kumar Mitra has been taken from us and is rotting in<br \/>\n\tAgra jail. It is not in vain that all Maharashtra mourns for Tilak at<br \/>\n\tMandalay. It is He, not any other, who has taken them and his ways are not<br \/>\n\tthe ways of men, for he is all-wise. He knows better than we do what is<br \/>\n\tneedful for us. He has taken Aswini Kumar Dutt away from Barisal. Is the<br \/>\n\tmovement dead ? Is Swadeshi dead ? The rulers of the country in their scanty<br \/>\n\twisdom have thought that by lopping off the heads the movement will cease.<br \/>\n\tThey do not know that great as he is, Aswini Kumar Dutt is not the leader of<br \/>\n\tthis movement, that Tilak is not the leader, \u2014 God is the leader. They do<br \/>\n\tnot know the storm that has been sweeping over the country was not sent by<br \/>\n\tthem, but by him for his own great purpose. And the same strength that was<br \/>\n\tmanifested in the storms today and in the storm of calamity that has passed<br \/>\n\tover the country \u2014 the same strength is in us.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-weight:700\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">o<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">ur <\/span>&quot;s<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">piritual<br \/>\n\t<\/span>s<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">trength&quot;<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24.0pt;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24.0pt;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\">And if they are mighty to afflict, we are<br \/>\n\tmighty to endure. We are no ordinary race. We are a people ancient as our<br \/>\n\thills and rivers and we have behind us a history of manifold greatness, not<br \/>\n\tsurpassed by any other race, we are the descendants of those who performed<br \/>\n\tTapasya and underwent unheard-of austerities for the sake of spiritual gain<br \/>\n\tand of their own will submitted to all the sufferings of which humanity is<br \/>\n\tcapable. We are the children of those mothers who ascended with a smile the<br \/>\n\tfuneral pyre that they might follow their husbands to another world. We are<br \/>\n\ta people to whom suffering is welcome and who have a spiritual strength<br \/>\n\twithin them, greater than any physical force, we are a people in whom God<br \/>\n\thas chosen to manifest himself more than in any other at many great moments<br \/>\n\tof our history. It is because God has chosen to manifest himself and has<br \/>\n\tentered into the<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n<span lang=\"en-us\"><font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 62<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"Section11\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\thearts of his people that we are rising again as a nation. Therefore it<br \/>\n\tmatters not even if those who are greatest and most loved are taken away. I<br \/>\n\ttrust in God&#8217;s mercy and believe that they will soon be restored to us. But<br \/>\n\teven if they don&#8217;t come again still the movement will not cease. It will<br \/>\n\tmove forward irresistibly until God&#8217;s will in it is fulfilled. He fulfills<br \/>\n\this purposes inevitably and these too he will fulfil. Those who are taken<br \/>\n\tfrom us must after all some day pass away. We are strong in their strength.<br \/>\n\tWe have worked in their inspiration. But in the inevitable course of Nature<br \/>\n\tthey will pass from us and there must be others who will take their places.<br \/>\n\tHe has taken them away from us for a little in order that in their absence<br \/>\n\twe might feel that it was not really in their strength that we were strong,<br \/>\n\tin their inspiration that we worked but that a higher force was working in<br \/>\n\tthem and when they are removed, can still work in the hearts of the people.<br \/>\n\tWhen they pass away others will arise or even if no great men stand forth to<br \/>\n\tlead, still the soul of this people will be great with the force of God<br \/>\n\twithin and do the work. This is what he seeks to teach us by these<br \/>\n\tseparations \u2014 by these calamities. The men are gone, the movement has not<br \/>\n\tceased. The National School at Jhalakati was started one month after the<br \/>\n\tdeportation of Aswini Kumar Dutt, that is a patent sign that the movement is<br \/>\n\tnot as our rulers would ignorantly have it, got up by eloquent agitators.<br \/>\n\tThe movement goes on by the force of Nature; it works as force of Nature,<br \/>\n\tworks and goes inevitably on, whatever obstacle comes in the way.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-weight:700\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">o<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">ur<\/span> o<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">bject<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24pt;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">What is it that this movement seeks, not according to the<br \/>\n\twild chimeras born of unreasoning fear but in its real aim and purpose ?<br \/>\n\tWhat is it that we seek ? We seek the fulfilment of our life as a nation.<br \/>\n\tThis is what the word &quot;Swaraj&quot;, which is a bug\u00adbear and terror to the<br \/>\n\tEuropeans, really means. When they hear it, they are full of unreasoning<br \/>\n\tterrors. They think Swaraj is independence, it is freedom and that means<br \/>\n\tthat the people are going to rise against them in rebellion, that means<br \/>\n\tthere are bombs behind every bush, that every volunteer who gives food to<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"en-us\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 63<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Section12\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\this famine-stricken countrymen or nurses the cholera-stricken is a possible<br \/>\n\trebel and dacoit. Swaraj is not the colonial form of Government nor any form<br \/>\n\tof Government. It means the fulfilment of our national life. That is what we<br \/>\n\tseek, that is why God has sent us into the world to fulfil him by fulfilling<br \/>\n\tourselves in our individual life, in the family, in the community, in the<br \/>\n\tnation, in humanity. That is why he has sent us to the world and it is this<br \/>\n\tfulfilment that we demand, for this fulfilment is life and to depart from it<br \/>\n\tis to perish. Our object, our claim is that we shall not perish as a nation,<br \/>\n\tbut live as a nation. Any authority that goes against this object will dash<br \/>\n\titself against the eternal throne of justice \u2014 it will dash itself against<br \/>\n\tthe laws of Nature which are the laws of God, and be broken to pieces.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-weight:700\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">o<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">ur <\/span>m<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">eans<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24.0pt;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\">This then is our object and by what means<br \/>\n\tdo we seek it ? We seek it by feeling our separateness and pushing forward<br \/>\n\tour individual self-fulfilment by what we call Swadeshi \u2014 Swadeshi in<br \/>\n\tcommerce and manufacture, in politics, in education, in law and<br \/>\n\tadministration, in every branch of national activity. No doubt this means<br \/>\n\tindependence, it means freedom; but it does not mean rebellion. There are<br \/>\n\tsome who fear to use the word &quot;freedom&quot;, but I have always used the word<br \/>\n\tbecause it has been the <i>mantra<\/i> of my life to aspire towards the<br \/>\n\tfreedom of my nation. And when I was last in jail, I clung to that <i><br \/>\n\tmantra<\/i>; and through the mouth of my counsel I used this word<br \/>\n\tpersistently. What he said for me \u2014 and it was said not only on my behalf,<br \/>\n\tbut on behalf of all who cherish this ideal \u2014 was this: If to aspire to<br \/>\n\tindependence and preach freedom is a crime, you may cast me into jail and<br \/>\n\tthere bind me with chains. If to preach freedom is a crime, then I am a<br \/>\n\tcriminal and let me be punished. But freedom does not mean the use of<br \/>\n\tviolence \u2014 it does not mean bombs; it is the fulfilment of our separate<br \/>\n\tnational existence. If there is any authority mad enough to declare that<br \/>\n\tSwadeshism, national education, arbitration, association for improvement of<br \/>\n\tour physique is illegal, it is not stamping out anarchism; it is on the<br \/>\n\tcontrary establishing a worse anarchism from above. It sets itself<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"en-us\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 64<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Section13\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\tagainst the law of God that gives to every nation its primary rights. The<br \/>\n\tJudge in the Alipore Bomb Case said that the aspiration after independence<br \/>\n\tand the preaching of the ideal of independence was a thing no Englishman<br \/>\n\tcould condemn. But if you say that the aspiration after independence is a<br \/>\n\tthing none can condemn and yet put down by force the only peaceful means of<br \/>\n\tsecuring independence, you are really declaring that it is the practice of<br \/>\n\tindependence which you will not tolerate. Because a few have gone mad and<br \/>\n\tbroken the law you have chosen to brand a whole people, to condemn a nation<br \/>\n\tand to suppress a whole national movement. With that we have nothing to do.<br \/>\n\tWe have no voice in the Government of our country; and the laws and their<br \/>\n\tadministration are things in which you don&#8217;t allow us to have any concern.<br \/>\n\tBut one thing is in our power; our courage and devotion are in our power;<br \/>\n\tour sacrifice, our sufferings are in our power; that you cannot take away<br \/>\n\tfrom us, and so long as you cannot take that from us you can do nothing.<br \/>\n\tYour repression cannot for ever continue, for it will bring anarchy into the<br \/>\n\tcountry. You will not be able to continue your administration if this<br \/>\n\trepression remains permanent. Your Government will become disorganised; the<br \/>\n\ttrade you are using such means to save will languish and capital be<br \/>\n\tfrightened from the country.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"EN-US\" style=\"font-weight:700\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">c<span style=\"font-variant: small-caps\">onclusion<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%;text-indent:24pt\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-indent:24pt;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"3\">We have therefore only to suffer. We have only to be strong<br \/>\n\tand enduring. All this machinery of coercion, all this repression, will then<br \/>\n\tbe in vain. That is the only virtue that is needed. We shall never lose our<br \/>\n\tfortitude, our courage, our endurance. There are some who think that by<br \/>\n\tlowering our heads the country will escape repression. That is not my<br \/>\n\topinion. It is by looking the storm in the face and meeting it with a high<br \/>\n\tcourage, fortitude and endurance that the nation can be saved. It is that<br \/>\n\twhich the Mother demands from us, \u2014 which God demands from us. He sent the<br \/>\n\tstorm yesterday and it carried the roof away. He sent it today with greater<br \/>\n\tviolence and it seized the roof to remove it. But today the roof remained.<br \/>\n\tThis is what he demands of us, &quot;I have sent my storms upon you, so that you<br \/>\n\tmay feel and train<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n\t<span lang=\"en-us\"><br \/>\n\t<font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 65<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Section14\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\"><span lang=\"EN-US\"><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n\tyour strength. If you have suffered by them, if something has been broken,<br \/>\n\tit does not matter, so long as you learn the lesson that it is for strength<br \/>\n\tI make you suffer and always for strength.&quot; What did the volunteers do today<br \/>\n\twhen they flung themselves in crowds on the roof and braved the fury of the<br \/>\n\thurricane and by main strength held down the roof over their heads ? That is<br \/>\n\tthe lesson that all must learn and especially the young men of Bengal and<br \/>\n\tIndia. The storm may come down on us again and with greater violence. Then<br \/>\n\tremember this, brave its fury, feel your strength, train your strength in<br \/>\n\tthe struggle with the violence of the wind, and by that strength hold down<br \/>\n\tthe roof over the temple of the Mother.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%\">\n<span lang=\"en-us\"><font size=\"2\">Page \u2013 66<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: right;margin: 0;line-height:150%\"><b><span lang=\"en-us\"><br \/>\n  <font size=\"2\" color=\"#0000FF\"><a href=\"\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/02-karmayogin-volume-02\/00-Contents-Vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02\"><br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none\">HOME<\/span><\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin:0;line-height:150%\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jhalakati Speech* &nbsp; FELLOW&#8211;countrymen, delegates and people of Barisal and Backergunge, I have first to express to you my personal gratitude for the kindly reception&#8230;<\/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-1068","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\/1068","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=1068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}