{"id":1075,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:24","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:24","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:24","slug":"49-facts-and-opinions-20-11-1909-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\/49-facts-and-opinions-20-11-1909-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-49_Facts and Opinions 20-11-1909.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\nFacts and Opinions<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Volume I – Nov. 20, 1909 – Number 20<\/span><\/p>\n


\n A
\n Hint of Change<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nT<\/font>he
\nend of our long waiting for the advent of strength into the hearts and minds of
\nthe people may yet be distant, but one sign of an approaching change is growing
\nmore and more manifest, the intense yearning for a field, an outlet, a path
\nopen to the pent-up activities of an awakened nation. Arising from long sleep
\nand torpor, the nation threw itself with energy into a field of activity which
\nseemed immeasurably vast and full of a glorious promise. One would have said
\nthat no one could stop that mighty outpouring of enthusiasm, unselfishness and
\nheaven-aspiring force. But there was a flaw, a source of weakness. Our past
\ndefects, hesitations, timidities, weaknesses, vices, arrogance, light-headedness, selfishness, scepticism,
\ninconsistency, our readiness to succumb to difficulties, to despair at the
\nfirst check, \u2014 all these things were in us, trampled down by the inrush of
\nhigher feelings and a greater and nobler energy, but not thrown out, not
\nutterly replaced. The nation had entered headlong into a wonderful Sadhana, but without knowledge, without the
\ndeliberate samkalpa,<\/i> the requisite dīksā<\/i>. It was the only way it could be begun.
\nBut the Sadhak has to have cittaśuddhi<\/i> before he can attain realisation;
\nhe must cleanse his bosom of much perilous stuff. That cleansing is done partly
\nby replacing the lower feelings by the higher, cowardice by courage, hatred by
\nlove, weakness by strength, partly by working out the evil in imagination or
\naction and rejecting it as it comes up into the mind or the life. It was
\nthe first process that took place in the beginning of the movement, it is the
\nsecond that is now in progress. In the first years of the movement a nation of
\ncowards became heroes, sceptics became blind believers, the light-minded full of
\nserious purpose, men eaten up by selfishness martyrs and ascetics, waverers full of tenacity, the low, loose and
\nimmoral inspired by a high<\/font> <\/span>
\nand generous idealism and purity. But the work was not
\ncom-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 273<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nplete. <\/font><\/span>
\nIn the groundwork of the new nation the old evil
\nstuff lingered, and therefore God trampled our work to pieces in order to have
\nit out, so that it might be seen, recognised and rejected. It was that work the
\nrepressions and reforms have come to do, and it is almost done. Had we gone on
\nin our first victorious rush, unhampered and undefeated, we would have entered
\nthe kingdom of Swaraj with an imperfect national character, full of temporarily
\nrepressed vices which would have come to the surface as soon as the great
\nstimulus of a successful struggle had been removed, and the last state of the
\nnation might have been worse than its first; at any rate there would have been
\ninfinite troubles, reverses and disasters for the liberated nation, such as are
\nin store for a nation like Persia where the struggle for freedom has not been
\nsufficiently intense, arduous and complicated in its features to purify the
\npeople and build its character. It is well to have done with our troubles,
\nreverses and defeats before the end is gained, so that we may enter our kingdom
\npure and strong. We ought now to be able to recognise what it was that has made
\nus fail in the hour of trial; for there can
\nbe no doubt that we have partially failed. To recognise the defects is to
\nreject them, and with the will to rise, will come the means which will help to
\nraise us. The spirit of the nation is rising again. Only it must be clearly
\nrecognised that old outlets are not the right ones. Solid and thorough work,
\nself-discipline by means of noble and orderly action, this is the path by which
\nwe shall arrive at a higher national character and evolution.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n Pretentious
\n Shams<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn
\nan unguarded moment our friend and India’s, the Statesman <\/i>of Chowringhee, has for once blurted out the truth.
\nWhile, in common with other Anglo-Indian papers, it descants in strains of dithyrambic eloquence on the magnitude of the
\nreforms the Government in its deep, wise and impossibly sagacious generosity
\nhas given and this thrice blessed country has been privileged to receive, it
\ninadvertently admits that the Legislative Councils, as they hitherto existed,
\nwere pretentious shams. As we point out<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 274<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nin
\nour article this week, the new Councils differ in no way from the old except in
\nbeing more pretentious. The old were shams because they gave no control to the
\npeople while affecting to listen and give consideration to the popular voice,
\nwhich was, as a matter of fact, only heard to be ignored, \u2014 except in very occasional
\ninstances which only accentuated the sense of dependence on the caprice of the
\nofficial governors. The new Councils are of precisely the same character, and
\nthe only differences of importance are the non-official majority \u2014 so
\ncarefully arranged as to secure a permanent popular minority, \u2014 the increased
\nnumber of the elected members, and the facilities given for debate. With a
\npermanent popular minority and the denial of all control, this is mere heaping
\nof gilt on the surface of the toy. The Indian papers have recognised the
\nnugatory character of the reforms and the tone of cold dissatisfaction in their
\ncomments is very marked. When the Councils begin to work, even the Moderates
\nwill realise that the new Councils are not only void of any true principle of
\npopular representation and control, but injurious to the interests of the people.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n The
\n Municipalities and Reform<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nUnder
\nthe new conditions, the Municipalities and District Boards form a substantial
\npart of the electorate and return a certain proportion of the members. We do
\nnot think we exaggerate when we say that the only chance of any really
\nindependent popular representatives entering the new Councils is provided by
\nthese bodies. The University member or one or two of the landholders may
\noccasionally assert independence, but the chances, at present, are in favour of
\ntheir belonging to that type of representatives who are satisfied if they can
\npose as representatives of the nation by merely refusing to agree with the
\nGovernment in all the details of their policy and measures. The one chance of a
\nrobust and healthy opposition lies in the election of independent men by the
\nMunicipalities and, to a lesser extent, by the District Boards. They will,
\nhowever, be in a hopeless minority and will always be liable to
\ndisqualification by any of the engines provided for that<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 275<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\npurpose
\nin the rules, if they support their opposition in the Council by agitation in
\nthe country. And we have yet to see what changes will be made in the District
\nBoards and Municipalities under the new policy. Great hopes have been
\nentertained that, whatever may be done in the Councils, the Municipalities will
\nbe made really free and popular bodies, and, we remember, that expectation was
\nurged at the Hughly Conference as a reason
\nfor not rejecting the reforms. We doubt whether this expectation will be any
\nmore fruitful than the hopes of a great advance towards popular institutions
\nin the reform of the Councils. Under the new scheme the Municipalities are the
\nonly weak point in the Government armour, and we rather fancy the Government
\nwill follow the policy of thorough and mend that point as well. Time will show
\nwhether we or the Moderates are right. So far we have always been right in
\nthese matters and they have always been wrong, the new Councils being only the
\nlatest of numerous instances during the last few years.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n Police
\n Unrest in the Punjab<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe
\naction of some of the statesmen of this country seems to be guided by the
\nprinciple that the best way to bring about a particular object is to try and
\npromote its opposite. They certainly desire the political unrest to cease, but
\ntheir action seems to be carefully calculated to prolong it. No more irritating
\naction could have been taken in the present state of the public mind than the
\npersistence in sedition-hunting which is being practised on a large scale in
\nthe Punjab. There is not the least sign of trouble or violence or even
\nwidespread agitation of any kind in that province. The causes which excited
\nagitation and violence formerly were purely local and, with the removal of the
\ncause, the effect, as it was bound to do, disappeared. Since then, the Punjab
\nhas been profoundly quiet, and the opposition to the Convention Congress and
\nthe convocation of the Hindu Sabha, presided
\nover by so inoffensive a personage as Sir Pratul Chandra
\nChatterji, were the only signs of life it gave. We wonder, is it the
\nfirst-mentioned activity which has led to the raids, searches and<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 276<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

arrests ? The almost universal opposition to a
\nbody which has faithfully excluded the Nationalists and enjoys the support and
\npatronage of Mr. Gokhale, may seem to the
\nauthorities a certain sign of widespread seditious feeling in the land. Is it
\nby stirring up sedition with a police pole that the Punjab bureaucrats think
\nthey can get rid of unrest ?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 277<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facts and Opinions Volume I – Nov. 20, 1909 – Number 20 A Hint of Change   The end of our long waiting for the…<\/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-1075","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\/1075","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=1075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}