{"id":1077,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:25","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1077"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:25","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:25","slug":"60-to-my-country-men-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\/60-to-my-country-men-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-60_To My Country Men.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nTo My Countrymen<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nT<\/font><\/span><\/b>WO
\n<\/b><\/span>decisive incidents have happened which make it compulsory on the Nationalist
\nParty to abandon their attitude of reserve and expectancy and once more assume
\ntheir legitimate place in the struggle for Indian liberties. The Reforms, so
\nlong trumpeted as the beginning of a new era of constitutional progress in
\nIndia, have been thoroughly revealed to the public intelligence by the
\npublication of the Councils’ Regulations and the results of the elections
\nshowing the inevitable nature and composition of the new Councils. The
\nnegotiations for the union of Moderates and Nationalists in an United Congress
\nhave failed owing to the insistence of the former on the Nationalists
\nsubscribing to a Moderate profession of faith.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

The survival of Moderate politics in India depended on two factors,
\nthe genuineness and success of the promised Reforms and the use made by the Conventionists of the opportunity given them by
\nthe practical suppression of Nationalist public activity. The field was clear
\nfor them to establish the effectiveness of the Moderate policy and the living
\nforce of the Moderate Party. Had the Reforms been a genuine initiation of
\nconstitutional progress, the Moderate tactics might have received some
\njustification from events. <\/b> Or had the Moderates given proof of the
\npower of carrying on a robust and vigorous agitation for popular rights, their
\nstrength and vitality as a political force might have been established, even if
\ntheir effectiveness had been disproved. The Reforms have shown that nothing
\ncan be expected from persistence in Moderate politics except retrogression, disappointment
\nand humiliation. The experience of the last year has shown that, without the
\nNationalists at their back, the Moderates are impotent for opposition and
\nrobust agitation. The political life of India in their hands has languished and
\nfallen silent.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

By the incontrovertible logic of events it has appeared that the
\nsuccess and vigour of the great movement
\ninaugurated in<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 324<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

1905 was due to
\nthe union of Moderate and Nationalist on the platform of self-help and passive
\nresistance. It was in order to provide an opportunity for the re-establishment
\nof this union, broken at Surat, that the
\nNationalists gathered in force at Hughly in
\norder to secure some basis and means of negotiation which might lead to united
\neffort. The hand which we held out, has been rejected. The policy of Lord Morley has been to rally the Moderates and coerce
\nthe Nationalists; the policy of the Moderate
\nParty led by Mr. Gokhale and Sir Pherozshah Mehta has
\nbeen to play into the hands of that policy and give it free course and a chance
\nof success. This alliance has failed of its object; the beggarly reward the
\nModerates have received, has been confined to the smallest and least popular
\nelements in their party. But the rejection of the alliance with their own
\ncountrymen by the insistence on creed and constitution shows that the
\nModerates mean to persist in their course even when all motive and political
\njustification for it have disappeared. Discomfited and humiliated by the
\nGovernment, they can still find no way to retrieve their
\nposition nor any clear and rational course to suggest to the Indian people whom
\nthey misled into a misunderstanding of the very limited promises held out by
\nLord Morley.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Separated from the great volume of Nationalist feeling in the
\ncountry, wilfully shutting its doors to popularity and strength by the
\nformation of electorates as close and limited as those of the Reformed
\nCouncils, self-doomed to persistence in a policy which has led to signal
\ndisaster, the Convention is destined to perish of inanition and popular
\nindifference, dislike and opposition. If the Nationalists stand back
\nany longer, either the national movement will disappear or the void created
\nwill be filled by a sinister and violent activity. Neither result can be
\ntolerated by men desirous of their country’s development and freedom.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

The period of waiting is over. We have two things made clear to us,
\nfirst, that the future of the nation is in our hands, and, secondly, that from
\nthe Moderate Party we can expect no cordial co-operation in building it.
\nWhatever we do, we must do ourselves, in our own strength and courage. Let us
\nthen take up the work God has given us, like courageous, steadfast and
\npatriotic<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 325<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

men
\nwilling to sacrifice greatly and venture greatly because the mission also is
\ngreat. If there are any unnerved by the fear of repression, let them stand
\naside. If there are any who think that by flattering Anglo-India or coquetting
\nwith English Liberalism they can dispense with the need of effort and the
\ninevitability of peril, let them stand aside. If there are any who are ready to
\nbe satisfied with mean gains or unsubstantial concessions, let them stand
\naside. But all who deserve the name of Nationalists, must now come forward and
\ntake up their burden.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

The fear of the law is for those who break the law. Our aims are
\ngreat and honourable, free from stain or reproach, our methods are peaceful,
\nthough resolute and strenuous. We shall not break the law and, therefore, we
\nneed not fear the law. But if a corrupt police, unscrupulous officials or a
\npartial judiciary make use of the honourable publicity of our political methods
\nto harass the men who stand in front by illegal ukases, suborned and perjured
\nevidence or unjust decisions, shall we shrink from the toll that we have to pay
\non our march to freedom ? Shall we cower
\nbehind a petty secrecy or a dishonourable inactivity ?
\nWe must have our associations, our organisations, our means of propaganda,
\nand, if these are suppressed by arbitrary proclamations, we shall have done our
\nduty by our motherland and not on us will rest any responsibility for the
\nmadness which crushes down open and lawful political activity in order to give
\na desperate and sullen nation into the hands of those fiercely enthusiastic and
\nunscrupulous forces that have arisen among us inside and outside India. So long
\nas any loophole is left for peaceful effort, we will not renounce the struggle.
\nIf the conditions are made difficult and almost impossible, can they be worse
\nthan those our countrymen have to contend against in the Transvaal ? Or shall we, the flower of Indian culture and
\neducation, show less capacity and self-devotion than the coolies and
\nshopkeepers who are there rejoicing to suffer for the honour of their nation
\nand the welfare of their community ?<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

What is it for which we strive ? The perfect self-fulfilment of India
\nand the independence which is the condition of self-fulfilment are our ultimate
\ngoal. In the meanwhile such imperfect self-development and such incomplete
\nself-government as are<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 326<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

possible
\nin less favourable circumstances, must be attained as a preliminary to the more
\ndistant realisation. What we seek is to evolve self-government either through
\nour own institutions or through those provided for us by the law of the land.
\nNo such evolution is possible by the latter means without some measure of
\nadministrative control. We demand, therefore, not the monstrous and
\nmisbegotten scheme which has just been brought into being, but a measure of
\nreform based upon those democratic principles which are ignored in Lord Morley’s Reforms, \u2014 a literate electorate without
\ndistinction of creed, nationality or caste, freedom of election unhampered by exclusory clauses, an effective voice in
\nlegislation and finance and some check upon an arbitrary executive. We demand
\nalso the gradual devolution of executive government out of the hands of the
\nbureaucracy into those of the people. Until these demands are granted, we shall
\nuse the pressure of that refusal of co-operation which is termed passive
\nresistance. We shall exercise that pressure within the limits allowed us by the
\nlaw, but apart from that limitation the extent to which we shall use it,
\ndepends on expediency and the amount of resistance we have to overcome.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

On our own side we have great and pressing problems to solve.
\nNational education languishes for want of moral stimulus, financial support,
\nand emancipated brains keen and bold enough to grapple with the difficulties
\nthat hamper its organisation and progress. The movement of arbitration,
\nsuccessful in its inception, has been dropped as a result of repression. The Swadeshi-Boycott movement still moves by its own impetus, but its forward march
\nhas no longer the rapidity and organised irresistibility of forceful purpose
\nwhich once swept it forward. Social problems are pressing upon us which we can
\nno longer ignore. We must take up the organisation of knowledge in our country,
\nneglected throughout the last century. We must free our social and economic
\ndevelopment from the incubus of the litigious resort to the ruinously
\nexpensive British Courts. We must once more seek to push forward the movement
\ntoward economic self-sufficiency, industrial independence.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

These are the objects for which we have to organise the national
\nstrength of India. On us falls the burden, in us alone there<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 327<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

is the moral
\nardour, faith and readiness for sacrifice which can attempt and go far to
\naccomplish the task. But the first requisite is the organisation of the
\nNationalist Party. I invite that party in all the great centres of the country
\nto take up the work and assist the leaders who will shortly meet to consider
\nsteps for the initiation of Nationalist activity. It is desirable to establish
\na Nationalist Council and hold a meeting of the body in March or April of the
\nnext year. It is necessary also to establish Nationalist Associations
\nthroughout the country. When we have done this, we shall be able to formulate
\nour programme and assume our proper place in the political life of India.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\naurobindo <\/span>ghose<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 328<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\nHOME<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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

To My Countrymen   TWO decisive incidents have happened which make it compulsory on the Nationalist Party to abandon their attitude of reserve and expectancy…<\/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-1077","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\/1077","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=1077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}