{"id":1105,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1105"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:34","slug":"25-kumartuli-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\/25-kumartuli-speech-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-25_Kumartuli Speech.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nKumartuli Speech*<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nB<\/font>ABU
\n<\/span><\/font><\/b>Aurobindo Ghose
\nrose amidst loud cheers and said that when he consented to attend the meeting,
\nhe never thought that he would make any speech. In fact, he was asked by the
\norganisers of the meeting simply to be present there. He was told that it would
\nbe sufficient if he came and took his seat there. Now he found his name among
\nthe speakers. The Chairman of the meeting, whose invitation was always an
\norder, had called upon him to speak.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n


\ntwo
\n<\/span>reasons <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\n
\nFOR <\/font>
\n<\/span>
\nsilence<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He had two reasons
\nas to why he ought not to speak. The first was that since he was again at
\nliberty to address his countrymen he had made a good many speeches and he had
\nexhausted everything that he had to say and
\nhe did not like to be always repeating the same thing from the platform. He was
\nnot an orator and what he spoke was only in the hope that some of the things he
\nmight say would go to the hearts of his countrymen and that he might see some
\neffect of his speeches in their action. Merely to come again and again to the
\nplatform and the table was not a thing he liked. Therefore he preferred to see
\nwhat his countrymen did.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Another
\nreason was that unfortunately he was unable to address them in their mother
\nlanguage and therefore he always felt averse to inflict an English speech on a
\nBengali audience.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\npersonal <\/span>explanations<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That evening he
\nwished to speak only a few words because he owed an explanation to his friends.
\nThe form that his activities had taken after he had come from jail had
\ndisappointed a great many.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\n* Speech delivered on
\nthe 11th July 1909 at a meeting held at
\nKumartuli Park under the presidentship of Dr. Prankrishna Acharya.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 150<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nTHE
\n<\/span>HARE <\/span>STREET
\n<\/span>FRIEND<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThere was first a great friend of his own and India’s who
\nlived in Hare Street \u2014 (laughter<\/i>) \u2014 and he was very much disappointed by the form of his (the speaker’s) activities. So great
\nwas this friend’s anxiety for the Indians that the anxiety had cost
\nhim Rs. 15,000. (A<\/i> voice: Another Rs. 7,500 as costs.<\/i>) In his
\nanxiety to help the Indians he followed the ancient maxim that
\ntruth meant only whatever was for the good of others. Unfortunately the Judge would not take that large view of the matter.
\nAnd so our friend was silently suffering. (A<\/i> voice: "Passive
\nresistance." Laughter<\/i>). His friend said that he had heard that
\nSj. Aurobindo Ghose had promised to devote himself to literature and religion, and it was strange that Mr. Ghose should go to
\nJhalakati and make speeches on Swadeshi and Boycott.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe (the speaker) was devoting himself to literature and religion. He was writing as he wrote before on Swaraj and Swadeshi,
\nand that was a form of literature. He was speaking on Swaraj
\nand Swadeshi and that was part of his religion. (Cheers<\/i>)<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE
\n<\/span>POLICE<\/span><\/font>
\n<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAnother quarter he had disappointed was the police.
\n(Laughter<\/i>) He had received a message from them saying that he
\nwas opening his mouth too much. He gave an interview to a
\nPress representative and told him something mainly about the
\nfood and accommodation in the Government Hotel at Alipore. (Laughter<\/i>) He was immediately informed that that was a great
\nindiscretion on his part and that it would bring trouble on him.
\nWhen he went to Jhalakati the attentions of the police pursued
\nhim. They told the Barisal people and the local merchants that
\nif he (the speaker) was taken there the District Conference would
\nbe stopped. They got the answer that that was not in the peoples’
\nhands, but the coming of Aurobindo Ghose was in their hands
\nand Aurobindo Babu would come whatever the consequences
\nto the Conference. And the Conference did take place. After his return he was
\nagain informed that he was qualifying for deportation \u2014 his fault was that he was appearing too much in public<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 151<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmeetings. Some of the best loved workers in the country had
\nalready been deported and the first reason alleged was that they
\nhad been financing assassination and troubling the peace of the
\ncountry. When the Government in Parliament was heckled out
\nof that position, it escaped, as if by accident, from one of the
\nmembers that one very important reason for the deportation was
\nthat the deportees had taken part in the Swadeshi agitation.
\nThis was borne out by the suggestion he had received, and it
\nseemed that it was by supporting the Swadeshi that they laid
\nthemselves open to deportation. Now, he had an unfortunate
\ntemper and it was natural he did not like to be intimidated.
\nIntimidation only made him persist in doing his duty more obstinately, and if he
\nspoke today, it was partly because of that friendly suggestion.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE
\n<\/span>MADRAS <\/span>FRIEND<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThere were other friends who were nearer to us than those
\nhe had mentioned, but they also were dissatisfied with his activities. There was, for instance, a friend in Madras \u2014 "The
\nIndian Patriot" \u2014 who invited him to give up politics and become a Sannyasi. This anxiety for his spiritual welfare somewhat
\nsurprised him at the time, but he was yet more surprised by the
\npersistence of his friend’s anxiety. One reason for suggesting
\ninactivity to him was that he was imperilling his safety. That was
\na very singular reason to put before a public man for shirking his
\nduty.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE
\n<\/span>REFORMS<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAnother reason for his Madras friend’s advice was that he
\n(the speaker) was speaking against the reforms. It appeared that
\nhe (the speaker) was guilty of a great error in throwing a doubt
\non the reality of the reforms. Whenever any offer was made to
\nthe country by the officials, it was a habit of his to look at it a
\nlittle closely. It was a part of English politeness, and also a principle of their commerce that when a present was given or an
\narticle sold it was put in a very beautiful case and its appearance<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 152<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmade very attractive. But his long residence in England had led
\nhim to know that there were a kind of goods, called Brummagem
\ngoods, and that was a synonym for shoddy. He looked into the
\nreforms and they seemed to him to belong to that class. Then
\nthere was another point. He was a little jealous of gifts from that
\nquarter because the interests of the people and the officials were
\nnot the same. The position was such that if reforms gave any increase and
\nenlargement of the people’s rights or rather a beginning in that direction \u2014 for at present the people had no real
\nright or share in the government \u2014 any beginning of the kind
\nmeant a shrinking of bureaucratic powers. It was not likely that
\nthe officials would readily give up any power to which they cling.
\nTherefore when reforms were offered he always asked himself how far that was a real beginning of self-government or how far
\nit was something given to them to draw their attention from their
\nreal path to salvation. It seemed to him that the reforms give
\nthem not the slightest real share in the government of the country,
\nbut instead they would merely throw an apple of fresh discord
\namong them. They would only be a cause of fresh strife and
\nwant of unity. Those who are led away by the reforms would
\nnot only diminish the powers of this country but lead others
\ninto the wrong path.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE<\/span> POONA
\n<\/span>SPEECH<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nOnly two or three days ago, his fears were confirmed. Certain utterances had come from one from whom they were least
\nexpected \u2014 one who had served and made sacrifices for the country. He said that those who spread the gospel of Swaraj were
\nmad men outside the lunatic asylum and those who preached
\npassive resistance as means of gaining Swaraj were liars who did
\nnot speak out their real thoughts to save their skin; he invited
\nthe country to denounce them as enemies of the country and of
\nits progress and justified all that the Government had done by
\nsaying that the only attitude the Government could take was stern
\nand heartless repression.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWell, if it were true that only fear made them take to passive
\nresistance, if they flinched now from the Boycott because some<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 153<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhad been deported, if they ceased to proclaim the ideal of
\nSwaraj, if they ceased to preach the Boycott, then only it would
\nbe true that they had adopted an ideal that they could not reach
\nand proclaimed means of reaching it in which they did not
\nbelieve, because they were anxious to save their skin.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nHe had heard many warnings recently that those who
\npersisted in public agitation would be deported. For himself,
\nand he was not a model of courage, residence for the best part of
\nyear in a solitary cell had been an experience which took away
\nall the terrors of deportation. (Cheers<\/i>) If he had ever had any
\nfear, the kindness of the authorities in giving him that experience had cured him of them.
\n(Laughter<\/i>) He had found that
\nwith the ideal of Swaraj to uphold and the mantra<\/i> of "Bande
\nMataram" in the heart, there was nothing so very terrible in jail
\nor deportation. That was the first thing he would like to impress
\non them as the result of his experience. Imprisonment in a
\nrighteous cause was not so terrible as it seemed, suffering was
\nnot so difficult to bear as our anticipations made it out. The prize
\nto which they aspired was the greatest to which a nation could
\naspire and if a price was asked of them, they ought not to shrink
\nfrom paying it.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE
\n<\/span>MIXED <\/span>POLICY<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nHe was not afraid of deportation and imprisonment but
\nhe was afraid of the hand which patted them on the back and the
\nvoice that soothed. The mixed policy of repression and kindness
\nwas the thing he feared most. The whip was still there uplifted
\nthough it was not just now falling upon them, but the other hand
\nwas held out to stroke the head and soothe. This offer of conciliation in one hand and the pressure of repression in the other
\nmight have the effect of slackening their efforts and bewildering
\ntheir intelligence. They must not forget that nine of their most
\ndevoted workers were rotting in British jail under the name of
\ndeportation. What was the meaning of conciliation when men
\nlike Aswini Kumar Dutt, Krishna Kumar Mitter and others
\nwere taken away from us and not restored ? What kind of
\nconciliation was this which was offered us while this great<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 154<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwrong remained unremedied ? Who could trust such a conciliation ?<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE
\n<\/span>BOYCOTT<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nLet them not forget what they had set out to do when they
\ndeclared the Boycott. They had determined to undo the partition of Bengal. The partition still remained. So long as that
\nremained, should they listen to the soothing voice ? Should they
\ngive up the Boycott or slacken the Boycott ? They had determined to revive the industries of their country. They had determined to save their countrymen from chronic starvation, but
\nthat had not yet been accomplished. Should they leave the
\nBoycott or slacken the Boycott while it remained unaccomplished ? Would the reforms save the country from that chronic
\nstarvation ? When famine came, the Government opened relief
\nworks as soon as its local officials could bring themselves to
\nacknowledge that there was a famine in the land. That saved a
\nnumber of lives, but it did not save us from the misery, the
\nmortality, the thousands of ruined homes. That did not strike
\nat the root of the chronic starvation and famine; Swadeshi and
\nBoycott alone could strike at the root. So long as the exploitation of the country by foreign trade remained, would they injure
\ntheir country by giving up or slackening the Boycott ? Would
\nthey be faithful to the country if under such circumstances they
\nwere ready to listen to the soothing voice ? If they did that, it
\nwould be because they could not bear the sufferings and pay the
\nprice of raising up their country and they would prove themselves
\nunworthy of the freedom to which they aspired. The time was a
\ncritical one and when the question was once more put to them
\nthey must always be ready to answer.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nSEVENTH OF
\n<\/span>AUGUST<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe 7th of August was very near. It was the birthday of the
\nBoycott, the birthday of the new spirit in India.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt was not much they had to do. Only once more to utter
\nthe sacred mantra<\/i> of Bande Mataram, once more to declare that<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 155<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIndia was not lifeless, that Bengal was faithful to the vow she had
\nmade. He waited to see what would happen on that date in
\nBengal, whether they would attend in their hundreds or in their
\nthousands or in their tens of thousands. It was Bengal on which
\nthe burden of the struggle fell because she first had preached the
\nGospel and she first had had the courage to bear the suffering for
\nthe Gospel. Therefore God had given them the privilege to bear
\nthe greater part of the suffering. By so doing, He had shown a
\ngreat love towards Bengal. The fate of India was with the Bengalis. As they answered the question put to them, the future would
\nbe determined. It was not the first time the question had been
\nput or the last time it would be put, for it was not the crisis of a
\nmoment but a protracted struggle. The question was with them
\nalways and every moment their responsibility for answering it
\nin the right sense remained with them. But especially on such a
\nday as the 7th of August the responsibility was great. He waited
\nto see what would be the answer to the question.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nCONCLUSION<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nBut even if the response were less than he expected, even if
\nthe demoralisation he had heard of were real and there were a
\nshrinkage in the numbers that attended, that would not discourage him.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSo long as in this country there were a few who had the
\ncourage of their faith, so long as there were even a few who were
\nready to proclaim their faith and live it, there was no fear for
\nthe ultimate triumph of the faithful.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is described in the Christian Bible how the cult of the
\ntrue faith was almost extinguished by persecution and all Israel
\nturned from Jehovah to foreign idols and even the chief prophet
\nof the faith thought himself alone and hid his head. God called
\nto him to go forth and strive with the priests of Baal. "Always,"
\nHe said, "in the nation I have chosen there are some who confess
\nme and now too in this nation there are seven thousand who have
\nnot bowed the knee to Baal." So always in this Bengal which
\nGod had chosen there would always be several thousands who
\nwould be true to the faith and never bow the knee to false gods.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 156<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIf the voices that proclaimed it were silenced, if the organisers
\nwere taken away, others would rise in their place, if those were
\ntaken, still others would come, if few, yet faithful. Some would
\nalways be left who would not be afraid to utter the name of their
\nMother. Some would still preserve the faith and preach the
\nGospel; theirs was the blood of raktabij<\/i>.
\n<\/i>(Laughter and cheers<\/i>)
\n<\/i>For their action sprang from no passing or material interest but
\nfrom something that was imperishable and perennial. It was
\nsomething which the fire could not burn and the sword could not
\nkill, the winds of repression could not wither and all the waters
\ncould not drown. For all that there was a great importance in
\nthe nation’s response on the 7th of August. On their action now
\nit depended whether salvation came swiftly or were put off and
\nthe struggle and suffering prolonged for decades.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOn their fidelity to Swadeshi, to Boycott, to passive resistance rested the hope of a peaceful and spiritual salvation. On
\nthat it depended whether India would give the example unprecedented in history of a revolution worked out by moral force
\nand peaceful pressure. For on the 7th August the strength of
\nthe nation would be measured, not the numerical strength, but
\nthe moral strength which was greater than anything physical.
\nHe appealed to the audience to see that no one of the thousands
\nassembled remained absent on that day.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThey must remember that it was a day of worship and consecration, when the Mother looked upon her assembled children.
\nShe would ask on this 7th of August how many were faithful
\nto her and whether after her centuries of affliction she had still
\nyears of suffering to endure, or by the love and strength of her
\nchildren might expect the approaching hour of her felicity. If
\nthey were unfaithful now, let them remember to whom they would
\nbe unfaithful, \u2014 to themselves, to their vows, to the future of
\ntheir country, to God, to their Mother.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage
\n\u2013 157<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

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

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

Kumartuli Speech*   BABU Aurobindo Ghose rose amidst loud cheers and said that when he consented to attend the meeting, he never thought that he…<\/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-1105","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\/1105","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=1105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}