{"id":2059,"date":"2013-07-13T01:39:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2059"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:39:10","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:39:10","slug":"23-facts-and-opinions-6-vol-08-karmayogin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/08-karmayogin\/23-facts-and-opinions-6-vol-08-karmayogin","title":{"rendered":"-23_Facts and Opinions_6.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tKARMAYOGIN<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tA WEEKLY
\n\t\t\tREVIEW <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tof National
\n\t\t\tReligion, Literature, Science, Philosophy, &c.,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n
\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tVol. I <\/font>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t }<\/font><\/td>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSATURDAY 31st<\/sup> JULY 1909<\/font><\/td>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t{<\/font>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNo. 6<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/font><\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

Facts and Opinions <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Spirit in Asia<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A spirit moves abroad in the world today upsetting kingdoms and raising up new principalities and powers the workings of
\n\twhich are marked by a swiftness and ubiquity new in history. In place of the slow developments and uncertain results of the
\n\tpast we have a quickness and thoroughness which destroy in an hour and remould in a decade. It is noteworthy that these rapid
\n\tmotions are mostly discernible in Asiatic peoples. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Persian Revolution<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Persian Revolution has settled with a swiftness and decisiveness
\n\t\t\tsecond only to the movement of Turkey the constitutional struggle in Iran between a reactionary Shah and a rejuvenated, eager and ardent nation. The weak and unstable
\n\tpromise-breaker at Teheran has fallen, mourned by a sympathetic Anglo-India but by no one else in the world. Since the
\n\tlate Shah under the pressure of passive resistance yielded a constitution to his people, the young Nationalism of Persia
\n\thas been attempting to force or persuade his son to keep the oaths with which he started his reign. Some deeds of blood on
\n\tboth sides, some sharp encounters have attended the process<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-142<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

but the price paid has been comparatively small. Like other Asiatic States in a similar process of transformation Persia has
\n\trejected the theoretic charms of a republic; she has set up a prince who is young enough to be trained to the habits of
\n\ta constitutional monarch before he takes up the authority of kingship. In this we see the political wisdom, self-restraint and
\n\tinstinct for the right thing to be done which is natural to ancient nations who, though they have grown young again, are not
\n\traw and violent peoples new to political thought and experiment.\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPersia’s Difficulties<\/a> <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A great and difficult task lies before the newly-risen nation.
\n\tNo other people is so difficultly circumstanced as the Persians. Weak in herself, long a stranger to good government, military
\n\tstrength and discipline, financial soundness and internal efficiency, Persia has to evolve all these under the instant menace
\n\tfrom north and south of two of the greatest European empires. The threat of Russia to act herself if the new government does
\n\tnot instantly guarantee security on its borders, a threat made \u00b4<\/i>
\n\ton the morrow of a violent coup d’etat <\/i>and before there has been time for the Regency to cope with any of the immediate difficulties surrounding it, is typical of the kind of peril which this proximity is likely to produce. Self-restraint and
\n\tpatience towards these doubtful friends and unbounded energy and decision within are the only qualities by which the
\n\tstatesmen of Persia can surmount the difficulties in their path and satisfy the claims posterity makes upon them. The internal reorganisation of Persia and the swift development of military strength are the first needs. Till then Persia must bear and
\n\tforbear. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe New Men in Persia<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is worthy of notice that Sipahidar and Sardar Assad, the Bakhtyari leader, who have effected this revolution, are men<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-143<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\twho in their youth have studied in Europe. They should know the springs of European politics and thoroughly understand
\n\tthe way in which European Powers have to be dealt with as well as the necessities and conditions of internal reorganisation. The problem for all Asiatic peoples is the preservation of their national individuality and existence while equipping
\n\tthemselves with the weapons of the modern struggle for survival. A deep study of European politics, a strong feeling for
\n\tAsiatic institutions and ideals, a selfless patriotism and immense faith, courage and self-restraint are the qualities essential to
\n\ttheir leaders in these critical times. It is reassuring to find Persians high in praise of the self-denying and lofty character of
\n\tthe new Regent. In the absence of a patriotic King like the Mikado such a man alone can form the centre of national
\n\treconstruction. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nMadanlal Dhingra<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\tMadanlal Dhingra pays the inevitable and foreseen penalty of his crime. We have no wish whatever to load the memory of this
\n\tunfortunate young man with curses and denunciations. Rather we hope that in his last moments he will be able to look back
\n\tin a calm spirit on his act and with a mind enlightened by the near approach of death prepare his soul for the great transit.
\n\tNo man but he can say what were the real motives for his deed. If personal resentment and exaggerated emotions were
\n\tthe cause of his crime, a realisation of the true nature of the offence may yet help the soul in its future career. If on the
\n\tother hand a random patriotism was at its back, we have little hope that reflection will induce him to change his views. Minds
\n\timbued with these ideas are the despair of the statesman and the political thinker. They follow their bent with a remorseless
\n\tfirmness which defies alike the arrows of the reasoner and the terrors of a violent death. He must in that case go forth to
\n\treap the fruits in other bodies and new circumstances. Here his country remains behind to bear the consequences of his
\n\tact.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nPage-144<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tPress Garbage in England<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is at least gratifying to find that the theory of conspiracy
\n\tis exploded except in the minds of Anglo-Indian papers and perhaps of a few Anglo-Indian statesmen and officials. Not a
\n\tsingle circumstance has justified the wild suspicions and wilder inventions which journals like the
\nDaily Mail <\/i>and Daily Ex<\/i>press <\/i>poured thick upon the world in the first few days that followed the occurrence. These strange fictions are still travelling
\n\tto us by mail. The most extraordinary of them is perhaps that launched by a certain gentleman who is bold enough to give his
\n\tname, upon the World<\/i>. It seems that long ago the redoubtable Krishnavarma in a moment of benign and expansive frankness
\n\tselected this gentleman and revealed to him the details of a gigantic plot he has been elaborating for the last eight years
\n\twith a view to the murder wholesale and retail of Anglo-Indian officials. If the story were true, Krishnavarma’s confidant ought
\n\tcertainly to have been put in the dock as an accessory before the crime on the ground of criminal concealment. These romances sound ridiculous enough now that we read them three weeks afterwards when the excitement of the hour has passed,
\n\tbut the harm this kind of journalism can do was sufficiently proved at the time of the Chinese disturbances and the trouble
\n\twhich preceded the Boer War. That these daily voidings of impudent falsehood and fabrication should be eagerly swallowed
\n\tby thousands shows the rapid deterioration of British dignity and sobriety.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nShyamji Krishnavarma<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe exaggerated view of Mr. Shyamji Krishnavarma as an arch
\n\tconspirator of malign subtlety and power who has long been inculcating terrorist opinions among young men and building
\n\tup a secret society, is one which none can accept who has any knowledge of this gentleman’s past career. Mr. Shyamji
\n\tKrishnavarma is an earnest, vehement and outspoken idealist passionately attached to his own views and intolerant of all<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nPage-145<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\twho oppose them. He first went to England to breathe the atmosphere of a free country where he could speak as well as think
\n\tas he chose. He was then a strong constitutionalist and his chief intellectual preoccupations were Herbert Spencer, Home Rule
\n\tand the position of the Native States. When the new movement flooded India it carried Mr. Krishnavarma forward with it. He
\n\tbecame an ardent Nationalist, a confirmed passive resister with an idealistic aversion to violent methods and a strong conviction
\n\tthat, whatever might be the case with other countries, India would neither need nor resort to them. His conversion to Terrorism is quite recent and has astonished most those who knew him best. We know that Sj. Bipin Pal went to England with the
\n\tconfident expectation of finding full sympathy and co-operation from the editor of the
\nIndian Sociologist<\/i>. The quarrel between
\n\tthe two resulting from the change in Mr. Krishnavarma’s views is a matter of public knowledge. We refuse therefore to believe
\n\tthat Mr. Krishnavarma has been a plotter of assassination and secret disseminator of Terrorism or that the India House is a
\n\tcentre for the propagation and fulfilment of the ideas he has himself ventilated in the
\nTimes<\/i>.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nNervous Anglo-India<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTime was when Srijut Surendranath Banerji was held by nervous
\n\tAnglo-India to be the crowned King of an insurgent Bengal, a very pestilent fellow flooding the country with sedition and
\n\trebellion. The whirligig of Time brings round with it strange revenges and at this moment Srijut Surendranath is returning
\n\tto India acclaimed by English Conservatives as a pillar of the British Empire, India’s representative with a mighty organisation
\n\tbehind him pledged to loyalty, co-operation and the support of Morleyan reform. After Surendranath, Srijut Bipin Chandra
\n\tPal, reputed editor of Bande Mataram <\/i>and author of the great Madras speeches, loomed as the arch-plotter of revolution and
\n\tthe chief danger to the Empire. The same Bipin Chandra is now a peaceful and unsuspected journalist and lecturer in London
\n\tacquitted, we hope, of all wish to be the Ravana destined to<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nPage-146<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tshake the British Kailas. But Anglo-India needs a bogeyman and by a few letters to the
\nTimes <\/i>Mr. Krishnavarma has leaped into
\n\tthat eminent but unenviable position. Who knows? In another year or two even he may be considered a harmless if inconvenient idealist. What is it, one wonders, that has turned the firm, phlegmatic Briton into a nervous quaking old woman in
\n\tlove with imaginative terrors? Is it democracy? Is it the new sensationalist Press run by Harmsworth and Company? The
\n\tphenomenon is inexplicable, but it is to be feared it is going to be permanent.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nThe Recoil of Karma<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThere is a general law that Karma rebounds upon the doer. Associated in Hindu philosophy mainly with the individual and the theory of rebirth, this truth has also been recognised as equally
\n\tapplicable on other lines to the present life and to the destiny of nations. The Karma of the British people in India has been
\n\tof a mixed quality. So far as it has opened the gates of Western knowledge to the people of this country it has been good and
\n\tin return the thought and knowledge of India has poured back upon Europe to return the gift with overmeasure. Had they in
\n\taddition consciously raised up and educated the whole people, all the fruits of that good Karma would have gone to England.
\n\tBut the education they have given is bad, meagre and restricted to the few, and their sympathy for the people has been formal and
\n\tdeficient. In consequence the main flood of the new thought and knowledge has been diverted to America, the giant of the future,
\n\twhich alone of the nations has shown an active and practical sympathy and understanding of our nation. British Karma in
\n\tIndia has been bad in so far as it has destroyed our industries and arrested our national development. This Karma is also beginning
\n\tto recoil, patently in Boycott and unrest, much more subtly in the growing demoralisation of British politics. Already the
\n\tjealous love of liberty is beginning to wane in the upper classes in England, political thinkers are emerging who announce the
\n\tfailure of democracy, the doctrine of the rule of the strong man<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nPage-147<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tis gaining ground and the temptation to strengthen the executive at the expense of the liberty of the citizen is proving too powerful
\n\teven for a Radical Government. It seems impossible that even a veiled despotism or a virtual oligarchy should ever again rule
\n\tin England, yet stranger things have happened in history. The change may come by the growth of Socialism and the seizure
\n\tof the doctrine of State despotism by masterful and ambitious minds to cloak a usurpation the ancient and known forms of
\n\twhich would not be tolerated, just as the Caesars, while avoiding the detested name and form of kingship, yet ruled Rome under
\n\tthe harmless titles of Princeps and Imperator, first man of the state and general, far more despotically than Tarquin could have
\n\tdone. Under whatever disguises the change may steal upon the people, one thing is certain that if Lord Morley and the
\n\tAnglo-Indian proconsuls succeed in perpetuating absolutism in India, it will recoil from India to reconquer England. The Nationalists
\n\tof this country are fighting not only for the liberties of India but for the liberties of England.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nLiberty or Empire<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is an ancient and perpetually recurring choice which is now
\n\tbeing offered to the British people, the choice between liberty and empire. The two are incompatible except by the substitution
\n\tof a free federation for a dominion. Rome was offered the choice. She won an empire and lost her liberty. External expansion has
\n\talways been accompanied by a concentration of internal power in King or oligarchy. Athens, the only people who attempted to
\n\tbe imperial and despotic abroad and democratic at home, broke down in the attempt. In English history also we find that the
\n\tgreat expansion in the eighteenth century led to the reactionary rule of the third George and it was not till England after the
\n\tsevere lesson in America adopted her present colonial system that expansion and democracy went hand in hand. That system
\n\twas not an imperial system but a loose collection of free states only nominally united by the British Crown. The Indian problem
\n\tis the test of British Liberalism. The colonial system as it stands<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nPage-148<\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tcannot obtain between two States which are not mother and daughter. The one would not tolerate it, the other would not
\n\tbe content with it. But if England can bring herself to extend in a different form the principle of a collection of free States to
\n\tIndia, she may keep her position in the world and her liberty together. Despotic empire and liberty she cannot keep; she must
\n\teither yield up absolutism abroad or renounce liberty at home.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

<\/font>
\n\t<\/p>\n

\nPage-149<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KARMAYOGIN A WEEKLY REVIEW of National Religion, Literature, Science, Philosophy, &c., Vol. I  } SATURDAY 31st JULY 1909 { No. 6     Facts and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-karmayogin","wpcat-44-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059","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=2059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}