{"id":272,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=272"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:01","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:01","slug":"072-the-main-feeder-of-patriotism-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/072-the-main-feeder-of-patriotism-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-072_The Main feeder of Patriotism.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\t\t\tThe Main feeder of Patriotism<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tT<\/font><\/span>HERE<\/font><\/span>
\nare many people who admit the superiority of Eastern civilisation, who recognise
\n\t\t\tits humanitarian and socialistic aspect, who are not blind to its
\n\t\t\tpredominating feature of spirituality, who admire the absence of a
\n\t\t\tmilitant Materialism in it, who praise the way in which it has
\n\t\t\tbalanced the interests of the different classes in the society, who
\n\t\t\tare conscious how much attention it gives to the higher needs of
\n\t\t\thumanity. But still patriotism is not a living and moving impulse
\n\t\t\twith them. Apart from the natural attachment which every man has to
\n\t\t\this country, its literature, its traditions, its customs and usages,
\n\t\t\tpatriotism has an additional stimulus in the acknowledged excellence
\n\t\t\tof a national civilisation. If Britons love England with all her
\n\t\t\tfaults, why should we fail to love India whose faults were whittled
\n\t\t\tdown to an irreducible minimum till foreign conquests threw the
\n\t\t\twhole society out of gear? But instead of being dominated by the
\n\t\t\tnatural ambition of carrying the banner of such a civilisation all
\n\t\t\tover the world, we are unable to maintain its integrity in its own
\n\t\t\tnative home. This is betraying a trust. This is unworthiness of the
\n\t\t\tworst type. We have not been able to add anything to this precious
\n\t\t\tbequest; on the contrary we have been keeping ourselves and
\n\t\t\tgenerations yet unborn from a full enjoyment of their lawful
\n\t\t\theritage. For Eastern civilisation though it is not dead, though it
\n\t\t\tis a living force, is yet a submerged force, and that not because it
\n\t\t\thas no intrinsic merit but because it has been transmitted to a
\n\t\t\tclass of people devoid of a love for things their own. It seems as
\n\t\t\tif they have no past to guide, instruct or inspire them. They are
\n\t\t\tbeginning, as it were, with a clean slate and what is worse, a
\n\t\t\tforeign poetaster is calling upon his countrymen to take charge of
\n\t\t\tthem as "half devil, half child". Is not the humiliation sufficient
\n\t\t\tto disturb our self-complacency?<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWe make no appeal in the name of any material benefit. No desire for
\n\t\t\tearthly gain can nerve a people to such superhuman activity as the
\n\t\t\teager hope of maintaining their greatness and<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-426<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tglory.
\nWe must first realise that we are great and glorious, that we are proud and
\nnoble, and it is through voluntary prostration that we are being stamped into
\nthe dust. No material ideal of riches and prosperity has ever made a nation. But
\nwhen the sense of honour has been touched, when the consciousness of greatness
\nhas been re-awakened, then and then only have the scattered units of a fallen
\nnation clustered round one mighty moral force.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n    What is now considered by
\npolitical thinkers to be the chief incentive to conquest? What is the meaning of
\nthe imperial sentiment which is "now dominating every English breast"?
\n"If we ask ourselves," says one writer, "seriously the question
\nwhy we glory in the magnitude of our empire, it may be answered: partly because
\nwe think it adds to our riches, partly because we enjoy the sense of power and
\ndominion, partly because we cling to old traditions and remember the great deeds
\nof history; but beyond and above all these elements of satisfaction we feel that
\nthroughout the whole British empire we enforce those ideas of justice, personal
\nfreedom and religious toleration which are the results of the constitutional
\nstruggles of centuries." We are not concerned here with the discussion
\nwhether the Britisher’s boast is well or ill-founded; but rightly or wrongly
\nthis sentiment has taken possession of him and he is invincible under its
\ninfluence. For we find the same explanation in Mill. Sidgwick also in his Elements
\nof Politics <\/i>harps on the same strain. "Besides the material
\nadvantages," he says, "there are legitimate sentimental satisfactions
\nderived from justifiable conquest which must be taken into account. Such are the
\njustifiable pride which the cultivated members of a civilised community feel in
\nthe beneficent exercise of dominion and in the performance by their nation of
\nthe noble task of spreading the highest kind of civilisation, and a more intense
\nthough less elevated satisfaction \u2014<\/span>
\ninseparable from patriotic sentiment \u2014<\/span>
\nin the spread of the special type of civilisation distinctive of their nation,
\ncommunicated through its language and literature, and through the tendency to
\ncatch its tastes and imitate its customs which its prolonged rule, specially if,
\non the whole, beneficent, is likely to cause in a continually increasing
\ndegree."
\n       
\nThus, according to Sidgwick, physical expansion proceeds<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-427<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nfrom
\na desire for spiritual expansion and history also supports the assertion. But
\nwhy should not India then be the first power in the world? Who else has the
\nundisputed right to extend spiritual sway over the world? This was Swami
\nVivekananda’s plan of campaign. India can once more be made conscious of her
\ngreatness by an overmastering sense of the greatness of her spirituality. This
\nsense of greatness is the main feeder of all patriotism. This only can put an
\nend to all self-depreciation and generate a burning desire to recover the lost
\nground.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>June 19, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\nConcerted
\nAction<\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\nWe
\npublish in another column a letter from a correspondent signing himself "Organised
\nCooperation", in which a very elaborate plan is sketched out for
\nascertaining the opinion of the nation and following out in unison the programme
\narrived at. The scheme is, we fear, more elaborate than practicable. If the
\nsuggestion originally put forward by the Nationalists of the creation of
\nCongress electorates had been adopted, such a plebiscite might have been
\npossible; as it is, the necessary machinery does not exist. Moreover, such an
\nall-India plebiscite covering the whole field of politics, even if it were
\npossible, would neither be useful nor necessary. The national programme has
\nalready been fixed by the Calcutta Congress and there is no need of a further
\nplebiscite to decide it; in Bengal at least it has been universally accepted,
\nwith additions and reaffirmed by the District Conferences and District
\nCommittees appointed to carry it out. Our correspondent seems to have
\nmisapprehended the nature and object of a plebiscite. A plebiscite can only be
\non a single definite and supreme issue, the decision of which is so important
\nthat the ordinary representative assembles cannot undertake the responsibility
\nof a final decision. A plebiscite on a whole programme is an impossibility.
\nNeither would it be binding. Bengal, for instance, is practically unanimous for
\nBoycott. If the majority of votes went against Boycott, would Bengal accept the
\ndecision and tamely submit to repression?<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-428<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nOr
\nif the majority were for Boycott, would Bombay City agree to carry out the
\ndecision? We sympathise with the hankering for united action, but united action
\nis only possible in so much of the programme as all are agreed upon; it is not
\npossible in those matters on which opinion is still widely divided.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n
\nThe Bengal
\nGovernment’s Letter<\/a><\/span><\/font><\/h1>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe
\nStatesman <\/i>has recently become a confirmed sensation-monger and treats the
\npublic continually to its thick-coming opium visions. It has recently brought
\nout a sensational statement about Government proceedings against the Nationalist
\nPress in which a Bengal Government letter to three Calcutta journals received
\nalmost a fortnight ago, the recent Police raid on the Keshab Press, the Bande
\nMataram<\/i>‘s <\/i>posters and some luxuriant imaginings of the Statesman<\/i>‘s <\/i>own
\nriotous fancy have been mingled together in wild confusion. We were one of the
\nrecipients of the Bengal Government’s letter, and if we have not written on the
\nsubject, it is simply because the letter was marked confidential. Now, however,
\nthat the matter has got abroad, we may as well correct certain inaccuracies
\nwhich have appeared not only in the Statesman<\/i>‘s <\/i>bit of romancing, but in
\nthe Amrita Bazar Patrika’<\/i>s <\/i>correction. It is entirely untrue that on
\nMonday afternoon or any other afternoon, evening or morning "a notice was
\nserved upon the proprietors, editor, manager and printer of this paper to the
\neffect that proceedings would be adopted against them under section 124A<\/b>
\nand the other sections dealing with seditious publications, unless they
\nmoderated their tone". On Saturday before last, if our memory serves us, we
\nreceived a communication from the Bengal Government addressed to the Editor, Bande
\nMataram <\/i>in which we were informed that the Lieutenant-Governor had had under
\nconsideration certain articles (not specified) recently published in our paper
\n"the language of which was a direct incitement to violence and breach of
\nthe peace". This sort of language the Bengal Government was determined to
\nput a stop to, but before taking action they were gracious enough to give us a
\nwarning to mend our ways. That is all.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-429<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nIt
\nis not true either that a conference was held with the directors or that the
\nmanagers interviewed the legal advisers of the Company in connection with the
\nnotice. No such conference or interview was held for the simple reason that none
\nwas necessary. The Editorial Department is solely responsible for the policy of
\nthe paper and they have no need to consult lawyers about their duty to the
\npublic. The Amrita Bazar Patrika <\/i>is therefore wrongly informed when it
\nsays that legal opinion has been taken and given in the matter. It is true that
\nlegal opinion is being taken by the Company, but it is on a point of law which
\narose previous to the receipt of the Bengal Government’s letter and is entirely
\nunconnected with it. The Statesman <\/i>has also absurdly distorted the
\n"proceedings against the Yugantar <\/i>and Nabasakti"<\/i>. <\/i>No
\nproceedings have been instituted. The police while searching the Keshab Press
\nfor manuscripts in connection with the pamphlet Sonar Bangla <\/i>
\n\u2014<\/span> which has, by the way, no connection with
\nHare
\nStreet mare’s nest<\/span> \u2014
\n<\/span>stumbled on the
\nforms of the<\/span> Yugan<\/span>tar <\/i>then being printed. The Keshab Press is
\nbeing proceeded against, but it is doubtful whether anything will be done to the
\nYugantar<\/i>, <\/i>as the printing of a paper in part or whole at another press in
\nemergency is so common an occurrence that, even if it be a technical offence,
\nwhich is not certain, to prosecute it would be purely vindictive. In any case
\nthe Yugantar <\/i>business is not, as the Statesman <\/i>represents, the
\nfirst step in a campaign against the Nationalist Press. Our own position is very
\nsimple. The articles to which the Bengal Government refers are, we presume,
\nthose in which we called upon the Hindus to defend their temples and their women
\nfrom insult and outrage. Every Hindu paper at the time did the same, even the Indian
\nMirror <\/i>and the Indian Nation<\/i>, <\/i>and we do not think we did anything
\nmore than our plain duty to our countrymen. The Lieutenant-Governor, however,
\ntakes exception not to the purport of our articles but to their language
\n\u2014
\nwhich was less violent than what English papers would have <\/span>used
\nif a similar campaign of outrage on European women had been in progress.
\nBe that as it may, the occasion has passed and until it is repeated, the
\nquestion of complying or not complying with the warning does not arise. We
\nmerely note it and pass on.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font>June 20, 1907<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-430<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Main feeder of Patriotism   THERE are many people who admit the superiority of Eastern civilisation, who recognise its humanitarian and socialistic aspect, who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","wpcat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","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=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}