{"id":2799,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2799"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:53","slug":"182-bande-mataram-18-2-08-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/06-07-bande-mataram\/182-bande-mataram-18-2-08-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-182_Bande Mataram 18-2-08.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tBande Mataram<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t
\n\t{
\n\tCALCUTTA, February 18th, 1908 }<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t
\n\tSwaraj
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\tNationalism was filled at the Pabna Conference with a new spirit unlike anything yet known to us. Whatever resolutions
\nwere passed or steps taken, were taken in a spirit of practical utility, which has been hitherto absent from our Congresses and
\nConferences. We have hitherto been engaged in dispute about ideals and methods. We are confident that the country, at least
\nBengal, has now reached a stage when this dispute is no longer necessary. Whatever we may say out of policy or fear, the whole
\nnation is now at one. Swaraj is the only goal which the heart of Bengal recognises, Swaraj without any limitation or reservation.
\nEven the President in his second and closing speech was so much moved by the spirit in the air that he forgot the feeling of caution
\nwhich obliged him in his opening address to deprecate ambitious ideals, and out of the gladness of his heart there burst from him
\na flood of inspiring eloquence which made the whole audience astir with feelings of impassioned aspiration. Swaraj was the
\ntheme of his eloquence and to anyone listening carefully it was evident that Swaraj unlimited and without reservation, was the
\nideal enthroned in the heart of the poet. Even Surendranath or those who voted for colonial Swaraj knew well in their heart of
\nhearts that their ideal was not the ideal of the nation. Long habit and apprehension were the only obstacles in their way which
\nprevented them from throwing themselves into the current. But the rest of the audience were visibly moved by the passionate
\neloquence which flowed from the lips of Rabindranath. What matters it what resolutions may be passed or rejected? Swaraj is
\nno longer a mere word, no longer an ideal distant and impossible; for the heart of Bengal has seized upon it, and the intellect
\n   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 873<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tof Bengal has acknowledged it. We hold no brief for anyone, but
\nwe believe that Srijut Manoranjan Guha was an inspired speaker when he told the Conference never to lose sight of God in the
\nmovement. Mighty aspirations are in the heart of the people and he is false to the inspiration within him who tries to dwarf
\nthem. Let us work practically at the smallest details, but let us never forget that the work is not for its own sake but for the
\nsake of Swaraj. We shall be false to our inspiration if we forget the goal in the details; we shall condemn ourselves to the fate
\nof the man who in the eagerness of picking up pebbles on the seashore threw away the alchemic stone which God had for a
\nmoment given into his hands. Swaraj is the alchemic stone, the parash-pathar<\/i>, and we have it in our hands. It will turn to gold
\neverything we touch. Village samitis are good, not for the sake of village samitis but for the sake of Swaraj. Boycott is good,
\nnot for the sake of Boycott but for the sake of Swaraj. Swadeshi is good, not for the sake of Swadeshi but for the sake of Swaraj.
\nArbitration is good, not for the sake of arbitration but for the sake of Swaraj. If we forget Swaraj and win anything else we
\nshall be like the seeker whose belt was turned indeed to gold but the stone of alchemy was lost to him for ever.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tNever should we forget that but for the hope of Swaraj we should never have done what we have done during the last
\nthree years. No lesser hope, no ideal of inferior grandeur could have nerved us to the tremendous efforts, the great sacrifices,
\nthe indomitable persistence in the face of persecution which has made these three years ever memorable as the birth-time of a
\nnation. Who could have borne what we have borne for the sake of some petty object? No good can result from denying what
\nGod has revealed to us. When Peter denied his master, half of his virtue went out of him. Let not our people have to repent as
\nPeter had to repent, and shed tears of bitter sorrow because the divinity has been expelled by their own folly from their bosom.
\nWhen a light has been revealed folly alone will try to shut it out behind a screen. When a mighty power has entered into the
\nheart, madness alone can wish to forfeit it. Swaraj is the direct revelation of God to this people,\u2014 not mere political freedom
\n   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 874<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tbut a freedom vast and entire, freedom of the individual, freedom of the community, freedom of the nation; spiritual freedom, social freedom, political freedom. Spiritual freedom the ancient
\nRishis had already declared to us; social freedom was part of the message of Buddha, Chaitanya, Nanak and Kabir and the saints
\nof Maharashtra; political freedom is the last word of the triune gospel. Without political freedom the soul of man is crippled.
\nOnly a few mighty spirits can rise above their surroundings, but the ordinary man is a slave of his surroundings and if those
\nbe mean, servile and degraded, he himself will be mean, servile and degraded. Social freedom can only be born where the soul
\nof man is large, free and generous, not enslaved to petty aims and thoughts. Social freedom is not a result of social machinery
\nbut of the freedom of the human intellect and the nobility of the human soul. A man who follows petty ends cannot feel his
\nbrotherhood with his fellows, for he is always striving to raise himself above them and assert petty superiorities. If caste makes
\nhim superior or money makes him superior, he will hug to his bosom the distinctions of caste or the distinctions of wealth. If
\npolitical freedom is absent, the community has no great ends to follow and the individual is confined within a narrow circuit
\nin which the superiority of caste, wealth or class is the only ambition which he can cherish. If political freedom opens to
\nhim a wider horizon, he forgets the lesser ambitions. Moreover a slave can never be noble and broad-minded. He cannot forget
\nhimself in the service of his fellows for he is already a slave and service is the badge of his degradation, not a willing
\n\tself-devotion. When man is thus degraded, it is idle to think that society can be free.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tSo too spiritual freedom can never be the lot of many in a land of slaves. A few may follow the path of the Yogin and rise
\nabove their surroundings, but the mass of men cannot ever take the first step towards spiritual salvation. We do not believe that
\nthe path of salvation lies in selfishness. If the mass of men around us is miserable, fallen, degraded, how can the seeker after God
\nbe indifferent to the condition of his brothers? Compassion to all creatures is the condition of sainthood, and the perfect Yogin
\n    <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 875<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tis he who is sarvabhutahite ratah<\/i>, whose mind is full of the
\nwill to do good to all creatures. When a man shuts his heart to the cries of sufferings around him, when he is content that
\nhis fellow-men should be sorrowful, oppressed, sacrificed to the greed of others, he is making his own way to salvation full of
\ndifficulties and stumbling-blocks. He is forgetting that God is not only in himself but in all these millions. And for those who
\nhave not the strength, spiritual freedom in political servitude is a sheer impossibility. When India was free, thousands of men set
\ntheir feet in the stairs of heaven, but as the night deepened and the sun of liberty withdrew its rays, the spiritual force inborn
\nin every Indian heart became weaker and weaker until now it burns so faintly that aliens have taken upon themselves the role
\nof spiritual teachers, and the people chosen by God have to sit at the feet of the men from whose ancestry the light was
\nhidden. God has set apart India as the eternal fountain-head of holy spirituality, and He will never suffer that fountain to run
\ndry. Therefore Swaraj has been revealed to us. By our political freedom we shall once more recover our spiritual freedom. Once
\nmore in the land of the saints and sages will burn up the fire of the ancient Yoga and the hearts of her people will be lifted up
\ninto the neighbourhood of the Eternal. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013
\n\t876<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, February 18th, 1908 } Swaraj   Nationalism was filled at the Pabna Conference with a new spirit unlike anything yet known…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-07-bande-mataram","wpcat-54-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799","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=2799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}