{"id":284,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=284"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:05","slug":"156-the-demand-of-the-mother-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\/156-the-demand-of-the-mother-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-156_The Demand of the Mother.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe Demand of the Mother<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                       
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>W<\/font><\/span>E<\/font><\/b>
\nhave lost the faculty of religious fervour in Bengal and are now trying to
\nrecover it through the passion for the country, by self-sacrifice, by labour for
\nour fellow-countrymen, by absorption in the idea of the country. When a nation
\nis on the verge of losing the source of its vitality, it tries to recover it by
\nthe first means which the environment offers, whether that environment be
\nfavourable or not. Bengal has always lived by its emotions; the brain of India,
\nas it has been called, is also the heart of India. The loss of emotional power,
\nof belief, of enthusiasm would dry up the sources from which she derives her
\nstrength. The country of Nyaya is also the country of Chaitanya who himself was
\nborn in the height of the intellectual development of Bengal as its finest
\nflower and most perfect expression. If now she tries to recover her enthusiasm
\nand perfect power of self-abandonment, it must be through a means which her new
\nenvironment provides.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>This new environment has been responsible for the loss of her springs of
\nvitality; it had turned the Bengalis into a sceptical people prone to swear at
\nand disbelieve in everything great, noble and inspiring. The recovery of her old
\nspirit of enthusiastic faith and aspiration has come about through the sense of
\npolitical unity which had been slowly developing in the heart of the people as
\nthe result of the new environment. That which had supplied the poison, supplied
\nalso the cure. If she is to complete the restoration to her true self, the first
\nrequisite is that the enthusiasm, the idealism of the new movement should be
\nkept alive. The perfect sense of self-abandonment which Chaitanya felt for Hari,
\nmust be felt by Bengal for the Mother. Then only will Bengal be herself and able
\nto fulfil the destiny to which after so many centuries of preparation she has
\nbeen called.
\n           
\nThe great religions of the world have all laid stress on self- abandonment as
\nthe source of salvation and the law applies not only to spiritual salvation but
\nto the destinies of a people. Self-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-852<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nabandonment
\nwill alone give salvation. He who loses his life shall keep it, and the life of
\nthe individual must be the sacrifice for the life of the nation. When the people
\nof Bengal are able to rise to the full height and depth of this idea, they will
\nfind the secret of success which till now has escaped them. It is not by
\npatriotic desires that the nation can be liberated, it is not by patriotic work
\nthat a nation can be built. For every stone that is added to the National
\nedifice, a life must be given. It is not talk of Swaraj that can bring Swaraj,
\nbut it is the living of Swaraj by each man among us that will compel Swaraj to
\ncome.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The Kingdom of Heaven is within you; free India is no piece of wood or
\nstone that can be carved into the likeness of a nation but lives in the hearts
\nof those who desire her, and out of these she must be created. We must first
\nourselves be free in heart before our country can be free. "There is no
\nBritish jail which can hold me," said the great Upadhyaya before his death,
\nand he died to prove the truth of his words; but his words are true for all of
\nus that aspire to liberate our Mother, whether we prove it by our lives or by
\nour death. When her sons have learned to be free in themselves, free in prison,
\nfree under the yoke which they seek to remove, free in life, free in death, when
\nthe text of Upadhyaya’s words will receive their illuminating commentary in the
\nactions of a people, then the chains will fall off of themselves and outward
\ncircumstances be forced to obey the law of our inward life.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>How then can we live Swaraj? By abandonment of the idea of self and its
\nreplacement by the idea of the nation. As Chaitanya ceased to be Nimai Pandit
\nand became Krishna, became Radha, became Balaram, so every one of us must cease
\nto cherish his separate life and live in the nation. The hope of national
\nregeneration must absorb our minds as the idea of salvation absorbs the minds of
\nthe mumuksu<\/i>. <\/i>Our tyā<\/font>ga <\/i>must be as complete as the tyā<\/font>ga <\/i>of
\nthe nameless ascetic. Our passion to see the face of our free and glorified
\nMother must be as devouring a madness as the passion of Chaitanya to see the
\nface of Sri Krishna. Our sacrifice for the country must be as enthusiastic and
\ncomplete as that of Jagai and Madhai who left the rule of a kingdom to follow
\nthe Sankirtan of Gauranga. Our offerings on the altar must be as<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-853<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwildly
\nliberal, as remorselessly complete as that of Carthagenian parents who passed
\ntheir children through the fire to Moloch. If any reservation mars the
\ncompleteness of our self-abandonment, if any bargaining abridges the fullness of
\nour sacrifice, if any doubt mars the strength of our faith and enthusiasm, if
\nany thought of self pollutes the sanctity of our love, then the Mother will not
\nbe satisfied and will continue to withhold her presence. We call her to come,
\nbut the call has not yet gone out of the bottom of our hearts. The Mother’s feet
\nare on the threshold, but she waits to hear the true cry, the cry that rushes
\nout from the heart, before she will enter. We are still hesitating between
\nourselves and the country; we would give one anna to the service of the Mother
\nand keep fifteen for ourselves, our wives, our children, our property, our fame
\nand reputation, our safety, our ease. The Mother asks all before she will give
\nherself. Not until Surath Raja offered the blood of his veins did the Mother
\nappear to him and ask him to choose his boon. Not until Shivaji was ready to
\noffer his head at the feet of the Mother, did Bhavani in visible form stay his
\nhand and give him the command to free his people.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Those who have freed nations have first passed through the agony of utter
\nrenunciation before their efforts were crowned with success, and those who
\naspire to free India will first have to pay the price which the Mother demands.
\nThe schemes by which we seek to prepare the nation, the scheme of industrial
\nregeneration, the scheme of educational regeneration, the scheme of political
\nregeneration through self-help are subordinate features of the deeper
\nregeneration which the country must go through before it can be free. The Mother
\nasks us for no schemes, no plans, no methods. She herself will provide the
\nschemes, the plans, the methods better than any we can devise. She asks us for
\nour hearts, our lives, nothing less, nothing more. Swadeshi, National Education,
\nthe attempt to organise Swaraj are only so many opportunities for self-surrender
\nto her. She will look to see not how much we have tried for Swadeshi, how wisely
\nwe have planned for Swaraj, how successfully we have organised education, but
\nhow much of ourselves we have given, how much of our substance, how much of our
\nlabour, how much of our ease, how much of our safety, how much of our lives.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-854<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Regeneration is literally re-birth, and re-birth comes not by the
\nintellect, not by the fullness of the purse, not by policy, not by change of
\nmachinery, but by the getting of a new heart, by throwing away all that we were
\ninto the fire of sacrifice and being reborn in the Mother. Self-abandonment is
\nthe demand made upon us. She asks of us, "How many will live for me? How
\nmany will die for me?" and awaits our answer.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> April 11, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font>
\n
\nBaruipur Speech<\/font><\/a>*<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSj.
\nShyamsunder Chakravarti having finished his speech, Srijut Aurobindo Ghose rose
\nto address the audience. He began with an apology for being under the necessity
\nof addressing a Bengali audience in a foreign tongue specially by one like
\nhimself who had devoted his life for the Swadeshi movement. He pointed out that
\nthrough a foreign system of education developing foreign tastes and tendencies
\nhe had been de-nationalised like his country and like his country again he is
\nnow trying to re-nationalise himself.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Next he referred to the comparative want of the Swadeshi spirit in West
\nBengal to which Shyamsunder Babu made very polite reference, himself coming from
\nEast Bengal. But Sj. Ghose as he belonged to West Bengal had no hesitation in
\nadmitting the drawback. This superiority of East Bengal he attributed solely to
\nits privilege of suffering of late from the regulation "lathis" and
\nimprisonment administered by the alien bureaucrat. He offered the same
\nexplanation of the increase of the strength of Boycott in Calcutta after the
\ndisturbances at the Beadon Square of which the police were the sole authors. The
\nspeaker dilated on the great efficacy of suffering in rousing the spirit from
\nslumber by a reference to the parable of two birds in the Upanishads, so often
\nreferred to by the late Swami Vivekananda. The parable relates that there was a
\nbig tree with many sweet<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n           <\/font>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>*<\/b> A Swadeshi
\nmeeting was held at Baruipur, a sub-division of the district of 24 Parganas, on
\nSunday the 12th April, 1908. Srijuts Bepin Chandra Pal, Sri Aurobindo with a few
\nother prominent nationalist workers of Calcutta were invited on the occasion.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-855<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nand
\nbitter fruits and two birds sat on the tree, one on the top of it and the other
\non a lower part. The latter bird looking upwards sees the other in all his glory
\nand richness of plumage and is at times enamoured of him and feels that he is no
\nother than his own highest self. But at other moments when he tastes the sweet
\nfruits of the tree he is so much taken up with their sweetness that he quite
\nforgets his dear and beloved companion. After a while there comes the turn of
\nbitter fruits, the unpleasant taste of which breaks off the spell and he looks
\nat his brilliant companion again. This is evidently a parable concerning the
\nsalvation of individual souls who, when they enjoy the sweets of the world,
\nforget to look upwards to the Paramatma who is really none else than their own
\nhighest self, and when they forget themselves in this way through the Maya of
\nthis world, bitterness comes to dispel the Maya and revive the true
\nself-consciousness. The parable is equally applicable to national mukti<\/i>. <\/i>We
\nin India fell under the influence of the foreigners\u2019 Maya which completely
\npossessed our souls. It was the Maya of the alien rule, the alien civilisation,
\nthe powers and capacities of the alien people who happen to rule over us. These
\nwere as if so many shackles that put our physical, intellectual and moral life
\ninto bondage. We went to school with the aliens, we allowed the aliens to teach
\nus and draw our minds away from all that was great and good in us. We considered
\nourselves unfit for self-government and political life, we looked to England as
\nour exemplar and took her as our saviour. And all this was Maya and bondage.
\nWhen this Maya once got its hold on us, put on us shackle after shackle, we had
\nfallen into bondage of the mind by their education, commercial bondage,
\npolitical bondage, etc., and we believed ourselves to be helpless without them.
\nWe helped them to destroy what life there was in India. We were under the
\nprotection of their police and we know now what protection they have given us.
\nNay, we ourselves became the instruments of our bondage. We Bengalis entered the
\nservices of foreigners. We brought in the foreigners and established their rule.
\nFallen as we were, we needed others to protect us, to teach us and even to feed
\nus. All these functions of human life, so utterly was our self-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-856<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ndependence
\ndestroyed, we were left unable to fulfil.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>It is only through repression and suffering that this Maya can be
\ndispelled, and the bitter fruit of Partition of Bengal administered by Lord
\nCurzon dispelled the illusion. We looked up and saw that the brilliant bird
\nsitting above was none else but ourselves, our real and actual self. Thus we
\nfound Swaraj within ourselves and saw that it was in our hands to discover and
\nto realise it.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>Some people tell us that we have not the strength to stand upon our own
\nlegs without the help of the aliens and we should therefore work in co-operation
\nwith and also in opposition to them. But can you depend on God and Maya at the
\nsame time? In proportion as you depend on others the bondage of Maya will be
\nupon you. The first thing that a nation must do is to realise the true freedom
\nthat lies within and it is only when you understand that free within is free
\nwithout, you will be really free. It is for this reason that we preach the
\ngospel of unqualified Swaraj and it is for this that Bhupen Dutt and Upadhyaya
\nrefused to plead before the alien court. Upadhyaya saw the necessity of
\nrealising Swaraj within us and hence he gave himself up to it. He said that he
\nwas free and the Britishers could not bind him; his death is a parable to our
\nnation. There is no power so great that can make India subject when we will say
\nthat God will make us free. Herein lies the true significance of National
\nEducation, Boycott, Swadeshi, Arbitration. Do not be afraid of obstacles in your
\npath, it does not matter how great the forces are that stand in your way, God
\ncommands you to be free and you must be free. We ask you to give up the school
\nunder the control of the foreign bureaucracy and point out to you National
\nEducation, we ask you to keep away from the legal system which prevails in your
\ncountry as it is a source of financial and moral downfall \u2014 another link in
\nthe chain of Maya. Do not suffer in bondage and Maya. Let Maya alone and come
\naway. Don’t think that anything is impossible when miracles are being worked on
\nevery side. If you are true to yourself there is nothing to be afraid of. There
\nis nothing unattainable by truth, love and faith. This is your whole gospel
\nwhich will work out miracles. Never indulge<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-857<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nin
\nequivocations for your ease and safety. Do not invite weakness, stand upright.
\nThe light of Swadeshi is growing brighter through every attempt to crush it.
\nPeople say there is no unity among us. How to create unity? Only through the
\ncall of our Mother and the voice of all her sons and not by any other unreal
\nmeans. The voice is yet weak but it is growing. The might of God is already
\nrevealed among us, its work is spreading over the country. Even in West Bengal
\nit has begun its work in Uttarpara and Baruipur. It is not our work but that of
\nsomething mightier that compels us to go on until all bondage is swept away and
\nIndia stands free before the world.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nApril
\n12, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nPeace
\nand Exclusion<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe
\nBengalee <\/i>has a knack of crying "Peace, peace", when not peace
\nbut a tactical advantage is in its heart. It has been appealing to us to refrain
\nfrom party attacks and recriminations while it carries out its policy of
\nexcluding the Nationalist Party from the Congress unmolested. The singular
\nnature of this demand has attracted bitter comment and given cause for
\nirritation as well as amusement in the minds of our friends of the Nationalist
\nParty, but it is nothing new on our contemporary’s part. Ever since the struggle
\nbegan between the parties, the Bengalee <\/i>has adopted the role <\/i>of
\nangel of peace in its editorial columns while opening its correspondence columns
\nto the most violent and personal attack on its opponents and has been the
\nchampion of a party whose first principle has been to ignore Nationalism when
\npossible, intrigue against it in secret when occasion was favourable and openly
\nexclude it by unconstitutional trickery when secret means would no longer serve.
\nSrijut Surendranath Banerji is the declared editor of this paper and the public
\nconnect it and his actions together. We understand that Srijut Surendranath is
\nsincerely anxious for peace and we are ready to take the hand offered to us if
\nit is given in frankness, but he will pardon us for our plain speaking when we
\nsay that the past tactics of his paper<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-858<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nand
\nhis party have not been such as to inspire us with overabundant confidence. It
\nis by his actions that men judge a party leader and not by his public
\nprofessions whether on the platform, in print or in private conversation.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> April 13, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font>859<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Demand of the Mother                           WE have lost the faculty of religious fervour in Bengal and are now trying to recover it through…<\/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-284","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\/284","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=284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}