{"id":305,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=305"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:13","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:13","slug":"140-the-fund-for-sj-pal-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\/140-the-fund-for-sj-pal-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-140_The Fund for Sj Pal.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

The
\nFund for Sj. Pal<\/font><\/h2>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n               
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>    T<\/font><\/b><\/span>HE<\/font><\/b>
\nquestion of a fund for Srijut Bepin Chandra Pal was raised at first in a private
\nway and without
\n<\/span>the <\/span>idea
\nof a public appeal, but as soon as it was suggested to the leaders of the
\nNationalist Party, they rejected the idea of any action which would seem like an
\nappeal to the private charity of the friends, admirers and sympathisers of
\nSrijut Bepin Chandra. They resolved to ask the public for funds to present to
\nSrijut Pal as a recognition of his services to the country well knowing that he
\nwould insist on the money being utilised for further service to his country
\ninstead of for his own personal benefit. Nevertheless certain friends and
\nfellow-workers are under the impression that the purse will be a personal gift
\nto the Nationalist leader to be used for his personal benefit, and they have
\nquestioned the suitability of the form which the appreciation of his services
\nhas taken. Among others Sj. Rabindranath Tagore while associating himself with
\nthe appeal wrote to us suggesting that the question of the advisability of
\nintroducing this European form of material recognition into the more spiritual
\natmosphere of India might be publicly discussed in our columns. The question is
\nan important one and since it is likely to recur as our political life develops,
\nit is as well to clear the air from the beginning.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>The principle of rewarding distinguished public services by material
\nforms of recognition as well as by honours and titles is common to East and
\nWest, not only so but rank and title were usually associated with the gift of an
\nestate or Jagir to support the expenditure suitable to the rank and the dignity
\nof the title. Sometimes gifts of land were given by the State without any fresh
\nrank or title either as a reward or as a security for future service. In modern
\ntimes the State has no land to give and the only material appreciation it can
\nshow of great merit or distinguished services is either a pension or annuity
\nfor the former or a vote of money for the latter. An annuity serves the purpose
\nof securing a man of ability against want and enabling him to devote himself
\n<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-770<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nentirely
\nto the work which has procured him the recognition and therefore serves the
\npurpose of securing the future services to the community once guaranteed by the
\nState gift of land. The vote of money on the other hand is usually given to a
\ndistinguished man who is above want and is a substitute for the Jagir of feudal
\ntimes. No European soldier or statesman, however great his position, his rank or
\nhis wealth, would consider it a degradation to accept such a gift from the
\nnation.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>In India the State is not the people, and the servants of the people are
\nlikely to fall under the displeasure of the State to be persecuted and even
\nruined by official wrath rather than to enjoy honours, dignities and rewards at
\nits hands. It is therefore the duty of the people to show its own appreciation
\nof their services, not because they demand such recognition, but as a duty to
\nitself and an assertion of its own dignity and claims. Many of those who suffer
\nfor its sake are ruined by the persecution of the bureaucrats and leave their
\nfamilies to want or even to destitution, and in such cases the people are bound
\nto come to their assistance. Such funds as the Basanta Bhattacharya Fund belong
\nto this category, and there can be no question about their fitness, nor can any
\nblot come to the honour of the recipient by his acceptance. But public vote of
\nmoney to a leader falls under a different head and introduces new questions of
\npropriety. There can be no question either of the right of the public to offer
\nsuch a substantial mark of recognition or of this right under certain
\ncircumstances becoming a duty; and until the new movement there would have been
\nno question of the propriety of a public leader accepting such a gift; for in
\nthose days the standard was a Western standard and whatever was held right and
\nhonourable by the Western standard, was necessarily right and honourable in
\nIndian politics. But the new movement has abolished the Western standard and
\nreturns to national ideals and principles. The first question is whether the
\npublic ought to be allowed to give a purse, the second whether the leader should
\naccept it. To the first question the answer is that the purse takes the place of
\nthe feudal Jagir which either secures the services of ability by placing it
\nabove want or is meant as a substantial recognition of past services. The public
\nis entitled to adopt this form because there<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-771<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nis
\nno other, except such titles and honours as have been given by common consent to
\nmen like Raja Subodh Chandra Mallik or the brilliant but passing honour of a
\npublic reception. But this right is limited by the obligation not to demoralise
\nthe people’s servants, not to stain the purity of their motives or lower the
\nhigh ideal of self-sacrifice and self-effacement which is growing up in our
\nmidst. The new servant of the people is a different type from the old political
\nleader. He is as often as not a man who is poor, without resources, pursued by
\ndifficulties in his private life, yet is debarred from devoting himself to
\nearning his private bread except by such occupations as are themselves an act of
\nservice to the people. This poverty, this indigence is the glory of the man and
\nhis great honour. Such an ideal, like that of the Brahmin, is a possession of
\ngreat price which should not be lightly thrown away. If the presentation of a
\npurse destroys it, then this form of recognition should be eschewed. But how
\nthen is the public to mark its sense of appreciation, to put something in the
\nbalance against the material injuries which the bureaucracy have it in their
\npower to inflict just as they are able to outweigh the moral stigma of the jail
\nor legal condemnation by marks of their love and admiration? The solution lies
\nin such rare instances
\n<\/span>as that of Sj.
\nBepin Chandra in the public exercising its right and <\/span>leaving
\nit to the representative of the New Spirit to deal with their gift in the new
\nspirit. We expect the people of India to
\nshow
\nby the substantial nature of the purse their high apprecia<\/span>tion
\nof the services of the great Nationalist leader, of his noble self-immolation
\nand of the oppressive nature of the monstrous sentence which was inflicted upon
\nhim. They may safely leave it to Sj. Bepin Chandra to make such a disposition of
\ntheir gift as will effect the purpose for which it was given and yet preserve
\nthe ideal purity of the standards which he himself has done so much to bring
\ninto public favour and acceptance.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> March 21, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-772<\/font><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fund for Sj. Pal                       THE question of a fund for Srijut Bepin Chandra Pal was raised at first in a private…<\/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-305","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\/305","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=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}