{"id":319,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=319"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:18","slug":"155-the-work-before-us-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\/155-the-work-before-us-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-155_The Work Before Us.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n\n\n
\n

\nThe Work Before Us<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                       
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span>HE<\/font><\/b>
\nlittle that we have done is the first faint shadowing forth of our future
\nactivities, nothing more. If we are content with what we have done, even that
\nlittle will disappear, the movement will be abortive and the country fall back
\ninto its former condition. It is therefore necessary to give a new impetus to
\nthe movement everywhere, and now that Srijut Bepin Chandra is out of prison, the
\nnecessary will no doubt be done. The first work is to revive courage in the
\nhearts of the people. The effect of the recent repression has been not to crush
\nthe movement, but to discourage its outward activity. This discouragement must
\nbe removed. We cannot allow the movement to be driven inward and become an
\naffair of secret societies and terrorism, as it will inevitably become if the
\noutward expression of it is stopped. The next work is to give a stronger impetus
\nto the boycott, so that the little that we have gained may become the
\nstarting-point for fresh victories; the organisation of boycott is the first
\nwork to which we should set our hands. The third thing to be done is to spread
\nNational Education. A serious effort must be made to take in hand the raising of
\nfunds for this branch of national activity, so that the National Council may be
\nin a position both to effect the complete organisation of its scientific,
\ntechnical and other sides and to extend aid to the increasing number of schools
\nwhich are springing up all over the country. It is also necessary to bring the
\nexisting primary schools under the Council; for this is a work of great
\nimportance, and until it is done, the foundations of the new educational edifice
\nwill not be secure, since it is the primary schools in which the bulk of the
\npeople are educated. If the present institutions will not come into the new
\nsystem, the country must be covered with a network of new primary schools on
\nnational lines, such as the one which is now being projected at Uttarpara,
\n\u2014<\/span> schools
\ngiving a primary literary education along with such technical instruction as
\nwill enable the students to earn a livelihood as small artisans. If this<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-<\/font><\/span>847<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nis
\ndone, the public will flock into the national institutions and the old primary
\nschools will perish.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>So much is necessary for the completion of the work for which we have
\nalready laid a foundation, but the time has come when we should start actively
\non fresh lines. The most important of these is arbitration, which will, if
\nsuccessfully carried out, form the basis of our future self-government.
\nEducation will give us the necessary training of mind and character for
\nself-government, arbitration will provide a practical field in which our
\ncapacities can be tested. In some parts the work has already been begun and with
\nremarkable success, but it is necessary to lay the foundations all over Bengal.
\nThe difficulties that lie in its way are not so insuperable as they at first
\nappear; if the lawyer class can be provided with a means of living by the
\narbitration system, their passive opposition, which is the only real obstacle to
\nbe dreaded, can be removed. The existing courts will provide careers for those
\nwho wish to earn large fortunes in the legal line, but the host of small
\npractitioners in the mofussil are those who will be affected by the spread of
\narbitration and some provision must be made in our arbitration schemes by which
\ntheir field, if restricted, may not be entirely destroyed. This subject is one
\nwhich demands detailed treatment and it will be the theme of a future article.
\nAt present we wish only to emphasise its great importance.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>When we have laid the foundations of arbitration, our work is not
\nfinished; the positive side of it only has been done. There is another side less
\npalpable, but even more important, and it is the destructive or negative side,
\nthe removal of old prepossessions, false beliefs, false ideals from the mind of
\nthe people. So long as the least little of faith in the bureaucracy remains in
\nthe lowest class of our population, the conditions of success are not complete.
\nThe bureaucracy is itself doing much to destroy the ancient faith in its
\nphilanthropy, integrity and high motive which was the source of its strength,
\nbut this is chiefly in the educated class and the landed aristocracy, both of
\nwhich, whatever the outward professions, fear or self-interest may dictate, are
\nnow thoroughly alienated. The only work which remains to be done so far as these
\nclasses are concerned, is to generate faith in the<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-848<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

nation, for so far as moderatism still prevails, it is
\nnot owing to faith in the bureaucracy but to distrust in the nation. The lower
\nclasses have still to be inoculated with the spirit of self-help, separation
\nfrom the alien and confidence in their own countrymen. To some extent the work
\nhas been done, the seed has been sown; Swadeshi is the seedbed of this spirit of
\nself-reliance, this sense of separateness, and, at least among the Hindu
\ncommunity, Swadeshi is deeply rooted in all classes. But this seed has yet to
\nfructify and spring up. The only way in which this can be done is to destroy the
\nbarriers between the educated class and the peasantry which English education
\nhas created, to restore the old unity of society by mutual service, by love, by
\nself-identification with the mass of our countrymen. The volunteer movement, now
\nin a rudimentary state, has to be developed and perfected so as to form the
\nbridge of communication between the heart of the people and the brain of the
\neducated community. Our propaganda among the masses must consist less in the
\nteaching of ideas than in teaching by acts, less in intellectual conviction than
\nin the appeal to the heart and to the imagination. No time should be lost in
\ntaking this work in hand, the days are passing by with great swiftness and
\nbringing us nearer and nearer to the final struggle when the people and the
\nbureaucracy will stand face to face. On that day the masses will weigh down the
\nscale and decide victory or defeat.<\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nCampbell-Bannerman
\nRetires<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\nThe
\nresignation of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman leaves things for India just where
\nthey were, but it is of some importance for England, as it is not unlikely that
\nthe transference of leadership to a man of Mr. Asquith’s cold, hard and
\nunsympathatic Whiggism may lead to an early disruption of the Liberal majority.
\nFor India, of course, that event would mean little or nothing; a Hamilton to a
\nFowler and a Morley to a Brodrick succeeds, and the only difference made by the
\nretirement of the quondam friend, philosopher and guide of Moderatism into the
\ncool shades of Opposition, will be that we are now suffering from repression<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-849<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwith
\nsympathy and will then suffer from repression without sympathy. On the whole we
\nprefer the latter brand; it is more genuine and invigorating.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nUnited
\nCongress<\/a>*<\/span><\/font><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

After several gentlemen’s speeches Sj. Aurobindo Ghose
\nrose up at last. He admitted that he had a hand in drafting the resolution but
\ndenied the charge of inconsistency on the ground that this new movement, as it
\nis divinely decreed, cannot proceed on the basis of strict consistency of
\nindividual conduct from any individual standpoint. The breaking-up of the
\nCongress at Surat was God’s will and if it can meet again on a basis of union
\nthat would also come from His will. If, again, all our efforts at union fail and
\nthe New Party be compelled to face troubles and persecutions, that should also
\nbe taken as a divinely appointed destiny. We shall not be eager for compromise
\nto avoid trouble and persecution as sufferings are welcome if it be God’s will
\nthat we should suffer, so that our Mother India would be saved. But, in the
\nmeantime, we are a democratic party: at Pabna, at Dhulia and other places,
\npeople wanted a united Congress and it is our duty to try for it if no vital
\nprinciple is sacrificed to gain that end. This was the Speaker’s apology for the
\nattempt at union, though, as he said, his hopes were not high about the success
\nof the attempt. The Congress broke up not over personalities, but for certain
\ndefinite issues which were: (1) irregularities in the election of the President,
\n(2) the attempt from certain quarters to take advantage of the local majority to
\nrecede from the four Calcutta resolutions, (3) the attempt to impose a creed by
\nthe help of a local majority with a view to exclude a large and growing party.
\nUnder the circumstances it was necessary to oppose the whole thing tooth and
\nnail and Mr. Tilak moved an amendment to have a Congress Continuation Committee
\nand there to proceed with the election of the President. The other party did not
\ngive<\/p>\n

\n\u00b7                
\n<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n                  * <\/font>
\nA
\nwell-attended public meeting was held on Friday, the 10th April, 1908 at the Panti’s Math, Calcutta, to discuss the lines on which the Congress postponed sine
\ndie <\/i>at Surat may be revived. Dr. Sundari Mohan Das was elected to the Chair.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-850<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

him any opportunity to carry the amendment and declared
\nthe President to be unanimously elected, though many still hold that the
\nelection was not valid as the whole Congress could not express any opinion on
\nit. But how to carry out the opinion of the people? We are ready to condone this
\nirregularity if a united Congress is to be held on the basis of the Calcutta
\nresolutions. If the other party does not accept, the responsibility of
\nbreaking-up of the Congress and having a party institution in its place will be
\non their shoulders. Our position is, let us work on our different party lines
\nthrough our own institutions, but at the same time let us have the united
\nCongress of the whole people.<\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> April 10, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-851<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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