{"id":374,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=374"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:37","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:37","slug":"015-conclusions-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\/015-conclusions-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-015_Conclusions.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n
\nS<\/font>EVEN<\/p>\n

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

\nConclusions<\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n               
\n<\/span>
\n<\/font>
\nT<\/font><\/b>O SUM<\/font><\/span> up the conclusions at
\nwhich we have arrived. The object of all our political movements and therefore
\nthe sole object with which we advocate passive resistance is Swaraj or national
\nfreedom. The latest and most venerable of the older politicians who have sat in
\nthe Presidential Chair of the Congress, pronounced from that seat of authority
\nSwaraj as the one object of our political endeavour, \u2014 Swaraj as the only
\nremedy for all our ills, \u2014 Swaraj as the one demand nothing short of which
\nwill satisfy the people of India. Complete self-government as it exists in the <\/p>\n

United Kingdom<\/p>\n

or the Colonies, \u2014 such was his definition of Swaraj. The Congress has
\ncontented itself with demanding self-government as it exists in the Colonies. We
\nof the new school would not pitch our ideal one inch lower than absolute Swaraj,
\n\u2014 self-government as it exists in the <\/p>\n

United Kingdom. We believe that no smaller ideal can inspire national revival or nerve the
\npeople of <\/p>\n

India<\/p>\n

for the fierce, stubborn and formidable struggle by which alone they can again
\nbecome a nation. We believe that this newly awakened people, when it has
\ngathered its strength together, neither can nor ought to consent to any
\nrelations with <\/p>\n

England<\/p>\n

less than that of equals in a confederacy. To be content with the relations of
\nmaster and dependent or superior and subordinate, would be a mean and pitiful
\naspiration unworthy of manhood; to strive for anything less than a strong and
\nglorious freedom would be to insult the greatness of our past and the
\nmagnificent possibilities of our future.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/span>To the ideal we have at heart there are three paths, possible or
\nimpossible. Petitioning, which we have so long followed, we reject as
\nimpossible, \u2014 the dream of a timid inexperience, the teaching of false friends
\nwho hope to keep us in perpetual subjection, foolish to reason, false to
\nexperience. Self-development<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-118<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nby
\nself-help which we now purpose to follow, is a possible though uncertain path,
\nnever yet attempted under such difficulties, but one which must be attempted,
\nif for nothing else yet to get free of the habit of dependence and helplessness,
\nand re-awaken and exercise our half-atrophied powers of self-government.
\nParallel to this attempt and to be practised simultaneously, the policy of
\norganised resistance to the present system of government forms the old
\ntraditional way of nations which we also must tread. It is a vain dream to
\nsuppose that what other nations have won by struggle and battle, by suffering
\nand tears of blood, we shall be allowed to accomplish easily, without terrible
\nsacrifices, merely by spending the ink of the journalist and petition-framer and
\nthe breath of the orator. Petitioning will not bring us one yard nearer to
\nfreedom; self-development will not easily be suffered to advance to its goal.
\nFor self-development spells the doom of the ruling bureaucratic despotism, which
\nmust therefore oppose our progress with all the art and force of which it is the
\nmaster; without organised resistance we could not take more than a few faltering
\nsteps towards self-emancipation. But resistance may be of many kinds,
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/span>
\n<\/span>armed revolt, or aggressive resistance short of armed revolt, or
\ndefensive resistance whether passive or active; the circumstances of the country
\nand the nature of the despotism from which it seeks to escape must determine
\nwhat form of resistance is best justified and most likely to be effective at the
\ntime or finally successful.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/span>The Congress has not formally abandoned the petitioning policy; but it is
\nbeginning to fall into discredit and gradual disuse, and time will accelerate
\nits inevitable death by atrophy; for it can no longer even carry the little
\nweight it had, since it has no longer the support of an undivided public opinion
\nat its back. The alternative policy of self-development has received a partial
\nrecognition; it has been made an integral part of our political activities, but
\nnot in its entirety and purity. Self-help has been accepted as supplementary to
\nthe help of the very bureaucracy which it is our declared object to undermine
\nand supplant, \u2014 self-development as supplementary to development of the nation
\nby its foreign rulers. Passive resistance has not been accepted as a national
\npolicy, but in the form of Boycott it has been declared<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-119<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

legitimate
\nunder circumstances which apply to all <\/p>\n

India.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/span>This is a compromise good enough for the moment but in which the new
\nschool does not mean to allow the country to rest permanently. We desire to put
\nan end to petitioning until such a strength is created in the country that a
\npetition will only be a courteous form of demand. We wish to kill utterly the
\npernicious delusion that a foreign and adverse interest can be trusted to develop
\nus to its own detriment, and entirely to do<\/span>
\naway <\/span>with <\/span>the foolish and
\nignoble hankering after help from our natural adversaries. Our attitude to
\nbureaucratic concession is that of Laocoon: "We fear the Greeks even when
\nthey bring us gifts." Our policy is self-development and defensive
\nresistance. But we would extend the policy of self-development to every
\ndepartment of national life; not only Swadeshi and National Education, but
\nnational defence, national arbitration courts, sanitation, insurance against
\nfamine or relief of famine, \u2014 whatever our hands find to do or urgently needs
\ndoing, we must attempt ourselves and no longer look to the alien to do it for
\nus. And we would universalise and extend the policy of defensive resistance
\nuntil it ran parallel on every line with our self-development. We would not only
\nbuy our own goods, but boycott British goods; not only have our own schools, but
\nboycott Government institutions; not only erect our own Arbitration Courts, but
\nboycott bureaucratic justice; not only organise our league of defence, but have
\nnothing to do with the bureaucratic Executive except when we cannot avoid it. At
\npresent even in
\nBengal
\n where Boycott is universally accepted, it is confined to the boycott of British
\ngoods and is aimed at the British merchant and only indirectly at the British
\nbureaucrat. We would aim it directly both at the British merchant and at the
\nBritish bureaucrat who stands behind and makes possible exploitation by the
\nmerchant.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/span>The double policy we propose has three objects before it: \u2014 to develop
\nourselves into a self-governing nation; to protect ourselves against and repel
\nattack and opposition during the work of development; and to press in upon and
\nextrude the foreign agency in each field of activity and so ultimately supplant
\nit. Our defensive resistance must therefore be mainly passive in the beginning,
\nalthough with a perpetual readiness to supplement it<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-120<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

with
\nactive resistance whenever compelled. It must be confined for the present to
\nBoycott, and we must avoid giving battle on the crucial question of taxation for
\nthe sole reason that a No-Taxes campaign demands a perfect organisation and an
\nultimate preparedness from which we are yet far off. We will attack the
\nresources of the bureaucracy whenever we can do so by simple abstention, as in
\nthe case of its immoral Abkari revenue; but we do not propose at present to
\nfollow European precedents and refuse the payment of taxes legally demanded from
\nus. We desire to keep our resistance within the bounds of law, so long as law
\ndoes not seek directly to interfere with us and render impossible our progress
\nand the conscientious discharge of our duty to our fellow-countrymen. But if, at
\nany time, laws should be passed with the object of summarily checking our
\nself-development or unduly limiting our rights as men, we must be prepared to
\nbreak the law and endure the penalty imposed for the breach with the object of
\nmaking it unworkable as has been done in other countries. We must equally be
\nready to challenge by our action arbitrary executive coercion, if we do not wish
\nto see our resistance snuffed out by very cheap official extinguishers. Nor must
\nwe shrink from boycotting persons as well as things; we must make full though
\ndiscriminating use of the social boycott against those of our countrymen who
\nseek to baffle the will of the nation in a matter vital to its emancipation, for
\nthis is a crime of l\u00e8<\/span>se-nation
\n<\/i>which is far more heinous than the legal offence of l\u00e8<\/span>se-majest\u00e9<\/span>
\n<\/i>and deserves the severest penalty with which the nation can visit traitors.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/span>We advocate, finally, the creation of a strong central authority to carry
\nout the will of the nation, supported by a close and active organisation of
\nvillage, town, district and province. We desire to build up this organisation
\nfrom the constitution the necessity of which the Congress has recognised and for
\nwhich it has provided a meagre and imperfect beginning; but if, owing to
\nModerate obstruction, this constitution cannot develop or is not allowed to
\nperform its true functions, the organisation and the authority must be built up
\notherwise by the people itself and, if necessary, outside the Congress.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/span>The double policy of self-development and defensive resis-<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-121<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

tance
\nis the common standing-ground of the new spirit all over <\/p>\n

India. Some may not wish to go beyond its limits, others may look outside it; but so
\nfar all are agreed. For ourselves we avow that we advocate passive resistance
\nwithout wishing to make a dogma of it. In a subject nationality, to win liberty
\nfor one’s country is the first duty of all, by whatever means, at whatever
\nsacrifice; and this duty must override all other considerations. The work of
\nnational emancipation is a great and holy yaj\u00f1<\/span>a
\n<\/i>of which Boycott, Swadeshi, National Education and every other activity,
\ngreat and small, are only major or minor parts. Liberty is the fruit we seek
\nfrom the sacrifice and the Motherland the goddess to whom we offer it; into the
\nseven leaping tongues of the fire of the yaj\u00f1<\/span>a
\n<\/i>we must offer all that we are and all that we have, feeding the fire even
\nwith our blood and lives and happiness of our nearest and dearest; for the
\nMotherland is a goddess who loves not a maimed and imperfect sacrifice, and
\nfreedom was never won from the gods by a grudging giver. But every great yaj\u00f1<\/span>a
\n<\/i>has its Rakshasas who strive to baffle the sacrifice, to bespatter it with
\ntheir own dirt or by guile or violence put out the flame. Passive resistance is
\nan attempt to meet such disturbers by peaceful and self-contained brahmatejas<\/i>;
\n<\/i>but even the greatest Rishis of old could not, when the Rakshasas were
\nfierce and determined, keep up the sacrifice without calling in the bow of the
\nKshatriya. We should have the bow of the Kshatriya ready for use, though in the
\nbackground. Politics is especially the business of the Kshatriya, and without
\nKshatriya strength at its back, all political struggle is unavailing.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n           
\n<\/span>Vedantism accepts no distinction of true or false religions, but
\nconsiders only what will lead more or less surely, more or less quickly to moksa,
\n<\/i>spiritual emancipation and the realisation of the Divinity within. Our
\nattitude is a political Vedantism. India, free, one and indivisible, is the
\ndivine realisation to which we move, \u2014 emancipation our aim; to that end each
\nnation must practise the political creed which is the most suited to its
\ntemperament and circumstances; for that is the best for it which leads most
\nsurely and completely to national liberty and national self-realisation. But
\nwhatever leads only to continued subjection must be spewed out as mere vileness
\nand impurity. Passive<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-122<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

resistance
\nmay be the final method of salvation in our case or it may be only the
\npreparation for the final sādhanā.
\n<\/i>In either case, the sooner we put it into full and perfect practice, the
\nnearer we shall be to national liberty.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-123<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEVEN Conclusions                   TO SUM up the conclusions at which we have arrived. The object of all our political movements and therefore the sole…<\/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-374","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\/374","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=374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}