Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Wholehearted execution of the prescribed disciplines 6


IN 1933 the annual session of Indian National Congress was held in Calcutta. In those days the Congress was considered an anti-government organization. People were arrested and police firing was resorted to on flimsy pretexts. Delegates who were considered important enough were arrested at Bardwan station and sent to a special jail at Asansol, which was originally made by the East India Company for Europeans. I was also arrested along with my three colleagues of Agra district. Eminent persons  like Madan Mohan Malviyaji, Devdas, Gandhi, Swarooprani Nehru (mother of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru), Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Chandrabhanu Gupta, Kanhaiyalal Khandiwala and Jagan Prasas Rawat were with us in the jail. Malviyaji used to address us daily in the evening throughout our stay there. Malviyaji and Mata Swarooprani used to treat all of us like their children. One day Malviyaji emphasized in his speech that we should beg a paisa from every man and a handful of food grains from every woman to spread the message of our movement so that they may realize that the Congress was their organization and that the freedom struggle was their own struggle, being run with their cooperation and contributions. This thing might not have been important for others but I took serious note of it. The Risis of yore maintained themselves, their Gurukuls and Aranyaks on public alms (bhiksa). It had been pointed out to me by Gurudev that I was to take up an important assignment in hand. I had been wondering wherefrom the money will come for this purpose. In jail, I got the clue. After my release I applied this formula, while launching important projects of moral and social upliftment and transformation. Amounts running into crores have been spent on these projects through willing and volunteer contributions (minimum of ten paisa or a handful of grains per person per day) from lakhs and lakhs of well-wishers and friends of the mission.

Like Gayatri and Gangotri, Congress had been the fount of my life's course. However, after independences I concentrated only on those tasks which could contribute to the fulfillment of political freedom. Politician's freedom. Politicians look after the political and economic affairs of the country. But far more important and crucial is the moral, intellectual and social transformation of the society to usher in an era of true equality, fraternity, freedom and harmony. This can be accomplished by persons and organizations committed to deeper values of life. This is the task dearest to my soul. 

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