Volume Eighty-Two
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1. ADIVASIS Adivasis have become the fourteenth item in the constructive programme.1 But they are not the least in point of importance. Our country is so vast and the races so varied that the best of us, in spite of every effort, cannot know all there is to know of men and their condition. As one comes upon layer after layer of things one ought to know as a national servant, one realizes how difficult it is to make good our claim to be one nation whose every unit has a living consciousness of being one with every other. 1 1 The Adivasis are 24 crores in all India, i.e., 64 per cent of the total population or nearly half of the Harijan population. Shri Balasaheb Kher has thrown himself with his usual zeal into this much needed service in the Thana District. He says in the pamphlet issued by him, on behalf of the Adivasi Seva Mandal of which he is President:2 Balasaheb has made a modest beginning. He has started with a hostel for Adivasi boys. His work is all unassuming and solid. If he gets the true type of workers, what is a small beginning may one day blossom forth into an all-India organization covering the whole of the Adivasi population. Truly “the harvest is rich and the labourers few.” Who can deny that all such service is not merely humanitarian but solidly national and brings us nearer to true independence? SEVAGRAM, February 9, 1942 Harijan, 15-2-1942 1 Vide “Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place“ 13-12-1941. In the revised edition it became the sixteenth item. 2 The pamphlet, not reproduced here, described the miserable plight of the Adivasis and their exploitation by zamindars and forest contractors. VOL. 82 : 9 FEBRUARY, 1942 - 6 JUNE, 1942 1 2. QUESTION BOX THE ETERNAL PROBLEM Q.Why can’t you see that whilst there is possession it must be defended against all odds? Therefore your insistence that violence should be eschewed in all circumstances is utterly unworkable and absurd. I think non-violence is possible only for select individuals. A.This question has been answered often enough in some form or other in these columns as also in those of Young India. But it is an evergreen. I must answer it as often as it is put, especially when it comes from an earnest seeker as this one does. I claim that even now, though the social structure is not based on a conscious acceptance of non-violence, all the world over mankind lives and men retain their possessions on the sufferance of one another. If they had not done so, only the fewest and the most ferocious would have survived. But such is not the case. Families are bound together by ties of love, and so are groups in the so-called civilized society called nations. Only they do not recognize the supremacy of the law of non-violence. It follows, therefore, that they have not investigated its vast possibilities. Hitherto out of sheer inertia, shall I say, we have taken it for granted that complete non-violence is possible only for the few who take the vow of non-possession and the allied abstinences. Whilst it is true that the votaries alone can carry on research work and declare from time to time the new possibilities of the great eternal law governing man, if it is the law, it must hold good for all. The many failures we see are not of the law but of the followers, many of whom do not even know that they are under that law willy-nilly. When a mother dies for her child she unknowingly obeys the law. I have been pleading for the past fifty years for a conscious acceptance of the law and its zealous practice even in the face of failures. Fifty years’ work has shown marvellous results and strengthened my faith. I do claim that by constant practice we shall come to a state of things when lawful possession will command universal and voluntary respect. No doubt such possession will not be tainted. It will not be an insolent demonstration of the inequalities that surround us everywhere. Nor need the problem of unjust and unlawful possessions appal the votary of non-violence. He 2 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI has at his disposal the non-violent weapon of satyagraha and non-co- operation which hitherto has been found to be a complete substitute of violence whenever it has been applied honestly in sufficient measure. I have never claimed to present the complete science of non- violence. It does not lend ittself to such treatment. So far as I know no single physical science does, not even the very precise science of mathematics. I am but a seeker, and I have fellow-seekers like the questioner whom I invite to accompany me in the very difficult but equally fascinating search. SEVAGRAM, February 9, 1942 Harijan, 22-2-1942 3. PASSING OF THE FIRST STAGE OF THE A.I.V.I.A1 One would have thought that I had enough on my hands without taking the additional burden of the presidentship of the A. I. V. I. A. I have been its guide ever since its inception2, but the importunity of the Board was irresistible. Readers will lighten my task by sharing it with me by (a) becoming members, (b) contributing funds (c) contributing solid work. SEVAGRAM, February 9, 1942 Harijan, 22-2-1942 4. FROM THE OLDEST CONGRESSMAN DEAR MAHATMAJI, I congratulate you upon your dissociation with the believers of violence as far as possible. God gave you an opportunity to do so at Poona, but at Bombay you forgot all about that God-given opportunity. At Bardoli God gave you that opportunity again. I am exceedingly glad that you did not make the same mistake at Wardha as you had done at Bombay. Violence was created by God who gave it a limited life. God in His infinite wisdom now finds that violence was given a trial and found wanting in preserving world peace. This world war may not be the longest but it must 1 J. C. Kumarappa’s article about the new constitution of the A.I.V.I.A. to which this note was appended is not reproduced here. 2 In 1934 VOL. 82 : 9 FEBRUARY 1940 - 6 JUNE, 1940 3 be the last, and a new world with perfect peace and tranquillity will emerge out of the ashes of violence and armament for the benefit of mankind. God-believing India will not have man-given violence and armament- controlled freedom for exploiting the weaker section of humanity. She must have God-given freedom for their service—seva. God-given freedom can be obtained only by satyagraha, sufferings for which can be successfully undertaken only by those whose surrender to Him is complete. The number of satyagrahis is steadily increasing. Let the advocates of violence say and do whatever they may, the number of believers in non- violence will steadily go on increasing and the world will have real peace. HARA DAYAL NAG Chandpur, 24-1-1942 Though the foregoing1 has an intrinsic value as an expression of robust faith, it is printed as being from the pen of the oldest living Congressman who clings to non-violence as an infant to its mother’s breast. SEVAGRAM, February 9, 1942 Harijan, 22-2-1942 5. LETTER TO MAGANLAL AND MANJULA MEHTA February 9, 1942 CHI. MAGAN AND MANJULA, I have the letters of you both. Why this infatuation for the examination? It is strange that Manjula should press you. A man may sacrifice his all for his parents, children or brothers. Would you mind so much sacrificing studies for the sake of Ratilal? If you are determined to complete your studies, what is the harm in dropping the examination once? I still think you are failing in your duty to Ratilal. How can you expect to impose on somebody else a duty which you yourself are not ready to perform? If I had anybody with me, I would have taken charge of Ratilal long ago. I acknowledge no duties 1 Of which only extracts are reproduced here 4 THE COLLECTED WORKS OF MAHATMA GANDHI even to my sons now, otherwise I myself would have run down to Rajkot. You have no reason to refuse to go. Blessings from BAPU [PS.] I will certainly try to shift Champa from your room to some other room. From a photostat of the Gujarati: C.W. 1026. Courtesy: Manjula M. Mehta 6. NOTE TO KRISHNACHANDRA February 9, 1942 Inform Balvantsinha that the scales are meant exclusively for men. They are costly and belong to the hospital. We have another for vegetables which should be kept in order. From a photostat of the Hindi: G.N. 4414 7. LETTER TO B. S. PATHIK SEVAGRAM, February 9, 1942 BHAI PATHIKJI, I duly received your letter. I have also read what you wrote to Ramnarayanji. I need all the sincere comrades I can find. What answer can I give to your questions? I remain what I have always been. There has been no change in my ideas. If my writing or my work has provided any light to you, and if your reason accepts it, do come and have further experience of my method. I generally can spare very little time for conversation. What I want is that you should acquaint yourself with the atmosphere here and get to know the people. Blessings from BAPU SJT.