STRIVING FOR SWARAJ
By RABINDRANATH TAGORE
[Authorised Translation for the Modern Review]
OUR wise men have warned us, in solemn accents of Sanskrit, to talk away as much as we like, but never to write it down. There are proofs, many of them, that I have habitually disregarded this sage advice, following it only when called upon to reply. I have never hesitated to write, whenever I had anything to say, be it in prose or in verse, controversy alone excepted, — for on that my pen has long ceased to function.
Such of our beliefs as become obsessions are hardly ever made up of pure reason, — our temperament, or moods of the moment, mainly go to their fashioning. It is but rarely that we believe, because we have found a good reason: we most often seek reasons because we believe. Only in Science do our conclusions follow upon strict proofs; while the rest of them, under the influence of our attractions and repulsions, keep circling round the centre of our personal predilections. This is all the more true when our belief is the outcome of a desire for some particular result specially when that desire is shared by a large number of our fellow men. In such case no reason needs to be adduced in order to persuade people into a common course, — it being sufficient if such course is fairly easy, and, above all, if the hope is roused of speedy success.
It is some time since the minds of our countrymen have been kept in a state of agitation by the idea that Swaraj may be easily and speedily attained; in this unsettled atmosphere of popular excitement any attempt at a discussion of pros and cons does but bring down a cyclonic storm, in which it becomes almost hopeless to expect the vessel of reason to make sail for any port of destination. Hitherto, we had always thought that the achievement of Swaraj was a difficult matter. So, when it came to our ears that, on the contrary, it was extremely easy, and by no means impossible to reach in a very short time, who could have the heart to raise questions or obtrude arguments? Those who were enthusiastic over the prospect of faqir turning a copper coin into a gold mohur, are able to do so, not because they are lacking in intellect, but because their avidity restrains them from exercising their intelligence.
Anyhow, it was only the other day that our people were beside themselves at the message that Swaraj was at our very door. Then when the appointed time for its advent had slipped by, it was given out that the disappointment was due to our non-fulfilment of the conditions. But few thereupon paused to consider that it was just in the fulfilment of these conditions that the difficulty lay. Is it not a self-evident truth that we do not have Swaraj simply because we do not fulfil its conditions? It goes without saying that if Hindu and Moslem should come together in amity and good fellowship, that would be a great step towards its realisation. But the trouble always is, the Hindu and Moslem do not come together. Had their union been
