spiritual decadence, for moral degradation, for political degeneration of their country. Gandhi explains his attitude thus:
“We must refuse to wait for the wrong to be righted till the wrong-doer has been roused to a sense of his iniquity. We must not, for fear of ourselves or others having to suffer, remain participators in it. But we must combat the wrong by ceasing to assist the wrongdoer directly or indirectly.
“If a father does an injustice, it is the duty of his children to leave the parental roof. If the head-master of a school conducts his institution on an immoral basis, the pupils must leave the school. If the chairman of a corporation is corrupt, the members thereof must wash their hands clean of his corruption by withdrawing from it; even so, if a government does a grave injustice, the subject must withdraw cooperation, wholly or partially, sufficiently to wean the ruler from his wickedness. In each of the cases conceived by me, there is an element of suffering whether mental or physical. Without such suffering, it is impossible to attain freedom.” ******** “The business of every god-fearing man is to dissociate himself from evil in total disregard of consequences. He must have faith in a good deed producing only a good result; that in my opinion is the Gita doctrine of work without attachment. God does not permit him to peep into the future. He follows truth although the followingof it may endanger his very life. He knows that it is better to die in the way of God than to live in the way of Satan. Therefore whoever is satisfied that this Government represents the activity of Satan has no choice left to him but to dissociate himself from it . . . .”
4
For over a period of twenty-five years, he rendered, willingly and ungrudgingly, his voluntary services, his hearty cooperation, with the British Empire whenever it was threatened and stood in need. Though vehemently criticised when it went wrong, yet he never wished its destruction until his final decision of non-cooperation in 1920. For he felt, that in spite of its abuses and shortcomings, the system was mainly and intrinsically good. Mr. Gandhi gave immense proofs of his unshaken loyalty to the Empire and his firm faith in British justice, through invaluable and trying services on the occasion of the Anglo-Boer War (1899), the Zulu Revolt (1906) and
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