Chapter 7
Day by day I am feeling that the Lord is with me, and I am trying to follow His directions. His will be done.
I shall have one man only to follow me but he must be true and faithful unto death. I do not care for success or no success.
I want bold, daring, adventurous spirits to help me. Else I will work alone. I have a mission to fulfill.
I want fearless hearts with courage in mind, strength in hands and fire in eyes.
I have intense faith in truth. The Lord will send help and hands to work with me, only let me be perfectly pure, sincere and unselfish.
The lord alone I depend upon; He works through me.
It is the Lord’s work, the right man for the right place will be forthcoming in the right time.
I do not work alone; He is always with me. What could I do otherwise?
It is He who works; we are only the instruments.
If I can get some men of heart and energy, I shall revolutionize the whole country. A few heart whole, sincere and energetic man can do more in a year than a mob in a century.
The world is really enriched by men, high-souled, noble-minded and kind; the rest are only axes which cut the trees of youth of their mothers.
If in every country there are two hundred men and women really wanting to do good to humanity, the new millennium will come in five days. But we know how we are dying for humanity! There are tall talks and nothing else.
We talk highly of humanity, we feel ourselves strong and valiant, we make grand resolves; but when the “dogs” of trial and tribulations bark, we are like the stag in the fable!
Now we want half a dozen lions, then excellent work will be turned out by even hundreds of jackals. Because as the great ones do, so do the people.
If I get ten or twelve boys with the faith of Nachiketa, I can turn the thoughts and pursuits of this country in a new channel.
My hope for the future lies in the youth of character – intelligent, renouncing all for the service of the people and obedient – who can sacrifice their lives in working out my ideas and thereby do good to themselves and the country at large.
The idealism and fervour of youth is like hayfire, it takes no time to burn and no time to douse; so we have to recharge them with fresh energy for channalizing their overflowing enthusiasm and self-assurance to work.
On my own part I will be born two hundred times, if that is necessary, to do the work amongst my people that I have been entrusted. Bless me that I may have the most unflinching patience and perseverance!
If I have a thousand lives, every moment of the whole series would be consecrated to your service, my countryman, my friends! For to this land I owe whatever I possess, physical, mental and spiritual; and if I have been successful in any respect in my life, the glory is yours, not mine. Mine alone are my weaknesses or failures, as the root cause of my inability to imbibe the mighty lessons with which this sacred motherland surrounds one from his very birth.
My resolve is something like this “either to realize my ideal or lay down my life”. I shall try my best to carry out my plans or die in the attempt. I do not know whether I shall succeed or not but it is a great thing to take up a grand ideal in life and then to give up one’s whole life to it, for I shall have at least the satisfaction that I have lived, worked and died for a great cause. If not, some heroic soul would arise some time or other in India, far abler than myself, and carry it out. If I do not achieve success in His plans some better one will come after me to work it out, and I shall be content to struggle.
Success or failure, we shall fight and our last breath will be in the battlefield. Our resolve is not to acknowledge defeat without fighting! We are fighters and shall die in the battlefield. We shall work incessantly until we die, and even after death shall work for the good of the people. Come what may, we shall not forget our duty, whether the world remains or dissolves. We have launched our boat in the waves, come what may!
“O heroes, awake and dream no more. Death has caught you by the forelock, still fear not. What you have never done – fleeing from the battle, will that happen today? For the fear of defeat or death shall you retreat from the fight?”
We will stick to our guns, life or death.
It is better to die in battlefield than to live a life of defeat.
Honourable martyrdom is always preferable to a despicable existence of defeat and disgrace.