Page:Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches.djvu/176

M. K. Gandhi man, you will only fear God. That is the message that my Master too, Mr. Gokhale, has given to us, what is that message then? It is in the constitution of the Servants of India Society, and that it is that message by which I wish to be guided in my life. The message is to spiritualise political life and political institutions of the country. We must immediately set about realising it in practice. Then students cannot be away from politics. Politics is as essential to them as religion. Politics cannot be divorced from religion.

My views may not be acceptable to you I know. All the same, I can only give you what is stirring me to my very depths. On the authority of my experience in South Africa, I claim that your countrymen who had not that modern culture, but who had that strength of the Rishis of old who have inherited the Tapasyacharya performed by the Rishis, without having known a single word of English literature, and without having known anything whatsoever of the present modern culture, were able to rise to their full height. And what has been possible for the uneducated and illiterate countrymen of ours in South Africa is ten times possible for you and for me 58