Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/360

 270 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES

have rendered the noblest service that a man can render to humanity a service moreover which you would rightly assert, the great Swami was born for. This Swadeshi is to be considered as a very active force to be ceaselessly employed with an ever-increasing vigilance, searching self-examination. It is not meant for the lazy, but it is essentially meant for them who would gladly lay down their lives for the sake of truth. It is possible to dilate upon several other phases of Swadeshi, but I think I have said enough to enable you to understand what I mean, I only hope that you who represent a school of reformers in India will not reject what I have said, without a thorough examination. And if my word has commended itself to you, your past record entitles me to expect you to enforce in your own lives the things of eternity about which I have ventur- ed to speak to you this after-noon and cover the whole of India with your activity.

WORK OF THE ARYA SAMAJ

In concluding my report of the above speech, I would like to state what I did not in speaking to that great audience and it is this. I have now twice visited the Gurukula. In spite of some vital differences with my brethren of the Arya Samaj, I have a sneaking regard for them, and it, and perhaps the best result of the activity of the Arya Samaj is to be seen in the establishment and the conduct of the Gurukula. Though it depends for its vitality entirely upon the inspiring presence of Mahatmaji Munshiram, it is truly a national and self-governing and self-governed institution. It is totally independent of Government aid or patronage; Its war chest is filled not out of monies received from the privileged few, but from the poor many who make it a

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