Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/464

 374 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES

men who are amateurs. What is wanted in order to give effect to the resolut ions of such conferences is men who would make it their business to do so. If such men come forward in great numbers, then and then only will such conferences be a credit to the country and produce lasting results. At present 'there is much waste of energy. It is desirable that there were many institutions of the type of the Servants of India Society. Only when men fired with the belief that service is the highest religion, come forward in great numbers, only then could we hope to see great results. Fortuna- tely, the religious spirit still binds India, and if during the present age the service of the motherland becomes the end of religion, men and women of religion in large numbers would take part in our public life. When sages and saints take up this work, India will easily achieve her cherished aims. At all events it is incumbent on us that for the purposes of this conference we formed an executive committee whose business, it would be, to enforce its resolutions.

The sound of Swaraj pervades the Indian air. It is due to Mrs. Besant that Swaraj is on the lips of hundreds of thousands of men and women. What was unknown to men and women only two years ago, has, by her consummate tact and her indefatigable efforts, become common property for them. There cannot ba the slightest doubt that her name will take the first rank in history among those who inspired us with tha hope that Swaraj was attainable at no distant date. Swaraj was, and is, the goal of the Congress. The idea did not originate with her. But the credit of presenting it to us as an easily attainable goal belongs to that lady alone. For that we could hardly thank

�� �