Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/593

 whole humanity, unless there is this definite recognition and acceptance of the law of the family in national and in- ternational affairs, in other words, on the political platform. Nations can be called civilized, only to the extent that they obey this law.

This law of love is nothing but a law of truth. Without truth there is no love ; without truth it may be affection, as for one's country to the injury of others ; or infatuation, as of a young man for a girl ; or love may be unreasoning and blind, as of ignorant parents for their children. Love tran- scends all animality and is never partial. 'Satyagraha' has r therefore, been described as a coir), on whose face you read love and on the reverse ycu read tiuih. It is a coin current everywhere and has indefinable value.

the assent of the opponent before it can be brought into play. Indeed it shines out most when the opponent resists. It is, therefore, irresistible. A 'Satyagrahi' does not know what defeat is, for he fights for truth without being exhaust- ed. Death in the fight is a deliverance, and prison, a gate- way to liberty.
 * Satyagraha' is self-dependent. It does not require

It is called also soul-force, became a definite recogni- tion of the soul within is a necessity, if a ' Satyagrahi' is to believe that death does not mean cessation of*the struggle, but a culmination. The body is merely a vehicle for self-expression ; and he gladl) ghes up the bcdy, when its- existence is an obstruction in the way of the opponent seeing the truth, for which the * Satyagrahi' stands. He gives up the body in the certain iaith that, if 'anything would change his opponent's view, a willing sacrifice of his body must do so. And with the knowledge that the soul' survives the body, he is rot impatient to fee the triumph of truth in the present bcdy. Indeed, victory lies in the

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