Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/932

 842 MIBCELLA N EOUB and therefore have to carry conviction by slow and laborious processes, and then too not always with success. That being so,I would be less than numan if with all my knowledge of avoidable misery pervading the land and of the sight of mere skeletons under the very shadow of the Lord of the Universe, I did not feel with and for all the suffering but dumb millions of India, The hope of a steady decline in that misery sustains me; but suppose that with all my sensitiveness to sufferings, to pleasure and pain, cold and heat and with all my endeavour to carry the healing message of the spinning wheel to the heart, I have reached only the ear and never pierced the heart, suppose further that at the end of the year I find that the people are as sceptical as they are to·day about the present possibility of attainment of Swaraj by means of the peaceful- revolution of the wheel. Suppose further, that I find that all the excitement during the past twelve months and more has been only an excitement and a stimulation but no settled belief in the programme, and lastly sup- pose that the message of peace has not penetrated the hearts of Englishmen, should Inot doubt my fapasya and feel my unworthiness for leading the struggle? As a true man, what should I do? Should I not kneel down in all humility before my Maker and ask Him to take away this useless body and make me a fitter instrument of service ? Swaraj does consist in the change of government and its real control by the people, but that would be merely the form. The substance that I am•hankering after is a definite acceptance of the means and therefore a real change of heart on the part of the people. I am certain that it does not require ages for Hindus