Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/349

 found its way in the Kesari. At a minute's notice he poured forth columns of wonderful learning, duly adorned with a literary setting. Religion, philosophy, economics, agriculture, astronomy, science — there was no subject too difficult for his pen or mind. He not only assimilated all the available knowledge on the subject in hand, but put his own stamp on it. His luminous and often original writmgs on knotty questions of philosophy or science are an intellectual treat and would repay a careful perusal even to-day.

But Mr. Tilak soon realised that it is not seed, lavishly sown that bears fruit, but the seed that is carefully put under the earth. This made him take into consideration the intellectual level of his readers. He put himself the question " Whom do I write for ?" and it was got long before he gave himself the correct answer. uince then, his writings and speeches tended more and more to simplicity, without losing an iota of vigour.

The equipment which he brought to bear on his editorial work was indeed, extremely rare, not only in this country but in any other. Possessed of a profound knowledge of the law, he did not care what restrictions the Government put on the freedom of the Press. He was prepared, he used to say, to convey his message under any rigours imposed by the law. Only the Bureaucracy must adhere to the compact and must not shuffle its position again and again and try to seek new meaning into the definition of sedition every time, by straining its words and distorting their import and significance.

His complete mastery over the Sanskrit language and literature, Vedic and post-Vedic, classical and philosophical, enabled him not only to form a style at once simple