Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/379

 To the study of the Gita, Mr. Tilak brought a mind untrammelled by tradition, undeterred by authority and unrestrained by expediency. So in every department of life and thought — politics included — ^his genius must run its course, heedless of tradition, authority or expediency. It was absolutely impossible for his fiery and passionate spirit as also for his restless and original mind to acquiesce in the easy-going, desultory and irresolute public life of the day. Where would it lead us ? What was its goal ? Will these widow-marriages and all that make men of us ? Will they break the bonds of foreign domination that has enchained and well-nigh paralyzed us ? To him British Government was an evil — to be tolerated, to be made the best of, but after-all an evil, which has crushed us politically, socially, industrially, and spiritually. Therein he saw no " Divine dispensation of an inscrutable Providence." Two generations of educated Indians had been lauding, with a rare exception, the greatness of our English " deliverers "; Mr. Tilak refused to dance to the tune. Two generations of educated Indians had swallowed all the sneers and gibes at Indian society in which the English officials and missionaries indulged ; far from uttering a word of protest, the English-educated Indians had based their programme of Social Reform on that condemnation. Mr. Tilak could not agree with them. Two generations of educated Indians had pinned their faith on the benevolence, righteousness and humanity of the present rulers of India ; Mr. Tilak, gifted with a more correct perception of the state of things relied more on the people than on the conquerors, for the great consummation of all our ambitions ; and the man, who