Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/39

Rh culty. When taunted with poverty he had the spirit to tell his teacher—a distinguished M. A.—that he, too, would some day take the degree of Master of Arts. Poverty has "repressed" many a "noble rage." It sours a man and makes him cynical. But even stark povery failed to repress the noble instincts of Agarkar. Not a wrong in this world but had him as its champion; not a cause of liberty or reform but gained his support. A student of Logic and Moral Philosophy, he had lost much of his faith in religion. But there was another Faith, to him higher and nobler, a Faith which evoked the finest qualities of his heart. The pent-up and ungratified desires of long poverty generally tempt a man to their enjoyment at the first opportunity. But such was the greatness of Agarkar that when such an opportunity was within his easy reach, he wrote to his mother " You may be waiting, mother dear, for your son to become an M. A. and lift you up from all the misery that haunts you. I, however, have decided to turn my back on money and happiness and dedicate my life to the service of the country." This utter self-denial, after a life of stark poverty would alone establish Agarkar's title to the ever-lasting gratitude of his countrymen.

There was one point on which Tilak and Agarkar did not agree, even in their college days; it was Social Reform. While admitting the existence of evils and the necessity of eradicating them, Mr. Tilak held that reform, to be lasting, could only be a growth from within; that hasty measures and intemperate talk would only retard the cause of reform; that reform should not be mere imitation of Western life arid