I hope this spirit of sacrifice will grow, and also the will to suffer.... This is real liberty. Nothing is higher, not even national independence. The West has an unshakable belief in force and material wealth; therefore no matter how much it cries for peace and disarmament, its ferocity will cry still louder.... We, in India, must show the world what this truth is which not only makes disarmament possible but transmutes it into strength. The fact that moral force is a stronger power than brute force will be proved by an unarmed people. The evolution of life shows that it has gradually cast off its formidable armature of scales and carapaces and a monstrous quantity of flesh until man was evolved who conquered brute force. The day will come when a weak, noble man absolutely unarmed will prove that the meek shall inherit the earth. It is logical that Mahatma Gandhi, weak of body and without material resources, should prove the unconquerable strength of the meek and the humble hidden in the heart of the outraged and destitute humanity of India. India's destiny is bound up in Narayana and not in Narayani-sena, in soul force and not muscle. It must uplift human history, transport it from the confused valley of material struggles to the high plateaux of spiritual battles. Although we may delude ourselves through phrases acquired from the vocabulary of the West, Swaraj, home rule, is not really our goal. Our battle is a spiritual battle, a fight for humanity. We must emancipate man from the meshes he has woven around him, free him from the organizations of national selfishness. We must persuade the butterfly that the freedom of the sky is better than the shelter of the cocoon. In India we have no word for "nation." When we loan the word from other peoples it is not suited to us, for we should ally ourselves with Narayana, the Supreme Being, and our victory will be the victory for God's world.... If we can defy the powerful, the rich, the armed, by showing the world the power of the immortal spirit, the castle of the giant Flesh will crumble into nothingness. And then man will find real Swaraj. We, the miserable outcasts of the Orient, we must conquer freedom for all humanity....
"Our object," Gandhi has said, "is friendship with the whole world. Non-violence has come to men, and it will remain. It is the annunciation of peace on earth."
The peace of the world is far off. We have no illusions. We have seen, abundantly, during the course of half a century, the hypocrisy, the cowardice, and the cruelty of mankind. But this does not prevent us from loving mankind. For even among the worst there is a nescio quid Dei. We know the material ties that weigh on twentieth-century Europe, the crushing determinism of economic conditions which hem it in; we know that centuries of passions and systematized error have built a crust about our souls which the light cannot pierce. But we also know what miracles the spirit can work.
Historians, we have seen its glory brighten skies even darker than our own. We, who live but a day, have caught in India the sound of the tambour of Çiva, "the Master Dancer who veils his devouring eye and guards his steps to save the world from plunging into the abyss."[127]
The Realpolitiker of violence, whether revolutionary or reactionary, ridicule our faith, and reveal thereby their ignorance of deep reality. Let them jeer! I have this faith. I know it is scorned and persecuted in Europe, and that in my own land we are but a handful—are we even a handful?—who believe in it. And even if I were the only one to believe in it, what would it matter? The true characteristic of faith is not to deny the hostility of the world, but to recognize it and to believe in spite of it! Faith is a battle. And our non-violence is the most desperate battle. The way to peace is not through weakness. We do not fight violence so much as weakness. Nothing is worth while unless it is strong, neither good nor evil. Absolute evil is better than emasculated goodness. Moaning pacifism is the death-knell of peace; it is cowardice and lack of faith. Let those who do not believe, who fear, withdraw! The way to peace leads through self-sacrifice.
This is Gandhi's message. The only thing lacking is the cross.[128] Every one knows that had it not been for the Jews, Rome would not have given it to Christ. The British Empire is no better than ancient Rome. The impetus has been given. The soul of Oriental peoples has been moved in its deepest fibers, and its vibrations are felt the whole world over.
The great religious apparitions of the Orient are ruled by a rhythm. One thing is certain: either Gandhi's spirit will triumph, or it will manifest itself again, as were manifested, centuries before, the Messiah and Buddha, till there finally is manifested, in a mortal half-god, the perfect incarnation of the principle of life which will lead a new humanity on to a new path.
[113]One hundred and forty villages, 87,000 inhabitants.
[114]A note in "Young India" of the same date is even more explicit. If the viceroy does not answer, civil obedience will be proclaimed even if against the will of the majority.