Mahatma Gandhi, his life, writings and speeches/Social Service
SOCIAL SERVICE
[The anniversary meeting of the Social Service League, Madras, (1916) was held at the quadrangle of the Christian College, the Anderson Hall having been found insufficient to accommodate the immensely large gathering which had begun to assemble from an early hour. Mrs. Whitehead presided. Bishop Whitehead teas also present. Mr. Gandhi having been called upon by Mrs. Whitehead to address the meeting said]:—
For social service as for any other service on the face of this earth, there is one condition indispensable, viz., proper qualifications on the part of those who want to render social service or any other service, and so we shall ask ourselves this evening whether those of us who are already engaged in this kind of service and those who aspire to render that service possess those necessary qualifications, because you will agree with me that servants if they can mend matters, they can also spoil matters, and in trying to do service, however well-intentioned that service might be, if they are not qualified for that service, they will be rendering not service but disservice. THE SOCIAL SERVANT
What are those qualifications? I imagine I could almost repeat to you the qualifications that I described this morning to the students in the Y. M. C. A. Hall, because they are of universal application, and they are necessary for any class of work, and much more so in social service at this time of that day in our national life, in our dear country. It seems to me that we do require truth in the one hand and fearlessness in the other hand. Unless we carry the torchlight of truth we shall not see the state in front, and unless we carry the quality of fearlessness we shall not be able to give the message that we might want to give on proper occasions, when the occasion for testing us comes, and such occasions do not occur so often as they might imagine they come but rarely. They are special privileges, and unless we have this fearlessness, I feel sure that when that supreme final test comes we shall be found wanting; and then I ask, and I ask you to ask yourselves, whether those of you, who are engaged in this service and those of you, who want hereafter to engage in this service, have these two qualities. But let me remind you also that these two qualities may be trained in us in a manner detrimental to ourselves and in a manner detrimental to those with whom we may come in contact. That is a dangerous statement almost to make, but when I make that statement I would like you to consider that truth comes not as truth but only as truth so called. You will recall the instance of Ravana and Rama. You will recall the instance of Lakshmana on the one hand and Indrajit on the other in that inimitable book Ramayana. Both Lakshmana and Indrajit performed austerities, both of them had attained to a certain kind of self-control, and yet we find that what Indrajit possessed was as mere dross and that what Lakshman possessed was of great assistance and he has left a treasure for us to cherish and to value. What was that additional quality that Lakshmana possessed? I venture to suggest to you that Lakshmana was divinely guided, that he had religious perception and that his life was guided upon principle and based upon religion, while, that of Indrajit was based upon irreligion. Life without religion, I hold, is life without principle, and life without principle, is like a ship without a rudder; and just as a ship without a rudder will be tossed about from place to place, and never reach its destination, so will a man without this religious backing, without that hard grasp of religion be also tossed about on this stormy ocean of the world, without ever reaching his destined goal. And so I suggest to every social servant that he may not run away with the idea that he will serve his fellow-countrymen unless he got those two qualities duly sanctified by religious perception, by a life so far divinely guided.
VILLAGE SANITATION
Our Chair Lady was good enough to take me to a village that is just behind the compound of the Bishop's house. It is a Pariah village. She described to me the condition that little village was in before this League commenced its operations there, and I am an eyewitness to what that village is to-day, and I make myself bold to state that that village is a model of cleanliness and order, and it is certainly much cleaner than some of the busiest and the most central parts of Madras. That is an undoubtedly creditable piece of work on the part of the Social Service League, and if the League can penetrate into the recesses of Madras and do the same kind of work, the things which I have noticed in Madras will be conspicuous by their absence when I next pay my visit to this great city. It is not enough that we clean out the villages occupied by our Pariah brethren. If they are amenable to reason, to persuasion, shall we have to say that the so-called highest classes are not equally amenable to reason, to persuasion and are not amenable to the hygenic laws which are indispensable in order to live a city life? We may do many things with impunity when we have got vast acres of open ground to surround us, but when we transport ourselves to crowded streets where we have hardly air space enough to give our lungs the proper quantity of air, the life becomes changed and we have to obey another set of laws.
It is no use saddling the Municipality with responsibility for the conditions in which we find not only the central parts of Madras, but the conditions in which we find the central parts of every city in India without exception—and I have gone now to almost every city of importance in India. I feel that no Municipality in the world will be able to override the habits that a class of people may have in them, and have been handed down to them from generation to generation. It is work that can be done only by patient toil and guidance, with those two immutable weapons in our hands. It can be done only by such bodies as a Social Service League. If we are pulsating with the new life, with the new vision which shall open before us in the near future, I think there are signs which will be an indication to show that we are pulsating with a new life which is going to be a proper life for us, which will add dignity to our Nationality and which will carry the banner of progress forward. I therefore suggest to you that the question of sanitary reform in this big city is practically a hopeless task if we expect our Municipality to do it unaided by this voluntary work. Far be it from me to absolve the Municipality from their responsibility. I think that there is still a great deal left to be done by the Municipality.
BENARES
Mr. Gandhi then proceeded to deal with the great need for the work of a Social Service League in such a sacred city as Benares, where there was a mass of dirt and confusion and want of orderliness so much detrimental to the preservation of the holiness and sanctity of the place. What was true of the Kashi temple was true of a majority of their Hindu temples. Such problems could not be solved so successfully by the Government or Municipality as by voluntary bodies like the Social Service League. Those who took up League work ought to be nurtured in new traditions. They were filled with horror at many evils they witnessed, and that was a position that stared Social Service Leagues in the face throughout the length and breadth of India.
SCHOOL AND FAMILY LIFE
Much of the neglect of such work, Mr. Gandhi pointed out, was due to the condition of the country at present, when the school life was not an extension of family life, and if that were so, students would respond and analyse the difficulties that faced them and they would still be going to temples while they were at the same time visiting temples. Before students could take up such work in this country, the educational system would have to be revolutionalised. They were to-day in a hopelessly false position, and they would incur the curse of the next generation for the great tragedy they saw being enacted before them to-day. It was a matter for thinking and it was a matter for redressing, no matter how difficult of attainment the result might be to-day. The task was herculean, but if the task was herculean the reward that they would receive from the blessings of generations to come would be an adequate reward.
The lecturer then dealt with the need for work on the part of Social Service Leagues in order to ameliorate the condition of third class passengers in railway carriages, so as to minimise overcrowding, discomfort and fatigue and what not.
In conclusion the lecturer said that if those who undertook social service would carry courage with them wherever they went, their efforts would be crowned with success.