Page:My Dear Pranav.pdf/114

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students. (4) Hindi propaganda: I do not know Hindi well myself, But I used to read a Hindi newspaper to some students. (5) English to two students. (6) Excursions: nearly 400 miles on foot, Saw fortresses of historical fame such as Rajgarh, Sinhagarh, Torangarh, etc. (7) Used to hold during my tramps discourses on the Gita, which have come to 50 in all till now. Even now, I propose to foot it to Bombay and then take a train for Ahmedabad to rejoin the Ashram. A student, 26 years old, has been throughout with me in my journeys and he too is at present footing it out in my company. He is not inclined to study the Gita from anyone except myself. The latest date of my entry into the Ashram is Chaitra Sudi 1 (the New Year’s day in Maharashtra falling generally in April). (8) I started at Wai an institution called the Vidyarthi Mandal (students’ association) and founded a library in connection with it. We, fifteen students and myself, formed a club of hand-grinders and our earnings were used in buying books for the library. We offered the same rate (1 pice for 2 Ibs) as the local grinding mill, and thus could draw customers. Sons of even high-class families were members of the club. Wai is a centre of orthodoxy and since the hand-grinders were all Brahmin students studying in the high school, we were ridiculed by the public as faddists and fools. All the same, our grinding club continued for two months, and 400 books have been stocked in the library. (9) I tried very much to propagate the principles of the Ashram; I attended its annual celebration. (This celebration means nothing more than a meeting for comparison of the notes of members as to the work accomplished and the work to be done.) I put before them the idea of spreading Hindi and I have every reason to believe that the institution will take up the work. Since you have begun an effort for the propagation of Hindi, I may say that this institution in Baroda will be prepared to associate with you in the work.

And finally, I must state how I have behaved as an inmate of the Ashram. These are our vows: Control of the palate: 1 have already dealt with this vow during my reference in this letter to my dietetic experiments. Non-possession: a wooden dish (thali),


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