268 EARLIER INDIAN SPEECHES
wearing on occasions a Swadashi cloth. That we have to do for all time not out of a spirit of jeal- ousy or revenge, but because it is a duty we owe to our dear country. We commit a breach of the Swadeshi spirit certainly if we wear foreign-made cloth but we do so also if we adopt the foreign cut. Surely the style of our dress has some correspondence with our environment. In elegance and tastefulness it is immeasurably superior to the trousers and the jacket. An Indian wearing a shirt flowing over his pyjamas with a waist coat on it without a necktie and its flaps hanging loose behind is not a very gracefull spectacle. Swadeshi in religion teaches one to measure the glorious past and re-enact it in the present genera- tion. The pandemonium that is going on in Europe shows that modern civilization represents forces of evil and darkness whereas the ancient i&., Indian civiliza- tion, represents in its essence the divine force. Modern civilization is chiefly materialistic as ours is chiefly spiritual. Modern civilization occupies itself in the investigation of the laws of matter and employs the human ingenuity in inventing or discovering means of production and weapons of destruction ; ours is chiefly occupied in exploring spiritual laws. Our Shastras lay down unequivocally that a proper observance of truth, chastity, scrupulous regard for all life, abstention from coveting others' possessions and refusal to board any- thing but what is necessary for our daily wants is indispensable for a right life ; that without it a know- ledge of the divine element is an impossibility. Out civilization tells us with daring certainty that a proper and perfect cultivation of the quality of ahimsa which in its active form means purest love and pity,
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