Page:The Pilgrims' March.djvu/82

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THE PILGRIMS MARCH

Adieu to all my beloved friends and well wishers.

MESSAGE OF B. N. SASMAL

The call has come at last and I obey. There can be no fixed hour for the call, so can there be none for the response. But I have been preparing myself for it these last few months. In this day of rejoicing when I am just retiring unto myself I cannot but acknowledge with gratefulness the kindness shown to me by my Maker. This forward march is indeed coming back to self. To my mind it is no going away, but by the grace of the All-Merciful, I am first, approaching the Swaraj Asram at last. From other's land I am going back to my own; I shake off my fetters and become master of my own. My own language fails me to give adequate expression to my heartfelt love to and reverence for God. The baser elements of my nature which had hitherto served to show off the grandeur of my outer life to my fellow beings fail me at this hour in revealing my innermost thoughts to the Greater Man within me.

It is not that my heart does not bleed for the attainment of Swaraj and the redress of the Khilafat and Punjab wrongs; perhaps it does more than many other's. But I did not join in