Education of the Masses

My heart aches to think of the condition of the poor, the low in India. They Sink lower and lower every day. They feel the blows showered upon them by a cruel society, but they do not know whence the blow comes. They have forgotten that they too are men. My heart is too full to express my feelings. So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been edu­cated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them. Let these people be your God, think for them, work forthem, pray for them incessantly, the Lord will show you the way. Our great national sin is the neglect of the masses, and that is the cause of our downfall. No amount of politics would be of any avail until the masses in India are once more well educated, well fed and well cared for.

A nation is advanced, in propor­tion as education and intelligence spread among the masses. The chief cause of India’s ruin has been the monopolising of the whole education and intelligence of the land among a handful of men. If we are to rise again, we shall have to do it by spreading education among the masses. The only service to be done for our lower classes is to give them education, to develop their lost individuality. They are to be given ideas. Their eyes are to be opened to what is going on in the world around them, and then they will work out their own salvation. Every nation, every man and every woman must work out their own salvation. Give them ideas-that is the only help they require, and then the rest must follow as effect. Ours is to put the chemicals together, the crystallisation comes in the law of nature.

My idea is first of all to bring out the gems of spirituality stored up in, our books and in the possession of a fewonly, hidden as it were in monas­teries and forests-to bring them out; to bring the knowledge out of them, not only from the hands where it is hidden, but from the still more inaccessible chest, the language in which it is prevented, the incrustation of centuries of Sanskrit words. In one word, I want to make them popular. I want to bring out the ideas and let them be it common property of all, of every man in India, whether he knows the Sanskrit language or not. The great difficulty in the way is the San­skrit language, this glorious language of ours; and this difficulty cannot be removed until, if it is possible, the whole of our nation are good Sanskrit scholars. You will understand the dif­ficulty when I tell you that I have been studying this language all my life, and yet every new book is new to me. How much more difficult would it then be for people who never had time to study it thoroughly! Therefore, the ideas must be taught in the language of the people. Teach the masses in the ver­naculars. Give them ideas; they will get information, but something more will be necessary. Give them culture. Until you can give them that, there can be no permanence in the raised condition of the masses.

At the same time, Sanskrit edu­cation must go along with it; because the very sound of Sanskrit words gives a prestige, a power and a strength to the race. Even the great Buddha made one false step when he stopped the Sanskrit language from being studied by the masses. He wanted rapid and immediate results and translated and preached in the language of the day ­Pali. That was grand; he spoke the language of the people and the people understood him. It spread the ideas quickly, and made them reach far and wide. But along with that, Sanskrit ought to have been spread. Knowledge came, but prestige was not there. Until you give them that, there will be an­other caste created, having the advan­tage of the Sanskrit language, which quickly gets above the rest.

Remember that the nation lives in the cottage. Your duty at present is to go from one part of the country to another, from village to village, and make the people understand that mere sitting about idly won’t do any more. Make them understand their real con­dition and say. “O ye Brothers, all arise! Awake, tell them how to improve their condition, and make them com­prehend the sublime truths of the Shastras, by presenting them in a lucid and popular way. Impress upon their minds that they have the same right to religion as the brahmanas. Initiate them, even down to the lowli­est, in the so fiery mantras. Also in­struct them, in simple words, about the necessities of life, and in trade, commerce, agriculture, etc.

Centuries and centuries, a thou­sand years of crushing tyranny ofcastes, kings and foreigners, have taken out all their strength. And the first step in getting strength is to uphold the Upanishads and to believe, “I am the soul.” “Me the sword cannot cut, no weapons pierce; me the fire cannot burn; me the air cannot dry; I am the Omnipotent, I am the Omniscient.” These conceptions of the Ve­danta must come out from the forest and the cave; they must come to work at the bar and the bench, in the pulpit and in the cottage of the poorman, with the fishermen that are catching fish, and with the students that are studying. They call, to every man, woman and child, whatever their occupation, wherever they may be. How can the fisherman and all these carry out the ideas of the Upanishads? The way has been shown. If the fisher­man thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better fisherman; if a student thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better student.

The one thing that is at the root of all evils in India is the condition of the poor. Suppose you open a free school in every village, still it would do no good, for the poverty in India is such that the poor boys would rather go to help their fathers in the fields, or otherwise try to make a living, than come to the school. Now if the moun­tain does not come to Mahomet, Ma­homet must go to the mountain. If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go to him. There are thousands of single-minded self-sacri­ficing sannyasins in our own country, going from village to village, teaching religion. If some of them can be organ­ised as teachers of secular things also they will go from place to place, from door to door, not only preaching, but teaching also. Suppose two of these men go to a village in the same eve­ning, with a camera, a globe, some maps. etc., they can teach a great deal of Astronomy and Geography to give the poor a hundred times more infor­mation through the ear than they can get in life-time through books.

Engrossed in the struggle for existence, they had not the opportu­nity for the awakening of knowledge. They have worked so long like ma­chines, and the clever educated sec­tion have taken the substantial part of the fruits of their labour. But times have changed. The lower classes are gradually awakening to this fact, and making a united front, against this. The upper classes will no longer be able to repress the lower, try they ever so much. The well-being of the higher classes now lies in helping the lower to get their legitimate rights.

Therefore I say, set yourselves to the task of spreading education among the masses. Tell them and make them understand. “You are our brothers ­part and parcel of our bodies.” If they receive this sympathy from you, their enthusiasm for work will be increased a hundredfold. Kindle their knowledge with the help of modern science. Buy some magic lanterns, maps, globes, and some chemicals. Teach them His­tory, Geography, Science, Literature, and along with these the profound truths of religion through these.

Three things are necessary for great achievements. First to feel from the heart. What is in the intellect or reason? It goes a few steps and there it stops. But through the heart comes inspiration. Love opens the most im­possible gates. Feel, therefore, my would be patriots. Do you feel? Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and the sages have become next-door neighbours to brutes? Do you feel that millions are starving today, and millions have been starving for ages? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land as a dark cloud? Does it make you rest­less? Does it make you sleepless? Has it gone into your blood, coursing through your veins, becoming conso­nant with your blood, coursing through your heart-beats? Has it made you almost mad? Are you seized with that one idea of the misery of ruin, and have forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property even your own bodies? Have you done that? That is the very first step.

You may feel, then, but instead of spending your energies in frothy talk, have you found any way out, for all their miseries, to bring them out of this living death? Yet, that is not all. Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the whole world stands against you, sword in hand would you still dare to do that if all your money goes, your name dies, your wealth vanishes, would you still stick to it? Would you still pursue it and go on steadily to your own goal? As the great king Bhartri Hari says, “Let the sages blame or let them praise: let the Goddess of Fortune come or let her go wherever She likes: let death come today or let it come after a hundred years, he indeed is the steady man who does not move one inch from the way of truth”. Have you got that steadfastness? If you have these three things, each one of you will work miracles.

Let us pray. “Lead, kindly Light” - A beam will come through the dark, and a hand will be stretched forth to lead us. Let each one of us pray day and night for the down-trodden mil­lions of India, who are held fast by poverty, priest-craft and tyranny-pray, day and night for them. I care more to preach to them than to the high and the rich. I am no metaphysician, no philosopher, nay, no saint. But I am poor, I love the poor. Who feels for the two hundred millions of men and women sunken for ever in poverty and ignorance? Him I call a Mahatma who feels for the poor. Who feels for them? They cannot find light or education. Who will bring the light to them? Who will travel from door to door bringing education to them? Let these people be your God, think of them, work for them, pray for them incessantly. The Lord will show you the way.