________________
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
India's Message to America
My brothers and sisters of America : 1 greet you in the name of India and her three hundred millions of sons and daughters. I recognize in you my brothers and sisters, from whom I seem to have travelled away, ages ago, to visit the Orient, and now I return to you with a message from that country- a message of peace, of love, of universal brotherhood and therefore of universal fellowship. I stand before you on a common level, not on the relationship of master and servant nor of the conqueror and the conquered. I hail you, my brothers and sisters, with all my heart and with all my soul, and while I stand before you with that feeling, I represent not myself alone, but the voiceless millions of India. I come to you at your invitation and at your courtesy. It is the first time in the history of nations that this vast country the American country sent a cordial invitation to the farthest country, India, on the other side of the globe. It is a crown of glory in the history of this new nation, the nation so progressive, so intellectual, so tolerant. It is an honor to India to partake of the board, the intellectual, the religious, and the philosophical board which you have spread for her entertainment. You did invite us, not because you are kings and emperors who have authority to command us, but you bid us as brothers of the same family and
226
Jain Education International
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
