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A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy Dilip Roy was fond of writing letters to many people whom he knew intimately. So, whenever it was not possible for him to meet Gandhiji personally, he wrote letters to him. And however busy Gandhiji was, he always wrote replies to Roy "in his characteristic vein-genial, transparent and informal."84 As the author confesses, in one of his letters, he wrote critically to Gandhiji that it was painful for him to see Mahatmaji behaving like a political leader. He also gathered in the letter that many Indian people wanted that he should give up politics, but a very few, like the author himself, were courageous to tell him that politics,
"...was not his metier-swadharma: his line was social service equipped as he was with all the great qualities that went to the
make-up of a noble social reformer."85
Quoting a passage from Sri Aurobindo's Synthesis of Yoga, Roy stressed that Mahatmaji's lack of real knowledge-jnana-of the Divine Reality and his ego were responsible for his failure as a true leader of the masses. But Mahatma Gandhi, as it is observed by many, was always gentle and courteous while dealing with his adversaries. So, with his endless patience, he tolerated Dilip Roy's unpleasing remarks and presenting his own vision of Truth, wrote him back:
"My difficulty is fundamental. I do not believe that my present activity is less conducive to self-realisation or merger in the Divine than abstention would be. Sannyas is not cessation of all physical activity. It means to me cessation of all activity, mental or physical, that is selfish. If I could be convinced that cessation
was the better way for me, I should adopt it at once."86
And Gandhiji's loving, magnetic and baffling personality always captivated Dilip Roy. On October 29, 1947, the author met Gandhiji after the gap of almost a decade. At that time, Gandhiji welcomed him so warmly that he had the feeling as though he had met him only yesterday. Roy, it was true, could not appreciate Mahatmaji's post-war politico-religious ideology. But, he states:
"In fact I was more drawn than ever by his baffling personality, and that also in a new way. For I realised, as never before, what a magic power he had of getting under the skin of others to feel
the pulse of things."87 Gandhiji's personality reminds him of Bhavbhuti's famous line:
"Bajaradapi kathorani mriduni kusumadapi :" "Harder than the trump of doom Yet softer than an opening bloom!” 88
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