World Religions Conference November 1957

Author(s): Sushil Muni
Publisher: Achal Singh Seth

Page 93

Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India
preach it by practising it in India and not by abroad.
delivering lectures
When Gandhiji went to London for a Round-table Conference he had a tremendous impact. He had not gone there for the purpose of propaganda but on serious business. However, the example of his life and his practice of his own teaching had a tremendous influence. And that intluence of Gandhiji has not disappeared with his death, it still continues to work in India and is on the increase.
If we have to teach others, we must do it not by precept but by example, by practising in our own lives through speech and actions, what we wish to inculcate in others. I say this because it seems strange to me that we in India raise the banner of Ahimsa and peace as though we were superior to other nations and have to teach them a lesson. I suspect this approach because of two reasons. First, it is impossible for one to know that one is better than others. Unless we have observed other nations and studied their conditions how can we presume that we are better than them, Secondly, those who are really great never flaunt their greatness. They work silently and those who have the eye for recognising them, may do so. Hence if we go on talking about our greatness, it is not a sign of the same but points to the very opposite. Therefore, I believe that if we have some virtue, we should not go on telling others that they lack it and must learn it from us.
I am primarily concerned not with the effect of our ideals on others though that matters, but how they affect our own life and practice. On the one hand, we talk in other countries, In large terms, of our great and ancient Ideals, and on the other, we find that we fail to practise them in our own. In our own country we cannot even live like brothers and quarrel over something or the other-sometimes it is the language dispute, sometimes it is States' Re-organisation : as such does it behove us to talk glibly of the Great Family of Man? We seem to live by a divided persona. lity. We have one set of principles or the lack of principles to guide us at home and another to preach abroad. But if the outside world is to be Influenced by us, it will be influenced, not by what we say, but by what we do. The other nations will ultimately Judge us by the way in which we are living up to principles in our own country.
Whichever way we look, ultimately we must come to the conclusion that whatever message we wish to convey, we must do it by living upto it ourselves. So, from whatever angle we look at the problem, we must first see what we do at home, how we treat our neighbours, how we act as citizens and what attitude we display towards our State and our country.
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