The Danish Peace Academy
GANDHI AND NORDIC COUNTRIES
Collected by E. S. Reddy - EReddy@aol.com and Holger TerpLetter, May 28, 1919
Bombay,
Wednesday [May 28, 1919]
My dear child,
Mahadev has made himself ill by his self-will. A self-willed friend, brother, son or secretary often fails at the critical moment. Mahadev is all these four rolled into one. At first I thought I would revenge myself upon him by fasting. In that case you would have come down upon me with that remarkable text from the Bible
“Vengeance is mine”. I am therefore adopting a less drastic method - doing the letter writing myself. It is a pleasurable sensation for me to do continuous writing for any length of time. My hand too works fairly steadily.
I wish you would not torture yourself so for not sharing the sorrows of those you love. For you to finish your agreement66 is severe enough self-restraint. It is absolutely necessary. If you have real love, as I know you have, it must silently but more than less surely affect your present surroundings. In thought no act is lost, says the Bhagavad Gita. You are therefore doing your duty to the full by patiently and conscientiously doing your present work. Even the fresh energy you will get on the hills is to be used for the sake of your work. Why then worry?
The swadeshi vow67 extends to personal clothing only. I dare not ask you to deny yourself the use of Danish gifts from loved ones. It is enough if in future you buy only swadeshi cloth and let your other things also be swadeshi so far as possible. We shall discuss greater changes when we meet again.
Mr. Andrews passed a few days with me. He is now in Delhi. Do tell Sundaram68 I was pained to hear of his illness. He must make himself healthy and strong.
With love,
Yours,
Bapu
Source: The Diary of Mahadev Desai; Collected Works, Volume 15, page 331
66 with the Danish Mission
67 “Swadeshi” literally means “of one’s own country.” The Swadeshi movement – to buy Indian and boycott foreign goods, especially textiles from Britain – was a protest against British rule.
68 V.A. Sundaram of Coimbatore, an early inmate of Gandhi’s ashram, later became secretary to the founder of the Benares Hindu University, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. He kept in close contact with Gandhi.
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