The Danish Peace Academy

GANDHI AND NORDIC COUNTRIES

Letter, [On or after January 16, 1920]

Delhi,

[On or after January 16, 1920]

My dear child,

I was sorry to leave the ashram as soon as you came. I wanted so to have a long chat with you and to comfort you if you were anxious about anything. I felt more sorry when Devdas told me you had not enough to cover yourself [with]. I hope you asked what you wanted or that someone anticipated your wants.

You know the changes that have been made regarding cooking. Bhuvarjee will be out of the kitchen. I would like you to help Ba in the kitchen. But you shall not do so if it costs over-much patience. Ba has not an even temper. She is not always sweet. And she can be petty. At the present moment she is weak in body too. You will therefore have to summon to your aid all your Christian charity to be able to return largeness against pettiness. And we are truly large only when we are that joyfully. I have known friends being generous in a miserable spirit. Their generosity has become a kind of martyrdom. To rejoice in suffering, to pity the person who slights you and to love him all the more for his weakness is real charity. But we may not be able to reach that stage. Then, we should not experiment. And so, my dear Esther, if you find Mrs. Gandhi trying your nerves, you must avoid the close association I am suggesting to you. On no account shall I have you to lose your inward peace and joy. I want you so to order your life that the ashram gives you greater joy, greater happiness and finer perception of truth. I want you to be a greater Christian for being in the ashram. You were with me the whole of yesterday and during the night. I shall pray that you may be healthier in mind, body and spirit so as to be a better instrument of His service.

And I want you to befriend Deepak.⁸³ He is another big experiment. Mahadev will tell you who he is. I have not the time for writing more.

You may share this letter with Mahadev if you wish to. This has come to me in answer to prayer. Early this morning I wanted to send you a word of cheer. I feel for poor Mahadev just the same. He has an unequal burden to carry and thank God he has a most sensitive conscience that is unforgiving towards him. But he is fretful. He has not that abundant experience of the divine in him and so he worries. Help him please and derive help from him.

Write to me of your experience of your Madras visit and tell me how you felt there.

With deep love.

Yours,

Bapu

Source: My Dear Child, pages 39-40; Collected Works, Volume 16, pages 486-87

[Replying on January 20, Esther Faering wrote that it was difficult to please Ba, who would always look upon her as a stranger, and that she herself found it difficult to cross the barriers that seemed to exist between them.]

Top