The Danish Peace Academy

GANDHI AND NORDIC COUNTRIES

Letter, [January 25] 1920

Sunday [January 25] 1920

My dear child,

Narahari⁸⁸ tells me you are now boarding with Imam Saheb. I am glad you will certainly feel at home there more than anywhere else if only because you have someone who will talk to you constantly in English. And you can shower your discriminating love on Fatima with immediate results.

I shall feel deeply hurt if you lose your health and your peace of mind. ‘Resist not evil’ has a much deeper meaning than appears on the surface. The evil in Ba, for instance, must not be resisted, i.e., you or for that matter I must not fret over it or be impatient and say to ourselves, ‘why will not this woman see the truth or return the love I give her’. She can no more go against her nature than a leopard can change his spots. If you or I love, we act according to our nature. If she does not respond, she acts according to hers. And if we worry, we ‘resist evil.’ Do you agree? I feel that that is the deeper meaning of the injunction. And so, in your dealings with everybody I want you to keep your equanimity. Secondly please do not deny yourself anything you may need for your bodily comfort. Ask me, if you will not ask anybody.

I want you to write to me daily whilst I feel uneasy about you.

With love and prayers,

Yours,

Bapu

Source: My Dear Child, pages 49-50; Collected Works, Volume 16, pages 506-07

[Shortly after, Gandhi wrote to Narahari Parikh: “…It does not matter if Miss Faering’s meals have had to be arranged at Imam Saheb’s… See that you look after Miss Faering as you do after Mahadev…” (SN11883; Collected Works, Volume 16, page 510)]

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