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(i) Your education should consist
of two parts general information and specialization.
A vast amount of general information must precede
specializations. Your general education should consist
of the following ingredients:-
(a) An extensive knowledge of history. Every Inember
of the Society should have such a grounding in history
that he should easily be able to form an estimate
of’ any named period. Besides full acquaintance
with modern history, (in which England, Germany, Italy,
Russia, France, ireland and America are particularly
important) some general acquaintance with the ancient
history of Greece and Rome and with the middle Ages
is necessary. The history of China, Japan, Iran and
Egypt is also necessary. A through study of Indian
history is of course, to be the very foundation of
your studies. History is not merely political history,
it must include cultural history as well.
(b) A general acquaintance with sociology, politics
and economics is essential.
I thing it will be a blood thing if each one of you
goes through Well’s outline of History. To facilitate
this the Library should have two or three copies of
the book. There is an American publication on the
same subject. You shorted get and read that too Van
Loon’s Story of Mankind.
You should have a list of books on sociology and politics
and general economics at least four books on each
of these subjects, out of’ which each one of
you should select at least two (on each subject).
To supplement this, of course, you are free to read
and other book you like to.
For six months a year would be better you should go
on with these studies. After that each of you should
select a subject for a specialized study - - this
(nay be some research in indian history, or a specialized
study of the theory and practice of-education of-public
Finance, or Local Self-government, or Public Health,
etc.
(i ) Each one of you should devote at least five to
six hours daily to studies with religious regularity.
The habit of taking notes while reading is a good
one..
(ii ) Each one of you should acquire proficiency in
at least one indian language. Hindi would be preferable,
but I have no objection to your selecting Urdu. You
should give at least one hour daily to Urdu or Hindi.
( iii ) Discipline includes the following.
(a) Those of you who believe in religion must be regular
and punctual in their religious duties. Do nothing
half-heartedly and haphazardly. For Instance, those
of you who perform the sandhog must do so regularly
and at proper time. When they miss this, they should
undergo prayashchita. It is nonsensical to perform
sandhya whenever you care to or when you have nothing
else to do.
(b) Each of you should select the form of physical
exercise that suits you best and regularly do it every
day. Working in the garden is itself a physical exercise.
(c) Discipline of the tongue and the pelage. To keep
one’s tongue pure is a duty. Abusive and vulgar
speech must be tabooed. Your talk should be civil
and a agreeable so that it does not offend susceptibilities.
This does not lnean drifting into hypocritical ways,
Nor do sincerity and frankness justify stubbornness
or habitual harshness of speech. With frankness you
should cultivate sweetness and grace in speech. The
best way of training oneself in these is to exercise
yourself, and every morning and evening try to scrutinize
your daily doings and try to cast off whatever blemishes
you find in yourself.
Discipline of the palate is essential. To be munching
all day long whatever comes one’s way is an
injurious habit. Fix your hours for meal and, as far
as possible, refrain from eating things outside the
appointed hours. A weekly fast is something to be
commended. There is nothing; vicious about enjoying
what is palatable but you locust keep under control
your palate and your eating.
(d) Whatever work is allotted to you complete it honestly,
neatly and with a sense of responsibility. You must
from now cultivate the sense of responsibility and
arouse within you a responsible conscience which would
reproach you when you are negligent or clumsy or irregular
or unpunctual in your allotted task. He whose conscience
does not thus act as his monitor, for him there is
no hope of ever becoming a responsibly being.
(e) If the Society vests any one with an office or
puts him incharge of a particular-job, so far as things
connected with that job 01 - office are concerned,
his authority must be respected and you should cultivate
that habit of obedience to such authority. Even if
the person thus vested with authority be your equal
or your inferior in other things, in the sphere of
the authority you should learn to obey him.
Be careful in the use of library books. Books are
our friends and comrades and we should treat them
with love. The School is your own, Carelessness in
the use of books, furniture, utensils, etc., belonging
to the school means putting the school to a loss.
In the use of your things exercise economy without
sacrificing efficiency.
I wish you to mould yowl life into neat, clean and
orderly way. Do not be much dependent on domestic
servants for these, and as far as possible do your
personal work yourself, reducing to a minimum dependence
on servants.
Merely because a servant is about or not busy, to
ask him to do what you might to do yourself is not
a commendable habit. Treat your servants with charity
and patience. In extracting work from them, treat
them as brethren. Check in yourself the habit of losing
your temper over their faults. trifling of otherwise
he who does not deal with those beneath him with charity
and love makes his own life very mean; therein flourish
vices of a foul tongue, of haughtiness and of oppression
and tyranny.
Let everything in your living room be orderly. Clumsiness
and slovenliness are twin vices you must guard against.
Cultivate in yourself a sense of beauty that will
make the sight of anything filthy or clumsy or s openly
or clumsy or slovenly a torment for your soul. All
elves india tine Punjabees are believed to be wanting
in cleanliness and. To be rude, clulnsy and slovenly.
Let us relieve that impression. Let order and cleanliness
be the essential ingredients of our character. For
tidying up your room no servant is needed, nor is
washing necessarily to be done by the dhoti ii: not
habitually, at least occasionally do your own washing.
Tidy up your room yourself and wash your plates yourself.
Sitting in prison I realize the importance of these
little things better than you do . Here one has to
be one s own servant. Though some people do my work
that is always a painful affair for me.
The spirit of service should become part of our character
as a necessary ingredient in our discipline. Cultivate
the habit of service forties own sake, free from all
motive and all thought of reward. Service of-prisoners,
unmindful of the i waste of time that this entails,
feeding, protecting and loving the children of the
poor even though they be shabby or filthy, helping
womankind irrespective of faith, community, colour
or nationality and, in general, to serve others sacrificing
one’s own interest that should be our insignia.
To cultivate this spirit of charity, first make a
beginning with your friends and college students and
then gradually go on widening the chicle.
I strongly recommend to you the habit of keeping a
journal (in Urdu or Hindi) in which you may enter
daily what you do and think. Enter in this the ideas
that crop up in your mind as a result of your reading
and your work.
It would be a good thing to arrange a weekly meeting
of all members of the Society in which all matters
pertaining to the Society’s home, the Library
and the School might be discussed. If the decisions
taken at these meetings do not find favour with the
oft-ice-bearers they might be referred for determination
to Bhai Permanand.
By my carelessness an earlier sheet of this letter
is carrying a smu be o ink for which I have to offer
my apologies.
lf possible, I would like to have a monthly report
of the working of the Schools. This should be a report
from the members of the Society and should be passed
by their committee. Should the Secretary want to add
to it something from himself, he Insight do so at
the end or write separately.
Love to all.
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