Gora

Sucharita summoned up all her mental strength to remain alert and firm. 'Aren't you a member of some party too?' she asked.
'I am a Hindu. Hindus are not a party after all. Hindus are a community. So immense is this community, it is impossible to express its essence by confining it to any label. Just as the ocean can't be described by its waves, Hindus can't be described as a party either.'
'If Hindus are not a party, why do they resort to party politics?'
'When you try to kill a man, why does he try to defend himself? Because he has a living spirit. Only a lifeless stone would lie passive in the face of all assaults.'
'If Hindus take for an assault what I understand to be my faith, what would you advise me to do?'
'I would urge you that, since what you consider your duty is a painful assault on the great entity called the Hindu community, you must ponder very carefully whether there is some delusion or blindness within yourself, and whether you have contemplated everything from all angles, in every way. It is not proper to cause such a great disruption, taking the customs of one's own party to be the truth, through sheer force of habit or out of laziness. When a rat begins to nibble away at a ship's hull, it goes merely by its own convenience or natural instincts; it does not realize that boring a hole through such a great refuge will cause far greater harm to everyone else than the little bit of ease it will gain for the rat itself. Similarly, you too must consider whether you are thinking only of your own party or of humanity as a whole. Humanity as a whole - do you realize the magnitude of what that signifies? How diverse are the natures, tendencies and needs that it encompasses? All human beings do not occupy the same position on the same trajectory - some confront mountains, some face oceans, others open fields. Yet no-one can afford to remain idle; everyone must move on. Do you want to impose your own party's sole authority upon everyone else? Do you wish to turn a blind eye, imagining there's no diversity among human beings, that everyone is born into this world only to enlist with the Brahmo Samaj? Those brigand races who believe it's best for the world if they vanquish all other races to extend their sole empire, who are too arrogant about their own power to admit that the distinctiveness of other races is of priceless benefit to the world, who spread only slavery across the world - how are you people different from them?'
For a moment Sucharita forgot all her arguments. Gora's voice, deep as thunder, swayed her entire soul with an extraordinary force. She forgot Gora was arguing about something, aware only that he was speaking.
'It is not your Samaj alone that has created the twenty crore people of Bharatvarsha,' Gora continued. 'On what grounds do you seek to utterly flatten out this vast Bharatvarsha, by forcibly seizing the responsibility of decreeing which course of action is suitable for these twenty crores, or which beliefs and practices would ensure sustenance and strength for all of them! The greater the hindrances you encounter in your impossible attempt, the more angry and disrespectful you will feel towards your own country, and the more your contempt will alienate the very people you wish to help! Yet, the Lord who made human beings so diverse, who wishes to preserve this diversity, is the very One you imagine that your worship. If all of you truly believe in Him, why are you unable to recognize his decree? Why does pride in your own intelligence and your own party prevent your from accepting its significance?'
Observing that Sucharita was listening in silence without trying to offer any reply, Gora felt sorry for her. He paused, then continued in a gentler tone:
'Perhaps my words strike you as harsh. But don't view me with hostility as a member of the enemy camp. Had I perceived you as an enemy I would not have spoken to you at all. It pains me to see your natural broad-mindedness confined within the limits of a party.'
Sucharita's face grew flushed. 'No, no,' she protested, 'don't worry about me at all. Please continue what you were saying, and I shall try to follow your argument.'
'I have nothing more to say. View Bharatvarsha through your natural intelligence and natural emotions. Love Bharatvarsha. If you see the people of Bharatvarsha as non-Brahmos you will distort their image and regard them with contempt, and constantly misunderstand them. You will never get to see them from the perspective that allows one to see them whole. The Lord has made them human; they think in many different ways, act in many different ways, follow many different beliefs and customs, but underlying all this is a basic humanity; within all this is something that belongs to me, to Bharatvarsha, something that, when viewed from a true perspective, will pierce its outward shell of pettiness and incompleteness to present before us the vision of a great, noble entity. It is infused with the spirit of long endeavour; in it I can see the ancient sacrificial fire still burning amidst all the ashes, and I have no doubt that this fire will transcend its pretty location in place and time to cast up its flame at the centre of this earth. The people of this Bharatvarsha have been saying many big things for a very long time; they have accomplished many great tasks; even to imagine that all that has become utterly futile is to show disrespect for the truth, and that itself is atheism.'
Sucharita had been listening with bowed head. Now she raised her head and asked:
'What are you asking me to do?'
'Nothing,' asserted Gora, 'I only say that you must understand that the Hindu faith has tried to nurture people of many attitudes, many views; in other words, the Hindu faith alone has acknowledged people as human beings, not as members of the same group. The Hindu faith accepts the illiterate as well as the learned - and not just a single facet of learning, but the growth of knowledge in many dimensions. Christians don't wish to acknowledge diversity; they say there's Christianity on one side and limitless destruction on the other, with no shades of difference in between. Because we follow those Christians, we feel ashamed of the diversity of the Hindu dharma, failing to recognize that Hinduism strives to perceive the One through the medium of the many. Unless our minds break free of the fetters of Khristani learning, we cannot claim the glory of understanding the true nature of the Hindu dharma.'
It seemed to Sucharita that she was not merely hearing Gora's words but seeing them manifest before her eyes; she felt Gora's contemplative gaze, fixed upon the distant future, merge with his words. Forgetting all shame, forgetting herself, she raised her eyes to Gora's face, which glowed with the intensity of his emotions. In that face Sucharita saw a power that seemed to realize the greatest resolves through its own spiritual energy. She had heard many philosophical discourses from many learned and intelligent members of her community, but Gora's utterance was no mere discourse, it resembled a new creation. It was so tangible that over time it could dominate one's whole mind and body. Today Sucharita beheld Indra, the kind of deities, armed with his thunderbolt; as the words forcefully assaulted her ears, shaking the very doors of her heart, she felt flashes of lighting dance through her blood from moment to moment. She no longer retained the strength to determine how far her opinions coincided with Gora's.