AT PRAYER WITH GANDHI

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 451, 13 February 1948, Page 18

AT PRAYER WITH GANDHI

A New Zealander Looked On

(Written for "The Listener" by

W. NEIL

JOHNSON

WAS fortunate enough to be in Calcutta when Mahatma Gandhi paid a visit early in August, 1947. On the Sunday someone suggested attending his prayer meeting, and I welcomed the opportunity to see this great man at his meeting and maybe to meet him. Any ideas that this prayer meeting would be a semi-private affair gradually disappeared as our lorry travelled out of the city along the Barrackpore Trunk read ‘the five or more miles to the Ashram where Mahatma Gandhi was staying. It soon became evident that the lorry-loads of shouting, flag-waving Indians were also taking advantage of the holiday to see Gandhiji (the -ji is a term of respect mainly used when referring to popular prominent people). The crowds of vehicles thickened as

we approached the Ashtram and extended a quarter of a mile. or more each side of the smaller road leading .to » it. Lorries and cars were parked all- over the place and movement was very slow with vehicles from both directions trying to pick their way through. Our driver persevered and so was able to park very near the entrance. We joined the inward movement but soon * came to the outskirts of the main crowd and found that there was no hope of getting anywhere near the dais from which the prayer meeting was to be conducted. This was in the main open space of the Ashram round which

were buildings presumably residences and work centres. I think it was partly garden and grass, but all that could be seen were people, the dark skins and white clothes of hundreds of Indians. They filled the square and overflowed on to the porches of the houses, some even trying to get on the roofs and other points of vantage. The general noise of feet shuffling on the gravel and continual movement and conversation was augmented by shouts of "Gandhiji Ki Jai" (Glory to Gandhi). Though voluntary helpers tried to direct people and maintain’ some order, damage to plants and trees must have been considerable. We found a position at a, distance, where we were able to see the dais over the heads of the crowd and catch a-‘glimpse, though it was too far away to see clearly, of the speaker when he stood to the microphone. Koran Readings Too Mahatma Gandhi was a Hindu, though he felt that all the great religions of the world can lead man to the truth, The prayer meeting started with readings from the sacred Hindu books, and continued with a chant to which the whole crowd was asked to respond by clapping in time. Readings were however often taken from the Koran, the Mohammedan ‘sacred book, as well, though this latter practice led to trouble on occasions. Later, when Gandhi went to hold one of his prayer meetings in a refugee camp in Delhi, the Hindu refugees (who had suffered at the hands of Moslems) objected so strongly to the inclusion of extracts from .the Koran that the meeting had to be given up. Though Gandhi probably planned what was read, this part of the meeting was conducted by one of his followers. After about 20 minutes, Gandhi spoke about how he had come to Calcutta, and wanted to go on to Noakhali, but that

the situation in Calcutta, with the continual disturbances between the Moslems and Hindu communities made him feel that he had better stay and try to persuade the people to live together peaceably. He spoke in Hindi, and the speech was afterwards read out in Bengali, the language of most of the people present. It had taken some time, and necessitated personal appeals from Gandhi himself, to quieten the crowd enough to start the prayer meeting, but when he spoke the meeting was remarkably attentive, considering the shuffling and moving around inevitable in such a large open air crowd, especially when even with the loud speakers it was often difficult to hear what was said. I myself didn’t feel particularly attentive, not understanding a word of what was said, and comments of some with me showed that I was not the only one. One Bengali student said, "We'll be able to read the English version of his speech in the newspapers to-morrow, anyway." A Closer View I was able to see him closer up after that meeting, as I was with people who knew him. He came into the grounds round the house where he was staying, and acknowledged the salutations of his friends waiting there with a nod, it now being his period of silence. He then took his exercise walk round the garden, and though leaning on the shoulder of a friend, looked very healthy for a man who had done as much as he in his life. He was still a very busy man, and despite many visitors and .their demands, he prepared his speeches, coped with a large amount of correspondence with the help of secretaries, and wrote articles (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) for his weekly paper, Harijan. As I saw him quoted as saying once, his religion was his politics, and, may I add, his life, too. He held regular prayer meetings twice a day, around 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., and also once every week, from after the prayer meeting on Sunday afternoon to the,same time on Monday, observed twenty-four’ hours of silence. This did not mean that he did any less work, but that he disciplined himself to give his voice a rest. I talked with a man who had travelled down to Calcutta on the train with _ Gandhi, and there in that third-class catriage, only different in that it was reserved for his party and so less crowded than others, everyone rose at 6 am. for the prayers. This would probably be reading of scriptures, mainly Hindu, singing of Tagore songs, and a period of silent meditation. Gandhi himself. would not necesarily speak. Continuing Power. The very presence of such a crowd just to see one man made me fealise how very much a= power ‘in India Mahatma Gandhi still was. Those crowds had been journeying out to the Ashram all through that Sunday, and

similar crowds went to see him wherever he was. Later in his stay in Calcutta he visited many areas of the city and held his afternoon prayer meetings in different places in turn, all with huge crowds of people present. He used his speeches at these afternoon prayer meetings whether they were public stich as the one I attended, or private with only a few friends, to make his statements cn current affairs, especially as they affected the common" people who, he recognised, are India. They might not have understood all his arguments, nor his high religious motives, but his personal example and exhortation had a tremendous effect on them. It was not flattery that made the Calcutta Press print the full texts of his speeches each day while he was in that city. Conditions were serious and his messages were to the point-constructive suggestions for improving conditions-and addressed to all classes of the population. It was not just the Government, the police, or the violaters of the law, from whom action was expected. Everyone had a _ responsibility and. could help towards improving the position. The great improvement in conditions in Calcutta on and after August 15, 1947, can be largely attributed to the efforts of this one man.

GANDHI IN FOUR AGES