5431Appendix B: 1942 Discourses1942
Aggression must be met with resistance, and here it is unpractical to insist upon non-violence. Pure non-violence or incorruptible love can come spontaneously only where duality has been completely transcended in the realization of the last and the only Truth. And non-violence of the brave is possible only for advanced souls who have, through rigorous discipline, eradicated from their minds all forms of greed and hate. But so far as the masses are concerned, it is undesirable to ask them to stick to the external formula of non-violence, when it is their clear duty to resist aggression in self-defense or in the defense of other weak brothers. In the case of the unevolved masses, universal insistence upon non-violence can only lead to their being cowardly, irresponsible and inert.
True love is no game of the faint-hearted and the weak; it is born of strength and understanding. The ideal of non-violence, in the face of aggression, is impracticable for the masses: and it will have a tendency to be readily used as a subterfuge for servile acceptance of ignoble conditions and contemptible desertion of a clear duty. In its enthusiasm for the highest ideal, wise leadership can in no way afford to lose all sense of the relative and the practical. Human evolution proceeds by gradual stages from selfish violence to unselfish violence, and then from non-violence of the brave to the pure and incorruptible non-violence of Truth as Infinite Love.
All narrowness limits love. In India, as well as in every other part of the world, humanity is breaking itself into narrow groups based upon the superficial and ultimately false differences of caste, creed, race, nationality, religion or culture: and since these groups have been long accustomed to separative distrust and fear, they have indifference, contempt or hostility towards each other. All this is due to ignorance, prejudice and selfishness: and it can only be mended by fostering the spirit of mutuality which breaks through artificial isolationism, and which derives its strength from the sense of the inviolable unity of life as a whole.
Creative leadership (which has so much scope in the soil of India) will have to recognize and emphasize the fact that all men are already united with each other not only by their co-partnership in the Great Divine Plan for Earth, but also by virtue of their all being equally the expression of One Life.
No line of action can be really helpful or fruitful unless it is in entire harmony with this deep Truth.
The future of humanity is in the hands of those who have this vision.
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