If India fails, Asia dies.
It has been aptly called the nursery of many blended cultures and
civilizations. Let India be and remain the hope of all the exploited races
of the earth, whether in Asia, Africa or in any part of the world.
Delhi Diary, p. 31
(In the course of his address to the concluding session
of the Inter-Asian Relations Conference held at Delhi on 2-4-1947 Mahatma
Gandhi, stating that the wisdom had come to the West from the East, remarked
as follows: )
The first of these wise
men was Zoroaster. He belonged to the East. He was followed by Buddha who
belonged to the East-India. Who followed Buddha? Jesus, who came from the
East. Before Jesus was Moses who belonged to Palestine though he was born in
Egypt. After Jesus came Mohammad. I omit any reference to Krishna and Rama
and other lights. I do not call them lesser lights, but they are less known
to the literary world. All the same I do not know a single person in the
world to match these men to Asia. And then what happened? Christianity
become disfigured when it want to the West. I am sorry to say that. I would
not talk any further...What I want you to understand is the message of Asia.
It is not to be learnt through the Western spectacles or by the West, it
must be the message of love and the message of truth...In this age of
democracy, in this age of awakening of the poorest of the poor, you can
redeliver this message with the greatest emphasis. You will complete the
conquest of the West not through vengeance because you have been exploited,
but with real understanding. I am sanguine if all of you put your hearts
together..not merely heads..to understand the secret of the message these wise
men of the East have left to us, and if we really become worthy of that
great message, the conquest of the West will be completed. This conquest
will be loved by the West itself. The West today is pining for wisdom. It is
despairing of a multiplication of the atom bombs, because atom bombs mean
utter destruction not merely of the West but of the whole world, as if the
prophecy of the Bible is going to be fulfilled and there is to be a perfect
deluge. It is up to you to tell the world of its wickedness and sin...That is
the heritage your teachers and my teachers have taught Asia.
Harijan, 20-4-47
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