Selected Letters of Gandhi : Part-1

TO WORKERS


Chapter-22: Stick to One Thing

I have been thinking about the matter ever since you talked to me about it. The more I think of it, the more I convinced that you should not take up that new activity. I see agreed in it. I wish you would not take it up even in the manner I had suggested. If you have the energy to conceive new ideas, - and you must have it, as you look upon yourself asung,- utilize that energy in opening up fresh avenues in your service of Harijans and Bhils. Even so you will not have time enough not only for the life of a man like you but of many more besides. Greed for service has its limits. There is no end of misery in the world if we look for it. At every step we find there is scope for reform. Surely God does not except us to redress all these wrongs. But if He has any such expectations, He has also taught us the art of doing it, and it is this : we must pick up even a little bit from that mountain of misery, apply our whole mind to the task of removing it and refuse to do anything else. Having done this we have as good as lifted the whole of the mountain. This is a simple principle, and if I have succeeded in impressing it upon your mind, I would ask you take a vow that you will undertake nothing else but this twofold service even if the kingdom of the earth is offered to you. If ever an occasion arises that in spite of engaging yourself in this service, you have time on your hands, come to me, and I undertake to show you that you have forgotten to do many things in the field you have chosen.