India of My Dreams

Chapter 74: The message of The East

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