Vol. 17, Part III · pages 526–530

147 “POLITICS IS NOT THE BE-ALL AND END-ALL OF THE NATION’S LIFE” “Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was fully engaged in the work of his colleges in July and August 1953. For most of the days in July and August, he stayed in Aurangabad. There he addressed a meeting of the Hyderabad Scheduled Castes Federation workers and leaders. He said, Politics was not the be-all and end-all of the nation’s life. He urged them to study diligently the Indian Problem in all its aspects, political, social, religious and economic, and then fight with own accord for the salvation of the downtrodden. At this meeting he sounded a note of warning to his people that he would ex-communicate those who would make pilgrimages to Hindu places of worship. He said it did not do them any good.” 1 zz 1 : Keer, Pp. 447-448.

148 WE WILL CARRY ON ALL INDIA LAND SATYAGRAHA EVEN AGAINST CENTRAL GOVERNMENT “Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, President of the Scheduled Castes Federation, today, the November 16th, 1953 at New Delhi, has asked his partymen in Marath wada of Hyderabad State to withdraw their land Satyagraha in Aurangabad district. He complimented the Hyderabad Government for the good treatment they meted out to the satyagrahis. The State Government had issued orders to restore the land and was considering a proposal to allot to the Scheduled Castes the forest areas cleared during the days of communist activity. “I think this is a good response to a legitimate grievance” Dr. Ambedkar said. Out of 1,700 satyagrahis some 1,100 had been released unconditionally without trial by the State Government. “I must say that this is a very gracious act.” Dr. Ambedkar added : “I have heard that some of the satyagrahis cut down trees for which I express my regret. Our object was to get land for cultivation and not to cut trees.” Dr. Ambedkar said he was issuing the statement to clear two misunderstadings. It had been suggested by some members of the Federation, that the Satyagrah in Hyderabad State had not been authorised by him. This was wrong. “This Satyagraha was authorised by me and for very good reasons.” “The Scheduled Castes people all over India have been living in dire poverty without land and without work and when I found that the Hyderabad Government had in the first instance, granted them some waste land to cultivate and had taken back the land after the grantees had ploughed, sown and were only waiting for gathering the harvest, there was no other way left except to take action.”

499WE WILL.............GOVERNMENT The first and foremost duty of the leaders was to advance the interest of the Scheduled Castes and when a situation arises which jeopardies the interest of the Scheduled Castes it is treason for a leader not to be stir himself into doing something,” he added. Dr. Ambedkar said : “We will carry on an All-India Satyagraha even against the Central Government when our patience is exhausted. If the Sikhs can do it why cannot the Scheduled Castes ? ” Those, therefore, who objected to the Satyagraha, had better get out of the Federation, Dr. Ambedkar added. The second misunderstanding related to the reorganisation of the Hyderabad State Scheduled Castes Federation. The statement of Mr. P. N. Rajbhoj, General Secretary of the AllIndia Federation, that the working committee of the Federation had decided to break up this branch into four separate branches was a fact and the decision was final. This pattern of organisation had not been devised for the Hyderabad State only, but adopted throughout the country wherever this Federation existed, he added. He warned members of the Federation that while so far the organisation had been very lenient to those who have been violating the orders of the Federation, hereafter no mercy will be shown to any one who acts contrary to them.” 1 zz 1 : The National Standard, dated 17th November, 1953.

149 IT IS CRIMINAL TO COLLECT MONEY IN THE NAME OF RELIGION AND WASTE IT Inaugural Address by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar M.A.,Ph.D., Bar-at-Law, at All India Sai Devotees Convention held on January 24, 1954 on Zeviyar College ground at Bombay. He said, “Many thanks for your invitation to address you a few words on this occasion. I have no claim for it. I do not belong to those who are reckoned as the followers of Sai Baba. I have not had the good fortune of meeting or seeing the Sai Baba. I only heard of him. It would have been better if someone, who knew him better, had been invited to speak to you on this occasion. But, as those who came to invite me insisted that the resolution to invite me was unanimous one, it was not easy to say ‘No’ though in the present condition of my health I could have very easily done so. As I have said before, my knowledge of Sai Baba is nil and what little I know about him consists of what I have heard about him. The Baba is dead some time ago and I understand that he has left large gathering of followers who are ever growing even though the Baba is dead. He is known to be a Religious Guru to many. Religion in India has taken various shades. In its original form religion was a matter of personal salvation of a man’s soul. Later on there was a great change in the religious outlook and purpose. It meant not so much the salvation of the soul as the maintenance of a human brotherhood based on moral rules governing the mutual conduct of human beings towards each other. Then came a third stage which led men to worship those personalities who satisfied the wants of their lives. Some wanted children, some wanted gold, some wanted escape from a calamity. If a person satisfied such material wants he became their God and they worshipped him. Then the fourth was to worship a person who performed miracles of one sort or the other, which were beyond the ken of common men, and the miracle-maker became a God. We find in India all these.

501IT IS..............WASTE IT Today in India there is no religion without the worship of idols, Sadhu and Saint and miracle-maker. Our religion today has neither God nor morality. I have no doubt that this is a very degraded state of human mind and it is a task for the future generations to restore religion to its purer and nobler form. In the meantime, we must take note of the facts such as they exist. We have not only gone the wrong way in the matter of religion but it has become a profession to collect money in the name of religion and waste it on purposes for which there can be no social justification. There is so much poverty and misery in the world that it is criminal to collect money in the name of religion and waste it on feeding Brahmins and other pilgrims. The Buddha had well considered this question. In his moral code, the Buddha preached the Pancha Shila, the Ashtanga Marga and Nibbana. But in addition, he taught his followers to cultivate ten virtues—(1) izKk (Pradnya), (2) 'khyk (Sheela), (3) us[kEe (Nekhamma), (4) nku (Dana), (5) oh;Z (Veerya). (6) [kfUr (Khanti) (7) lPp (Sachha), (8) vf/RFkku (Adhitthan), (9) eS=kh (Maitri), and (10) misD[kk (Upekkha). Pradnya is wisdom, the light that removes the darkness of Avidya, Moha is Neo-science, Sheela is moral temperament, the disposition not to do evil and the disposition to be good. Nekhamma is renunciation of the pleasures of the world. Dana means the giving of one’s own possession—blood and limb, and even life-without expecting anything in return. Veerya is right endeavour which is doing with all your might whatever you have undertaken to do, with never a thought of turning back. Khanti is forbearance, not to meet hatred with hatred. Sachcha is truth ; a person must never tell a lie; what he says must be truth and nothing but truth. Adhitthan is resolute determination to reach the goal. Maitri is extending fellowfeeling to all beings, not only to one who is a friend but also to one who is a foe, not only to men but to all beings. Upekkha is detachment as distinguished from indifference, is a state of mind where there is neither like nor dislike, remaining unmoved by the results and yet engaged in the pursuit. The Buddha insisted that these virtues must be practised by every individual to the highest extent possible. That is why they, are called in the Pali literature—Paramitas.