The Pilgrims' March/Mr. B. N. Sasmal
MESSAGE OF B. N. SASMAL
The call has come at last and I obey. There can be no fixed hour for the call, so can there be none for the response. But I have been preparing myself for it these last few months. In this day of rejoicing when I am just retiring unto myself I cannot but acknowledge with gratefulness the kindness shown to me by my Maker. This forward march is indeed coming back to self. To my mind it is no going away, but by the grace of the All-Merciful, I am first, approaching the Swaraj Asram at last. From other's land I am going back to my own; I shake off my fetters and become master of my own. My own language fails me to give adequate expression to my heartfelt love to and reverence for God. The baser elements of my nature which had hitherto served to show off the grandeur of my outer life to my fellow beings fail me at this hour in revealing my innermost thoughts to the Greater Man within me.
It is not that my heart does not bleed for the attainment of Swaraj and the redress of the Khilafat and Punjab wrongs; perhaps it does more than many other's. But I did not join in this great struggle for Swaraj, the Khilafat, and the Punjab only. The path society has trudged on so long everywhere is not the right one. Man himself will have to bring back man from this path full of sorrow and misery. For this has the Man within me aspired to become a real man and for this have I joined the great struggle. Society will be purged of its sin and suffering by penance in the shape of sell-sacrifice by us all. Therefore every true man must prepare to sacrifice himself. My one request to my countrymen is that they retire into the inner reality day in and day out from the outer manifestations of these days. Swaraj and the redress of the Khilafat and Panjab wrongs they will gain undoubtedly, but they will also gain something without compare in this world. I believe firmly that by the self-sacrifice of the men of India will be blessed the man of this world.
The East has always given the West its religion. Today also will it be the religious teacher of the West. Politics will henceforth be based upon religion. It is absolutely necessary therefore, for the whole of Bengal, and specially Midnapur, to take to the Charka. Wherever I may be and however placed, I shall never forget Midnapore.