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Apropos Speech
Speech in itself is an instrument for good and not a mere waste of energy. But what we need is that the speeches shall be by men who can think, see and feel and not by mere mouthers of political commonplaces and unrealities. Patriotic propagandists who understand the situation themselves and have formed a tolerably good idea as to how work should begin can always make converts who will help them in promoting the cause. But mere declaimers who have no light to give, but rather give out mere darkness and confuse practical issues, have brought and will continue to bring the gift of speech into discredit and alienate public sympathy from propagandist work......And for this purpose we want men whose ideas are clear and who can act as an inspiring force by pouring into their speech the strength of a convicted intellect and a powerfully moved heart and will. They must radiate the light from a highly reflective surface.
A fine illustration is the Shivaji address of Mr. Tilak recently delivered at Poona....Mr. Tilak took the occasion of the Shivaji celebration to make it clear that we are all being moved by a mighty impulse, by a natural aspiration and to desist from its forceful expression for fear of consequences is not only unmanly but prejudicial to the best interests of the country. Now such a pronouncement can only come from one who is so much possessed by the certainty of its realisation as to be careless of the persecutions and sufferings its pursuit must involve....Powerfully directing the mind to the goal in view, emphasizing the necessity of a perfect sacrifice, there is no touch in it of irresponsibility, no froth and foam of mere unmeaning rhetoric...
Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram, July 12 1907
Date of Update: 31-Mar-26
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