A Letter to a Hindu graf Leo Tolstoy 1519 downloads.pdf

The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Letter to a Hindu
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will
have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using
this eBook.

Title: A Letter to a Hindu

Author: graf Leo Tolstoy

Release date: December 1, 2004 [eBook #7176]
Most recently updated: November 26, 2012

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7176

Credits: Produced by Chetan Jain, and David Widger

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER TO A
HINDU ***

A LETTER TO A HINDU

THE SUBJECTION OF INDIA—
ITS CAUSE AND CURE

With an Introduction by M. K. GANDHI

Leo Tolstoy

Contents
INTRODUCTION

A LETTER TO A HINDU

I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VI
I

INTRODUCTION
The letter printed below is a translation of Tolstoy's letter written in
Russian in reply to one from the Editor of Free Hindustan. After having
passed from hand to hand, this letter at last came into my possession
through a friend who asked me, as one much interested in Tolstoy's
writings, whether I thought it worth publishing. I at once replied in the
affirmative, and told him I should translate it myself into Gujarati and
induce others' to translate and publish it in various Indian vernaculars.
The letter as received by me was a type-written copy. It was therefore
referred to the author, who confirmed it as his and kindly granted me
permission to print it.
To me, as a humble follower of that great teacher whom I have long
looked upon as one of my guides, it is a matter of honour to be connected
with the publication of his letter, such especially as the one which is now
being given to the world.
It is a mere statement of fact to say that every Indian, whether he owns
up to it or not, has national aspirations. But there are as many opinions as
there are Indian nationalists as to the exact meaning of that aspiration, and
more especially as to the methods to be used to attain the end.
One of the accepted and 'time-honoured' methods to attain the end is that
of violence. The assassination of Sir Curzon Wylie was an illustration of
that method in its worst and most detestable form. Tolstoy's life has been
devoted to replacing the method of violence for removing tyranny or
securing reform by the method of non-resistance to evil. He would meet
hatred expressed in violence by love expressed in self-suffering. He admits
of no exception to whittle down this great and divine law of love. He
applies it to all the problems that trouble mankind.
When a man like Tolstoy, one of the clearest thinkers in the western
world, one of the greatest writers, one who as a soldier has known what
violence is and what it can do, condemns Japan for having blindly followed
the law of modern science, falsely so-called, and fears for that country 'the
greatest calamities', it is for us to pause and consider whether, in our

impatience of English rule, we do not want to replace one evil by another
and a worse. India, which is the nursery of the great faiths of the world, will
cease to be nationalist India, whatever else she may become, when she goes
through the process of civilization in the shape of reproduction on that
sacred soil of gun factories and the hateful industrialism which has reduced
the people of Europe to a state of slavery, and all but stifled among them the
best instincts which are the heritage of the human family.
If we do not want the English in India we must pay the price. Tolstoy
indicates it. 'Do not resist evil, but also do not yourselves participate in evil
—in the violent deeds of the administration of the law courts, the collection
of taxes and, what is more important, of the soldiers, and no one in the
world will enslave you', passionately declares the sage of Yasnaya Polyana.
Who can question the truth of what he says in the following: 'A commercial
company enslaved a nation comprising two hundred millions. Tell this to a
man free from superstition and he will fail to grasp what these words mean.
What does it mean that thirty thousand people, not athletes, but rather weak
and ordinary people, have enslaved two hundred millions of vigorous,
clever, capable, freedom-loving people? Do not the figures make it clear
that not the English, but the Indians, have enslaved themselves?'
One need not accept all that Tolstoy says—some of his facts are not
accurately stated—to realize the central truth of his indictment of the
present system, which is to understand and act upon the irresistible power
of the soul over the body, of love, which is an attribute of the soul, over the
brute or body force generated by the stirring in us of evil passions.
There is no doubt that there is nothing new in what Tolstoy preaches. But
his presentation of the old truth is refreshingly forceful. His logic is
unassailable. And above all he endeavours to practise what he preaches. He
preaches to convince. He is sincere and in earnest. He commands attention.
[19th November, 1909] M. K. GANDHI

A LETTER TO A HINDU
By Leo Tolstoy
All that exists is One. People only call this One by different names. THE
VEDAS.
God is love, and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth
in him. I JOHN iv. 16.
God is one whole; we are the parts. EXPOSITION OF THE TEACHING
OF THE VEDAS BY VIVEKANANDA.

I
Do not seek quiet and rest in those earthly realms where delusions and
desires are engendered, for if thou dost, thou wilt be dragged through the
rough wilderness of life, which is far from Me.
Whenever thou feelest that thy feet are becoming entangled in the
interlaced roots of life, know that thou has strayed from the path to which I
beckon thee: for I have placed thee in broad, smooth paths, which are
strewn with flowers. I have put a light before thee, which thou canst follow
and thus run without stumbling. KRISHNA.
I have received your letter and two numbers of your periodical, both of
which interest me extremely. The oppression of a majority by a minority,
and the demoralization inevitably resulting from it, is a phenomenon that
has always occupied me and has done so most particularly of late. I will try
to explain to you what I think about that subject in general, and particularly
about the cause from which the dreadful evils of which you write in your
letter, and in the Hindu periodical you have sent me, have arisen and
continue to arise.
The reason for the astonishing fact that a majority of working people
submit to a handful of idlers who control their labour and their very lives is
always and everywhere the same—whether the oppressors and oppressed
are of one race or whether, as in India and elsewhere, the oppressors are of a
different nation.
This phenomenon seems particularly strange in India, for there more than
two hundred million people, highly gifted both physically and mentally,
find themselves in the power of a small group of people quite alien to them
in thought, and immeasurably inferior to them in religious morality.
From your letter and the articles in Free Hindustan as well as from the
very interesting writings of the Hindu Swami Vivekananda and others, it
appears that, as is the case in our time with the ills of all nations, the reason
lies in the lack of a reasonable religious teaching which by explaining the
meaning of life would supply a supreme law for the guidance of conduct
and would replace the more than dubious precepts of pseudo-religion and

pseudo-science with the immoral conclusions deduced from them and
commonly called 'civilization'.
Your letter, as well as the articles in Free Hindustan and Indian political
literature generally, shows that most of the leaders of public opinion among
your people no longer attach any significance to the religious teachings that
were and are professed by the peoples of India, and recognize no possibility
of freeing the people from the oppression they endure except by adopting
the irreligious and profoundly immoral social arrangements under which the
English and other pseudo-Christian nations live to-day.
And yet the chief if not the sole cause of the enslavement of the Indian
peoples by the English lies in this very absence of a religious consciousness
and of the guidance for conduct which should flow from it—a lack common
in our day to all nations East and West, from Japan to England and America
alike.

II
O ye, who see perplexities over your heads, beneath your feet, and to the
right and left of you; you will be an eternal enigma unto yourselves until ye
become humble and joyful as children. Then will ye find Me, and having
found Me in yourselves, you will rule over worlds, and looking out from the
great world within to the little world without, you will bless everything that
is, and find all is well with time and with you. KRISHNA.
To make my thoughts clear to you I must go farther back. We do not,
cannot, and I venture to say need not, know how men lived millions of
years ago or even ten thousand years ago, but we do know positively that,
as far back as we have any knowledge of mankind, it has always lived in
special groups of families, tribes, and nations in which the majority, in the
conviction that it must be so, submissively and willingly bowed to the rule
of one or more persons—that is to a very small minority. Despite all
varieties of circumstances and personalities these relations manifested
themselves among the various peoples of whose origin we have any
knowledge; and the farther back we go the more absolutely necessary did
this arrangement appear, both to the rulers and the ruled, to make it possible
for people to live peacefully together.
So it was everywhere. But though this external form of life existed for
centuries and still exists, very early—thousands of years before our time—
amid this life based on coercion, one and the same thought constantly
emerged among different nations, namely, that in every individual a
spiritual element is manifested that gives life to all that exists, and that this
spiritual element strives to unite with everything of a like nature to itself,
and attains this aim through love. This thought appeared in most various
forms at different times and places, with varying completeness and clarity.
It found expression in Brahmanism, Judaism, Mazdaism (the teachings of
Zoroaster), in Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and in the writings of the
Greek and Roman sages, as well as in Christianity and Mohammedanism.
The mere fact that this thought has sprung up among different nations and
at different times indicates that it is inherent in human nature and contains
the truth. But this truth was made known to people who considered that a

community could only be kept together if some of them restrained others,
and so it appeared quite irreconcilable with the existing order of society.
Moreover it was at first expressed only fragmentarily, and so obscurely that
though people admitted its theoretic truth they could not entirely accept it as
guidance for their conduct. Then, too, the dissemination of the truth in a
society based on coercion was always hindered in one and the same manner,
namely, those in power, feeling that the recognition of this truth would
undermine their position, consciously or sometimes unconsciously
perverted it by explanations and additions quite foreign to it, and also
opposed it by open violence. Thus the truth—that his life should be directed
by the spiritual element which is its basis, which manifests itself as love,
and which is so natural to man—this truth, in order to force a way to man's
consciousness, had to struggle not merely against the obscurity with which
it was expressed and the intentional and unintentional distortions
surrounding it, but also against deliberate violence, which by means of
persecutions and punishments sought to compel men to accept religious
laws authorized by the rulers and conflicting with the truth. Such a
hindrance and misrepresentation of the truth—which had not yet achieved
complete clarity—occurred everywhere: in Confucianism and Taoism, in
Buddhism and in Christianity, in Mohammedanism and in your
Brahmanism.

III
My hand has sowed love everywhere, giving unto all that will receive.
Blessings are offered unto all My children, but many times in their blindness
they fail to see them. How few there are who gather the gifts which lie in
profusion at their feet: how many there are, who, in wilful waywardness,
turn their eyes away from them and complain with a wail that they have not
that which I have given them; many of them defiantly repudiate not only My
gifts, but Me also, Me, the Source of all blessings and the Author of their
being. KRISHNA.
I tarry awhile from the turmoil and strife of the world. I will beautify and
quicken thy life with love and with joy, for the light of the soul is Love.
Where Love is, there is contentment and peace, and where there is
contentment and peace, there am I, also, in their midst. KRISHNA.
The aim of the sinless One consists in acting without causing sorrow to
others, although he could attain to great power by ignoring their feelings.
The aim of the sinless One lies in not doing evil unto those who have
done evil unto him.
If a man causes suffering even to those who hate him without any reason,
he will ultimately have grief not to be overcome.
The punishment of evil doers consists in making them feel ashamed of
themselves by doing them a great kindness.
Of what use is superior knowledge in the one, if he does not endeavour to
relieve his neighbour's want as much as his own?
If, in the morning, a man wishes to do evil unto another, in the evening
the evil will return to him.
THE HINDU KURAL.
Thus it went on everywhere. The recognition that love represents the
highest morality was nowhere denied or contradicted, but this truth was so
interwoven everywhere with all kinds of falsehoods which distorted it, that
finally nothing of it remained but words. It was taught that this highest
morality was only applicable to private life—for home use, as it were—but

that in public life all forms of violence—such as imprisonment, executions,
and wars—might be used for the protection of the majority against a
minority of evildoers, though such means were diametrically opposed to
any vestige of love. And though common sense indicated that if some men
claim to decide who is to be subjected to violence of all kinds for the
benefit of others, these men to whom violence is applied may, in turn, arrive
at a similar conclusion with regard to those who have employed violence to
them, and though the great religious teachers of Brahmanism, Buddhism,
and above all of Christianity, foreseeing such a perversion of the law of
love, have constantly drawn attention to the one invariable condition of love
(namely, the enduring of injuries, insults, and violence of all kinds without
resisting evil by evil) people continued—regardless of all that leads man
forward—to try to unite the incompatibles: the virtue of love, and what is
opposed to love, namely, the restraining of evil by violence. And such a
teaching, despite its inner contradiction, was so firmly established that the
very people who recognize love as a virtue accept as lawful at the same
time an order of life based on violence and allowing men not merely to
torture but even to kill one another.
For a long time people lived in this obvious contradiction without
noticing it. But a time arrived when this contradiction became more and
more evident to thinkers of various nations. And the old and simple truth
that it is natural for men to help and to love one another, but not to torture
and to kill one another, became ever clearer, so that fewer and fewer people
were able to believe the sophistries by which the distortion of the truth had
been made so plausible.
In former times the chief method of justifying the use of violence and
thereby infringing the law of love was by claiming a divine right for the
rulers: the Tsars, Sultans, Rajahs, Shahs, and other heads of states. But the
longer humanity lived the weaker grew the belief in this peculiar, God—
given right of the ruler. That belief withered in the same way and almost
simultaneously in the Christian and the Brahman world, as well as in
Buddhist and Confucian spheres, and in recent times it has so faded away as
to prevail no longer against man's reasonable understanding and the true
religious feeling. People saw more and more clearly, and now the majority
see quite clearly, the senselessness and immorality of subordinating their
wills to those of other people just like themselves, when they are bidden to
do what is contrary not only to their interests but also to their moral sense.

And so one might suppose that having lost confidence in any religious
authority for a belief in the divinity of potentates of various kinds, people
would try to free themselves from subjection to it. But unfortunately not
only were the rulers, who were considered supernatural beings, benefited by
having the peoples in subjection, but as a result of the belief in, and during
the rule of, these pseudodivine beings, ever larger and larger circles of
people grouped and established themselves around them, and under an
appearance of governing took advantage of the people. And when the old
deception of a supernatural and God-appointed authority had dwindled
away these men were only concerned to devise a new one which like its
predecessor should make it possible to hold the people in bondage to a
limited number of rulers.

IV
Children, do you want to know by what your hearts should be guided?
Throw aside your longings and strivings after that which is null and void;
get rid of your erroneous thoughts about happiness and wisdom, and your
empty and insincere desires. Dispense with these and you will know Love.
KRISHNA.
Be not the destroyers of yourselves. Arise to your true Being, and then
you will have nothing to fear. KRISHNA.
New justifications have now appeared in place of the antiquated,
obsolete, religious ones. These new justifications are just as inadequate as
the old ones, but as they are new their futility cannot immediately be
recognized by the majority of men. Besides this, those who enjoy power
propagate these new sophistries and support them so skilfully that they
seem irrefutable even to many of those who suffer from the oppression
these theories seek to justify. These new justifications are termed 'scientific'.
But by the term 'scientific' is understood just what was formerly understood
by the term 'religious': just as formerly everything called 'religious' was held
to be unquestionable simply because it was called religious, so now all that
is called 'scientific' is held to be unquestionable. In the present case the
obsolete religious justification of violence which consisted in the
recognition of the supernatural personality of the God-ordained ruler ('there
is no power but of God') has been superseded by the 'scientific' justification
which puts forward, first, the assertion that because the coercion of man by
man has existed in all ages, it follows that such coercion must continue to
exist. This assertion that people should continue to live as they have done
throughout past ages rather than as their reason and conscience indicate, is
what 'science' calls 'the historic law'. A further 'scientific' justification lies in
the statement that as among plants and wild beasts there is a constant
struggle for existence which always results in the survival of the fittest, a
similar struggle should be carried on among human beings—beings, that is,
who are gifted with intelligence and love; faculties lacking in the creatures
subject to the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest. Such is the
second 'scientific' justification.

The third, most important, and unfortunately most widespread
justification is, at bottom, the age-old religious one just a little altered: that
in public life the suppression of some for the protection of the majority
cannot be avoided—so that coercion is unavoidable however desirable
reliance on love alone might be in human intercourse. The only difference
in this justification by pseudo-science consists in the fact that, to the
question why such and such people and not others have the right to decide
against whom violence may and must be used, pseudo-science now gives a
different reply to that given by religion—which declared that the right to
decide was valid because it was pronounced by persons possessed of divine
power. 'Science' says that these decisions represent the will of the people,
which under a constitutional form of government is supposed to find
expression in all the decisions and actions of those who are at the helm at
the moment.
Such are the scientific justifications of the principle of coercion. They are
not merely weak but absolutely invalid, yet they are so much needed by
those who occupy privileged positions that they believe in them as blindly
as they formerly believed in the immaculate conception, and propagate
them just as confidently. And the unfortunate majority of men bound to toil
is so dazzled by the pomp with which these 'scientific truths' are presented,
that under this new influence it accepts these scientific stupidities for holy
truth, just as it formerly accepted the pseudo-religious justifications; and it
continues to submit to the present holders of power who are just as hard-
hearted but rather more numerous than before.

V
Who am I? I am that which thou hast searched for since thy baby eyes
gazed wonderingly upon the world, whose horizon hides this real life from
thee. I am that which in thy heart thou hast prayed for, demanded as thy
birthright, although thou hast not known what it was. I am that which has
lain in thy soul for hundreds and thousands of years. Sometimes I lay in
thee grieving because thou didst not recognize me; sometimes I raised my
head, opened my eyes, and extended my arms calling thee either tenderly
and quietly, or strenuously, demanding that thou shouldst rebel against the
iron chains which bound thee to the earth.
KRISHNA.
So matters went on, and still go on, in the Christian world. But we might
have hope that in the immense Brahman, Buddhist, and Confucian worlds
this new scientific superstition would not establish itself, and that the
Chinese, Japanese, and Hindus, once their eyes were opened to the religious
fraud justifying violence, would advance directly to a recognition of the law
of love inherent in humanity, and which had been so forcibly enunciated by
the great Eastern teachers. But what has happened is that the scientific
superstition replacing the religious one has been accepted and secured a
stronger and stronger hold in the East.
In your periodical you set out as the basic principle which should guide
the actions of your people the maxim that: 'Resistance to aggression is not
simply justifiable but imperative, nonresistance hurts both Altruism and
Egotism.'
Love is the only way to rescue humanity from all ills, and in it you too
have the only method of saving your people from enslavement. In very
ancient times love was proclaimed with special strength and clearness
among your people to be the religious basis of human life. Love, and
forcible resistance to evil-doers, involve such a mutual contradiction as to
destroy utterly the whole sense and meaning of the conception of love. And
what follows? With a light heart and in the twentieth century you, an
adherent of a religious people, deny their law, feeling convinced of your

scientific enlightenment and your right to do so, and you repeat (do not take
this amiss) the amazing stupidity indoctrinated in you by the advocates of
the use of violence—the enemies of truth, the servants first of theology and
then of science—your European teachers.
You say that the English have enslaved your people and hold them in
subjection because the latter have not resisted resolutely enough and have
not met force by force.
But the case is just the opposite. If the English have enslaved the people
of India it is just because the latter recognized, and still recognize, force as
the fundamental principle of the social order. In accord with that principle
they submitted to their little rajahs, and on their behalf struggled against one
another, fought the Europeans, the English, and are now trying to fight with
them again.
A commercial company enslaved a nation comprising two hundred
millions. Tell this to a man free from superstition and he will fail to grasp
what these words mean. What does it mean that thirty thousand men, not
athletes but rather weak and ordinary people, have subdued two hundred
million vigorous, clever, capable, and freedom-loving people? Do not the
figures make it clear that it is not the English who have enslaved the
Indians, but the Indians who have enslaved themselves?
When the Indians complain that the English have enslaved them it is as if
drunkards complained that the spirit-dealers who have settled among them
have enslaved them. You tell them that they might give up drinking, but
they reply that they are so accustomed to it that they cannot abstain, and
that they must have alcohol to keep up their energy. Is it not the same thing
with the millions of people who submit to thousands' or even to hundreds,
of others—of their own or other nations?
If the people of India are enslaved by violence it is only because they
themselves live and have lived by violence, and do not recognize the eternal
law of love inherent in humanity.
Pitiful and foolish is the man who seeks what he already has, and does
not know that he has it. Yes, Pitiful and foolish is he who does not know the
bliss of love which surrounds him and which I have given him. KRISHNA.
As soon as men live entirely in accord with the law of love natural to
their hearts and now revealed to them, which excludes all resistance by
violence, and therefore hold aloof from all participation in violence—as

soon as this happens, not only will hundreds be unable to enslave millions,
but not even millions will be able to enslave a single individual. Do not
resist the evil-doer and take no part in doing so, either in the violent deeds
of the administration, in the law courts, the collection of taxes, or above all
in soldiering, and no one in the world will be able to enslave you.

VI
O ye who sit in bondage and continually seek and pant for freedom, seek
only for love. Love is peace in itself and peace which gives complete
satisfaction. I am the key that opens the portal to the rarely discovered land
where contentment alone is found. KRISHNA.
What is now happening to the people of the East as of the West is like
what happens to every individual when he passes from childhood to
adolescence and from youth to manhood. He loses what had hitherto guided
his life and lives without direction, not having found a new standard
suitable to his age, and so he invents all sorts of occupations, cares,
distractions, and stupefactions to divert his attention from the misery and
senselessness of his life. Such a condition may last a long time.
When an individual passes from one period of life to another a time
comes when he cannot go on in senseless activity and excitement as before,
but has to understand that although he has outgrown what before used to
direct him, this does not mean that he must live without any reasonable
guidance, but rather that he must formulate for himself an understanding of
life corresponding to his age, and having elucidated it must be guided by it.
And in the same way a similar time must come in the growth and
development of humanity. I believe that such a time has now arrived—not
in the sense that it has come in the year 1908, but that the inherent
contradiction of human life has now reached an extreme degree of tension:
on the one side there is the consciousness of the beneficence of the law of
love, and on the other the existing order of life which has for centuries
occasioned an empty, anxious, restless, and troubled mode of life,
conflicting as it does with the law of love and built on the use of violence.
This contradiction must be faced, and the solution will evidently not be
favourable to the outlived law of violence, but to the truth which has dwelt
in the hearts of men from remote antiquity: the truth that the law of love is
in accord with the nature of man.
But men can only recognize this truth to its full extent when they have
completely freed themselves from all religious and scientific superstitions

and from all the consequent misrepresentations and sophistical distortions
by which its recognition has been hindered for centuries.
To save a sinking ship it is necessary to throw overboard the ballast,
which though it may once have been needed would now cause the ship to
sink. And so it is with the scientific superstition which hides the truth of
their welfare from mankind. In order that men should embrace the truth—
not in the vague way they did in childhood, nor in the one-sided and
perverted way presented to them by their religious and scientific teachers,
but embrace it as their highest law—the complete liberation of this truth
from all and every superstition (both pseudo-religious and pseudo-
scientific) by which it is still obscured is essential: not a partial, timid
attempt, reckoning with traditions sanctified by age and with the habits of
the people—not such as was effected in the religious sphere by Guru-
Nanak, the founder of the sect of the Sikhs, and in the Christian world by
Luther, and by similar reformers in other religions—but a fundamental
cleansing of religious consciousness from all ancient religious and modern
scientific superstitions.
If only people freed themselves from their beliefs in all kinds of
Ormuzds, Brahmas, Sabbaoths, and their incarnation as Krishnas and
Christs, from beliefs in Paradises and Hells, in reincarnations and
resurrections, from belief in the interference of the Gods in the external
affairs of the universe, and above all, if they freed themselves from belief in
the infallibility of all the various Vedas, Bibles, Gospels, Tripitakas, Korans,
and the like, and also freed themselves from blind belief in a variety of
scientific teachings about infinitely small atoms and molecules and in all
the infinitely great and infinitely remote worlds, their movements and
origin, as well as from faith in the infallibility of the scientific law to which
humanity is at present subjected: the historic law, the economic laws, the
law of struggle and survival, and so on—if people only freed themselves
from this terrible accumulation of futile exercises of our lower capacities of
mind and memory called the 'Sciences', and from the innumerable divisions
of all sorts of histories, anthropologies, homiletics, bacteriologics,
jurisprudences, cosmographies, strategies—their name is legion—and freed
themselves from all this harmful, stupifying ballast—the simple law of
love, natural to man, accessible to all and solving all questions and
perplexities, would of itself become clear and obligatory.

VII
Children, look at the flowers at your feet; do not trample upon them.
Look at the love in your midst and do not repudiate it. KRISHNA.
There is a higher reason which transcends all human minds. It is far and
near. It permeates all the worlds and at the same time is infinitely higher
than they.
A man who sees that all things are contained in the higher spirit cannot
treat any being with contempt.
For him to whom all spiritual beings are equal to the highest there can be
no room for deception or grief.
Those who are ignorant and are devoted to the religious rites only, are in
a deep gloom, but those who are given up to fruitless meditations are in a
still greater darkness.
UPANISHADS, FROM VEDAS.
Yes, in our time all these things must be cleared away in order that
mankind may escape from self-inflicted calamities that have reached an
extreme intensity. Whether an Indian seeks liberation from subjection to the
English, or anyone else struggles with an oppressor either of his own
nationality or of another—whether it be a Negro defending himself against
the North Americans; or Persians, Russians, or Turks against the Persian,
Russian, or Turkish governments, or any man seeking the greatest welfare
for himself and for everybody else—they do not need explanations and
justifications of old religious superstitions such as have been formulated by
your Vivekanandas, Baba Bharatis, and others, or in the Christian world by
a number of similar interpreters and exponents of things that nobody needs;
nor the innumerable scientific theories about matters not only unnecessary
but for the most part harmful. (In the spiritual realm nothing is indifferent:
what is not useful is harmful.) What are wanted for the Indian as for the
Englishman, the Frenchman, the German, and the Russian, are not
Constitutions and Revolutions, nor all sorts of Conferences and Congresses,
nor the many ingenious devices for submarine navigation and aerial
navigation, nor powerful explosives, nor all sorts of conveniences to add to

the enjoyment of the rich, ruling classes; nor new schools and universities
with innumerable faculties of science, nor an augmentation of papers and
books, nor gramophones and cinematographs, nor those childish and for the
most part corrupt stupidities termed art—but one thing only is needful: the
knowledge of the simple and clear truth which finds place in every soul that
is not stupefied by religious and scientific superstitions—the truth that for
our life one law is valid—the law of love, which brings the highest
happiness to every individual as well as to all mankind. Free your minds
from those overgrown, mountainous imbecilities which hinder your
recognition of it, and at once the truth will emerge from amid the pseudo-
religious nonsense that has been smothering it: the indubitable, eternal truth
inherent in man, which is one and the same in all the great religions of the
world. It will in due time emerge and make its way to general recognition,
and the nonsense that has obscured it will disappear of itself, and with it
will go the evil from which humanity now suffers.
Children, look upwards with your beclouded eyes, and a world full of joy
and love will disclose itself to you, a rational world made by My wisdom,
the only real world. Then you will know what love has done with you, what
love has bestowed upon you, what love demands from you. KRISHNA.
YASNAYA POLYANA.
December 14th, 1908.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LETTER TO A
HINDU ***

Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be
renamed.

Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law
means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the
Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States
without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying
and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a
registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook,
except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying
royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge
anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is
very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project Gutenberg
eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may do
practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected by
U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark license,
especially commercial redistribution.

START: FULL LICENSE

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or any
other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project Gutenberg”), you
agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Gutenberg License
available with this file or online at www.gutenberg.org/license.

Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing
Project Gutenberg electronic works

1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg electronic work,
you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to and accept all the
terms of this license and intellectual property (trademark/copyright)
agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the terms of this agreement,
you must cease using and return or destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg
electronic works in your possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy
of or access to a Project Gutenberg electronic work and you do not agree to
be bound by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be used on
or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who agree to be
bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few things that you can
do with most Project Gutenberg electronic works even without complying
with the full terms of this agreement. See paragraph 1.C below. There are a
lot of things you can do with Project Gutenberg electronic works if you
follow the terms of this agreement and help preserve free future access to
Project Gutenberg electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the Foundation”
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an individual
work is unprotected by copyright law in the United States and you are

located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative works
based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg are
removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project Gutenberg
mission of promoting free access to electronic works by freely sharing
Project Gutenberg works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for
keeping the Project Gutenberg name associated with the work. You can
easily comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg License when you
share it without charge with others.

1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in a
constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the
laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement before
downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or creating
derivative works based on this work or any other Project Gutenberg work.
The Foundation makes no representations concerning the copyright status
of any work in any country other than the United States.

1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg work (any work on which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, copied
or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the
United States and most other parts of the world at no
cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You
may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg™ License included with this
eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not
located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using
this eBook.

1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is derived from
texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not contain a notice
indicating that it is posted with permission of the copyright holder), the
work can be copied and distributed to anyone in the United States without
paying any fees or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a
work with the phrase “Project Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on
the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs
1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is posted with the
permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution must comply
with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional terms imposed
by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked to the Project
Gutenberg License for all works posted with the permission of the
copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg License
terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this work or any
other work associated with Project Gutenberg.

1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without prominently
displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with active links or
immediate access to the full terms of the Project Gutenberg License.

1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg work in a format other than “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official version posted on the
official Project Gutenberg website (www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no
additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of
exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work
in its original “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format
must include the full Project Gutenberg License as specified in paragraph
1.E.1.

1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, performing,
copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg works unless you comply
with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing access to
or distributing Project Gutenberg electronic works provided that:

• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the
use of Project Gutenberg works calculated using the method you
already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed to the
owner of the Project Gutenberg trademark, but he has agreed to donate
royalties under this paragraph to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid within 60 days
following each date on which you prepare (or are legally required to
prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty payments should be clearly
marked as such and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation at the address specified in Section 4, “Information about
donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.”

• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he does
not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ License. You
must require such a user to return or destroy all copies of the works
possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all
access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ works.

• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.

• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free distribution
of Project Gutenberg™ works.

1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg™
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth in
this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of the Project

Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3
below.

1.F.

1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread works
not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project Gutenberg™
collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ electronic works, and
the medium on which they may be stored, may contain “Defects,” such as,
but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corrupt data, transcription
errors, a copyright or other intellectual property infringement, a defective or
damaged disk or other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that
damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except
for the “Right of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all liability to
you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal fees. YOU AGREE
THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT
EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE
THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY
DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE LIABLE
TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL,
PUNITIVE OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE
NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you
discover a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you
can receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with the
defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a refund.
If you received the work electronically, the person or entity providing it to

you may choose to give you a second opportunity to receive the work
electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy is also defective, you
may demand a refund in writing without further opportunities to fix the
problem.

1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth in
paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied warranties or
the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. If any disclaimer or
limitation set forth in this agreement violates the law of the state applicable
to this agreement, the agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum
disclaimer or limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity
or unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.

1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that
arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do or cause
to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg work, (b)
alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg
work, and (c) any Defect you cause.

Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project
Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is synonymous with the free distribution of electronic
works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers including
obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists because of the

efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from people in all walks of
life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the assistance
they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg’s goals and ensuring
that the Project Gutenberg collection will remain freely available for
generations to come. In 2001, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation was created to provide a secure and permanent future for
Project Gutenberg and future generations. To learn more about the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations
can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
www.gutenberg.org.

Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)
(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the state of
Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service.
The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification number is 64-6221541.
Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation are tax
deductible to the full extent permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state’s
laws.

The Foundation’s business office is located at 41 Watchung Plaza #516,
Montclair NJ 07042, USA, +1 (862) 621-9288. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website and
official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the
number of public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
in machine-readable form accessible by the widest array of equipment

including outdated equipment. Many small donations ($1 to $5,000) are
particularly important to maintaining tax exempt status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United States.
Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a considerable effort,
much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up with these
requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations where we have not
received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND DONATIONS or
determine the status of compliance for any particular state visit
www.gutenberg.org/donate.

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we have
not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition against
accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who approach us
with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make any
statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the
United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation methods
and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other ways including
checks, online payments and credit card donations. To donate, please visit:
www.gutenberg.org/donate.

Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg
electronic works

Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared with
anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg
eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.

Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed editions,
all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a

copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in
compliance with any particular paper edition.

Most people start at our website which has the main PG search facility:
www.gutenberg.org.

This website includes information about Project Gutenberg, including how
to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,
how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email
newsletter to hear about new eBooks.