SPEECH IN PRAGUE
By
Raja J.P. Bahadur Singh
[On Monday, 6th of May, 1929 Raja J.P. Bahadur Singh delivered a Speech in Prague
concerning the Humanistic Club which he organized and the Humanistic Methods
of promoting Peace. The lecture took place at SAL GREGUR OBSEEN DUM REPRESENTATIOHAUS.
Prague, Czaco-Slovakia. DR. PROF. LESNEY took the chair] The Raja spoke as follows:
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Mr. Chairmen, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is neither to show the brilliancy of my learning, nor to display the superiority of my intelligence, but only the sense of my duty to humanity that has prompted me to undertake the mission of expressing my ideas to the interested public of every country.
I have delivered two lectures, one in Geneva and one Berlin on the Humanistic Methods for promoting peace and goodwill for which purpose I have organized an institution in India by the name of the Humanistic Club. I use the word ' Humanistic', not in the sense of Greek and Latin scholarship, but in the sense of that which is suitable to or worthy of human being. My object in naming the institution a 'Club' is this. A Club as you know is an organization of persons meeting together for social intercourse and recreation. I though the ideals of peace, unity and co-operation would be far more easily practicable if taken in the light of recreation.
I do not claim any originality or uniqueness for the aims and objects of my Club. The ideals of unity, goodwill and co-operation were known and taught by prophets and saints and even by great statesmen, from time to time not only in the East but in the West also. Every religion of the world tells us that we must be peaceful and law abiding and that we must extend goodwill and not enmity towards our fellowmen. Yet, inspite of all this teaching of the prophets and saints, inspite of all these religions and doctrines, wars and battles have been fought by the thousand bringing untold misery, distress and desolation in their wake.
The last Great War- the greatest and most destructive
war in the memory of man- was a great eye-opener to mankind. It clearly showed,
for one thing, that even centuries of evolution and civilization had not altogether
taken out the animal instinct of fighting in man. It showed that peoples who
boasted of centuries of great culture and civilization, who professed to believe
in a religion of love and fraternity, could yet indulge in the most cruel and
deadliest of wars compared to which even the wars of the Stone Age were chivalrous
and honorable enough.
Another thing the last Great War proved. And this was the utter futility and
uselessness of war as an instrument for settling disputes or coming to an agreement.
No war has ever been known to settle a dispute. No war has ever succeeded in
bringing two parties together to an honorable agreement. For, certainly, you
cannot cell such treaties as are signed at the conclusion of a war between a
victorious and a defeated nation an agreement. Or, again, if two persons quarrel
with each other and cut off each other's head, you cannot cell that coming to
an agreement. All that war does is to give vent to the play of the animal in
man. The children of war are ruin, destruction and misery. All this last Great
War proved beyond doubt. As a result of the lessons men learnt from the war,
there have come into existence several institution and organizations working
with the object of bringing about inter-national harmony and goodwill, and making
it impossible for nations to fight with one another. Besides these peace movements,
there are other international peace treaties and pacts with the object of outlawing
war. ll this is very good. All this shows that there has arisen a strong desire
for peace in the heats of most of the statement of the world. But all this talk
of peace and goodwill between nations, while there is tremendous discord, unrest
and strife boiling in the heart of every nations, strikes me as a little too
premature, or in that expressive phrase, it strikes me as 'Putting the cart
before the Horse'. For I do not see the possibility of lasting peace between
nations, if the many parties, classes, creeds and communities that go to make
up each nation are bickering and quarrelling and flying at each other's throats.
Before you can have international peace, it is necessary that you have peace
and goodwill among such smaller units like classes, creeds, communities etc.
Peace is like a house that you must build from the foundation, slowly upwards
brick upon brick. Peace cannot be imposed from the top. The big and honorable
people sitting in their palatial offices cannot say to the peoples of the earth,
"Hallo! Look here, you have got to be peaceful", for, that sort of
thing will not do. No amount of legislation will bring about peace if the people
are not peacefully inclined. Therefore, you who want peace, you who are in the
high positions of life must cultivate the mind of the general public and instruct
them about the necessity of goodwill and co-operation in the interest of their
own comfort and happiness and even in the interest of the very preservation
of their lives.
It was first with this object of presenting the ideas
of peace, goodwill and co-operation to the general public in a way that they
can understand and appreciate that I started the Humanistic Club. My second
object in founding the Club was to afford a common meeting ground for the people
of all countries to exchange ideas with one other on matters of common human
interest and benefit. Let me dwell at a little length on this aspect of the
Humanistic Club. When we examine we shall see that many of the quarrels and
feuds between parties or creeds or even individuals are due to some sort of
misunderstanding. The first step for the promotion of international peace and
goodwill is international understanding. If two nations understand each other
and appreciate each other's policies in the right light, the changes of their
going to war with each other are reduced to a great extent. More wars have been
fought through fear and suspicion than through any others cause; and if right
understanding is established between peoples of different countries, they will
have no cause for suspecting and fearing each other.
Considering the tremendous progress that science and invention have made in
the last few decades in the way of bringing far-flung countries and peoples
into close contact, this must not be difficult. In the old days, time and distance
stood in the way of the exchange of ideas and cultures between peoples. To-day
there is no such obstacle, and if, inspite of the facilities afforded by science
and invention for mutual exchange of views, we still keep out ideas to ourselves
walled in by our own petty prejudices and jealousies, we have nothing to blame
but our own narrow outlook and mentality.
Only, in the short time of a few weeks, I have come to
Europe from far off India, crossing over many seas and a mighty continent; but,
there are means of transportation existing by which I could have done it even
less time. For one living even less than a century ago, it would have taken
immense pains and long months of hardship to do it. Thus, today there are far
great facilities than ever before for different recess and peoples to come into
closer contact and give to each other the best of their couture and civilization.
It is only thus by meeting together and exchanging views and opinions that we
lose our prejudices and suspicions and have the way towards universal peace
and goodwill.
It was with this mission of asking every country of Europe
to co-operate with my institutional that I came over here, and I am happy to
inform you that satisfactory encouragement was shown to my ideals both in Geneva
and in Berlin. I shall be glad if any of the people of Czecho-Slovakia will
come forward to extend their co-operation to the institution so as to facilitate
the exchange of views with this country in the interest of peace ad goodwill.
In order that the world be really peaceful, it is necessary that not only should
the different countries not fight with each other but also the several parties,
classes and creeds of every country must be at peace. At present, there is greater
danger of inter-class and inter-communal warfare. In the East, in these days,
there are every day strikes, lockouts, inter-communal strifes and tensions and
violent demonstrations of every sort. In Europe too, I have found that this
sort of thing is not by any means wanting; and, in fact, these things are imported
from the West to the East. For instance, on the 1st of May, I found reports
in the papers of many scuffles and fighting between two parties of the laboring
classes, resulting in injury and loss of life in several cities of Europe not
excluding Berlin where I was staying at the time.
Whether war between tow nations or a civil war, or violent demonstrations, party or class or communal fighting involving injury and loss of life are all productive of distress and misery to mankind. The only way of preventing such happenings in the future is, in my opinion, to impart freely the idea of the oneness of humanity and the utility of unity and co-operation for one's own comfort and happiness as well as for the very preservation of life which is so dear to everybody. This must come not as a religious preaching, not as a command or law, nor even as advice, but through congenial talks during one's play and recreation and in one's ordinary walk of life. This is the reason of my knocking about from country to country with a view to make this suggestion and to appeal to such people as may be interested in the idea to collaborate with me in order to make it suitable and applicable to the conditions of their country.
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