Nevertheless, I have my doubts as to whether I am really competent to preside over a conference of students; for, judged from the point of view of "good conduct", my university career is not without a stain. I still remember very clearly the day when my Principal summoned me to his presence and announced his order of suspension and his words still ring in my ears - "You are the most troublesome man in the College." That was indeed a redletter day for me; in many respects a turning point in my life's career. It was the first occasion in my life when I had a taste of the joy derived from suffering for a cause; a joy, in comparison with which the other joys of life pale and fade into insignificance. It was also the first occasion in my life when my theoretical morality and theoretical patriotism were put to a test and a very severe test; and when I came out of the ordeal unscathed, my future career had been chalked out once for all.

Friends, you must be thinking that I am a queer fellow to start an address by talking about myself. But do you not think that I am here, not for the purpose of inflicting a sermon on morality and patriotism, but for giving you what advice I may have to offer in the light of my own experience? And is it not a fact that after all only that lesson has value which has been learnt through experience and through suffering?

India today is in the midst of a ferment. Numerous currents and undercurrents of ideas are at work; and various movements, some of them reformist in character and others radical, are busy transforming her life. In the midst of this confusion it is not always easy to look ahead and determine the future lines of progress. But they alone can do this who are young, who are imbued with idealism, who have the historic consciousness and who can attune their spirit to that of the nation. It will take more than one discourse if I were to analyse the different movements that are visible today and give my own opinion as to their respective values. I shall not therefore attempt that. But one thing I would like to say most definitely, namely that if we are to rejuvenate India we shall have to alter our erstwhile notions of good and bad. To put it in philosophical language, we shall have to revalue our existing social and moral values.

Even the most casual observer cannot fail to notice that many of the present day movements are superficial in character; they touch only the fringe of our social and national life, without stirring the inner life of the people. These movements, while they are not altogether useless, cannot achieve much in bringing about a national awakening.

What we want is an awakening from within. The soul of the nation has to be stirred to its depths; and how we can do this in the shortest possible time; is our chief problem. Ours is an ancient land; our civilisation, though it has not lost its dynamic character, is an ancient one, as a people we have gone through innumerable vicissitudes in our career and we have braved several onslaughts which at times threatened to overwhelm us. It is not surprising, therefore, if we are occasionally overcome with fatigue, lassitude and lethargy, for even in nature's economy rest and sleep are necessary at times in order to preserve life. But even if we have become lethargic, we are not dead as a nation. The test of life is originality of thought and creative activity and of these symptoms we, as a nation and as individuals, can still boast.

What we want, therefore, is an awakening from within, which will bring about a radical transformation of our life. Tinkering reform will not do; superficial remedies will be of no avail. What is wanted is a transfiguration of our whole life; a complete revolution, if you will. Do not fight shy of the word 'revolution'. We may differ in our conception of 'revolution', but I have yet to see a living human being who does not believe in revolution. There is no inherent difference between "evolution" and "revolution". Revolution is evolution compressed into a shorter period; evolution is revolution spread out over a longer period. Both evolution and revolution imply changes and progress and in nature there is room for both. In fact, nature cannot do without either.

I have said that we shall have to alter many of our notions of good and bad. I have also said that we want a radical transformation of our whole life. This is necessary if we are to become great as a nation and occupy a seat of honour among the foremost nations of the world. Life has meaning, worth and significant only if it is lived for the sake of an ideal. A nation need not live, in fact it has no right to live, if it does not want to progress and should it achieve greatness merely to fulfil a selfish national purpose. It should aspire to become great in order to make humanity great so that the world may become ultimately a better and a happier place to dwell in.

India possesses all the resources - intellectual, moral and material, which go to make a people great. And India is still living, in spite of her hoary antiquity, because she has to become great once again; because she has a mission to perform. India's mission is firstly to save herself and thereafter to make her contribution to the sum total of the culture and civilisation of the world. In spite of half a hundred handicaps, India's contribution today is by no means a small one. Just imagine for a moment what her contribution would be, if she were free to develop her life according to her own genius.

I am sure that our people can achieve wonders if only we could be roused to ceaseless activity. I am also sure that once we are thoroughly roused, we shall be able to outrun even the progressive nations of today "the hustlers from the West". All that we want is a magic wand by waving which our whole life could be galvanised. The French philosopher, Bergson, has talked of the "elan vital"; the vital impetus; which moves the whole world to activity and progress. What is the "elan vital" of our national life? It is the desire for freedom, for expansion, for selfexpression. The counterpart of this desire is revolt against bondage. If you want to be free, you must revolt against the bondage that surrounds you; and if you revolt against bondage and revolt successfully, you are bound to win your freedom.

Except those whose moral sense is altogether dead every human being is bound to feel, more or less, the pangs of slavery and the humiliation of servitude. When this feeling becomes acute, slavery and bondage become intolerable and there develops a strong desire to throw off the yoke of servitude. This desire is further heightened by a taste of the joy of freedom, either through personal experience of free countries or through study and imagination of the happy conditions that result from freedom. The psychological aspect of "tapasya" in the cause of our country's salvation consists in making our mind more and more sensitive to national humiliation and racial discrimination and in intensifying our desire for freedom. This can be effected by study of history, observation of our present day degradation, contemplation of the ideal of life and above all by comparing conditions prevailing under the regime of servitude with those prevailing under the reign of freedom.

Baptism, initiation, "deeksha" etc., have to me but one meaning; viz., consecration of our life at the alter of freedom. Complete self-consecration will not be possible in a day. But as we become more and more imbued with the desire for freedom we shall get a taste of joy unspeakable and we shall realise more and more that life has a meaning and a purpose. A revolution will set in our thoughts, feelings and aspirations will undergo a transformation. Only one thing in life will have value for us, viz., freedom; and our inner life will be so metamorphosed or recreated as to conform to that ideal. The experience of this gradual transformation is almost indescribable. When this transformation is complete, we shall be reborn; we shall be "dwijas" in the real sense of the term. Thereafter we shall think, feel and even dream only of freedom and all our activity will be permeated with but one desire; the desire to attain freedom. In a word we shall become freedomintoxicated human beings who live, move and have their being only in freedom.

Once the desire for freedom is enkindled in our hearts, it will need an adequate instrument in order to fulfil itself. For this purpose all our faculties physical, intellectual and moral will have to be requisitioned. We shall have to unlearn much of what we have learnt and learn for the first time what we never were taught. The body and the mind will have to undergo a new course of training and discipline in order to be fit for the task of achieving freedom. The external aspect of our life will also change. Luxury, ease and comfort will have to be abandoned, new modes of life will have to be adopted and old habits shunned. Thus will our whole life become a purified instrument for the purpose of attaining freedom. Man is after all a social being. His self-fulfilment is not possible if he is cut off from the rest of society. The individual depends much for his growth and development on society, as society does on the individual. Further, the progress of the individual does not possess much value if it does not carry with it the progress of society as a whole. An ideal which is accepted by an individual recluse but is rejected by society and is not therefore embodied in our corporate life; has not much worth. If freedom is to be the cardinal principle of our life; the "elan vital" of all our activity; it should also be made the basis of social reconstruction. It will be seen at once that if the principle of freedom is to be applied to society and made the fundamental basis of the society of the future; it will mean nothing short of social revolution. Freedom for the whole of society will mean freedom for woman as well as for man; freedom for the depressed classes and not merely for the higher caste; freedom for the poor and not merely for the rich; freedom for the young and not merely for the old; in other words, freedom for all sections, for all minorities and for all individuals. Thus freedom implies equality and equality connotes fraternity. To free society, therefore, women will have to be given an equal status with man, in law as well as in social matters ; the social barriers which put the brand of inferiority on certain sections or castes owing to their birth, will have to be ruthlessly demolished; the inequalities of wealth which stand in the way of social advancement will have to be removed and equal opportunities for education and development will have to be given to all; youth must no longer be considered a crime and young men and young women will have to be given the responsibility of reconstructing society and of carrying on the administration. In society, in the body politic and in the economic world, each individual should be as free as any other and should enjoy the same status. Equal opportunities for all, equitable distribution of wealth, abolition of all social barriers, including caste and emancipation from foreign rule; these should be some of the basic principles of the new Society we want to build.

Students of today, you are the makers of the future, you are going to be the heirs of a free India. I invite you to share some of my dreams and aspirations. There is nothing else that I have to offer you. Will you accept my offering? You must be full of the noblest idealism. Lofty ideals cannot but appeal to you; the loftier they are, the more will they inspire you and rouse the best that is lying dormant in you. Therefore arise, wake up. Your student career is not merely an apprenticeship for a vocation in life. It is a preparation for something higher and nobler than earning one's bread and butter. Man does not live by bread alone. I have held before you a vision of the future that awaits you. That is the future in which you will have to play some part; in fact, that is the future you will have to make, through your sacrifice, suffering and labour. Your body and your mind will have to be so trained as to be a proper vehicle for your future life. Your inner life as well as your external modes and habits will have to conform to a life of service and suffering. Your education and your culture will have to be directed towards the goal that is before you. The life that I have suggested for you may be full of suffering, but believe me, it is full of joy. The path to which I have invited you may be a thorny one but is it not a path leading to glory imperishable? Therefore come, let us form a happy band and march shoulder to shoulder along this noble path. We shall then justify our human life and through darkness and through sorrow, through pain and through suffering, we shall ultimately reach the supreme goal of life; bliss and immortality.

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