this is taken from a small booklet authored by sardar bhagat singh. it was originally written in gurumukhi and later translated in english. if someone has any objection about copyrights of the same, please note that my objective is only to spread the word..nothing more!
continue from part one
later on i joined the revolutionary party. the first leader with whom i came in contact, though not convinced, could not dare to deny the existence of god. on my persistent inquiries about god, he used to say, “pray whenever you want to”. now this is atheism less courage required for the adoption of that creed. the second leader with whom i came in contact was a firm believer. let me mention his name-respected comrade sachindra nath sanyal, now undergoing life transportation in connexion with the karachi conspiracy case. from the every first page of his famous and only book, “bandi jivan” (or incarcerated life), the glory of god is sung vehemently. in the last page of the second part of that beautiful book his mystic-because of vedantism � praises showered upon god form a very conspicuous part of his thoughts.
“the revolutionary leaflet” distributed- throughout india on january 28th, 1925, was according to the prosecution story the result of his intellectual labor, now, as is inevitable in the secret work the prominent leader expresses his own views, which are very dear to his person and the rest of the workers have to acquiesce in them-in spite of differences, which they might have. in that leaflet one full paragraph was devoted to praise the almighty and his rejoicings and doing. that is all mysticism. what i wanted to point out was that the idea of disbelief had not even germinated in the revolutionary party. the famous kakori martyrs �all four of them-passed their last day in prayers. ram prasad bismil was an orthodox arya samajist.
despite his wide studies in the field of socialism and communism, rajen lahiri could not suppress his desire, of reciting hymns of the upanishads and the gita. i saw only one man amongst them, who never prayed and used to say, “philosophy is the outcome of human weakness or limitation of knowledge”. he is also undergoing a sentence of transportation for life. but he also never dared to deny the existence of god.
up to that period i was only a romantic idealist revolutionary. uptil then we were to follow. now came the time to shoulder the whole responsibility. due to the inevitable reaction for some time the very existence of the party seemed impossible. enthusiastic comrades � nay leaders � began to jeer at us. for some time i was afraid that some day i also might not be convinced of the futility of our own program. that was a turning point in my revolutionary career. “study” was the cry that reverberated in the corridors of my mind. study to enable yourself to face the arguments advanced by opposition. study to arm yourself with arguments in favor of your cult.
i began to study. my previous faith and convictions underwent a remarkable modification. the romance of the violent methods alone which was so prominent amongst our predecessors, was replaced by serious ideas. no more mysticism, no more blind faith. realism became our cult. use of force justifiable when resorted to as a matter of terrible necessity: non-violence as policy indispensable for all mass movements. so much about methods.
the most important thing was the clear conception of the ideal for which we were to fight, as there were no important activities in the field of action i got ample opportunity to study various ideals of the world revolution. i studied bakunin, the anarchist leader, something of marx the father of communism and much of lenin, trotsky and others the men who had successfully carried out a revolution in their country. they were all atheists. bakunin’s “god and state”, though only fragmentary, is an interesting study of the subject.
later still i came across a book entitled ‘common sense’ by nirlamba swami. it was only a sort of mystic atheism. this subject became of utmost interest to me. by the end of 1926 i had been convinced as to the baselessness of the theory of existence of an almighty supreme being who created, guided and controlled the universe. i had given out this disbelief of mine. i began discussion on the subjects with my friends. i had become a pronounced atheist. but, what it meant will presently be discussed.
in may 1927 i was arrested at lahore. the arrest was a surprise. i was quite unaware of (he fact that the police wanted me. all of a sudden while passing through a garden i found myself surrounded by police. to my own surprise, i was very calm at that time. i did not feel any sensation, neither did i experience any excitement. i was taken into police custody. next day i was taken to the railway police lock-up where i was to pass full one month. after many day’s conversation with the police officials i guessed that they had some information regarding my connexion with the kakori party and my other activities in connexion with the revolutionary movement.
they told me that i had been to lucknow while the trial was going on there, that i had negotiated a certain scheme about their rescue, that after obtaining their approval, we had procured some bombs, that by way of test one of the bombs was thrown in the crowd on the occasion of dussehra 1926. they further informed me, in my interest, that if i could give any statement throwing some light on the activities of the revolutionary party, i was not to be imprisoned but on the contrary set free and rewarded even without being produced as an approver in the court. i laughed at the proposal. it was all humbug.
people holding ideas like ours do not throw bombs on their own innocent people. one fine morning mr. newman, the then senior superintendent of cid., came to me. and after much sympathetic talk with me imparted-to him-the extremely sad news that if i did not give any statement as demanded by them, they would be forced to send me up for trial for conspiracy to wage war in connexion with kakori case and for brutal murders in connexion with dussehra bomb outrage. and he further informed me that they had evidence enough to get me convicted and hanged.
to be continued…
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