Competing Nationalisms: The Sacred and Political Life of Jagat Narain Lal by Rajshree Chandra

Competing Nationalisms: The Sacred and Political Life of Jagat Narain Lal by Rajshree Chandra is a biography of one of India’s foremost freedom fighters – brought to the fore by his granddaughter. An excerpt:

Running through his various jail terms, was also the recurrent theme of brahmacharya, a vow that he had taken as early as in 1922, albeit for a short period then. Of his first meeting with his wife (in Gorakhpur, at his father-in-law’s house) after a gap of eight months in 1922, Jagat Narain writes: ‘When I was about to go to bed, my wife came to join me. This was our first meeting after eight or nine months. She was astonished to see me so weak and thin, with a sickly unclipped beard on my chin. She was shocked too, to find me reclining on a bed spread on the ground. We were young and she had keenly felt our separation  .  .  . Imagine her stupefaction when as she approached me, I quietly and gently remarked that she was not to touch me, but to speak to me from a distance. This would be heartrending enough for any wife in any circumstances—and ours were poignant! . . . Then I explained to her my programme and my mental outlook and we slept on separate beds . . . She bitterly grieved at the thought that I was almost lost to her. And on her account, a great dejection descended upon the family. But for the time being there was no help . . .’

Brahmacharya was a practice Jagat Narain often wrestled with. ‘I do not know if I pondered over this question during my previous prison terms of 1931–33, but this time, more than ever before, an important question for me is whether Tolstoy, Gandhiji, rishi (sages), muni (hermits), all believe that in the absence of brahmacharya, spiritual life and awakening is not possible.Tolstoy’s The First Step and Man and Woman, Gandhiji’s Mangal Prabhat, the teachings of Buddha deva all point towards the centrality of brahmacharya in the conduct of spiritual life.’

He goes on to acknowledge that the practice of brahmacharya is difficult and demanding. ‘It is not a practice whose observance should be considered easily achievable.’ He writes: ‘It is surprising that the observance of the very same brahmacharya that seemed impossible outside, has become so svabhavik (instinctive) in confines of the prison . . . My mind often musters up the resolve to climb the third rung. I have already sacrificed domestic life for my country. But my life is still marked by the absence of restraint and meditation. I want to take the plunge so that I lead the rest of my life practising restraint and meditation.’

‘Mahatma Gandhi’s words— that pratigya (vows) cannot be followed by adding adjectives of yatha sadhya (if possible)— is imprinted on my mind  .  .  . from now on the adjective of ‘if possible’ shall be expunged from my resolve. I have noted this in my diary on 10th of last month and also shared and discussed the possibility of practising celibate life with my wife, beginning next ekadashi.’

Jagat Narain Lal repeatedly sought to imbibe the Gandhian model of a moral celibate subject, self-admittedly, rather unsuccessfully—’The pursuit of brahmacharya has become the most difficult of tasks for me. My failure to be a true brahmacharya has contributed so much to my moral and spiritual degradation.’ He is acutely aware that he must guard himself against own sensations and failures. In a diary entry dated 24 May 1932, he admits that his ascetic morality is a work in progress, that he has not been able to eliminate either ‘impulse’ or ‘passion’. He writes: ‘Reading into my nature, I find that I am impulsive both in speech and action. That leads to errors, sometimes indiscretions in speech and action and causes heartaches to others. Remedy is to resist the force of impulse— not to speak or act unless reason has had time to sit in judgement over what impulse dictates.’

He goes on to say that ‘The desire to be activated infinitely by love in dealing with others, exists but not in sufficient degree: (a) firstly, to render disinterested service to others  .  .  . (b) secondly, to enable me to act lovingly even towards those whose attitude is not good or favourable towards me. As soon as I learn that somebody harbours an unfavourable or uncharitable feeling towards me, that somebody has spoken ill of me or acted injuriously towards me, an unwholesome feeling does become seated in my heart towards him . . . I find I allow my heart also to be sufficiently stained . . . How then can I return love for hatred and conquer the hate of another?

Excerpted with permission from Competing Nationalisms: The Sacred and Political Life of Jagat Narain Lal, Rajshree Chandra, Penguin Books India.