DISCONTENT AND UNREST
READER: Then you consider Partition to be a cause of the awakening? Do
you welcome the unrest which has resulted from it?
EDITOR: When a man rises from sleep, he twists his limbs and is
restless. It takes some time before he is entirely awakened. Similarly,
although the Partition has caused an awakening, the comatose has not yet
disappeared. We are still twisting our limbs and still restless, and
just as the state between sleep and awakening must be considered to be
necessary, so may the present unrest in India be considered a necessary
and, therefore, a proper state. The knowledge that there is unrest will,
it is highly probable, enable us to outgrow it. Rising from sleep, we do
not continue in a comatose state, but, according to our ability, sooner
or later, we are completely restored to our senses. So shall we be free
from the present unrest which no one likes.
READER: What is the other form of unrest?
EDITOR: Unrest is, in reality, discontent. The latter is only now
described as unrest. During the Congress-period it was labelled
discontent; Mr. Hume always said that the spread of discontent in India
was necessary. This discontent is a very useful thing. So long as a man
is contented with his present lot, so long is it difficult to persuade
him to come out of it. Therefore it is that every reform must be
preceded by discontent. We throw away things we have only when we cease
to like them. Such discontent has been produced among us after reading
the great works of Indians and Englishmen. Discontent has led to unrest,
and the latter has brought about many deaths, many imprisonments, many
banishments. Such a state of things will still continue. It must be so.
All these may be considered good signs, but they may also lead to bad
results.