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એને બાપુએ કડક જવાબ આપ્યો : "When I said that writing about the abuse of occult powers you might have been stronger, I used the adjective precisely, in the same sense in which I use it regarding. admitted evils. I feel that whilst we should spare evil doers, we dare not be sparing in our condemnation of evil. Perfect gentleness is not inconsistent with clearest possible denunciation of what one knows to be evil, so long as that knowledge persists; and there would need to be no cause for regret later if our knowledge of the past was found to be a great error of judgment. In our endeavour to approach absolute truth we shall always have to be content with relative truth from time to time, the relative at each stage, being for us as good as the absolute. It can be easily demonstrated that there would be no progress if there was no such confidence in oneself. Of course our language would be one of caution and hesitation if we had any doubt about the correctness of our position. In the case in point, the motive of the exhibitor, no matter how excellent it may be, in my opinion would be no excuse for his exhibition, and the laziness of the spectators in not having thought out the consequences of their presence at such exhibitions, is again no excuse for their presence. But I must not labour the point any further. I thought that as I could not endorse the position taken up by you in your letter, I should just place before you my argument for your consideration. ' મેં કહ્યું કે ધાગિક સિદ્ધિઓના દુરુપયોગની બાબત લખવામાં તમારે વધુ કડક થવું જોઈતું હતું ત્યારે એ વિશેષણ મે ચોકસાઈથી વાપણું” હતું. સર્વમાન્ય અનિષ્ટને વિષે આપણે જેવું લખીએ તેવું અને વિષે લખવું જોઈએ એ મારી માન્યતા છે. આપણે દુષ્ટ માણસને જતો કરીએ, પણ દુષ્ટતાને ધિકકારી કાઢવામાં તો જરાકે કચાશ ન જ રાખીએ. એક વસ્તુને આપણે અનિષ્ટ માની લીધી એટલે તે માન્યતા જ્યાં સુધી કાયમ રહે ત્યાં સુધી એ અનિષ્ટને સાફ સાફ શબ્દોમાં વખોડી કાઢવું, એ સૌમ્ય સ્વભાવ સાથે અસંગત નથી. અને ભવિષ્યમાં આપણને એમ માલૂમ પડે ૧૭ ૧૨ Gandhi Heritage Portal
