Gandhi said, ‘My India is the India of villages’. The freedom that has been won and the prosperity that is looked forward to can be ensured only when the villagers are free and prosperous. And this depends in its turn on the freedom and prosperity of each family in the village.

Now, there is no unity, no mutual co-operation, no love between the four or five brothers in the family; everyone is at cross purposes with the rest. How then can the village enjoy freedom and peace and prosperity? And what to speak of the country when the condition of its villages is so bad?

Every person seeks positions of authority, without trying to deserve the authority by means of the qualifications necessary to use it in the right way. Of course if a person has good intentions and full capabilities and the vision of the Divine, he can well seek authority and discharge it well. But, we seldom see anyone thinking of one’s duty; everywhere people are after the acquisition of positions of authority. (SSS Vol. 15, p. 271)