62 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
countered that “even the unphilosophic” may possess “an idealism of
their own.” Among his compa tri ots in jail, Subhas found some who
were “neither thoughtful, nor philosophic,” yet they dealt with pain
calmly, “even like heroes.” He conceded that the philosophically in-
clined can channel suf fering to a higher purpose, but then asked: “Is it
not true that we are all philosophers in embryo and it only requires a
touch of suf fering to awaken the philosophical impulse?”^33
Dilip looked forward to Subhas taking on the mantle of “our future
beloved po lit i cal leader,” and asserted that the youn ger generation had
pinned their faith on him as “the one man who can lead us.” He was
sure that Subhas’s adhara (“innate nature”) and humility would not
permit him to become “a narrow pa tri ot or a common demagogue for
the so- called good of our country.” Even though Subhas believed in
the principle of the greatest good for the greatest number, he did not
equate that good with the purely material. Unlike economists, he did
not look upon art as unproductive. “The time is out of joint,” Subhas
wrote on October 9, 1925. He urged Dilip to flood the country with
songs and “recapture for life the spontaneous joy we have forfeited.”
“He who has no music in his composition,” he wrote, “whose heart
is dead to music, is unlikely to achieve anything great in life.” He had
been captivated by the gambhira music and dance of the Maldah dis-
trict of northern Bengal. Subhas asked Dilip to visit this place to give
a boost to the simple and spontaneous folk music of Bengal. Only af-
ter realizing one’s swadharma (“inner calling”) could one claim one’s
adhikar (“inalienable right”) to real ser vice. “To put it in the language
of Emerson,” he told Dilip, “we must be molded from within.”
Forced inactivity through incarceration strengthened Subhas’s belief
that for most people “action in a spirit of ser vice” ought to be “the
main plank of their sadhana [quest].” He had reverence for Sri Aurob-
indo, who had become a dhyani, immersed in meditation, but he
warned of the danger that the active side of man might become atro-
phied through prolonged seclusion. “For a va ri ety of reasons,” Subhas
observed, “our nation has been sliding pauselessly down to the zero
line in the sphere of action; so what we badly need today is a double
dose of the activist serum, rajas.” Dilip sent this letter from Subhas to
Rabindranath Tagore. “Subhas has written a very fine letter,” the poet