I will endeavour humbly

‘I will endeavour humbly but firmly, to acquire or achieve’ the following: practise yoga; acquire good knowledge; become a member of the British Parliament ‘do good to my country by all means in my power’; try to become a preacher of the highest philosophical religion. This is from a single significant diary entry made by the great Indian political leader and social reformer, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who died 110 years ago today. The diary entry was found and revealed by his disciple and biographer, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri.

Gokhale was born in 1866, in Kotluk village, Ratnagiri district, present-day Maharashtra, India. Coming from a modest Chitpavan Brahmin family, he pursued his education at Rajaram College in Kolhapur and later at Deccan College in Pune, where he graduated in 1884. He was among the first generation of Indians to receive a Western-style education, which deeply influenced his political and social outlook.

After completing his studies, Gokhale began his career as a professor at Fergusson College in Pune, where he taught for nearly two decades. In the early 1890s, he became actively involved in politics, joining the Indian National Congress in 1899. He quickly rose through the ranks and became one of the leading moderate leaders, advocating for gradual political reforms through dialogue with the British. In 1905, he was elected president of the Indian National Congress.

Gokhale founded the Servants of India Society in 1905 to promote education, social reform, and political training among Indians. He was also a member of the Imperial Legislative Council from 1902 to 1915, where he pushed for administrative reforms, free primary education, and reduced government expenditure on military affairs. He traveled to England in 1905 and 1912 to advocate Indian political interests and was instrumental in influencing the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909.

Gokhale never married, dedicating his life entirely to public service. He played a crucial role as a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi, who regarded him as a political guide. Gokhale’s health declined in his later years due to overwork and stress, and he died on 19 February 1915, aged only 48. Further information is available from Wikipedia, Enyclopaedia Britannica, and National Indian Congress.

Although Gokhale did not keep a diary - and his biographer tells us why - he did, as a young man, write one significant diary entry. This is included in V. S. Srinivasa Sastri’s The Life of Gopal Krishna Gokhale (as published by the Bangalore Printing and Publishing Co. in 1937 - freely available at Internet Archive). Sastri was a close associate and disciple of Gokhale, indeed he succeeded Gokhale as president of the Servants of India Society.

The following is taken directly from Sastri’s biography:

‘This thing that I am going to read to you is from the diary where [Gokhale] occasionally recorded his thoughts. I must tell you, parenthetically, that he never maintained a diary. He asked us, his followers too, never to do so. Do you know why? Just at the time when the Society was started, the whole of India was in political ferment, and a part of the activities of Government was the institution of enquiries of all sorts into the conduct of young men, especially those who enrolled themselves as members of public bodies and went about for public service. In many political prosecutions, the diaries of the unhappy accused had been taken as evidence against them (laughter). So he told us, “though you will be perfectly innocent, something you write may bring, it may be, other public workers into jeopardy. Well, we cannot afford to keep diaries.”

I hope to make the significance of this note from Gokhale’s diary clear, as regards a certain phase of Mr. Gokhale’s inner life. Always he looked into himself, examined his conduct in the light of great principles and ideals; and it is said that if he had done wrong, nobody could have castigated him more severely than himself. If he had done right, nobody was more ready to give credit to those who had inspired him and look upon successes as stepping stones to obtain greater opportunities of service. Soon after this humiliation of the apology, he examined himself in this way and made resolutions, which he committed to paper in a certain document which I mean to read to you, only saying beforehand that you must listen to it with the respect, in fact reverence, due to a man’s ideals at the time when he was suffering most acutely, living as it were in the very presence of the Most High and desiring nothing so much as to make his life an instrument of God’s will and an instrument for public welfare under His guidance. 

This is what I found amongst his intimate papers. It is dated 5th February 1893:

“By the grace of Sree Guru Dattatreya, I will endeavour humbly but firmly, to acquire or achieve the following: 

1) I will practise Yoga regularly. 

2) I will acquire a good knowledge of (a) History - Ancient and Modern. (b) Philosophy - Ancient and Modern. (c) Astronomy. (d) Geology. (e) Physiology. (f) Psychology. Now, no more “ology”. (g) French.

3. I will try to become a Member of :—

(а) The Bombay Legislative Council.

(b) The Supreme Legislative Council.

(c) The British Parliament.

In all these assemblies I will try to do good to my country by all means in my power.

4) I will try to become a preacher of the highest philosophical religion and I will preach this religion to the whole world.” ’