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If a Snake can be Tamed,

Why can’t a Son?

(Kanyakelavni Rathyatra, Village Nandanvan,
Madarivas, Meghraj Taluka, Sabarkantha. June 16, 2004)

Imagine an ordinary man – Mohanbhai. He is very poor and
has not fed his children for the past three days. Wouldn’t we
feel pity for them? Wouldn’t we sigh and say ‘Alas! Mohanbhai’s
children haven’t eaten anything since three days’? Would we
not wonder at their poverty? It is exactly this intensity of pain
that we ought to feel when we hear of a child who has not
received education. Illiteracy is such a pitiable situation. How
can somebody not have education? We cannot make a difference
in society unless we feel such intense pain on hearing about
lack of education.

We are making all efforts to see that education is given top
priority and children begin learning. I think that once girls begin
learning, boys will be motivated on their own, without further
persuasion. If girls are being educated, the boys might think,
why should we be left out?

Without education, in spite of having everything, we will
lose it all. Tribal women have been living a backward life since
ages; they have probably spent most part of their lives amidst
snakes and mongooses. And yet, don’t even these women feel
that they should be educated. Wouldn’t all women wish to be
educated? If one asks them, I am sure they would reply in the
affirmative, that it would be better to be educated. They would
certainly feel that had their parents educated them, they would