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Gokulaji's opinion about the reform (piestion seemed to be that hasty reforms were always attended with certain evils and promised but an uncertain good, 'especially those that ai-e recommended by the young, the thoughtless, the busy, or the interested.’ His advice, therefore, to the wise reformer Avas similar in substance to Burke’s maxim that 'men might employ their sagacity in discovering the latent wisdom which underlies general prejudices, and old institutions, instead of exploding them’; and honestly endeavour to harmo- nise and reconcile old and new forces and ideas 'that make man’s destiny easier to him... through rever- 36 ence for the past, for duty, for institutions/ We must be very discriminate and cautious in our zeal for reform. All the spirit of reform should be tempered with circumspection of surrounding circum- stances and connections, lest youth-corrupting and manners-moral-and-religion-undermining sham re- forms might fasten upon the very vitals of our noble national existence, and end in a mere change of tyrants; and we and our posterity may have to bewail that ‘the age of our fathers, worse than that of our grandsires, has produced us who are yet baser, and who are doomed to give birth to a still more degraded off-spring/ Gokulajibh^i admired many British institutions, but he used to observe that he was surprised by inconsistencies in some of them, and instanced as one in point, that — ‘The British Government require any intending candidate to be examined and found competent before he is sent to teach even the rudiments of knowledge to boys in villages, but when they have to send their representatives to the Courts of Native States, where it is essential that they should be most com])etent, in order to set a good example to, inspire confidence in, and retain good relations with, Native Princes, no test of any kind is provided/ Political Officers are con- necting links between the British Government and Native States, or rather, bridges over which the good in the one is to be carried to the other, and vice versa ; and it is through them that mutual re- lations are drawn closer, to the benefit of all concern- ed. They, therefore, should be selected from among the best in the Services. 37 They are expected to be held up as models to the officers and others in the Native States, to colferi- bute to raise the character of public men, so as to form good statesmen, and to develop in themselves, as well as in those who come in contact with them the high principles of good government. It is implied in their very nationality that they are imbued with principles such as: — "The king is the representative of the people ; so are the Lords ; so are the judges; they are all trustees for the people as well as the Commons, because no power is given for the sole sake of the holder ; and although government certainly is an institution of divine authority, yet its forms, and the persons who administer it, all originate from the people.” "Their representatives are a control for the people and not upon the people.” If the British representatives who are styled and meant by the Government to be friends and advisers to the Native States, are desirous of truly accomplish- ing the noble mission of their nation to elevate Natives upto themselves and prove that, — ‘ the British Empire is the greatest instrument for good the world has ever seen/ they should endeavour to inspire Princes and their subjects with some such idea of good government as above quoted. If this part is conscientiously performed, the Native States will not only be a real support to the British Empire, but will also produce statesmen who, while governed by the principle that ‘ the end of government is to produce the greatest happiness to mankind/ will consider it their duty : — “ To keep the golden mean, their golden rule, 4 38 The end to prize, to learn in Nature’s School ; ^ To serve their countiy, their whole life to spend, The world’s good, not their own, their being’s end.” H. E. The Viceroy, Lord Lytton, conferred upon Gokulajibhai on the 1st of January 1877, in recognition of his loyal conduct and services, the title of HAo Bahadur as a personal distinction. Gokulaji died on the 28th of November 1878, in office, and in the full enjoyment of public respect and royal regard, or, to speak in the Ved^lntic language, he, having done his task, became, through the true Self-knowledge, free from the three frames — causal, subtile, and gross, that disguise the Self — and then, his Self, absorbed into the Highest Self, became all- happiness, just as the space, enclosed by a pot, be- comes one with the infinite space and free, on that pot being broken. It is distinctly pronounced in the Veda, that ‘ One knowing Brahman, becomes Brah- man,’ because ‘ to know is to be,’ according to the Vedanta. GokulajibhM was a self-helped, a self-educated, and a self-made man, in the true sense of the words. He was resolved to excel, and he did excel in his great and single aim, which was, to unfold his spiritual faculties by study and contemplation, and to return to the Highest Self. It is said that the three strings — Kanaka, Kdntd and Kirti, i. e., fortune, female, and fame, have chain- ed the whole world. Not to be so drawn and enslaved by any of these as to do any wrong, is the proper test of a truly good man. In worldly affairs, Gokulajibhai had many occasions to be tried by the test, but was proved genuine. Illusory temptations 39 of the world passed over him harmless. It is true that rank, wealth, influence and other worldly pos- sessions are useful as means for the sake of doing good, and so far they are desired by good men, who, however, always regard them .as the means only, and never as the end. Gokulajibh^i was content with what he had honestly acquired. He never de- sired to seem to be other than what he was in matters of wealth, influence and knowledge. He used to live within his means. His habits were simple. He devoted the best portion of his time to the study of philosophy which is justly styled ‘the pursuit of absolute truth, or of the absolute real, that is, of the true and real as they exist for all intelligence; and this pursuit is conducted under the direction of the universal faculty in man, or, in other words, is con- ducted under the direction of necessary thinking.’ (1) This raised him into the region of universal or unin- dividual thinking. He ranked the intellectual pleasure highest, and in it he felt the greatest satis- faction. He set his affection on Brahman, Which in each case really exists, and was able to apprehend the eternal and immutable Highest Self. ‘Just as one thinks so he becomes,' was truly applicable here. There was no parade, no affectation, about him. He worked quietly, and never coveted publicity. True character, however, seldom remains in the dark. The fame of his good qualities had travelled very far, and was noticed in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine for August 1876. A celebrated English gentleman says therein “ The Divan of Jun%adh, when I visited KS.thi4- (1) Ferrier’s Lecture on Greek Philosophy. 40 vM, was also an exceedingly courteous, dignified and intelligent gentleman. This was Azam Gokul^i Sampattiram. At this time he was absent at Il4jcote...but I met him there and had before made very friendly acquaintance with him. His disposi- tion was very kind and pleasing, his knowledge great, his piety unaffected; and in the course of much intercourse with him relating to business affairs, in which there was some temptation to depart from strict rectitude, I never saw in him the least shadow of guile, or anything which would be deemed un- worthy of the highest class of English gentlemen. Even those, who found most fault with the State of Jun^gadh, had nothing to say against his personal character.” In truth, he required only to be person- ally known, to be admired. As a specimen of how he was estimated by the Natives, the following letter from Mr. HaridS.^ Viharidasa, the sole Administra- tor at Wadhav^n, who is well-known for being not given to overpraise is transcribed : — “My Dear Manasukharam, I am very much grieved to learn the sad news of the demise of our accomplished, and so widely res- pected friend and well-wisher, Eao Bahddur Gokulaji- bhdi. I have always admired, as you are aware, his many good qualities, of which truthfulness, firm dis- position, straightforwardness, integrity, singleness of purpose, and religious turn of mind, were most con- spicuous. He was a noble, able, shrewd, and in- telligent statesman. He was not only respected but revered by all who knew him personally, or by his well-known, unstained reputation, as a really great and representative man> He possessed a very 41 good knowledge of our Hindu philosophy and reli- gion, which drew a still greater reverence for him from the people. As a mortal being, he had of course some failings, but they were so few and small,^ and his virtues so many and great, that the former remained almost always eclipsed by the latter. What a loss has KS,thiiwM suffered in his death 1 His absence will be keenly felt for a long time by the prominent members of our political circle, of which he was the prop. The States of El^thi^wltd in general will miss in him an able, truthful, and fearless advocate of their common interests. The loss to Jun^gadh, of which he was Divin for several years, can be better imagined than described. # * # * # I well remember that some leading members in the administration of a big rival State in K4thi§.