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of his own language and exchange it for another, without losing the essential nature, strength and simplicity of his mind. As a matter of course, the growth of one's understanding must come from within and not from without and all that the external elements can do assist the internal growth but not to create it there. Like the coco- nut palm that can thrive well only in Indian soil, a man's intellect also can develop well only by the study of his own language. He who learns a foreign speech neglecting his own, faces an element that hampers his mind's growth at every turn. But another who acquires a sufficient knowledge of his mother tongue first, and then devotes himself to a study of the foreign one, increases his dis- criminative faculty by noting the points of similarity and dissimilar- ity between the two. Further, one can attain proficiency in his mother tongue with less trouble and in a fewer number of years than the trouble and time he takes to master a foreign language.
Now, the cultivation of one's mother tongue itself, as just pointed out, should not be carried on in the slovenly manner in which it is done by the brahmins and their followers. Defiling one's speech by mixing up with it extraneous elements simply indicates laxity of discipline, looseness of character and lack of serious purpose in life. Acquisition of knowledge should be pursued not for the sake of money but for the sake of knowledge itself, since the possession of knowledge means the priceless enlightment of one's own under- standing. What can be more profitable to man than to obtain the light of knowledge? Riches and other earthly possessions that come to him who is learned, do not last long nor do they give as perma- nent a satisfaction of mind as his knowledge of great things does. A careful, judicious and fastidious handling of one's own language not only increases the power of his understanding that arises from his gaining an insight into the native harmony of sound and sense but it also affords an ever-lasting pleasure which results from the vigilance and concentrated attention that spring up in keeping it chaste. The development of moral and intellectual elements of hu- man mind being thus based on the aesthetic, the patriotic, and the self-restraining sense which scholars bring to bear upon the use to which they put their own speech, I need scarcely impress upon the
