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Letters to / by Kasturba Gandhi
Vokrust Goal,November 9,1908
- M. K. Gandhi

[Kasturba was gravely ill . Gandhiji  was serving his first sentence for violating the rules of Asiatic Registration Amendment Act. On November 9, 1908 , he wrote to Kasturba from Volkrust Goal , South Africa.]

[VOLKRUST GAOL,]

November 9, 1908

BELOVED KASTUR,

I have received Mr. West’s telegram today about your illness. It cuts my heart. I am very much grieved but I am not in a position to go there to nurse you. I have offered my all to the Satyagraha struggle. My coming there is out of the question. I can come only if I pay the fine, which I must not. If you keep courage and take the necessary nutrition, you will recover. If, however, my ill luck so has it that you pass away, I should only say that there would be nothing wrong in your doing so in your separation from me while I am still alive. I love you so dearly that even if you are dead, you will be alive to me. Your soul is deathless. I repeat what I have frequently told you and assure you that if you do succumb to your illness, I will not marry again. Time and again I have told you that you may quietly breathe your last with faith in God. If you die, even that death of yours will be a sacrifice to the cause of Satyagraha. My struggle is not merely political. It is religious and therefore quite pure. It does not matter much whether one dies in it or lives. I hope and expect that you will

also think likewise and not be unhappy. I ask this of you.

MOHANDAS

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