India and Its Faiths - Forgotten Books

ONE OF TH E GOPURAMS AT TH IRUKL IKUNDRUM

iNDIAAND ITS FAITH S

A TRAVELER’S RECORD

BY JAMES BISSETT PRATT, PH .D.

9120111 15508 0? PH I LOSOPHY m wuAMS COLLEGE

AUTHOR OF

“THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF"

WHAT xs PRAGMATXSM

Wit!: I llustrations

BOSTON AND NEW YORK

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

abs minersibe press6am bribge

191 5

COPYR IGHT, 1915, BY JAMES B I SSETT‘

PRAT’

T

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published Nov e m be r 1015

TO MY DEAR COMRADE

I N I ND IA AND I N L I FE

AT WHOSE SUGGEST ION TH IS BOOK WAS BEGUNAND BY WHOSE ASS ISTANCE IT WAS

COM PLETED

Passage 0 soul to I ndia/

Eclaircise the m yths Asiatic, the prim itive fables.

Not youalone , proud truths of theworld ,

Nor youalone , ye facts of m odern science ,

But m yths and fables of old , Asia’

s , Africa’

s fables,The far- darting beam s of the spirit, the unloos

’

d dream s,

The de ep diving bibles and legends,The daring plots of the poets, the elder religions;0 you tem plesfairer than lilies pour

’

d over by the rising sun !

0 youfables spurning the known , eluding the hold of the known ,

m ounting to heaven !

Passage inde ed 0 soul to prim al thought,

Not lands and seas alone , thy own clearfreshness,The young m aturity of brood and bloom ,

To realm s of budding bibles.

Passage to m ore than I ndia l

Are thywings plum ed inde ed for such farflights?

0 soul, voyagest thou inde ed on voyages like those ?

Disportest thou onwaters such as those ?Soundest belowthe Sanscrit and the Vedas?Then have thy bent unleash

’

d .

Passage to you, your shores, ye agedfierce enigm as/

Passage to you, to m astership of you, ye strangling problem s!

You, strew’

d with the wrecks of skeletons, that, living , n ever

reach’

d you.

Passage to m ore than I ndia l

WALTWHITMAN .

PREFACE

F there is room for a new book on India and its faiths , thatcertainly is not due to any lack of learned and excel lent

treatmen ts of the subj ect already obta inable . And the onlyexcuse I shall offer for adding to a long l ist is that I have soughtto dea l with the subj ect from a point of View different fromthat of m ost writers , and that I have found m y interest centering on aspects of India ’s rel igious l ife no t often em phasized inour books upon that land . I am neither a Sanskritist nor am issionary nor a convert to som e Oriental cul t ; and that perhaps consti tutes m y chief qual ification for writing on India .

For I have had no axe to grind , and my interest has been ce n

te red on existing conditions , on present- day ideas and theirs ign ificance

,and on the m ethods used by the different com m u

nitie s of India for rel igious education and rel igious reform . Inspite , therefore , Of the m any excellent works that have beenwritten on India , I conceive that there is stil l a place for a bookwhose author ’s preparation for his task has been

, no t in Sanskrit or m issionary l iterature , but in the study of the generalproblem s Of the psychology and philosophy of rel igion , and

who seeks to present Ind ian rel igious l ife as i t is to - day,without

partisanship or antecedent bias . When I started for India itwas with no thought of writing a book on the land and i tsfaiths

,but to gain fresh l ight on the psychology of religion

—a subj ect that had interested me for a dozen years . Before

I had been long in the coun try , however , I found I had col

le cted , from observation and from conversation with all sortsof people , a considerable am oun t of inform ation concern ingthe rel igion s of India which seem ed to m e m ost interestingand which I , at least , had not found in books ; and mywi fesuggested that what had brought new in sight to m e might beof interest to others also . Hence the writing of this book .

Of the photographs used as i l lustrations all but one weretaken by m yself . The pictures of Krishna and of Kal i arefrom comm on prints sold for a few annas all over India . These

ix

PREFACE

and pictures l ike them Of the other gods are to be found in al

most every Hindu home and shop and in m any a native lawor business office . The picture of Zarathustra is from a common Parsee print which has an honored place in nearly everyParsee hom e .I t is only right that I should here express my indebtednessto a num ber of friends and acquaintanceswithout whose assistance this book would no t hav e been worth writing . Most ofall am I indebted to m y wife , whose quick eyes caught m anyan Indian scene which but for her I should have m issed , whosecriticism and suggestion have been my most trusted guides ,and who through m any hours of patien t work typewrote m ym anuscript and m ade a large part of m y index . Much of myinform ation , beside that gleaned from books and periodicals ,I owe to the fol lowing gentlem en whose acquain tance I m adein India : the Reverend W . B . Stover

,of Ankleshv ar; M r.

Jiv anj i Jam sh edj iMod i and M r . Aderj i , o f Bom bay ; M r . LalaHansraj and Principal Lala San Das , of the Dayanand AngloVedic’ College in Lahore , and Professor 5 . C . Se n , of the DyalS ingh College in the sam e city ; M r . Aj i t Prasada , of Lucknow ;M r . Kum ar De v e nd-ra Prasad , Of Al lahabad ; M r . Bhagav anDas and Dr . Tore porawalla , of the Cen tral Hindu College ,Professor Mulvaney of Queen 5 Colle ge , tthe Reverend Mr.

Johnson , the ReverendMr Cape , the Re v e re nd Father | oach im ,

M r . Seyed , Mr . Khal il e r- Rahm an,al l Of Benares ; Dr . D . B .

Spooner and Dr . Syed Mahm ud , of Bankipur ; Dr . Satish Chandra Vidyab hushan , Dr . J . C . Bose , M r . Sh iv anath Shastri , andM r . Bipim Chandra Pal

, ofCalcuttaand Roberts

,of the Rangoon Baptist College in Rangoon ; M r .

Taw Shin K0 and Bhikku U Nyana, o fMandalay ; M r . Haras

gam a , of Matale (Ceylon) ; M r . Dharm apala and Dr . Hewav itarna , of Colom bo ; and Dr . Jacobi , of Bonn ,

Germ any .

I made the acquaintance Of these gentlem en while Mrs . Prattand I were travel ing in India during the autum n

,winter , and

Spring. Of 1913—14 . And m y grati tude is due no t only to them ,

but to the scores of other Indians who,whether pundits or

cool ies , treated uswith unfail ing courtesy and real kindness . I fone rushes through India one m ay indeed depart with l i ttlel iking for India ’s swarming mill ions. But i t is hard for me to

PREFACE

conceive how one can stay any time among them without finding them a

'

truly lovable people and without imbibing genuinerespect and admiration for the simple dignity of their l ives , thequiet courtesy of their manners , their uncom plaining endurance of hardships , their unbounded hospi tal i ty , and the feel ingfor spiri tual values which , in spite of gross superstitions , isunmistakable in the Indian atm osphere . These things or

,

rather , the memory of them strike one , perhaps , most forcib ly after his return from the East to the fam i l iar sights andsounds of Western civil ization . For my part , at any rate , inthe rush of our city streets and the com placent satisfaction ofour beer- gardens and ourmoving- picture shows , and amid thedescriptions of war and hate and horror that fi l l every day ’sreports from Europe , I find mysel f thinking Of the banks of theGanges and the si lent monasteries ofBurma ; j ust as I shall tel lmysel f , in the m idst of the snows and piercing winds which ourcom ing New England winter is already preparing for us , thatthe Irrawaddy is stil l pursuing its course to the sea betweengroves of flowering trees and banks crowned with golden pagodas , and that the roses are stil l blooming in Benares .

JAMES BISSETT PRATT .

WILLIAMSTOWN, MAS SACHUSETTS ,October, 1 915 .

CONTENTS

ON AVOIDING MISUNDERSTANDINGS

HINDU WORSHIP

THE HINDU PILGRIM

THE MANY GODS

THE ONE GOD

DUTY AND DESTINY

THE HINDU DHARMA

TEACHERS , PRIESTS , AND HOLY MEN

REFORM M OVEMENTS WITHIN HINDUISM

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ AND THE ARYA SAMAJ

THE RADHASOAMI S AND THEOSOPHI STS

THE KABIR PANTEI S AND THE SIKHS

THE JAINAS

THE MOHAMMEDANS

THE PARSEES

THE BUDDHISTS OF BURMA AND CEYLON

EDUCATION AND REFORM

THE DOCTRINES OF M ODERN BUDDHISM

THE VALUE OF BUDDHISM AND ITS SPRINGSOF POWER

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN INDIA

WHAT THE WEST MIGHT LEARN

INDEX

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ILLUSTRATIONS

ONE OF THE FOUR GREAT SHRINES AT THE SHWAY DAGON

PAGODA , RANGOON

AT PRAYER , SHWAY DAGON PAGODA , RANGOON

BY AN IRRAWADDY VILLAGE

THE QUEEN’

S GOLDEN M ONASTERY , MANDALAY

RECLINING BUDDHA , IN THE JUNGLE NEAR RANGOON

INDIA AND ITS FAITHS

A TRAVELER ’S RECORD


CHAPTER I


0 ,I ’m very sure h e ’

s a heathen polytheist l ike the rest Ofthem . H e does n ’

t believe in the One God .

But, m adam ,

his verses certainly sound as i f he did . And

you yourself said just now that som e Of them are fil led withgenuine rel igious feeling .

”

“ I know they are ; that’

S the surprising thing about them . Ican ’ t understand it at all . But Tagore has m any Englishfriends

, and i t must be that som e o f them made this selectionfrom his verses and probably changed them considerablytoo . You can be sure all of his poem s that are not translatedin to English are about Ganesha and Shiva and the rest , andthat he him self worships a lot of horrid idols when at home .They ’re all al ike , these heathen . I ’ve lived am ong them fortwenty- two years and I know !We were on the steam er bound for Bom bay , and all the pas

se nge rs exce pt our two selves had l ived in India for yearsmost of them for twenty- two years and were return ing therefrom a Visi t or a furlough . Every one we met knew all aboutIndia and the Indians , so Iwas making use of m y opportun i tyto learn som ething from them . The m issionary , whose judgm en t I had learned to respect , did no t agree with the lady . Hesaid that many Indians Of his acquaintance believed in andworshiped the one God . But the other missionary added that

,

though this m ight be true in one sense , i t did n’

t do them anygood , for they did n

’

t acknowledge the Blessed Trinity ; andwithout doing thatwho could be saved?Meanwhile I was reading the books of S ister Niv edita, and

learning from them that the Ind ians were the only peoplewhohad retained genuine Spiri tual religion of the deepest sort ,that the caste system merely meant Noblesse oblige , and that


the use of idolswas really a great aid in spiri tual worship andought

,apparently , to be introduced into Europe . Som ewhat

puzzled by all this I went with i t to the l ittle English majora charming fellow who sat next me at table .

“Oh,you ’re interested in that stuff 1” he said . Well , you

’ l lfind enough Of i t in India . A l l the natives want to talk rel igionto you til l you get beastly tired of i t , don

’ t you know . Whenmy Mohammedan Officers start tel ling me about their Vishnuand Krishna and all their other godsBut the Mohammedans don ’ t believe in these gods th e

Mohamm edans have on ly one God . I t’

s the Hindus who worship Vishnu and the rest .”

Oh,it

’

s the Hindus , is i t?Well , anyhow , they’re all pretty

much alike , and I’

v e got ’em trained nowso that they knowjolly well I don ’ t want to hear any of their rel igious rot .Therewas a young Hindu on board , but m y success in ques

tioning himwas not bril lian t . AS I learned later , he did no t

represen t the majori ty Of his fellow countrymen . He did repre ~

sent , however, an increasing minori ty of the young men whohave been brought up by libe ral -minded Hindu parents andhave been sent abroad to fin ish their education . This boywasseven teen and was return ing from Germ any where he had beenstudying engineering ; and either in the land Of Kant or elsewhere h e certainly had acquired a rather unusual power Of suspe nded judgm ent . When I asked him what religion he b elonged to , he responded proudly , I am an Aryan .

” Asked ifhe meant by this the Arya Sam aj , he looked puzzled and Said ,No .

” Concerning his religious faith he said , I believe to findout what is good and do that thing . I don ’ t know about the ‘

rest . Som e say one thing , some another , but all agree on that,and that is my rel igion SO far . Some day I may find out more ,but not yet . What I find out by myself , that is my rel igion .

”

When I asked h im what he had been taught about God andabout worship , he said that as a sm all boy he had attended aChristian school for a tim e , then a school of some other rel igionhe could n’

t remember What and had heard a lot Of thingsabout God and that sort Of thing , but had n

’

t understood anyof i t and did n ’

t remember any of it . Asked what he thought o fthe temple worship he had seen in India

,he said he did n ’

t

2

ON AVO IDING MISUNDERSTANDINGS

know . Som e people said one thing about God,some another.

Some said God dwelt in images and at tim es spoke throughcertain men . He did n ’

t know . He had seen men sit around asweet- sm ell ing fire and j um p up in a Wi ld state

, so that whatever you asked them they could tell you : but Whether theytold the truth at such tim es he did n ’

t know . And when I askedwhich were the better , the Hindus or the Moham medans , hesaid that as he him self had been brought up a Hindu hecould n ’

t give an opinion .

So , asI have already rem arked , my success in learn ing religion from my young Hindu friend was not signal : but , at anyrate , I adm ired his suspense of j udgm ent , and resolved to im itate i t and to form no Opin ion of my own ti ll reaching Indiaand seeing for myself .When one lands in Bom bay , the East bursts upo n one l ikethe rise of an Orie ntal

'

sun which , as every one knows , comesup like thunder in these parts . One feels that he has never seencolor before . The streets are al ive with i t on turban ,

coat,

Skirt,loose- flowing trousers , loincloth , sari , and bronze and

chocolate skin : while j ewelry of every description hangs fromnose and ear , and encircles neck , arm , fingers , ankles , and toes .A never—ending stream of every caste and religion passes by onewith the si lence O f patient , naked feet . Those with the castemarks so carefully painted on their foreheads are Hindus

,

While the m e nWi th the strange headgear are Parsees , and mostof the bearded m e n are Mohammedans . Then there are a fewJainas too , and an occasional S ikh . The scene is bewilderingand i t grows the more complex as one ’s familiari ty with i t increases . But more bewildering than the costume , color , andcaste of this multitude are the rel igions which they em body .

Who Shal l understand these? How shall one come to any inte llig ent judgm ent upon the faith Of India?The first lesson that one Should learn is that any such judgment upon the Faith of India ” as a whole is impossible . Likeother countries , and even more than other countries , India is aland Of con trasts a land of low plains and lofty m ountains ,of heat and cold , ofweal th and poverty , beauty and ugliness ,Clean l iness Of person and filthine ss Of Clothes . In the spiri tualsphere the contrasts are even greater , so that i t is im possible


to lum p the Indians and say , They are al l idolaters ; or, Theyare all spiritual . To the reader this must seem an absurdly unnecessary and perfectly obvious statem ent : and yet one willmeet with people who insist that they know India , and yet whoseem incapable of differentiating between the Vedanta philosoph e r and the magic- fearing sweeper or the an im istic B ihl .In no other country are there so many different rel igions orsuch great contrasts of intellectual level . Hence nowhere elseis i t so necessary to make distinctions and so dangerous toindulge in sweeping general assertions .And ,

more in particular , there are four points Of view , or perhaps I Should say four possible sources Of information , whichhe who would understand the religions Of India Should regardwith caution . Against the first of these I need hardly warn thereader the point o f view , nam ely , Of the native him self .Naturally one must no t believe everything that one is told bythe Indians in praise of their own religion—som e of theirstatem ents go well with a l ittle salt . Like the adherents o fother authoritative rel igions , they naturally bel ieve that theirsis the only one truly inspired , and som e of the more educatedwill attem pt to explain away its Obj ectionable features by afree use Of the allegorical m ethod . And som e of them , out Of

Sheer loyalty to their fai th , will refuse to adm i t the existence ofevils with which they are really well acquainted . But even i fthe defender of a rel igion does no t categorically deny the existe nce Of certain of i ts evils

,he may , at least , especially if

writing a book , careful ly avoid m aking any mention Of them .

This is natural enough and is to be seen in m any defendersof Christian i ty and i ts various churches and sects . Hence , ifVivekananda and other cultured Indians , in their books onHinduism , fail to mention anything in i t that is unworthy , butpaint i t al l white , one should no t blame them ; but one shouldnot stop with them .

This trait of tell ing the truth but not the whole tru th is ali ttle more surprising and a little more m isleading in thoseEuropean wri ters who seek to give an ultra-

“ sympathetic ”

picture o f India and whose point of View is the second Of thefour against which I would warn the reader . S ister Niv e dita

(Margaret E . Noble) and Field ing Hall are representative Of

4



largely derived . The modern missionary book and the modernmissionary

,I am glad to say , are usually of a quite difl’e re nt

typ e . Yet enough books and men and women Of the Old sortare left to make it important to be on the alert against their

partial statements . As a rule what they say and write isperfectly true ; but they give only half the picture . TO mentiononly one book Of this sort th e Ab bé Dubois ’s “HinduManners

,Customs , and Ceremonies

”is one of the most valu

able treatises ever written on India . Nowhere else can one getSO reliable and detailed an account of Indian life and customsfrom first- hand Observation . Nearly every po si tive statem entin the book is true ; j ust as nearly every posi tive statem ent inS ister Niv edita’

s“Web of Indian Life is true .

1 Yet the ge neral impressions one carries away from the two books are aboutas different as the impressions one has after reading the In

ferno ” and the Paradiso .

” Each book is needed as an antidote to the other . Unfortunately I found many of the Europeanresidents Of India well versed in the abbé ’s book , but few hadtaken any an tidote ; and as a resul t they were convinced thatim m oral i ty consti tuted the chief form ofworship in Hinduism ,

that al l Brahmins were either fools or knaves , and that Indianthought in general was utter nonsense .

And this brings me to the fourth source of information whichone Should regard somewhat askance namely , the assertionsOf

“ the superficial tourist or the non-missionary European resident in India . This source is particularly dangerous , for i t is sonatural to suppose that one ofour own race who has traveled inIndia (and especially one who has l ived there “

twenty - twoyears will be in a posi tion to know all about i t . They usuallythink so themselves . I t is the commonest thing to meet withtourists who , having spent a month or less in India , havingvisi ted two temples and the bathing and burning ghats , andhaving made the acquaintance o f a few servants at the hotelsand a few coo l ies at the stations , are on their way home to tell

1 Both of these books hav e geographical l im itat ions as we l l as initial prej udice s. Siste rNiv edita’

s pe rsonal Obse rvation is m ostly confined to Be ngal,while t he abbé’s facts we re alm ost e ntire ly gathe re d in southe rn India. In

addit ion to this one m ust re m e m ber that the abbé's bookwas written one

hundred years ago .

6

ON AVO IDING MISUNDERSTANDINGS

their friends that they have seen India and that its inhabitantsare al l degraded worshipers Of stocks and stones .The tourist ’s ignorance is no t surprising . But i t is not easyto understand the ignorance of the average European residentin India . Surely no one can go to the East and fail to admirethe un iversal peace , the im partial justice , and the efficient admin istration that England is giving India . I believe no othernation could govern India so well , and this , I th ink , is theopinion of the Ind ians them selves . The English judge is alwaysj ust

,the English Civi l servant is unbribable , fai thful , and e ffi

cient , the English official is universally regarded as the defenderof the poor ; and the almost pathetic confidence man ifestedby the “

natives ” everywhere in India toward all Europeantourists speaks eloquently for the honesty and fair- dealing ofthe English residents Of the land . I f through any chance of

war India should Change masters , i t would be nothing short ofa calam i ty for the Indian . And yet with all this , i t must be adm itted that there are in the Englishman certain peculiari ties oftemperam ent which constantly rub the superior Indian thewrong way , and which largely explain the Indian unrest

” thathas been So widely advertised through the world . To sum upin one word the root of the difficul ty , the Anglo - Indian is sur

prisingly indifferent toward almost everything native . Thereare , o f course , many glorious exceptions . The English missionaries , for instance , are not only intensely in terested , but as arule well informed as to the ideas and ideals of the people towhom they minister so devotedly . And the Engl ish civil se rvants and bus iness men are wel l acquainted with those s ides ofIndian l ife

-wi th which they com e in con tact in the performance

Of their duties . But as to Indian thought , rel igion , traditions ,and ways of viewing things , most o f the Englishm en I metseemed to me singularly lacking in curiosi ty or interest . TheEuropean colony lives by i tself at one e nd of the town , forming a l i ttle England , and (except for i ts servants) having nomore to do with the native life than has some town in Kent o rSussex . The whole colony wil l turn out to se e a hundred English soldiers from the garrison march past ; but a hundred thousand natives may com e on a pilgrim age to the town , forminga scene which for color and picturesqueness is hardly to be


matched, and not a sahib or memsahib will step out of the

bungalow to se e i t . Many , in fact , seem to think that any suchinterest in the “ natives ” would be derogatory to their dign i tyand quite unworthy of a white man .

N0 one has more adm iration than I for the many adm irablequali ties ofour British cousins nor for the devotion with whichnumbers of them are giving their l ives to India ; yet I cannothelp feeling at least am used at th e Odd provincialism whichmany of them so naively man ifest . I remem ber one in Venicewho insisted that the trouble with coffee and rol ls was not thati twas a poor breakfast , but that it was n ’

t a breakfast ; for abreakfast consists ofmeat and potatoes . To the Engl ishm an Ofthis type there are not various po ssible opinions or poin ts ofview

,some better , som e worse ; there is on ly one point of view ,

namely , his . I t is this peculiar lack of imagination that makesdear old John Bull so posi t ive , SO straightforward , and SO am using : i t has never occurred to him (as Will iam Jam es wouldhave put it) that the Indians

“ have insides Of their own .

”

This indifference and persistent provincial ism makes thetypical Briton quite bl ind to much that is fine in Indian society .

Thus , one Engl ish gentleman whom I met a man who hadl ived in Calcutta and other parts of the East for years saidto me : The natives are al l j ust a lot o fan im als ; don

’ t you thinkso?

” I answered that m y impression was quite different ; that ,for instance , j ust the week before I had in Calcutta made theacquaintance of two Indian gentlem en nam ely Dr . Bose , andTagore the poet—who , compared wi th many Of us AngloSaxons , were intellectual giants . At this he was greatly astonish ed and asked who Dr . Bose might be . I told him thatDr . Bose was one of the greatest botan ists l iving , a man whosediscoveries are known over al l the world , and who has beeninvited to lecture at American and German universi ties andbefore the Royal Society in London .

“ I never heard of h im ,

” repl ied the Engl ishman : but Ihave heard Of Tagore , the m anwho got the Nobel Prize .But I don ’ t think much of his poetry ; do you?

”

To my response that I thought a great deal of Tagore’

s

poetry , he ej aculated“Well , really ! However , I suppose there must be something

8


in it since he got the Nobel Prize . But it can ’t be really poetry,

you know because i t does n’

t rhym e .

”

This lack o f interest in native life as,

such , and the proudman ifestation of conscious superiority that goes with it , showsi tself in the coarser natures in a con tempt for the “ black m an

”

and a constant swagger of putting h im in his place .

“How doyou like the Indians?” I asked a traveling salesman o f thistype

,who told me that he had liv ed most of h is l ife in the East .

How do I l ike ’

e m ?”was the reply .

“ I ’

d l ike to expectoratein their eyes .” Vulgar brutal i ty of this sort is no t com m on :but most Englishm en take good care that all “ natives ” shallrealize the im m ense abyss that extends between them and thesuperior race of sahibs . To keep this impressed steadily uponthe native , no Englishman in India will carry anything in public ; and one Often come s upon the rather amusing picture o f abig athletic sahib pacing through the middle o f the street ( i f ,indeed , he walks at all) , a big stick in one hand and nothing inthe other , while a diminutive native follows hum bly after“Master ,

” carrying a sm al l book . A sahib could not carryanything SO large as a book far be it from h im ! For (withrare exceptions) every Englishm an , big or l i ttle , that you meetin India takes him self and his posi tion very seriously , and

seems to feel that the dign i ty Of the Empire rests upon hisshoulders and that Great Bri tain would be dishonored if heShould for a mom ent forget , or allow any one else to forget , theproper distance between him and all natives . To maintainthe Heaven- decreed preeminence Of the Briton over all blackm e n and heathen is his first Obligation ; and he is always mindful of the fact that England expects every m an to do his duty .

AS a result Of this ind ifference to and contem pt for the nativ e s , m ost of the Anglo - Indians that I know anything aboutare very ignoran t concern ing the religions of India and de

cidedly prejudiced against them . Personally , I think that theOpinions of n ine Englishm en out of ten on the subj ect of Indianreligions are entirely untrustworthy . For the m ost part , suchopinions seem to be formed at home and brought out to India ,based on the talk of predecessors equally ignorant , and retainedwithout substantial revision and even without questioning .

Many of these Engl ishmen—most of them are splendid

9


fellows ; yet their prepossession that no good thing can come

out of Nazareth is so strong that when they com e in contactwith an Indian who is head and Shoulders their intel lectualsuperior they remain subl imely ignorant of the fact , and kee pon insisting to the end of their days that they never met a native who could think . What m ight be called a sym bolic il lustration of this interesting state of m ind came to me at Agra . Wemet there a Scotch trained nurse who had Spent years in Indiaand had l ived in most of the hill stations “ Do tel l us aboutthe Himalayas !” said my wife to her . Umph , the Him alayas

,

” She responded ;“of course they are very high . But for

grandeur they can ’ t compare with the Highlands of Scotland .

”

This dissertation of mine on the four points of view to beavoided has been , perhaps , unpardonably long . But if one isto understand the religion Of a people it is necessary to ap

proach i t in the right way . Knowledge is necessary , but knowledge alone is no t sufficient . I t is so easy , on the one hand , to beenthusiastically “ sympathetic ” ; so easy also to be m oral ly indignant or complacently superior ; and so hard to be just .Besides these four suspicious sources Of information , or

points Of view , there is a rather common method of j udging relig ions other than one

’s own which also ought to be avoided .

This method , which I suspect is commoner than most of usthink , consists in comparing the actual practice of the foreignre lig ionwith the ideal Side of our own . We are constan tly asSerting that our actual Christianity falls far Short Of what i tmeans to be ; we rem ind ourselves that there neither is nor everhas been a really Christian nation or com m un i ty . But we dono t stop to ask if there ever has been or is now a really Mo

ham m edan or Hindu or Zoroastrian or Buddhist com munityor nation . We are indignant if ourWestern vices are laid to thecharge ofChristianity ; yet we are sometimes eager to point outthat drunkenness exists in Mohammedan com m uni ties . Andif some Moslem rem inds uS that drinking is strictly forbiddenby the Koran , we respond ,

“Ah , but we m ust j udge your religion no t by what i t professes , but by what i t does.

” Or onemay Often hear assertions l ike this : “Yes , Buddhism probablyhas certain fine features ; but the Buddhists do not l ive up totheir rel igion !” I t would be well for us to med i tate occa

I O


sionally on the exclamation of the Russian Jewess , reportedby Mary Antin : “ I did no t know that a Christian could bekind .

”

But perhaps the greatest of all obstacles in the way o f a justappreciation ofa strange religion is to be found in the matter ofworship . None Of us, I suppose , are aware howthoroughlyprovincial we are on this point . In Spite of al l our fine sen timents and l iberal ideas , most Of us really feel about worship asthe Englishman fel t about breakfast : there is on ly one kind and

that is our kind . When we go for the first tim e into a Hindutemple we all feel a strong sense of disgust and usually li ttleelse . I believe that much of this disgust is j ustified . I t maybe my own ineradicable provincialism that makes m e believeso . But I am sure that there are present in the temple worshipelem ents that we do no t se e , elements that are hidden from usby the shock Of surprise and novelty and contrast . Such sm alldetails as the fact that a drum is used instead of an organ , thatIndian m usic is different from European m usic , that Ind ian artis different from European art , and that the language o f theri tual is to us unknown these are enough to make many atourist turn away with the conviction that Hindu cerem oniesare all

“m urnm ery

”or devil worship .

” The gong and thedrum and the Chanting issuing from the temple sound strangeand outlandish to us , and we at once feel a sense Of fear , andconjure up a picture , perhaps , of human sacrifice or o f

“m agic

rites ” (whatever these may be !) and draw our conclusionsas to the heathen . We strangers and onlookers se e the outsideonly and forget that there is any inside . A recent Hindu wri terpoints out a Sim i lar case reported in the Mahabharata

,only

here i t was the Ind ian traveler who observed and m isinter

pre ted a Christian ceremony . I t was early in our era thatthis Indian tourist was present at a com mun ion service in aChristian Church in Asia M inor . He cam e away and describedthe Christians as a peoplewho “ ate up the God theyworsh ip ed .

” Mr . Be p in Chandra Pal , from whom I take this , adds“Seen with the eye alone

,this is a faithful description Of the

Christian sacram ent of the Eucharist . The wri ter sawfrom the outside : cognized with h is senses certain physicalacts of the Christian worshipers . He had no t the right key to

I I


the interpretation of these outer acts . He put his own meaning on these in the l ight of his own peculiar experience . Whathe sawwas a fact , yet how misleading is his interpretation Ofwhat he had seen . And the story i llustrates very Clearly thegeneral character of the interpretations put upon our l ife andinsti tutions by European scholars and students .” 1

A l i ttle consideration and a li ttle reflection on our own exp e rie nce at home surely should free us from this blunder . TheProtestant who for the first time attends a Catholic mass com esaway feel ing it is all “mummery ” ; for the v ery good reasonthat i t is so different from a Protestant service . The congre

gation does n’

t sing hymns and the priest does n ’

t lead ” in along prayer and surely a “ service ” without congrega

tional singing and“ the long prayer ” is no more a serv ice

than breakfast without meat and potatoes is , for the Englishm an , a breakfast . Yet , when the Protestant com es better tounderstand the m ass , he finds that i ts “ m um m ery ” is to hundreds Of earnest souls the most sacred of symbols , and thatthough the priest does not “ lead in prayer ,

” the congregationis praying none the less , and with a fervor and earnestnessperhaps no t notably inferior to that which m arks the usualmind - wandering Of a Protestant aud ience . In like manner weshould remind ourselv es that the very outlandishness ” O fthe Hindu , Buddhist , or Jaina worship m ay hide from us whatto the kneeling worshipers is the most precious sym bol o f theDivine .

And here we touch the very heart of the difficulty , the causeof m ost of the spiri tual blindness that separates peoples ofd ifferen t fai ths . We do not understand one another ’s sym bols,and we seldom try . And this is partly because we have no tstopped to consider the tremendous importance of sym bolismin religion , i ts un iv ersal i ty , and the method of its growth . I fwe should all realize in what varied forms the same truth or

the sam e em otional attitude may be symbo led forth , therewould be less mutual recrimination between followers Of differe nt faiths .I t takes years for a symbol to gain its full force over an individual or a race . One must grow up with it . I t gathers i ts

1 The Soul of I ndia (Calcutta, Choudhury , 191 I ) , pp . 1 3- 14 .

1 2



really make the effort to do this , instead of satisfying ourselves with Clever ejaculations as to their absurdities ,—wemay gain some sort of insight into their spiri tual value . This isth e only way . I twas thus , for instance , that S ister Niv editawon the insight which so distinguishes her among writers onIndia . The story of her learning the s ign ificance Of Kali , theGreat Mother , will i llustrate what I mean . One even ing shortlyafter her arrival in Calcutta , sh e heard a cry in a quiet lane ,and following her ears , found it came from a l ittle Hindu girlwho lay in her mother ’s arms , dying . The e nd cam e Soon , and

the poor m other for a time wept inconsolably . Then at last ,wearied with her sobbing , sh e fel l back into S ister Niv edita

’

s

arm s , and turning to her , said :“ Oh , what shall I do?Where is

my child now?” And S ister Niv edita adds : I have alwaysregarded that as the moment when I found the key . Fi lledwith a sudden pity , no t so much for the bereaved woman as forthose to whom the use of som e particular language Of the Infini te is a question Ofmorali ty , I leaned forward .

‘Hush , mother !’

I said .

‘Your child is with the Great Mother . She is withKali !’ And for a moment , with memory stil led , we were enfolded together , Eastern and Western , in the unfathomabledepth Of consolation Of the World- Heart .”

CHAPTER I I

H INDU WORSH IP

HEN you have cl im bed the steps and taken Off yourShoes , you may en ter the inner court Of the tem ple .

Just inside the gate is a basin with flowing water and beside i t al i ttle image ofGanesh , the fat god with the elephant head ; andat the other e nd O f the court stands the temple proper

, con

s isting of three large shrines , each roofed over , but quite openin front . In the cen tral one Si ts Shiva or Mahadev (the Great

with his wife Parvati by his side . The shrine on hisright is occupied by Vishnu and his wife Lakshm i , while in thethird shrine is the goddess Jumna , unattended . To find bothShiva and Vishnu in the sam e temple is no t usual , nor is thegoddess o f the Jum na Riv er comm only met with . But this isin Delhi , and that will explain her presence at least . PerhapsI Should have begun this Chapter with a description of someHindu temple that was in all respects typical ” ; but thisparticular one was the first I had been allowed to enter

, so Ishall take the reader into i t along with me .I t was evident at once that this was no t a church , but a

tem ple or should I say a palace ? The fiv e images were allgorgeously clad

,

1 and were grant ing an audience to their faithful subj ects . The subj ects were prese nt too and doing hom age ,not in very great numbers at any one tim e , to be sure (for thiswas no t a service) , but in a constantly flowing stream , arrivingand departing . I stood and watched them for some tim e forI found the worshipers more interesting than the gods . Theywere all men

, and they were all very much in earnest and veryreverent . On entering the court each would first ring a bell thathung over the gateway , then wash h is hands at the basin and ,

turning toward the Shrine where he meant to worship , bowlowly , then rise , or perhaps prostrate himself upon the floor ,

1 Cf. th e Rom an Cathol ic custom of cloth ing im age s of the Madonnawith costly S i lks and j ewe ls.

1 5


and pray silently . Some went forward into the shrine and madeofferings before the images . These Offerings were usually eitherflowers

,rice

, and bunches Of certain leaves , ormoney ; and if thelatter

,the priest who has Charge Of the tem ple is suppo sed to

use i t for the purchase Of flowers for the god .

1 But the priestwas no t in evidence ; no one was mediating between the god andhis worshipers

,who brought their adoration and their requests

very Sim ply and silently and direc tly to the deity . Not a wordwas Spoken aloud , nor was there any audible m urm uring asthere is so Often in Catholic Churches . The m en were sim plystand ing there in the court orwithin the shrine , a few prostrateor kneel ing , all looking intently at the im age of their Chosendei ty

, and all very evidently praying . His prayer fin ished , theworshiper bows again , or m ore often prostrates himself , touching the floor with his forehead , and steps out with si lent feet ,walking backward till out Of the temple , so as not to turn h isback on the god . At the gate he rings the bel l again and departs , to give place to som e one else . This tinkl ing bell Of arriving and departing worshipers is the only sound one hears .One Of these worshipers , wearing the horizon tal marks ofShiva on his forehead , could Speak English ; and , fol lowing thealm ost invariable custom throughout India, he did his best towelcome the stranger . I asked him to tell m e about his offerings and prayers . He said that he chooses as offerings to godthings he him self l ikes ; no t with any idea that

“ god ” will usethem , but that

“ god ” is pleased with the gift as a Sign o f hom

age and hum i l i ty . After presenting his gift he prays . Hisprayer consists of ( I ) pronouncing the deity

’s nam e ; (2 ) re

p e ating certain verses which he has learned and which d ifferaccord ing to the god worshiped ; and (3) m aking certain petitions of his own . Thus , if he wants success in a business transaction , or if his child is i l l , he comes and asks help Of Shiva .

“And ,

” he added with great confidence ,“Shiva gives it

Shiva does give it!

A scene such as this represents the informal temple worshipof the laymen . But the gods are also formally worshiped ,

sometim es by the priest alone , sometimes by priest and people ,

From what I know of Brahm in prie sts I think Shiv a wou ld pre fer hisworshipe rs shou ld m ake the ir Offe rings in kind.

16

H INDU WORSHIP

in a regular ceremony Of more or less complexity . Such a ceremony Of homage is known as puj a , and in most of the templesi t occurs at least once a day . The layman may do puja o f amodest and simple sort , but the more elaborate pujas are perform ed by Brahm in priests . Every tem ple has from one toforty ormore priests , whose duty i t is to perform the daily cult .In the larger temples this is a com plex business and requiresmany priests : but i t is less confusing to watch it in a sm allshrine where only one priest is officiating . One may se e i t inany part of Ind ia , but the particular ceremony that I happento rem em ber best was up in Hardwar . I t was in a small Shivatem ple , which consisted merely of a room perhaps fifteen feetsquare

,in the center Of which was a stone lingam , and near by a

sculptured bull , kneeling toward it . The l ingam is the commone st o f all religious objects in India , 1 and almost invariably takesthe place of the im age in Shiva temples . I t looks l ike a Shortcolum n with rounded top and is in fact a phall ic emblem . I ts

exact origin is quite lost in antiquity , but phallic symbols arecommon the world over , and this one , l ike the rest , probablyoriginated as the emblem Of some primitive god ofprocreation ,and seem s to have been assim i lated to the worship of Shivawhen the relatively uncul tured people with whom it originatedwere adm itted into Hinduism . That this took place at Benareswould probably be a good guess , though a guess that can hardlybe verified . At any rate , Shiva and the l ingam have for manycenturies grown together , and the l ingam has for nearly al l hisworshipers quite lost all sexual sign ificance , and is simply theObj ect in which Mahadev , the Great God , Chooses to incarnatehimself for the purposes of worship . AS the other gods dwellfor ritualistic purposes in their images , so Shiva dwells withinthe l ingam .

The kneeling bull close by is faithful Nandi , the vehicleor mount ” Of Shiva ; and wherever you find a lingam youarelikely to find Nandi , sculptured in perpetual adoration of theGreat God ’s sym bol . In addition to Nandi two or three imagesOf other deities are usually found in subordinate posi tions in aShiva tem ple . Shiva ’s wife Parvati and his eldest son , theelephant- headed Ganesh , are almost invariably of this number ;

Monie rWi l l iam s says the re are of the m .

I 7


and in the south of India his second son Kartikk e ya , or Subrahmanya , the Indian Mars , is usually represented with therest of the family . In the north one seldom finds h im , but Hanuman

,the monkey god , O ften takes h is place . SO i t was in the

temple at Hardwar the great l ingam in the center wi th faithful Nandi near by , while images o fParvati , Ganesh , and Hanum an covered with glaring red paint were on the walls . Noworshipers were present , but the old priestwas busy at hismorning ’s devotions when we arrived . He had already coveredthe l ingam with flowers a long process , since these must belaid on one by one and each with the proper formula and

had perform ed many a ceremonial l ibation of Ganges waterupon the flower- bedecked symbol . And nowhe began offeringflowers , one at a tim e , to the subordinate deities on the wall , intoning , as he did so ,

“Ganesh Om !” “ Hanuman Om !” Parvati Om Next he put a number o f leaves , one by one , on thel ingam , saying ,

“ Shiva Om !” after which he presented a fewto the other deities . Then he touched the feet of the threeimages with his hands and put his hands to his head theIndian token of homage “ taking the dust from the feet ,

”

they call i t . The l ingam had nowto be marked for the day ,and the priest did this by daubing i t with streaks of brown ishpain t with his thumb . Then , standing before the l ingam andfingering his beads , he repeated many times ,

“ Shiva Om !Shiva Om !” together with other words which I could no t catch ;after which he put his beads back around his neck and intonedmany verses or prayers . 1

The Offerings to the gods , as the reader has seen , cons istusually of flowers , leaves , rice , and water . In Vedic tim es thegods received an imal sacrifices , but this practice was given upin the worship of most of the gods when the bel ief in transm i

gration made anim al l ife sacred to the Hindus . In the worshipof Vishnu no l ife is ever taken nor are any bloody sacrifices t ece iv ed , and , with very rare exceptions , the same is true of theworship Of Shiva . This is not the case , however , with all the

For a m ore de tailed de scription Of puja in Shiv a and Vishnu te m ple s se eMon ie r Wi l l iam s, Brahm anism and Hinduism (4th cd . , NewYork , Mac

m i llan , pp. 93—94 , 1 44—45, and 438-

4 1 ; also Farquhar’

s Crown ofH induism (Oxford , pp. 3 13—1 4 .

18



edibles and flowers are also occasionally Offered to the gods,

for the worshiper wishes to present the deity with anything hethinks the deity would like . Two favorite Offerings in Shivatemples are incense and the waving of lam ps , in which ghi

( liquefied butter) is burned on cotton wicks . In som e of thetem ples of Krishna , where the god is represented as an infant ,tiny caps , Children

’s fans , and other adornmen ts for the divinechi ld are brought by the faithful in fact , there are Shops ful lof them j ust outside of the temple precincts for the benefit ofthe worshipers . The large tem ples in the South of India areprovided with dancing girls who perform on various occasionsin honor of the god and presumably for his delectation girls ,I should add , consecrated in youth to the serv ice of the temple

, and whose Ofli cial duty is no t confined merely to dancing .

The worshipers , as I have said , may go to the tem ple andpray without the mediation of the priest ; and every day thepriest official ly performs the proper rites for the benefit o f the

god . And Shiva at least may also be worshiped autom atically ,without any worshipers being present at all , for the form ofworship m ost pleasing to him is the l ibation ofwater upon thel ingam . Hence a clever device has been invented for this purpose : a good - sized water- tank , fi lled with Ganges water , is suspended over a lingam , with a tiny Open ing arranged in such away that one or two drops of the sacred l iquid Shall fall everyminute upon Shiva ’s em blem . Thus is the perpetual adorationof the Great God maintained without any further work beinginvolved than the occasional fil l ing of the tank .

But besides these sim ple modes Of worship there are moreelaborate services in which priest and people uni te . Any m orning one may witness these from outside the doo r in half a

are shrine s to Kal i at which hum an sacrifice s to th e godde ss hav e be e nOffe red alm ost within the m e m ory of th e pre se nt ge ne ration .

”

(The Gods ofI ndia [London , De nt , p . In the past , of course , hum an sacrificein Ind iawas not confine d to H indu ism and the cu lt of Ka l i . A num b e r Ofse m i - barbarous and anim istic tribe s hav e practiced the rite , notably th eKondhs. Mr. Thurston , in h is Om ens and Supe rstitions of Southe rn I ndia(NewYork ,McBride , re fe rs to se v e ral case s Of hum an sacrifice am ongthe m since th e ye ar 1880 ; and e v e n so re ce ntly as 1902 , a Europe an m agistrate in Ganjam re ce iv ed a pe tition asking for pe rm ission to pe rform a hu

m an sacrifice , whichwas intended to g iv e a rich color to the turm e ric crop(op. cit. , p .

20

HINDU WORSHIP

dozen temples in almost every large city . There is usually agreat deal o f “music ” from gongs and drum s ; hymns areso m etim es sung (especially in the south) ; the priest makes thecom m on offering o f rice and flowers and Ganges water

, and

does much Chanting ; the drum s and gongs quicken their beat ,and the puja winds up in an exciting finale and noisy crash

,

with m uch waving of flaming lamps before the god ; after whichthe priest distributes to the audience the consecrated offeringsand the holy water , each worshiper getting a l ittle to takehom e Wi th him . Som etim es these sacred things cannot be hadso Cheaply as in the Krishna tem ple at Benares

,where the

offerings after being presen ted to the god are sold to certainshops and may there be bought (by Hindus only) at an e n

hanced price .Som e o f the tem ples at Benares are thronged every morn ingwith pilgrim s from various parts of India , and especially at thegreat fane known as the Golden Tem ple will one find an almostendless stream o f worshipers fi l ing inwards , with l ittle brassj ars fi lled from the Ganges to be em ptied piously on Shiva ’sl ingam . The scene as one views i t through the Open door ishardly edifying : the great l ingam is barely visible , covered ov erwith yellow marigolds , and constantly drenched with water ,gongs and bells sounding in various parts o f the tem ple , priestsand pilgrim s nearly naked walking about from Shrine toShrine ,talking and laughing , a big sacred bul l often saun tering in andbeing fed , and the floor awash with Ganges water , m arigoldpetals , and cow dung . Soon the detachm ent ofpilgrim s fi les outto make room for a newlot , and as they pass through the doorthe fat priests who stand there make each one bow low and

deliver up som e o f his fast - disappearing savings for the gloryo f god and the dinner of the godly .

But it is in the south Of India that one sees the tem ple worship in i ts m ost elaborate form . The temples them selves arealm ost incredibly enorm ous . They are no t buildings , but e nclosures o f m any acres , with great gates and towers , and (within) tanks , temples , shrines , halls , corridors , storehouses , andsom etim es bazaars and dwell ings veritable cities , in short ,reminding one strikingly of the great tem ples of ancient Egypt .The dim ensions Of the largest one of them the tem ple of

2 1


Sri rangam (a local name forVishnu) , near Trichinopoly—are

worth giving . I t is 2 880 feet long , 2 475 feet wide , and is thelargest tem ple in the world . Close by stands a tem ple to Shivaalmost as large , while at Madura , Tanj ore , Ram eswaram , Thiruklikundrum ,

Puri,Conj eeveram , and various other places are

temples only sl ightly smaller . In each of these great enclosuresis a central Shrine in which is kept the most sacred im age orl ingam

, and before it puj a is elaborately performed every dayby a large body o f priests . In addition to this there is a specialform o fworship which one does not find in the north namely ,the practice of taking the god out for a ride or som etim es for aShort visi t in the country . For this purpose enorm ous cars arekept in the tem ples , whose wheels are Som etimes seven feet ormore in diam eter and so heav y that i t takes scores of men todraw them . I once met one of the gods return ing in his carfrom a week in the country , where he had gone to enj oy thebath in a sacred tank . I t was even ing and a long process ionpreceded and fol lowed the Chariot . First cam e torch - bearers ,with drum m ers and cymbal - bearers and other “musicians ,

”

followed by fifty ormore men in l ine , and then m ore drum s andmore torches . After these came the enorm ous and most ornatecar and high up upon i t where al l could se e sat the im age ,gorgeously dressed and em bedded in flowers . Several Brahm inpriests were riding on the car , at the foot of the im age , and everynow and then the process ion would stop to give the pious anOpportunity to rush up and present offerings , chiefly o f frui t ,which the priests graciously accepted and placed before theidol . There was a great deal of shouting and laughing and

merrymaking , and obviously every one was having a goodtime the priests particularly . Nearly every one seemed toregard i t as a kind of lark ; a kind o f lark , i t Should be added ,in which religion becom es a grown -up way of playing dolls .But the m ost elaborate and memorable performance o f the

sort that I sawin India was at the great tem ple in Madura .

The tem ple alone is most mysterious and im pressive . Youenter i t through a gopuram , or gateway , 1 52 feet high , and findyourself in what seems another world a forest Of carvedcolumns , a forest Of statues , one inner wal l after another and acarved tower at the passageway through each , a tank or pool

2 2

H INDU WORSHIP

as large as a lake , with palm trees growing by i t , and now and

then a vista through a dim corridor in to a dark Shrine in thevery interior the holy of hol ies where Shiva dwells l ightedon ly by twinkling candles and where you and I are no t allowedto enter . In the night the temple doubles i ts mystery , and thecorridors lengthen out under the influence offlaring torches andthousands O f tiny candles . We were fortunate in happen ingupon an even ing when the gods were taken in procession throughthe tem ple and around it . The image o f Shiva and of his wifeParvati were dressed and adorned with golden plates and agreat display of j ewels , and each was placed on the back of abeautiful ly carved horse carved in wood with great artisticskil l and covered over with gold leaf . At a given S ignal each o fthese was raised on the backs of forty o r fifty porters , and firstmade to dance and then carried forward amid the shouts of thepeople and the sound of pipes , drum s , cymbals , and conches .Reinforcem ents now were added . Two elephants , richly ca

parisoned , led the procession , which started through the avenues and under the great gopurams of the temple . After theele phan ts came six m en carrying umbrellas and dancing wildly ,then Shiva ’s eldest son , the elephant - headed Ganesh , carriedin his car, and Shiva

’

3 second son Subrahmanya In his . In thecenter of the procession , fol lowing his two sons , came the GreatGod himsel f , on his prancing golden steed , with much mus ic,followed by his wife , and Sh e in turn followed by her servant

god (for the chief gods have servants divine as well as human) .The rear of the procession was brought up by a dozen Brahminpriests walking side by side and hand in hand , chanting theVedas . “There they go ,

” said an o ld Hindu to me ; there theygo , chanting the Vedas ; and not one o f them understands aword ofwhat he is saying !” Therewas no l ight ; of course , except the lurid gleam o f torches and the twinkling of the l i ttlelam ps on the many towering portals through which the godsand their worshipers passed a thousand on each gate . Sothe procession swept out through the great gopuram into thecity and made a circuit around the outer walls Of the wholetemple with much enthusiasm , noise , and yellow light .But great tem ples l ike that at Madura are hardly so typical

of Hinduism as smal l ones , where one or two individuals at a2 3


time go and do their daily puja . At the roadside shrine onesees the religion o f the people better than in the pom p of thegreat processions . In fact no t even a temple is needed for thepublic worship of the gods . Under many a pipal tree one findscollections ofancient stone lingams or images , the red Hanuman or the po t- bell ied Ganesh with his trunk ; and around thesethe bel iefs and superstitions Of the com mon people center quiteas much as about the more elaborate images in the greattemples . The trees themselves , moreover , are sacred and so

are many plants ; and one will often se e a Brahm in brandishinga lamp before some pitiful l ittle Sprig ofa tree , or an o ld womanreverently laying a few grains of rice at i ts foot , or burn ing awick before it , with very evident and sincere bel ief in the efficacyof her actions to accomplish some desired e nd . Thus the Superstitious Hindu “worships ” not only the great gods but an immense army of Spiri ts , including his own ancestors ; and he alsoworships such things as the cowand even his own tools . Butcare m ust be taken in in terpreting this word worship .

” We usei t only to ind icate man ’s attitude toward God . To understandthe Indian phenomenon which is denoted by the word as usedby most writers on India , i t is necessary to give it quite a newmean ing . Worship here should be understood to mean ei ther aconventional act which it is good to perform because sanctioned by custom , or a request from one fin i te being to another,some degree Of awe being involved in the fact that the being towhom the request is m ade remains forever behind the scenes .I t does no t , however , necessarily involve any moral reverence ,or any recogn i tion of greatly Superior power . I t is more l ikea business proposi tion than l ike Christian worship . Our stateo fmind , if we should ask Carnegie for a library , is probably no tfar different from that o f the native when he worships a treeSpirit . In l ike m anner he worships the King- Em peror and theViceroy , and he will worship you and me if he needs baksheesh .

The elaborate “ Salaam Sahib !Salaam Sahib !” of the cool ie orbeggar to the man with the big topee is a kind of puj a . I t is insome such sense as this that we must understand the Indian ’s“worship ” of the cow and the various Spirits of the air .But we must not j udge all Hindu worship by scenes l ikethese . Normust we forget that our eyes are blinded by our own

2 4

HINDU WORSH IP

traditions and our own symbols to the best things in the Hindutemples as seen by Hindu eyes . Says Farquhar:

“Hinduismhas proved itself a most powerful system both in organizing thepeople and in stim ulating them religiously ; and no part of thereligion has been more l iving and effective than the worshipof the temple . The temple is a constan t j oy to each Hindubecause he can go and actually look on the face of the godwhom he loves

,express his affection by giving h im a gift of

food,pour into h is ear al l his sorrows and al l h is desires , hear the

god ’s reply, and go hom e fortified against evi l spiri ts and i ll

luck through eating a portion of the food that has been Offeredto the divin i ty . The bhakti [personal rel igious devotion] of theHindu , whether vil lager or Saintly poet , is usually a passionatedevotion to a single idol . He dances with rapture or falls in aswoon from sudden emotion when he sees the glory of thedivine eyes .” 1

And if we would gain any gl imm er of comprehension of theinner meaning of the tem ple worship , we must turn our gazeaway from the im ages of the gods and the external side of theperformance

,and fasten i t instead upon the faces of thewor

sh ip e rs . For though the human face also is a symbol , i t is asymbol which we all can understand . Much o f Hindu templeworship is degraded , but there are elements in i t which , thoughincomprehensible to us , somehow have their value . Com e tothe bathing- ghats at Benares and watch the l ines of peoplestreaming up in to the temples of Mahadev that crown theirsummit . I t is a serious throng this , though one finds sm i les aswell as sadness there . A few young m e n there are in i t , butmost of the m e n are O f middle age or O ld . And the greater partof the procession—as of most religious processions o f thetwentieth cen tury is made up of women . Som e bring withthem bright hopes and happy faces , but most o f them have little left in this world but rel igion

,they being widows widows

young and o ld , with heads eternally shaven ,trudging one after

another up the steps to the temple of Mahadev . The gong anddrum inside the temple are call ing the worshipers with everincreasing din , and the women and m e n pause at the doorwayand b ow, or touch the panel or the floor with their hands and

0p. cit. , p . 32 7.

2 5


rub these on their foreheads , and then go in where youand Iare no t allowed to go ; for happily the shrine is sacred and thesehave privileges in i t which are very prec ious and which you andI m ay not share . Each worshiper carries a brass j ar or bowlfi lled with Ganges water , and , wrapped up som ewhere in herloose- flowing garm ents , a few grains Of rice and the petals offlowers mostly marigolds or roses . Some of these are laidreveren tly before the images of the lesser godswhose shrines l inethe walls of the temple , and then with pious feet ourworshiperadvances to the stone l ingam o f Shiva who is Mahadev , theGreat God . On this sh e pours the Ganges water which she hasbrought

, and here deposits her poor gift of flowers or food , andthen stands for some tim e in Si lent prayer—si lent except forthe whispered word , now and then ,

“Mahadev ! Mahadev !”

Her prayer finished , sh e j oins the human stream going out

ward from the temple ; and i f one may trust the expression on

her face , she is taking with her some thing that Sh e did no t bring .

She has found something in that shrine , something like comfort or ho pe , or at least a sense of duty done and God pleased .

In some sense or other She has met God in the Hindu temple.But i t is in the home even more than in the tem ple that thepious Hindu expects to meet God . In every Hindu house b efore the advent o iWestern influence there was and in all them ore conservative houses there is sti l l—a temple room , prov ided with a few pictures of favorite deit ies and a num ber ofstone , Clay, or brass images . Shiva

’ s l ingam 1 is almost inv ari

1 The re are thre e kinds of l ingam s com m only use d in worship : ( 1 ) thosem ade of e arth or clay for te m porary use and de stroye d afte r puja ( i t shou ldb e thrown into th e Gange s if possible ) ; (2 ) carv ed stone or Clay or m e tall ingam s which m ay b e bought in the bazaar ; (3) sm al l rounded stone s orlarge pe bble s Of the ge ne ra l Shape Of a l ingam and Obtaine d from th e Nerbudda Riv e r . Worshipe rs of Vishnu fre que ntly ke e p in the ir hom e s a kindOf fossili ze d she ll or large pe bble cov e re d with m any odd m arkings and hole s(an am m onite or nautilus) known as salagram a stone s, and found in thestre am s of Ne pal . They are pe cu l iarly sacre d to Vishnu , and are som e tim e s

bathe d , drie d with a Cloth , ornam e nte d with flowe rs, se t upon a throne , andworshipe d. Im age s of the various gods usually of brass m ay b e boughtin the bazaar in any city . In add it ion to im age s, som e H indus, e spe cial lyworshipe rs of Shakti , m ake use Of yantras or m ystic d iagram s in the ir worship . Both im age s and yantras m ust first b e m agne tized, so to speak , withth e d iv ine pre se nce by m

'

é‘

ans of the re citation of m antras, be fore the godcom e s to dwe ll in the m for purpose s Of worship.

26



and he said he did no t knowwho i twas, but he worshiped ittwice a day just the same . He said h is partner knew who it was ;and Since this knowledge belonged to the firm i t evidentlysatisfied him . He did not himself know anything about the godexcept that it had to be worshiped twice a day and this he didconscien tiously . He said that he prayed to these two gods forwhatever he wanted , in prayers o f h is own m aking : and whenI asked him if h is prayers were answered and if the gods gavehim what he petitioned for , he said ,

“ Of course !”

This m an always spoke o f the images as “ gods . I asked ifhe meant that they really were gods , or m erely representationsof the gods . He answered that the images were the gods themselves . On being questioned further , he said therewas on lyone god Ganesh , but many images of him : yet insisted thatthis imagewas the god Ganesh . This comp lete cloudiness ofthought represents , I the attitude of a large proportionOf the uneducated Hindus on the question b fTdOlSand theirp ature , though certain ly no t all express their real posi tion so

frankly . The nature Of Indian idolatry is a very difficultquestion . Excellent evidence can be brought forward to provethat the Hindus regard their idols as images only as merelysuggestions or symbols Of the divine ; while evidence equallygood shows that the Hindus identify the images with the godsthem selves . The truth is , of course , that no t only is each ofthese views held by different members of the com mun ity , aocording to their stage of enlightenment , but that probably themajority o f the Hindus hold both views at once as did myfriend in Ceylon . I t is only in logic that con tradictory op

posite s are incom patible ; in the human mind they often keephouse together very comfortably .

Most Hindus whom you question as to the nature of theiridols will tell you that these are no t to be iden tified with theirgods , but are m erely l ikenesses or perhaps nothing but

“sug

gestions ” o f the divine , which they find to be a help in theconcentration o f their m inds in worship . The Shiva worshiperalready referred to , who Showed me about the tem ple in Delhi ,said to me ,

“The im age is no t Shiva. Shiva is in heaven .

But I wan t to worship Shiva , so I m ake a picture or im age asl ike Him in appearance as I can , and then I pray to Shiva in

2 8

H INDU WORSHIP

front of i t because it helps me to pray . And according toHowells

,

“ the ord inary villager al l over India ” will respond tothe m issionary ’

s protest against idolatry in words l ike these :“Ye s , sir , we agree with all you say as to the spiri tual character

o fGod . With you we believe God to be Spiri t , and with you wesay that He m ust be worshiped in spiri t and in truth . But isnot God om n ipresent? I S no t the Eternal Spiri t everywhere ,fi l l ing all space? Are no t all earth and Sky and heaven full ofhis glory? Then ,

i f God be everywhere , as all adm i t , is He no tin tree and flower and rock and Sky and cloud?And so , whenwe fal l down before the idols of wood and stone , do not thinkthat we worship the mere wood and stone ; we rather worshipthe One Suprem e God , who by virtue o fHis omn ipresence is inthe tree and in the rock and pervades all space .

” 1

Though presentations of the matter in this l ight are commonand decidedly beau ti ful , they are not exact . For the im age ofthe cult unquestionably has a sacredness in the eyes o f the devont Hindu which is lacking no t only in ordinary “wood andstone , but lacking also in other images of exactly the same app e arance which have no t been duly consecrated . In everygreat Hindu tem ple you will find a large num ber o f im ages ofthe god to whom the tem ple i s sacred , sculptured in the corridors or on the towers or standing in the courts . But no oneworships these . I t is on ly the image in the cen tral Shrine towhich one does puj a . There is a regular and elaborate processwhich must be gone through by a duly qualified Brahm in priestthe recitation of many mantras

,sprinkling Of holy water ,

etc . before the idol is recognized no t as an ordinary im age ,but as a “ cult - image .

” Rather sign ificantly this cerem ony istechn ically known as the “ bringing- in

”

(o f the deity) , or as the“ establishment o f l i fe ( in the im age) .2 The whole process o fpuja , moreover , the bathing and dressing of the idol , the presentation of food , water , and sweets to i t , the sending i t into thecountry for an airing , and the final putting i t to sleep at n ight ,Show plainly that there is something more here than an attem ptto concentrate one ’s thoughts on God , and that the cult - im ageis conceived of as being in some sense or other a genuine and

Howe l ls , The Soul of I ndia (London, Jam e s Clarke . p . 4 1 7 .

2 Farquhar , op . cit. , p. 32 2 .

2 9


peculiar embodiment of the Divine .

1 An Indian philosopherof my acquaintance said to m e : Ask any one of the lowerClasses as to his view of idols , and he will assure you that theimage before which he prays is no t God but only a sym bo l .This he will say ; but it is a question whether he really feels i t .I t seem s more probable that this is a k ind of phrase whichall Hindus have learned , but that in their hearts many of thelower classes practical ly iden tify the stone image with thegod .

”

And no t only is the god present in the cult- image for purpo ses o fworship in a peculiar way ; different cul t- images of thesame god often acquire in the course of years a distinction Oftheir own which almost makes them into separate personali ties .Farquhar has i llustrated , out o f the l ife ofRam anuja, the wayin which the Vishnu ofConj eeveram and the Vishnu OfTrich inOpo ly were already in the time o f the philosopher regarded asbeing sufficien tly separate personali ties to allow of their contend ing with each other for the possession o fa favorite disciple ; 2

and the god of many a lesser shrine has attained to an independent personali ty almost equal to that of the two Vishnuidols cited .

3

Of course educated Hindus of to - day do not identify theimage with God ; but som e of them believe that God does m an

ife st him self in som e peculiar sense in the im age for the benefitof the worshiper ,4 and many testify that they find the presenceof an image a real help in bringing about the religious attitudeo f m ind and insist that for the uneducated i t is almost a ne ce ssity . A cultured Be ngale e Brahmin said to me :

“The idol is'

1 For a thorough and pe rsuasiv e d iscussion of this subj e ct Se e Farquhar ,op. cit. , chap . VII I .2 Op. cit. , pp . 32 5- 26.

3 Som e thing like this alm ost ine v i tably fol lows whe ne v e r and whe re v e rworship at spe cia l Shrine s is re garded as hav ing spe cial v i rtue . I t is to b efound in m ost po lythe istic re l igions whe re pi lgrim age s are e ncourage d ; andto som e e x te nt in Cathol ic Christianity as we l l . OurLady of Lourde s occup ie s a v e ry d iffere nt position from that of Our Lady of Paris.

4 Farquhar quote s a m ode rn Vaishnav ite as fol lows : “Th e m ani fe stationis that form of the Lord in which the Lord is ple ase d , without any k ind ofl im itat ion as to t im e , place s, or pe rsons, to b e pre se nt and m ani fe st H im se lfto all, in te m ple s and hom e s, to wink at fau lts, and to b e , for e v e ry m ov em e nt or busine ss , de pe nde nt on th e worshipe r ” (p . But the re hav ealways be e n prote sts from spi ri tual H indus against e v e ry sort Of idolatry.

30

H INDU WORSH IP

useful in aiding visualization and concentration . I t is a sensuous symbol , j ust as the word G—O—D is . Both are sym bols , onetangible and Visible , the other aud ible ; and both are helpful toour finite minds in standing for the Infinite . The m an whoworships before an idol in effect prays : O God , come and dwellin this im age before me for the moment that I may worship thee

I” )here concretely .

The truth is , a good deal more can b e said in defense of an inte llige nt use of

“ idols than one who has never seriously conside re d the matter is l ikely to conceive . And thoughtful m issionarie s l ike Howells and Farquhar are qu ite ready to adm i tthis fact . Nor can i t be said that criticism such as is made bythe former of these gentlemen (and in part concurred in by thelatter) is altogether satisfactory . He gives a typical argumentbetween an intel ligent “ idolater ” and a m issionary , in whichhe is quite just to the form er except in cutting the discussionShort and giving the missionary the last word . The m issionary ’s last word which the author evidently regards as dec isiv e amounts to this : that Hindu idols are ugly and quiteunworthy representations Of the Divine ; and the natural des ire to represent God concretely is ful ly satisfied in God ’s ihcarnation , Jesus Christ . 1 I t seems plain enough that i f theidolater ” were permitted a final reply, i t would be somethinglike this : When you speak O f Christ as the concrete repre se ntation ofGod , you miss the point of my argum ent altogether .Forwhat I feel the need ofis something that can appeal directlyto my senses . Were Christ here visibly and tangibly

,then in

dee d your argument would hold . But he is gone these nineteen hundred years . And as to my ugly images de gustibus

Thus a Shaiv ite poe twho l iv ed a thousand ye ars ago (one PattanattuP i l laim ay his nam e not b e lost !) cou ld write as fol lows .

“My God is not a chiseled stoneOr lim e - b lock clear and b right.

NO b ronze n im age H e . forsoo th ,That's cleansed for m ortal's sight.

I cannotworship such as the se .But m ak e m y lofty boasts

That in m y heart I se t th e fe e tOf the g reat God of Hosts.

"

For m ore Of the sam e te nor se e Barne tt's The Heart of India (London,

Murray , pp. 88—92 .

2 Howe l ls, op. cit. , pp. 4 18- 19.

31


non disputandum . I do no t take them to be likenesses ofGod ,

but only symbolical represen tations of certain divine attributes.

And you, no t being a Hindu , of course should no t expect tounderstand the powerful em otional appeal they have for me ."

There can be no question o f the contribution which the sensesmake in bringing about the rel igious state of m ind . Christiani ty

,both Catholic and Protestant , has recogn ized this fact in

the arrangem ent O f its Churches and i ts services . Our thoughtand stil l more our feel ing has need of concrete sensuous supports . I t is to this fundamental need of the hum an m ind thatth e use o f im ages has appealed Since first the Divine retreatedbehind the Visible and took up its abode in the Unseen . Thehistory of religion in all parts Of the world is am ple evidence ofthis psychological fact . Even the Buddhists and Jainas havebeen forced to adopt the use of im ages , and the Catholic Churchin its prayers to the saints , and stil l more in i ts central doctrineo f the Real Presence , has recognized and util ized this deep- lyingneed . There is , therefore , considerable j ustification for thedefender o f im ages when he maintains that most m e n , and

particularly those on a low stage of intellectual development ,may find a great deal o f help in the presence of an “ idol .” Thewidows , for instance , whom I described som e pages back coming out of the tem ple o fMahadev and taking hom e with themgenuine comfort would they have found that com fort i f thetem ple had had no image or symbol of the Great God? I tseems extremely doubtful . The faith o f these faithful soulsfinds reinforcem en t in the sensuous presence o f a physicalObj ect which is very real . The Great God doubtless is presen teverywhere ; but what is that abstract doctrine com pared wi ththe sense of proxim i ty to the Deity and the realization of H ispresence which com es to the poor soul when She sees this symbol of the m ystery Of l ife directly before her , and pours heroffering o f sacred water directly upon this concrete obj ect inwhich the Great God has consented to take up (for her sake)His m iraculous abode?The danger in the use of images is the ease of their misuse .

And in India the great majority of those who use them misusethem . By this I mean that they identify the Obj ect with th eDivine in some mag ical Sense, and hence the door is open to all

32

H INDU WORSH IP

Sorts of degrading superstitions . And while the use of imagesmakes i t easier for the mind to real ize the presence o f the D ivine , i t is questionable whether the D ivine does no t lose moreOf excellence in the process than i t gains in power . The Divineis dwarfed in order to be made assimilable to the human mindwithout stretching the latter ;—as if the stretching of themind were no t one of the chief services which rel igion does form an . And if God is really to be pleased by the presentation o f

flowers and rice to his image , then rel igion degenerates in to avery external matter—which is hardly to be recommendedbecause it is easy .

”NO , undeniable as is the psychological

aid to be derived from the use of images , idd fifl fifi ag typlly

p racticed in India results in ev_

i_ls considerably greater than all

the benefits ascribed to it by , itS _,de fenderS ,So much , then , for the use of idols and for the puja of thetemple and the hom e . But public and domestic ceremoniesof the kind described in this Chapter are not the only waysin which one acquires merit with the gods . One of the mostimportant forms of the Hindu cult , and one of the distinguishing features of religion in India , is to be found in rel igiouspilgrimages to sacred places a subj ect that will occupy ourattention in the following chapter.

CHAPTER I I I

THE H INDU P ILGRIM

ND IA is as th ickly strewn with sacred spots as Europe andAmerica with power factories . Most of these holy places

are thronged at certain periods of the year and some of themevery day of the year with crowds o f pilgrims who have comefrom near- b y towns , or even from distant parts of India , toworship at the shrine

,bathe in the waters of the sacred river or

tank or se a which is alm ost invariably to be found near thetemple

, and incidentally to have a pleasan t Social time andmeet Al l- the-world and his wife , who are sure to be there . AnIndian pilgrimage suggests a French pardon in i ts mixture ofpiety ,

earnestness , and restrained joyousness . One cannot callit gay, and there can be no question of the solemnity which thepilgrim s feel in performing the various rites ; and yet it is veryevident that every one is happy ; and if , on the one hand , thereis never a Sign of indecorum , there is , on the other , nothing tosuggest the Puritan Sabbath . Perhaps the most striking thingin these pilgrimages is to be found in the tremendous num bersthat attend them and the way they continue with no ebb Of

the tide throughout the year . The tourist in India is constantlysurprised at the num bers Of the natives in the trains . They arepacked away in the fourth - Class com partments like cattle fromChicago to New York hundreds and hundreds of happyHindus , dressed in all varieties of colored rags , with some getting out and more getting in at every station . Where are al lthese m e n and wom en going? The answer is that most of themare on a pilgrimage . They have saved up their annas and theirpice for months and nowthey are off for a rel igious hol iday .

Or perhaps they are return ing hom e from one . In either casethey are a happy lot : those starting out are happy in anticipation , those return ing are fi lled with the sense of duty done andmerit acquired . They are that much farther along on theirgreat journey through the universe and through the ages , from

34



S ince the chief cerem ony is the ritualistic bath in the sacredstream itself . Formany o f the great rivers of India

,such as the

Indus , the Jum na , and the Ne rbudda , possess the supe rnaturalpower of washing away sin i f bathed in at the proper tim e andin the proper way ; and som e of them can even assure a safepassage to the next world to him whose ashes are duly com

m itted to their sacred waves . But while the three rivers namedabove , and several others which might be added to the l ist ,possess great power and sancti ty , all of them together cannotbe compared in value to “Mother Ganga .

” “ By bathing ino ther rivers , says the Garuda Purana ,

“men are purified,but

so also by m erely touching , drinking , or cal ling upon theGanges . I t sanctifie s m eritlessmen by hundreds and thousands .He who calls , 0 Ganga ! Ganga ! while life is fl ickering in thethroat , goes when dead to the City of Vishnu and is no t bornagain on earth .

” He whose bones sink in the water of theGanges never returns from the world o f Brahm a .

” 1

Al though along its en tire length the Ganges is thus sacredand miraculously b ene ficent , there are certain spots upon i t inwhich its sanctity and its supernatural powers present themselves to a special and extrem e degree ; and the three placesalready referred to are of course the most sacred of thesenam ely , Hardwar , where the river issues from the Him alayas ;Al lahabad , where i t is j oined by its sacred tributary the Jumna ;and Benares , the Holy City .

We were fortunate , I think , in Visi ting Hardwar on one Of itsless popular days ; for had there been many more pilgrims thanwe found

,there would hardly have been any place for us . AS

i twas , the ghats or broad fl ights Of steps lead ing down to thewater

,were thronged for hours with men and women waiting

their turn to dip , usually with nearly all their Clothes on , intothe ice - cold water of the strong young river . Here where i trushes from the gorge at the foot of the Him a layas its watersare as pure and clean as those o f any mounta in stream ,

and

except for its icy temperature a bath in i t would seem most inv iting . So eviden tly the pilgrims th ink , for there is no m istak

ing the eagerness as well as the reverence with which

1 Garuda Purana , x , 30 and 79. (Translated b yWood and Subram anyam ,

The Sacred Books of the Hindus, v ol. 1x , Allahabad ,

36

THE H INDU PILGRIM

they wash their hands , heads , and teeth , and then dip cerem oniously three times under the waves . Though men and

women bathe S ide by s ide there is not the least suggestion of

im m odesty or even Of self- consciousness in the whole performance . Every one present has com e on serious business , business connected with h is eternal destiny , and he has no time forother considerations . The naivete of the cerem ony is m ost adm irable ; for the tim e being all these men and wom en have b ecome as l i ttle children . When the bath is fin ished , they throw afew flowers in to the water , or som e rice for the carp which l inethe bottom of the stream , and then withdraw to som e higherpart o f the ghat , where , with wonderful dexterity and equalmodesty

,they manage to dress by putting on dry clothes um

de rne ath the wet ones .Suspended over the bathers ’ heads is a Sign in large letters ,expressive of both rel igion and political loyal ty : Ganga savethe King ” —a sentim en t very representative o f the sim plepeople of India . At one Side of the ghats , close by the bank ofthe river

,si ts a holy ascetic , warming his hands over a fire of

dried cowdung , ready to accept the hom age of the pilgrims ,but no t forcing himself on any of them . I gave him a Sm allcoin and he returned the com pliment by presen ting m e , as adainty to be eaten , with a pinch of ashes from his cow- dungfire . Farther downstream a m anwas hamm ering away at thel id Of a tin cracker box . At last he go t i t Open and I found i twas ful l ofashes and the remains of hum an bones evidentlyall that was left of some near relative . He em ptied it in to thestream , put the lid back on the b o x , and turned away with i tunder his arm . H is nonchalant m anner and his seem ing indifference toward the bones were the m ost gruesom e part of theperformance . They might have been peanuts .Yet one m ust no t j udge the Indians by the lack of expression

in their faces at such a time . For the control of the expressionof grief is cultivated as a virtue . And the general im pressionwhich one carries away from Hardwar is that o f the pleasan tbut earnest and quiet performance of a serious and importantduty .

To Allahabad we went more than once ; but our m ost interesting visi t was at the time of the great Magh Mela , a tradi

37


tionalpilgrimage , established in ancien t times , which is heldthere every year toward the middle ofJanuary in celebration of

the turn ing backward Of the sun from the extrem e southernpoint o f its j ourney . For Indian astronomy , usually many ce nturie s belated , is sometimes on ly three weeks behindhand .

The mela is held about two miles from the ci ty , at the pointwhere the Ganges and Jumna un i te . The bed of the Ganges ishere about a mile and a half and that of the Jumna about half amile wide but at this season of the year the two stream s havereceded so as to fi l l but a small portion o f their beds , leaving therest in the form of two long strips of plain extending towardeach other and finally un i ting . Between them for a mile or SOruns a high bank or ridge , which serves as a road . Thus in thetriangular space formed by the approxim ation and junction of

the two rivers there is a great deal of room , and it is here thatthe Hindus assemble preparatory to dipping in the waters ofthe great streams at the supremely sacred spot where theyunite .

Perhaps two thousand pilgr ims had go t off the train in whichmy wife and I , together with our friend , the local Cathol icpriest , had com e up from Benares , and the railroad trackwas l ined with masses of brill iant color from turban and sari ,such as the sober West never dream s of . Not a carriage was tobe had , but we managed to secure two ekkas and in these wesailed away through the surging crowd toward the goal of ourpilgrimage though with no great speed and with less comfort . An ekka , let me say for those who are no t acquaintedwith the East , is a two -wheeled cart with no seat —you simplysquat , native fashion , anywhere on the floor with the driver

,

or on the edge and let your feet hang off over the side, and

hold on for dear life : forwhen the horse gallops the motion isno t un like that of a ship in distress . Perched grand ly on ourekkas , then , we found ourselves a part of a great procession ,

moving over the dusty road, and at every mom ent on the poin t

o f runn ing over som e pious pilgrim just ahead . As we got farther out of the Ci ty other roads em ptied their human currentsinto ours , and when we reached a point of some elevation fromwhich we could look out over the country ahead we found thefields also fi lled , for miles , with marching columns and the air

38

THE H INDU PILGRIM

Clouded withdust as from the tram p o farmies . Aswe approachedthe river beds the road m erged into a stretch of sand , where wefinally had to alight and j oin the pi lgrims on foot , as theytrudged along the ridge between the two streams . The sides ofthis broad roadway were l ined with booths where al l sorts ofthingswere on Sale , from gods to sweetmeats . Many tem poraryrestauran ts had been se t up , where every kind of ind igestiblewas to be had ; also many half- rel igious side - Shows , acclaim ed bydrum

,conch , and cymbal . A ll these booths were built o f large

square bam boo mats , that could be put together at a m oment’s

notice so as to form houses of any desired shape . Over most ofthem , at the top of long bam boo poles , waved banners withstrange devices Hindu gods , mythical an im als , Urdoo inscrip tions , or merely strips Of varied bril l iant colors . Beggarsthere were , Of course , by the hundred blind , crippled , leprous , and holy m e n by the score . Most o f these had li ttlecam ps o f their own a fire o f dried cowdung in the Open

,

beside which they sat on their skins of various wild beasts,

sm oking their water - pipes and watching the pass ing crowd withan expression of conscious superiority and disdain . The hair o fholy m e n is usually very long several yards long , indeed , forthey buy i t by the yard and i t looks very much like rope ,and not unnaturally , formost o f i t is . They wear it in a highlymatted condition , and wind it about the back o f their headssom ewhat as European women do . Their bodies and especiallytheir faces are smeared and caked with clay and with ashes ofcow- dung , and they have very little on . Usually they wearnothing but an exceedingly small loin - Cloth , and we sawone atthe mela who had dispensed with even that . The priest toldme that at the mela of the preceding year therewas a proce ssion of two hundred of these wonderfully holy and absolutelystark naked saints . Of course , one is supposed to con tribute tothe support of these good m e n , and they regularly have a clothSpread out in front of them for the reception of the coins thrownthem by the passing crowd . I f you contribute , however , youmust not expect them to thank you not they ! the pleasure and profit are yours and the favor all on their s ide asyou can se e from the expression on their faces . For have theynot enabled you thereby to acquire merit? And they know

39


Very well that it is far more blessed to give than to rece ive . SOmost of the passing pilgrim s contribute to at least a few of themany saints and go onward in increasing blessedness .Some of the pilgrims were themselves vying with the holymen by the mode of their progress. Far from traveling in aluxurious ekka , they were no t even on foot , but were measuringthe distance by their own length on the ground lying downon their bell ies , stretching their arms forward and making amark in the sand , then rising and lying down again with theirtoes in the mark their hands had made , so covering the distance l ike a measuring-worm .

AS we approached the junction of the rivers we came upon averitable Ci ty Of temporary huts of bamboo mats , in whichthousands of the pilgrims were preparing to Spend the n ight .I t would be hard to compare the scene to anything in Am ericabut if you Should put together a county fair, a circus , a campmeeting , and a fancy- dress lawn party , you would get a mixture distantly approaching it . The sun was now setting overthe Jumna , and those of the pilgrims who were lucky enoughto have anything to eat were fin ishing their even ing meal ; sowe left the encampm ent and raced with the fast - descendingIndian darkness , back over the sandy roads and through thedust- filled air and fading golden light to our ekkas

,which

(after more than an hour ’s j olting) brought us to Laurie’

s

Great Northern Hotel , where we found a score of Europeanswho had com e to town to hear three long- haired Hungarianthird - rate viol inists play cheap music . For most of theseEuropeans had probably never heard of the mela , and thosewho had evidently considered i t quite unworthy of a sahib ’sinterest .The next morning at dawn we were off again for the sacredwaters , through streets flowing with two streams of hum ani tythe greater one going with us

,the lesser but stil l good - sized

one returning after having already washed away their sins . I twas , on the whole , a happy- looking crowd and certainly an inte re sting one . Most of the pilgrims carried an extra dress or

Cloth , or rag ! to put on after bathing , and many had theirday’s provisions and various other impedim enta in their handsand on their heads . Of course , a brass or wooden or earthen

40



of the Cloths—not chiefly for the be nefit Of the beggar , Ipresume

,but for the acquisi tion ofmerit . The luckiest of these

poor wom en whom we passed had as yet hardly collected morethan two handfuls of rice . In one place we sawa band ofmusicapproaching us leading a company of women crowned withwreaths o f j asm ine .

“Who are these in bright array?” I askedmy friend the priest . “These ,

” said he ,“ are public prostitutes

coming to wash away their Sins and acquire a newcrop .

”

And so the l iving stream poured on all day . The official estimate o i the num bers attending the mela from first to lastwasseven hundred thousand . The year previous there had beenbetween one and two mill ion .

In the m iddle o f January the best place to wash away Sin isprobably A llahabad . But for a steady thing , day in and dayout through the year , there is no place l ike Benares . I t hasbeen the center for this business a great many centuries . Noone knows howOld the City is . We only know that it was already ancient and very sacred five hundred years before thebirth ofChrist . I t has been destroyed , piecemeal , many times ,but i t has always risen , l ike the Phoenix , from its ashes , moreresplendent than ever . The rich and great have vied with eachother in adorn ing i t with temples and m onasteries ; and itswater- front especially is one of the most picturesque sights tobe found anywhere in the world . For two miles and a half theGanges is bordered , on the city side , with tem ples and palaces ,mosques and dharam shalas from which the ghats lead down tothe water ; and these are l ined with m e n and wom en , in variousbrillian t costum es or strange lack of costum e bathingand praying . I t is a very busy scene , for religion is the onegreat business of Benares . I ts streets and temples and ghatsare forever full of a flood of strangers in two great streams , oneof them arriving and im porting with them into the city a l ittlemoney and great quan tities of sin ,

the other leaving for homelighter in both conscience and purse . The sins have gone intothe Ganges , and the m oney into the pockets o f the priests andth e stom achs o f the Brahm ins . The detail of the process Ofridding one ’s self of sin is very complex

,but in general there

are two things that one must do,nam ely , bathe in the river ,

with the recital Of the proper prayers,and visi t the most sacred

42

THE H INDU PILGR IM

of the tem ples and do puja to Shiva , who in Benares is theGreat God , Mahadev . Besides these things one m ust , as am atter of course , pay the priests l iberally , both at the riv er andin the tem ples and everywhere give alm s to the holy m e n .

These holy m e n , l ike those at A llahabad , are persuaded that itis more blessed to give than to receive ; and they have cousecrated their l ives to making the pious pilgrim s as blessed aspossible . There are many monasteries and many dharam shalas,

o r rest - houses , where hundreds o f them are fed every day . Them orn ings they spend on the ghats or near the tem ples , bathingpraying

,begging alm s , conversing , or sim ply “

m editating .

After their one daily meal they spend the entire afternoonmeditating . The contemplative life is no t a thing of the past inBenares . Most readers of this book will have heard of the Oldman who described his daily l ife by saying : “ Som etim es I setand think , and som etim es I j ust Se t . I t seem s probable that , alarge part of the time , most of the holy m e n of Benares “ j ustse t .

” I t m ust be remembered , however , that the“ holy m e n

”

most in evidence loafing about the Golden Tem ple and

making long prayers on the ghats are far from representingthe really spiri tual S ide Of the Hindu religion . Holy men thereare in Benares much more worthy of this name ; but theseseldom do business on the waterfront for the benefit o f thetourist .Religion , I have said , is a bus iness on the Benares waterfront ; but it may be a pleasant or even a j oyous business , m ingling a m i ld gayety with earnestness and solem n i ty . When one

has returned from the ghats he feels as i f he had been visi t ing,

all at once , a Cathol ic Church , a county fair , and Atlan tic City .

A few reveren t men one will always find , fin ishing their ablutions and praying toward the sun with unm istakable devoutness . Many widows and other women there are , bathing carefully and seriously ; and Side by Side with them otherswho seemto be having a rather jol ly time of i t . Children are there , running about al l over the broad steps ; barbers by the score plyingtheir trade (for to have one

’s head Shaved is a religious rite) ;snake - charmers exhibiting their scorpions and m aking necklaces Of their serpents ; dhobis or washerwom en and washerm e n slapping some sahib ’s clothes against a rock or pound

43


ing them with a stone so that the buttons all come off forsoap is a luxury quite unknown to the Indian dhobi ; asceticsand sannyasins begging baksheesh ; would - b e guides solici tingyour patronage and boatm en offering their services ; wom enCl imbing the steps , carrying homeward their daily load of

Ganges water in bril l ian tly pol ished brass pots ; coolies landingmerchandise (for the ghats are used for com m ercial as well asfo r religious purposes) from rickety Old tub - l ike sail - boatswith m oth - eaten sails that have com e from Chunar or som emore distan t river town ; and priests by the hundred , most ofthem fat

,with bare arms and breasts , each Si tting under a big

straw umbrella, and busied in putting the m ark of the Great

God on the foreheads o f the faithful for a cons ideration .

Then there are other m e n in l i ttle groups , engaged , l ike thecoolies

,in carrying burdens, but these no t o f a comm ercial

nature unless you count as such that com m erce which setsout upon the Unknown Sea . These burdens o f theirs are woundround with red orwhite cloth and fastened to two long bamboopoles with two m e n at each end . They have com e through thestreets of the city , and perhaps from som e distant Vi l lage , singing with every step : Ram is true ! Ram is true ! He createsand He destroys .

” Arrived at the burn ing- ghat they se t theirburden down , dipping its feet in the river , and there they leavei t til l they have bought wood from the contractor (who regardsbusiness as business) , and built the funeral pyre close to thewater ’s edge . Before doing this they m ay have to wait til l oneo f the fires they find burning has consum ed its burden forthe burn ing- ghat is a busy place , night and day , and there isnot always room fo r the newcom er . When the pyre is built thenearest relative o f the deceased goes to the tem ple and haggleswith the keeper o f the sacred fire over the price Of a spark ; andhaving paid what is required he brings the fire down in sm ould

ering straw and l ights the pile . I f the fam i ly can afford to buyenough wood , the body is com pletely consum ed ; in any casethe ashes or whatever is left on the exhaustion of the fire isthrown into the sacred river ; and any failure on the part Ofthe fire to do its ful l duty is m ade good by the fish and thecrocodiles . Whatever it be

,Mother Ganga receiv es i t all in to

her bosom , and we need no t inquire too curiously as to what

44

THE H INDU PILGRIM

happens there . The Hindu does not inquire . When the fire isout , he breaks an earthen jar fil led with water upon the spotwhere the pyre has burned , and , looking neither to the right norto the left , goes hom eward , thinking not of the body but of thespiri t that is gone . For death is only an incident in the longj ourney of the Hindu pilgrim .

CHAPTER IV

THE MANY GODS

HE most popular god in India is Shiva , orMahadev . Hispopularity is partly the result of his very com plex char

acter . He has absorbed into him self varying and even con

tradictory qualities , so that worshipers of every taste may besatisfied in him . His most ancient aspect is that of terror . Inthe Rig Veda for he goes back to Vedic times he is knownas Rudra , the Ruddy , the Storm God the Terrible One . He isthe Destroyer

, and deals in death ; he 18Tim e , and devours all .This ancient aspect of his character Shiva has in our tim eslargely laid aside or rather has turned i t over to his consortKali . In fact the name “ Shiva itself means the AuspiciousOne , and as such he is regarded no t merely as the Destroyer ,but sti l l more as the Regenerator . I f he destroys i t is to renewand thus destruction becom es , l ike many a process of nature ,m erely a part of eternal regeneration and developm ent . In thissense the Great God m ight alm ost be described as the more orless personal Power o f Nature , a Power that is irresistible ,om n ipresent , and beyond good and evil . I t is to this aspect ofShiva that the phallic elements in his worship belong . His isthe Reproductive Power of Nature ; and thus he is also theb e ne fice nt producer of blessings , the Eternally Blessed One .

This aspect of Shiva gives him a kind of cosm ic largenesswhichis typically Indian . A third aspect of the Great God is lesscosm ic , but no t less Characteristic of Ind ian thought . He is ,nam ely , the Great Ascetic , dwelling alone among the m ountains ,in eternal meditation , pass ionless , im m ovable . 1 I t is this perhaps m ore than anything else that has m ade Shiva the m ostpopular god in Ind ia ; for in being the perfect ascetic who hasrenounced everything and is plunged forever in meditation he

1 Be side s th e thre e aspe cts Of Shiv a that I hav e de scribed (De stroye r ,Nature Force , Asce tic) , Mon ie rWi l l iam s e num e rate s two othe rs : a le arnedsage , th e re v eale r of gram m ar ; a wild and jov ial m ountaine e r , fond of

dancing , drink ing , and good l iv ing.

46

THE MANY GODS

represen ts th e dearest ideal of this land . S ister Niv e dita can

put this most im portan t aspect of Shiva—and of Indiamuch better than I :

“In India l ife has one test , one standard , and one alone .

Does a m an know God or no t? That is all . No question o f

fruits , no question o f activity , no question o f happiness . Onlyhas the soul set out on the quest of real ization? [When

this is done] all the man ifold satisfactions o f the flesh become aburden . Hom e and kind red and intercourse with the world b ecom e a bondage . Food and Sleep and the necessi ties of thephysical l i fe seem indifferent or in tolerable . And so i t com esthat the Great God of the Hindu im agination is a beggar .Covered with the ashes of His sacrificial fire , so that He iswhite l ike snow , His hair growing untended in large masses ,oblivious of cold or heat , silent , remote from m e n , He Si ts absorbed in eternal meditation . Those eyes ofHis are half closed .

But one faculty is all activi ty . Within i t has been indrawnall the force of all the senses . Upright in the middle of the forehead looks forth the third eye , the eye Of inner vision .

He is the refuge of an imals . About His neck are wound theserpents whom none else would receive . Never did He turn

‘

any

away . The mad one , the eccentric , the crazed and queer , andthe half-witted amongst men for all these there is roomwith Shiva . His love will embrace even the dem on iac . He acce p ts that which all rej ect . Al l the pain and evil of the un iverseHe took as His share to save the world , when He drank thepoison of things , and m ade His throat blue forever . He possesses so l i ttle ! Only the old bull on which He rides , and thetiger - Skin for medi tation

, and a string or two o f praying beadsno m ore .“ Such is the picture that springs to the Indian mind asrepresenting the Soul of the Universe Shiva , the Al l -Merciful , the Destroyer of Ignorance , the Great God . Perfectrenunciation , perfect with - drawnness , perfect absorption in

etern i ty these things alone are worthy to be told concern ingHimwho is ‘the Sweetest o f the Sweet , the most Terrible o fthe Terrible , the Lord o f Heroes , and the Wondrous - Eyed .

’ 1

1 Kali , the Mother (London , Sonne nsche in, pp . 30- 33 , som ewhatabridged .

7


On the face of a rock at Mahabalipuram , a few miles southof Madras and near the se a, there is a gigantic rel ief , sculptured no one knows how many centuries ago , and called

“ThePenance ofArj un ,

” which places the Indian ’s concept of Shivabefore one ’s eyes in plastic form . In the center stands theGreat God

,while before him appear representatives of the

whole an im ate creation from the supreme human being , theascetic , down to the elephant wi th his m ighty tusks andtrunk , the human - headed cobra with h is hood , and manyanother beast both rea l and mythica l all Of them doinghom age with unmistakable reverence to Mahadev .

I t is uncertain whether the personal aspect of the Great Godas the loving ascetic , or his im personal aspect as the Force backofNature , was m ost in the mind of the artist who chiseled thisgroup or is most in the mind o f the Indian . The two aspectssway back and forward and alternate , one changing into theother . Shiva is made all things to all m e n that by allmeans hemay please some . For those who desire a personal god he isthe Great Hermit

,seated am ong the eternal snows of the Hima

layas ; or (for the more vulgar) he is the Destroyer ofDemonsand the Protector o f his own, dwel ling in the heavenly Kailashwith h is wife and h is two sons , his arm y ofwarrior spiri ts andthe souls of his departed worshiperswho have been faithful intheir puja to h im through life . For the more philosophical ,e .g . ,for the Shiva sect known as “ L ingayats , —he is “ infin

i te in tell igence and j oy , the creator of the world , and the instructor and redeem er of mankind .

” 1 For a large part of theVedanta philosophers he is really one aspect of Brahm an , theimpersonal consciousness which alone is real . To these thinke rs Shiva is the person ification Of the Impersonal , the m anife s

tation of the Unm anife sting . And in this l ight S ister Niv editawrites of h im :

“Undoubtedly this Hindu idea of Shiva is thehighest conception of God as approached by the spiri tual intuition of m an . He is the Divine accessiblewithin and purifiedof all externals .” 2

Whether one can agree with Sister Niv edita in this high

1 R . G . Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism , Saivism , and MinorReligious System s

(Strassburg, Triib ner, p . 1 56.

2 The Master as I sawH im (Calcutta Udb odhan Office , p . 161 .

48


THE MANY GODS

praise will depend largely upon one’s opin ion on the question

whether moral ity should be a part Of the Character of theDivine . In the conception of Shiva at its best the cosm ic hasnearly crowded out the m oral ; l ike other Indian gods he is toogreat to be good . He is “ beyond good and evil .” But whetherthe reader adm ires Shiva or no t , he can now , I hope , understand to som e extent the in tense devotion o f his votaries totheir God . SO highly cultured a thinker as Swam i Vivekananda , a m anwho had l ived in Europe and Am erica for yearsand knew

'

Western thought almost as well as Eastern , couldfind in Mahadev the fulfillment Of nearly all h is needs . Inthe ice- cavern of Amarnath am ong the Him alayas , a shrine ofShiva to which he made a pilgrim age , he had a vis ion of theGreat God . As he entered the Cave , i t seem ed to him as i fhe sawShiva made visible before him . Am idst the buzzing ,swarm ing noise of the pilgrim crowd , and the overhead fluttering of the pigeons , he knelt and prostrated two or threetim es unnoticed ; and then , afraid lest em otion might overcome him , he rose and si lently withdrew .

” 1 And again andagain in hours o fsilent med i tation and prayer hewas overheardm urm uring : “ O Shiva ! Shiva !” AS S ister Niv edita says ofShiva ’s devotees in general : “To them there is nothing in theworld so strong and pure and all -merciful as their God

,and

the books and poems of Hindus are very few in which he isnot referred to with this passionate worship .

” 2

Shiva is the most popular god in India , but he has no t thelargest num ber of ex clusive worshipers . This honor is reservedfor the other great god of Hinduism—Vishnu . These twogods , together with their wives and incarnations , divide b etween them alm ost the whole cult ofHinduism . Many Hindusworship both ; but a great many devote them selves exclusivelyto the worship of one only , regard ing him as the one divine reality , of whom all other gods are but names

"

and form s . Devoteesof a special god in this special way are known as sectarians ; andthe two great sects of India are , of course , the Vaishnav ite s ordevotees ofVishnu , and the Shaiv ite s or the devotees o f Shiva .

AS I have indicated above , the Vaishnav ite s ( i f we include

1 The Maste r as I sawHim (Ca l cu tta Udb odhan Ofl‘ice , p . 158.

2 The We b of I ndian Life (London, H e ine m ann , p . 2 19.

49


among them the worshipers of Vishnu ’s incarnations) are themore numerous of the two .

The name Vishnu and his cul t go back to Vedic tim es ; butthe god as conceived and worshiped to - day includes manyother elements beside the Vedic . AS a great river carries withi t the waters of many a tributary , Vishnu has absorbed intohim self the Characteristics of several deities of the Indian past

,

with whom in the course of centuries he has become identified .

M r . Bhandarkar has recently pointed out four of these as e s

p e cially im portant : ( I ) the Vedic Vishnu , who was a sun god ;(2 ) Vasudeva , perhaps originally a man who after his deathwas deified , and whose cul t cam e to be especially characterizedby devotion and by a theistic rather than a pantheistic View of

God ; (3) Narayana , a nam e for the Suprem e (and pantheistic)Spirit in late Brahman ic times : and (4) Krishna of whommore presen tly .

1

Being com bined from so many differen t elem ents , the concep tion of Vishnu , l ike that o f Shiva , varies with his variousworshipers . He is sometim es pictured as a personal being , dwelling with h is wife in a defin i te locali ty ; som etim es he is conce iv e d as the Infin i te Spiri t , presen t everywhere and appearingin all phenomena as the Real behind the seem ing . This largerand philosophical aspect is more emphasized by worshipersthan is the philosophic aspect o f Shiva ; and his m ore de fin ite ly personal side is correspondingly undeveloped . St i l l ,something may be said o f i t . Vishnu resides in a distant heavenwith h is wife Lakshmi in fact som e give him three wives .L ike Shiva he has four hands , each of which is commonly rept esented as holding an emblem pecul iar to himself usually theconch , sym bolic of creativ e sound , the mace for sov ereign ty,the charkra (or wheel) for energy , and the lotus for spiri t andmatter . Often he is pictured as reclin ing with his wife on the

great serpent Sesha , while Brahma the ancien t creatorissues from his navel . I f Brahm a is the Creator and Shiva theDestroyer , Vishnu is the Preserver . There is nothing in hiscult (as in that Of Shiva) that is frightful or terrible . He is emphatica l ly the Indian God of Love—with all that that implies for good and evil . For his philosophical worshiper he is,

1 Bhandarkar, op. cit.

50

THE MANY GODS

of course , much more than this , being in fact the so le Reali ty ,o f whom the entire material world and all Spiri ts of m e n and

gods form but the body . This , however , is a conception thatwill detain us in a later chapter . But here something must besaid ofone unique and most im portant characteristic of Vishnu ,nam ely, the conception that he has appeared to m e n and l ivedam ong them in the form of avatars or incarnations .NO one can say why or how this doctrine of incarnation

arose , but once started i t proved peculiarly popular am ongVaishnav ite s , and in fact Vishnu is worshiped to - day chieflythrough his avatars . He has , indeed , incarnated him self no tonce but m any tim es , the number usually being put at te n .

Several of these were an im al form s ; but as only two ofVishnu’s

incarnations , and these both hum an , are taken seriously byHindus to-d ay , I shall no t trouble the reader with the list . Thel ist is , indeed , retained by pious Hindus proform a j ust as thedoctrine of the dam nation of unbaptized in fan ts and Of theheathen was long retained by m any good Christians as a piousform of words long after al l real bel ief in i t had become impossible . But that God the one God becam e incarnate inthe m an Ram a or in the man Krishna is a very living bel iefWith m i ll ions of devout Vaishnav ite s.

Of these two incarnations Ram or Rama (both Spell ings arecomm on) is the O lder and (according to Western notions) themore adm irable ; he is also the less popular . Some divisionsof the Vaishnav ite sect regard him as very God of very Godhardly even as an incarnation . TO them the one great nam e

forGod is “Ram .

” He first app ears in the heroic poem of Valmiki (written perhaps 500 as a brave and noble prince

,

with,however , no suggestion o f being in any sense divine . The

story of the loss of his faithful wife S i ta and his recovery o fher is one of the favorite tales o f India and has exerted a conside rab le influence for thousands of years in m oulding Indianideals of manly courage and wom an ly fideli ty and devotion .

S ita is stolen by the arch - demon Ravana and eventually re

covered by Rama , who Slays the demon through the aid of

his faithful friend Hanum an , the monkey god . Incidental ly letme add that the story thus expla ins the popularity o f Hanum an , who to us Westerners , ignorant of Hindu mythology ,

51


seems a very horrid creature because we take him to be merelya monkey ; while to the Hindu he stands for al l that is fine infaithful friendship . This original story o f Ram and his friendslong antedates the Indian concept of incarnation . When , now,

the newidea had taken root , Ramawas made one of Vishnu ’savatars

, and Valmiki’s poem was to som e exten t made over (by

add i tions and interpolations) ; and finally in the Ram ayana , 1

written about 1600 byTulsi Das inHindi ,—the real B ible of theRam a worshipers -to - day , Ram a is portrayed as the com pleteincarnation of the Absolute and Suprem e Spiri t . The old storyis retained and repeated , but no t for a m om ent are we allowedto forget that Ram a , for all his hum an form ,

is in fact theSuprem e Being . The mystery and beauty of the incarnationidea has seldom been more strikingly expressed . The followingl ines will convey some notion of the general rel igious attitudeof the poem toward the Incarnate One

Se e rs and sage s, saints and he rm its, fix on H im the ir rev e re nt gaze .

And in faint and tre m bling acce nts Holy Scripture hym ns His praise .

H e , the om nipre se nt Sp irit , Lord of heav e n and e arth and he l l ,To rede e m h is pe ople , fre e ly , has v ouchsafe d with m e n to dwe l l .” 2

The Gospel of Rama according to Tulsi Das is certain ly oneo f the most important and widespread influences in Hinduismto - day . N inety m i ll ion people in upper India are said to accepti t as the core of their rel igion . According to M r . Grierson

,Al l

form s of rel igion , all beliefs and all forms of non - belief in theordinary polytheism o f the many Hindu cults

,were to Tulsi

Das but so many accidents beside the great truths on which hewas never weary o f laying stress : nam ely , that there is one Supreme Being ; that sin is hateful , no t because it de file s the Sinner ,but because i t is incompatible with the Suprem e Being ; thatm an is by nature infin i tely Sinful and unworthy of salvation ;that , nevertheless , the Suprem e Being , in his infin i te m ercy ,became incarnate in the person ofRam a to relieve the world ofsin ; that this Ram a has returned to heaven , and is there , asRama , now; that mankind has therefore a God who is no t on lyinfin i tely merciful butwho knows by actual experience how

1 This is th e nam e by wh ich th e poe m is com m on ly known ; th e nam egiv en i t by its au thor is Ram a Manas Charita.

2 Translation by Growse (A l lahabad ,

52

THE MANY GODS

great are man ’s infirm itie s and temptations , and who , thoughhimself incapable Of Sin , is ever ready to extend his help to thes inful being that cal ls upon him .

” 1

Ram a , whether in his anthropom orphic or in his more philo soph ical form , is certain ly one o f the finest figures of theHindu pantheon . He is no t , however , the most com m on lyworshiped . In popularity he cannot equal Vishnu ’s othergreat avatar Krishna . But while Krishna is much m orepopular than Ram a , the origin of h is worship is thought bymany to have been hum bler , and his character as depicted inthe story o f his incarnation is unquestionably less noble . TheInd ians , of course , believe Krishna to have been a real h istorical person , and in this they have the backing of som e Westernscholars notably of Professor Garbe , whose Einle itung tohis recent translation of the Bhagav ad Gita is one of the mostim portant studies of the Krishna cult . Professor Garbe bel ievesKrishna to have l ived about two hundred years before Buddha ,to have be en the son of Vasudeva , to have founded a m ono th e

istic and ethical rel igion , and even tually to have been deifiedand identified with the monotheistic god Vasudeva whoseworship he founded .

2 Whether this be accepted ornot , there arecertain elements in the Krishna cult , as found in the Puranasand various other books , which are far from moral and whichdo no t seem to have originated in the rather pure worship ofVasudeva . Professor Bhandarkar supposes that these elemen tsoriginated among a nom adic tribe o f cowherds

,whose god

cam e to be iden tified with that o f Krishna -Vasudeva when ,about the beginn ing of the Christian era , they migrated fromthe Punjab to the Ganges Valley . However this may be

,the

cult Of Krishna Vasudeva was early associated wi th that ofVishnu , and when the incarnation concept became popular hewas accepted as the chief avatar of the Supreme Being

, and in

fact as quite identical with him .

“Though birthless and unchanging of essence (KrishnaVishnu is made in the Bhagav ad Gita to say of himself)

“ andthough Lord of born beings , yet in my sway over the Nature

1 I m perial Gazette er of I ndia, v ol. 11 (Oxford , Clare ndon Pre ss,p. 4 18.

1 Die Bhagavad Gita (Le ip sig , Hoe ssal, pp . 19-

37.

53


that is mine own I come into birth by mine own magic . Forwhensoever Religion fails and lawlessness uprises , I bring m yself to bodied birth . To guard the righteous , to destroy evildoers , to establish Religion I com e in to birth age after age .

” 1

AS I have said , Krishna is considered by all good Hindus ahistorical Character. The story of his l ife is told in several of theVaishnav ite Puranas (or h istorico - theological works) , while heis represen ted as the speaker in that most sacred book of allHindu religious l i terature , the Bhagav ad Gita . The story toldin the Puranas , i f taken l i terally , does no t make very elevatedreading ; but in the earl ier Puranas , at any rate , i t is impossibleto take the story l iterally , so obvious and unescapable is the intent o f the writer to present no t so much a tale as an allegoryofGod and th e soul . Krishna is a man ye s , in a sense . Yetat every turn the god shines through . Whoever reads theVishnu Purana or the Bhagav ad Purana in l i teral and legalistic fashion will therefore quite m iss the poin t . One m ust takethe Orien tal poin t of View and be prepared for much sym bolism if he would understand .

The incarnation ofVishnu in the human form Of Krishna andthe consequen t spread of true religion is thus portrayed in theVishnu Purana : “The divine Vishnu himself , the god of thevast un iversa l tree , inscrutable by the understanding Of all thegods , demons , and sages past , present , and to come , he who iswithout beginning , middle or e nd , being moved to relieve theearth o f her load , descended into the wom b ofDevaki andwasborn as her son Vasudeva Yoganindra ,

proud to execute his orders , removed the em bryo to Yasoda ,

the wife of Nandi the cowherd . At his birth the earth was relie v ed from all iniquity ; the sun , moon , and planets shone withunclouded splendor ; al l fear Of calamitous portents was disp e lled ; and universal happines s prevailed . From the m om enthe appeared all mankind were led into the righteous path inhim . While this Powerful Being resided in this world he had

wives By these the Universal Form begotsons .” 2

1 Bhagavad G ita , W , 6- 8. Barne tt ’s translation (London, Dent ,2 Vishnu Purana , IV, 15. Wilson’

s(translation (London , Triibne r,

1864

54



I t is , perhaps , in part , this elusive , this multiform nature OfKrishna that has made him , next to Shiva , the most populardeity ofHinduism . By his many attributes he is able to appealto the high and to the low, to the philosophical and the ignoran t ,to the lofty and the im m oral . The picture of the Infini te God inthe body of a li ttle helpless chi ld has the same imm ense appealin India that i t has in Christendom . AS every Cathol ic Churchat Christmas - time has i ts creche , with a miniature Jesus lyingin a manger , so all over India you will find Shrines of the babyKrishna , in which im ages of the divine child are tended as i f i twere a l iving baby . The center of his worship is Mahaban ,where accord ing to the tale his infancy was passed . I t is aplace of pilgrim age to pious Vaishnav ite s , and I made a pilgrim age thi ther am ong them . The center of interest in theli ttle isolated village is the SO- called “ Palace o f Nandi ” ahall with m any curiously carved stone pillars , near one e nd of

which are large wooden im ages ofNandi and Yasoda , Krishna’s

foster father and m other , while memen toes of Krishna’s b oy

hood are preserved with pious creduli ty and care in variousparts of the building the most im portant of these being anenorm ous cane which is exhibited as Yasoda

’

s churn ing - stick .

But the devotion o f the good Vaishnav ite worshipers is cente re d on a large cradle in which Si ts a baby doll , gorgeouslydressed , and representing , of course , the infant Krishna . A bigBrahm in priest was standing by the crad le as we en tered thehall , deferentially rocking i t , so as to give the baby god hisdaily nap . This is part o f the regular service , performed inmany a tem ple of Krishna every day . I append in a note otherdetails of the cul t , as practiced by one of the sub - sects Of theVaishnav as.

l

1 Afte r an e laborate se rie s of pe rform ance s, bathing , the re citation Of

m antras, e tc . , th e de v ote e “shou ld approach the be droom [of the child

Krishna] and sing a song cal l ing upon Krishna to rise from Sle e p , to take t efre shm e nts pre pared for him and to go with h is com pan ions to the fore st forgrazing the cows. Krishna shou ld b e brought out and p lace d on the throne .

Radha [his fav orite wife ] Shou ld b e p laced on his le ft hand and the n th e worsh ip e r shou ld prostrate h im se lf be fore h e r. Th e re fre shm e nts already prepared shou ld the n b e p laced be fore the m , and the y shou ld b e reque ste d toe at the m . The n the b ed Shou ld b e dusted and Cle ane d and Krishna shou ldb e m ade to wash his m outh . Othe r re fre shm e nts shou ld the n b e p lace d b efore the two . At the e nd Oi all, a wav ing Of lam ps shou ld b e gone through

56

THE MANY GODS

The boy Krishna is even a greater favori te than the baby .

Al l over India im ages and pictures Of him are to be found , inthe easy posture of boyhood , playing on the pipe 1 symbol ofthe divine activity which is always play . When these represemtations of Krishna are in color , the color is always deep blue .

This does not please Western eyes , and the tourist is thereforel ikely to conclude that Krishna is a “ horrid li ttle n igger ”

not knowing that nearly everything in India is sym bol ic andthat the blue Of Krishna ’s face , l ike the blue of the sea and ofthe sky , in the eyes of the Hindu stands for infin ity .

“The popular and growing belief of the Hindu masses,

writes S ister Niv e dita , consists of various form s of the worship Oi Krishna . I t is this creed that carries to those who needi t a rel igious emotional ism like that of the Salvation Army orof Methodism . In the hottest n ights , during periods of

‘re

v iv als ,’ the streets of a city will be crowded with m e n bearing

l ights and banners , and dancing themselves into a frenzy tosuch words as :

Cal l on the Lord ,

Cal l on the Lord ,

Cal l on the Lord , l ittle brothe r !Than th is nam e of th e LordFor m ortal m an

The re is no othe rway .

’

He is known as the Holy Child , born in humil i ty amidstcowherds by the Jum na ; the Gentle Shepherd of the People ,the Wise Counsel lor , the Blessed Lord , tender Lover and

Savior of the hum an Soul ; and by other nam es no t less fam i l iarto ourselves . I t is an im age of the baby Krishna that theIndian mother adores as the Bam bino , cal l ing it

‘Gopala,

’ her

with song . The n com e s th e bath . Afte r bathing , saffron paint Shou ld b eappl ied [to th e im age ] . H e shou ld the n b e dre ssed and m i lk b e giv e n h im .

Afte rwards by th e churn ing of m i lk froth Shou ld b e pre pared and Offe red toKrishna . H e shou ld the n b e told to wash h is m outh with wate r. The nbe te l leav e s shou ld b e Offe red him . The n a cradle shou ld b e adorne d and

Krishna shou ld b e told to ge t into i t , and it shou ld b e rocke d and toys b e gotready for the d iv ine boy . Afte rwards the m idday d inne r shou ld b e pre pared .

In this m anne r the ce re m onie s go on. A m e al is again pre pare d at n ightand Krishna is laid on the sle e ping- cot and m ade to sle e p again. (Bhandarkar, op. cit. , p . This is a de scription Of the cu lt as practice d by theVallab ha se ct .

1 Se e the picture on the cov e r of this v olum e .

57


cowherd . His name fi lls gospels and poems , the folk- songs ofal lHindu races are full of descriptions of Him as a cowherd wandering and sporting am ongst His fellows ; and childish l iterature is ful l o f stories of Him curiously l ike European tales ofthe Christ- chi ld . To the ecstatic mystic , He is the DivineSpouse .” 1

The reader will have noted , without my pointing them out

to him ,the two very diverging tendencies in the concept of

Krishna, one lofty ,

philosophical , mystic , the other low andsensual . Both these elements in the Krishna concept have hadtheir influence and their following ; and so we find , besides thegeneral and popular Krishna cul t , two groups of special devotees , one of whom has emphasized the erotic and one thephilosophical aspect of their god . The form er and lower ofthese tendencies is seen in Several Vaishnav ite sects , som e ofwhich center their worship particularly on Radha , who in thelater sectarian works is represented as Krishna ’s favorite mistress . In their worship of the passionate pair these Vaishnav ite s regard sexual passion as the type of divine love and asthe m eans of entering into com mun ion with the deity .

2 TheCl im ax o f this “ religious fi l thwas attained by the sect foundedabout 1 500 byVallab ha and stil l existing in parts of India . Thism an no t on ly preached the doctrine Of divine union by meansOf sensual passion indicated above , but succeeded in persuadinghis many followers that he and all his male descendants wereincarnations ofKrishna . I cannot detai l here the unspeakablyVi le practices to which this led , but some of them may beim agined : and the reader can find them exposed at length in“The History of the Sect of the Maharajas

,

” 3 which reports

1 The Web of I ndian Life , pp . 2 2 4—2 5.

2 This abuse of Vaishnav ism has its paral le l in an abuse of Christ ianityto b e found in an offshoot Of the Russian Church cal le d th e Skoptsy . Am ongth e m e m be rs of this se ct th e Virgin Mary has a posit ion Sim i lar to that ofRadha am ong th e se nsual se c ts of Vaishnav ite s. She is re pre se nted in the irm e e tings by a be aut ifu l girl ; and the ir m e thods of attain ing un ion with theD iv ine are qu ite on a par with those of Ind ia . But the se Russian Christiansare not conte nt with l ice ntious worship . The y add to it th e horror of e at inghum an fle sh which the y hav e cut from the girl whom the y adore as the

Madonna. Se e Tsakni, La Russie Se ctaire (Paris, Plon e t Nourrit ,Chap. V.

1 Publ ished in London, 1865.

58

THE MANY‘

GODS

the findings at the famous Bombay libel suit in 1860,in which

the bestial i ties of this “ religious ” sect were brought to light .I n connection with this Sensual aspect of the lower forms ofHinduism , an Indian philosopher said to me : An earnest effortis being m ade to put a stop to this sort Of thing , but it has no tsucceeded and probably never wil l succeed fully . The sectof the Maharaj as , for instance , probably con tinues i ts eroticpractices , though it received a severe blow in the l ibel suit .And the worst of i t is that when this evil is suppressed in oneplace i t breaks out in another . There is no doubt that in variousparts o f India sensual practices are sanctioned and e ncour

aged in the name of religion . I t seem s to be inherent in hum an nature for i t to break out somewhere . I am told that inEurope it takes cover under the nam e ‘Art .

’

In India i ts coveris Religion instead . I t seem s as i f the writers of som e of theancien t books , seeing that this sort of thingwas inevi table inhum an nature , had del iberately m ade some place for it inrel igion , as a kind of vent for fi l th .

”

I t must be remem bered , however , that this erotic aspect ofVaishnavism is confined to a relatively sm all part of the sectas a whole , and that in every land and in almost every form offaith parallel instances are to be found in which sensualism ism istaken for rel igion , or at least seeks to disguise itsel f undersom e pious name . The great maj ority Of the m ore devotedfollowers of Krishna find excesses such as these most re pugnant . To them “ Sri Krishna ” is the embodiment of al l thatis purest and noblest ; and i t is especially in the more spiri tualaspects and relations and em otions of l i fe that they bel ieve theyfind the Lord though indeed , for them he is also presenteverywhere . Al l our human relations , writes a con tem poraryVaishnav ite philosopher ,

“ are mere reflexes o f these relationsas they exist in H is own being . Sri Krishna thus spiri tual izesall these social relations , even as He spiri tualizes our physicalactivi t ies and enj oym ents . In his master the devout Vaishnava thus sees h is Krishna . In his personal friends he realizesand relishes Krishna as Friend . In h is son and father , in hisdaughter ormother , he real izes and serves his Krishna . In hisconjugal l ife and relation he realizes and enjoys the highest ,the deepest love of Krishna . I t is thus that in Hindu Vaishna

59

INDIA' 4

AND ITS FAITHS

v ism we have a more thorough , more concrete , at once a morereal and a more ideal presentation of the Un iversal than perhaps we have in any other culture . In Vaishnavism the innatesense Of the Spiri t and the Universal of the Indo -Aryan RaceConsciousness seems to have found its loftiest and deepestexpression . I f you wish to visual ize the soul of India you m ustseek and find i t in Sri Krishna .

” 1

T o Vaishnavas of this type , the great rel igious book is notthe Puranas , and especial ly not the late and erotic Puranas

,

but the Bhagavad Gita, the“ Divine Song ” which Krishna

the incarnate God sang to the warrior Arjuna before the greatbattle of Kurukshe tra. The G i ta is the gospel of India , the

gospel of the union Of the hum an soul with the Personal butAl l - inclus ive God . I t is the crown of Indian rel igious l i terature

,

and it is to the great credit of the cul tured Hindus that i t isthe most popular book in India . And the Gita is the very heartof the more philosophical religion of Vishnu and of Krishna .

Yet for even a partial understanding of i t one must know Som ething Oi Indian philosophy . Hence further consideration of i tmust be postponed to the next chapter .The two great gods Of India , as I have said , are Shiva andVishnu . But most of the gods have wives , and one of thesegoddesses is of considerable importance . As a rule , to be sure ,an Indian goddess is on ly a pale and alm ost im personal refle ction ofher husband . She is regarded usually as a mere personification ofh is shakti , or power . Some additional function ,

to be sure , is occasionally given to a goddess : thus Sarasvati ,the wife of Brahm a,

is the goddess of learn ing , and Lakshm i ,Vishnu ’s beautiful consort , is the goddess Ofwea l th . But evenso , these heavenly ladies are of no great importance and havel ittle independent power or Significance of their own . Farotherwise is i t , however , with the wife of Shiva . Shiva has butone wife , but She is a lady Of many nam es and many natures .AS Parvati or Uma sh e is modestly subj ect to her husband , asevery Hindu wife Should be ; but as Kali , Durga , or Devi , sh ehas a power in heaven and a cult on earth all her own . AS anIndian friend of mine put i t , She is a kind Of mili tant suffra

ge tte . In Bengal the province in which resides the largest1 Elp in Chandra Pal, The Soulof I ndia, pp . 3 1 5—16.

60

THE MANY GODS

proportion .o i cultured Hindus—She is the most loved andfeared and worshiped of al l the Heaven ly ones . And in In

dia as a whole only Vishnu and Shiva excel her in popularityand impo rtance .

Her cult is comm only known as Shaktism,for i t is no t so

much the cult o f a personal dei ty as that o fNature as a whole,

regarded as the fem ale energy , the active force , of which theinactive and con tem plative Shiva is the counterpart . In onesense al l the goddesses are involved in Shaktism ,

all the goddesses and female Spirits and even wom en , as em bod im ents Ofdas Ewig Weibliche which is the active principle in things , andof which Kal i or Durga is the personification . Thus Kali , orShakti as she is also called , has largely taken over the Nature

Side of her husband Shiva . He is the Eternal Spiri t , the soulof things , while

“ She is the Force that stands behind the e v olution of the Un iverse , working out the infin i te changes throughwhich the Absolute is progressively real izing Him self in thecosm ic process .” 1 More often stil l sh e is for the philosopher thepe rson ification of “Maya ,

” the Great I l lusion , which (as weshall se e in our next chapter) Brahm an spreads as a veil b efore our eyes . She is , in short , Nature or the cosmic processwhich prevents us from seeing the Absolute and I t alone . Thussh e is the Creator and Mother of all fin i te and separate things ,the gods and even Shiva himself included . In theMahanirv ana

Tantra Sh iva says to her : “Thou art the only Para Prakriti

[material Nature] of the Supreme Soul Brahman , and fromThee as i ts Mother has sprung the whole un iverse . O graciousOne !whatever there is in this world . of things that have beenand are without motion , from intell igence to atom ,

owes i tsorigin to and is dependent upon Thee . Thou art the origin ofall m anifestations : Thou art the birthplace even ofus [Brahma ,Vishnu , Shiva] . Thou knowest the whole world , yet noneknow Thee .” 2

Shakti is thus the person ification of the cosm ic Forces,or

even of Power in general . When Mazoom dar returned from avisi t in Europe he told Ramakrishna the devout worsh iperof Kali that the philosophers of Europe were not atheists ,

1 Bip in Chandra Pal, op. cit. , p . 168.

2 IV, 1 0- 1 2 . Translation by “Arthur Avalon (London, Luzac,

61


Since they bel ieved in an “ Eternal Energy an unknownPower behind the Un iverse ” apparently referring toSpencer ’s “ Infinite and Eternal Energy from which all thingsproceed .

” Ramakrishna j um ped at this at once , recogniz ingin the Spencerian formula h is own Kali . And a recent wri terin the “

Prabuddha Bharata ” 1 interprets the teaching ofN ie tzsche as be ing essential ly the worship of Shakti .The way to salvation , th en , is through subj ection to theMotherand by uniting one ’s self with her . Those who, th roughSpiri tual i l lum ination , love , and devotion , can iden tify themselves with the Universal Mother , becom e like Her , the lordso f birth and death . They rise above the wheel Of Karma ,break through the bondage of the phenomenal , and attain finalem ancipation .

” 2

This rather philosophica l View of the goddess is , of course ,held by the rank and fi le of her worsh ipers on ly in a very vaguefashion .

“For most of them ,

”as an Indian philosopher said

to me ,“she is the female power manifest in Nature ,who , com

b ine d with the male power represented by Shiva , m akes thetotal ity of all things . By these pe ople She is always taken asa person , and often quite anthropom orphica l ly . She is a goddess who brings earthly bless ings to thosewho propitiate her

and who can be terrible to her foes .” One of the pries ts atthe great Kal i tem ple at Kalighat , in Calcutta , de scribed thegoddess to m e as holding in her two left hands (for sh e has aminimum o f four hands and a maximum of te n) a kn ife and askull , to destroy or frighten the wicked , while one of her righthands is Open for the reception of Offerings from the good

,and

the other is raised in bless ing . She is the sym bol of Eternityor of Al l - devouring T ime . No other Indian religious conce ption , he added , had been so misrepresented by Europeans ; forbehind her cul t and behind the popular ideas of her there wasa very profound and noble philosophy . I asked him what th isphilosophy was , and he sa id he did n ’

t know himself , but ifI would call on M r . Bipim Chandra Pal I could find out .11 This

1 For January , 1915, p . 5.

2 HinduReview, August , 1913 , p . 1 04 .

3 I took the prie st ’s adv ice , and exce l le nt adv ice it prov ed to b e . Mr.

Bip in Chandra Pal is not him se lf a de v ote e of Shakti , but h e is a stude nt ofth e subj e ct , and puts i t in qu ite a diffe re nt l ight from that wh ich one ge ts

62



threatened in her passion for war and carnage to work un iver

sal ruin . And it was then that Shiva , the symbol of the Good ,who alone in all the worlds could stand the passion Of the dreadgoddess

,threw himself down at her feet , and thus brought her

back to herself 1

The populari ty of Kali as an Obj ect Of worship is thus in part

an expression of the fascination of the terrible . Vivekanandawrote of her :

Scatte ring p lague and sorrows,Dancing m ade with joy ,

Com e , 0 Mothe r , com e !

For Te rror is Thy nam e .

De ath is in Thy bre ath .And e v e ry shaking ste pDe stroys a world for e ’e r.

Wh o dare s m ise ry lov eDance in De struction ’

s danceAnd hug th e form of De athTo h im the Mothe r com e s.

This gifted Be ngalee m ystic , with all his knowledge Of theWest and of the East , was quite as devoted to Kal i as he wasto Shiva . And i t seems to have been her terrible aspect thatmost attracted him . He insisted upon seeing God ev erywhere ,in the evil as well as in the good ; hence a cul t which deifiedeven the dreadful had for him an especial appeal . “

H is owneffort

,writes Sister Niv edita ,

“ being constantly to ban ishfear and weakness from his own consciousness and to learnto recogn ize the Mother as instinctively in evil , terror , sorrow,

and ann ih ilation , as in that which m akes for Sweetnessand j oy , i t followed that the one thing he could no t awaywithwas any sort of watering down of the great conception .

‘F0015 , he exclaim ed once as he dwel t in quiet talk on theworship of the Terrible , on becoming one with the TerribleFools ! they put a garland of flowers round Thy neck and cal lThee the Merciful . ’ One Saw that the true atti tude of themind and will which are not to be baffled by the personalself , was in fact the determination , in the stern words of theSwami Vivekananda , to seek death not l i fe , to hurl one

’s self

1 Bip in Chandra Pal, op . cit. , p . 1 73.

2 Q uoted by Siste r Niv edita in The Master as I SawH im .

64

THE MANY GODS

upon the sword ’s point , to becom e one with the Terrible for1

Not al l of Kal i ’s worshipers desire to become one with theTerrible . And yet the fascination of her more dreadful aspectis widespread , and is reflected in the bloody offerings in hertem ples . The Hindu feels that the weekly sacrifice of goats tothis goddess of Death is only fitting . When S ister Niv e ditam i ldly protested against i t to Swam i Vivekananda , he replied ,“Why no t a li ttle blood to complete the picture?”

And yet Kali has her m ore tender aspect ; and , strange as i tmust seem to us , thisTerribleOne is throughout Bengal no t onlyfeared but loved and is spoken of as “The Mother .” Ramakrishna , one Of the most saintly mystics that India produced inthe last century , worshiped her with a passionate adorationof which we Westerners apparently can form but a dim con

ce p tion . His relation to her , in Vision and in trance , was strikingly Similar to that Of many a Christian mystic to the Madonna . I t was of her that he talked , i t was her teaching , so hewas persuaded , and no t his own that he gave his disciples .

“After the regular forms o f worship [in the tem ple of Kali]he would sit there for hours and hours , singing hymns andtalking and praying to her as a child to his mother , t il l helost all consciousness of the outer world . Sometimes he wouldweep for hours and would no t be comforted , because he couldno t see h is Mother as perfectly as he wished .

” 2 He fel t himself a l i ttle child in her great arms , and in every rel igion no t

his own he saw the worship of the Divine Mother in disguise .This feel ing for Kali , as a name for theMotherhood ofGod , wascaught by m any of h is disciples . Vivekananda , his favorite

1 The Maste ras I SawHim , pp . 2 09- 1 0. We m ay wonde r at this be l ie f inthe te rrible side ofGod : ye t one ne e d not go far to find in the God of m anygood Christians a great de al Of the Kal i nature . Th e Old Te stam e nt , ofcourse , is fu l l Of it , as is also m uch of Puritan ism .

“ I t is a dre ad fu l thing tofal l into th e hands of the l iv ing God .

”In Dr. Clough ’s re ce nt book con

ce rning his m ission to the Te lugus I find a de scription of a te rrific cyclonewhich wre cked m ost of th e m ission prope rty and wrought tre m e ndous hav octo the e ntire d istrict ; and afte r the de script ion the fol lowing com m e nt :“ I wonde re d what all th is m eant . I wrote to Boston that I thought that ourGod m e ans to Show what H e is able to do to bu i ld up he re am ong theheathe n , and the n howeasi ly H e can undo all. ” I S not th is Kal i?2 Max Mul le r , Ram akrishna: H is Life and Sayings (London, Longm ans,

p . 36.

65


pupil,years afterwards said ,

“ How I used to hate Kal i ! andall Her ways ! Thatwas the ground of my six years ’ fightthat I would not accept Her . But I had to accept Her at last .Ramakrishna Param aham sa dedica ted m e to Her , and nowIbelieve that She guides me in every li ttle thing that I do , anddoes with m e what She will !” And at another time he saidthat wherever he turned he was conscious of the presence of

the Mother as i f sh e were a person in the room .

1

Nor is this feel ing for Durga or Kal i as the Divine and Universal Mother confined to m e n l ike Ramakrishna and Vivekananda . Many and many a Be ngale e of l imited intell igenceand education looks up to this strange Being , in whom weoutsiders see only the grotesque or the abominable , and theyfind in her at least some of the supernatural comfort for whichwe all at times have so great a need . L isten , for instance , tothis passage from the farewell letter of a Calcutta girl whowas about to comm i t suicide to save her father from financial ruin :

“ Last n ight I dream t a dream , father , which made me takemy vow . To the en thrall ing strains of a music unheard before ,and amid a blaze of l ight as never was on land or se a,

I sawthe Divine Mother Durga , with benignant sm i le , beckon ingme to the abode of the blest up above , and then I thought ofyou , father , of the ever sorrow - laden face of my beloved m otherand of the dear l ittle ones who have done so much to brightenour hom e . And then I resolved to save you al l and m ade aS ign to the D ivine Mother that I would not delay obeyingher merciful cal l . And now, dear father , farewell . The hourof sacrifice is come . Al l nature is slumbering peacefullyand ere long I am going to fal l into that sleep which knows nowaking . A strange and sweet sensation overpowers m e . Upabove in m y new hom e , at the lotus feet Of the Divine Motherand lying within the l ight of uncreated rays , as I used to l ieupon your loving breast , I have only to wait a l i ttle while til lyou and mother come !” 2

1 Siste r Niv edita, op. cit. , pp . 2 14 and 162 .

2 For a furthe r account Of this he ro ic girl , se e p. 1 76. H er farewe l l le tte rwas , of course , writte n in H ind i , and I do not doubt that the translator hastake n conside rable l ibe rt ie swith the original . The re fe re nce s to Durga , how

66

THE MANY GODS

I have devoted many pages to Shiva , Vishnu , and Kali , b ecause these are the great deities of Hinduism . The “ HinduTrini ty ,

” to be sure , o fwhich we in the West hear a good deal ,the “Trim urti ” as the Indians cal l i t , consists of Brah

m a, Vishnu , and Shiva , regarded respectively as the Creator ,Preserver , and Destroyer . But one hears but l i ttle of theTrim urti in India to - day except as a matter of ancient tradition or theologica l theory . I t is not a l iving part of the rel igion of the people . Brahm a is an an tiquated deity who reallywent out of business long ago , and has been retired on a p e nsion of purely verbal honor these many centuries . He has nocult of h is own .

1 The only gods that have special cults are thethree we have studied ( including under Vishnu his incarnations) and two others Ganesh and Surya . Ganesh is theelephant- headed eldest son of Shiva . He is the god of goodluck and also of wisdom , and has rather a wide cult whichto - day is growing with considerable rapidity . According toM r . Murdoch

,

“ there is no god more frequently invoked inIndia than Ganesh . Being looked upon as the rem over ofobstacles

,his assistance is considered necessary in every under

taking . Many persons never com m ence a letter withoutpraying to Ganesh .

” 2 His image is one of the most famil iarin India , for not only is i t in a large proportion ofHindu templesand even in som e temples of the Jainas and S ikhs , but one findsi t in many a private dwelling , on the outside or inside j ustas with us one nails a horseshoe over the door for good luck ,or puts on one ’s bookshelves a carved owl as a symbol oflearning .

Surya is an old Vedic Sun god , and though he has hardlyany temples of his own , i t is to him that every good Hinduprays at least once a day when he repeats the Gayatri theprayer or invocation which to the Hindu is as sacred as thePaterNoster is to us.

These,then , are the chief gods Ofmodern India . But they

are far from the only ones . In the times of the Rig Veda it was

ev e r , are none the le ss significant Of the ge ne ral and popu lar fe e l ing in Be ngal for h e r.

1 Not absolute ly exact . He has two te m ple s, both in Rajputana.

2 Siva Bhakti , p . 2 6.

67


said that the gods were thirty- three in num ber ; and since thattime the Brahmins have multiplied their deities by an evenmill ion . And , indeed , i f one should start to count up the godsof village and forest and mountain and stream , the tree spiri tsand the water spiri ts and the spiri ts of the deified dead , hewould probably not be tempted long to contest the officialfigures of Yet the assertion that Hindus believein gods is l ikely to be extrem ely m isleading if wes im ply leave i t without further comment . The Hindu pantheonis a very differen t thing from the Greek pantheon . I hope m ydescription of Shiva , Vishnu , and Kali has

‘

shown how veryunstable and Shadowy are the natures of the Hindu deities ;but any description , j ust because i t seeks to describe , is boundto make the Hindu concept seem more Clear and sharp thanit really is . Zeus and Hermes and Aphrodite were personali tieswith Characteristics quite as distinct as Agam emnon andAchilles . When we turn to India all this is changed . The Indians have always be en noted for a weak sense of personali ty

,

both in reference to themselves and in reference to their gods.Personal i ty seem s to them limitation som ething to be outgrown if possible . Hence their gods are always on the vergeof m elting into each other . They form one whole , a divineworld , rather than an Olym pian assembly of personages .To counterbalance this loss ofpersonali ty , the Hindu deitieshave a large sym bol ism , a kind of cosm ic quality , which theGreek and Hebrew and som e even o f the Christian conceptsof the D ivine quite lack . Compare , for instance , Kal i with theMadonna . The pictures ofKali are certainly horrible , theyare m eant to be , while theMadonna represen ts the suprem ebeauty of wom anhood—motherhood and virgin i ty m iracu

lously combined . And yet there is som ething in the red - handedKali , gloating over her slaughter , which (in part just becauseShe is less personal) suggests the un iversal , sym bolic , cosmic,in a way that the greatest paintings o f the Virgin never do .

The Madonna is a person ; Kali is a Nature Force .1 For a large proport ion of the Ind ians the se devatas, or godl ings, are

v e ry m uch m ore im portant than ‘

the gre at gods , or devas, de scribed inthis Chapte r. Pe rhaps th e be st tre atm e nt of the se de v atas is in Crooke ’sP opular Religion and Folklore of I ndia (Al lahabad , Gov e rnm e nt Pre ss,

68

THE MANY GODS

Largely ‘as a result of this cosmic qual i ty of the Hindu godsthey are notably lacking in moral characteristics . They havecaught from Nature , or from the im personal power back ofNature , a complete indifference to moral questions . They arebringers of good yes , but they are also bringers of evil . Toattribute a m oral nature to the Divine would be in Indianeyes a bel i ttl ing Of i t . As we shall se e later on , there is , indeed , one sense in which the un iverse as a whole is supremelymoral in that good and evil inevitably and autom aticallywork out their own retribution . But the gods have nothingto do with this , and so far as they have personali ties of thei rown they are conceived as capable o f doing things which inm e n would be morally contemptible , because in the Hinduconception the gods s imply are not subj ect to the moral category . They are j enseits von Gutund Bb

‘

se . And th is non - m oralcharacter of the gods results in certain posi tively imm oral elements in their worship . To quote from Farquhar

“ The great tem ple - gateways of South India known asgopuram s

’

and the temple towers ofCentral Ind ia are in manycases covered with sculpture of indescribable obscen i ty : whilehere and there the internal walls and ceil ing are frescoed withbestial i ty frescoes representing the pleasures of Vishnu ’sheaven . The car on which the god rides on great festival days isalso frequently de filed with obscene carvings . To this daytroops Of dancing girls who are called ‘

de v adav is ,’ servants of

the god , and who nowand then do take part in the ri tual , butwhose real occupation is prosti tution , are connected with mostof the great tem ples of the South and West and do im m e asur

able harm . Wom en scour the coun try and adopt or buy l ittlegirls to bring them up for th is infamous l i fe . The e x traordinary thing is that the obscene sculptures , the foul frescoes , thedancing- girls

,and the offens ive sym bols are found , no t in

private build ings,but in the temples , the high places m ade

holy by the presence o f the gods . The inevi table conclusion isthat neither Vishnu nor Shiva has ever been regarded as having such a character as would be shocked by such things .

” 1

1 Crown of Hinduism , p . 397. Dr. Jone s , for m any ye ars conne cte dwith the The o logica l Se m inary at Pasum ali, ne ar Madura , assure s m e

that the practice of ke e p ing profe ssiona l dancing girls and re l igious pros

69


The degree to which the gods are conceived as persons will ,of course , vary from worshiper to worshiper ; and especiallyamong the more ignoran t one will hear the gods describedas distinct persons without qualification . My acquaintancein the temple at Delhi told me that Shiva was a real person ,

dwell ing in heaven in a form much like that of h is image inthe tem ple though he could take other form s i f he Chose .Vishnu , he said , was another person quite distinct fromShiva

, and the two were great friends , and in fact worshipedeach other . Though I gave this m an every chance to say it ,there was no sugge stion in his conversation that these divin ities were form s and aspects of each other or Of the One God .

Yet if I had asked him i f there were many gods or one , hewould probably have answered that ei ther statem ent would betrue . That , at any rate , is the kind of respon se one usuallygets in India to such a question . There are many gods yes ;but there is also but one God . We Should probably understand the Hindu posi t ion better if we did not use the word“ god at all in reference to the many deities , but called them ,

as the Indians do , devas , or“ Shin ing ones .” The many devas

are as consistent with a fundam ental m onotheism as are themany angels of Judaism , Christian i ty , and I slam . And theeducated Hindu will tell you either that the devas , Vishnu andthe rest , are aspects or names for the One God , or that theyare beings higher in the scale than you and I , but subject tobirth and death as we are , and infin i tely inferior to the Absolute One ,Who is Al l - in -Al l .The zealous Shaiv ite s maintain that there is but one Godand that He is Shiva ; and that i t is quite proper to worshipVishnu , s ince Vishnu is but a name for Shiva : while the Vaishnav ite s maintain the same liberal posi tion

, m utatis m utandis,

quoting Vishnu ’s words in the G i ta : “ Even those who wor

titute s at the te m p le s is on the wane , and that for a num be r of ye ars thegre at te m p le at Madura has had none at all—hav ing to borrow fromne ighboring te m p le s for g reat occasions. The obsce ne carv ing on the

te m p le s is ce rtain ly b ad e nough , bu t it is not pe cu l iar to Ind ia. Goth ic andRe naissance scu lptors occasional ly de corated Christian cathe dra ls and

m onastic bu i ld ings in sim i lar fash ion ,- though m uch le ss profuse ly ; as

m ay b e se e n by a close exam ination of the carv ings of Notre Dam e andthe HOte l de Cluny in Paris.

70


CHAPTER V

THE ONE GOD

BOUT seven or eight hundred years before Christ therel ived a boy named Sv e te k e tu. When he was twelv e

years o ld (as the Chandogya Upanishad tells us) , his fathersaid to him .

“ ‘Sv e te k e tu, go to school ; for there is none belonging to

our race , darling , who no t having studied the Veda is,as i t

were , a Brahm in by birth o‘

nly .

’

“ Having begun his appren ticeship with a teacher when hewas twelve years Of age , Sv e te k e tu returned to h is fatherwhen he was twenty- four , having then studied al l the Vedas ,conceited , considering himself well - read , and stem .

“H is father said to him

,

‘Sv e te k e tu, as youare SO conceited ,

considering yourself So well - read , and so stern , my dear , haveyou ever asked for that instruction by which we hear whatcannot be heard , by which we perceive what cannot be perce iv e d , by which we know what cannot be known?

’

“The son said : ‘Surely those venerable men , my teachers ,did not know that . For i f they had known it , why should theynot have told me? Do you, sir, therefore , tel l me that .

’

“ ‘Be i t SO ,

’ said the father . ‘I f som e one were to strike atthe root of this large tree , i t would bleed but l ive . I f he wereto strike at i ts stern , i t would bleed but live . I f he were tostrike at i ts top , i t would bleed but l ive . Pervaded by the l iving Self , that tree stands firm , drinking in i ts nourishm ent andrej oicing . But if the living Self leaves one of i ts branches , thatbranch withers ; i f i t leaves a second , that branch withers ; i fi t leaves a third , that branch withers . I f i t leaves the wholetree , the whole tree withers . In exactly the sam e m anner ,my son , know this .

’ Thus he spake : ‘Th iS body , indeed ,

withers and d ies when the Self has left i t ; the l iving Self diesnot . That which is the subtile essence , in i t all that exists

72

THE ONE GOD

has its sel f . I t is the True . I t is the Sel f . And , oh , Sv e te ke tu,that art thou .

’ 1

The books which Sv e te ke tu had studied in his twelve yearsschooling were chiefly the hym ns or verses of the Veda , andsome long treatises on the sacrifice known as Brahmanas .These various books the oldest writings o f the Aryan racehad taught h im that there were m any gods of m any nam es ,gods of sun and sky , of storm and fire , and gods Of abstract

powers and indefin i te functions . The stories about these godsand the worship of them had been elaborated and system atized ,and centuries of speculation had added their learned weighto f exegesis and explanation ; So that for even a bright b oyl ike Sv e te k e tu twelve years Of hard study were required tomaster it all . But about Sv e te k e tu’

s tim e a n ewconceptionhad dawned upon som e Of the thinkers of India ; a conceptionwhich was destined to be the heart of Indian philosophy andthe inspiration of Ind ian rel igion throughout al l subsequen tcenturies . This newidea was the conception of a S ingle Powerback of the m any powers , a Divine Essence back Of the m anyd ivin i ties

,which Should be, no t an addition to the already

overflowing pantheon , but the inner Se l f o f all things , by virtue ofwhich gods , m e n , and the m aterial world are what theyare

, and in which all things l ive and m ove and have their b eing . And this subtile essence of all things—herewas the greatsecret this Un iversal Self which bloom s in every flower andbreathes through every storm , is identical with the sel f of eachone of us .

“ Now that l ight which Shines above this heaven,

higher than al l , higher than everything , in the highest world ,beyond which there are no other worlds , that is the sam el ight which is within m an .

” 2

I t fi l ls m e with great j oy and a high hope for the future Ofhuman i ty ,

” writes Tagore ,“when I real ize that there was a

tim e in the rem ote past when our poet - prophets stood underthe lavish sunshine of an Indian sky and greeted the wor ldwith the glad recogn i tion of kindred . I twas no t seeing m an

1 Chand . Up . VI , 1 and I I . In quoting from the Upanishads I hav em ade use of Max Miille r

'

s v e rsion in the Sacred Books of the East (v ol. 1 .

of th e Am e rican Ed ition ; NewYork , Christian Lit . CO . , and Profe ssor Deusse n

’

s Se chzig Upanishads des Veda (Le ipzig , Brockhaus,2 Chand. Up . I I I , 13 , 7 .

73


reflected everywhere in grotesquely exaggerated images , andwitnessing the hum an drama acted on a gigan tic scale in na

ture ’s arena of fl i tting l ights and shadows . On the con trary ,i t mean t crossing the l imiting barriers of the individual , tobecom e more than m an , to become one with the A ll . I t was nota mere play of the imagination , but i twas the l iberation ofconsciousness from all the m ystifications and exaggerationsof the self . These ancient seers felt in the serene depth of theirmind that the sam e energy which vibrates and passes in to theend less forms of the world man i fests i tself in our inner beingas consciousness ; and there is no break in un i ty . For theseseers there was no gap in their luminous vision of p e rfe ction .

” 1

Again and again in the Upan ishads is this great thought rei terated . This Un iverse is Brahm an . The intel l igent whosebody is spiri t , whose form is l ight , whose thoughts are true , fromwhom al l works , all desires , all Sweet odours and tastes proce e d ; he who em braces all this , who never speaks and is neversurprised , he is m ysel f within the heart , sm al ler than a cornof rice , sm aller than a canary seed or the kernel of a canaryseed . He also is myself within the heart , greater than theearth , greater than the sky , greater than the heaven , g reaterthan all these worlds . The all-worker , the all - des irer , the allembracer , he is m yself within the heart , he is that Brahman .

He who has this faith has no doubt . Thus spake Shandilya ,

Shandflyaf’ 2

Brahman , then , as the Upan ishads name the Supreme Absolute , is the true inner being of all things . Yet I t is no t acollection , not the sum total of all things , but the inner unitywhich appears in all these varying forms . I ts un i ty is of themost absolute sort , excluding in I ts inmost Sel f all variety ,though man i festing I tself in many ways . “ There is one ruler ,the Self , within al l things , who makes the one form man i fold .

The wise who perceive Him within their self , to them belongseternal happiness , not to others . There is one eternal thinkerthinking non - eternal thoughts who, though One , fulfi lls thedesires of many .

” 3

1 Sadhana (London , Macm i l lan, pp . 2 0—2 1 .

1 Chand . Up . 111 , 14 .

3 Katha Up . 11 , 5, 1 2—13.

74



For the Upan ishads , l ike the B ible , are not troubled with consistency and logic . Their aim is not to expound a system ofphilosophy , but to give poetic ex press ion to rel igious intuitions .

Yet one must add at once that th e Upan ishads are full ofgenuinely philosophical insight . They were the result of realphi losophical discuss ion and logica l thought ; only the conclus ions to which the various thinkers came were not fully carried out and no t fully correlated with each other . But theseancient philosophers sawclearly that such an Absolute as theyhad conceived m ust necessari ly be in m ost ways unknowable .Knowledge of the Scriptures , knowledge of this world ,scie ntific and historical knowledge as we should say , all thisis a hindrance rather than a help in knowing God . And thereason for this is plainly seen by the wri ters of the Upan ishads

namely the fact that s ince Brahm an is conceived as theUniversal Subj ect , He can , by his very nature , nev er be an

obj ect of knowledge . This unknowabil ity of Brahm an isexactly on a par with the unknowabil i ty of the hum an sel fin fact , i t is the sam e thing , s ince the two selves are one . As

the eye cannot see itself , so the self , whether hum an or divine ,being eternally a subj ect and a subj ect on ly , can never m akei tself into an Obj ect . I t is no t a thing l ike tables and chairsand scientific proposi tions . The Self is sui generis and is sim plyno t in the category of things that are to be investigated , tabulated , and described . And doubly imposs ible must i t be toknow the Un iversal Se l f who is identical with all that is

, so thatin all the un iverse there is no other, no being that is no t He .

This is the profound reason - SO the ancient seers of Ind iawould assure us that we cannot by searching find out Godor know the Alm ighty unto perfection .

“For when there is

as i t were duali ty , then one sees the other, one hears the

other , one perceives the other , one knows the other ; but whenthe Self on ly is all this , how should he see another , how Shouldhe hear another , how should he perceive another , how Shouldhe know another? How Should he know Him by whom heknows all this? That self is to be describe d by No , NO ! Heis incom prehensible , for He cannot be comprehended ; He isimperishable , for He cannot perish ; unfettered , He does not

76

THE ONE GOD

suffer , He does not fai l . How , 0 beloved , should one know theKnower?” 1

“ He who dwells in the darkness and within the darkness ,whom the darkness does not know , whose body the darknessis

,and who rules the darkness within , he is thy Self , the ruler

wi thin , the im m ortal .“ He who dwells in the l ight and within the l ight , whom thel ight does not know , whose body the l ight is , and who rulesthe l ight within , he is thy Self , the ruler within , the immortal .He who dwells in all beings and within all beings , whom all

beings do not know , whose body al l beings are and who rulesall beings within , he is thy Sel f , the ruler within , the im m ortal .Unseen but seeing , unheard but hearing , unperceived but perce iv ing , unknown but knowing . There is no other seer butHe , there is no other hearer but He , there is no other perceiverbut He , there is no other knower but He . This is thy Self , theruler within the im m ortal . Everything else is of evil .” 2

The Upan ishads are the ultimate source of nearly all Indianreligious philosophy . They are not widely read to - day , norhave they been for years ; and yet their influence is greaterthan that of any other book ever wri tten in India . They struckthe keynote for all subsequent Indian thought , and their influe nce upon rel igious and thoughtful souls , including m i l l ionswho have never read them , has always been considerable . I tis from the Upan ishads that the whole long line of Indianreligious poets , from the wri ter of the Bhagav ad Gita to Rabindranath Tagore , have drawn the greater part of their inspiration . And m ost of the founders of new religious m ovementsowe their ideas directly or indirectly to the Upan ishads . Thedirectness with which the Upanishads speak to the Indianheart is finely i l lustrated in the “Autobiography ” of Devendranath Tagore (the father of the poet) . He had long beenseeking inner peace in vain when one day a page of the IsaUpanishad blew past h im . He seized it and with the help ofa pundit made i t out . He had never read any of the Upanishads before , and the effect of this one page was the transform ation of his whole l ife and the new- directing of all hisenergies . The message from the ancient book cam e to h im as

1 Brihadaranyaka Up . IV, 5, 1 5.2 I bid . , 111 , 7 , 13

—15. and 2 3

77

INDIA AND ITS'

FAITH S

a divine answer Special ly sent for his salvation . I had beeneager to receive a sympathetic response from m e n ; now a divine voice had descended from heaven to respond in my heartOf hearts , and my longing was satisfied . I got just what Iwanted . I had never heard my most intim ate thoughts expressed l ike this anywhere else . The very m ercy Of God H imself descended into my heart , therefore I understood the deepsignificance of the words . Oh , what words were those thatstruck my ears ! Enj oy that which He has given unto thee .

’

What is i t that He has given? He has given Himself . Enj oythat untold treasure , leave everything else and enj oy that suprem e treasure . Cleave unto H im alone and give up all else .

This tells me what I have long desired . I t was no t the d ictumo f my own poor intellect , i t was the word of God Himsel f .Glory be to that Rishi in whose heart this truth was first re

vealed . Oh , what a blessed day that was for me , a dayof heavenly happiness !” 1

The Upanishads,l ike the Bible , as I have said , are essen

tially rel igious rather than system atically philosophical . Butj ust as the Prophets and Apostles were followed by the theologians , so the Rishis were followed by the acharyas and thepundits . The creation of the Vedanta philosophy was as inevitable as that of Christian theology . S ince the Upanishadscontained the insp ired truth , i t was necessary to m ake out

exactly what they meant ; hence many centuries of exegesis ,culminating in the Vedanta Sutras and finally in the Com m emtaries of Shankara , Ram anuja , and other great scholars . Of theinterpretations which these com m entators give us , the mostinfluen tial am ong Indian philosophers is the “ Advai ta Vedanta ,

”orabsolute mon ism . This philosophy was given i ts final

form by Shankara , who , though he l ived about 800 A .D . , is theabsolute ruler Of what may be called the dom inan t philosophyin India or at least of northern India even to - day . Hence

1 Autobiography (Calcutta, Lah iri , pp. 1 5—16. Many an Indiancou ld say of th e Upanishads what Co le ridge said of th e Bible : i t “findsm e . But th e appea l of th e Upanishads is not confined to Ind ia. Ev e ry reade rof Em e rson will re m e m be r the joy that these ancie nt writings brought tohim ; and Schope nhaue r ’s words hav e ofte n be e n quote d : “

In the wholeworld the re is no study SO re fined and so e le v ating as that Of the Upanishads .

I t has be e n the solace of m y l ife . I t will b e the solace of m y death ."

78



Brahman is both personal and im personal . Aristotle has Shownthat every material thing is both concrete and abstract ; andin the sam e way Brahman is both concrete and abstract , bothpersonal and im personal . This poin t of View must govern ouranswer to every question about Him . Mon ism , plural ism ,

theism ,

deism,pan theism , each has its truth , yet none is the

whole truth . I S the sun ’s ray red , orange , yellow , green , blue ,or Violet? I t is no t any , because i t is all .

”

Yet i t must no t be forgotten that this One without a se cond is regarded by the Vedanta as essentially Spiri tual . Thisin fact follows for the Vedantist from the very conception Of

Brahm an as genuinely real . For the follower of Shankara isin the last analysis an idealist , and all real i ty is for him ultimately to be expressed in term s of consciousness . “The Scripture tea ches , writes Shankara ,

“ that the Brahm an withoutattributes is pure spiri tuality and free from everything whichis d istinct from i t ; for i t says :

‘AS a lum p Of salt has no inside

and no outside , but consists Of sal t taste through and through ,so has This Self no d istinguishable inner or outer , but consiststhrough and through of knowledge . ’ This m eans ,

” continuesShankara ,

“ that this Self is through and through nothing butspiri t : the spiri tual is i ts entire nature , as the salt taste is thatof the lum p of salt .” 1

An Absolute that includes within i tself al l that is must Ob v iously be neither good nor bad in the moral sense , but simply

j enseits von Gut und Bose . The moral category does not apply to I t . This Shankara and his followers explici tly recogn izeand even insist upon . Emerson represen ted the orthodox Indian View very justly when he put into the mouth of Brahmthe words

Far and forgot to m e are near ,Shadow and sunl ight are the sam e .

And Brahman is not on ly non -moral . He is also altogeth eraction less . This Characteristic is for the orthodox Vedan tistone of His chief distinctions . Un l ike the many god s , Brahmanseeks nothing , wishes nothing , nee ds nothing , does noth ing ,nothing, that is , except to be , and His being involves

“all

1 Q uoted by Deusse n in Dos System des Vedanta (Le ipz ig , Brockhaus,p. 2 29.

80

THE ONE GOD

this . Hence , being actionless , Brahman is for the Vedantistno t an Obj ect of worship , but only a necessary philosophicconception—with , i t must be added , a certain emotionalglow . In strict logic, therefore , i t may be said that the consisten t Vedantist Should no t pray . So far , at any rate , as hisrel igion is connected with Brahman he wil l make no petitions ;for that aspect of him which is one with Brahman is out Oftime and quite careless Of change and chance . He Should

,how

ever , and usually does , repeat the gayatri 1 every day , but t egards i t no t as a prayer , but as a form of meditation on theultimate truth of philosophy .

As a m atter of fact , most Vedantists do pray and worship ;but their worship is directed either toward the l imited and

personal Brahma with quali ties ,” whom Shankara and his

predecessors recognized as a man ifestation of the unl im i tedBrahman ; or toward one of the many devas especially Shivaor Vishnu —whom all Vedantists accept quite seriously aspartial expressions of the Divine and as having the same sorto f quasi - real i ty that you and I have .

“ Shiva and Vishnu arerea l personal beings , said a Hindu philosopher to me ,

“and

j ust as they are infinitely inferior to Brahman , SO they maybe said to be on a plane infin itely superior to ours . They arepersonal in the same way that we are personal , and impersonalin the same way we are impe rsonal though probably somewhat less personal than we , somewhat less separate , moreimpersonal

,more universal , more inclusive .

” In the lastanalysis

, o f course , they , l ike ourselves , are really one withBrahman ; and all separateness in them as in us is an illusion .

Al l separateness is i l lusion ; and this i l lusion is the explanation of this material world , which , though seemingly m any , isin real ity iden tical with the “

One without a second .

” TheUpanishads had asserted this identity , but had not tried tosolve the problem resulting . Shankara seriously tried , and hisreason ing seems to have been in general something l ike this :I f Brahman alone is real , and i f Brahman is an absolute Unity,a pure perceiving subj ect , then the world as we se e i t must beunreal . I t must be merely a vision , so to say , which Brahmancreates , a shadow which Brahman casts . I t is due to Brah

1 Se e p. 137.

81


m an ’s Maya , H is creative facul ty it is , in fact , a kind of“wraith ” 1

of Brahman . The world , then , is Maya , a wordwhich

,though it originally referred to Brahman ’s creative

power, has come in Shankara ’s philosophy to mean I l lusion ,or

,in more modern terms , Appearance . The phenomenal

world is unreal in much the same sense that the World of

Appearance in Bradley ’s famous book is unreal . In fact theAdvaita Vedanta resembles Bradley ’s system , and evenRoyce ’s

,and the whole neo- Hegelian Weltanschauung in many

important respects,being frankly an idealistic monism . But its

close st spiritual relative in the West is the phi losophy of Fich te .

Thusmy Vedantist friend in Benares said to me : Matter existsonly as the expression or idea ofspiri t . The Vedan ta is Berkeleyan in principle

,except that i t makes matter , not the e x pe ri

ence of many individual Spirits , but of the Universal Spiri t .Thus we may say that Spiri t creates or evolves or imaginesmatter . AS an independent entity matter simply does no t

exist . The un iversal Ego posi ts the not- I , but does so only inturn to deny it .” This , i t must be con fessed , is a rather Western and Fichtean mode of express ing the Vedantist view of

matter . Shankara and the conservative pundits use somewhat different language , which , however , comes to thesame thing . The world , say they , is due toAvidya , to ignorance

- to our ignorance , but also and primarily to a kind ofuniversal and cosmic ignorance . There are , teach Shankaraand his fol lowers , three kinds of real i ty :

“ absolute ,“con

v entional”

or“ practical ,

”and

“ imaginary .

” The first of

these is Brahman alone ; the second is this material world ,Time and Space , and our separate selves ; the third consistso f such things as we all recognize as i l lusions , as when onetakes a rope for a snake or a piece of tin for a coin . Now,

teaches Shankara , the second kind of real ity so - ca lled is real lyquite as i l lusory and imaginary as the third ; both are due tothe same general kind of causes and both may be corrected inthe same way . Why is i t that we take the rope for the snakeand the tin for th e coin? I t is because of our fears anddesires, because Of the interests of our separate selves . We

1 Cf. Barne tt ’s Introduction to h is translation of the Bhagavad G ita,P 390

82



losophy , and m any intell igent and deeply religious men whoreach back past all systems to the religious in tui tions of theUpan ishads themselves . I t is no t the techn ica l i ties of Shankara ’s philosophy , nor its insistence that the world is unrealwhich has given i t its great influence in India , but rather itsdefense of the religious doctrine that God is imm anent in al lthings and dwells in our hearts . “ Some modern philosophersof Europe , writes Tagore,

“maintain that the Brahman of

India is a mere abstraction , a negation of al l that is in theworld , in a word , that the Infinite Being is to be found nowhere except in metaphysics . I t may be that such a doctrinehas been and stil l is prevalent with a section of our countrymen . But this is certainly not in accord with the prevai lingspiri t of the Ind ian mind . Instead , i t is the practice of re alizing and aflfirm ing the presence of the Infinite in al l things whichhas been i ts constant inspiration .

” 1

The Vedan ta philosophy , as distinct from the commentariesupon it , whether wri tten by Shankara or any one else

,is al

ways said to be based on three great books or Sets of booksnamely , ( 1 ) the Upan ishads , (2 ) the Vedanta Sutras , (3) theBhagav ad Gita . As the third Of these is by no means in agreement with the two others , comm entators upon the Vedantahave always had to make a choice between these books , taketheir fundamental point of View from one of them , and then“ in terpret ” the rest of the canon in the l ight of their chosenscripture. Shankara was guided chiefly by the Upan ishadsand the Sutras . Ram anuja , the other great commentator ,who l ived about two hundred years later , Chose the Gi ta as

h is guide and interpreted the other books in the light Of i t .The Bhagav ad Gita grew out of the cult of Vasudeva -KrishnaVishnu . The sect who worshiped in a special sense this deity ,together with the Shaiv ite s orworshipers Of Shiva , had duringthe centuries j ust preceding our era developed a newsort ofreligious experience , known as bhakti or devotion . Perhaps Ishould not cal l th is new , for even in the Rig Veda there arehymns 2 which Speak at least the beginnings of a personal relationship between worshiper and God ; and yet as the reallyvital and absorbing thing in rel igion this relation of love and

1 Sadhana, p . 16.2 For ex am ple , I , 2 5.

84

THE ONE GOD

devotion to a personal God was , in the early days of the greatSects , a new experience . Meanwhile , however , the Vedan taphilosophy , with i ts One Infin i te Brahman , was spreadingamong the in tell igent classes . And by th e beginn ing of ourera the problem for many an earnest worshiper of Vishnu andof Shiva seem s to have been cruel and pressing : How acceptthe teachings of philosophy and yet maintain the bel ief in mybeloved Lo rd , whose bhakti forms all the real rel igion that Ihave?1

The solution to this problemwas found about the beginn ingof our era for both sects , by means of the iden tification of thegod of each sect with the Infin i te Brahman . For the Vaishnavas this view that the personal god of the sect is in reali ty theAbsolute Deity finds i ts best expression in the Bhagav ad Gita ,the most widely read and un iversally loved book in all Sanskrit l i terature . I t is , as Howells says ,

“ a living book , dev outly read and studied by tens of thousands of Hindusthroughout the length and breadth of India. All m en of l ightand leading in India are thoroughly fam il iar with its contents ,and no man o f cul ture , whether that culture be native or fore ign , and whether he l ives in Vi l lage, town ,

or ci ty,neglects

the study of i t .” 2

The Gita presents us with a View ofGod different from anywe have studied .

3 For we find here neither polytheism noridealistic monism , but unquestionable theism . There is reallyone God only ; but this one God is not an impersonal essence ,nor a un iversal perceiving subj ect . He is a p e rsonal

’

Be ingwhom His worshipers may love , and who in turn loves them .

But this personal God is by no means a transcenden t Deity,

1 This d i le m m a is we ll prese nted by Farquhar, Crown ofHinduism , p . 366.

2 Op cit. , p. 42 7 .

1 According to Profe ssor Garbe , the Gita falls into two distinct parts,an Olde r the istic G ita , writte n in the first half of th e se cond ce ntury B .C .

and expre ssing the v iews of the re l igion of Vasude v a- Krishna-Vishnu ;and , se condly, v arious add itional v e rse s of th e panthe istic sort , inse rte dafte r Vishnu had com e to b e ide ntified with Brahm an Profe ssor Bhandarkar re j e cts this d iv ision , po inting out that th e IndIan v iew is alwaysthat of an im m ane nt God e v e n whe n th is God is conce iv ed as pe rsonal .The qu e st ion whe the r th e G itawas writte n originally in its pre se nt formor IS a com posite as Profe sso r Garbe be l ie v e s, doe s not , howe v e r , conce rnus he re ; for it is the G ita as i t stands tod ay thatwe are conside ring.

85


standing apart from nature l ike theGod of the English deists orthe Jehovah of the Old Testament . He is, on the con trary , asimmanent in the entire un iverse as the Brahman of the Vedanta Himself . The material world is recognized as perfectlyreal , but it is only the form or the body Of the Suprem e Spiri t

,

who moves i t and dwells with in i t as the World Soul or as theLogos of Greek philosophy . And the souls of men are alsoparts of the Supreme Spiri t , although retaining th rough eternity their partial individual ity . Thus we may say that Godhas three aspects : as the supreme , unm ani fested One , and asthe two m anifestations of matter and of spiri t . Or we maydescribe the Divine Nature as dual rather than triune , nam elyas unmanifested and as man i fested .

“A nature have I of eightorders ,

” says Sri Krishna in the G i ta ,“Water , Fire , Wind ,

Eth er , M ind , Understanding , and Thought of an I , th is isthe lower . But know that I have another and higher Naturethan this , one of Elemen tal Soul , and th ereby is upheld thisuniverse . Learn that from these twain are sprung all bornbeings ; the source of the whole universe and i ts dissolutionam I . There is naught higher than I ; all this universe isstrung upon M e as gem s upon a thread . I am taste in water ;I am light in m oon and sun . The pure scent of earth am I andthe l ight in fire . The l ife of all born beings am I .

” 1

In the Vishnu Purana i t is written : “As gold is stil l one substance howsoever diversified as bracelets , tiaras , or ear- rings ,So Hari [Vishnu] is one and the same , although modified in theform of gods , an imals , and men . AS the drops ofwater , raisedby the wind from the earth , sink into the earth again when thewind subsides

,so the various gods , m e n , and an ima ls which

have been detached by the agitation Of the quali ties , arereunited when that disturbance ceases with the Eternal .

” 2

For the devout Shaiv ite Shiva takes the same posi tion ofsupreme yet al l - inclusive personal God that Vishnu has for theVaishnav ite . He is comm only represented as dancing ; and thisis a symbol Of a philosophical conception . For the entire cosm icprocess is his deed , and all his acts are but eternal Sport . Saysa Tamil verse : “Our Lord is a dancer who , l ike the heat latentin firewood ,

diffuses his power in mind and matter , and makes1 VI I , 4

- 8.

2 I I I . 7

86


THE ONE GOD

them dance in their turn . For his philosophical followersShiva is sometimes the mani festation of Brahman ; som etimesHe has taken the place of Brahman . Though a personal andtheistic God He is imm anent in the world , and though differen tfrom us He is the eternal Lover ofour souls . A Tamil poet of theEleven th Century sings to Him“O Sple ndour dawning within m y sou l as I sink in Swoon ing de sire ,Whose lotus- fe e t rudd i ly de ck the crowns Of the chie f of the heav enly

Choir ,Who art all- spre ad Ethe r , Earth , Wate r , A ir , Fire , who art the se ye tothe r than the y

Whose shape in the ir Shape is hidde n—0 joy to hav e se e n Thy v isionto - day !

The darkne ss to- day Thou drav e st away , d idst dawn in m y heart as th esun.

In thought be yond thought m y spirit hath sought Thy be ing : sav e The ethe re is none .

Thou art One , art the Ene rgy stirred for aye , se lf- subl im ing to e ndle ssde gre e ;

Thou art othe r than ought : sav e The e the re is naught—0 who m ay hav e

knowledge of The e ?

Thou gav e st Thyse lf and m e d idst take ; we rt Thou the m ore cunningor I?

I got of The e bl iss e v e rlasting , 0 Thou whose hom e is in Pe run- durai ;From m e what hast Thouwon m y Sov e re ign?for Thou hast m ade of m y

Spi ri t Thy fane ,And hast se t Thine abode in m y body to- day - all m ine the unre com

p e nsed gain !” 1

There have been disputes and rivalries between the different philosophical sects of India ; but as compared with thewranglings between Christian churches these Indian disputesare as nothing at all . For no t only the learned , but many alsoof the ignoran t , in Ind ia , know that the different names forDeity are but nam es

,after all

,and they are content that the

One God Should have an infin i ty of titles . Says the VishnuPurana ,

“He who offers sacrifices , sacrifices to Vishnu : hewho murmurs prayers , prays to H im ; he who inj ures l ivingcreatures , injures Him ; for Hari is all beings .

” 2 In this beliefin a common God and a common worship , no matter whatnam es be used , un i te nearly all intelligent Vaishnav ite s , Shaivites , Shaktas , and Vedantists . Ram akrishna spoke for the

1 From Barne tt ’s The Heart of I ndia, p . 84.

2 I I I , 8

87


spiri tually minded Hindu of all sects and all ages when he saidto h is disciples : People dispute among themselves , saying :‘God is pe rsonal , with form . He cannot be impersonal andformless ,

’ —l ike the Vaishnavas who find fault with thosewho worship the Impersonal Brahman . When real izationcomes , then all these questions are settled . He who has seenGod can tell exactly what He is l ike . AS Kabir said : ‘God withform is my Mother , God without form is my Father. Whomshall I blame

,whom shall I praise? The balance is even .

’ Heis with form , yet He is formless . He is personal , ye t He is impersonal ; and who can say what other aspects He may have !

1

The many aspects Of the Supreme have never made Indialose what to i t is the fundam en tal truth Of religion and philosophy , that though God is exalted and dwelleth on high , Heis not far from any one of us . This is the great message ofIndia ’s seers , poets , and prophets through the ages . I t is astriking fact , this unanim ity of the represen tatives of an entirepeople , during twentyfiv e hundred years , in expressing theTestim onium Anim ce . I have already shown by quotationso f some length from the Upan ishads and the Gi ta the earl iervoicings of th is experience . The message is not one of hoaryantiquity alone , but has been handed on from seer to seer toour own day . Ram anuja and Ramanand carried the l ight o fthe Gita through many centuries

,Kabir

,the Weaver of Be n

ares and the disciple of Ramanand,voiced it in many forms :

Turning away from th e world I hav e forgotte n both caste and l ineageMy weav ing is nowin th e infinite Si le nce .

My he art be ing pure , I hav e se e n th e LordKabir hav ing searched and se arched him se lf hath found God withinhim .

God cannot b e Obtained e v e n by offe ring one ’s we ight in gold ;But I hav e purchase d Him with m y sou l .Brahm a, howe v e r m uch h e talke th , hath not found God ’

s l im it ;But by m y de v otion God cam e to m e as I sate at hom e .

” 2

0 man , writes Nanak , a younger contemporary of Kabirwho had learned from h im ,

1 The Gospel ofRam akrishna (NewYork , Vedanta Socie ty , p. 28.2 From Macauliffe , The Sikh Religion (Ox ford , Froude , v ol. 11 ,pp. 260 and 152 .

88



without motion hither or thi ther. LO, the strangeness of i t,s ister !” 1

Barri ers of faith do not bar this insight . The hymn -wri terof the theistic Brahmo Samaj , 2 which in the middle of the ninete enth ce ntury still carried onward the Upan ishad tradition ,

could sing“0 Thou incomparable Light of lights ; the sun ,

moon,

planets and stars are devoid Of luster before Thee .“As a single sun , with myriads of rays , l ights up the whole

world , so Thy love , scattered in a thousand ways , wells up inthe pure love of woman , and l ives in the maternal heart .

“The high peak that pierces the clouds , or the deep bluese a , whithersoever we go , Thou art there. The bright e ffulgence of the sun is a ray from Thee , and Thy Shin ing is in themoon , and Thy mild lovel iness in th e Clouds ; whether incrowded cities or in the lonely forest, wherever we roam ,

Thou art there .”

And in our own day the poet who perhaps better than anyother voices the spiri t of India, puts afresh the same ever recurring testimony

“The day was when I did not keep myself in readiness forthee ; and en tering my heart unbidden even as one of the common crowd

,unknown to me , my King , thou d idst press the

Signet o f etern i ty upon many a fleeting mom en t of my l ife .“And today , when by chance I l ight upon them and se e thy

signature , I find that they have lain scattered in the dustmixed with the memory of j oys and sorrows ofmy trivial daysforgotten .

“Thou didst not turn from my child ish play am ong dust ,and the steps that I heard in my playroom are the same thatare echoing from star to star .” 3

1 Q uoted by Barne tt in The H eart of I ndia, pp . 85 and 87 .

2 Satye ndranath Tagore , an olde r brothe r of the we l l - known poe t .The hym n he re quoted is take n from Sh iv anath Shastri

’

s History of theBrahm a Sam aj (Calcutta , Chatte rj i , v ol. 1 , p . 1 2 0.

3 Rab indranath Tagore , Gitanj ali (Macm il lan, p . 35.

CHAPTER VI

DUTY AND DEST INY

THE cen tral point of Hindu thought is the Soul . I t is fromthe soul or self that all the reason ing of the Hindu starts

and to it that al l his arguments finally return . The Hindus aresure of the soul . There is nothing else that they are SO sure of .

As to the m aterial world they are no t very certain of i t . Certain ty begins with the knowing self.

” This is the doctrinewhich the West believes officially . I t is good for professors Ofphilosophy to teach

,good for their students to remember on

exam ination ,good for the clergy to preach on Sundays , good

for the rest of us to assent to and refer to occasionally veryoccasionally—in conversation . But in India people really

believe i t . They bel ieve i t every day in the week . They act

upon it and plan out their l ives in reference to it . I t is to thema practical as well as a theoretical real i ty .

The soul m eans to the Indian the knowing self . The strictfollower of the mon istic Vedan ta (and of the Samkhya philosophy as well) strips this inner kernel ofourbeing of every qualitytil l i t becomes a pure perceiving subj ect l ike “ the Brahmanwithout qualities - with whom , in fact , i t is iden tical . Thefol lower of Ram anuja leaves i t more individual ity , thoughmaking i t ultimately one ( in some sense or other) with the personal God . And the non- philosophic Hindu is not troubledwith the refinements of the question , but stil l does a deal Ofthinking concern ing the soul and its eternal destiny .

The knowing sel f , the n , is the innerm ost kernel of a m an

but the self as we know it empirically in ourselves and otherscontains also many relatively temporary Characteristics , which ,though not eternal l ike the inmost self

,may travel with i t

through many births and characterize it through many lives .This view the Hindus express in the doctrine of the many“ sheaths ” or

“bodies ” surrounding the soul . There is , ofcourse , the outer sheath , the physical body which we all se e ,

91


and which the soul qui ts at death . But besides this there areseveral other sheaths , of increasing inwardness , some of whichwe lose in th e next world , while some sti l l abide through longseries of l ives . But the inner kernel , the real self Of a m an ,

isnever stripped off, is never put away . I t is one of the eternalelemen ts of the un iverse , a spark O f the One Eternal Elem en t ;for , as we have seen , for both Vedan tist and bhakta , i t is insome sense or other a part of the Divine , or even iden tical withGod Him self .This unity Of the soul with God is at the foundation not only

of Hindu metaphysics , but of Hindu ethics as well . The greataim of l ife is the full realization of that God - consciousness , thesignificance ofwhich forms the central point of Hindu thought .Before this can be fully attained , the soul must be l iberatedfrom the mass of particular interests and petty wishes and selfborn i l lusions which weigh it down and hide from it the beati

/fic vision . Hence liberation and realization may be called thetwin ideals Of Hinduism , and it is these that determine all itsethical theory .

The first step toward the real ization of this ideal is, of course ,to be found in ordinary negative morali ty . Hence we find inthe sacred books of the Hindus , and in their social customs andpopular ideals , certain conventional views Of virtue and vicewhich have been com mon am ong most civil ized peoples fromthe Egyptians down . These are “ sanctioned ,

”in India as

elsewhere , by the usual paraphernal ia of delightful heavensand terrible hells . The Garuda Purana (a kind of HinduDan te) has a l ist of sinners who may expect pun ishmen t in thenext world , which shows that the Hindu conscience is far frominsensible ; for it includes (among many others)

“ slayers ofBrahmins , drinkers of intoxican ts , slayers of cows , infanticides ,murderers o fwomen , destroyers of the em bryo , and those whocommit secret sins ; those who steal the wealth of the teacher ,the property of the temple or of the twiceborn , or the possessions of women or children ; those who do not pay their debts ,who misappropriate deposi ts or betray confidence , or who ki llwith poisonous food ; those who seize upon faults and depreciate merits, who are j ealous of the good ; those who despiseplaces of pilgrimage and disparage the scripture s ; those who

92



fail to have a decidedly evil influence . What , for instance ,shal l we expect of a religion when in some of its most popularscriptures we can read such assertions as these :There is no doubt that by the installation of a Shiva l ingam

a m an acquires ten mill ion times the merit which is acquiredby making happy the poor and such as are enfeebled by disease .” 1

“The betrayer of friends , the ungrateful , he who l ies withh is teacher ’s wife , the slayer of a Brahmin , all these are absolved by the dedication of a bull .” 2

I t is probably in the popular Hindu Views about sacredstreams and sacred places that this externalism most oftenmeets us and Seems most strikingly absurd and im moral .Bathing in the Ganges at certain appoin ted times 3 is, as wehave seen

,regarded by many Hindus as a great aid in ridding

one ofsin and in acquiring merit ; and this belief of the ignoran tHindu is taught him dire ctly by h is priest , who makes a verygood living out of i t . There is also a very gene ral bel ieftaught in the Puranas and accepted by many intell igent andeducated Hindus that to die in Benares and have one ’sashes thrown into the Ganges is of considerable assistance ingetting to heaven . That this is really bel ieved by many cultiv ated Hindus , including rich people and Maharajas , is shownby the fact that So many of them come to Benares to die .

“When the wind wh ich has touched the waves of the Gangestouches the dead ,

” says the Garuda Purana , his sin is at oncedestroyed . Therewas a certain hunter , a des troyer of all sortsof creatures [and therefore , in the Hindu conception ,

a verywicked m an] who went to the place called hell . When his boneswere [accidental ly] dropped in to the Ganges by a crow , he asce nded the divine chariot and went to the abode of the ShiningOnes .” 4

1 Mahanirv ana Tantra , X IV, 6—7 .2 Garuda Purana , x 11 , 52 .

2 I t is not the daily bath in the Gange s that washe s away sin ; nor is it belie v ed that one can com m it a sin to - day and wash it away to - m orrow. I t isonly the ritual ist ic bath at ce rtain t im e s and se asons and with ce rtainpraye rs, e tc . , that fre e s one of sin. The dai ly bath is m e re ly a re l igious duty :one bathe s be cause brought up to bathe and be cause cleanl iness is a v e rylarge part of godl ine ss ; not in orde r to ge t rid of sin.

1 x , 83 , 85, 86. Is th is be l ie f in the e fficacy Of a dip in Gange s wate r diffe re nt in principle from the Christian be l ie f in the eflicacy of infant baptism ?

94

DUTY AND DESTINY

One would expect that the belief in the efficacy of bathing incertain places would result in an increase of vice and crime ;and that therefore Benares in particular would be a very wickedcity . I could no t , however , discover that this was the case .Though I made inquiries on the subj ect I found no on e whomaintained that Benares was wickeder than other cities . Inspite of which , there can be no doubt that externalism of thesort we have been considering must inevitably have som e e ffe ct in weakening the moral struggle and Cheapen ing the morall ife .

Of course the more intell igen t and spiritual Hindus deplorethe externalism o f their ignoran t fellows as deeply as any one ,

and regard i t as no more a part of true Hinduism than theveneration of ikons is , in the opin ion of a Protestan t , a part oftrue Christian i ty . And yet many acts and abstinences , whichto the European seem purely external matters , are acceptedeven by the in tell igent Hindu as a consti tuent part of the m orall ife . These are all traditional , of course ; but the Hindu thinkerregards them as thoroughly rational none the less and as b elonging very properly to the field of morali ty . And our difference of Opinion on these particular points is due to a morefundamental difference of Opinion on the larger question of thepoint of View from which the moral l ife Should be regarded . Ina general way it may be said that the Christian considers themoral li fe a matter of voluntary activi ty , while the Hindu re

gards i t as a matter of habitual conduct . The one em phas izeschoice ; the other , training .

1‘.Of course , i t would be quite m is

taken to affirm that the Christian never thinks of train ing andhabi tual conduct , or the Hindu Of choice and volun tary activity ; but it is true that the Christian and the Hindu em phasesl ie in different places . What interests the Hindu chiefly is theacquisition of sel f- con trol ; and this in his opin ion is best to beattained by means of an unremitting psycho - physical train ingbeginn ing with the cradle and ending with the deathbed . Thistraining descends into the minutest details of l ife , as well asdetermining l ife ’s plan as a whole , and hence includes many

IS it not bapt ism in both case s, the one be fore death and be fore th e attainm e nt of re ason, th e othe r afte r? In both cases it se e m s to b e the holy wate rthat does the busine ss.

95


things which to us seem purely external .” Of course they areexternal ; but in the Hindu

’s opin ion the external m ay ofte n in

flue nce the internal . “The inj unctions and prohibitions o fHinduism in regard to the utmost outer concerns of man ’sl i fe , writes one Hindu philosopher ,

“ have a very salutary e ffe ct upon his character by helping to strengthen the imb ibitive powers of the will , as well as by training the individualto perpetually give preference in his daily work and recreationsto the good over the pleasant . You will thus see that inthe socio - religious l ife of the Hindu there is a much narrowerrange for the indulgence of the senses and the appetites thanthere is , perhaps , in any other system . The Hindu has to submit to much greater restrain ts even in what are regarded as

quite legitim ate enj oyments everywhere , than the votaries ofthe other great world - religions . I t is by these means thatthe general socio - religious scheme of the Hindus helps materially to advance the real ethical l i fe of the people . I t is to thesethat we owe all the real hum il ity of our national Character .Our proverbial patience and mildness ; our adm itted respectfor al l l i fe , both hum an and non - human ; our special spiritualapti tudes , and our general freedom from some of the most obtrusiv e vices of civil ized humanity ; all these are largely due tothese socio - rel igious insti tutions and physico - ethical disciplinesassociated with them which are so often dismissed by the m od

e rn m an both in Europe and even in India , as mere superstitions .

” 1

The aim of this psycho - physical train ing is the achievementOf perfect self- control , the mastery of the spiri t over the flesh ,and the destruction of particular and selfish in terests and desires . For i t m ust never be forgotten that the goal towardwhich Hindu ethics poin ts , and in the light of which everything else m ust be valued , is libe ration and realization . And

nothing so hinders the realization of th e Universal Self as th ehot desires and the petty interests of the particular self . Henceth e one great virtue of India is selfie ssness. Of course the rankand file never get far enough on the moral pathway to aim atth is Virtue directly ; but they recognize its charm and they reverence i t supremely wherever they find it. Neither rich man nor

1 Bipin Chandra Pal in The Soul of I ndia, pp. 2 48, 2 52 , 2 54 .

96



then that He is doing everything : everywhere is the will ofGod .

” 1

I t is not without significance that this sincere and earnestdesire for unse lfishne ss a des ire man i fest not on ly in thevarious divisions of Hinduism but in nearly all the religionsnative to India should be SO Often self- defeating . From theattempt to regard unselfishness as i tself a goal , there results , inmost minds

, an almost irresistible tendency to consider thismen tal state a means ofacquiring meri t ; and so the self is oftenden ied in order that the self may be glorified . Psychologicallythis is due , I suppose , to the innate difficulty of making a negative quan ti ty the obj ect of des ire . Whether this is ever reallypossible or no t , certain i t is that real unse lfishne ss of a permanent and reliable type is very much more easi ly attainableby aim ing at a posi tive goal , e specially by seeking actively toforward some gre at cause , the individual self being thus lostin the not- self or in the larger self .Hindu teaching (until the last few years , at any rate) has

never fel t satisfied wi th the unse lfishness which is to be foundin active social service , and so has deprived itself of the greatestaid to true devotion . The best substi tute it has for th is is thebhakta ’s intense love of God , and the philosopher

’s doctrineof the identi ty of the soul with Brahman . Hinduism teachesthat the desires and interests of the separate self , of the apparent Self as one might cal l i t , must be suppressed in order thatthe true self may be l iberated , and its un i ty with the Universaland Divine may be real ized . The more posi tive aspect of thiseffort is the persistent attempt to real ize God in everything andin every one . And he who succeeds in doing this will find aun iversal love and sympathy springing up in his heart

, and willhave a reason very literally for loving his neighbor as himself ,because in the last analysis he and h is neighbor are one in God .

Says the Mahabharata :

This is the sum of all true righte ousne ssTreat othe rs as thou wou ldst thyse l f b e treated.

DO noth ing to thy ne ighbor wh ich he re afte rThou wou ldst not hav e thy ne ighbor do to the e .

In causing p leasure or in giv ing pain ,

1 The Gospel of Ram akrishna,pp . 89—90.

98

DUTY AND DESTINY

In do ing good or inj ury to othe rs,In granting or re fusing a re que st ,A m an Obtains a prope r ru le of actionBy look ing on his ne ighbo r as him se lf.” 1

We shall se e as we study morali ty , says the Textbookof Hindu Religion and Ethics ,

” “ that al l i ts precepts arefounded on the recogn i tion of the unity of the Self . I f there isonly one Sel f , any act by which I inj ure my neighbor m ust inj ure me . I t is related of Baba Arjundas , a much - reveredHindu saint who died on ly a few ye arSago , that at the Allahabad Mela Of 1895 hewas found by an acquaintance weepingand call ing out that a policemen had been beating him . Suchan outrage was unthinkable in India , but the Old gentlemanwas asked to point out the policeman who had committed thecowardly sacrilege . At last he did so , but , seeming to comeback to himself , he added :

“ I t was no t this me that he beat ,but anotherme .” 2 The truly moral Hindu should have becomeso selfless as to be almost unable to distinguish between himselfand other selves . And this sympathy of his should be literallyboundless , extending far even beyond human ity and includingwithin i ts loving embrace every form of sentient l ife . For thean imals too are souls , and every soul is ultimately a spark ofthe Divine Fire .This view of the iden tity of the self with God weakens , toa considerable degree , the belief in personal responsibil ity andthe sense of i t . Here is another aspect of the contrast alreadypointed out between Hindu and Christian ethics . The Christian m oralist lays his emphasis upon the responsibil ity of everysoul in al l h is choices . The Hindu is seeking chiefly to cultivatecertain habitual reactions , poin ts of view , and emotional m oods ,and give s comparatively l ittle attention to responsibil ity andchoice . In fact , if he be a follower of Shankara

’s mon isticVedan ta , he will admit frankly that he has no such thing aschoice and that free will is on ly an illusion . The bhaktas ormembers O f the great sects , on the other hand , may and oftendo believe in freedom . The Bhagav ad Gi ta throughout pre

1 X I I I , 557 1 , translated by Monie rWill iam s, Brahm anism and H induism ,

PP 547—48.

2 The Soul of I ndia, p. 47 .

99


supposes the rea l i ty of free choice . Ram anuja’

s syste m atiza

tion of the Vedan ta , to be sure , mak es the human soul a part ofGod in such a way that it is God, not m an , who makes thechoice and does whatever is done . But after Ram anuja

’

s death ,h is followers divided on this question of free will , the southernparty denying i t while the northerners affirmed it .

1

The Vedan tist and the bhakta differ no t on ly on the question of free will

,but also on the kind of salvation that they de

sire . Both seek real ization ,” but the relation to God , the kind

of union or commun ion with God , which they strive for, is no tquite the sam e for both .

“The follower of the mon istic Vedanta

,says Ram akrishna

,

“ who seeks to realize the AbsoluteBrahm an d iscriminates

,saying : ‘Not this , no t thiS .

’ That is,the Absolute is no t this , no t that , nor any fin i te obj ect , no t theind ividual soul [as such] , not the external world [for this isMaya , I llusion] . When as a result of this kind of reason ing theheart ceases to be move d by desires , when ,

in fact , the mindis m erged in superconsciousness

,then Brahman - kn owledge is

reached . One who has truly attained to this Brahman - knowledge realizes that Brahman , the Absolute , alone is real and theworld is unreal , and that all names and form s are l ike dreams .The dualist devotees and lovers of the Personal God

,the

bhaktas , on the con trary , say that the external world is theglory of the Lord . The heavens , stars , moon ,

moun tains,ocean

,

m en , birds , and beasts , all these He has created . He man ifestsHis glory by these . He is both within and without . He dwellsin our hearts . A bhakta wishes to enj oy comm un ion with hisLord and no t to become identical with Him . His desire is no t tobecom e sugar , but to taste o f sugar . He says ,

‘0 Lord , Thou

art the Master , I am Thy servan t . Thou art m y Mother andI am Thy child . Thou art the Whole , I am Thy part .

’ He doesno t wish to say ,

‘I am Brahman .

’ 2

The pathways to these contrasted goals,of course

,also d iffer .

The Vedan tist takes the way of inaction and knowledge , thebhakta the way of devotion . I t has been a tradi tion alm ost

1 Rathe r p icture sque ly th e two Schools are known re spe ctiv e ly as thecat school and th e m onke y school for the kitte n is qu ite passiv e andhas to b e carrie d by its m othe r , while the l ittle m onke y activ e ly cl ings to itsm othe r with its arm s about h e r ne ck.

2 The Gospel of Ram akrishna, pp . 146-

48.

100


IND IA AND ITS FAITHS

age of sin and selfishness al l these points are common to bothparties .” 1

In spite of these resemblances , however , there are also diffe rence s between the Christian and the Hindu points of viewquite as fundamental . One concern s the metaphysical question of the relation of the soul to God : for though Ram anujaleaves the soul some degree of individual ity , i t has the samerelation to God that our bodies have to our souls . But a moreimportan t and practical difference is to be found in the moralideals of the two rel igions . For the Indian ideal , as we haveseen , is almost altogether a subj ective one . The Hindu ’s gazehas been so concentrated on the real ization of his own un ionwith God that he has almost never had any tim e to think seriously of bringing about a Kingdom of Heaven on earth . Theidea that the e nd of action could be found in social values , that“ the Kingdom of God is in your midst ,

”is a conception which

has seldom presented itself to h ismind except to be rej ected andscorned . AS a result of this preeminently subj ective poin t ofview in Indian ethics , strenuous activity for a great charitableor social cause has alm ost always been looked at rather askanceeven by the finest and most truly sympath etic of Hindu saints .There have been exceptions , but the exceptions were very unIndian in type . Ramakrishna , whowas certainly one of the fine st examples of Hindu spiritual ity of whom we know anything ,said to Ke shub Chunder Se n ,

“You talk gl ibly of doing good to

the world . Who are you to do good to the world? First praetice devotional exercises and real ize God . Attain to Him . I fHe graciously gives you H is powers , then you can help others ,and not til l then . Say when you pray : ‘Lord , gran t that mywork in the world and for the world may grow less and less dayby day , for I se e that my work growing man ifold on ly makesme lose sight o fThee . ’ A m an desired to see the shrine o fthe Divine Mother . On his way he stopped and spen t all theday in distributing alms to the poor . When he wen t to theshrine , the doorwas closed and he could no t see the Holy of

Holies . The wise ones Should first se e the Holy Mother , andse eing Her they may then turn their atten tion to almsgivingand other good works i f they so desire . Al l good works are for

1 Mr. Froe l ich in the I ndian I nterpreter for Ju ly , 191 2 .

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DUTY AND DESTINY

the realization of God . Works are the means , and God - visionis the e nd .

” 1

God - vision is the end . And what is i t? Ah , that is something which may be experienced , but which in i ts fullness cannever be described . In fact , he who once plunges into the depthsOf the Infin ite Ocean of the Divine never comes back to describewhat he has seen . Sukade v a and other great spiri tual teachersstood on the shore of that Infin i te Ocean ,

sawi t and touched i tswaters . Some believe that even those great souls did not gointo the Ocean , for whoever enters into that Ocean Of B rahmandoes no t return to this mundane existence . A doll made ofsalt once wen t to the ocean to measure its depth . I t had a desire to tell others how deep the oceanwas. Alas ! i ts desire wasnever satisfied . No sooner had it plunged into the ocean thani t melted away and becam e one with the ocean . Who couldbring the news regarding the depth of the sea? Such also is thecondition of the soul who enters into the Infin i te Ocean of theAbsolute Brahman .

” 2

Yet i t is possible to stand by the side of the Endless Sea ,touch and taste its waters and hear i ts thunder and returnhome again with some faint words descriptive o fwhat one hasseen . So one may gain a vision o f the Divine and stil l l ive onin the world of m e n .

“Cry to God with a yearn ing heart ,

”

says Ramakrishna ,“ and then you will se e Him . The rosy light

of dawn comes before the rising sun : l ikewise a longing andyearn ing heart is the Sign Of God - vision that comes after .”

The realization of God ’s presence in one ’s heart has beenthe unfading and unchanging ideal of India these twenty - fiv e

hundred years and i t is to- day . That exclus ive longing for i thas shut from the Hindu ’s view various social values and practi

1 Op . cit. , pp . 1 70—72 . A learned and e nthusiastic Brahm in whom I m e t

on a train pre ached m e an im prom ptu and rathe r be auti fu l se rm on on th e

way of salv ation . Am ong othe r th ings he said : “Th e Chie f Obstacle s in theway Of fre edom are se l f- inte re st , the im pu lse to de stroy othe rs, and conce it .Of the se conce it is pe rhaps the m ost insid ious. I t Ofte n take s th e form of

our thinking ourse lv e s able to he lp othe rs—he nce as be ing supe rior toothe rs. Thiswe m ust root out . We shou ld ne v e r se e k to do good to othe rsfor the othe rs’ sake , bu t only for our own sake s, as a ste p in our own salv ation ; for to se e k to do the m good for the ir own sake s [obj e ctiv e ly] wou ldinv o lv e conce i t on our part .”

1 I bid. , p . 1 09.

103


cal altruistic aims we have already seen . Aside from this , itsnegative aspect , howwe shall evaluate this supreme ideal ofIndiaWi l l depend for each of us on h is attitude toward m ys

ticism in general . To the purely practical m an th is “ realization of the Divine will , no doubt , be a stumbling- block

,and to

the materialist ic scientist it wi ll be but foolishness ; while tothem who believe in a transcendent yet imm anen t spiritualworld , i t will be as the Power of God and the Wisdom of God .

Doubtless i t is easy and Often natural for us to say to thesannyasi on the banks of the Gange s that his “ real ization ismere fancy and self- delusion , and nothing , nothing more . Hehas been told that many times . But ever he and with him thewhole army ofmystics respond , as Faust to Mephistopheles

I n de ine m Nichts hofi”ich das All zufinden .

So much for the Indian ideal and the means for i ts achievement ; so much for the soul

’s duty . What Of its destiny? “ I fa m an die , shall he l ive again?

” This very human cry in theface of the Great Mystery has resounded through India as

through all other lands these thousands o f years . Perhapsseven centuries before Christ itwas phrased in the Upanishadsin a form strikingly l ike that in which itwas repeated a littlelater by the wri ter Of the Book Of Job in distant Israel . “ Likea mighty tree in the forest , so in tru th is m an . But while a tree ,when felled , grows up again more young from the root , fromwhat root , tell m e , does a morta l grow up , after he has beenfelled by death?” 1

Another of the Upan ishads tells us that when l i ttle Nachiketas wen t to the House ofDeath , the Terrible Onewas pleasedwith the boy and told him to ask three boons , promising togran t them whatever they might be . The boy ’s first and secondrequests do no t here concern us , but in the third he said :

“There is that doubt,when a m an is dead , some saying

he is ; others he is not . This I should l ike to know , taught bythee ; this is the third of my boons .

”

Death said : “ Choose another boon , O Nach ik e tas, do notpress me ; let me off that boon . Choose sons and grandsons ,who shall l ive a hundred years , herds of cattle , elephants , gold ,

1 Brihad . Up . , 111 , 9, 28.

104


DUTY AND DESTINY

horses . Choose the wide abode of the earth and l ive thyself asmany harvests as thou desirest . I f you can think of any boonequal to that , Choose wealth and long life . Be king , Nach ike tas,on the wide earth ; but do not ask me about dying .

”

Nachik e tas said : “These things last ti l l to - m orrow,O

Death . Even the whole of l ife is Short . Keep thou thy horses,

keep dance and song for thyself. N0 m an can be made happyby wealth . Shall we possess wealth when we se e Thee? On lythat boon which I have chosen is to be chosen by me . That onwhich there is this doubt , 0 Death , tel l us what there is in thegreat Hereafter . Nachik e tas does not choose another boon butthat which en ters in to the hidden world .

”

SO at last Death answered : “The knowing Self is not bornit dies not : i t sprang from nothing, nothing sprang from it . Theancien t is unborn , eternal , everlasting : he is no t killed thoughthe body is killed . I f the slayer think that he Slays

, or i f theslain think he is slain , they do not understand , for this one doesno t slay nor is that one slain . The Self , smaller than small ,greater than great , is hidden in the heart of that creature . Am an who is free from desires and free from grief sees the majestyof the Self by the grace of the great Creator . The wise whoknows the Self as bod i less Wi th in the bodies , as unchangingamong Changing things , as great and omn ipresen t , does no tgrieve .

” 1

This message which Death gave to l ittle Nachike tas overtwen ty - fiv e hundred years ago has never been forgotten inIndia . Never forgotten and I might almost add never doubted .

“The knowing Self is not born ; i t dies not .” There can be no

,

question that the bel ief in immortal i ty is very much stronger ’

and very much more prevalent in India than i t is in Europe orAmerica . Almost every one accepts i t , takes i t as a matter of

'

course and plans his l ife in reference to it . Can we say the sameof Christendom? Ask the m an you meet on the street or in thetrain . He will be l ikely to tell you that this is the life he is sureabout and interested in ; and he wil l probably add , I

’

m takinga chance on the next l ife .

” In India they are taking no chanceson the next life : i t is this one rather that seems to them nucettain .

1 Katha Up . , 1 , 1 and 2 .

105


One reason for this greater faith of India is probably to befound in the absence of Western education and the doubtswhich it sows . But i t is also due in part , I believe , to the diffe re nt Views of the nature of the soul and the nature of itsim m ortal ity held by Christianity and by Hinduism . In Christian teaching the l ife of the soul has a natural beginning and asupernatural prolongation . The natural thing would be forthe soul to die with the body , with which it began ; this I thinkis the general feel ing

, fine - spun arguments to the con trary notwithstanding . The survival Of bodily death by the soul is always more or less of a miracle and needs supernatural e x planation . I f i t were no t for Christ , or at least for God , we asChristians Should hardly hOp e for immortality . Many of uscan with difficulty conceive how an atheist could believe inthe future l ife .

Modern Western psychology increases this tendency by itsteaching of the dependence of the mind on the nervous systemand by its View of the “

Soul ” as equivalent merely to the“ stream of consciousness .

” Thus the bel ief in the survival ofbodily death is made to seem increasingly unnatural and demands more than ever some supernatural Support . And at thesame time with this scientific development , the old sup e rnat

ural supports are being noticeably and rapidly weakened . Theresult is the open denial of human immortali ty on the part of aconsiderable number of earnest thinkers and by an even largernum ber of persons who wish to be considered thinkers : whilea very large proportion of the rest ofus feel SO uncertain if notdownright Skeptical on the subj ect that we avoid discuss ion o fi t and s ide - track SO far as poss ible al l reference to it. We are“ taking a chance on the next li fe ,

” and find it hardly goodform to talk much about i t.This is not the case in India. There, as I have said , practical lyevery one bel ieves in immortal i ty . They live in the l ight Of it .'Paraphras ing Browning ’s l ines , they might almost say

Leav e nowfor dogs, ape s, and Europeans ;We hav e fore v e r.

There are atheistic philosophers in India , but these maintainthe deathlessness of the soul as confidently and enthusiasti

106



m ine argues a complete failure to grasp the real significance ofthe fundam ental hypothesis of modern biology . And in l ikemanner , the doctrine of transmigration does teach that m e n

who have prostrated their moral sense and their reason and

have sinned against the l ight in this l ife will be given in thei rnext birth a body more suitable to their nature than the humanform divine ; but to take this particular assertion as the essential part of a cosmic scheme that seeks to include all destinyfrom everlasting to everlasting , is , to say the least , a token ofsurpris ing ignorance or else a very poor j oke .To put i t in a word , transmigration means education . I t is anattem pt to View the whole cosmic process in the l ight of thesoul ’s purification and progress . I t is based upon the profoundly ethical postulate that in the moral sphere no less thanin the physica l , whatsoever a m an soweth that shall he alsoreap . Every m eanest act produces i ts inevitable result in future Character and future fate . The cosmos takes account ofmoral deserts , so that the deed and the deed

’s requital are oneand the same act . Reward and pun ishmen t are thus no t som ething external to the act , imposed from without upon the actorby an external j udge : they are the inevitable fruit of the acti tself , and in very truth a part of i t . Man

’s fate is not im posedupon him by a stem or gracious Ruler of the un iverse : in thewords of an ancient Gree k philosopher,

“man ’s character is hisdestiny .

The Hindu calls the great law that a man inevitably reapswhat he sows , the Law of Karma. He also uses the wordkarma to mean the merits and demerits which one acquires byh is good and evil acts . When a m an d ies he has a certainamount of karm a which he carries with him and which mustsomehow be worked off. Part of th is is got rid of , so to speak ,in the in termediary state which Hindu doctrine places b etween successive l ives ou earth . The details of this doctrineare complex and need no t detain us here . They involve theconception of the various “ sheaths ” of the soul already re

ferred to . Some Of these stay with one through Pre taloka,

”

a kind of purgatory to which man goes after death , and whereafter purging away some of h is evil karma he puts off one moreofh is sheaths. Pitriloka is his next place of abode , and from

108

DUTY AND DESTINY

there he goes to “Svarga , where he dwells in happiness and“ changes th e good thoughts and desires of his past life on earthinto defin ite mental moods or capacities [j ust as he has donein this world , on ly that in Svarga it is done much more e ffe ctiv e ly ] . When the thought impulses started during life arefinally exhausted , he returns to another incarnation on thisearth . His men tal and emotional capacities are reborn withh im in the next birth , forming what is called character.

” 1 And

not only the man ’

s character but his external condition in hisnew incarnation is determined by his Old karm a . Thus , noton ly in the intermediate states but in the newearthly l ife he isstil l working out the Old karma ; and while doing so he is , ofcourse , acquiring newkarma . So that , as som e one has said , !karma is l ike a clock that winds itself up by the very process ofrunn ing down .

There is , however , a way of release from this wheel of rebirth , namely , the means toward

“ l iberation and“ real i

zation studied in the first part of this chapter . The world isl ike a great school . In each class we stay till we have learnedour lesson . Those who do not learn must return the next year ,so to speak , and take the course over again . Som e , in fact , whodo very badly are even sent back to a lower class . But thosewho earnestly try are promoted from class to class . And atlast com es graduation day . By means of self-mastery andse lfle ssne ss , by knowledge or devotion , we may finally be freedfrom all karm a and enter into the perfect realization of theDivine which is the goal of al l our souls and all our striving .

For though Hinduism cannot say with St . Augustine that Godhas made us for Himself ,—inasmuch as we were no t m ade atall , but are eternally parts or offshoots of the Supreme ,—it canand does insist that our souls are restless til l they rest in H im .

As to what is the exact nature of this final consum m ation ofour long wanderings there is som e difference Of opin ion amongthe Indian schools . The bhaktas regard it as a personal immortality in bl issful commun ion with the personal God . An

old monk in a Vaishnav ite monastery at Benares told methat he expected to go at death directly to Rama ’s heaven and

there to rem ain , in the presence of the One God , for all etern i ty .

1 Gov inda Das, H induism and I ndia (Be nare s, pp . 72—73.

109


Whatever be thy work , says Sri Krishna to Arjun , thysacrifice , thy gift , thy m ortification , make thou of i t an offering to Me. Thus shalt thou be released from the bonds ofWorks

,fair or foul Of fru it : thy spiri t inspired by casting- off

ofWorks and following my Rule , thou shalt be del ivered and

come un to Me . They that worship me with devotion dwell inMe and I in them . None who is devoted to m e is lost. Havethy mind on M e, thy devotion toward Me , thy sacrifice to Me .

Thus guiding thyself , given over to Me , so to Me shalt thoucome .” 1

For the Vedantist the final goal is Moksha , 2 the losing of

one ’s self in the Divine , the complete identification Of thehum an self with the Universal Self . Toward the close of theBrihadaranyaka Upan ishad we are given an accoun t of the fateof the m an who desires ,

”i.e . , of the m an who stil l has some

karm a to work out , who has no t yet attained to l iberation and

real ization . The text then continues : “ So much for the m an

who desires . But as for the m an who does not desire , who no tdesiring

,freed from desires , desires the Self only , his vital

Spiri ts at death do not depart elsewhere . Being Brahman hegoes to Brahman . When all desires which once en tered hisheart are undone , then does the mortal become immortal , thenhe obtains Brahman . And as the slough of a snake lies on an

ant- hill , dead and cast away , thus l ies this body ; but that disembodied

,imm ortal spirit is Brahman only, is on ly l ight .

” 3

Such,then , is the Hindu doctrine Of Destiny . The Indians

almost unan imously consider i t by far the most satisfactorysolution of the problems of l ife and of the un iverse that thehuman mind has ever conceived . They insist

,among other

things , that i t alone solves the problem of evil . The ine qualities of this l ife , its seemingly strange distribution of pains andpleasures , are m ade consisten t with the perfect j ustice of theuniverse by the assumption that a man ’s fortune in this l ife isan exact index of his merit in the last . As to this particular

1 Bhagav ad Gita, 1x , 2 7 , 2 8, 29, 3 1 , 34 .

2 As a m atte r of fact v e ry fewexpe ct to attain to Moksha at the con

e lusion Of th is l ife . A H indu frie nd of m ine told m e he had m e t but two m e n

who looked for it so soon. Most instead look forward to a b l issfu l svargaand a good re birth .

1 IV. 4.6—7.



in the considerable loss that would seem to result if those who,

after the train ing ofa lifetime of study , suffering , and endeavor ,go to their graves full of years and ofwisdom , are to be rebornshortly thereafter as ignoran t and helpless in fan ts . I t Seems ,indeed

,a pity that the spiritual gains of a long and strenuous

l ife should go for so l i ttle and that so much of the struggleshould have to be repeated . A m ore serious Obj ection is of atechn ical and philosophical nature , and has to do with thequestion Of personal identity . What do you m ean , one m ay

well ask the defender of this theory , when you say that thesam e self is reborn in another body? I f we follow Ribot , whoseanalysis has been accepted by most psychologists , self- identityfrom a psychological point of view m eans to us (pragm ati

cally) similar bodily feel ings and sensations plus consciousmemory .

1 I f the “ soul ” be reborn in a perfectly new body andbereft of all i ts memories , i t is hard to see what can be thepragm atic mean ing of call ing i t “ the sam e ” soul . I f , now , our

Indian friend appeals from psychology to metaphysics , andclaims identity on ly for an im m aterial substance , i t will not behard to Show h im , with the aid of John Locke , that personalidenti ty and iden tity of substance ” are two very d ifferentthings

,

2and that the only identity any one has ever had a vital

in terest in is the iden ti ty of the person . I f i t is on ly an im mate rial substance ” or a characterless pure perceiving subjectthat is reborn ,

in what sense can i t be called iden tical with the“ substance ,

” “subject ,

”or

“ soul of the m an who died?To this the Hindu will answer that while particular consciousmem ories are no t reborn in the new incarnation , what may becalled general and potential memories are . And these are byfar the most importan t : for they have become crystallized intoem otional moods , tendencies to reaction , ways of thinkingin short , into character and temperamen t . The one great purpose , moreover , of m oral redem ption is carried over withoutbreak from one l i fe to the other . And in addition to this sim ilarity of content, there is a continuity between the two lives contributed by the knowing subj ect, in whose consciousness there

1 Se e , for e x am p le , Ribot’

s Le s Maladies de la Mém oire (Paris, Alcan ,

pp . 83—86.

2 Se e Locke ’sAnEssay concerningHum anUnderstanding , book 11 , chap . 2 7 .

1 1 2

DUTY AND DESTINY

is no real b reak . Thus the two successive l ives are j oined byboth continuity of View and sim i lari ty of conten t ; and if thesebe no t enough to permit us to speak of self- identi ty in the twoincarnations , then , the Hindu will assure us , i t would be difficult to see how we could affirm it within one l i fe , or ever saythat the old m an who dies is the sam e self that was born

“ apuling in fan t ” nearly a century before .Whatever we m ay think of these argum ents and of the doctrine of transmigration when viewed by itself alone , i t m ay beof interest to com pare it directly with the Protestan t Christiandoctrine that the soul at death passes imm ediately into heavenor hell and remains there eternally . The most noticeable factabout the Christian doctrine Of hell at the present tim e is thatbelief in i t is rapid ly disappearing . The Universalists havemill ions of converts in denominations that bear other nam es .For a very large number of Christian people , who are in otherrespects quite orthodox , hell has become a kind of j oke . Thechief reason for this is , I suppose , the rather common feelingthat a just God (to say nothing of a merciful one ) could not

mete out eternal pun ishment for the sins of a paltry threescoreyears and te n ; and that a sensible God could no t allow so Shorta tim e to coun t for everything in determin ing a m an ’s fate , andsuccessive endless cen turies to coun t for absolutely nothing .

This , at any rate , is certain ly one of the factors that have contributed to make the Christian doctrine of hell seem irrationaland almost un thinkable to the modern m an . The doctrine ofincarnation , on the other hand , avoids at least this difficulty .

I t provides inevitable and suitable pun ishmen t for every sinfulact and wish , in the very fruit of the wish and of the act i tselfbut i t provides on ly fin i te pun ishm en ts for fin i te sins , and i tm akes the soul answerable for all i ts acts including those of i tsendless future . Even to the worst of beings the door of Opportunity is never quite shut , i f he really wills to turn from his evilway and l ive ; nowhere in i ts un iverse is there a portal overwhich is written : “Who en ter here leave hope behind .

”

But perhaps we stil l bel ieve in the Christian hell . I f so howmany of our acquaintances do we honestly think ought to gothere? A quarter of them? I trust no t . A fifth? A tenth?Very well . What about the n ine tenthswho are left?Are they

1 1 3


fit for heaven? Are they ready for the b e atific Vision? And ifthey all go there , what will heaven be l ike? Look around youat the people you se e ; think over the people you know . Theyare not bad people . But what kind of a place will heaven be ifthey if most ofus are ready for it?Will i t be worth goingto ; will i t be endurable for al l etern i ty? I f one m ay j udge bywatching the people whom one sees , the sort of heaven that m ostof them would vote for would be , not , indeed , the luxurious gardens of the Koran , but perhaps a Biergarten , or a vaudeville ,or the movies .” How many of them would care for the beatific Vision? How many of us are ready for heaven?I t may be said in reply that at death we becom e so transformed ln desire and character as to be made fit at once for thepresence ofGod . But surely a transformation of such a natureand extent and brought about so suddenly would make theassertion of personal identity almost mean ingless : we Shouldbe faced at least wi th as great a difficul ty as that which I urgedabove against transmigration . And more serious than thisdifficulty is the consideration that the idea of such a moraltransformation wrought miraculously by the external and acciden tal fact of death completely beli ttles the moral struggle ,ignores the nature of moral l ife , and makes spiri tual progressno t a matter of inner achievemen t , but one of external accretion imposed from without . The Hindu thinker would sm i le atsuch a doctrine.The truth is , we Westerners are in too much of a hurry for

our heaven to be will ing to wait for a good one . We must hav ei t right off at the e nd of this l ife . Our business ideals of promptness , speed , and hustle have affected our theology. To waitmore than threescore years and ten is to us in tolerable. We canhardly even conceive of the great patience of the East which iswill ing to wait through a thousand l ives through a hundredthousand lives—and which can afford to do so because itsfaith in the soul and i ts eternal hope is so infin i tely strong .

Pe rsonallfl QQEt elisy s in. trassm igration But I am Opento conviction . And I feel very strongly the nobil ity and beautyof the doctrine . There is an unden iable dign ity in the Hinduconception of the Soul , pursuing its long pilgrimage throughdying bodies and decaying worlds , un ti l at last i t reaches home

1 14


CHAPTER VI I

THE H INDU DHARMA

T is to be hoped that the reader will not suppose that bylearn ing the Hindu views of the Gods , Philosophy , and Fate ,

he has learned “ the Hindu rel igion .

” To us Christians i t hasbecome so natural to identify rel igion with creed that i t is difficult at first to conceive of religion being anything else . Tomake such an iden tification , however, is in fact very provincial ,both Spatially and temporally . The ancien ts , for instance ,

did not View matters at all in our way . A Greek thinker ,such as Aristotle , could give up all belief in his coun try

’s gods ,and yet never be regarded as a heretic provided b e fulfi lled regularly all the ex ternal duties which religious custom demanded .

So it is with the Hindu . He has always enj oyed very am plel iberty of thought , because he and h is fellows have never conce iv ed of religion as being in any way identical with creed .

The Hindu atheist is in as good and regular standing as thepolytheist , the theist , or the pantheist , and provided he l ivesaccording to the ancient customs is never regarded as in any

way heretical . In fact Hinduism includes within i tself everykind Of creed , and from this poin t ofview claim s to be the onlyreally un iversal religion extan t . One of i ts defenders writes :

“ From the crudest kinds of an imism to the most refinedspiri tual worships , all are accomm odated by and accounted forin Hinduism . I t bel ieves that each rel igion and all the religionstogether are on ly ‘feel ing after the Absolute . They are al l truein their own proper place ; and none possess the absolute andfinal revelation of the Infin i te . And this is why Hinduism can

legitimately Claim to be the only true un iversal religion in theworld .

ForHinduism is no t one rel igion l ike Christianity , I slam , oreven Judaism ; but correctly speaking it is a compendium of

m any creeds and cults , al l un i ted in a comm on cul ture and acommon ideal - end . Hinduism accepts whatever may be or is

1 16

THE H INDU DHARMA

classed as rel igion as parts of itsel f. AS a religion Hinduismhas no quarrel ei ther with Christianity or I slam , Judaism or

Zoroastrian ism . A Hindu , provided on ly he accepts the socialeconom y and observes the purificatory laws and regulations ofthe Hindu culture , may well believe in and worship JesusChrist , or acknowledge the authority of the Prophet of Medina in all matters of faith .

” 1

Natural ly there is an obverse s ide to this all - inclusivenesswhich does not appear so brill iant and attractiv e . AS anotherHindu puts i t , To - day Hinduism is an agglomeration of

everything under heaven and earth , from the acutest ph ilosophy to the most barbarous fetish worship ; all Shades of thehighest ideals coupled with the most degrading practices areen folded within its all - embracing creeds .” 2

I t is inappropriate , then , to speak of Hinduism as a faith .

Hinduism means rather the accepted m anner of life of those bornwithin certain castes andfam ilies in I ndia. When Hindus themselves refer to Hinduism they do not speak of i t as a religionthey use the word Dharm a . On ly in the most general way canDharma be said to mean religion . A better translation for i t isLaw, the inner and consti tutive and ideal nature of a thing .

I t corresponds somewhat to the Aristotel ian form . Thus evennon - sen tient things have a dharma heat being the dharma offire and sound that of ether . I t is the proper function or idealnature of a thing . And thus dharma as applied to m an and socie ty will include the whole of human culture , in which eachindividual has his own part to play , h is own duties to perform ,

so that the total i ty of m en and gods , of earth and heaven , mayform one complete and perfect whole . AS this conception ofdharma was formed before the Indians knew that there wasany land but India , the word came to mean the civilization and

ideals and traditional ways of acting of the Indians . Hinduismis thus “ a culture , not a creed and from this poin t of view one

of i ts admirers writes“ Dogmas and creeds may to some extent be imposed fromthe outside : but real piety must grow from within . And whatis to be developed from withinmust work upon the inner nature

1 H induReview, June , 1913, pp . 580—81 .

2 Gov inda Das, Hinduism and I ndia.

1 1 7


of the person in whom it is to grow . And asmen ’s inner naturesdiffer in the case ofdifferen t people , so their religious duties anddisciplines must also be differen t . Wh at may be helpful to oneperson may not be helpful to another . There cannot be , therefore

, any universal creed or any uniform ritual in a rel igion thatseeks not to preach Opinion , but to grow character .

” 1

This decidedly loose organ ization of Hinduism comes outplainly in the question of the seat of authority . According toMann this is to be found first ofall in the Veda , after that in theSm riti , orTraditions , in the usages of good and noble m e n , and

in one ’s own reason and experience . AS to the way in which theterm “Veda ” shall here be in terpreted the Hindus do not fullyagree . Common ly the word is used to refer to the ancienthymns and verses of the earl iest Indian Aryans and to theBrahm anas (or early ri tualistic books) and the Upan ishads .These , as m aking up the

“ Vedas,

”or the “Veda , are sup

posed to have been revealed to the ancien t Aryan seers orRishis ,

” at the beginn ing of our cycle . But we are also toldrepeatedly , that the Veda is eternal : that it is revealed to theRishis at the beginn ing not only of ourage , but at the beginn ingof every age , and by them disseminated am ong men . In thissense of the word , the Veda seems hardly to refer to our particular editions , say , of the Rig Veda or the Upanishads

,but

rather to be equivalent to Divine Truth as such . I t is in thislarge sense that many of the more enlightened Hindus take theword .

2 Man has, according to the Hindu View , two kinds ofknowledge or at least is capable of having two kinds asensuous and a super- sensuous . The former includes all that isbased on sense- perception and worked out by logic . The otheris different in kind : i t is an immediate intuition of DivineTruth , and it has quite a differen t organ from the senses or theintellect . I t is poten tially the sam e in all human beings thoughactually inexhaustible . The historical Vedas are the expressionof i t as i t existed in the teachings of the ancien t Rishis . AS suchthey are rel iable and authoritative . But the Divine Voice didnot cease speaking when their ears were stopped . The days of

1 Bip in Chandra Pal, The Soul of I ndia , p . 2 2 0.

2 Cf . th e editorial on “The Seat ofAuthority inHindu ism , In the Hindu

Reviewfor Se pte m be r, 1913.

18



thodox one must observe Dharm a; one must perform the ritesand duties and be true to the sacred customs which go alongwith the family and caste into which one has been born . ThusHinduism is a very complex thing . I t means a certain structureof society and a certain manner of l i fe in relation to one ’s wholesocial , natural , and supernatural environment . I t m eansobedience to certain custom s and participation or at leastacquiescence in certain conditions . Every study of Hinduism , therefore , which would not be unpardonably misleadingmust give at least som e sl ight consideration to these custom sand traditions , these social forms and these external duties .Probably the most salient characteristic of the Hindu social

structure is the caste system . Nearly every one who knowsanything at all about Ind ia knows about caste , so l i ttle need besaid of i t here . I t originated in the very natural division ofancient Aryan society in to priests , warriors , and producers ,a division by no m eans peculiar to India but paralleled amongmany primitive peoples . AS the Aryans in their gradual conquest of the Indian pen insula settled down in the midst of adarker and lower race , they felt

'

the need of keeping their ownblood pure from intermixture and took what means they couldto prevent it . The two chief forces here operative were probably an unargued repugnance against close relations with a lowerrace

, and a del iberate desire to keep unsullied their own dearlyprized culture exactly the sam e two forces , in short , thatmake the American of the Southern States em phasize the colorl ine , and the Californ ian legislate against the

“Yellow Peril .” 1

The taboo upon intermarriage with the aborigines is thus easilyunderstood

,while the strange and often fil thy custom s of these

aborigines and the unhygien ic and even disgusting nature of

1 Th e im portance Of th e color l ine in the origin of Ind ian caste is re fle ctedin the fact that one of the two Ind ian nam e s for caste to- day is varna, orcolor.

I t is inte re st ing to note that th e Am e rican draws the l ine in j ust thesam e p lace whe re the ancie nt Aryan drew it and whe re the m ode rn highcaste Ind ian draws it , nam e ly , on th e que stions of inte rm arriage and inte rdining . Th e Southe rne r is will ing to praise Booke rWashington and e v e n

to cal l him “ Profe ssor ” (though ne v e r but le t h im dine with awhite m an and the re is trouble . And it is notice able that som e Of the AngloInd ians who are qu icke st to attack the caste syste m m ake qu ite as m uch ofcolor d istinctions whe n the y the m se lv e s are inv olv ed as doe s th e intole ranth igh - caste Brahm in.

I 20

THE H INDU DHARMA

much Of t heir food made the thought of interdin ing intolerableto the clean ly and punctil ious invaders . AS time wen t on sociald istinctio ns among the Aryans themselves stiffened and eachclass developed i ts own customs and i ts own class consciousness , and by mutual consen t rules against intermarriage andinterdin ing naturally came to mark more and m ore absolutelythe distinction between the three great classes ofAryan society .

At the sam e tim e the conquered and subj ect m embers of theaboriginal races , who were gradually absorbing much of theciv i l ization of their conquerors , cam e to be recogn ized as onquite a differen t footing from those of the native inhabitan ts ofthe land who were as yet untouched by Aryan culture . Thus ,long before the beginn ing of the Christian era there were fourclearly recogn ized classes or castes : ( 1 ) the Brahm ins, orpriests

(2 ) the Kshatriyas, or warriors and rulers ; (3) the Vaisyas, orproducers , farmers , business m e n , artisans ; and (4) the nonAryan but Civil ized Shudras , or servan ts . Beside these therewere the Fi fth - Class men , the people who had no caste andwere therefore lum ped together under the ti tle “ Outcastes .And before this differen tiation had been ful ly completed subdivisions began to be formed among the members of the greatcastes themselves . These subdivisions were due in part to localcauses . Brahm ins in remote parts of the country lost connectionwith each other , and while both parties retained the proud titleof Brahmin and the priestly privileges , each com mun i ty develOped traditions of its own and refused to intermarry with theother . AS the Aryans spread their culture over the land , moreover , the Brahmins adopted whole tribes of docile aboriginesinto the Hindu fold , and in so doing recognized them as subd ivisions of the Shudra caste and even sometimes admittedthem among the Vaisyas or Kshatriyas . The Outcastes also intime organ ized themselves on the Hindu m odel . As a resul tthere are to - day over one hundred and fifty castes ofBrahminsalone and more than twenty differen t castes (i f we may use theword) am ong the Outcastes ; while the total number of castes ofall sorts is upwards of n ineteen thousand .

1

In a general way one may say that some such div ision Of

1 Stov e r , I ndia: a P roblem , p . I I 1 . The num be r Of m ain caste s accordingto Profe ssor Howe l ls is 2 378 (The Soul of I ndia, p .

1 2 1


society as the caste system is to be found in other lands besidesIndia . The peculiar thing about the Indian system is the ironbound nature given i t by its religious sanction . The differen tcastes were early regarded and this is the orthodox theoryto- day not as different social clas ses , but as differen t races ofm e n ,

as distinct from each other as different species of an imals .

1

The four castes within the fold all came from God but from diffe re nt parts of God , four separate creations being thus involved .

2 Thus the whole system was predetermined by Godbefore creation , and all the minutest details of its admin istration have been for cen turies regarded , and are stil l regarded , ashaving divine sanction . Probably no European has ever beenbetter ac quain ted with Indian society than was the fam ousFrench m issionary , the Abbé Dubois , who writes thus :During the many years that I have studied Hindu customs

I cannot say that I have ever observed a single one , howeverun importan t and sim ple , and

' I may add however fi l thy and

disgusting , which did no t rest on som e rel igious principle orother. Nothing is left to chance : everything is laid down byrule , and the foundation ofall their customs is purely and sim

ply rel igion . I t is for this reason that the Hindus hold all theircustoms and usages to be inviolable , for being essen tially rel igions , they consider them as sacred as religion i tself .

” 3

But perhaps the m ost important factor in making the castesystem peculiarly sacred in Hindu eyes is i ts connection withthe theory of rebirth and Karm a . According to this hypothesis

(which to the Hindu is no hypothesis , but a fact) every one

receives in this l ife what he earned in the last ; and hence , asFarquhar puts i t , a man

’s caste is “ an infall ible index of thestate of his Soul .” I f a man is a Brahmin , i t is because he hasearned that proud posi tion through many l ives of increasing

1 I t m ust b e re m e m be red , howe v e r , that in the H indu ’s conce pt ion the reis no such chasm be twe e n th e d iffe re nt spe c ie s Of anim als, or e v e n be twe e nan im als and m e n , as the We st be l ie v e s in. For H indu ism th e anim als aresouls l ike ourse lv e s , though clad in som ewhat infe rior bod ie s.

2 One of th e nam e s ofGod in late Ved ic t im e swas “ Purusha and h e is

p ictured in a late v e rse of the Rig Veda as hav ing create d th e world by m ak

ing a great sacrifice .

“Th e Brahm inwas h is m outh ; the Kshatriyawas

m ade from his arm s ; th e be ing called Vaisyawas h is thighs ; the Shudrasprang from h is fe e t .” x , 90, 1 2 .

2 H induManners, Custom s, and Cerem onies, p . 31 .

1 2 2


INDIA'

AND ITS FAITHS

Valor,heroic temper, constancy, skill , steadfastness in

strife,largesse , and princel iness are the natural Kshatriya

[warrior] works .“Ti l l ing the ground , herding kine , and trading are the natural works ofVaisyas [or producers] , and the natural work of theShudra [the serf] is service .

“According as each m an devotes himself to his own properwork does he attain to consumm ation . There is m ore happiness in doing one ’s own Law without excellence than in doinganother ’s Law well ."1

Whatever we may think of the caste system in practice ,there is no denying that in theory it has som e qualities to command: our respect . I t is no small boast of the Indian that in hisland alone in the m odern world , those who are regarded as thespiritual leaders of society are by universal agreem ent given aplace unquestionably superior to the warrior and the ruler ,while the social posi tion of every one is supposed to depend no ton wealth or power , but on the degree ofhis inner developm ent .And if we could share the faith of the Hindu that Karma doethall things well and that m e n are always born just where theydeserve to be

,we should probably feel more kindly toward the

caste system than most of us outs iders do . Granted its cosm icpresupposit ion , the institution has much to say for itself . Buteven so , there are very few , even among the Hindus , who wil lmaintain that it is anything l ike a perfect system to - day . Inthe tim es ofManu , they tel l us , i t was perfect , but the race hasso degenerated that the system is no longer what i twas mean tto be . And am ong the changes that have taken place in it ,according to learned Hindus , one of the m ost unfortunate hasbeen a steady stiffen ing and loss of elastici ty . The ancientbooks recount a number of instances in which m e n have risento a caste higher than that in which they were born by theexhibition of the powers and capacities characteristic of thehigher caste . Such a rise is im possible to- day . A man ’s lot ispretty well settled for him on the day of h is birth .

1 x v 111, 42—47 . That such a syste m of socie ty m ust hav e had , e spe cial ly in

th e d istant past , great adv antage s is obv ious. Th e Abbé Dubois points outthat it has be e n a prim e factor in th e hand ing down of th e ancient cu ltureand in e stabl ishing v arious k inds of social re straints upon ind iv idual caprice .

In fact , i t se e m s to b e the one th ing in Ind ia for which he has a good word .

1 2 4


INDIA AND IT§ FAITHS

reach the child . A sweeper (one of the lowest ofOutcastes)ran up and offered to go down into the well and rescue thechild , but his services were spurned and the child was allowedto drown . Better death than the defile m ent of child and wellby the touch of a sweeper . 1

As Farquhar says , these Outcastes , or Untouchables,

form one of the largest problems of modern India .

“Thoughthey have l ived beside Hindus for more than two thousandyears , so that they have absorbed the spiri t of caste and certainrudim entary religious ideas from Hinduism , yet they have beentreated with such inhum an i ty that they remain to this day inthe most piteous poverty , dirt, degradation , and supersti tion .

They are no t allowed to l ive in the sam e village with Hindus .They must no t approach a high - caste m an , for their shadow pollutes . In South India they must not com e within thirty yards ofa Brahm in ; and they are usually denied the use ofpublic wells

'

,

roads , bridges , and ferries . They are no t allowed to enter Hindutemples . Their religion is in the m ain an attempt to pacifydem ons and evil spiri ts . They number some fifty m i l l ions .” 2

The system , though it may seem to be made for the benefi tof the higher castes , works i ts very unfortunate lim itationsam ong them as well . Thus the absurd prohibition against inte rdining is increasingly fel t am ong intell igent m e n ; and thetaboo against crossing the ocean is a direct blow at educationand culture . In the larger centers some of these taboos arebeing relaxed , but in the greater part of India they are carefully en forced by the caste authorities . A m an may bel iev ewhat he l ikes

,he m ay deny all the gods and indulge in certain

vices and crim es , and stil l retain his good standing in the caste ;but let him accept a cup of water from a m an of lower caste ,and he shall answer for i t before the tribunal . I f found guiltyhe wil l do well to undergo all the purificatory cerem onies towhich he will be condemned

,

3 for if he refuse , the full strength1 Saint N ihal Singh , Ind ia's Untouchable s, Contem porary Reviewfor

March , 191 3 , p . 376.

3 The Crown of Hinduism , p . 162 .

3 The se consist usual ly in the paym e nt of a large fine (com m only appropriate d to de fraying th e cost of a banque t to all th e caste ) and in swal lowinga p i l l pre pare d by the prope r authoritie s and com posed of the fiv e productsof the cow .

”The p i ll is supposed to b e sp iritually as he lpfu l as it is physi

cally d isgusting .

1 26

THE H INDU DHARMA

of social persecution will burst upon him . His father will turnhim from his house ; or i f he be himsel f the head o f a house hisrelativeswill have nothing whatever to do with him ; his friendswill cut h im ; and he m ay even find i t hard to induce any one

to work for h im for the different castes sym pathize with eachother and aid each other in en forcing caste restrictions .

I wish it were possible for m e to say better things of the castesystem than I have been able to say . S ister Niv edita’

s de scrip

tion of i t , as being practically equivalen t to our conven tionsabout honor and noblesse oblige ,

” seems to me an astoundingly misleading half- truth , which , while i t has some basis inanalogy , quite ignores the distinctive features of the system .

Doubtless in primitive times caste had its use ; but i t is to - dayan inexcusable anachron ism which would in fact collapse almost at once i f i t were no t sanctioned and supported by theHindu religion . Fortunately for India i ts ancient Dharma isno t burdened with many a weight so heavy as this .The Hindu fam i ly is an immeasurably finer insti tution . Init both the beauty and the weakness of the Indian characterand of the whole Indian point of view find them selves reflectedto a striking degree and this because in fact , to a very largeexten t , they grow out of it . The con trast between the Indianfam i ly and the European is chiefly the con trast between socialsolidarity and individualism . The European fam i ly is a groupof indiv iduals ; the Indian is an organ ism with various members . This , of course , is an exaggerated form of statemen t , buti t suggests the con trast I have in mind . In India the fam i ly hasstil l retained its ancien t patriarchal form . When the youngman marries he brings h is wife home to his father ’s house ,where h is older brothers and their wives and children are l iving ,and where every on e is subj ect to the head of the house . Solong as the common progen i tor l ives , the household is kepttogether and is under his sway , the mem bers som etimes numbering seven ty or eighty , or even more . Grandchildren and

great - grandchildren are born in i t ; cousins are brought up likebrothers ; all the women are l ike mothers to al l the children ;each member of the householdwho earns anything by h is laborputs his earn ings into the common fund which is disposed ofby the head of the house for the common good ; all interests are

1 2 7


pooled, and the on ly real interests to be considered are in the

interests of all . I t is evident that children reared in such afamily will receive a very different train ing from ours and willgrow up with a poin t of view radically differen t from thatwhich the West gives i ts youth . In such a family there willbe relatively l i ttle ind ividual responsibil i ty for any but thehead of the house , relatively l i ttle train ing in independenceand in i t iative . On the other hand , there wil l be equally sl ightdevelopmen t of the coarser and more selfish aspect of ind ividualism which is perhaps the fundamen tal danger of ourWesterncul ture . The Indian individual is lost in the family and thefeeling of sel f and of selfish interests and rights gets but scan tnourishmen t . And in a sense the whole o f Indian society , ofInd ian history , of Indian philosophy and religion , is a reflectionof this aspect of the Indian family .

The Indian ideal is that the father should have no will savethe welfare of the fam i ly and that all the other mem bers shouldhave no will as opposed to his . And the fam i ly is a un i t whichno t on ly is prior to i ts mem bers , but which includes within itself the dead as well as the l iving . In fact the first duty of thel iving is to be faithful to the dead . A belief has been handeddown in the Indian fam i ly which had its origin long before theAryans en tered India a bel ief , nam ely , that the fathers whohave gone before are in som e way and to som e exten t dependen tstil l on the care of their descendan ts . With this belief has com ethe custom of making s imple offerings at regular tim es to thesouls of the departed , a cerem ony known as shraddha and t e

garded as on e of the chief of all religious duties . On ly a maledescendan t can offer the shraddha ri tes ; hence the im portanceof the survival of the family in the male l ine ; and hence also theprime duty of every man to marry and have a son . A son is adebt which each m an owes his ancestors ; and so im portant isthe fulfi l lm en t of this duty that m arriage can no t be left to thecaprice of the ind ividual , but is a family affair , which the headof the house must arrange and in which the prospective brideand bridegroom have only to submit . In India marriage hasnothing to do with fall ing in love , nothing to do with m utualpassion and ind ividual choice and romantic sentim en t . Marriage is a rel igious duty and a rel igious sacrament , and i ts aim

1 2 8



sl ight book- learning . In the deeper things and the morepractical things of l ife they are indeed far from “ uneducated

,

"

yet of the larger interests of the world they know but li ttle andare il l - adapted to be in tellectual compan ions for their husbandsor to guide the men tal developmen t of their children .

This narrow and shut- in l i fe has i ts beauties and i ts rewards .

Within her home the wom an has her own power and her univ ersal respect . On the preceding page I said that in theory awoman is always subj ect to some male member of the family .

This is the theory ; but in practice the wife or the mother of thehead of the house (or karta) has as m uch authority in domestic matters as he . This is true even if she happens to be arwi “ I

as the mother of the karta of course , always is . She mayconsult her son (or husband) If sh e l ikes , but there is no ruleabout i t . And her authority she deserves and earns by constantdev otion to the physical and spiritual in terests of the family .

She superintends i f she does no t actually do all the cooking ,and her l ife is one of strenuous activi ty and sel f- den ial . I f sheis the widowed mother of the karta , she l ives upon the coarsestofm eals and wears the commonest of raim ent . She works frommorn ing to night . She fasts twice or thrice a month and keepsvigils for securing the blessings of the gods toward her children ,and , to make assurance doubly sure , commands her daughtersand daughters- in - law to do the same . I t is her pride toen force puri ty and clean l iness with the utmost rigor . Shebathes and changes her clothes half a dozen times a day .

The house is washed many times a day , and the cookingutensi ls undergo the pangs of constan t friction . And theother members of the family must follow her lead in thisrespect .” 1

Perhaps nowhere in the world is there more profound reverence for the mother than in India . Here as elsewhere selfrenunciation brings i ts unsought rewards , and the meek inheri tthe earth . This high reverence paid to her is based on herdevotion to her husband , a devotion which Hindu societyinsists shal l be so complete that i f the husband dies the wifemust never even think of marrying again .

“ Let her follow the ways and rules of Brahm acharis, says

W. J .Wi lk ins, Modern Hinduism (London , Unwin , p . 2 4 .

130

THE H INDU DHARMA

Manu of. the widow , improving her soul and her knowledge bythe way of study and service of the elders , in place of the lostway of service of her husband and children . Let her triumphover her body and walk in the path of puri ty . Un to heav enshall sh e go to j oin her partner- soul i f she be thus faithful to hismemory and do deeds of good during the rest of her physicall i fe .

” 1 Marriage is for etern i ty in India , and in the bel ief ofmany a Hindu a faithful and loving husband and wife are reun i ted in marriage not on ly in the heaven that follows this l i fe ,but in the earthly reincarnation which shall for them followheaven . Before the English came the Hindu widow used toim m olate herself upon her husband ’s funeral pyre thus com

ple ting in a last glorious act of utter abnegation a l ife that hadbeen one long self- surrender. English law put a st0p to this custom in 182 9, but the result has been the turning of the rest ofthe widow ’s l i fe into a prolonged burning of sel f . The posi t ionand l ife of the Indian widow varies , of course , with the personali ty of the woman and with the family in which her lot is cast .From writers l ike Dubois one would judge that she is always anobj ect of heartless persecution , a sad and unwill ing drudge ;while S ister Niv edita and her school would have one supposethat the Hindu widow is ever loved and fondly cared for andthat sh e becomes a nun given over to good works , which springspontaneously from her sorrow- crowned character . Both viewsare doubtless true in their l imited way , and neither should beaccepted without modification from the other . Certain ly thewidow ’s lot is a sad one at best ; and stem Hindu theory b el leves that i t should be sad , that for the widow sadness is betterthan j oy . And doubtless those widows who acquiesce in thisj udgm en t and give themselves up wil lingly to a l ife of uttersel f- abnegation and service shine at the e nd as gold purifiedby fire . As the recen t quotation from Wilkins shows , the widowed mother of the head of the house has a posi tion not on ly ofrespect and affection , but of authority and power. Youngerwidows , of course , have no such authority , but they have nearlyas much work , and if the service be not will ing much of i t mustbe performed none the less , and for the young woman who has

1 v , 158—60. Q uoted by Bhagavan Das, The Laws of Mona (Be nare s,p . 2 1 2 .

1 31


no ambition to be a martyr or a nun the fate ofwidowhood inIndia is very hard indeed .

On the whole , the Indian home is a very narrow and l imitedplace , but i t may be a very sweet and holy place as well ; and i thas produced a type ofwoman who knows how to love and howto suffer and be faithful and lose hersel f in those sh e loves : atype that has great l imitations , but which is not without acertain lofty beauty , even though at the antipodes from thatof the modern mili tan t suffragette .The family relations within the Indian home are often verysweet . The children are common ly idol ized and in their earl ieryears allowed to have very nearly their own way .

“ Spoiledchildren are alm ost the rule . M iss Munson tells of a boy ofeight , chasing his mother and beating her very severely with astick because sh e was late in preparing his dinner. And sh e

adds : “On the whole I cannot imagine any chi ldren less controlled than those of India . After the children are grown ,

however , they show an attractive reverence and duti fulness to theparents unusual in the West . To marry against the parents ’

command , to resen t physical pun ishm en t , even though thereceiver far exceed the giver in size , or to grum ble against theburden of an aged and childish parent , would be , I should say ,

quite foreign to the East Indian .

” 1

The afl e ction of the Indian child oryouth , moreover , ex tendsin very real strength not on ly to his parents , but to his grandparen ts as well

,and the relation between distant generations

within the household is often beauti ful . De v e ndranath Tagoregives in his Autobiography

” a gl impse o f his old grandmotherand her Hindu piety and his relation to her as a boyMy grandmother was very fond ofme . To me also shewas

all in all during the days ofmy childhood . My sleeping , si tting ,eating , were all at her s ide . Wh enever sh e wen t to Kalighat Iused to accom pany her . I cried bitterly when she wen t on pilgrimages to Jaganath and Brindaban leaving me behind . Shewas a deeply religious woman . Every day sh e used to bathe inthe Ganges very early in the morn ing ; and every day sh e usedto weave garlands of flowers with her own hands for the Shalgram . Sometimes sh e used to take a vow of solar adoration ,

1 Jungle Days (NewYork , Apple ton, p . 1 58.

1 32



days when the conditions sti l l ex isted out of which the Hindusystem developed and which i twas meant to meet

,the l ife

of each male member of the three upper or Aryan casteswassupposed to be divided into four periods , provided , of course ,that one survived to a fairly advanced age . And though not

many Indians to - day complete all the stages of this fourfoldlife , i t is stil l the ideal . In fancy and early childhood are no t included in these four stages , and the b oy

’

s

i

re al l i fe is supposedto begin at the ceremony of in i tiation which marks the e nd ofchildhood , nam ely , the investi ture of the sacred triple cord .

This ceremony has always been regarded as of great im portance , signalizing the introduction of the youth in to a newl i fethe l ife not of the flesh , which as a child he has been l iving , butthe l ife of the spiri t . For this reason members of the threeupper castes , who alone are permitted to wear the sacred triplecord , are known as

“ the twice - born . The cerem ony is performed when the boy is between five and n ine years ofage , 1 andis a very elaborate affair . I t requires some three or four daysfor i ts performance and is done

‘

with the assistance of manyBrahmins , who on all great occasions are present in large numbers and must be cerem on iously fed . A t this time also the boyis usually taught the Gayatri , or invocation to the sun , whichis the un iversal prayer ofHinduism ; or i f he belong to some secthe is given by his guru or religious teacher some secret mantrawhich he must learn and a copy ofwhich he must wear on hisarm or around his ne ck , and which he must never divulge toothers .These man tras are of extreme importance in Hinduism , andthe repetition of them forms the central part ofmost ce re m on

ies . A mantra is a verse,usually taken from the Veda , the mere

repetition of which is supposed to produce supernatural effects .This idea is evidently the survival of very primitive notionsabout magic . Magical formulas , exactly on a par with Hindumantras

,are to be met with in every ancient and every prim i

t ive religion . The odd thing is that this childish superstitionshould have survived in such strength among m e n as intell igentas are many modern Hindus . Most Hindus view the man trasin the old magicalway , while a few especially those under

1 This is th e theo ry . In pract ice it is som e t im e s postponed se v e ral years.

1 34

THE H INDU DHARMA

the influence of the Theosophical Society—seek to justifythe use of man tras by appeal to “modern science . For themantras , i t seems , produce

“ vibrations ” in the ether whichaffect the various sheaths of the soul in various ways . Hencem an tras are ofgreat service in tun ing the Spiri t properly at thetim e of ini tiation and at all the other great turning- points ofl ife .

Once in i tiated , the b oy enters into the first or student stageof the l ife of the twiceborn , and is known as a brahm achari . In

the old days the youthwas now sent away from home to studythe religion and philosophy of h is race with som e learned andsain tly m an in a secluded place , and there he remained til l pasttwen ty , when he returned home to be married to a bride of hisfather ’s choosing . Th is excellen t custom has long since beengiven up for the majori ty , and the practice ofmarrying off theboys while stil l very young has robbed the brahm achari stageo fmost of i ts years and most of i ts significance .Marriage is a very important and sacred sacrament for theHindu

, and l ike every other turning- point of l i fe is regardednot as a civi l but as a religious act . I t also marks the youngman ’s entrance into the second stage of l i fe , that of the

grahastka or householder . His duty nowis to be an honorableand useful m em ber of society , to beget sons to carry on the

Page I 35 ,lines 2 1—2 2 , read grihastha

Page 136, line 8, read grihastha

of h is years . Finally, leaving his wife and all h is possessionsbut a staff and begging- bowl , he should enter the fourth stage ,that of the sannyasi . The ideal for this final stage of l i fe (as anIndian friend of mine puts i t) was that

“ as an old man one

135


days when the conditions sti ll ex isted out ofwhich the Hindusystem developed and which i twas mean t to meet

,the l ife

of each male mem ber of the three upper or Aryan casteswassupposed to be divided into four periods , provided , of course,that one survived to a fairly advanced age . And though not

many Indians to - day complete al l the stages of this fourfoldli fe , i t is stil l the idea l . Infancy and early childhood are no t included in these four stages , and the b oy

’

s

'

re al l i fe is supposedto begin at the ceremony of in i tiation which marks the e nd ofchildhood , namely , the investi ture of the sacred triple cord .

This ceremony has always been regarded as of great importance , signalizing the introduction of the youth in to a newl i fethe life not of the flesh , which as a child he has been l iving , butthe l ife of the spiri t . For this reason members of the threeupper castes , who alone are permitted to wear the sacred triplecord , are known as

“ the twice - born . The cerem ony is performed when the boy is between fiv e and n ine years of age , 1 andis a very elaborate affair . I t requires some three or four daysfor i ts performance and is done

‘

with the assistance of manyBrahmins , who on all great occasions are presen t in large numbers and must be ceremon iously fed . At this time also the boyis usually taught the Gayatri

, or invocation to the sun , whichis the un iversal prayer ofHinduism ; or if he belong to some sect

Sh ould h av e survived in such strength among m e n as intelligentas are many modern Hindus . Most Hindus view the man trasin the old magicalway , while a few especially those under

1 This is th e the ory . In practice it is som e tim e s postponed se v e ral years.

1 34



should spend one ’s last years in meditation , and should wanderat will not as a beggar , but as a revered and welcome guest ,whose presence disseminated goodness and blessing .

”

The third of these stages has to day practically ceased toexist

,and though there are a good many sannyasis in India the

fourth stage is far from forming the regular end of the twiceborn ’s earthly pilgrimage . Hence i t will be seen that the

grahastha or householder’s condition has steadily encroached

upon the others and consti tutes for most twice - born Hindusto - day almost the whole of l ife . But the l ife of the ideal householder is by no means on ly a worldly affair . The faithful Hindu ,to whatev er stage of l ife he belongs , is constan tly rem inded thatevery day and every hour is sacred , and that the purificationand developmen t of the soul is the chief e nd of m an . When heawakes in the morn ing his first thought must be a prayer , andan elaborate ri tual is mapped out for him which , i f carried outcompletely , would leave l i ttle Opportun i ty in his whole day foranything else .

1 Not m any Hindus to - day perform all the ritesrecom m ended ; but all of them are very faithful in observingthe sacred bathings which their religion com m ands , and mostof them offer at least a few of the prayers and pious observanceswhich form so im portan t a part of their sacred Dharma . ToHinduism clean l iness is no t nex t to godliness : i t is a very part ofgodliness . The morn ing bath is a form ofprayer and i t m ust beperform ed no t hastily nor thoughtlessly , but seriously , soberly ,and with the proper prayers and meditations . For the bathshould be spiri tual as well as physical ; the Hindu seeks to beginthe day with a pure body and also a pure soul . In theory , thebath should if possible be performed in the Ganges or som esacred body of water ; i f this be inconv en ien t the domestic basinwill do

,but one ’s m ind should be fixed upon the waters of the

sacred stream . Various prayers and meditations are re com

mended for use before , during , and after the bath , togetherwith the repetition of various divine nam es , reading from theSacred Scripture , breathing exercises , the placing of the fingersin various posi tions , l ibations ofwater , etc . Some of these prayers sound to us extremely formal and some even absurd , while

For a m inute account of th is e ntire program m e se e Dubo is, op. cit. ,

part 11 , chap . WI .1 36

THE HINDU DHARMA

others are petitions of a genuinely moral sort . l A surprisinglylarge num ber of Hindus are faithful to the often i rrationalminutiae

,of this ri tual ; while nearly al l observe , together with

their bath , the recitation of the Gayatri and meditation on themysterious and divine syllable Aum or Om . The Gayatri, as Ihave said , is an invocation to the sun and is the m ost un iv ersaland sacred form o fprayer in India .

2 The following is a translation of i t : “

Aum ,earth , sky , heaven , Aum . Let us med i tate

upon that excellen t v iv ifie r, the Light Divine , which enlightensour understand ing '” This Vedic verse (which every goodHindu should repeat from eight to several hundred tim es a day)is held to contain

,i f rightly in terpreted

,the essence of all

true religion and philosophy . And as the Gayatri is the quintessence of religious philosophy

, so is the syllable AUM thequin tessence of the Gayatri . I t is a sym bol , in short , for al lthat the Hindu believes concerning God and the soul , and assuch the repetition of i t , together with the repetition of theGayatri

,is well adapted to raise his thoughts to the highest

plane and to put h im into the devotional state of mind . Prote stan t Christians may perhaps fail to understand this ; but theCatholic Church has long acted upon the principle that therepetition of certain fam i l iar words may be of assistance to themind in meditating upon them es which , though no t l i terallyexpressed by the words , hav e become closely associated withthem through m any past repetitions . Witness the constan tuse of the Rosary , and the real devotion which i t often is ameans of arousing and sustain ing . There can be no doubt thatthough the Gayatri and the syllable Aum are often repeated byHindus in a purely form al and mechan ical manner , with m anya pious soul they have the same religious value that the Rosaryhas with the good Catholic .After the morn ing bath and m orn ing prayer , there is a longlist of ceremon ies for the Hindu to perform during the rest of

1 For m any sam ple s of the m se e Dubo is, loc . cit.

I t is usual ly sa id as a praye r to the De v a Surya , the sun god , and one

shou ld stand facing the sun while re pe at ing it . Som e , and e spe cially them ore ph ilosophical , do not re gard th e Gayatri as a praye r , but as a form of

m e d itat ion on th e u lt im ate and im pe rsonal Re al ity . Som e , in re pe ating it ,se e k to absorb part of the physical and e the real rad iance that com e s fromthe Lord of Day .

I 37


the day if he has the time and the devotion ; and all but themore lax perform at least the household puja before each meal .And when n ight comes , the day ends with a prayer as i t began .

And l i fe is l ike the day . I t begins with th e ri tes of rel igion atbirth . Each of i ts greater and lesser turn ing- points is sanctifiedby some religious ceremony . And when the m an dies his bodyis religiously burned , and if possible his ashes are thrown in tothe Ganges or some other sacred stream the funeral ceremon ies and offerings to his spiri t being con tinued usually forte n days . The last act in his drama is in a sense an endless onefor it is the shraddha offering , which his son begins for his sp ecialbenefit two or three weeks after his death , and which is continued for him and for al l the dead of the fam i ly at regularintervals as long as the family is represen ted by a male desce ndan t upon earth . These shraddha rites consist chiefly in theoffering of rice - balls to the dead , with the repetition of the suitable man tras

,the ceremony ending , asmost religious ceremon ies

e nd in Ind ia , with the feeding o fBrahmins . The conception isthat the funeral ri tes will h e lp the departed onward from theghost world (pre ta loka) to the heaven of the fathers (pitri loka)while the rice - balls and offerings of the shraddha ceremonywill develop and support h im there and acquire meri t which hemay use in his further progress . Very evidently we have herethe rem ains o f at least two quite d ifferen t concepts , the animistic idea of the ghost which must be fed , and the large , moralconception of transm igration . The form er of these goes backto extrem ely prim i tive tim es , and is quite out of keeping withthe more philosophic Hindu conceptions which are manythousand years younger than i t . And in this respect shraddhais very properly Hindu ; for the ritual as well as the creed of

Hinduism includes all manner of contradictory elem en ts , theprimitive , an im istic , and m agical existing alongside of elemen tsful l of spiri tual symbolism . And so the whole of the Hindu ’sl i fe is punctuated with nonsense or with philosophy , accordingas he takes i t . The spiri tual m an , by m aking the m ost of whathe finds , and reading into i t a good deal of symbolism (oftenjustified by good taste rather than by history) , is able to getfrom the religious observances of the Hindu Dharm a muchgenuinely religious nourishmen t for th e spiri tual l ife ; while the

1 38


CHAPTER VI I I

TEACHERS, PRIESTS , AND HOLY MEN

NE ’S Opinion of the value of Hindu education will dependlargely on one ’s notions of the nature o f education in ge n

eral . As to book- learning , there is certainly l ittle enough Of i tin India . Yet fortunately there stil l rem ains a goodly share Ofthat train ing and culture through exam ple and tradition which ,in the ancient world at any rate , often m ade cultured m e n o f

the i ll iterate . The Indian child in a conservative and piousHindu fam i ly absorbs , with his mother

’s milk and with the airhe breathes , the ancient custom s of his country , i ts ideals andi ts m oral practices and religious views . He is brought up in anatm osphere ofworship and faith and Of dign ified and courteousmanners ; and courtesy , faith , and worship thus become hissecond nature . Even Of philosophy he acquires an elem entaryknowledge

,quite as a m atter of course .

1 Naturally everythinghere depends on fam i ly custom s and local trad i tions ; andam ong the lower castes , where Hinduism is at i ts weakest andi ts worst , the training of the children is correspondingly negle cted ,

and the effect Of example and influence m ay be pos itiv e ly harm ful .Of explicit rel igious teaching there is less than one wouldperhaps expect , and am ong the lower classes , in fact , hard lyany . The m ore careful Brahmin fathers of the Old school teachtheir sons a little Sanskrit , and m any give their boys a som ewhat careful rel igious education . The priest com es regularlyto the house , and has the boys com m i t to m em ory certainpassages from some of the Sacred Books , such as the Mahabharata , and also teaches them to perform certain ceremon ies .Som e fathers send their sons to Sanskri t schools . Theseschools are as a rule sim ply small and inform al classes held

1 Dr. Taraporewalla , of th e Ce ntral H indu Col le ge , e stim ate s that pe rhaps te n p e r ce nt of the H indus unde rstand som ething of the philosophy OfH indu ism .

140

TEACHERS, PRIESTS, AND HOLY MEN

in som e m onastery by som e learned m onk . In recent years,

however , a few large schools , for boarders as well as dayscholars , have been started by Hindu reform ers , in which theboys receive a good m odern education with Sanskrit and rel i

g ioUs instruction as optional or required subj ects . Most fathersbelonging to the lower classes , and even the m ajority of thetwice b orn , do no t take the trouble to send their sons to rel i

g ious schools , and bring them up quite ignorant Of Sanskrit .Many Brahm in fathers who know no Sanskrit them selves arecareful to teach their sons a few Sanskrit prayers (including ofcourse the Gayatri) , and train them to repeat these twice a day.

But in th e m ajority of cases the son is never taught the m eaningOf these prayers , which therefore rem ain to h im , to the e nd ofhis days , hardly m ore than un intell igible syllables with a pioussound , in spite ofwhich he continues to repeat them scrupu

lously , as his father did before h im . The great m ajority Of

Hindu fathers , i f we count in the lower classes , do no t teachtheir children even these few Sanskrit prayers . A very large

proportion1of Hindu children thus grow up without any sys

-o

“M 0 ‘M‘V V W w—“wm J . M y . . uv w ..

tem at1c and expl ic1t rel ig ious teachingwhatever . Incidentally ,OfEm a

-

trypick up m ore Or less from th e conversation and

the exam ple Of those around them . They see their father orgrandfather do puja for the whole fam i ly in the hom e and theywatch all the m em bers of the household bow before the shrine ,and by the unescapable force of im i tation they are constrainedto fol low their exam ple . They see people going to the tem plesand they m ay wander in themselves and watch them doingpuja there , and again they m ay follow the exam ple . But theyare no t m ade to go to the tem ples , nor taught how to worship .

I f they learn to read their own language they will probablysom etim es dip into the Gita or into Tulsi Das ’s Ram ayana ,the favorite rel igious books Of India ; and even i f they cannotread they will inevitably hear the story of Ram a and S i ta andlearn from i t the ideals Of patience , endurance , loyal friendship ,and devotion which India loves . Then occasionally—veryoccasionally strol l ing preachers com e to the village or stopon the city street , and read from the books men tioned , or from

1 A prom ine nt and le arned pundit of m y acquaintance place s th e figureat roughly nine ty- nine p e r ce nt .

1 4 1


one Of the Puranas .'

And of course it is im possible to liveam ong Hindus and not learn something Of Shiva , Vishnu , andthe other gods . Thus what one m ight cal l a working knowledgeo f the Hindu religion is appropriated and assim i lated by ev enthe ignorant , though as a m atter of course i t is seldom thebest Of H induism and Often the worst that is learned in thishaphazard way . One learns to go through certain cerem on ieswithout knowing—without even asking the reason why .

The inner s ign ificance , i f such there be , is thus quite lost . Andinstead Of being taught the finer side of Indian thought , theaverage Hindu

,especially Of the lower classes , usually gets

hold chiefly of a number Of si lly stories and a considerableamount ofharmful superst itions .

That sm all section Of Hindu society which has com e underthe influence ofWestern thought , though freed from sup e rsti

t ions and m ean ingless cerem on ies , is no t m uch better Off so faras rel igious education is concerned than are the ignorant lowerclasses . Most of these educated Hindus have turned away fromthe religion of their fathers without getting anything religiousin i ts place . They teach their children English and chem istryinstead of the truths of the ancient Dharm a and as for prayers,their children say none of them whether in Sanskrit or in anyOther tongue .

1

The child ’s first rel igious instructor is his father, and in m ost

cases instruction ends there . Yet m any careful fathers placetheir children under the guidance Of a guru , or professional reli

g ious teacher ; and many a man and wom an retain the services ofa guru as a kind of father- confessor to the e ndOf l i fe . The gurusOf the past m ust have been avery reverend and noble com panyi f one may judge by the almost un iversal respect which the titleguru stil l carries with i t . The Vedanta Sara describes the idealguru thus

1 N ine out of e v ery te n of the H indus tod aywho are com ing out of th eschools and co l le ge s m ay b e sa id ne v e r , from m orning to night , from we e k towe e k , and from ye ar to year , to trouble the m se lv e s with the thought OfGodor of re l igion.

” “The H indus of th e pre se nt day se e m to b e fast losing the

sp ir itual- m inde dne ss Of the ir fore fathe rs. That m agnifice nt unworldline ss of th e H indu , that h igh appre ciat ion Of th e v alue of l ife , that un iqueexam ple of p lain l iv ing and high think ing , has be com e rare to - day . (He mChandra Sarkar in the Am erican J ournal of Theology, Octobe r ,

142



would not will ingly have m issed out of their l ives .” And theentire district seem s to have been preparedfor Christian i ty m avery real and valuable sense b y the previous labors o f theseHindu teachers .Yet gurus of this finer sort are decided exceptions

, and theinfluence of the class as awhole is rather sl ight , owing to the factthat so m any o f themvisi t their disciples but once a year . On thewhole there can be l ittle doubt that the true guru in India ,is very hard to find ; and that most of the profe ss1onal Brahm in teachers , who supply the young with mantras and giveadv ice on religious m atters , are

“no t in business for their

health ,” but m ake a good l iving off the creduli ty of their flock ,

and in m oral matters are no better than they should be .Govinda Das writes . Puran ic preachers and innum erable sectarian sadhus , bairagis, etc .

“are ”

m ostly reactionaries of a bad

type , gate ring to the passions and prejud ices o f the m ob forthe purpose of exploiting them .

” 2 Another Hindu writes :“ Both the guru and the priest vie with each other in ignorance and conceit . Both are covetous , unprincipled , and up toevery vice , but the guru is m uch m ore revered than his adv e rsary

,owing to the former being a less frequent visi tor , and

the speculative and mysterious nature of h is avocations ."3

In som e sects the guru need no t be a Brahm in ; but the priestmust . Al l priests are Brahm ins , though by no m eans all Brahm ins are priests . Those that go into the priesthood in factstrange as i t m ay seem to us are the least respected m e m

bers of their caste . The nam e Brahm in ” is stil l a word toconj ure with in India , but when coupled with the word“ priest

,

” i t loses much of i ts glory . This at least is true in themore intel l igent circles , while the Indian villager , st i l l sunkdeep 1n superst ition , sometimes regards thepriest as possessedo f m agic and supernatural powers which m ake h im an obj ect ofadm iration and awe . The more able members o f the caste

(especial ly in the cities) go into profess ions where more moneyand greener laurels are to be won than in the priesthood . I t is

Social Christianity in the Orient (NewYork , Macm i l lan , pp . 94and 197 .

2 H i nduism and I ndz'

a, p . x iv .

3 Q uoted from The HinduFam ily in Bengal, byWilkins, op. cit. , p. 30.

1 44


usually the less progressive individuals who are content to gointo the tem p le bus iness . And no t every priest has a tem p le ,though every tem p le has a p r iest and sometimes many . Butthere is p lenty of work to be done outside the tem p les painting the sacred marks of sect and caste upon the foreheads of

the fai thful , giving instruction to them , perform ing the var iousdomestic ceremonies to which reference has been m ade in theprevious chapter , and attending ceremonies where other B rahmin pr iests preside , but where all B rahmins are fed . Many o fthe temple priests hold their office by heredi tary right . Especially is this the case with the larger temples , where a num ber ofpr iests are employed . These temples often are richly endowed ,owning large tracts of land from the income of which the priestsare supported and the expenses of the temple service are defrayed . One of the priests of the Kalighat temple in Calcuttatold m e that at his place of business there were about a dozenhereditary priests , and that they took turns in doing the publ ic

puj a , each one serving two or three days a month , and seeingto the distribution of food to the beggars for every day atthe temple beggars are fed and clothed . Th e rest of h is time ,so far as I could make out , was g iye n ig ' fl part to teachingww fl ‘m h ": v

young mm e n outp fmtch e Tantras , but chiefly to loafing . A zealousWan na -ax . 4 W—aa ew‘h u Am un . a t ”

Hindu whom I met in the Madura tem ple described the fortyhereditary priests of that great shrine as “ ignorant

,glutton

ous, and lazy .

”Th e (Hindu) translators of the Garuda Purana

in their Introduction write thus o f the way in which thepriests use their influence over the people

“Th e after- l i fe consequences of minor sins can be warded off

by appropriate penances . And here is a rich field which theBrahmin priestcraft of India , preying on the gull ibi l i ty of its

votar ies , has exploi ted to its extreme extent . For every sin

there is a penance and also a pilgrimage , with its concomitantresul t in the shape of so much fee to be paid to the Brahm ins .Penances have become a farce in modern India . They can becompounded by the paym ent of amounts ranging from a cowrieshell to thousands of rupees to Brahmins . I t is not that thegifts to a deserving man wash away sin ,

for m odern Hinduismhas done everything in its power to th row in the backg roundthat rational idea , but a gift to a Brahmin , however bad he may

I 4S


be,as the saying goes that no one feeds a docile monkey , but

a kicking cow for the sake of her milk .

In short , the Brahmin pries t has a very bad name in India .

I do no t remember hearing a good word spoken for any of theclass except by priests themselves . In Benares their reputationis exceedingly evil . Indian gentlemen in that ci ty told me thatthe temples were sometimes brothels , and that the priests wereno t only dishonest and corrupt, but not uncommonly misusedthe confidence which Hindu women placed 1n them to deceiveand betray them . In southern India conditions seem to be evenworse than in the north . For in the large southern templeswomen as well as men are employed in the cul t . There are twoclasses of these women nautch girls who dance before thegod , and the wives of the god , girlswho in infancy have beengiven by their parents in marriage to the dei ty . I hardly needadd that both these classes ofwomen are in fact rel igious prostitute s , and that when a girl becomes the wife of a god , thedeity is in fact represented by his faithful priests .l

Fortunately for India , the Brahmin priest is not really re prese ntativ e of her rel igious l i fe . Much more genuinely typical aswel l as much more deeply rel igious is that character isticallyIndian figure , the sannyasi ,2 the

“ renouncer .” For the word isused here to include not only those who having completed thehouseholder stage have entered into the final stage o f the ideall ife , but also all those who from whatever cause and at whatever age have turned their back upon home and renounced thewor ld in order to devote all their energies to the attainment ofwhat they deemed a higher goal .

1 Eve n worse accusations than the se are m ade against th e prie sts in partsof southe rn India . Se e Dubo is , op . cit. , part I I I , chap . IV, e spe cial ly pp .

593-

96.

2 The word sannyasi"is com m only use d with a varie ty of m e an ings ofwh ich the fo l lowing are the m ore im po rtant : ( I )

“ re nounce r ” (its l ite ralm e aning) ; (2 ) one who has e nte re d upo n th e fourth stage of th e ide al l ife ofthe twice - born ; (3) a m e m be r of so m e one of the H indu m onastic orde rs(4) the te rm is som e tim e s l im ite d so as to app ly only to m e m be rs of ce rtainorde rs , e .g . , the m ore strict orde rs founde d by Shankara and by Ram anuja,

or so m e tim e s only th e fo rm e r. Th e word “sadhu” is use d alm ost synony

m ously with sannyasi . Th is word m e ans originally “ good ” or“ re l igious.

"

I t is also so m e tim e s use d to include all “ re nounce rs and is som e tim e s re

stricted to m e an only th e m e m be rs of ce rtain orde rs, such as th e Vaishnavao rde rs or the le ss strict orde rs of Shankara .

1 46



World renunciation is a phenomenon of long standing inIndia and its aim has been twofold : ( I ) to attain by a soli taryli fe and by methods of penance certain magical powers overnature , man , and the gods ; (2 ) to conquer the flesh and pu r i fythe soul . Th e history of the movement shows a parallel gainand loss . For the second of the aims j ust m entioned hassteadily gained in populari ty upon the first , the thought ofmagical power playing ever a smaller part in compar ison withthe aim of freeing the spiri t from the flesh and uniting it withthe divine ; while , on the other hand , under the cloak of the truesannyasi have taken shelter increasing crowds of lazy and irrelig ious beggars who have j umped at the opportunity of l ivingoff the community by assuming the garments of the pious .This factor of laziness formed no part of the ideal as originallyconceived and as practiced for many centuries in India. Th e

sannyasiwas to be inactive , ye s ; but only because activi ty wasconceived as binding the soul to this world . And h is outer inactiv ity covered a very active inner l ife , a life so far removed fromone of selfish laziness that i twas marked at every moment bygenuine renunciation .

Th e sannyasi , as India understands the ideal , should prizethe spiri tual l i fe so highly that everything else seems to him butdross . H is every moment must be given up to systematic selftraining by which all the old ties may be broken and all theworld ’s inverted values be turned upside down again . Hemust give up home and family and friends and possessions andwander out to l ive alone , or in a company of other renouncersl ike himself . He must beg h is meals and so be dependent uponthe charity ofothers for h is very life . He must own nothing bu th is yellow robe , h is staff and bowl , perhaps a few very simpleu tensi ls , a rosary for h is prayers , and one or two symbolic rel igions obj ects co rresponding to the crucifix of Christian monks .Sometimes he will wear in place of the yellow robe only a loincloth

, or sometimes nothing at all for in India nakedness is atoken that one has learned so to despise the body that he hasalmost forgotten its existence . To i t and to all the pleasures ofl i fe he must study indifi e rence . Indifference is one of h is greate st virtues , for i t is the negative side of that posi tive searchingafter God , that real ization of the divine within himself which is

147


h is one great business . Th e ideal se t up for h im is thus expressedin the ancient Scriptures :Let him not wish for death , let him not wish for l ife , let him

wait for the time , as a servant for h is wages . Let him e n

dure harsh language , and let him not insul t any one ; nor relyingon h is body let him make an enem y o f any one . Let him notreturn anger to the angry , let him bless when cu rsed .

Rejoicing in the Supreme SeTf, si tting indifferent , refrainingfrom sensual delights , with his only friend , let himwander here on earth , aiming at l iberation .

” 1

Th e ideal sannyasi , however , though freed from particularties , is in one sense every one

’

s friend , for he sees in al l the OneSelf

,without barrier between , and he feels their sufferings as

h is own . I t is related of Pundi t Bijoy Krishna Goswami , whodied only a few years ago , that to se e any keen hum an sufferingwas , for h im , to have i t directly transferred to h is own sensations. One wintry m orning hewas si tting facing the public roadwhen all of a sudden he seem ed to take ill with a severe fi t ofshivering . His people did not know what i t meant or what todo . A disciple , however , noticed that h is eyes were fixed on adecrepit old beggar seated on the footpath on the other side ofthe public road , whowas shivering in all h is bare l imbs at thetouch of the sharp and frosty morning breeze . He at once tookthe heavy blankets that covered the m aster ’s body , and running out to the street , put them around the old beggar . As soonas thiswas done , the master came back to him self and all hisshivering ceased .

” 2

Let me point out , in pass ing , that this very typical storyillustrates that in which the holy man of India falls short aswell as that in which he excels . Th e Pundi t appears to have fel tthe beggar ’s sufl e ring more keenly thana Ch ristian saint wouldhave done ; and yet i t seem s never to have occurred to him tothrow his blankets over the poor fellow . For aught the storyshows , had i t not been for the disciple

’

s desi re to stop h is m as

ter ’s shivering fit , both master and beggar would have continue d to shiver on indefinitely . Th e truth is the sannyasins asa class have never been characterized by any great eagerness to

1 Laws ofManu, VI , 45, 47 , 48, 49.

3 Bip in Chandra Pal, op. cit. , pp . 56—57 .

148



swe red in a feeble voice : ‘Brother , he who beat me is nowfeeding me .

’ 1

During the Indian Mutiny the British troops sacked a townin which dwelt a sannyasi who for years had maintained thevow of silence . In the madness of battle the Engl ish soldierwho came upon h im did not stop to dis tingu ish between thisinnocent and revered ascetic and the rebellious sepoys

, so

pierced h is heart with the bayonet . As the cold steel enteredhis quivering flesh the old saint broke his si lence of half a l ifetime to say to his murderer ,

“ And thou also art divine .

” 2

In h is training of the soul the sannyasi often makes use ofasceticism . Asceticism is a subj ect upon which the Westernworld , and particularly the Protestant Western world , hasmade up its mind very defini tely , and concerning which i t isready to say the last word , with the glib certainty that usuallyaccompanies “

snap judgments . I f you want to know thevalue of asceticism the modern West wil l tell you that i t is al lfoolishness and i t knows because i t has never tried i t . Th eEast has tried it and i t does not think i t al l fool ishness ; andthere was a time when the West agreed with the East . N0 one

can deny that there is a kind of asceticism wh ich is worse thanfolly

,a self- torture which is madness and sin ; but there are

degrees of del iberate and arbi trary sel f-denial which some of thewisest men of all ages have found ofno li ttle help in the struggleof the spiri t to free i tself from the lesser goods of th is distractingworld . Thiswas a secret known to the Protestant Puri tan noless than to the Catholic monk. As a French wri ter has put i t ,“Who says ascetic says athlete . I t is in this sense that theideal sannyasi makes use of ascetic practices . He would be anathlete of the spiri t , and with this great end in V iew he cuts allthe ties that bind h is progress and del iberately denies himselfand crucifie s the flesh with the affections and lusts.

Th e more earnest sannyasins use other means stil l for attaining the desired end . Some make use of psycho- phys ical methods , known as

“ yoga ,” dev ised these many centuries back for

the purpose of attaining the desi red mental state in which theOne Self is real ized . This “ superconscious state ,

”as they call

1 The Gospel of Ram akrishna, pp . 88—89.

A story quote d in seve ral p laces by Siste r Niv edita from Vivekananda.1 50

TEACHERS , PRIESTS, AND HOLY MEN

it,is known as samadhi , and those who have attained to i t

assure their return that m i t they have perceived that“

1 338?b

andm

object are one and that all mul tipl ici ty 1s i l lusion.

With”

many yogins this trance state is a kind of self- hypnosisa species of indulgence ; with others i t com es spontaneously .

With the more spiri tual i t is a truly rel igious ex perience ; beingin fact the sam e thing as the trances of the m ediaeval Christianmystics . Ramakrishna , who often experienced i t , speaks of i tand i ts attainment thusD ivine Love is the rarest thing in the world . He who can

love God as a devoted wife loves her husband attains to D ivineLove . Pure Love is difficult to acquire . In pure love the wholeheart and soul must be absorbed in God . Then will com e e cstasy . In ecstasy a man remains dumb wi th wonder , outwardbreathing stops entirely , but inward breathing continues ; aswhen aiming a gun , a man remains speechless and withoutbreathing . In D ivine Love one entirely forgets the externalworld with al l i ts charms and attractions ; even one

’

s own bodywhich is so dear to one is easi ly forgotten . In ecstasy , when thebreathing stops , the whole mind remains absolutely fixed uponthe Supreme . All nerve currents run upward with tremendousforce

,and the result is samadhi or God - consciousness .” 1

I t is, of course , only the greater saints the “Param aham

sas or Mahatm ans as the Hindus cal l them who attain tothis supreme experience . But though sainthood is no t common ,even in India , there are a few in almost every generation uponwhom this glorious title is by common consent conferred . MaxMiille r 2 (relying chiefly on Ke shub Chunder Sen) mentions sixcontemporaries ofh is who were commonly regarded in India as“Mahatm ans

”or Param aham sas .

” One of these was , of

course , Ramakrishna , whom I have so often mentioned , andwhose disciples describe the Indian ideal of sainthood in thefollowing words .

“A real Mahatman as described in the Bhagav ad Gita (chapter VI I , verse 19) is one who , having real ized the Absolute ,perceives the D ivine Being in all animate and inanimate obj ects of the universe . H is heart and soul never turn away from

1 Op. a t , pp . 74—75.

1 Ram akrishna; H is Life and Sayings, pp . I 2 , 2 3.

1 51

IND IA AND ITS FA ITHS

God . He lives in God- consciousness , and D ivine quali ties constantly flow through h is soul . He cares neither for fame norpower nor worldly prosperi ty . A true Mahatman has no at

tachm ent to H is body or to sense pleasu res ; He is a living God ;He is absolutely free and H is inner nature is i llumined by theself- effulgent l igh t of D ivine Wisdom and H is heart is overflowing with D ivine Love . H is soul becomes the playgroundof the Almighty , His body and mind become the instrumentof the D ivine Will . And Bhagav an Sri Ramakr ishnawas sucha real Mahatman .

” 1

Another of these recent Mahatm ans was De v e ndranath

Tagore, of whom Mr . Shastri wri tes as follows : “

H is naturewas essentially spiri tual . Communion with the Suprem e wasthe key to h is whole being ; he l ived in that atmosphere ; he sawl i fe from that standpoint ; he drew all his inspi ration of dutyfrom it , and cher ished i t above all earthly possessions . In

spite o fh is real sainthood he never put on the garb or habi t of asadhu or saint . His piety was natural , habi tual , modest . Hehated and shunned all display of saintliness . His pietywas bestmanifested in an habitual sense of D ivine presence , in strictmoral integri ty , and in the punctual perform ance of even theminutest duties of domestic and social l i fe . Though shunningmendicancy , hewas not less devoted to his religious exercisesthan any m endicant . Habitual communion wi th Godwas hisdaily practice . Every morning h is first duty was to chant passages from the Vedas and Upanishads and to give some time inthanksgiving and prayer . He would spend days and months onhill tops and other soli tary places in earnest med itation , ei thercomm uning with the Supreme Spiri t or feeding his spiri tualnature wi th the study of the teachings of great spiri tualmasters.

”

Though De v e ndranath Tagore had h is trials and at tim eswas subject to sharp cri ticism from form er friends for doingwhat seemed to him h is duty , and a painful duty i t sometim eswas, the sweetness and light which seem to have beenhis abiding characteristic did not desert him .

“ He never descended to the level of his cri tics ormaligners ; but calm ly boreall and viewed all questions from a spiri tual standpoint

1 The Gospel of Ram akrishna , pp . 5—6.

I 52



tion for him who would attain to the highest goal . 1 In short ,the sannyasi must l ive not only the simple but also the stre nuous l i fe. Th e yellow robe i f worn worthily is no garb for thelazy man .

“He who has not first renounced evil ways , nor is subdued ,nor tranqui l , and whose mind is no t at rest , even by knowledgehe can never obtain the Self.” 2 “

Nor is the Atman [the Sel f]obtained by the strengthless , norwi thou t earnestness and rightmeditation . But i f a wise man strives after i t by these means ,then h is self enters the home of Brahman .

” 3

There are not many sannyasins to- day who have attained tothe ancient ideal ; bu t there are many more than the superficialtourist would suppose who strive after the goal and to someextent approximate i t . From Swami Dayanand

’

s Autob iography ” one gets a picture of what one might call the underground religious l i fe of India fifty years ago , a religious l i fewhich , though i t has lost in extent and intensi ty since h is time ,is sti l l a large factor in the India of to - day . In that book we se esannyasins of the old type hurrying from one end of India tothe other in order to visi t some sacred spot or hear the words ofsome famous teacher ; sannyasins on the mountains , sannyasinsin the jungle , sannyasinswandering on the banks of the Ganges,reading the Vedas and Puranas , practicing austeri ties, arguingwith each other over the teachings of the sages and the meaningof the scriptures , or seeking in soli tude to real ize the tru th of

their own inherent divin i ty .

Nearly all sannyasins to-day belong to some of the monasticorders . Of these there are many , the most important of whichwere founded by Shankara , or by Ram anuja or one of his fol

1 One should , howeve r, note that the idea of antinom ianism has m e t withconside rable acce ptance in India and is taught in som e of th e sacre d books.

The m anwho knows Brah m an ne ed not trouble h im se lf with m oral que stions, be ing be yond th e m .

“The gre at unborn Se lf ,” says the Brihadara

nyaka Up anishad , doe s not be com e greate r by good works nor sm alle r byevi l works.

”

(Iv , 4 ,“According to hum an knowle dge ,” says the Ma

hanirvana Tantra , “th e world appe ars to b e both pure and im pure , but

wh e n Brahm an- knowle dge has be e n acquire d the re is no distinction be twe e npure and im pure . For h im who knows that Brahm an is in all th ings ande te rnal , what is th e re that can b e im pure?” (IV, 2 2

1 Katha Upanishad , 1 , 11 , 2 4.

1 Mundakya Upanishad , 111 , 11 , 4 .

1 54

TEACHERS PRIESTS, AND HOLY MEN

lowers. Most of these orders , even those founded by Shankara ,are sectarian , the Shankara ones usually recogn iz ing Shivaas the chief manifestation of the impersonal Absolute , whilethose deriving from Ram anuja pay their devotion to Vishnu inone of his incarnations . These sannyasi orders as a rule requiretheir mem bers to take five vows which have been handed downthrough centuries of tradi tion as characteristic of the yellowrobe . Th e first of these is the vow of ahim sa or harm lessness .

I t corresponds to the Sixth Commandment of the Mosaic code ,but is of much wider extent , including within its shelter everyform of sentient li fe . Th e Hindu monk m ust not kill; for alll iving beings are bound together in the chain of transm igration and by the common aim of l iberation ; and the feel ing ofuniversal sympathy which the sannyasi seeks to cul tivatemakes him regard the taking of animal l i fe as almost e quiv alent to the murder o f a li ttle brother. For this reason also thesannyasi must not make use of animal food ; to do so wouldseem to him a form of cannibalism . Th e second v owof thesannyasi is against lying , the th i rd against steal ing , the fourthagainst unchasti ty (the sannyasi must lead the cel ibate l i fe) ,while the fifth v owpledges him to l iberal i ty .

1

I made a point , while in Benares , of Visi ting several monaste rie s of these Hindu orders . In plan they resem ble to someextent the monasteries of Christian Europe

,though as a rule

they are much simpler and rather less beauti ful . One of thefiner examples that I visi tedwas said to be over four hundredyears old , andwas hidden away behind two sm all Shiva temples , and approached by a narrow lane and a fl igh t of steps.

After taking various turns one at last goes through a gatewayand finds one ’s self in a square court , resembling an I talian cloister . In the center of the court stands a large cassia tree , severalbanana trees , and a small platform with the base of a l ingam , aNandi bull , and a few fresh flowers . A number of small roomsopen out of the cloister , but most of the cells o f the sannyasinsare on the second and third floors

,and open upon galleries

looking down into the court . I went into a number of theserooms and found them simple to the verge ofbarrenness : the

1 The first four of th e se vows (aswe shall se e late r) are share d by theJam a and the Buddh ist. In the fifth v owthe thre e re l igions difl er.

I SS


bed a panther ’s skin or straw mat lying on the cement floor,a

bulge in the cement serv ing for pillow , a few Sanskr i t books

( two or three) , and nothing more .Th e sannyasins in this monastery are Sanskr i t scholars

,and

the abbot of another monastery which I Visi ted the same morning is a Very learned , as well as pious , man ; and both he and hisj uniors make use of their learning in teaching Sanskr i t to aclass of boys and expounding the Vedanta philosophy to olderstudents . These monks belonged to one o f the Shankara orders ,but I found much the same condi tion in a monastery of Ramanand

’

s order , where the monks not only read from the Gita ,the Brahma Sutras , and the Commentaries of Ram anuja , butteach a class of l i ttle boys . Th e older of these sannyasins had arather fine face and a decidedly pleasing personal i ty . He toldm e he had belonged to the order about ten years , and hadj oined it because he wanted to die in Benares. He had left h iswi fe in care of a grown -up son , and had g iven him plenty ofland , so fel t no scruple in renouncing the li fe of the householder .He fel t sure thiswas h is last incarnation , anda t death h e e xp e cte d to go direct to the h e av en '

ofRama _a_ll_ etern i ty . ForRama

,he said ,was the One God , andwas the same as the God

of the Moslems and the God of the Ch ristians Vishnu ,Shiva

,etc . ,

being merely other nam es for the One Dei ty .

A less scholarly , but in some respects a more interesting ,group of m onks I came upon in a Shankara monastery , which Iwas fortunate enough to visi t in company with the ReverendJ . J . Johnson one of the most learned men in India , whoseknowledge of Sanskr i t and of Indian thought has won for himfrom all the Hindus of the Uni ted Provinces the ti tle Pundi tJohnson . Therewas no one in the court of the monastery aswe entered , and no one in the small Shiva temple that occupiedthe center o f i t no one , that is , save the fai thful stone Nandi ,kneeling in eternal contemplation and reverence before thel ingam of the “ Great God .

” Soon,however , one of the sannya

sins climbed the fl ight of steps and made h is appearance in thecourt . He was dressed in the usual costume of Shankara ’smonastic orders a yellow cloth or skirt tied around thewaist and extending to the knees , another yellow cloth akind of toga thrown over the shoulder and extending to the

1 56



seized the bowl (he had only one other) and dashed i t upon thestone platform of the temple . “ See !” he said ; its form isgone

,and with that i ts name i t is no more a bowl , but a

thousand worthless pieces . So the form of the Great Moguls isgone and their name is going . Name and form pass, but theEternal abides .

” And so saying our friend clim bed th e stairs toh is cel l to meditate on h is mantra .

Another sannyasi nowreturned from the ghats a pleasantold man wi th a good face all wrinkled from smiling . He said hewas sixty years old and a great - grandfather. Mr . Johnson andhe soon got into a discussion on the Vedanta philosophy , and inthe midst of i t a voice was heard from the upper gallery takingpart in the conversation . I t was our first friendwhowas in h isroom meditating on his mantra . Presently he rushed downstairs, this time dressed only in h is loin - cloth

,eager to de

fend the doctrine ofMaya against Mr . Johnson ’s attacks , andh is excited defense of the i llusory nature of everyth ing fini tecontinued till two more monks entered the court , whereupon hewithdrew again to h is cell and his mantra .

Th e two newcomers were unusually simple men and wereinduced to tel l us (contrary to the custom ofmost sannyasins)why they had taken up the rel igious l i fe . One of them said hehad become a sannyasi because his wifewas dead and he hadno children andwas lonesome . Th e other had tu rned monk b ecause h is wifewas a scold . His brother had died and he hadtaken h is brother ’s child home to l ive , whereupon his wife gotparticularly angry and refused to cook . At last th ings came tosuch a pass that he said to her : “Very well ; then I will go toBenares and enter the rel igious l i fe !” To which the lady re

sponded that if he fel t that way about i t he had better go ; sohe went . I t seems probable that if other sannyasins would talkas freely we should find that most of them enter the rel igiousl i fe for equally sensible reasons. Th e truth is , many of theseHindu monasteries are Homes for the Aged . They fil l exactlythe same place in the Hindu economy which wi th us is held byour Homes for Old Men .

While our conversation with these two monkswas in progressour fi rst friend appeared again , th is time fully dressed in h isyellow robes, all of them carefully adjusted , his entire forehead

1 58

TEACHERS , PRIESTS, AND HOLY MEN

and the-upper part of h is cheeks religiously streaked with the

gray m arks of Shiva , made from the ashes o f the sacred cowdung , and armed to the teeth with staff and bowl in short ,very obviously dressed in h is best and with an air that showedhe regarded h is appearance as , on the whole , rather natty . Hewas on h is way out to pay his one daily call and beg h is onedai ly meal ; in short , hewas going out to dinner !Th e majori ty of the sannyasins within the various recogn ized

and better orders are at least harmless old men , who , thoughnot very useful to society , l ive simple and retired l ives ; whilesom e of them are useful as teachers and as real scholars andthinkers . But outside of these orders are hundreds of thousandso f self- sty led holy men who have taken up holiness as a business, and l ive on the reputation established in p revious centuries by genuine renouncers .” Th e external appearance and thepublic bearing of their prototype is carefully mim icked by theseself- sty led

“ sadhus ” these “ good men h is simple fare isostentatiously simplified , and h is costume and accoutrementsimitated and exaggerated . Th e old sannyasi let h is hair growlong and become m atted because he had no tim e to think of hisappearance . H is spurious imi tator has no time to think ofanything else , and wears on his head mingled with h is hair hugemasses o f matted rope . According to Govinda Das ,

“Th e

number of sadhus returned by the census of 190 1 is fifty - twolakhs fellow who is too worthless to be

,a

l'

v

'

il’

dhtiés'

and forthwith dons theochre- colored robe , thus becoming m akta free to l ivein luxury and vice at the expense of his better but m ore cre dulous fellow ci tizens .

” 1

These religious beggars and pseudo - ascetics are for the tourist the m ost patent and blatant fact in Hinduism . Th e showplaces of India are full of them . I remem ber one in Benareswho spends h is time running about the ghats in search of tourists, carrying a long trumpet which he sounds before h im (as

was the custom wi th his spiri tual relatives in Jerusalem nineteen hundred years ago) to attract attention , and dogging thesteps of every European he can find til l the usual bakshe esh isforthcoming . A few years ago a genuine ascetic died a really

1 0p. cit. , p . 1 78.

I S9

INDIA AND ITS FA ITHS

good man I am told who for years had spent many hours ofeach day on the Benares ghats stretched upon a bed of spikes .In imi tation of h is example , bu t with a very different spi ri t , aprofessional holy man , who is not in business for h is health ,has had a bed of spikes made and s i ts upon i t often enoughto make a l iving . I went to se e him twice—h is headquartersis above the Pachganga Ghat near the m osque o f Aurungzeband both tim es I had to send for him to come and sit down

on h is spikes ; for which he knew perfectly well he would re

ce iv e a consideration .

This extreme com m ercializing of holiness is , of course , inpart a modern phenomenon ; but i t had its beginnings centuriesback ; and thoughtful Hindus have long realized that many oftheir “ holy men laid an extreme em phasis on external ob se rvance s and showy asceticism , thus keeping the outside of theplatter clean and doing nothing toward that training and developm e nt of their souls which alone was worthy of the reverencethey sought to win . Th e Garuda Purana i tself - which inother sections values certain external observances so highlyhas nothing but contem pt for those ascetics (of whom alreadyin its day there seem to have been great numbers) who seekto im press the public by their appearance , and regard spiri tual salvation as something to be won by purely externalm ethods . Th e passage (which is too good to leave unquoted)reads l ike a page from a modern missionary indictment o fHinduism :

“Th e fools desire to obtain the Invisible by single meals,

fasts, and other restraints, and by the em aciation of the body.

Th e hypocri tes putting on appearances , andwearing quanti tieso f matted hair and using antelope skins , wander about anddeceive the people . Donkeys walk am ong people qui te nakedand unasham ed . Are these free from attachm ent? I fmen areto b e l iberated by earth , ashes , and dust , does the dog whichalways l ives among earth and ashes becom e l iberated? Th e

jackals, rats , deer , and other beasts which feed upon grass,leaves , andwater , and always l ive in forests do these becomeascetics? Th e crocodiles and fish which from bi rth to deathdwell in the waters of the Ganges do these become Yogins? 1

1 x vr, 61 , 62 , 65—68.

160


INDIA AND I TS FAITHS

go through the prescribed actions , but with no real bel ief intheir efficacy , and merely as tradi tional or pleasant or sociallyprofi table performances .

Perhaps the saddest part of this whole process of degeneration is to be found not in

'

the loss of bel ief , not in the meaningless forms

,not even in the immorali ties and Obsceni ties con

ne cted with some of the sects , but in the hypocrisy and shaminevitably bred when an orthodox but unspi r i tual conservatism meets an increasing but cowardly intel l igence . There arethousands ofkeen -witted and well - informed Brahmins throughout Indiawho se e as clearly as any ofus the absurdities of thepopular idol puja and the harm ful and im moral influence ofmany of the common ri tes and supersti tions , who not merelyrefrain from opposing these things , bu t take active part inthem , sometim es because they find i t profitable to do so ,

moreoften because they wish to avoid the social inconvenience thatwould follow a sincere declaration of thei r real views . I met oneo f these men at the great Shiva procession in Madura , withforehead profusely daubed wi th sacred sign s in the sacred cowdung

,and asked him what he thought of the performance . At

first he gave me an elaborate defense of Hindu idolatry andcult ; but when I pressed him he admitted that he consideredthe whole thing not only si l ly but harm ful . And when I askedwhy , then , he participated in i t , he said frankly i twas becausehe feared social disapproval i f he gave i t up . One wondershow these men , any more than the augurs of Cicero

’s time,

can look each other in the face without laughing .

But i t would be unfair to j udge Hinduism by its external anddegraded forms 1 form s which those who believe most profoundly in the essence ofHinduism are the first to deplore . To

gain an understanding of Christianity we should hardly send

1 Th is is done not uncom m only by those who have se e n the unfortunatere sults of th e atte m pts of ce rtain swam is to disse m inate a pseudo - H induism

or a ce rtain part of H induism in the We st , and who fe e l m ove d toshow up a side of H induism wh ich th e swam is’ discip le s are not like ly toh e ar m e nt ione d . An e x am p le of th is rath e r unjust p re se ntation ofH induismin orde r to p rote ct foo l ish Am e rican wom e n from its worst side s is to b efound in E l izabe th A . Re e d ’s re ce nt book H induism in Europe and Am e rica

(NewYork , G. P . Putnam ’

s Sons, No doubt ne arly al l the asse rtionsin the book are true , ye t as a p re se ntation of H induism it is alm ost asm isle ading as is that of the swam is the m se lve s.

162

TEACHERS, PRIESTS , AND HOLY MEN

one to th e degenerate monasteries of South America nor tothe skeptics of m odern Germany . And to understand Hinduism ,

no t as i t is practiced by the m ajori ty , but as i t is conceivedand loved by its best representatives , we m ust consider

its more ideal aspect . A bird ’s- eye V iew , so to speak,of this

more ideal side of Hinduism the H induism which the inte lligent Hinduwishes to defend may therefore serve as a sui table close to this chapter .And in no religion is a bird ’s - eye V iew more im portant or

more difficul t . Here more than anywhere else in the wholesphere of historical religions are we in danger of missing theforest for the trees . To se e what Hinduism really means , whatwith all i ts strange forms and contradictory beliefs i t really isabout

,we must get hold of its central concept and cling firmly

to that as our guide and interpreter . This central concept ofHinduism ,

un less I am greatly mistaken , is the soul. I t isaround this that al l i ts fantastic forms and varied bel iefs , itsprofound philosophies and its blind supersti tions , center , andfrom it alone that they can be grasped as a whole and understood . If, putting aside for a time our cri ticisms , we lookback with a sympathetic and understanding mind at Hinduism as awhole from this point ofView , we shall bear away wi thus a general impression which wil l enable us to comprehendto some extent the atti tude and feel ing of the devout Hindutoward h is venerable rel igion . Sharing his bel iefs , then , for themoment , we shall se e in Hinduism a system revealed to theRishis , and by the Rishis to the race , before the dawn of history ; a system which is nothing less than the universalDharm a ,

the Way of Life for all sentient beings . We shall se e the OneAbsolute Spiri t becoming many , as the fire sends forth sparks ,orasmists arise from the sea . Thus at a mill ion mill ion pointsSpiri t invades matter , which itself in fact is bu t a manifestationof the Eternal Spiri t . These various offshoots o f th e D ivine ,these eternal souls , we shall se e (i f for the time we becomegood Hindus) , through varied and sinuous courses ever strivingbackward toward their source , ever seeking God who is theirhome . Up from the lowest forms of l i fe , through animal human , and divine , with varying degrees of ignorance and inS1gh t ,they make their way , but ever with the one conscious aim .

163


Among the animal forms this aim is qui te inarticulate . Withman it becomes more defini te ; bu t with him it assumes manyforms in the different stages of his development . Some worship the D ivine disguised and hidden in idols of wood andstone ; some image I t as an invisible but anthropomorphic Being above the clouds ; a few understand that the E ternal is inour hearts, closer than breath ing and nearer than hands andfeet , and realize that there are not many separate selves butonly one Self , and that in Him all beings , human , animal , anddivine , are eternally united . And in the end all must and allshall learn this lesson .

Th e very structure of human society , in so far as i t embodiesthe ideal of the Rishis as laid down in the ancient Shastras ,reflects this one great purpose the education of the soul . Allare brothers, but some are younger and some older . All havework to do , bu t the work of each is adapted to his abili ty . Th e

younger brothers in the World ’s great family , the lowerclasses in the World ’s great school have the duties of lowlyservice , corresponding to their undeveloped natures . Abovethese stand the souls whose past experience in previous incarnations enables them to undertake the larger responsibil i ties ofthe community . And in the highest human class are those whothrough hundreds of fai thful l ives have purified their souls byknowledge and devotion , and have thus attained to deeperinsight and to greater abil i ty to lead their fel lows in the li fe ofthe spiri t .And the l ife of the individual in its turn , as seen by the de

v out Hindu , should be and may b e — and if i t follow theDharma i t must be - a microcosm of society and of the Universe , and embody the same great purpose as they . I ts firststage should be devoted to mastering the knowledge which isthe spiri tual heri tage of the race

, its second to productive se rvice , its third to wise and unselfish guidance of the younger gene ration , while in his last few years the old man wanders out byhimself , alone with God , to complete his l iberation from theflesh , and to realize to the ful l h is essential uni ty with the D ivine . Th e ideal of the sannyasi is thus the crown ofHindu life .

His departure from home to the homeless state is the soul ’sDeclaration of Independence . And throughout the centuries

164


CHAPTER IX

REFORM MOVEMENTS WITHIN H INDUI SM

VER since the West came to India i t has been reforming i t .Th e missionaries have been reforming its religion and the

Bri tish Government its poli tics, and both have been seeking inmore or less direct fashion to reform its social custom s . But i twould be unfair to India to suppose (and I suspect the supposition is notuncommon) that in all this reforming m ovement Indiai tself is qui te passive and simply wai ts for others to Operateupon i t l ike a man in the dentist ’s chair or a patient underether . There have always been native reformers in India , menwho sawthe need of religious and social changes andwho havesought to start new movements in the right di rection . BeforeIndia ’s contact wi th the West these movements were , indeed ,pr im ari ly religious (though of course religious reforms ofteninvolve social ones) but since Western education and ideals gota footing in the land both religious and social reform movements am ong the Indians have not been uncommon . In thelast few years especially , non - sectarian efforts for educationaland chari table purposes and for the reform of social abuseshave been taken up by a goodly number of educated Indians ;and a word or two about some typical movements of this sortshould be said before we go on to consider the more purelyrel igious reforms that have sprung up within Hinduism .

Th e fact that most of these efforts at social reform have originated only in the last few years is i tself significant . For therecan be li ttle doubt that the desire for the unselfish service ofothers which is now spreading am ong the Indians came chiefly ,though indi rectly , from Ch r istiani ty and from the ex am ple ofChristian missionaries . Th e desire to “ acqui re mer i t ” and tosave one ’s own soul has lain so heavily upon Hinduism (as, indeed

, it did upon much of m onkish and mediaeval Christiani ty)that i t seems to have been very difficul t for the idea of purelyobj ective service without thought of reward to take root . “

I t

166

REFORM MOVEMENTS W ITH IN H INDU ISM

may seem a paradox , wri tes the edi tor of the“Indian Inte rpre

ter ,” 1 and yet i t is true that the very occupation of the [Hindu]

religion wi th the desire to get rid of the self has made i t selfish .

Th e individual soul and its fortunes form to i t the first real i ty .

Th e ancient saints o f India seem never able al together to forgetthemselves , they are so absorbed in the endeavor , n ever accom

p lish ed ,to escape from them selves . We cannot imagine them

saying like Wilberforce , when a lady reproached him for negle cting in h is concern for the slaves the needs ofh is own soul ,‘Madam

,I had almost forgotten that I had a soul . ’ I twas

only after the Indians had seen the example of the Christianmissionary that this great idea of purely selfless service for i tsown sake this objective fram e of m ind dawned upon anyconsiderable number of them . To their credi t be i t said , however

,that once this ideawas presented to them in the bodily

form of unselfish Christian l ives , i t m ade a strong appeal andhas been adopted eagerly and pu t into practice by leadingIndians of every religion .

I t is no part ofmy purpose to give even a list of the variousnative organizations and insti tu tions in which this new desi refor helpfulness is expressing i tself . Instead I shall give merely afew examples , taken almost at random , as i l lustrations of thesort of thing that is going on in many parts of India . Perhapsthe most remarkable of these organizations is the “ Servants ofIndia Society ” : for i t has chosen as i ts province nothing lessthan the alleviation of every kind of suffering , the attack uponevery kind of wrong . I twas founded in 1905 by Mr . G . K .

Gokhale ,2 an Indian gentleman whom India rightly regards asa truly great man . Mr . Gokhale had seen the power that thenew idea of servicewas gaining in India and he recognized thefact that wi thout wise gu idance i t would be wasted . He therefore conceived of an insti tution composed of a few experiencedand devoted workers who should hold themselves in readinessto respond to every call in the service of India , ini tiate reforms ,lend advice , and organize new centers ofwork , and also give to

1 Octobe r, 1913 , p . 99.

1 Mr. Gokhale die d on Fe bruary 19, 191 5, and h is losswas re garde d asa national calam ity in all parts of India . The Se rvants of India So cie ty isbe ing continue d , howeve r, with the Hon. V. S. Srinav asa Sastry as

Pre side nt.

167


promising young men a systematic modern training in socialservice which should turn them out into the great field notmerely enthus iasts but experts . Only the devoted may join thisband . All who enter i t must recognize the service of theircountry as their sup reme end in l i fe ; to th is service they mustgive their entire time and strength , earning no money for themselves , but content to l ive upon what l i ttle the Society canafford them for support ; and they must promise

“ to regard allIndians as brothers and to work for their advancement withoutdistinction of caste or creed . Th e Society has at presenttwenty - fiv e members . They come from various provinces andfrom various castes . They all are Hindus but one , who is aMohammedan . At their headquarters in Poona they have aschool in which each of the new “ Servants ” is required tospend four m onths in study during each of the first five years ofh is membersh ip .

Th e work of the Servants of India ” is as wide as is India ’ssocial need . A bare l ist of their activi ties would cover pages :including such things as the formation of elem entary educational leagues ; the promotion o f fem ale education by foundingschools for girls and the bu ilding -up through the press of a sanepublic Opinion on this and other subj ects ; the ini tiation of agricul tural improvements and the instruction of the small farmerthe sani tation of villages ; the founding of various cooperativesocieties particularly am ong the lowest classes includingm illhands and the despised Sweeper Caste ; the pu ri fying of

public festivals from various tradi tional indecencies, and thesubsti tution for these of healthy entertainm ents ; the provisionof popular instructive lectures and traveling l ibraries , andclasses where men and women may learn the elem ents of hyg ie ne and sani tation ; instruction of the masses in the value ofinoculation against the plague ; plague rel ief ; famine relief ,etc . As I have said , there are but twentyfiv e mem bers in theSociety as yet ; but every one of them is a center for manyworkers , whose enthusiasm he rouses , and whose activi ty heo rganizes and directs . One of the chief efforts of the Society isthe foundation of new insti tutions or committees all over Indiafor the accomplishment of particular ends organizationswhich thereafter become independent and self- supporting .

168



find caste restrictions particularly gall ing . As a result manyof them are beginning to break caste whenever they feel securein no t being found out . A most enthusiastic Be ngale e Brahmin whom I met upon a train stopped , in the course of a scholarly exposi tion of the Bhagav ad Gita , to quench h is thirstwith a bottle of soda-water which I had seen him purchase ofa lowcaste dealer in the last station . I asked him how hereconciled this with the strong belief he had expressed inthe good old customs of his country .

“You se e , he answered ,

“ there are no other Brahm ins about !But while the lesser evi ls of caste such as the prohibi tion

against leaving India and against dining with Europeans arebound to fall of their own weight , the same is not true of m anyof the absurd divisions that the caste system b rings into Indiansociety , and especially of the cruel wrongs perpetrated in i tsname upon the m i ll ions who stand below the Shudras in thesocial scale . For tunately some of the more l iberal -mindedIndians are making a brave attempt to face these evils and torouse publ ic sentiment against them .

Attacks o f a mild nature have been made upon the systemfor many centuries . Th e Buddhists , Jainas, and Sikhs in thedays of thei r founders all to some extent opposed caste . Butcaste reform by these bodieswas for centuries discontinued andis only now showing signs of renewal . At present the oldestinsti tution that is really attacking the caste system is theBrahmo Samaj ofwhich more farther on . Th e Arya Samajnei ther accepts caste as i t is nor has altogether broken with i t ;i t Opposes caste in a mild way

,bu t does not (as does the

B rahmo Sam aj ) insist upon its members giving up their caste .

Beside these there are a few local organizations which aim toattack the system ei ther directly or indirectly . One of the mostimportant is the “Aryan Brotherhood ” ofBom bay , whichwasestablished in 1909with the express purpose Of rousing publicsentiment against caste restrictions . I t admits to i ts membership m e n of every caste and no caste

,and constantly advocates

the disregard of caste rules and the spread of enlightenment onthe subj ect . Th e society has attractive club - rooms in whichmen of various castes meet . Occasionally a dinner is held atwhich all the members dine together a shocking thing in

1 70


India !'

and the names of those present are published . This isdone as a deliberate challenge to the castes for in Bom baythe conservative upholders of the Old rules are not so belligerentas they are in smaller and less enlightened centers . If the m e m

bers o f the Society sim ply dined together the castes would takeno notice of i t , even i f the names of those present happened tobe known . Butwhen the names are published the castes cannotignore i t and have to take action , attempting to force theirmembers to go through purification ceremonies . Thus the battle is opened , and if the members have the moral courage toresist and defy their relatives, the caste rules are by so m uchb rought into contem pt . Th e mem bers of the Aryan Brotherhood wi th whom I have talked are very sanguine as to thefuture . They expect that the movement they have started wil lspread to all the m ore enlightened parts of India and that b efore long all restrictions on communal eating will be given upamong the intell igent .But the cruelest resul ts of the caste system have to do wi th

the outcastes— the depressed classes ” as they are called , thescum of the earth , as they are regarded too de file d to beallowed in any Hindu temple , too low for the love of God toreach . Something is being done for them at last . In fact , backin the days of Ke shub Chunder Sen in 1870 the Brahm oSamaj began work for these fi fty mill ion “ untouchables ,

” andthe Bombay branch of the Samaj known as the PrarthnaSamaj— has especially distinguished i tself in its efforts fortheir upli fting . I twas chiefly under its auspices and directionthat “ the Depressed Classes Mission Society of India wasstarted in 1906, of whose work Mr . Saint N ib al Singh couldwr i te as follows early in 191 3 :

“During the seven years thathave passed since its foundation this Society has spread itsbranches far and wide in various parts of the Peninsula , andhas come to be regarded as unquestionably the best effort pu tforward by non - Christian India to create an interest in the welfare of the lowcastes and improve their condition . I ts ac tiv i

ties are many- sided . Th e parent body , at Bombay , for instance ,m aintains several schools

,a boardinghouse

,a bookbindery , a

shoe factory , and a mission . Th e workers visi t the homes of thepoor pariahs and endeavor to persuade the parents to send

1 7 1


their chi ldren to school ; attempt to teach them the necessi ty ofcleanliness of body , clothes , and home ; arrange for a doctor tovisi t thosewho are i ll ; nurse them in their homes free of charge ,orhelp them to get into some chari table hospi tal ; visi t the tenements and conduct regular home classes for grown women ,whoare taught reading , wri ting , and sewing ; and read from theHindu Scriptures passages calculated to inspire them withh igher ideals.

” 1

Th e Arya Samaj has also done something for these unap

proachab le s . Recogn izing the influence o f traditional formson the Indian mind , the Arya leaders have attem pted to makethe untouchables touchable by putting them through a traditional religious ceremony , shaving their heads in orthodoxHindu fashion , and endowing them with the sacred triple cord .

Care is taken to use plenty ofmantras at this service , and on itsconclusion the Brahmin members of the Samaj accept sweetmeats from the formerly untouchable ini tiates , in token thattheir vileness is taken away . Some even go so far as to visi t thehomes o f these newly consecrated Hindus and eat food cookedby their wives .

“This was a bold step ,

” says Mr . Singh ,“ and

caused a great commotion at the time of its occurrence . [I t wasfi rst tried in 1899 ] But the Arya Samaj has persevered in itsefforts in this direction , and during the last decade has upliftedthousands of people belonging to the depressed classes . Th e

strange part o f i t is that i t has come to pass that the orthodoxHindus in some local i ties are gradually ceasing to ill - trea t the‘pu rified ’

pancham as [fifth caste men] , but look on them as

their brothers in the fai th , and no longer regard them as‘un

touchable .

’

Th e Samaj is supplementing this work by carryingon a propaganda to fi t the lowly ones to occupy their new position in society by educating them . A school is maintained atSialko te , where young

‘unapproachable ’ boys are taught to be

responsible men , and arrangements are being made to startother sim i lar insti tutions .” 1

Th e Sikhs, the Moslem s , the Deva Samaj , the TheosophicalSociety , and a few local Hindu societies are all doing somethingfor the depressed classes, and their efforts are being seconded by

1 “India ’s Untouchable s, Contem porary ReviewforMarch , 1913 , p . 381 .

2 0p. cit. , p . 382 .

1 72



Banerj ea . Since then nearly a dozen “Homes ” have been or

ganized by Indians in various parts o f the land,perhaps the

most influential being the one established by Mr . Karve atPoona which in 1896 gave the impetus to the founding of theHindu Widows’ Hom e Association . Th e aim of this organization is to educate young widows and prepare them to becometeachers , or nurses , and if possible to form from them

“ a classof Hindu sisters of char i ty and mercy.

” 1 A Widow Remarriage Association has also been formed which is receiving agood deal of encouragement and assistance .

2

But there will continue to be mill ions of sad child -widowsin India just so long as the custom of child marriage continue s . This is the more fundamental evi l of the two and from i tnot only child - widowhood but various other evils grow . Thereare wives in India under six years of age , and 2 2 ,500 ,

000 between five and ten . Most of these , Of course , do not yetl ive with their husbands ; but there are over gi rlsunder sixteen who have entered the marriage state in the fullsense of the word . Most girls are taken from school at ten to bemarr ied and thereafter receive no more education . Out of everyhundred girls of school age , j ust four are in school . From this i tmay be im agined how fi t they are to be intellectual comradesfor their husbands (who , indeed , are som etimes fifteen , butsometim es fifty) , or to fulfi ll the intellectual and moral requi rements of motherhood and m ould the minds Of the next generation . I t is said that about twenty - fiv e per cent of Hinduwomen die prematurely through early marriages , and as manymore become semi - invalids from the same cause .

Th e first attack against this and other evils connected wi ththe Hindu family ( including the prejudice against widowremarr iage) was made by Ch ristian missionaries . But theBrahmo Samaj early took up the fight in very efficient fashion ,and the Prarthna Samaj has also done its share . Th e AryaSamaj , too , has done something . In 1891 the Governmentraised the age of consent (in the provinces , not in the nativestates) from ten to twelve . But though cohabi tation with a

1 Se e Mr. Karv e’s article in th e I ndian I nterpreter for Octobe r , 191 3.

2 The Indian Social Reform er for January 3, 1915, note s a gift to the

Association of rup e e s.

I 74

REFORM MOVEMENTS W ITH IN HINDU ISM

wi fe under twelve is now illegal , the law is very poorly enforced ,i ts rigid enforcement being almost im possible without thebacking of public Opinion . A purely non - sectarian society ,whose aim it is to rouse public opinion and raise sti l l higher themarriage- age of girls ,was organized in Decem ber , 1909, underthe nam e the “Hindu Marriage Reform League .

”I ts founder

and fi rst presidentwas a Hinduand all itsmembers are Hindus ;but i t should be added that the organization of the Soc iety waslargely due to two American ladies , one of whom (Miss CarrieA . Tennant) has devoted her entire time ever since to the or

ganization of new local centers and to the rather difficul t taskof keeping up the enthusiasm of the members . Th e Leaguehas now ninety- eight branches (fifty - two for men , forty- six forwomen) , all in flourishing condition . I t maintains a library andfree reading- room at Sim la

,and publishes a monthly journal in

the interests of its great cause . I t aims to induce as m anyyoung men as possible to take the v ownot to marry girls undertwelve years (preferably the girl should be at least sixteen) , andto obtain from as many fathers as possible the promise not togive their daughters in marriage before they have reached thatage . This they hope to do by means of constant agitationworking on public Opinion through lectures , pamphlets, and ,especially , through example . Ul timately they hOp e for a lawforbidding the marr iage of girls under sixteen .

1

One more aim of the Hindu Marriage Reform League is torouse public opinion against the present custom which requi resthe father of the prospective bride to give h is future son - in - lawa large dowry with h is child . As the dowries required are e x orb itant , and as i t is almost im possible for a girl to find a husbandwithout one , the p roblem has become very serious . Fathersare Often financial ly crippled or ruined in order to avoid the disgrace of having a daughter stil l unmarr i ed at fifteen or sixteenand young men are practically bought as husbands sold tothe highest bidder . Both the Marriage Reform League and the

1 Eve n conse rvative H indus, though unprepare d to go so far as th e

Le ague , re cogn ize som e of the evi ls of e arly m arriage and are willing thatso m e change should b e m ade in p re se nt custo m s. Th e 191 5 Co nfe re nce of

the A l l India Orthodox H indus, at Hardwar , “

passed a re so lution re com

m e nding th e m inim um m arriage able age of boys to b e fix e d at 18and thatofg irls at 8ye ars. (The I ndian Social Reform er for May 9,

I 7S


Social Reform Association have been attacking this evil custom and their efforts have recently received notable reinforcem ent from a young girl in Calcutta , whose nam e will not soonbe forgotten . Sne halata had reached the advanced age of fourteen , andwas sti l l unmarried . Her father had made every e ffort to collect enough money to buy a husband for her

, but invain— for the price demanded for a bridegroom was eigh thundred rupees in cash and twelve hundred in j ewelry . Therewas nothing left him but to mortgage the home . Sne halata dete rm ined to prevent this sacrifice ; and at the same time to contribute what one l i fe could contribu te to the destruction of acustom which had brough t misery upon so many thousands ofloving fathers beside her own . Having dressed herself in herbest , sh e climbed to the roof of the house , soaked her clothes inkerosene , and setting fire to them stood there burning in thesight of all the neighborhood . An attempt was made to saveher , but i twas too late .

In the pathetic note that sh e left sh e said among otherthings : “After I am gone , father , I know you will shed tearsover my ashes . I shall be gone but the house will be saved .

I have been pondering on the best way of ending my worldlypilgrimage— Fi re , Water , or Poison . I have preferred thefirst , and may the conflagration I shall kindle se t the wholecountry on fire !This last prayer Of hers seems in part to have been granted .

For her sacrifice created a deep impression in Bengal and inother parts of India . Several gi r ls in the last few months havefollowed her exam ple and gone bravely to a self- imposed anddreadful death , and these h eroic li ttle women are doing morethan many hours of lectures and many tons of pamphlets tobring home to young men and old the cruel ty and shame of thecustom which brought about their sacrifice .

1

1 The m e thods use d to spread Sne halata’

s influe nce m ay se e m to us att im e s a l ittle odd , but the influe nce is none the le ss real . Thus th e JainaGaze tte forApri l , 191 4 , inform s us that “ a Be hare e ge ntle m an ofBhagalporehas offe re d to award a cup to b e nam ed the Sne halata Cup ,

’

Ope n to Six - a

side Footbal l Te am s. The cup bears the p icture of Sne halata in flam es

with a v owe ngrave d on it not to b e a party to a m arriage dowry. The compe tition has be e n Op e n to al l young m e n in Be har, and the y m ust subscribeto the fo l lowing v ow: ‘

I so le m nly de clare that I shall not b e a party toe nforce m arriage dowry e ithe r directly or indire ctly : so h e lp m e God .

1 76



sessed while stil l a b oy with extreme devotion to the GreatMother

,and with a longing for perfect puri ty and for an im

mediate real ization of the D ivine . Early in life he turnedsannyasi and for a period of years put himself through tryingordeals with the aim of overcoming every weakness of the fleshand all attachment to this world . In order to understand better the nature of the D ivine , no t by theological discourses ,but through immed iate experience , he joined in the worshipof the various Hindu sects , low and h igh ; he l ived for sometime with a Mohammedan saint ; and learned what he couldfrom Christiani ty . He took every man ’s rel igion very seriouslyand he tried so far as possible to practice each and to understand it from the inside.

“Thus from actual experience , says h is disciple Viveka

nanda in wri ting of him ,

“ he came to know that the goal ofevery religion is the same , that each is trying to teach the sameth ing , the difference being largely in method and stil l m ore inlanguage . At th e core , all sects and all rel igions have the sameaim .

”

“As the same sugar is made into various figures,Rama

krishna used to say to his disciples ,“so one sweet Mother

D ivine is worshiped in various cl imes and ages under variousnames and forms. D i fferent creeds are but different paths toreach the Almighty . As with one gold various ornaments aremade having different forms and names , so one God is worsh ip ed in different countries and ages , and has different formsand names .

” 1

In his later years Ramakrishna came to feel that he had adivine commission to preach the truth ; and by that he meantno new doctrine , but the ancient conviction Of India that Godis closer to us than breathing and nearer than hands or feet , andthat man ’s first duty is to realize the D ivine within himself .This I say he constantly preached : yet he was no publicp reacher and never even went to meet an audience ; the audience came to him .

“When the rose is blown ,

” he used to

1 Max Mul le r, The Life and Sayings ofRam akrishna , p . 1 00. A newLifeof Sri Ram akrishna (by Swam i Saradananda) is just be ing publ ishe d in th eP rabuddha Bharata , the first instalm e nt having appe ared in the January ,191 5, num ber.

1 78



Show by your l ives th at religion does not mean words,

or names , or sects , but that i t means spiri tual realization .

Only those can understand who have fel t . Only those whohave attained to sp i ri tuali ty can communicate i t to others ,can be great teachers ofmankind . They alone are the p owersof l ight .” 1

When Ramakrishna died he left a l ittle group of young menwho had sat at h is feet and drunk in h is message . Among thesewas Vivekananda , a man almost as remarkable as h is master .Under h is leadership these young men formed an Order ofSannyasins and Brahm acharins whose aim i t was and isto redeem India through preaching and practicing the messageof their dead Teacher . They accepted their master’s teachingthat all religions are equally true and lead ul timately to thesame goal ; but they drew from this premise the conclus ionthat for every people i ts own religion is best , inasmuch as noform of symbolism can ever have so much meaning to a manas that in which he has been brought up . They hold , moreover

(whether consistently or not) , that this ultimate truth underlying every religion is the Vedanta philosophy in its “Advaitaor monistic form . From both of these premises i t fol lows , ob v iously enough , that the best religion for India isHinduism . Thisbeing the case

,the aim

'

o f the Order is naturally twofold : ( I ) todefend and resusci tate Hinduism and to show forth what theyregard the true spi ri tual meaning of i ts various forms ; and (2 )to apply the spiri t of the Vedanta teaching that all men areultimately one in God , by ministering to every kind of needand responding to every call for helpfulness .How far the Order would have developed the practical and

actively ph ilanthrOp ic side of this work had Ramakr ishna livedon indefinitely to gu ide its development is questionable . Wehave already seen that he regarded works ” somewhat askance ,as tending to distract one from realization of God , which isthe chief goal . To h is friend Ke shub Chunder Sen , who asthe head of the Progressive Brahmo Samajwas doing so muchactive ph ilanthrOp ic and social work , he said :

“You talk againstchild -marriage and the caste system , about female emancipation and female education . I say one thing is needful , the

1 My Master (A lm ora , Prabuddha Bharata Pre ss, p . 35.

180

REFORM MOVEMENTS W ITHIN H INDU ISM

realization ofGod and devotion to Him . Fi rst real ize God , andall other things shall be added unto you.

” 1

Whatever would have been Ram akrishna ’s posi tion had hisl i fe been prolonged , certain i t is that the policy of the Orderwas very notably changed when Vivekananda , the successor ofthe founder

,returned from his long trip in Eu rope and America ,

where he had been able to study at first hand the systematicphilanthropy through which the spiri t of Christ gets its partialexpression . And itwas , perhaps , as a resul t of these observations in the West that Vivekananda introduced into the Ordera point of view reminiscent quite as much ofKe shub ChunderSen as of Ramakrishna . At any rate , since the time of Vivekananda

’

s return to India , the devotional and the practicalaims of the Order have gone on hand in hand .

Th e Society has carried on th is double enterprise with verygenuine devotion up to this day . I t possesses some seven monaste rie s in different parts of India , the mother chapter being atBelur

,a few miles up the river from Calcutta . All of these

monasteries are centers ofsocial and chari table work except onewhich is located up among the foothills of the Himalayas , 2

and which is especially devoted to meditation on the AdvaitaVedanta . I t is , in short , a hermitage where members may re

tire for a while and refresh their souls in contemplation . Allthe other monasteries of the Order are si tuated at or near important centers where their influence may be fel t by India ’smasses : for its spiri t is strikingly like that which dominated St .Francis and the early Franciscans .3 To make their social andchari table work more efficient and to make easier the cooperation of laymen , the Order founded the

“ Ramakrishna Mission ,”

which was legally incorporated in 1909, the Trustees of theMonastery at Belur being made ex - oflicio the Trustees of thenew insti tu tion . In addition to the monasteries , which , as Ihave said , are centers of chari table work , the Ramakr ishnaMission has six hospi tals , or centers of medical rel ief , one

1 The Gospel of Ram akrishna , p . 1 73.

1 At Mayav ati, fifty m i le s no rthe ast ofAlm ora and six ty- thre e m i le s fromthe ne are st railroad station. It is at an altitude of 6800 fe e t above se a leve l .

1 I hav e m e t seve ral m e m be rs of the Orde r in diffe re nt parts of India ,and can te stify to the sp le ndid devotion and unstinted love for all wh ichthe se noble m e n and wom e n posse ss.

181


orphanage , and three schools (one of them being for girls andwom en) . There is a piti ful call for this work , and the Miss ionhas responded with the most c omplete devotion , the only l imitto this service being its l imited supply of funds . Between July

,

191 1 , and December , 191 2 , the Ramakri shna Mission Home ofService in Benares ministered to some persons, who wereei ther sick or very old or starv ing ; while the Ramakrishna Hos

pital at Brindaban during the year 191 2 treated patients .

Th e motto Of the Order is “Work is Worship .

”

Th e more intellectual side of the work is conducted by public sermons or addresses , by pamphlets, books , and periodicals .

1

Nor has the attem pt of the Order to disseminate its truths beenconfined to India. Whether consistently or not with the fundamental proposi tion of their Master , that every religion is trueand for each people its own relig ion is the best , the followers ofRamakrishna have found the missionary spi ri t in their ownhearts so strong that they have been carried beyond the seas,and not only have several of their “ swamis ” made preachingtours through Europe , they have also founded some five permanent centers of missionary work in the United Statesnam ely , at New York Pi ttsburg , San Francisco , Boston , andWashington . In the foreign field ,

” as we should call i t , i t isof course only the Advaita Vedanta that is taught ; but forIndia the Ramakrishna Order regards the external forms of

Hinduism as useful symbols to lead the less intell igent up tothe higher vision . Hence i t does not Oppose polytheism , buteven regards i t as having a real truth . Swam i Vivekananda , aswe have seen , was a devout worshiper of Shiva and Kali , andeven taught his European disciple Miss Noble (

“ Sister N ivedita ” ) to do puja to them . And in im i tation of h is example theOrder to- day approves of an intelligent use of the images Of thegods, as an aid to worship ,2 encourages pilgrimage , and to a

1 The ofli cial publication of the Orde r is the P rabuddha Bharata , pub

lished m onth ly at Mayav ati in th e H im alayas.

1 In discussing the use of ido ls Ram akrishna said : We se e l itt le girlswith the ir do l ls. Howlong do the y p laywith th e m ? So long as the y are notm arried . Afte r m arriage the y put away those do lls. Sim i larly , one ne e dsim age s and sym bo ls so long as God is not real ize d in His t rue form . I t is

God H im se lfwho has p rovided th e se various fo rm s ofworsh ip . The Maste rof th e universe has done all this to suit difl

'

erent m e n in diffe re nt stage s of

182



the significance and value of all the departments of knowledgeand art are estimated . Our ancient cul ture refuses to bedealt with in the way the modern educationists strive to do i t .I t is a sort of l iving organism , this cul ture , and no m echanicalprocess of adding and subtracting will apply here . Within itsintegri ty all human ends and ideals , ancient or modern , musthave to enter as terms of the organic interrelation throughwhich the supreme spiritual end fulfil ls i tself . Unless our ancient culture is restored to this sort of organic existence , noelem ent of any foreign culture can be properly absorbed byi t .” 1

Th e members of the Order of Ramakrishna are not the onlyIndians who cherish these bel iefs and these ideals . Some of themore able Indian educators outside the Order , and qui te umconnected with i t

,are working with the same end in view . In

fact , nowhere else does the attempt to rationalize and re suscitate Hinduism seem so promising as at the Central Hindu College in Benares. In this school and college (for i t is both) boysand young men are given a sound general education and at thesame time are systematically instructed , year after year , in thereal inner meaning of the Hindu religion as their instructorsview it . How far the rationalized Hinduism thus taught is historically justified need not trouble us ; for i t does not troubleei ther the students or their teachers . Th e aim of the teaching isnot the academic one of painting an historical pictu re

,but the

more vi tal one of evolving out ofHindu beliefs and customs areligion and morali ty which shall combine the enormous prestige and emotional value which a hoary tradition gives , withintell igent selection , modern , scientific knowledge , and spi r i tualinsight . As will be seen , this is no easy task , and the success ofthe undertaking must depend upon the wisdom of the teacher .In this respect the Central Hindu College is most fortunate in1 The First General Report of the Ram akrishna Mission [Be lur , p .

2 7. Cf. Vive kananda ’s addre ss on “The True Me thod of Social Re form

To the re form e rs I will po int out that I am a gre ate r re form e r than any oneof the m . Th e y want to re form on ly litt le bits. I want root and branchre form . Whe rewe diffe r is e x act ly in th e m e thod. The irs is the m e thod ofde struction, m ine is that of construction. I do not be l ieve in re form : I

be l ieve in growth .

"(Speeches and Writings, Madras, p . Se e also som e

ve ry se nsible re m arks on fe m ale e ducation in the Prabuddha Bharata forNove m be r, 1914.

184


having a man like Babu Bhagav an Das to mould the philosophical and religious v iews of the young men under h is charge .

I t is his constant endeavor to m ake h is students dissatisfiedwith a merely slavish following of Hindu custom s , and to piercebeyond the external form and ask in every case the reasonwhy ;and then

,having discovered the rationale ofeach rul ing custom ,

to apply i t intelligently to the conduct ofmodern li fe .

Th e Central Hindu College is at present a part of the Allahabad Universi ty . But i t wil l probably soon be changed intothe Hindu Universi ty of Benares ; for which large funds arecoming in from generous Hindus all over India . Th e Maharaj ao f Benares has given a large tract of land for the si te of theUniversi ty, at Ramnagar on the Ganges , just outside o f Be

nares ; and Sir Harcourt Butler , the Education Member of theIndian Government , has introduced a bil l into the Viceroy

’sLegislative Council , granting a charter to the proposed universi ty .

“Th e main features of this Universi ty , according to

Sir Harcourt Butler ,“which distinguish i t from the existing

universi ties will be first that i t wil l be a teaching and residential universi ty [not merely one that conducts examinationsand directs the work of its colleges , as is the case with the present universi ties of India] ; secondly , that while i t wil l be Opento all castes and creeds i t will insist upon religious instructionfor the Hindu students ; and thirdly , that i t wi ll be conductedand managed by the Hindu community and almost entirelyby non - officials .

” 1 The universi ty , m oreover , is to be opennot only to all castes and creeds but to both sexes . And whileone clause of its charter provides that Hindu theology andrel igion shall be required subj ects for Hindu students , according to another clause Jainism and Sikhism are to be taught toJaina and Sikh students i f funds are subscribed for that purpose by those rel igious communities .In other parts of India beside Benares other individuals are

working at the same great problem of relig ious education .

One of these is the poet , Rab indranath Tagore . Many Weste rne rs would probably be surprised to learn that the principal occupation of the man who won the Nobel Pr ize isnot wri ting poetry but running a school . Th e g reat need of

1 Re ported in The Indian Social Reform er forMarch 28, 1915.

185


h is country, as he sees it, he told me , is the achievement ofinner and social freedom ; and the one hope for the attainmentof this goal is the development of a greater spiri tual insightamong the leaders of thought and an extension of this downward through them to all ranks of society . In other words

,

the im mediate problem is the education of the right kind ofleaders . I t is an enormous task , and to do h is share in i t he hasfounded a school for boys from fiv e to eighte en years of age .

He lectures to the older boys on rel igion and philosophy , trying to communicate to them the spiri t of the Upanishads. H is

assistant teachers he has educated himself , and the annualdefici t of the school he pays out of h is own funds .

1 At firsth is opposi tion to caste made it difficul t for him to get students ,but now he has about two hundred of them (mostly Brahmins)and could get more if he could afford to enlarge h is insti tution .

Th e school is si tuated in the country 1 at some distance fromCalcutta , and only boarders are taken ; for his aim is no t to

teach courses , but to mould character , and so he insists onhaving the Opportunity of influencing his boys twenty- fourhours in the day. Th e classes are all held out of doors , underthe trees , and the boys are very happy , entering into the spiri tof the school and being in fact a self- governing body . I t is to

centers l ike this that Tagore looks for the ultimate regenerationof India .

I have nam ed this chapter Reform Movem entswithin Hinduism ”

; but I should at least mention , before closing i t , thatgreat new tendency within Hinduism for defense as well as reform . Th e Ram akrishna Mission , of course , aim s at both , asdoes also the Arya Samaj which we shall study in the next chapter . In fact most of the modern movements ofHinduism blendboth these aims , though with varying em phasis . And many ofthe religious tendencieswhich are rousing the interests of thousands of Hindus have for their chief purpose the revival of theold rel igion rather than i ts reform Most Westerners would be1 According to Basanta Koom er Roy , Tagore has give n the Nobe l Prize

m one y to the schoo l , and th e royaltie s on his books have be e n conse crate dfor the sam e purpose .

”(Rabindranath Tagore , the Man and His P oetry

[NewYork , Dodd , Me ad 8: Co . , p .

1 At Bolepore .

186



the stand recently taken by that pillar of Hindu conservatismand orthodoxy , Sir Subrahmanya Iyer. In spite of his lovefor the ancient Dharma or rather, perhaps , because of i the came out in January of this year with an article on the “ NewHinduism ” in which he says : “The conditions of Hindu society to- day are , i t is to be regretted , such as to make the hopeof the fu ture lie not in any tinkering with this and that partof the existing structure in its present dilapidated state , butin removing with an unsparing hand the poisonous weedygrowth and the entire débris under which l ie buried the pr im e v al foundations of Hinduism , and upon them to erect anewand simpler edifice of just such proportions and util i ty asare needed for our present demands .” Among the “ poisonous growths ” which he would remove he includes idol worship

,child marriage , and the caste system . Th e really sacred

scriptures ofHinduism he would have clearly m arked off fromthe many valueless wri tings that lay claim to this ti tle

,and

the more important of these sacred books he would put , inEnglish translation , with in the reach of all Hindus. And hewould call Hinduism back from its many gods and their imagesto the universal recognition of the one Absolute and Unmani fested Brahman , and to the worship of the ManifestedBrahman and of Him alone .

1

I t is probable that in spite of Sir Subrahmanya and his moreradical juniors , the ancient customs and beliefs will keep theirhold for centuries over the masses of ignorant Hindus. But ,as every year makes more evident

,the steadily growing num

bers of the educated cannot be satisfied with them indefinitely .

Does this mean that Hinduism is doomed?Th e answer to thisquestion will depend largely on the success of reform move

H indu ide as of re l igion and m oral ity am ong Brahm ins ; p re paration of re

ligious te x tbooks for H indu stude nts, and starting stude nts’ boardinghouse s unde r th e supe rvision and contro l of Brahm in Sab has. On bothdays Brahm ins from distant parts of Be e rb hoom and the adjo ining districtscam e in on foot inve ry large num be rs in sp ite ofthe e x tre m e h e at , and m anife ste d inte nse e nthusiasm and re l igious fe rvor. The pe op le of th e localityshowe d gre at ve ne rat ion for the asse m bly , and im m e d iate ly afte r the closeof e ach sitting co lle cte d th e dust of the fe e t of th e Brahm ins le ft on theshe e ts cove ring the ground , rush ing in hundre ds into the pandal .

”(The

Indian Social Reform er for Apri l 2 5,1 Se e The I ndian Social Reform er for February 7 and 14 , 1915.

188

REFORM MOVEMENTS WITH IN H INDU ISM

ments such as those studied in this and the following chapter .If the reforms fai l , we may expect intelligent Hindus to acceptin increasing numbers a rationalized Christianity or to fal lin ever- growing throngs into a flippant agnosticism . But i t ispossible that just as a more l iberal and more human Christianity is growing out of scholasticism and Calvinism , so a newand purified Hinduism may develop out of whatwas best inthe ancient Dharma . Th e outcome is uncertain , but the p roblem for the enlightened is plain . I t is a question of nationalspi r i tual education . And the one feature in the present si tuation that seems really promising from the Hindu standpoint isthe fact , already alluded to , that Hinduism ye s , that Indiais at last gradually becoming conscious of i tsel f . To increase

this self- consciousness and to raise aloft a purified but trulyIndian ideal is the aim and task of the reformers .

CHAPTER X

THE BRAHMO SAMAJ AND THE ARYA SAMAJ

F all the Indian reform movements the one best known inthe West , and in fact the only one well known in the

West , is the Brahmo Samaj . 1 I ts leaders have been considerably influenced by Western ideas , and (partly in consequence)the West has been considerably interested in their work .

Hence in Western d iscussions of contemporary religious conditions in India the Brahmo Samaj usually assumes an importance out of all p roportion to i ts membership and actualinfluence in India . Yet i t must be admitted that this influencehas been remarkable considering the pauci ty of i ts members .

I twas founded in 182 82 by Ram Mohun Roy , a learned and

Spiri tual Bengale e , who by a prolonged study of Hinduism ,

Mohammedanism , and Christiani ty became convinced thatthe essential tru th for which each stands is the sam e truth , andthat on this common foundation a Universal Theistic Churchmight be erected , in which all men might ul tim ately find m e m

b e rship . Ram Mohun Roy was not only a scholarly and re

lig ious man ; hewas a man of the world and had wide - awakehuman interests and exhibi ted considerable practical e ffi

c ie ncy . Th e p rimal im pulse in the Ind ian movem ent for socialreform which is so widespread to- day came largely from him .

I twas to a great extent through h is efforts thating was given up and that modern educationthroughout Bengal . A little over two years after the foing of the Samaj , Ram Mohun Roy went to England for avisi t as he planned ; but while there he was taken i ll , anddied in Sep tem ber , 1833 .

For some years after the death of its founder the Samaj

1 “The Church of God .

1 I twas not unt i l 1830 that it re ce ive d its p re se nt nam e and had a churchbui lding of its own. In 182 8 it had th e nam e

“Brahm o Sabha ” and its

m e e tings we re he ld in a re nte d house .

190



kep t an open mind on the question and sent four young members of the Samaj to Benares to study the Vedas with competent teachers . After two years the emissaries returned ; andwhen Tagore had learned from them what the Vedas reallytaught , and had verified their report by going to Benares himself and holding a long interview wi th the most learned pund its , the doctrine of the infallibil i ty of the Vedaswas definitelygiven up . This , however , did no t mean that the Samaj shouldcease to be Hindu , or that the belief in the general inspirationof the Vedas and especial ly of the Upanishads should be discarded . Th e Upanishads were sti l l held to be inspired in part ,with a human element intermingled ; the extreme monisticpassages in the tone of Shankara ’s philosophy being regardedas emphatically not inspired . For the devotional needs of thesociety Tagore , therefore , compiled a kind of eclectic scripturefrom various theistic passages in the Upanishads , and called i tthe “ Brahma Dharma ” 1—a compilation which the Samajto -day regards as one of his greatest achievements.

In 1857 a young man j oined the Samaj whowas destined toplay a great rOle in its history , namely , Ke shub Chunder Sen .

Mr . Sen , or as he is more commonly known , Ke shub ,

though brought up in a deeply religious Brahmin family, wasconsiderably influenced by Christiani ty , and his study foryears after j oining the Samaj increased h is enthusiastic adm iration for Jesus . De v e ndranath Tagore soon recognizedhis earnestness and religious zea l , and his ab i li ty as a leaderand inspirer of men , and gave him a large share in d irectingthe activi ties of the Sam aj . Ke shub brought into the society agreat enthusiasm for reform and a kind of evangelica l religiousspi r i t which kindled the hearts of many young men to devotionand sacrifice for the cause of liberal and inward religion . Ta

gore cooperated wi th h is young follower most hearti ly ; educationalmovem ents were started , missionaries and wanderingpreachers were sent to various parts of Bengal and even tothe Punjab , Bombay , 1 and Madras , and branch societies were

1 Se e his own inte re sting account of th is in h is autobiography1 The branch of the Sam aj founde d unde r Se n ’

s influe nce in Bom bay in1867 be cam e the Prarthna Sam aj , wh ich has done such e x ce l le nt work forthe outcastes.

192

BRAHMO SAMAJ AND ARYA SAMAJ

founded in many centers . But before many years i t becameevident that the conservative and radical elements in theSamaj could not permanently pul l together. Th e older menwished to keep Brahmanism a branch of Hinduism , andlooked askance at Ke shub ’

s Christian leanings and especiallyat h is reforming ideals ; wh i le the followers of Ke shub al

most all young men under twenty - fiv e were eager to makeBrahmanism a universal religion and the Samaj a center ofradical social reforms . Th e storm finally broke in 1864 , whenthe most radical of the younger men demanded that the Samajplace i tself squarely against the caste system by dischargingfrom the office of minister al l those who sti l l retained theBrahmanical triple cord . Th e older men accepted the issueand forced Tagore to choose between radicalism and conservatism . His heart seems to have been with Ke shub , but hethought that duty pointed the other way

,so he stood by the

older men . Ke shub and his fol lowers remained nominallywithin the Samaj ti l l 1867 , when they went out and founded asociety of their own , called the

“ Brahm o Samaj of Indiathe older branch from now on being distinguished by the ti tlethe “Adi [or Original] Brahmo Samaj .

” 1 I t was characteristicof the young Be ngale e enthusiastswho founded the new Samajthat in their meeting for organization none of the mundanesubj ects which usually take up men ’s thoughts at such a timewere considered . They passed many resolutions, but theyquite forgot to elect ofli cers. Thus ,

”as Shiv anath Shastri

rather humorously observes , the Brahmo Samaj of Indiawasushered into existence with no govern ing body , no rules , noconsti tution , but with God above as President and Ke shub

Chunder Sen as i ts virtual secretary .

” 1

IfGod above was the President of the newSamaj , the virtual secretary ” was regarded by most of the members (and by

1 The sch ism was a hard blow for old De v e ndranath Tagore , and thecriticism wh ich h is action re ce ive d from som e of the younge r m e nwas note asy to be ar. But h e acte d throughout in the sp irit of se lfle ssne ss taught byh is re l igion , and neve r de fe nde d h is actions against criticism . H e wrote an

autobiography , but brought it to a close at the ye ar wh e n Ke shub jo ine dthe Sam aj so that he ne e d not ente r into any se lf- de fe nse in the m atte r ofthe sch ism . He die d in 1899.

1 0p. cit. , v ol. 1 , p . 180.

193


himself) as standing on terms of peculiar intimacy with thePresident and as being His spokesman on all important questions . Some of his followers regarded Ke shub as a kind ofGod -man and paid him reverence approaching alm ost to worship ; and there can be no doubt that Ke shub , though not approving of this, did regard him self at times as peculiarly inspired . No t all the members of the Brahmo Samaj of Ind iashared in this adulation of their leader , and the antagonismbetween these two groups was a source of weakness for theSamaj , and eventually led to the second great schism . Much

,

however , was done by i t , especially in its earl ier years . Missionarie s continued to be sent out and new branches organized . By the year 1878 the number of these branches hadrisen to 1 2 4 . Nor did Ke shub forget that h is ideals for theSamaj included more than individual religion . I twas characte ristic of the m an that he founded his new society on a praetical and social issue . Ch ristiani ty seems to have influencedhim qui te as much as Hinduism ; and i twas but natural thatthe practical needs of suffering India should have for him apowerful appeal and that he should throw himself and his socie ty into the battle against various social evi ls , such as chi ldmarriage and the caste system ,

with an enthusiasm and a forcethat have made an indelible m ark on Indian history . I twasthrough his efforts that a law was passed in 1872 makingpossible a new form of marriage which should be nei therHindu , Mohamm edan , nor Christian , and by means of whicha man and a woman '

of different caste s might be mar ried andno idol be used in the ceremony . One of the excellent stipulations of this law was that this form of marriage could not bemade use of unless the man were at least s ixteen and thewoman at least fourteen . This law , of course , had no bearing onthe marriage ofHindus , who could sti l l marry their children atany age ; but at least i twas a first step in the right direction .

But alas for our poor hum an courage and consistency . Afterfighting so splendidly against the evils of chi ld marriage andaccomplishing so much for i t , the leader and hero of the pro

gre ssiv e Samaj in 1878 gave h is own daughter in marriage atthe age of thirteen years and a few months .

1 And when he1 The inconsiste ncy was not so glaring as it se e m s on a m e re re cital .

194



offi cial creed of the Samaj , most of its members are thorough lyOpposed to i t . They find the Vedanta not only intel lectuallyunsatisfactory , but morally harmful . l

In like manner the Brahmo Samaj (in contrast to the Ramakrishna movement and to the Theosophical Society) has altogether broken with every form of polytheism and of idolatryand does not hesi tate to attack them both . But while agreeingthus closely with Christiani ty and I slam in their monotheism ,

the Brahmo Samaj parts company with the former in its viewof incarnation , and wi th both in their belief in authori ty andspecial and exclusive revelations . Each man must be free tofind and se e the tru th for himself . Th e truth is not bound andthe tru th is no t provincial , nor did God reveal Himself onceand then cease to communicate with men . Th e Brahmo Samaj , though rej ecting the Vedanta , has retained the universalIndian fai th , so wonderfully expressed in the Upanishads , ofthe union of the soul with God . Th e God of the Brahm oist isno “ infinite and eternal Energy from which all things p roceed ,

”

nor is He an absolute Creator of the eighteenth—centu ry type .

He is closer to us than brea th ing ,“ nearer than hands and

feet .” Th e Brahm oists lay a great deal of emphasis on thepossibi l i ty o f this “ loving comm union with the Supreme ” andthe consequent “ duty of habitual communion .

” According totheir teaching , th is immediate realization of the D ivine is thevery fountain of l i fe and l i fe ’s sup reme goal , as well as thesource of an unfail ing fai th in a li fe that shall be endless .

1 “Underth e influe nce of Ve dantism , write s th e le ade r of the Uni

ve rsal Brahm o Sam aj ,” “the th e o ry of m aya or i l lusion has be e n inve nted ,

wh ich looks upon socie ty and its re lations as so m any snare s , th e gre ate stwisdom of an asp irant for final de l ive rance lying in shunning the m . Th isanti- so cial p h i lo sophy has done an incalculable am ount of harm in th iscountry. I t has drawn away into th e l ife of m e ndicancy hundre ds of sp iritually dispo se d p e rsons, and th e re by robbe d socie ty of th e ir pe rso nalinflue nce and e x am p le , and has led m any othe rs to p ine away in l ife bylooking upon th e world as a p rison- house . I t has che cke d the sp irit of ph i lanthropy as a part of re l igious e x e rcise , and has m ade th e cast ofH induismsom be r and m e lancho ly. I t is th e m ission of th e Th e istic Church of Indiato raise H induism and H indusocie ty from th is so m be r and gloom y view ofl ife and th is taint ing touch ofVedantism by te ach ing that hum an socie ty isa divine disp e nsation , and all its re lationsh ips are sacre d and sp iritual .

”

Shivanath Shastri , The Mission of the Brahm a Sam aj (Calcutta , KuntalinePre ss , pp . 50

—51 .

196


But the Brahmo Samaj has absorbed so much of the spiri to f Jesus that i t cannot stop here , but goes on as He did toapply the love of God to the help of man . I t has not indeeddone all i t might or should have done for the great need ofits native land . I t is on the whole rather more pietistic andIndian than helpful and Christian . And yet i t has done something ; and particularly in the matters of marriage reform andthe destruction o f caste i t has shown a courage and at timesan active energy qui te uncommon in India . And this is truenot only o f the society as such , but of i ts m em bers as individuals. In two of the three branches of the Sam aj one mustbreak with caste before he can become a member . Whoeverknows India wil l recognize that to do this must at times involve no li ttle heroism , no li ttle suffering and sacr ifice in thecause of an ideal . In i l lustration of this let me repeat verybriefly the story of his own experience which the venerableleader of the Universal Brahmo Samaj ,

” Mr . Sh iv anathShastri , told me .Hewas seventeen when b e determined to join the Brahmo

Samaj and to break h is triple cord . H is father begged him no t

to do so , then forbade , then threatened . But the young mansteadfastly answered ,

“I love you , father , but in this I cannot

obey you. SO he broke h is triple cord and joined the Samaj ,as h is conscience would not permi t him to do otherwise . Hisfather thereupon disowned him , refused to se e him , had himdriven from the house and notified him he should never returnto i t again or attempt to se e his mother . Th e poor woman , ofcou rse ,was utterly wretched over i t , so the young man occasionally crept in by steal th , when h is fatherwas away , to se eh is mother for a few minutes , and

“ take the dust from herfeet ,

” putting i t on his head according to the Indian custom .

Learning of these visi ts , the father employed two men to lie inwai t for h is son and beat him whenever he visi ted h is mother .These flogg ings went on for a period of fiv e years , unti l in factthe strainwas so great that i t began to break down h is m other ’shealth , when the men were at last discharged . But for nineteen years the father never spoke to h is son or allowed him inh is presence . And all the while , with hearts half- broken , fatherand son kept on loving each other . I t was only at the age of

I 97


seventy- fiv e , and then apparently on h is death - bed,that the

Old man sawh is son again and his p ride melted at last .Mr . Shastri is only one of many members of the Brahmo

Samaj who have gone through trials l ike this for the sake of thefai th that is in them and for the coming good of India . Andresults have j ustified their sacrifice . By devotion such as this ,they have been able to build up in various parts of India l i ttlecommuni ties free from the shackles of caste which are as shining lights in the darkness of slavery to tradi tion and self- imposed misery all about them . I twas our good fortune while inIndia to attend the eighty - fourth anniversary of the foundingof the Brahm o Samaj in Calcu tta , and to se e there an Objectlesson in this hardlywon freedom . Th e daywas celebratedby what we might call a children ’s party and picnic in them eeting - house and grounds of the Samaj . Th e children , withmany o f their parents and older sisters, assembled in the hal lused for preaching serv ices , and here they were entertainedfor some time by short talks and good stories . Many of theolder girls came up to our venerable friend , Mr . Shastri , and“ took the dust from h is feet ,

” and he introduced them withpride as being eighteen or more and sti l l unmarried and inschool ( l) . After a l i ttle we all adjourned into the grounds ,and there in many rows all the children sat down ( Indian fashion) to a l i ttle feast . I twas one of the most beauti ful sightsthat I sawin India no thought of caste , no fear of eatingwith your neighbor , no questioning who had drawn the water ,no dread of de file m e nt from some vile “ untouchable ”

,near by ;

al l enj oying together the pleasant food , the fresh air , and theflowers , in the sunlight of God

’

s love who made of one fleshall the chi ldren of m e n . I twas a vision ofwhat might be al lover sad India i f the Brahmo Samaj and the Christian missionary could win the day .

Unfortunately there is l i ttle si gn of the Brahmo Samaj winning m uch of the day . I ts m em bership , as I have said ,

is verysmall and not noticeably increasing . I ts mem bers are sadlydivided and there is a reactionary party within i t which favorssom ething like a compromise with Hinduism . Moreover , inso cial work i t is not so active as i t should be not even soactive as i t once was . Yet i t is doing something to attack the

198



ments of India if indeed we may include under reformmovements an organization which regards i tself as the mostconservative and truly reactionary society in the world . Th e

Arya Samajwas founded in 1875 by a manwho in learn ing andearnest zeal for his country ’s welfare resembled Ram MohunRoy , but who in other wayswas in marked contrast to him .

Th e founder of the Brahmo Samaj , as we have seen ,was a manof European education who had made a deep study of bothMohammedanism and Christiani ty and who conceived of auniversal religion which in its larger aspect should have notouch of provincialism or nationali ty . Swami Dayanand , on

the other hand ,was an I ndian of the Indians, a sannyasi of theold type , who knew but l i ttle about the culture and religion ofthe West , and cared less , and whose ideals were altogetherbounded by the tradi tions of h is land . He too dreamed of auniversal religion ; but this universal religionwas to be simplythe ancient religion of his own country , which , since i t was theonly true religion , ought to be adopted by all the world .

“Dayanand

” was not the original name of this rather remarkable man .

1 He kept his name concealed for years after heleft home , so that his father might not be able to find him ; andadopted in its stead the name “

Dayanand” by which he has

b een known ever since . Forwhen he was about twenty - one hehad run away from his parents in order to avoid being married ,

h is great desire being to give himself up to the cel ibate , reli

g ious l i fe of a Brahmachari , and to seek out , by means of ancient books and his own reflection and experience , the pathwayto salvation . Even as a boy he had become thoroughly skeptical of the value of puj a to idols (though h is fatherwas anenthusiastic worshiper in the temple of Shiva) , and the olderhe grew the more disgusted he became with the whole practice .

For years he wandered through the length and breadth of

India , visi ting learned men and making himself thoroughlyconversant with the sacred Sanskri t li terature . And at Mathura he came upon a great Vedic scholar named Swami Virjanand

,who strengthened in him the belief toward which he wasalready tending

,and whichwas destined to be the foundation

1 His original nam e was Mul Shankar—a fact wh ich cam e out onlyafte r his de ath .

200


pr inciple of the Arya Samaj . For the Swami ’s first instruction to him was to “ drown ” all his modern books in the river .And when Swami Virjanand died , and Dayanand

’

s real missionbeg an , he went up and down the land preaching a purer Hinduism with the cry ever on h is l ips, Back to the Vedas!Swami Dayanand Saraswati (for that was his ful l name ,given him when hewas made a sannyasi) was a man of unusualgifts and great learning , and ( i f we may believe the accounts ofhis followers) he usually go t the better of the pundi ts whom hewas constantly challenging to public discussion . He was giftedwith great physical powers and lectured wi th untiring energy tothe crowds who came to hear him , from morning to night . Hisusual subj ects of discourse were the folly and sin of idolatry

,

polytheism , and pantheism , and the untrustworthiness ofmostof the so - called sacred books of India except the Vedas and theolder Shastras . He got a considerable following in several ofthe ci ties o f the Punjab , the Uni ted Provinces , and Bombay ,and in 1875 he began forming these into a society known asthe “Arya Samaj .” He died in 1883 . Th e Rev . C . F . Andrews

,

in his book “Th e Indian Renaissance , wri tes of him as fol

lows : “ For Dayanand’

s personality and character there maywell be almost unqualified admiration . Hewas a pur i tan tothe backbone , and lived up to his creed . He was a fighter

,

strong , viri le , independent , i f‘ somewhat imperious in b ehav i

our. H is courage in facing h is own countrym en throughyears of contumely and p ersecution was nothing less thanheroic . Hewas a passionate lover of truth .

” 1

Th e teachings of the Samaj are of course the teachings of i tsfounder , based upon his ten ormore books and pam phlets , hislectures and his method of interpreting the scriptures . The

most fundamental of these teachings, as has been said , are thedoctrines that there is but one God and that the Vedasare absolute ly authori tative and nothing else is . By the Vedas theSamaj understands only the hymns or “ Samhita ” of the fourVedas . Th e Brahm anas and ten of the Upanishads, togetherwith Manu and a few other ancient books, are regarded as useful and worthy of veneration , but are not considered to be in

1 Quote d by Lajpat Rai in The Arya Sam aj (London , Longm ans,

p . 281 .

20 1


spired or authori tative . They were wri tten bywise and piousRishis ofold , but did not come from God Himself ; and thus forthe Arya Samaj they occupy much the same po si tion as is heldin Christiani ty by the wri tings of the Church Fathers . Th e

Veda, on the other hand , is eternal and comes from God Him

self. 1 He inspired i t at the beginning of creation in the heartsof four great Rishis . They did not originate i t , but actedmerely as channels through which the four eternal Vedaswhich are really one were communicated to men . Th e Ved ais not only eternal and absolutely authori tative . I t is

“ comprehensive and perfect , free from all error , and incapable ofbeing am ended or of becoming obsolete in part or in whole .

” 1

I t is from the Vedas that all human knowledge , directly or indire ctly ,

is derived .

“As people inhabi ting some immense forest

have all the instincts and ways of brutes , even such instinctsand ways would all mankind have retained from the beginningof creation to the present time , i f the Vedas had not been t evealed to them .

” 3

I t is evident that our Western upholders of the l iteral inspiration of the B ible have sti l l something to learn from theseIndian exegetes . And the more one l istens to their claims

,the

more one ’s wonder grows . Th e Ved ic religion,i t seems

, wasthe primitive religion of all the world .

“All the people believedin i t ,

”says Dayanand ,

“ and regarded one another like theirsecond self . For in those good old times therewas easy comm unication between all parts of the earth ; and we have i t onDayanand

’

s authori ty that the kings of India contractedmatrimonial all iances with the kings of America . Nor need onewonder at this , for steam and electrici ty and all so - calledmodern discoveries and inventions were known at least ingerm in the Vedic days and in fact are all revealed (to the eyeof fai th) within the Veda . Of course these brave assertionsrequi re for their confirmation an equally courageous methodof interpretation . To the ignorant Western reader the RigVeda se em s to teach plainly the existence of many gods , the

1 Th is doctrine , of course , is not original with Dayanand , but has bee nthe orthodox Indian view for thousands of ye ars.

1 Bawa Chhaj juSingh , The Teaching of the Arya Sam aj (Lahore , Punj abPrint ing Works, p . 1 01 .

1 Quote d by Bawa ChhajjuSingh from Dayanand , p . 90.

202



who pervades all , with her happiness and knowledge perfected .

” 1 Th e means of salvation are , according to Dayanand ,

the following : “Obedience to God ’s commandments ; freedomfrom irreligion [vice] ; fre edom from ignorance , from bad com

pany,from evil thoughts or associations , and from improper

sensuousness or indulgence in wicked pleasures ; veraci ty ,

b e ne fice nce , knowledge , impartial j ustice , devotion to thecause of virtue or religion , remembering God , praying to Him .

meditating on Him , or introspection , acqui ring knowledge ,teaching , any honest profession , the advancement of knowled ge

,the adoption of righteous means in affairs

,doing every

thing with im partiali ty , equi ty , and righteousness .

” 1

I t will be seen from this that for Dayanand and his followe rs , rel igion and morali ty are very closely associated , and thatin fact the great means of salvation are the cul ture of the souland the performance of one ’s duty . This comes out again veryclearly in the “

Th e Principles of the Arya Sam aj ,” which I

append in a note .

3 Th e moral trend of the whole movement isindeed very s trong , and i t has resulted not only in individualmorali ty

,but in a cons iderable amount of effort in ph i lan

1 Dayanand , Satyarth Prakash (English translation, Lahore , VirjanandPre ss , p . 2 60.

1 I bid . , p . 2 60.

1 1 . God is th e Prim ary Source of all True Knowledge and all that isknown by its m e ans.

2 . God is Al l-Truth , Al l-Knowle dge , and Happ ine ss itse lf , Incorpore al ,A lm ighty , Just , Me rciful , Unbe gotte n , Infinite , Unchange able , Without aBeginn ing , Incom parable , A l l - supporting , The Lord of Al l , Al l - pe rvading ,Om n iscie nt, I m pe rishable , Im m o rtal , Fe arle ss, Ete rnal , Ho ly , and th e

Cause of th e Unive rse . To H im alone Worsh ip is due .

3 . The Ve da is the Book of True Knowle dge , and it is the duty of al lAryas to study , te ach , re cite , and he ar it.4 . One should always b e ready to acce ptTruth and re nounce False hood .5. Duty de te rm ine d afte r due conside rat ion of right and wrong should be

the basic p rincip le of all our activitie s.

6. To be ne fit th e world is the ch ie f obje ct ofthe Arya Sam aj ; i.e . , to e ffectphysical , sp iritual , and social im prove m e nt.

7 . Love , Righteousness, and Proprie ty should be the guiding princip le sin our de al ing with othe rs.8. We ought to e radicate ignorance and p ropagate knowledge .

9. No one should re st conte nte d with h is individual im prove m e nt butshould conside r h is own im prove m e nt in that of oth e rs.

1 0. In all affairs that affe ct th e we l l- be ing of so cie ty at large th e individual is unfre e , but in strictly pe rsonal m atte rs h e m ay have his own way.

204



marriageable age for girls i t fixes at sixteen , and for boys attwenty- fiv e . Widow remarriage is also permitted , but i t isno t approved except in the case of virgin widows . I f the wifehas really been a wife , the Samaj thinks sh e should be fai thfulto her husband ’s memory always .

1 This is a rather beauti fulthought ; but the odd part of i t is that no such ideal fideli ty ise xpected or desired of the widower .But the Samaj has exerted more effort on education than

upon philanthropy or social reform .

“In the Punjab and

the United Provinces its work ,” according to M . Rai , in ex

tent and volume,is second to no other agency except the

Government . Christian Missions maintain a large number ofschools of all kinds , but no single mission can claim to haveas many schools for boys and gir ls as the Arya Samaj .” 1 In

addition to these numerous schools each branch of the Samaj

(for there has been a division in the Church o f the Aryas)maintains a college . Th e older of these , the Dayanand AngloVedic College of Lahore (commonly known as theis a large and flourishing insti tution , with many handsomebui ldings . I t has 1 737 students in the school department and

903 in the collegiate ,“ be s ides a number in the purely Vedic

department , in the facul ty ofHindu med icine , in the engineering and tailoring classes .

” 3 Th e facul ty of the college is a groupof very pleasant and cultured native gentlem en who understand the needs of the si tuation and give their students amodern and yet Indian education

,with required courses in

Sanskr i t and the Vedic rel igion as taught by Dayanand . Th e

purpose of the college is to crown the system of lower andmiddle schools which the Samaj conducts in various parts ofthe Punjab , and to give its students not only a good educationbut also rational and defensible religious ideas which shallyet be Indian .

Th e college of the other (the Gurukula) sect is a much moreconservative and purely Indian institution .

‘1 I ts founders disapproved o i the western tone of the D .A .V . and sought to

1 For Dayanand'

s reasons for th is position se e the Satyarth Prakash,

p . 1 56.

1 0p. cit. , p . 1 79.

1 Lajpat Rai, op. cit. , p . 191 .

1 I t is situate d at Kangri , on the Gange s ne ar Hardwar , and has aboutthre e hundre d stude nts, m ost of whom are in the schoo l departm e nt.

2 06


im i tate as far as possible the education of the Brahmachari inthe good old Vedic days . Th e boys when entering are usuallyof the age of seven or eight years . On enter ing , the boys takea v owof poverty , chasti ty , and obed ience for sixteen years ,and this vow they renew at the end of the tenth year . Th epupils are not allowed to visi t their homes dur ing this longper iod of training

,nor can their relations come to the school

Oftener than once a month .

” 1

Th e Samaj has also a college for girls and a number of gir ls’

schools . In all these schools, for both sexes , emphasis is laidupon rel igious training . Something also is done for the rel igions instruction of adul ts , for whose benefit several cheapeditions of the ritual are published , with the Sanskri t versestransl i terated and translated .

2 And more important still , theyhave the weekly meeting with its sermon , and the weekly anddaily ri tual of worship .

For though Dayanand regarded a moral l ife as the great roadto salvation

,hewas not unaware of the util ity of r i tual in con

c e ntrating the attention upon religious thoughts and buildingup a religious and moral habi t of mind . Hence he taught hisfollowers to practice five daily duties , which are in part m oral ,in part ri tualistic . They are the following : ( I ) Ri tualisticwashing , medi tation , and the reci ting of certain Sanskri tverses ; (2 ) the

“Agniho tra or

“ Hawan ” sacrifice to all na

1 Quote d by Mr. Rai from an article by Mr. Myron Ph e lps.

1 The m ajority , of course , m ust stop the ir Sanskrit he re and can hardlyb e e x p e cte d to de lve into the Ve das. Th is fact is a little e m barrassing attim e s for an upho lde r of the Sam aj : for, as one of the m write s, the y alltake p ride in be ing the only true fo l lowe rs of the Ve da and regard the re ading of the Ve da a sacre d duty . But whe n corne red by som e cleve r Musl imor Christ ian with the awkward que stion ,

‘Have you re ad the Ve das?’

the

m ajority can re nde r no answe r but that inscribe d on the ir blank face s byblush e s of ignorance .

”Nor would it b e wise for the le ade rs to re m e dy th is

diffi culty by putting into the hands of the p e op le Grifli th’

s orWi lson ’

s

translat ions of th e Rik orWh itne y and Lanm an’

s translation of the Atharv an . He nce Mr. Gokul Chand has cul le d for the ir be ne fit ce rtain prope rve rse s from the hym ns in a little book ca l le d th e Message of the Vedas; andan authoritative translat ion is p rom ise d wh ich will show up the absurdinaccuracie s of Griffi th , Max Miille r, and the re st. But on the who le , it

m ust b e said that the Sam aj is m ade up of ve ry inte l l ige nt m e n and thatits le ade rs are wide awake to the im po rtance of e ducat ion , for both the

young and the old , and are do ing m uch to m ake the Sam aj a re al powe r inthe land and to kee p it abre ast of the tim e s.

907


ture (to be explained presently) ; (3) ministering to the comfort of parents and elders ; (4) feed ing the poor (certain Sanskrit verses being said at the same time) ; (5) ~hospi tal i ty tosannyasins , religious teachers , etc . Th e second of these is of

special interest , as being a deliberate adaptation of an ancientri te into a new and decidedly rationalistic religion , in part forthe sake of the psychological and social effect upon the participants . Every good Arya is expected to perform i t , or be present at its performance , at least once a day ei ther in h is homeor in a public gathering . By good luck we happened to be inLahore at the time of the thirty- sixth anniversary of the Samajand were invi ted to se e the publi c Agniho tra or Hawan ceremony with which the celebration of the day began . I t washeld in the large hall or court of the Dayanand Anglo -VedicMiddle School ,

” which except for a canopywas open to thesky . Th e walls were hung with familiar mottoes , in Englishand Hindu such as Garrison ’s well - known (bu t here somewhat irrelevant) words :

“I will not equivocate I will not ex

cuse—I will not retreat a single inch—and I will be heardand Watts

’

s

Birds in the ir l ittle ne sts agre eBut

’

t is a sham e ful sightWh e n ch ildre n of one fam i lyFall out in ch ide and fight ” (sic) .

By the side of the speaker ’s platform there was a sort ofarbor , with a banana tree at each corner , and in the center ofi t a pi t perhaps two feet square and nearly as deep ( in theoryi t should be sixteen inches by s ixteen by sixteen) . I twas neatlyplastered , apparently with cowdung , and the borders of i tdecorated with colors . Near i t was a pile of wood , a largebrass dish ful l of ghi or l iquefied butter , and two basins fil ledwith a brown mixture of various substances “ odori ferous ,nutri tive , sweet , and curative .

” About fifteen men and boystook their places in the arbor and around the pi t , and began bychanting a long series of Sanskri t hym ns from the Vedas . Th e

chantingwas on three notes only , wi th much nasal pausing onm s and us; i twas done at first by memory , but for the laterhymns books had to be consul ted . Meanwhi le the audiencewas coming in , consisting of forty or fifty men , perhaps a hun

2 08



from the performance of the ceremony . Th e wise can thinkthem out for themselves .” 1 Every good Arya believes im

plicitly that the air is very much better after the ghi has beenburned ; and both the school and the colleg e Open every daywi th the ceremony .

Th e Samaj holds regu lar weekly services on Sunday mornings Sunday being chosen certainly not out o f deference toChristianity, but because on that morning only are the variousoffices closed . Th e service is simple but very long— lasting three or four hours . Except for the ghi cerem ony justdescribed , i t resembles closely the service in a ProtestantEvangelical Church . Th e Samaj has no priesthood , and various mem bers, qualified by education for the task , take turnsi n conducting the exercises . These consist , i n addi tion to theghi sacrifice , o fa sermon , chanting from the Vedas , and prayers ,som e form al , some spontaneous and extempore . Th e Sam ajis excellently organized . Every ci ty and village under its influe nce has its own local Samaj , which possesses a good - sizedmeeting - house , and sends representatives to the ProvincialAssembly . These Provincial Assemblies , in turn , send re pre

se ntativ e s to the All India Assembly . In theory any Hinduwhether natural or artificial may become a member of

the Arya Samaj ; and there are methods and formulas by whicheven the Pariah or the foreigner may be made over into a Hindufor this purpose . Effective membership involves (a) the acc e p tance of the Te n Principles ; (b) the payment of one percent . of one ’s income towards the revenues of the Samaj

(c) attendance at meetings ; (d) right conduct .” 1

As the reader wil l have noted , the Arya Samaj is e m phati

cally a national and Indian movement . I t is to this that i towes its popularity and its rapid growth compared with theBrahmo Samaj . Th e Brahmo Samaj is too universal and alsotoo Christian to please the average Hindu . I t is on this groundespecially that Dayanand attacked i t . H ow, in fact , he asked ,

could one expect anything really good from people who do notaccept the Vedas as inspired? “

Thus to their hearts’ content ,”

he continues ,“ the Brahm o ists cry down the glory of their

1 Quote d from Dayanand by Bawa Chhaj juSingh , op. cit. , p . 2 10.

1 Lajpat Rai, op. cit. , p . 1 51 .

2 10


country and the greatness of its ancients, extol the English andChristians in their lectures , and assert that there have been nolearned people in the world unto this day except the Engl ish .

”

They have , however, he adm i ts, done some good in “saving a

few persons from being converted to Christiani ty .

” 1

For the Arya Samaj recognizes the Christian missionariesas i ts greatest foes ; and I may add , the Christian missionaries reciprocate the sentiment . Both are aggressive , bothOppose idolatry and polytheism , both preach moral livingas the means o f salvation , and both rely on preaching of thissort in their appeal to the more intell igent , and especially tothe young . Many of the missionaries will tell you that the aimo f the Samaj is poli tical and revolutionary rather than reli

g ious and moral and are hardly willing to give this Hindu devilits due . Th e Sam aj ists, in their turn , arm themselves witharguments from the Rationalist Press Association and makeevery effort possible to counteract the work of the missionary .

One of their popular tracts is enti tled “Is not Christiani ty a

False and Fabulous Religion?” And one missionary told meof a story he had heard in many villages and which he tracedto the Sam aj to the effect that Jesus was a bad man and oncestole a donkey .

But toward the Hinduism of to - day , both popular and philoSophical , the mili tant Samaj is hardly more friendly . True , i taims to bring about a purified and what i t considers an ancientand true Hinduism ; and , in the words of one of its exponents ,“ i t does not aim at any future outside and beyond the pale ofHinduism .

” 1 But with the modern degenerate descendantof the ancient religion i t has many quarrels . I ts polytheism ,

its idolatry , its shraddha ri tes , i ts veneration of sacred places ,and most o f its books are all wrong . And so is also its narrowne ss for the Arya Samaj would like to se e not only allIndia but all the world wi thin its fold , and unlike Hinduismi t would gladly accept Europeans in its membership . And onlyless repugnant to i t than the idolatry of the people is the pantheistic Vedanta o f the philosophers and pundi ts . To theArya , the so - called idealism of Shankara ’s philosophy is only

1 Satyarth P rakash , p . 376.

1 Lajpat Rai, op. cit. , p . 2 74.

2 1 1


materialism under a different name .

1 And for reasons verys imilar to these , the Aryas look at the Theosophist wi th conside rab le suspicion . One of them said to me ,

“Theosophy is

trying to bring back and retain in Hinduism all the thingssuch as idolatry , shraddha ri tes , belief in ghosts, etc . whichwe have been trying to abolish . Doubtless i t has done somegood work in India ; but in its attempt to accept everythingIndian i t has fi l led i tself with inconsistencies . I t tries to sayYe s , Y e s, to every creed .

”

Th e Arya Samaj is sti l l growing , especially in the Punj aband the Uni ted Provinces . Altogether i t has aboutmembers .

1 In the South of India the difference of languagestands i n the way of its missionary propagation , and in Bengalthe Brahmo Samaj seems to have preempted the field . In 1893

the Samaj suffered a most unfortunate “spli t on the food

and education questions . Th e conservatives, who regardedDayanand

’

s Opinions and example as authori tative,Oppo sed

the admission to membership of any who ate meat , and ins isted that the education of the young should be less westernand more Vedic than that g iven at the As theycould not persuade their brethren they branched off and havestarted many local Sam aj e s and schools and (as we haveseen) a college of their own . Although efforts at reconcil iation have been repeatedly made , the division has not yetbeen healed . This , however , has by no means paralyzed theSamaj , which by means of pamphlets, weekly preaching se r

vices , schools , and i ts three colleges is sti ll putting up a goodfight and a fair ly uni ted front against the supersti tious Hinduand the Christian missionary .

1 Thus Mr. Hansraj said to m e , The Ve dantist tak e s th is m ate rialworld , m ake s it one , and calls it God ,

’

and th inks that the re by h e has sp iritualized it. As a fact if youdo away with a pe rsonal God and m ake Godide ntical with th e m ate rial world wh ich youcall sp iritual , you have practically noth ing le ft but what the m ate rialists have , unle ss youwish to che atyourse lf with the nam e . God has re ally be com e m e re ly m atte r. A ‘

God’

who is not pe rsonal is not God at all .”1 Th is is “ two and a hal f t im e s what itwas in 190 1 , and six tim es that of

1891 3’



and thus he founded the new church and became i ts guru or

“Maharaj .” When he died in 1878 one of h is followers,Rai

Saligram Saheb Bahadoor by name , whom he had especial lytrained for the posi tion , succeeded him as Incarnation of Godand guru (or

“ Sant Satguru”

) of the religious communi ty,under the name Huzoor Maharaj . This manwas PostmasterGeneral of the Northwest Provinces .

1 He published the twovernacular books (one in verse , one in prose) which h is predecessor had wri tten , and wrote several himself (one of themin English) , and died in 1898, passing on the leadership toBrahm Sankar Misra (who had manifested himself inMisra was a man of excellent education , holding the degree ofM .A . from th e Calcutta Universi ty and possessed of a clearand pleasing English sty le . Hewas for a tim e an employee inthe office of the Accountant -General in Allahabad , and wrotea very readable book in English on the Radhasoam i Fai th .

He died in Benares in 1907 . His successor , Madhav a Prasad,

is not a “ Sant Satguru”or absolute incarnation of the Su

preme , but only a highly advanced adept . He makes his headquarters in Allahabad , where he is Chief Superintendent inthe office of the Accountant -General . Th e new movementhas steadily grown chiefly in the Uni ted Provinces andclaims to have nearly a hundred thousand members . In pointof numbers, therefore , i t is almost on an equali ty with theParsees .

This new faith claims to have the advantage over all otherrel igions of being founded on

“ science and perfectly demonstrab le . And indeed , i f reference to n erve ganglia , ions, and

positive and negative poles combined with excellent English1 Rai Sal igram se e m s to have be e n both an able adm inistrator and are ally sp iritual te ach er. Max Mul le r give s a short account of h im in his

Life of Ram akrishna, including him am ong the fiv e be st- known Mahatm ans Of his tim e , along with Dev e ndranath Tagore , Swam i Dayanand , and

Ram akrishna h im se lf. H e write s of him (op. cit. , p . in 1898, just be forethe Gurudie d : “Wh e n last h e ard of, th e old m anwas st i l l al ive ,

h is house

be sie ge d eve ry day by large num be rs of pe rsons both m ale and fe m ale ,whoflock the re from diffe re nt parts of th e country. H e ho lds fiv e m e e tings dayand night for the purpose of im part ing re ligious instruction , so that h e hashardly m ore than two hours le ft for sle e p . Eve rybody is we lcom e , and no

distinction is m ade be twe e n Brahm an and Sudra , rich and poor, good andbad. The p eop le are convince d that h e can work m iracle s, but he h im se lfregards such th ings as unbe com ing, and be low his dignity ."

2 14

THE RADHASOAM IS AND THEOSOPH ISTS

prove the presence ofscience , the last book of the Maharajasis strictly scientific . But in common with the Radhasoam i

Mat Prakash ” of the second Maharaj , i t has also the greateradvantage of being infallibly inspired , being wri tten by Godhimself in the flesh . A brief résum é of the teachings o f thesetwo books should therefore certainly be of great interest to thereader .God is the source or ocean of all force . He is Spiri t - Force and

from Him all natural forces come . He permeates the universeas sunlight pervades empty space , and our souls are part ofHim ,

though for a while imprisoned in these material bodies .Now

,

“ i f the facul ty of hearing is sufficiently developed allforce currents could be heard as sounds . God being force cantherefore be heard ; and H is true name will be the sound m adeby this Suprem e Spiri t- Force . Th e gurus of the new religionare able to hear this sound and tell us what i t is .

“Th e sound

in articulate speech of the spiri t - cu rrent is ‘Radha,

’ and thatof the spiri tual focus or reservoir is ‘

Soam i.’

Radhasoam i is

accordingly held to be the true and real name of the SupremeCreator , and its sound , which resounds in the innermost quarter of all regions , can be heard by a devotee of the Radhasoam isect when the facul ty of hearing inherent in h is spiri t is develOped by the process of devotional practice prescribed by theRadhasoam i Fai th .

” 1

There are in the universe three spheres. Th e highest ofthese is pure spiri t and in i t dwells Radhasoam i (though present by h is force- currents everywhere) ; the second , known as“ Brahmand ,

” is “ spiri tual -material ” ; the third is“material

spiri tual .” Each of these has six subdivisions. In the lastdwells man an immortal soul , or eternal and divine spark ,in a material body . Man is a microcosm of the universe andhas six principal nerve ganglia , corresponding to the six d ivisions o f each sphere . H is spiri t , which is distinct from hismind , has its seat (Shades of Descartes !) on the highest of

1 From the re port of“Maharaj Sahe b (Brahm Sankar Misra ) to the

Ce nsus Office , printe d as an app e ndix to his book , Discourses on the Radhasoam i Faith (Be nare s, Radha Soam i Satsang , p . 303. I t is said thatin the ir doctrine of the D ivine Nam e and its im portance the Radhasoam isl

é

av e be e n influe nce d by the doctrine of the Word or Logos in St. John’

s

osp e l .

2 1 5


these , namely , the pineal gland midway between the twoeyes , three quarters of one inch from the root of the nose inwards . From this headquarters it perceives through thevarious sense - organs by sending out force - currents to them .

But i t also has relations with the upper worlds . “In the fissure

between the two lobes of the brain are twelve apertures whichprovide the means of communication with the six subdivisionsof Brahmand and of the purely spiri tual region . Th e aperturesappertaining to Brahmand are to be found in the gray matter ,and those appertaining to the purely spiri tual region in thewhite matter .” 1 If man fails to make use of these channelsfor communion with the upper worlds he must continue to beborn again and again inde finite ly— for the new revelationteaches the old doctrine of transmigration . But the aim of

man is to become free from the chains of the flesh and atlength to attain to pure spiri tual i ty and to return to God whois our hom e .

A moral l i fe is , of course , essential to attaining this aim , but

i t is only the first step . Certain methods for enabling the soulto qui t the body temporarily , or hold communion with theupper spheres during this present l i fe , are taught by the newfai th

,and the practice of these , carried on through this and

several more incarnations, will enable the individual at lengthto win perfect spiri tual freedom from all body . To learn thesemethods there is need o f a guru who is himself in com m unica

tion wi th one of the upper worlds . There have been many suchgurus or adepts ; but there were never any incarnations unti l ,the ground for the spiri tual regeneration of man having beenprepared by the advent of these various lesser gurus andadepts , Radhasoam i sent down rays from his very self wh ichassumed human form in the first Maharaj . Th e Radhasoam iFai th must therefore not be considered in any sense a reformor an offshoot of Hinduism , or as in any way a product of human traditions or cogi tations. Says the second Sant Satgurui n h is authori tative work ,

“Th e Radhasoam i Faith is not

buil t on the basis of scriptures appertaining to Hindu or anyother rel igion , but on the precepts or instructions of the Supreme Being Himself , Who appeared on this earth in human

1 The Radhasoam i Faith , p . 65.

2 16



Since every force has i ts sound , by reproducing the sound of aspiri t - force we may gain some of the power of that force andby tuning , as i t were , our soul and body to that sound we may

put ourselves into harmony with i t . My exposi tion here I confess is very unscientific , but the interested reader will consul tthe sources . Th e effects to be attained by proper repeti tion ofthe holy syllables are certainly remarkable .

“All obstaclesthrown in the way and traps laid by Universal Mind andMatter to stop or interfere wi th the progress of a pilgrim tothe high m ansions of the Supreme Being in pure spiri tual regions disappear at once on the pronunciation of the HolyName Radhasoam i by the devotee ; such is the im mediate e ffeet and beneficial influence exercised by this Alm igh ty Nam e .I t at once strikes awe and terror in the heart of the conflicting agents and revolting forces met wi th by the devotee whiletraversing the material regions and gradually removes themaltogether from h is path .

” 1 As to the second of the m ethodscontem plation i t is a well- known fact that we grow like

that which we willingly contemplate , and also that spiri tualfacts get themselves recorded in facial expression .

“Th e out

ward m arks are specially noticeable on the forehead and in theeyes of an adept , and the effect of these m arks on advanceddevotees in producing concentration and sublimation Of spiri tis very remarkable .” And the effect of contemplating an incarnation is, of course , doubly great . Hence the practice ofgazing at the Maharaj , or, during an interregnum , at thepictures of past Maharajas . Th e third m ethod that of listening attentively to the spiri tual sound is the most difficul t of the three , and only the more advanced can really succ e ed in hearing i t . Yet i t is qui te possible ; for Radhasoam i ,“ the true Name , is present everywhere in creation and canbe heard at the innermost plane where the spiri t- current isacting . As each ray from the sun carries with i t the constitutional components of the sun , similarly the prime action byfocus and current , which are the consti tutional componentsof creation in the beginning , is carried in the tiniest ray of

spiri t,and the sound , Radhasoam i, could be heard in minia

ture if we could penetrate the surrounding layers and reach the1 Radhasoam i Mat Prakash , p . 2 .

2 18

THE RADHASOAMIS AND THEOSOPHISTS

innermost quarter occupied by the spiri t- ray .

” 1 There issom ething rather beauti ful in this conception that , were thehearing of our spiri t not deadened by its enwrapping mortalcoil , we should hear everywhere throughout the universewhispered the name of God .

The re ’s not the sm alle st orb wh ich thoube ho lde stBut in his m o t ion l ike an ange l sings,Sti l l quiring to the young - e ye d ch e rubins ;Such harm ony is in im m ortal souls ;But wh i lst th is m uddy ve sture of de cayDoth grossly close it in ,we cannot h e ar it .

There are centers of the Radhasoam i Fai th at Agra , Allahabad

,and Benares . Their building in the latter ci ty is one of

the m ost prominent in town . I t is si tuated in a beautiful garden , which is carefully and tastefully kept up . Th e buildingi tself consists of a large hall , with a screened gallery at one endand a m arble platform at the other in short , i t has much theappearance of a Protestant church . There are , of course , noidols or anything of the sort , the room being qui te bare exceptfor large pictures of the three departed gurus . Th e ashes of thelast of the three rest beneath the marble platform from whichhe used to teach ; while at the sides of the platform are twosmall rooms each ofwhich contains his picture and also a largedivan . On these divans the late guru used to sit , in Orientalfashion , while teaching the inner circle of his disciples , andhence they are regarded as being ful l of spiri tual magnetismand as sending out ethereal vibrations .Twice a day the fai thful gather in this hall for public serviceat morning and evening . Th e women sit in the screened

gallery,the men on the floor , and one of their num ber , stand

ing at the reading- desk on the floor , reads to them from someinspired book wri tten by one of the great gurus . For as I havesaid

,though they reverence the Vedas they regard only the

wri tings of the incarnations of Radhasoam i as real ly inspiredand authori tative . N0 one but the guru may teach from theplatform and the present guru is at Allahabad . Th e following

1 The Radhasoam i Faith , p . 1 52 . The de tai ls of the thre e m e thods as

actually p ractice d are not m ade public , but are divulge d to m e m be rs of th ese ct on init iation.

2 19


description of a service at wh ich the gurupresides is from theinspired pen of the last guru h imself :

“Th e service commences with the reci tation , in which all

the members of the congregation can take part , of certain holypieces which contain a grateful exp ression of the immenseSpiri tual benefit conferred by the gracious Supreme Creatorin revealing the true path of salvation . Th e service closeswith another reci tation of the description given above , but thesubject-matter of the holy pieces is different . . The holybooks compiled by the Saints are also read out . Such portionsof these books as do no t admit of easy comprehension are explained by the presid ing adept , ormade the text of a holy discourse . Other discourses also are frequently delivered .

While the books are being read out the members of the congre

gation are s imultaneously attentive , to some extent , to theirdevotional practice , especially of contemplation , which isrendered easy in consequence of the inspired subj ect -matter ofthe holy books they are listening to . Concurrently wi th this ,the process for the purification ofmind and the eradication ofevi l desi res is also at work . Th e root of all evils is ignorance .

In the presence of a Saint this ignorance is dispelled to someextent , and his serene and sacred company is at times alonesufficient to disclose the shortcomings of the members of thecongregation , and to generate true contri tion . Th e sur

roundings of the satsang [the meeting] , the p resence of theadept and h is discourses, produce also great effect upon thefacul ty of religious emotion , and as the devotee makes progress in his Spiri tual practice , gradually the satsang affords suchexquisi te emotional ecstasies to him that all pleasures of thisworld dwindle into insignificance and the entire service is oneof engrossing rap ture . Th e presiding adept is som etimesgarlanded before the commencement of the service , and garlands sanctified by his touch are distributed to the membersof the congregation . Sweets or some other l ight article of

food are also sometimes distributed after sanctification bythe adept . They constitute , as i t were , the sacrament of thesatsang .

For an elect , inner circle there are addi tional means of

1 The Radhasoam i Faith , pp . 1 2 5-

30.

2 20



upon the members of the Radhasoam i Faith the necessi ty of

abstaining from taking part in publ ic assemblies (especiallypoli tical ones) , as such participation would always resul t insome spiri tual loss .” 1 And the guru himself gives us as the onegreat evi l consequence of eating animal food the fact that “ i tgenerates outward activi ty and energy ” !This point of viewwas so characteristic of native Indian eth

ics before i twas influenced by Christiani ty that I hope I shallbe pardoned if I se t down here a further i llustration of i t aconversation I had wi th a member o f the Radhasoam i Fai th .

I shall put i t down in the form of question and answer as i tactually occurred :

Q . Does your religion aid in the moral li fe?A . Y e s , greatly by helping us to overcom e the flesh . Apure l ife is the prerequisi te of progress according to our teaching .

”

Q . Does your religion tend to make one helpful to other

people? For instance : Yesterday I sawa li ttle girl of perhaps eight who danced for me . She wil l almost certainly growup to be a public woman unless some one tries to save her fromit . Does your religion teach you or inspire you to help andsave that l i ttle girl?”

A . Oh,no . That sort of thing is very secondary . Our re

ligion aims at the one thing o f great importance , the development and salvation of soul . We believe that chari ty begins athome—and this not in a selfish sense . We cannot help otherstil l we have attained to a high spiri tual condi tion ou rselves ,j ust as a poor man must first become rich before he can be abenefactor . Our first duty is to save our own souls ; and thistakes all our time . I t is no easy thing to practice our systemand to develop our souls, and i t requires all our thought ande ffort .”

Q . Have any of you even your gu rus— developed so

far that they have had time for such things as I have mentioned saving li ttle girls?”

A . Th e l i ttle gi r l must learn by trying which is the bestway though of course sh e might be told the truth by others .N0 one can save the l ittle girl but herself . She will learn just

1 Page x v .

2 2 2

TH E RADHASOAM IS AND THEOSOPH ISTS

as the child learns to avoid the fire by putting his hand inand getting burned . [He would probably have added that inher long series o f l ives sh e would have plenty of opportuni tyfor learning and profiting by her sad experience ] We can donothing for her , except perhaps point out the laws of li fe andthe effects o fvice and virtue .

”

Q . Do you do this? Do youmake any attem pts at proselyting and comm unicating your fine religion to others? DO youever actually warn the l i ttle girl?”

A.

'

“We do no public preaching or proselyting . When people come to us and inquire about our doctrines we gladly an

swer their questions. And we offer them our books for sale .

”

Yet I fear I have done but scant justice by the Radhasoam is .

To be sure , they do li ttle for others beyond showing them anexam ple of relatively pure and peaceful l ives . But after all , isthat not something? And wi th all their pseudo- science andtheir strange “

spiri tual ” methods , they do at least nourish avery genuine aspiration after a purer , nobler l i fe than theyhave yet found in themselves . Sad , is i t not , that in theirSearch for an ideal who shall l ift them above them selves , intheir longing for an Incarnation of the D ivine , they can se e nofurther than the self- deluded clerk in the Government Officeat Agra ! 1

1 In all fairne ss to the fo l lowe rs of the Radhasoam i Faith I ought again towarn th e re ade r against th e natural p re judice with wh ichwe We ste rne rs arel ike ly to re ad an account of a re l igion so strange to us as th is is. I shouldalso add that in a le tte r wh ich I re ce ntly re ce ive d fro m the p re se nt le ade r ofthe Faith h e says , am ong oth e r th ings : “ I m ay te l l you at the outse t thatwe are not at all inte re ste d in the pre se ntation of our re ligion in a book de aling with th e re l igions of India , andwe disclaim all re sponsibil ity for any

th ing that youare to say re garding our re l igion in the book youare writ ing.The subj e ct is so vast and te chnical that it re quire s a training for som e con

side rab le tim e fo l lowe d by actual e x p e rim e ntation by m e ans of sp iritualp ractice s be fore one can b e e x pe cte d to com pre he nd and appre ciate th ete ach ings of our re l igion at th e ir true worth . At p re se ntwe doubt ve rym uch if our re l igion wil l b e sym pathe tically and appre ciative ly re ce ive dby pe op le of the We st.”The Radhasoam i Faith m ay se e m odd to m ost of us and downright

si lly to som e ; but le t not our Anglo - Sax on p ride le ad us into saying , withse lf- conscious sup e riority , “

LO th e poor Indian !”The ve ry newe st of the

“NewThought of our up

- to - date We st is capable of th ings not so ve rydiffe re nt. Thus the July 1915 num be r of the NewYo rk Key to Funda

m entals A Magazine of Revelations of the Unde rlying P rinciples of Nature ,Life and Mind, announce s that “ it will se rve as a guide to those that se e k

2 2 3


And now, i f the reader ’s patience can hold out a li ttle longer ,we shall soon have done with Hindu reformers ; for we haveonly one more to consider , a reform movement , this, inaugurated and carried on by Europeans ,who qui te out-Hindu theHindus . I refer to the Theosophical Society , commonly knownas the “

T. S .

”Th e Societywas founded in the same year as

the Arya Sam aj 1875 by Madame H . P . Blavatsky andColonel H . S . Olcott , two rather remarkable personages , bothof whom were convinced that the fundamental tru ths aboutGod and man were common to all religions and that thesetruths were capable of considerable verification by means of

occult science .

” Madame Blavatsky (commonly referred to inTheosophical circles as “H . P . was particularly noted forher writings on religious and occult matters , while H . S .

as President of the Society ,was specially active in the movement to interpret and bui ld up the ancient rel igions of theEast . H is successor as President of the T. S . to—day is Mrs.Annie Besant , and the Society counts over a thousand activelodges in twenty- three National Sections, sprinkled all overthe world under some thirty different governments , with atotal membership of about twenty - fiv e thousand .

Th e aims of the Society are threefold : ( I ) To form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity , withoutdistinction of race , creed , sex , caste or color ; (2 ) to encouragethe study of com parative rel igion , phi losophy , and science ;(3) to investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powe rs latent in man .

” “Th e Theosophical Society is composed of

students belonging to any rel igion in the world or to none , whoare uni ted by their approval of the above obj ects, by theirwish to remove religious antagonisms , and to draw togethermen of good -will whatsoever their religious Opinions, and bytheir desire to study religious truths and to share the results oftheir studies with others .

” 1

p sycho - sp iritual deve lopm e nt with a V iew to attaining m aste rsh ip on thatp lane of e x pre ssion . I t wil l se rve as the organ of the Am e rican Schoo l ofVibration. Its ch ie f dist inction will b e its sugge st ions for the re al izationof th e reciprocal counte rpo ise of the so - calle d ‘

norm al ’ or m ate rial p laneof activity, and of the supe r- no rm al or e the re al p lane by im part ing aknowle dge of th e Lawof Inve rsion.

” Sure ly h ere is a flowe r that m ighthave bloom ed from the Radhasoam i stalk !

1 I nform ationforEnquirers (Adyar T. P. S. ,

2 2 4



is one ; the growth of humani ty by the unfoldment of con

sciousne ss and the evolution of bodies , i.e . , reincarnation ; theprogress of th is growth under inviolable law , i.e . , Karma ; theenvironment of this growth , i.e . , the three worlds , the physical ,emotional

,and mental , or earth , the intermediate world , and

heaven ; the existence of divine Teachers , superhuman men ,often called the Wh i te Brotherhood .

”

Possibly no t all the i tems in this summary are perfectlyclear to the reader : but I shal l s imply say that the reincarnation and Karma of the T. S . are merely what we have studiedunder those names in Hinduism ; that the White Brotherhoodis that “Occult Hierarchy ” which “ governs the world ” andwhose members occasionally become incarnate , and even whennot incarnate may be “ found ” by members of the T. S . (i twas

,in fact , one of them residing in Thibet , Koot Hoom i by

name , who revealed Theosophy to Madame Blavatsky , andwho on various cri tical occasions has sent letters and telegramsto the leaders of the Society for their gu idance) ; and as tothe many worlds , there are seven of them the Physical , Astral , Heavenly , Buddhic , Atm ic -N i rvanic , Monadic , and theWorld of the Logos . Th e last two of these Mrs . Besant says“ are so far above our present power of conception that , for themoment , they may be left out of consideration

”

( l) . But theothers , and in fact all the rest of the teachings of the T . S .

mentioned above , are matters not of speculation but of observation and experiment .” I t may be a revelation to thereader that primitive Animism teaches the One Spiri tual andI m m anent God and the brotherhood ofmen ; that Islam teachesthe Trini ty ; that Buddhism teaches the Supreme God and theeternal identi ty of the soul wi th Him ; and that Christiani tyteaches transmigration and Karma . Th e truth is , this re concil iation of all the creeds has been so constructed as to make i tappear that all religions are mere variants upon a VedanticH induism with an occul t interpretation . This , at least , 1s trueof the Theosophy of the Indian section wi th which alone weare here concerned . Christiani ty , Islam , Zoroastrianism , and“ esoteric Buddhism have contributed certain superficialmarks ; but the heart of Indian Theosophy is a kind of occul t

and mystic Hinduism .

2 26

TH E RADHASOAM IS AND THEOSOPH ISTS

I t is for this reason that the T. S . has had so large an influe nce in India . This influence has been in many respectsadmirable . There is a goodly number of Theosophist missionarie s in Indiawho have gone at their work in humble andearnest fashion ; deeply religious souls who se e that there is inHinduism much that may be made ennobling , and who areendeavoring by publications, schools , and personal influenceto reveal to Hindu girls and boys , men and women , a loftieroutlook and a purer li fe than they ever caught sight of before .These Theosophist missionaries have no t necessari ly ceased tobe Christians ; but they feel that there is more hOp e of successin teaching the Indian the inner meaning and the spiri tual Sideof the religion into which hewas born , than in indoctrinatingh im into a new religion wh ich is foreign to his land . I knowsome of these earnest souls women and men who are devoting their l ives to the humble task of teaching li ttle browngirls and boys and trying to make them into men and womenof larger vision than their parents were . And there can be nodoubt that many a Hindu to - day is a more intelligent man anda better man because of the work of theTheosophical Society.

In every part of India you meet with men who wil l tell youthat their first insight into a more spiri tual interpretation of

the ri tes and beliefs of their native religion came to themthrough some Theosoph ist or through reading some of theperiodicals put out by the T. S . For the Society publishes se veral periodicals of an educative nature , some for children , somefor adults . I t has also a considerable number of schools 1 inwhich systematic education in the better side of Hinduism is

given to every Hindu pupi l . And the Central Hindu Collegeat Benares (to which reference has already been made) wasuntil the spring of 191 3 a Theosophist insti tution .

In their attempt at spiri tual izing Hinduism the The oso

phists are naturally led into an imaginative reconstruction of

the past and a symbolical interpretation of texts and customsthat inevi tably rouse the wonder of the unini tiated . Krishnawith h is sixteen thousand concubines is made into an angel of

1 The The osoph ical Educational Trust ( founde d in Apri l , 1913) hasunde r its m anage m e nt fifte e n schoo ls, with girls and boys , and 1 2 2

teache rs. Be side the se (wh ich are al l in India) the Socie ty m aintains alarge num be r of schoo ls in Burm a .

2 2 7


puri ty , compared with whom even Buddha and Jesus seemquite inferior , and the vi lest stories are twisted into moraltales ; for symbolism covereth a multi tude of s ins . Therewould be no great harm in th is , perhaps, i f the matter stoppedhere ; but i t does not . In their enthusiasm over everythingHindu , the T . S . has not hesi tated to defend even such thingsas polytheism , idolatry , shraddha , and various beliefs andri tes which to most of us seem hardly elevating . Th e defe nse is occasionally psychological , more often occult , and inmany cases simply authori tative . If one is to understand conditions in India to - day i t is important to realize to what extentthe influential Theosophical Society has adopted the HinduView of things such as those named above and what kind ofteachings i t is spreading throughout the land . Take , for example , the topic on which the T. S . lays such repeated stress

“ vibrations ” and mantras .

”Th e Hindu s tudent is as

sured by Mrs . Besant in her books of instruction that modern science ” (together with the eternal Veda) teaches that thesoul or j iva is surrounded by various sheaths of gross and subtle matter ; that both i t and they are in constant motion andare ever sending out vibrations and being influenced by othervibrations ; and that the reci tation of certain mantras producesvibrations that have most marvelous effects on all sorts of

gross and subtle matter and upon the welfare of souls l ivingand dead .

“A mantra is a sequence of sounds , and these soundsare vibrations , so that the chanting , loud or low , or the si lentrepeti tion , of a mantra sets up a certain series of vibrations .

Th e forms created by a mantra depend on the notes onwhich the mantra is chanted ; the mantra , as i t is chanted ,

gives rise to a series of forms in subtle matter . Th e nature ofthe vibrations that is, their general character , whether constructive or destructive , whether stimulating love , energy , orother emotions— depends on the words of the mantra .

” 1

I t follows , of course , that the mantra must be reci ted in i tsoriginal Sanskrit form , else i t would fai l to produce the desiredvibrations . Th e mantras, moreover, must be chanted at certain magically favorable tim es,

1 else their effect is considerably

1 Advanced Te x tbook ofHinduReligion and Ethics, pp . 166, 167.

1 I bid., p . 2 16.

2 28



Brahmin p riest .“You don ’t , —She tells the Hindus ,

you don’t take an ordinary image and use i t in worship

straightaway . On the contrary, you subject i t to a divineceremony . You reci te over i t certain mantras

, youuse certainobj ects , you pour certain l iquids, and i t is only after all thisceremony has been performed that the image becomes sacredand fit to be used for the purposes of worship . Thus youhave been magnetizing your image .” 1 And again : “Th e pureand soothing magnetism spreads around i t [the idol] , creating amost helpful atmosphere . Such a p repared center is veryreadi ly strengthened and re v iv ified by the Being whose magne tism already is present there , and the prayer or meditationof the worshiper drawing His attention , He sends an answeringcurrent through the center already made .

” 1

Th e above quotations will serve as an indication of theatti tude of the Indian Theosophical Society toward what mostof us Westerners in our blindness are in the habit of callingsupersti tions. For we , unfortunately , are not endowed wi thMrs . Besant ’s mystic powers of investigation , nor are wein communication wi th Koot Hoom i, He of the Great Wh i teBro therhood residing in Thibet . Probably one reason for Mrs .Besant ’s acceptance of everything Hindu is her sublime con

fide nce in the revelations of “ Occult Science. An ineradicablehankering after the occult has in fact been the passion and th ebane of Theosophy ever since i ts birth . One would supposethat Richard Hodgson ’s exposure of Madame Blav atsky

’

s

tricks 3 would have been enough to Sicken the Theosophistsof that sort of thing ; but apparently i t had very li ttle effect ,at least in India . Veneration for H . P . B . is still as profoundas ever , and the longing for the super- normal , super- physical

,

supernatural , super- everything is stil l unsatisfied . Mrs. Besantis no trickster , but sh e has the same appeti te for the hyp er

1 “ Spe e ches at Trivandrum , quote d by Farquhar , Crown of Hinduism ,

P 3361 I n Defence of Hinduism , p . 5. Mrs. Be sant adds : Any one who has

studied m agne t ism according to the Europe an m e thods wil l at once se e th isaspe ct of an ido l , and wil l re cognize the scie nt ific wisdom of the Easte rnSage s in sanct ion ing the use of im age s.

1 Se e“Re port of th e Com m itte e appo inte d to inve stigate Phe nom ena

conne cte d with th e Th e oso ph ical Socie ty ,”in the Proce edings of the Society

for P sychicalResearch , v ol. 111 (London , Tn’

ibner, pp . 2 01—400.

2 30

THE RADHASOAMIS AND THEOSOPH ISTS

physical that distinguished her predecessor. She is ambitiousof developing telepathic powers , and in fact has become anadep t in reading the thoughts of the people on Mars . Verywisely she confines her attention to Mars , and specializes onlyin long- distance telepathy . At the annual meeting of the T. S .

in Benares last year , I heard her declare (with great solemnityand amid loud applause) that the Vedawas eternal ; that theUpanishads were brought into India by the “Toltecs , the ancient inhabi tants of the sunk en continent of Atlantis , at thetime when Indiawas raised from the bed of the ocean ; and thatsh e knew this because “ occult research ” had “ recovered a

large part of “ the ancient Toltec li terature .”

I f the reader is interested to learn more of the results ofoccult research ,

” he will be able to satisfy the most rapaciousappeti te in a book recently issued by Mrs. Besant and Mr.C .W. Leadbeater enti tled “Man ,Whence ,Why, and Whi ther.A Record of Clairvoyant Investigation .

” 1 This book containsthe history of the universe from the earliest times onward .

A few sentences from it , taken entirely at haphazard , wi llindicate its nature :

“On Mars in the fourth Round we find a number of savageswho had not been suflicie ntly advanced to leave that globefor the Earth when the mass of the egos went on in the preceding Round . Mars in the fourth Round fel t a scarci tyof water and i t was the Lords of the Moonwho planned out

the system of canals ,” etc.

“Th e civil ization of Peru in the thirteenth millenn ium B .C .

so closely resembled that of the Toltec Empire in its zeni ththat ,

” etc.“ From the small beginning of B .C. there gradually

grew up a thickly populated kingdom which surrounded theGobi Sea . This was the root- stock of all Aryan nations ,and from i t went out from B .C. onward s the greatmigrations which formed the sub -Aryan races .”

Having at last go t the universe up to the year 1913 A .D . ,

Mrs. Besant ’s clairvoyant powers seem to be ex hausted . Butnot so Mr . Leadb e ater’s. Th e distant future offers no moredifficulties to h im than the thirteenth millennium B .C and

1 Publishe d by th e T. P. S. , 1913.

2 31


throughout Part I I I (enti tled Whi ther ”) h e takes h is

p rophetic course , wh i le nations fall and continents subside ,

Unhurt am id the wars of e le m e nts,The wre cks of m atte r, and the crush ofworlds.

” 1

Th e most interesting part of the book to me is the Preface ,for this describes the method by which the “ research work”

was carried on . Mrs . Besant wri tes :“The research work was done at Adyar in the summer of

1910 ; in the heat of the summer many of the students wereaway

,and we shut ourselves up so as to be uninterrupted , for

five evenings every week ; we observed and said exactly whatwe saw,

and two members were good enough to wri te down allwe said exactly as we said i t . In order to throw ourselves backinto the earliest stages we sought for our own consciousness ,present there , and easier to start from than anything else ,since no others were recognizable . They gave us, as i t were ,a footing in th e first as second chains.

” And sh e adds , witha truthfulness that surely no one can dispute : “Work of thiskind might be done ad libitum i f there were people to do i t .After reading things of this sort i t is not surprising to learnthat the T. S . is losing i ts hold on many of i ts m ore intell igentmembers . Already in 1895 a large portion of the Am ericanTheosophists had left the Society and founded an independentorganization known as the Universal Brotherhood andTheosophical Society .

”Th e rebellion was led by Mr . Judge ,

formerly Vice- President of the T. S . , who upon MadameBlav atsky

’

s death was favored with a large number of lettersfrom the Great White Brotherhood in Thibet , indicating himas the suitable President of the Society in place o f ColonelOlcott ; but the Colonel , who was very familiar wi th the handwri ting of the Thibetan Sages

,insisted that Judge ’s letters

were forgeries ; and therewas nothing left for the former VicePresident to do but form a new Society of h is own and getwhat comfort he could from the love- letters of Koot Hoom iand h is Thibetan Brothers . In 1909 another spli t in the T. S .

1 Proph e cy is not a newdeve lop m e nt in the T. S . Th e gre at H . P . B. se t

the e x am p le in h e r fam ous book , “Th e Se cre t Doctrine ,"in wh ich new

“sub - race s” and

“ root- race s through “ long m i l le nn ium s arise and p laythe ir parts be fore the e ye s of those e nl ighte ne d by TheOSOphic vision.

2 32



sands . And what is p erhaps more dangerous sti ll , in i ts blindeffort to attack materialism ” i t has brought the sp iri t intocontempt and derision by spreading abroad the viewthat“ spiri tuali ty

” means a belief in psychic planes,vibrations

,

magnetism ,and mantras . Surely not thus shall we triumph

over “materialism .

” Surely not such is the message that shallse t the sp iri t free.

CHAPTER X I I

THE KABIR PANTHI S AND THE SIKH S

HE reader of [Eschylus’

s“Agamemnon will recall how

the news of the fall of Troywas flashed by signal fireson mountain - tops all around the ZEg e an , from Mount Ida , byway of Lemnos , Athos , Cithaeron , and m any another height ,until at last i t reached the summit of Arachne and the royalpalace in Argos . In fash ion no less striking surely has thetorch of spiri tual insight been handed down through thegenerations of men . We all know how true this has been ofGreece

, Israel , and the modern West ; and in India also thesame story has been repeated through the ages . Th e spiri tuallight first kindled in the Upanishads has leaped across darkcenturies from peak to blazing peak , speaking ever in wordso f flame the same eternal message which India has loved so

well .In a previous chapter we sawhow the teachings of the Upau

ishads were systematized by Shankara in the ninth century ,and in the eleventh century united by Ramanuja wi th the moretheistic doctrines of the Bhagav ad Gita. Ram anuja

’

s is one ofthe greatest names in all the h istory of

“ bhakti ” that intense personal devotion for a personal God which has had so

much more influence over the Indian people than even theorthodox philosophy of Shankara , and which (despite manypoints of controversy) shares with the more abstruse Vedantathat most basal of all Indian conceptions , the union of thehuman soul with the D ivine . Th e light that streamed fromRam anujawas caught up and handed on to many a lofty soulthrough India ’s history . Perhaps the most important of theSpiri tual leaders influenced directly by Ram anuja

’

s teachingwas h is fifth successor as head of the Vaishnav ite order ’foundedby him . This man was named Ramanand , who lived in thefourteenth century . Hewas one of those men , all too rare inIndia though never wholly wanting , who was unwill ing to

2 35


divorce religion from the welfare of society , and whose devotion to God made him all the more devoted to h is fellow men .

Consequently he was among the forem ost of his time to raisehis voice against caste ; and being put out of h is own orderfor this Offense he founded a new one , which should have roomfor all . Hewas a man of large and democratic spir i t and o f

profound rel igious earnestness as well , not forgetting in hisreforming zeal the devotion to Rama (h is name for God) whichhe had learned from h is great predecessor. “He spoke to thepeople in their s imple dialect , and among the twelve apostlesthat he chose to help him in h is work were a leather- worker , abarber , a Mohammedan weaver , and a woman . From Ra

mam and there went forth a mighty current of religious feelingwhich sti ll is not wholly extinguished . He preached thegospel of Rama ’s boundless love for men of every race , order ,or creed . H is sect is stil l numerous in northern I ndia , chieflyamong the poorer classes , and the poems of Tulsi Das, aproduct of the Ramananda revival , are the Bible of manymillions in the Hindi country . Caste has reasserted i ts powerover them , but the ideal remains .

” 1

Ramanand spent most of his l i fe in Benares ; and tradi tionsays that one of h is disciples in that sacred ci ty was Kabir ,whose li fe extended through the larger part of the fifteenth century. Both Hindus and Mohammedans claim Kabir as theirsby birth ; and though the majori ty of h is followers tod ay arefrom among the Hindus, i t seems probable that hewas borna Moham m edan .

1 However this may be , hewas brought upin a Moslem family and was influenced ful ly as much by Moslem as by Hindu ideas. He seems , moreover , from early youthto have realized that both Islam and Hinduism possessedmuch precious truth , but that each taken by i tselfwas narrowand full of supersti tion , and i twas the aim of h is l i fe toteach a kind of universal theism which should include all thatwas best in both the old religions and should be based nei theron the Veda nor on the Koran , but rather on the immediate

1 Howe l ls, The Soul of I ndia , p . 374.

1 Th is at least isWe stcott’

s Op inion. Se e his Kabir and the Kabir Panth

(Cawnpore , Christ Church M ission Pre ss, pp . 32 , and 44 . Profe ssorWilson h e ld the opposite view.

2 36



Here is the truth ! Go where you will , to Benares or toMathura ; i f youdo not find your soul , the world is unreal to

you.

” 1

“So long as the sun does no t rise the s tars sparkle ; so long

as perfect knowledge of God is not obtained men practiceri tualism .

” 1

“Th e j ogis , ascetics , austere devotees and sannyasis wander

abou t at many places of pilgrimage ; those with plucked - outhair

,those wi th the m unj cord , the Si lent ones , thosewho are

wearing plai ted hair , all are dying at the end . Th e Tantrasare attended to by them but no t Ram . On whose tongue isput the name of Ram , what can the God of Death do tohim? Th e Shastras , Vedas , astrology , and many, many grammars they know ; they know the Tantras , Mantras, and allmedicines , yet at the end they must die . They enjoy dominion , an umbrella , and many beauti ful women ; betel , camphor ,perfume and sandal , yet at the end they must die . All theVedas , Puranas, and Smri tis are searched by them ,

but in nowise are they spared . Kabir says , Utter th e name of God ;He extinguishes birth and death .

” 3

“ O Sadhu ! the simple union is the best.I shut not my eyes , I close not my ears, I do not mortify

my body ;I se e with eyes Op en and smile, and behold His beauty

everywhere ;“I utter His Name , and whatever I se e , it reminds me of

Him ; whatever I do i t becomes His worship .

“Wh erever I go , I move round Him ,

All I achieve is His service ;When I lie down , I l ie prostrate at His feet.Whether I rise or si t down , I can never forget Him ; for th e

rhythm of His music beats in my ears .”

More than all else do I cherish that love wh ich makes meto l ive a l imitless l i fe in th is world .

I t is l ike the lotus , wh ich l ives in thewater and b looms in

1 One Hundred Poem s of Kabir, X LI I I .1 From the Bij ak , quote d by Westcott.1 From the Granth , quote d byWestcott .1 Tagore

’

s translation,

2 38

THE KABIR PANTH IS AND TH E SIKHS

the water ; yet the water cannot touch its petals, they openbeyond its reach .

” 1

Kabir was often p ersecuted by both Mohammedans andHindus

,yet he gathered a considerable following from both

religions,and in the four hundred years s ince his death the

Kabir Panthis, as his followers are called , have steadily increased , so that at the time of the 190 1 census they numberedover Most of these are Hindus , though a few areMohammedans for Kabir never succeeded in winning hisfol lowers completely away from their old religions and blending them into a new one . The Hindu Kabir Panth is are alsodivided into two sects or orders, one of wh ich has its headquarters at the Kabir Chaura in Benares , while that of theother is in the Central Provinces .3 Both these orders havelay as well as clerical members , and each has its mahant orguru, who represents Kabir . There are branch monasteries invarious parts of northern India , each having its own localmahant , and each being the religious center for the lay members of the region .

“Th e mahant is supposed to visi t his dis

cip le s at least once a year , to note the progress they havemade , to give instruction to them and to their families , and toexamine and receive into the order , i f found qualified , suchcandidates as may be brought to He must also reportin person to the head mahant at headquarters once a year .Th e Kabir Chaura Math the Benares headquarters isan interesting place , though no t one that the tourist is l ikelyto stumble upon if walking about the ci ty—or runningthrough h is Murray. You must turn to the left from themain street , drive down a narrow and winding lane that b ecomes narrower and crookeder as youproceed ti l l at last yourcarriage gets stuck between the two walls and can go nofarther . You then get out and walk , diving into a stil l narrower lane between house and garden walls, and when you

1 Tagore’

s translation , X X IV.

1 According to We stcott (p . Macnico l , in his re ce nt book on I ndianTheism (Ox ford Un ive rsity Pre ss, p lace s the num be r at “ from e ightto nine thousand ” (p . but give s no authority for h is state m e nt.Possibly th is is m e re ly an erratum for e ight to nine hundred thousand .

1 In the Chattisgarh D istrict. Se e We stcott , chap . v.

1 We stcott , p . 1 18.

2 39


come to the proper gate , st00p and enter. Th e reader maythink my directions indefinite , but I can do no better ! Atany rate , when you have passed through the l i ttle gate youfind yourself in a ‘ large paved court , at the farther end of

which is the room in wh ich Kabir is supposed to have l ived .

I t contains a famous painting of Kabir wi th three of h is discip le s , and also a pair of sandals intended to represent hisfeet , and the pillow on wh ich he is supposed to have sat .

Around the court are cells for the monks , and near its centeris a raised platform , fenced off from the rest of the pavement ,Upon which stands what the visi tor at first takes to be a li ttletemple . I t is not a temple , however ; at least not a temple inthe Hindu sense ; for the Panth has been true to the teachingsof its founder and has carefully shunned the many gods o fHinduism and their many idols . Th e building is only a

“ building ” erected to mark and protect the spot where Kabir issaid to have sat when he taught his disciples or repeated wi thuntiring devotion the name of God . No image is here , butonly a cloth spread in the middle of the place , underneath thegraceful dome

,ever decked wi th fresh flowers .

There are at present about twenty monks in residence atthis Math and in outward matters their li fe is rather simi larto that of Hindu sannyasins . They rise ear ly and bathethough (as they were careful to tel l me) not always in theGanges ; for Kabir disabused his disciples of any supersti tiousveneration for the sacredness of particular streams . Aftertheir bath they pray and med i tate . At noon their one mealis brought to them . They do no t go out and beg , for the laymembers provide for their wants . Few of them so far as Iknow , none of them are learned ; but they read from Kabir

’

s

wri tings —which is not difficul t , as they are in the vernacular .I asked them to Whom they prayed , and they answered

qui te simply ,“To Kabir ." “ But who is your God?” I asked ;

and again they answered qui te naturally ,“ Kabir But to

whom did Kabir pray?” To this question they rep l ied thatKabir p rayed to Ram , and that they pray to Kabir to p rayto Ram for them .

1 Their assertion that Kabir was their God

1 According to We stcott, praye r for the Kabir Panthis consists ch i e flyof m e ditation.

2 40


THE KABIR PANTH IS AND THE SIKHS

should probably no t be given too much weigh t : the Indianguru always stands to some extent in God ’s place for thepious disciple . I do not doubt that these monks and theirfellows are monotheists ; yet i t must be added that Kabir iscom ing peri lously near to de ification .

In fact the contents of the later religious wri tings of thePanth

, as given by Westcott , show plainly that Kabir in theeyes of many of his fol lowers has assum ed a posi tion qui tecomparable to that of Sri Krishna in the Bhagav ad Gita .

Two other changes in the rel igion of Kabir , introduced byrecent generations and revealed in these books , are , first , anincrease o f Hindu conceptions especially that o f Maya or“Kal ,

” with a corresponding tendency toward monism andaway from the personal monotheism o f the founder ; andsecondly , a greater emphasis on form s and externals . Thislatter tendency is , of course , the invariable accompanim entof a loss of inspiration ; modifying Kabir

’

s words quoted abovewe might say : When the sun sets the stars begin again tosparkle .

Hand in hand with these changes in belief has gone asimilar change in the atti tude o f the Panth toward caste .

Kabir’

s insistence that distinctions of birth are of no importance , that all men are brothers , is indeed sti l l earnestly maintaine d—so far as the four higher castes are concerned .

Shudras are accepted as readi ly as Brahmins, and in fact mostof the m embers of the Panth are Shudras. In theory

,more

over , the Panth retains its founder’

s democratic doctr ine thatall men are alike before God ; but in practice men from the“ outcaste ” castes are not wanted as m embers .

At the weekly and monthly devotional services 1 a gooddeal of stress is laid upon form : many cocoanuts must becerem oniously broken ; many betel leaves , properly preparedwi th dew , must be consecrated and chewed ; and that greatestof Indian rel igious delicacies , the water in which the feet ofthe guru have been washed , must be provided in abundance ,mixed with earth and made up into pills to be swallowed bythe fai thful . Yet , in spi te of this externalism ,

i t is said that areal devotion is displayed , and every day the hymns of Kabir

1 He ld on Sundays and on the last day of the lunar m onth .

2 4 1


are devoutly sung. There is much in these meetings besidethe form . And as to the form i tself, on what ground are wej ustified in doubting the abili ty of piety and faith to turn eventhe betel leaf into the bread of li fe? I t is but a symbol afterall

,andwho are we to j udge of others ’ symbols?

.Th e ceremony of the ini tiation , l ike the Sunday service , hasmuch of the external in i t ; but the eth ical and genuinely reli

g ious teach ings of Kabir are not forgotten . All who desireto become members ,

” wri tes Westcott , “ are required to re

nounce polytheism and to acknowledge their belief in one

only God . They must also promise to eat no meat and drinkno wine ; to bathe daily and sing hymns to God , both morningand evening ; to forgive those who trespass against them upto three times ; to avoid the company of all women of badcharacter and all unseemly j esting in connection wi th suchsubj ects ; never to turn away from their house their lawfulwife ; never to tell l ies ; never to conceal the property of anotherman ; never to bear false wi tness against a neighbor or speakevi l of another on hearsay evidence .

” 1

Kabir ’s attempt to form a new religion from the best partsof Hinduism and Islam was not , i t must be confessed , assuccessful and lasting in its results as he probably hoped i twould be ; but the attempt was certainly worth the makingand has by no means completely fai led . In fact so obvious wasthe need for some such am algamation in Kabir ’s time that acontemporary of h is , up in the Punjab , devoted his l i fe to thesame venture—and wi th results which have made muchgreater impression on India than the Kabir Panth has everbeen able to produce . This man was Nanak , the founder ofthe Sikh religion . Hewas born near Lahore about 1470 ,

andlike Kabir was subj ect from birth to both Hindu and Mohammedan influences , and early gave sign s of the intense rel igiousenthusiasm thatwas to be the propelling force ofh is whole l i fe .

During adolescence he went through the stage of spiri tual upturnings which is so common wi th American and Europeanyouth ; but in h is case , instead of expressing i tself in

“conv ic

tion of sin and conversion , i t bodied i tself forth in a vision ofGod , which se ems to have been the beg inning of his special

1 We stcott, op. cit. , p . 1 13.

2 42



Nanak proclaimed the uni ty of God with all the vigor of

Mohammedanism . Yet the God of Nanak , l ike that of Kabir ,is of the Indian rather than of the Semitic type . He lacksthe anthropomorphism of Allah , and he has much of theimmanence of Vishnu , or even of Brahman . Moreover

,even

the many gods of the Hindu pantheon are retained as subordinate spiri ts good and bad Brahma , Vishnu , andShiva being considered the first creations of the One God . In

no way , however , does th is acceptance of the Hindu devasas subordinate beings mili tate against the monotheism of

Nanak,any more than the angels of I slam and Christiani ty

make those religions polytheistic . Not Kabir or Mohamm edis more outspoken in attack upon polytheism and idolatrythan is th e founder of the Sikh rel igion . Nor does the doctrineof incarnation , so dear to the Vaishnav ite , fare any better ath is hands. To externalism of all sorts , moreover , hewas v iole ntly Opposed . And in social reforms no less than religious hetook an active part , opposing caste as Kabir had done , onlywi th greater success.

Th e Sikh view of the future li fe Nanak took over directfrom Hinduism with li ttle change . Transmigration and Karmaare accepted as a matter of course , and the final goal ofman isreunion with God . God is often represented as l ight , and thesoul of each of us as an emanation from I t . N irvana

,or re

absorption into the Eternal Light , is the soul’

s aim and i tsgreat reward , though for those less worthy a tem poraryheaven is provided . In N i rvana the soul blends i ts l ight wi ththe Suprem e Soul , meeting i t

“as water blends with water .”

Th e way to salvation , Nanak taught , is an inner pathway .

External forms and ascetic practices help not a whi t . Truedevotion to God and medi tation upon Him and selflesswork ” done only out of love for God these are the thingsthat profi t . In all this there is , o f course , l i ttle new , l i ttle thatwas not taugh t long before Kabir ’s time in the Gi ta and byRamanand except that the protest against formalism had

ous H indu custom s. Kabir conform e d to the traditional Indian die t, andin fact e m phasize d the gui lt of m e at- e ating . Nanak , on the othe r hand ,owing p e rhaps in part to Moham m e dan influe nce s,—e njo ine d upon h isfo l lowe rs a fle sh die t .

2 44

THE KABIR PANTH IS AND THE S IKHS

never been so absolute and so outspoken in any of the bhaktischools . Another thing in which Nanak ’s way of salvationresembled that of the great Vaishnav ite teachers was theemphasis which he put (as Kabir also had done) on the repetition of the Name of God . For fear , however , of inducing arelapse into the old forms of Hinduism , Nanak devised forthis purpose a new divine appellation , namely , Wahguru.

1

Th e reverent and thoughtful repeti tion of this nam e he conside red a great help in medi tation , and he enjoined its practiceupon h is followers . Earnest medi tation he regarded as the m ostimportant elem ent in worship , and wi thout i t , he taught , noone could reach N i rvana or even heaven .

Th e teachings of Nanak—which are o f course the teachingsof the Sikh religion to - day—are , therefore , qui te s im i lar tothose of the Hindu bhakti schools. They differ rather inwhat they deny than in what they affi rm . Nanak not onlyOpposed the doctrine of incarnation : he refused to accept anyof the sacred books ei ther Hindu or Moslem as authori

tativ e ; he opposed asceticism and professional begging , teaching his fol lowers to earn their own living , to eat meat and liveactive l ives ; he would have nothing to do wi th caste distinctions and taught that all men were equal before God ; and hisconstant endeavor was to make rel igion more s imple

,more

inward , more spir i tual .Nanak discarded all authori tative books and rel ied upon

direct intui tion of religious truth ; but he real ized that notevery one enj oyed such in tui tion to a degree sufficient for allthe needs of the moral and religious l i fe . Th e rank and fi le ofhis followers looked directly to him for guidance

,and as guru

o f the new- founded comm uni ty he took the place of all inspired books. So when he sawthat h is endwas approaching ,he named one of his disciples as I have said

,to be the inspired

guruwhen hewas gone . Th is manwas Angad , and when histurn to depart into N i rvana arrived , in imi tation of h is Masterhe chose a successor wi th whom he “ blended h is l ight .” In

this manner the divine inspiration or rather,as the Sikhs

maintain , Nanak himself—was handed on ,l ike the flame

1 Conce rning the m e aning and de rivation of wh ich the re is som e con

trov e rsy .

2 45


from which successive candles are l igh ted , through te n gurus .An inspired man , the early Sikhs believed , was much betterthan an inspired book ; and all the gurus were really one .

1

Of the nine guruswho followed Nanak , only two need herebe mentioned , namely , Arj an and Gobind Singh . Arjan wasthe fifth guru (the fourth after Nanak) and is memorable forseveral things. He comp leted the great tank at Amri tsar andbegan the erection of the Golden Temple the center of

Sikh worship on an island in the middle of the tank . Moreimportant than this , the fifth guru was a mystic and a true

poet , and not only did he add to the hymns wri tten by Nanakand h is three other predecessors , but he col lected all thesehymns , together with some by certain o ther saintly wri terssuch as Kabir , and published them in a volume known as the“Granth Sahib ” or Noble Book ,

” “Holy Bible ” whichis to - day the Bible and Prayer - Book of the Sikh religion . ButArj anwas not only a poet and mystic : he had the stuff in himthat martyrs are made of. When the Moghul Em peror Jahangir ordered him to erase certain parts of the Granth

,he re

fused , replying firmly that he meant to maintain the integri tyof the inspired volume ; and adding :

“I f in pursuance of this

obj ect this perishable body must depart , I shall account i tgreat good fortune .

” 2 Th e Emperor ’s reply was to put theguru to the torture . Th e guru died , but the Granth remaineduntouched .

But perhaps the act of the fifth guru most pregnant in consequenceswas h is advice to h is son and successor ; namely , “ tosit fully armed on his throne , and maintain an army to thebest of h is abil i ty .

” 3 From this time on the Sikh community1 “ Nanak assum e d the body of Angad ,

Afte rwards Nanakwas cal le d Am ar Das,As one lam p is lit from anothe r.

Th e ho ly Nanakwas reve re d as Angad ,Angadwas re cogn ize d as Am ar Das ,And Am ar Das be cam e Ram Das.

The p ious sawth is but not the foo ls,Who thought the m all dist inct :But som e rare pe rson re cognize d that they we re one .

(From the Granth of th e Te nth Guru. Translation by Macaulifl e .)

Se e Dorothy Fie ld , The Sikh Religion (London, Murray , p . 19.

I bid. , lac. cit.

2 46



Some of this growth may perhaps be accounted for by th efact that during the last decade the more liberal Sikhs havereadopted the democratic atti tude toward caste that wascharacteristic ofNanak and most of h is successors in the guruship . Gobind Singh in particular swelled the ranks of h is

army by baptizing into the Sikh fold large numbers of outcastes . Since h is day , however , the Sikhs have near ly lost theold democratic Spiri t and have become almost Hindu in theirfeeling for caste . They recognize no castes wi thin their body

,

but they wil l not interm arry wi th non - Sikhs thus makingtheir rel igious communi ty i tself a caste . During the last decade , however , as I have indicated , the more liberal of theirnumber , spurred on by rivalry to the Arya Samaj which is so

strong in the Sikh country , have begun again adm i tting lowcaste Hindus into the fold . But another reason for the seemingincrease of the Sikhs is to be found in the fact that each censusunearths a large number of themwho had in previous reportsbeen se t down as Hindus. 1 If this is at the bottom of theirseemingly rapid rate of increase , the increase , of course ,ceases to be significant . Th e fact , however , that so manySikhs have been uncertain whether or not they were Hindusis significant .Th e tem ples of the Sikhs do not d ifl

'

e r so much from Hindutemples as one would be led to expect , considering the Prote stantism of the founder . What the visi tor sees of them andthe worship wi thin them is usually far from impressive . Th eapproach to the Golden Temple at Amri tsar , for instance , isl ined wi th the usual display of Hindu beggars and ascetics

,

and all the surroundings of the place are unusually dirty evenfor India . And according to Professor Om an , the pur l ieus ofthe sacred tank are no cleaner morally than they are physically .

Th e temple i tself is certainly a beauti ful building , and no

1 The 191 1 ce nsus se e m s to show an incre ase of th irty- seve n p er ce nt ,but a large part of th is is due to the fact that half a m il l ion Sikhs in 1901

we re put down as H indus , be cause of th e ir noncom form ity to the rule s of

Gobind S ingh . Th is would bring the rate of incre ase down to som e th ingove r te n pe r ce nt. It is quite l ike ly that som e eve n of th is te n p e r ce nt isdue to sim i lar cause s. Se e Om an’

s Cults, Custom s, and Superstitions ofI ndia (2 d e d . , London, Unwin, p . 102 , and e spe cially the quotationfrom Macaulifle in the note .

2 48



Beside th e repeti tion of the Jap j i and the morn ing serviceof intoning the Granth in the temple , th e Sikhs have variousother forms of worship . Some visi t the temple at any time ofday and there engage in individual devotion , intoning the hym nsof Nanak before the Granth . More often their worship con

s ists of circumambulating the shrine five or more tim es . Butthe commonest form ofworship , i f one may judge by what hesees in Sikh temples , consists in making offerings of flowers tothe Granth Sahib , the flowers (usually marigolds) being sprinkled on the book or before i t . This is true not only of the Sikhsin Am ri tsar , but in various parts of India . In the Sikh tem pleat Benares , in the shrine close to Ranj i t Singh

’

s tomb at Lahore,

in the very sacred temple that marks the spot of Gobind Singh ’sbirth at Patna , I have seen th e sam e idolatrous reverence forthe Granth Sahib as at Amritsar . Farquhar wri tes that inConj eeveram he has been shown an al tar on which fire sacrifice is regularly perform ed to the Granth . In his SatyarthPrakash , Swami Dayanand , the founder of the Arya Samaj ,writes of the Sikh s : “

Though they perform no idol -worship ,yet they worship their Gran th more idolatrously . Is i t notidolatry? Idolatry is bowing to or worshiping any materialobj ect . They have done exactly the same as the idolaters ,who have made idolatry a very lucrative business . Just asthe idolaters exhibit their idols to the people at large and re

ce iv e presents for their gods ; so do the followers of the rel igionof Nanak worship the Granth , allow i t to be worshiped , andreceive presents for i t .” 1

This sad development of th e Sikh rel igion might very wellgive us Christians food for thought . Just as Hindu templeworship should be a useful warn ing to every Catholic , so the bibliolatry of the Sikhs should act as an obj ect lesson to everyProtestant . Nanak ’

s reform ,l ike Luther ’s ,was away from ex

ternal authori ty to l iving experience . Nanak ’

s successors havealmost defeated h is spiritual purpose by making the Granthinto an idol . And have not some of Luther ’s successors comeperilously near to turning the Bible into a fetish? I f one wouldse e the logical conclusion of slavery to the letter , let h im go toAmritsar and vis i t the Golden Temple .

1 English translation , p . 363.

2 50

THE KABIR PANTH IS AND THE S IKHS

Not only in their attitude toward the Granth,but in other

matters has there been a decided fall ing- off among the Sikhsfrom the puri ty of Nanak ’s teaching . Th e reverence which hetaught h is disciples to cherish for their guru has degeneratedinto guruworship . When I asked one of the Sikhs in the temple at Patna whom he worshiped , he answered qui te naively,Gobind Singh .

” A tablet attached to the gateway of theGolden Tem ple speaks of Guru Ram Das as an incarnation ofRam . Evidences of a relapse into Hinduism are to be found inmost parts of the Sikh world . In fact one can hardly call i t arelapse , for owing largely to the early enmity of the Moham m edans the Sikhs have always formed

,in one sense

,

merely a branch ofHinduism . I therefore should not have beensurprised (though I confess I was) to find the tomb of GuruArjan at Lahore adorned with pictures from Hindu mythology

,

and to se e a Ganesh over the entrance of the tomb of Ranj i tSingh , next door . Th e sacred tank at Amri tsar has long beenlined with sign s of encroaching Hinduism . When MonierWilliams visi ted i t , nearly fifty years ago , an intell igent Sikhwhom he met there pointed to an idol of Krishna on the edgeof the lake and said ,

“We Sikhs are gradually lapsing backinto our old habits. Our first guruabolished caste and forbadethe worship of idols . Out tenth guruwas a thorough Hinduat heart and by h is own example encouraged the return of

Hindu practices ; so that of the Sikhs nowfound in the Punj ab a large number adop t caste , wear the Brahmanical thread ,keep Hindu festivals , observe Hindu ceremonies such as theshraddha

,and even present offerings to idols in Hindu tem

ples .

” 1

There have been for years twoparties among the Sikhs , oneof them nourishing the spiri t of reform and protestantism , theother favoring the retention of all the Hindu forms and usagesthat have crept into their religion . But the rank and file of theSikhs , I imagine , belong to nei ther of these parties , at leastnot consciously , but find the questions of their relation toHinduism and most other theoretical questions rathervague and decidedly uninteresting . A Sikh whom I foundaway up in Mandalay and who seemed to be an unusually

1 Brahm anism and H induism , p . 1 78.

2 51


intelligent and fervent believer told me he had never heardof any of his co - religionists worshiping Ganesh or any Hindugod , or anything but the Granth Sahib . For h is own part , atany rate , he knew that he worshiped the Granth Sahib andnothing else . I asked him if he worshiped God , and he said ,“Ye s.

”Then I said ,

“Have you two Gods , namely God andthe Granth?” to wh ich he answered ,

“No .

” “We worshipGod through the Granth , he explained .

“And when we worship the Granth i t is not the paper and ink that we worship ,but the words and ideas

,which are those of God .

” All goodSikhs , he said , were supposed to read the Granth every day ,and to go to the tem ple and hear i t read there on Sundays . Heshowed me his own l i ttle well - thumbed copy o f the Japj ifor he had no copy of th e whole Granth . This, he said , he usedin prayer . All his prayers consist of reci tation or reading fromsome passage of the Granth , and this , he said ,was true of mostSikhs. They make no spontaneous prayers or peti tions of theirown , but find in the Granth suitable prayers for anything thatthey need . About the next world he seemed to know andthink very li ttle . He had a confused idea that i f he weregood he would go after death to heaven for a great

.many lakhso f years , and then start again on the wheel of bir th beginningwi th animal forms ; but he seem ed qui te uncertain about i t ,and apparently the hope played a very small part in h is l i fe .

Th e Sikhs as a class seem to be a manly lot , and they certainly make fine soldiers . They do not , however , seem to beparticular ly noted for intelligence or education . And in reli

g ious education they seem to be not much better off than theaverage . Parents teach their children the Japj i , but how muchof i t they understand is a question . Nanak wrote h is hymnsin the vernacular , but the vernacular of four hundred yearsago is not the vernacular of to - day ; hence the meaning of theGranth , in its ancient Punjabi , is rather blind to most or i tsreaders or reci ters . And of course the great major i ty of theSikhs cannot read even the language which they speak . Moreover

, out of consideration for the weakness of the flesh andthe necessi ties of business , the leaders allow their followers todo their Granth reading by proxy .

1

1 According to Om an : Cults, Custom s, and Superstitions of I ndia, p . 93.

2 52


CHAPTER X I I I

THE JAINAS

HE various reform movements of modern India are no tthe only ones to wh ich Hinduism has given birth . India

has always been a land of thought (as well as of tradition) ,and from times that antedate history , l i ttle bands of relativelyindependent thinkers have arisen wi thin the fold of Hinduism ,

giving expression sometimes to reforming protests , sometimesto new philosophies . Th e overwhelming majority of thesechildren of Hinduism have quickly or slowly sunk back into thecapacious arms of their ever- patient mother and lost all inde

p e nde nce in her strong embrace . A very few have retainedtheir individuali ty and become separate religions. By far thegreatest of these is , of course , Buddhism . But Buddhism isnot the oldest . Th e ti tle to this posi tion of oldest non-Hindu ,native Indian religion belongs to the fai th of a sm all group ofmonks and laymen , numbering nowbut a mill ion and a quarter , and known as the Jainas .Th e man who put this rel igion into something like i ts p resent shapewas a contemporary of Buddha , but rather olderthan he ; and if we may believe the Jaina of tradi tion (as scholars are beginning to do) , he was not actually the originator ofthe sect which follows h is teachings ; he merely handed on withcertain modifications a line of thought and practice which wasalready old in his day . This man is known by several names ,but the commonest of them is Mahavira

,which means “Great

Hero .

” He is also called the J ina or the Conqueror ,” be cause

he learned how to master himself and conquer Fate , and taughtmen how to do the same . I t is from this epithet of h is that hisreligion takes its name ; for the

“ Jainas ” are the “ Conquerors.

” Mahavira is said to hav e bee n born about 600 B .C . and tohave died about 52 7 . Like h is younger contemporary , Buddha ,he spent his l i fe teaching the truths which he had in part t ece iv e d ,

in part discovered , and at his death he left behind himan organized body ofmonks and also many lay followers .

2 54

THE JAINAS

Th e m ost important event in the history of Jainism sub se

quent to the death ofMahavira was the great schism that tookplace about 300 B .C .

1 as a result ofwh ich the Jainas have beendivided , up to this day , into two separate bodies which havebut li ttle to do with each other . Th e division took place overthe question of the more or less rigorous maintenance of theancient rules of the order . To us , to - day , the particular pointsat issue seem trivial ; but they were serious matters in 300B .C. Th e chief controversy was over the costume of the monk .

Mahavira had taught that the monk should eschew all clothing for nakedness has always been regarded in India as as ign of peculiar sanctity . At the time of the schism one partyhad so far yielded to the conv entions of the times as to adoptclothing , and called them selves the “ Svetambaras

,

” or “ thoseclad in whi te .” Th e more conservative section would have nofellowship with those who yielded thus shamelessly to theweakness of the flesh , and broke Off relations with them , beingknown by the picturesque ti tle “ D igambara ,

”or clad in the

sky ” ; for they retained the sky as their only garment . A thirdgreat sect , the Sthanakav asi, established i tself about five hundred years ago , branching Off from the Svetambaras as a protest against the use of images . Each of these three sects hasits own canon of sacred scriptures , that of the Svetambarasbeing the oldest , and dating in i ts present form from about

450 A .D . ,though based on books that probably were in exist

ence at the time of the great schism . Th e D igambaras rej ectthe Svetambara canon and have one of their own which infact is based on the Svetambara vers ion ;while the Sthanakav asicanon is merely a selection from the Svetambara books . Eachof these three great sects , in proper protestant fashion , hassubdivided and blossomed in various ways ;2 so that at presentthere are nearly ninety subdivisions of Jainism . Fortunatelythere is beginning to- day a tendency in the Opposi te direction

1 The re al division se e m s to have com e at th is tim e , though the twose cts we re not offi cially and e x p l icitly d ivide d unti l the first or se condce ntury AD .

2 That th is p roce ss be gan fairly e arly and continue d through ce nturie sis shown by the num e rous l ists of Te ache rs and subdivisions in the Jainainscriptions. Se e Guerinot , Repertoire d

’

Epigraphie J aina (Paris, Le roux ;e sp . pp . 35

—68.

2 55


and a real desire for uni ty among the Jainas as we shall se elater on in this chapter . Th e tendency is only a beginning , buti t is hopeful because th e differences between the various sectsand sub - sects are minute and purely external , while on thegreat fundamentals of their religion they are in perfectaccord .

These fundamentals go back to the teachings of Mahaviraand ar ise out of the great problem of his times and the greatproblem of all times : What m ust I do to be saved? As we knowfrom Buddhist sources , the age of Gautama and Mahavirawas one in which this problem of the l iberation of the soulwastaken very seriously . Buddha enumerates some sixty - two answe rs proposed by various sects and teachers to the greatquestion . Popular Indian religion taught that the performanceof various ri tes to some Godwas the road to salvation . Philosophical Brahmanism taught that i t could be won only throughrecogni tion of the identi ty of the soul with Brahm an . Buddhahad his solution . And Mahavira had his . Now, the problemof salvation is complex .

1 I t involves one ’s conception of thewhole world , of the soul , its nature and ideal , and o f the relation of the soul to the world and to that part Of i t which ina special way i t inhabi ts namely , the body . Th e Jaina solution of this complex problem is characteristically Indian , yetqui te unique . I t rej ects Brahman , and , in one sense , all thegods , accepts the material world and the individual soul asequally real , adopts Karm a , and by one stroke seeks to explainboth the relation of soul and body

,the ideal to be attained ,

the obstacles in the way , and the means of reaching the goal .This it does by identifying Karm awith body . Why has the soula body , and h owis this buil t up? Th e Jaina answers : I t isbecause by yielding to im pulses and attractions one drawsaround one ’s true self subtle particles of real physical matterwhich one takes with him to the next birth as his Karma , andwhich determine his characteristics and h is fate in the nextli fe . I t is from this wretched body of ours both gross andsubtle that all our i lls , our sins and sorrows and stupidi ties

1 He nce all of the Thre e Jewe ls of Jainism are re quisite — nam e ly ,Right Knowledge , Right Faith , Right Conduct.” Cf. the

“Trip le Ge m

of th e Buddh ists.

2 56



with some surprise that ordinary matter is not in th is l ist . I t isodd to find that the Jainas ,who in their explanation of thesoul ’s Karma are so naively material istic , when they come todeal directly wi th what we know as matter may almost becal led panpsychists . For m atter , or at any rate a great dealof i t , is for them the lowest form of l ife , and is at least potentially conscious . Mahavira thus by many a century antici

pates Leibnitz. Stones and lumps of earth , water yes,even

such things as wind and atoms—are for the Jainas l ivingbeings

,

1 j iv as and as such members of the great l ine ofevolution which leads up through plants , animals , and men tothe l iberated spiri tswho have perfect knowledge , being nolonger closed grossly in by the muddy vesture of our clay . To

rise in the scale and become freed from body and i ts woes is orshould be the aim of all . But this is diffi cul t , because subtlematter pours into our souls through forty- two different channels (seventeen major and twentyfiv e minor) and thus formsthe eigh t different kinds of Karma which we carry with usinto th e next l i fe . (Th e wri ters of the Jaina sacred books arevery systematic th inkers and particularly “ s trong ” on ari thmetic . They know just how many different kinds of differentth ings there are in the universe and they have them all tabulated and numbered , so that they shall have a place foreveryth ing and everything in its place .) 2 These forty - two

ve rsity Pre ss , p . But it evide ntly is not m atte r in our se nse

of the word , since “ th ings be longing to th is e arth , such as stone s, lum psof clay , salts, chalk, diam onds, and othe r m ine rals,” and also “ wate r, rain ,

dew, fog , m e lte d snow , m e lte d hail , fire , a m agne t, e le ctricity, a m e teo r,flintstone sparks,

"as we l l as air and “ all so rts of Wind ,” all are classe d

unde r one of the fiv e kinds of j iva , or l iving th ings. It would the re fore se e mthat Pudgalastikaya can hardly m e an m atte r, and it is pe rhaps be st totranslate it by the am biguous phrase ,

“substance posse ssing se nsuous

qualitie s. Th e se se nsuous qualitie s, it will b e note d , are regarde d as e x isting obje ctive ly a rathe r Odd view for a panpsych ist.

1 The atte m pt to take a re al istic view of m atte r and to e x p lain variouscharacte ristics of the soul by m eans of it, and at the sam e tim e to e x p lainm atte r as be ing in itse lf com pose d of jiv as, or souls, indicates a confusionof thought. If m atte r is rea l ly soul , the n howare the soul ’s qualities andits fate to b e e x p laine d by m e ans of m atte r?

1 Thus j iva m ay b e classifie d in th irtee n diffe re nt ways ; the re are fiv e

k inds of aj iva, nine k inds of m e rit , and forty- two fruits of m e rit ; the re aree ightee n kinds of sin, e ighty- two re sults of sin, and e ight k inds of Karm a ;the channe ls by wh ich Karm a e nte rs, as has be e n said , num be r seve nte e n

2 58

THE JAINAS

Asrav as , inflowings, as they are called , are various passions ,particularly anger in all its possible shades of strength

, to

gether with pride , i llusion , lack of self- control , etc . ; in short ,be i t noted , they all belong to the moral category .

I t is these forty - two classes that determine our Karma . To

gether with all other rel igions native to India , the Jainas laygreat stress on Karma as the one satisfactory and completesolution of the problem of the ills of l i fe . In fact , they carry i tinto even greater detail than do the Hindus , for the elaboratesystematization found in their sacred books enables them no t

only to say in a general way that So - and- So must have been asinner in a previous existence , but in certain cases to analyzeh is sym ptoms so as to determine exactly the nature of his former sins . Thus , Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson wri tes of a Jaina gentle m an who told her “ that as his family consisted only of

daughters , he found i t a great expense to marry them all off ,but he dared not complain , as all his friends assured him i twasonly h is j ust punishment for having misappropriated funds ina previous existence .

” 1 A sad example of this belief in Karmais the Jaina doctrine that if a child-wife loses her husband i t isas a punishment for having been unfaithful to a husband in aprevious existence . Surely the l i ttle widow is not greatly comforted by bel ieving in her own guil t , nor is her lot made themore bearable by those around her because of their certaintythat through her sins sh e was responsible for her husband

’s

p remature death .

Rebirth in another human body is not the only poss ible fateprovided by Jaina philosophy. A wicked man may in h is nextincarnation be born an animal or even a vegetable . And thisfor the Jaina is no j oke . In spite of the Indian ’s considerationfor animal life, there would be l i ttle pleasure in being born adog in India , and (as Mrs . Stevenson suggests) consider thehumiliation of being a potato , or perhaps an onion ! But worsethan that is the fate of being born in one of the hells andthere are seven of them . And though punishment in hell is

m ajor and twe nty- fiv e m inor ; Karm a m ay b e im pe de d in just fifty- seve nways and de stroye d by six auste ritie s ; the re are four k inds of bondage toKarm a ; and fifte e n k inds of be ings inhabit Moksha .

1 Note s on Modern j ainism (Ox ford , Blackwe l l , p . 78.

2 59


not eternal,the wicked go there for long- term sentences and

emerge from them , as a rule , only through the lower form s of

vegetable and animal l i fe.But if there are seven hells , there are twenty - s ix heavens .

Th e lower are not al together vo id of pain and imperfectionbut joy predominates, and there is a steady progress from one

to the other (with occasional rebirths as ascetics) until onereaches Moksha , where every perfection dwells. Here finallyone becomes free from body and free from all the eight kindsof Karma . Endless bl iss is here , as distinct from pleasure , forhere at length one becomes pure Soul .Th e Jaina books describe minutely the process of spiri tualevolution that leads the natural man on and up until at lasthe attains to Moksha . In proper systematic fashion , moreover ,this process is divided into exactly fourteen stages . Th e descrip tion of i t forms thus a kind of psychology of conversion .

I t is not possible , however , for all human beings to advanceindefini tely upon th is path to l iberation in the present l ife .

Although in theory the Jaina rel igion is open to all , the bestcourse for the lowcaste aspirant for Moksha is to die and bereborn in a higher caste ; for there is no place for him ,

in hispresent vile state , within a Jaina temple . For the Jainas keepcaste (though not so rigidly as the Hindus) , and in fact aredivided by caste l ines among themselves. And not only thePariah , but even high - caste women also including the nunsthemselves , find i t hard to rise very h igh on the Jaina ladderto salvation . According to the D igambaras no woman can

reach higher than the eighth step of the ladder ; while the Svetam b aras and Sthanakav asis insist that , though some womenmay attain to the highest stage , only twenty women actuallydo so for every one hundred and eight men . Even for men whohave not turned monks the prospect Of Moksha is not br ight .And as a matter of fact the discussion of all these poss ibil i tiesturns out to be rather academic , since we are informed that noone can enter into Moksha for the next years anyhow .

Th e last man who entered into Moksha died three years afterMahavira ; and no one else is to be admitted during the rest ofthis cycle which is to last until the year A .D . Hencei t behooves the pious Jaina to cul tivate the virtue of patience .

2 60



which the soul floats up (by the laws of gravi ty) 1 after havinggot rid of all matter . This is the rather naive and real istic sideof their doctrine . But the emphasis is laid upon the sp i ri tualrather than Upon the material istic side , and the characteristicsofMoksha most commonly thought of are its psychical one s .I t is these that are of interest to us as having influence overthe l i fe of the Jainas and coloring their ideals . One ofmy Jainafriends described the Tirthankaras in Moksha as being im m or

tal and dwell ing in perfect freedom forevermore . They havewon eternal peace they are the “ Conquerors and have nomore to fear . Thismeans , he said , that they are without need ,

without care , without desire , without relation to the changing . Though conceived as having infini te power , they neveruse i t , for they want nothing . When asked as to the nature oftheir consciousness , my friend could not tel l me . Certainlythey are conscious , he said ; but apparently they are not thinking of anything . They are free from the particular . Their consciousne ss is a sta te of peace raised to the highest degree . Andthey are , of course , out of all relation to us and qui te uninflue nced by anything that we can do or say .

2 To this descriptionthe books in their systematic fashion add certain other marks .Th e Tirthankaras or any one else who has attained toMoksha has exactly eightee n characteristics , most ofwhich ,on examination , prove to be of a negative sort . Anger , lust ,greed , ignorance , sleepiness , desire are gone . Gone also are al lsorrow , pleasure , and sense ofhumor ; for (as the Jainas explain)th e sense of humor being due to some unfamil iar connection ofideas, i t is impossible to one who has attained complete knowledge . But the chief characteristic ofMoksha is the absence ofattachm ent, the kill ing- out of desire , which forms so importanta part of the Buddhist N i rvana . In Moksha one attains com

p le te indifi e rence to all that happens ; and thus becomes inde

p endent and free . I t is related of Mahavira that , even in this

1 Dante se e m s to have had a conce pt ion of the asce nt of the soul , upward from th e e arth , in som e ways sim i lar to the Jaina view. Se e the

Paradiso , canto 1 .

1 According to Mrs. Steve nson it is th e Ti rthankara in his capacity ofm an rath e r than as a siddha , or inhabitant of Moksha , that is worsh ipe d .Th is, howeve r, is a rathe r fine dist inction, and it is doubtful whe the r m anyof th e Jainas know anyth ing about it .

2 62

THE JAINAS

l i fe,he was indifferent alike to the smell of ordure and of san

dalwood , to straw and to j ewels , dirt and gold , pleasure andpain , attached nei ther to this world nor to that beyond , desiring nei ther l ife nor death .

” 1

In s trict theory , as I have said , the Ti rthankaras are merelyideals for the emulation of the brethren . They are far frombeing gods ; yet they are the nearest approach to gods that theorthodox Jaina possesses , and they are com monly referred toas divine . In this respect Jainism recalls forcibly Comte ’s“ Religion of Humanity .

” Both systems are emphaticallyatheistic , yet both feel the need of some semi - divine ideal as ahelp to the weakness of our flesh . And both seek to turn theirphilosophy in to rel igion by setting up for our admiration andour worship a group of human beings who are conceived ashaving gone through what we are experiencing , and as havingconquered and become all that we hope to be . Th e system of

Mahavira,however

,has an advantage over that of Comte in

choosing for its ideals certain almost unknown or qui te mythical personages , who therefore can be endowed by the imagination with every virtue ; and the further and greater advantagethat its conquerors are conceived as having conquered death aswell as sin ,

and as dwell ing in the glorious l ight of an eternaland self- conscious l i fe ; whereas Comte

’s ideals are ideals only ,themselves dead and gone long ago , and existing now only inthe memories of us frail creatures of a day , who are so soon tofollow them into the thoughtless abyss of an endless night

,

in which shall perish also al l influence and trace of vice orvirtue .

Th e Tirthankaras, then , are the ideals and Moksha the goalofJainism ; and the attainment of this goal is what i t meansby salvation . We can , therefore , now come nearer to the g reatquestion : What m ust I do to be saved? What , in other words ,are the means laid down by Jainism for the checking of Karmaand the purifying of the soul?Th e most elementary and fundamental of these means arethe five great vows or rules of conduct , and th e seven supplementary ones

,wh ich every laym an is supposed to observe .

1 Kalpa Sutra , 1 19. (Jacobi’

s translation, S.B.E. Vol. x , Am e rican e d .

NewYork , Scribne rs,2 63


Th e first of these is the fam ous ahimsa vow against thetaking of l i fe .

1 With the monk this is an exceedingly seriousmatter as the reader will se e i f he recalls howfar l ife is supposed , by Jaina philosophy , to extend . But to the laym an thev owis somewhat softened down by the exclusion from i t ofj iv as with only one sense ; that is , what we should call nonorganic things , such as earth , water , and air , and also most vegetables and fruits . These the Jaina laym an may slay and eat.Even with this l imi tation , however , the v owhas certain veryfar- reaching effects . For one th ing i t makes all Jainas vegetarians . There are , moreover , certain kinds of vegetables , suchas carrots, potatoes , turn ips , in short , all that grow underground , which are conceived of as no t merely being alivebut as having many lives in one body ; and these the good Jainamust no t eat .2 In spi te of these restrictions , however , the dietof the Jaina can have considerable variety , and wi th goodcooking can be very tasty . I had lunch at the Svetambararest- house and school in Benares and can testify to th e p le asant flavor of the twenty - one different kinds of food that wereserved . Eating by lamp light is forbidden , since the lampsmay kill many insects. Even certain kinds of occupation areprecluded by this rule of ahimsa , including agricul ture andmost manufacturing . For ploughing may destroy much an

imal and vegetable l ife (not to mention the clods of earthwhich include innumerable l iving things) ; and manufactureusually involves fire or some other danger to insects . Hence ,most of the Jainas are dealers in j ewels, money- lenders

, or law

yers , orhave some equally innocent p rofess ion . They may also

1 Cf. the vows of the H indu m onk , p . 1 55 of th is book.1 Th e rule against the e at ing of th e se ve ge table s is be ing m odifie d by

som e of th e m ore l ibe ral Jainas, as wil l b e se e n from the fo l lowing e x tractfrom th e j aina Gaze tte for Nove m be r , 191 4 . Th e stude nts of a Jaina boarding - schoo l in Al lahabad , it se e m s, re ce ntly form e d an association whosee x ce l le nt work is re porte d in the art icle re fe rred to , wh ich the n continue s :“That its work has be e n appre ciate d by those who have com e in contactwith it m ay in so m e m e asure b e infe rre d from the valuable assistance give nus by the se cre tary of the Jaina boardinghouse , by conside ring our re que stsand m aking arrange m e nts that the y should b e grante d . Modification inthe rule s of the Jaina boarding - house in the m atte r of food - re strict ion is dueto th is fact and th e stude nts are not p roh ibite d nowfrom e ating potatoe s.

The association is ve ry grate ful to h im .

”

2 64


INDIA AND ITS FA ITH S

and a fair am ount of continence be observed ; and in fact theSvetambaras even permit a man to have two wives i f i t is clearthat the first wife can bear no children . Th e fifth vowis intended to prevent covetousness or inordinate desire for possessions by inducing the individual to se t an arbi trary limi t onthe amount Of worldly goods which he wil l ever acquire . I t

reads thus : “ I take a v owno t to possess more Of the followingthings than I have allowed myself : a certain fixed quanti tyof houses and fields , of si lver and gold , of coins and grain , oftwo - footed or four- footed creatures , furn i ture and p lenishing .

Beyond th is l imit I will regard nothing as my own possession .

” 1

Of the seven remaining vows one enforces hospital i ty towardJaina monks , while the six others are concerned wi th thetraining of the mind . Some of th ese are vows which one occasionally takes to perform certain acts of sl ight asceticism ,

suchas l imiting , ei ther for a short period or for l i fe , the number ofplaces one will visi t , the number of things one will use , thedifferent foods that he wil l eat , etc . On e vows , for instance ,that for a month he wil l not touch his favori te food ; or in themorning he pledges himself to si t down on no more than a certain number of seats that day . This sort of thing to us Weste rne rs seems absurd ; and wi th what j udgm ent we j udge weare j udged . I t seems absurd to us partly because we fail torealize that self- control is a habi t which must be cul tivatedi f i t is to be attained , and that sl igh tly ascetic tasks are tothe moral athlete what dumb - bells and chest-weights are to the

gymnast ; and largely because the highest form of self- controlthe complete dominance of the flesh by the spiri t does

not appeal to us as particularly des irable .

In addition to these twelve vows,the Jaina books detail

some fifty - seven different ways in which Karma may be im

p eded and the soul gradually freed . In general , however , theycover much the same ground as the twelve vows , and we needno t go into them here . Most of them have to do wi th sl ightlyascetic practices, mind training , inh ibi tion of evi l or weakening thoughts, and the direction of the mind in proper channels through contemplation of sui table subjects .

1 Mrs. Steve nson , op. cit. , p . 2 09.

266

THE JAINAS

Th e reader must bear in mind that in Jainism , on the onehand , and in Christiani ty , Judaism , and Mohammedanism on

the other , moral i ty stands on qui te different bases . For thethree latter the moral laws are divine commands . For Jainismthey are merely means which the wise man wil l take i f hereally wishes to attain h is goal . There is no Categorical Im

p e rativ e for the Jaina . I t l ies entirely with him whether hewil l make use of these means or no t. He has a perfect right ,i f he so wishes , to assimilate Karma and be born a potato .

1

All of these means are recom m ended for the laym an and laywoman , but are indispensable for the monks and nuns i f theyare to take their profession seriously . Th e whole of the monastic l ife is so arranged as to break all worldly ties and makeone feel that here we have no continuing ci ty and that Mokshais our home . Th e original rule of the Jaina orders (considerably modified to - day) permitted them to stay but a week in avillage and a month in a town except during the rainy se a

son,when

,indeed

,they were , and are , charged to remain for

the entire four months in one place . Th e purpose of this is no tthe protection of the monks ornuns from the downpour and theheat ; i t is for the protection of the plant and insect l i fe whichso abounds at that period and which might be inj ured by theinadverten t steps of the wandering brothers and sisters . Hencethey stay in the upasaro (rest - house) where they find themselves at the beginning of the rainy season until the rains areover . These rest- houses are buil t for their benefi t by laym enof piety who hope thereby to acquire meri t , and their sim

plicity and lack of adornment is in marked contrast wi th theelaborate and luxurious construction and decoration of theBuddhist m onasteries in Burm a and Ceylon . They consistsometimes of large and barren halls in which are many beds.sometimes of four l ines of cel ls surrounding a court .

1 I t will b e se e n that m oral vows and m e thods for m oral advance m e ntform the h e art of Jainism . Ye t the strictne ss of the se rule s is tone d downconside rably for the laym anwho is not sp e cially am bitious for h is soul ’sp rogre ss. Mrs. Steve nson quote s an odd passage from one of the newJainare l igious schoo lbooks. The subj e ct unde r discussion is the e igh te e n k indsof sin , and at the e nd the se words are adde d : Ch i ldre n , you m ust no t comm it such sins aim le ssly , whe re no e nd can b e gaine d fo r yourse lve s and the

inte re sts of your re lations are not conce rned ; m ore ove r , sins should b e ke pt

2 67


When the monk en ters the order (and what I say of themonk in this paragraph holds equally of the nun) a lock ofhishair is pulled out by the roots (hair by hair) and the rest of h ishead shaved ; and thereafter at least once every year every hairofh is head must be pul led out . He must own no property savea very few garments , a rod , five wooden pots

,a straining

cloth,a veil

,and a brush . These last three things are of special

impor tance ; for he must strain al l the water that he drinks lesti t should contain insects whose l ives would thus be sacrificedhe must place the veil over h is mouth whenever the atmosphereis such that there is danger of h is inhaling insects , and also onofficial occasion s as when preaching ; 1 and with the brush hemust sweep the floor before s i tting down , and sometimes theground in front of him as he walks , lest he should sit or treadupon some imm ortal soul . His food and water he must beg and

( l ike the Hindu sannyasi) he is allowed but one meal a day .

This , of course , must be entirely vegetarian and very limi tedin its choice of vegetables . For the stricter monks i t consistschiefly of ri ce and other cere als, dhal or pulse, ghi , milk , molasses , frui ts , and occasional sweets . All the water that hedrinks must be boiled —by some one else. This is interesting

,

as i t reflects the rather egoistic moral i ty which to some extentcharacterizes most non - Christian (and also many so - cal ledChristian) ethical codes. Th e water must be boiled (and mustbe drunk with in four hours after the boiling) so that the monkmay not be gui l ty of destroying life by drinking i t . But hemust not boil i t himself , for by so doing he would certainlydestroy l ife ; at least so thinks the Jaina , and consider ing thedrinking-water one gets in India he is probably correct . Hencesome one else m ust assume the guilt ofmurder in order to preserve h is innocence . Each day he must confess h is sins morning and night to his guruor superior . A certain part of h is timemust be given to study of the sacred books and to contem

plation and sometimes to the instruction of those laymenwhowith in bounds. Advice of th is so rt , of course , is not for th e m onk or for

the laym anwho se riously de sire s m oral advance m e nt.1 It is not m e re ly for the prote ction of inse cts in the wate r and air that

the m onk take s th e se p re cautions, but also for the p rote ction of the air andwate r the m se lve s, wh ich , it will b e re m e m be red , are j iva , and wh ich them onk vows not to k i ll.

268



one (even too great affec tion for a relative or guru , s ince th ishinders detachmen t from the world) , ( 1 1 ) hatred or envy , ( 1 2 )quarrelsomeness , ( I 3) slander , ( 14) tell ing m al icious stories ,( 15) faul t- finding , ( 16) lack of se l f- control , ( 1 7) hypocrisy or

suggestio falsi , ( 18) false fai th , such as apos tasy from Jainismor the partial adoption of some other rel igion .

Mrs. Stevenson , from whom I have taken th is l ist,makes

many excellent comments on the Jaina view of sin , two of

which are of spec ial importance . She points out , namely , thepsychological insight shown in the Jaina treatment of thesevarious sins , and also the actual application of the l ist . Th e

value of Jaina philosophy ,”sh e wri tes ,

“ l ies no t only in thefact that i t , unl ike Hinduism , has correlated eth ical teachingwith its metaphysical system , but also in the amaz ing knowledge Of human nature which i ts ethics display .

”In their treat

ment of the sixth , seventh , eighth , and ninth sins, for instance

(anger , concei t , in trigue , greed) , they make four degrees ofindulgence , each involving more guil t than the preceding , anddiffering only in the length of time th e indulgence has lasted .

Thus ,“ they have seized on an essential truth , that the length

of time a sin is indulged in affects the nature of the sin ; for sinsgrow worse through long keeping .

"1

In the training of the moral li fe the Jainas make use not

only of rules and vows but of confess ion and penance . At moreor less regular intervals every good Jaina laym an confesses hiss ins to some sadhuormonk , making use of the twelve vows andthe l ist of eighteen sins to refresh h is memory , and performsthe penance assigned him . Th e monks make daily confession .

Thus , as Mrs . Stevenson points out ,“to j udge this l ist fairly

one must remember that i t is no t an unused piece of lum berstored away in the Jaina statute book , but that the most careless of Jainas test their consciences by i t at least once everyyear

,and that the more devout use i t every four months, and

some every fortnight . I t cannot be denied that such lis ts , together wi th kindred enactments , have e ducated the Jaina conscience to some knowledge of what sin is.

” 1

But the Jaina rel igion in its present popular form includesnot only moral and ascetic rules, but genuine worship or

1 The H eart of j ainism , p . 1 2 2 .1 0p. cit. , p . 132 .

2 70

THE JAINAS

puja as well . The puja , of course , is to the Tirthankaras , andis probably an addi tion introduced by the laymen into theoriginal moral philosophy of Mahavira . For the laymenfel t the need of some superhuman assistance and so madethe Tirthankaras into gods . And so all over India they areworshiped as such , in tem ples and by means of im ages whichdo no t differ in principle from those of Hinduism the puj abearing a close resemblance to the Hindu type . Both the inte llige nt and the ignorant Jainas uni te in i t ; but wi th verydifferent points of view. For the latter the Tirthankaras aregods

,who hear prayer , are pleased by offerings and praises ,

and interfere to help their worshipers in response . Th e intellig e nt Jaina , on the other hand , considers the T i r thankarasmerely as ideals and as being qui te beyond the reach of allprayers and praises . As one Jaina put i t in conversation withme ,

“ the Tirthankaras are careless of us , for they are l i terallyfree from care .

”Th e intell igent Jainas are very logical here ,

and recogn ize that prayer in the sense of peti tion to such b eings is quite useless. But these good atheists do not thereforestop praying . They frankly admit that prayer and praise areof value only for their psychical , subj ective effects upon us ;but these effects are real and desirable so far as they go . Someof these men bitterly deplore the unintell igent worship of theTirthankaras , as being thoroughly inconsistent wi th the fundam e ntal principles of Jainism .

“Our gods [the Tirthankaras]are only human souls,

” writes a correspondent of the “ JainaGazette ,

“souls who have attained a bl issful condition .

Ex- hypothesis , these gods cannot and should not and will no ttake any part whatsoever in our daily l ives. Yet every m om

ing they are tortured to come down and sit in the large s i lverflat dishes ; and thousands of Jaina throats quiver in incantations and eyes half close in del icious expectation , praying theTirthankaras by name and generally to ‘give us this day ourdaily bread ,

’

to give us children , beautiful wives , fai thful husbands , golden ornaments , victory in a false lawsuit , the pleasure even of seeing our neighbor robbed or ruined , and manymore matters of higher or lower order . We claim peace andindifference for our gods . Why , then , this daily heresy andtorture like the Chairman of a Municipal i ty receiving peti tions

2 7 1


from traders , burgesses , schools , and scavengers? Can we notleave our gods in their wel l - earned peace?” 1

Th e wr i ter of this article prudently refrained from sign ingh is name , and I am incl ined to th ink the article must have beenconsidered rather heretical or at least i l l - advised by the moreconservative Jainas . For many of the more intel ligent bel ievethat with their ignorant theistic brothers the effects of realprayer to the Tir thankaras is on the whole rather beneficial .Hence the al truistic and intell igent atheist encourages h isdeluded brother to continue to pray to the Tirthankaras andto praise them , and in fact goes so far as towri te prayersand praises for h is use . He himself , m eanwhile , uses prayerand praise only in the sense of meditation and because hefinds them psychologica l ly useful in their reflex effects uponhimself . In fact the more advanced Jaina sadhus do not prayat all

,but simply medi tate .

There are said to be forty thousand Jaina temples in India ,and many of them are among the choicest gems of arch ite c

ture that India has to show . Often they are de corated with aprofusion of carving and sculpture which has made them formany centuries the marvel of the traveler . Th e court surrounding the temple proper is usually i tself surrounded by manyn iches containing statues of Tirthankaras, and in the innershrine are on e or more s imilar statues , perhaps larger thanthose without , and adorned sometim es with great j ewels

,but

in other respects the same . For all the Tirthankaras look alike .

2

Not even a Jaina can tel lwhich iswhich , except by the conv en tional sym bols attached to them by the artists for purposes of identification . They all wear a narrow loin - c loth andsit cross- legged ,wi th each foot resting on the Opposi te knee , thesoles turned upward , hands folded in lap , eyes gazing outwardinto space , and with expression as vacant as the artis t canmake it .

aThis exact similari ty and lack of individuali ty among

1 j aina Gazette , March , 191 4 , pp . 1 1 5- 16.

1 Cf. the p icture on the jacke t of th is book, wh ich is drawn , with sl ightm odificat ions, from a photograph of a group of the twe nty- four Tirthankara im age s, take n by the auth or in the gre at Jaina Te m p le at Be nare s.

1 I have de scribe d he re the Sve tam bara im age s. The D igam bara Tirthankaras diffe r slightly , in that th ey are quite naked , the ir e ye s are castdown , and they wear no j ewe lry in the ir fore he ads.

2 72


THE JAINAS

the Tirthankaras is no t for noth ing , but symbolizes very wellthe loss of individual peculiari ties and the complete indiffe rence which pure consciousness and Moksha naturally imply.

They raise also the unhappy query in the mind of the Westernbeholder : If I were to become pure soul, should I look l ike that?In addi tion to the images of the Tir thankaras one not in

frequently comes upon other figures in out- of- the-way partsof Jaina temples . In the Delwara temples on Mount Abu afemale figure is many times repeated which a Jaina whom I

found there told me represented a goddess named Chak e swe ri. 1Th e Jainas, he said , have twenty- four gods and one goddess ,and for h is own part he certainly believed in them all andworsh ip ed them . Other female figures besides Chak e swe ri thereare also in these temples , sporting wi th j ocund males , none ofwhom appear to be very strenuous candidates for Moksha .

More significant is the presence of certain Hindu gods inJaina temples. In the Jaina temple at Bombay I found animage of Ganesh ; another image of Ganesh in the great Jainatemple by the bank of the Ganges at Benares ; and in one of

the remote Achalgar temples on Mount Abu an image of Ganesh , an image of Hanuman , and a lingam . Mrs . Stevensonreports other Hindu gods in other Jaina temples.

2 Many of

the Jainas seem ignorant of these facts and flatly deny them .

Others when questioned give various explanations , th e com

monest being that these Hindu gods are servants to the Tirthankaras , or are put in the temples in order to do homage tothe Tirthankaras , or to bestow th eir protection , etc . ; for mostof the less intell igent Jainas believe in the Hindu gods , thoughthey do not worship them . I t is questionable how reliable theexplanations given really are ; and i t seem s more likely thatthe presence o f these im ages is a token of a tendency in popularJainism to sl ip back into Hinduism , as so many of its reform ingpredecessors have done . I think i t improbable , however , thatthis tendency wil l have any great effect ; for th e leading Jainas

1 H e p robably re fe rred to one of the Chasanade v is or fe m ale powe rswho occupy in Jainism a p lace corre sponding to that of the shaktis in H induism . The y are , that is, th e powe rs of the Tirthankaras. The Tirthanka

ras are suppose d to have powe rs but neve r to use the m .

1 Gane sh is also pre se nt and worsh ip e d at Jaina we ddings.

2 73


are very proud of the independence of their religion and willprobably be successful in heading off any movement of relapse.One surprising fact about the worship of the Jainas is thatthey have bu t very few priests of their own ,

and among theSvetambaras the oflicial puja in the temples is usually offeredby Hindus (Brahmins) ,who know but very li ttle of the Jainareligious and moral teachings , do not believe in the gods theyare worshiping

,and perform the ri tes purely as a professional

duty . For their domestic ceremonies Jainas of all sects cal lin Brahmin priests , i.e . , Hindus . Th e D igambaras havepriests of their own for their temple service . These priests arenever monks , but laymenwho adopt the temple service as theirmeans of l ivel ihood . Of course they nei ther preach nor teach ;they s imply perform the ri tes in the proper way . And this isno t a sim ple thing . Th e performance takes a long time andmust be done with precision . I t begins with washing the Tirthankara image , coloring i t in the proper spots , waving incense before i t wi th the repeti tion of verses , and the makingof Offerings . In some respects this latter is the most significantpart of the ri te , and I was fortunate in seeing i t particularlywell done in the Syadv ad Mahav idyalaya at Benares . This is aD igambara rest- house , school , and tem ple a mass ive building near theAsiGhat on the banks of the Ganges . As one entersthe building from the river s ide he comes first upon a shrinewith two or three small Tirthankara Images . To h is right is along room or hal l wi th many beds the rest- house for wandering monks. Th e temple proper is on the second floor alarge and handsome room with a shrine containing two orthree Tirthankara images at the end . As we entered fourpriests were doing puja before the shrine and had reached thatpart o f the ri tual in which offerings are made . In front of theshrinewas a table on which a large brass platter was lying.

Th e four priests were standing by the table , two on each side ,with a serving- table near them on which were eight smalltrays each containing a different kind of offering . Th e priestswould take up first a l i ttle white rice from one of these traysand sprinkle i t upon the large platter before the shrine , thensome saffron rice from another , then ghi from a third and pouri t upon the p latter , while one o f them kept up an unbroken

2 74



fo rty thousand Jaina temp les . In most of these there are twoservices every day so Iwas informed , puj a and scrip turereading or chanting in the morning , and illumination wi thscripture reading or chanting in the evening . Of course Jainas

(l ike Christians) stay at home from church occasionally ; andthe men seem to stay at home rather often .

“Our temples,

says the “ Jaina Gazette ,” “ are sadly , we almost said shame

ful ly , neglected . Yet in the large centers one will find a fairattendance ofwomen at the morning temple service and a fewmen kneeling before th e shrine , waving incense sticks , scattering grains of rice in the center of th e room

,and chanting

some ancient hymn , wi th a good deal of fervor .One of the most sacred of these hymns (th e

“ Shanti PathI shal l in part copy down here , in the English translation madeby the gentleman whom I referred to above as taking so en

thusiastic a part in the puj a j ust described . I t is in honorespecially of Shanti Jinendra , the s ix teenth Tirthankara , andis offered every day in every Jaina temp le. I t will se rve as a

good ex ample of Jaina worship :

I bowto the h igh e st Jaina ,Whose e ye s re se m ble the lotus,Whose body a thousand and e ightD istinctions do ado rn .

I bowto Shanti Jine ndra,

Whose face has the m oon’

s e ffulgence ,Purity , goodne ss, ch aracte r,And law in whom find sh e lte r.

To Lord Jine ndra, Shri Shanta ,Th e worsh ipe d of all the world ,Th e give r of pe ace and joy ,

I b owdown m y hum ble h ead.Pe ace e te rnal m ay h e awardTo al l the be ings on e arth .

May I obtain by his favorTh e h ighe st gift ofNirvana.

Worsh ipe d by I ndras and the gods,Be - j ewe le d with ear- rings, ne ck lace crown,

May the Tirthankaras be stowPe ace e te rnal all round.Born of noble fam i l ie sThe y gave light unto the world,The ir lotus- fe e t are adorne dBy le gions of gods ce le stial .

2 76

THE JAINAS

On worsh ipe rs and be l ieve rsBe stow pe ace , 0 Glorious j inendra.

’

B le sse d b e all subj e ctsAnd the rule r just and strong.May rains b e good and tim e lyAnd all d ise ase s ce ase !

May fam ine , the ft, and pe sti le nceNot v e x the pe op le for a se cond ,May Chakra divine of J inendraG ive joy to the world around !Lords j inas com m e ncing from Rishabha,

1

De stroye rs of deadly Karm as,Radiators of Pe rfe ct Knowledge ,To e arth m ay Happ ine ss bring !

” 1

Not a very inspiring hym n from our point of view , i t mustb e admitted , even granting that i t may have lost somethingin being done into Engl ish . Yet we non- Jainas are hardly in a

posi tion to j udge i t fairly , nor to form any just estimate ofwhat i t may mean to a devoted follower of Lord Shanti Jinendra . Poss ibly a Jaina would be equally at a loss to understandthe appeal of the great Christian hymn

Crown Him with m any crowns,The Lam b upo n His th rone .

”

In addition to the temples , each Jaina house is supposed tohave a domestic shrine of its own , as the Hindus and Buddhistshave

,and here puja is regularly offered to the Tir thankaras .

Th e Jaina layman is supposed to perform six daily duties ,namely : ( 1 ) Puja . This is best done at a temple

,but some

carry hym n - books in wh ich are pictures of the Tirthankaras ,and these pictures may , for purp oses of puja , be substi tutedfor the temple images . Th e ful l puj a for a laym an requiresforty - eigh t minutes , but most are satisfied wi th waving incenseor a lamp before the image and offering rice . (2 ) Confessionto one ’s guru . (3) Reading from the scriptures or repeatingpassages from them wh ich have been learned by heart . (4)The

“

p ractice of vows some light asceticism as describedabove under the twelve rules of conduct . (5) Charity (especially to monks) . (6) Med i tation . Besides th is daily exerciseof the religion there are days of special observance e .g . , the

1 The first J ina orTi rthankara.1 Publishe d in the Jaina Gaze tte for Nove m be r, 191 3.

2 77


eigh th and fifteenth day of each month , the full moon , andespecially the annual festival (an alternating feast and fast)of Pajjusana at the end of the year , which lasts for eight days ,the fifth of which is celebrated as the birthday of Mahavira .

“Th e closing day of the Jaina year and of Pajjusana is themost solemn fast of all . Every Jaina fasts throughout the dayfrom food and water , and the apasara [rest- houses of the monks]are crowded with men and women making their confessions .No outsider can visi t these gatherings without being deeplyimpressed with the determination of all p resent to carry nogrudge and no quarrel over into the next year . At the closeof the meeting every one p resent asks forgiveness from hisneighbors for any offense he may even unwi ttingly have given ,and they all wri te letters to distant friends asking their for

giv e ne ss also .

” 1

Th e Jaina rel igion , i t wil l be seen makes very considerabledemands even upon i ts laym en , and I ts general influence uponthem tends , unquestionably, to a very real kindness and goodwil l and a certain sort of idealism . Notmany of i ts laym en , however

,carry out its rules with any great care ; and the rank and

fi le,even in obeying i ts comm ands , do so very unintell igently .

So at least I was told by one of th e Jaina leaders . I have saidabove that th e scrip tures are read or chanted in the templesand that i t is the duty of the laym an to read or chant themevery day . But I must nowadd that very few laym en po ssessany of the scriptures of their own to read ; and when they doread or hear them they are ( to most of. them) entirely uninte ll igible ; for th e Jaina scriptures are wri tten in Sanskri t andPrakri t , both ofwhich are unknown tongues to the great m aj ority of the Jaina community .

1 Some of the most important of

1 Mrs. Steve nson, The H eart of j ainism , pp . 2 59- 60.

1 The hym n cop ied out above , for instance (the “ Shanti Path thoughre cite d eve ry day in eve ry Jaina te m p le , is quite m ean ingle ss to alm ost allthose who re cite it. In fact itwas for th is reason that th e English translat ionwas m ade and p rinted in the j aina Gaze tte ; the translator pre facing itwith the re m ark : The Te x t is in Sanskrit and the re al and t rue im port ofth e so le m n ve rse s is not gene ral ly unde rstood . An English translation isthe re fore give n for the inform ation of our young m e n . I should add , howeve r, that

“

according to Mrs. Steve nson ,who is int im ate ly acquainted withth e Jainas ofKath iawar, m ost Jaina laym enare fam i l iarwith a fewof them ore im portant scripture s.

2 78



ance . And the following quotations from the “ Jaina Gazettewill give further i llustration of the frankness of the leaders onthis matter and their earnest desire to bring about reform :

“If Jainism has yet to l ive i t m ust come up to date . Old dog

mas alone won ’ t do . Th e garbled and unauthenticated ac

counts of old Jaina glory are not much . Keen -witted Historyand scrupulous Logic have to certi fy to our fi tness before wecan get admission to the halls where truth is si fted and weighedand the claims of different creeds adjudged . Jainism has gotthe true gold in i t ; but i t l ies upon us to prove that i t is so .

General Booth 's Salvation Army is coming to India to takethe criminal tribes in hand to reform them . I s i t not fair toask the Jainas : What have you done to make li fe better andhappier for your fel low human beings?” 1

Some of the Jainas may be good , perhaps despi te theirbirth in a Jaina family , but Jainas on the whole have successful ly made ceaseless efforts to divest themselves o f all that wasbest in Jainism . Knowledge of Jainism is almost extinct . Veryfew original texts are extant ; they are unknown to Jaina masses ,even to their learned leaders, and very rarely read even in private

,what to say of public meetings. Th e spiri tual or rather

anti - spiri tual food of the masses is derived partly from crude,

half- Jaina,half- non - Jaina truths or half- truths

,and partly

from supersti tions upon which their l ives are based in our

towns and vil lages .” 1

Nor is this all . Th e Jaina leaders find cause for discouragement and sadness , not only in the spiri tual condi tion of theirfellow- rel igionists , but also because of what the

“ Jaina Gazette ” calls “ the steady swindling down of their numbe rs .That the Jaina religion is destined to decl ine steadily throughout our present era , and at last become (temporari ly) extinct ,is , s trangely enough , one of the bel iefs of this rather strange

pe ople . And nowthat facts seem to be verifying their fai ththey naturally look forward wi th considerable anxiety to thefuture . The Jaina Gazette ” reports that between 1891 and190 1 the number of Jainas fel l from about to000 ,

and that according to the census of 191 1 i t had fallen bythat year to Th is means a decrease for the last

1 January , 191 1 , p . 3.1 May

- Septe m be r, 191 1 , p . 74.

2 80

THE JAINAS

decade of6% per cent . In the same decade the Hindus increased5 per cent , the Moslems per cent , and the Christians 33per cent . What is the cause of this loss in numbers?Th e Jainadeath - rate is shown to be lower than that of Hindus , Mos

lems, or Christians . Nor , i f we can trust the wr i ter in the

“Gazette,

”who seems to be well informed on h is subj ect ,can conversions away from Jainism account for this steady fal lin numbers . I t does no t occur to him that a religion wh ichvalues cel ibate l ife so much above the married , which urgesmen and women to turn monks and nuns and regards the production of lawful children rather askance , has no right to begrieved but should rather rejoice at a steady decrease in numbers . But indeed there is certainly some other cause than thisat work . This cause , in part , is the caste system . Th e castesystem works against the Jainas in two ways . Jainas andVaisya Hindus intermarry . But as a rule the Vaisya man

,

though he takes a Jaina wife , is no t willing to give h is daugh terto a Jaina husband . Th e resul t is that many Jaina women b ecome Hindus and their children are born as Hindus , whilemany Jaina men are left wi th no wives at all . And the divisionof the Jainas into small castes who will not intermarry oftenworks the same evil . But the evil condition is greatly increasedby the maintenance of the traditional feel ing

‘against the rem arriage of child -widows , 1 which makes Jaina womenunmarriageable , and by the custom of child -marriage andother evil conditions which induce premature death

,and thus

considerably reduce the female population . As a resul t abouttwenty - eight per cent of the Jaina men under forty- fiv e haveto remain unmarried because there are not any Jaina womenfor them to marry .

Th is cl inging to ancient evil customs , and especially thisdivision of their small communi ty into castes and sects , are

1 In one l ittle Jaina caste wh ich the write r in the Gazette has inve stigated , the re are 408 m ale s and 381 fe m ale s : 1 1 7 of the se 381 are widows.

“Th is m e ans that 1 1 7 p lus 2 7 , that is , 144 m ale s, cannot have wive s unde r

any conce ivable circum stance s. On the day whe n the se figure s we retake n the re we re 1 77 boyswho we re unm arrie d , wh i le th e re we re 73 girlsonlywho could b e distributed am ong the m . That m eans that 1 04 boys m ustgo without wive s ! And 40 grown- up m e n m ust have be e n Old bach e lorse ithe r asce tics or or what?” (A . B. Latthe ,

“The De cade nce of

Jainas,” j aina Gaze tte , Apri l and June , 191 2 , pp . 39

2 81


among the th ings most deplored by the intell igent laymen .

Th e D igambaras and Svetambaras will no t intermarry, and

only a few of them are sufficiently advanced to be will ing toeat together . Only recently they were beginning a law sui twhich promised rich pickings for th e lawy ers, bec ause theSvetambaras refused to allow those of the D igambara p e rsuasion to worship at one of the shrines sacred to all Jainas. And

not only are there three great sects in this l i ttle community ofa mill ion and a quarter ; these sects are divided (as I said on aprevious page) into nearly ninety sub - sects , 1 each Of wh ichregards all the rest as more or less heretical .And what is perhaps worst of all , because i t goes de epest ,

is the fact that in nearly all these sects the emphasis is put onthe outer form , and the development of the spi r i tual l i fe of thecomm unity is left to take care of i tself. Th e Jainas are a richcommuni ty and many of their rich men are generous andloyal . But until recently their generosi ty has usually takenthe form of buying a newj ewel to be put in the forehead of aTirthankara image ,2 while expenditures for chari ty and e du

cation have scarcely been thought of. A sad state of things,

indeed , yet One hardly pecul iar to Jainism . Only last year inChristian Spain , in the ci ty of Granada , the priests collectedsome forty- two thousand dollars from the pious lai ty to buya new crown for th e Madonna ; although the ci ty is too poorto afford pure water , has no poorhouse , and but few schools

,

and although the Madonna already had one very expensivecrown which might perhaps have been made to

“do for a

few years longer .Fortunately there is a good deal of feel ing against this sort

of waste in both Spain and India . But in Spain th e feeling isconfined chiefly to those out of the Church ; while among the

1 The j aina Gazette for Octobe r, 191 4 , give s a list of e ighty- seven caste sinto wh ich th e D igam baras are divide d .

1 A we althy Sve tam bara ge nt le m an is at pre se nt building a newte m p lein wh ich h e is e x pe nding twe nty- four lakhs of rup e e s Ofanoth e r Sve tam bara the Gazette for June , 191 5, re cords that in 1905 he

spe nt Rs. in e nte rtaining the pe rsons co lle cted at a re ligious se r

vice he ld by him . In 1907 , at a cost of Rs. he bui lt a garden housefor th e public , whe re a re l igious fair annually take s p lace . In m ak ing p ilgrim age in com pany he spe nt Rs. H e se t apart a sum of Rs.

toward grounding scho larsh ips to stude nts prose cuting the ir Co l le ge study."

2 82



forme to quote from them at all is, I confess , almost unfair . I tis l ike disclosing the secrets of a friend ’s family which one has bychance learned . I am sure , however , that the reader will agreewith me in feel ing that the very frankness of these writers isi tself a token of the moral strength that still remains in thisancient community . And the words have the men behindthem . I have had the good fortune to know personally a number of these young reformers , and there can be no question oftheir earnestness and of their devotion to the rehabil i tationof their rel igion and of their communi ty . In fact they havesucceeded in getting the reform movement well under way ;and I must say a word or two concern ing i t before I close thischapter .One of the organ iza tions through which the reformers have

done their work is the “ Bharat Jaina Maham andal,” which

is sometimes translated the “All India Jaina Association ,

sometimes the “ Jaina Young Men ’s Association of India .

I t was founded in 1895 and its aim is to bring the differen tsects into union or at least coOp e ration , to arouse the wholecommunity to the importance of education , and to bring aboutcertain social reforms such as the ul timate aboli tion of casterestrictions and the alleviation of the sad lot of the childwidows . Th e

“ Jaina Gazette,

” founded in 1905 , is i ts officialorgan . A somewhat s imilar organization is the “MahaviraBrotherhood ,

” 1 founded in 1913 , with headquarters in both

to doubt h is inform ation. Ye t whe n he com es to address the Jainas the mse lve s h e write s what I have quoted above , and m uch m ore of th e sam e

stre nuous so rt . One is unce rtain whe th e r to adm ire m ost th is frank andunsparing criticism toward frie nds, or the equally downright loyalty ofre tice nce whe n spe aking to strange rs.

1 I ts“M inim um of Conduct"for its m e m be rs is inte re sting and in

m any ways adm irable( 1 ) Hurt noth ing as far as possible ; e sch ew al l flesh food .(2 ) He lp and se rve all (Jainas and non- Jainas) as m uch as possible .

Ex pe ct no re turn .

(3) Supp re ss the passions ofAnge r p ract ice Forgive ne ss.

Pride practice Hum i l ity.De ce it p ractice Love and Faith .

Gre e d p ractice Sacrifice .

(4) Cultivate Peace ofM ind."

The h igh aim s of th e Broth e rhood are m ore prom ising than its m e m be rsh ip , wh ich as ye t num be rs but e ight.

284

THE JAINAS

England and India . I t aims “ to be a nucleus Of UniversalBrotherhood of all l iving beings ,

”as well as to be a center of

Jainism in the West ." Partly through the efforts of thesesocieties and their members , partly through other wide- awakeJainas

,the cause of religious and moral education in the Jaina

community has made a fair start. A number of schools havebeen founded , both local establishments and boardingschools, in some of which (notably in the two great schoolsin Benares) English and Sanskri t are taught , while in all ofthem the study of the Jaina religion is compulsory .

1 A seriesof books of religious instruction p repared especially for childrenwas published in 1907 .

Another effort that the reform ers are making is an attemptto publish and translate as much as possible of their sacredli terature . Until qui te recently only a small portion of theJaina l i teraturewas known even to the Jaina public . In 1884

Dr . Jacobi translated some Jaina sutras , but these composebut a sm all part of the Jaina l i terature . Most of i t , stil l preserved only in palm- leaf manuscript ,was hidden away in monasterie s , especially in South India , and guarded by monks who ,too ignorant to read i t themselves , have regarded i t as toosacred for any one else to read . In some cases i twas with thegreatest difficulty that they were prevailed upon to allowcopies of these manuscripts to be made , even though the copieswere to be kept within their own monasteries . Another obstacle in the way ofpubl icationwas the prej udice fel t throughout the Svetambara sect against allowing women or any of thelai ty to read the sacred books . In spi te of these obstacles conside rab le progress has been made . A “ Jaina Li terature Socie ty ,

"with a European and an Indian section , has recentlybeen founded wi th a steadily increasing endowm ent fund , andancient manuscripts are being edi ted and translated . I t is thepurpose of the society to publish the text together wi th anEnglish translation of all the Jaina Sacred Books .

In January , 191 2 ,the “ Jaina Gazette

,in sum ming up the

results of the reform movement , was able to point to the following insti tutions : about fifteen j ournals (in var ious lan

1 I should add that th e two Benare s schoo ls wh ich I visite d se e m e d tobe adm irably conducte d .

2 85


guages) ; three presses ; eleven libraries ( in addi tion to l ib rariesattached to temples all over India) ; seventeen schoo ls ; anorphanage ; and a Home for Widows . To this l ist , m oreover ,should be added a hospi tal , 1 nowsix years old , and two recentgifts of money , one of two hundred thousand rupees for thecause of education made in October , 191 3, and another of fourhundred thousand rupees made in December of the same year .A few months ago a Jaina lady made a gift of twenty - fiv e

thousand rupees for female education .

Th e movement for union is also flourishing . For severalyears each of the three chief sects has had an association of itsown ,

with an annual conference , combining thus i ts manysub - sects

,and in 191 1 the All India Jaina Association made a

proposal to al l three associations that a uni ted committee beappointed made up of representatives from each . This proposal was accepted by al l the associations ; so a first step wastaken for complete union . Moreover , Svetam baras and D igambaras have at last been induced to eat together

,though they

wil l not yet interm arry . And in December , 191 3 , an All IndiaJaina Conventionwas held at Benares , at which representativ e s of all the sects talked in Hindi and English for four dayson the super ior i ty of the Jaina religion to all others and on theneed for education and union . Th e convention was Opened bya procession through the ci ty in which (as the enthusiasticJaina reporter put i t)

“ the chariot car drawn by a couple ofdecorated elephants , p roceeding slowly and majestically , theprancing ponies proud of their gl i ttering jewelry and velvettrappings , the melodious music , the long l ine of flags , and theGuard of Honor formed by the students of the Syadv ad , allcombined to lend a glorious splendor to the scene .

” Each of thefour daily (and nightly) sessions had i ts own president , Mrs .Besant and Professor Jacobi being among the number . Someof the speeches were scholarly exposi tions of doctrine , somewere appeals for united action , and no t a few were of the sortmade by an enthusiastic convert from Hinduism who said (soat least I was told , for i twas in Hindi and quite beyond me)that j ust as there should be but one language in the world and

1 At Cawnpore . During n ine m onths of the year 1913 it tre ate dcase s. Se e j aina Gaze tte for June - July, 1914 , p . 2 32 .

2 86



without leaning too heavily on sutras , angas , and agamas ;when a few of its most fundamental ideas are stripped of theirrather grotesque fittings and allowed to develop in an atmos

ph e re of perfectly free thought , i t makes a very respectablesystem , and ranks well among the religions of India . I ts extreme and almost fantastic altruism , its great emphasis uponself-mastery , upon the dominance of the spiri t over the flesh ,i ts unshaken fai th in the soul , and in the necessi ty of keepingone ’s self free from the cheap enticements of an increasinglymaterialistic age , together wi th some of i ts psychological suggestions as to mental and moral training these things areof permanent value ; and a rel igion that has persistently stoodfor them for at least twenty - fiv e hundred years is worthy of

very considerable respect .Nor are these things merely matters of theory among the

Jainas . Professor Biihle r wri tes : In practical l i fe Jainismmakes its lai ty earnest men who exhibi t stronger trai ts of re signation than other Indians and excel in an exceptional willingness to sacrifice anything for their religion .

” 1 For my ownpart I went to India prej udiced against them from havingtrusted Hopkins ’s 1 characterization too implici tly . I met anumber of Jainas and found them exceptionally intelligentmen

,broad -minded , and earnestly devoted to the welfare of

their fellows , as well as remarkably hospi table and generous .

These gentlem en testify that they are happier and better menb ecause of their religion ; happier men because the great aim of

their religion is perfect peace and because its rules enable oneto approach the goal ; better men both because the moral commands of Jainism if conscientiously followed guard one againstany very serious sinning and demand real al truism toward allsentient beings, and also because i t holds up as ideals certainB lessed Beings who are conceived of as having once been menlike ourselves and as having actually achieved through moralmeans th e '

p e ace which all are taught to love .Th e high valuation that the Jainas se t upon th is inner p eace

1 The I ndian Sect of the Jainas (London , Frowde , p . 18.

1 Se e his Religions of I ndia (Boston , Ginn Co . chap . x 11 . H e

characte rize s Jainism as a re l igion in wh ich the ch ie f po ints insisted on

are that one should deny God , worsh ip m an , and nourish ve rm in” (p .

2 88

THE JAINAS

wh ich the world cannot give nor take away , together wi th thekind of ideal which they find and love in the li fe of their LordMahavira is made very plain in the descriptions given in theirancient books of the persecutions of the founder : “When heapproached a vil lage the inhabi tants met him on the outsideand attacked h im , saying : ‘Get away from here .

’ He wass truck with a stick , the fist , a lance , hi t wi th a frui t , a clod , apotsherd . Beating him again and again many cried . When heonce sat without moving his body they cut h is flesh , tore h ishair under pains

, or covered him with dust . Throwing him upthey let him fall or disturbed him in his rel igious postures ;abandoning the care of his body , the Venerable One humbledhimself and bore pain , free from desire . As a hero at the headof the battle is surrounded on all sides , sowas there Mahavira .

Bearing all hardships , the Venerable One , undisturbed , proce ed ed on the road to N i rvana .

” 1

In spi te of its setting , so strange to our times and our land ,there is something rather noble in this patient figure , something that suggests , at least remotely , Him

“who , when he

was reviled , reviled no t again , persecuted , he threatened not .”And there is something noble in a rel igion which can choose fori ts ideal this Winner Of the Inward Peace , th is Despiser of theFlesh , and looking past the body to the soul can call thisbloody , dust- stained , insulted figure “ the Great Hero

,

” “ theConqueror .” “

As an elephant at the head of the battle , so wasMahavira there victorious .

”

I have dwel t wi th some detai l in this chapter upon the metaphysics , the ri tes , the custom s, and the shortcomings of J ainism . But i t is only fair to add that to the broad -minded Jainasthe moral element o f their rel igion is the truly important element , and that they are ready to a surprising extent to se e theletter perish provided the spiri t l ives . Thus they hai l as trueextensions of Jainism every movement toward the preventionof cruel ty to anim als , toward vegetarianism and anti - v iv ise ction ; every reform of dress that tends to prevent the wantonor cruel des truction of bird or animal l i fe ; and every effor ttoward temperance or the prohibi tion of intoxicants . Th e Universal Peace Movement is acclaimed as belonging to the very

1 Akaranka Sutra , 1 , 8, 3 .

289


spiri t ofMahavira , and Andrew Carnegie is regarded as a Jainain disguise .

“ None can doubt says the ‘‘Jaina Gazette ” 1n'

reference to these movemen ts , that J ainism is extending , aithough the Jainas may no t know i t , and although those inwhose midst the spiri t of Jainism is incarnated , and is growing ,may not knowthat they are Jainas .”


CHAPTER X IV

THE MOHAMMEDANS

T is usually with a sense of relief that one turns from a Jainatemple

,with its twenty- four j ewel - bedecked Tirthankara

images , or, stil l more , from a Hindu shrine with its l ingam andi ts Ganesh and Hanuman , i ts incense - laden air and its din of

drum and cym bal , and enters the stillness of a Mohammedanmosque . No priests here , plying their trade and collecting theirfees , no images , no incense , nothing to stand between theworsh ip e r and the invis ible God . Here , as is so often the case , thearchi tecture i tself ty pifies the rel igion which i t enshrines . Th eplan of a mosque is severely s imple . No inner and mysteriousroom , no idol shrine , no subordinate deities circl ing the central

god , j ust a court wi th a fountain for wash ing the hands ,head

,and feet , and an empty hall with a few prayer mats on

which the fai thful may stand or kneel and pray , a niche in thewall to give them their bearings , and a small platform fromwhich one of their number may read to the rest from the sacredbook .

Moslem theology is as simple as i ts archi tecture and i tsworship . No pantheon of gods with their wives , no semi - divineTir thankaras , no av ataras , no incarnations , no abstruse philosOphy which only the wise and learned can comprehend j ustthe One God who made all th ings and does whatever is done ,omnipotent

,omniscient , merciful , and righteous ; a heaven for

the good and a hell for the evi l , and a perfectly authori tativebook , as s imple as i t is infall ible , revealed by God to the Pro

phet this is the sum of I slam .

Beauti fully simple surely that is one ’s first reaction on

this creed . And one ’s second though t is the query , Is this creednot , perhaps, rather too simple for the very complex world wel ive in? I asked a Brahmin once what he thought of Islam , andhe answered ,

“I t is indeed very simple , and that is just the

trouble wi th i t . I t is the kind of religion you would expect a

2 91


very simple Arab of the seventh century to teach h is fellowinhabi tants of the desert . I t answered their questions , but cani t answer ours?Th e Moslem th inks i t can . Th e answer to every real and toevery possible question , he will tell you , is to be sought in thewill of the one and absolutely Supreme God . Says the Koran :“ He is God beside whom there is nonewho should be served ,the Knower of the unseen and the seen . He is the Merciful

,the

Compassionate . He is God beside whom there is no God , theKing

,the Holy

,the Author of Peace , the Granter of securi ty ,

Guardian over all , the Mighty , the Restorer of every loss , thePossessor of every greatness . High is God above what they se tup with Him . He is God , the Maker of all things , the Creatorof all existence , the Fash ione r of all images. His are the mostexcellent and beautiful attributes that man can imagine .

Everything that exists in the heavens or on th e earth sings Hisglory and H is perfection , and He is the Mighty , the Wise .

”

Th e East and West are God's . Wh i thersoever men turnthemselves , the face ofGod doth meet them there .

” 1

By this mon istic doctrine Islam seeks at once to render toGod the highest glory and to answer all human questions. Andthis view of things seems to have satisfied the Prophet andh is primitive Arabs very completely . But when through theirefforts the new religion had be en carried to peoples m ore fam i l iarwith the problems of philosophical thought

, unforeseen difficultie s arose : and greatest of all , the old problem of God ’seternal decree and man ’s freedom and responsibil i ty . I shal lno t here retail the long controversy of th e Mutazilite s and theSunni tes , but shal l simply quote from the Creed of the greatSunnite theologian , Al Ashari , which finally settled the matterand made belief in man ’s freedom as heretical for I slam as St .Augustine had made i t for Christiani tyNothing exists upon earth , be i t good or bad , but that which

God wills : but all things are by God ’s will . None is able to doanything before God does i t , nei ther is any one independent ofGod . Th e works of creatures are created and predestinedby God . And God maintains the bel ievers in obedience to

1 In m ost of m y quotations from the Koran I have m ade use of Sale ’sTranslation.

292



None of the Indian Moslems with whom I talked could becalled fatalists in the usual sense of the word . And yet in oneparticular they were fatal ists. Though God has by no meansdecreed whatever comes to pass , God has, th ey insist , decreedthe time and the manner of every man ’s death . To my question how , i f this were the case , a suicide could ever be held responsible for h is act , they had no reply , but clung to their Viewin proper Moslem fashion none the less . With th e exception ofthis particular case , however , as I have said , many IndianMoslems have dri fted away from the orthodox fatal ism of theirmediaeval creed . And this fact seemed very interesting to me .

I t pointed out a way in which the fetters of creed that have solong bound the Moslem world may be broken , and are beingbroken namely , not by revol t but by simple ignorance . I tis no t in the Mohammedan to rebel against any generally ac

c e p ted authori ty . But once an authority becomes generallyaccepted , i t is l ikely to be generally forgotten ; and the popularrel ig ion may , without knowing i t , drift beyond i t and adapti tsel f spontaneously to changing human needs . And if at thesame time the thinkers of the com munity have fairly l iberaltendencies and do not seek to force religious though t back intocentury - old forms , we may look wi th some hope for intellig en t creeds and an elastic and growing rel igion .

Another i llustration of this development of rel igious ideas inI slam will be seen if we compare Al Ashari’s creed wi th thepopular Indian Moslem View on the question of the nature ofGod . Al Ashari wri tes : “We believe that God has settled Himsel f upon H is throne ; that God has a countenance and two handsand two eyes . We believe that at the Day of ResurrectionGod will be visible to the eyes , as the moon is seen upon then ight of the full moon .

” 1

I quoted Al Ashari to my variousMoslem acquain tances and ,

to a man , they all insisted that they believed in no such thing .

God ,they all said , has no hands

'

or eyes or body : these express ions must be tak en figuratively . God is spiri t and spiri t only.

He is the Creator ofmatter , but does not Himself occupy spacethough He is in one sense present everywhere . They were

very clear , moreover , that God’

s omnipresence must not be1 Macdonald, op. cit. , pp . 294

—95.

294

THE MOHAMMEDANS

taken in th e sense of irnm anence in matter . God to them , inproper Mosle m style , is transcendent only , and they were qui teaware of the difference between their view and that of theirHindu neighbors .

This extreme transcendental ism and deism of Islam makesit rather inhospi table to mysticism . Th e Moslem God is verydistant and as a rule He has nothing to say to individuals . Hehad a message for the race as a whole and that He wrote downand sent in the form of various books to the various Prophets .But since He sent the Koran there has been no need for anyfurther communication between Him and us . In spite of itsaversion to the im manent view of God , however , Islam veryear ly in its history began producing mystics ; and although i tis certainly much less favorable to mysticism than ei therHinduism or Christianity , one com es upon a touch of i t hereand there among many of i ts followers . Th e Sufis and Derv ish e s are , o f course , the most prom inent representatives of

Mohammedan mysticism , and these flourish best , perhaps , inthe Persian empire . But in India , too , mysticism is to befound , and in individuals qui te outs ide the influence of theDervish . Thus an old m oulv ie whom I happened uponlying qui te helpless on h is bed from a paralytic stroke saidto me that Godwas very near him , and that sometimes Godspoke to him in ways that were unmistakable ; that Godsaid things to him and these things came true . “We have fivesenses ,

” he said ,“ and through each of these knowledge of some

sort comes into the soul . Th e soul is l ike a reservoir wi th fiv epipes leading into i t . But the reservoir has also a spring . Th e

water from all these six sources gets mingled in the reservoir sothat you cannot at first tel l from which source any given partof the water came . But there is a way of finding out . Shut offthe pipes , and you may be sure that the water coming in afterthat is from the spring . So of the soul . If you shut off the fivesenses and all sources of evi l thoughts youmay know that whatis left comes into the soul from God .

” Certainly this is a kindof mysticism . Yet the contrast between i t and Hindu m ysti

cism is very striking . God is stil l regarded as an outside beingwho pours knowledge into the soul as through a spring ; andyou know i t is from God partly because i t is not from the

2 95


senses , partly because i t“ comes true .” Most Mohammedan

mysticism is of a decidedly external nature and the Hinduswould add of a decidedly crude nature as well . And this bringsus to the question of revelation .

There is an odd combination of l iberal i ty and narrowness inthe Moslem view of revelation . God , they tel l us , has revealedHimself at various times and to all p eoples

“He hath sentmen to every nation to teach them the right way .

” Hence inthe sacred books of all religions some truth is to be found ; andan especially large share of i t in the Scriptures of the Jews andChristians . I t is this aspect Of the Moslem doctrine of revelation that is emphasized by such wri ters as Ameer Ali , Mohammed Ali

,and Lord Headly in their attempt to ex hibi t Islam

as the one universal and all - inclusive rel igion . And i t is th isemphasis on only one aspect o f the question which makes thewri tings of these modern apologists of I slam so misleading . For

while Islam teaches that God has indeed revealed Himself toall peoples, i t also insists that these various revelations to nonMohammedans have in every case become so distorted andvitiated as to be quite untrustworthy and practically worthless,and that they have al l been superseded by the Koran . Th e

Koran , on the other hand , has no human or fall ible element ini t . I twas written not by Mohammed , but by God , and givento the Prophet through the dictation of the Angel Gabriel .Hence i t is absolutely and infall ibly inspired not only as to itsideas , but in all i ts words . God did not inspire the Prophet towri te the Koran ; God wrote the Koran and wrote i t in Arabic ,and the very Arabic words , being the words of God , have avirtue and a value of their own .

This exceedingly childish and mechanical view of inspiration has had and must continue to have i ts deadeninge ffect upon all real advance of thought in Moslem communities .Moslems will , of course , deny this, but i t is inevitable. A Sufi ,

whom I questioned as to the relation of Islam to scientific progress , ins isted that Islamwas in no way opposed to scienceso long as science conform ed to the Koran and the Traditions ofthe P rophet. Such necessary conformity , of course , means thedeath of free thought . Nei ther philosophy nor science nor inte lligent l i terary cri ticism nor human and satisfying theology

296



emphasis certainly approximates real development in thought .Several informants of mine ordinary Moslem merchantsinsisted that the descriptions of heaven in the Koran must no tbe taken to mean that i t is a place of sensuous delight . Theyadmitted that many of the lower Moslems so regard i t

,and that

Mohammed wrote as he did for the Arabs who were aroundh im . But they affirmed wi th emphasis that the real meaning ofthese materialistic passages is s imply that each good man shallhave in heaven what he most desires ; and when we get therewe shall probably not want sensuous delights even if here wethink that we shal l . N0 one knows , said they , what the j oys ofheaven are to be : but they will be spiri tual “ peace fromAllah ” and the presence of God .

This emphasis upon the spiri tual passages of the Koran andthis symbolic interpretation of the materialistic passages iscarried sti l l further by the intellectual leaders of l iberal I slam .

Th e following , for instance , I take from a li ttle book by Mo

hammed Ali , editor of the“Review of Rel igions

“Th e gulf that is generally interposed between this l ife and

the l ife after death is the great Obstacle in the solution of themystery of the hereafter . I slam makes that gul f disappear altogether : it makes th e next l ife as only a continuation of thepresent l i fe . . Th e great facts which shall be brought tol ight on the day of the resurrection shal l not be anything newbut only a manifestation of what is h idden from the phys i caleye here . Th e Holy Quran makes i t clear that the stateafter death is a complete representation , a ful l and clear image ,of our spiri tual state in this l i fe . Th e pleasures and painsof the next l ife , therefore , though sp iri tual in real i ty will notbe hidden from the ordinary eye as spiri tual facts are in th isl i fe .

” 1

I slam also holds that hell is not eternal , and from this themore l iberal Moslems conclude that there will be infinite progress in the next l ife for both bad and good . Those who havewasted their Opportuni ties in this l i fe , wri tes Mohammed Ali ,“shall , under the inevi table law that makes every man taste

ofwhat he has done , be subj ected to a course of treatment ofthe spiri tual diseases which they have brought about wi th their1 I slam (Quadion, the Sadr Anjum an- I -Ahm adiyya, pp . 2 7

—30.

298

THE MOHAMMEDANS

own hands , and when the effect of the poison wh ich vi tiatedtheir systems has been null ified and they are fi t to start on theonward journey to the great goal , they shal l no more be in hell .This is the reason that the punishment of hell according to theHoly Quran is no t everlasting . I t is meant to clean a man ofthe drosswhich is a hindrance in his spiri tual progress, and whenthat Obj ect has been affected i ts need vanishes. Nor is paradise a place to enj oy the blessings only of one ’s previous gooddeeds , but i t is a starting- point of the development of the faculties Ofman . Those in paradise are not idle , but are continuallyexerting themselves to reach the higher stages . I t is for thisreason that they are taught to pray even there to their Lord :‘0 our Lord !make perfect for us our l ight . ’ 1

Th e odd combination of breadth and narrowness which wesawin the Moslem view of revelation is reflected again in theatti tude of Mohammedans toward non -Moslems . I slam isregarded as the fulfi llment and completion of all other rel igionsi t is the crown of Christiani ty , j ust as Christiani ty is the

crown of Judaism . Theoretically al l rel igions have some measure of truth . Yet as a matter of fact the doctrine of the distortion of all revelations except that of Mohammed in effectnearly nullifie s most of the really fine and liberal expressionswhich one finds in the Koran and in the wri tings of modernMoslems . There is practical ly no hope for any beside Moslems ,Christians , and Jews , for only these worship th e OneTrue God ,and only these ( i f we may trust the more explici t statements ofthe Koran) have had a genuine wri tten revelation . They arethe people of the book and though “God hath sent men toevery nation to teach them the right way ,

” this book revelation seems to be particularly important for salvation . Jews andChristians may be saved if they are true to their respectiverevelations . But as a fact very few are . Forwe are assured thepresent Old and New Testaments have been badly tamperedwith , and to get at the truth wh ich they originally containedone must have recourse to the Koran ; and most Christians andJews are strangely obstinate in refusing to do this. Th e OldTestament , moreover , commands the Jews to recognize Jesusas a Prophet of God , and if a Jew does not do this he will go

1 I slam (Quadion, the Sadr Anjum an- I -Ahm adiyya , pp

2 99


to hell . In l ike manner the real New Testament (so I was assured by learned and ignorant Moslems alike and they havethe Koran for their authority) the real New Testament , b efore i ts text was tam pered with and vi tiated , taught that Jesuswas not God and must not be worshiped ; and that he was no treally crucified , butwas taken bodily up into heaven and ani llusory body substi tuted ; and i t also taught that Mohammedshould come and complete God ’s revelation for the Paraclete means Moham med ( l) . Hence no Christian who worshipsChrist or believes in the Trini ty can be saved . My Moslemfriends were kind enough to intimate that there might be somechance for a Uni tarian Christian though they did not feelat all sure of this , inasmuch as Uni tarians do not usually b el ieve in Mohammed and the Koran . Belief in particular doctrines forms a large part of the Moslem method of salvation ;and every religion ofwhich this is true must necessari ly exhibi ta good deal of intolerance . Certainly the history of Islam hasshown this in no small measure , and i t is questionable whetherthe rel igion of the Prophet can ever throw i t off altogether andretain anything distinctive .In India , however , this intolerance is becoming steadily more

and more a matter of theory only. Th e influence of Bri tishrule and the constant rubbing-up against Hindu , Christian ,Jaina , and Parsee neighbors are having their inevi table effect .One acquainted only wi th the history of I slam , or with the relig ion as seen in Turkey , would , I think , be astonished at thetolerance and liberality of thought manifested by a very largeproportion of Indian Moslems . As an illustration of what Imean , while in Benares no t only was I invited to attend theFriday service and to kneel down s ide by side with the fai th fulduring their prayers , bu t after the servicewas ended I wasasked to make an address , there in the mosque . I am not surein howmany Christian churches a professed Mohammedanwould be asked to m ake a public speech at the end of the Sunday service .Of course th iswould not have been possible in all the mosques

in India ; and in a few of them one stil l sees the sign , No

Hindus , Christians , dogs , orother non-Mussulmans adm i tted .

Still , I th ink there is l i ttle question but that the general tend

300



vi tiated in the usual Indian fashion . Th e prayers must be saidin Arabic , and to the great majori ty of Indian MohammedansArabic is an unknown tongue , so that the prayers which theyreci te are merely songs without words . They learn to make thenoises, but most of them have ei ther never learned the meaningof them or have long ago forgotten i t . Of course there are verymany Moslems even among the uneducated ofwhom thisis no t true . Many make a point of finding out what the prayersmean and of following in their minds the meaning of the strangeArabic syllables . Many also , at the close of the formal prayers ,add peti tions o f their own and p ray to God as genuinely as anyChr istian . I think no one can watch a Mohammedan prayingalone at sunset- time , or can attend the public p rayers in themosque on Friday wi thout feel ing that there is here a great dealof genuine devoutness and true worship .

This,at any rate , has been my experience . I have attended

the Friday mosque ” more than once and have always com eaway considerably imp ressed . Th e throng of Mussulmansworshiping in the great mosque at Delhi —rising , kneel ing ,prostrating themselves on the pavement , with the uniformity ofa mili tary dril l and as i f al l mastered by one impulse th isis a memorable sight . But perhaps even more impressive is theworship in a small mosque with only twenty or thirty present .Th e leader is seated on a fl ight of four or fiv e steps which serveas a pulpi t , facing the audience ,who sit on mats , Indian fashion ,

in two or three rows on the floor . Th e service begins by one ofthe men in the front row(not the leader) chanting in slow andmusical cadences the Arabic prayers which I have copied out

above . Then the leader takes h is stand on the top of his stepladder pulpi t and reads a sermon which is usually no t of h is ownwri ting , but is taken from a book of sermons from the pen of

some well - known preacher . Th e sermon ended , he descends and

p laces h imself in front of the audience and wi th h is back toward them , so that he as well as they may face the kiblah or

n iche which shows the direc tion of Mecca . Th e congregationrises and the leader intone s a series of Arabic prayers , with along pause after eac h thus giving an opportunity for s i lentprayer and medi tation . Each prayer is accom panied by achange of atti tude, leader and congregation bowing , rising ,

302

THE MOHAMMEDANS

kneeling , and p rostrating themselves as one man . At the closeof the service few , i f any , go at once ; nearly all stay and con

tinue praying , - each one s ilently and by himself . In thisservice in the mosque there is a simplici ty that must appeal toevery Observer . I t has a directness that makes i t very muchmore comprehensible to the stranger than is , for instance , theCatholic mass to the average Protestant .Besides prayer , the Moslem

’

s duties toward God may besummed up under fasts , feasts, and pilgrimages . Pilgrimagesare common to many religions , and as practiced in moderntimes are usually an anachronism for which j ustification issought in various ways . Intell igent Moslems defend the pilgrim age to Mecca as an opportuni ty for very great self- sacrifice . As a matter of fact , i t is of course a survival from a primitive stage of thought ; and as i t brings th e pilgrim into Arabiai t is the last stronghold of old - fashioned Mussulman intolerance and fanaticism .

Th e manner of observance of the great Mohammedan fast ,in the month Ramadhan , var ies with the observer . For thosewho really wish to grow in grace i t is an Opportuni ty for crucifying the flesh and refining the spiri t . Since abstaining fromfood , however , is required only during the day , those who careto fulfil l only the letter o f the law may , i f they like , turn thefast into a feast during th e hours of nigh t , or even into a revel .My Moslem friends assured me that th iswas very uncommonin India , and as Ramadhan did no t come round during mystay there I have no way of j udging for myself . Certainly thepicture which they drew of the terrible thirst which they voluntarily suffer al l day long and day after day , when Ram adhancomes in the hot season , made me feel that to be a good Moslemat such a time required considerable firmness of will and veryreal devotion to one ’s rel igion .

Th e celebration ofMuharram is certainly no t a religious dutycomparable to the Mecca pilgrimage or the fast of Ramadhan .

I t has no basis, as they have , in the Koran as indeed is obvions inasmuch as the event wh ich i t commemorates occurredmany years after Mohammed ’s death . Yet i t is a rel igious custom of considerable importance for both Sunnis and Shiahsal l over India and should have some mention here . The

303


Muharram festival com memorates the death of al- Hasan andal-Husayn , the two sons ofAli and Fatima (hence grandsons ofthe Prophet) ,who in the opinion of the Shiahs were the rightful inheri tors of the Kaliphate , and who many even of theSunnis admi t were good men and died as martyrs in an attemptto prevent the Kaliphate from falling into the hands of an ambitions and wine- drinking poli tician . Hence in every town inIndia Sunnis and Shiahs j oin in the celebration . Taziahs, or im

itation tombs of pasteboard , bri lliantly decorated (representing the tombs of the two young martyrs) , are carried throughthe streets in procession and the less costly of them destroyedamid pretended weeping ( the more elaborate being put safelyaway for next year) . Th e central figure in the parade is a whitehorse , covered with a whi te and red cloth , representing thebloody charger of al-Husayn as he returned riderless from thebattle . Five days are given up to the festivi ties and the lastone ends up with a kind of miracle- play , or a series of vaudeville performances , and the whole town , Hindu and Mohammedan alike

,turns out and has a good time . I should add that

many of the more rel igious Moslems deplore the Muharramcelebration and take no part in i t . But there is no doubt thati t forms one of the external observances of the rank and file andis regarded by them as having at least something to do wi threligion .

If prayer , fasting , and pilgrimage consti tute the Moslem’s

duties toward God , his duty toward man is summed up in theword charity . And in the teaching of this duty the Moslemmeans something very defini te and businessl ike . All Moslemsbut the very poor are required by their rel igion to put aside acertain percentage of their incom e to be disbursed in chari ty .

Theoretically this money should be collected by the Statefor theoretically the State is a theocracy wi th the Prophet orthe Kaliph at its head . But in States which are purely humaninsti tutions the money is collected in each community by theimam an individual chosen by h is fellows for the performance of certain duties relating to the religion . Th e money thuscollected is devoted to helping the poor , assisting slaves in buying back their freedom , and debtors in paying their debts , andhelping strangers in the landwho need assistance .

304


TH E MOHAMMEDANS

One of the most important of one ’s duties toward one ’s fellows is the education of the young and particularly their training in morals and rel igion . I t cannot be said that in the perform ance of this duty the Mohammedan is very intell igent oreven very zealous .

1 Most Moslem boys are sent to a Moslemschool to learn Arabic and the Koran before going to the regular school to learn English . Children in India as a rule , however

,have things pretty much their own way and no great

effort is made to force them to learn . And so i t happens thatmost Mohammedan boys shirk their lessons (for boys will beboys even in India) and learn very l i ttle Arabic , and thatl i ttle they soon forget . One enthusiastic Moslem told me thatperhaps a quarter of the Moslem men and boys in Benarescould read Arabic . An equally zealous but much more intellige n t fellow- religionist , on hearing this, added i t was probablytrue , but very misleading ; perhaps a quarter do know howto read Arabic , but this means merely that they know howtoread it aloud they can make the sounds , but have li ttlenotion as to the meaning . I t is in this manner that the Arabicprayers are said and that the Koran is read in the homes ofthe great majori ty . I t is read aloud in Arabic , not one of thefamily having a notion as to what i t is all about ; i t is kept ona shelf and honored , but neither obeyed nor understood .

Of course this is not true of all Moslems . In many homes,

lowly as well as learned , a mullah comes once a month orOftener and reads the Koran to the family , first in Arabic , thenin translation . Good translations of the Koran in the vernacular exist and are used by a few . And of course the vernacularpreaching in the Friday mosque is a source of very real rel i

gious education for children and adults alike .

Th e absence of a professional priestly class in Islam is oneOf the causes of the lack of systematic rel igious education . Th e

mullahs or m oulv ie s are merely learned laym enwho are wellread in the Koran and its theology and are sometim es will ing

1 According to th e 191 1 ce nsus, the Mosle m s are the m ost i ll ite rate re

ligious com m unity in India , only pe r ce nt of the m ale s and .4 p e r ce ntof the fe m ale s be ing able to re ad . ForH indus the p e rce ntage s are and

.8 (for m ale s and fe m ale s re spe ctive ly) , wh i le for Christ ians th e y areand The p e rce ntage is stil l h ighe r for the Buddh ists and Jainas andh ighe st of all for the Parse e s.

305


to p reach and teach i t . Th e imam who p resides at the Fridayserv ices is in no se nse a p riest , but m erely a member of thecommuni ty paid by the others to read the Koran and a serm onand to have charge of the mosque . He is chosen , no t be causeof any special learn ing or zeal on h is part , but often merelybe cause he is unable to make a living in any other way . As aresul t there is no one who feels i t h is spe c ial duty to look afterthe moral and spiri tual welfare of the community . On theother hand , there are marked advantages in this absence of a

p riestly class, advantages too patent to any one acquaintedwith Hinduism to need enumeration . Th e Moslem is subjectto no ecclesiastical tyranny and at the mercy ofno supersti tionSpreading authori ty . There is no mediator , human or semidivine , between him and h is God . He goes in prayer directlyto Allah , and to Him alone is he responsible for h is bel iefs andh is actions .Religious and moral education among the Moslems in Indiaseems to have reached a pretty lowebb . My friends assuredme

,however , that there were s igns of the turning of the tide ,

and they were somewhat hopeful (though by no means sanguine) over the future . Th e progressive movement may besaid to have its center in Al igarh , where there is a large Mo

ham m edan college . Th e college was founded by the greatMos

lem reformer Syed Ahmad Khan , with the aim of providingyoung men with a sound education , the central part of whichshould be a thorough grounding in the doctrines of the Moslemfai th and a prolonged and careful moral training. Accordingto the Prospectus , a learned and pious m oulv ie supervise s therel igious l i fe of the students . “

Th e first period of each day’swork is devoted to the lectures on theology and attendance onthese lectures is enforced by regulations as stringent as thoseregulating the ordinary class work of the college . Attendanceat prayers in the colleg e mosque is also compulsory . On Friday the college is closed at eleven so as to allow the studentsto attend at Juma prayers , after which a sermon is del iveredby the resident m oulv ie .

” 1

Th e college at Aligarh is no t the only insti tution whose aimis to give the Moslem youth an education that shall be founded

1 Quoted in Farquhar’

sModern Religious Movem ents in I ndia, p . 94 .

306



almost equal to that of conque s t in sp reading the fai th of theProphet in the really marvelous manner to which history bearswitness. Up to the close of the last century I slam possessedpractically no insti tutions corresponding to our foreign missionary societies and our Collegio di P ropaganda Fide . Insteadof paid missionaries , individual enthusiasts have undertakenthe missionary venture , l iving in Oriental s impl ici ty upon th epi ttance contributed by their converts or by the heathen ”

among whom they labored . And besides these men ,who havegiven up all their time to the spreading of the fai th , innum e r

able men and women engaged in ordinary occupations havefel t the preaching of Islam to the non -Moslems among whomthey l ived to be an incidental but exceedingly impo rtant duty .

Especially has this been true of the Moslem trader , who hascarried and is carrying along with his commercial wares,the message of the Prophet to the u tm ost corners of Asia ,Africa

,and Polynesia . I t is to these unsystematic methods of

propaganda that Islam has owed i ts converts during the pasttwo centuries ; but in imitation of Christian methods , moresystematic efforts are now being made by Indian Moslems .Professor Arnold 1 enumerates seven Moslem missionary societies (as we should call them) in various parts of India . Theirmissionaries adopt the methods used by their Christian Op

p onents , especially street- preach ing , 1 and their success duringthe last thirty years or more has been cons iderable . In 1887

a wri ter in the “ Spectator ” could say ,“We are quoting the

resul ts of long and minute enquiry when we say that in Indiathe average addition to Islam by conversion exceed s a hundredthousand a year .” 3 I t is questionable whether this rate hasbeen continued to the p resent time ; in the decade , 1891—190 1 ,the increasewas at the rate of per cent , whereas in 190 1

—1 1it fell to per cent a rate of increase no higher than thatof the total population . Stil l a considerable amount of prose ly ting is undoubtedly going on ,

4 especially among the lowcaste Hindus , who find the same improvement in their social

1 Se e App e ndix I I I to The P reaching of I slam .

1 I bid. , p . 2 85.

3 Spectator forOctobe r , 1887 , p . 1 383.

1 I should add that th e re are at p re se nt three (he te rodox ) Mosle m m is

sionarie s laboring in England .

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TH E MOHAMMEDANS

condi tion by embracing I slam that often prompts them to accept Christiani ty .

And i t should be added that with this social improvementgoes a very real moral and rel igious advance . In view of thisfact i t is often astonishing to note the hostil i ty manifested byChristian missionaries and other Christians toward this Moslem m ovem ent . In the zeal of proselyting and the zest of playing the gam e and beating the other fellow , they seem often tobe altogether careless of the real spiri tual progress made by theconvert to Islam ; as i f the great aim were not the uplift ofIndia ’s oppressed and benighted mill ions, but the swellingo f the numbers in the next missionary report . 1

This effort to teach both ignorant Moslems and low- casteHindus the most elementary principles of Islamic m onotheismand moral i ty is by far the most important part of the Mohammedan reform movement . Th e attempt to l iberalize Moslemtheology is no t meeting with any great success nor are its pros

p e cts at present very bright . A few really l iberal thinkers thereare , indeed , working most enthusiastically in defense of a spiritual and glorified Islam (such as neverwas on land or sea l) ;men who are seeking to spread what their leader calls “ thespiri t of Islam ,

” rather than the letter . 1 Their influence , however

,is decidedly limited and for some years to come , at any

rate,i t is hardly to be hoped that this new leaven wil l leaven

any appreciable part Of the Mohammedan lump . Th e messageBack to the Koran !” on the other hand wi th a correlatedeffort to purify popular Islam from various Hindu sup e rsti

tions and late accretions, is more promising , though i t canhardly be said to offer much to the really intell igent and modernMoslem . To the average ignorant Moslem i t is, indeed , a stepin advance ; for the animistic and non - m oral supersti tions towhich I referred j ust nowas late accretions ” are , of course ,really much older than Mohammed and date from several

1 I t should b e said , howeve r , in e x p lanat ion of th e m issionary ’s posit ionth at h e is conside ring th e ultim ate we lfare of the conve rt and of India , andthat he re al ize s howm uch m o re diflicult it is to conve rt a Mosle m to Christ ianity than a lowcaste H indu. If the lowcaste H induis eve r to be com e aChrist ian it is im portant that h e should not b e m ade a Mosle m . I t is a caseof the good be ing th e worst e ne m y of th e be st.

1 Se e Am ir A l i ’s The Spirit of I slam (Calcutta , Lah iri ,

309


thousand years B .C . Yet we ,who are not of the Faithful andwho bel ieve that the Koran waswri tten in the seventh centuryand in Arabia ( instead of before al l time and in heaven) , cannot regard the process of tying up m ore tightly to that ratherprimitive book as an assurance of any very great progress . Asection of the modern world whose leaders are intent chiefly onmaking fast its m oorings to 62 2 A.D . is destined to find itselfqui te lonely before long. And after all , the most hopeful signfor the future Of Mohamm edanism is not the atti tude of i tsscholars

,but the fact that there are some indications of a gen

eralfe eling of the necessi ty of better education among all themore intell igent .One more token of progress , or at least of the possibil i ty of

progress, is the increasing number of sects throughout MoslemIndia . Th e orthodox Sunnis bewail this , but i t is a heal thy signnone the less , and shows that , at least with in certain narrowlimits

,many Moslems are able and eager to do some thinking

and choosing for themselves . Th e points of difference that divide the sects , to be sure , are often ancient quarrels that shouldhave been made up long ago , or questions of doctrine and li fethat seem to most Westerners surp risingly trivial orantiquated .

Th e great division , of course , is that betwe en the Sunnis andthe Shiahs , whose chief bone of contention is the questionwhether or no t the Kal iphs who were no t of the house of Alideserved their posi tion . I t is really an old pol itical feud keptal ive to- day by the fact that the Shiahs stil l curse the firstthree Kal iphs , while the Sunnis regard them as saints

,and also

by the fact that the Sunnis consider the Turkish Sul tan in somesense the head of the Moslem world , and the Shiahs deny this .Each Of these great divisions has i ts many subdivisions , someancien t , some recent , in origin . Thus most of the Shiahs insist that the “ true Imam ”

or successor of the Prophet is hidden away by the Lord , to be brought forward by Him at sometime in the future , while the Khoj ah Shiahs insist that HisHighness the Agha Khan is the representa tive of the trueImam . Th e majori ty of the Sunnis are simp ly Sunnis , butthere is also a great number of Sunni sub - sec ts , the most important ofwhich are the Wahabis , a body of Puri tans who conde m n various observances such as praye r at the tombs of

310



ence at the tombs of saints has degenerated into somethingvery close to saint worship : al l my Moslem acquaintances

,

I should add , deny th is stoutly , but I believe their loyalty andzeal here mislead them .

1 Certainly practices quite as far removed from the teach ings of the Prophet are to be found inless remote corners . One of the most zealous Moslems I mettold me , with shame and sorrow , of sights he had seen in Lahore Mohammedans worshiping their taziahs in the Mub arram process ion , and bands of zealots going through thestreets beating their bare backs with spiked chains . Similarascetic practices are no t uncommon in other parts of the Mos

lem world . In the feast of Nebby Mousa in Jerusalem I haveseen Moslem ascetics marching up from the tom b ofMoses ”

with skewers passed through the festering flesh of their cheeks .Mohammedans have never been noted for their sexual

puri ty , and both missionar ies and earnest Moslems have assured me that they are growing no better . They are said to beworse in this respect than their Hindu neighbors though notso bad , i t should be added , as European Christians . Islampermits polygamy and has done very l i ttle to elevate womanabove the posi tion in which Mohammed found her .1 Certainlywoman owes very l i ttle to I slam . I t is, however , a l ibel againstthat rel igion to assert that i t denies woman a soul . Moslemsbel ieve that good women go to heaven and rej oin their husbands , and that married women shall in heaven have husbandsi f they want them . But the ideal of the marriage tie is formost Moslems not very lofty . Th e Prophet knew h is own flesh

1 The re is p le nty of evide nce for th is (se e , e .g . , W. Crooke ’s P opularReligion and Folklore of Northe rn I ndia [Al lahabad Gove rnm e nt Pre ss , 1894] ,pp . 1 2 7 In fact th e re is noth ing at all surp r ising about it, and it is tob e m e t with in various parts of th e Mosle m world. In Syria I have se e n

(as eve ry trave le r in that country has) m arks of supe rstitious reve re nce b efore th e tom bs ofMoham m e dan sa ints. Goldzihe r has shown howth is andoth e r sim i lar h e athe n custom s, com m on to Arabia and m any othe r partsof th e world in the days be fore Moham m e d , we re carrie d into I slam and

have neve r be e n we e de d out . Se e h is Muham m edanische Studien (Halle ,N ie m e ye r , v ol. 1 , pp . 2 2 9

—63 .

1 Th is view is stoutly attacke d by Am ir Al i , in h is Spirit of I slam (part11 , chap . IV) . He po ints out that Moham m e d did so m e th ing to re gulatedivorce and that the Koran re gards m arriage as a sacre d institution . Pe r

haps th is is m ore than “ve ry l ittle ” ; but it is diffi cult to b e e x act in que st ions of m ore and le ss.

31 2

THE MOHAMMEDANS

pretty well, and was very generous in making allowance for theflesh of his (m ale) fol lowers . One may have four wives , prov ided he can support them and keep them from quarrel ing ;and divorce is extremely easy . Still , i t must be rememberedthat sexual relations outside of marriage are possible for theMoslem only in defiance o f Islam . A good Moslem cannot indulge in that sort of thing . Drunkenness has never been aMohammedan vice

,owing to the splendid earnestness and

vigor with which Mohammed opposed i t . And i t cannot besaid that the Moslems of to- day as a whole have forgottentheir ancient virtue of temperance ; but (owing no doubt tothe influence of lowcaste Hindus who must have their todi ,

”

and high - caste Engl ishmen who must have their whiskey- andsoda) many individual Mohammedans are beginning to breakthe strict rules of their Prophet . Th e better Moslems deplorethese tendencies among their fel lows very deeply . One of themsaid to me : “ I slam is the best and most moral of al l rel igions ;i ts ideals are the highest and purest and noblest , and if a mantried to be a true Moslem he would have to be a very goodman indeed . But as a fact here in India the Moslems are a verybad lot . They are the worst men in the wor ld considering theirgreat advantages as the inheri tors Of the only true rel igion .

I slam teaches temperance , puri ty , and honesty , but some Mos

lems are beginning to drink , and many of them keep prostitutes ,and are very dishonest in their business relations. They areeven neg lecting the five hours ofprayer and no longer go to themosque on Fridays . They have forsaken the plain teachingsof the Koran . I t is probably for this reason that such terriblecalamities have com e in recent years upon the Moslem world

,

the loss of empire in India and these last terrible defeats ofthe Turks . I t is the j udgment of God . God is casting us offbecause of our sins , j ust as He cast off the Jews .

”

I cannot but think that some of the moral slackness of theMoham m edans is due to the very worldly exam ple se t them bytheir hum an ideal , the Prophet . I have

’

a good deal of adm i ration for Moham med ; and if history had not crowned h im as one

of the Founders of Religions and so forced a compar ison , myadmiration would doubtless be more enthusiastic than i t is.

But I never think of poor old fall ible Moham med introduced

31 3


in to the g lorious company of Zarathustra , Buddha , and Jesus ,without having a p icture of a country beau suddenly set downin a Parisian salon . Therewas much thatwas fine in Mohamm ed , esp ecial ly in his Mecca days ; but (to put i t generously)h ewas also very merciful in j udging h is own shortcomings . I tis said that a s tream can rise no higher than its source , andcertainly i t seems possible to trace in the history of Moslemmorals th e influence of i ts Prophet ’s sensuous propens i ties

,

h is unscrupulous grasping after power , his occas ional hardheartedness and even cruel ty toward his enemies . I am not

sure that the saying about the stream quoted above really applies to religions ; in fact , I feel persuaded that i t does not . AsHomer was superior to his Zeus , so many Moslems have be enbetter men than their Prophet. And not only better than he ;they have been most kind to him and have done their best toretouch the reputation of the poor old man , and explain awayhalf his shortcomings and forget the rest . I t is almost pi tifulto talk with a Mohammedan to- day about his Prophet andnote the extreme efforts made to view all h is actions in themost admirable l ight . He took Zeid ’s wife to h is own harem ,

not out of any sensual desires of his own , but in order to pleaseZeid , who had be come tired ofher , etc . , etc . Th e good Moslemwill hear nothing ofMohammed ’s acts of cruel ty and fai thlessness ; instead he dwells wi th loving admiration upon his unselfish devotion and his persistent preaching during the darkdays at Mecca and upon the beautiful ly democratic simplici tyof h is l i fe after he had become the paramount Lord ofArabia .

Thus the historical Mohammed is being made over into a moralideal more consonant with modern notions. Yet if modernfeel ing is influencing the ideal , the ideal that Mohammedactually se t has had its effect upon modern Moslem feel ing :and I think there can be l i ttle doubt that Moslem ethical idealsof to - day are much lower than they would have been had theystarted with a Mose s or a Buddha to say nothing of aChrist .I would not , however , leave the impress ion that the Moslem

ideal is low. I t is lower than the Christian , but as ideals go inthis world i t is fairly high . Th e chief trouble with the Moslems

(as with the rest ofus) is that they do not l ive up to the ideals

314



I refer , of course , to Lord Headley. He wri tes : Though mygrati tude for God ’s favors and loving care has been profoundfrom my earl iest youth , I cannot help observing that withinthe past few years , since the pure and convincing fai th of theMusl ims has become a real i ty in my heart and m ind , I founda happiness and securi ty never approached before . Freedomfrom the weird dogmas of the various branches of the Christian churches came to me l ike a breath of pure se a air , and onreal izing the simpl ici ty as well as the illuminating splendor ofI slam , Iwas as a man emerging from a cloudy tunnel into thel ight of day.

” 1 Mohammedans, he bel ieves , are better Chr istians than most Christian missionaries ; and he adds ,

“I say

‘better Christians ’ advisedly,because the char i ty , tolerance ,

and broad -mindedness of the Musl im faith come nearer to whatChrist him self taught than do the somewhat narrow tenets ofthe various Christian churches . I received a letter i t wasapropos of my leaning towards Islam in which the wri tertold me that i f I did not bel ieve in the divini ty of Christ Iwould not be saved . Th e question of the divini ty of Christnever seemed to me nearly so important as that other question : D id He give God ’s message to mankind? Now, I i f hadany doubt about this latter point i t would worry me a greatdeal : but , thank God , I have no doubt , and I hope that myfaith in Christ and His inspired teachings is as firm as that ofany other Musl im or Christian . As I have Often said before ,I slam and Christianity as taught by Christ him self are s isterreligions , only held apart by dogm as and technical i ties whichmight very well be dispensed with . In the present day menare prone to become atheists when asked to subscribe to dogmatic and intolerant bel iefs , and there is doubtless a cravingfor a rel igion appeal ing to the intell igence as well as to thesentiments. Who ever heard of a Musl im turning atheist?There may have been cases , but I very much doubt i t .

” 1

In equally enthusiastic strain , Mohammed Ali writes of h isrel igion : “

I t teaches men to display high morals under themost adverse circumstances ; to be honest even when honesty isl ikely to lead one into compl ications ; to speak truth even when

1 From an art icle by Lo rd He adle y in Muslim I ndia, v ol. 1 , no . 10.

1 Quote d in Muslim I ndia from the London Obse rv er.

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THE MOHAMMEDANS

one ’s truthful statement is against those nearest and dearest toone ; to show sym pathy even at the sacrifice of one’s own inte re sts ; to be patient under the hardest affl ictions ; to be goodeven to those who have done evil . At the same time i t teachesthe middle path : i t teaches men to exercise the noble qual i tieswhich have been placed in their nature by God while transacting their own affairs . I t does not inculcate severance fromone ’s worldly connections ; i t requires men to be chaste , butnot by castration ; i t requires them to serve God , but not asmonks ; i t enjoins them to spend their wealth , but not in sucha manner as to sit down ‘blamed and strai tened in means ’

; i tteaches them to be submissive , but no t by losing self- respect ;i t exhorts them to forgive , but not in such a manner as tobring destruction upon society by emboldening culpri ts ; i t allows them to exercise all their rights , but not so as to violateothers ; and last of al l i t requires them to preach their ownrel igion , but not by abusing others .

” 1

These quotations , of course , ideal ize I slam not so muchby what they say as by what they leave unsaid . I ts theologyis primitive and crude , and there is l i ttle room within i t formysticism—though , to be sure , the sufis have insisted onbringing somemysticism into i t , despite the deism Of the Koran .

Excellent as are many of its ethical teachings , they are at bestonly on a par with those of the Old Testament

,and in spiri tual

ins ight and loftiness of ideal cannot be seriously com pared wi ththose of Christiani ty . There were , no doubt , many fine thingsabout Mohamm ed ; but as an eth ical teacher and a moral insp iration he has not much to give to the modern world . And

(most fatal of all i ts weaknesses , perhaps) orthodox I slam is

bound and wishes to be bound hand and foot to the wordsand sentences of a book wri tten by an Arab in the seventhcentury . I f i t could once shake off th is bondage and take as i tsideal something more lofty than the teachings and example ofpoor old Mohammed , there migh t be in i t the making ofa greatrel igion . But , on the other hand , i f i t should do so i t would losewhat is chiefly distinctive in i t and become a kind ofUnitarianChristiani ty .

1 I slam , pp . 59- 60.

CHAPTER XV

THE PARSEES

T may seem quite out of true propo rtion to devote a wholechapter to the religion of a peoplewho number but one

hundred thousand out of India ’s three hundred and fifteenmill ion ; but the impo rtance of th e Parsees in history , theirprominence both commercial ly and intellectually in Indiansociety , and the remarkably enligh tened nature of their religion will certainly j ustify i t . As every one knows , the Parsees ” are the remnant of the ancient Persian Zoroastrians .When the Sasanian or m edia v al Persian Empire fell before therising power of Islam , at the battle of Nahawand in 642 ,

thegreat majori ty Of the Zoroastrians yielded to the direct or indirect persecutions of the conquerors and exchanged Zoroasterfor Mohammed . A few thousand only clung to their ancientfai th

,and the majori ty of these , to avoid further persecution ,

bade farewel l to their native land and migrated to the westerncoast of India. Here they were kindly received , and their se ttle m ents soon began to spread all over Guj erat , ofwhich theyhave formed , from that day to this, the most important comm e rcial class . In the census of 191 1 there were exactly one hundred thousand one hundred Parsee s in India , nearly all of themwithin the Bombay Pres idency . Bes ides these there are pe rhaps ten thousand stil l in Pers ia , and smaller numbers in scatte red settlements in other parts of the East such as Aden

,

Ceylon , Siam , and China ; but the headquar ters of the religionofZoroaster is in and about the city of Bombay.

Th e Parsee creed is stil l distinguished by the noble simpl ici tywhich marked the fai th of their great prophet . I ts nature mayin large part be seen by the following authori tative formula orconfess ion of faith which every Parsee child must learn in theancient Zend language and which every Parsee , young or old ,

reci tes ( in Zend) several times a day“I am a worshiper ofGod [Mazda] . I am a Zoroastrianwor

318



revealed to Zarathustra , the whole question is treated in th emanner of “ Natural Rel igion ,

” and the “Argument from Nature ” is called in evidence much more than the original revelation . To Ahura Mazda are assigned the usual attributes ofomnipotence , omniscience , eternity , omnipresence , etc . He isalso regarded as the Creator . And here we come upon a ratherinteresting point in Zoroastrian theology . Th e oldest of thesacred books teach that in addition to Ahura Mazda there isanother powerful spiri t who seems to be co - eternal wi th Himand who created all the evil things in the universe , as AhuraMazda created al l the good ones, and that for thousands ofyears there has been a struggle between th ese two ,

a strugglewhich stil l goes on and in which we may play our part . To manythis has seemed the finest and most inspiring point in all theMazdayagnian rel igion . And a dramatic presentation ofworldhistory i t surely is , for i t picturesTime as a long battle betweenthe Power of Light and the Power of Darkness in which thewhole universe is involved ; i t emphasizes the duty of each manto choose in which army he will serve ; i t gives him confidencein the final victory of the good ; and throws around each l i ttleeffort that he may make , no matter how prosaic and insign ificant i t seem , the awful glamour of a cosmic confl ict . This conce p tion also does away with the persistent problem of evil

,and

Spares the Most High all responsibil i ty for sin , for the suffering of the innocent , and for the defeat of the ideal things alltoo patent and too common in this wicked world .

But this frank dual ism has seemed too “unph iIOSOph ical

for many modern Parsees , and they rej ec t the accusation of

being dualists with the usual repugnance which that wordarouses in so many modern bosoms . I t is interesting to se e howthey attempt to evade i t . They tel l us that when in the sacredbooks the name Ahura Mazda is used as in opposi tion to theEvil Spir i t , i t means not God , but a spiri t created by Him to bea secondary Creator Of the good things of the Universe , andwho by an odd coincidence had the same name with the MostHigh . Both this Creator of good and the Creator ofevil

,we are

assured (though with l ittle authori ty from the Avesta) , are“ under God , and God

“works through ” both . God , therefore ,is no t Opposed to evil , but is the ultimate and indirect Creator

320

THE PARSEES

of all th ings that are , whether we know them as good or bad .

He is , in fact , no t unlike the inscrutable First Cause ,whom wemay regard with awe and reverence , with love and hOp e , butwhom we cannot pretend to define or to understand . I t is

evident that this simple and subl ime rel igion is one to wh ich,by

whatever nam e we may call i t , the best modern thought is fastapproximating . Men of science l ike Hux ley

,philosophers l ike

Herbert Spencer , poets l ike Tennyson , might all subscribe toi t .” 1 In short , Ahura Mazda , instead Of being the Great GodofRighteousness , is repainted after the sty le ofShiva or even ofBrahman without quali ties,

” to whom “shadow and sunlight

are th e same . I t is pretty plain to what this emasculationof the splendidly definite and moral conception o f Zarathustrais due. I t is an attempt to make Zoroastrianism “

ap

proximate ” to “ the best of modern thought .” In these daysHerbert Spencer is a better name to conj ure with than Zarathustra, and a rel igion which would be up to date must surelybe “monistic .” And so al l the distinctive features of the theology of Zoroas trianism , with i ts unique advantages for a moralview of the world , are given up .

Given up they are , however , only if one will be logically. cons istent . And with the usual splendid inconsistency of the religious consciousness the Parsee divineswho insist most strenuously upon Monism , persist in maintaining as emphatically asany one all the moral advantages which on ly a dual ism canconsistently claim . God is the Creator of evil as well as of

good,He is the Power behind all things , the unknowable Fi rst

Cause , etc . , and yet He is also emphatically the God o f Righte ousne ss , the Fo e of Evil , the Bringer of good th ings only ,in short , He retains , in spi te of h is promotion or abstractionor evaporation into an “All - One ,

” most of the posi tive anddefinite and one - sided qual i ties which Zarathustra so persistently preached . Of course this is l ike trying to eat one ’s cakeand keep i t too , but i t is the ex press ion of a laudable impulse .

And as a fact Zoroastrianism is for al l the Parsees, except afew sens i tive ph ilosophers , in effect as much a dualism as

1 Quote d with approbation from Mr. Sam ue l Lang by Mr. Jiv anj i JamshedjiModi , in his pape r on The Religious System of the Parse es. (Bom bay ,Education Soc ie ty ,

32 1


ever. I ts monistic aspect is reserved for a few very abstractdiscussions , and in fact is seldom brought out except when somenon - Parsee makes the monstrous accusation that Zoroastrianism is dual istic . Th e rest of the tim e Ahura Mazda ceasesto be the indeterm inate and unknowable God back of all phem omena , whom

“Herbert Spencer might subscribe to , andbecomes the God of Righteousness and the Foe of Evil whomZarathustra p reached and loved .

In the opinion of the Parsees , in fact , the emphasis whichtheir rel igion puts upon morali ty is its distinctive feature.Duty is something which its sacred books , with all their formalism

,have never lost from sight duty toward one ’s God ,

one ’s neighbor,and one ’s self ; in fact toward the whole crea

tion . In a particu lar way i t has emphasized especially theduties of physical and mental puri ty , of health of body andmind

, of productiveness and of chari ty. Th e whole of themoral law is supposed to be summed up in the three wordsthat are on every Parsee ’s lips and early impressed on

h is mind kum ata , kukhta , hvarshta good thoughts, goodwords

,good deeds.

”Th e l i ttle Catechism to which I have

referred says in connection with these three keywords that“ i t is these that lead us to salvation .

” “If youwill always

keep-

your thoughts pure , that is , i f youwill think of nothingbut what is true and proper , and if after such true and goodthoughts you will speak nothing but the truth , and if afterspeaking nothing but the truth youwill do nothing but whatis good and righteous , then Ahura Mazda will reward youforall that , and you wil l pass a happy l ife .

” 1

“I t is these that lead us to salvation . Salvation consists

in part in the very life of duty , in part i t is to be found in therewards of the next l ife . Zoroastrianism ,

l ike nearly all relig ions, teaches a future l ife of rewards and punishments , butthese are to be gained not through the usual Indian process oftransmigration , but in a heaven and hell in most respects l ikethose which Christiani ty has taught . As is the case withChristiani ty , moreover , heaven and hell may be pictured inmore or less l i teral and local ormore or less sym bol ical fashionaccording to the intellectual level of the particular Parse e .

1 Page 16.

32 2


THE PARSEES

Many think of them as definite places and on the other hand ,one of the great Parsee scholars with whom I had a long talkbel ieves that heaven and hell mean s im ply the continued li feand activi ty of the soul after the death of the body , that weshall go on developing in the direction of our del iberate choice

,

some for the better , some for the worse . Th e Avesta word forheaven is Vahishta - ahu, which passed into the Persian word ,Behesht, an exact equivalent of our English “ best .” Thusheaven l i teral ly means “ the best l ife.” And my wise and saintlyO ld Parsee friend teaches the children that when they strivefrom the Good toward the Best , they are already on their wayto Heaven .

Hum ata , kukhta , hvarshta good thoughts , good words ,good deeds , i t is these that lead us to salvation .

” A s ignificantand a noble phrase . I f salvation is to be taken in a truly moralsense i t must mean salvation from sin . He and he onlywho has attained to good thoughts , good words , good deeds issaved . And no one can do m y good deeds for me nor thinkmy good thoughts forme they must be my very own . For

righteousness is a matter of the will , and no one can will righte ousne ss forme , and in my place . And so the Zoroastrian Catechism asks ,

“Then according to the teaching of our rel igion

there is no savior for one other than himself And the answer is : “Of course not . Every man is his own savior . His

deeds alone will bring out his salvation . A man is the archite ct of h is own fortune . He is h is own savior .” Zarathustrahas an honored place , indeed . He is the great prophetwhofirst revealed from God to man the true rel igion ; and as suchhis picture is in most Parsee hom es, and h is name is enshrinedin all Parsee hearts . But in no further sense is he regardedas a savior .On hearing the changes so constantly rung upon goodthoughts , good words , good deeds ,

”one is tempted to say ,

“This is al l-very well ; but is i t not rather tri te , or at least a bi tindefinite?What sort of deeds are ‘good deeds ’? And tothis the Sacred Books and the traditional teaching give an answer which

,while i t does no t go very deep into the fundam ental

questions ofmoral i ty,does give some degree of practical guid

ance . Mingled with a great deal of the undeniably tn'

te , one

32 3


finds in Zoroastrian teaching a characteristic point of view on

m Oral questions which leads to fairly practical results . Thatpoint of view is the util i tarian . Th e virtues which i t teachesare decidedly the virtues of this world and for the sake of thisworld . Th e resul t is a very practical and sensible system of

ethics which so far as i t goes must win the assent,i f no t the

admiration , of allwho study i t .I t is because of this util i tarian aim that Zoroastrianism layssuch emphasis upon purity. Zarathustra , or his early followers ,perceived the immense importance of personal puri ty , phys ical and mental , for the heal th and strength of the individualand for the power of the race . Hence the innumerable pre cautions—many of them puerile and imaginary

,to be sure

prescribed in the ancient books and continued in modern practice against every kind of physical contagion . Almost equal topuri ty in the emphasis which i t receives is chari ty , especiallyto the poorer members of the Parsee comm uni ty . Th e Parseesare by com mon consent easily the most char i table natives ofIndia . All their own poor are so well taken care of by theirmore fortunate brothers that there are no Parsee beggars . Be

sides a great deal of private giving , and many large chari tableinsti tutions of various sorts , such as hospi tals , schools , etc . ,th ere exists among the Parsees an establishment for systematicchari ty of a sort probably nowhere paralleled until a few yearsago i t occurred to Mr . Rockefel ler to found an insti tution of

the sam e sort . I refer to the “ Parsee Panchayat ” and i tscharity fund . Th e Panchayatwas formerly a council of elderswho had the general oversight and control of the Parse e communi ty . This councilwas long s ince dissov ed , but the trusteesof its moneys have become a corporation for the distribution offunds given for chari table purposes . I ts capital is now betweenfour and five mill ion rupees , and though the trustees give awayevery y ear nearly one hundred thousand rupees , the fund isalways growing , because of the constant contributions to i t byParsees rich and poor . I t is the custom to mark great eventsof l i fe joyful or sad by making contributions to this fund .

Every Parsee widow or orphan who has no other means ofsupport

,in fact every indigent member of the comm uni ty , is

helped or al together taken care of out of this fund , after the

32 4



A. As for the animals or beasts of p rey which harass m en

and harmless beasts of burden , such a state of existence shouldbe produced for them as would no t perm i t of their doing harm .

“

Q . How should we act towards the beasts Of burden andother animals serviceable to mankind?

“A. We should treat them with kindness. We should give

them their proper food and nourishment . We must exact fromthem asmuch work only as l ies in their power to do . We shouldnot treat them cruel ly for the sake of our bread and should no texact from them work beyond their capacity . When we do nottreat them properly , they , as i t were , curse us . On the otherhand , i f we treat them well , they bless us .

“

Q. What is meant by saying that Ahura Mazda expectsus to promote the growth and development of H is creation?

A. Th e Creator of the Universe expects from us that wemay so bring about the fur ther growth ofH is creation as wouldbring about a better enjoyment of the creation and as wouldmake the world more and more prosperous .

“

Q. Will yougive an instance?A . Ye s . For instance , a man p romotes the work of growth

and development when he brings about the g rowth of twoblades of corn where formerly grew only one . In this way h epleases Ahura-Mazda . Though he may have enough for himself , he must increase the growth of corn so that others can buyi t cheaply and readily .

” 1

A rel igion l ike this should surely win the plaudits of an agewhich reads history and moral i ty and everything else from theeconom i c point ofview ; and if the Parsees admitted proselytes,we might expect to se e Professor Carver and h is fellowswhovalue rel igion by its economic frui ts trooping over to Zoroastrianism as “

th e rel igion worth having .

”Th e resul t of this

util i tarian tendency is evident among the Parsees as a com

munity . Success in business looms very large in their eyes , andthey bear the usual marks , good and bad , of a pronounced comm e rcialism . If i t may be said that Americans are all after th emighty dollar , writes Mr . W . B . Stover ,

“ i t may yet moretruthfully be said that the Parsees are all after the si lver rupee .Between Bombay and Ahmedabad , and on out toward Wad

1 Page s 2 9—31 .326

THE PARSEES

wan,nearlyall the saloon - keepers in towns , villages , and coun

try places,are Parsees because i t pays . There is money in

i t . Th e man with money is the most respe cted . However ,there are not a few noble exceptions to the above .” 1 And Ishould here repeat what I have already said , that the Parsee isvery generous with h is m oney . He is a shrewd business man ,but he is very seldom stingy.

Th e Parsee morali ty and rel igion is , in short , very sane ,practical , and util i tarian . I t belongs to what the German philOSOph e rs call the

“Verstand with very li ttle of the “

Ver

nunft about i t . After watching th e professional beggars andself- torm entors of Benares, one comes upon the eminently saneParsee with a sense of relief . But the endless repeti tion of thisperfect sanity which one finds in the Parsee community , withso l i ttle to break the spi r i tual commonplace , becomes i tsel fat last rather monotonous ; and one almost longs for a raggedsannyasi again , who has dared to turn his back upon bread andbutter , and , going out under the stars with staff and bowl , torisk h is all in the great adventure of fai th . Zoroastrianism ismuch too sane for this sort of thing . I t despises asceticism ,

nor

has i t any place for mysticism . I t has no great enthusiasmswhich disdain to count the cost , no missions and no self- consciousne ss of a mission , no irrational vistas and visions , andli ttle poetry . There is no nonsense about i t . I t is prosaicallysane and decidedly of this earth . But i t must no t be forgottenthat prose has certain sol id advantages and that sani ty on thewhole is quite as important as dreaming. And the moral qual ities of the Parsee community , emanating as they do directlyfrom the teaching of its rel igion , have a sol idi ty and bulk thatno one can either be blind to or deny. We must not expect allconceivable virtues to be combined in anything of this world ;and whether i t appeals to our individual taste or not , there isno denying that the fai th and teachings of Zarathustra forma very noble rel igion .

There is,however

, one unfortunate feature in the actualpractice of the fai th of the Parsees which deserves especialnotice if we are to form a true estim ate of i t , not as a theory butas a rel igion . For the whole of a rel igion is no t to be found in

1 I ndia; A P roblem , p . 54 .

32 7


any se t o f books , no matter howsacred or authori tative theybe

,but in the l ives of the people . Th e unfortunate feature I

have in mind is the surprising ignorance of the bulk of the Parsees as to their own religion . Th e Parsees as a whole are a welleducated people , as education goes in India ; but their education is almost al together secular and util i tarian and practicaleven in the home , and is intended to prepare the child to geton well in this world , and to furnish him with j ust enough ofthe external ri tes and cerem onies to pass him on into the next .H is religious education is mostly of the objective sort and isapparently regarded as a sort of other-wor ldly l ife insurance .

Up till qui te recently almost no systematic effort was m ade toSpread throughout the community , or to comm unicate to therising generation , any intell igent attitude toward the truthsand doctrines which were for Zarathustra the essential thing .

A superficial formal ism and externalism has been the bane ofZoroastrianism almost ever since the death of its founder . Th esacred shirt and the sacred thread must be put on properlyevery morning , and taken off and put on again several timeseach day with the reci tation of the proper formula ; no beef orpork must ever be eaten ; the sacred fire must be properly produced ,

fed , and protected ; the priest must perform the propercerem onies with the haom a plant and the urine Of the bull ; andall good Parsees must at last be properly devoured by vul turesin theTowers o fSilence ; but the truths aboutGod and moral i tyneed be known only in their most meager outl ines . A practicaland hard - headed race , they regard prayer and other ri tes qui teobjectively as things that must be done , and the rules of rel igionas laws which must be obeyed . To many of them i t has neveroccurred that the spiri t in which the prayer is said or the lawobeyed is of any importance .These ceremonies , so scrupulously observ ed , are , to be sure ,

not merely arbi trary external acts , but have always som e moreor less remote uti l i tarian purpose or some symbolic significance .

In fact the Parsees, l ike other Orientals , carry symbolism to apoint which to us Westerners Often seems wearisome if no tincredible . Thus the kusti , or sacred thread , which the Parse em ust wear upon his body at all hours of the day and night , ismade up of seventy - two strands, put together in six bundles of

32 8



improving noticeably in education and worth , or whether theyare even keeping pace in these th ingswith the rest of the community . Th e reason for this state of th ings is, in my informant ’s Opinion , to be traced largely to economic causes. The

priest is assured of a living he will not starve : but his l ivingwill be a very poor one and he can rise financially only a littleway. Th e amount he can earn as a priest , which is entirelymade up of fees and presents, is quite l imited , while the Parseelayman merchants and professional men form the richest class in rich Bombay ; and there are no sumptuary lawsamong the Parsees to prevent the lavish display of wealth b efore the faces of the poor . Moreover , the Parse e priest is notallowed to go into any business or be anything but a priest.He may not turn an honest anna by any extra labor or l i ttleventure of h is own . His wife , indeed , helps out somewhat bymaking sacred threads, the manufacture of which is a m onOp

oly belonging to the wives of priests. But there is no otherway by which the priest ’s sorry l i ttle income may be increased .

Now,while the Parsee priesthood is an hereditary Office in the

sense that only the sons of priests may enter i t , there is no lawforcing the son of a priest to follow in h is father ’s professionunless he so chooses . Hence the more able and ambitious ofthe priest’s sons , seeing what their father

’

s l ife is l ike , go intosome other profession or into business , where the great rewardsof l i fe , as measured in rupees and annas , are to be won , andonly the indolent sons as a rule care to enter the priesthood .

Naturally these indolent persons find much study a wearinessunto the flesh , and hence only a few learn Zend and are capableof understanding the scriptures which they read . For the Parse e priest is not required to understand what he reads ; the onlyrequirement is that he should be able to make the right soundsat the right time . And as a fact the great majority of the

p riests are almost as ignorant of their sacred l iterature and of themeaning of the prayers which they recite as are the laity .

And this is saying a good deal . For though every Parsee ,layman as well as cleric , learns in childhood and reci tes dailya number of prayers , these prayers he learns and recites in atransliteration (not a translation) of the original Zend . Translations of them , inde ed , exist , but i t is the exceptional Parsee

330

THE PARSEES

who takes the trouble to look them up or to teach his ch ildrenthe meaning of the strange syllables in a tongue long deadwhich he requires them to commit to memory . Probablyninety per cent of the lai ty , in the opinion of one ofmy Parseeinformants, are in this condition of ignorance as to the prayerswhich they offer , they know howto make the sounds butnothing more .Some of the Parsee Theosophists (for the T . S . has Parsee

as well as Hindumembers) j ustify this repetition of meaningless syllables , as might be expected , on the ground that theZend verses have a virtue of th eir own and are productive ofvibrations in the ether , wh ich have a powerful effect uponthe nature spiri ts .

1 Not many of the Parsees , however , are

acquainted with this “scientific ” explanation , and manage

to get on wi thout any . The more intell igent , of course , regretand deplore this ignorant and superstitious kind of worship asmuch as any one could . One Parsee gentleman , in speakingof i t , told me that he had never attended a Christian serviceuntil , in crossing the Atlantic , he found himself in a Sundayserv ice in the cabin .

“I was very much struck , he said ,

“ bythe prayers and the reading from the Bible . Theywere all in

English . I t made a great effect upon me , appealing to both mymind and my heart . I t roused in me a longing for God such asI had never fel t in any Parsee temple . And I would fiv e timesrather hear the Bible read like that than any ofmy own sacredbooks in th eir unknown language .

Some of the more advanced Parsees l ike my friend are infavor of having their sacred books translated and used in thevernacular in temple and home . They feel that if this couldonly be done it would work a religious revival in the community . For my own part I fear this would bring only added

1 Th is I was to ld by a Parse e The osoph ist acquaintance . Th e Th e oso

phist Parse e s also pre ach to the le ss e ducate d classe s of p e op le that the reis h igh e fli cacy in offe ring flowe rs and m i lk and cocoanuts to the wate rs ; the ypre ach to the pe op le , as an act of sp e cial re l igious m e rit, to fall p rostratebe fore and kiss im aginary p icture s of the ir p rophe t ; the y e x hort p e op le tom ake a show of p e n ite nce by a vigorous slapp ing of che e ks. Th e y rep re se ntto the pe op le that the so le e fficacy of the ir praye rs consists in the m ate rialform re sultant upon the physical vibrat ions cre ate d by th e ir utte rance s .

(Quote d in Farquhar’

s Modern Religious Movem ents from the J ournalof theIranian Association, for March ,

331


disappointment. The Parseeswho have never read a translationof their sacred books naturally suppose that , being inspired ,they form a very wonderful l i terature full of divine truth . As

a matter of fact , aside from a few memorable passages , theyform a most prosaic and uninspired ” mass of reading . A verylarge part of them is g iven up to matters ofceremonial puri ty andimpurity (which , indeed , sometimes have their practical bearing on health) ; another large part to some very primitive myths ;while the passages that deal wi th moral questions are mostlydevoted to commonplaces and redundancies which leave oneno wiser than hewas before . Virtue is the path of God ; vicethat of the devil . Go od though ts , good words , good deeds constitute virtue ; evil thoughts , evil words , evil deeds constitutevice. Honesty , chari ty , and truthfulness consti tute the former ;dishonesty , want of chari ty , and falsehood constitute the latter .” This is a sample of the finest sort of thing to be found inthe Parsee sacred books . And doubtless what i t says is all trueand fine ; but what has i t ei ther of instruction or Of inspirationfor a man in the twentieth century? Howcan an intelligentParsee read i t without feeling i ts tri tene ss even more than i tstruth? And when one turns from th is to the interminable discussions of ri tualistic cle anliness and purification wh ich fi ll theVend idad , 1 one feels that the Parsees have suffered no greatloss in having no adequate and popular translation of theirsacred books. Doubtless their sacred li terature was wellenough adapted to the times in which it waswri tten . But theworld has grown beyond i t the Parsees along with the restof the world ; and it has no real message for them to -day exceptthe one fundamental truth that God is Good a me ssage whichin the modern worship of Monism is only too far from beingtri te or unnecessary.

Perhaps the most important function of the sacred books ofthe Parsees is to bind them to the past and to p reserve for theirrel igion the enormous force which comes from a conscious tradition . And this is a function the value of which i t would behard to overemphasize . I t is th is emotional force of tradi tionas much as anything else that marks the difference betwee n

1 For a translat ion (byWe st ) se e the S . B . E v ol. 111 (Am e rican ed NewYork, Christian Lit. Co . ,

332



dust . So i t is destined for me . After all , I am to be reduced todust and have to depart from th is transient l ife . Let me domy best to spread , l ike th is fire , before my death , the fragranceof chari ty and good deeds and lead the l ife of righteousness andknowledge before others .”

For I would no t leave the impress ion that the Parsee sm erely perform external ceremonies with no understanding of

their meaning and no religious sentiment in the performance.There are many , many intelligent men and women amongthem by whom the value of external rites is understood as wellas i t is by intell igent Christians . And even among the mostignorant members of the community , the rel igious customs soloyally adhered to probably have in many cases some very realspiri tual and moral effect . The man who pauses fiv e times aday to turn his thoughts toward God and to reaffirm to himself the value and importance of “ good thoughts , good words ,good deeds ,

” even though at the same time he reci te a list ofmeaningless syllables , can hardly fail to find his l i fe in somewise influenced by the practice . And of course even the mostignorant Parsees , though qui te unable to translate or para

phrase the prayers which they reci te , do know in a dumb sortof way what they are about ; and sometimes , though by nomeans always , they doubtless accompany the words they say

with a really prayerful state of mind . What prayer means toth e more intelligent may be gathered from the following quotation :

“All Parsee prayers begin with a reso lve to do actsthat will please Almighty God . Th e reso lve is followed by anexpression of regret for past evil thoughts

,words , or deeds. A

Parsee in beginning his prayers repents his errors and says ,‘0 Omniscient Lord , I repent of all my sins ; I repent of allevil thoughts that I may have entertained in my mind , of allthe evi l words that I may have spoken , of all the evil actionsthat I may have committed ; O Omniscient Lord , I repent of allthe faults that may have originated with me

,whether they

refer to thoughts , words , or deeds , whether they appertain tomy body or my soul , whether they be in connection with thematerial or with the spiri tual world .

’ 1

I said above that no one could se e the Parsee s at prayer and1 J . J . Modi , op. cit. , p . 33.

334

THE PARSEES

not feel that there was a good deal of real devotion mingledwith their formalism . And whoever wills may judge for himself by going any evening in the year to the western waterfront of Bombay . The Parsee may pray anywhere , but heprays best in the presence of some form of fire , the supremesymbol to h im Of the Eternal God . And especially when thesun sets over the se a the Parsee feels impe l led to turn h is facetoward the great luminary and h is heart toward its great Creator . And so every evening , an hour or more before sunset

,

they be gin to gather on the beach in Bombay , facing the se t

ting sun ,and from that time till dusk there is a continual pro

cession of them ,going and coming , all silent and qui te informal ,

worshiping together and yet each alone . On feast days thereare thousands l ining the shore , and every day the numbermounts up into the hundreds . Some stay but five or ten minutes , some half an hour or more . Each one first dips h is handsinto the se a, i f the tide b e full , or i f at ebb tide , then intosome li ttle pool of sal t water , and touches h is forehead withi t . After this ceremonial washing he takes his stand facing thewest

,unties h is sacred thread , snaps i t out to ful l length , and

usually touches h is forehead with i t or fingers i t as i f i t were arosary . Then he replaces i t , ty ing i t properly about him , andrecites the proper prayers in the Zend language . This muchall do , and the less devout , having done this , return homeward ,or stay and gossip with their friends . But the more devoutand these are many continue their prayers beyond thisminimum,either reading additional prayers from a prayer - book

( in transl i teration) ormaking spontaneous prayers of their ownor probably both . One old gentleman whom I have see n

more than once on the Bombay be ach seemed to combine in astriking way (for I watched h im closely) both the formalismand the spiritual i ty of his religion a combination which isOften so genuine in the East , and which an Anglo - Saxon Prote stant often finds i t so difficul t to understand or even respect .After going through , most scrupulously , all the forms j ust describe d , this man stood for p erhaps fifteen minutes, with headthrown back , gazing at the yellow glow of the evening sun

a glow that comes in the tropics only some time after the sunhas disappe ared . His l ip s did not move and he did not se em

335


to be reciting any prayer , but h is face had an expression of dev otion and exaltation such as one see s in old I talian paintingsof the saints . Sometimes he put h is hands together in the comm on Christian atti tude for prayer (an atti tude common to all

Orientals) , but generally hewas quite still , except for a sl ightinvoluntary swaying of the body . At the end of his prayeror meditation he bowed down three times to the west , thento the south , to the east , to the north , and again to the west ,touching his head to the ground in each case . Then going to apool of salt water he dipped h is hands in i t , as at the be ginningof h is prayer , and touched h is forehead . This he did five times ,turning completely around each time . Finally , he took out anenvelope filled with small flowers , emptied i t into the l i ttlepool , and turned homeward through the dusk .

There is something about this daily out -o i- door prayermeeting of the Parsees si lent , informal , collective yet individual which is very nearly unique . The dome of the eternal heavens is the cathedral , the setting sun acts as altar , andthe golden orange of the tropical evening sky , bending overthe endless reaches of the Indian Ocean , lends a framework ofsuggestiveness which can hardly fail of i ts influence on ei therParsee or Christian .

Th e combination of individualism and communal life exh ibited in th is prayer-meeting is typical of the whole Zoroastrianreligion . As each Parsee says h is prayers by and for himself ,with no Officiating priest for him to follow , so in his faith andlife he is responsible to God alone and not answerable for hisviews to any ecclesiastical authority. The Parsees have no

heresy trials . Yet , on the other hand , their social consciousnessis exceedingly strong , and they p rize their racial uni ty and se p

ate ne ss so highly that i t has resulted in the erection Of a wallbe twee n them and all others which none are allowed to scale .

This is one of the most striking th ings about the Parsees. Persuaded as they are that theirs is the be st religion in the world ,they not only do nothing to spread it , sharing none of theproselyting zeal so notable in Christians and Mohammedans ,but they simply will not permit of any proselyting on thepart of any of their number. No one born out of the Parseefold can ever be allowed to e nter i t , no matter how firmly he

336



since their migration to India they have been but a handful inthe midst of the heathen (as they regard their idolatrous neighbors) , and i t is only since then that they have adopted thisseemingly strange rule against spreading their religion . Andindeed i t is easy to see what would , in all probabili ty , havebeen the result had they no t drawn the line very strictly aroundtheir li ttle community on entering the land . They would havebee n simply abso rbed into the great , amorphous body of Hinduism which surrounds them on every side , and which hassucked out from so many independent movements all thatwas distinctive in them . So the Parsee community would havebecome merely one of the innumerable Hindu castes or sects ,and Zarathustra would sim ply have be e n added , as one moregod

,to the thirty - three million deities that the Indians have

already.

I t is encouraging to note that this determination of longstanding to keep pure the blood is being paralleled to- day by anew and growing desire to disseminate a deeper knowledge ofthe religion which is their bond of union and their great distinction . As I have shown above , there always has bee n andthere is stil l far too l i ttle effor t made to teach the childrenmore than the merest outlines of the religion . And all the moreintell igent Parsees have come to recognize with regret boththis lack of religious education , the accretion of various Hindusupe rstitions and undesirable customs , and in general thedegenerate condition into which their religion has been lapsingfor many centur ies. As long ago as 185 1 a Religious ReformAssociation was founded whose aimwas “ the regeneration Ofthe social condition of the Parsee s and the restoration of theZoroastrian religion to its pr istine purity .

”Te n years later a

movem ent was set on foot for the advancement of Avestascholarship and the higher education of Parsee priests . Thesemovem ents and others like them have had some influence , anda yearly conference is now held to discuss various questions ofre ligious , social , and educational reform .

1 About ten years agoa systematic effort at religious educationwas begun . A com

mission was appointed to prepare five books for religious in

1 For the facts just cite d I am indebte d to Farquhar’

s Modern Religious

Movem ents (se e pp . 84—89, and also

338

TH E PARSEES

struction in - the vernacular . These books were soon completedand author ized , one of them be ing the Catechism from theEnglish edition of which I have so Often quoted . These booksare nowused by many parents in the instruction of their children , and in most Parsee schools a special hour is given up totheir study.

In the face of these various reform movements the conse rvatives , of course , have not bee n idle . Like the conse rvativeHindus , they have identified everything Old with the nationaland com munity cause , and under the leadership of their TheOSOph ist members have resisted with considerable success theadvance of the reformers . In spite of their efforts , however ,modern ideas are gradually permeating the community , andthe change from the old to the new is going on rapidly enoughto keep the religion in touch with life , and slowly enough toinsure the necessary continuity with the past . The more educated and liberal Parsees se e in the old forms and ceremoniesonly customs which in past time were useful , but most of whichmust undergo gradual modification or be outgrown altogether .The great fundamental beliefs , such as the theistic doctrineand the hope of the endless l ife , they regard as having eternalvalue

,and a few of the ancient forms , such as that of revering

God through His element of fire as a symbol , will , in their opinion

,always be found useful for the Parsee community and will

never be outgrown . The more irrational customs and themore materialistic beliefs will be outgrown . But the wiserl iberals can wai t with patience for their departure , knowingthat everything cannot happe n at once , and that all healthychange in an organism like religion must be a process ofgrowth ,not of revolution .

CHAPTER X VI

THE BUDDH I STS OF BURMA AND CEYLON

ROM the far northwest on the borders of Afghanistan ,

to Orissa and Madras in the e ast and south , India is covered with caves , rock- cut temples , columns , statues , carvingsthat come from a religion now long since perished from theland . I t is over a thousand years since Buddhism died out of

the country of its birth . Th e muse um for i t has been sub sti

tuted for the temple , and the archeo logist and Pali scholarhave taken the place of the yellow- robed monk and the devoutlay follower of the Blesse d One . Yet so great an impressionhas the Buddha made upon h is land and upon the minds of allstudents of Indian religion th at the spell of his personali tystill hangs over those regions where he l ived and taught , andmost of us can visi t only with a very deep and genuine reverence those few well- authentica ted spots where we know his“ lotus feet once trod . Most sacred , and at the same timemost well authentica ted and most beautiful , of all these spotsis Buddh Gaya . I ts great temple , to be sure , has been rebuiltand considerably changed since ancient times by the Nepalese

,

and the place as a whole is in the hands of the Hindus . Yetwith native reverence for all that oth ers revere , its guardiansboth respect and honor the temple ; and i t is surrounded by agarden in which all manner of fresh flowers clamber over allmanner of half- ruined statues and ancient stupas , so that thewhole forms a combination of loving care and picturesque decay unsurpassed in loveliness and b eauty by anyth ing in India.

And over the whole place rests the spiri t of the Teacher ; sothat I for one was no t ashamed to follow the little band of

Nepalese and Thibetan pilgrims in their circumambulation of

the great tower and to pause and do a little puja of my ownunder the B0 tree which marks the spot where illum inationcame to himwho was to b e the “Light of Asia .

”

In fact I am sure that if the Buddha could have returnedand watched us that morning , he would have preferred my

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THE BUDDHISTS OF BURMA AND CEYLON

homage to .that of the Himalayan pilgrim s who bore h is name .

He who came to destroy belief in the efficacy of outer formscould have marked only with deep disappo intment and sorrowthe fastening of gold leaf upon the temple ’s stones in h is name

,

th e mumbling of mystic texts and the swinging of prayerwhee ls , which were the principal occupations of these pilgrims .

And if he could have followed them back to their mountainhomes he would probably have ex claimed that the time wasripe for a new Buddha to appear on earth , for scarcely a tokenof h is teaching would he have found .

I twas not my good fortune to follow these pilgrims any farther toward their Thibe tan homes than Darjeeling ; but in andaround Darj ee ling one can ge t a very good idea of Thibetanand Nepalese Buddhism . Halfway down the slope be tweenDarjeeling and the valley on the east is a Buddhist temp leof the Thibetan type . On the outer wall , on each side of thee ntrance , is a line of five or six

“

p rayer wheels”or prayer cyl

inders , each about two fee t h igh and covered wi th sacred texts .The reci tation of these texts or mantras is supposed to keepoff the evil spirits wh ich abound wherever the Lamaistic typeof Buddh ism is known , and the spinning of one of these cylin

ders produces the same miraculous result . One can se t all twelverevolving at once and the effe ct on the spiri t world is presum ab ly considerable . In the porch of the temple is anotherprayer whee l , much larger and apparently much more important and ofiicial than those without . I t is six fee t high andbears several rows of inscribed texts . The axis of the cylinderis continued by an iron rod on which i t rests , and th is beforereaching the floor is bent outward and then back in such afashion that by pul ling a rope attached to the bend the cylindercan be easi ly revolved . On the top of th e cylinder is an ironprojection so placed that in each revolution i t will hi t againsttwo bells suspended from the ceiling directly above the cylinder . When we entered the temple and in fact throughoutour visi t a b oy , seated on the floor in front of the cylinder ,was occupied pulling the rope and thus revolving the wheel .Apparently he was praying for the whole community andby the hour . Thus do the Northern Buddhists “ pray withoutceasing .

”

34 1


At the farther end of the inner room of the temple were threeseated Buddhas , with a rowof various kinds of offerings beforethem . The central one of these images represe nted the greatBuddha ” —which is not Gautama but Gautama ’s heavenlyessence , of wh ich the historical Gautama was only an ap

p earance . Gautama h imselfwas represented by the humblerfigure on the left ; while to the rightwas Gautama ’s reflex or

Bodhisattva . For Himalayan Buddhism has not only made theBuddha into a god ; i t has been unsatisfied with this and hasinvented some twenty—eight Buddhas, made each Of these intoa Trini ty , and deified all the members of each . Quite consistently i t has also transformed its monks into priests and e n

dowed them with all manner of powers , and in place of simplecontem plation of the Blessed One and h is Doctrine

,i t has in

vented mag ical mantras by means of which one may avoidthe hordes of dangerous devils to which reference has alreadybeen made . One may use these formulae in various waysrepeat them , write them out on a prayer wheel and revolve i t

,

wear them in a little case and carry i t suspended round theneck

,swallow them , or reflect them in a mirror , wash the mir

ror, and drink the water i twas washed in ,

1 etc . , etc . The fav orite of these charms is the famous 0m ! m ani padm i , hum !

which means (so far as i t means anything)“Om ! the Jewel

of the Lotus Flower !Hum !” In all the region round Darje e ling one meets women and men wandering through villagestreets or along country roads , fingering their rosaries of onehundred and eight beads and murmuring ,

“0m m eni pem i

hum !” Little hand prayer wheels are almost as common as

rosaries brass cylinders containing texts and revolved on astick . I watched carefully two women in the streets of Darj eeling , one of whomwas revolv ing a prayer wheel of this description . Much of the time she was talking eagerly with her

1 Me thods of th is sort are not confine d to Th ibe t. In southe rn and ce n

tral Italy , including Rom e , p icture s of the Virgin p rinte d on ve ry th in t issuepap e r m ay b e procure d , wh ich are use ful in curing h e adach e s and othe rsl ight ailm e nts. The m e thod of app l ication is quite Th ibe tan : th e pape r issoake d in a glass of wate r ti l l it has in part gone to p ie ce s , and the n thewate r with th e fragm e nts ofpape r is swallowe d. Th e use of the se m iraculouspap e rs is not confine d to the lowe r classe s, but is to b e m e t with in som e of

the be st fam i l ie s.

342



all smoking long cheroots, stand waiting to se l l you candlesor gongs or incense or pape r flags or flowers of varied kindsand colors for your use in paying hom age to the memory of

the Master to whose glory the pagodawas erected . When youemerge from th is sacred bazaar at the top of the steps , you findyourself on a platform in the midst of which rises the greatpagoda, quite covered with gold leaf and gleaming in the sun ,

and surrounded by a forest of smaller pagodas and shrines ofvaried forms , each containing a statue of the Buddha and aprofusion of tropical flowers , while palm trees wave theirstately branches overhead against the blue Burmese sky , andthousands of l i ttle tinkly bells that circle the pagoda topsquiver in endless chorus as the so ft breeze touches them wi thi ts unfailing caress . In every corner of the great platform andbefore each shrine are worshipers here one or two , there afamily or a little group kneel ing in prayer and presentingOfferings of flowers and of l ighted candles before some imageof the founder of their fai th . No priests, no supervision , nofees , no concerted and systematized worship . Here , you feel ,is the religion of the individual . And though you may miss thecommunion of saints and the congregational singing , you can

hardly go away from the pagoda without recognizing that youhave been in an unmistakably religious atmosphere .

What is true of the Shway Dagon will hold for thousands ofpagodas small and large in various parts of Burma , for thegreat Shway Maw Daw at Pegu , the sacred Arackan Pagodaat Mandalay , the Shway San Daw at Prome (most beautifulof all Burmese buildings) , and for many a small pagoda quiteunknown to fame on the upper reaches of the I rrawaddy . Everywhere the same unmistakable reverence to the memory of th eBuddha , the same direct, individual express ion of devotionwith no mediating priest, the same obvious gain of courage andpoise and peace as a result of the prayer .When one first visi ts a Burmese pagoda especially i f hehas been reading Fielding Hall he is l ikely to see only thebeauty of the worsh ip and to come away with unmixed adm iration for the Burmese and their religion . A better acquaintancewith their worship , however , will make one more cri tical .There is a great deal of e x te rnalism in their religion . I do no t

344

TH E BUDDH ISTS OF BURMA AND CEYLON

agree with the missionary who told me i twas all external ; buti t is qui te poss ible that if I knew as much about the matter asshe doe s I might agree with her . But though I believe thatthere is more than mere externalism in the worship of the Burmese , there can be no doubt that a large part of i t is merelythat . Many Buddhists themselves have told me this . The“ prayers ” said at the pagodas are mostly formulae learned byheart , some in Burmese ,

some in Pali , and the Pali ones areoften quite meaningless to the worshiper . Moreover , the mental attitude of the worshiper is sometimes very close to idolatry . A Buddhist layman told me that in his Opinion a largenumber of the ignorant people really worshiped the stone imagebefore them ; and one intelligent young man assured me thatmany Buddh ists prayed to the pagoda itself that he hadalways done so as a boy and that h is mother did so still . Yetfor all this , Buddhist worship in Burma never loses its sim p licity and beau ty , its dignity and reverence . I remember a groupofa dozen nuns , kneeling before the great imag e in the ArackanPagoda at Mandalay . All of them had shaven heads , some ofthem were old and some infirm . They had come apparentlyfrom the convent across the river to lay their li ttle offer ings offlowers before the feet of the Blesse d One and to acquire whatmeri t they might by the repeti tion of various verses in thismost sacred shrine . They may no t have understood the wordsthey used

,and for aught I know they regarded the ancient

image before them as having some miraculous power of i tsown . Only they could tell . But there was no mistaking thedevotion and reverence that was in their hearts and that shonefrom their faces .

The most important and commonly repe ated of the prayersor formulae of praise use d by Buddhists is the “ Refuge ,

” which ,of course , is always repeated in Pali . I tsmeaning is as follows

I take re fuge in the Buddha.I take re fuge in the Law.

I take re fuge in the Orde r.A se cond tim e I take re fuge in the Buddha.A se cond tim e I take re fuge in the Law.

A se cond t im e I take re fuge in the Orde r.A th ird t im e I take re fuge in the Buddha.A th ird tim e I take re fuge in the Law.

A th ird tim e I take re fuge in the Orde r.

345


The Te n Moral Precepts are also learned by all and oftenreci ted ; as are also the list of the thirty- two parts of the body ,both these in Pali . Besides these there are several o ther

prayers which are more or less popular and are often repeatedat the pagodas . One of the commonest of them is the following :Awgatha , Awgatha, I worsh ip wi th the body , with the

mouth,and with the mind , with these three

‘kans .

’

The first ,the second , the third ; once , twice , until three times. The Lord ,the precious one ; the Law , the precious one ; the Assembly , theprecious one these three precious things. I , the worshiper ,most humbly , with fervid zeal , with clasped hands , pay reverence

,give offerings, and with pious gaze bow me down . Thus

by this worshiping I gain meri t and increase in earnestness andpurity of heart , and am freed from the Four States of Punishment ; from the Three Evil Things, starvation , plague , andwarfare ; from the Eight Chambers of Hell ; and from the FiveEnemies . And at the end , when the last existence has come forme

,may I pass into N irvana .

” 1

But i t is not only at the pagoda that the people worship .

In almost every home there is a little shrine a picture or

an image of the Buddha , and below i t a shelf on which simpleOffer ings are daily placed . The image may be of stone andrudely carved or of solid gold and careful ly executed . Th e pictures present favori te scenes in the life of Gautam a , and maybe bought at the pagodas or obtained gratis from the Mellin

’

s

Food Com pany with an advertisement thrown in . Flowersare kept before the image or picture , and in one house I re

member finding on the shelf that served as a shrine two bowlsof rice , two bowls of water , two saucers with two bananas oneach , and two jars of preserved flowers . Fresh Offerings arebrought every morning , and in the more devout homes versesare recited before the Buddha morning and night .But the Buddha has to share the Burman ’s worship with

the “ nats. The nats , in fact , would insist that this is onlyjust , for compared with them the Buddha is a newcomer inthe land . They were the gods of Burma long before Gautam a

1 Shway Yoe (J . G. Scott) , The Burm an: H is Life and Notions (London,

Macm i l lan Co . ,v ol. 1 , p . 2 2 3.

346



heading . By questioning the monk s on this subject one getsan interesting variety of opinions . Some be l ieve in the natsas thoroughly as the laymen ; a few deny their existence al together ; and one monk told me that th e nats were of twoclasses : those superior to men , advanced beings on the roadto N irvana ; and evil spiri ts lower than manwho do not reallyexist and whom only the less intelligent believe in .

I t would be very misleading to give even a supe rficial account of the religion of the Burmese layman and say nothingof i ts moral teaching and influence . One of the first thingsone of the few th ings—which the average Burmese boy istaught by h is Buddhist instructors is the moral law of theGreat Teacher the Five Precepts. These are : ( 1 ) No t totake any life ; (2 ) not to steal ; (3) to avoid sexual incontinence ;(4) no t to lie , deceive , or slander ; (5) not to drink intoxicatingl iquors . There can be no doubt that these Precepts have a veryreal influence on the l ife of the Buddhists . Even the most casualvisi tor must be struck with the very decided admiration thatall the European residents have for the Burmese . As every oneknows , European residents in the East are not given to magnifying the virtues of the natives ; and in most Oriental landsthe foreign resident especially the business man seesl i ttle good in the “ heathen blacks . Hence i t spe aks well forthe Burman that almost all Europeans in the land have a goodword and usually an enthusiastic word for him . Everyone will tell you that the Burmese are reliable and hospitableand that they l ive up fairly well to the chief moral com mandsof their religion . There is l i ttle drunkenness among them andthat l i ttle is vigorously Opposed by the more devoted Buddh ists. As a people they are peaceable and honest and verykind , kind to each other , to the stranger , and to the wholesentient world . Cruelty to anima ls seems to the BurmeseBuddhist pe culiarly abhorrent . And li ttle acts of mercy andthoughtfulness such as building a booth in a village stree tand keeping i t supplied with a jug of fresh drinking-water forthe benefit of travelers are very often met with .

To be sure these acts of kindness , while prompted largely bynative goodness of heart and by the e x ample and teachings ofthe Buddha , are not merely altruistic in motive . The Burm an

348

THE BUDDH ISTS OF BURMA AND CEYLON

wishes well t o others , but he also has h is eye on h is next incarnation , and he knows that these acts p ile up

“meri t ” forhim in a place where moth and rust do not corrupt nor thievesbreak through and steal . This term “meri t ” means to theBuddhist the obtaining of material benefits (in this or thenext life) , the laying-up of a good character , and

“ the satisfaction of a good conscience ” ! 1 Which of these three shallreceive the most emphasis will , of course , depend upon theindividual . In each case , however , meri t is conceived as som ething which may be acquired (in greater or less quanti ty) , anddeposi ted for use in another life . The prevalence of this viewis largely due to that most popular of Buddhist books , theJatakas .

Good acts , then , are a kind of insurance premium , the policybeing payable in the next li fe . And while good acts pay well ,nothing is quite so profitable as the building or gilding of apagoda . One who has never been in Burma can with difficul tyform any conception Of the extent to which pagoda buildinghas been carried and still is carried in that surprising land . Asone travels on the railway , sails up the Irrawaddy , orwalk s alonga country road , he is ever coming upon pagodas some enormous , some tiny , some old and crumbling , surrendering theirbell - shaped form as they lapse back into the plain or lose themselves in the wild growth of the jungle , some finished but yeste rday and not yet gilded . At Pagan on the I rrawaddy thereare upwards of ten thousand of them and nearly all deserted .

As more meri t accrues through building a new pagoda thanthrough restoring an Old one (unless the old one be peculiarlysacred ) , the process of fill ing the land with more and more pagodas continues at a startling rate . Most of the smaller pagodasare buil t by individuals , while the larger ones are put up or

i f Old are regilded—b y public subscription . At present arather unusual wave of pagoda enthusiasm is passing overBurma . Nearly all the great pagodas of the land are beingregilded , and at Mandalay , the religious center , the entirehill that commands the town is being covered with statues ,pagodas , and other rel igious buildings . One of these pagodas is

1 Saunde r ’s Que stionnaire , in the App e ndix to his Buddhist I deals,

(Madras, Christian Lite rature Socie ty ,

349


being built for the reception of the ashes of the Buddha re

ce ntly found by Dr . Spooner near Peshawar ; and as I havesaid , the entire hill is being covered with pagodas of varioussizes , shaded stairways and passages for the accommodationof pilgrims , rest- halls , and mammoth Buddha images . The

whole work is in the hands of a rather remarkable monk namedU Khanthi , and known as

“ the Hermit of Mandalay Hill .”

All the funds for the new pagoda and the adornment of the hillgo into his hands and are expended at h is discretion , no onefor a moment doubting his honesty or questioning h is goodtaste and abili ty . He is a man of forty or fifty with a fine faceand a quiet and commanding manner . We went to se e himwhile in Mandalay and found him in the great hall at the topo f the hill where he receives visitors . He greeted us most cordially ,

and we had a short interview whichwas broken into bythe arrival of a band of pilgrims from the Shan States on theborders of China . The hermit made his apologies to us andseated himself upon what might be called his official mat infront of a blue curtain in the center of the hall , while the Shans,in their strange costumes, squatted reverently before him .

He first read to them a few lines from a sacred text and thenall the pilgrim s handed up to him , for his signature , ce rtificates showing that they had visi ted Mandalay Hill and seenits famous herm i t . Nearly all these Shans , we were told ,“ owned ” pagodas of their own at home , and they had comehere to acquire m eri t by the pilgrimage and by the offeringsfor the hermit and his pious work . The offerings were nowbrought for th from great bags

,and were piled high on the

trays , provided by the hermit’

s servants, rice , frui ts candles , cheroots black and white , and other worldly and rel igiousdainties. These were for the hermit ’s own consum ption (orfor his personal char i ty if he preferred to give them away) ,and were but the beginning of the merit- acquisi tion ; for nowfol lowed the real business of the day . Other trays were broughtout by the servants, and these the pilgrim s loaded with si lvercoins, the total contribution aggregating several hundred ru

pees . This money , of course ,was for the herm i t to use in hisbuildings on the hill . The audience ended with a rain -mak ingceremony. A woman poured water , under the hermit

’

s dire c

350



and especially in Mandalay are genuine works of art . The yare buil t of teak- wood , elaborately carved , and the interior isin part painted a rich red , in part gilde d . In each of these m on

aste rie s there is a number of small sleeping- rooms and one

large central hallwith i ts marble or alabaster or brass imageof the Buddha , and its invariable accompaniment of candlesand fresh flowers . There are also sleeping-mats for the monks

,

a library of printed books and manuscripts and beautifullyex ecuted lacquer texts , and many votive offerings in the formof banners and Buddhas , se ated , recumbent , and standing .

I t is in this hall that visi tors are received , the younger monk sinstructed by the abbot , and the morning and evening worshipperformed in honor of the Blessed One . The number of themonks in a monastery varies considerably . In the smaller onesthere may be only two or three , while in the Masoyein Taik orgroup ofmonasteries (at Mandalay) there are altogether aboutthree hundred and fifty pongyis and a number of novices .Nearly all Buddhist boys in Burma go for at least part of theireducation to the monastery school , and most of them at someperiod of their l ife become novices and put on the yellow robefor a short time . I f a young man decides to become a monkand join the order permanently , he is admitted at the age oftwenty , after passing an examination and going through a certain ceremony . A monk who has served for ten years has theti tle of pongy i and the right to preside as abbot at a monasteryof his own .

On entering the order the monk takes, in addition to the fivevows of the layman . the following five : (6) Not to eat anysolid food after midday ; (7) to abstain from dancing , singing,plays, and all worldly and distracting amusements ; (8) to abstain from the use of ornaments and perfumes and all thattends to vani ty ; (9) to abandon the use of high and luxuriousbeds and seats and to slee p on a hard low couch ; ( 10) to posse ssno money, but l ive always in voluntary poverty .

The monks rise in the morning about fiv e - thirty , and afterth eir toilet the whole monastery assembles before the imageof the Buddha , where they bow and pledge afresh to kee p thevows that day . The pupils and novices nowsweep out themonastery , fetch water , etc . , wh i le the younger monks gather

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cultivation of kindness . The monk should tell over upon hisbeads the th irty- two consti tuents of the body or the nine exitsand excrements of the body , and should thereby remind himself of the transi toriness of life and the disgusting nature of

bodily e njoyments.

1 He should also see k to cultivate goodwill to e very living being that his eyes l ight upon . If, for in

stance , he see s a sick dog , he should Say to h imse l f , not“How

disgusting !” but rather ,“What can I do to help this poor

creature?” Twice a month the monk s assemble to hear readthe Pati Mokha , or two hundred and twenty- seven rules o f

the order , after which they are suppo sed to confess any breachof the rules they may have committed s ince the last reading .

In addition to these efforts for their own advance in righteousness, some Of the monks endeavor to help the laymen also . If

invited they will go to some home and teach ; and twice a month(at new and full moon) they read the Law to any who care tohe ar. On the whole , the monks lead a fairly moral life . Fie lding Hall , who has had thirty years

’ expe rience in Burma as amagistrate , testifies that he has known of only five criminalcases with which a monk was connected , and three of thesewere case s of rebellion . The lai ty honor them and their influence is mildly helpful , though hardly so supe rlatively ideal asreaders of Fielding Hall might suppose . Harmless they are ;

and they would injure no one willingly , not even a spider . YetIwas told that exceeding few of them would go far out of theirway to save a li ttle girl from a l ife of shame . That is her ownlookout , they would say . They lead “ the s imple life ,

” buthardly the “

strenuous ” one . I asked a particularly intelligentmonk in Mandalay why he had chosen to b e a pongy i and hisanswer was significant . I like th e l ife ,

” he said . Life in the

1 The re are , of course , othe r com m on subje cts of m e ditation . In the

Auguttara Nikaya, for instance , the fo l lowing list of te n is re com m e nded :( 1 ) The Buddha ; (2 ) Dharm a (the Law) ; (3) Sangha (th e Orde r) ; (4) thePre ce pts ; (5) Charity ; (6) th e Gods ; (7) inhale d and e x hale d Bre ath ; (8)De ath ; (9) the Th irty- two Constitue nts of th e Body ; ( 10) re le ase from suf

fe ring . (Atthana Vagga , 1 , x v 1 .) In the early days of Buddh ism the m onkscarrie d m e ditation to the po int of sam adhi a state of auto - hypnosis ; butth is practice has long since be e n give n up . Th is Yoga practice and m any ofthe subj e cts of m e ditation we re take n ove r into Buddh ism dire ctly frompre - Buddh istic India , and have no re lation to Gautam a ’s esse ntial thought.Cf. for instance , the six th and seve nth subje cts of the l ist just give n.

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monastery is one of scholarly ease or just ease . I t may offeralso an Oppo rtunity for occasional use fulness as a preacher orteacher ; but the monk is exceed ingly rare to whom the desirefor helpfulness is the chief attraction . They like the life .

The Buddhism of Ceylon is very s imilar to that of Burma .

What contrast there is between the two may b e stated in gene ral terms by saying that the Ceylonese are less devout andmore learned than the Burmans . This is true of both monk sand laymen . On entering Ceylon from Burma one is struck bythe absence of pagodas and the almost entire lack ofworshipersat the shrines except on poya days . In place of the pagoda ,with its shrine ope n to all who will come , is substi tuted theclosed vihara or temple with i ts hidden image and the dagobawith i ts buried relic . These temples and dagobas are extremelyrare in comparison with the pagodas of Burma , so profuse lyscattered over the land . Moreover , they are to be found as arule only wi th in monastery enclosures , and the temples areregularly locked e xcept on poya days. These come in theoryfour times a month , practically but twice , namely , on the newand ful l moon . On these two days one sees the sam e sort ofdevotion at the temples on the part of the people that one maywitness almost every day at a Burmese pagoda . There are thesame reci tation of sacred texts in Pal i and in the vernacular ,the same reverence and prostrations , the same offerings of

flowers and candles . In explanation of the small number ofworshipers at the public shrines in Ceylon , moreover , i t mustb e remembered that the climate here is much more tryingthan in Burma , and that the devout Buddh ist may perfectlywell pe rform his devotions in the coolness of h is own home .

Home worship is much the same in Ceylon as in Burma andthere is the same appeasement of spiri ts good and bad . Thereare , to be sure , no nats in Ceylon , but their place is taken bythe devas or de v atas borrowed from Hindu mythology. Th e

most important of these are Sakara (the Vedic Indra) , Brahma ,Vishnu , Ishwara , and Shiva . Images of these or other de v atasare to be found in the vestibules of near ly all the temples , andsometimes within the temples themse lves ; and they receivehomage and offerings only after the Buddha . Not only do themonks believe in these devas ; Colonel Olcott , in h is

“ Cate

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ch ism,wh ich has had so gre at an influence in Buddhist rel i

gions education , gravely teaches that there are three kinds ofdevas , and that if we are very good they cannot hurt us , but ifwe are bad we had best watch out . Another important part OfSinghalese relig ion is the adoration of the pipal tree (ficus reli

giosa) . In a monastery at Anuradhapura still stands the famouspipal tree brought by Sangham itta, the daughter of KingAshoka , to Ceylon about 2 40 B .C . , a scion of the sacred“Bo tree ” under which Gautama rece ived enlightenment atBuddh Gaya . A descendant of th is greatest treasure of

Anuradhapura is to be found in the compound of almost everylarge vihara in the island , where , on poya days, i t receivesnearly as much homage as does the image of the Buddha h imself . But i t is not only these monastery trees that are heldsacred . On the roadside and in other places one comes uponpipal trees , large or small , before which rude altars have beenerected and offerings of flags and flowers strewn . As is the casewith so many other religious customs , the theory back of thisis uncertain and unimportant . Some Buddhists will tell youthat the spiri t of the tree is be ing worshiped ; others that theofferings are prese nted merely as a sign of grateful remembrance that the pipal tree once sheltered the Lord Buddha .

The truth is , of course , that the theory plays but a small partin the mind of the worsh iper . One adores the B0 tree be causei t is the thing to do and because one thereby acquires meri t .Wh en one reads of the de v atas in Ceylon and the nats inBurma and the tree - cul t in both countries , one is incl ined tosay , How Buddhism has degenerated s ince i ts early days !There is no doubt that modern Buddhism , even in the South ,is decidedly impure ; but the truth is that the Buddhism of

the pe ople , even in the good old days of i ts earliest propagation , has always been impure . To see what early Buddhismwas one should go , no t to the Pi takas, but to the Buddhistcarvings from Mathura , Bharut , Sanchi , and other ancientcenters of the religion . The Mathura reliefs , from the S ixthcentury A .D . , Show that at that time Buddhism was shockinglyintermingled with Tantra worship : gay , not to say indecent ,female figures are more prominent in the sculptures than thefigure of the Buddha . The Bharut Tope ( 1 50 B .C.) makes

356



missionaries (reported in Mr . Saunders’

s Questionnaire ) insistthat most Buddhists consider lying a smaller sin than kill ing aflea . I fee l very certain that the former of these statements ismistaken and I am incl ined to th ink the latter exaggerated .

The better class ofmonks in Ceylon are , as I have said , morelearned and intelligent than those in Burma . This hardly holdstrue , however , of the rank and fi le for certainly in bothcountries these are ignorant enough . Twenty years ago Dr.Bowles Daly made an exhaustive investigation of th e monaste rie s in Ceylon and reports : “There are about nine thousandmonks ; among them a few very few grea t scholars ; themajor i ty are ill i terate , and some to avoid labour , see k a life ofindolence sheltere d by the yellow robes of the priesthood ;many are depraved . There are , however , some examples of

personal p iety, devotion , and self- denial , which would be anornament to any church .

” 1

The monks in Ceylon are less active , less influential , andmore reserved than those in Burma . They are much less inevidence in public , as they do but l i ttle begging , their food beingtaken to them in the monasteries by pious laymen . Theirm onasteries are often , characteristically, far ther removed fromthe madding crowd than is usually the case in Burmatucked away on some hillside or in the heart of the jungle . I t

would be hard to find more ideal retreats for the contemplativelife than are , for instance , some of the monasteries near Galle ,in the midst of palm groves or on a forest- covered ridge , or thefamous Alut Vihara at Matale , perched on the top of its iso

lated rock . Fortunately for the legs of the l i ttle boys , the monaste rie s are no t the schools of the land as they are in Burma .

Most boys go to Government or private schools , and it is not

Ce ylon and knew Of what he Spoke . In th is conne ct ion anoth e r quotationfrom him m ay b e of inte re st : “ If it is asked , to be gin with ,

whe the r theSinghale se are e v ide ntly and unm istakably influe nce d in the ir l ive s by there l igion wh ich the y p ro fe ss , as Moham m e dans for instance are , the answe rm ust b e , No ; e x ce pt in th e m atte r of scrupulousne ss about taking th e l ifeof an im als. In othe r m atte rs, wh e the r a m an

'

s

'

conduct we re good or bad , hewould se ldom alle ge re l igion as his m otive . Re l igion is a m atte r of obtaining m e rit by ce rtain offe rings and atte ndance s ; not , in ordinary case s, am atter of conduct.” (Op. cit. , p .

1 Quoted by H . Hackm ann in h is Buddhism as 0 Religion (London,Probsthain, p . 1 18.

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the custom for them , as i t is for the Burmese , to take for atime the yellow robe . Still the order as a whole is respected anda family feels honored when one of i ts members enters themonkhood .

An interesting combination of the monk and the layman isthe upasaka. This word originally applied to all laymen , forall were supposed to take upon themselves at times a certainadditional training which ordinari ly obtained only for themonks . No t many do this to-day , and the word upasaka nowrefers to particularly devout laymen (more often laywomen)who four times a month namely, on poya days observethe monk ’s sixth , seventh , and eighth vows (given above) , andgo daily to the vihara or temple with offerings to the Buddhaand to the de v atas and gifts to the monks and the poor . Theseupasakas are often very admirable characters , understandand obey the spiri t of helpfulness that animates their religionat i ts best , and give up much of their time to deed s of realmercy and kindness .In their archi tec ture , their costumes , their customs the

Singhalese are much le ss picturesque than are the Burmese ;and largely for th is reason their type of Buddhism seems tothe stranger decidedly less attractive than doe s the Burmesetype . Their close r contact with Western civi l ization also hasnot bee n exclusively an advantage . And , as I have said , thereis no doubt that they are less devout in th eir religion than theBurmese . But it would be a mistake to suppose that they area bad people or that their religion is without influence . The

Singhalese are an intelligent , moral , and attractive race , andthere can be li ttle doubt that th ey owe an eternal debt of gratitude to Prince Mahinda ,who first brought to them the teachings of India’s greatest Teacher. Unfortunately nei ther theynor the Burmese have kept that teaching as pure as they mighthave though they have done immeasurably be tter in thisrespe ct than any of the Northern Buddhists . And this bringsus to the means by which that teaching is handed on , the religions education of both these peoples a subject which mustbe reserved to the next chapter .

CHAPTER XVI I


MONG e very people in any way devout, religious education necessarily begins in ch i ldhood , whether there is

any conscious and ex plici t effort at instruction or not . And soof course i t is among the Burmese and Singhalese . A very comm on sight at every frequented pagoda in Burma is the arrivalof a whole family for its daily or weekly devotions . Th e fatherand mother and older children reverently prostrate themselves before the Buddha , while the youngest children for afew minutes play about ; then , led by the subtle impulse to imitate , they tak e posi tions l ike those

'

of the older members ofthe family quite wi thout being told to do so. Thus be forethey can talk they learn the formal and outward acts ofworship which are to consti tute so large an element in their religion for the rest of their days .

If they have the good fortune to be the children of devoutand careful parents they will hear from their lips , while stil lvery young , many of the Jataka stories excellent folk - tales ,most of them about animals, in which the hero is always theBuddha in some previous birth , and containing a moral lessonof the glory of unse lfish kindness which the child is not l ikelyto forget til l he himse lf is ready for another incarnation . Thisgood old custom , however , is now on the wane , at least in Ceylon , and many children receive but l i ttle explici t re lig ions instruction till th e time comes for them to go to school .In Burma the great majori ty of the boys sti l l go to the mon

aste rie s for at least a large part of their schooling . Here, b e

sides the ordinary elements , they get further instruction in theceremonial s ide of th eir religion , learn a li ttle about th e l i fe ofGautama ; and commit to memory certain formula in Pali andBurmese those g iven on pages 345 and 346of this book anda few others . As I have said be fore , many Of them never understand fully or they soon forget the meaning of the Pal iverse s which they learn to say . This is an evil state of th ings

360



wh ich is recognized by the more intelligent pongyis. In thelarge Masoyein Taik in Mandalay, for instance , they refuseto teach a boy any Pali text til l he has first learned the meaningof i t . Such care , however , is uncommon , and mere parrot learning is the rule . Of course the boys learn the meaning of som e ofthe texts which they memorize , and th is is especially true ofthe Five Precepts . These moral teachings receive the greatestemphasis ; and whatever else the boys learn or fail to learn ,they know before leaving school that i t is wrong to kill , tosteal , to be impure , to l ie , and to drink . Th e monastic schoolsare hardly centers of the intellectual l ife ; yet they have theirgood points. A Rangoon Buddhist ,who ought to know , wri teso f th e system of monastic schools that i t “ teaches self- abasement

,respect , obedience , morals , and good manners . They

certainly learn the latter . In Spite of this, however , the tende ncy to- day is all away from the monastic schools toward theGovernm ent schools

,where better instruction in the practical

branches,espe cial ly in English , is to be had . Here also, they

receive some instruction in Buddhism . Burmese girls , of course ,cannot go to the monasteries for their education : but there areusually girls’ schools conducted by the monks at or near thepagoda ; and they may also go to the Government schoolswhere they receive the same religious education as the boys .An effort is also being made by the “Asso ciation for the PrOpa

gation of Buddhism ” to found schools which shall combine theadvantages of both the m onastic and the Government schools ,namely , the best instruction in the practical branches and

the best training in Buddhist rel igion and moral i ty . Severalschools for boys and one or two for girls have already beenstarted by the association , and i t se ems probable that themovement will grow , especially if ever wealthy Buddhists canbe convinced that to endow a school brings one as much meri tas to gild a pagoda .

In Ceylon there are no monastery schools , in spite of whichfact the children of the well- to - do , on the whole , receive quiteas m uch rel igious instruction of the explicit , book- and - lecturetype , as do the l ittle Burmese ,

though they miss the constanttraining in devotion to the Buddha

,reverence toward one ’s

teachers , and respect for the past wh ich daily l ife in a monas

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tery must bring . Th irty or forty years ago Colonel Olcott , ofthe Theosophical Society , began founding Buddhist schoolsall over southern Ceylon in which boys and girls could getboth a good general e ducation and an intell igent understanding of their own religion . To - day there are upwards of twohundred and fifty such schools , managed by the Buddh istbranch of the Theosophical Society . The Mah a- Bodhi Socie tyhas also taken up the work of e ducation and controls abouttwenty- two schools . In all of these Theosophist and MahaBodhi schools Buddhism is explicitly taught , from one to fiv e

hours a week be ing given to i t . In the schools which lay mostemphasis on religious instruction the children get a good deal .They are taught first of all the Five Precepts, the

“Refuge ,and the proper reverence to the “

Three Gem s”

(the Buddha ,the Law , and the Order) ; then charity , which m eans makingofferings to the Buddha , to the monks, and to the poor . Manytexts are studied and learned by heart , both in Pali and intranslation . Emphasis is laid upon reverence , not only to the“Three Gems ,

” but to parents , teachers , and older brothersand sisters. The more advanced pupils are also taught someth ing about the “ Four Noble Truths ” the center of Buddhist philosophy and the way of reaching N i rvana . So elaborate a programme as th is , of course , is no t for all ; but all theTheosophist and Maha - Bodhi schools se e to i t that their pupilsObtain som e intell igent instruction in their religion . Th e

younger classes are , of course , taught orally ; while the moreadvanced have textbooks . Many of these are in the vernacular ,but the h ighest classes study out o f books in English . For th ispurpose the Theosophist schools use Colonel Olco tt ’s “ Buddh ist Catechism ,

” and Paul Carus’s “The Gospe l of Buddha

while the Maha- Bodhi schools use Sub hadra Bhikshu ’s “Buddhist Catechism - an excellent book of which I shall havemore to say in our next chapter . 1 There is a marked difference

1 Co lone l Olcott ’s Catechism has gone through fo rtythree e ditions andis publishe d by th e The osoph ical Publish ing Socie ty , whose ch ie f oflice isat Adyar (ne ar Madras) . Paul Carus

’

s book appe are d in 1894 , and the

late st e dition (the th irte e nth )was publishe d in 1910 (Op e n Court , Ch icago ) . The Buddhist Cate chism , by Sub hadra Bh ikshu,was first publishe d inGe rm an in 1888. The English ed it ion is a translat ion fro m the e ighthGe rm an e dition. It is publishe d by the Maha- Bodh i Socie ty in Co lom bo .

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the Burmese are extremely fond , and wh ich thus fil l the placetaken by the miracle plays in m edia val Christianity. The

monks,i t must b e remembe red , are primarily neither priests

nor p reachers : their first aim is their own salvation . Yet theydo

, on occas ion , give religious instruction to the people . I f afamily or an individual wishes to hear the sacred books reador to have special instruction in religious truth , a monk willcome to the home and read or preach . A spe cial offering is , ofcourse , expected in return . Moreover , at the ful l moon andthe new moon there is usually in every communi ty a publicreading of the Law followed by an explanation of i t . In somecommunities this may be done as often as four tim es a month .

The attendance at the time of full moon is usually large , andthe monastery on that evening forms a very pretty sight . Th epeople begin to come soon after dark , be aring offerings of

flowers which they lay at the feet of the Buddha , and candleswhich they place within the shrine and about al l the sacredthings in the compound . In Ceylon the various sma ller shrinesare thus adorned ; the dagoba is circled with candles , and thegreat Bo tree is especially brilliant . When the candle ceremonyis finished , about nine or later , the people assemble in thelarge p reaching hall made for the purpose , and squatting uponthe floor l isten to the monkswho read or more exactly recitefor hours from the Pali books , accompanying their reading

by a running explanation and com mentary . At the new moonbut few turn out and most of these go home before the reading ;and the two other “ duty days ” are observed by only a handful .Besides these stated readings , a specially zealous monk mayannounce that at a certa in time and in a certain place he willread the Law and all may come who wish . This is more common in Burma than in Ceylon : in the island the monk s arevery reserved and will not preach or read (outside of

“ poya ”

days) unless specially invited to do so . We are too proud ,one monk said to me ;

“we have too much respect for the LordBuddha and for his rel igion to force i t upon those who do not

first ask for i t .”

Besides the reading from the sacred books , the preach ingmay include exhortation to righteousness. Harmlessness ,kindness , love , puri ty, and the avoidance of the three great

364


fetters of lust , anger , and ignorance , are urged . The the ore ti

cal part of the Buddhist teaching the “ Four Noble Truthsand the doctrine of impermanence and se lfle ssne ss are se ldom taught in these popular discourse s and are reserved forthe more advanced . Attendance at these various preachingse rv ices is , of course , left entirely to the conscience of eachfamily or individual , and so far as I could discover no attemptis ever made to seek and find the lost sheep and bring themback to the fold . Each Buddhist is h is own master and no one

is h is brother ’s keepe r . The state of your soul is none of mybusiness , and if youwish to pile up evil Karma for yourself , i tis your affair , not mine .

Where so l i ttle effort is made to kee p those born in the Buddh ist faith true to their religion , there is , of course , l i ttle thoughtofbringing into the fold those born outside i t . A few laymenin both Burma and Ceylon favor (in a passive sort of way)attempts at proselyting , but there is hardly a monk in ei therland who would think of taking the first steps to convert anon - Buddhist . If the non - Buddhist inquires after the truth ,the monk will be really glad to help h im find i t ; but he hastoo much respect for the indepe ndence of every individual toseek to Spread the Law among thosewho do not wish for i t .I t is doubtless as a resul t of this l istlessness in teaching and

propagating their religion that many of the monks are b e coming rather pessimistic of its future . Particularly is this the casein Burma . Many Burmese monks said to me that Buddhismwas on the wane and that they looked forward to its com pleteextinction in Burma and in the world . This, however , did notseem greatly to trouble them . They correlated i t and logically enough—with the prophecy of Gautama , that in fivethousand years after his death , the true doctrine would dieout of the world and the new Buddha , Maitreya , would haveto come to restore i t . Thus the very decl ine of their rel igionthey hail as a fulfillment of the prophecy of i ts founder . In Ceylon , on the other hand , the feeling was much more hopefulowing , perhaps , to the more determined and system atic effortin that island at the education of the young . Something alsois being done (though not much) toward the conversion of theTamils .

365


I f the monks are content to wai t for Maitreya Buddha torestore the true doc tr ine and reconvert mankind , there are

many Buddhist laymen in bo th Ceylon and Burma who haveno t so much of the virtue of patience , andwho are willing torisk defeat and disappointment in the effort to spread againthe pure doctrine of the Law and the old enthusiasm for i t .In Burma they have several insti tutions with this end . Oneis the (

“Young Men ’s Buddhist Association withactivi ties of various sorts , athletic , intellectual , and religious ,in imitation o f the Iwas told that i twas in a somewhat mor ibund , or at least hibernating , condition ; but i ts aim ,

at least , the retention of the young men and their upbuilding in the Buddhist faith and the cultivation of their moralcharacter , spe aks well for i ts founders . Then there is the“Association for the Propagation of Buddhism ,

” whose educa tional work has already been referred to . Other centers ofreform effort are the “Mandalay Society for Promoting Buddhism ” and the Rangoon College Buddhist Association ,

” bothof which publish pe riodicals devoted to the spread of pureBuddhism . Th e latter in addition holds young men ’s meetingsfor religious and moral instruction and discussion .

1 Mentionshould also b e made of the “ Burman ” and one or two otherperiodicals of Buddhist reform ; and especially o f the preaching Of Ledi Sadaw , known all over Burm a as the “GreatTeacher ,

”—a kind of Buddhist revivalist and at the sametime a real scholar ,who though himse l f a monk has caughtthe laym e n

’

s spiri t of reform and devotes his entire time tostudy ,wri ting , and i tinerant preaching . The example of Led iSadaw is a shining exception ; for the monkhood as a wholeis ei ther indifferent or posi tively hosti le to the new movement.

1 The obj e cts of the Mandalay Socie ty for Prom oting Buddh ism(wh ichwas “

e stablishe d are

( 1 ) To m aintain the Buddh ist m onks in food , e tc .

(2 ) To p rom ote the learning of Buddh ist Scripture s.

(3) To start an Anglo -ve rnacular Buddh ist schoo l .(4) To publish a m onth ly Buddh ist journal.(5) To start a p rinting- pre ss .

(6) To look afte r the Buddh ist m onaste rie s, pagodas, inscript ions, e tc .

(7) To train Buddh ist m onks in diffe re nt language s and se nd th e m abroadas m issionarie s.

366



copies every week . The Maha- Bodhi Society also publishes amonthly in English , known as

“The Maha- Bodhi and the

United Buddhist World .

”

This Maha - Bodhi Society is the most promising force forreform within Buddhism that I came upon in either Burma orCeylon . I use the word promising ” advisedly , for though i toccasionally lends i tself to unscholarly and frantic attacksupon Christiani ty with ammunition drawn from the rationalistpress, its great aim is the moral and intellectual regenerationof Buddhism , and as a rule i t puts its emphasis in the rightplace . I twas founded in 1891 , by Mr . H . Dharm apala , a scholarly layman of Colombo who represe nted Southern Buddhismin the Chicago Congress Of Religions in 1893 , and who is sti llthe head of the society. He realized that to do the most possible for h is fellow- countrymen he must be neither lay nor

clerical . Th e layman is too busy with the affairs of the worldand its ties to give himself up absolutely to the work of reform ;and the monk , l iving in the monastery , is too far removedphysically and spiri tually from the world which the re

former would help . So Mr . Dharm apala took the vows andthe yellow robe of th e monk , but l ives in the world , and givesup h is time to preaching the pure Buddhism ofGautama . This,he says , is nowhere to b e found to - day ; with the exception ofa few individuals here and there , there are no real Buddhistsleft in the wor ld . Th e doctrine of the Master has been so overlaid with successive layers of accretions that i t is no longerrecognizable . H is aim and that of the Maha- Bodhi Societyis , therefore , to tear off all these accretions and to go back tothat part of Buddhism which originated with the Buddha .

-1

Th e two points that he emphasizes most in h is preachingand h is writing are Activity and the importance of the P resentMom ent.

1 The spe cific aim s of the Maha- Bodh i Soc ie ty are thus oflicially e x ~

p re sse d :“To m ake known to all nat ions th e subl im e te ach ings of th e

Buddha Sakya Muni ; to ree stablish a m onaste ry and co l le ge at Calcutta ,Be nare s, and Isapatana for th e re side nce of Bhikkhus of Th ibe t , Ce ylon ,

Ch ina , Japan , Burm a , Siam , Cam bodia , Ch ittagong , Ne pal , Kore a , andArakan ; for training young m e n of unble m ish e d characte r of whatsoeve rrace and country for carrying abroad th e m e ssage of pe ace and broth e rlylove prom ulgate d by the D ivine Te ache r twe nty- four ce nturie s ago .

”

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The Singhalese are too fond of putting off to another timeimportant matters and of looking forward to a fu ture incarnation to set things right . Hence he never cease s urging upon themthat now, now, is the time to do whatever is worth doing , andthat i t is here and nowthat they must look for salvation andN irvana if i t is ever to be attained . The other point is evenmore important . Buddhism must no t be made into a rel igionof passivi ty and idleness. The Buddha himself was alwaysactive and always preaching activi ty . And by activi ty Mr .Dharm apala means ( 1 ) unremitting alertness against the innumerable and subtle temptations of sloth , ignorance , lust ,anger , envy , avarice , pride , and the rest ; and (2 ) constantendeavor to help others into a knowledge of the truth with i tsresulting peace and joy . In preaching activi ty and unse lfishness as the great Buddhist virtues he has to deal with the example of the monks ; and no Christian missionary could bemore unsparing in h is invectives . The monks l ive , he says , alife of lazy and selfish retirement ; their chief religious functionis ringing the temple bell , and their chief activi ty is often thato fdrinking tea . I t is against them a large part of his preachingis direc ted , and the people are exh orted no t to take them asideals . He also calls upon the pe ople no t to identify rel igionwith external Observances and the repe ti tion Of meaninglessformulas

,but to work out their own salvation as the Lord

Buddha taught , by means of moral activi ty . I t iswrong totrust to the ringing of a bell as the monks do at the dagobas :and it is wrong to trust to prayer to an imaginary deity as theChristian padres do . Only one ’s own moral activi ty can reallylead to peace .

The people , he assures me , respond to this sort of doctrine ,and at many a remote village after he has preached they say

to him ,

“This sort of s imple teaching we can understand . But

why did no t some one tell us this before?”

Unfortunately there are no t many men in Ceylon or Burmalike Mr . Dharm apala. But he is kindling a fire that may no t

be extinguished . For he has seen that the glory of Buddhismlies in the spirit of service which so dominated its great founder ;and he has chosen as the motto of the society those noblewords addressed by the Buddha to h is earl iest disciples :

“G0

369


ye , O Bh ikkhus, and wander forth for the gain of the many ,the welfare of the many , in compassion for the world , for thegood , for the gain , for the welfare of gods and men . Proclaim ,

O Bh ikkhus , the Doc trine g lorious , p reach ye a life of holiness ,perfec t and pure .



as the m onastery here to b e found . So there is no se lf, but onlya collection of membe rs and of characteristics name andform .

”This is sound Buddh ist doctrine , and however i t

pleases us we must admit that it is surprisingly modern in toneand thoroughly consistentwi th Western science and ph ilosophy . In essentials i t is the doctrine of Hume , of FriedrichPaulsen and William James , of Pragm atism and of most m od

ern psychology.

But if there b e no e go or soul , what is there to b e rebo rn?Th e

“ Buddhist Catechism ,

” by Sub hadra Bhikshu (which asI said in the last chapter is used as a textbook in some of theBuddhist schools and is, perhaps , as authori tative a prese ntation of Buddhism as can b e found in any modern sum mary)answers th is question as follows :

“I t is our will - to - l ive and our moral character that are re

born . These form the core of our be ing , and create for themse lves after the disintegration of our prese nt body a newone ,

corresponding exactly to their nature .

”

The“ Catechism goes on to ask :

“Then the being which is rebo rn is not the sam e which

died?And the answer is“I t is not the same and not another . I t may seem to be an

other to a man still in th e state of ignorance , who wronglyidentifies h is personal ego - consciousness with his true be ing.

He who has attained wisdom knows that his real being is h iswill - to - l ive and h is moral character Tanha ” and

“ Karmabut that the recurring e go

- consciousness is only a , trans ientphenomenon , to be compared to the torch li t by a wandererat night to find h is way . When he doe s not nee d it any morehe extinguishes i t , to l ight a new torch for a later wandering .

Thus, though the ego - consciousness may change , i t is in asense by the tie o fKarma always the same individuality whichin one birth does the good or bad deeds and in the next reapsthe fruits of these deeds , though in th e absence of any sub

stance passing from one l ife to the next it is no t absolutely thesame .” 1

But just as there are few disciples ofHume who consistently1 Page s 36—37.

372

THE DOCTRINES OF MODERN BUDDHISM

speak as if the self were merely “ a bundle or collection of diffe re nt perceptions,

”so there are few Buddhists who carry out

their doctrine of the ego in all its logical implications . Possiblyheaven

,hel l

,and “ purgatory ,

” for which chapter and versein the sacred books can be cited , may be made consistent withthis doctrine . But it is harder to see howon this view there isany hope for the reunion o f friends on the other s ide of death .

And yet th is hope certainly is held by some in both Burm a andCeylon

,and even justified as a poss ibil i ty by some of the schol

ars of Buddhism .

1

There is, then , a practical kind of agreement betweenlearned and ignorant on the question o f heaven , hell , and re

birth . And concern ing retribution and the law of Karma thereis even more complete unanimity . All Buddhists believewi ththe Hindus that se quence of reward following upon good deedsand punishment following evil deeds is eternal and inevi table ;that what we sowwe reap through endless ages . Whether highor low,

ignorant or learned , the Buddhist has an unshakableand unquestioning , almost a naive , confidence in the absolutejustice of the universe .

There is no such unanimity betwee n the ignorant and thelearned on the question of the present condition of the Buddhaa question of very practical importance considering his

central posi tion in Buddhist thought and worsh ip . The moreignorant Buddhists including some even of the monksaccept the Buddha to all practical purposes as a god . For

many o f them he leads a conscious and joyous existence , hearsthe p rayers of h is followers and answers them . This , of course ,is no t the orthodox view , and all the more intell igent monk swill assure you that the Buddha is beyond hearing peti tionsor answering prayers. In the words of a monk in Kandy ando f another in Galle wi th whom I talked and whose Englishwasno t so good as their Pali ,

“ Buddha finish .

” A monk in Rangoon put i t thus : Buddha is no t l iving ; he is beyond conscious

1 Cf. an art icle , De ath and Afte r , by Pro fe ssor E. J . M i l ls , in the

Buddhist Reviewfor Octobe r , 191 2 , e sp e cial ly p . 295. Fie ld ing Hal l has apath e tic story of a Burm e se wom anwho be l ieve d that h e r de ad love rwasre born in th e body of h e r baby , andwho whe n the baby die d we nt h e rse lfinto the othe r world hop ing to jo in him the re . The Soul of a P eople [London , Macm i l lan, pp . 306

373


ness and has nei ther consciousne ss nor soul . He is inactiveand can do nothing for us actively . He lives only in his teachings . He is in N irvana .

” And a monk at Mandalay put i t inmuch the same way : Buddha is non- existent so far as weknow ,

and has no consciousness of what happens here . Hecertainly does not hear prayer . He is in N irvana .

”

As the words of both these monks suggest , the question of

the Buddha ’s present status inevi tably raise s in the Westernmind the question of the nature Of N irvana . I say “ in theWestern mind ,

” for N irvana as a state after death certainlyplays a much more important part in Western ideas of Buddhism than in the thoughts of Buddhists . The masses knowthey have so l i ttle chance at N i rvana for thousands of yearsthat they do not much trouble their heads over its nature . Andthe two most intell igent Buddhists I ever met assured me thatthe fact that I asked about N irvana showed I was going atBuddhism from the wrong the Western - end . And , indeed , they have the authority Of the Buddha himse lf for theirwords . In the Majjhim a-Nikaya we are told that th is question Of the condi tion of the saint after death once presenteditself to the venerable Malunkyaputta, one of Gautama ’s fav orite disciples. And he said to himself

“These questions which the Blessed One has left une luci

dated , has se t aside and rejected ,—whether the world iseternal , whether the world is infini te , whether the saint existsafter death , these the Blessed One does no t elucidate to me .

And the fact that the Blessed One doe s no t elucidate them tome does no t please me . I will therefore draw near to theBlessed One and inquire of him concern ing this matter .”

So he arose and drew near to the Blesse d One and put hisquestions , closing them by saying :

If the Blessed One knows that the world is eternal , or thatthe world is infinite , or that the saint exists after death , or thathe doe s no t exist after death , let the Blesse d One elucidatethese things to me . If the Blessed One doe s no t know , theonly upright th ing for one who does no t know , who has no t

that insight , is to say ,‘I do no t know : I have no t that insight .’

To this the Buddha re sponded“ Pray , Malunkyaputta, did I ever say to you ,

‘Come ,

374



The Buddha , in short , insisted and he did i t repeatedlyand consistently that he came not to teach ph ilosophy , butto save the world . And in th is he showe d h is wisdom . Hewould not allow the attention of h is followers to b e deflectedfrom the m ain issue . He was determ ined that the emphasisshould b e put in the right place . Were he alive to - day hewould probably po in t out to us howsadly religion has suffered—howsadly Christiani ty has suffered by the confusion of

the religious l ife with metaphysics ; and howthe union of rel igion with specula tion lays i t ope n to certain and unnecessaryattack . The state of the saint after death N irvana maybe conscious or i t may not ; but in neither case has i t anyth ingto do with “ abse nce of passion , quiescence , and supremewisdom .

”

But while i t is true that the Buddha never comm i tted h imself ou the question whether the saint existed or did not existafter death , and while doubtless the orthodox Buddhist shouldfollow his e x ample , there is st ill something to be gleaned fromthe sacred books concerning N irvana , and nearly all themonks , learned and ignorant alike , have more or less decidedviews on the subject . One monk , who had evidently readwidely in Buddh ist literature , told me that N irvanawas eternalhappiness .” Th is happiness ,

” he said , was a very differentth ing from pleasure . Therewas no pleasure in N irvana , nothing worldly ; but N irvana was a state of conscious happinessnone the less and by no means a cessation of consciousness .

An upasaka who taught Buddhism in a boys’ school told me

practically the same thing : to use his ownwords , N irvanameans “ eternal comfort ” ; and the abbo t of the leading Malwatta 1 monastery in Kandy agreed with h im in this defin i tion .

Probably this is the view that many monks and laymen hold .

On the o ther hand , the majori ty of the learned monks withwhom I have talk ed in bo th Burma and Ceylon , as well asseveral of the laymen, insisted that N irvana is not a consciouss tate at all . I quoted to the monk at Galle (to whom I referred

1 The m ost im portant of the two subdivisions of the Siam ese Order ofm onks in Ce ylon . About fifty pe r ce nt of Buddh ist m onks in Ce ylon b elong to th e so - cal le d S iam ese Orde r. The re are two oth e r orde rs, th e Am arapura and Ram anya.

376



is lik e a house of which we se e the outside only and not the

inside . We know the way th i ther , but what is with inwe can

not tell . The b oy was obviously much impressed by th is viewand said thiswas the first time he had ever heard such a description of N irv ana . On our walk back from the monasteryhe returned to the subject and dwelt upon it long and thoughtfully. The possibi li ty that N irvana might b e in any sense conscious instead of blank non - existence came to h im , he said ,with unhoped - for com fort . Hitherto i t had seemed to him (forso he had always been taught) that conscious existence inevitably involved suffering , and li fe had seemed to him necessari lymelancholy . He had longed for N i rvana as complete cessationof existence and the only po ss ible escape . But i f conscious li fewas really possible without sorrow , he would welcome i t eagerly.

And he added ,“The Lord Buddha must have knownwhat

was in N irvana ; and why did he no t tell us? If he only hadtold us i t would have made everything so much easier and li feso much happier !” I did no t venture to suggest that poss iblythe Lord Buddha himse lf did no t know . I only pointed out

that the teaching of Christiani tywas in some way similar towhat the monk had said , and that i t held out the hope of acontinued existence of strenuous endeavor and achievement

,

free from most o f the fetters that bind us here . The b oy re

Sponded ,

“ Christiani ty is certainly very much more comforting than Buddhism , and if I only could be lieve i t true I wouldbe glad to accept i t . But the question is , I s it true 2

”

None of the Buddhists whom I que stioned'

in ei ther Burmaor Ceylon had any hope of attaining to N irvana in the nextincarnation , and none of them except Mr . Dharm apala andh is brother Mr . H ewav itarna (the leaders of the Maha- Bodhimovement) made any reference to the common view of thePitakas that N i rvana may b e attained in this life . Instead ofadopting this orthodox Buddhist View the Burmese Buddh istsput off the hour of the attainability of N i rvana to the inde fin ite distant future , and all my Ceylonese acquaintances , withthe two exceptions named above , said very defini tely that noman nowliving could attain to N irvana be fore the coming ofMaitreya Buddha which some placed about twentyfiv e

hundred years from now, and others at an indefini tely later378

THE DOCTRINES OF MODERN BUDDH ISM

pe riod . Mr . Kenneth Saunders , whose knowledge of bothSinghalese and Burmese Buddhism is very extensive , testifiesthat he never met or heard of any Buddhist who expected toattain N irvana in h is next birth , and none of the respondentsto his Ceylonese Questionnaire had ever heard of any . Thisis rather surprising considering the unmistakable teaching ofthe Pitakas that N irvana is attainable in this l i fe . Sub hadra

’

s

“ Catechism , which adopts th is latter view , makes a distinction (based on the Pitakas) be tween the N i rvana which one

may attain in this l ife , and the state which follows upon thedeath of one who has attained N i rvana , a state which i t distinguishe s by the name

“Parinirv ana.

”I shall close our dis

cussion of this subject by three quotations from this authori

tativ e l i ttle book :“N irvana is a state ofmind and heart in wh ich all desire for

l ife or annihilation , all egoistic craving has becom e extinct ,and with every passion , every grasping desire , every fear , alli ll-will

,and every sorrow . I t is a state of pe rfect inward peace

,

accompanied by the impe rturbable certainty o f having at

tained deliverance , a state words cannot describe , and whichthe imagination of the worldling tries in vain to picture to himse lf . Only one who has himself experienced i t knows whatN irvana is.

”

“The individuality continues to appear in constantly recur

ring em bodiments until pe rfect wisdom and moral purification,

N i rvana , are attained . Then after the death of the last bodyit becomes totally extinct in Parinirvana.

” “Parinirv ana,

inthe sense of other religions and of scientific materialism ,

is,

indeed , total annihilation , comp lete dissolution of the individuality , for nothing remains in Parinirvana which in any waycorresponds to the hum an conception of ex istence . But from thepoint of view of onewho has attained to the state Of the Araha

to N irvana , in th is l ife] , i t is rather the world with allits phenomena wh ich is ‘nothingness ,

’ a reflected imag e , aniridescent bubble , a terrifying dream ; and Parinirv ana is theentrance into real existence , into the eternal , unchangeable ,im pe rishable , where there is no dive rsi ty , no strife , and no

suffering .

”

I t is no t poss ible to form any idea of Parinirvana: i t is

379


beyond all knowledge , be yond all conception . I t cannot be saidthat i t is or that i t is not , because no forms of ex istence areapplicable to Parinirvana. One can only say i t is final emancipation , the complete extinction of individuali ty eternalrest and peace . ‘

There is , O disciples , a state where there isnei ther earth nor water, neither air nor l ight , neither infinityof space nor infinity of time , neither any form of existence nornothingness, neither pe rception nor non - pe rception , neitherthis world nor that world . There there is neither coming intoe xistence nor decay , ne ither birth nor death , nei ther cause nore ffect , neither change nor stabili ty . There is , O disciples , anunborn

,unoriginated , uncreated , unformed . Were there no t ,

there would be no escape from the world o f the born , originated , created , formed .

’

Thus saye th the Master .” 1

Whatever th is may mean , i t is evident that the Buddha ,who long ago passed into Parinirvana , is far removed fromth is world of ours , out of earshot of all our prayers , out of sighto f all our offerings , and can nei ther influence us nor be influe nced by us . As the monk in Galle put i t ,

“ Buddha finish .

”

That being the case , the important and practical questionarises, Of what use are worsh ip , prayer , and offering?Most Buddh ist laymen , I suppose , have no answer to th is

question and no explici t theory about i t . Their posi tion is thatof one of their number with whom I used to talk in Mandalay .

He told me first that Buddha is in N irvana and knows noth ingof our prayers and praise s . Then I asked him whether heprayed to Buddha for definite th ings , such as success in business , and he answered , Ye s . I asked whether he thought the se

p rayers were answered and he said he supposed so . When ,

1 Page s 2 2 , 61 , and 37 of the Cate chism . I add h e re th e de finition ofN irvana give n in Co lone l Olcott ’s Cate chism (p .

“ N irvana is a condition of total ce ssation of change s ; of p e rfe ct re st : of the abse nce of de sireand i l lusion and sorrow : of th e total oblite ration of eve ryth ing that goe sto m ake up th e physical m an.

”

Paul Carus’s Gospel of Buddha doe s not se e k , as th e two Catechism s do ,

to give a syste m at ic pre se ntation of Buddh ist doctrine s, but (fo l lowing th ee x am p le of th e evange l ists rathe r than that of th e We stm inste r divine s)aim s to pre se nt the teach ings of the founde r in h is own words or in consc ie nt ious paraph rase s of the m . He nce from th is te x tbook of Buddh ism we ge tonly the ge ne ral te ach ing ofGautam a h im se lf, that N i rvana m e ans “ e x tinct ion of i l lusion ,

"e tc . , and be yond that only si le nce on the que stion whe the r

it is a final e x t inction of pe rsonal ity.

380



Spiri ts . Se veral of the monks of my acquaintance do the same ,and the learned monk I found in the Galle Vihara told me o fthe most approve d way of doing it . One makes a request tothe deva and promises that if i t is granted an offering will b emade to the Buddha and the meri t from th is offering will behanded over to the deva for devas are in as great need of

merit as we , and merit (as we Shall se e ) is transferable . This ,the monk assured me , however ,was no t to be regarded as religian ,

but merely as business. I twas , he said , like making acontract with Government . Religion has to do with theTeacher .The strictly logical Buddh ist view , of course , makes peti

tional prayer qui te useless. And th is is what we may call these cond theory . Gautama himself held this view , and in illustration of i t once said to a Brahmin : What would you thinkif this stream were swollen up to the edge and a man whosebusiness called him to the other side came up here and shoutedout :

‘Come over here , 0 thou other shore ! Come over to myside !’ What would you th ink?Would all his calling and praying and beseeching and hoping bring over to him here thatother shore? Even l ike this man are you B rahmins when yesay :

‘Indra , we call to Thee ! Som a , Varuna , Brahman , we call

to Thee !’ ” 1 In similar vein a monk in the Gangaram a Vihara ,near Kandy , said to me :

“YouChristians be l ieve in ‘

God’ and

pray to h im . That is l ike children cry ing out in a storm. You

are trusting to something you know nothing about . We Buddhists do nothing of the kind , we rely on ourse lves alone .This second , and logical , Buddhist view of prayer , of course ,

does away only with petition : other forms Of worship are regularly practiced and consistently by the most logicalmonks . They make no prayers in the sense of petitions , butthey reci te every day certain texts of praise to the Buddha andof consecration of them selves. With a few these praise s aregenuine outbursts of gratitude to the Great Teacher , longsince passed away ,who showed the Path ofEscape from sorrow .

But this spontaneous outburst of grati tude is probably veryuncommon . The whole Buddhist training is against impulseand cultivates a colder and more reasoning action . Most of

1 Quote d by Dah lke ,BuddhistEssays (London, Macm i l lan, p . 142 .

382


th osewho accept what I call the se cond theory of prayer perform their worship for a very definite reason . They do it (andthis is an interesting point) consciously and deliberately forthe sake of i ts good subjective effects upon themselves . Amonk in Rangoon said to me ,

“ Prayer and offering are notrece ived by the Buddha in the sense that they have any effectupon him , nor in the sense of being means o f procuring anything from him . Their value is subjective purely. A prayerfor purity or peace is l ikely to bring about its own fulfillment ,especially if accompanied by the thought of the Buddha as ourideal . The Buddha , indeed , is for our practical purposes quitedead , but he is the ideal of what humanity might be and of

what each one of us ought to b e . Thus prayer for the enlightened Buddhist is not supplication , but mental discipl ine .

” 1

In l ike manner the offerings which the strictly logical Buddh ist makes are in part performed out of gratitude to the Mas

ter and as a m ark o f honor to him , j ust as we put flowers , yearafter year , on the graves of those we have loved long ago ; inpart the Offerings l ike the “ p rayers

” are made for their subjeetive effect upon the worshiper and upon all those who se e them .

Th is is particularly true of flowers . Flowers are used notmerely for the sake of their be auty as a gift on the shrine ofthe Blessed One . Their fading in the shrine and the subsequentnecessi ty of casting them out to wither and disintegrate is anintegral part of the ceremony and one of the aim s of the offering . For this should kee p the worshiper ever in mind of thefact that as these beautiful and fragrant flowers wither , somust h is body and the most beautiful human bodies die anddecay

,in this world where all is transi tory .

But there is a third theory of prayer and offering which is acompromise betwee n the two o thers , and which is interestingas being particularly Buddh istic . I t is a kind of extension of

1 In th is conne ct ion it is inte re sting to note that the two praye rswh ich all Buddh ists are suppose d to re cite at daybre ak and b e d - tim e eve ryday are the Re fuge and the

“ Five Pre ce pts ” (se e pp . 345 and 348

above . ) Although the se are re cite d in Pal i , the ir m e an ing , according toMr. Maung Tha Kin, is p re tty ge ne ral ly unde rstood by the com m on pe o

ple . He nce we m ay suppose that the rec itation , e spe cially of the FivePrec e pts, e x e rts so m e re al m oral influe nce upo n the l ife of the m ode rnBuddh ist. Se e Mr. Kin ’

s pape r on“The Profe ssion of Faith ”

in the

Buddhist Reviewfor Apri l—June , 191 5.

383


the subjective view of prayer an e ffort to re tain the sub

je c tiv e view and at the same time get the advantages of theobjective view by applying ethical and psycholog i cal categoriesto the universe . The monk in Rangoon said to me : “An inte nse wish , when accompanied by an offering or by merit ofany kind , will tend to bring about its own satisfaction , eitherin this l ife or in another . This is plainly true of spiritual things—as the desire for puri ty or peace . But i t is also true of physical and worldly things . Thus , i f I desire wealth and pray fori t , accompanying my prayer with an offering to the Buddha

(for th is is a way of acquiring merit) , my desire is l ikely to besatisfied in this l i fe or another .”

I think this theo ry of prayer is the one most commonly heldby the intelligent monk . Th e Buddhist is persuaded that thisis essentially a moral universe ; a universe in which the law of

Karma which is a moral rather than a merely physical lawreigns supreme . A good act , he is pe rsuaded , can never failof its reward , nor an evil one of i ts punishment except , o fcourse , in the sense that the two may balance each other asdebits and credits in the cash account of the universe . He iscertain that the Buddha cannot hear or answer prayer , yet ,on the other hand , he is equally sure that prayer and offeringto the Buddha are infall ible means of acquiring merit and willbe imputed to him for righteousness , and that this righteousness can in no wise lose i ts reward . Hence the prayer or reci tation of the sacred text must have a value and a power of i tsown ; i t must work automatically and start forces going in theuniverse which will in their own good time have the desirede ffect upon his destiny .

I t m ay very well seem odd to the reader that , in all these

pages wh ich I have already devoted to Buddhism , not a wordhas bee n said of what undoubted ly is the very heart of theBuddha’s teaching the “ Four Noble Tru ths ” of sorrow andsalvation . This omission , or rather delay, has been quiteintentional ; for the Four Noble Truths , though fundamentalin the philosophy Of Buddhism , play a less important part inthe religion of the people than do prayers and offerings , hope sand moral customs . But the Four Noble Truths are of greatindirect importance even to the popular religion , and must be

384



nature of Buddhism than the above quotation would imply .

Buddhism is founded upon a recognition of the sorrows of l i fein a way that no other rel igion is.

1 I twas not by chance , butas a result of ve ry logical th inking , that th e Buddha began h isfirst se rmon and many another sermon with the NobleTruth of Suffering wh ich I have quoted above . I t is necessaryto real ize that l ife is very evil much more evil than goodif youare to be converted to Buddhism . Th is is fundamen tal,for without th is real ization youwill have no wish for the salv ation wh ich th e Buddha offers . “

One thing only , said he toh is disciples ,

“one th ing only do I make known : suffering

and del iverance from suffering . And a recent writer in the“ Buddhist Review ” adds : “Th e question of del iverance fromsuffering seems to the Buddha of such great , of such commanding importance for the welfare of all be ings that , in the lastanalysis , he cons iders this problem the only one real ly worthyof solu tion .

” 1

And this view of the sorrow of l ife is so fundamental in theBuddha ’s teach ing that i t has colored the profess ional Buddh istworld . Nearly all the monkswith whom I talked assuredme that l ife was very dreary and existence necessarily sorrowful

,and that they would l ike to be rid of i t and enter N irvana .

When it is remembered that a large proportion of these monksconsider N irvana to be equivalent to absolute death , i t willbe see n th at their view of l i fe is hardly Optimistic . Th e confe ssion of the b oy in Rangoon concerning h is views of l i fe andN irvana , recited a few pages back , should be recalled in thisconnection . Neither the Burmese nor the Singhalese are naturally a melancholy race , but the monks have learned fromBuddhism that they should at least try to regard the world as

1 One ofth e m ost e nthusiastic ofBuddh ist conve rts, Paul Dah lke , write sFor the Buddh ist , the h ighe st is som e th ing quite diffe re nt from what itis for th e adhe re nt of anothe r re l igion . The Buddh ist’s goal is not h e ave n,

union with any de ity ; it is fre e dom from pain . Only in Buddh ism doe s th econce pt ion of fre e dom from pain re m ain pure ly a ne gative th ing . Buddh ismis the on ly one am ong all the re ligions of the world that is base d upon ne gat ion , yea , is ne gat ion. He nce it has value so le ly for such as se e k the doorout of l ife : in fact , Buddh ism is noth ing e lse but the way to th is door.”

(Buddhist Essays, pp . 471 Nyana Tiloka, The Quintesse nce of Buddh ism , BuddhistReviewforJanuary , 1914.

386


b ad and its pleasures worth less and cultivate a taste for N irvana. An interesting l igh twas shed on the matter for me byone of the Mandalay monks ,who , when I asked whether hereally thought l i fe so very evil and really longed for the none xistence of N irvana , replied :

“Ye s, I do during medi tation .

I then real ize the evil of l i fe and long to be free of i t . But ato ther times , —when convers ing or eating , for instance ,—I

forget what I real ized in meditation . At such tim es l i fe seems

good and I don’ t want to give i t up ; and so for a time I become

a bad Buddh ist .”

Buddhism differs from other rel igions in i ts V iew of l i fe , notin recognizing the presence of evil , but in ins isting that allchange and impermanence are evil , and that therefore our

ch anging existence is necessarily and thoroughly bad . Notonly is sorrow bad in i tse l f , but pleasure is no t really good ,even while i t lasts , because i t cannot last forever . I t ends inso rrow and l ife ends in death . Hewho is a mere creature ofc ircumstance , passing from temporary pleasure to loss and

grief , tosse d about at the mercy of h is emotions and neverthe master of them ,

is surely a pitiful figure . I s there no refugefrom sorrow that one can count on ; no method of escape thatdepe nds no t on external chance but on ourselves?The Buddha goes at the question as no other founder of a

re l igion ever did . His method and spiri t are essentially se ientific . He appeals to no supernatural power , and makes use ofno blind fai th . Instead of th is he asks first of all , What arethe symptoms of our common dise ase?and se condly , What isthe cause of these sym ptoms?And the answer to this secondquestion he announces in the Second Noble Truth . Th e causeof suffering is always desire . We are unhappy because we havenot got and cannot get what we want . There is no doubtthat this conclusion of h iswas at first an emp irical j udgm ent ,and that in a very great many cases i t can be tested and verified by an appeal to experience . But experience cannot veri fyit in all case s . How, for instance , shall I explain an inheri tedand painful disease as the result of des ire? I f, indeed , I couldcease to desire to get rid of pain , pain would cease to be anevil . But even so the pain antedated the desire , hence cannothave bee n caused by i t. Ye tGautama bel ieved that h is formula

387


would apply to such cases as th is also , and that eve n here desirewas the ultimate cause of the pain . The dise ase , he said ,is due to the man ’s desire and ignorance in a previous existence .

Thus , without real izing the fact , he mingled an adopted Brahm anical bel ief wi th h is own empirical discovery .

The Third Noble Truth makes the Obvious appl ication of

the second namely , that by overcoming desire we may avoidsorrow and extends this obvious appl ication by asserting

(again in part upon the strength of the prevalent Indian doctrine o f Karma) that continued rebirth may be prevented bykil l ing out the will - to - l ive

,wh ich is at the basis of all our i l ls .

Th e most important part of the Buddha’

s doctrine , however ,was always that relating to th is l i fe , and based upon his ownempirical discovery .

“Th e Bhagav a has well preache d the

Dhamma,productive Of imm ediate resul ts in this life , of im

med iate resul ts that can be pointed out to any one by askinghim to come and se e .

” 1

The method by wh ich we may kil l out des ire and the will - tol ive

,and rid ourse lves of the three great fetters of lust , anger ,

and spiri tual bl indness , is given in detail in the Fourth NobleTruth , called also the Noble E ightfold Path . This is in fact amethod of mental training , a system atic manner of l i fe whichif dil igently followed will gradually wee d out the worldlywishes , and substitute for the hot desire after pe rsonal enj oyment the calm , se l f-possesse d character of the manwho is h isown master and may laugh at Fate , j ust because he has learnedto despise all the sl ings and arrows of ou trageous Fortune .

This is the Buddhist method of salvation ; this was theBuddha ’s great discovery . He came to i t , a Buddhist friend ofmine suggests , by a knowledge of child psychology . For yearshe had been searching for peace and freedom from the powerof fortune . He had tried rel igion with i ts ceremonies and

prayers and faith , he had tried philosophy , and he had triedasceticism . All had failed . Then , casting h is thoughts backover the course of his l i fe , he asked himself when in the wholeof i t he had been really without care . And he sawthat h is onereally fre e and happy time had been as a young child . Then ,

analyzing out of the child ’s mental condition that elemen t1 Anguttara Nikaya, 111 , 11 , 40.

388



some distant heaven that we are to go to after we die ; i t is anew character that may bewon here and now. We all knowthe two type s of people whom the Buddha would re cognizeas the lost and the saved . One cl ings to l i fe and its pleasure

,

hot with des ires , lusting and robust , perhaps , or i t may b e evens ickly , but always desiring , greedy of good things

,fil led with

will and self- assertion ; the other quiet , seeking l ittle or nothing ,ready for anything , with no intense pains, pleasures, or longings

,nei ther wishing for l ife nor fearing death . To change from

the first type to the second is the Buddha’s way of salvation .

And it is not merely theway Of salvation : i t is salvation i tself .Th e new character acquired through the long course of se lftraining outlined in th e Noble Eightfold Path means peaceand freedom from care and an equipoise of mind which biddefiance to the thousand frets of ordinary life . Gautama mayb e said to have anticipated the Don ’ t worry cure ” : and hismessage and method might come as a great boon to our hustling and neurotic age . Th e common exp ress ion ,

“ Blessed benothing , the Buddha meant quite l i terally. If you have nothing and want nothing you will be blesse d . For sorrow comesj ust from having and wanting . In all l i teralness , i t is easierfor a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a richman to enter the Buddhist N i rvana. But if you give up all

your possessions and all thought of ever having any and cutall the ties that bind you to this world , there will be little leftto sorrow or worry over . Don ’ t be afraid , says the Buddha ,for there is really nothing worth fear ing . Th e only thing worthyof fear is slavery ; and you may break your own bonds i f youonly will .

“In him who has intercourse with others affections arise ,

and then the pain which follows affection : considering themisery that originates in affection , let one wander alone likea rhinoceros .

“ Se e ing bright golden bracelets , well -wrought by the goldsmith , striking against each other when there are two on one

arm , let one wander alone like a rhinoceros .“Thus , i f I join myse lf wi th another I shall swear or scold

considering this danger in future , let one wander alone like arhinoceros .

390


“Th e sensual p leasures , indeed , wh ich are various , sweet ,

charming , under their different shapes agitate the mind : seeingthe misery originating in se nsual pleasures , let one wanderalone l ike a rhinoceros .

Without covetousness ,without decei t ,without craving ,withoutdistractions,having go t ridofpassionand folly, being free fromdesire in all the world , let one wander alone like a rh inoceros .

“Not adorning himself , no t looking out for sport , amuse

ment , and the delight Of p leasure in the world , be ing loath of al i fe of dressing , speaking the truth , let one wander alone l ike arhinoceros .

“Having left son and wife father and mother , wealth andcorn and relatives and the d ifferent objects of desire , let onewander alone l ike a rhinoceros .Like a lion not trembling at noises , l ike the wind not caught

in a net , l ike a lotus no t stained by water , let one wander alonel ike a rhinoceros .” 1

There is much that is fine in this ideal ; and I for one canseldom wri te or speak of i t without catching some of the Buddhist

’

s enthusiasm . But we must be serious with i t and no t

blink its impl ications . One cannot wander alone l ike a rhinoce ros and at the same time bide at home and act as beast ofburden for the world . The ties that bind man most closely andthat lay him most open to the Sl ings and arrows of outrageousfortune , are often no t his pleasant vices and his selfish wishes ,but h is family, his friends , his country, the cause wh ich heserves. Gautama named his only ch i ld “ Rahula ” a fetter;and in the Dhammapada he is reported to have said : “Th ewise man does not regard chains or ropes as fetters , but riches ,honor , wife and child , all that draws h im down to a worldlyl ife . Therefore he leaves all these with their sorrows and joysand goes forth into soli tude . A monk near Kandy whowasvery learned in his re l igion said to my wife : “ I have a motherand father , brothers and sisters , but I leave them all to themse lves so as to th ink only of my salvation . I have to thinkof my salvation only and not of other people ’s . You have amother and father

,brothers and sisters? Leave them all to

1 Th e Sutta N ipata (translate d by Faus ll) 111 . v ol. x. (Oxford , C larendon Pre ss,

39I


themse lves , do no t think about them , but th ink only of yourown salvation . They are ties that bind you to this world .

”

That thiswas the po int of view of many of the early monkscomes out plainly in Mrs. Rhys-Dav ids’s recent translationof the The re gathas. Many of the monkswho composed theseinteresting “ Psalms ” glory in the fact that they have desertedtheir wives and children in order to win peace for themselves .And one of them wri tes thus : “ I have vomited forth all des ires , loves, hates, and things of beauty . For no one else haveI done this : i t is only for myse lf I acted thus .

” 1

I do not th ink that Gautama would hav e'

approv e d of thesemonks , modern and ancient ; but I think their atti tude is qui teconsistent with this part of h is teaching . Give no pledges toFortune is the essence of i t . And from this i t must inevi tablyfollow that i t is folly to adopt the interests of others in suchfashion as ever to be in danger of sharing in their grief or caringfor their loss . Desire is the cause of sorrow and del iverancefrom sorrow is the great aim . The wise man may be helpfulto others , should b e helpful , for thus he will acquire meri tfor himse l f , but he wil l kee p h is distance and never allowh is affections to become involved nor impe ril h is pe ace bysharing their interests . He will retain always the stoical attitude of mind . He may enter into various helpful activi tiesand have various relations with h is fellows , but he will do thisin such fashion as always to be able to take philosophicallywhatever happens. He must never love in such a way as tobe disturbed by the death or the mise ry of the loved one . Hemay participate in a great cause , but only on condition of retaining complete indifference to i ts success or failure . Indif

ference and detachment are h is great sources of strength andh is neverfail ing armor against sorrow .

“Ascending the h ightower ofwisdom , the wise man gazes sorrowless upon the sorrowing crowd below ; wise himself , he looks upon the fools asone on a mountain - pe ak upon dwellers in the valley . 0

joy , in joy we dwell amongst the sick ly full of heal th . In verybliss we dwel l serene amidst the careworn .

” 1

1 P salm s of the Early Buddhists. Part 11 , P salm s of the Bre thren . (Oxford ,

1 Dham m apada , 28, 198, 199. My quotations from the Dham m apada

392



here refrain from quoting again h is great command to h is disciple s : Go ye , O Bh ikkhus,

” the Vinaya Pitaka reports h im as

saying ,“ go ye and wander forth for the gain of the many ,

the welfare of the many , in compassion for the world , for thegood , for the gain , for the welfare of gods and m en . Proclaim ,

O Bh ikkhus, the doctrine glorious , preach ye a life of hol iness ,pe rfect and pure .

How can we reconcile th is teach ing and th is e x am me of th e

Buddha with his doctrine of salvation from sorrow? In tru thI do not th ink we can . Th e two views are esse ntial ly irre concilab le . And it is their innate irreconcilabil i ty and at the sametime their inextricable in terweaving throughout the teachingsof Buddhism that make the ph ilosophy of Buddhism so diffi

cul t to grasp . In a long discussion with a most able Buddhistth inker I once pointed out th is inconsistency in Buddhistdoctrine and at length made h im se e and even admit i t . Andthen he quoted and translated to me some Pal i verse s in whichGautama says of his doctrine that i t is dee p , hard to b e understood

,and not logical. There are , in fact , as i t seems to me ,

three distinct elements in Buddh ism which originated quiteindependently , but which have been interwoven in such fashionthat i t is extremely diffi cul t to distinguish them . One of theseis the Brahmanical , the se t of be l iefs which Gautama ei thertook for granted from the common be l iefs of h is time , or

adopted into his teaching as a kind of recognition of the weakness of the flesh in h is discip les . The great example of theformer of these is the bel ief in rebirth and Karma , which heh imself accepted and made much of. Th e various teachingsabout heaven and hell , the acquisi tion of meri t and th e valueof various external acts , these very l ikely appealed less toGautama than to h is fol lowers . But in any case they were simply adopted from Brahmanism and be came intertwined moreor less closely with what may be called the second elemen t inBuddhism namely , Gautama

’s own original doctri ne , theFour Noble Truths, base d upon direct experience of sorrow ,

sorrow ’s cause , and the purely psychical way of escape . Bes ides these two elements there was a third , nam ely , Gautama ’sown great sym pathetic heart , h is unselfish devotion and desireto serve and save h is fellows . The attempt is usually made to

394


expound Buddh ism as i f al l of i t followed from the Four NobleTruths . To do this successful ly is really impossible , becausemuch that is of importance in Buddhist morality and ph ilosophy comes from the two other sources . Thus , for example ,how is the First Precept not to ki l l to be derived fromthe enl ightened egoism of the Four Noble Truths? There isno reason why one who has broken all the bonds , includinghuman sym pathy , should not take l ife with impunity . Th e

real basis for th is precept is to be found in Buddha’s widereaching love for all sentient creatures , combined with thegeneral Indian bel ief in future existence and the acquisi tionof meri t . 1 Further examples of this inconsistency might begiven

,and even instances in which the logical consequences

of the Four Noble Truths are atwar with the real desire forservice which characterized not only the Buddha but many ofh is disciples . The first great outbreak of this smouldering inconsistency came when Northern Buddh ism gave up as i tsideal the Arahat who attains and enters N irvana , and sub sti

tute d for him the Bodhisatwho del iberately surrenders N irvana in order to be reborn endlessly and serve h is fellows . Thesame struggle betwee n the two inconsistent ideals with in Buddh ism is flaming out again to - day , the monks holding to theegoistic aim ,

the new movement of reform among the laymenholding up the ideal of se rvice . The monks have the adv antage of overwhelming numbers ; but the reformers have th enewer spiri t of the age upon their s ide . The outcome of thes truggle will be decisive for Buddhism . For no man and norel igion can perm anently serve two masters .

1 In fact th is e x act p re ce pt of ah im sa (harm le ssne ss) is to b e found inthe Brahm anical l ite rature of Gautam a ’s tim e .

CHAPTER X IX

THE VALUE OF BUDDH I SM AND ITS SPRINGS OF POWER

T is always very much eas ier for the theologian to estimatethe value of a given rel igion than for the psychologist or

h istorian . Th e problem for the former is s imple : he has onlyto analyze the bel iefs of the religion in question , compare themwith the doctrines of his own authori tative and infall iblecreed , and so point out i ts grain Of truth and its mass of error .Th e student of the history or of the psychology of rel igion isunable to do th is , because he is not in posse ssion of any suchinfall ible and authoritative creed . Hence , much as he mayenvy and admire the theologian , he is forced to follow a humbler and more difficult method . What , he must first ask himself , are the values Of religion in general which a merely humanscience can verify? And secondly , How far does the rel igion inquestion possess these values? The writer of this book is unfortunately no theologian , and in seeking to estimate the valueof Buddhism will be forced to fall back on the more complexand less am bitious method of the psychologist of religion .

Hence the only results he can hope to attain will no t only beforever Open to correction , but even if accepted as true wil lpossess merely secondary importance . For the questions withwhich this chapter is to deal have to do not with the transce nde ntal truth of Buddhism ,

but only wi th its human and

hum anly verifiable values.

What , then , are the values of rel igion from a merely psychological point of view? Various analyses of them might bemade , but for our purposes perhaps the simplest and mostuseful classification may be based upon and derived from thec lassic division of mental powers in to knowing , fee l ing , andwill ing. Religion , s ince (as a psychological phenomenon) i tinvolves the whole mind and is not confined to any one division of i t , must have to do with all three of these . And thevalue of any given religion may b e j udged , from the p sycholo

396



and is conducive to th ine own weal and to that of all othe rl iving beings , that accept as truth and l ive accordingly .

” 1

This absolute rel iance on reason and experience , couple dwith a complete disregard for mere authori ty ,

is characteristicof all Gautama ’s teaching . There is a modern note in hiswords and his atti tude that comes to us through these twentyfiv e hundred years with something l ike a shock of surpriseand wh ich differentiates h is rel igion from all others . He aloneof founders and p rophets turned away from all supernaturalsources of knowledge and attempted to think the thing outforhim self, and to recommend his doctrine to others on ly becausei twas scientifically verifiable by an appeal to ex perience .

This was possible to h im in part be cause h is teaching hadnothing to say of the hypothesis of a personal Creator or apersonal Providence . How the world came into being was no th is problem , and he insistently refused to commit him self uponi t . And th is atheism , this lack of the mystical elem ent in h isrel igion

,wh ich has been so long used as a reproach to i t , has

become to- day a further recommendation in the eyes ofmanya modern thinker . For science is atheistic in exactly the samesense as is Buddhism . Nei ther of them p retends to know howthe world came into being ; both are agnostic and silent on th ispoint . And both turn away from ultimate problems l ike thisto center their attention

,in pos i tivist fashion , on th e phenom

enal world , the world that is verifiable in human experienceand has direct and obvious bearing upon human actions andhuman weal and woe . If a supernatural realm exists, sciencecannot se e i t , and the Buddha (when we confine our attentionto the purest form of h is doctrine)will not se e i t . When urgedby one of h is followers to pe rform a miracle in order to convertcertain non - believers , the Buddha repl ied :

“I despise and re

je ct the miracles of magic power and divination . I and my disc iple s gain adherents only by the miracle of instruction .

” 1

The parenthetical clause which I inserted above is of someimportance . We may say that Buddhism makes no appe al

1 Anguttara Nikaya, quote d in Sub hadra’

s Buddhist Catechism .

1 From the D igha N ikaya , quoted on page 7 1 of the Buddhist Cate chism .

One should add , howeve r , that the Buddh ist books are ful l of m iraculoushapp e nings and p icture the ‘Buddha as be l ieving h im se lf and his fo l lowe rsto b e in posse ssion of m arve lous powe rs.

398



i ts long periods of degeneration and its rhythmically recurring destructions and regrowths of the world . I t is evidentthat the Buddha bel ieved in th is or something very l ike i t . Or,more important still , take Buddhist psychology . Every m od

e rn Buddhist wil l tell you (and I quote the words of one ) that“ Buddha was the Supreme Master of psychology .

” 1 Are we ,then

,to accept h is psychology with its fiv e Khandas ” (body ,

sensation , perception , discrimination , and consciousness) ; itslist of sense organs (eye , ear , nose , tongue , body , and m ind) i tstwelve N idanas ,

” and all i ts other details, taken over as theywere from the psychology of 600 B .C .?1 One must , in short ,take this question Seriously . I t is easy to say that the Buddhais the supreme master of psychology ; but if one adopts h ispsychology one must reject modern psychology . One cannotplay fast and loose with these things , and run wi th the houndsand with the hares at the same tim e .

I t is possible , of course , to rej ect the Buddha’s cosmology

and h is psychology , together with the supernatural referencesof the Pitakas ; but even after this one will stil l find on one ’shands a large part of the Buddha ’s inheritance from Brahmanism ofwhich i t wil l not be so easy to get rid , because i tis more intimately interwoven with the rest of his teaching .

What,for instance , shall o ne say of rebirth , Karma ,

“ Parin irvana ,

” the im perishable nature of “merit , and inevi tableretribution for all dee ds according to their moral quali ty?These beliefs , let us admit , are on a different footing from

1 The Maha Bodhi and United BuddhistWorld, for Fe bruary , 1914 .

1 Psycho logy has an unusually im portant p lace in the theo ry of Buddhism and pe rm e ate s a large part of its lite rature . In so m e Buddhist p sychology the re is a goo d de al of insight into the life of the m ind . Pe rhapsits ch ie f inte re st for the We ste rn psycho logist is to b e found in its classifications and divisions of m e ntal phe nom e na , so strikingly diffe re nt fromour own. Buddh ist p sycho logy is ve ry te chnical , and gre at im portance isgive n to e x act te rm ino logy ; a Buddh ist p sycho logist wil l usual ly re fuse todiscuss psycho log ical que stions with you at al l unless you adopt h is te rm s

and cate gorie s. But in sp ite of the ir care ful distinct ions Buddh ists neve rsee m able to distinguish sharp ly be twe e n psycho logy , m e taphysics, ande th ics, th e two latte r be ing usually m ix ed up in all the ir tre atm e nts of

m e ntal phe nom e na. The re ade r wil l find a good de al of psycho logy inne arly all the ir sacre d books and in the tre atise s of the ir scho lars. A handyl ittle work on the subje ct is Mrs. Rhys-Davids

’

s Buddhist Psychology

(London,Be ll Sons,

400

THE VALUE OF BUDDH ISM

those mentioned above . They are not inconsistent - or atleast not so obviously inconsistent with modern science . I t

is quite possible that they are true , and they involve a fai th inthe moral nature of the universe which is very noble . Butare they scientific and verifiable? To j udge by the wri tings ofmany modern Buddhist apologists espe cially Western Pal ischolars who have given up Christiani ty and l ike to call themselves Buddhists one would suppose that am ong other advantages over Christiani ty , I slam , and the rest , Buddhismalone among rel igions possesses no metaphysical postulates ,makes no appeal to bl ind faith , and is altogether verifiable .

Paul Dahlke , for instance ,wri tes .

“In rel igions founded upon a revelation , bel ief in certain

supernatural occurrences is indispensable for one to be abletruly to call one ’s se lf an adherent of the rel igion . Hence ifmy understanding wil l not permit me to accept the dogm asof Christianity , i f the pains with which i t threatens and theproblems with which i t seeks to allure are to me empty words ,then

,in spite of the strictest Obedience of the behests ofmoral

i ty, I am not a Christian . On the other hand , i t is no t

necessary to bel ieve in order to be a Buddhist . Here belief isdethroned and replaced by knowledge and by understanding .

In Buddhism faith is purely the product of knowledgeit is mathem atical certainty pure and simple .

” 1

I t would be interesting to se e how the doctrine of rebirthwould fare if “ bel ief ” were to be altogether “ dethroned andreplaced by knowledge and by understanding and to learnhowthe absolute justice of Karma is to be demonstrated as amathematical certainty pure and simple .

” Or what shallwe say of such a universally accepted Buddhist bel ief as thefollowing : “The unsatisfied desire for things that belong to thestate of personal existence in the material world is a force andhas creative power in i tself so strong that i t draws the beingback into mundane li fe .

” 1 Is this a fact of science which hasbeen verified? Does i ts acceptance demand nothing in thenature of faith?I t is, of course , natural that those born and brought up

in Buddhist lands should take bel iefs such as these quite forOp . Cit” pp . 44

—45.

1 Co lone l Olcott ’s Buddhist Cate chism .

401


grante d and should hardly th ink of questioning or analyzingthem . But i t is a li ttle Odd to see Europeans , trained in Weste rn modes of thought , renouncing Christianity for Buddhismand proclaiming that they do so because Buddhism requiresno faith . AS a matter of fact , they are not exchanging belieffor

“mathematical certainty they are giving up faith in thecosmology of the Hebrews in the first century of our era onlyto substitute for i t a faith in the cosmology of the Hindus inthe sixth century B .C .

After all th is has been said , however , i t must be admittedthat Buddhism occupies a pecul iarly favorable posi tion in re

lation to modern science and the advance of thought andknowledge generally . This is due to its fundamental principlesalready cited , which make reason and verifiable experiencesupreme , and authority as such of very sl ight importance . Th e

Pitakas have a very different posi tion in Buddhism from thato f the B ible in Christiani ty , the Vedas in Hindu ism , or theKoran in I slam . Th e Pitakas are authoritative in the way thatEucl id is authori tative ; no t in the sense of Moses , the Rishis,and Moham med . The modern Buddhist regards his sacredbooks with great reverence and goes to them repeatedly forinstruction : but he considers them true bec ause he finds themreasonable and (to the ex tent of h is researches) verifiable . Hisreason never abdicates i ts throne

,and he could not comprehend

howany one could seriously say ,

“Credo guia im possibile .

”

Hence , toward the unv e rifiab le elements that have be comeinterwoven with the Buddhist doctrine , the modern Buddhis tmay choose between two attitudes, both of wh ich are at thesame tim e consistent with science and cons istent with thespiri t and the principles of the Buddha . He may reject someof the Brahm anistic elements and retain others such asKarma and the ultimate moral i ty of the universe on fai th ,as being no t indeed verifiable

,but at least not inconsistent

with science . Or , i f he prefers , he may give up all the Brahmanistic elements of Buddhism and take as h is rel igion onlythe Four Noble Truths and the al truistic teach ings of theBuddha ; and these , of course , can never be inconsistent withscience , and , so far as they demand verification at all , arethorough ly verifiable .

402



and what are the springs of its power? I t would se em to manyat first that Buddhism is more l ikely to disseminate sadnessthan joy . And indeed , as I have shown ( in spite of the denialsof i ts advocates) , the resul t of Buddhist teach ing is veryoften a melancholy v iew

'

of l i fe and the destruction of manyof its innocent pleasures . Here I need only refer the reader towhatwas said on this subjec t in a p revious chapter . Life , indeed , has many sorrows , but i t also has certain real joys, suchas heal th

,success

,love . But Buddhism is always trying to

embitter th ese few sweet things with the thought of their insecurity and their impermanence . The Buddhist apo logists maysay what they l ike , but there is no denying that nearly all theexpe riences which we naive Christians , Jews , Parsees, and Mo

ham m edans in our ignorance call the good things of l ife ,” are

to the Buddhist evil and to be avoide d . Thus the Buddhist inh is extreme fear of sorrow a fear which seems almost anobsession del iberately cuts himself off from a large numberof the pos i tive and solid j oys of l ife . For fear of the painsand disappointments of ordinary soc ial intercourse , he shouldwander alone l ike a rhinoceros .And not only does the Buddhist ’s fear of sorrow deprive h im

of much of th e happiness that others posse ss ; h is philosophy,on the other hand , deprives him of the chief defense s whichother rel igions provide against sorrow . I refer , of course , tothe bel ief in a personal God , in an immortal soul , and in aneternal l ife of j oyful reunion with those whom one has loved ,and in the presence ofGod . Th e dying Christian is pointed toChrist and reminded ofh is endless love ; for the dying Buddhist ,according to F ielding Hall , the only word of com fort is, Thinkof your own good deeds !”I t is therefore no t surprising to find

,as we have found

,that

the pure Buddhism of Gautama had to be mingled in thev ery beginning with much popular bel ief before i t could b e ac

ce p ted , and ever S ince then has been overlaid with one incrustation after another . And it is surely a significant fact thatwherever Buddhism has spread

, one of the most inveteratetendencies among its converts has been to transform theBuddha himself into a god , and worship him as such . Mosthuman beings are more conscious of their weakness than of

404


their strength , and cry out for aid from some more than humanPower which can understand and help them . In l ike manner

,

popular Buddhism , even of the Southern type , has to all practical purposes restored the substantial self which philosophicalBuddhism banishes , and either substi tuted heaven for N i rvana , made N irvana over into a state of

“ eternal com fort,

”

or neglected i t al together . Th e truth is that the ideal of peacewhich the Buddhism of Gautama holds out doe s not appeal tothe masse s . If popular Buddhism is to b e reformed and put inaccord with the teach ings of the founder

,the pe ople must be

taught the unpleasant tidings that the Buddha is altogetherdead and gone and there is no personal God or nat or devatato help one ; that prayer in the sense of peti tion is vain ; thatthe goal after which all should strive is non - existence ; and thateven short ofN irvana , there is no real self that survives death .

One may wish the reformers well and yet be pardoned forquestioning whether such a reformation of the popular fai thwould work any increase in the happiness of the people .

Buddh ism , however , has i ts consolation in sorrow , or ra therseveral diffe rent kinds of consolation . In fact , each of thedifferent elements of Buddhism has i ts own sort of comfortwarm or cold to offer , and hewho doe s not l ike one may tryanother . Thus , in the case of the loss ofdear ones, the ignorantBuddhist may hope that the Buddha will reunite him with h isbeloved in the next l ife . He to whom Buddhism means almostexclus ively the loving service of his fellows will take comfortin increased activi ty and the effort to l ive worthily of the onewho is gone . I met one man of this sort who had lost h is father ,and who apparently did not look for comfort of any sort .Whether he should ever meet h is father again he had no idea ,and he did not think about the question . Wh at heaven or N irvana might be he knew not . There might be another consciousl ife and a happy one or there might not ; but for h is own parthe found his happiness j ust in doing his duty and in se rvingh is fellows here and now. Of course there are no t many men of

this typ e in Buddhism or in any other rel igion . But whatever one may think of this sort of consolation , i t spe aks wellfor Buddhism that i t can occas ionally produce this kind of

m an . For he had drawn h is inspiration from the Buddha .

405


Th e Buddhist whose rel igion cons ists of the Four NobleTruths and the strictly Buddh ist meth od of del ive rancewillsee k h is consolation for the loss of friends in stil l a th ird way .

He will tel l himse l f that death is inevitable and universal andwil l get what comfort he can out of that . Th is is evidently thesort of comfort that Gautama himse l f bel ieved in , for i t wasthus that he comforted h is disciples at the prospe ct of h is owndeath .

“0 Ananda ,

” he said ,“ have I not often dec lared to

thee that i t is in the very nature of all things , howsoe ver dearand beloved they may b e to us , that we must divide ourselvesfrom them

,leave them , sever ourse lves from them? Every

thing born , brought into be ing , and formed , contains wi thini tself the inherent necess ity of dissolution .

” Further than th is,for the consistent Buddhist every dear one lost m arks a closerapproxim ation to one ’s own perfect freedom . I asked a Buddh ist once what consolation h is rel igion had to offer a motherwho had lost her child . He repl ied by tell ing me of a womanof h is acquaintance whose only son had recen tly died . At firstthe woman grieved , but then sh e took comfort in th e thoughtthat sh e had one less tie to bind her to the world .

But Buddhism has more than this negative consolation to

give . I t doe s lead and th is is a verifiable fact to an exh ilarating sense of independence , of be ing one

’s own master ,a dee p and abiding pe ace , a spiritual freedom , wh ich is veryreal . The Buddha said of i t : “Whoe ver hears , sees, and welcomes with joy this methodical arrangemen t of the Lawwh ichis a mine of happiness and prospe rity, and honors i t with foldedhands , shall attain the happiness of perfect contem plation ,that deep calm of un interrupted bl iss , with his sense s in thehighest pe rfection and illum inated by unclouded k nowledge .

” 1

And again : “He whose appeti tes are stil led ,who is indifferentto food , whose goal is the freedom which comes of real iz ingl ife ’s emptiness and transiency

, is hard to track as the fl ightof birds in the sky . Even th e gods envy him whose se n ses arequiet as horse s well tamed by the charioteer, who has renouncedself-will , and put away all taints. N0 more wil l he b e bornwhose patience is as the earth ’s , who is firm as a pillar andQuote d by Dudle y Wright in the BuddhistReviewfor Apri l , 191 2 (p .

406



have made the Buddha into a god , but also of the monks andthe better- informed laym enwho know quite well that Buddhais dead and gone . Their happ iness , indeed ,

is se date ratherthan jubilant ; i t is a calm and steady peace . The F irst NobleTruth has, to be sure , thrown a very superficial touch ofmelancholy over their l ives ; but on the whole they are , I repeat , ahappy people , and they seem to take real joy in their rel igion .

To one who has come to think of the joy of rel igion as springing from the bel ief in God , and who has learned that Buddhismis atheistic , this will come wi th some surprise : and such a onemay well ask what are the sources of happiness in Buddhism .

This question can hardly be answered i f we stop with theview that Buddhism is atheistic and do not go on to analyzethis atheism . I t is quite true that Buddhism denies the e x is

tence of “God . But while i t is atheistic theoretically , i t istheistic pragm atical ly . I t has, in fact , a very pragmatic god .

And here I have in mind no t the rel igion of the ignorantwhopray to nats and de v atas and regard Buddha himself as a kindof god or all - powerful being who hears and answers prayers .I refer to the Buddhism of the monks themse lves . For thisorthodox Buddhist religion , the universe i tself , under the guidance and control of the Law of Karma , takes the place of th eChristian or Mohammedan God ; and as I have said , a verypragm atic god i t makes . For the pragrnatist every real (andnot merely verbal) difference , every real being (and not merelyabstract term ) must m ake a difference to some one : and themeaning of the term “

God” pragmatically wil l be summed

up in those th ings which God is conceived of as doing for ushuman beings . Ifyou want to know whatGod m eans to th e b el iever , ask what things would be different to him if God should ,for h im , cease to exist . What are these th ings that God does?Are no t the following the more important for the rank and fi leof bel ievers? ( 1 ) God is on the s ide of righteousness and as

sures ultimate victory to the ideal . (2 ) In more concrete phrase ,He rewards virtue and punishes sin . (3) He assures to the b eliever a l ife after the death of this body, and a li fe in which th evirtuous shall b e rewarded and the s inful punished . (4) Hehears and answers prayer .Now, the point I wish to make is that the universe , wi th i ts

408


Law ofKarma , does for the Buddh ist al l these things . ( I ) Th eBuddhist ’s universe is at the antipodes from that of the materialist . I t is a world of unfail ing causal action , ye s ; but i t is aworld in wh ich physical laws play a very secondary rOle to morallaws . As a man sows so shall he reap , teaches the Buddhistbut th is not at all in the se nse of the natural scientist , but inthat of the moral ist . Nature for him is supernaturally moral .Th e universe i tself is a power not ourselves that makes forrighteousness . (2 ) Hence i t results necessarily that every virtuons act brings i ts inevi table reward , and every S in its unescapable punishment . (3) And in order that this may neverfail , Buddh ism takes a future li fe of retribution quite forgranted . The

“ anatta ” doctrine that there is no substantialego makes no pragmatic difference here . In heaven

,hell

, re

birth , orN irvana , every man (however“man be interpreted)

shall , in the course of ages , receive the full reward of all hisworks . (4) In a very real pragm atic sense , the universe hearsand answers prayer . And here I refer to what in a previouschap ter I called the third theory of prayer and the one mostcommon among the monks . This orthodox Buddhist theoryof the way in which prayer is answered is different from th e

Christian , but the outcome is the same . For the Christian andMohammedan , pe ti tional prayer is an appeal to a consciousBeing who hears and by an act ofwill grants or refuses the request . In Buddhist theory there is no conscious being to hearor to will ; but the universe is such that prayer has a certainamount of power to aid in bringing about its own answer . I tis, i f you l ike , a kind ofmagic . In this world in which physicalforces are dec idedly secondary to moral ones , prayer i tself is akind of force . You se t i t going and som ething is bound to resul t . Your father is il l and you pray to Lord Buddha for hisrecovery ; or, better stil l , youhave certain Pal i verses chantedby the monks in honor of the Blessed One , and you accompanythe prayer or verses with certain offerings . Th e Blessed Onewil l not hear anything that is said nor take any note of yourofferings ; but these prayers and ceremonies will in themse lvestend to restore your father to health . They wil l not do so infall ibly any more than the prayer of the Christian will do so ,for there are a great number of other moral forces at work and

409


each of them must act as a factor in the total resul t ; but yourprayer is sure to have some effect , and i t may be j ust enoughto tip the scale . Or, you have s inned and you pray for for

giv ene ss or do whatever corre sponds to that in the Buddhistri tual . Your prayer is not heard and no superior being takes

p i ty and pardons you; but your prayer is i tself a means ofacquiring merit and of counterbalancing the evil Karma whichyour sin piled up . Thus in a very real sense for the Buddhistal l prayer is efficient , in spite of the fact there is no god th ereto hear i t .The Law of Karm a thus acts as a very pragm atic god . I

must point out , however , that the Christian God doe s onething for the Christian which Karma can never do for th eBuddhist . In enumerating above the pragm atic values of theidea of God , I left out what to many wil l seem the most im

portant of all . I refer to what is called the mystic sense , orthe fee l ing of God ’

s prese nce . For many a rel igious pe rsonfor all deeply rel igious Christians th is se nse that God isnear , that He sees and knows and understands , that He actually does hear , forms the chief value of the rel igious l i fe . Th isis something for wh ich the Law of Karma offers no sub sti

tute . Individualswho prize th is pe rsonal relation to a personalGod would turn sadly away , starved and unsatisfied ,

i f youshould tell them that the universe merely acts as if i t lovedand understood . Youmay assure them that i t will give

,in this

l i fe and the next , all that any god could give , and they wil lstill feel cheated of the best . To use an illustration ofWill iamJames , the difference is that be tween loving a woman and loving a cunningly devised automaton which acts as if i t loved

you and were conscious of your love . To the true lover therecould be nothing more ghastly than the discovery that his b eloved is really an unconscious machine , with no loving heartback of i ts deceptive sm ile . Better , a thousand times be tter ,he will say , that I had laid her in her grave , and gone mourn ingall my days, than that I should learn that sh e whom I lovedhad really never been . And to th e man wi th any touch of

mysticism in him noth ing could be more ghastly than thediscovery that th is un iverse , which he had taken for the garment ofGod , for the bodily manifestation of the Great Com

4 10



their own - a value often greater in meri t- acquiring powerthan that ofworks of real mercy and usefulness . Th e two monkdisciples of the Hermit ofMandalay Hil l told me that the meri tacquired from building a hospi talwas great , but far greaterwasthat which came from building a pagoda . And th is is the common view all over Burma . Th e Buddha , I repeat , would havebeen as shocked and grieved at th is view ofmeri t as any one :and yet I must point out that there is in the very concept of“ acquiring mer i t ”—a concept which the Buddha certa inlyheld—something essentially immoral . I t involves the idea

- ei ther directly or indirectly that merit ” is somethingto be measured quanti ta tively, that i t is a personal possess ionwhich may be acquired and stored up and weighed and handedabout . This notion of i t is carried to its extreme in the orthodox Buddhist doctrine of reversible m erit. That one may ac

quire merit and hand i t over to some one else who has donenothing to gain i t , though obviously inconsistent with thespiri t of Gautama ’s teaching, is not only common belief,among the laity and monks alike , but is good orthodox doctrine which may be defended by quoting chapter and versefrom the Pi takas as the learned and enthusiastic Buddhist

,

Mr . F. L . Woodward , has done in the Buddhist Review” for

January , 191 4 .

But even as ide from this almost material istic extension of

meri t ,” the emphasis which one finds so repeatedly in Bud

dhist writings and Buddhist thought upon acqui r ing meri tpresents exactly the wrong view of a good act , focusing theattention necessarily on the reward that one is to get out of i t.Self- forgetfulness on this plan is imposs ible ; and the Buddhist—or the Christian—who has not yet learned that virtuemust be i ts own reward , i f i t is to be virtue , is bound to bemerely a more or less prudent egoist .Of course the man who clings to the pure Buddhism of the

Four Noble Truths, so far as he thinks of“ acquiring meri t ”

at all , means by it the growth of a good and desi rable character ; and he would be one of the last to attribute any real valueto external performances of any sort . “ Nei ther the study of

holy books,said the Buddha , nor sacrifices to the gods, nor

sleep ing on the ground , nor difl‘icult and strenuous vigils , nor

4 1 2

THE VALUE OF BUDDHISM

the repeti tion of prayers can bring purification to the man e nmeshed in delusion . Nei ther gifts to the priests , nor self- casti

gation , nor the performance of ri tes and ceremonies can workpurification to h im who is fi lled wi th craving .

”Th e true Brah

min the man , that is , really worthy of reverence is notone born in a particular caste or one who performs certa in particular ri tes ; but the man who has conquered him self and whogladly follows the great Law .

“No t by matted locks , nor by

lineage , nor by caste is one a Brahmin : he is the Brahmin inwhom are truth and righteousness , and puri ty . What bootsyour tangled hair , 0 fool , what avails your garment of skins?You have adorned the outer parts, with in you are full of umcleanliness. No t him do I ca l l a Brahmin who is merely bornof a B rahmin mother ; men may give him salutation as a Brahmin , though he be not detached from the world : but him I cal la Brahm in who has attachment to nothing . Him I call a Brahmin , indeed , who has cut all fetters , who never trembles, isindependent and unshackled . Him I cal l a Brahm in , indeed ,who , though he has committed no Offense , endures reproach ,bonds , and stripes , who has endurance for h is force , andstrength for his army .

” 1

I t is the inner side of the act alone , the intention of the will ,that counts . Few moralists have ever laid more stress on theinwardness of true morali ty than did Gautama . And this ine v itab ly : for the whole of h is own peculiar teaching is a p sychical matter . His one aim is psychological the p ropertraining of the mind . Hence all external acts are s imply irrelevant . Hence also no one whether god , man , or devilcan really help or harm another . In the l ife Of self- cul ture allexternal appea l is simply si l ly . Th e Buddha ’s point of view iswell summarized in h is last words to h is disciples : Work outyour own salvation with diligence .

Th e great moral ideal of the Buddh ism founded upon th eFour Noble Truths is self-mastery .

“I f one m an conquer in

battle a thousand men ,” says the Dhammapada ,

“ and if another conquer himself , he is the greatest of conquerors . One ’sown self conquered is better than the conquest of all otherpeople ; not even a god , a demi - god , no t Mara with Brahman

1 Dham m apada , 393—99.

4 1 3


h imself , could change into defeat the victory of a manwho hasvanquished h imself, and always l ives under restraint .

” Andthe Buddha , with h is keen psychological insigh t , saw thatself- conquest and self- control meant primarily the control ofthe mind , the mastery of one

’s thoughts . The first verse of theDhammapada reads : All that we are is the result of what wehave thought ; i t is founded on our though ts , i t is made up ofour though ts. I f a man speaks or acts with an evil thought ,pain follows him , as the wheel fol lows th e foot of the ox thatdraws the carriage . ‘He abused me , he bea t me , he defeatedme ’—in those who harbor such though ts hatred will nevercease . For hatred does no t cease by hatred at any time : hatredceases by love ; this is an old rule . He who l ives without lookingfor pleasures , h is senses well controlled , moderate in his food ,fai thful and strong , him the Tempter will certainly not overthrow , any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain .

” “This mind of mine went formerly wandering about

as i t l ike d ; but I shall nowcontrol i t thoroughly , as the riderwho holds the hook controls the furious elephant . Be no t

careless ! Watch your though ts ! Draw yourself out of the evilway

, as an elephant does who is sunk in mud .

” 1

Th e morality Of se l f- control and se l f- cul ture has never bee ncarried further than by this aspect Of Buddhism . Yet i t is al im i ted kind of morali ty ; and those cri tics who insist thatBuddhist ethics are purely negative have in mind th ese eth icalteachings that spring from the Four Noble Truths . For , as wehave seen in the prec eding chap ter , the strictly logical conse

que nce s of this pure but narrow Buddhist doctrine are essentially egoistic . The one virtue that i t really gives birth to isprudence . Wherever i t exists unmingled wi th the genuinelyal truistic feel ing which I have called the third element in theBuddha’s teaching , i t resul ts in a typ e of character which isever looking out for numbe r one , with a coldly calculatingrational i ty which knows to a hair the cash value to self of everyseemingly unselfish act . Buddhism has few apologists So

enthusiastical ly sympathetic as Paul Dahlke ; who wri tes asfollows : “That cordial i ty which forgets i tself for others , thataffec tion which breeds tenderness and emotion , is entirely

1 Dham m apada , 1 , 3 , 5, 8, 326, 32 7.

4 14



helpfulness is what the sad world nee ds . I t is noticeable thatsh e says nothing of the Four Noble Truths ; and as I have sooften pointed out , Gautama

’s altruistic spiri t points directlyaway from the individualism which they inculcate .But the spiri t ofGautama forms after all the dominant note

in Buddhist ethics . Th e universal love and good -will towardall sentient creatures which so fi l led h is teachings and his l i fehave been carried by Buddhism to the ends of the earth andcharacterize this rel igion , to some extent at least , whereveri t is found . Thanks to this, Buddhist ethics , on the whole , isdecidedly posi tive rather than negative . I t will vary , of

course , as embodied in different individuals according to thepredominance in each of what I have called the first , second ,or third elements . In an individual whose Buddhism consistsmerely of the Four Noble Truths , combined with variousIndian beliefs and supersti tions , we shall find temperance ,prudence , puri ty , long- suffering , meekness , chari ty , but allof them cul tivated in a coldly calculating spiri t wi th an eyeon the main chance . On the other hand , wherever the lovingSpiri t of the Buddha forms an important consti tuent in aman ’s moral i ty we shall have a resul t worth y of genuine respect . And whenever this spiri t is combined with the selfmastery , the philosophical atti tude of mind , the poise andself- rel iance , the supe riori ty over material things and worldlypleasures , the independence from fortune , and the courageouso utlook upon the future which come from the acceptance ofthe Four Noble Truths and th e training they inculcate , wehave a typ e of character which for strength and genuine nob ility one will seldom find equaled .

Th e great spr ings of power for the moral l i fe wh ich Buddh ism furn ishes are , then , ( 1 ) the bel ief in Karm a and re tribution ; (2 ) clear understanding of the sources of sorrow and theideal of the Great Peace ; and (3) the al truistic teachings ofthe founder , and most of all the inspiration that comes fromh is example . I t is from this latter espe cially that the finestflowers of Buddhist moral i ty have sprung. I ts influence isprobably most obvious among the members of the new reformmovement ; but one meets with i t also among much mores imple and less learned men . Th e first Buddhist wi th whom I

4 16


b e came acquainted in Ceylon gave me a new ins ight into themanner in which the spiri t ofGautama might pe rmeate manya common follower of h is , and express i tse l f in all h is wordsand actions . The reader may not be uninterested in a shortaccount of this man as I knew him .

I twas in the Temple of the Tooth at Kandy that I mademy first acquaintance in this land “where every prospectpleases and only man is vile .

”The temple was thronged by

thousands of worshipers , for i t was the evening of the fullmoon ,—and the monks at every shrine were busy heapingup the white j asmine flowers at the fe et of the Buddha and

tending the hundreds of tiny fl ickering candles wh ich the p iligrims had brought in token of their devotion to the BlessedOne . We had seen most of the usual sights and had reachedthat part Of the temple known as the “Great Eastern Library

,

where Iwas busy endeavoring to make an appointment wi thone of the monks for an interview two days later . Th e monkspoke only a l i ttle English , and as I was trying to make himunderstand me , a young Ceylonese , who had considerablecomm and over our language , came to my assistance and helpedme to make the appointment . I twas evident that an interpreter would be useful at the interview , and the young m an

said that i f he could arrange to be in town at the time he wouldl ike to help us ; though he feared this would be impossible , ashewas off next day for Mata le (his hom e) to worsh ip at theshrine there , and could hardly return for several days . Headded

,however , that i f I wished i t , he would give up h is trip

to Matale,and s tay to act as my interpreter at the interview .

Of course , I assured him that th is was not necessary , and thatI could doubtless find some one else . So after he had an

swe red some questions ofmine on Buddhism , and had warnedme against giving to the profess ional beggars in the temple ,he left me , asking , however , that he migh t cal l at my hotel onthe following Monday .

The next day the mail brough t me th is note

Sir, I have the p leasure to inform youthat I am unable to p reventm y go ing to Matale, I who accom pan ie d you last n ight to the Grea tEastern Library. I hope you wil l k ind ly postpone the talk with the

4 1 7


m onk concerning Buddhism ti l l Monday . May“Trip le Ge m keep se lf

and lady sound and healthy . I wil l b e com ing on Monday to m ee t youat your hote l . I wi l l try m y be st to show youand lady even som ethingabout Buddhism . I rem ain, sir,

Yours faithful ly,V. P . H .

A few minutes later a telegram was brough t me , wh ich alsowas from h im and to the same effect as th e note . When Monday came he arrived , true to his promise , and we had our talkabout h is rel igion . He was , he told me , a upasaka , or a laym anwho has taken upon himself certa in addi tional vows and dut ies . I asked him to tel l me more in deta i l about them . Be

s ides enumerating the various vows which I have m entionedin the previous chapter , he said the first duty of the upasakawas to wish well to every one , never to th ink of any one

without earnestly desi ring for h im the best th ings . H is nextduty is helpfulness to all who are in need . I f I come upon aman ,

” he said ,

“who needs money , I must give i t him : i f I haveno money I must give h im my coat .” Th e eight vows wh ichthe upasaka takes he must keep not only in the letter but inthe spiri t . Thus when I asked my new friend why he had bothwritten and telegraphed to let me know that he could not keepan appointment wh i ch had never been defini te or really binding , he said ,

“ Oh , thatwas the Fourth Precept not to l ie .

”

On the day following our talk , much to my surprise , mynew - found friend reappeared and offered to take me to severalplaces of interest in Kandy .

“Yesterday ,” he said ,

“I came

by appointm ent ; to - day I come as upasaka to help you.

”

We Spent the day visi ting various monasteries and templesand talking with the monks ; and on the day following he tookmy wife and me out to Mata le to show us the famous AlutVihara , or monastery . Matale

, as I have said ,was h is home ,and I discovered that hewas a teacher of Engl ish and rel igionin a boys ’ school there , and that he had been granted twoweeks’ leave which hewas spending , evidently ,

“ as upasaka .

”The Alut Vihara is perched on a rock in the midst of

the j ungle . You approach i t from the highway by a narrowpath , and , after cl imbing a long fl ight of s teps , you come uponthe monastery gateway , in a cleft between two enormous

4 18



he said , Of course , i f I could bring my brother to N i rvana bygoing to hell myself , I should want to do so .

”

Of Christiani ty he knew practically nothing . Th e missionaries , he said , were very good people , and one of them had veryrecently lent h im three books which he meant soon to read .

Two of them , he said , were called“Gospels ,

” and he had readtwo chapters in one of them . He bel ieved Christiani ty wasprobably a very good rel igion .

“ But ,” he added ,

“I feel very

sure there is no rel igion l ike that of Lord Buddha : for i t leadsus to N i rvana .

”

I told h im that I found many fine th ings in Buddhism , butthat I considered the atti tude of those monks who l ive apartfrom the world to save their own souls extremely selfish .“Ye s , he said , i t is selfish . And not all the monks do i t,though some do . But i t is not the true Buddhism ; i t is notwhat the Lord Buddha did . Th e true Buddhist wants to helpeverybody , and so be l ike the Blessed One .

To this Buddhist , at any rate , kindnesswas not a matter ofpreach ing only

,but a real part of l i fe . I t beamed from h is face

andwas unmistakable in his smile and showed i tsel f in innumerable l i ttle acts . He never ca l led on me without bringingsome l i ttle gift formy “ lady ,

” a cocoanut , perhaps , or somesuch simple thing . When we were on ourway to visi t a monaste ry ,

he would stop on the road and buy som e pan leaf andbetel nut and frui t for the monks . And he never sawa reallyne edy beggar in the s treet (and in Ceylon there are manybeggars in the streets) without giving him something . In thelast ta lk I had with him , j ust before we parted in the Matalerailway station , he took from h is pocket whatwas evidentlya treasure , carefully unwrapped the protecting paper andshowed i t to us . I twas a small thin Sheet of brass , in the formof a pipal leaf and on i twas roughly etched a sea ted Buddha .

“This ,

” he said ,“ keeps me safe from evil spi r i ts . Two thou

sand Pal i verses have been said over this by the monks. I t is

very precious and I always carry i t with me . I t keeps me safe .

”

I examined the ta l isman closely , and when he sawmy interesthe hesi tated some moments , apparently in thought , and thensaid ,

“I f you would l ik e th is , you may keep i t .

”

Although he had served me for several days as guide and

420

TH E VALUE OF BUDDH ISM

interpreter ,’

he would not take anyth ing from me in payment ;and the only thing he asked was that I should give h im ageneral letter of introduction to strangers in Kandy notifyingthem that he would l ike the opportuni ty of showing them aboutthe ci ty and its envi rons without any remuneration .

When he had seen us into our compartment for Kandy andsaid h is last good - byes , he put h is hands together and said ,qui te simply : “May Lord Buddha keep you! May devata keepyou —and disappeared . In two hours more we had reachedKandy and our hotel , and a few minutes later I received atelegram . I twas from our friend , and i t read ,

“May lady andself travel heal thily .

”I t was his way of saying Bon voyage !

Thiswas my first acquain tance in Ceylon . My lastwas noless interesting and no less fi l led with the spiri t of the Buddha .

He is one of the leaders of the Maha - Bodhi movem ent and hegives up h is entire time to Spreading the reform . Th e only reward he looks for or cares for in this l i fe or in the other is j ustthe doing of h is duty . In our last talk together , the eveningbefore I sailed back for Europe , we were discussing Parinirvana

,and when I asked him if he desi red i t for himself , he

said : “As a fact I do not . What I should l ike best would be anendless succession of l ives in th is world so that I migh t usethem all in helping other people .

”

These are examples of individuals ; but , as almost al l thosewho know the Burmese will testi fy , the influence of Buddhismover a whole people as a people , both for moral i ty and for hap

p ine ss , is very considerable . I ts influence , of course , is not allfor the good , and i t has i ts weaknesses and i ts evi l tendencies ,as I have tried unsparingly to Show . Yet i t does work a certain gentleness of spiri t and add a subtle charm to l ife wh ichare not to be mistaken , and which are manifest no t only in theindividual but in the community as well . To se e this at i tspurest one should go no t to the large centers but to some isolated village on the upper reaches of the I rrawaddy, far removed from European influence , and try with sym patheticmind to inhale the spiri t of the people and of their rel igion .

I t is here that one finds the actual Buddhism of the twentiethcentury in its l iving form among the lowly .

Whenever I turn my thoughts back toward the East and

42 1


try to focus them upon Buddhism , the first picture that comesto my mind ’s eye is one of these I rrawaddy villages—anyone of a considerable number that the traveler passes on theI rrawaddy steamer. A crowd of quiet men , women , and children is waiting for us at the landing as the steamer turns intoward the shore , noses upstream , and makes fast . Most ofthe village has come down to se e the big boat land , greet returning travelers , and speed thosewho are departing , or tocarry on board the day ’s catch of fish or the day ’s product ofsun- baked and hand -modeled pottery . Th e returning passe nge rs walk over the gangplank and j oin the throng on theshore—women with babies strapped to their backs , prettygirls in their best si lks , young men in equally bri ll iant andtasteful colors , two Buddhist monks in their yellow and orangerobes all spotlessly clean and , to allappearances, quietly andcalmly happy . In mysterious fashion some scent of eternalyouth seems to cl ing to the garments of these Burmese of thevi llages even to the garments of the old men and women .

Their perpetual outdoor l i fe , their sweet neighborly relationships , the endless sunshine , and , shal l we add , also the digni tyand calm of their religion

,have got reflected in their natures

l ike the blue sky in the bosom of the I rrawaddy , so that thestranger , at any rate , fancies he finds in them a simplici ty andsereni ty that make all ages of l i fe quiet yet youthful , and thatare all too rare in our hustl ing West , wh ich is at once so youngand so very old .

Th e crowd is now dispersing the l i ttle children for theirbeds , the men and women to their homes , or to some shrine ,the monks to their monasteries and their devotions. I f you

follow the throng and cl imb the ridge above the river wherethe village stands, you will find first of all a group of pagodasand rest- houses , some new and many Old , each with its imageof the Buddha . There are more than a dozen , altog ether , andthe Oldest ones tokens of the piety of some long - gone gene ration are now lapsing into quiet ruin , the l i ttle innerchamber in wh ich the Buddha si ts fi lled wi th a wild growth offern up to h is feet , as though Nature , too , were eager to payits reverence to him who was the Light of Asia . In the largershrines you will find a few old women kneel ing on the matting ;

42 2


THE VALUE OF BUDDHISM

each holding a rose or a cosmos blossom or lotus in her claspedhands , with a rosary wound round one of her fingers , as sh ewhispers her evening prayer and al ternately touches her headto the floor and then gazes upward at the calm face of thegreat Buddha . There are one or two men present also

,and i f

you wai t a family party may come in , father and mother andtwo or three small children , or a group ofyoung men and maidens . Their gentle laughter and soft voices cease as they enterthe shrine , and all kneel , and holding flowers in their handsmurmur their prayers. NO priest or preacher here

,no mediator

,

no spiri tual authori ty , no cringing fear , no blood to be Shedormoney to be offered j ust one individual soul and anotherreaching out toward the Determiner of Destiny in the waytaught them by the Great Teacher of Asia . True , they oftenfail to understand the words of the prayers they utter. Butthere can be no doubt that wi thout understanding the wordsthey often understand the prayers . NO one who watches themcan fail to se e that the spiri t of prayer is present the outpouring Of their hearts ’ need , the spiri t of thankfulness and ofaspiration toward the great ideal of puri ty and peace of whichthe alabaster image before them eternally speaks . And neverdid image better represent i ts prototype . Fresh flowers in adozen vases l ine the lotus at its feet , and l i ttle candles , l ightedby fervent worshipers , mingle wi th the last rays of day in thedarkening shrine , j ust as the prayers and the praises ascendto h im who has long since entered into N i rvana . Th e calm of

the Buddha ’s face is not broken : in the Eternal Peace he notesneither worsh ip nor neglect . One by one the worshipers depart , the sunl ight dies , the flowers wil t , the candles go out .

But in the darkness as well as in the l ight the Eternal Peacebroods over the head of the great Buddha .

A scene l ike this makes one ask one ’s self how he would feeli f we succeeded in converting these “ heathen Burmese , broketheir idols

,

” tore down all their shrines , and buil t on the highridge where the pagodas had been a Baptist church and aMethodist church . And this question I put in all seriousness .

What would be the gains and what the losses? Fi rst of all ,there would be a loss in picturesqueness , certainly and this

42 3


would be a great loss to the tourist—and consequently aloss to the I rrawaddy Flotilla Company , Limi ted . Yet onemay question whether the christianized Burmese would loseall h is picturesqueness . He need no t change h is costume forour dull colors merely because he changes h is creed . Nor needhe necessarily choose as the type of his ecclesiastica l archite cture the brick- and -mortar edifices of our Middle West . Certainly one who doubts whether Christiani ty is cons istent wi thp icturesqueness Of arch i tecture and landscape has failed to

travel in I taly or the Tyrol or for that matter in England ,or even New England . And , after all , is not our great concernfor the picturesque a trifle selfish? Should we not ask , first ,What would be the resul t of Christiani ty upon the Burmesethemselves?The answer to th is question will depend wholly upon thetype of Christiani ty proposed . I can imagine a converted Burmese village wi th a Baptist church at one end , a Methodist atthe other

,and a Presbyterian and Roman Cathol ic in the

middle,each aspiring after the h ighest steeple and the biggest

bell,each rent with theological controversies , casting out her

e tics , and predicting eternal damnation to all but themselves ,each putting a premium on artificial emotion and holding ex

p e rie nce meetings for the production of hypocri tical confe ss ions and pious cant . Or , I can picture the village street l inedwith fat priests who should sowsupersti tious fears among theirconverts by means of which they would extort endless con

tributions for masses , candles , and indulgences . And I can

think that the last s ta te Of such a village would be worse thanthe first ; and that in spi te of their acceptance of “ Salvationby Faith or of the “ Blessed Trini ty

,

” they would be betteroff by a return to the quiet and simple adoration of himwhotaught the Great Peace and showed the way to i t . But I can

also conceive of a Burmese village in which the Buddha mightstil l be honored and loved , but which had caught some of thespiri t Of a still grea ter Teacher , whose messagewas more simple than the Buddha ’s , whose insight into the secrets of thespiri t was certainly no less deep , whose ex ample was no lessinspiring , and who also taught the Grea t Peace and pointedout to i t , as I believe , a more excellent way .



All th is forms a record of wh ich the missionaries m ay well b eproud .

” 1

Th e other quotation is from a wri ter in a Hindu paper“Th e Christian religion is truly frui tful in practica l ph i lan

thropy to an extent unparalleled in the case of any other rel i

g ion . Whatever m ay be i ts theoretical faul ts and ph i losophica lincompleteness (one can afford to let that pass) , here i t standshead and shoulders over every other rel igion . By its side themost ancient rel igions and the grandest philosophical systemsof the world S ink into insignifiance as a motive for ph ilanthrOp ic action .

” 1

In every movement , moreover , for social betterment , i nevery attack on the evils of Indian society , the Christian missionary has playe d a leading part . And not only so ; but fromhis example has come the impetus that has se t India to re

forming i tself . In Chapter IX we sawthat there are manynative movements afoot for chari table work and social servicein India ; but none of th ese were s tarted or faintly conceived ofunti l the missionary had blazed the way .

Concerning the value of missionary activi ty in all these directions , there is , as I have said , no difference of opinion ; b ecause , indeed , here we are not in the realm of opinion , but aredealing with undeniable facts. And much the same unanimity is to be found on the further question of the evangel icalactivi ty of the missionaries among the lowest classes of theIndian population , the outcastes and the anim istic tribeswho are too low for Hinduism to touch . I t is from these thatChristiani ty is making the great bulk of i ts converts ; andmany a Hindu looks on with approval at the process and wishesthe missionary Godspeed . In fact , there can be no questionof the grea t value of Christian activity among these low anddespised mill ions . Th e rel igion of these various peoples is abase form of animism and magic

,which has no t the remotest

relation to morali ty . They are the prey of supersti tious fearsand ignoble customs , the slaves of impulse , with no defensein publ ic Opinion or cultured self- control against the various

1 “Th e Future of Christianity in India , re p rinte d from the H industan

Review(Lahore , pp . 1 5—16.

1 Quote d by Farquhar, The Crown of Hinduism , pp . 2 77-

78.

426


forms o f vice and tem pta tion to which they are exposed . To

make anything of such people might wel l seem hopeless ; butmany a missionary has wagered h is l i fe on the outcom e . Andthe result is that all over India , in j ungle and in ci ty , a transformation is being wrought in the dregs of Hindu societywhich none but the Christian missionary had dared to hopefor. I do not mean that anyth ing sudden or m iraculous hashappened ; but that for the first time in the history of thesevarious races , their eyes have been Opened to the distinctionbetween right and wrong , and they are really trying withmany a relapse , to be sure , but sti l l trying and with considerable success to give up drunkenness , theft , violence , andimmorali ty

,together with their magic and the most degrading

of their supersti tions , and to l ive decent l ives and obey themissionary . I have m yself seen som ething of the Bihls inGuj erati and the Dom s in the ci ty of Benares , and these aretypical , I bel ieve , of the j ungle anim ists and city outcastes al lover India ; and I can testi fy to the admirable work that hasbeen done am ong them—admirable both for the unstinteddevotion which i t involves and for the excellent results thathave been attained .

So much for the philanthropic activi ty of the missionariesand their evangel ical work among the lower classes . Thus farwe have met wi th no real problem , but only with facts factswhich may be learned by consulting any one o f a number ofmissionary manuals . But when we come to deal wi th theeffort of the missionary to make converts from among the adh e re nts of the six highly developed religions that have beendeal t wi th in this book , we face a question upon which thereis by no means a unanimity of Opinion among intel l igent people

,whether in India or in Christendom . Both the m issionary

and h is message and the very idea of a Christian propagandaare being very stoutly attacked ; and we should do well not tohold our ears nor l isten merely to our pre - form ed Opinions , bu tto give both sides a hear ing .

And in the beginning i t must be said that when one goes forthe first time to a non - Ch ristian land and makes the acquaintance of non - Christian gentlemen , he finds that the m issionariesappear in a l ight which he never had guessed irom the perusal

42 7


of h is missionary manuals at home . As a young friend of minenow residing in Burm a put i t : “ Before I came out I picturedthe natives waiting with impatience for the arrival of the missionary ,

hungering and thirsting for the words of truth thatShould fall from his l ips , and ca ll ing us to del iver their landfrom Error ’s chain . When I reached here I found that theBurmese go t on very well by themselves without the missionary

,did n ’

t want him , and were usually qui te indifferent towhat he said or did .

”Th e

“ natives ,” in short , take the mis

sionary in much the sam e l ight as they take th e soldier or themerchant

,or the civil servant . In general they regard him as

one of the many who have come out to India to make a living ,and in fact as one who has been uncom m only successful a t

i t . If the average Indian could hear the rem arks so often madein England and America about the privations and self- sacrifice of the missionary he would be astonished and probablywould be inc l ined to smile . I t has never entered into h is headthat the missionary ’s l ife is one of privation . For he sees themissionary l iving in a s tyle wh ich , com pared with his own frugal life , he must consider luxurious ; in possession usually of alarge com pound , and a pleasant house tastefully furnished ,with plenty of good food , many books , and seem ingly anyamount of leisure . More than one Indian has pointed out tome the contrast between the comforts and possessions of theChristian m issionary and the poverty of the Hindu sannyasi ,the Mohammedan saint , or the Jaina or Buddhist monk .

1 Th e

missionary , as they put i t , l ives only less well than the officersof the civil service . Both have come out for “ ca reers ,

” andboth have found uncommonly good ones. I am not wri tingthis in any spi ri t of cri ticism upon the m issionary . PersonallyI consider h is profession one of the most truly unselfish to be

1 Sti l l m ore striking to th e Indian is th e contrast be twe e n th e p ove rtyof h is own ho ly m e n and the com parative we alth of ce rtain Christiancle rgym e n at hom e . One Indian write s thus : “From the tim e of the ancie ntRish is, th e le ssons of p lain l iving and h igh th inking we re care ful ly taughtto th e Brahm acharis, and rigidly p ractice d by th e Gurus, Pundits, andPuroh its, in the ir daily l ife . Such be ing th e case , th e sight of bishops andarchbishop s ro l l ing in we alth , l iving in p alace s, and voting in th e House ofLords, cal ls up anyt h ing but reve re nt fe e l ings in the m ind of th e ave rageH indu.

”

(Jnan Chandra Bane rj i , op. cit. , p .

42 8



good men , ormore often good women , in the mission fieldwhoare apparently qui te sure that God hath left Himself wi thout awi tness in al l lands but Pales tine , and that the Word of Godwhich is conta ined in the Scriptures of the Old and New Te stam e nts is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify andenjoy Him .

1

I must say , however, that the impression I have derivedfrom the missionaries I have met personally is extremelyfavorable . I made a point in India as I did a dozen yearsbefore in the Turkish Empire—to get acquainted with themissionaries and se e their work at close quarters ; and I do no thesi ta te to say not only that they are the most devoted group

1 Shiv anath Shastri , the ve ne rable le ade r of the Brahm o Sam aj , to ld m e

an e x p e rie nce of his i l lustrating the attitude of th is typ e of m issionary . H ewas re turning , seve ral ye ars ago , to India from England , and two m issionarie swho we re on the ste am e r watch e d him with som e curiosity as h e re adnowfrom Confucius , nowfrom the Koran , nowfro m the Bible , e tc . Atlast the ir curiosity could b e re straine d no longe r , and the y aske d h im whatre ligion h e p rofe sse d . H e answe re d ,

“ Unive rsal The ism .

”To th is the y t e

p l ie d that th e re re allywas but one true re l igion, and thatwas containe d inGod ’s only reve lation nam e ly , the O ld and NewTe stam e nts. Mr. Shastri the reupon challe nge d the m to nam e som e re l igious truth containe d inthe Bible and found nowh e re e lse . The y we re not slow with the ir re p ly , andtrium phantly nam e d the ‘Go lde n Rule .

” Mr. Shastri im m e diate ly turne dto Confucius and the n to th e Talm ud and re ad th e m the sam e injunctionfrom both of the se . But th is had no e ffe ct on the m issionarie s. Th ey we re ,to b e sure , conside rably surprise d ; but the y answe re d :

“Ah , we l l , youknow

th e Devil , too , can insp ire m e n to write the truth .

”To wh ich Mr. Shastri

re sponde d :“Ge ntle m e n , you have disarm e d m e ; the re is noth ing I can

rep ly to that !Th e change that has com e about in the attitude of the m issionarie s th e m

se lve s in the last fifty ye ars is cle arly put by Dr. C lough :“ At that tim e

[1864 , th e ye ar whe n h e we nt out to India as m issionary to the Te lugus]l ittlewas known of the Orie ntal race s. Christian pe op le too k it for grantedthat the o lde r re l igions we re who l ly bad and that the ir scripture s containednoth ing but evi l . The rewas no sym pathe tic approach , no fe e l ing that perhaps God had not le ft H im se lf unreve ale d to the heath e n world . It dis

tre sse d m any thoughtful m e n and wom e n in Christian lands at that t im e

to th ink that unle ss the he ath e n h e ard the Gosp e l of Je sus Christ and ac

ce pte d it, th ey would b e e te rnally lost. Th iswas m y op inion , too ,wh en I

we nt to India . I t form e d m y m issionary m otive . I looke d upon the H indusas sim p ly he athe n : I wante d to se e th e m conve rte d . As the ye ars passe d Igrew to le rant, and often to ld th e caste p e op le , if the y could not or wouldnot re ce ive Je sus Christ as th e ir Saviour , to se rve the ir own gods faith ful ly .During m y visits to Am e rica I som e tim e s to ld Am e rican audie nce s that theH indus we re in som e re spects be tte r than they.

”

(Social Christianity in theOrient, p .

430

CHRISTIAN M ISSIONS IN INDIA

of men and women I have ever known , but also that a largeportion Of them impressed me as l iberal minded

,far- seeing ,

and surp risingly w ise . In the case of very many of them thecontact with non- Christian religions and wi th representativesofother branches ofChristianity Protes tant and Cathol icthan their own has opened their eyes to new truths , and theygo home on their first furlough wi th broader views Of God andman and a more intell igent insight into the real needs andthe highest ideals of the missionary enterprise than they tookout with them in the first enthusiasm of thei r youthful devotion . I fProtestants of different denominations, ye s, i f Protestants and Catholics , ever come to understand each other , i t ison the mission field . And this sympathetic understanding ofthe experienced missionary is beginning to extend i tself verynoticeably , so as to take in the finer aspects of the non - Christian rel igions . Moreover , the endless variety of work and respons ib i l i ty that falls to the lot ofmost missionaries in a landl ike India develop s in many of them , after ten or twentyyears’ tra ining , a practical wisdom , a soundness of j udgment ,and an abil i ty to understand and deal wi th men , and to influe nce and direct whole comm uni ties , rarely met wi th athome .

We come nowto the arguments against the missionary enterp rise as such . These arguments m ay be reduced to two whichseek to prove : ( I ) that the conversion of India to Christiani tyis imposs ible , and (2 ) that i t is useless . Th e first of these arguments has many forms and much to say for i tself . We are toldin the first place—and this is peculiarly the posi tion o f theTheosophical Society that Christian missions can neversucceed because Christiani ty is not native to India . Th e mostthat could be hoped for would be a change of external formsand the adoption of certain pious words and phrases ; but thereligion Of a people is too deep to be touched by any amountof preaching and proselyting . Religion is a matter of centuries , ye s, of thousands of years , of tradi tion ; and only a religionthat has such a power of past generations behind i t can really

g e t hold of the heart of a people . Hence the conclusion isreached that i t is far wiser to start wi th the rel igion which thepeople already possess and seek , not to convert them to some

43 I


new form of fai th , but to draw their attention to the moreSpiri tual and ethical s ide of the fai th which is already theirs .This , of course , is the work wh ich the Theosophists are themselves pursuing and wi th some success in both India andCeylon . Any other form of rel igious teach ing they regard as

artificial and as doomed to failure because based on a profoundmisunders tanding of social psychology .

No one can deny the psychologica l facts on wh ich th isargument is based . The religion native to a land has enormousadvantages over every newcomer , advantages of an emotionaland authori ta tive character so great that one should certainlythink m any times before seeking to replace i t wi th a foreignrel igion , which might be a li ttle but only a l i ttle better . Forto destroy an old rel igion is a very difficult process ; and , moreover , ifone succeeds in so doing there is the great danger that indestroying one rel igion he may have undermined the foundations Of rel igion as such , and opened the way only to a godlessand reckless skepticism or natural ism . Hence , i f Christiani tyis only a l i ttle better than i ts rivals , the m issionary enterpriseis of very doubtful wisdom . But i t must be remembered thatthose who believe in missions believe that Christianity is verym uch better than its rivals ; so much better in fact that therisk of fai lure and the risk even of ul timate harm are worthtaking . This question of the superiori ty of Christianity wil loccupy us later on in th is chapter . Here we must cons iderfurther the Theosophist argument already stated .

And the most noticeable th ing about i t is that wh ile thepsychologica l facts to wh ich i t appeals are undoubted , theargument taken as i t stands proves too much . I t aims to Showno t only that the conversion of India would be difficul t (a factwhich no one knows better than the missionary) , but thati t is psychologically imposs ible . This , as I say , i f i t provesanything , proves much more than the Theosophists wouldwish . I t proves that Christiani ty could not succeed amongthe Romans and Greeks , nor among the Germans and AngloSaxons ; in short , that i t could succeed only among the Jewswith whom , alone , as a matter of fact , i t failed . Similarly theargument proves that I slam could no t succeed among theTurks and Persians nor in India , and that Buddhism could

432



and 191 1 , perhaps should be regarded as natural increase ; so we m ay say that roughly of the Christiansin India , Burma , and Ceylon are due to conversion .

These figures , as I have said , are encouraging , yet hardlyprophetic : one who should seek on their basis to figure outj ust how long i t wil l take to christianize I ndia would show alam entable ignorance of the missionary problem . For , as weshall presently se e , much the greater proportion of conversionsare made from the lowcastes and animists ; and figures basedso largely on success with this inferior part of the populationgive us absolutely no basis for any sort of prediction as to success among that great mass of h igher caste Hindus , Buddhists ,and Mohammedans who are as yet almost untouched by Christianity so far as census figures are concerned . Hence I fearthat the census returns will hardly answer our question ; andthough i t is na tural and right that the missionary should scanthem with interest , he should not be unduly elated at reportedgains nor too much cast down at reported losses. Let him re

member the words ofEmerson : “Whenever an appeal to numbers is made rel igion is dead .

” We are all apt to give too muchweight to figures . Th e cri tic counts the converts and countsthe cash and asks , Is i t worth the money? Th e unthinkingmissionary advoca te does the same and points out that youcan save souls at so much per.

”I t is the same point of View

in both cases and equally absurd whichever way appl ied . Th e“ convert who goes down as such in the sta tistics is not ne c e ssar i ly saved in any sense of the word that is rea l ly important .We have enough Christians ” and “ church members athome to enable us to value statistics of this sort for about asmuch as they are worth . Jesus had something to say on th issubj ect : Not every one that sa i th unto me Lord , Lord , buthe that doeth the wil l ofmy Father

,he is i t tha t loveth me .

”

But this cri ticism works both ways . Wh i le there are doubtlessm any converts on the books who are qui te lacking in the spiri tof Chr ist , the influence of the m issionary is not to be l imi tedto the “ converts ” of the sta tistics . For the spiri t of Christradiates from every Christian home and school and hospi tal ,and bears a blessing to all who come within its reach . Andthere are innumerable Hindus , Moslems , and other

“ hea then

434

CHRISTIAN M ISSIONS IN IND IA

who , though stil l loyal to their old rel igions, are not far fromthe Kingdom ofGod .

These things should be kept in mind in our interpretationof what is , perhaps , the most striking fact in the missionarystatistics the fact , namely , that the overwhelming maj ori tyof Christian converts are from the tribes of the j ungle and thedregs of Indian society . Hindus of h igh caste

,Moslems, Bud

dh ists , and m em bers of other highly developed rel igions are ,indeed , occasionally converted , but such a conversion is a rare

This isa significant fact , and its impl ications shouldbe considered . The explanation of i t is no t simple and mustbe sought in a variety of causes . For one thing

,Christiani ty

has usually made its first appea l to the lowly and uneducated .

I twas so in the Roman Empire and we should expect i t to beso in India . Th e high - caste Hindu is both more fettered bythe bonds of tradi tion and more attracted by the subtletiesof his own rel igion and philosophy than is the sweeper or theB ihl . Of considerable significance in this connection is also themethod by which many of these “ conversions ” from the lowerclasses are made . I refer to what is known as “mass convers ion ” as practiced by the Methodists . Th e missionary goesinto the jungle and induces the inhabi tants of an entire villageto be baptized together and to cal l themselves Christians . Orhe does the same with some low caste in the ci ty . They yieldto h is persuasions from purely social and econom ic considerations . For, gentle reader , i f youwere a

“cham ar

”or a Dom ,

”

you,too

,would ask no theologica l questions , but would be

glad to j oin any rel igious body wh ich would make you t e

sp e cted and get you a j ob . Having baptized h is newly madeconverts , the missionary proceeds to teach and if possible toconvert them . Th e method , on first hearing , of course , soundsabsurd : and the Church of England missionaries are violentlyopposed to i t . Yet the Methodist missionaries who have triedi t are enthusiastic in its praise . And this , I hasten to say , notout of zeal to swell the num bers in their reports (at least notchiefly so ) , but because they insist that i t has certa in verygreat practical advantages . For one thing , all social persecution of individuals by their fel lows is thus avoided . Andwhat ismore important

,the missionary gains at once a posi tion

435


ofauthori ty wh ich he util izes in bringing about genuine conversions , and also in restraining the members of h is flock fromall sorts of immoral p ractices . They m ay not understand h istheology

,but they look up to h im as a father , and obey h im .

He m ay now order them out of a saloon and they wil l at once

go , or he m ay i f necessary even beat them for past transgre ss ions and they submi t and profit thereby . Thus , throughhaving baptized them into a purely nominal Christianity

,he

wins an influence over them wh ich makes their ul timate conversion to a real Christiani ty very much more probable thani t would otherwise have been . And even aside from h is influence over h is immediate “ converts , the miss ionary is enabledto get control over the conv erts ’ ch ildren , and to see thatthe second generationget a Christian education and are broughtup in some sor t of knowledge and admonition of the Lord .

I should add , however , that not all“mass conversions ” are

of the type I have described . Th e census commissioner says ,“Most missions are very careful to baptize no one until he hasgiven satisfactory proof of his being a Christian at heart . The

method of baptiz ing first and converting afterward was quitenew at the time of the 191 1 census , and there are many m is

sionarie s to - day, who practice“mass conversion

,

” but lookaskance at this extreme form of it .

1

But whatever we think of th is method , we must bear i t inmind in interpreting mission figures . I t is estimated that i f al lthe missionary bodies would follow the same plan , over fiftymill ion of the lowest classes in India could be baptized in avery shor t time —and so go down in the reports as “

con

verted to Christiani ty .

Of course these “mass methods cannot be practiced withthe higher classes of society . Moreover , convers ion fromtheir ranks—at least in the case of the Hindus—is madeparticularly difficul t because of the severe social persecutionto wh ich the individual convert is usually subj ected . Th e mis

1 Mr. Patton , of the te l ls m e that a ce rtain Congre gationalist m issionary in South India has so m any app l ications for bap tism , and

is so de te rm ine d not to baptize m ore than he can care for sp iritually , thath e has se t a l im it to the num be r of conve rts to b e re ce ive d each ye arnam e ly , one thousand . He nce he has starte d a waiting- l ist. Fancy a waiting - l ist for church m e m be rsh ip !

436



duty,the cul ture , the ch ivalry , the humanity wh ich the Jap

anese , without any active bel ief in a paradise after death , haveexh ibi ted , form a noble contrast to the savagery and bestial i tyof the all ied armies in Peking not very long ago , and this vividobj ect- lesson , by Showing howl i ttle Christiani ty has in real i tyinfluenced the l ives of the Western nations , has further undermined the fai th of the ‘pagan ’ world in al l that Christianitylays claim to .

1 Our utte rgLsre gard of Christian principles inour international re lai rTs hasalways Struck the intell igentOrien tal as very significant ; and we can very well imagine theeffect that the present senseless war must have upon the wholeEast , and how i t must inevi tably influence the reputation of

our rel igion in non - Christian lands . At the outbreak of thewar a Japanese who had l ived in the West wrote a significantletter to the New York “Nation ,

” from which I quote here twoor three sentences : “We Orien tals must insist in future not tobel ieve whatever high philosophy on love or peace or humanity the Western scholars and theologians migh t wri te . WeJapanese are glad at least to have a country in a far- awayEast , not in the West . I have been losing for some long wh i lemy own respect toward the West and her own civil ization .

” 1

Th e war has come in the nick of time ,” says an anonymous

wri ter in the Asiatic Review ,

” “to clear the minds of those

Orientals who have been il l satisfied with their own culture and traditions . Th e vaunted civil ization of the West isstripped bare

,and the diseases of her body pol itic—the can

cer which is eating at her vitals—are made manifest . Letus ask—What is the cause of this war? Th e answer is brief :i t is the will to possess , the aggressive sp iri t which has theWest by the throat Mutual suspicion , j ealousy, and hatredpervade the atmosphere . Mil i tarism and the menace of diplomacy increase . Th e mind of man in the West is se t onoutward ends and material aims . Th e inward vision and thespiri tual impulse are lost . In spi te of all Christian professionsthe tale Of actual practice is the tragedy of selfish interest andlust for gold , aptly described as the yellow peri l .

” 1

1 J . C. Bane rj i , op. cit.1 Yom Noguch i , in the Nation for Octobe r 8, 1914 .

1 A Viewfrom India on the War, by S . R. Asiatic ReviewforMay , 191 5.

438


Even m ore to the point is a letter from an Indian Christianin the London “ Challenge ,

” quoted by a recent wri ter in theAtlantic Monthly “

Th e diffi cul ty offinance,in his opinion

,

‘is a very small problem compared with the enormous burdenof proof that , in the eyes of the enlightened spiri tual Hindus ,this war will throw upon European missionaries who com e tous hereafter to preach the Gospel of Love .

’ And after describing a service in St . Paul ’s , the keynote Ofwhichwas givenby the war- spiri t , he concludes thus : As I walked home thatnight

,amid the glaring l ights and the many khaki uniforms

,

threading my way through that great throng that seemedcontinually to pour out of the cathedral , my thoughts wentback for a moment across the seas , to my village home in India

,far from the mil itary camps and the leg islative council ,

pagan , heathen , animistic , call i t what you will , but wherethey love their neighbors , and , i f they hate , they hate with abad conscience ; and I fel t that there , at least , in the wide worldtod ay , Christ could sti l l walk as He walked in Galilee.

” 1

This Obstacle in the way of the missionary ’s success migh tbe elaborated in great deta i l : but I shal l leave the reader (orthe missionary) to do that for h imself , and shal l go on , instead ,to point out two further obstacles to the conversion of theintell igent Indian which the miss ionary is not l ikely to mention . Th e first of these concerns the question of

“ church or

ganization . TOO many miss ionaries and missionary boardsin the past have identified Christiani ty with their own particular type ofdenominational church government , and have hadmuch too contemptuous a feel ing for the forms of rel igious l i fenative to the Indian village community . Th e result has been ,on the one hand , to divide Indian Christiani ty into a confusi ng mul ti tude Of sects ,1 and on the other , to stamp Christiani ty in the Indian mind as essentially a foreign rel igion , andthus to arouse the hostil i ty of many of the best leaders ofIndian thought

,who are bent on rousing in India a spiri t of

national i ty .

1 Quote d by He rbe rt W. Horwill, in The Cost to Hum anity , AtlanticMonthly, forMarch , 1915 (p .

1 Cf. th e black m an in South India ,who (according to Dr. Crothe rs) describe d h im se lf as a “

Scotch Pre sbyte rian.

439


But a stil l greater obstacle to missionary success is the undiscriminating way in wh ich Christiani ty is only too oftenpresented by the missionaries themselves . A Buddhist in Mandalay

,wi th whom I had several talks , told me that he hadbeen educa ted in a miss ion school and that he sawmany finethings in Christianity , but that , on the whole , he considered i tan im m oral religion . On questioning him I discovered that h isOpinion was based on various Old Testament stories which hehad been taught as a part of Christianity and which representJehovah as conversing and acting in anyth ing but the spiri tofChrist . Certain Christian dogm as act in the same way uponthe “ unregenerate mind as do the Old Testament storiesj ust referred to . Mr . Saunders tells us , in analyzing the resultsof h is Ceylonese Questionnaire : “Most of our correspondentsagree that the idea of Atonement is alien to the Buddhis tconsciousness . Th e substi tutionary theory which is

widely preached does not appeal to the Buddhist mind . I t

confl icts with their sense of the fi tness of things.

” Examples ,however

,are ci ted from miss ionary discourses , in wh ich i t is

attempted to make the dogm a of sub sti tution more pala tableto the heathen : examples which are said to appeal to the Buddhist sense of j ustice , but which , in all frankness , seem betteradapted to appea l to the Buddhist sense of the absurd . Ayoung Hindu friend of mine , who is almost ready to be a follower of Jesus , was astonished when I told him that he wasnea rly a Christian .

“ For ,” he said ,

“I was always told in the

mission school that I could n ’

t possibly be any sort of a Christian unless I first believed in the Trini ty .

” Considering howli ttle we hear of that famous doctrine from the pulpi ts at home ,i t is rather surprising to find so much made of i t in missionaryattempts to convert the “ heathen .

” Some missionar ies seemto feel i t necessary to put forward this most difficul t of Christian dogmas as the first lesson in Christian teaching ; and theresul t is about what one might expec t . For the Moslems inparticular , of course , no greater obs tacle to Christian convers ion could be devised : yet i t appears to be the missionaries tothe Moslems who make the most of this doctrine in theirpreaching . My Mohammedan acquaintances in Benaresshowed by their conve rsation that they had come to regard the

440



children to cherish the spiri t of deadly hatred toward thefellow- beings from age to age and then , after ages had passed ,instigated them to satiate their cherished revenge in the bloodof infants and sucklings because they were the posterity of

those who had wronged them? Ye s. Th is is all devoutly b elie v ed as truth by Christendom .

As the reader may imagine , the wri ter of th is pamphlet doesnot stop with Amalek , but brings up many another instancefrom the Old Testament in which the God of I srael shows butsmall measure of what we l ike to cal l the “ Christian spiri t .”

Nor has he al together neglected some of the Ch r istian dogm aswhich

,though we are perhaps half ashamed of them , stil l re

main in our official creeds . He wri tes : “They say that the firstparents or so - ca l led Adam and Eve , made a sin in consequenceof which mankind undergoes sufferings . I f that God of

the B ible be so unj ust as to punish one individual for another’s

crime , then we do not hes i tate to cal l h im tyrant . I t is the b el ief of al l Christians that he who does not bel ieve in Christwill have to suffer eternal punishment . What a vulgar bel iefthis is ! Is not that God cruel and tyrant who sends man intothe house of eternal fire l ike the hel l of the Christians simplybecause he does not bel ieve in the so - ca lled Christ , though hem ay be good and righteous?

”

Th e above , as I think I have said , is from the pen of a member of the Arya Samaj . A Buddhist wri ter

,contributing to

the“

Buddhist Review , says :“Th e Christian fai th does not

correspond with the truths of science . Christiani ty is sta tic ;science , on the other hand , is dynamic , based as i t is on theever- expanding sum of hum an knowledge , and therefore musteventually push aside any teach ing which rests merely uponthe shifting basis of faith . Two thousand years is a long time ,and mankind has grown up ; i t no longer blindly accepts whati t is told , and we find that there is an ever- increas ing number of those who regard i t as highly improbable that somealmighty ruler of the cosmos should have taken the trouble tosend his son part of h is godhead to th is infini tesimal portion of the universe , in order to redeem mankind from the sinofhaving eaten a certa in frui t hundreds of generations before .’

That is frankly the essence of the Christian fai th . Certa inly

442


a poetic idea , but savoring of the myths born in the infancyof the human intellect , j ust as does the parent of Christianity

,

the rel igion of the Pentateuch .

” 1

“Wretched caricatures of Christian teaching,you will say ;

utter misrepresentations of the true nature of our religion .

”

And undoubtedly they are . But howare such m isre p re se nta

tions possible at all? I f you have read our official creeds andour dogmatic theologies , youknow howthey are possible , andyouknow that the Buddhist and the Hindu have hardly donemore than take our

“ orthodox ” theologians at their word .

I f we allow Christiani ty to be identified in the minds of thenon - Christian world wi th a mass of scholastic subtleties andm e dia v al dogmas , we shall have nothing to blame for i t butour own cowardice .On the whole , therefore , we can to some extent understand

why the great majori ty of Christian “ converts ” are from thelower and less intell igent classes. And this brings us to one ofthe most important of al l the questions involved in the missionary enterprise , namely, the character and qual i ty of theconverts . On th is there is a bewildering variety of Opinion . In

th e first place , one must note , and with some discouragement ,howmany of the Christian European residents in India agreewi th the non - Christian Opponents of missions in regarding alarge proportion of the converts as very poor material , indeed .

Over and over youhear the advice from Anglo - Indians : Don ’ tget a Chr istian servant : they are the worst th ieves in the land .

Get a Moslem they are honest .There is no doubt in my mind that the dishonesty of Christian servants—l ike the dishonesty of Sunday- School superinte ndents—has been grea tly exaggerated . That many of

them are dishonest , however, is undeniable . And there arereasons enough why this should be expected . In the first place ,as we have seen , they commonly come from the lowest classes ,among whom dishonesty is not regarded as evil , and oftenthey are “ converted ” in name only . Some of these self- styled“ Christians ,

” in fact , have never been accepted as such byany missionary , but cal l themselves Christians in the hope ofsecuring a posi tion thereby.

1 Buddhist Reviewfor January , 191 2 (p .

443


There are certa in more discouraging considerations , however . One hears not infrequently of genuine Christian converts from the lower castes mixing up wi th their Christiani tyall sorts of ancient supersti tions and animistic ri tes wh ich themissionary who converted them had supposed entirely a thingo f the past . D r. Clough , after laboring in India for forty- fiv e

years , learned to his great surprise and disappointment thatsome of h is native Christians were not only recurring to theirvarious ancient ri tes and ceremonies , but were making use ofhis name in these incantations as the dei ty to be invoked ;wh i le a l i ttle way to the south , in another mission field , thegrave of a missionary who had recently diedwas being covered ,by the native Christians , with marks ofworship and signs thatprayers for help had been offered . To prevent this the othermissionaries buil t a h igh wall around the grave ; and then theworship was conducted outside the wall . 1 And no t only dothe converts occasionally lapse back into supersti tions ; someof them , i f we m ay believe the European residents of India ,lose rather than gain in moral i ty by the change of rel igion .

An Engl ishman whom I questioned said that many of thosewho really have been admitted into the Church have therebybeen driven out from their own castes , and so are se t adriftfrom the old customs and social restraints , which at least werereal , and have failed as yet to get much in their place . I f thisbe really the case , i t is an argument , so far as i t goes , againstmissions . But the Englishman admi tted that a slow improvement among Christian converts is noticeable : and he added ,

“ Of course , i t has taken about two thousand years to makeus Europeans even as good Christians as we are ; and youknow jolly well you can

’ t make over the native in a day .

”

Ifwe could make over the native ” in half a dozen generations , make h im over into a thorough Christian i t wouldbe worth the effort . Can i t be done? I asked th ree missionarieshowin their opinions the second generation of converts compared wi th the first . One of them said that the second generationwas much better than the first ; the two others said thatin the case of the better class of Indians , Christians of the se cond generation were decidedly inferior Spiri tually and morally

1 Social Christianity in the Orient, pp . 394-

95.

444



to their parents . Th is ( in the opinion of the missionaries) isdue to the fact that these children of Indian Christians haveno strong convictions of their own , have never been ca l led uponto go through persecutions for their fai th , and hence take i t asa matter of course and as a rather external thing .

1 A fourthmissionary to whom I put the same question was more hopeful .The second and th ird generations , he admitted , were rel igiouslyand spiritually inferior to the first . They lack certain elem entsof value which com e from suffering for the fai th . But m orally ,

he insisted , they exhibi t a real and undeniable advance upontheir parents and grandparents . Especially is this noticeablein such m atters as tell ing the truth , keeping promises , andgeneral rel iabil i ty . When they l ie they do i t less artistically .

And among all the missionaries with whom I have ta lked thereis unanimity of Opinion that in the lowest classes the secondgeneration is decidedly more moral and more Christian thanthe first . Th e Provincial Superintendent of the 191 1 census forthe Uni ted Provinces says that education is m aking each generation ofnative Christians better than the one which precededi t , and he adds :

“Th e Hindu fel lows of these converts have now

to acknowledge not only that they are in many material waysbetter off than them selves , but that they are also bettermen .

” And the Census Superintendent in Mysore him sel f aHindu—wri tes : “Th e enlightening influence of Christiani ty ispatent in the higher standard of comfort of the converts andin their sober , discipl ined , and busy l ives .

” 1

In spi te Of these comforting words , i t must be admitted thatthe facts which I have been discussing do not make as e ncourag ing reading as most missionary reports . I t is evidentthat many of the “ converts ” fai l to become good Christians .

Yet this fact is hardly conclus ive as a proof of the failure ofmissions . When the cri ticism is made that the converts Of themissionary do not make good Christians , the question is verypertinent , D id they make good Hindus , good Buddhists , goodMoslems? How much of the spiri tual meaning of their Old

1 I t is p e rhaps sign ificant that the first of th e se thre e m issionarie s (theone who re garde d the se cond ge ne ration as an im p rove m e nt on the first)was a Rom an Catho l ic , and th e two oth e rs we re Evange l ica l Pro te stants.

1 Quote d by S ir Andrew Frase r , “Th e Progre ss ofCh ristianity in India ,Nine te enth Century and Afte r, forAugust, 1914 (pp . 468

445


rel igions have they and their fellows ever got hold Of? Howfar have they followed i ts higher p recepts? If their Christiani ty is partly a form , whatwas their Hinduism and Buddhism?Howmuch of i twas a matter of external observance , ofmakingsounds without meaning? Howmuch has ever been done bythe leaders of their old religions to train them in paths ofm orality and point them to the highest ideals?Or , i f they came fromthe outcastes of Indian society , how much better offwere theywhen performing their magic ri tes in the j ungle or givingthemselves up to vice and violence in the ci ty streets? Thefallacy of the Opponents ofmissions l ies largely in the suppos ition that so long as the Indian is not interfered with he makesa perfectly good and ideal Hindu or Moslem , or at least aharmless and happy animist , and gets the best out of h is old

fai th . Th e whole of this book should Show howfalse this supposi tion is .

And if we turn for our information to the missionaries themselves , who certainly are in a pos i tion to know the nature ofthe converts and who would naturally be the first to feel discourage m e nt i f there were reason for i t , we find them all optimists . They will tell you of many cases of the most genuineCh r istian patience and courage in severe persecution on thepart of Indian converts . They wil l show you how they arebuilding not for to- day but for the future for ten or twentygenerations hence . And some of them will point out to youthe fact already mentioned that the Spiri t of Christ has permeated m any a loca l i ty in India where the Christian creed isunknown . Nor need you go to the missionary to hear th is .

Listen , for instance , to these words from a stout defender ofHinduism :

“Though the Indian people will never be Christians, they

have nevertheless not rej ected Christ . He is already enshrinedin the hearts of the educa ted Indians , as the g rgat fi examp le of

1113 231911 moral i ty . Indeed , i t is not too m uch to say that byrej ecting Christiani ty , with all i ts creeds , theories , dogm as , andri tual , they have caught the spirit of Christ in a more realsense than would otherwise be the case . And thoughChr istiani ty has not gained a sol id footing in India i t must beadmitted that j udged by a h igher standard i t has not been a

446



On the whole my own opinion as to the Christian conversionof India is this : that , on the one hand , the prospect is muchless brill iant than one would gather from certa in missionarybooks , and that , hum anly speaking , i t is impossible to predictthat India wil l ever be enti rely Christian ; and that , on theo ther hand , the resul ts thus far attained have amply j ustifiedthe money and men , the thought and effort and hum an lifewhich have been expended in the missionary enterprise , andthat one cannot reasonably se t any l imi ts to the possibilitie sof the future . Unquestionably a grea t dea l more of India canbe converted than has been converted thus far .And this brings us to the second question concerning miss ions : Granted that conversion is possible , is i t desi rable?“Why , the upholders of this argument against missions willask , why substi tute a new sym bolism for an old? All religions teach ul timately the same truths ; they differ only inouter garb , only in words and forms. Why , then , Seek toreplace the words and forms and symbols which have grownhoary and reverent by ages of devotion and which have a holdover the Indian ’s imagination and emotion wh ich no new sym

bols , however noble they may seem to you , can ever win?”

This is perhaps the commonest and perhaps also the best of thearguments against missions . One meets with i t surp risinglyoften among Christian people . The Indians and the Chinese and Japanese , we are told , have rel igions that in someways are very noble . Possibly from an abstract point of viewthey are not equal to Christiani ty ; but after al l , for each manh is own rel igion unless i t be posi t ively base is the bestrel igion . And this because i ts sym bol ism has a hold on himthat no new symbolism can ever acqui re .

1

There is much truth in this argument ; and certainly , i f i t

distant sp e ctacle of a Europ e‘re d in tooth and claw ’ loom ing be fore our

e ye s, a se nse of adde d ownne ss of h e ighte ne d kinsh ip in p re se nt conce rnand future purpose , is borne in upon our soul at the conte m p lation of

Je sus, the Son of God. We fe e l to - day as neve rwe fe lt be fore that he hascom e to stay with us, and that th e se al of h is constant insp irat ion and an.

thority wil l neve r b e lacking to ratify our nat ional e fforts for the e stablishm e nt of the unity of Re l igion am ong m e n.

”

1 A view p ractical ly ide ntical with th is is h e ld by one of th e m ost prom ine nt and le arne d Of Christian th e o logians Pro fe ssor Troe ltsch , of Be rl in.

I t is also , of course , the com m on Th e osoph ist view.

448


were a m att e r o nly of exchanging one set of symbols foranoth e rf

‘

th e re would be l i ttle justification for missions . Butthe argument must stand or fal l wi th the very questionableassumption that all the great rel igions are e ssentially al ike ,and differ only in minor details or in outer form . Now

,i t is

doubtless true that these rel igions are at one in many of thei rteachings ; and I think every rel igious man should rej oice atthe discovery which has been made only in our times thatthere is so much in common in all the rel igions of the world .

Certainly i t has not been the aim of this book to minim ize anyof this uni ty or to bel i ttle the nobler sides of the non - Christianrel igions . Yet every honest man who has no pre- formed thesis to support must surely se e that between the rel igions thereare not only l ikenesses but differences . And the crucial question so far as missions is concerned comes, therefore , to thisAre these admitted differences negl igible or important

,and

is Chr istiani ty on the whole sufficiently superior to the otherrel igions to j usti fy the missionary effort for the conversion ofthe non - Christian world?On a question so involved as this each man must , of

“

course ,form h is own Opinion , and I shall certa inly not ventu re to forcethe reader ’s Vi ew or even to express in ful l my own . I shall ,however , put forward certain considerations , which should betaken for what they are worth . In the first place , we should

(and this , I suppose , is evident enough) take for comparisonthe best aspects of the different rel igions concerned and becareful not to contrast the ideals of one with the actu'al i tiesof another. And in the second place , i f we are seeking for acomparison which the followers of other rel igions than ourownwill adm i t as fair , we must try to View them al l from a neutral point of view , instead of placing ourselves within one andj udging al l others from i t . Thus i t would be easy , but mostunjudicial , to declare that Christianity is the best religionbecause i t is true and the others are false . I t would be easy forus to do so , but i t would be equally easy for the Moham medan ,the Buddhist , and the rest to j udge our religion in the samecaval ier fashion ; and then there would be nothing left for usto do but exchange dogm atisms and let argument degenerateinto recrimination . For an objective j udgment on this matter

449


i t is safest to take our s tand in th is world , and compare thedifferent rel igions by their verifiable effe cts upon human l ife .Theoretical ly , of course , we might be able to make fair and ob

j e ctiv e j udgments from some metaphysica l point of view ; butfor most of us the metaphys ical point of view is so influencedby the rel igious that such a performance is exceedingly diflficul t . At any rate , all that I shall have to say on th is subj ecthere wil l be based on the humbler and safer posi tion .

Christiani ty and the finer forms of Hindu phi losophy havemuch in common . Both have h ighly spiri tual views of theworld , both exal t the soul and bring i t very close to God . Butthere is one difl e re nce between them that must not be overlooked . Th e Vedanta of Shankara and ultimately also theVedanta of Ram anuja picture the soul as so dependent uponGod or so lost in Him that there is no place left for real indiv iduality and genuine responsibi l i ty and freedom . There ismuch that is beautiful and attractive in quietism of this sort ;but every doctrine that denies rea l freedom to the individualfreedom even toward God is a blow at the finest part

of the moral l i fe .In comparison wi th Buddhism and Jainism , Christiani ty

has the unquestionable psychological advantage of the bel iefin an active spiri tual world , in a l iving God rather than in adead man , or a group of inactive Ti rthankaras . This I sayis an advantage from the point of viewof hum an life i t is a

psychological advantage , to which , in fact , the history of Buddhism and Jainism bear ample wi tness. And even if we confine our comparison to the field ofmoral i ty alone , there can b eno question , to my thinking , of the very great superior i ty of

Je sus’

s teaching over that of Gautama . Splendidly ethica l asthe latter unquestionably is , i t takes a subj ective point ofviewwhich robs the moral l ife of i ts finest aroma . In its attempt toforget self through negation ,

_i_t forever focuses though t

__

upon

self and upon the acquisi tion of meri t . Jesus , on the otherhand , in noble obj ectivi ty , teaches h is followers to forget themselves by losing themselves in the defense of some noble cause ,in pursui t ofsome genuine and common value , in strenuous anddevoted service to needy fellow- creatures which is the onlyroad to real unse lfishne ss and the surest way to inner peace .

450



wh ich all the other rel igions , in spi te of their admirable m axim s, somehow miss. And hand in hand with this superiori tyOf Christian teaching goes the enormous influence and inspiration which stream out from the example of the founder . Jesusembodies in a concrete and moving fash ion , as no other founderhas ever done , humanity

’s supreme ideals of sacrifice andservice . And I think i t is safe to say that no other h istorica lpersonal i ty has ever had an influence approaching that of

Jesus as an inspiration and a present help toward the highestform of self- forgetful usefulness and active love .Th e simpl ici ty of Christiani ty also must be mentioned inevery consideration of the wisdom of an attempt to substi tutei t for other rel igions . There is a fine and spi r i tual side to allthe religions native to India : but i t must be noted that in mostcases this finer s ide is for the intel lectual only and can hardlybe grasped wi thout some phi losophy . To the s imple mindswho cannot unders tand th is ph i losophy , the native rel igionshave l i ttle to offer that is not bound up with external formsand supersti tious customs . This is the reason why Hinduismas seen by the average tourist the rel igion of the commonpeople in the temples appears so disgusting . Th e bes t o fHinduism is only for the learned . Christiani ty , on the otherhand , offers its best to the simple . True , various theologies ,various “ philosophies of Christiani ty ” have been contrivedfor i t as difficul t as you please and qui te incomprehensible toall but the elect . But i t is questionable how much of valuethese contain : and i t is certain that the finest things in Christian teaching are to be found in the simple talks which Jesushad wi th a few fishermen . Th e fundamental point of viewwh ich Jesus taught and exemplified and which has had suchtransforming power wherever i t has been fully grasped in i tsunperverted form is thus capable of being transmitted directlyto the humblest Indian , to whom the intricacies of the Vedanta and the arguments of the Buddha must remain foreversealed . Mohammedanism and Zoroastrianism , of course , arealso simple in their way. But they lack a certa in emotionaldepth as well as the moral emphasis which distinguishesChristiani ty at its best ; and above all , as psychologica l forces ,they lack the power over th e imagination and over the active

452

CHRISTIAN M ISSIONS IN IND IA

moral l i fe wh ich comes from the partly h istorical and partlymetaphysical image of Jesus .

I t is unfair, you say , to compare the subtle Hindu andBuddhist philosophies with the s impler form of the Chr istianteaching , in their appea l to the uneduca ted . Perhaps so : buti t is out of every zeal for fairness that I have done i t . For Ihave sought in all my comparisons to take the non - Christianrel igions always at their best . And if we turn from philOSOph i

cal Hinduism to the actual Hinduism of the great ma jori tyofHindus , the rel igion o f near ly al l the large Shudra caste andof the Indian villager of every caste , we find a m ass of superstitions , idolatry , external performances , and irrational i f notdownright immoral customs which have outl ived by a thousand years the condi tions which originated and excused them

so far as they ever were excusable . Doubtless all these b el iefs and customs are shot through with symbolic m eaningto him who understands : but howmuch of this is understoodby the I ndian villager? And who is there to teach h im?And this leads me to point out an advantage possessed byChristiani ty over all its rivals which is of very cons iderableimportance and which is seldom mentioned in the comparative study of rel igions. I have in mind here the p ractica lmethods by which Christianity is applied . Th e rea l value of arel igion

, as a matter of fact , depends no t only upon i ts teachings , but also upon i ts teachers . There is perhaps more contrast between the different rel igions in their p ractice thanin their theory . Islam , for instance , is in theory Opposed tosensual i ty ; but in real ity i t does almost nothing to stop i t .Christians no doubt are often sensual ; but not only does Christian teaching forbid i t : Christian teachers strenuously andactively Oppose i t and take every measure in their power toguard the young against i t . I t is all very well to say that theMoslems need none of our missionaries , and that if they wouldpractice their own rel igion they would be a very good lot .Who is there to induce them to practice i t? Their own leadersdo not really try to do so . Shall the missionary , then , undertake it? And shal l he preach to them Islam or the rel igionin which he himsel f heart and soul bel ieves? Th e greatestweakness of the non - Christian rel igions , as I think our study of

453


them in the preceding chapters has shown , is not so much thelack of noble thoughts and high ideals, but rather the almostcomplete lack of any efficient system or insti tution for com

m unica ting those ideas and ideals , and the hampering effectsof a supersti tious conservatism that puts the letter before thespiri t . Not one of the rel igions studied has as yet any universal and effi cient system of rel igious education . With most of

them what the ch i ldren shall learn of their rel igion is leftlargely to chance , and chance usually sees to i t that they learnthe least valuable parts . Consider , moreover , the authorita

tive scr iptures of the various rel igions the sources , as theymaintain

, of their highest ideals and noblest conceptions . I

have not in mind here a comparison of them with the Biblethough that would be disadvantageous enough for al l of themI mean here merely to remind the reader that almost al l ofthese books are practically inaccessible because qui te uninte lligib le to the grea t majori ty of those who found thei r fai thsupon them . Th e authori tative scriptures and the prayers andri tual of the Hindus are , for the most part , in Sanskri t ; thoseof the Jainas in Sanskri t and Prakri t ; the Granth of the Sikhsis in ancient Punjabi ; the Koran is in Arabic ; the Avesta ofthe Parsees in Zend ; and the Pi takas of the Buddhists in Pal i .All of these are dead languages , languages which only th e fewlearned ones understand . And translations , though theysometimes exist , are rarely used . What sort of spiri tual pabulum is this for the hungry soul?And not only so

,but the non

Christian rel igions are notably ill - provided with professionalworkers in the cause of rel igion and morals . I t is nobody ’sbusiness to take an interest in the moral welfare of the community and of i ts various individual members . Each m an

must look out for himself wi th l i ttle help from oth ers . To

be sure , there is something corresponding to our clergy inmost of the non - Christian rel igions ; but consider them . Th e

Buddhists and Jainas have monks who do a l i ttle educationalwork of a primitive sort and who sometimes p reach an occas ioual sermon but who for the most part are too busy sav

ing their own souls to look out for any one else ’s . Th e Mohamm edans have no clergy at all only a kind of combinationreader and j ani tor whose work is confined to the mosque . Th e

454



Howcan th is be brought about?What is the most promising pol icy of the miss ionary enterprise for the achievement Ofthis great aim? On the details of this question I have no opinion and am qui te unqual ified to speak . Th e problem has beencarefully studied by the gentlemen of the missionary boardsand by the missionaries themselves , and discussed wi th greatwisdom at missionary conferences , and i t would be p re sum ptuous for me to hazard an Opinion as to methods i f I had one .

There are , however , two questions connected with the generalpol icy of Christian missions on wh ich mere outside observersl ike the reader and myself have a right to an opinion

,and

concerning which I should l ike to offer a few qui te commonplace rem arks . Th e questions I have in mind are the atti tudeOf the missionary toward the religions which he seeks to supplant , and his atti tude toward Christianity .

4 . As I have already pointed out in an earl ier part of thischapter , the missionary

’s atti tude toward the non - Christianrel igions Of India has changed very considerably even in thelast twenty - fiv e years . In the old days he thought h is firs tdutywas to attack the rel igion of his hearers wi th al l the v io

lence of which he was capable , and to assure them that hel lfirewas waiting for al l the unbaptized . Missionary l i terature ,whether at home or abroad , was fil led with denunciations ofthe heathen in h is bl indness a policy which was due partlyto a misconception of the best way of attracting the unre g e ne rate , and partly to real ignorance concerning the finer sideof the native rel igions . Missionary sermons and wr i tings havenowqui te a different tone . Th e Christian Li terature Societyat Colombo , to be sure , is stil l si tuated on

“ Dam Street ,but this fact has lost its old significance . Typical of modernmissionary books is Howell ’s recent and excellent work ,

“Th e

Soul of India ,” in which the author exhibi ts at length andwi th

scholar ly care the points not of contrast but of agre em ent b e

tween Christiani ty and Hinduism ; and typical also is the morerecent and more excellent “ Crown ofHinduism ,

” by Farquhar,which seeks to demonstrate (as i ts ti tle s ignifies) that Christianity has com e to India not so much to destroy as to fulfi l l .The atti tude Of an increasing number of missionar ies is re presented by the following wise words which I take from the last

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CHRISTIAN M ISS IONS IN INDIA

Report of the Wor ld ’s Missionary Conference : “More harmhas been done in India than in any other country by missionaries who lacked the wisdom to appreciate the nobler side ofthe rel igion which they have labored so indefatigably to supplant . Below the strange form and hardly intel ligiblelanguage l ies l i fe , the spi r i tual l i fe of human souls

,needing

God , seeking God , laying hold of God , so far as they havefound Him . Until we have at least reached so far that underthe ceremonies and doctr ines we have found the rel igious l i feof the people , we do not know what Hinduism really is .

”

This new pol icy of the more l iberal m issionaries of re cognizing generously all that is best in the native religions and bui lding so far as possible on foundations al ready at hand

,instead

of seeking to destroy everything in sight , is steadily growing .

Thus we would seem to be approaching a reconcil iation b etween Christiani ty and the I ndian religions . And many of

the representatives o f these rel igions are will ing to go hal fway . Especial ly is this true of the Hindus . Many of themwould be glad to accept Christ as one o f the numerous expressions of God and of the truth , and to m erge Christiani tywithin Hinduism . But here we reach a point beyond whichthe missionaries are not will ing to go . They insist not onlyupon the acceptance of Christ , but also upon the renunciationof the old gods and o f certain of the old customs and therecogni tion of the distinctive teachings of Chr istiani ty . For ,as we have seen , they hold that while there is much in com

m on between Christiani ty and the Indian rel igions , thereare also points of contrast , and that these differences are ofvery real im portance . To many this exclusive atti tude Of theChristian missionary may seem narrow , but I . am convincedthat a certain am ount of i t , at any rate , is j ustified . If themissionaries should agree to an amalgam ation of Christianitywith

i

Hinduism , the Christian side of the partnership wouldsoon disappear in the capacious maw o f its ever hungrypartner . I t would be a partnership l ike that inwhich the l ionand the lamb l ie down together , with the lamb inside . Chr istwould sim ply be added to the pantheon (which , with its thi rtythree m i ll ion gods , is hardly in need of an addi tion ) ; or Hewould be made an eleventh incarnation ofVishnu , and before

457


many generations all that is distinctively Chris tian woulddisappear from India as completely as Buddhism did afterVishnu had swallowe d Gautama . There is much that is finein the Vedanta , and Ram anuja

’

s formulation of i t in particular is in some respects strikingly like certa in aspects of Christian teaching . One branch of this school , in fact , as we haveseen , maintains the freedom of the wil l . Yet as a practicaland actual ma tter the tendency of Indian thought is to leavequi te unem phasized the importance of the individual and hisresponsibil i ty . And if we are seriously consider ing a partnership with Vaishnavism we should pay more attention to thisalm ost universal Indian tendency than to the theology of one

of its sub - sects. For most Indian theologians , whether Vaishnavi te or of any other school , there is l i ttle place for personalfreedom , for genuine moral struggle and individual achievement , l i ttle place for virtue and sin as Christiani ty conceivethem , l i ttle place , in short , for real individual i ty and re sponsio

b ility . And these are things which Christiani ty cannot giveUp without sacrificing all that moral earnestness which is i tsvery li fe .

But perhaps the chief reason why Christiani ty cannotafford to let Christ be made an avatara of Vishnu is not to befound in its disapproval of Vaishnav ite theology , but ratherin a rea l ization of the incalculable loss that would resul t to i tand to hum ani ty if Christ should be put on a level wi th

the present Vaishnav ite incarnations. Not to mention theearl ier ones the fish , tortoise , boar , and the rest considerthe perfectly mythica l Rama and the mythica l and immoralKrishna (he of the sixteen thousand concubines) . Th e Christian view of the incarnation possesses two inestimable adv antages over the Vaishnav ite view , advantages which i t mustcl ing to at any and every cost the undoubted historici ty ofits God-man , and the fact that in both His l i fe and H is teachings is to be found the supreme moral ideal .But if the missionary should and must insist upon keeping

the fundamenta l Christian view unmixed and pure , i t doesnot follow that he should rej ect al l the bel iefs and insti tutionsof Indian rel igions . Th e attempt to foist Christianity in i tspresent Western garb upon the Indian as a com ple te sub sti

458



to accept them in the old way , is i t l ikely that the intell igentIndians, to whom our sym bols are strange and some of ourdogmas unintell igible , will ever be converted to a vi ta l bel iefin these things? I would not for a moment suggest a doubt asto whether Christ has a message for these I ndians , and one

which they can accept and understand and which they need .

He has a message for all of them , for the highest as well as thelowest . But I am not sure that the N icene Fathers have .

But even if i t were poss ible to persuade these men of thetruth of our ancient dogmas , would i t be desi rable to do so?Should we real ly be doing India a service by converting i t tobel iefs which we of the West have been giving up these pas tfifty years and which our own experience shows us are hardlycompatible wi th modern ways of thinking? For we shouldremember that while Hinduism has inevi tably been undermined by the progress Of modern thought , i t has not beenalone in suffering this ca tastrophe . Th e scholastic theologyof the Middle Ages , part of which we stil l Officially profess ,has become almost equally incredible to most thinking men .

Would i t be wise or kind to convert the Indians to viewswhichwe know are no longer defens ible , even i f we could? Cons iderthe pain , the heart- break , the skepticism that we of the Wes thave had to go through these past fifty years in recognizingour lack of genuine bel ief in certain doctrines that sti ll remainupon our Official creeds . Can we ser iously wish to put ourIndian brothers back where we were fi fty years ago , and askthem to go through the same sad and wasteful test?Probably most of my readers will agree wi th m e that our

more conservative m iss ionaries are making a mistake in presenting Christiani ty in a form which Christendom i tself is fastoutgrowing . And I personally should go even farther thanth is , and question whether there are not som e doctrines whichwe who have been brought up within Christian tradi tionsmay well cling to , but wh ich i t would be unwise to foist uponour Indian converts . Let those who wish to pursue theologystudy these things , but why teach them as a really essentialpart of our rel igion? Can we not wai t til l we have exhaustedthe sources of Galilee before turning to Nicaa , and Rome andGeneva and Westm inster? Let us seriously ask ourselves

460


whether it ‘

b e wise to teach the Indians the var ious points of“ Ch r istology ” ; the stories from the Old Testam ent whichthe “ natural man ,

” with a natural conscience, usually finds

rather questionable ; the infal l ibi l i ty and inerrancy of theScr ip tures ; the creation of the world out of nothing ; God

’

s

choice of I srael as H is only chosen people the Apostol icSuccession ; the

“ Plan of Salvation ,” with its machinery of

blood , fai th , and grace as“our only ground for hope

”

; theE ternal Damnation of all those not properly “ justified ”?Th ereader can fil l out the l ist as well as I . And m ust we eveninsist that God ’s only revelation was made to men of theHebrew race? Must we teach the Indians that in comingto bel ieve in Christ they must give up all fai th in their ownrevered prophets Buddha , Moham med , Zarathustra , andthe rest? Must we demand that they surrender their bel iefin transmigration and the eternal nature of the soul and theinevi table law of moral cause and effect , and that they sub sti

tute for i t our doctrine that the soul originates at the birth ofthe body , and at the body

’s death i t goes to an everlastingheaven or hell?Are we , then , so sure of these things ourselves?Or that God must not be called Brahman norAllah nor Ahura ,but spells H is name G-O- D?

We have in the mission field a great Opportunity,not only

for spreading Christiani ty , but for purifying and strengthening i t , an opportuni ty of freeing i t from the dogmas whichhave served their day and are now no longer o f any real service

,but must in the future more and more p rove fetters and

chains in its progress . We have an opportuni ty of p reservingthe kernel of Christiani ty and throwing aside its husk anOpportunity which may serve us not only in converting theheathen ,

” but in defending al l that is really Christian againstthe assaults of agnosticism at home , and of deepening thespiri tual l i fe of Christendom by putting the emphasis at laston the place where Jesus put i t . I f we take this course and ,

no longer misled by the spell of ancient symbols , concentrateour efforts on spreading the spiri t of Christ , we shall haveevery reason to be hopeful of the success of Christian missions . I f we take the opposi te cou rse and , insisting on thesubsti tu tion ofour sym bolism for the Indians ’ , seek to nourish

461


their spiri tual l ife on dogmas wh ich no longer genuinely fe edour own , we shall surely fail .But Christiani ty shall not fail . I t shall not fail because i tshall be carried over all the world in hands more worthy thanours , and by men who know that the Kingdom of God comethnot by observation . I t may not be under the name “ Christian that His Kingdom shall come , but the true follower ofthe Master will not grea tly care for words and spell ing , sothat the cause triumphs . He may find that God ’s ways areno t our ways , and that the teachings Of Christ take deepes troot when the conventional wrappings in which we have cove red them are stripped away . And if he finds them graftedon to the old rel igions and transforming them in everythingbut nam e , he will not quarrel wi th his brother Christian b ecause Of their disguise .Yes , in the large sense at least , the miss ionary enterp rise

must succeed , because the spiri t of Christ is the missionaryspiri t . Perhaps the greates t reproach of the non - Christianreligions is their lack of miss ionary zeal ; and the greatestargument for the superiori ty of Christiani ty is the fact thati t is supremely the missionary rel igion . One might even goso far as to say that a rel igion deserves to succeed j ust in sofar as i t has the missionary spiri t . For the missionary spiri tis the spiri t of loving service ; i t is the incarnation of Christianity . Hence i t is astounding to find “ Ch r istians,

” as oneso often does , who

“ do not bel ieve in missions .” For whereever “ Christiani ty ceases to be a missionary religion i tceases to be Christian . And if Christianity be taken in thelarge sense , if , in short , i t be identified with the spiri t ofChrist ,whoever loves humani ty must wish well to Christian m is

s ions, and whoever believes in humani ty must have goodhopes of the missionary ’s ul tim ate success . For Christiani tyhas a message which the non- Christian world cannot do without . And the del ivery of this message is the greatest debt thatthe West owes to the East.



though robed in many metres of costly stuffs . Brough t upas we are in the midst of this sort of th ing , i t is hard for usto understand the feel ings of an Asiatic when he first visi tsEu rope . Th e blatancy with which the social vice is paradedthrough our ci ty streets comes to him as a kind of blow in theface . I have talked with many I ndians who have visi ted theWest , Hindu , Mohammedan , Buddhist , and Parsee , andwhen I asked for their impressions of Europe and AmericaI have discovered almost invariably ( in spi te of their courte ous attempt to soften their words) that the open and widespread immoral i ties of our ci ties , our enticing and feeding ofdepraved tastes , our publ ic indecencies , come to them with ashock that they have never been able to forget . I t seems tothem alm ost incredible : as though on being introducedinto a costly palace they found its interior a pigsty .

I do not say there is no social vice in India and no im

puri ty of thought . Of course there is . On certain occa sionssome o f the Indians (l ike the ancient Greeks) feel cal led uponto sing indecent songs , even in rel igious festivals . Many richnatives keep mistresses , and in certain quarters of some of thetowns public women are to be found . But no man dares , orcares , to flaunt these women in the publ ic streets , and whenever they appear they are indistinguishable in costume fromo thers .

1 One could easi ly spend a l i fetime in I ndia and neverse e a woman indecently clad nor one whose actions were in anyway immodest . More than that : he might go to the nativetheater repeatedly and never se e an erotic orsuggestive play ; hemight walk the streets and visi t the Shops endlessly and neverse e an indecent picture , except those due to European influence .Th e Indians are relatively naive and childl ike compared withus in theWest . Th e arts ofsuggestion and hidden allusion theyhave no t learned . Th e sexual l ife is taken as a matter ofcourse ,qui te obj ectively ,—but not gilded and bedecked and senti

m e ntalized and philosoph ized 2 and gloated over. A missionary who knows them and their language well and who

1 A trave le d Indian ge ntle m an said to m e , N0 Indian prostitute wouldhave anyth ing to do with such public Obscenitie s as any one m ay se e in the

suburbs of Ch icago .

”

1 Ex ce ption should he re b e m ade of ce rtainVaishnav ite and Shakt i se cts.

464

WHAT THE WEST M IGHT LEARN

certainly holds no brief in their praise told me that formany years

'

h e has l istened to their conversa tion while they

(supposing him ignorant of thei r language) ta lked qui te freelywith each other . And never has he overheard an obscene storyora vulgar allusion from them . Thismay be typica l and i t maynot . 1 What the inner state of the Indian ’s mind may be I dono t know . But I know that he has a sense of outer decencywhich we of the West might well borrow from him .

We might also borrow from him wi th some profi t his sense ofthe indecency of drunkenness . For centuries the influenceof Hinduism has been exerted against excessive drinking , andMohammedanism and Buddhism have prohibi ted intoxicantsal together ; and these forces with other forces all ied havebuil t up a publ ic Opinion in all the upper classes of the Indianpeople against strong drink . European example is , indeed ,beginning to break this down ; but i t is stil l possible to spendyears in India and never se e a drunken native .I cherish no sentimental belief in the superiori ty of theOriental . I am not one of those who would keep him unspoiledfrom all Western i nfluence . Th e West has a great deal that theEast might wel l learn , and must learn if i t is to progress andthrow off the chains of very evil custom that make the l i fe ofi ts mill ions miserable . But I also bel ieve that there are a fewthings a very few , perhaps which the efficient and sagacions up

- to - date ” West could afford to im i tate from thes imple

,quiet , antiquated East . I t is some of these things

only two or three that I wish to speak of in this last chapter.I have already mentioned outward decency , and I shall add

to this but one thing more . But how this one thing should benamed I am at a loss to say . I t is the root from which the Indian ’s temperance and h is sense of publ ic decorum grow . I t is

no t a social custom or any isolated characteristic , but an attitude of mind

,rather ; a kind of inwardness , a feeling about l i fe

and about the world that expresses i tsel f in the man’

s external bearing and is the inner side of all the virtues that he has .

I t is a kind of s impl ici ty , a quietness, an innate modesty andlack of self- obtrus iveness—which has , in fact , resul ted in a

1 I am to ld by anoth e r m issionary that in Gujarati , whe re he live s, theIndians are by no m e ans so pure in h e art or pure of tongue .

465


reputation for pass ivi ty an interest in the inner world wh ichin many develops into what m ight be called a real ization ofthe soul .Th e s impl ici ty Of the Oriental and h is modesty and lack ofself- assertiveness give the clue to much of the charm of Indianli fe . A native village may be unsanitary and unclean , but onenever finds in i t a touch of vulgari ty , j ust as one may se e acoolie clad in a loin - cloth or a woman nursing her baby in thestreets and find in neither the sl ightest suggestion of im m od

e sty . Immodesty and vulgari ty are things of the mind , andthe naive simplici ty of the Indian make both very rare . Thissame lack of self- assertiveness and of preoccupation with thethough t ofworldly gain and of one

’

s own importance make forboth quietness and peace . There is l i ttle shouting in an Indianstreet and no fighting . Compared with these IndiansweWeste rne rs seem so noisy , so big - footed , so domineering , SO conscious of our importance . Doubtless we are important . But atouch ofOriental modesty and quietness and s impl icity wouldnot harm us .I t is in part this lack of preoc cupation with the thought of

self- importance , j oined with a fine sensi tiveness , that m akesthe Indian so reluctant to take l ife . I t would be a mistake tosay that the Indian is more sympathetic than the European .

But he has learned , through centuries of development and fromvarious causes , to have a feel ing of repugnance at the though tof killing which is quite as comparable to the musician

’

s painat discord as i t is to the moral ist ’s hatred of sin . I t is largelythis aesthetic feel ing which is at the bottom of much of the Indian ’s antipathy to mea t - eating . I f asked to dine on roastbeef , he feels as i f his host had said ,

“ Come and ea t a deadcowwith me !” To him the though t of our Chicago slaughterhouses, with their streams ofblood ,

receiving daily, as they do ,

thousands of splendid and beautiful creatures in all the prideof heal th , and sending out in their stead tons of dead carcassesto be devoured by us human anima ls , this thought , I say ,seems to h im s imply horrible . This sensi tiveness to the badtaste of taking l ife we Westerners have never yet atta ined to .

We are not far enough away from the hunter stage of a sthe ticdevelopment . The instinct of the chase , which loves kill ing for

466



replenish ing the larder . He j ust wanted to ki l l the ducks for thepleasure o f proving his marksmansh ip , and asserting h is wil l ;and also from the hunter ’s j oy in seeing the birds drop wi thbroken wing , flutter into the water , flounder , and drift by ,dying or dead . And he surely was a very typical product ofourWestern cul ture with its love of sel f- assertion and its cul tof

“sport .” I understand no Burmese , so could not ca tch the

comments of our molly- coddle ” third - class passengers . Poorthings , they are stil l qui te primitive in their ideas and havenot yet been educated up to “

sport .” But if the precept andexample of the West are of any avail they shall not long beleft thus benighted . Brace up , 0 Burman ! Be a man ! Assertyoursel f Kil l something !Another aspect of the Eastern lack of Self- assertivenessand perhaps a deeper aspect—is i ts lack even of self- consciousne ss . There is a naivete about the unspoiled Indianwhich is found in the West only among children and greatmen . Th e Indian is not always asking himself howthis or thatwilllook ; what people will think i f he does thus or so . Hence hecan be natural in a way that we seldom are .

1 When the propertime of day arrives the Mohammedan falls on his knees ,wh e rever he may be , and prays . He seeks neither to attract attention nor to avoid i t . On the vi llage street you se e him kneeling ,on the vessel ’s deck , in the fields , on the hillside . Th e fact that

you s tand in front of him staring neither pleases nor disquietsnor em barrasses him . He is sure that i t is good to pray at theappointed hours , and qui te as natural as to breathe the air .But this would be im possible for a Westerner . If one of usshould try i t , every one would be sure i twas a pose .

” Andthis because we Westerners have for centuries cul tivated ahabi t of acting before the mirror . In place of the spontaneousand unre fle cting good taste that more primitive peoples , l ikethe Indian , possess , we have cul tivated a complex and artificialdecorum which almost banishes true naturalness from our

possibil i ties . I t is one of the most difficul t things in the worldfor us to be s imple : only the grea t succeed . And the root ofour

1 An e x ce ption should b e m ade of the Buddh ist m onk , whose constantp reoccupation with “

se lfle ssne ss”and m e rit m ake h im at t im e s stiffly se lf

conscious.

468

WHAT THE WEST M IGHT LEARN

almost unconquerable stiffness and artificiality is the thoughtof self . I t was in this that both Jesus and Buddha found theroot- evil Of mankind . Not only is i t “ self whereby we suffer .”

I t is self whereby we sin and self whereby we a re r idiculous .There is so much in our Western world to remind us constantlyof ourselves that the exhorta tion ,

“ Forget yourself ,”is alm ost

im possible of fulfil lment . Yet in a sense that is the final task ofall self- cul ture .

“ Except ye become as l i ttle children,ye shall

in no wise enter into the Kingdom ofHeaven .

Th e self- consciousness of the West and its self- assertivenessresul t in what every Eastern visi tor ca lls our “material ism .

”

When one first begins reading Or iental j ournals or talkingwith intell igent Orientals about the West , he comes upon oneo f the many surprises that are ever awaiting the Westerner inthe East . He expects that the Or iental will be qui te as dazzledwi th the brill iancy o f our Western material civil ization as weat home are . He finds a very different view of things . Th eOriental admits our cleverness and inventiveness , our power ,weal th , and luxury . But he refuses to be dazzled . And notonly so . He tells us also that our mechanica l devices , our

wea l th and luxury , are fetters that bind our souls . This is asurprise , indeed : for many ofusWesterners are astounded thatthe “ heathen ” should know about the soul at all , and a stil lla rger number of us have forgotten—or have never heardthat therewas such a thing . Yet the Indian will insist upon

this point . YouWesterners ,” he will say , have bui l t a Mo

loch that is nowdevouring you . You accuse the East ofworshiping stocks and stones , and perhaps this is true :—but is i tany nobler to worship silver and gold?You are the servants ofthings; the slaves o f a convention which measures respectab ility by possession . You cram your houses with thingscostly or cheap and then build greater houses to store morethings ; you cover your backs and load your bodies with them ,

to m ake a show , and when you have worn them five times thefashion has changed and they must be thrown aside . Withthirty gowns your women are wretched because they havenothing to wea r ! And you not only stuff your wardrobes , yourhouses and barns , your ci ties , your lands and the very seaswith an endless load of things : you stuff your minds and hearts

469

INDIA AND ITS FAITHS'

with them . Youhave no time to th ink of the Invisible , nor anyreal fai th in i t . Youcannot learn to love the Eternal , for thingshave blinded your eyes and stopped your ears . With wonderfulenergy you have banished the fear of the snake and of thepestilence ; but you have made for yourselves a terror moreterrible than they . You are afraid to be poor. You are so

convinced that a man ’s l ife consisteth in the mul ti tude of thethings that he possesseth that you have almost identified povet ty with disgrace . And on the other hand , the weal th that yougain (and unquestionably you are good at that business !)the wea l th that you do gain brings you l i ttle satisfaction . Sothat your whole l ife is a race after something you know notwhat . You do not know what you want and you will not takethe time even to ask the question . Doubtless the East hasfailed of gaining its end because i t has not used the p ropermeans : but the West has been so busy providing i tself wi thmeans that i t has no end and aim at all .Whatever may be the truth of this accusa tion against the

West , certain i t is , at any rate , that the East has alwaysknown exactly what i t most supremely desi red , and in the pursui t o i its idea l i t has never been afraid of poverty or of anything else . Bodily comforts it has despised , and bodily sufferingi t has even welcomed if by such means the soul might profit .Th e history of Indian asceticism forms , indeed , a sad story , andthe sights one finds along the Ganges are sometimes revol tingenough . Yet in this ideal of crucifying the flesh for the sake ofthe spiri t there is something noble , and hidden under the unpleasing aspect of Indian self- denial and m ortifica tion there is arather fine protest against ourWestern pampering of the bodyand our constant preoccupation with i ts comfort . I t is easy forus, no doubt , to smile at the poor Jaina pul l ing all his hairs outone by one and starving himself to death at the end in order toatta in Moksha and free his soul from the fetters of the flesh ;and doubtless the Jaina is mistaken in his choice of the means .But is there not something truly fine in h is earnest seekingafter the end , his profound faith in the spiri tual , and his scornof the material when i t stands in h is soul ’s way? How manyof us bel ieve in our souls deeply enough to sta rve our bodiesto death for the soul ’s sake? Nay , I fear there are some of us ,

470


WHAT THE WEST MIGHT LEARN

with al l our Christian profess ions , who would hes i tate to giveup regularly one of our three meals a day , or to pul l out somuch as ten hairs , in order to redeem our souls from thei rslavery to a world of things . Our souls may take their chance

,

but at al l costs there must be no physica l suffering ! How muchof our time and our best thought goes to the preparation ofpurely physical comforts foods of the right flavor

,clothes of

the right cut , houses of the right temperature , and the rest , sothat many of us have no time to think of greater things ! Howthis softness of the West , this coddling of the flesh is rebuked bythe stern auster i ties of India ! How cheap i t al l becomes atthe sight of the sannyas iwho has renounced everything for thecul ture of h is soul !For the cul ture of the soul has been , and is stil l , the one great

ideal of India . Conquest , government , m oney-making,pleas

ure , the things that have occupied the chief attention of theWest , have been for India Of very secondary importance . Th e

j utting rocks and mountain passes of Europe are crowned wi ththe frowning walls of m e dia v al castles and modern fortresses ;in India there are but few castles , and the forts are of Europeanbuilding . But every l i ttle hill has i ts temple , and the mountainpasses are the dwel lings of the gods . At Pagan , in Burma , theeastern bank of the I rrawaddy is l ined for many miles withpagodas of every shape and size and color . Te n thousand ofthem there are , al together , and they have been pointing upward these many centuries to remind all who pass of him whotaught the Buddhist world that the one thing supremely worthwhile was not to be found in material possessions , but in thel i fe of the spiri t . These pagodas are the embodiment of theintense conviction and the supreme ideal of the East . Oppos i te them , on the western bank of the river , are other structures . These have been bui l t by the West , and shall I saythat they express its deepest conviction and ideals?They areof iron

,these Western productions , angular , ugly , but very

useful . They are useful , namely , in the extraction of petroleumfrom the ground ; for these are O i l wells . Doubtless a great dealof good stone was wasted in the construction of the pagodas :and how shall we assess the cash value of an ideal? But oil iso il, and we know i ts market price .

47 1


Beauty of place , wri tes Sister Niv edita ,translates

i tself to the Indian consciousness as God ’s cry to the soul .Had N iagara been s i tuated on the Ganges , i t is Odd to thinkhow different would have been i ts valuation by humani ty . I n

stead Of fash ionable picnics and railway pleasure - trips , theyearly ormonthly incurs ion of worsh iping crowds ; instead ofhotels

,temp les ; instead of ostentatious excess , austeri ty ; in

stead of the des i re to harness its migh ty forces to the chariotof human util i ty , the unrestrained longing to throw away thebody

,and real ize at once the ecstatic madness of Supreme

Union . Could contrast be greater?” 1

As th is quotation i tsel f suggests, the methods that India hasused for the cul ture of the soul have no t always been wise .

But sh e has at least mainta ined her ideal consistently throughthe centuries . Not the Master of Industry wi th h is millions

,

not the Boss of Big Business , has roused her enthusiasm andthril led her imagination ; this has been done only by the sannyas i , going out from house and home , with no possess ion buth is begging- bowl , to be alone with God .

Nor is th is a th ing of the past in India . Th e soul and i ts culture are stil l the first care ofmen of every cul t . Worship andcontemplation are stil l the great occupation I do not say thegreat duty , but the great opportunity of l i fe . A friend ofmine in Calcutta has a servant and a clerk . Th e servantspends every spare hour of his twenty- four worshiping at theshrine of Kali ; and the clerk a man stil l under forty issaving his money so that in a year or two he may leave hisfamily well provided and wander forth as a sannyas i to spendthe rest ofhis days in medi tation . To usWesterners th is seemsincomprehensible , and doubtless i t is extreme . But i t is notmerely i ts extreme form that seems to us so strange . Th e verynotion of contemplation has become to us both unintell igibleand unendurable . We cannot even with Wal t Whitman loafand invi te our souls . We cannot or rather will not in

vi te our souls because in the first p lace some of us doubtwhether we have any , and in the second , many of us would bebored or rather frightened if our souls should accept the inv itation. We say we have no tim e for contemp lation we

1 The Web of I ndian Life , p . 2 62 .

472



Eternal,and many Indians who have . I speak only of ideals in

the large . But certain i t is that purely mater ial aims play amuch more im portant rOle in the West than in the East . InIndia they really take the soul seriously ; with us one is almostasham ed to m ention i t outside of church .

This contrast of mental atti tude is partly reflected in , andpartly caused by , the philosophy and science of the two peoples . Th e intel lectual prestige of our age in the West l ies withphysics and chemistry . I t is they that have won the greattriumphs , wrought the modern miracles , and brought to manthe gifts whose cash value none can dispute . Hence biologyand physiology have sought to fol low in their wake and toadopt and adapt their form ula . Hence also psychology , theyoungest of the family , is trying to shine in their reflectedl ight and to keep some sort of company with the grea t by taking its point of view from biology , and forcing all its facts into

physiological formula which are to be ultimately interpretedin te rm s of chemistry and physics . In such a science there is ,of course , no room for the soul or self , no place for freedom orthe l ife Of the spi ri t . Th e b rain and the nervous system , thewhite and gray matter wi th their ma rvelousmolecules , obeyingalways and only the laws of motion , these have taken theplace of the soul and of God . Our philosophy , on its part , ishopelessly divided against i tself so divided , in fact , that wecannot be said to have a philosophy . Some of i t is busy justifying and applauding the tyranny of Naturalism and thetr iumphant progress of what might be called Pan - m e chanism .

Much of i t is wander ing and lost in the mazes of the “ TheoryOf Knowledge ,

” remote from all possible abodes of men . Someof i t is calling out in brave protest against the tendencies ofthe tim es , and reasserting the old truth that the l ife for manis the l i fe o f the spiri t .Th e philosophical systems of India also are varied ; yet allthose native to i t have certain great conceptions in common .

I f these common conceptions Should be formulated in an Indian creed i t would De ad in part somewhat as follows : “ I b el ieve in the Soul . I believe in its endless p rogress as i t takes i tsway through changing forms, in worlds that rise and pass . I

bel ieve that the material world , with all i t has of luxury and

474

WHAT TH E WEST M IGHT LEARN

weal th , and’

with i t the human body i tself , are but means in theeducation and refinement of the soul , and that whenever theystand in the way of the soul ’s progress they must be renouncedand despised .

” And to this , the overwhelm ing majori ty of Indian thinkers would add : “ I believe that the human soul mayenter into , or is already and forever in , immediate communionwith the D ivine .

”

I do not think we can accept any of the philosophies of Indiain toto as the solution of our intel lectual p roblems . I am surewe cannot accept any of its religions as such . And yet I thinkthere is som ething for us in Eastern thought and Easternl ife , and something of the highest value . One of the leadingp

'

hilosophers o f India wri tes me as fol lows : “I am not very

hopeful about the future of ‘Hinduism ’

as such . But I do prayfervently that i ts inmost spiri t , its Atma- vidya

,its science of

the Soul , may not be lost al together , and that its Theoryof Life may pass to new races and younger and m ore vigorouspeoples .

”

Doubtless the Eas t has more to learn from us than we fromthe East . And certainly the best that i t has to give we m igh thave gained from our own Great Teacher if we only would .

But the fact remains that we have not learned our lesson . Andi t may be that the spiri tual teachings of Jesus would comehome to us with grea ter power and a fresh sense of real i ty ifweshould consent to study the l iving exam ple of a people of ourown day who , in spi te of laboratories , m icroscopes , and thesurvival of the fi ttest , have never for a moment suspected thatthe laws of matter could explain— or explain away theself ; and who , despite coal -mines , corporations , stocks , bonds ,and o ilwells , have never lost their calm faith that the spiri tuall i fe alone is Of sup reme value , and that in comparison with i tweal th , fame , power , and pleasu re are as the small dust of thebalance . For the Indian knows that all these pass away , whilefor each ofus the only eternally abiding thing is h is own soul .

“What is the l ight of man?” was a question asked of the sageYaj navalkya by a certain king some eight hund red years orm ore before Christ .And , as one of the ancient Upanishads

1 tells us, the sage at1 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad , I v , 3.

475


first gave the obvious reply : “Th e sun , 0 King ; for having thesun alone for h is l ight man si ts , moves about , does h is work ,and returns .”

But this did not satisfy the King , and he asked : When thesun is se t , 0 Yajnavalkya , what is the l ight o fman?

”

And again the obvious answerwas made : “When the sun isse t , then the moon is the l ight of man ; for having the moonalone for his l ight man S i ts , moves about , does his work , andreturns .

”

“ But when the sun is se t , and the moon is se t , what is thel ight ofman?”

And once more Yaj navalkya answered , and th is time quitein the spi r i t of m odern applied science : When the sun is se t ,and the moon is se t , then fire is the l ight Of man ; for having firealone for his l ight man si ts , moves about , does his work , andreturns.

”

But the recurring question cam e again : When the sun isse t , and the m oon is set , and the fire is gone out , what is thel ight ofman?”

To this there is but one reply ; and Yaj navalkya gave i tlast

“When the sun is se t , and the moon is set , and the fire isgone out , the soul is the l ight of man .

”

THE END


INDEX

Ah im sa , 1 55. 2 64. 265.348.395. 4 1 5.

466- 68.

Ahm e dabad , 2 65.

Ahura Mazda , 3 19—2 2 , 461 .

Akaranka Sutra , 2 69, 2 89.

A l Ashari , 2 92 , 2 94 .

A le x andra , Mm e . David , 4 1 5.

A l lah,1 1 1 , 2 92

—95 , 461 .

A l lahabad , 35 , 37—42 ,

2 19, 264 .

Am ir A l i , 309.

Am ritsar , 2 46, 2 48, 2 49, 2 51 .

Andrews, Re v . C . F. , 2 0 1 .

Angad , 2 43 , 2 45 , 2 46.

Anguttara Nikaya , 388, 398.

Arj an , 2 46.

Arjuna , 60 , 1 07 , 1 10 .

Arjundas, 99.

Arno ld , Pro f . T. W. , 307 .

Aryan Broth e rhood ofBom bay , 1 707 1 .

Arya Sam aj , 1 72 , 1 74 , 183 , 186, 199

Asce t icism , 4 1 , 1 47 , 1 50 , 160, 2 38,

47 1

Avalon , Arthur , 61 .

Bahadoor, Rai Saligram , 2 1 4 , 2 1 7 ,2 18.

Bane rj ea , 1 74 .

Barne tt , L . D . , 3 1 , 54 , 82 , 87 , 90.

Basanta Koo m e r Roy , 186.

Bawa Chhaj ju Singh , 2 02 .

Be nare s, 1 7 , 19, 2 1 , 2 5 , 35 , 36, 42—44 ,

Be ngal , 65 , 161 , 2 47 .

Be sant , Mrs. Ann ie , 5, 2 2 5 , 2 26, 2 28

Bhagav ad Gita , 53 , 54 , 60 , 70 , 84- 86,

I 53Bhagav ad Purana , 54 .

Bhagav an Das , 1 3 1 , 185 .

Bhakt i , 2 5 , 84 , 100 , 10 1 , 1 09, 2 35,2 45

Bhandarkar, R. G. , 48, 50 ,

Bharata Dharm a Maham andala ,

187 .

Bi j oy Krishna Goswam i , 1 48.

Bip in Chandra Pal, I I , 60—63 , 96,

Blavatsky , H . P 2 2 4 , 2 26, 2 30.

Bom bay , 3 , 1 70 , 1 7 1 , 1 73 ,

330, 335Bose , Dr. J . C 8.

Brahm a , 67. 2 44 . 355. 357 .

Brahm achar i , 135 .

Brah m an , 61 , 74—77 , 79

—85 , 1 00 , 103,

Brahm o Sam aj , 90, 1 70, 1 7 1

Brindaban , 35.

Buddha , 2 2 8. 2 56. 340 , 342 . 345—48.

380—95.

397—400 , 406, 408, 409, 4 1 1

—16,

Btih le r, Pro f . J . G. , 2 88.

Ehurna

360 433But le r , Sir Harcourt , 185.

D I 74 .

Calcutta , 1 9, 62 , 1 45.

Carus , Paul , 362 , 380 .

Caste syste m , 1 2 0—2 7 , 169—73 , 183 ,

Ce ntral H indu Co l lege , 184 , 185 ,

Ch i ld m arr iage , 1 74 , 188, 194 , 2 05 .

Christianity , 166, 1 74 , 1 77 , 189,191 ,

194 , 2 99, 3 1 2 , 3 16, 3 1 7 ,

368, 376, 378, 402 , 403 , 4 10 , 4 1 1 ,

42 0 ! 42 4- 2 6, 43 1

—44 : 449

-

53 , 4559

4S9. 46I 462

C lough , John E . , 65 , I 43 , 4 444 .

Conj e eve ram ,

Cop le ston , R . S . , 357 .

Crooks , W. , 3 1 2 .

Dah lke , Paul , 382 , 4 1 5.

Daly , Bowle s , 358.

Dancing girls , 2 0 , 69, 1 46.

Dayanand , 1 54 ,2 00—07 ,

2 09—1 2 .

Dayanand Anglo - Ve dic Co l le ge , 2 06.

.479

INDEX

De lh i , 1 5 , 302 .

De p re sse d C lasse s M ission Socie ty ,1 7 1—72 .

Deusse n , Prof . Paul , 73 , 80 .

Devak i , 54 .

Deva Sam aj , 1 72 .

De v i . Se e Ka li .Dham m apada , 389

—92 , 393 ,

4 1 3. 4 1 4Dharm apala , H . , 368, 369, 378.

D igam bara , 2 55 , 2 60 , 2 72 , 2 74 , 2 82 ,

2 86.

Dubo is, Abbé, 6, 93 , 1 2 2 , 1 2 4 , 1 36,

Durga . S e e Kal i .Durga Puj a , 19.

407 ,

Educat ion , Arya , 2 06, 2 07 ; Brahm o ,

199: Buddh ist. 348. 351—53 . 358.

360—65 ; H indu, 1 40

-

44 , 183—86;

Jaina , 185 , 2 87 ; Mo

ham m e dan , 305—0 7 , 3 1 0 ; Parse e ,

32 8—30 ; Sikh , 185 , 2 53 ; Th eoso

ph ist , 2 2 7 .

Eroticism , 55 , 58, 59, 63 , 69.

Eth ics , Buddh ist , 348, 349, 357 , 358

364 . 365. 392-

95. 4 1 1—16; H indu

92—1 03 ; Jaina , 2 63

—67 , 2 69, 2 70,

2 77 , 2 78, 2 89; Moham m e dan , 304 ,

305. 3 1 3 . 3 1 4 .3 1 7 ; Parse e .32 3—2 7 ;Radhasoam i, 2 2 1—2 3 .

Fam ily , H indu, 1 19, 1 2 7-

32 .

Farquhar , 18, 2 5 , 2 9, 30 , 3 1 , 63 , 69,

1 2 2 , 1 26, 1 73 , 1 77 , 187 , 2 1 3 , 2 30,

2 33,2 53. 306. 33 1 . 456.

Fatal ism . Se e Fre e dom .

Pans'

ll, V. , 391 .

F ie ld , Dorothy , 2 46.

Four Noble Truths , 362 , 365 , 384- I 6.

Frase r , S ir Andrew , 445.

Fre e dom of the W i ll , 99, 1 00 , 2 93 ,

2 94.

Froe lich , 1 02 .

Gae kwar of Baroda , 1 73 .

Gane sh , 1 5 , 1 7 , 18, 2 3 , 2 4 , 2 6—28, 67 ,2 2 9.

Gange s. 35—44 . 94 . 136. 1 38Garbe , R . , 53 .

Garuda Purana , 36, 92—94 .

Gautam a . Se e Buddha .Gayatri , 67 , 81 , 1 34 , 1 37 , 14 1 .

Gobind S ingh , 2 46, 2 47 , 2 50, 2 51 .

Go khale , G . K . , 167 .

Gokul Chand , 2 07 .

Goldzih e r, I . , 3 1 2 .

Govinda Das,Granth , 2 37 , 2 46, 2 47 , 2 49, 2 52 .

Grie rson , G. A. , 52 , 89.

Grihastha , 1 35 , 1 36.

Growse , 52 .

Guérino t , A. , 2 55 .

Guru, 1 42—44 , 2 16, 2 1 7 , 2 4 1 , 2 43 ,

Gurukula Co l le ge , 2 06, 2 07.

Hackm ann , H . , 358.

Hall . F ie ld ing. 4 . 344. 354. 373. 381 .404 .

Hanum an , 18, 2 4 , 2 7 , 51 .

Hardwar , 1 7 , 18, 35—37 .

Hare , W . L . , 407 .

He adle y , Lo rd , 3 16.

H eave n , 1 09, 2 52 . 2 60. 2 97—99» 32 3.

1 09, 37 1 , 394 i 409y 4 l l o

H e l l . 92 . 1 13. 2 59. 2 60. 2 97—99. 357.

e m Chandra Sarkar , 1 42 .

H ewav itarna , Dr . C . A . , 378.

H indu Marriage Re form Le ague ,1 75.

H induUnive rsity of Be nare s, 185.

Hodgso n , Richard , 2 30.

Ho ly days. 37 . 38. 2 78. 302 - 04. 355.359Ho ly m e n (H indu) , 39 1 46

—61 .

Hom e , H indu, 26, 1 30-

33 , 181 .

Hopk ins , Pro f . E . W. , 2 88.

Horwill, H . W. , 439.

Howel ls, G . H . , 2 9, 3 1 , 85, 1 2 1 , 2 36,

45

Ido latry . Se e Im age s.

Ido ls. Se e Im age s.

I m age s, 1 5 , I 6, 2 2 , 2 4—33 , 182 , 188,

196, 2 1 1 , 2 2 9, 2 30 , 2 72 , 2 77 , 342 ,

343 , 352 , 355 i 4 19i 453m m ortality , Arya be l ie f in ,

2 03 ;Brah m o be l ie f in , 195 , 196; Buddh ist be l ie f in , 37 1 , 372 , 376

—79;

H indu be l ie f in , 1 04—1 5 (se e also

Karm a , Transm igration) ; Jainabe l ie f in , 2 59

—61 ; Kabir ’s be l ie f in ,

2 38; Moham m e dan be l ie f in , 2 972 98; Parse e be l ie f in , 32 2 , 32 3 , 339S ikh be l ie f in , 2 44 , 2 52 .

Incarnation , 51-

57 , 196, 2 1 3 , 2 1 4 ,

2 2 5 , 2 44 .

Indian Soc ial Re form e r , 169.

Individual ity of m an , 75 , 99, 1 1 0,

Indus , 36.

I slam . Se e Moham m edanism .

Iye r , Sir S 188.

480


INDEX

Param aham sa. Se e Mahatm an . Sam adh i , 1 51 , 1 53 .

Parvat i , 1 5 , I 7 , 18, 2 3 . Sannyasi , 97 , 1 35 , 1 36, 1 46—61 , 164 ,

Pattanattu P i l lai , 3 1 . 42 8, 473 .

P itakas , 394 , 399, 400 , 402 , 4 1 2 . Sarasvat i , 60 .

Pitriloka , 1 08, 1 38. Sastry , V . S . S . , 167 .

Po lyth e ism (H indu) , 70 , 7 1 , 73 , 182 ,Saunde rs , K . , 347 , 348, 358,

Prabuddha Bharata , 183 . Scott , J . G. , 346, 347 .

Prarthna Sam aj , 1 7 1 , 1 74 , 192 . Se lf , Buddh ist conce p t ion of, 37 1

Pratap Chandra Mazoom dar, 61 , 73 , 405 ; H indu conce ption of, 73 ,

459’ 7 45-

77 1 91 1 92 ' 99, 1 07 7 1 1 2

Praye r , 16, 18, 2 5 , 2 8, 3 1 , 1 36—38, 1 5 ,

163—65 , 2 2 8, 2 2 9; Ja ina con

1 4 1 , 2 09, 2 40 , 2 49, 2 52 , 2 7 1 , 2 72 ,ce ption of, 2 58.

301—03 , —

36, 34 I Se rvants of India , 167—69.

43. 345. 346. 380- 84 Seve rac . J 63 .

Pre taloka , 1 08, 1 38. Shaiv ite s, 49, 70 , 84- 87 , 89.

Prie st , Brahm in , 16—19, 2 1—2 3 , 2 7 , Shakt i , 2 6,60 , 61—66.

1 40. 1 44-

46. 455. Shankara . 78—84 . 99. 1 1 1 , 1 46. 1 54 .

Prie sts , Jaina , 2 74 ; Parse e , 32 9, 330, 1 55 , 2 35 , 450.

455 ; S ikh . 2 49. 455. Sh iahs. 303. 304. 3 10.

Puj a . Se e Worsh ip . Sh iva , 1 5—2 3 , 2 5 , 2 6,2 8, 35 , 43 , 46

Punj ab , 53 , 2 01 , 2 06, 2 1 2 , 2 42 , 2 47 , 49, 60—7 1 , 81 , 84

—87 , 89, 1 55 , 2 44 ,

2 5 1 . 355 .

Puri , 2 2 , 35. Sh iva Dayal Singh , 2 1 3 .

Sh iv anath Shastri , 90 , 1 53 , 191 , 193,Radha , 56, 58. 196

—98, 430.

Radhasoam i Faith , 2 13—2 3. Shraddha , 1 2 8. 1 38, 2 1 1 , 2 2 9.

Ram a . 35. 44 . 51—53. 1 4 1 . 2 36. 2 38. Slkh s. th e . 1 70.

2 1 7 . 2 42-

53.

2 40 , 458. Sita , 51 , 1 4 1 .

Ram akrishna , 61 , 62 , 66, 97 , 1 00 , Sne halata ,

1 02 , 103 , 1 49, 1 51—53 ,

1 77—81 . Soul . Se e Se lf.

Ram akrishna M ission , 181 , 182 , 186. Srirangam , 2 2 .

Ram akrishnaOrde r, 180—84 , Ste ine r , Rudo lf , 2 33 .

Ram anand , Steve nso n , Mrs. S inclair , 2 57 , 2 59,Ram anuja , 30 , 78, 84 , 88, 91 , 100

—02 , 2 65—68, 2 70 ,

2 78.

1 46, 1 54 , 1 55 , 2 35 , 450, 458. Sthanakav asi, 2 55 ,2 60.

Ram ayana , 52 . Stove r , Re v . W . B. , 19, 1 2 1 , 326,

Ram e swaram , 2 2 , 35 . 32 7 .

Ram Mohun Roy , 190 , 2 00 . Sub hadra Bh ikshu, 362 , 372 , 379,Rangoo n . 343. 344. 351 . 380. 389. 398.

Ravana , 51 . Subrahm anya , 18, 2 3.

Re e d , E l izabe th A. , 162 . Sunn is , 303 , 304 , 3 1 0.

Re form m ove m e nt , Buddh ist , 366 Surya , 67 .

69; H indu, 166—2 1 2 ; Jaina , 2 84 Sutta N ipata ,87 ; Moham m edan , 3o6

—10 ; Parse e , Svarga . Se e H e ave n .

338; S ikh , 2 51 . Sve tam bara , 2 55 , 2 60 , 2 66, 2 72 ,282 ,

Rhys- Davids , Mrs . C . A. , 392 , 400. 2 85 , 2 86.

Rhys- Davids , T . W. , 37 1 , 389. Sym bo l ism , 1 2 , 1 3 , 1 4 , 55, 57 , 68,Rig Ve da. 46. 84 . 1 2 2 . 1 38. 2 09. 2 4 1 . 2 42 . 2 74 . 2 75. 328.Rudra . 46 32 9. 333 . 448. 449.

Sacre d tre e s , 2 4 , 340, 356, 364 . Tagore , De v e ndranath , 77 , 78, 1 32 ,

Sadhu, 1 46. 1 33 , 1 52 , 1 53 , 191—93 .

Saint N ihal Singh , 1 26, 1 7 1 . Tagore , Prince Dwarakanath , 191 .

Salagram a stone s , 2 6, 1 32 . Tagore , Rab indranath , 1 , 8, 73, 84 ,Salvat ion , m e ans of, 96, 97 , 1 00 , 1 01 , 90 , 185 , 186, 2 37

—2 39, 42 9.

2 04 , 2 1 7—19, 2 44 ,

2 45 , 2 63—66, 2 99, Tagore , Satye ndranath , 90 .

300 , 32 2 , 388—90 , 403. Tanjore , 2 2 .

482

INDEX

Taraporewalla, Dr. , 140.

Taylo r , H . 1 2 3 .

Te m p le s, 1 5 , 2 1- 2 3 , 2 5 , 2 6, 35 , 69,

1 459 1 467 2 40 1 2 48) 2 72—74 4 32 9i

340-

44 .

Te nnant , Carr ie A. , 1 75 .

Th e osoph ical Socie ty , 1 35 , 1 72 , 196,

-

33 .

Th e re gathas , 392 .

Th iruklikundrum , 2 2 .

Thurston , E . ,2 0 .

Tirthankaras , 261—63 , 2 7 1 , 2 72 , 2 75.

Transm igration , 18, 107—1 5 , 1 38, 2 03 ,

Treve lyan , G. M . , 2 75 .

Trim urt i , 67 .

Tsakni, N . , 58, 63 .

Tulsi Das, 52 , 89, 1 4 1 , 2 36.

U - Khanth i , 350 , 351 , 37 1 , 372 .

Um a . Se e Kal i .Un ite d Province s, 2 01 , 2 06, 2 1 2

—14 .

Upan ishads, 72—79. 81 , 84 , 104 ,

Upasaka , 359, 4 18.

Vaishnav ite s, 49, 5 1 , 56, 58- 60, 70 ,

Vallab ha se ct , 57 , 58.

Valm ik i , 5 1 , 52 .

Vanap rastha , 1 35 , 1 36.

Vasudeva , 50 , 53 , 54 .

Ve da , 2 3 , 1 18, 1 19, 191 , 192 , 2 01—03 ,

Ve danta , 78—85 , —1 01 ,180—82 , 195. 196, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2 , 2 26,

Ve danta Sara , 1 42 .

Ve danta Sutras, 78, 84 .

Ve ndidad , 332 .

Virjanand , 2 00 ,2 0 1 .

Vishnu, 1 5 , 18, 2 1 , 2 6, 2 7 , 4961 1 67 1 69

-

7 1 1 81 7 84—87 7 1 551 2 44 ;

Vishnu Purana , 54 , 55 , 86, 87 .

Vive kananda , 4 , 49, 64 , 65, 1 50, 1 53 ,1 78—84 .

Warre n , H . C . , 375.

We st , E . W. , 332 .

We stcott , G . , 2 36—42 .

Widow , H indu, 2 5 , 1 3 1 , 1 73 , 2 06.

Wi lkins , W . J . , 1 30 , 1 3 1 , 1 44 .

Wi ll iam s, Monie r , 1 7 , 18, 46, 63 , 99,

Wi lson , H . H . , 54 , 2 07 , 2 36.

Woodward , F. L . , 37 1 , 4 1 2 .

Worsh ip , Arya , 2 07- 1 0 ; Brahm o ,

199; Buddh ist. 34 1 . 342 . 344—46.

355 ; H indu, 1 1 , 1 2 , 1 5—33 , 81 , 1 36

39; Jaina . 2 70—72 . 2 75

-

77 . 2 78;Kabir Panth i, 2 40

—42 ; Moham

m e dan , 2 91 , 300 , 3 1 2 ; Parse e , 3 18,

3 19. 330. 333. 334 : Radhasoam i.2 19

- 2 1 ; Sikh , 2 49, 2 50, 2 52 .

Wright , Dudle y , 406.

Yantras, 26.

Yasoda , 54 , 56.

Yoga , 1 43 , 1 50.

Yoganindra, 54 .

Yom Noguch i , 438.

Zarathustra , 3 19—2 1 , 32 3 , 32 4 , 461 .

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