The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-01-31

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| reach the perfect unity IL will stop from
! further progress, because IL viii then
| have reached the goal. Thus chemistry
| cannot progress farther when II Shall
have discovered one element out Vi
which all others could be made. Physics
! will stop when il shall be able TO as
| cover one energy of which all others are
| but manifestations. The science OF re
| ligiOn will become perfect when 1t dis
| covers Him who is the one life or a UNI
| verse of death, who is the constant basis
OF an over changing world, who Is the
| only soul of which all souls are but
| manifestations And all science
! is bound 10 come to this conclusion in the
/ long run Manifestation and not creation
Is the word of science of today, and the
Hindu is only glad that what he mas
| cherished IN his bosom for ages is going
10 be taught in more foTcible language
and with further light by the latest COIL
! illusions Of science.
Descend we now from the aspirations
of philosophy to the religion of the
I ignorant At the very outset 1 may tell
/ you that there is no polytheism in In
dfa In every temple, il one STANDS by
and listens. he will find the worshipers
apply all the attributes Of God-includ-
ing omnipresence-to these images. It
is not pOlytheism. THE rose called by
any other name would smell as sweet.
The tree is known by its fruits, and
when / have been amongst them that
are called idolatrous men, the like OF
whose morality and spirituality and love
have never seen anywhere, / stop ana
ask myself, Can sin beget holiness?
Superstition is the enemy OF man. out
bigotry is worse. Why does a Chris
| tan go to church? Why is the cross
| holy? Why is the face turned toward
| the sky in prayer? Why are there so
| many images in the catholic church
| Why are there so many images in the
minds of prOtestants when they pray?
| Ny brethren, we can no more think
| about anything without a material inn
age than we can live without breath
| ing. And by the law Of association the
matei - image calls the mental idea up
and vice versa. Omnipresence, to al
most the whole world, means nothing.
( Has God superficial area? IL not, when
! we repeat the word we think Of the eX-
| tended earth, that is all.
As we find that somehow or other. by
| the laws Of our constitution, we have
| got to associate our ideas Of intinity
| with the image Of the blue sky. or a
! sea: some cover the idea of holiness with
/ an image OF q church or q mosque or a
/ cross. The HinduS have associated the
| holiness, purity. truth, omnipresence
! and all other ideas with different i'm
! ages and forms. But with this differ
enCe: some devote their whole lives 10
! their idol of a church and never rise
| higher because with them religion
means an intellectual assent to certain
| doctrines and doing good TO their fell
/ lows. The whole religion Of the Hin
! du is ceutered in realization. Man is TO
! become divine, realizing the divine, and
! therefore idol or temple or school or
/ books are only the supports, the helps
! Of his spiritual childhood; but on and on
/ man must progress.
If man can realize his divine nature
with the help of an image would it be
| right to call 1t a sin? Nor even when
| he has passed that stage should he call
! il an error? To the Hindu. man IS not
| travelling from error to truth, but from
/ truth to truth, from lower To- higher
| truth. To him all the religions. from the
/ lowest fetishism to the highest abso-
! lutism, means so many attempts of the
! human soul to grasp and realize the
infinite each determined by the condi-
/ tons of its birth and association, and
! each of these mark a stage OF progress.
and every soul is a young eagle soaring
I higher and higher. gathering more and
more strength, till it reaches the glori-
/ Gus sun.
Unity and variety is the plan Of ma
/ ture, and the Hindu has realized it.
Every other religion lays down certain
| fixed dogmas and tries 10 force society
| To adopt them. They lay down before
| society one coat which must fit Jack
/ and John and Henry. all alike. If 1t
does not fit John or Henry he must go
without coat To- cover his body. The
Hindu has discovered that the absolute
can only be realized or thought of or
stated through the relative. And the
images, cross or crescent, are simply so
many ceuterS, 50 many pegs To hang the
spiritual ideas on. u Is not that this
help is necessary for every one but for
many, and those that do not need it
have no right to say that it is wrong.
one thing I must tell you. Idolatry
i'm india does not mean anything horri-
/ BILE. II is not the mother of harlots
! ON the other hand, il is the attempt of
undeVeloped minds TO grasp high spir-
itual truths The Hindus have their
faults. but mark this. they are always
toward Furnishing their own bodies and
never toward cutting the threats of
their neighbOrs. If the Hindu fanatic
burns himself on the pyre. he never lights
the fire Of inQuisitOn. and even this can
not be laid at the door Of religion no more
/ than the burning Of witches can be laid
at the door Of Christianity
To the Hindu then. the whole world
Of religions is only a travelling a COM
ing up of different men and women
: through various conditions and circum-
stances, TO the same goal. Every reli-
gion is only an evolution out Of the ma
/ terial man, God and the same God is
the inspirer Of all of them Why. then.
are there so many contradictions? They
are only apparent, says the Hindu The
contradictions come from the same truth
adapting itself to the different circum-
.
IT is the same light coming through
different colors and the same little varia-
lions are necessary for that adaptation.
But in the heart of everything the same
truth reigns. The Lord has declared 10
the Hindu i'm his incarnation as Krish-
ma, Il am in every religion as the thread
through a string of pearls. And wher-
ever thou SeeSt extraordinary power riS-
ing and purifying humanity, know We,
that / am there" And what was the
result? Through the whole order of
sanscrit philosophy / challenge anybody
TO find any such expression as that the
Hindu only would be saved and not
others. Says WAS. we find perfect
men even beyond the pale of our caste
and creed"
The whole force of Hindu religion is
directed To the great central truth in
every religion to evolve a God out Of
man. They have not seen the father
but they have seen the SON. And he
that hath seen the son hath seen the
father
This, brethren, is a short sketch OF the
ideas of the Hindus. The Hindu might
have failed TO carry out all his plans
But if there is ever to be a universal
religion IL must be one which will hold
no location i'm place or time: which win
be infinite, like the God il viii preach:
whose sun shines upon the followers of
Krishna or Christ. saints or sinners,
alike: which will not be the Brahmin or
Buddhist Christian or Mohammedan
but the sum total OF all these and still
have infinite space for developments
fs.et.