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That is to say, with the heart immersed in the Divine and the hands busy in work, man must live thus on earth. Love should not degenerate into an article of commerce. Love fulfils itself in Love. The Hindu religion does not attempt to establish, through conflict and controversy, any one doctrine or theory. It seeks to evaluate all theories and doctrines by the tough-stone of experience. The tree is judged by its fruits. Codes of behaviour, spiritual practices and manifestations of Love have all enormous virtues which promote the progress of man. According to the point of view of great men and of the spiritual teachers of India, man advances not from falsehood to Truth but from the partly true to the fully True. Each individual Atma can be called a Garuda bird. It soars higher and higher and gathering supernatural strength at last reaches the Solar Orb with unlimited splendour and Majesty. The basic Truth of Creation is Unity in Multiplicity. This was understood by Indians. All other religions have accepted certain fixed doctrines and built systems on them. They are content with the establishment of such credal groups. They devised methods of worship, prayer and adoration in accordance with the feelings and emotions they laid down as valid and valuable. The service that every religion offers to mankind is to expand the consciousness of man beyond the material sphere and light the spark of Divinity already in him. The Bharathiya mode of worship is based on the awareness that the One manifests through many discrete forms and many discrete attributes when confronted by many discrete situations and conditions. So Bharathiyas have the intellectual tolerance among all peoples of the world to proclaim to all the quarters that God exists and can be found in every religion. This is their unique good fortune. One of the basic rules of living is not to be ashamed of one's forefathers.
As one reads more and more the history of the past, as one visualises
more and more the human condition in those ages, one's pride is bound
to increase. Let faith in the supreme achievements of your forefathers
flow in and energise the blood in your veins. Let the strength of that
faith render your body, mind and spirit equally strong. The fruit of genuine
Vidya is the recognition that every community of people and every religion
has, along with a basic unity, something special of its own to offer. |