MODERN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
In matters of faith, India has always been ultra-conservative. This is
largely owing, not to any fettering of thought, but rather to the
Hindu Caste System, which has been the most rigid guardian of the
Brahmanic faith and the doughty opponent of any new and independent
movements.
India has offered to her rishis and reformers unbounded latitude of
thought. And, as a consequence, her faith possesses within itself
every shade of religious speculation and philosophic conclusions. The
many antipodal and conflicting doctrines, theories, tendencies, and
institutions which obtain under the all-embracing name of Hinduism,
seem astonishing to every western investigator of this faith.
Even in matters of ritual, Brahmanism has always had its protestants,
sectarians, and "come-outers." During this stern dominance of the
Caste System, which is the most rigorous, if not the most cruel,
inquisition that the world has known, there have always been men free
to think and determined enough to push forward their ideas and their
new religious methods. And these have added picturesque variety to the
history of faith in India.
It is, however, a remarkable tribute to the power of caste and to the
unheroic character of Hindu reformers, that, of the myriad reforms and
protests against Brahmanism which have bristled throughout the
centuries, only one--Buddhism--has stood apart in persistent
isolation, and has maintained a separate identity and usefulness
through more than two millenniums. Of all these protesting creeds, it
alone has had sufficient masculine power and moral earnestness
permanently to impress itself upon the world as a great religion. It
has achieved this, however, not in the land of its birth, but in other
lands and among other peoples. Like all other attempts to reform, or
overthrow, the mother faith (and even after it had largely
accomplished this for ten centuries), Buddhism finally yielded to the
mighty absorptive power of Brahmanism, was overthrown as the dominant
religion of India, and lost all power and acceptance among the people.
This was because most of its vital teachings were appropriated by the
rival faith, and Buddha himself was adopted into the Hindu pantheon as
the ninth incarnation of Vishnu. Henceforward, it had no distinctive
mission or message to the people of this land, and died a natural
death.
The well-known passion of Hinduism for absorbing the faiths that come
into contact with it, and the maudlin tendency of the people of India
to yield to pressure and to sacrifice all in behalf of peace, has been
the grave of many a noble endeavour and many an impassioned attempt
for new religious life and power.
Nevertheless, there is no reform movement which has entered the arena
of religious conflict in India, whether it still remains entirely
within the Hindu faith or has possessed vigour and repulsive energy
enough to step outside the ancestral faith, which has not left more or
less of an impress upon Hinduism, and which does not to-day exercise
some power or other over certain classes of the people.
I
All of the many modern sects of Hinduism were originally protests
against the dominant Brahmanism of the day. The most popular Vaishnava
sect, in South India,--the _Visishdadvaitha_ sect of Ramanuja,--was
first a vigorous protest against the austere pantheism of Sankaran. It
was the demand of a thoughtful and an earnest religious man for a
personal God which could bring peace and rest to the soul, in
contradistinction to the unknowable, unethical, and unapproachable
Brahm, which the dominant Vedantism had thrust upon the people.
The _Madhwachariars_ went one step farther and inculcated a dualism,
which many to-day accept as the basis of their faith.
In the region of Bengal, that other sect of Vaishnavism, which was
inculcated by Chaitanya four centuries ago, is to-day the popular
cult. It is a revivalism full of wild enthusiasm and ecstatic
devotion; yet it attracts, in a remarkable way, many of the men of
culture and learning throughout that Presidency.
The Saivite sectarians, who call themselves _Sangamars_, were, a few
centuries ago, a mere uprising against the supremacy of the Brahmans
and the dominance of caste.
Indeed, nearly all religious reformers in India propelled their
reforms as anti-caste movements. But, later on, they have, with very
few exceptions, been drawn again into the maelstrom of caste.
The Sikh religion, itself, was originally a religious reform, which
found its germs in the mind of the great Kabir, and afterward attained
birth in the brave reformer, Nanak Shah, during the fifteenth century.
It is a shrewd, an amiable, and also a brave attempt to harmonize
Mohammedanism and Hinduism. At the present time, this also is
gradually yielding to caste dominance and to the fascination of Hindu
ritual.
Thus every century has produced its reformers, and the banks of this
great river of Brahmanism is strewn with the wrecks of protesting
sects, while many other such barques are to-day adopted as the
faithful messengers of orthodox Hinduism and are carrying its message
to the people.
II
Modern movements of religious reform in India have not been wanting in
number or vigour. And they have been largely movements away from
Polytheism, on the one hand, and from Pantheism on the other, toward a
modern Theism. Many intelligent men, and many uneducated, but earnest
souls, have grown weary of their multitudinous pantheon, and of its
hydra-headed idolatry, which charms and debases the masses. In like
manner, many of them have ceased to be satisfied with the unknown
Brahm of Vedantism, and are seeking after a personal Deity, who can
meet the demands of their craving hearts.
There is much of this thought and sentiment still inarticulate among
the upper classes; but it is manifestly growing with the increase of
the years.
This theistic movement, as a growing search after a personal God, is
to be traced definitely to the growth of western thought, and
especially to the direct influence of Christianity. This is no less
true of those theistic movements which are by no means amiably
disposed toward our religion.
The modern theistic movement first found definite expression and
impetus in the life and teaching of that noble son of India, Ram Mohan
Roy, who hailed from the Brahmanic aristocracy of Bengal. He was born
in 1774--just before the birth of American Independence. He studied
well the ancient writings of Hinduism and translated some of the most
important into English. He also searched eagerly and enthusiastically
the Christian Scriptures; for which purpose he made himself familiar
with the Greek and Hebrew languages. So mightily did the New Testament
and its precepts grip him that he wrote and published, in 1819, an
excellent tract, "The Precepts of Jesus the Guide to Peace and
Happiness." This is a remarkable testimony to the ethical preeminence
of the Bible. He later declared that he "believed in the truths of the
Christian religion."
Being unwilling to abide alone in this discovery and in these
convictions, he established, in 1815, the "Atma Sabha," or "Soul
Society," in his own home. This soon developed into a small church,
for which a suitable edifice was erected, that they might worship the
one God free from the contaminating influence of popular idolatry and
Hindu ceremonial.
This truly great man, without the aid of any European missionary, in
the quiet solitude of his own heart, and under the influence of the
Spirit of God, rose to some of the highest truths of Theism, and,
under the mighty influence of Christian literature, became a reformer
of the first order among his people.
But, during a visit to England he sickened, and died in 1833; and the
theistic movement weakened and waned for a few years, deprived of his
leadership and inspiring presence.
It was in 1843 that the Brahmo Somaj of Ram Mohan Roy was united with
another _Sabha_ organized by another great soul, Debendra Nath
Tagore. Under the guidance of this sturdy reformer, the Brahmo Somaj
movement put on new life and energy. Debendra Nath was very devout and
courageous. He was opposed to the religion of his fathers, as
practised by the people. Nevertheless, he was somewhat anchored to the
past. He still clung to the Hindu scriptures and regarded the Vedas as
infallible. Later, however, as these Hindu writings were studied with
more care, his faith in them was considerably shattered, and he began
to deny their supreme authority.
He and the other members of the society here entered upon a great
struggle which ushered them into an "Age of Reason." The Vedas were
abandoned as an ultimate authority, and the Brahmo Somaj, for a time,
became "a Church without a Bible," and without any anchorage but the
higher reason of its members.
In 1852, the society was reorganized. Reason was soon found to be
inadequate as the foundation of faith; and they passed on to an
intuitional basis. That again seemed to be even more unsatisfactory
than reason itself. After a few years, the movement gradually
developed a doctrine of inspiration, when the utterances of the
leaders themselves were regarded as inspired and became the voice of
God to the members. Thus, within a few years, Brahmo Somaj moved
almost in a circle, in its search for a stable anchorage to its faith;
and it returned to a point dangerously near to the Hindu position
which it had left a few years before.
The rapid movement above indicated was chiefly owing to an ardent
youth, who rallied to the support of Debendra Nath, and who gradually
took the reins into his own hands. This young man was Keshub Chunder
Sen; and he soon became the leading figure, certainly the most
striking, in the whole theistic movement of India. He acquired growing
influence over Debendra Nath, became the controlling spirit, and
continued until his death to be the central figure of Theism in India.
Chunder Sen was a great enthusiast, full of intellectual resource,
and, withal, a man of deep spirituality. He was an Oriental of the
Orientals; his mind was of a thoroughly mystic type, and, like the
devout Hindu, he loved the rigours of asceticism, and, in not a few
instances, yielded to the fascinations of the methods of the Yogi.
He was a restless soul. Hinduism had so much that was repulsive to
him; and he felt that polytheism and idolatry had so crushed out of
his people all the beauty of a living faith that he longed to hasten
communication of his message of truth and of life the new and glorious
day of Theism for India. His pace was so much faster than that of
Debendra Nath that it took but a few years to make their separation a
necessity. This took place in 1865. Thereupon, the old society became
known as the "_Athi Somaj_,"--"The Original Somaj,"--while Sen and his
party formed a new organization, which was pretentiously known as "The
Brahmo Somaj of India." This happened in 1866.
The old society settled down into inactivity, lost much of its spirit
of reform, and has never since accomplished much in the realm of
theistic advance.
The new Somaj, however, soon acquired prominence and became the life
and embodiment of the Indian theistic movement.
But Chunder Sen had his serious dangers; and those lay in the very
excess of his virtues.
Hurried on by his intense nature, exalted to power by his brilliant
intellectual qualities, and yearning with a passion for the release of
his beloved India from the religious and spiritual thraldom which he
witnessed all about him, he acquired irresistible charm and power with
his followers, and his words became their undisputed law; and his
deliverances were surcharged with what they regarded as divine
inspiration. And there is no doubt that he soon came to believe
himself to be a direct vehicle of God in the communication of his
message of truth and of life to the world.
Under the influence of this conviction or delusion (whichever one may
choose to call it), he was swept on, and carried with him most of his
followers, into startling novelties of ritual and of organization.
Finally, however, he became so extreme and radical that some of his
principal followers became frightened and grew restless. The occasion
of another split was found in the marriage of Chunder Sen's daughter
to the young Maharaja of Cooch Behar, in 1876. Chunder Sen had worked
heroically for the enactment of a new marriage law for the members of
the Brahmo Somaj, whereby no bride should be married before fourteen
and no bridegroom under eighteen years of age. Yet, in the marriage of
his own daughter, he ignored this law, which was passed chiefly
through his own energy. Notwithstanding the fact that the leader
claimed divine guidance in this affair, his leading followers
attributed the marriage to his weakness and pride.
This led to another secession, in May, 1878, whereby the majority of
the societies and their members broke away from the Sen party and
established the _Sadharna Somaj_--"The Universal Somaj." This schism
was a terrible blow to Mr. Sen; and yet it released him from the
trammels which the dissatisfied had hitherto thrust upon him, and gave
him, among the remnant, an opportunity to launch out on new projects,
and to introduce many religious vagaries, which to most men were
striking and, to many, were shocking. Under the banner of the "New
Dispensation," he practised a varied liturgy and cultivated an unique
ceremonial which seemed to be a close imitation, and almost a mockery,
of some of the most sacred institutions of Christianity and of other
religions.
The schismatic weakness of the theistic movement did not reach its
consummation in this last division. It was almost immediately upon the
death of Keshub Chunder Sen, at the beginning of 1884, that his
immediate family and a few of his followers proclaimed that his spirit
still abode in the Mandir, where he so often spoke, and that no one
should succeed him or speak from the Mandir hereafter!
Within these few short years a new cult had begun to grow around the
person of Chunder Sen, like those around a thousand others well known
in the history of India. He became to some of his followers not only a
great religious teacher, but also something of an incarnation on his
own account, so that it seemed to them blasphemy for any living being
to aspire to speak from the pulpit of the beloved dead master.
His natural successor was Babu Protap Chunder Mozumdar. He protested
against this apotheosis of the departed leader, and insisted upon the
fact that their movement must be open to new light, and must seek
after ever increasing progress and advance. But the family were
obdurate, and the new split became inevitable; and thus Chunder Sen
has passed into the ranks of the Mahatmas of India and will erelong be
promoted to a place among the incarnations of their deities.
Mr. Mozumdar was, intellectually, not inferior to Chunder Sen himself;
and he was possessed of deep earnestness of spirit and of a beautiful
English style (both as a writer and speaker) which commended him and
his cause to the public, and especially to English and American
Theists. He visited the West more than once, and charmed many an
audience of Christian men by his deep sincerity and eloquence.
III
The progress of this Brahmo movement has not been very encouraging.
We have already seen its tendency to schism. There seems very little
in the movement which makes for peace and unity. Any little pique or
difference of views has not only created internal dissension, but also
engendered new sects.
The leaders of the movement have been both able and absolutely devoted
to the theistic cause; but they have not revealed the highest
qualities of leadership, especially that quality which exalts above
the leader himself the principles and the cause which he advocates.
Nor have they imparted to the members of the Somaj that altruistic
fervour which enables them to deny themselves in behalf of their
common cause and purpose.
Numerically, the progress of the Brahmo Somaj has been most
disappointing. At the last census there were only 4050 members. And,
of these, more than three-quarters were in Bengal.
This, however, by no means represents the strength of the movement;
for it is said, with truth, that many who do not register themselves
as Brahmos are in deepest accord with the movement. And it must,
moreover, be remembered that the influence of the society is far in
excess of the numbers represented. For the movement has drawn its
membership, almost exclusively, from the upper class; and the majority
of Brahmos are men of education and of position in society. Moreover,
they joined this movement under the deep conviction of the utter
worthlessness of Hinduism as a way of salvation, and with a purpose to
seek after that which is best in thought and life.
It is this aristocratic character of the movement which has largely
militated against its popularity. Its appeal has been mainly to men
and women of English training. It has not been possessed of any
passion for the multitude; nor has it adequately appreciated the
importance, for its own well-being, of a united endeavour to reach and
bring in the man of the street.
Nevertheless, the movement has been thoroughly permeated with an
Indian spirit. The leaders have been particular in their desire to
exalt and emphasize the Oriental aspect and method, as distinct from
the Occidental. This is the reason why it has been so frequently and
bitterly criticised. It has been judged by western standards and
criticised because it has not squared with western ideals. From time
to time missionaries and other Christian men, seeing no reason, from
their standpoint, why these Brahmo friends should not come over in a
body into the Christian fold, have been impatient with their lack of
response. They failed to understand that, with these western
principles and admiration, there were also eastern thoughts and
prepossessions, and the invaluable inheritance of a past that kept
them aloof from the foreign faith and led them frequently to deliver
themselves vehemently against its most western manifestations. Even
their conception of Christ was a distinctly Oriental one. And they
denied that a man of the West could compare with them of the East in
the deep appreciation of the Christ-character and in loving attachment
to their "Brother" from the East--Jesus of Nazareth.
Yet, the Christian basis of this movement is unmistakable. We have
seen how Ram Mohan Roy received a new baptism of thought and life upon
studying the Christian Scriptures. It gave a new direction and
inspiration to his theistic conceptions.
Chunder Sen found nearly all the inspiration from the Bible; and he
lived under the spell of Christ's own power, and with a passion, such
as few Christians possess, to follow Him and to be a full partaker of
His blessings.
The writer will never forget his own brief visit to Protap Mozumdar,
not long before the latter's death. It was on the eve of Good Friday.
He found this devout man with eighteen of his disciples (one of them
an Oxford graduate) studying together the tender words of our Lord
uttered to His disciples in the Upper Room on the night in which He
was betrayed. They were thus qualifying themselves properly to
commemorate His death on the coming morn. And Mr. Mozumdar gave a
strong lecture on "The Suffering Christ" to a large audience in one of
the city halls on the morrow. The thought occurred to us, how many
Christians had met together that same evening, like these Brahmos, for
the purpose of studying our Lord's Words upon that memorable occasion
and bringing themselves thus _en rapport_ with Him whose atoning death
they were to commemorate? As we parted, it was hardly necessary for
that man of God to say to the writer in pathetic tones, "O, sir, I
only wish you knew how near we are to you in these matters!" Some may
have read that remarkable book, named "The Oriental Christ," written
and published by this same gentleman in 1883. In the preface, he gives
this strikingly beautiful account of his conversion:--
"Nearly twenty years ago, my troubles, studies, and circumstances
forced upon me the question of personal relationship to Christ.... As
the sense of sin grew on me, and with it a deep miserable
restlessness, a necessity of reconciliation between aspiration and
practice, I was mysteriously led to feel a personal affinity to the
Spirit of Christ. The whole subject of the life and death of Christ
had for me a marvellous sweetness and fascination.... Often
discouraged and ridiculed, I persisted in according to Christ a
tenderness of honour which arose in my heart unbidden. I prayed, I
fasted, at Christmas and Easter times. I secretly hunted the
book-shops of Calcutta to gather the so-called likenesses of Christ. I
did not know, I cared not to think, whither all this would lead....
About the year 1867 ... I was almost alone in Calcutta. My inward
trials and travails had really reached a crisis. It was a week-day
evening, I forget the date now. The gloomy and haunted shades of
summer evening had suddenly thickened into darkness.... I sat near the
large lake in the Hindu College compound.... A sobbing, gusty wind
swam over the water's surface.... I was meditating upon the state of
my soul, on the cure of all spiritual wretchedness, the brightness and
peace unknown to me, which was the lot of God's children. I prayed and
besought Heaven. I cried and shed hot tears.... Suddenly it seemed to
me, let me own it was revealed to me, that close to me there was a
holier, more blessed, most loving personality upon which I must repose
my troubled head. Jesus lay discovered in my heart as a strange,
human, kindred love, as a repose, a sympathetic consolation, an
unpurchased treasure, for which I was freely invited. The response of
my nature was unhesitating and immediate. Jesus, from that day, to me
became a reality whereon I might lean. It was an impulse then, a flood
of light, love, and consolation. It is no longer an impulse now. It is
a faith and principle; it is an experience verified by a thousand
trials ... a character, a spirit, a holy, sacrificed, exalted self,
whom I recognize as the true Son of God. According to my humble
light, I have always tried to be faithful to this inspiration. I have
been aided, confirmed, encouraged by many, and most of all by one. My
aspiration has been not to speculate on Christ, but to be what Jesus
tells us all to be.... I shall be content if what I say in these pages
at all tends to give completeness to any man's ideas of the life and
ministry of Jesus Christ.... In the midst of these crumbling systems
of Hindu error and superstition, in the midst of these cold, spectral
shadows of transition, secularism, and agnostic doubt, to me Christ
has been like the meat and drink of my soul. His influences have woven
round me for the last twenty years or more, and, outside the fold of
Christianity as I am, have formed a new fold, wherein I find many
besides myself."
Chunder Sen also abundantly expressed himself concerning the Christ,
His mission, and message. But to him, again, it is an Asiatic Christ;
and He must be accepted in a truly Oriental, yes, even in a Hindu,
way. He says:--
"It is not the Christ of the Baptists, nor the Christ of the
Methodists, but the Christ sent by God, the Christ of love and
meekness, of truth and self-sacrifice, whom the world delights to
honour. If you say we must renounce our nationality and all the
purity and devotion of eastern faith for sectarian and western
Christianity, we shall say most emphatically, No. It is _our_ Christ,
_Asia's_ Christ, you have come to return to us. The East gratefully
and lovingly welcomes back her Christ. But we shall not have your
Christianity, which suits not the spirit of the East. Our religion is
the religion of harmony."
In further enforcement of this Oriental character he continues:--
"Was not Jesus Christ an Asiatic? Yes, and His disciples were
Asiatics, and all the agencies primarily employed for the propagation
of the Gospel were Asiatic. In fact, Christianity was founded and
developed by Asiatics and in Asia. When I reflect on this, my love for
Jesus becomes a hundred fold intensified; I feel Him nearer my heart,
and deeper in my national sympathies.... And is it not true that an
Asiatic can read the imageries and allegories of the Gospel, and its
descriptions of the natural sceneries, of customs and manners, with
greater interest and a fuller perception of their force and beauty
than an European?... The more this greater fact is pondered, the less,
I hope, will be the antipathy and hatred of European Christians
against Oriental nationalities, and the greater the interest of the
Asiatics in the teachings of Christ. And thus in Christ, Europe and
Asia, the East and the West, may learn to find harmony and unity...."
And let it not be supposed that Mr. Sen was altogether wanting in an
appreciation of the higher significance and vicarious efficacy of the
death of Christ. Concerning this, he observes:--
"Humanity was lost in Adam, but was recovered in Christ. He was the
world's atonement....
"His death on the cross affords the highest practical illustration of
self-sacrifice. He sacrificed His life for the sake of truth and the
benefit of the world. In obedience to the will of His Father, He laid
down His life, and said, Thy will be done! And surely there is deeper
meaning in the fact than even the orthodox attach to it, that the
death of Christ is the life of the world...."
In many of the lectures which he gave, and in many of the articles
which he wrote, we have evidence of the wonderful place which Christ
had in his heart and of the power which He exercised over his
thoughts. He exclaims:--
"Blessed Jesus, immortal Child of God! For the world He lived and
died. May the world appreciate Him and follow His precepts!... All
through my inner being I see Christ. He is no longer to me a doctrine,
or a dogma, but, with Paul, I cry, 'for me to live is Christ!'" On
another occasion he says:--
"Where, then, is Christ now? He is living in all Christian lives, and
in all Christian influences at work around us.... You cannot resist
His influence; you may deny His doctrines, you may even hate and
repudiate His name, but He goes straight into your hearts, and leavens
your lives."
Other leaders of this movement are imbued with the same spirit. The
editor of the New Dispensation remarks:--
"As a matter of fact the Brahmoists have accepted Christian truth in a
more special sense than Hindus, or even some Christian sects, have any
idea of.... The organization of the Brahmo Somaj of India is framed
upon an essentially Christian basis. Its missionary staff is
Christian, being guided entirely by the principle of 'Take no thought
for the morrow.' In its mission office, mottoes are found upon the
walls which are all Christian. Almost every Brahmo household has a
picture of Christ. The only Life of Jesus in Bengali is by a
missionary of the Brahmo Somaj of India. Its truly evangelistical
work, the life and conversation of its members, breathe distinctly
the spirit and influence of Christ...."
Another Theist writes:--
"Reverently have I sat at the feet of the Jesus of the Gospels to
learn the exalted ethics of the Sermon on the Mount. But Jesus, other
than a moral force, _the truer and higher Jesus_, long remained a
sealed book to me. Who could know the veritable Christ of God without
light from above?...
"Jesus forms the heart-blood of many a Brahmo.... We are ready to
sacrifice anything if only by that we are enabled to love and cherish
Jesus in our hearts.... The Brahmo Somaj is born to honour and revere
Jesus, whatever the result may be."
From these quotations, which might be multiplied indefinitely, it may
be seen that the movement has been, to a considerable extent, under
the Christ spell and imbued with much of His Spirit. Inasmuch,
however, as the movement is an avowedly eclectic one, the Brahmoist
was never willing to rest completely under the Christ influence. He
gave to Christ, perhaps, a supreme place, but not a unique position,
in his life and thought. Jesus was to him one of many, though perhaps
a _primus inter pares_.
It is this eclectic character of the Brahmo Somaj which has robbed it
of much of its power. It may seem, at first, a very fine thing to
collect, classify, and codify the best from many religions and dignify
them as a religion. But that can never become a unified message of
life to any people. It may be ethically immaculate, but it has no
vital power. The distinctive, life-giving, and inspiring element of
every faith has been eliminated, and only the common, unimpassioned,
and uninspiring elements have been retained.
Moreover, Brahmos have failed to realize that Theism, as such, has
never satisfied any people as a way of salvation. It is doubtless a
correct apprehension of the Divine Being. But religion requires a
great deal more than this in the way of exhibiting the characteristics
of the Deity, and especially of revealing His attitude toward, and His
work for, mankind, before it can possess and reveal the potency of a
saving faith.
It would seem as if this movement, up to the present time, has just
missed its mark and failed of achieving greatness and power. As we
have seen, the leaders have exalted our Lord in a wonderful way, and
have exhibited even a passion for Him in some ways. And yet they have
robbed Him of the distinct uniqueness of His nature and of His work
for man. They are first eclectics, and then they are rigid Unitarians,
and lastly they are Christians. They need to reverse this order so as
to add efficiency and potency to the Brahmo Somaj.
It is a significant fact that Chunder Sen, with all his declared love
for Christ and his great admiration for Him and His work, mentioned
neither the name nor the saving work of Jesus in the final creed of
the New Dispensation. That creed is as follows:--
"One God, one Scripture, one Church.
Eternal Progress of the Soul.
Communion of Prophets and Saints.
Fatherhood and Motherhood of God;
Brotherhood of Man and Sisterhood of Woman.
Harmony of Knowledge and Holiness, Love and Work;
Yoga and Asceticism in their highest development.
Loyalty to Sovereign."
It must not be forgotten, however, that this movement deserves much
more our commendation than our criticism. It is a noble endeavour to
pass out of an inherited bondage, a debased creed, a demoralized
pantheon, and an all-embracing superstition, into the full wisdom and
blessing of a correct vision of God and Duty. If they have failed of
the best, they are, nevertheless, with their faces turned toward it.
And there is every hope that a kind Providence, through the
instrumentality of Christian thought and western civilization, will
lead them unto it. If they have not accepted our western Christianity,
it may be that God has something better in store for them, in training
them toward the realization of that form of Christian life and thought
which will not only be more in consonance with Indian taste and
ideals, but will also grip the country in such a way as the western
type of our faith has not yet been able to do, and _seems_ incapable
of doing.
IV
The Arya Somaj is a movement somewhat kindred to the Brahmo Somaj, in
so far as it is a definite protest against modern Hinduism and is
theistic in its teaching. The Theism of this Somaj, however, is quite
different in character from that of the Brahmos.
Dayanand Saraswati was a Brahman, born in the Gujarati country about
1825. He developed into a man of keen intellect and of deep
convictions. He also studied the Christian Scriptures and was
slightly versed in the Hindu Shastras. He became dissatisfied with
the Pantheism of his mother faith; the caste system grated upon his
nerves, and the idolatry and the superstitions of the land, and
especially the gross immorality of the people, roused him to deep
thought and activity. He appealed to the Pandits, but found no
sympathy or help from them. He found his Theism in the Vedas
themselves, and ever after proclaimed, with great vehemence, that the
God of the Vedas was one and was a personal God; and he found an easy
way of interpreting those ancient books in harmony with his
convictions!
Jesus Christ did not appeal to him in the least. Indeed, he indulges
in very cheap and gross criticism of the life of our Lord. His
attitude toward Christianity was not at all kindly; indeed, the
movement, up to the present, has been distinguished for nothing more
than its hostility to the Christian religion. Nevertheless, it is
doubtless true that some of the best ideas that Dayanand possessed
were gleaned from the Bible; and the Arya Somaj has learned and
inculcates some of the important lessons of our faith.
When Dayanand found no encouragement in his appeal to the Pandits, he
turned ultimately to the people and founded, in 1875, the Arya Somaj
at Bombay. And from the first the movement has been a popular one,
addressing itself to the masses and seeking to bring them over to its
way of thinking and living. In this it has been, as we have seen,
entirely removed from the Brahmo Somaj, which has been too content to
remain a religion of the classes. Like the other movement, however, it
has been largely local in its spread and influence. Of its one hundred
thousand members at the present time, more than 70 per cent are in the
United Provinces, and nearly all the remainder are in the Panjaub.
Moreover, it has recently gathered its recruits mainly from the
educated classes, among whom the higher castes largely prevail; nearly
four-fifths of the Aryas are said to be of the twice-born castes,
which is a very significant fact. So that both in its popular
character and methods, as well as in the high social position and
educational training of its members and in its rapidly growing
numbers, the Arya Somaj is a movement of considerable importance.
The principles of this Somaj, as enunciated in its creed, are not such
as to grip men with power. They emphasize the unity of God, the
infallibility of the Vedas; and the general aim of the Somaj is "to
do good to the world by improving the physical, social, intellectual,
moral, and spiritual condition of mankind." Its moral code is of a
high order.
It is thoroughly national in its spirit, and makes much capital out of
the present spirit of racial antagonism. It is a significant fact that
during the recent season of "Unrest" the government regarded the Arya
Somaj as a hotbed of sedition and a nourisher of hostility to the West
and to western things.
The Arya Somaj is awake to the importance of training men as
messengers of its Gospel of Theism. It has established a _Guru Kula_
at the foot of the Himalayas, where quite a number of young men are
being trained in its doctrines and supplied with its enthusiasms. From
this theological seminary many have already gone forth, in the
orthodox style of religious mendicancy, to impart their teaching and
spread their movement far and wide, without any expense to the
society.
There is to-day, in North India, no enemy to the Christian cause so
wide awake and so bitter as the Arya Somaj. It is so thoroughly
national in its spirit, is so compactly organized, and lends itself
so easily to the racial and political agitation of the day, that
Christianity finds in it its greatest foe in those regions.
Let it not be thought, however, that we do not appreciate the living
spark of theistic truth which this movement represents, combined, as
it is, with hostility to the caste system, which is India's greatest
curse, and its antagonism to many of the superstitions and unworthy
ceremonials of the ancestral faith.
That movement must not be condemned too severely which is a bulwark
against drink, caste, idolatry, early marriages, and which vigorously
promotes female education, the remarriage of widows, and various
philanthropic institutions.
V
It may not be improper to close this chapter with a reference to the
Theosophical Society in India. It is true that the leaders of this
movement, which was established in America in 1875, and transplanted
into India a short time afterward, disavow its claim to being a
religion; though that claim was definitely made and warmly pushed a
quarter of a century ago. It is now extolled by its members as "the
cement of faiths," "the harmonizer of religions." It is said that
Arya Somaj became affiliated with it in 1879, though we have seen no
result of this affiliation.
The objects of Theosophy are said to be three: (1) The establishment
of a universal brotherhood. (2) The study of ancient languages. (3)
Investigation of the hidden mysteries of nature and the latent
psychical forces of man.
These aims seem thoroughly worthy, though the last mentioned, under
its original founders, led to mystical claptrap, and to the abuse of
the strong superstitious instincts of India.
The society was founded by a Russian adventuress, Madame Blavatsky,
and by an American soldier, Colonel Olcott, who was the easy tool, if
not the accomplice, of his clever and unscrupulous associate.
In the early history of the movement, at its headquarters in Madras,
Madame Blavatsky gathered around her a numerous coterie of ardent
Hindus, whom she duped with various tricks and seances. This was with
a view to convincing them of her constant communication with
_Koothoomi_ and various other Tibetan Mahatmas, of whom she seemed to
be the special agent! These and other similar performances might have
continued had it not been for her French accomplices, who quarrelled
with her, because she did not pay them adequately, and who exposed her
mercilessly. The whole matter was published in the _Madras Christian
College Magazine_, and the Russian lady was speedily sent away from
India to the West for a judicious season of rest. The leaders of
Theosophy have never been unwilling to impose upon the stupendous
credulity of their Indian followers.
Nevertheless, it is undeniable that, with all its failings, Theosophy
has exercised considerable influence upon the educated classes in this
country. This has resulted largely through its readiness to utilize
the recent movement of the people toward higher political privileges
and their deep spirit of religious unrest.
Since the advent of Mrs. Besant, the society has been largely moulded
by her erratic powers. She has not hesitated to use her ability and
influence toward the creation and the development of a strong
reactionary religious spirit throughout the land. She has bitterly
denounced every tendency among the people toward Christianity. By her
eloquence, which is remarkable, she has extolled the faith of India,
and has revived and embalmed many of its worst features which were
rapidly passing away; and has even defended idolatry and kindred evils
by trying to harmonize them with modern and scientific ideas! She has
herself become practically a Hindu, expounds Hindu doctrines, and
practises Hindu ceremonies. She has persistently maintained eastern
thought and customs as against western, and has thus endeared herself
to English-speaking Hindus, who regard her as the goddess Saraswati
herself, and are willing to give her a place in their pantheon as one
of the great defenders of their faith against the mighty influences of
the West!
In this matter, Mrs. Besant may be said to have caused irreparable
injury to the people, as she has helped to arrest the tendency toward
religious reform and progress, and has rendered articulate and given
power and expression to the reactionary spirit which is now so rampant
in India. More than any other person, and chiefly because she is of
the West, and speaks in the accents of the West, she has antagonized
progress in this land, not only religiously but also socially, and has
done the greatest disservice to the people of India. In her eyes,
Hindu philosophy and ritual, Hindu institutions and domestic life,
have practically nothing to learn from the West, and need only to be
known in order to be appreciated and loved!
This, doubtless, in good part, accounts for her present popularity.
Yet, one cannot fail to recognize the value of some things which she
is doing. She has recently begun to speak with some emphasis upon
lines of reform. She has been instrumental in stirring within the
people a wider desire for higher education; though one can hardly
understand why she has done so much for the establishment of a college
for men, and has done practically nothing to advance the educational
interests of her much-neglected sex in India.
Upon the death of Colonel Olcott, the President Founder of Theosophy,
in 1907, Mrs. Besant became his successor. So far as the Indian vote
was concerned, this was a foregone conclusion; since her avowed
sympathy with Hinduism in all its forms had gained for her a strong
place in the Hindu heart.
The method by which she was elected, however, is suggestive of the
future course of the movement in India.
When nearing death, Colonel Olcott was induced by Mrs. Besant to
invoke and to consult the "Masters"--the convenient ghosts of the
dead--with a view to a choice of his successor in office. There was no
doubt about his preference for the Englishwoman. The Mahatmas wisely
agreed with the Colonel and Mrs. Besant, and a powerful fulcrum was
secured for lifting her into the presidency. And Mrs. Besant to-day
claims that it is better for her to have been chosen by the dead than
to have been elected by the living. Upon her inauguration, she
insisted upon it that all Theosophists must cling to the "Masters" and
adhere to their decisions.
If we mistake not, this marks the beginning of a new era in
Theosophy,--at least in India,--an era during which the movement will
be entirely directed and worked by those who are the authorized
mouthpieces of the glorified dead! Thus the movement is fairly
launched upon a course which will inevitably lead it to something very
much akin to a religion, with its accumulated mysteries and with a
host of propelling superstitions of its own. More than any other land,
India will lend itself admirably to the development and the
propagation of such a cult.
Theosophy is not represented by a very large number of organizations
and members. But the movement has the sympathy of many who have not
taken upon them its name; and the society, at the present time, is
certainly in favour with a large number of the educated classes.
Orthodox pandits, however, are thoroughly suspicious of the movement;
and Mrs. Besant's recent attempts to thrust upon them her own
interpretations of certain Hindu doctrines--interpretations, too,
which are foreign to their own--has led to a spirit of opposition,
where but recently appreciation and favour existed.
Theosophy, as a harmonizer of faiths, is not likely to accomplish much
that will be permanently good. Religions to-day have lost much of
their asperity one toward the other. The study of Comparative Religion
has led men everywhere to magnify the assonances, rather than the
dissonances, of the Great World Faiths. Theosophy magnifies into a
cult this function of bringing religions together. It ignores,
however, the fundamental differences which exist, brings all faiths
into the same equational value, and assumes that they are equally
effective as ways of salvation.
With such profound ignorance of the essential qualities of the faiths
which are to be harmonized, and with a placid assumption that these
religions are of the same efficacy, only to different peoples, it is
impossible to see how Theosophy can ever render a service to any of
the faiths or to the people who are their adherents which will not
ultimately prove a disservice to all. Peace without truth, like peace
without honour, will not ultimately redound to the promotion of
religion or to the salvation of men.
Whatever Theosophy may render toward the development of an Oriental
literature will depend largely upon its attitude toward truth and
religion in general, and toward Hinduism and Christianity in
particular. Its bitter attitude toward Christianity in the past does
not encourage one to believe that hereafter the literature fostered by
it will be either very impartial or very sane. And yet we shall be
thankful for anything it may accomplish in the preservation of
Sanskrit manuscripts and in the development of a wholesome literature
of any kind on lines purely Oriental.