It is necessary, however, to distinguish between religion and _a_ religion, quite as much as in another branch of philosophy we have to distinguish between language and _a_ language or many languages. A man may accept _a_ religion, he may be converted to the Christian religion, and he may change his own particular religion from time to time, just as he may speak different languages. But in order to have _a_ religion, a man must have religion. He must once _at least_ in his life have looked beyond the horizon of this world, and carried away in his mind an impression of the Infinite, which will never leave him again. A being satisfied with the world of sense, unconscious of its finite nature, undisturbed by the limited or negative character of all perceptions of the senses, would be incapable of any religious concepts. Only when the finite character of all human knowledge has been received is it possible for the human mind to conceive that which is beyond the Finite, call it what you like, the Beyond, the Unseen, the Infinite, the Supernatural, or the Divine. That step must have been taken before religion of any kind becomes possible. What kind of religion it will be, depends on the character of the race which elaborates it, its surroundings in nature, and its experience in history. Now we may seem to know a great many religions--I speak here, of course, of ancient religions only, of what are sometimes called national or autochthonous religions--not of those founded in later times by individual prophets or reformers. Yet, among those ancient religions we seldom know, what after all is the most important point, their origin and their gradual growth. The Jewish religion is represented to us as perfect and complete from the very first, and it is with great difficulty that we can discover its real beginnings and its historical growth. And take the Greek and the Roman religions, take the religions of the Teutonic, Slavonic, or Celtic tribes, and you will find that their period of growth has always passed, long before we know them, and that from the time we know them, all their changes are purely _metamorphic_--changes in form of substances ready at hand. Now let us look to the ancient inhabitants of India. With them, first of all, religion was not only _one_ interest by the side of many. It was the all-absorbing interest; it embraced not only worship and prayer, but what we call philosophy, morality, law, and government--all was pervaded by religion. Their whole life was to them a religion--everything else was, as it were, a mere concession made to the ephemeral requirements of this life. What then can we learn from the ancient religious literature of India, or from the Veda?