Life and religion of the Hindoos. : $b With a sketch of my life and experience.Gangooly, Joguth Chunder
Religion
Life and religion of the Hindoos. : $b With a sketch of my life and experience.
Gangooly, Joguth Chunder
Hindus; India -- Social life and customs
How much Christianity is needed to regenerate the Hindoos will be shown
when I treat of their idolatrous worship, festivals, etc., in the
following pages. The great mass of the people, properly speaking, have
no idea of God, true humanity, and a future life. In this country, I
notice the death of men does not excite so great a horror as it does
among the Hindoos. A Christian mother calmly resigns herself to the
decree of her God, and commits her treasures to His safe keeping; for
she has hopes of meeting them again in her “Father’s mansion.” But I
have seen Hindoo mothers who in their ignorance beat their breast, and
curse their gods, at the death of their children! They believe that
death breaks the chain of love and affection forever! My mother is in
the habit (as is common with the Hindoo women) of weeping over the sad
remembrance of her lost children and brother: and I used to comfort
her by saying, there is a future state where they from the east, west,
north, and south will meet in their common home. Indeed, Brahminism
is dry, mysterious, sensual, contradictory in itself, and, with its
various forms, pleases the senses, but does not meet the thirst of
spirituality. It does not, or rather cannot, guide the mistaken, humble
the proud, comfort the sorrowing, and teach us in all the vicissitudes
of life to repose our trust in the saying, “_Thy will be done_.”
It has sanctioned the worship of _thirty-three million_ of gods
and goddesses, most of whom you will find in this world, and in the
sky. Of course the Brahmuns say they do not worship these hand-made
idols; these are only the representatives of the unseen deities; but
the lower castes, the large portion of the people, take them for the
gods themselves. I admit the Brahminical ordinances have some hidden
beauty underlying them; but the time has come when everything which
aims to promote the temporal or spiritual condition of man ought to be
as clear as spring, as accessible as air, and as bright as the sun.
Certainly the time has come for the dim lights, here and there, to be
absorbed by the great salutary Light,--for the return of the erring
children to their Father’s home, that they may bend their knees before
the throne of Grace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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