(d) Another marked feature of the religious life of India, at present, is the existence there of several new cults or religions. They not only add picturesqueness to the religious situation, they also reveal the unrest of the people and their desire for something better than the orthodox faith of their fathers furnishes them.
Sacred Tank In Madura Temple.
Hospital For Men, American Madura Mission.
Having become dissatisfied and disgusted with their ancestral religion, they are striving in every possible way, short of being Christians, to seek for [pg 349] something better and higher. This is what we should expect. In the many schools and colleges of the land the subtle metaphysics of the East is supplanted by the modern philosophy of the West; their own bewildering ancient rules of logic are replaced by the more rational processes of the West. So that every university matriculate and graduate of India is today crammed with ideas, and trained in methods of thinking, which make a belief in practical Hinduism and in much of its philosophy an impossibility, if not an absurdity.
Thus we see in that land today a number of movements and organizations which are a protest against orthodox Hinduism and are carrying the people, in thought and sympathy, from the past to the present, from the old to the new. Most of these movements are merely half-way houses between Hinduism and Christianity. They are with faces more or less turned towards the light and possess the progressive spirit which, in some cases, cannot fail of landing their members, at no distant date in the Christian fold. For instance, we have in western India the Prartanei Somaj (prayer society); in north India the Arya Somaj (Aryan society), and in Bengal the Brahmo Somaj (society of God).
These are healthy movements, away from a general, old-fashioned view of religious things. Take, for example, the Brahmo Somaj. Though not as large in membership as the Arya Somaj it represents more culture and power. Nearly all the members are men of education and of western training, and represent much more influence than their number (4,000) would suggest. Their new faith is an eclecticism. [pg 350] It has adopted a little of Hinduism and of Buddhism and of Mohammedanism and a great deal of Christianity. The movement, especially that progressive branch which was under the leadership of Protab Chunder Mozumdar, is largely Christian in drift and spirit. Mozumdar accepts Christ, though not in the fullness of belief in His divinity or in His atoning work; nevertheless with an amount of appreciation, affection, devotion and loyalty not met even among many Western Christians today. His book on “The Oriental Christ” is full of appreciation and reveals a wonderful knowledge of the eastern Christ from an Eastern standpoint. I shall not be surprised to see the members of this society landing, at an early date, through a full confession of Christ, in membership of the Christian Church.
In the meanwhile it is disappointing to find this organization divided, already, into so many mutually antagonistic sects. It is also a reason for regret that Mozumdar, who is a man of great culture, intelligence and deep spiritually, has recently relinquished the leadership of the movement. Having retired to the Himalayas, he communicates his reasons in these truly oriental, pathetic and pessimistic words:
“Age and sickness get the better of me in these surroundings, I cannot work as I would—contemplation is distracted, concentration disturbed, though I struggle ever so much. These solitudes are hospitable; these breadths, heights and depths are always suggestive. I acquire more spirit with less struggle, hence I retire.