Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/51

 baptism. When they use the word "Khrista-márga," ("path of Christ") they mean the path which Christ advised His disciples to follow in order to secure eternal bliss. They look upon "Christianity” in the same way as they look upon different sampradāyas under Hinduism, like Jainism, Mahānubhāva and others. The word "mārga" means "the way." These mārgas are divided on various principles.

They are called after the teacher or expounder, or after the doctrine. The latter nomenclature only is adopted by intelligent men. According to the doctrine there is a threefold division of the mārgas, i.e., knowledge, devotion, and action. The orthodox school or the Vedanta school thinks that the eternal bliss can be reached by knowledge only, The Bhāgavata school laid stress on Bhakti or devotion, but they consider devotion as merely a preparation to accept the path of knowledge. They would say that the theories of Vedanta are too difficult for ignorant people, and before they could attain the stage, proper for the acceptance of knowledge as a path to eternal bliss they would go astray. Even Tukārāma, the great advocate of devotion, has said : The end (the knowledge and attainment of Brahma) is all that it is necessary to attain, and all the troubles (of worship and prayer) are only prior to it; those who know the path directly are rare among men. The Karma-mārga, which consists of following the Vedic practices, held nearly the same attitude. The path of knowledge is considered the supreme one, a path beyond the reach of ignorant persons.

Hindu theologians who have studied Christianity have found that the Khrista-mārga is nothing but the mārga of devotion. They thus expect that those Christians who