Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/63

 conceptions of unity produced by a different method. Political organizations also generate an idea of unity. Uniformity of customs and manners generates the conception, but it does not take root vigorously unless there is also a realization of contrast, separating the like from the unlike. People who worship the same god or adhere to the precepts of the same teacher begin to have a conception of unity. In this way the people who are living under the empire of a "religion" or "sampradāya” have a conception of unity. They begin to differentiate themselves from those who do not belong to the religion or sampradāya. As far as the Christian and Mohamedan peoples are concerned, they started their propaganda with a conception of their differentiation from other peoples, and of the unity of the persons of the same faith. In course of time the persons enclosed in the same fold increased in numbers, by taking in foreigners into the same fold. The conception of unity did not become larger, but the class of people enclosed in the group formulated by the conception became more widened, and remained definite. They had a conception of the difference between themselves and the other people, and the same has continued its existence. The nature of religions” has been essentially one of separatism, and not of union. That is, societies living under a religion (sampradāya), whatever sympathy they may have for the members within the fold, essentially separate or at least try to separate the members from the unbelievers, inspiring into the members a spirit of unity within the fold and of distinction from the rest. When the fact is taken into consideration, the claims to cosmopolitanism, and unification which are often made by those who are living under a "religion," should sound satirical; but our