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440 And, in their turn, they contributed variety to the Aryan Samaj.

Later there came another and more prolonged period of disruption. So long as Buddhism prevailed, there was intimate commerce between India and every kind of foreigner. Such intimacy was far more serious for her than any conflict, for, in the absence of the latter, the instinct of self-preservation is not awake, and indiscriminate mingling threatens to turn into disorganisation. That is what happened in the Buddhist age. During that Asia-wide religious inundation, widely differing ideals and institutions found entry unchecked.

But even when weltering in that vast chaos, India’s genius for synthesis did not desert her. With all that she had before, and all that had come upon her, she set to work to reconstruct her Samaj afresh, and in the midst of all this multifarious diversity she preserved and consolidated her unity of Ideal. Even now many ask, where in all these self-contradicting mutually-conflicting differences is the unity of the Hindu religion, of the Hindu Samaj? It is difficult to give a clear answer. The larger the circumference, the harder it is to locate the centre, but nevertheless the centre exists. We may not be able to lay our finger on the spot, but each one of us knows that the unity is there.

Then came the Mohamedans. It cannot be said that they had no effect on our Samaj. Synthetical re-actions began almost immediately, and a common ground was in course of preparation where the boundary lines between Hindu and Muslim were growing fainter and fainter. The followers of Nanak, of Kabir, and the lower orders of Vaishnavas are cases in point. But our educated classes do not keep in touch with the makings and breakings which are going on beneath the surface of the Samaj, among the common people. Had they done so they would have known that these re-actions have even now not ceased to work.

There has lastly come yet another religion with its different manners, customs and educational methods. And so now all the four great religions of the world are here together— Hinduism, Buddhism, Mohamedanism and Christianity. It is evident that India is God’s chemical factory for the making of a supreme religious synthesis.

Here, however, we must take note of one thing. The long and thorough disorganisation which characterised the Buddhist age, left behind it a shrinking timidity in the succeeding Hindu Samaj—an utter dread of novelty or change— which still peisists. This constant fearfulness is hampering its further progress, and makes it difficult for it to rise superior to obstacles. Any Samaj, which concentrates all its attention on sheer self-preservation, cannot freely move or act and comes to a state of death in life.

The barriers within which the Hindu Samaj then entrenched itself with all it could gather together, caused India to lose her place in the world. Once India was the world’s guru, for her free thought ranged fearlessly over religion, philosophy and science, far and wide. But from that high seat she is now deposed,—and that because fear has entered into her soul.

Our timidity has caused us to stop all voyaging on the high seas,—whether of water or of wisdom. We belonged to the universe but have relegated ourselves to the parish. Our shakti has become the womanish shakti of thrift and conservation, and our masculine adventurous curiosity has owned defeat. Our treasure, which used to multiply by commerce, is now hoarded in the zenana store-room, it increases no longer, and whatever we may lose out of it is lost for good.

We must realise that every nation is a member of humanity and each must render an account of what it has created for the weal of mankind. By the measure of such contribution does each nation gain its place. When any nation loses its creative power, it hangs limp like a paralysed limb, for there is no virtue in mere continued existence.

India never fought for domination, nor scrambled for spoils. China, Japan and Tibet, who are so careful to bar their windows against the advances of Europe, welcomed India with open arms as their