Page:The Autobiography of Maharshi Devendranath Tagore.djvu/62

14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF "had no greater authority and inspiration than the Upanishads had for Maharshi Devendranath. They nourished and deepened every faculty in him."The Brahma of the Upanishads was the God of his worship, and it was from Brahma that the Samaj derived its name. The direct communion of the human soul with the Supreme Spirit was the most salient point of his teachings. No gurus or prophets stand between our soul and our God. We see Him face to face, and hear His voice in the innermost depths of our conscience. The Divinity of Jesus Christ, Christ the only Mediator and Saviour of mankind, such doctrines were repugnant to his austere Monotheism. As regards social reformation, he was for adopting a slow and cautious policy, a policy of conciliation; he was in favour of leaving such reforms as were really required to the influence of time, and to the effect of the teachings of a pure religion.

Keshab, on the other hand, was a reformer of a more pronounced type. Though for many years he had sat at the feet of the Maharshi, a time came when he could no longer pull together with his conservatism. Intermarriage, remarriage of widows, abolition of caste distinctions, all these questions of radical reform were started and discussed. On these questions, it would seem, my father yielded as far as his conservatism would permit, but when he thought that Keshab's disciples were going too far he drew