Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 1.djvu/430

380 character were : its apparent determinateness to one particular course and its apparent accommodating tendency to various things. And, in fact, it is the case with every great man. It is the incapability to understand the various sides of man that creates unpleasant criticism. But Bapaiya was wide awake to the necessity of spiritual progress and of social reform. Often such a person appears self-contradictory. Take a leader like Mr. Veeresalingam Pantulu. The man who praised him yesterday runs him down to-day. This incapability to understand creates petty differences and unpleasant criticisms. What is true of Mr. Veeresalingam Pantulu is also true of Bapaiya. In his narrow compass of life he could bring various susceptibilities into marvellous harmony. Where thers was a call for human exertion and progress, there was his heart. No wonder that his many-sidedness handed him over to occasional misconstruction by others. Even in relation to the Deity, excepting those few select souls who invariably honour Him, we all cling to Him on one side; but directly the other side