Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 1.djvu/432

382 They are, therefore, better situated for realising the underlying link within all human activity. If there was a soul which trembled sensitive to nationalism, it was Bapaiya’s. He at times would exclaim, ‘0, how our young friends are running after one thing! When will they seek for the other things?’ The balancing of all things constitutes the variegated richness of a person like Bapaiya. Unconditioned appreciation of goodness and truth is characterised by one thing all the world over—singleness of purpose. When Marcus Aurelius was asked why he w'as good, he said, ‘I am good because that is the natural condition of man.’ The rule of life is conviction but not calculation. Out of that conviction there comes a crisis. The only pause before it is the feeling, ‘ Am I equal to the task, or how shall I be made equal to it? ’Hence the prayer to God for firmer determination; and then and thence the crossing of the Rubicon! This, is the secret of our friend’s anushtanic Brahmaism. Outward conventional considerations never weigh w'ith a person like him. It is a