Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/111

 of the body, there is the indolence, the listless, do-nothing temper of the mind and the heart that affords room for low thoughts and base feelings. As in the physical world it is said that, where one atom exists, another atom cannot exist in the same place and at the same time, so it is the preoccupation with a noble ideal that keeps out the baser thoughts and the coarser feelings. It is, therefore, not the duty of merely weeding out unworthy sentiments; rather, it is the duty of the active cultivation of purity, the steady pursuit of an ennobling ideal, that you have to address yourselves to. You are all young men with a long, long vista, a far-stretching avenue, of life before you. None of you can say, what may be said in the case of one like me, 'Time is short' and I cannot apply myself to this pro- longed, arduous task, You have the whole future before you. Employ yourselves in some worthy task, some sacred trust, and to that goal direct your whole attention and the entire force of your