Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/152

 of duty, both to acquire and to exemplify character. It is the formation of that habit which becomes a second nature — a prime force of life. Hence, character is something sub-conscious, if I may us© the expression—something that is formed in the unseen foundations of human life. It is the construction, not in the glare of broad day-light, but in the seclusion of reflective meditation, of a strong marble bed-rock on which are fixed the bases of practical life. And this, in its turn, ope- rates as one of those mysterious forces which guarantee the enduring stability of the life of the whole world. Now it takes the form of insight, then of disinterestedness, next of inspiring vigour, again of uncompromising self-assertion, and once again of unreserved self-surrender. But whatever be the particular expression it wears, in its essence it is the sense, the strong, abiding, quickening sense, of the ought, of the right. Like the unfailing attraction between the magnet and the needle, the sense of the ought,