Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/210

 warmest advocate of Hinduism, the distinction between the three schools of thought and belief reaches down to the fundamental conceptions of the nature or attributes of God, the relation of the universe to the Prime Cause, and the ultimate destiny of man—not to speak of the many minor, though significant, points of divergence, we fail to see how one can set aside the Hon'ble Mr. P. Chenchal Rao Pantulu's conclusion, now become almost classical in its expression, that "Hinduism is an encyclopaedia of religions." It cannot be that the erudite Madhavacharya was conjuring slender shades into imposing figures in his Sarvadarsana-Sangraham. However, we have no mind to discount any laudable desire to narrow the gulf between the diverse 'creeds' of man. But this noble end can be accomplished only by setting the spirit free from the fetters of dogma and by sifting the essential from the non-essential, the eternal from the transcient, in human faith.—As regards th 'allegory intended to justify the worship of Siva or