Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/220

 perform good acts and simply to render kind offices to those around us, do not constitute a truly religious life. Him we regard as religious whose soul, turning away from all that is worldly, draws nearer and nearer unto Him who is supreme over us all. Him we recognise as a pious man whose words, thoughts and deeds have God for their goal and proceed from Him as their prime source. Him we esteem as a devout man who centres his whole interest in things of enduring goodness and loves them, not with a utilitarian calculation, but for their own dear sake as God's self-manifestations. Now, is it possible for anyone to be religious in this sense without being in direct touch with the great Fountain-head of all holiness? Does it He within the power of a frail mortal to fight the strenuous battle of life except with the aid of the Omnipotent? Can any one except Him who has created land and sea and rules them with unquestioned supremacy sustain weak man against the buffets of "the formidable waves of world