Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/67

 some one has termed them) stand out among the main features of the religious occupations of the majority. Nor does the evil stop there. This culpable indifference to the essentials of morality in the most absorbing concerns of life robs religion' often times, of even ordinary solemnity and reverence ; and not a few of the localities credited with the odour of sanctity need only a closer examination to be found to stink with impurity. Deplorable as this state of things is, it is not beyond human help. The remedy lies with the community; which, outside the callousness of custom, is uncommonly sensitive in such matters. Let only men of light and leading look facts square in the face, let them enforce "morals" before they sanction "symbols" and insist on sterling character as the first proof of pious conviction ; and the Augean stables will yet be cleansed. In our national ideals and traditions there is enough of chaste piety and inspiring purity to justify the hope that, if only this outer "abasement" could