dst of business or enjoyment. Consequently,
their sages dwelt much on the uncertainty of life, and developed
the doctrine that the world and its gay shows were only an illusion
of the senses, and the goal of the spirit was to divest itself of
this illusion and rise superior to the limitations of matter. By
the practice of austerities, the grossness of the flesh, the demands
of the body, and the storms of the passions, would be subdued, and
the spirit gain freedom from the endless round of reincarnation,
and ultimately join the illimitable sea whence it came, as the drop
on the lotus-leaf falls back into the water and is lost therein.

Then, it is universally believed that by these austerities the ascetic
gains power with the gods, and can bring down blessings from above
for himself and his votaries. He can, in fact, extort favours from
the unwilling gods if he only carry his self-torture and privations
to the requisite extreme.

We find much the same idea in the ascetic saints of the early Christian
era. Thus Tennyson, in his poem "St. Simeon Stylites," puts the
following words into the mouth of the saint. He is addressing a crowd
of people who have come to worship him, and who believe that, owing
to his great austerities, he has the power of granting their requests.

"Speak! is there any of you halt or maim'd?
I think you know I have some power with Heaven
From my long penance; let him speak his wish."

The idea of merit is ever present to the Hindu. By practising austerity
himself, or by paying another to practise it for him, he can accumulate
merit, which will render each succeeding birth more propitious, and
bring him nearer his ideal of bliss, when his soul will be finally
freed from the endless chain of reincarnations. It must, sad to say,
be admitted that with the great majority of the Sadhus of the present
day the motives which actuate them are much more mundane and sordid
than what I have described above. Lazy good-for-nothings, too indolent
to work, find that in the garb of a Sadhu they can be assured of a
living which, though it may not be a luxurious one, is yet one free
from anxiety and toil. Fraudulent scamps enrich themselves on the
credulity of the people by counterfeiting austerities and miraculous
powers, which successfully deceive the simple-minded, who, without
even a desire to examine their claims and reputed performances too
critically, freely bestow gifts of money a