ring
and answering the prayers of the whole world. Anything susceptible of
such extension must be more than a person. Is it not at least equally
reasonable to assume that there are many spirits, or many shapes taken
by the superpersonal world spirit, with which the soul can get into
touch?

The worship of images cannot be recommended without qualification, for
it seems to require artists capable of making a worthy representation of
the divine. And it must be confessed that many figures in Indian
temples, such as the statues of Kali, seem repulsive or grotesque,
though a Hindu might say that none of them are so strange in idea or so
horrible in appearance as the crucifix. But the claim of the iconoclast
from the times of the Old Testament onwards that he worships a spirit
whereas others worship wood and stone is true only of the lowest phases
of religion, if even there. Hindu theologians distinguish different
kinds of _avataras_ or ways in which God descends into the world: among
them are incarnations like Krishna, the presence of God in the human
heart and his presence in a symbol or image (_arca_). It may be
difficult to decide how far the symbol and the spirit are kept separate
either in the East or in Europe, but no one can attend a great
car-festival in southern India or the feast of Durga in Bengal without
feeling and in some measure sharing the ecstasy and enthusiasm of the
crowd. It is an enthusiasm such as may be evoked in critical times by a
king or a flag, and as the flag may do duty for the king and all that he
stands for, so may the image do duty for the deity.

16. _The Extravagance of Hinduism_

What I have just said applies to India rather than to China and so do
the observations which follow. India is the most religious country in
the world. The percentage of people who literally make religion their
chief business, who sacrifice to it money and life itself (for religious
suicide is not extinct), is far greater than elsewhere. Russia[61]
probably comes next but the other nations fall behind by a long
interval. Matter of fact respectable people--Chinese as well as
Europeans--call this attitude extravagance and it sometimes deserves the
name, for since there is no one creed or criterion in India, all sorts
of aboriginal or decadent superstitions command the respect due to the
name of religion.

This extravagance is both intellectual and moral. No story is too
extraordinary to be told of Hindu gods. T