eme contrast between the manual of Hindu faith and the Gospels of
Christianity; and it is a contrast at the most vital point of
religion.

CHAPTER VII

POPULAR HINDUISM

In the last chapter we dwelt upon what may be called the Higher
Hinduism--that system of thought and religious exercise which engages
the attention, attracts the thought, and invites the devotion of the
thinking classes of the Hindu fold. The Bhagavad Gita is only one of
many writings which seriously present to the thoughtful Hindu some of
the higher conceptions and deepest yearnings of the soul. Of all the
faiths of the "Far East" none dwells so much upon these profound
religious realities, or engages in such lofty flights of spiritual
aspiration, as does this religion of the Brahmans. And no one can
study these products of the greatest minds and most sensitive
religious souls of India without entertaining a great and growing
admiration for them.

But it is well to remember these are not all of Hindu literature; nor
do they represent the current thought or the general religious life of
the people.

[Illustration: A DRAVIDIAN SHRINE, SOUTH INDIA]

They indeed reveal the highest and the best that has ever come to
light in the thought and spiritual culture of this people. For that
reason, the Bhagavad Gita is worthy of the name we gave it--the Hindu
bible.

In view of all these things, who would say that God did not visit this
people, or left Himself without witness among them? While He was
leading the Hebrews in the time of Moses, He was also stirring this
people through its old rishis, or sages. While He was rebuking the
degenerate Jewish people through their later prophets, He was raising
and inspiring the great prophet of India, the Buddha, to protest
against a debased Brahmanism.

But let it not be supposed that this literature of "Higher Hinduism"
is, in any sense, popular in India. Those religious books which engage
the mind of the masses are of a very different class. They are the
wild legends of the Puranas, and inane dialogues and lying
incantations of the Tantras--two classes of works which are both the
most popular and are lowest in the range of their ideas and most
demoralizing in the cults which they present.

These books were ostensibly written for the common people and for
women. And the common people delight in them and are intoxicated by
their religious exaggerations and excesses.

Thus the faith of the people, as