HINDOO OPINIONS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 72, 23 March 1872, Page 4

HINDOO OPINIONS.

The great Hindoo Reformer Baboo Keshub-Chunder Sen, who paid a visit to Englaud last year for the purpose of getting; acquainted with English manners and customs in the mother country, and likewise to determine whether it would not be advisable to introduce Christianity amongst the Hindoos, gave the following resume of his experience prior lo his departure : — ;t My first astonishment was created hy tho brilliancy of your shops and warehouses. I thought the Euglish nation must be a nation of shopkeepers, and when everybody sells, where are the buyers ? Then I was troubled by the restless business habits of tbe English. John Bull's life seems to be concentrated in his right hand. He works and works, and cannot live for anj'thing like meditation. He is like Hamlet's ghost — here there, and everywhere. Au English dinner party appears to me like a great hunting party, and what confirms tny opinion is, that the ladies always seek the protection of the gentlemen before they enter the diningroom, for fear there might be some accident. Then they are armed with knives, forks, and spooiis, to attack the birds of the heavens, the animals of the wilderness, and the fish of the sea. I have to say a few words a' out ladies' dresses, Perhaps John Bull will not suffer if, but I belong to those who do not believe in the infallibility of either men or women. The lady of fashion is really a peculiar creature. I hope she wili never make her appeaaance in India. Two things especially I have objection against — the head and the tail. In these days, when there exists that great and earnest agitation for women's rights, you gentlemen should come forward and say : Women have no right to occupy five times as much room as men. And as regards tbe head, I at first believed that the hair of the European ladies was much longer than that of Hiudoo women, but I have been told, beneath those colossal pyramids there is a hidden secret which does not admit of discovery. *T think a reasonable, well-bred woman might be able to give better proofs of the productiveness of her brains." With regard to Christianity, he says : — " English Christianity is too sectarian, too narrow-minded. Are the waters of eternal life of such a small quantity that you have to narrow the channels through which they flow in order to make them deep ? Differences of opinion are everywhere, where there is life, but I protest against the spirit of antipathy and antagonism. The Christian life in England is' more of a material than of a spiritual nature. There is a striving everywhere to find God externally in forms, ceremonies, dogmas; tb3fc the mind wants spiritual food is very little thought of," As regards some of the doctrines, he says: — " He quite coincides with the idea of God as Father. As regards Christ, he was sorry to find that the right worshipping of Him was found very little. They have deified Him, have rendered Him homage which He did not wish for, against which He would have protested, but the only homage He desired — namely, that He became tho flesh and blood of His disciples and followers — they refuse him. Christ promised His spirit to His disciples; the fulfilment of this promise seems not to have taken place yet. And yet the true Christ could not be He who lived 1800 years ago, the Christ of the popular belief, but tbe Spirit. The Christians do not adore God iv the Spirit as a Spirit, but they adore an incarnation. God does not require flesh and blood to manifest Himself, as He is omnipresent, and fills the whole universe. Christ identified the Spirit of truth in Himself with God; He wished not to do His own will, but that of God. The Hindoo, therefore, who believes in God, is a Christian. If purity, truth, charity and self-denial are Christian virtues, then Christianity is everywhere where those virtues are found, no matter whether the possessors are called Christians, Hindoos, or Mahometans. Hence it comes than many Hindoos are far better Christians than those who call themselves so. The result of my visit is: I came as a Hindoo, and return as a confirmed Hindoo. I have not accepted one doctrine which did not previously exist in my mind. I have learned much, hut everything tends to the confirmation of my views of God. My country I have learned to love more than ever. English patriotism has inflamed mine as with elasticity, but, at the same time, I am a fellow-citizen, and can say that England is as well my father's house as lodia. Now lam about to part, but my heart will always be with you. England, with all your- faults, my heart will always be with you."