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Mr. V. R. Gandhi of Bombay, a representative of the Jainist religious sect, lectured last evening in Sever 11, on "The Essentials of the Hindu Religious Life."
In India, he said, religion has a different meaning from what it has in other parts of the world. Life there is not divided into two distinct phases, secular and religious. Religion is everything, embracing every department of life. Religion is not scientific, nor is science religious; they are identical. The essentials of such a life are, right knowledge, right belief and right conduct. The ethical code of right conduct. The ethical code of right conduct in India has a scientific basis. The results of every act of a man's life are carefully weighed and analyzed. Immortality of the soul is a belief common to all the religions of India. The Jainist's belief is that from a spiritual standpoint the universe is eternal; from a material standpoint it is not eternal. Their maxim is: "Truth can be studied only by looking up at it from all sides."
There are many methods of teaching religious truth to the mass of ignorant people all over the world. That employed by the western world during the last century has been wrong in several respects. Its most grevious blunder is that it offers dogmatic terms of salvation to unbelievers, and proceeds upon the basis that all men are conceived in sin. The religion of India, on the other hand, is built upon the foundation of of good and truth in every man. This kind of missionary work, if it were universal, could not fail of success.
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