THE MISSION OF THE VEDANTA : 2.

(On the occasion of his visit to Kumbakonam, the Swamiji was presented with the following address by the local Hindu community:)

Where, therefore, their interest is, there they are as eager for information as any other race; and religion is the one and sole interest of the people of India.

I am not just now discussing whether it is good to have the vitality of the race in religious ideals or in political ideals, but so far it is clear to us that, for good or for evil, our vitality is concentrated in our religion.

You cannot change it.

You cannot destroy it and put in its place another.

You cannot transplant a large growing tree from one soil to another and make it immediately take root there.

For good or for evil, the religious ideal has been flowing into India for thousands of years; for good or for evil, the Indian atmosphere has been filled with ideals of religion for shining scores of centuries; for good or for evil, we have been born and brought up in the very midst of these ideas of religion, till it has entered into our very blood and tingled with every drop in our veins, and has become one with our constitution, become the very vitality of our lives.

Can you give such religion up without the rousing of the same energy in reaction, without filling the channel which that mighty river has cut out for itself in the course of thousands of years?
 
Do you want that the Gangâ should go back to its icy bed and begin a new course?

Even if that were possible, it would be impossible for this country to give up her characteristic course of religious life and take up for herself a new career of politics or something else.

You can work only under the law of least resistance, and this religious line is the line of least resistance in India.

This is the line of life, this is the line of growth, and this is the line of well-being in India — to follow the track of religion.

Continues..