lives, of his
fellow-beings. He died, and over his remains has been erected a shrine to
which the thousands go for worship and for inspiration to attain unto that
ideal of life which they believe him to have realized.

This ideal has, for centuries, taken possession of the Hindu mind, and
never before did it rule with more absolute sway than it does at present.

Another ideal of life with the Hindu is the so-called "path of works." At
present this term is synonymous with a life of ceremonialism. In modern
parlance "works" means to the Hindu, ceremonial observance. His life is
hedged in on all sides by a host of ceremonies and is permeated through
and through with a most complicated ritual. There is nothing in the life
of a Hindu devotee, whether it be eating, sleeping, bathing or travelling,
which is not religiously prescribed both as to time and method. And
utterly regardless of the significance of these rites or the
appropriateness of them to his life, he deems their observance as
essential to his salvation and finds in their daily keeping the highest
satisfaction and completest assurance of his spiritual progress.

The Hindu is no rationalist in his religion. He obeys implicitly, and
without question, the ritual of his ancestors and finds no interest in the
scrutiny or analysis of them.

So, to the ordinary Hindu, especially to him to whom the way of meditation
in the wilderness seems impossible, ceremonialism becomes a matter of
supreme concern. No other religion has furnished to its followers a more
elaborate and pervasive system of observances than this. These rites
exercise their influence upon the mind and are wielding today a most
potent influence upon Hindu character. A man may think nothing of, nor
have any ambition to attain unto, the spiritual aspect of his faith; he
may give no time whatever to any of its teachings or spiritual
instruction; but if he maintain its ritual with ordinary care he flatters
himself with the thought that he has attained a perfection corresponding
to his estate.

Moreover, the Hindu is a thorough _fatalist_. He believes that his destiny
is "written upon the forehead." Nothing which he may do can affect this
destiny. Nor does it seem to be a part of the divine purpose. So far as he
is concerned it is an irrevocable fate. This belief manifests itself
largely in his life and conduct. It is one of the inconsistencies of the
Hindu's thinking that he, at the same time, worships a tr