ther!
Are you satisfied? Are you satisfied? We are satisfied."

If any son, by the dutiful performance of offering and ritual here
upon earth, can bring help and peace to his dead ancestors, the Hindu
son may be expected to succeed.

The following, taken from an ancient Sutra, is regarded as a Hindu
burial hymn:--

"Open thy arms, O earth! receive the dead
With gentle pressure and with loving welcome.
Enshroud him tenderly, even as a mother
Folds her soft vestment round the child she loves.
Soul of the dead, depart! take thou the path--
The ancient path by which our ancestors
Have gone before thee; thou shalt look upon
The two kings, mighty Varuna and Yama,
Delighting in oblations; thou shalt meet
The fathers and receive the recompense
Of all thy stored-up offerings above.
Leave thou thy sin and imperfection here;
Return unto thy home once more; assume
A glorious form."

CHAPTER X

KALI YUGA--INDIA'S PESSIMISM[7]

Many nations, during the period of their infancy and ignorance, have
given to Time and its divisions the power and qualities of life and
have clothed them with moral purpose and attributes. Chronos was to
the Greeks of old the god of time, in whose hands were the destinies
of men. Even up to the present day not a few ignorant people of
Christian lands are influenced, to some extent, by an inherited
superstition about "lucky" and "unlucky" days. But I know of no land
which is suffering more than India from traditional, false, and
injurious conceptions of chronology. Time is here endowed with life
and enthroned among the gods. Sivan is "_Maha-Kalan_," the great
incarnation of Time, and the mighty destroyer of all things. It is
also said that "Time is a form of Vishnu."

[Footnote 7: This chapter is a modified form of a lecture delivered to
Hindus.]

We are told that we are living in _Kali yuga_, and that we are subject
to all the evil which is the permanent characteristic of this iron
age. I believe that there are few things in India which so thoroughly
influence the life, habits, and character of the people as do their
many conceptions about chronology. And I am convinced that
incalculable good would come to the country if all these old and
exploded ideas were to give way to more rational ones--such as are in
harmony with modern intelligence and civilization.

Consider, then, the various aspects of the chronology which all but