eer out of the mind and
rests like a pall upon every future prospect.

Then this expectation for the future robs men of any ambition to
remedy present evils. For, they naturally will say, "Why flee from
ills which are pressing upon us and which by experience we have
learned to endure, if it be only to contract greater troubles in their
stead; for freedom from evil is an impossibility in this age?" Is it
not, to a very considerable extent, the reason why there are so few
whole-hearted reformers in India? Why should a man seek, at the risk
of opprobrium and enmity, to root out of the country some accursed
custom if his inherited belief in the inherent badness of the present
era is still with him? He must feel that all his efforts will be worse
than vain; for even if he and others may succeed in overcoming this
custom, it will be only to give room to another that may be worse.
Hence the universal apathy in the face of crying evils and damning
customs; hence also the helpless "_cui bono?_" to every effort of
others to help the land out of the deep pits of injustice and ancient
ills.

Out of this belief comes another equally portentous danger, viz. that
of easily yielding to the temptations of the time, and of a readiness
to participate in the common sins of the day. For, say many, are not
these immoralities and evils an integral part of the time; and, if so,
what harm is there in our partaking of them? Or, at least, is it not
our best interest to harmonize ourselves with the essentially evil
environment of our age rather than vainly to combat the sins of the
day and to strive to no purpose to remove them?

And thus a belief in the divine order and purpose of the evil of our
time and in the impossibility of changing the character of our age
becomes one of the most prolific sources of sin, of weakness, and of
moral and spiritual apathy in the land to-day. Do not many sin without
fear and with increasing facility because they think it is the only
life that best harmonizes with this _Kali yuga_ in which they live?

Much of this conception of time is connected with the all but
universal belief of the people in astrology. In India, astrology is
still fed by popular ignorance and superstition, and continues to rule
with an iron rod in this last stronghold among the nations of the
earth. It would seem as if it controlled the conduct of individuals,
of families, and of society in general. It claims that for one to be
born under