Stephanos Nirmalendu Ghosh Lectures 1948-49. The Dynamics of Faith

' In the history of mankind there never has seen a tribe of man without some form of religion. ' The higher we ascend in the scale of civilisation, the greater the conviction in a moral governor of the world and the closer the feeling of association between the human and the divine. [...] This involves the community of goods, community of wives and the state ownership of children from their birth. "' In the fifth century of Christian era, Mazdak,3 a follower of Mani an arch heretic it the eyes of the Zoroastrians, who founded the religion known as Manichaeism, preached "the ideas of extreme socialism and an absolute community of goods which he extended to the sharing of wives in com [...] The Vaisesika system of Philosophy almost echoes this view—Religion is that which brings a sense of elevation- joy—(in this life) and achievement of the su in mum bonuin (both in this life and in the next). ' Religion is sometimes called the way. " Christ has called himself ' the way,' the truth ' and ' Life. "11ao, in the Chinese religion of Taoism, means the way. [...] The indomitable tenacity of Mahatma Gandhi and the wonderful magic of his soul-force won the battle against brute force--the most powerful in the world in those days, viz. , the armed might of the British 1 See the present writer's ertivio on " The Theory of Value **— Proceedings of the Philosophical Congress, Bombay. [...] All the cruelties which " the Inquisition Dogs and the Devildoms of Spain " could invent failed to damp the enthusiasm of the men of faith. - Even here in India did we not see in the heroic struggle of the Sikhs the other day, the wonderful dynamic of faith?