Get the full ebook with Bonus Features for a Better Reading Experience on ebookmeta.

com

LPI Security Essentials Study Guide Exam 020 100

1st Edition David Clinton

https://ebookmeta.com/product/lpi-security-essentials-study-
guide-exam-020-100-1st-edition-david-clinton/

OR CLICK HERE

DOWLOAD NOW

Download more ebook instantly today at https://ebookmeta.com

 Recommended digital products (PDF, EPUB, MOBI) that
you can download immediately if you are interested.

Practical LPIC 1 Linux Certification Study Guide 1st

Edition David Clinton

https://ebookmeta.com/product/practical-lpic-1-linux-certification-
study-guide-1st-edition-david-clinton/

ebookmeta.com

CompTIA Security Study Guide with over 500 Practice Test

Questions Exam SY0 701 Sybex Study Guide 9th Edition Mike
Chapple & David Seidl
https://ebookmeta.com/product/comptia-security-study-guide-with-
over-500-practice-test-questions-exam-sy0-701-sybex-study-guide-9th-
edition-mike-chapple-david-seidl/
ebookmeta.com

CompTIA Security+ Certification Study Guide, Fourth

Edition (Exam SY0-601) Clarke

https://ebookmeta.com/product/comptia-security-certification-study-
guide-fourth-edition-exam-sy0-601-clarke/

ebookmeta.com

Handbook for Counselors Serving Students with Gifts and

Talents 2nd Edition Cross

https://ebookmeta.com/product/handbook-for-counselors-serving-
students-with-gifts-and-talents-2nd-edition-cross/

ebookmeta.com
Raspberry Pi Computing Analog Measurement Malcolm Maclean

https://ebookmeta.com/product/raspberry-pi-computing-analog-
measurement-malcolm-maclean/

ebookmeta.com

Pro Microservices in .NET 6: With Examples Using ASP.NET

Core 6, MassTransit, and Kubernetes 1st Edition Sean
Whitesell
https://ebookmeta.com/product/pro-microservices-in-net-6-with-
examples-using-asp-net-core-6-masstransit-and-kubernetes-1st-edition-
sean-whitesell/
ebookmeta.com

American Sniper The Autobiography of the Most Lethal

Sniper in U S Military History Chris Kyle Scott Mcewen Jim
Defelice
https://ebookmeta.com/product/american-sniper-the-autobiography-of-
the-most-lethal-sniper-in-u-s-military-history-chris-kyle-scott-
mcewen-jim-defelice/
ebookmeta.com

Cybersecurity For Dummies 2nd Edition Joseph Steinberg

https://ebookmeta.com/product/cybersecurity-for-dummies-2nd-edition-
joseph-steinberg/

ebookmeta.com

Conceptualizations of Time 1st Edition Barbara

Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk

https://ebookmeta.com/product/conceptualizations-of-time-1st-edition-
barbara-lewandowska-tomaszczyk/

ebookmeta.com
Under The Knife A Modern M M Medical Romance 1st Edition
Anna Greer

https://ebookmeta.com/product/under-the-knife-a-modern-m-m-medical-
romance-1st-edition-anna-greer/

ebookmeta.com
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
What Does This Book Cover?
About the Exam
Exam Objectives
Objective Map
Assessment Test
Answers to Assessment Test
Chapter 1: Using Digital Resources Responsibly
Protecting Personal Rights
Protecting Digital Privacy
Establishing Authenticity
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 2: What Are Vulnerabilities and Threats?
The Basics: What Are We Trying to Accomplish Here?
Common Vulnerabilities
Digital Espionage
Stolen Credentials
Malware
Network-Based Attacks
Cloud Computing and Digital Security
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 3: Controlling Access to Your Assets
 Controlling Physical Access
Controlling Network Access
Controlling Software Sources
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 4: Controlling Network Connections
Understanding Network Architecture
Auditing Networks
Securing Networks
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 5: Encrypting Your Data at Rest
What Is Encryption?
Encryption Usage Patterns
Encryption Technologies
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 6: Encrypting Your Moving Data
Website Encryption
Email Encryption
Working with VPN Connections and Software Repositories
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 7: Risk Assessment
Conducting Open-Source Intelligence Gathering
Accessing Public Vulnerability Databases
Conducting Vulnerability Scans
Conducting Penetration Tests
Summary
Exam Essentials
 Review Questions
Chapter 8: Configuring System Backups and Monitoring
Why You Need to Get Backups Right the First Time
Backup Types
Multitier Backups
Configuring Monitoring and Alerts
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Chapter 9: Resource Isolation Design Patterns
Configuring Network Firewalling
Working with Sandbox Environments
Controlling Local System Access
Summary
Exam Essentials
Review Questions
Appendix: Answers to Review Questions
Chapter 1: Using Digital Resources Responsibly
Chapter 2: What Are Vulnerabilities and Threats?
Chapter 3: Controlling Access to Your Assets
Chapter 4: Controlling Network Connections
Chapter 5: Encrypting Your Data at Rest
Chapter 6: Encrypting Your Moving Data
Chapter 7: Risk Assessment
Chapter 8: Configuring System Backups and Monitoring
Chapter 9: Resource Isolation Design Patterns
Index
End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.1 The stages involved in booting a (Linux) computer using UEFI
FIGURE 3.2 A typical account entry within a password manager
 FIGURE 3.3 The results of an email search of the HIBP database
FIGURE 3.4 The results of a search of the HIBP database for a password strin...
FIGURE 3.5 Permission levels assigned to users and a user group
FIGURE 3.6 A simplified illustration of the contents of a TCP data packet in...
FIGURE 3.7 A typical network setup where a firewall device stands between th...
FIGURE 3.8 An AWS EC2 security group permitting SSH and browser (HTTP)
traff...
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4.1 A typical example of IP address allocations within a private subn...
FIGURE 4.2 A NAT server translating IP addresses and managing traffic betwee...
FIGURE 4.3 The Wireshark “home” screen showing links to all the networks ava...
FIGURE 4.4 The results of a typical network scan shown in Wireshark
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5.1 A typical symmetric encryption and decryption process
FIGURE 5.2 The recipient's public key is used to encrypt and later decry...
FIGURE 5.3 The sender's public key is used to encrypt and later decrypt ...
FIGURE 5.4 The step-by-step representation of a blockchain transaction
Chapter 6
FIGURE 6.1 The successful SSL report on the TLS configuration for the
bootstra...

FIGURE 6.2 The conversation between a client browser and a TLS-powered web
s...
FIGURE 6.3 Installation instructions on the Certbot website
FIGURE 6.4 A typical VPN running through a secure tunnel connection
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7.1 The NVD Dashboard
FIGURE 7.2 A layered diagram of NVD-related tools
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8.1 Some output from the dmesg command on a Linux Ubuntu 18.04
system...
Chapter 9
FIGURE 9.1 Public-facing web servers are allowed fairly open access from pub...
FIGURE 9.2 A common dual-firewall DMZ setup
FIGURE 9.3 A bastion host is a server placed within a DMZ through which remo...
FIGURE 9.4 The VirtualBox network adapter configuration dialog
LPI
Security Essentials Study Guide
Exam 020-100

David Clinton
Copyright © 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada and the United Kingdom.
ISBN: 978-1-394-19653-1
ISBN: 978-1-394-19655-5 (ebk.)
ISBN: 978-1-394-19654-8 (ebk.)
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of
the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through
payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923,
(978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should
be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-
6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
Trademarks: WILEY, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this
book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book
and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be
created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be
suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that
websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not
limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care
Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in
electronic formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023936823
Cover image: © Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images
Cover design: Wiley
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my wife for all her help and support through the long and demanding
process of writing this book. And, once again, I'm indebted to all the great people at Wiley
who helped me turn a plain old manuscript into a great teaching tool.
About the Author
David Clinton is a Linux server admin who has worked with IT infrastructure in both
academic and enterprise environments. He has authored and co-authored technology books—
including AWS Certified Solutions Architect Study Guide: Associate SAA-C03 Exam, Fourth
Edition (Sybex, 2022)—and created dozens of video courses teaching Amazon Web Services
and Linux administration, server virtualization, and IT security.
In a previous life, David spent 20 years as a high school teacher. He currently lives in
Toronto, Canada, with his wife and family and can be reached through his website:
https://bootstrap-it.com.
Introduction
I often say that you earn the real payoff from a well-designed certification exam by carefully
working through its objectives. Sure, having a pretty certificate to hang on your wall is nice.
But the skills and understanding you'll gain from hitting all the key points of a program like
this Security Essentials cert will take you a whole lot further.
The moment we connect our phones, laptops, and servers to the Internet, we're all living in a
very dangerous neighborhood. And there's no single “set-it-and-forget-it” solution that'll
reliably keep all the looming threats away. The only way you can even hope to protect
yourself and your digital resources is to understand the kinds of vulnerabilities that could
affect your infrastructure and the ways smart administration can maximize both harm
prevention and mitigation. But there's more. Since the IT threat landscape changes so often,
you'll also need to learn how to continuously monitor your infrastructure and keep up with
developments in the technology world.
Whether you're a team manager, an IT professional, a developer, a data engineer, or even just
a regular technology consumer, you'll be both safer and more effective at everything you do
if you can understand and apply security best practices. So I encourage you to plan to take
and pass the Linux Professional Institute's Security Essentials exam. But whatever your
certification goals, you should definitely plan to master the content represented by the
objectives. And this book was written to get you there.
Like the certification itself, the content in this LPI Security Essentials Study Guide is
platform neutral. That means you can ignore the Linux in the title. Sure, the institute's initial
mandate was to enable the broader adoption of the Linux operating system—and they've
done a great job at it. But the same smart and highly experienced people who drive the
institute's Linux curriculum development are also outstanding security professionals. And
their expertise extends to all operating systems and all platform categories. If your equipment
speaks binary, it's covered here.
Each of the book's chapters includes review questions to thoroughly test your understanding
of the services you've seen. The questions were designed to help you realistically gauge your
understanding and readiness for the exam. Although the difficulty level will vary between
questions, it's all on target and relevant to both the exam and the real digital world. Once you
complete a chapter's assessment, refer to Appendix A for the correct answers and detailed
explanations.
What Does This Book Cover?
This book covers topics you need to know to prepare for the Security Essentials certification
exam:
Chapter 1: Using Digital Resources Responsibly In this chapter you'll learn about
protecting the digital rights and privacy of people with whom you interact,—including
your own employees and the users of your services.
Chapter 2: What Are Vulnerabilities and Threats? Here you'll discover the scope
of the many classes of threats against your infrastructure, including digital espionage,
stolen credentials, and malware.
Chapter 3: Controlling Access to Your Assets Your first line of defense against the
bad guys is the outer edge of your property. So learning to manage physical and network
access to your resources is a big deal.
Chapter 4: Controlling Network Connections Before you can effectively audit and
secure your networks, you'll need to understand how IP/TCP networking actually works.
This chapter will introduce you to both general networking administration and the basics
of network security.
Chapter 5: Encrypting Your Data at Rest What can I say? Obscuring your
important data stores from prying eyes is a critical component of security. Learn why,
how, and where it should be done.
Chapter 6: Encrypting Your Moving Data In this chapter you'll learn about website
and email encryption, along with the care and feeding of virtual private networks
(VPNs).
Chapter 7: Risk Assessment You'll never know how secure your infrastructure is
until it comes under attack. Now who would you prefer launches this first attack? This is
something you'd rather want to do yourself through the services of vulnerability
scanners and penetration testers.
Chapter 8: Configuring System Backups and Monitoring Despite all your best
efforts, you’re going to lose important data at some point. If you're properly backed up,
then you're singing. And the sooner you find out there's bad stuff happening, the happier
your song will be.
Chapter 9: Resource Isolation Design Patterns The final chapter will discuss some
important security design tools, like firewalls, sandboxes, and OS access control
software.

About the Exam

Here's the Linux Professional Institute's description of the certification's “minimally qualified
candidate”:
 “The candidate has a basic understanding of common security threats of using computers,
networks, connected devices, and IT services on premises and in the cloud. The candidate
understands common ways to prevent and mitigate attacks against their personal devices
and data. Furthermore, the candidate is able to use encryption to secure data transferred
through a network and stored on storage devices and in the cloud. The candidate is able to
apply common security best practices, protect private information, and secure their
identity. The candidate is able to securely use IT services and to take responsibility for
securing their personal computing devices, applications, accounts, and online profiles.”

Exam Objectives
1 021 Security Concepts
1.1 021.1 Goals, Roles and Actors (weight: 1)
1.2 021.2 Risk Assessment and Management (weight: 2)
1.3 021.3 Ethical Behavior (weight: 2)
2 022 Encryption
2.1 022.1 Cryptography and Public Key Infrastructure (weight: 3)
2.2 022.2 Web Encryption (weight: 2)
2.3 022.3 Email Encryption (weight: 2)
2.4 022.4 Data Storage Encryption (weight: 2)
3 023 Node, Device and Storage Security
3.1 023.1 Hardware Security (weight: 2)
3.2 023.2 Application Security (weight: 2)
3.3 023.3 Malware (weight: 3)
3.4 023.4 Data Availability (weight: 2)
4 024 Network and Service Security
4.1 024.1 Networks, Network Services and the Internet (weight: 4)
4.2 024.2 Network and Internet Security (weight: 3)
4.3 024.3 Network Encryption and Anonymity (weight: 3)
5 025 Identity and Privacy
5.1 025.1 Identity and Authentication (weight: 3)
5.2 025.2 Information Confidentiality and Secure Communication (weight: 2)
5.3 025.3 Privacy Protection (weight: 2)
Objective Map
The exam covers five larger domains, with each domain broken down into objectives. The
following table lists each domain and its weighting in the exam, along with the chapters in
the book where that domain's objectives are primarily covered.
Objective Weight Chapter(s)
1. Security Concepts
1.1 Goals, Roles and Actors 1 1, 2
1.2 Risk Assessment and Management 2 4, 7, 9
1.3 Ethical Behavior 2 1, 7
2. Encryption
2.1 Cryptography and Public Key Infrastructure 3 5, 6
2.2 Web Encryption 2 6
2.3 Email Encryption 2 6
2.4 Data Storage Encryption 2 5
3. Node, Device and Storage Security
3.1 Hardware Security 2 2, 3
3.2 Application Security 2 3, 6
3.3 Malware 3 2, 3
3.4 Data Availability 2 8
4. Network and Service Security
4.1 Networks, Network Services and the Internet 4 2, 4, 9
4.2 Network and Internet Security 3 2, 4
4.3 Network Encryption and Anonymity 3 1, 2, 6
5. Identity and Privacy
5.1 Identity and Authentication 3 3, 6
5.2 Information Confidentiality and Secure Communication 2 1, 2
5.3 Privacy Protection 2 1

How to Contact the Publisher

If you believe you have found a mistake in this book, please bring it to our attention. At John
Wiley & Sons, we understand how important it is to provide our customers with accurate
content, but even with our best efforts an error may occur.
To submit your possible errata, please email it to our Customer Service Team at
wileysupport@wiley.com with the subject line “Possible Book Errata Submission.”
Assessment Test
1. Which of the following digital tools is the most likely to collect—and possibly share—
your private information without your knowledge?
A. A programming integrated development environment (IDE)
B. A USB device
C. A web browser
D. A command-line interface (CLI) environment
2. What is a backdoor?
A. A network port opened to permit remote SSH access
B. An undocumented access route to a computer system
C. A software package management system that runs in the background
D. The rear plate on a rack-mounted server
3. Which of these device types share information wirelessly without the need for
authentication?
A. RFID
B. Wi-Fi
C. Cellular networks
D. Ethernet
4. Which of the following are components that are often protected by passwords? (Choose
three.)
A. Connecting to the Internet
B. UEFI firmware
C. Screen saver
D. OS logon
5. Which of the following software tools can analyze network packets?
A. Nmap
B. SSH
C. Wireshark
D. TCP/IP
6. Which of the following is a common drawback associated with the use of asymmetric
encryption?
Other documents randomly have
different content
 “The marriage system all over the world, from the earliest ages
till now, is a barrier in the way of such true union. That is why
woman’s shakti, in all existing societies, is so shamefully wasted
and corrupted. That is why in every country marriage is still
more or less of a prison-house for the confinement of women—
with all its guards wearing the badge of the dominant male. That
is why man, by dint of his efforts to bind woman, has made her
the strongest of fetters for his own bondage. That is why woman
is debarred from adding to the spiritual wealth of society by the
perfection of her own nature, and all human societies are
weighed down with the burden of the resulting poverty.
“The civilization of man has not, up to now, loyally recognized
the reign of the spirit. Therefore the married state is still one of
the most fruitful sources of the unhappiness and downfall of
man, of his disgrace and humiliation. But those who believe that
society is a manifestation of the spirit will assuredly not rest in
their endeavors till they have rescued human marriage relations
from outrage by the brute forces of society—till they have
thereby given free play to the force of love in all the concerns of
humanity.”

Such is the Hindu poet’s explanation of the ideals underlying the

institution of marriage in the communal society of the Hindus. One
feels through his closing lines the poet’s sorrow at the sight of the
misery caused by a wrong conception of marriage throughout the
civilized world. The poet cherishes, however, the fond hope that a
day of the reign of spirit will dawn over the world, when mankind will
recognize the necessity of giving to the forces of love a free play in
the wide concerns of life.
Marriage in India involves two separate ceremonies. The first
ceremony is the more elaborate, and judging from the permanent
character of its obligations, the more important. It is performed amid
much festivity and show. The bridal party, consisting of the
bridegroom with his chief relatives and friends, goes to the bride’s
home in an elaborate musical procession. There the party is
handsomely feasted as guests of the bride for one or more days,
according to the means of the host. The groom furnishes the
entertainment, which consists of music, acrobatic dancing, jugglers’
tricks, fireworks, and so forth. The day is spent in simple outdoor
amusements like hunting, horseback riding, swimming, or gymnastic
plays, the nature of the sport depending upon the surroundings. In
the evening, by the light of the fireworks, and in the midst of a large
crowd of near relatives and spectators, the ceremony of the “union,”
namely, the spiritual unification of the near relatives of the bride and
the bridegroom, is staged in a highly picturesque manner. In order of
their relation to the bride and groom—father of the bride with the
father of the bridegroom, first uncle of the one with the first uncle of
the other, and so forth—the near relatives of the future couple
embrace each other and exchange head-dresses as a symbol of
eternal friendship. Each such pledge of friendship is beautifully
harmonized with a song and a blessing from the daughters of the
village. Later in the evening, the girls lead the guests to the bridal
feast, singing in chorus on their march the “Welcome Home.”
Marriage in the Indian home is thus an occasion of great rejoicing.
The atmosphere that prevails throughout the entire ceremony is one
of extreme wholesomeness and joy. Nothing could surpass the
loveliness and charm that surrounds the evening march to the bridal
feast. The pretty maidens of the village, who are conscious of their
dignity as personifications of the Deity and are inspired with a
devoted love for their sister bride, come in their gay festival dresses,
with mingled feelings of pride and modesty, to lead the procession
with a song; their eyes moistened with slowly gathering tears of deep
and chaste emotion, and their faces wrapped in ever changing
blushes, give to the whole picture a distinctive flavor of an inspiring
nature. On the following morning the couple are united in marriage
by the officiating priest, who reads from the scriptures while the
husband and wife pace together the seven steps. The vow of equal
comradeship which is taken by both the husband and the wife on this
occasion reads thus:

“Become thou my partner, as thou hast paced all the seven

steps with me.... Apart from thee I cannot live. Apart from me do
thou not live. We shall live together; we each shall be an object
 of love to the other; we shall be a source of joy each unto the
other; with mutual goodwill shall we live together.”[18]

The marriage ceremony being over, the bridal party departs with the
bride for the bridegroom’s home. On this first trip the bride is
accompanied by a maid, and the two return home together after an
overnight’s stay. The bride then remains at her parental home until
the performance of the second ceremony. The interval between the
two ceremonies varies from a few days to several years, depending
mainly upon the ages of the married couple and the husband’s ability
to support a home.
This dual ceremonial has been the cause of a great deal of
confusion in the western mind. To all appearances the first ceremony
is the more important as it is termed marriage. After it the bride
begins to dress and behave like a married woman, but the couple do
not begin to live together until the second ceremony has also been
performed, and these two acts may be separated from each other by
a considerably long period. In other words the so-called marriage of
the Hindu girl is nothing but “an indefeasible betrothal in the western
sense.” The custom of early marriage (or betrothal, to be more
exact) has existed in some parts of the country from earlier times,
but it became more common during the period of the Mohammedan
invasions into India. These foreign invaders were in the habit of
forcibly converting to Islam the beautiful Hindu maidens, whom they
later married. But no devout Mohammedan ever injures or thinks evil
towards a married woman. His religion strictly forbids such practice.
Thus, to safeguard the honor of their young daughters the Hindus
adopted this custom of early marriage.
The girl’s marriage, however, makes no change in her life. She
continues to live with her parents as before, and is there taught
under her mother’s supervision the elementary duties of a
household. She is instructed at the same time in other matters
concerning a woman’s life. When she becomes of an age to take
upon herself the responsibilities of married life, the second marriage
ceremony is finished and she departs for her new home.
It is true that the standard of education among East Indian women as
compared with that of other countries is appallingly low. We shall
leave the discussion of the various political factors which have
contributed to this deplorable state of things for a later chapter. For
the present it will be sufficient to point out that even though the
Indian girl is illiterate and unable to read and write, she is not
uninstructed or uninformed in the proper sense of the word
education.
She knows how to cook, to sew, to embroider, and to do every other
kind of household work. She is fully informed concerning matters of
hygiene and sex. In matters intellectual her mind is developed to the
extent that “she understands thoroughly the various tenets of her
religion and is quite familiar with Hindu legends and the subject
matter in the epic literature of India.”
My mother was the daughter of a village carpenter. She was brought
up in the village under the exclusive guidance of her mother and did
not have any school education. Mother, in her turn, has reared seven
children who have all grown to be perfectly healthy and normal boys
and girls. Even though we could easily afford a family doctor, we
never had one. Mother seemed to know so much about hygienic and
medical science that she did not need a doctor. Her little knowledge
she had acquired from her own mother; it consisted of a few simple
rules, which she observed very faithfully. As little children, we were
required to clean our teeth with a fresh twig, to be individually
chewed into a brush, every morning before breakfast, and to wash
the mouth thoroughly with water after each meal. For the morning
teeth cleaning we were supplied with twigs from a special kind of
tree which leaves in the mouth a very pleasant taste and contains
juices of a beneficial nature. Also, chewing a small twig every
morning gives good exercise to the teeth and furnishes the
advantage of a new brush each time. We were told that dirty teeth
were unmannerly and hurt a person’s eyesight and general heath. A
cold water bath once a day and washing of both hands before and
after each meal were other fundamental requirements.
For every kind of family sickness, whether it was a headache, a
fever, a cold in the head, or a bad cough, the prescription was
always the same. A mixture of simple herbs was boiled in water and
given to the patient for drinking. Its only effect was a motion of the
bowels. It was not a purgative, but had very mild and wholesome
laxative properties without any after reactions. Fasting during
sickness was highly recommended. In nearly every month occurred
some special festival day on which the whole family fasted. This fast
had a purifying effect on the systems of growing children. As another
precautionary measure, my mother prepared for the children, every
winter, a special kind of preserve from a bitter variety of black beans,
which is supposed to possess powerful blood-purifying properties.
With the exception of quinine during malarial epidemics, we were
never given any drugs whatsoever. These simple medicines,
combined with a fresh vegetable diet for every day in the year,
constituted my mother’s only safeguards against family sickness.
And from my knowledge I know that her system worked miraculously
well.
During pregnancy it is customary to surround the young girl with
every precaution. She returns to her parental home in order to
secure freedom from sexual intercourse during that period. In the
months before my eldest sister bore her first child, I remember how
she was instructed not to permit herself to be excited in any way.
Pictures of the ideal wife, Sita, and of national heroes and heroines
were hung all over the house for my sister to look at and admire. She
was freed from all household responsibilities in order that she could
devote her time to reading good stories from the Hindu epics. Every
kind of irritant, like pepper and spices, was rigidly excluded from her
diet, and after the child was born she refrained from injudicious
combinations of food until the child was a year or more old.
Every night at bedtime my mother had a new story to tell the
children, a story which she herself had heard at bedtime when she
was young. These stories were drawn from the great Hindu epics,
and there was always a useful maxim connected with them. The tale
was told to bring home to the growing children some moral maxim
like truthfulness, fidelity to a pledge once given, conjugal happiness,
and respect for parents. In this manner the children in the most
ignorant homes become familiar with the ethical teachings of their
nation and with the hypotheses underlying their respective religions.
Almost everyone in India down to the most ignorant countrywoman
understands the subtle meaning of such intricate Hindu doctrines as
the laws of Karma, the theory of reincarnation, and the philosophy of
Maya.
As was stated earlier in this chapter, much misinformation about the
so-called child marriage has been spread by ignorant missionaries,
and has been eagerly swallowed by most western readers. It may be
well to observe here that the two expressions “child marriage” and
“early marriage” are very widely apart in meaning. The psychological
impressions conveyed by the two expressions are distinctly different.
If the first ceremony of the Hindu marriage is to be taken as meaning
marriage, what is practised in India perhaps more than anywhere
else in the world is early marriage and not child marriage. Even at
that, early marriage is essentially wrong in principle. Its usefulness in
earlier times, when it was first recommended by the Hindu lawgivers
as a necessary measure to preserve the communal life of the nation,
cannot be denied.
Like many other laws of those times, it has outlived its usefulness,
and through the influence of many corruptions which have been
added to the practice during ages, it has become a curse to the
country. This fact is frankly admitted by the leaders of modern India.
In the writings and speeches of the most prominent among them the
custom of early marriage has been condemned as a “deadly vermin
in Hindu social life,” and a “ghastly form of injustice.” Beginning with
the days of the eminent Hindu reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the
whole literature of social and religious reform in India is full of loud
and emphatic denunciations of early marriage.
As a result of the untiring, self-sacrificing efforts of Hindu reformers a
great measure of success has already been achieved. The Hindu
girl’s age of marriage has been steadily increasing during the last
fifty years. According to figures from the official Census Report of
India (1921) only 399 out of every 1000 girls were married at the end
of their fifteenth year. In other words, 60 per cent of Indian girls
remained unmarried at the beginning of their sixteenth year.
Moreover, in the official records of India every girl who has passed
through the first ceremony of her marriage is included in the married
class. If we allow a little further concession on account of the warmer
climate of India, which has the tendency to lower the age of maturity
in girls, we shall concede that the present conditions in India in
respect to early marriage are not strikingly different from those in
most European countries. At the same time it must not be forgotten
that in India sex life begins invariably after marriage, and never
before marriage. Those familiar with the conditions in the western
countries know that such is not always the rule there.
One evening the writer was talking in rather favorable terms to a
small group of friends about the Hindu system of marriage. While
several nodded their habitual, matter-of-fact, courteous assent, one
young lady (Dorothy), a classmate and an intimate friend, suddenly
said in an impatient tone, “This is all very foolish. By using those
sweet expressions in connection with the Hindu family life you do not
mean to tell me that marriage between two strangers, who have
never met in life before, or known each other, can be ever happy or
just. ‘Felicity,’ ‘peace,’ ‘harmony,’ ‘wedded love,’ ‘idealization of the
husband’—this is all bunk. That you should approve the blindfold
yoking together for life of innocent children in indefeasible marriage,
is outrageous. The system is shocking; it is a sin against decency. It
is war against the most sacred of human instincts and emotions, and
as such I shall condemn it as criminal and uncivilized.” Yet the young
lady was in no sense of the word unsympathetic or unfriendly to
India. She is, and has always been, a great friend and admirer of
India.
Dorothy is not much of a thinker, but she is very liberal and likes to
be called a radical. You could discuss with her any subject
whatsoever, even Free Love and Birth Control, with perfect ease and
lack of restraint. She is twenty-five years of age and unmarried. She
has been “in love” several times, but for one reason or the other she
has not yet found her ideal man. She would not tell this to everybody,
but to one of her boy friends, “whose big blue eyes had poetic
inspiration in them,” and who seemed to be fine and good and true in
every way, better than the best she had ever met before, and whom
she loved quite genuinely, she had given herself completely on one
occasion. This happened during a week-end trip to the mountains,
and was the first and last of her sexual experience. She said it was
the moral as well as the physical feast of her life. Later she saw him
flirting in a doubtful manner with a coarse Spanish girl, which made
him loathsome in her eyes. Gradually her love for him began to
dwindle, until it died off completely, leaving behind, however, a deep
mortal scar in her spiritual nature. For a period, Dorothy thought she
could never love any man again, until she began to admire a young
college instructor in a mild fashion. He is, however, “so kind and
intelligent and different from the rest,” with a fine physique and
handsome face—his powerful forehead setting so beautifully against
his thick curly hair—that she calls magnificent. It matters little that he
is married, because she writes him the most enchanting letters.
Dorothy’s love for the handsome professor is platonic. She says it
will exist forever, even though she entertains no hope of ever
marrying him. Yet while she talked about her latest “ideal,” a stream
of tears gathered slowly in her big luminous eyes. They were the
tears of hopeless resignation. Dorothy is beautiful, and possesses
rare grace and charm of both body and mind. She is well situated in
the business world, and is not in want of men admirers. But yet she
is unhappy, extremely unhappy. She has had the freedom, but no
training to make proper use of it. While she was still in her early
teens she started going on picnic parties with different boys. Under
the impulse of youthful passion she learned to kiss any one and
every one in an indiscriminate fashion. This destroyed the sanctity of
her own moral and spiritual nature, and also killed, at the same time,
her respect for the male sex. Sacredness of sex and respect for man
being thus destroyed in her early years, she could not easily find an
ideal husband in later life. If she had been a stupid creature with no
imagination and no deep finer feelings she would have fallen
suddenly in love anywhere—there to pass the rest of her humdrum
and joyless existence in an everlasting stupor. Surely Dorothy did not
remember her own tragedy when she condemned the lot of the
Hindu girls in such vehement manner. Vanity is an ugly fault, yet it
gives great pleasure.
Unlike India, where from their very childhood girls are initiated into
matters of sex, and where the ideal of acquiring a husband and a
family is kept before their minds from the beginning, American boys
and girls are brought up in utter ignorance of every thing pertaining
to sex. Sex is considered as something unclean, filthy, and
nauseous, and so unworthy of the attention and thought of young
children. And yet there is no country in the world where sex is kept
more prominently before the public eye in every walk of daily life
than in America. The first impression which a stranger landing in
America gets is of the predominance of sex in its daily life. The
desire of the American woman to show her figure to what Americans
call “the coarse eye of man,” expresses itself in short skirts and tight
dresses. “American movies are made with no other purpose in view
than to emphasize sex.” A college professor was recently told by one
of the six biggest directors of motion pictures in Hollywood, through
whose hands passed a business amounting to millions of dollars,
that in making a motion picture sex must constantly be borne in
mind. The story must be based on that knowledge, scenes selected
with this view, and the plot executed with that thought in mind.
Vaudeville shows, one of America’s national amusements, are
nothing but a suggestive display of the beautiful legs of young girls,
who appear on the stage scantily dressed and touch their foreheads
with the toes in a highly suggestive manner.
The writer was told by an elderly American lady that the American
national dances had a deep religious connotation. A spiritual thought
may exist behind American music, and its effect on the American
youth may be quite uplifting, but certainly such dances as the one
called “Button shining dance,” in which a specially close posture is
necessary, was invented with no high spiritual end in view. A
wholesale public display of bare legs to the hips, and a close view of
the rest of their bodies in tight bathing suits may be seen on the
national beaches. Young couples lie on the sands in public view
closely locked in seemingly everlasting embraces.
While all this may be very pure, innocent, harmless, and even
uplifting in its hidden nature, its outward and more prevalent
character indicates an almost vicious result of the ideal of bringing
up the nation’s youth improperly instructed in matters of sex and its
proper function.
The immediate effect of this anomalous condition in America
resulting from the misinstruction regarding sex by its youth on the
one hand, and the most exaggerated prominence given sex in its
national life is particularly disastrous and excessively humiliating.
Using the word moral in its popular conventional meaning, it may be
very frankly said that the morals of the American youth are anything
but exemplary. Judge Ben B. Lindsey, who is fully authorized to
speak on the subject from his experience as head of the Juvenile
court in Denver for over twenty-five years, and who is one of the
keenest contemporary thinkers in America, has stated facts in his
book, The Revolt of Modern Youth, which are appalling. He writes:

“The first item in the testimony of the high school students is that
of all the youth who go to parties, attend dances, and ride
together in automobiles, more than 90 per cent indulge in
hugging and kissing. This does not mean that every girl lets any
boy hug and kiss her, but that she is hugged and kissed.
“The second part of the message is this. At least 50 per cent of
those who begin with hugging and kissing do not restrict
themselves to that, but go further, and indulge in other sex
liberties which, by all the conventions, are outrageously
improper.
“Now for the third part of the message. It is this: Fifteen to
twenty-five per cent of those who begin with the hugging and
kissing eventually ‘go the limit.’ This does not, in most cases,
mean either promiscuity or frequency, but it happens.”[19]

This situation is alarming, and the leaders of the country must take
immediate notice of it. When fifteen to twenty-five girls out of every
hundred in any country indulge in irresponsible sexual relationships
between the ages of fifteen and eighteen, that country is not in a
healthy moral condition. The effect of these early sexual intimacies
between young girls and boys is ruinous to their later spiritual
growth. How the situation may be remedied is a serious problem,
which is not the task of any foreigner, however honest and friendly,
to solve.
It may be of value to point out here how the Hindu thinkers sought to
control this situation. We quoted above the frank opinion of an
American college girl regarding the Hindu system of marriage. The ill
opinion of the Hindu system of marriage held by most westerners,
springs, however, not from their knowledge of the situation, but from
its very novelty, and from the dissociation of the name romance from
its system. The western method of marriage emphasizes freedom for
the individual, and as such its fundamental basis is both noble and
praiseworthy. From the exercise of freedom have developed some of
the finest traits of character; freedom, in fact, has been the source of
inspiration for the highest achievements of the human race. But
freedom in sex relationship without proper knowledge transforms
itself into license, as its exercise in the commercial relationships of
the world without sympathy and vision develops into tyranny. An
illustration of the former consequence may be seen in the disastrous
effect of the wrong kind of freedom on the morals of the American
youth; the slums of the industrial world are the results of the laissez
faire policy when it is allowed to proceed unchecked, on its reckless
career.
In India marriage is regarded as a necessity in life; in the case of
woman it is the most conclusive of all incidents, the one action to
which all else in life is subsidiary. From marriage springs not only her
whole happiness, but on it also depends the fulfilment of her very
life. Marriage to a woman is a sacrament—an entrance into the
higher and holier regions of love and consecration—and motherhood
is to her a thing of pride and duty. From childhood she has been
trained to be the ideal of the husband whom marriage gives her.
Dropping longingly into the embrace of her husband with almost
divine confidence in his protection and love, she begins to look at the
whole universe in a different light. “Are the heavens and the earth so
suddenly transformed? Do the birds and trees, the stars and the
heavens above, take on a more brilliant coloring, and the wind begin
to murmur a sweeter music?” Or is it true that she is herself
transformed at the gentle touch of him who is henceforth to be her
lord?
So limitless is the power of human emotion that we can create in our
own imagination scenes of a joyful existence, which, when they are
finally realized, bring about miraculous changes in us almost
overnight. This miracle is no fiction; it is a reality. An overnight’s
blissful acquaintance with her husband has altered the constitution of
many a girl’s body and given to her figure nobler curves. I have seen
my own sister given in marriage, a girl of 18, a slender, playful, fond
child with barely a sign of womanhood in her habits and carriage;
and after a month when I went for a visit to her home I found it
difficult to recognize my own sister. How suddenly had the marital
union transformed her! In the place of a slender, sprightly girl was
now a plump woman with a blooming figure, seeming surcharged
with radiant energy; in the place of a straight childish look in the eyes
there was a look of happiness, wisdom, understanding that was
inspiring and ennobling. The atmosphere around my sister, once a
girl, now a woman, was of such a divine character and her
appearance expressed such exquisite joy that I fell spontaneously
into her arms, and before we separated our eyes were wet with tears
of joy. Seeing my sister so beautiful and so happy, I was happy; and
in her moment of supreme joy her brother, the beloved companion of
early days, became doubly dear to her. Some moments in our lives
are difficult, nay, impossible to forget. This experience was of so
illuminating a nature that it is still as vivid in my mind as if it had
happened yesterday.
The explanation is very simple. In the mind of my sister, as in the
mind of every other Indian girl, the idea of a husband had been
uppermost since her very childhood. Around his noble appearance,
fine carriage, and handsome expression she must have woven many
a beautiful story. Each time she saw one of her girl friends given in
marriage to a “flower-crowned bridegroom, dressed in saffron-
colored clothes, riding in procession on a decorated horse,” and
accompanied by music and festivity, she must have dreamed. And
then when the ideal of her childhood was realized, no wonder she
found in his company that height of emotional exaltation which
springs from the proper union of the sexes and is the noblest gift of
God to man. The American girl thinks my sister married a stranger,
but she had married an ideal, a creation of her imagination, and a
part of her own being.
The wise Hindu system which keeps the idea of a husband before
the girls from their childhood will not be easily understood by the
conventional western mind. Those who consider sex as something
“unclean and filthy” and have formed the conviction that its thoughts
and its very name must be strictly kept away from growing children
must learn two fundamental truths. In the first place, nothing in sex is
filthy or unclean; on the other hand, sex is “the purest and the
loveliest thing in life and if properly managed is emotionally exalting
and highly uplifting for our moral and spiritual development.”[20]
Secondly, to imagine that by maintaining a conspiracy of silence on
the subject of sex one can exclude its thought totally from the lives of
growing children is to betray in the grossest form ignorance of
natural laws.
In India, however, sex is considered a necessary part of a healthy
individual’s life; it is a sacred and a lovely thing; and, as such, it is to
be carefully examined and carefully cultivated. The sexual impulse is
recognized as the strongest of human impulses, and any attempt to
thwart it by outside force must result in disaster to the individual and
in ruin to social welfare. To overcome sex hunger by keeping people
ignorant of it is the meanest form of hypocrisy. To deny facts is not to
destroy them. It is not only stupid but cowardly to imagine that one
could make people moral and spiritual by keeping them ignorant and
superstitious. Show them the light, and they will find their own way.
Teach children the essentials of life, encourage in them the habit of
independent thought, show them by example and precept the
beauties of moral grandeur, and they will develop within themselves
the good qualities of self-respect and self-restraint which will further
insure against many pitfalls. Says the Hindu proverb: “A woman’s
best guard is her own virtue.” Virtue is a thing which must spring
from within and can never be imposed from the outside.
The atmosphere in the Hindu household and the attitude of the elder
members of the family to each other is of such a nature that the boys
and girls gradually become aware of the central facts of nature. In
fact, no attempt is made to hide from the children anything about
their life functions. The subjects of marriage and child birth are freely
discussed in the family gatherings. Children are never excluded
when a brother or sister is born, and no one tells them stories of little
babies brought in baskets by the doctors or by storks. Whenever the
growing children ask curious questions about physiological facts,
they are given the necessary information to the extent that it will be
intelligible to them.
The experience in India has clearly demonstrated the fact that if
young boys and girls are properly instructed in the laws of nature,
and if the knowledge is backed up by the right kind of moral stimulus
and idealism, these young people can be relied upon to develop
invincible powers of self-restraint and self-respect. Such boys and
girls will have noble aspirations and will grow into fine-spirited men
and women of healthy moral character and of unquestionable poise.
The writer has no desire to eulogize the Hindu system of marriage,
or to disparage the Occidental. An attempt has been made to
diagnose the prevalent consequences of two systems. The Hindu
customs certainly need modification in view of the rapid economic
and social changes; the western system displays a deplorable lack
of adjustment to new conditions in those countries. The writer merely
asks the reader to remember that just because a system is different,
it need not be outrageous.

FOOTNOTES:
[13] Katherine Mayo.
[14] Quoted from Cousins—Awakening of Asian Womanhood, page
40.
[15] Coomaraswamy.
[16] Coomaraswamy—Dance of Siva, page 88.
[17] Tagore.
[18] Quoted from Cousins—The Awakening of Asian Womanhood,
page 38.
[19] Pages 56, 59, 62.
[20] Ben B. Lindsey.
 Chapter III
THE CIVILIZATION AND ETHICS OF INDIA
The distinctive feature of Hindu culture is its femininity. While the
northern branch of the Aryan family represented by the European
group had to undergo hard struggle with unyielding nature on
account of a barren soil and the severity of cold climate, which
developed in them the masculine qualities of aggressiveness, force,
and exertion, the southern branch of the Aryan family, who migrated
into the smiling valleys of the Indus and the Ganges, found in their
new home abundance of physical comfort. The extreme fertility of
soil and the warm climate made existence easy and left them leisure
for speculation and thought—conditions which have tended to make
the people of India emotional, meditative, and mystic. The bounty of
nature released them from struggle, and the resulting freedom from
material cares and security of existence developed in the Hindu
character the benevolent qualities of tolerance and thankfulness.[21]
The peace-loving nature of the Hindu mind shows itself in its early
ventures into the study of the higher and deeper problems of life.
When they began to inquire into the secrets of the universe and its
relationship to human life with a view to discovering the mystery of
our existence on this planet, they were dominated solely by an
absolute and unqualified love of truth. “They never quarreled about
their beliefs or asked any questions about individual faiths. Their only
ambition was to acquire knowledge of the universe,—of its origin and
cause,—and to understand the whence and whither, the who and
what of the human soul.” The early pioneers of Hindu thought lay
down for rest on the open, fertile plains of the Ganges during the
fragrant summer nights of India, and their eyes sought the starry
heavens above. Then they looked into themselves, and must have
asked, “What are we? What is this life on earth meant for? How did
we come here? Where are we bound for? What becomes of the
human soul?” and many another difficult question. The answer that
the Hindu sages of old gave to these difficult questions is to be found
in the one simple rule of the Unity of All Life: One Supreme Being is
the source of all joy; He is the master of all knowledge; He is eternal,
stainless, unchangeable, and always present as a witness in every
conscience; He alone is real and lasting, and the rest of this material
universe is maya, a mere illusion. Human soul is made of the same
substance as the Supreme soul. It is separated from its source
through ignorance. Through succeeding incarnations it strives to
reach its ultimate goal, which is its identification with the Supreme
Being. That is the final end of all human effort—the realization of the
Self—which accomplished, man’s existence becomes one with the
rest of the Universe, and his life thereafter is one of limitless love.
His soul unites with the Universal soul and he has obtained his
Moksha (salvation). He begins to see “All things in self and self in
All.”
This idea of spiritual freedom, which is the release of the self from
the ego concept, forms the foundation of Hindu culture, and has
influenced the whole character of India’s social and religious ideals.
Let us try to explain it a little more clearly. The recognition of the
unity of all life assumes the existence of one God, “one source, one
essence and one goal.” The final purpose of life is to realize this
unity, when the human soul becomes one with the Universal Spirit.
Ignorance is the cause of all evil, because it forever hides from us
the true vision. The wise man continually strives to overcome
ignorance through the study of philosophy and through self-restraint
and renunciation. He seeks to achieve knowledge of Self, in order
that he may see God face to face. Then he will attain Moksha
(salvation). Until he has realized the absolute Truth, he must hold on
to the relative truth as he sees it, which is accomplished through the
exercise of such virtues as universal love, faith, devotion, self-
sacrifice, and renunciation.
“Despising everything else, a wise man should strive after the
knowledge of the Self.”
Human life on this earth is a journey from one village to the other.
We are all pilgrims here, and this abode is only our temporary home
and not a permanent residence. Instead of being continually in
search of material wealth, of power, of fame, and of toiling day and
night, why should we not regard life as a perpetual holiday and learn
to rest and enjoy it? Would it not be better if we had a little less of
work, a little less of so-called pleasure, and more of thought and
peace? It does not take much to sustain life; vegetable food in small
quantities will maintain the body in good health, and the shelter of a
cottage is all that a man requires. That he should build palaces and
amass riches proves his lack of knowledge; that he should try to find
happiness from the ruin of the happiness of his fellow beings, the
inevitable consequence of the building up of great fortunes, is
absurd. Nothing is real except His law and His power. Human life,
like a bubble on the surface of a mighty ocean, may burst and
disappear at any moment. “There is fruit on the trees in every forest,
which everyone who likes may pluck without trouble. There is cool
and sweet water in the pure rivers here and there. There is a soft
bed made of the twigs of the beautiful creepers. And yet wretched
people suffer pain at the door of the rich.”

“A man seeking for eternal happiness (moksha) might obtain it

by a hundredth part of the suffering which a foolish man endures
in the pursuit of riches.”
“Poor men eat more excellent bread than the rich; for hunger
gives it sweetness.”

Thus the doctrine of Maya has taught the people of India that all
material things are illusion.
Thus, guided by the vision of Universal Spirit, which sustains the
entire creation, and saved by the right comprehension of the doctrine
of Maya, the Hindus have developed a civilization in which people
are inspired largely by the ideals of human fellowship, by love and by
spiritual comfort. The wisdom of the Hindu’s retiring, passive attitude
toward life will not readily be acknowledged by his sturdy,
aggressive, and combative brothers in the western world. The
Occidental’s necessities of life have assumed such immense
proportions, and social relations have become so intricate and
insecure, that a man’s whole life is spent in making sure of mere
existence, and in providing against the accidents of the future. Such
is the deadening influence of the continual hurly-burly of every-day
life around him, that he has begun to regard life as synonymous with
work. He has never himself tasted the sweetness of security and
peace, and when he hears anyone else discuss it, he is likely to
brand the doctrine as dreamy, unreal, and impractical. “But is it
surely wise to destroy the best objects of life for the sake of life? Is
the winning of wealth and the enjoying of pleasure always a superior
choice to that of spiritual freedom?” To love leisure, ideals, and
peace has been the criterion of Hindu wisdom. Those who have
closely studied the history of the Hindu nation know the illumination,
the peace, the joy, the strength that its lessons bring into the lives of
those simple, virtuous people.
Hindu civilization has been, on the whole, humane and wholesome,
and the life of the people of India has been one of unalloyed
usefulness and service to humanity. India has always been the home
of various religions and its people have always been divided into
innumerable faiths. At no period of its long history, however, has
religious persecution been practised by any class of people in the
country. “No war was ever waged in or outside of India by the Hindu
nation in the name of religion. India has never witnessed the horrors
of an inquisition; no holy wars were undertaken, and no heretics
burned alive for the protection of religion.” In the entire history of the
Hindu nation, not a drop of blood has ever been shed in the name of
religion. To those who have read the accounts of the bloody tortures
and the massacres that have been enacted for the sake of religion
among the Christian nations of the world, this is saying much.
The hobby of the Hindu is not Catholicism, Presbyterianism,
Methodism, or any other form of ism known to the western world; his
interest does not lie in Hinduism, Buddhism, or Sikhism. His passion
is for religion. “He loves not a religion; he lives for religion.” It was his
love of religion which an old English missionary found among the
inhabitants of a small village in Northern India. Tired from walking in
the hot summer sun, this wandering friar lay down under the cool
shade of a banyan tree for rest, and fell asleep. How long he slept
and what brilliant dreams of His Master Lord Christ’s mercy this
humble mendicant had, no one knows. When in the late afternoon he
opened his eyes, he saw a beautiful young girl gently fanning his
face, while her little brother stood near, carrying in his arms a basket
of choice fruits and a jug of fresh, cool water. As the old friar’s eyes
finally met the maiden’s kindly gaze, he exclaimed: “At last after all
these weary travels I have found a Christian people!”
Religion to the Hindu is not one among the many interests in life. It is
the all-absorbing interest. The thought of a Universal Brotherhood
taught in his religion guides every social, commercial, and political
act of his life; while the hope of divine sanction inspires his efforts in
the intellectual and spiritual spheres. Religion is not the mere
profession of a certain theological faith, whose ritual may be
observed on appointed occasions and then be forgotten till time
again comes for worship and prayer. Religion is the “Yearning
beyond” on the part of man, and when once its essence is realized,
the spirit must influence every interest of the individual’s life. This is
the way in which religion is understood in India. “It is not a matter of
form, but of mind and will. To the Hindu, it is more religious to
cleanse the soul and build a good character than to mutter prayers
and observe a strict ritual. Morality should form the basis of religion,
and emphasis should be laid, not on outward observance, but on
inward spiritual culture.”

“By deed, thought, and word, one should do good to (all) living
beings. This Harsha declared to be the highest way of earning
religious merit.”

The main purpose of life is the realization of Self, to which all other
interests must be completely subordinated. The material things of
the world are but a means to this end; and the end being religion, its
thought must not be lost sight of in arranging the details of life.
Hence, religion pervades the entire fabric of Hindu society. Study
Indian art, law, ethics, and political economy; everywhere you will