Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/105

THE manner in which the different groups and castes are federated together under Hinduism has already been stated. The question that now comes before us is how a man who is not born a Hindu can become a Hindu and how he can disconnect himself from Hinduism.

There has been great ignorance on this matter in the European world. This ignorance is displayed by the phrase, "Conversion to Hinduism." Europeans who are in the habit of thinking in their own terms, find Hindu customs very difficult to comprehend. In Europe conversion to a religion means two things. First, the man who is converted to a religion is supposed to hold ideas similar to the rest of the people of that religion. Secondly, he joins the society of those who hold a similar belief. A Jew who becomes a Christian forsakes connexion with his own tribe and joins the tribe of the Christians.

On account of this state of affairs the Western people are led to adopt the two conditions as essentials of conversion, namely: (i) Conversion to ideas should be formally expressed by a ceremony like baptism; (ii) The conversion to ideas should be followed by adoption of the convert by the society which holds those ideas. The underlying belief of the western people is that similarity of belief and formal