Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/79

Vedas cannot supply such moral ideas as would serve the needs of the society. For instruction in morals no Hindu would care to consult the Vedas, but he would turn his attention to Mahābhārata and to works on dharma and nīti.

To-day a Hindu receives instruction in the ideas of morality, in the distinction between good and bad, from his parents and from other elderly persons. He again gets acquainted with semi-sacred epics and Purāṇas, and principles of conduct which are inculcated by them. Philosophical theories regarding karma, transmigration of soul, etc., he generally absorbs from the society around him. If he reads any religious works at all it is not the Vedas but the Epics and Purāṇas, or, at least, the Gītā, in Mahābhārata. He generally reads the versions in modern languages, of these books.

Some Hindus again choose some particular spiritual teachers (Guru). These teachers have very often a very proud lineage extending over five or ten centuries. When the man selects his teacher in whom he may have confidence, that teacher acquaints him with the past series of his teachers. The teacher is supposed to see what stage of mind the pupil has reached and to advise him to follow a course of study or practices that may be fitted for him.

Those Hindus who are unable to read and write, as a large number of Hindus are, generally listen to the sacred works like Epics and Purāṇas from professional reciters. Many men again, literate or illiterate, commit to memory vernacular poems, which are either devotional or moral in their character. Such poems are very often written especially for the uneducated. They again know the lives and stories of saints and holy men, like Tukārāma,