He [Swami Vivekananda] preached to his countrymen a more virile creed than any Hindu had offered them since Vedic days : It is a man-making religion that we want. ... Give up these weakening mysticisms, and be strong. ... For the next fifty years... let all other, vain gods disappear from our minds. This is the only God that is awake, our own race, everywhere His hands, everywhere His feet, everywhere His ears; He covers everything. ... The first of all worship is the worship of those all around us.... These are all our gods-men and animals; and the first gods we have to worship are our own countrymen. It was but a step from this to Gandhi. * * * The most vivid of [the followers of Ramakrishna] was a proud young Kùatriya, Narendranath Datta, who full of Spencer and Darwin, first presented himself to Ramakrishna as an atheist, unhappy in his atheism, but scornful of the myths and superstitions with which he identified religion. Conquered by Ramakrishna’s patient kindliness, Naren became the young master’s most ardent disciple. He redefined God as ‘the totality of all souls’ and called upon his fellow-men to practise religion not through vain asceticism and meditation, but through absolute devotion to [mankind].
