In the scheme of practical religion, consisting of Charya, Kriya, Yoga, and Jnana, otherwise called Dasamarga, Satputra-marga, Sahamarga, and Sanmarga, Christianity brings to the foreground Satputramarga or the Doctrine of Father-hood of God, though as I have shown elsewhere, it comprises other margas also.

In regard to our relation to Mahomedanism, l am only sorry to say that mutual ignorance of each other's truths has kept them from recognition of their closest kinship, much closer in fact, than any other Hindu school even. We are like passengers entering a Railway carriage, and one who gets in first tries to prevent the other getting in. But once both get in and fall to talk, their kinship for generations is discovered, and they fall on each other's necks, kiss and embrace. I will give you a story to illustrate. There was once a quarrel between the Saivites and their other Hindu brethren in a certain place. They went before the Nabob with their complaints. He promised to decide if each would show his God on the morrow. The Saivites went home dejected; for, how could they hope to show the Nabob' their God? They fell to fasting and prayer, and at night, God appeared in a vision and told them to rise in the morning and alter proper ablutions, to divide their cadjan Holy Hymn Book with a thread at random, and the Hymn which was found should be taken and shown to the Nabob. The other party was jubilant, for in their wealth and power to decorate their God, they had no equals.

They brought out their God gaily adorned with costly crowns and sparkling gems to the presence of the Nabob. The Saivites took their old. browned palm-leaf .and read out the verse which was to this effect. "The Lord with braided hair and His spouse with pencilled brows, live in the burning ground of Kanchi. He knows no sin. He is not one of the mortals. He has no one as His equal. No town claims Him as its citizen. He is beyond compare; unless we with the eye of His Grace perceive His true nature, we can't paint Him, and show Him as of such form and figure."

The Nabob nodded his head and said to the other party, "Sabash! This is a great Raja"; but told the Saivites, "Yours is God." My Mahomedan friend to whom I related the story said, "True, if the Nabob did not know the nature of God, would he have recognized yours as God." And that is the moral I am trying to bring out by means of the story. The God of the Saivites who form the bulk of the Hindu people and whose doctrine is the most ancient form of Hinduism, is not an anthropomorphic conception. That they hold strictly with Mahomedans that God cannot be born, as a man, through the womb of the woman, attests this truth. Siva, (Sivam, Santam, Advaitam, Chaturtam) who by the way is not one of the trinity, in all His revelations to man, never was born and could never be born. He is therefore called birthless (Aja) and deathless (Amrita) 'immortal,' even in the Rig Veda. In the higher regions of philosophy and mysticism, there is very close approximation. We believe also that the famous Kaaba of Mecca is nothing but a Siva Linga. I quote very frequently from Shaik Sadi and other writers to illustrate the higher truths of Saiva philosophy. Here is a rose picked from the Gulistan. "A certain person took his basket and told his friends that he would go into his garden and bring them fine flowers.

He went in and the moment he came amidst the flowers, he was so overpowered by the strong scent, he fell down unconscious. He forgot himself, he forgot the promise given to his friends, and the basket slipped from his hands unnoticed." This is the condition of the Jivan Mukta according to Saiva philosophy. There is joy in heaven and endless bliss but one wiil not be conscious he is so enjoying. This is pure advaita bliss. There is no return from there, 'no return is the refrain of the Upanishats. One of our sages sings: "we have not heard, nor learnt from those who had cast their eyes on

Thee." All our religious practices, ceremonies, forms and Shibboleths fall off from us, as the basket from the sleeper's hand, and they are of no consequence when we reach His seat. I will appeal to my own religionists to try and study Mahomed-anism as it deserves to be studied, and 1 would appeal to my Mahomedan brethren to come out of their seclusion and know something of us; for as I may say with truth with my valued Christian friend, "you have even something to learn from Hinduism." In the scheme of practical religion, the popular form of Mahomadanism is Dasa Marga, though, as I have shown, the Mahomedan mystics have reached the highest experience of religion. Amongst the Tamil people, Christians address God usually as Pita, "Father" and the Mahomedans as "Andavan, Lord and Master."

Coming now to the Hindu Schools, Saivaism includes the school of Ganapatyas, Saktas and Vedantins of Sankara's School. So far as the practical religion is concerned, Vedantins and Saivites are indistinguishable in form, and they follow the Charya, Kriya and Yoga paths together. It is only in regard to the doctrinal part they differ. Vedai)tins interpret "Advaitam" as 'Ekam,' 'Abheda,' 'Abhinna.' But if as Manilal Dvivedi in his Monism shows, 'Advaita' does not mean all this, but 'Ananya' or Anyonasti, as our Acharyas, Sri Nila-kant;ha Sivacharya and St. Meykandan take it to be, even the slight difference vanishes. There may be a purpose in emph?-sizing the one-ness of all things, by reason of God's immanence, as against gross dualism, but still an one-sided picture is always not safe. As regards its relation to Vaishnavism, there is much greater doctrinal harmony between Saivaism and Vaishnavism of Sri Ramanuja's school than between these and Vedaotism, of Sankara's School, though in the forms of religion they differ.

I presented a copy of my Sivajnanabodkam to the, late P. Srlnivasa Rao, Judge, City Civil Court, Madras, a prominent Madhva; and when I next met him, he said he thought I was an advaiti, but the reading of my book showed that there was no difference between his philosophy and mine. I am proud to call myself an advaiti still. But there was a meeting-ground possible between my Advaitam and his Dvaitam whereas, there was no union possible between his Dvaitam and what he fancied to be advaitam. A Srivaishnava friend of mine had written a key to my Sivajnanabodham. However I am glad to say the leaders on both sides are giving up their narrow prejudices and in the last Saiva Siddhanta conference* held at Ramnad, we had several Vaishnava friends lecturing on the platform, and on Sri Panchaksharam itself. However the value of Vaishnavism is in emphasizing the importance of Dasa Marga or Bhakti Marga, though Vaishnava saints have belonged to all the four Margas. One of my Calcutta friends told me that Saivaism is not so popular a Bhakti Marga as Vaishnavism. And I spent a whole night in speaking to one who is considered as a great teacher now in Calcutta, in the presence of my friend, and the great man was kind enough to acknowledge his entire agreement with my views.