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EIGHTH LECTURE.
Ritual. In this lecture we shall endeavour to enquire into the different forms of worship which have prevailed amongst men. These may be summed up under the following beads :
(1) Prayer, (2) Sacrifice, (3) Pilgrimage, (4) Meditation, (5) Purification, and
(6) Tapas.
We shall take these one by one to understand their 'real significance. To begin with prayer, which in the current sense is only a begging for favours and boons from a superhuman being, it is evident now that there can be no such thing as a prayer-bureau in nature. The stern realities and howid facts of the modern European war prove only too eloquently that there was none to listen to the wail and lament of the starving, suffering, and heart-broken peoples. Men of every religion which taught prayer constantly prayed for years, from day to day. Hindus, Mabomedans, Buddhists, Christians, Jews and others joined in begging for the cessation of the conflict, or at least for the lessening of
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