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THE CULT OF ASCETICISM & RENUNCIATION
merit of submission. The mind of a superstitious crowd steeped in ignorance and trembling with fear, submitted to the most absurd and atrocious habits, the fanatical practice of which would be rewarded surely with salvation, and possibly even with worldly fame, power and prestige. Austerities, that have been claimed as the special merit of the holy men of India, were carried to incredible extent by Christian monks. Pleasure and guilt were synonymous terms in the monastic vocabulary of India as well as of any other country inflicted by the discase. Everywhere impure desires of the flesh were mortified by the rigours of fast and abstemiousness. Church Fathers like Saint Jerome were enthusiastically eloquent about the spiritual effect of fasting and abstinence. The inmates of Eastern monasteries-disciples of Anthony and Pachonius-lived on the pittance of twelve ounces of dry bread a day, and had to perform hard labour to keep their minds away from evil thoughts. Nights were devoted to prayer, penance and meditation. Meat eating was strictly forbidden, and water was the only beverage compatible with the spiritual life of a man. The early Christian ideal of evangelical poverty was thc last word of the doctrine of renunciation. On entering the holy life, the monk abjured all earthly possessions, the cloak on his back was not to be called his own. The holy man lived on alms or the product of manual labour performed in the service of God.
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