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Jain Conference Herald.
[ July
an accepted fashion, custom, habit and the like; for the unseen and unfelt force of Custom is stranger than the strongest foe we may have to face in this world. We are hand-cuffed and leg-ironed and the nerves os our whole structure are constrained in its presence. Our blood is chilled and its envigorating circulation stops, making us helpless before thif mighty combatant. It surpasses in its fascinating powers, the most proficient mesmeriser in as much as it produces its mesmeric effect without seeing and without being seen. It is nimbler in velocity and more savage in ferocity than the electric spark. We are stunned, stupified and spellbound by its magic wand. In strength it surpasses all the Sandows of the world joined together. No mortal man however clad in complete steel, can withstand the furious attacks of this unconquered Hero-of-all-ages.
Custom is like the rapid current of a stream sweeping away everything that comes in its way and thus we have often to sacrifice our personal comforts and convictions on the alter of this mighty God. Our habit, a kind of second nature, which is an internal principle growing up within us and is a law of our being, is made subservient to haughty custom which is eternal, established by long usage or the frequent repetition of the same act. It is very hard to stand in battle with custom for it is:
"Power by a thousand tough and stringy roots Fixed to the people's pious nursery-faith.
This, this will be no strife of strength, with strength
That feared I not. I brave each combatant,
Whom I can look on, fixing eye to eye,
Who full himself of courage kindles courage, In me too. 'Tis a foe invisible,
The which I fear-a fearful enemy,
Which in the human heart opposes me, By its coward fear alone made fearful to me. Not that, which full of life, instinct with power, Makes known its present being, that is not The true, the perilously formidable.
Oh no! it is the common the quite common, The thing of an eternal yesterday,
What ever was, and evermore returns, Sterling to-morrow for to-day 't was sterling! For of the wholly common is man made, And custom is his nurse. "
Such being the force of custom we cannot shake it altogether; for whatever the inconveniences to which a Hindu is subjected by putting off hoes while entering a temple, walking upon a carpet, eating food, offering
