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A LOVER OF LIGHT AMONG LUMINARIES : Dilip Kumar Roy and France at the point of the sword and the British were then repeating it in India. It was only when a people were held in subjugation that they had the necessary respect for an alien culture. Even a country like Japan was forced with the arms by the English and the Americans to open her ports for them. He held Japan in high estimation for her later assimilation of the Western science, political technique and militarism in a complete manner. Such an assimilation changed the face of the whole country. Japan's cruelty and ruthlessness, Russell thought, could be compared with those of a pupil who had outstripped the master in devilment. The military achievement of Japan, Russell observed, was simply "marvellous, incredible--almost unparallelled in world-history!"30
Like political systems of the world, according to Russell, the religious organizations of the world too were not always helpful in fulfilling the interest of the modern humanity and, therefore, they were inadequate. Russell found that the inculcation of any ideas or doctrines among boys and girls by anybody or any religion is not fair psychologically because when they grow up, they tend to react against those very doctrines. To prove his point, he cited the illustration of Christianity. It painted in glowing colours the charm of submissiveness, but the result noticed was the opposite.
He accepted that some of the noblest and finest persons had been the products of religious or mystic beliefs. But he was sure that he could enumerate the same number of finest men among the irreligious. He was convinced that religion, on the whole, had "rendered the world definitely unhappier than it would otherwise have been". 31
It seems, Russell was utterly against mysticism. He found the mystics selfcentred and selfish, "Because through such mystic transports they become more and more subjective."32 Then they lose their interest of leading normal and healthy life of varied activities. Ultimately, their joys become similar to those of the voluptuary and the drunkard. Dilip Roy records an incident in which Tagore, once, invited Russell to go into a Catholic church to hear the beautiful hymns when they were passing by that church. He refused to do so by telling:
“The hymns and incense and coloured glasses make me confess to feelings my intellect does not approve; I want to keep my
mental sky clear of the mystic clouds."33
Among all religious figures of the world, he liked Buddha better. In his lecture, Why I Am Not a Christian he said:
"I cannot myself feel that either in this matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history. I think I should put Buddha and Socrates above him in these respects.":34
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