Hence we need not brand as evil the
rough aggression and the fierce struggles of barbarous times; they were
a necessary stage of growth and were at that stage Right, and in the
divine plan. But now those days are over, strength has been won; the
time has come when the separated selves must gradually draw together,
and to co-operate with the divine Will which is working for union is
the Right. The Right which is the outcome of Love, directed by reason,
at the present stage of evolution, then, seeks an ever-increasing
realisation of Unity, a drawing together of the separated selves. That
which by establishing harmonious relations makes for Unity is Right;
that which divides and disintegrates, which makes for separation, is
Wrong." (_ibid._, 10, 11.)
Hin[d.][=u]ism, on which the whole of this is based, has added to this
broad criterion the division of a life into four stages, to each of
which appropriate virtues are assigned: the Student Period, with its
virtues of perfect continence, industry, frugality, exertion; the
Household Period, with its virtue of duties appropriate to the position,
the earning and enjoying of wealth, the gratification of desires; the
Retirement Period, with the virtues of the renouncing of worldly
gain and of sacrifice; the Ascetic Period, of complete renunciation,
meditation and preparation for post-mortem life.
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