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of that year on "Religion". We owe it to the industry of our
venerable brother, Lala Jivan Das, late President of the Lahore Arya
Samaj,11 that a part of that lecture is now accessible to the Arya
Public. This lecture is a strong onslaught against religion. Guru
Datta says, that in discussing all questions concerning religion,
we must not allow ourselves being influenced by our feelings but
must strictly abide by our reason. But we are here concerned with
only truth so far as our reason can discover it."
Honesty of conviction was the leading trait of Guru Datta's
character. He had an unbouhded abhorrence for a life which was
not consistent in thought and deed. His nature was utterly foreign
to cant and dissimulation. He was never an atheist in his life for
any considerable length of time. The lecture on "Religion" was
delivered in that period in which his mind got the better of his
spiritual faculty. He made no secret of his beliefs but plainly
declared his convictions when he was not a theist and the aforesaid
lecture affords a strong 'testimony to his honesty. But as his mental
condition was seldom uniform in the period of which we are
writing, he could not adopt a fixed course of action. When theistic
tendency became pre-dominant, he openly avowed his belief in the
existence of the Divine Being. There was a strange conflict going
on between his intellectual and spiritual faculties in 1883.
Pandit Guru Datta was much occupied during the year 1883.
In January he delivered the aforesaid lecture, and in March he
founded a Science Class in connection with the Arya Samaj.12 The
class was launched under the auspices of Dr. Oman, the Professor
of Science in the Government College.
The activities of the Pandit were many sided. While on the
one hand, he was working in the interests of the Science Class, on
the other, he had to write articles for the
Regenerator of Arya Varta,
a paper started by Lala Salig Ram, Proprietor of the Arya Press.
At this time occurred an event which changed the whole
course of his life. Swami Dayananda, lay dying at Ajmer. This
intelligence was received at Lahore, on the 9th of October. The
office bearers of the Lahore, Arya Samaj, at once deputed Lala
Jivan Das and Pt. Guru Datta, to Ajmer. His going there proved
highly beneficial both to himself and to the Arya Samaj. It marks a
turning point in his life and a great epoch in the history of the Arya
Samaj. When he reached Ajmer,13 Swamiji's condition had become