FOREWORD. It is a matter of regret and wonder that the catholic Hindu has not received Jesus with that reverence that He, as one of the incarnations of God, undoubtedly deserves. The foregoing poem in Bengali and the following Ode in English are modest attempts on my part to popularize Him among us all, so that we may realize the truth that He is as much the Way as the Lord Sri Krishna or the Mother Durga. It is marvellous that His teachings are identical with those of Sri Krishna in the Gita, and the truly spiritual Hindu would on no account hesitate to prostrate himself before His Lotus-Feet. I humbly hope that my countrymen will not misunderstand me and my christian brothers will not pooh-pooh my honest endeavours. No lover of truth can possibly fail to admit that “whenever and wherever virtue suffers and vice triumphs, the Almighty God incarnates Himself with a view to justify the ways of righteousness.” It is the bigot alone—the frog of the well—who will turn a deaf ear to all tales of the traveller about the big, big sea. The civilised man needs no enlightenment about the size and dimension of the moon : the savage will pelt stones at you if you tell him that it is larger than a big ball. I DEVENDRANATH SEN.
