(4) To worship and pray to images and other created objects is not the true mode of divine adoration.
(5) God does not incarnate Himself and there is no one book which has been directly revealed by God or is wholly infallible.
(6) All men are*his children, therefore they should behave towards each other as brethren without distinction. This is pleasing to God and constitutes man’s duty.
'The object :--The object of this Samaj is that the faith the principles of which are enumerated above should spread and that actious in life should be in conformity thereto.
The Oath:-- Every candidate for membership has to take the following oath before he is admitted as a member of the Samaj.
"I fully believe in the articles of faith above specified and I hold it my duty to act in conformity with them. To this effect 1 solemnly affirm in the presence of Almighty God.
Building.—The following extract is taken from the report of Mr. B. H. Bhagwat, Secretary of the Samaj, published in February 1877.
“ Accommodation for the prayer and other meetings of the Samaj was provided by the President, Dr. Atmaram Pandnrang, in his own house from the beginning down to 1870. For some months afterwards the meetings were held in the- house of the late Rao Bahadur Ramchandra Balkrishna, and subsequently the liquidators of the Central Bank of Western India—The late Messrs. Vinayakrao Jagannath Shankarshet and Limjibhai JamSetji Bottlebhai and Mr. G. Robinson—kindly lent the Samaj free of charge the use of an iron house appertaining to the Girgaum Ice Factory, which stood on the ground now occupied by the Mandir. This place being put up for sale in 1872, quarters were hired in the opposite court-yard belonging to Dr. Manekji Adarji and these continued to be occupied till the building of the
Mandir was completed. Dr. Manakji, however, generously remitted the rent for the last year of the tenancy.
Want of accommodation was early felt by the members of the Samaj, who in 1868 resolved to have a building of their own and started a subscription for the purpose, most of them contributing each his one month’s income. And when the iron house belonging to the Girgaum Ice Factory was as stated above, put up for sale in 1872, the place was purchased.
The foundation stone of the building was laid on the 29th December 1872 by the hand of Babu Pratapehandra Muzumdar of the Brahma Samaj of India who was then on a visit to Bombay.
The consecration ceremony was performed on the 26th April 1874. The following conditions were then laid down regarding the use of the building.—
“ Every day, at least every week, the One Only God without a second, the Perfect and Infinite, the Creator of all, Omnipresent, Almighty, All-knowing, All-merciful, and All-holy shall be worshipped in these premises. No created object shall be worshipped here. No man or inferior being or material object shall be worshipped here as identical with God or like unto God or as an Incarnation of God ; and no prayer or hymn shall be offered or chanted unto or in the name of any one except God, No carved or painted image no external symbol whieh has been or may hereafter be used by any sect, for the purpose of worship or the remembrance of a particular event, shall be preserved here. No creature shall be sacrificed here. Neither eating nor drinking nor any manner of mirth or amusement shall be allowed here. No created being or object that has been or may hereafter be worshipped by any sect shall be ridiculed or condemned in the course of Divine Service to be conducted here. No book shall be acknowledged or revered as the infallible word of God ; yet no book which has been or may hereafter be acknowledged by any sect to be infallible shall