The consequence was that the moment Keshab Chandra Sen was appointed minister of the Samaj somewhere between 1861 and 1862—Tagore was convinced that this meant unwarranted violation of Brahmanic rights and Ishvara Chandravidyasagar, the stout protagonist of Hindu widows, and he at once severed their connection with the Samaj, and established a short-lived society called the Upasana Samaj.
Keshab had come under strong Christian influences, and had a vivid sense of sin and the need for moral regeneration. The person and character of Christ held him in complete thrall, and he felt that without developing the ethical side of religion mere contem plative exercise and a quietistic fatalism would lead to nowhere. He strove to press on the minds of his adherents the urgent claims of philanthropic service and social co-operation, without which religion would degenerate into formalism and be barren of permanent results. No doubt, his mind must have been steeped in these practical ideas during his school and college days, as a direct result of coming into contact with European literature and history : but we see no reason why he should not be given credit for initiative in these matters, or for possessing the genius for practical things, since it is grossly misleading to assert that in India, only contemplation is in vogue and practical activities are under a ban. Nothing
can be remoter from the truth. All that we are justified in saying is that certain duties and functions have been allocated to certain classes or castes ; and that even stages have been specified during which certain activities should either be given full sway or completely suspended.
In 1865 we notice that these differences between the mentality of Keshab and Debendra came to a head ; all the property of the Samaj was left in control of the latter ; while Keshab would have none of the recrudescence of what he would consider reactionary and nefarious rituals, and with drew with all his influential and progressive following. This split depressed Keshab, since he greatly rever enced Tagore, who was, in turn, attached to him.