“Hinduism is like the Ganga, pure and unsullied at its source but taking in its course the impurities in the way. Even like the Ganga it is beneficent in its total effect. It takes a provincial form in every province, but the inner substance is retained everywhere.”
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Source: Young India (8 April 1926); listed in the 1920s section of Gandhi's English Wikiquote page.
About this quote
A great tradition is pictured as a river: clean at its source, gathering silt as it flows through history and place, yet still nourishing on the whole. The lesson is to separate the essential core from the impurities it collects, and to accept many local forms without ever losing the center.
When to use it
- A company whose founding culture picks up bad habits across branches yet still does real good.
- A folk song that shifts region by region while keeping the same core melody intact.
- Shared family values that each child expresses differently but that everyone recognizes at heart.