Paper 1 · Comprehension
Passage
A country under foreign domination seeks escape from the present in dreams of a vanished age and finds consolation in visions about the greatness of past generations. That is a foolish and dangerous pastime in which many of us indulge. An equally questionable practice for us in India is to imagine that we are still spiritually great, though we have come down in the world in other respects. Spiritual or any other such greatness cannot be found on lack of freedom and opportunity or on starvation and misery. Many western writers have encouraged the notion that Indians are other worldly. I suppose that the poor and unfortunate in every country become other worldly to some extent, unless they become revolutionaries, for this world is evidently not meant for them. So are the subjected people. As a man grows to maturity, he is not entirely engrossed in or satisfied with the external objective world. He also seeks some inner meaning and some psychological and physical satisfaction. Therefore, along with people, civilizations too mature and grow as adults. Every civilization and every person exhibits these parallel streams of external and internal lives. Where they meet or keep close to each other there is an equilibrium and stability, and when they diverge, conflicts and crises arise that torture the mind and the spirit.
Which of the following can be taken as the most valid assumption of the paragraph?
AA country under foreign domination cannot indulge in spiritual pursuit
BPoverty is an impediment to spiritual pursuit ✓ Correct
CBoth of the above
DNone of the above
Correct answer: (B) Poverty is an impediment to spiritual pursuit — The valid assumption is that poverty is an impediment to spiritual pursuit, so that is the answer.
Explanation
★The valid assumption is that poverty is an impediment to spiritual pursuit, so that is the answer.
★The passage says spiritual greatness cannot be found amid a lack of freedom and opportunity or starvation and misery.
★So it assumes that poverty and want stand in the way of any spiritual attainment.
★The idea that a country under foreign rule cannot pursue spirituality at all is contrary to the passage.
★So that statement cannot be the assumption.
★Since only the second holds, the most valid assumption is that poverty is an impediment to spiritual pursuit.
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