Chapter III: Brahmanism (2)

"Of priests, those eminent in learning; of the learned, those who know
their duty; of those who know it, such as perform it virtuously; and of
the virtuous, those who seek beatitude from a perfect acquaintance with
scriptural doctrine.

"The very birth of Brahmans is a constant incarnation of Dharma, God of
justice; for the Brahman is born to promote justice, and to procure
ultimate happiness.

"When a Brahman springs to light, he is born above the world, the chief
of all creatures, assigned to guard the treasury of duties, religious
and civil.

"The Brahman who studies this book, having performed sacred rites, is
perpetually free from offence in thought, in word and in deed.

"He confers purity on his living family, on his ancestors, and on his
descendants as far as the seventh person, and he alone deserves to
possess this whole earth."

The following passages are from Book II., "On Education and the Priesthood":--

"Self-love is no laudable motive, yet an exemption from self-love is
not to be found in this world: on self-love is grounded the study of
Scripture, and the practice of actions recommended in it.

"Eager desire to act has its root in expectation of some advantage; and
with such expectation are sacrifices performed; the rules of religious
austerity and abstinence from sins are all known to arise from hope of
remuneration.

"Not a single act here below appears ever to be done by a man free from
self-love; whatever he perform, it is wrought from his desire of a
reward.

"He, indeed, who should persist in discharging these duties without any
view to their fruit, would attain hereafter the state of the immortals,
and even in this life would enjoy all the virtuous gratifications that
his fancy could suggest.

"The most excellent of the three classes, being girt with the
sacrificial thread, must ask food with the respectful word Dhavati at
the beginning of the phrase; those of the second class with that word
in the middle; and those of the third with that word at the end.

"Let him first beg food of his mother, or of his sister, or of his
mother's whole sister; then of some other female who will not disgrace
him.

"Having collected as much of the desired food as he has occasion for,
and having presented it without guile to his preceptor, let him eat
some of it, being duly purified, with his face to the east.

"If he seek long life, he should eat with his face to the east; if
prosperity, to the west; if truth and its reward, to the north.

"When the student is going to read the Veda he must perform an
ablution, as the law ordains, with his face to the north; and having
paid scriptural homage, he must receive instruction, wearing a clean
vest, his members being duly composed.

"A Brahman beginning and ending a lecture on the Veda must always
pronounce to himself the syllable óm; for unless the syllable óm
precede, his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follow,
nothing will be long retained.

"A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall pronounce to himself, both
morning and evening, that syllable, and that holy text preceded by the
three words, shall attain the sanctity which the Veda confers.

"And a twice-born man, who shall a thousand times repeat those three
(or óm, the vyáhrĭtis, and the gáyatri) apart from the multitude, shall
be released in a month even from a great offence, as a snake from his
slough.

"The three great immutable words, preceded by the triliteral syllable,
and followed by the gáyatri, which consists of three measures, must be
considered as the mouth, or principal part of the Veda.

"The triliteral monosyllable is an emblem of the Supreme; the
suppressions of breath, with a mind fixed on God, are the highest
devotion; but nothing is more exalted than the gáyatri; a declaration
of truth is more excellent than silence.

"All rites ordained in the Veda, oblations to fire, and solemn
sacrifices pass away; but that which passes not away is declared to be
the syllable óm, thence called acshara; since it is a symbol of God,
the Lord of created beings.

"The act of repeating his Holy Name is ten times better than the
appointed sacrifice; an hundred times better when it is heard by no
man; and a thousand times better when it is purely mental.

"To a man contaminated by sensuality, neither the Vedas, nor
liberality, nor sacrifices, nor strict observances, nor pious
austerities, ever procure felicity.

"As he who digs deep with a spade comes to a spring of water, so the
student, who humbly serves his teacher, attains the knowledge which
lies deep in his teacher's mind.

"If the sun should rise and set, while he sleeps through sensual
indulgence, and knows it not, he must fast a whole day repeating the
gáyatri.

"Let him adore God both at sunrise and at sunset, as the law ordains,
having made his ablution, and keeping his organs controlled; and with
fixed attention let him repeat the text, which he ought to repeat in a
place free from impurity.

"The twice-born man who shall thus without intermission have passed the
time of his studentship shall ascend after death to the most exalted of
regions, and no more again spring to birth in this lower world."

The following passages are from Book IV., "On Private Morals":--

"Let a Brahman, having dwelt with a preceptor during the first quarter
of a man's life, pass the second quarter of human life in his own
house, when he has contracted a legal marriage.

"He must live with no injury, or with the least possible injury, to
animated beings, by pursuing those means of gaining subsistence, which
are strictly prescribed by law, except in times of distress.

"Let him say what is true, but let him say what is pleasing; let him
speak no disagreeable truth, nor let him speak agreeable falsehood;
this is a primeval rule.

"Let him say 'well and good,' or let him say 'well' only; but let him
not maintain fruitless enmity and altercation with any man.

"All that depends on another gives pain; and all that depends on
himself gives pleasure; let him know this to be in few words the
definition of pleasure and pain.

"And for whatever purpose a man bestows a gift, for a similar purpose
he shall receive, with due honor, a similar reward.

"Both he who respectfully bestows a present, and he who respectfully
accepts it, shall go to a seat of bliss; but, if they act otherwise, to
a region of horror.

"Let not a man be proud of his rigorous devotion; let him not, having
sacrificed, utter a falsehood; let him not, though injured, insult a
priest; having made a donation, let him never proclaim it.

"By falsehood the sacrifice becomes vain; by pride the merit of
devotion is lost; by insulting priests life is diminished; and by
proclaiming a largess its fruit is destroyed.

"For in his passage to the next world, neither his father, nor his
mother, nor his wife, nor his son, nor his kinsmen will remain his
company; his virtue alone will adhere to him.

"Single is each man born; single he dies; single he receives the reward
of his good, and single the punishment of his evil deeds."

From Book V., "On Diet":--

"The twice-born man who has intentionally eaten a mushroom, the flesh
of a tame hog, or a town cock, a leek, or an onion, or garlic, is
degraded immediately.

"But having undesignedly tasted either of those six things, he must
perform the penance sántapana, or the chándráyana, which anchorites
practise; for other things he must fast a whole day.

"One of those harsh penances called prájápatya the twice-born man must
perform annually, to purify him from the unknown taint of illicit food;
but he must do particular penance for such food intentionally eaten.

"He who injures no animated creature shall attain without hardship
whatever he thinks of, whatever he strives for, whatever he fixes his
mind on.

"Flesh meat cannot be procured without injury to animals, and the
slaughter of animals obstructs the path to beatitude; from flesh meat,
therefore, let man abstain.

"Attentively considering the formation of bodies, and the death or
confinement of embodied spirits, let him abstain from eating flesh meat
of any kind.

"Not a mortal exists more sinful than he who, without an oblation to
the manes or the gods, desires to enlarge his own flesh with the flesh
of another creature.

"By subsisting on pure fruit and on roots, and by eating such grains as
are eaten by hermits, a man reaps not so high a reward as by carefully
abstaining from animal food.

"In lawfully tasting meat, in drinking fermented liquor, in caressing
women, there is no turpitude; for to such enjoyments men are naturally
prone, but a virtuous abstinence from them produces a signal
compensation.

"Sacred learning, austere devotion, fire, holy aliment, earth, the
mind, water, smearing with cow-dung, air, prescribed acts of religion,
the sun, and time are purifiers of embodied spirits.

"But of all pure things purity in acquiring wealth is pronounced the
most excellent; since he who gains wealth with clean hands is truly
pure; not he who is purified merely with earth and water.

"By forgiveness of injuries, the learned are purified; by liberality,
those who have neglected their duty; by pious meditation, those who
have secret faults; by devout austerity, those who best know the Veda.

"Bodies are cleansed by water; the mind is purified by truth; the vital
spirit, by theology and devotion; the understanding, by clear
knowledge.

"No sacrifice is allowed to women apart from their husbands, no
religious rite, no fasting; as far only as a wife honors her lord, so
far she is exalted in heaven.

"A faithful wife, who wishes to attain in heaven the mansion of her
husband, must do nothing unkind to him, be he living or dead.

"Let her emaciate her body by living voluntarily on pure flowers,
roots, and fruit; but let her not, when her lord is deceased, even
pronounce the name of another man.

"Let her continue till death forgiving all injuries, performing harsh
duties, avoiding every sensual pleasure, and cheerfully practising the
incomparable rules of virtue, which have been followed by such women as
were devoted to one only husband."

The Sixth Book of the Laws of Manu relates to devotion. It seems that the Brahmans were in the habit of becoming ascetics, or, as the Roman Catholics would say, entering Religion. A Brahman, or twice-born man, who wishes to become an ascetic, must abandon his home and family, and go to live in the forest. His food must be roots and fruit, his clothing a bark garment or a skin, he must bathe morning and evening, and suffer his hair to grow. He must spend his time in reading the Veda, with a mind intent on the Supreme Being, "a perpetual giver but no receiver of gifts; with tender affection for all animated bodies." He is to perform various sacrifices with offerings of fruits and flowers, practise austerities by exposing himself to heat and cold, and "for the purpose of uniting his soul with the Divine Spirit he must study the Upanishads."

"A Brahman, having shuffled off his body by these modes, which great
sages practise, and becoming void of sorrow and fear, it exalted into
the divine essence."

"Let him not wish for death. Let him not wish for life. Let him expect
his appointed time, as the hired servant expects his wages."

"Meditating on the Supreme Spirit, without any earthly desire, with no
companion but his own soul, let him live in this world seeking the
bliss of the next."

The anchorite is to beg food, but only once a day; if it is not given to him, he must not be sorrowful, and if he receives it he must not be glad; he is to meditate on the "subtle indivisible essence of the Supreme Being," he is to be careful not to destroy the life of the smallest insect, and he must make atonement for the death of those which he has ignorantly destroyed by making six suppressions of his breath, repeating at the same time the triliteral syllable A U M. He will thus at last become united with the Eternal Spirit, and his good deeds will be inherited by those who love him, and his evil deeds by those who hate him.

The Seventh Book relates to the duties of rulers. One of these is to reward the good and punish the wicked. The genius of punishment is a son of Brahma, and has a body of pure light. Punishment is an active ruler, governs all mankind, dispenses laws, preserves the race, and is the perfection of justice. Without it all classes would become corrupt, all barriers would fall, and there would be total confusion. Kings are to respect the Brahmans, must shun vices, must select good counsellors and brave soldiers. A King must be a father to his people. When he goes to war he must observe the rules of honorable warfare, must not use poisoned arrows, strike a fallen enemy, nor one who sues for life, nor one without arms, nor one who surrenders. He is not to take too little revenue, and so "cut up his own root"; nor too much, and so "cut up the root of others"; he is to be severe when it is necessary, and mild when it is necessary.

The Eighth Book relates to civil and criminal law. The Raja is to hold his court every day, assisted by his Brahmans, and decide causes concerning debts and loans, sales, wages, contracts, boundaries, slander, assaults, larceny, robbery, and other crimes. The Raja, "understanding what is expedient or inexpedient, but considering only what is law or not law," should examine all disputes. He must protect unprotected women, restore property to its rightful owner, not encourage litigation, and decide according to the rules of law. These rules correspond very nearly to our law of evidence. Witnesses are warned to speak the truth in all cases by the consideration that, though they may think that none see them, the gods distinctly see them and also the spirit in their own breasts.

"The soul itself is its own witness, the soul itself is its own refuge;
offend not thy conscious soul, the supreme internal witness of men."

"The fruit of every virtuous act which thou hast done, O good man,
since thy birth, shall depart from thee to the dogs, if thou deviate
from the truth."

"O friend to virtue, the Supreme Spirit, which is the same with
thyself, resides in thy bosom perpetually, and is an all-knowing
inspector of thy goodness or wickedness."

The law then proceeds to describe the punishments which the gods would inflict upon false witnesses; but, curiously enough, allows false witness to be given, from a benevolent motive, in order to save an innocent man from a tyrant. This is called "the venial sin of benevolent falsehood." The book then proceeds to describe weights and measures, and the rate of usury, which is put down as five percent. It forbids compound interest. The law of deposits occupies a large space, as in all Eastern countries, where investments are difficult. A good deal is said about the wages of servants, especially of those hired to keep cattle, and their responsibilities. The law of slander is carefully laid down. Crimes of violence are also minutely described, and here the _Lex Talionis_ comes in. If a man strikes a human being or an animal so as to inflict much pain, he shall be struck himself in the same way. A man is allowed to correct with a small stick his wife, son, or servant, but not on the head or any noble part of the body. The Brahmans, however, are protected by special laws.

"Never shall the king flay a Brahman, though convicted of all possible
crimes: let him banish the offender from his realm, but with all his
property secure and his body unhurt."

"No greater crime is known on earth than flaying a Brahman; and the
king, therefore, must not even form in his mind the idea of killing a
priest."

The Ninth Book relates to women, to families, and to the law of castes. It states that women must be kept in a state of dependence.

"Their fathers protect them in childhood; their husbands protect them
in youth; their sons protect them in age. A woman is never fit for
independence."

It is the duty of men to watch and guard women, and very unfavorable opinions are expressed concerning the female character.

"Women have no business with the text of the Veda; this is fully
settled; therefore having no knowledge of expiatory texts, sinful women
must be as foul as falsehood itself. This is a fixed law."

It is, however, stated that good women become like goddesses, and shall be joined with their husbands in heaven; and that a man is only perfect when he consists of three persons united,--his wife, himself, and his son. Manu also attributes to ancient Brahmans a maxim almost verbally the same as that of the Bible, namely, "The husband is even one person with his wife." Nothing is said by Manu concerning the cremation of widows, but, on the other hand, minute directions are given for the behavior of widows during their life. Directions are also given concerning the marriage of daughters and sons and their inheritance of property. The rest of the book is devoted to a further description of crimes and punishments.

The Tenth Book relates to the mixed classes and times of distress.

The Eleventh Book relates to penance and expiation. In this book is mentioned the remarkable rite which consists in drinking the fermented juice of the moon-plant (or acid asclepias) with religious ceremonies. This Hindu sacrament began in the Vedic age, and the Sanhita of the Sama-Veda consists of hymns to be sung at the moon-plant sacrifice.[51] This ceremony is still practised occasionally in India, and Dr. Hang has tasted this sacred beverage, which he describes as astringent, bitter, intoxicating, and very disagreeable.[52] It is stated by Manu that no one has a right to drink this sacred juice who does not properly provide for his own household. He encourages sacrifices by declaring that they are highly meritorious and will expiate sin. Involuntary sins require a much lighter penance than those committed with knowledge. Crimes committed by Brahmans require a less severe penance than those performed by others; while those committed against Brahmans involve a much deeper guilt and require severer penance. The law declares:--

"From his high birth alone a Brahman is an object of veneration, even
to deities, and his declarations are decisive evidence."

"A Brahman, who has performed an expiation with his whole mind fixed on
God, purifies his soul."

Drinking intoxicating liquor (except in the Soma sacrifice) is strictly prohibited, and it is even declared that a Brahman who tastes intoxicating liquor sinks to the low caste of a Sudra. If a Brahman who has tasted the Soma juice even smells the breath of a man who has been drinking spirits, he must do penance by repeating the Gayatri, suppressing his breath, and eating clarified butter. Next to Brahmans, cows were the objects of reverence, probably because, in the earliest times, the Aryan race, as nomads, depended on this animal for food. He who kills a cow must perform very severe penances, among which are these:--

"All day he must wait on a herd of cows and stand quaffing the dust
raised by their hoofs; at night, having servilely attended them, he
must sit near and guard them."

"Free from passion, he must stand while they stand, follow when they
move, and lie down near them when they lie down."

"By thus waiting on a herd for three months, he who has killed a cow
atones for his guilt."

For such offences as cutting down fruit-trees or grasses, or killing insects, or injuring sentient creatures, the penance is to repeat so many texts of the Veda, to eat clarified butter, or to stop the breath. A low-born man who treats a Brahman disrespectfully, or who even overcomes him in argument, must fast all day and fall prostrate before him. He who strikes a Brahman shall remain in hell a thousand years. Great, however, is the power of sincere devotion. By repentance, open confession, reading the Scripture, almsgiving, and reformation, one is released from guilt. Devotion, it is said, is equal to the performance of all duties; and even the souls of worms and insects and vegetables attain heaven by the power of devotion. But especially great is the sanctifying influence of the Vedas. He who can repeat the whole of the Rig-Veda would be free from guilt, even if he had killed the inhabitants of the three worlds.

The last book of Manu is on transmigration and final beatitude. The principle is here laid down that every human action, word, and thought bears its appropriate fruit, good or evil. Out of the heart proceed three sins of thought, four sins of the tongue, and three of the body, namely, covetous, disobedient, and atheistic thoughts; scurrilous, false, frivolous, and unkind words; and actions of theft, bodily injury, and licentiousness. He who controls his thoughts, words, and actions is called a triple commander. There are three qualities of the soul, giving it a tendency to goodness, to passion, and to darkness. The first leads to knowledge, the second to desire, the third to sensuality. To the first belong study of Scripture, devotion, purity, self-command, and obedience. From the second proceed hypocritical actions, anxiety, disobedience, and self-indulgence. The third produces avarice, atheism, indolence, and every act which a man is ashamed of doing. The object of the first quality is virtue; of the second, worldly success; of the third, pleasure. The souls in which the first quality is supreme rise after death to the condition of deities; those in whom the second rules pass into the bodies of other men; while those under the dominion of the third become beasts and vegetables. Manu proceeds to expound, in great detail, this law of transmigration. For great sins one is condemned to pass a great many times into the bodies of dogs, insects, spiders, snakes, or grasses. The change has relation to the crime: thus, he who steals grain shall be born a rat; he who steals meat, a vulture; those who indulge in forbidden pleasures of the senses shall have their senses made acute to endure intense pain.

The highest of all virtues is disinterested goodness, performed from the love of God, and based on the knowledge of the Veda. A religious action, performed from hope of reward in this world or the next, will give one a place in the lowest heaven. But he who performs good actions without hope of reward, "perceiving the supreme soul in all beings, and all beings in the supreme soul, fixing his mind on God, approaches the divine nature."

"Let every Brahman, with fixed attention, consider all nature as
existing in the Divine Spirit; all worlds as seated in him; he alone as
the whole assemblage of gods; and he the author of all human actions."

"Let him consider the supreme omnipresent intelligence as the sovereign
lord of the universe, by whom alone it exists, an incomprehensible
spirit; pervading all beings in five elemental forms, and causing them
to pass through birth, growth, and decay, and so to revolve like the
wheels of a car."

"Thus the man who perceives in his own soul the supreme soul present in
all creatures, acquires equanimity toward them all, and shall be
absolved at last in the highest essence, even that of the Almighty
himself."

We have given these copious extracts from the Brahmanic law, because this code is so ancient and authentic, and contains the bright consummate flower of the system, before decay began to come.

§ 6. The Three Hindoo Systems of Philosophy,--Sánkhya, Vedanta, and Nyasa.

Duncker says[53] that the Indian systems of philosophy were produced in the sixth or seventh century before Christ. As the system of Buddha implies the existence of the Sánkhya philosophy, the latter must have preceded Buddhism.[54] Moreover, Kapila and his two principles are distinctly mentioned in the Laws of Manu,[55] and in the later Upanishads.[56] This brings it to the Brahmana period of Max Müller, B.C. 600 to B.C. 800, and probably still earlier. Dr. Weber at one time was of the opinion that Kapila and Buddha were the same person, but afterward retracted this opinion.[57] Colebrooke says that Kapila is mentioned in the Veda itself, but intimates that this is probably another sage of the same name.[58] The sage was even considered to be an incarnation of Vischnu, or of Agni. The Vedanta philosophy is also said by Lassen to be mentioned in the Laws of Manu.[59] This system is founded on the Upanishads, and would seem to be later than that of Kapila, since it criticises his system, and devotes much space to its confutation.[60] But Duncker regards it as the oldest, and already beginning in the Upanishads of the Vedas.[61] As the oldest works now extant in both systems are later than their origin, this question of date can only be determined from their contents. That which logically precedes the other must be chronologically the oldest.

The Sánkhya system of Kapila is contained in many works, but notably in the Káriká, or Sánkhya-Káriká, by Iswara Krishna. This consists in eighty-two memorial verses, with a commentary.[62] The Vedanta is contained in the Sutras, the Upanishads, and especially the Brahma-Sutra attributed to Vyasa.[63] The Nyaya is to be found in the Sutras of Gotama and Canade.[64]

These three systems of Hindoo philosophy, the Sánkhya, the Nyaya, and the Vedanta, reach far back into a misty twilight, which leaves it doubtful when they began or who were their real authors. In some points they agree, in others they are widely opposed. They all agree in having for their object deliverance from the evils of time, change, sorrow, into an eternal rest and peace. Their aim is, therefore, not merely speculative, but practical. All agree in considering existence to be an evil, understanding by existence a life in time and space. All are idealists, to whom the world of sense and time is a delusion and snare, and who regard the Idea as the only substance. All agree in accepting the fact of transmigration, the cessation of which brings final deliverance. All consider that the means of this deliverance is to be found in knowledge, in a perfect knowledge of reality as opposed to appearance. And all are held by Brahmans, who consider themselves orthodox, who honor the Vedas above all other books, pay complete respect to the Hinduism of the day, perform the daily ceremonies, and observe the usual caste rules.[65] The systems of philosophy supplement the religious worship, but are not intended to destroy it. The Vedantists hold that while in truth there is but one God, the various forms of worship in the Vedas, of Indra, Agni, the Maruts, etc., were all intended for those who could not rise to this sublime monotheism. Those who believe in the Sánkhya maintain that though it wholly omits God, and is called "the system without a God," it merely omits, but does not deny, the Divine existence.[66]

Each of these philosophies has a speculative and a practical side. The speculative problem is, How did the universe come? The practical problem is, How shall man be delivered from evil?

In answering the first question, the Vedanta, or Mimansa doctrine, proceeds from a single eternal and uncreated Principle; declaring that there is only ONE being in the universe, God or Brahm, and that all else is Maya, or illusion. The Sankhya accepts TWO eternal and uncreated substances, Soul and Nature. The Nyaya assumes THREE eternal and uncreated substances,--Atoms, Souls, and God.

The solution of the second problem is the same in all three systems. It is by knowledge that the soul is emancipated from body or matter or nature. Worship is inadequate, though not to be despised. Action is injurious rather than beneficial, for it implies desire. Only knowledge can lead to entire rest and peace.

According to all three systems, the transmigration of the soul through different bodies is an evil resulting from desire. As long as the soul wishes anything, it will continue to migrate and to suffer. When it gathers itself up into calm insight, it ceases to wander and finds repose.

The _Vedanta_ or _Mimansa_ is supposed to be referred to in Manu.[67] _Mimansa_ means "searching." In its logical forms it adopts the method so common among the scholastics, in first stating the question, then giving the objection, after that the reply to the objection, and lastly the conclusion. The first part of the Mimansa relates to worship and the ceremonies and ritual of the Veda. The second part teaches the doctrine of Brahma. Brahma is the one, eternal, absolute, unchangeable Being. He unfolds into the universe as Creator and Created. He becomes first ether, then air, then fire, then water, then earth. From these five elements all bodily existence proceeds. Souls are sparks from the central fire of Brahma, separated for a time, to be absorbed again at last.

Brahma, in his highest form as Para-Brahm, stands for the Absolute Being. The following extract from the Sáma-Veda (after Haug's translation) expresses this: "The generation of Brahma was before all ages, unfolding himself evermore in a beautiful glory; everything which is highest and everything which is deepest belongs to him. Being and Not-Being are unveiled through Brahma."

The following passage is from a Upanishad, translated by Windischmann:--

"How can any one teach concerning Brahma? he is neither the known nor the unknown. That which cannot be expressed by words, but through which all expression comes, this I know to be Brahma. That which cannot be thought by the mind, but by which all thinking comes, this I know is Brahma. That which cannot be seen by the eye, but by which the eye sees, is Brahma. If thou thinkest that thou canst know it, then in truth thou knowest it very little. To whom it is unknown, he knows it; but to whom it is known, he knows it not."

This also is from Windischmann, from the Kathaka Upanishad: "One cannot attain to it through the word, through the mind, or through the eye. It is only reached by him who says, 'It is! It is!' He perceives it in its essence. Its essence appears when one perceives it as it is."

The old German expression _Istigkeit_, according to Bunsen, corresponds to this. This also is the name of Jehovah as given to Moses from the burning bush: "And God said unto Moses, I AM THE I AM. Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." The idea is that God alone really exists, and that the root of all being is in him. This is expressed in another Upanishad: "HE WHO EXISTS is the root of all creatures; he WHO EXISTS is their foundation, and in him they rest."

In the Vedanta philosophy this speculative pantheism is carried further. Thus speaks Sankara, the chief teacher of the Vedanta philosophy ("Colebrooke's Essays"): "I am the great Brahma, eternal, pure, free, one, constant, happy, existing without end. He who ceases to contemplate other things, who retires into solitude, annihilates his desires, and subjects his passions, he understands that Spirit is the One and the Eternal. The wise man annihilates all sensible things in spiritual things, and contemplates that one Spirit who resembles pure space. Brahma is without size, quality, character, or division."

According to this philosophy (says Bunsen) the world is the Not-Being. It is, says Sankara, "appearance without Being; it is like the deception of a dream." "The soul itself," he adds, "has no actual being."

There is an essay on Vedantism in a book published in Calcutta, 1854, by a young Hindoo, Shoshee Chunder Dutt, which describes the creation as proceeding from Maya, in this way: "Dissatisfied with his own solitude, Brahma feels a desire to create worlds, and then the volition ceases so far as he is concerned, and he sinks again into his apathetic happiness, while the desire, thus willed into existence, assumes an active character. It becomes Maya, and by this was the universe created, without exertion on the part of Brahma. This passing wish of Brahma carried, however, no reality with it. And the creation proceeding from it is only an illusion. There is only one absolute Unity really existing, and existing without plurality. But he is like one asleep. Krishna, in the Gita, says: 'These works (the universe) confine not me, for I am like one who sitteth aloof uninterested in them all.' The universe is therefore all illusion, holding a position between something and nothing. It is real as an illusion, but unreal as being. It is not true, because it has no essence; but not false, because its existence, even as illusion, is from God. The Vedanta declares: 'From the highest state of Brahma to the lowest condition of a straw, all things are delusion.'" Chunder Dutt, however, contradicts Bunsen's assertion that the soul also is an illusion according to the Vedanta. "The soul," he says, "is not subject to birth or death, but is in its substance, from Brahma himself." The truth seems to be that the Vedanta regards the individuation of the soul as from Maya and illusive, but the substance of the soul is from Brahma, and destined to be absorbed into him. As the body of man is to be resolved into its material elements, so the soul of man is to be resolved into Brahma. This substance of the soul is neither born nor dies, nor is it a thing of which it can be said, "It was, is, or shall be." In the Gita, Krishna tells Arjun that he and the other princes of the world "never were not."[68]

The Vedantist philosopher, however, though he considers all souls as emanations from God, does not believe that all of them will return into God at death. Those only who have obtained a knowledge of God are rewarded by absorption, but the rest continue to migrate from body to body so long as they remain unqualified for the same. "The knower of God becomes God." This union with the Deity is the total loss of personal identity, and is the attainment of the highest bliss, in which are no grades and from which is no return. This absorption comes not from good works or penances, for these confine the soul and do not liberate it. "The confinement of fetters is the same whether the chain be of gold or iron." "The knowledge which realizes that everything is Brahm alone liberates the soul. It annuls the effect both of our virtues and vices. We traverse thereby both merit and demerit, the heart's knot is broken, all doubts are split, and all our works perish. Only by perfect abstraction, not merely from the senses, but also from the thinking intellect and by remaining in the knowing intellect, does the devotee become identified with Brahm. He then remains as pure glass when the shadow has left it. He lives destitute of passions and affections. He lives sinless; for as water wets not the leaf of the lotus, so sin touches not him who knows God." He stands in no further need of virtue, for "of what use can be a winnowing fan when the sweet southern wind is blowing." His meditations are of this sort: "I am Brahm, I am life. I am everlasting, perfect, self-existent, undivided, joyful."

If therefore, according to this system, knowledge alone unites the soul to God, the question comes, Of what use are acts of virtue, penances, sacrifices, worship? The answer is, that they effect a happy transmigration from the lower forms of bodily life to higher ones. They do not accomplish the great end, which is absorption and escape from Maya, but they prepare the way for it by causing one to be born in a higher condition.

The second system of philosophy, the Sánkhya of Kapila, is founded not on one principle, like the Vedanta, but on two. According to the seventy aphorisms, Nature is one of these principles. It is uncreated and eternal. It is one, active, creating, non-intelligent. The other of the two principles, also uncreated and eternal, is Soul, or rather Souls. Souls are many, passive, not creative, intelligent, and in all things the opposite to Nature. But from the union of the two all the visible universe proceeds, according to the law of cause and effect.

God not being recognized in this system, it is often called atheism. Its argument, to show that no one perfect being could create the universe, is this. Desire implies want, or imperfection. Accordingly, if God desired to create, he would be unable to do so; if he was able, he would not desire to do it. In neither case, therefore, could God have created the universe. The gods are spoken of by the usual names, Brahma, Indra, etc., but are all finite beings, belonging to the order of human souls, though superior.

Every soul is clothed in two bodies,--the interior original body, the individualizing force, which is eternal as itself and accompanies it through all its migrations; and the material, secondary body, made of the five elements, ether, air, fire, water, and earth. The original body is subtile and spiritual. It is the office of Nature to liberate the Soul. Nature is not what we perceive by the senses, but an invisible plastic principle behind, which must be known by the intellect. As the Soul ascends by goodness, it is freed by knowledge. The final result of this emancipation is the certainty of non-existence,--"neither I am, nor is aught mine, nor do I exist,"--which seems to be the same result as that of Hegel, Being = Not-Being. Two or three of the aphorisms of the Karika are as follows:--

"LIX. As a dancer, having exhibited herself to the spectator, desists
from the dance, so does Nature desist, having manifested herself to the
Soul."

"LX. Generous Nature, endued with qualities, does by manifold means
accomplish, without benefit (to herself), the wish of ungrateful Soul,
devoid of qualities."

"LXI. Nothing, in my opinion, is more gentle than Nature; once aware of
having been seen, she does not again expose herself to the gaze of
Soul."

"LXVI. Soul desists, because it has seen Nature. Nature desists,
because she has been seen. In their (mere) union there is no motive for
creation."

Accordingly, the result of knowledge is to put an end to creation, and to leave the Soul emancipated from desire, from change, from the material body, in a state which is Being, but not Existence (_esse,_ not _existere_; Seyn, not Da-seyn).

This Sánkhya philosophy becomes of great importance, when we consider that it was the undoubted source of Buddhism. This doctrine which we have been describing was the basis of Buddhism.[69]

M. Cousin has called it the sensualism of India,[70] but certainly without propriety. It is as purely ideal a doctrine as that of the Vedas. Its two eternal principles are both ideal. The plastic force which is one of them, Kapila distinctly declares cannot be perceived by the senses.[71] Soul, the other eternal and uncreated principle, who "is witness, solitary, bystander, spectator, and passive,"[72] is not only spiritual itself, but is clothed with a spiritual body, within the material body. In fact, the Karika declares the material universe to be the result of the contact of the Soul with Nature, and consists in chains with which Nature binds herself, for the purpose (unconscious) of delivering the Soul. When by a process of knowledge the Soul looks through these, and perceives the ultimate principle beyond, the material universe ceases, and both Soul and Nature are emancipated.[73]

One of the definitions of the Karika will call to mind the fourfold division of the universe by the great thinker of the ninth century, Erigena. In his work, περὶ φύσεως μερισμοῦ he asserts that there is, (1.) A Nature which creates and is not created. (2.) A Nature which is created and creates. (3.) A Nature which is created and does not create. (4.) A Nature which neither creates nor is created. So Kapila (Karika, 3) says, "Nature, the root of all things, is productive but not a production. Seven principles are productions and productive. Sixteen are productions but not productive. Soul is neither a production nor productive."

Mr. Muir (Sanskrit Texts, Part III. p. 96) quotes the following passages in proof of the antiquity of Kapila, and the respect paid to his doctrine in very early times:--

_Svet. Upanishad._ "The God who superintends every mode of production
and all forms, who formerly nourished with various knowledge his son
Kapila the rishi, and beheld him at his birth."

"_Bhagavat Purana_ (I. 3, 10) makes Kapila an incarnation of Vischnu.
In his fifth incarnation, in the form of Kapila, he declared to Asuri
the Sankhya which defines the collection of principles.

"_Bhagavat Purana_ (IX. 8, 12) relates that Kapila, being attacked by
the sons of King Sangara, destroyed them with fire which issued from
his body. But the author of the Purana denies that this was done in
_anger_. 'How could the sage, by whom the strong ship of the Sankhya
was launched, on which the man seeking emancipation crosses the ocean
of existence, entertain the distinction of friend and foe'?"

The Sánkhya system is also frequently mentioned in the Mahabarata.

The Nyaya system differs from that of Kapila, by assuming a third eternal and indestructible principle as the basis of matter, namely, _Atoms_. It also assumes the existence of a Supreme Soul, Brahma, who is almighty and allwise. It agrees with Kapila in making all souls eternal, and distinct from body. Its evil to be overcome is the same, namely, transmigration; and its method of release is the same, namely _Buddhï_, or knowledge. It is a more dialectic system than the others, and is rather of the nature of a logic than a philosophy.

Mr. Banerjea, in his Dialogues on the Hindu philosophy, considers the Buddhists' system as closely resembling the Nyaya system. He regards the Buddhist Nirvana as equivalent to the emancipation of the Nyaya system. Apavarga, or emancipation, is declared in this philosophy to be final deliverance from pain, birth, activity, fault, and false notions. Even so the Pali doctrinal books speak of Nirvana as an exemption from old age, disease, and death. In it desire, anger, and ignorance are consumed by the fire of knowledge. Here all selfish distinctions of mine and thine, all evil thoughts, all slander and jealousy, are cut down by the weapon of knowledge. Here we have an experience of immortality which is cessation of all trouble and perfect felicity.[74]

§ 7. Origin of the Hindoo Triad.

There had gradually grown up among the people a worship founded on that of the ancient Vedas. In the West of India, the god RUDRA, mentioned in the Vedic hymns, had been transformed into Siva. In the Rig-Veda Rudra is sometimes the name for Agni.[75] He is described as father of the winds. He is the same as Maha-deva. He is fierce and beneficent at once. He presides over medicinal plants. According to Weber (Indische Stud., II. 19) he is the Storm-God. The same view is taken by Professor Whitney.[76] But his worship gradually extended, until, under the name of Siva, the Destroyer, he became one of the principal deities of India. Meantime, in the valley of the Ganges, a similar devotion had grown up for the Vedic god VISCHNU, who in like manner had been promoted to the chief rank in the Hindoo Pantheon. He had been elevated to the character of a Friend and Protector, gifted with mild attributes, and worshipped as the life of Nature. By accepting the popular worship, the Brahmans were able to oppose Buddhism with success.

We have no doubt that the Hindoo Triad came from the effort of the Brahmans to unite all India in one worship, and it may for a time have succeeded. Images of the Trimurtti, or three-faced God, are frequent in India, and this is still the object of Brahmanical worship. But beside this practical motive, the tendency of thought is always toward a triad of law, force, or elemental substance, as the best explanation of the universe. Hence there have been Triads in so many religions: in Egypt, of _Osiris_ the Creator, _Typhon_ the Destroyer, and _Horus_ the Preserver; in Persia, of _Ormazd_ the Creator, _Ahriman_ the Destroyer, and _Mithra_ the Restorer; in Buddhism, of _Buddha_ the Divine Man, _Dharmma_ the Word, and _Sangha_ the Communion of Saints. Simple monotheism does not long satisfy the speculative intellect, because, though it accounts for the harmonies of creation, it leaves its discords unexplained. But a dualism of opposing forces is found still more unsatisfactory, for the world does not appear to be such a scene of utter warfare and discord as this. So the mind comes to accept a Triad, in which the unities of life and growth proceed from one element, the antagonisms from a second, and the higher harmonies of reconciled oppositions from a third. The Brahmanical Triad arose in the same way.[77]

Thus grew up, from amid the spiritual pantheism into which all Hindoo religion seemed to have settled, another system, that of the Trimurtti, or Divine Triad; the Indian Trinity of _Brahma, Vischnu_, and _Siva_. This Triad expresses the unity of Creation, Destruction, and Restoration. A foundation for this already existed in a Vedic saying, that the highest being exists in three states, that of creation, continuance, and destruction.

Neither of these three supreme deities of Brahmanism held any high rank in the Vedas. Siva (Çiva) does not appear therein at all, nor, according to Lassen, is Brahma mentioned in the Vedic hymns, but first in a Upanishad. Vischnu is spoken of in the Rig-Veda, but always as one of the names for the sun. He is the Sun-God. His three steps are sunrise, noon, and sunset. He is mentioned as one of the sons of Aditi; he is called the "wide-stepping," "measurer of the world," "the strong," "the deliverer," "renewer of life," "who sets in motion the revolutions of time," "a protector," "preserving the highest heaven." Evidently he begins his career in this mythology as the sun.

BRAHMA, at first a word meaning prayer and devotion, becomes in the laws of Manu the primal God, first-born of the creation, from the self-existent being, in the form of a golden egg. He became the creator of all things by the power of prayer. In the struggle for ascendency which took place between the priests and the warriors, Brahma naturally became the deity of the former. But, meantime, as we have seen, the worship of Vischnu had been extending itself in one region and that of Siva in another. Then took place those mysterious wars between the kings of the Solar and Lunar races, of which the great epics contain all that we know. And at the close of these wars a compromise was apparently accepted, by which Brahma, Vischnu, and Siva were united in one supreme God, as creator, preserver, and destroyer, all in one.

It is almost certain that this Hindoo Triad was the result of an ingenious and successful attempt, on the part of the Brahmans, to unite all classes of worshippers in India against the Buddhists. In this sense the Brahmans edited anew the Mahabharata, inserting in that epic passages extolling Vischnu in the form of Krishna. The Greek accounts of India which followed the invasion of Alexander speak of the worship of Hercules as prevalent in the East, and by Hercules they apparently mean the god Krishna.[78] The struggle between the Brahmans and Buddhists lasted during nine centuries (from A.D. 500 to A.D. 1400), ending with the total expulsion of Buddhism, and the triumphant establishment of the Triad, as the worship of India.[79]

Before this Triad or Trimurtti (of Brahma, Vischnu, and Siva) there seems to have been another, consisting of Agni, Indra, and Surya.[80] This may have given the hint of the second Triad, which distributed among the three gods the attributes of Creation, Destruction, and Renovation. Of these Brahma, the Creator, ceased soon to be popular, and the worship of Siva and Vischnu as Krishna remain as the popular religion of India.

One part, and a very curious one, of the worship of Vischnu is the doctrine of the Avatars, or incarnations of that deity. There are ten of these Avatars,--nine have passed and one is to come. The object of Vischnu is, each time, to save the gods from destruction impending over them in consequence of the immense power acquired by some king, giant, or demon, by superior acts of austerity and piety. For here, as elsewhere, extreme spiritualism is often divorced from morality; and so these extremely pious, spiritual, and self-denying giants are the most cruel and tyrannical monsters, who must be destroyed at all hazards. Vischnu, by force or fraud, overcomes them all.

His first Avatar is of the Fish, as related in the Mahabharata. The object was to recover the Vedas, which had been stolen by a demon from Brahma when asleep. In consequence of this loss the human race became corrupt, and were destroyed by a deluge, except a pious prince and seven holy men who were saved in a ship. Vischnu, as a large fish, drew the ship safely over the water, killed the demon, and recovered the Vedas. The second Avatar was in a Turtle, to make the drink of immortality. The third was in a Boar, the fourth in a Man-Lion, the fifth in the Dwarf who deceived Bali, who had become so powerful by austerities as to conquer the gods and take possession of Heaven. In the eighth Avatar he appears as Krishna and in the ninth as Buddha.

This system of Avatars is so peculiar and so deeply rooted in the system, that it would seem to indicate some law of Hindoo thought. Perhaps some explanation may be reached thus:--

We observe that,--

Vischnu does not mediate between Brahma and Siva, but between the deities and the lower races of men or demons.

The danger arises from a certain fate or necessity which is superior both to gods and men. There are laws which enable a man to get away from the power of Brahma and Siva.

But what is this necessity but nature, or the nature of things, the laws of the outward world of active existences? It is not till essence becomes existence, till spirit passes into action, that it becomes subject to law.

The danger then is from the world of nature. The gods are pure spirit, and spirit is everything. But, now and then, nature _seems to be something_, it will not be ignored or lost in God. Personality, activity, or human nature rebel against the pantheistic idealism, the abstract spiritualism of this system.

To conquer body, Vischnu or spirit enters into body, again and again. Spirit must appear as body to destroy Nature. For thus is shown that spirit cannot be excluded from anything,--that it can descend into the lowest forms of life, and work _in_ law as well as above law.

But all the efforts of Brahmanism could not arrest the natural development of the system. It passed on into polytheism and idolatry. The worship of India for many centuries has been divided into a multitude of sects. While the majority of the Brahmans still profess to recognize the equal divinity of Brahma, Vischnu, and Siva, the mass of the people worship Krishna, Rama, the Lingam, and many other gods and idols. There are Hindoo atheists who revile the Vedas; there are the Kabirs, who are a sort of Hindoo Quakers, and oppose all worship; the _Ramanujas_, an ancient sect of Vischnu worshippers; the _Ramavats_, living in monasteries; the _Panthis_, who oppose all austerities; the _Maharajas_, whose religion consists with great licentiousness. Most of these are worshippers of Vischnu or of Siva, for Brahma-worship has wholly disappeared.

§ 8. The Epics, the Puranas, and modern Hindoo Worship.

The Hindoos have two great epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, each of immense length, and very popular with the people. Mr. Talboys Wheeler has recently incorporated both epics (of course much abridged) into his History of India, and we must refer our readers to his work for a knowledge of these remarkable poems. The whole life of ancient India appears in them, and certainly they are not unworthy products of the genius of that great nation.