The works of the Pandit Guru Datta Vidyarthi, with biographical sketch

THE WORKS

fE PANDIT GURU DATTA

VIDYARTHI, M. A.,

WITH

BIOGRAPHICAL i

1.901
G8

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

THE works of Pandit Guru Datta Vidyarthi, M. A. un
doubtedly occupy the foremost position in the whole
range of S^majic literature that exists in English. In point
of sublimity of thought, nobility of conception, beauty and
gracefulness of style, breadth and comprehensiveness of vision
and force and impressiveness of meaning, the works are simply
unsurpassed. w Pandit Guru Datta was one of those rare
geniuses of whom any civilized country may justly be proud.
He died while yet in his youth. His career of usefulness
to the Arya Samaj was sadly brief. Being a man of ex
tremely inquisitive and analyzing faculties, no religion except
that of the Vedas could satisfy his profoundly philosophical
and scientific mind. He accordingly enlisted himself under
the banner of Swami Dayananda Saraswati, and evinced a
great interest in the advancement of his Vedic mission. The
truths of the Vedic Religion, however, did not strike a deep
and permanent root in his mind till he had been brought, by
the chance of unhappy circumstances, under the magne
tising touch of that GREAT YOGI, Swami Dayananda Saras-
• wati. When the great Rishi was lying seriously ill at
Ajmere, he, along with myself, was deputed by the Lahore
Arya Samaj to attend upon the Swamiji there. The dying scene
of Swamiji, which he was fortunate enough to witness, gave
a death-blow to his old cherished sceptic ideas, and inspired
in him a spirit that has ever since immortalised his name.
He saw, on the one hand, the dreadful disease giving rise to
such excruciating pains that even the bravest and mightiest
of men, having less insight into the realm of Spirit, would
give way under its fearful and cruel onslaughts, and on the
other, the Swami's calm, dignified, cheerful and brightened-
up face, without the least indication of any sort of suffering
or remorse. This singular scene threw a fascinating charm
over him ; how it affected him cannot be described in words,
nor could the Pandit himself explain it. It appears to have
taken entire possession of his soul, and transformed him into
something far above the ordinary run of humanity. His

11

real conversion, thus, dates from the day of Svvamiji's death,
after which we saw him ever fired with an extraordinary
enthusiasm for " Dharma" his whole nature permeated with
the grand elevating truths of the Vedic Religion, restless for
the promotion of the mission of Swami Dayananda Saras-
wati. His body, mind and wealth were all at the service,
of the Arya Dharma and his only occupation was the dis
covery and elucidation of the Vedic truths. The lectures
that he delivered on various subjects connected with the
Arya Dharma produced a profound influence upon the people,
and the appearance of his Vedic Magazine caused a great
stir in the religious world. That cursed disease — consump
tion — carried him off in his youth and thus cut short his
very useful career. It is much to be regretted that we could
not have more than three issues of his Magazine. The
purifying and ennobling truths that are stored up in these
publications will ever remain a source of admiration to the
learned and religious-minded men.

These magazines and other works of Panditji have, sine©
his death, been in Mich a scattered condition as to be hardly
within the reach of every man. Their aggregate high price.
(Rs. 4 nearly), too, was a bar in the way of their extensive
circulation. Besides, some of them are out of print. To
remove these defects, I, as one of his old friends and admir
ers — as one who had a close connection with him for several
years — actuated principally by the motive of (1) giving a
wide currency to the " Vedrc Siddhants," and (2) keeping
always a-fresh in the minds of the people, the fair name of
one who was once an ornament of the Arya Samaj, and whoso
name is still a source of pride to this country, have got all
his works reprinted in one compact and handy volume. Its
price has been fixed so low as to make it accessible to all
classes of people.

The present Volume contains (1) all the subjects treated
-of in Panditji's Vedic Magazine, (2) oil his works published
.separately in pamphlet form, (3) most of his learned, in
structive and interesting articles in the Arya Patrika, and
(4) two of his unpublished papers, one of \vhich is a lecture
on Religion delivered during his early life when he was yet
hardly out of his teens, and the other, a note- on Revelation,
written at my own request, on an Urdu pamphlet of mine

Ill

entitled the Maslah-i-Ilhdm (the Doctrine of Revelation).
The change in the religious life of Pandit Guru Datta be
comes all the more prominent and striking when one reads
the above-mentioned lecture along with his other writings.
It is, indeed very strange that the subject of Religion, which
•is so much decried in that lecture, soon after became a fav
ourite topic of his written as well as, oral discourses.

It is worth notice that some of the fragments of his
Criticism on Professor Monier Williams' " Indian Wisdom,"
as embodied in this volume, are entirely new, and others
different from what was already in print on the subject.
These additions and changes have been made with the help
of the original manuscript in the author's own handwriting
which were so fondly and carefully preserved by me. Some
mistakes of omission and commission have also been rectified
\vith the help of the same manuscripts. Besides, I have
made certain alterations which the sense of the text rendered
imperative.

The present Volume is the first of its series. It is
presented to the public with a view to encourage the appre
ciation of the Aryan Shastras among those of my country
men who cannot have recourse to them in 'their original
Sanscrit language.

LAHORE: ^ JIVAN DAS, Pensioner,

loth October 1897. J ( Vice-President, Lahore AryaSamaj.)

PUBLISHERS' NOTE.

Tho present publication is based on the edition of Pan
dit Guru Datta's works, edited and published by Lala
Jivan Das, Pensioner, in 1897.

The publishers desire to express their very great obli
gations to Lala Jivan Das for his kindly giving permission
to reprint his book. Every attempt has been made to
improve the printing and get-up of the book, the paper
used being of a very superior quality. The biographical
sketch has also added much to the value of the book. Not
withstanding all these improvements in the present edition,
its price has been much reduced. In the end the publishers
hope that the book in its present form will meet the approval
of the public.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

THE SHORT SPAN OF PANDIT GURU DATTA'S life is full of very interesting
and glorious events. It is not pven to every man to achieve a fair
name in the annals of his country. Thousands come on the stage of life
and depart without leaving any trace behind. They are never thought of or
remembered, even by those who had close contact with them through friend
ship, partnership in business or any other kindred cause. How many of
those that were known to us during our younger days still claim a place in
our mind. •Hundreds of men known to us in our mature life, when tha
faculty of judgment is generally ripe, have passed away and with their death
have vanished their names out of our memory, nay the mind is some times
led to doubt whether any such persons existed at all. Such is the sad fate
of the majority of us. Those who 'leave footprints on the sands of time,
are undoubtedly men of extraordinary merit and exceptional capacities. la
an age which in remarkable for its re-actionary tendencies and recklesa
spirit of criticism and in a country where the growth and development of
genius is retarded, to an almost immeasurable extent, by unnatural customs
and institutions ; where low and base passion?, directed for the most part, to
wards the attainment of pelf and power and other things requisite for self,
aggrandisement, do not favour the appreciation of true worth, the perpetuity
of a good name implies, the possession, on the part of the hero, many a
brilliant and transcendental quality. That Pandit Guru Datta should be
held in grateful remembrance by learned and enlightened men of all sects and
denominations in this land is a proof positive of his excellence and towering
genius. He is, no doubt, little known beyond India, but this need not in
any way detract from his greatness. Vico and Bishop Butler who exercised
ft profound influence on the philosophical and religious speculation of Italy
and Great Britain were hardly known until recently outside the limits of
their respective countries. A philosopher whose business lies in the realm of
abstract thought can not at once be known among those who live thousands
of miles away from the land of his birth, especially when ignorance of the
common herd acts as a great deterrent in the spread of his ideas. Similarly
a religious reformer whose work consists in the enunciation of the higher
principles of life on the spiritual plane, can not receive a universal homage at
be hands of foreigners whose tone of speculation is entirely at variance with

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his. At best, be can be known only among men engaged in a kindred occu
pation. And we find that, scarcely had a couple of months elapsed since the
entrance into public life of Pandit Guru Datta when his name, as an expositor
of the Vedic principles, came to be known in all enlightened circles. In En
gland he was well known among that class of men who call themselves
Oriental Scholars.

This is an age of show and ostentation. Every man who has a smooth
tongue and can wield some hold on the people by his eloquence, is anxious to
pass for a great man. There are men whose mental acumen is not of a high
order, who have no strength of purpose, and vhose moral condition is far
from inspiring, yet they display not the least reluctance in asserting their
claims to greatness. The ways in which they manage to attract people to
wards them are curious. They have a number of men in the;r pay \\hose
business consists in singing their praisps. These underlings serve as their
forerunners and heralders and wheie ever they go, they expatiate on the
virtues of their masters which are merely imaginary and persiu.oe the people
to get up demonstrations in their honor and celebrate their arrival by let-
. ting off bombs. This is I he way in which greatness is assumed and forced
upon the people. There is one more trait in greatmen of this type which it
would be well to mention here. They assume a tone of reserve and serious
ness ; every word that escapes their lips is carefully thought and every act
that they do is perfectly studied. Pandit Guru Datta was singularly free
from affectations and false pretensions. Everything that he did was, of
course, not without cause and reason, but it appeared to be natural and
the difference between his life and that of pseudo-great-men was broadly
, transparent. Pandit Guru Datta was great in the real sense of the term.
He had, in the first place, an unbounded faith in the Divine Father; 2ndl"
his thoughts and ideas were pure, energising and elevating; Srdly, he exer
cised a magnetic influence on the people ;4lhly he had SOT. e thing of that
divinity in him that characterises great-men; Sthly, he wae true in word,
• thought and deed. His life presented a singular uniformity ; 6ihly, he was
uncompromising in Dharma, he never pandered to the prejuuices and super
stitions of men like pseudo-reformers and as such he was above the age in
which he lived ; Tthly, he \v.~<j a genius; Sthly, he was a man of will and
action and could by inherent divine power in him subdue all difficulties and
enlighten the world. He was ev^ry inch a greatman. His contemporaries
are still living. Some of them who vied his rise with an evil eye and who
wanted to defame him in order to secure self-aggrandisement may still be
seen to speak ill of him but there are others who hold him in high esteem,

( ••' )

and consider him to be one of the greatmeu of the age. That he was great
there can be no doubt and the reader shall find, on a close study of hia life,
that he was far above the level, of ordinary mortals.

Pandit Guru Datta was born at Multan on 26th April, 1864. Multan,
Birth and parent- *s a unique city in some respects in the Punjab. The
*£** climate is dry but salubrious ; the temprature seldom

falls below 110 degrees. The soil is not much productive, date
palms are grown in abundance and the Multani dates are prized
all over the Province for their sweetness. The dust storms are fn«
quent and the city anc* its surrundings may be seen covered with a thick
haze, especially in th ; summer season, when sultry winds continue blowing
all tho day. These surrundings, however unpleasant they may appear
to people living in the South-Eastern Districts, have produced a strong
and hardy race, strong in constitution and robust in intellect. They
have been instrumental in developing special traits which give dignity to
character. Born and brought up amid buch environments, the toughness of
fibre which marked Pandit Guru Datta was a matter of course. But there
was also an additional reason for it. He came of a family which had, for
successive generations, distinguished itself in the battle field, and which
had at one time wielded the sceptre of sovereignty over a wide and exten
sive area. During the early period of Mohammedan invasions when the
Hindu Government was broken up into small principalities owing to inter
uecitie quarrels and rivalry, Pcaja Jagdish, the ancestor ' f the Sadana family
to which Pt. Guru Datta belonged, had made a bold stand ogainst the tyran
nical excesses of the foreign conquerors and had, in the serious compli
cations that followed it, sacrifice! his a!!, even his life for the protection of
bis subjects. The blood of such an intrepid warrior coursed through the
veins of the Sadana family and most of its successive members had given
proof of their martial spirit by feats of heroic character. Lala Ram Ki&hen,
the father of our hero, had, however, no chance of distinguishing himself in
the field. During his time, the Government was fairly well settled, theie
was no longer prevailing that anarchy and confusion which has been the
chief characteristic of the latter Mohammedan rule. He had consequently
given himself up entirely to literary pursuits. He was a Persian scholar
of great repute and one of the much respected members of the Punjab Edu
cational Department. Constitutionally he was strong ; quick-witted, posses
sing a keen and penetrating .intellect and a very tenacious memory
He retained the vigour of his intellect to the very last. Com
mencing the fcstudy of Sanskrit late in Jife he acquired such a mastery
over that language that he could write and speak it with ease and withov&t

any serious mistakes. He was married at an early age, as is the custom
among the Hindus, to a handsome girl. She, though unlettered possessed
a remarkable sagacity and shrewdness. Religious by nature, she was very
noble-minded and bore up all trials and difficulties with passive resignation.
Her spirit quailed not under misfortunes. She bore him several children,
but few of them survived. Pandit Guru Datta was the last male child, the
deaths of a number of the boy's sisters had told terribly upon his parents
and they were considerably borne down by these mishaps. The birth of
Guru Datta, however, alleviated their sorrow a good deal. The story runs
that in their distressed condition they had recourse to their family Guru
whom they begged to pray to the Almighty to bless them with a male child.
Their wishes having been fulfilled, they took the child to the Guru who-
named him Mula. The story is not incredible because in India people,
who are Guru worshippers, do think that the favour of Guriis can bring
them happiness, <£c., though it can hardly stand to reason that in the
present case the sex of the child was the result of the prayers snd suppli
cations of the Guru. The Law of Karma demanded that Guru Datta be the
last child of his parents and before his birth they should receive so many
shocks. And so it came to pass.

Like other natural hws, the Law of heredity is also immutable. The
leading characteristics of the parents are invariably transmitted to their
children. The child its, in most cases, a likeness of the parents. The causes
which contributed to the high physical and intellectual stamina of Pandit
Guru. Datta were various and manifold. His high spiritedness was due to
the race from which he was descended, the patience and forbearance which
were so largely reflected in his life, were the result of the strong influence of
his mother. The strength of purpose, acuteness of vision, subtlety of intel
lect, were, in a large measure, dra\\n from his father. Another reason of his
having possessed great mental powers was that he was the last child of his
parents and was born in the rnaturest years of their life. The youngest child
is always better off than others as regards mental and physical constitution.
11 The most fortunate period in which to be born," bays A. J. Davis, "is any
where between the mother's thirtieth and forv-flfth and the father's ihiry-fiftb
and fiftieth year. Robust and rational children, who possess the best con-
atitutiona physically and spiritually, result from parents considerably ad
vanced inorganic devolpment." 'The youngest child,' he remarks, 'is the
araartest/ Most of the great writers, painters, literary men and thinkers
were either the last children of their parents or born between the respective
ages that have just been named- The Fourth Volume of the Great Har

( 5 )

monia contains a number of names that crroborate the truth of the stnte-
merit. The advantage of birth was thus no mean a factor in the determi
nation of Guru Datta's high mental powers. And to this advantage was
added the fruit of an exceptionally good Prarabhda, and these two combined
to raise him to the position of a great man. There was, as we have already
•tated, not the least show in Pandit Guru Datta. Everything was spon
taneous, which showed that his greatness was intrinsic, natural, and a gift
of Providence.

The child was a pet of his parents and they loved him intensly he being
their only male child and "obtained," as the term goes in our midst, after a
good deal of prayer and supplication. He was at first named Mula as has
already been said, but the name was soon changed by the family Guru who
gave him frhe name of Vairagi which was highly significant, in view of the
future career of the child. This Guru we cannot credit with a high power of
Yoga, since, if he had been a Yogi, he could not, under any circumstances,
have preferred to live in the tumult and bustle of a large city and consent
to perform priestly functions to a community overridden with superstition.
Possibly, he was a verj sagacious man, far above the average run of priests
and had some acquaintance with phrenology. He could, it appears, read the
future of the child by the observance of his featured. Tue natural expression
on the child's face converging towards Vairag, might have given him the
idea, that he was destined to lead a life of reuunicaiion — reuuciutiou of the
pleasures of senses — and so he suggested the name Vairagi, which was im
mediately adopted by the parents as they had an unbounded faith in their
Guru. The child gave early indication of exceptional powers and the parents
appear to have been alive to this fact. Tney sufficiently discerned
the bent of his mind and brought him up with extreme care. He began to
run while yet he had scarcely advanced beyond a year. Being naturally very
inquisitive, he put numerous question to his parents and relations about the
objects he saw and displayed a marvellous capacity in understanding and
grasping things.

Guru Dutta was hardly five years old, when he was put to Alphabet.

_ , His father, being in the Educational line, had a happy

Early education.

knack in teaching children. He held out many induce
ments to the boy, in order to .make him learn his lessons. He seldom had
recourse to reprimands, was very indulgent towards him, and always
allowed him to follow his own inclinations. The rudiments of Arithmetic

were taught in the following year and Guru Datta couly multiply u large
6gures by memory very ea»ily.

The child remained under the special care and supervision of his
father who carefully studied his habits and tastes. He was undented ly a
man of remarkable sagacity and possessed a thorough knowledge of the
laws which govern the development of the juvenile*mmd'. He was very
anxious to educate his son himself. He took him to the suburbs
of the town and answered his interesting, though somewhat crude,
questions with some degree of minuteness. The child ^finished1 elementary
lessons in Urdu, Persian &c., in the course of a short period. Be bad now to
learn English. And in this his father could be of little^ help to him,
but Lala Rim Krishen knowing as he did the temperament of his sou
thought that no one would be able to produce in his mind a desire for the
study of English, as he himself. lie, therefore, made a resolute^ determi
nation to leain the First Book himself, and then teachjt to Guru Datta. In
those days, 'how to speak English' by Colonel Holryd,*the then Director of
Instruction, was taught to the beginners. Lala Ram Kishan set to reading
it with all his vigour and, despite the disadvantages ofA advanced age, went
through it in a very short time, and then taught it to Guru Datta.

At the age of eight, he was sent to the District School at Jhang, his

father being a teacher in that school. In English he was-
School career.

Just as well up as boys of his class, butjti other subjects

Persian Arithmetic &3., he was far a-head. Of Persian, he had read
several important books; and before he left the ^ school, ;V having
finished his education there, he had read and assimilated] the poems
M?iulana-i-Rumi, Shanvia Tabrez and Diwan-i-Hafiz. These books,
though at soine places, embodying thoughts that to a superficial : eye might
appear unwholesome as regards moral development of youths, reflect that
profound misticism which has been prized all over the eastern countries for
centuries together, and where the poetic vision rises high, the mind of a
pure-hearted reader is thrown into a semi-mesmeric state. The charm that
some of the verses exercise is truly profound, the figure of a devotee saturat
ed with love and Bliakti rises unbidden before the mental eye aud oi>e cannot
help feeling himself under the influence of a magnetic current of thought,
flowing uninterruptedly towards him. These books were not without their
effect on the little Vairagi. Already a rnyatic by nature, he WHS profoundly
influenced by them. For houra together he would look towards the
heavqn with an attention that was seldom disturbed by the noise and bustlo

of the people around, and contemplate the majesty of the all-powerfflJ
Lord v\lio bespangled the immeasurable firmament with eountless millions
of brilliant lights. At this period of life he was strongly convinced of the
existence of Grd and once when his mother remonstrated with him,
while engaged in his nocturnal observations, he remaked : •* Look mother'!
look towards heaven, at the shining stars and the different forms there;
they must have their Maker and I am learning the way to reach Him. You
do the s?,me." This reply, though not very unusual in the case of a Vairagi,
would appear to be very startling when coming from a boy of eleven or
twelve years.

Perhaps by far the most marked tendency in school-boys is that towards
verse-making. Even students, not possessed of a poetic bent of mind, may
be seen composing verses. There is hardly anybody who in his school days
has not been fired with the ambition of becoming a poet. But this ambi
tion, though almost general, is not of a permanent character. It is short
lived, and, in most cases, vanishes when the student has scarcely advanced
beyond the Entrance Class. This, however, was not the case with Guru
DaMa. He hud much of poetie element in him, and having a natural
aptitude for verse-making, his compositions were free from artificiality. There
was a good deal in them characteristic of a natural-born "poet. His verses
were sweet, beautiful and melodious and they were often composed without
much exertion. So great was indeed his power in this particular department
that he is said to have once translated a long Urdu passage into Persian
verse quite extempore. But he did not cultivate his poetic taste.
After passing the middle School Examination he was sent to Multan, his
native place, for studying in the High School. His favourite book of study
in those days was Masnavi Maulana Rumi. Being a student of extraordinary
intellectual acumen, he was one of the shining students of his class and
always occupied high position in Examinations, and had earned the favour
and good-will of his teachers, especially of the Head Master, Babu M. M.
Sircar, who, confident of his great powers, foreshadowed his future career.
He was very fond of study, nnd there was no Library in Mult?«n that he
did not have recourse to for the improvement of his knowledge. The big "\
library of the school and that situated in Lnnghe Khan garden he had total
ly ransacked and finished within a short time. Master Daya Ram being
on the school staff at the time and perceiving that Guru Datta was strongly
inclined towards religion gave him two books entitled ' India in Greece : and

( * )

the * Bible in India' for study. Just before this he had come across a bo«k
called the Aina-i- Afaxhabi Hanud. These books gave him much information
concerning the ancient history of this country. From Ainai Mazhabi ffanvd
which embodied the cogent points of the Hindu creed, he learnt the mystic
recitation of Anhad, an attribute of God, which he kept up for some time.
Soon after he came to know of the e fficacy viPranayam as a factor in psychic
development. He practised it daily without fail, and one result of thii
practice was that his mind, already very penetrative, came to possess
of a great power of abstraction. He could so devote his attention to an
object as to be unconscious of all things around him. He could so far with
draw his mind from outer activity and direct it towards the object of his
observation as to enter into its heart and minutely examine all its parts.
This accounts, to a large extent, for his remarkable powers of retention,
every thing was realized in his mind and so strongly impressed on it that
nothing external could efface it.

The Education in the High School gave quite a different turn to the
mind of Guru Datta. As he read and assimilated English authors, his old
beliefs were shaken, and that faith which characterised his talk was no
longer observable. The change was not due to mental incapacity, for Guru-
D.itta had remarkable power of analysis and could, without any difficulty,
relagate the various items composing a statement to their respective cate
gories. However complicated a thought, or however great a jumble of
heterogenous ideas, his mind was never confused. But just at the tima
when he was prosecuting his studies at Muhan, there was a great religious
commotion going on in the Punjab. The sudden inrush of Western ideas,
the gloss and glitter of the new civilization, the currency of the novel modes
of thought and life, and the Missiomirits' eloquent and pathetic exhortation to
the Hindus against idol-worship, had quite upset the thoughts of the educated
people. The school books, at. legist some of them, fostered and encouraged a
spirit of skepticism. Pandit Guru Dattu found that the Persian works that he
had studied, and the Hindu beliefs in which he was nurtured, were too much
theoretical and absurd ; and naturally an aversion was produced in his mind
towards them. He became skeptic and began to doubt even the existence of
God. A.t this time, when the Western civilization was carrying before its tide
everything, when doubt and skepticism had almost banished faith from the
realm of religion, when, in consequence, people were embracing Christianity in
large numbers, and when there was a widespread unrest among the masses*

( 9 )

there appeared on the scene a mighty Reformer. His advent reversed the order
of things. Highly intellectual, he shattered to pieces in no time the grounds of
materialists ; the Muhammedans, Christians and Hindus, who came forward
to argue with him and to check the growth of the religion that he inculcated,
sustained, each one of them, a crushing defeat. They found themselves
face to face with an intellectual giant who completely overpowered them and
left no passage for retreat. The humiliation of these people shows that
the respective religions whose cause they took up and fought for, were
without any inherent vitality. His ideas were at once reasonable and
ennobling, and the Vedic Dharma, which he expounded, was highly conducive
to the harmony of physical, moral aud spiritual natures of man.
The highest Western thought could not influence him in any way ,
he stood on a^ far higher plane, and the religion which he offered to the
people was truth without the least tinge of falsehood — pure, sublime, and
soul-inspiring. As soon as the ideals and truths of this religion were made
known, the people accepted them with eagerness. The ever swelling tide of
conversion to alien faiths was at once stemmed ; excitement and uneasiness
soon ceased, and there was all peace and harmony. Guru Datta also was
attracted towards the Vedic Dharma, and his inquisitive faculties were
totally satiated. His intimate friends at the time were Pandit Remal Das
and Lala Chetanananda, and both of them had already been* converted to the
Vedic faith. Guru Datta often talked to them on God-head and other problems
of religious import. He read the Sattyarth Prakash (6rsfc edition)at their
instance, and joined the church of Arya Samaj on 20th June 1880.- That
was the happiest day in the annals of the Arya Samaj and marks a new era
in its development, since the powerful advocacy of the Vedic Dharma by
him has been the means of securing to the Samaj the sympathy and co
operation of many a talented man. Soon after his accepting the member
ship of the Samaj, he commenced the study of Ashtadhyai, and such a
strong fascination had he for it that he called on the office bearers -of the
Multau Arya Samaj to send for a Pandit to teach him, failing which, he
would consider their dharma to be shallow. The office-bearers gave a prompt
attention to this request, and at once sent for a Pandit, Akshananda byname.
Guru Datta read with him for a few weeks. The teacher could not satisfy
the pupil as he could not reply to his endless questions. The Vidyarthi
learnt only H adhyas from the Pandit, and then left off rather unceremonious
ly, He studied the book independently, perhaps by the help of Swamiji's

( 10 )

Yedang Pralash ; he had a commendable mastery over it, While at Multan,
he came across another book, called " Easy lessons in Sanskrit Grammar"
by Dr. Ballantyne. He read through it in a few days. This little book
t;is been written on modern system of instruction, and can be learnt
without the help of a Pandit. It contains a goodly number of rules, &c.
on Grammar and gives a fair insight into the nature of Sanskrit language.
The present writer has had an opportunity of studying it himself, and he
con speak from his personal knowledge that the book is admirably well-
adapted for beginners. Pandit <j}uru Datta, after finishing it, began to
read the Sanskrit portion of the Veda Bhashya Bhumika and fully understood
it. He had a very high opinion of the book and recommended it to those
who found it difficult, on account of advanced age, domestic encumbrances
&c., to study the Ashtadhyai. Some gentlemen at his suggestion began
to learn the book, and found, before they had advanced much, that they
could understand tolerably long passages of Sanskrit. Our object in enlarging
on the question is to afford to those, who give up the study of Sanskrit on
the plea of age aud the non-existence of easy lessons in Grammar the sugges
tion that they can, if they wish, improve their knowledge of that language.
All the officebearers of tie Multan Samaj were interested in the progress
of Guru Datta and once they examined him in Arya Uddesh Ratan Mala,
and Veda Bhashya Bhumika. He used to attend the Samaj regularly and
was much liked by the Samajic people.

There is hardly any branch of study that did not receive the attention of
Guru Datta while at school. Of English literature, he had read Milton,
Cowper, and shakespeare ; of Persian, he had n thorough mastery over
Masnavi Maulana Rutni, Hafiz and other works of note; of Arabic, he had
read Saraf Nnhav and Mara Nahv. Physical science was his favourite subject
while he had gone through several books on Logic, Psychology, and Philosophy.
This is extraordinary in a boy of fourteen or fifteen years. Ordinarily, the
knowledge of the boys studying in the Entrance class is very limited, in some
cases the Matriculates cannot write a line or two of correct English. They
are required to know a number of books which they cram into their heads,
and repeat parrot-like when asked to do so, there being very little of absorp
tion aud assimilation. They know nothing of Psychology, Logic, and Phi
losophy, the very names appear to them something unfamiliar. But Pandit
Guru Datta had acquired a fair proficiency in these, before passing the
Entrance Examination. He was a brilliant student in his class, Much of

( II )

bw time being spen-t in extra study, he did T50* always occupy the forei
position, the other boys who devoted themselves exclusively to the study of
the text-books, having advantage over him in this respect, sometimes out
stripped him in class lessons, bat none of them could boast of learning so-
vast and varied in range and extent. Guru Datta could, while reading in-
the High School, compete successfully with F. A. students. Whatever he
read, he not only retained in his memory but fully comprehended it. The
various shades of meaning that a phifosophieal question was susceptible of,
he could decipher without rnueh exertion, Shakespeare he recited with
warmth and passion as though the drama was being really enacted — the
tone, gestures and modulations of voice exactly suited the occasion. And his
teachers were not unconscious of these capabilities. Once there was a diffi
cult piece frogi a well-known author ending with " Here it is/ The Head
Master, in order to test the merits of the students and quicken them to
effort, said that he would give Rs. 5r as a reward feo the student, who would'
recite it. in the proper manner. All attempted to recite the passage, but
without success. At last Guru Datta was summoned to the table. He had*
seen his fellow students fail, but that did not disturb his mind. He request
ed the Head Master to let him mount the table, so that all might observe-
him. The permission was given, and he ascended it with agility reciting the-
passage with a beauty truly admirable. Just as he came to the phrase-
* Here it is," his look and gestures wore a corresponding appearance. He
handed out the book that he had in his pocket for the purpose, pronouncing
with befitting accent r "Here it is." There was at enee a loud outburst of
cheers, the Head Master patted him on the back and awarded bin* Rs. &
This wonderful feat by an Entrance Class student is certainly something
very uncommon and extraordinary.

Not only was Guru .Datta loved by his teachers for hrs brilliant capaci
ties, but was also looked with much favour from another consideration, viz.T
for his veracity. His name had become a by-word in the School for truth.
Under no circumstances would he tell a Ire. Bis own moral character behi£
spotless, he was afraid of none. He was far above the ordinary run of
students in this respect. This is not the time fo* enlarging on the vicesr
that prevail among the students ill our Schools and Col h-ges. "We have t he-
authority of one of the leading medical met) — J>r. Kellogg — to state tli.-ifc
some of the serious vices are prevalent to an tvhirming extent among bov*
in educational awd other institutions in England. The evil is, in f«ct, m-

separable from the Western civilization and occidental methods of instruction.
In India, there is little doubt that it is the modern system that has been in
strumental in fostering the evil. We do not mean to insinuate that all the
students in our seminaries are corrupt. Far from that. All that we con
tend for is that there are various influences in the modern schools which do
tell on the moral well-being of the students, and all those who have been
schoolboys can testify to this fact. There are students who assiduously keep
away from such influences, and Pandit G»ru Datta was ons of them. He
was wholly uninfluenced by evil desires. This indicates that he was fitted
by nature to rise superior to sensuality. She evidently intended him for
a higher and nobler purpose. Guru Datta was, at times, mystical while at
Multan and stuck to some of his old habits with great pertinacity. Why he-
did so, it cannot be rationally explained. We can only say tfcat it was not
on account of an irresistible influence arising out of a fixed mode of action,
since his will-power, even when he was young, was strong enough to shake off
inveterate habits. He was very fond of visiting Sadhus and Sannyasis and
derived much pleasure by conversing with them. Once he visited an old
Sannyasi who came to Multan with his uncle, and had the following dialogue
with him.

G. D. Vidyarthi. — Maharaj what is the best mode of learning Yoga — that
written in Patanjali's book or any other?

Sannyasi. — Patanjali's is the correct method; almost everything else a
fable.

G. D. Vidyarthi. — Do you know anything of Swami Dyauanda ?

Sannyasi. — Yes, we have been companions in the Jungles ; once at a
place we used to go to a Pandit who recited Bhagwat Puran^upon the con
tents of which Swami Dyananda used to get enraged, but I used to appease
his anger by saying that a Sannyasi should avoid wrath.

G. D. Vidyarthi — Are the germs of all sorts of knowledge to be found in
the Vedas ?.

Sannyasi. — Yes.

G. D. Vidyarthi. — Even- the art of regulating the army and rules of drill,.
&e.

Sannyasi. — Yes ; I know all this and can train any six men, who choose-
to go with me into the jungle, in the system of the Muhabharata ami

Kamayua.

( Js

G. D. Vidyarthi. — Swamiji to what places have you been, and what places
have you seen ?

Sannyasi. — Almost all the world, Allaska, Baring &c. Allaska, is called
Allawartadesha in Sanskrit.

G. D. Vidyarthi. — Are you acquainted with the different languages of
. these parts ? If so, let me see how you speak the Russian language.

Sannyasi. — Yes. But what will be the use of my talking in Russian
when you can't understand it. Let it suffice to tell you that this language con-
Uins too many consonants.*

There is another story of a very curious character which reaches us from
one of Panditji's trusted friends and to whom he himself related it. Panditji's
parents loved him very much. While he was at Multan, they had a servant
exclusively.devoted to his service. He used to keep behind him like a shadow
as it were, and seldom, if ever, parted his company. In play, in school and in
study he was always by his side. One day Guru Datta was playing what ia
called chachingal. A boy struck him on the back, and ran away. Guru Datta
gave chase, but the boy being nimble, rau very &wift. He, however, kept up
the pursuit. Soon they were out of the city gates. One or two miles had
been traversed in this way. The boy at last disappeared in a crowd of trees.
Guru Datta was confronted in his flight by a raised wall. He stopped near
it for a while, thinking to himself whether he should climb it or not. In
the meantime his servant came up. The resolution of Guru Datta was, how
ever, made. He told the servant to wait outside and himself jumped over the
wall. He had run only for a few yards inside the fence when a shuddering
sensation ran through his frame. The atmosphere around appeared to him
to be of a different nature. He thought he was in a dangerous place. But his
mind did not fail him and he went on, when all of a sudden he heard a rust
ling noise from amongst the surrounding trees, and no sooner had his atten
tion been rivetted on them, he saw a tall giant Fakir advance towards him

his eyes were blazing as torch light and there was an expression on his face
that could not but inspire awe. Guru Datta was struck at his appearance
and experienced a sensation of fear. The Sadhu came up to him, enquired
his name and the cause of his arrival there, and then took him among the
trees. There he spoke to him some words, eonforted him and told him not
to be afraid of any one. Guru Datta at this felt easy. Immediately he

* From the life of Pandit Guru Datta by Lala La j pat Kai.

( 1* )

took him to his hut. It was a rude building but extremly clean from msicte.
There the Sadhu enquired about his studies, after a few minutes caught
hold of his lodi and in a manner at once peaceful and conciliatory
gave it a jerk. Guru Datta felt at the moment that he was sitting in a
well-furnished room with a large mirror just before his ejes, in which was
reflected the image of a boy bent over his book in study. In a minute or
two the grip on the hair was let off, and the whole scene disappeared. The-
Sadhu then spoke some words of benediction and bade him depart. Guru.
Datta leaped over the wall and returned home in company with his servant.
The whole affair was kept a secret.

This story might appear incredible to many of our readers,
but it is, nevertheless, true. No rational explanation can at
present be given of the scene that appeared to- the Vidyarthi under the
magnetic touch of the Sanyasi. It may, after all, be an optical illusion, or
a sort of reverie in which he beheld his own image. The situation of the
mirror, the position of the boy, and his attitude were exactly as in his own*
case, and this fact dawned on his mind while one night he resumed his
studies after supper as usual. How this came about,, isagam-a mystery;
we are unable to trace the raison d'etre or the sequences that led up to it*
There are moments in individual existence when- old and forgotten incidents,
which could not bo recalled notwithstanding the exertion of one's whole
might, rise all of a sudden prominently before the mind aa if they had
taken place but a few days back. Sometimes- it so happens that a man,,
who has spent some hours in the solution of a problem without s-n-eees, finds
the enigma wholly explained while his attention is occupied with another
thing, This unexpected solution by a process almost unobstrusive cannot be
easily accounted for. But it is a psychological phenomenon which cannot
be gainsaid, and those of us who have had occasion to think over problcms-
of deep import can corroborate, by their testimony, the position herein main
tained. The final appeal in the matter is to experience ; and a thing which
had the support and sanction of experience cannot evidently be improbable.
But this is not the only thing that requires explanation in this connection.
One night Pandit Guru Datta, when about to retire, felt as if he were sum
moned by the Sadhu. He experienced distinct vibrations conveying him an
order from the Sadhu to call at his hut. Next day Guru Datta presented hinv
self to the sannyasi, who was very glad to see hfm. He told Guru- Datta that
he had done well to obey his call. Then he enquired about his health and

( 15 )

dismissed him from his presence with orders to call again the next day. The
Vivdarthi did as he was desired. The Sadhu first put him several questions
as regards his Sanskrit studies and then spoke words of encouragement, urg
ing him to ] ay more attention to Sanskrit, as he was destined to do a great
service to the cause of humanity in that direction. Next, he took him to
. his hut and gave him a lesson on Yamas & Niyams, expounding the details
in an able and learned manner. Certain instructions were given him which
we are not in a position to state. He was told to be strict in their obser
vance on the pain of a serious punishment, three mistakes only being for
given. Guru Datta came away regulating his conduct according to the
methods explained and expounded by the sannyasi. He, however, committed
a mistake unconsciously but was made aware of it by the Sadhu who warned
him for the future. Guru Datta became more careful at this but,
notwithstanding all his exertion, he was led into another mistake. There
was again a warning from the Sadhu, who said that it was the last time that
he had been apprised of his mistake, the next infringement would not be
heeded to. Now what explanation can there be of the communication of
the Sadhu with Vidyarthi. Some men would be apt to regard the whole
story to be a mere tissue of fabrication, others might think the latter details
as a mere superstition. But we think both these allegations cannot be made
with any degree of force. The accuracy of the story is vouched for by the
friend of Pandit Guru Datta already referred to, and he has no motive to
fabricate it. The communion of ihe Sadhu is also susceptible of an expla
nation. That he was a man of great psychical powers is proved beyond
doubt. He possessed that divine halo which fascinated those who came in his
contact and the strong magnetic currents of hia will-power could not be
resisted by Guru Datta. Communion can be established by mesmerism.
A man can, in mesmeric condition, describe things situated thousands of miles
away with axactness. The present writer has had occasion to see a girl
under the influence of mesmerism giving faithful description of a house
situated several thousands of miles away from the place, and a house of
which she knew nothing at all. The owner of the house testified to every
thing that the girl said. In her ordinary condition, she did not know
what was asked from her while in the mesmeric trance. The powers and
capabilities of the human mind are by no means small and insignificant.
To those who doubt the possibility of thought-transmission, we re
commend the perusal of works on " mental suggestion." The contact
of the Yogi with Guru Datta, though it was incidental, proved of

( w )

much advantage to the latter. It strengthened his faith and conviction in the
principles of individual purity. The lesson on yamas and niyamas and the
threats of the Yogi that he would be punished in t&e event of his deviation
from those principles exercised a very salutary influence over him. He became
very cautious in all his movements, and his mental and moral tone, which was
already above that of the average run of students, became still more high.
It nad subsequently much to do with the development of his genius, since tho
purer a man in heart, the higher and more lofty will be his ambition and less
chance will there be of the vitiation of his judgment, because the causes
that give rise to such things are conspicuous by their absence, He grew
pure in thought and deed day by day, and in his college career he was one
of the few young men who commanded respect from fellow students for their
nobility of life and conduct.

Guru Datta passed his ''Entrance" in November 1880, and left for
p ,.,. Lahore in January 1881 to prosecute his studies at the

local Government College. Education was at the time
in its incipient stages in the Punjab. There was bub one College in the
whole Province, and students from all parts of the Punjab,, after finishing
their education in high schools, came to Lahore for further study. The Gov
ernment College was then the nucleus of learning. The entire staff consist
ed of experienced, learned, and talented professors. Dr. Leitner, who enjoyed
a world-wide celebrity as an oriental scholar and whose memory is still held
in grateful rememberance in the Punjab, was in charge of the institution.
Under his sympathetic and enlightened guidance, the College had attained
much popularity. The professors had a happy regard for the students, and
were, in return, loved and respected by the students. The spirit of indi-
efference towards the pupils and utter disregard for their moral well-being,
-which is now the leading characteristic of those entrusted with the noble
duty of imparting education, were unknown at the time, nor did there
exist the spirit of irreverence with which the students at present behave to
wards their Professors. Consequently, the College turned out men of worth.
Guru Datta, being a genius, drank deep at the fountain of knowledge, and
all the aforesaid advantages had an elevating effect on his intellectual and
moral life. He rose into prominence only a few months after his joining
the College. The loftiness of his tone, high regard for truth, profundity
of thought, nobility of character, vastness of information in almost all de
partments of study, the stern and unbending will which he brought to bear

upon all his acts, attracted the attention of the Professors as well as of the
students who admired him for these high virtues. Just as magnet attracts
the iron so did he, by virtue of his amiable qualities, attract students
towards him. His study of the western authors produced great unrest in his
mind during the first two or three years of his college career. His intellect
would not believe in the existence of God, though his spiritual nature and hia
moral qualities that were high and sublime, bore strong and unequivocal
testimony to the existence of the Divine Father. His heart had firm faith in
God, and His beneficence and mercy, while his intellect would not assent to
the dictates of the heart. There was a phase of skepticism in his intellectual
speculation that could not be mistaken. His favourite authors at the time
were Mill and Bain, and some of his ideas in the Department of moral science
derived their nutriment from the works of these philosophers, and he was
strongly oppo'sed to the inadequate tests that Christianity supplied in regard
to the judgment of the Tightness or wrongness of our actions. The Christian
theory of morals had risen to much prominence owing to the great impulse
havin<*been communicated to it by the Brahmo Samaj, then in a very pros
perous and flourishing condition. The idea of the authority of conscience in
the decision of the legality or otherwise of an action was gaining wide accept
ance and Guru Datta, with a view to enlighten the public mind on the
-question, wrote a vigorous article in the Regenerate* of Arya Varta which
was virtually under his editorial charge. The article deserves a careful
perusal, and we reproduce it for the edification of our readers :—

"The position of the Brahmo Sarnaj with regard to conscience has
been that of Intuitionists. This School asserts that there is a moral faculty
or moral instinct in us which gives us the perception of right and wrong, of
good and bad, as the eye gives us the perception of colour. Those that
are opposed to this doctrine hold that conscience is not an innate faculty-
but that it is really an acquired faculty, a faculty, which is in no way diff
erent and distinct from other senses, the acquisition being mainly from ex
perience and association. Before we attempt an exposition of the nature of
conscience, we would ask leave of our readers to show \\hat practical differ
ences result from these two viewa. " Now, the difference between the two
schools of philosophy — that of intuition and that of experience and associ
ation, is not a mere matter of abstract speculation ; it is full of practical
consequences, and lies at the .foundation of all the greatest differences of
practical opinion in an age of progress. The practical reformer has con
tinually to demand that changes be made in things which are supported by

( 18 )

^powerful and widely-spread ieelings, or to question the apparent necessity
or indefeasibtlity of established facts; and it is often an indispensable part
of his argument to show how those powerful feelings had their origin, and
how those facts came to seem necessary and indefeasible. There is, there
fore, a natural hostility between him and a philosophy which discourages
the explanation of feeling and moral facts by circumstances and association,
and prefers to treat them as ultimate elements of human nature, a philoso
phy which is addicted to holding of favourable doctrines as intuitive truths,
and deems intuition to be the voice of Nature and of God, speaking with
.authority iiigher than that of our reason." The above words from the pen of
one of the greatest philosophers that the nineteenth century has yet pro
duced, clearly show the unfitness of this doctrine to reformation, and the
inadaptability of this view to progress and improvement in general. Al
though this mode of thought might not yet have indolence and the conser-
vativism indicated in the above words, it is certain to produce these in
future, and we sincerely believe that this tendency has been a chief hindrance
to the rational treatment of great social questions, and one of the great
stumbling blocks to human improvement. This radical defect in the ten
dencies of the Brahmo Samaj should not escape the attention of a Brahmo
reformer.

11 Had it been impossible in any case to teach against the dictates of
conscience, or were it so that this capacity lay uncorrupted in the general
decay and habitual change of our other faculties, onr treatment of the ques
tion would have been otherwise. But unfortunately, however, such is the
refragibility with which this faculty yields under external influences and
other motives, that the question has very often been put, " should I obey my
conscience T and there have been men who have answered it in the negative.

11 We cannot be more certain of anything than that it is with perfect
sincerity and feeling of reverence and godliness, that an humble Hmdn
kneels down before his idol, and prays that he should succeed in his efforts ;
nor are we less confident of the truth of the fact that when the iconoclast
Mahmud broke the precious statue of Somanath, it was with no less an air of
solemnity and calmness of conscience than when a Brahmo prays his God for
good conscience and upright heart. If these facts are true, there can be
little doubt that this faculty, if innate at all, is not one of perception, but is
only a strengthening element in our feelings, the direction, which is givei
to them, being solely established by association or by education.

t w )>

"What is this strengthening element? Wherr a child is reluctant to
tell a lie, what is it but the fear of displeasing or the hope ef pleasing his
parents or his fellow-creatures, that operates hi his mind ? What is this
binding force, then, if it be not the fear of displeasing or the hope of pleas
ing our fellow-creatures, or if it be not the fear of hell or the hope of
heaven, the fear of acting against, or the hope of acting according to, the
Will of God ?

" In proportion, then, as these external fears or hopes, these anti
pathies and sympathies act or* the mind, in the same proportion is con
science more or less delicate or callous. Its binding force then consists in
this, that there is a mass of feelings previously present in the mind, which
gives direction to all onr actions, and it is the resistance which this mass of
feelings offers, while we do anything or act contrary to those previously
present feelings, which probably comes aftewards in the form of remorse.
When these feelings are of sufficient strength and are regarded with a*
sanctity, man shrinks from acting against those feelings as an impossibility.
This is what is termed the scrupulosity of conscience. If this view of the
moral faculty be true, then conscience is not only not an innate faculty
but, clogged as it is with many associations, both false and true, aiidj
bent as it can bs by education and the operation of external influences, it
cannot be a rational ground for the foundation oi a sound morality,"

The article on " conscience " was written in 1882. Guru Datta was
then reading in the first year elass. The sobriety of tone, soundness of judg
ment, and mastery over the intricate problems of philosophy which* this
interesting piece of criticism reflects are certainly remarkable. The existence
of such profound merits iu a boy of sixteen or seventeen years, who* had
just entered the threshhold of his- college career, is astonishing. At thia
period, the reader would be surprised to learn, he had read through- many
voluminous works on Philosophy available in this country. There was
hardly any philosopher of note whose works could be 'had in the English
language, that he bad not studied with- deep and close attention. His
memory being tenacious, the leading ideas and views of tlte various philoso
phers were indelib'y impressed on his mind and he was seldom put to the
necessity of referring to a philosophical work for ascertaining the views of
its author. While so great was the range of hia learning in the realm of
Philosophy he was no less erudite in other departments of knowledge.
Mathematics he knew as much as was required for the B. A. examination.
Science was his special subject of study and he had a vast information in
bid branch of learning. The rules of Arabic Grammar were D*J the tip of

( 20 )

his tongue, ready for application at any time and he had read several works
in that language. According to a gentleman who had an intimate connec
tion with him at the time and who at present holds a high office under
Government " he was as good in Mathematics as in Science, as good in
Philosophy as in languages." Almost the whole of his leisure time was
spent in the study of books that did not fall within the College curriculum*,
lie seldom opened his clas°-books outside the College precincts, yet he never
failed in any one examination. The secret of his success was the close and
undivided attention that he gave to his lessons while sitting in the class. He
heard the lectures of the professors very attentively, and all the salient
points in them were noted and carefully grasped. He went up for the
Intermediate Examination in Arts of the Punjab University in May ]883
and his Class-fellow Mr. Lajpat Rai assures us that at home he never
saw him reading a College lesson or a Class-book. Still he came out at the
head of the successful candidates.

Pandit Guru Datta exercised a profound influence on the life and
thought of his class-fellows, and especially those who were his friends. It
was he who moved for the establishment of a Club for the discussion of
questions on religion and philosophy. The Club was formally organised in
1882. Guru Datta was appointed its Secretary by the unanimous consent
of all interested in the Club. His views, at the time, as we have already
said, were agnostic and at times his speculations partook of atheism. All
sorts of subjects were discussed at the Club. The members professed
various shades of beliefs, some were Hindus, some Mohammedans, some
Brahmos and some Aryas. They approached the problems under discussion
from the points of view of their respective faiths. The Club served to
create a spirit of research among the members, each trying to know more
of the beliefs of others. The permanent Hindu members of the Club were
Lalas Sheo Nath, Lajpat Rai, Hans Raj, SadaNanda, Chetana Nanda,
Ruchi Ram, Dewan N'arendra Nath, Pandits Hari Kishen, Rameshwar Nath
Kaul, Ac., &c. Pandit Guru Datta, being a man of genius, his views were
much esteemed by the other members, and not a few of them were influenced
by the predominating tone of his mind.

In 1883, Pandit Guru Datta's religious ideas approximated almost to
atheism. He delivered a lecture probably in. the middle of that year on
"Religion.' We owe it to the industry of our venerable brother, Lala
Jiwan Das, late President of the Lahore Arya Samaj, that a part of that
lecture is now accessible to the Aryan public. Pandit Guru Dutta discusses

( 21 )

in the pages that are preserved to us, the origin of Religion. It is a strong:
onslaught against religion. At the outset, he observes : " The real object
of my sketching out these appalling and yet perfectly true reflections on the
general theory of religion is to point out how the feelings of mankind and
especially of individuals, have been swayed by Religion. This points us to
a moral which it is most essential for our purposes to have constantly in
our view ; and, were it not for the elucidation of this moral, I would not
have taken the trouble of sketching out these sad reflections. The moral
is that in discussing all questions concerning religion, we must not allow
ourselves being influenced by our feelings but must strictly abide by our
reason. There are regions wherein one's favourite ideas may be indulged.
But we are here concerned with only truth so far as our reason can discover it.
Of all tasks, the most odious certainly is that of unwittingly shocking the
feelings anfl opinions of others. For this reason, I will not unnecessarily
touch upon the ground of that higher question of the truth of religion from
which my present subject stands quite aloof. I propose to deal with my
subject in a thorougly scientific way ; a way which should not be prejudicial
to the interests either of a philosopher or of a metaphysican. Twill refer to
well-established laws of human nature and to other empirical generalistions
as forming the basis of deduction for my purposes and will verify my results

from the facts of universrl history.

•

Honesty of conviction was the leading trait of Guru Datta'a
character. He had an unbounded abhorrence for a life which
was not consistent in thought and deed. His nature was utterly foreigu
to cant and dissimulation, which figure so largely in the so-called
civilized world of to-day. He was never an atheist in his life
for any considerable length of time. Days there were in which the tone
of his mind was decidedly atheistic, but they were few. The
lecture on " Religion "was delivered in that period in which his mind
got the better of his spiritual faculty. He made no secret of his beliefs
but plainly declared his convictions when he was not a theist and
the aforesaid lecture affords a strong testimony to his hones-ty. Bat as.
his mental condition was seldom uniform in the period of which we are writ
ing, he could not adopt a fixed course of action. When theistie tendency
became pre-dominant, he openly avowed his belief in the existence of tho
Divine Being. There was a strange conflict going on between his intellec
tual and spiritual faculties in 1883. As he was a man of great force of
character and logical powers, there were several of his friends whose ideas
about GoJ had been shaken by his conversation and one o£ thoiu \vi-ota ta

( 22 )

him in the same year proposing to disavow their belief in God in public.

Accordingly we find a iiote in his diary to this effect: "Lala

writes that we should have to declare that we are atheists." The letter
in which this idea was suggested was probably received at a time when the
speculative tone of the Vidyarthi had changed, otherwise he might have de
termined on some definite course of conduct in regard to this affair.

Pandit Guru Datta was much occupied during the year 1883. In Janu
ary he delivered the aforesaid lecture, and in March he founded a Science
Class in connection with the Arya Samaj. The class was launched under the
auspices 3f Dr. Oman, the Professor of Science in the Government College.

The activities of the Pandit were many-sided. While on the one handr
he was working in the interests of the Science Class, on the other, he had to
write articles for the Regenerator of Arya Varta, a paper started by Lala
Salig Ram, Proprietor of the Arya Press.

At this time occured an event which changed the whole course of his
life. Swami Dayananda, lay dying at Ajmere. This intelligence was received
at Lahore, on the 9th of October. The office-bearers of the Lahore, Arya
Samaj, at once deputed L. Jiwan Das and Pt. Guru Datta, to Ajmere,
His going there proved highly beneficial both to himself and to the
Arya Samaj. It marks a turning point in his life and a great epoch in the
history of the Arya Samaj. When he reached Ajmere, Swamiji's condition
had become very critical. Eruptions had appeared all over his body, and he
moved about with much difficnlty. An ordinary man would have suc
cumbed nnder such an ordeal in no time. But Swamiji heaved not a
sigh, his expression was as calm and serene as ever, there being not even the
slightest trace of anguish on his countenance. This was really an astonish
ing sight to a man so sensitive and keen-witted as Pandit Guru Datta and
he looked at the Mahnrishi for hours together in dumb surprise. This was
the first time that he had seen the Great Reformer in his life-time and
Swaraiji had also not seen him before and was wholly unaware of his capabi
lities. At this meeting the quick eye of the Maharishi at once singled him
out from the whole host of Aryas as a man who was fitted to render a lasting
service to his people. Guru Datta too, on the other hand, felt the charm of
his character and the m-iguetic influence of bis life. A close relationship,
as it were, was established between the two souls. Atheism began to melt
away at the sight of the Maharishi, but it was utterly swept off at his
death-scene. One or two hours before the last moments the Mih^rishi dis
tributed shawls, &c., among his servants and scribes anil when a few,
minutes were left in his death, he ordered all mcu to retire excepting.

( 23 )

Pandit Guru Datta. There lay on his death-bed the mighty Reformer and
his face, calm and placid, radiated with a heavenly brilliance. He thought
not of the world and world's sorrow. He sang the glory of his Lord.
He felt no horror of death, nay he felt joy as he was going to join
liis Divine Father. With the words ' God, Thy will be done,' on hia
.'lying l'Ps» Swami closed his eyes. Pandit Guru Datta saw
all this. He g'ized and gazed and then came a change over hiu).
The last relic of atheism perished in his rnind. His whole nature was
transformed into something higher and sublimer. All his doubts were
solved and he became quite a new man. He saw that death had no terror
for those who live for TRUTH, that there «vas an endlesss life behind and
beyond, that the spirit being immortal, no earthly considerations should
«ver over-ride the interests of dharma — that death was after all a change
from one place to another and was not feared in the least by those who
led a life of devotion and righteouness. This grand scene worked a wonder
ful effect on the mind of Guru Datta and ever afterwards we find him fight
ing the cause of theism and dkarnia with all his might and main. The
services he has rendered to the Arya Sarnaj are already woll-knewn to the
Aryas, and his name shines like a brilliant star in the firmament of the Arya
Samaj. After the memorable event we have just chronicled, Pandit Guru Datta
gave himself up to a deep study of Aryan literature. The more he studied
Swami Dyananda, the intensergrew his admiration for the Great Reformer and
the deeper became his faith in Vedic dkarma. He read SATTYARTH PRAKASH
no less than eighteen times and declared that every time he read it, he
found something new and fresh in the way of mental and spiritual food,
The book, he said, was full of recondite truths.

The intelligence of Swami Dayananda's death was at once wired from,
Ajmere to the various centres of Samajic activity. It cast a deep gloom over
the country, and, for a time, the leaders of thought in the Samaj were
completely stupified and stunned. The Samajists brooded in dark despair
over the fate of their movement. With the sailor removed from the helm,
the ship of the Arya Samaj might run into shoals of rocks and be wrecked
into pieces. Sorrow and disappointment were visible in all Samajic circles,
«very Aryan heart was prostrated with grief. Men like Lala Sain Dass,
who possessed a calm temperament and whose minds remained unhinged
even in the severest of crises, wept bitterly at this loss. In the sombre
moments when every thing appeared gloomy in the Arya Samaj, a thought,
however, suggested itself to a keen-witted gentleman in the Lahore Arya
Samaj, and he broached it to his fellow-believers in a pensive mood. There
was little hope of its meeting with approval at that period, but the actua

( 24 )

experience proved to be quite the contrary. The idea of perpetuating the
memory of the illustrious reformer received a sympathetic response in
every mind that was apprised of the thought. Consequently the Lahore
Arya Samaj conceived a plan of action to give it a practical shape within a
\veek after the death of Swarniji. It was, however, not made public till
the return of Pandit Guru Datta from Ajmere. When it was made known
•to him, he readily gave his assent and promised to work in the interests of
the proposed institution as much as his avocations would permit. He
delivered a lecture soon after his arrival in Lahore, in which the closing
scene of Maharishi Dayananda's career which he had witnessed was depicted
in such a vivid manner that every man in the vast audience was touched to
the innermost core of his heart. The proposal of founding a College in memory
t)f Dayananda was formally put forward before the public on the 8th Novem
ber 1883. It was received with favour by all classes of people. Pandit
Guru Datta's speech on the occasion was highly pathetic, passionate and
impressive. Rs. 7,000 were subscribed on the spot.

Though the Samajists had set on foot a stupendous movement, which
was calculated to inspire faltering hearts with hopes and diffuse activity in
the Arya Samajes, yet to those, who, amidst the strifes and turmoils of the
world, sought for dharma, it afforded little consolation. In the sphere of
religion, as in all .others, precept accomplishes far more than mere speculative
thought. However grand and magnificent a faith, it can have no influence over
the people unless there are men who exemplify its truths in their person.
Maharishi Dayananda, who embodied, with unparalleled exactness the sublime
ideals of the Vedic dharma in his life, had disappeared from the scene;
and there was none who could take his place. Consequently there was
a lull in activity and several men had been, more or less, disspirited.
But little did they know that in the metropolis of the Punjab, there was
a mind in the process of incubation, that would, in a year or two, shed
forth its lustre on the Arya Samaj and illumine the surrounding dark
ness with its radiant lustre. The soul of Guru Datta was gradually
ascending higher flights, notwithstanding the din and bustle in the Samaj
consequent on the inauguration of the D. A.-V. College Movement He
was assimilating the profound truths of the Vedic religion, had commenced
the practice of pranayam and other sadhans and all his attempts were
mainly concentrated on self-improvement. He did not care at all for his
College lessons ; the greater portion of his time was spent in meditation on
deep problems tf spiritual import. And the result of all this pursharath and
struggle for a higher existence was fully manifestsd two or three years later.

( 25 )

Now the Dayananda Anglo Vedic College Movement began to absorb
his whole attention. After passing the B.A. Examination in 1885, he set himself
actively to the advocacy of the oause of the College ;":i number of speeches were
delivered in the different Samajes in the Province '%on the subject, with the
, result that a healthy and intelligent interest was created in the movement
among the educated people at large. His learning, his noble bearing,
his spotless character, his child-liks. simplicity^ drew large audiences every
where and his pathetic and vigorous appeals so charming and eloquent
had a marvellous eftect in moving the people to open their purses in the
interest of the College. Money poured in from all sides, so much
so that those who had no cash with them at the time, gave away ear-rings,
chands, anant* and similar other ornaments on their persons. The following
cutting from the Arya Patrika will show how the lectures of Pandit Guru
Datta were appreciated. "Pundit Guru Datta, Vidyarthi, B.A., an able mem:
ber of the Lahore Arya Samaj, then followed. He delivered a very im
pressive and learned speech and proved by quoting and explaining a
mantra of the Rig Veda that the assertion of the late Maharishi Swami
Dyananda Saraswati that the Vedas contained the germs of all knowledge
was quite true. In one single Mantra quoted by him he showed that all the
properties of air were forcibly described. He also stated that the study of
Vedas was very necessary from many points of view. He said that even those
who considered the Vedas as worthless books should feel interest in spreadr
ing their knowledge, because that alone was the way of shaking the faith
of the people in then), if they were really books containing childish things.
In the end he said that the first duty of every well-wisher of the country
xvas to contribute to the funds of the Anglo-Vedic College." Rs. 10,000
were collected at this speech. Shortly after, another was delivered at Pindi
which fetched Rs. 1,600. In April next the exigencies of the work took
him to Peshawar where no less than Rs. 2,600 were subscribed. Some
•months later Amritsar was revisited and a most impressive lecture ou the
D.-A. V. College delivered there which, to quote the Patrika again " moved
the hearts of all the people present and produced a wonderful effect, 'He
proved to demonstration that it was one of the chief duties of all the Arya
Samttjists to help in the foundation of this grand seminary of Sanskrit and
western Sciences and technical instruction in memory of Swami Dayananda.
His appeal to the public was very impressive. On his speech being biou^hl
to a close, Ra. 908-4 in cash were collected.

« 26 )

•The major portion of -the year following that in which Pandit Guru
Datta passed the B. A. Examination was spent in lecturing on the aims and
objects of the D. A.-V. College. Though he had made up his mind to go up
for the M. A. Examination, he paid Arerj little attention to his studies,
"Much of his time was spent in chess-playing — a game for which he,
•in those days, had a passionate fondness, 'in religious discussions and in
-conversation on topics of Samajic interest with his friends a«d with gentle*
vinen who gathered round him in numbers for counsel, advice and enlighten-
'ment There are men, some of whom were his constant companions and
lived in the same house with him, who state that they seldom found him
with- a book in his hand, studying for the approaching examination. And
jet-he ^headed the list of the successful candidates, taking his degree in
Physics. The year 1886 when he passed his M. A. brings to a close his
College career.

After passing bis M. A. he was appointed Assistant Professer of Science
His work lor the m fc^e Government- CoHege, Lahore, in 1886. And now
Arya Samaj. that he was settled in life he began to work heart and

soul for Dayananda Anglo Vedic College. He attended almost all the
anniversaries. His lectures grew so popular that every Samaj
was anxious to avail itself of his eloquence in this connection.
The Arya Patrika designated him as "our famous anniversary
lecturer on the D. A. V. College movement." It is not possible to form
anything like an adequate conception of the hopes that he himself entertain
ed with regard to the College; the ordinary members of the Samaj considered
it as the would-be centre of Vedic learning and enlightenment in the country,
as a home and nursery of the Aryan civilization which would impregnate
the entire atmosphere with wholesome and salutary elements, favourable to
the growth of spirituality and high ideals of dharma among the Indians.
Ouru Datta was a man of great intellectual insight ; his expectations, there
fore must be far higher and this idea receives wonderful corroboration from
the fact that he pleaded the cause of the College with an unbounded zeal
and enthusiasm. All that he said about it seemed to arise from the
innermost depth of the soul. He could not, however, work the whole year
(1886) without intermission. His father, who at that time was much
advanced in age, fell ill and much of his time was spent beside the invalid's
bed. The idea of sending a deputation with the object of collecting
subscriptfons for the College to N.-W. Provinces and Oudh was conceived
in 1886, Paudit Guru Datta hud no hope of accompanying it, for hia

( 27 )

father's condition grew worse ; the disease, far from showing any sign of

abatement, assumed serious proportions. He must serve the father and

stay at home, but the inability to accompany the Deputation was keenly

felt and sincerely regretted. In a letter addressed to Lala Lajpat Rai about

the timp,- lie observes : " M-y father is very weak and ill at Muzaffargarh.

He likes that I should live with' him. Now I am officiating in Lahore.

His coming here will unnecessarily produce undue expenditure. Besides,

his being here will not allow rne to stir from- Lahore, my promise to go on

a mission, Sumajic or other, will go for nothing. Duty to father and duty

to country are at conflict, mind is set in abeyance ; every holiday I go to

Multan and come back." This was fallowed by another letter after a short

interval in which he writes : * Guru Datta, Vidyarthi, is sad enough to find

that he cannot leave Muzaffirgarh, at which place he will sojourn during

the whole term of vacation. He i» but powerless to wander about apreackinp.

Father is very ill and he most urgently demands my presence with him

every [moment. / know what sacrifices shall I have to undergo to please my

father — say what you- will advise."

The Summer Vacation of 1886 was spent at Muzaffargarh beside the
father's sick-bed. There was not only no improvement in> his condition for
some time, but the disease grew virulent and Panditji lost all hope of his
recovery. He, however, nursed him with the devotion of a«dutiful son, per
sonally administering medicines and supervising all arrangements made in
connection with his illness. The disease at last spent its fury and there were
signs of relief. The gentleman- fully recovered. In the meantime the vaca
tion was over and Pandit G«ini Datta returned to Lahore. He was officiating
in these days as the Assistant Professor of Science in the Government College,
Lahore. The year rolled on ; he was sorry that he had not served his conv
nvunity as much as he desired.

Next year (1887) he was appointed Officiating Proffessor of Science in
place of Mr. Oman who went on leave.

But whether working as assistant professor or as professor, his heart was
iai the D. A, V. College. And we find him again prepared to go out on a
lecturing tour for the same institution in the summer vacation.

A deputation for collecting subscriptions for the College was organised,
like the one in- the last year during summer vacation but unfortunately a,
few days before starting on the eleemosynary tour, Panditji's father agaia
fell ill. He roust stay at home. But at the same time he was very anxioua

. ( 28 )

to serve the College. The father being; a very intelligent and patriotic man
and at the same time a sincere well-wisher of the movement, read the mind
of the son and allowed him, without any formal request on his part, to join
the Deputation.

Trie Deputation left Lahore in July 1887. It consisted of Lalas LaK
C.hand, M. A., Lala Marian Singh, B. A., Lala Dwarka Dass, M. A.r Lai*
Lajpat Rai, Lala Jwala Sahay, the well-known contractor and reis of Miani
and our Vidyanhi. There was no particular destination. Halts were made
at almost all important towns. During all this time the mind of Panditji
AY as by no means at rest, he was very anxious to know the condition of his
father and kept sending telegrams to Muzaffargarb, inquiring about it.
When the vacation was over, the party returned to Lahore and immediately
after his arrival Panditji attended the anniversary of the Rawalpindi Arya
Samaj. The lecture on the D. A. V. College movement delivered by him on
the occasion was simply grand. The last sentences have been preserved m
record, and they are very pathetic- and touching. 'If yon are convinced,'
said he, "you have a soul within you, if yon are convinced your life will not-'
end with the dissolution of your outer selves, but that there is something
within you, which will live after your bodies have perished, and if you deHire-
that this boul of yours should go on progressing and are aware that learning
•will effect this object, you must join in helping the establishment of the
D. A.-V. College. The cause of the progress of the soul is the cause of the
progress of all humanity and Hindus and Mohammedans and Christians
should all join in this noble cause." In response to this appeal Rs.
1,253-4-6 were collected on the spot. A few hours after his return from
Pindi he received the sad intelligence of the death of his father. The inei- ,
dent must have much affected his mind. He at once telegraphed to his rela
tives at Mukan to preserve the body till his arrival. His castemen coining
to know of his intention of cremating the remains of his father according to
{he Vedic rites asked his mDther to give up the body to them, but she would
not do anything against the wishes of her son. A strong resistance was-'
offered by the Bradari but PanditGuru Datta braved it very manfully.

Shortly after the death of his father the public demand on Pt.'jGnn*
Datta's energies became very great. The death of his father had thrown
him into various domestic afflictions. The loss of a parent, especially one
v?ho is very gentle, noble and affectionate is, in itself, a great calamity that
(Jan befal a person. The disappearance of the venerable figure, whose loving
Lands have protected one through life's most prickly -thoroughfares, ^Yhos€^:

( 29 )

courageous and inspiring words in moments of difficulty and depression
have infused a new strength in the mind, is not an ordinary catastrophe.
It is most keenly felt by sensitive individuals and hardly had Pandit Guru
Datta a sigh of relief from the overwhelming grief that had seized on him
when he was asked to deliver lectures on the D. A.-V. College Movement at
the anniversaries of the Samajes. The gentleman, having a great regard for
' the Movement, did not attach any importance to his private affairs, in view
of the matters of public interest and he at once responded to the call. The
10t,h anniversary of the Lahore Arya Sarnaj came oft' on the 2Gth and 27th
November, a few da}'s af;ter his father's demise and he delivered a very
splendid address on the D. A.-V. College on the occasion. To attempt even
to give a distant idea of the earnestness, the depth of feeling with which he
spoke on the occasion would be to attempt an impossibility. A. death-like
silence reigued in the hall when he spoke, and a gathering of men number
ing little less than 3 thousand, sat the very embodiment oj muteness. Every
thing, he said, had a ring of sincerity and earnertness about it. His^ltter-
inys of a feeling heart, his tone, his language gave the most unridstakeable evi
dence of the fact that hefdt what he said. We have se'.dom heard a more elec
trifying speehc. Verily the language of the heart, in spite of all its sim
plicity, excels the most exquisite pieces of eloquence without sincerity and
innermost earnestness to back them. He exemplified his remarks by
drawing illustrations from the life of Swami Dayananda • and we are faith-,
fully chronicling the fact when we say that we saw the tears coursing down,
the faces of many."

Thfc closing months of the year 1887 were spent, for the most part, in
delivering lectures upon important religious subjects. Three of these are
worthy of special mention. The subjects dealt with in them, viz., 'The
Object of 'LhV ' Truth,' and the ' Arya Samaj ' are of vital interest to the
religious world. ' But perhaps the most interesting and instructive lecture
delivered during the period just named is that of the 'Realities of Inner
Life.' It was printed in a pamphlet form in 1890.

With the commencement of the new year, Pandit Guru Datta's activity
was redoubled. He grew very enthusiastic and the major portion of his
spare-time was spent in the diffusion of healthy ideas on religion and morali
ty 'among the people. One lecture after another was delivered ; the edu
cated men, especially those whq were members of the Arya Samaj, frequented
his house and gathered round him in numbers in the mornings and evenings
and held conversations on deep and recondite questions of Vedic Philosophy

These conversations were generally cheeiful and animated and continued
for hours together. Panditji never sent any man back without satis
fying him on every point connected with bis inquiry. The questions vrere
varied and embraced various departments of learning and it is a wonder
indeed how Panditji had managed to master difficult and abstruse subjects.
He was, as it were, an embodiment of learning ; Sanskrit, Arabic, Physical
Sciences, Geology, Chemistry, Botany, Physiology, Astronomy, Mathamatics,
Philosopy, Philology — in all these and in many more — he appeared to be
quite at home and those who approached him for the removal of their doubts
were simply struck at his profound scholarship. He died while yet he was
hardly 27 years of age and how in this short time he contrived to gather
such a vast store of knowledge will ever remain an object of wonder and ad
miration. His very presence was quieting. There are men who say that after
they had once heard him talk at his residence not a doubt arose in their
minds on any subject. This might seem somewhat paradoxical and some
men would be inclined to think that there is a vein of exaggeration in all
that we have said about Panditji, but if any testimony from those that have
been in personal contact with the illustrious scholar can be valid, we can
assure the reader that we are giving an exact and faithful description of
facts. There are things that appear quite inexplicable at first sight but if
sufficient attention were bestowed upon them and mind were left to cogitate
on the complex and intricate aspects that they present, undisturbed for
some time, they become perfectly clear and transparent.

The year 1888 was the most eventful in the life of Pt. Guru Datta.
It wsa during this year that he delivered lectures by way of criticism
on Monier Williams' 'Indian Wisdom,' studied the science of Swars and intro
duced the right mode of the recitation of the Vedic texts. Thw was a task of
which the magnitude cannot be easily conceived. If he bad done no other
work, this alone was enough to entitle him to a high position among the
greatmen of the age. But by far the most valuable work which he did
and which is worthy of being cherished with gratitude by us all, is his
staunch and uncompromising advocacy of the Vedic religion. The Vedic
religion was in those days much traduced by the Brahmans. The educated
men, imbued with western ideas, raised a host of objections on the principles
of the Arya Samaj. To meet these persons on their own ground a very
powerful exponent of dharma was needed. A man of learning was in
requisition who should not only refute the objections of the opponents in a

( 31 )

tatlorval manner and tepJy to the half-hearted questionings o! the skeptics
in a courteous and sympathetic spirit but vindicate its superiority over all
other fora* rf faith. And such a man Providence had vouchsafed to the
Siwnaj in the person of Pandit Guru Datta, He did an excellent work.
His fearless and undaunted expression of truth extorted admiration even
from his opponents. The lecture which he delivered at the anniversary
of the Lahore Arya Samaj in December 1888 is worth preserving in a
permanent form. Ha said ** that modern science, whatever its merits,
did not throw the least light on the problem of life. It did not afford
the slightest cl-ue towards the solution of the grandest and the most
difficult question which can agitate the human mind— the origin and the
ultimate destiny of mankind. The modern scientist might dissect every
nerve and bone, subject every drop to a most searching examination under
the most powerful microscope he could possibly have, but he was as hope
lessly lost -over his question as «ver. He could not undo the mystery of
life. He might go on for ages dissecting and experimenting, but he would
be none the wiser for it on the question of life. That question could not
be solved but by the aid of the Vedas. They alone could unravel that
grand mystery, and to them the scientist must ultimately turn. Already
there were indications of such a tendency. The Vedas were, and, rightly
too, regarded as the source, the fotin tain-head of all science by the ancient
Rishis. They entirely gave themselves up to their study, reflected
aud pondered over the truths inculcated therein, and Arya Varta enjoyed
a state of prosperity and an amount of happiness, of which we might in
vain seek for a parallel in these days. Happiness in this world as well as
in the next was the fruit of the study of the Vedas. It was most
deplorable that Arya Varta had fallen off from the Vedic faith. It could
not but d-esceud to the depths of degradation to which it had descended.
It had itself courted its ruin and richly deserved it. But though gloomy
the retrospect, the prospect, was all cheering' The same eternal lumiqary
of truth, the Vedas, had reappeared. It had shattered and dispersed the
clouds of superstition entirely. The darkness, which so ominously hung
over the globe, bad been dispelled and the luminary was shining with
greater effulgence than ever. This most happy state of things had been
brought about by the efforts of Sjvami Daya Nanda. It was he who hatf led
us to the light in which the ancient Rishis basked. But though, njany
iiad seen it and duly appreciated the blessing, the majority, long used to

,' ( 32 )

in darkness, had either doubted it or obstinately refused to be led to
it. It was the duty, the imperative duty of all whose souls were no longer
enveloped in the gloom of superstition, to cure the sceptic of his scepticism
and the obstinate and the bigoted of their obstinacy and bigotry. This
could only be done by assisting the institution where the coming generations
were gradually and imperceptibly being prepared to be ultimately led to it.
The lecturer did not name any particular institution, the people knew
which institution they ought to assist. The lecturer sat down amidst vocifer
ous cheering."

From the beginning of 1883, the year during which Pandit Gu*u Datta
was ceaselessly active, dates the growth of disease which, under a modified
form, ultimately carried him off. What with the revision, and swari&iny of
the Sam Veda, what with the both t rat ion at the Ashtadhyai class, and
what with constant and prolonged travels in the mufiasil in the interests of
the D.-A.Y. College, his constitution, though unusually strong had broken-
down. It could not bear a heavy strain. The Pandit was advised to tt.k<3
a .little of rest and recruit his health. At first he took kindly to the advice,
but the prospect of a brilliant success in the proselytising mission of the
Arya Samaj took possession of his entire soul and encompassed all other
•considerations. He would not withdraw himself from the field of activity,
come what might. Fortunately oc unfortunately at that early stage of
S,amajic propagandism, four Suunyasis, Achutananda, Prakshananda, Swat-
rnananda, and Mahananda — strolling monks — fell in with him. They were
an intelligent lot and evinced a sincere desire to learn and know about the
Vedic religion, its principles and dispensation in the world. Pandit Guru
Datta was all kindness and courtesy to them. His superior learning, un
rivalled wisdom, and great resources of information simply bewitched the
Swamis. They would not part company with him. Day and night they
were seen at his house. They belonged to the Vedantic persuasion but their
.Vedantism evaporated before Punditji as water does before the sun. Rest
less in mind, without any settled conviction to guide and console them,
these people yearned with the intense longing of one parched with spiritual
thirst for nectar and that was ungrudgingly dispensed by the learned
Pandit. Having been perfectly satiated, they expressed a desire to work
for the propagation of the Vedic religion and volunteered their services to
the Pratinidhi Sabha. For some time they worked with unfaltering zeal.
Latterly two of them, viz., Achutananda and Prakashananda, fell off. The con
version of these Sannyasis had not a little affected the health of Pandit Guru

( SJ )

Datta, but they were not the only frequenters of his house at the titn*. A
large body of Aryas and non-Aryas visited him daily, some to learn, some to
amuse themselves and some to fathom his learning. Being a man of oblig
ing habits, he never asked them to retire, but kept up with them till late in
the night. An idea of these gatherings may be gained from the following
.observations of Lala Lajpat Rai : " For several days of the year, I am told
by a reliable witness, all the four revered Swamis remained with him and
conversed upon different topics of religion, so the people might well consider
hia house to be an Ashram in the truest sense of the term and that many
did consider it to be such is a fact. Many souls did go to that house in
search of truth and came back with their minds treasured with the love of
the Vedio religion. All sorts of people, whether Grihatthis (laymen) or
Sannyasis (ascetics), flocked to him to solve the deep problems of human life
and to receive light from the resplendent luminary of knowledge. With
brilliant record of valuable services in the cause of the Arya Samaj, he did
not neglect his own intellectual and spiritual advancement. Among other*
too numerous to be named, he went through the ten principal UpanishatSj
Gopath and Aitraya Brahmans, portions of Nirukta, Charak (a medical book),
Surya Siddhant. Patanjali's Mahabhashya he studied himself with the aid of
Swami Dayananda's Vedang Parkash and Swami Dayananda's works were, of
course, his special favourites. Swami's Satyarth Parkash, and especially the
chapter on Muktit he is said to have read many times and the more
and oftener he read them, the more and deeper he believed in their clebrated
author. Every day his reverence and respect for Swamiji's genius
was on an increase, and towards the middle of the year 1889 it reached
its climax. Though ever so busy he never refused to teach those who wanted
him to do to." This hard strain brought on suffering and disease and we
find the following painful notes in his diary :—

12th January. — Several discharges of blood, very sorry.

14th January. — Suffering from the discharge of blood from the bowels,

22nd January. — Got very much sick.

1st February. —Begins my period of sickness,

12th. — Very sick, blood and weakness.

1st March. — Indigestion visits still.

16th March. — Suffering from levere nausea and two or three drops
flowed ' from the noitrili,'

( 34 )

1st October.— Copious discharge of blood from bowels.

2nd October.— Nausea.

These meagre and desultory notes give but" faint idea of the trouble
which was raging within his constitution. He had a great power of en
durance and never breathed llai, or any other such expression under the
severest pain. His constitution was almost completely wrecked by the end
of the year. Yet he worked on with persistence. The people could not
judge of his condition by his external appearance. It \vas ever calm and
placid.

Throughout the year 1889. Pandit Guru Datta was again unusually active.
Immediately after organising a movement for the establishment of ' Upades-lmk
class' he opened a Mahabhashya class. Under the purifying influences
which Pandit Guru .Datta exercised on the Arya Samajists, a strong
desire arose in ihe minds of a Vody of earnest men to devote them
selves to the cultivation of Vedic literature. Some provision must be made
to satisfy this desire. There was no body at Lahore who could teach Aryan
Shastras to educated people in a thoroughly efficient and competent manner,
except Pandit Guru Datta, and he undertook this grave duty upon himself.
The class was held at his house, there was a pretty large number ^of students
at first, but it gradually fell, for the majority^of the students were clerks,
and they could not return from their offices in time to join the class. The
class was otherwise a complete success. Every Arya felt its utility and a
number of gentlemen from outstations expressed a wish to join it. Lala
Narayan Dass M. A.., Extra Assistant Commissioner, who at that time had a
inscere and genuine respect for Panditji, highly appreciated the service that
he was doing to the community at large through the Mahabhashya class and
determined to enroll himself as a student for three months. This is signifi
cant in itself. That a distinguished graduate holding the respectable post of
an Extra Assistant should feel inclined to take three months' leave simply for
Sanskrit study under Pandit Guru Datta is no small testimony in favour of
the excellence of the class and abilities of the Pandit. Now, that Pandit
Guru Datta is no more in the land of the living, people might say whatever
they like in regard to his attainments in Sanskrit, but there is no doubt that
during his life-time even the most fastidious critics respected him as a pro
found Sanskrit scholar. Pandit Guru Datta's knowledge of Sanskrit was not
only deep, but extensive. It ranged over a very wide area. He could speak

( 35 )

in that language with fluency and felicity of expression and men were
simply struck when they saw him lecturing in Sanskrit at the Arya Mandir
at Lahore against Mahamandalists, without any pause whatever. The Maha-
bhashya class did not enjoy a long lease of life, but during the short span of
its existence, it did solid good to the students and had it continued to exist for
some time more, it would certainly have turned out men of sound knowledge,
well- versed in Ashtadhyai.

The study of Swami Dayananda's works had produced a wonderful effect
on the mind of Panditji. He became very calm and sober in views and his
mental activity was directed towards the subtle, rather than towards the gross,
affairs. Atmik Unnati, or what is known as spiritual advancement, became
the chief aim of his endeavours ; he would do nothing that did not directly or
indirectly conduce to that end. He was, as it were, a yrikasthi recluse. He
retired not from the busy haunts of the work-a-day world, yet the world
could not influence him. Once or twice he is said to have expressed
a desire to enter into Banaprastahi, so that he might be able to
pursue his object without interruption from any quarter, but the thought of
his family restrained him from taking such a step. Several persons wera
dependent upon him, and without his support they might starve or be reduc
ed to a miserable plight. And he was keenly sensible of this fact, and, there
fore, he did not retire into jungle.

Iii April 1889 he was relieved of Professorship in the Government
College by Dr. Oman who had returned from his leave. Pandit Guru
Datta, though he drew a handsome pay, had nothing to his credit in the
banks, as be gave away to the poor what was left after meeting hia
family expenses. He must do some work, otherwise it was not possible
for him to maintain his dependents. Several gentlemen advised him to
go to the Director of Public Instruction and request him to give him some
post. This he did not like to do, his object being to hold aloof, as much
as possible, from a profession that did not help him in spiritual advancement.
And what could help him in that direction except a profession which, while
securing for him a good monthly income, would enlaige the range of his
knowledge in the realm of Spirit ? This rare combination could only be
met with in the field of religious journalism and Pandit Guru Datta
determined to start a Magazine devoted to the discussion of philosophical,
metaphysical and theological questions. This determination took a practical
turn in the middle of 1889. A periodical under the name of 'Vedic Maga
zine' was launched into existence. The first number appeared in July.
The appearance of this high-class periodical produced a great atir in thQ

( 86 )

literary and religious world, the July number being luminous with the
most brilliant articles. A liberal patronage was extended by the Aryan
•world and Aryas felt that in the Vedio Magazine they had a strong and
powerful exponent of the various features of the Vedic dharma,. In India
the public gave a cordial reception to the journal and abroad it wa*
reviewed in highly eulogistic terms by the Press.

The 4Vedie Magazine' was a stupendous effort in the direction of
religious reform and revival. It was intended to meet " the needs of the
ever-increasing interest in the Vedas, by presenting translations, abstracts,
reviews, and criticisms on different portions of Vedic literature, to picture-
the interior truths of the Vedic philosophy, so needed in this age of exter-
nalism ; to present the philanthropic and' benevolent religion of the Vedas,.
in contrast with the sectarian or communitarian, but not humanitarian*
religions of the world ; to attack time-honoured and ignorance-begotten,
superstitions ; to, teach the principles of true reform as distinguished from
time-serving and popular policies; to keep alive the pure and simple truths
of the Vedas, by presenting controversial articles and reviews ; to remove
wilful misrepresentations, or sincere misunderstandings of selfish priestcraft,,
pedantic philologists and shallow materialists." The magnitude of this
task can be easily imagined. It could not be performed with any degree ol
success unless one were thoroughly at home in the Vedic literature and in.
close and intimate touch with contemporary thought. He muat be
thoroughly familiar with religions of the world, especially those of India.
His knowledge in the realm of Philosophy must range over a wide horizon,
and he must possess a deep acquaintance with science. This is a killing
business, in as much as it taxes the energies of an individual to the utmost,.
Pandit Guru Datta had chosen this vocation for himself. He alone could
satisfactarily perform the various duties connected with it, there being no
other man in the Samaj who could lend him any substantial help in it.
Besides, even if there were, learned contributions could not be secured
without monetary payments and that Pandit Guru Datta waa not in a
position to. do,, the whole burd.en lay upon the Pandit himself. Hit
1 magazine ' must be full of learned articles, worthy o£ his name and famo.
And he must work for i.b as hard as be could, Lala Lajpat Kai tells us.
that "he went through all the works of Professor Max Muller, Nayai,,
Mimansa, Vaisheahaka, and Yoga out of Aryan philosophies, Nirukta and
Swarai Dayananda's Bhashya on Vedas, Mahabhashya by Patanjali,, Manw.
a, host oZ other backs* toa r^umfirowa to he mentioned

The study of so many works threw a strain upon his constitution that it
could not bear, and in the latter end of July (1889) he began to complain
of " something like electricity going out of him " and in the beginning of
August he caught cold. This cold was soon followed by cough and fever
which continued to increase in intensity till September, notwithstanding
the strong efforts made to check them. At last he was obliged to remove-
to hills ; Murree was selected as fit place for him to recruit his health. He
was received there by Sardar Umrao Singh, a sincere and ardent admirer
of his and although the best medical advice was procured and every comfort
was provided under the hospitable roof of the Sardar Sahib, the disease
showed no sign of abatement. His constitution, which was exceptionally
strong, was undermined during a short stay there. The anniversary of
the Peshawar Samaj coming off in those days, he made up his mind to join
it. He could not bear the trouble and inconvenience of such a long
journey but, when once his resolution was formed, it was very difficult to
prevent him from carrying it into effect. He left for Peshawar in spite
of the protests of his friends and be did not observe the anniversary as a
mere passive spectator, but took an active part in it. His speech upon the
Vedas was the most brilliant of addresses delivered on the occasion, and
he spoke with all the might that he could command. The result of this
heavy strain was that the disease redoubled its force and immediately after
bis arrival at Lahore he was thoroughly prostrated, with all 'energy for work
having departed from his body. Throughout October the disease kept
increasing in virulence but towards the end of October there were apparent
signs of relief. And the Pandit himself began to entertain hopes of bia
recovery. That was a time when he ought to have allowed himself perfect
rest, but no, he would not sit still. He took an active part in the meetings of
the Managing Committee, of the D. A. V. College. Imagine a man reduced
to a mere skeleton through constant suffering and disease, precipitating
without any discrimination into discussions over public affairs. This was
the besetting fault of Pandit Guru Datta. He did such things not because
he was short-sighted and unaware of consequences of such action but because
there was a very strong and powerful impulse from within.

This mental strain brought on extreme lassitude and exhaustion, and
be lay for several days on his bed, unable to move out even a small distance.
His strength began to decrease and he grew more and more lean every
day. At such a critical juncture he was removed to Gujranwala and put
undtr tht treatment of Dr, Patch Chand, Pandit Guru Ddtta remained

at Gujratiwala for a good period ; the Doctor bestowed special attention upon
him but to no avail. The disease had passed that stage in which cure
could be effected, There was no improvement in the condition of Panditji :,
on the contrary alarming symptoms developed and in consequence he was
brought back to Lahore and accommodated in a Bungalow, specially hired
for the purpose.

At Lahore he was treated by Pandit Narayan Dass, a Vaid of
repute in the province. Pandit Narayan Dass had cured many cases
of chronic consumption and his treatment effected improvement in the
•condition of Pandit Guru Datta, and hopes began to be entertained of
his recovery in some quarters but there was an unexpected relapse.
Subsequently "a Hakim, named Slier Ali, was called from J llauduar. ' Hi a
treatment/ says Mr. Laj pat Rai, " worked wonders and in almost a week
Panditji's complete recovery became a matter of days." But this was likely
the flicker of the dying flames. Thera was a relapse "from the effects of
which Panditji never recovered. "

The morning of the 18th March dawned bright and clear. The sun
shone in its full splendour. There was not a speck of cloud to be seen
in the sky. The birds sing joyfully. Men went to their daily
tasks with light hearts. There was joy all around. Bit there was no joy in
the hearts of the Aryas. Sorrow was depicted in every face. 'No hope
no hope,' these words seemed to escape from many lips.

Pandit Guru Datta lay prostate on his sick-bed. Though he was as
calm as ever, yet life was slowly ebbing away. There was no help.
No one could interfere with God's ways. He must go, his Father is waiting
him. He is already beckoning him to come to Him. He must obey his
Heavenly Father's summons. And our Pandit is not sorry. Why should he
be sorry. Is he not going to join his Divine Father. While all around are
shedding bitter tears of grief, while the heart-rending cries of the mother are-
rending the air, while the children's eyes are bedimmed with tears, Pandit
Guru Datta is smiling, thinking not of the cares and anxieties of the world.

He is not of this world and so he does not regret leaving it. Rather he
is glad, for who does not rejoice to go back to his home. He has been
absent so long. He must hasten now. The day wore on, the pain be
came almost unbearable, but our hero did r.ot utter any complaint. The
shadows of the night began to fall. The anxiety of his friends is increasing

( 39 )

AY ill he l>e spared to us, they seem to question each other. Is onr flew
Pandit passing away. Yes, he is passing away and there is 110 power that now
can give him back to us. The midnight hour struck twelve. Now
life be-gan to fast ebb away. Pulse was felt every five minutes. Every
hope was lost now. Suddenly the Pandit turned round on his bed and
began to recite Vedic Mantras and then asked his friend Bhagat
Kemal Das to recite the Ishopnishad to him. Amidst the chanting ol the
mantras and the singing of Bhajans, time passed on.

One, two, three, four, five, six. It was morning again. The morning of
the 19th of March. It was the last day of Pandit Guru Datta's sojourn on
this earth. At 7 A.M. he breathed his last. He died almost in seconds.
With his death, a star of the first magnitude disappeared from the horizon
of the Arya Samaj, leaving an impenetrable gloom behind.

T he Arya Patrika had a long aud touching obituary notice under the
heading "Our Loss : "

" A man, an uncommon man, a man extraordinary, a true, deep and
profound Sanskrit scholar, — a true descendant of the ancient Rishis, — has
passed away. Pandit Guru Datta Vidyarthi, the pride and ornament of
the Arya Samaj, the pride and ornament of his country, the pride of
all who value truth and knowledge for their sake, is no more among us.
Yes, that noble soul is no more in the flesh. We miss him* all, young and
old, aye, we cannot yet believe the stern fact that he has left us. The
very magnitude and the uncommon chara cter of our loss helps to keep
up the impression that he is yet with us. Oh, when shall we see the like
of him again ! When shall we see again a man who is pervaded and
permeated to most remotest fibre of his soul with a desire to disseminate
the light of truth, — the eternal principles of the Vedic religion, — with a
desire to usher the world once more into the presence of the most High,
through His Word and through those who have known and understood His
Word ! Oh, Guru Datta Vidyarthi, thine loss at this hour is irreparable.
In thine own particular sphere thou leavest behind not one man who ean
take up and do the work that thou wouldst have done.

Thine, 0 young man, was soul truly noble, and thine short career
•was dazzlingly brilliant, though thou wert unconscious of it. And truly
and justly so, because thine aims were high and lofty, thou looked to
Gautama, Patanjli, Vyas, Yajnavalkya and Swami Dayananda as thy
models, and thou wast ever pleased in their company and in their guidance
of thee! So noble and so promising, and yet to be cut off so early ! What

hopes had We of thee, and what wouldst thou not have achieved in the
cause of truth, if it had pleased the Great Disposer of all things to let
thee live longer ! But His Will be done ! That thine soul is happier
infinitely by far now, that it is free from the bonds of flash, may be truei
but for all that we can not but wish that thou hadst lived lo&ger among us !
And yet we may not repine, for if it is thine to be born once more before
the soul reposes in the bosom of the Most High for years countless, thou
shalt surely come to us, with thine powers hundred-fold magnified to
advance the cause of truth !

Pandit Guru Datta Vidyarthi took leave of us on the morning of th«
19th instant at about half-past seven. He died of consumption, that terrible
disease, which is becoming so common in this country. But if the Pandit's
career as long as he was blessedwith strength environed by a halo of moral
grandeur and religious fervor, and was worth our study and imitation, its
closing scene was well becoming so noble a soul. During the entire period
of some six months, during which he was confined to his bed, he was ever
calm, serene and unmoved in the midst of his sufferings. Not all his tortures
could wring from his heroic soul the slightest expression of inward pain—
during the fiercest onslaught of the raging fever which had, as it were, be
come a part and parcel of his body, he was as dignified and resigned, as in
the hours and intervals of temporary relief. Yes, he knew how to suffer
like a true Aryan that he was. He knew how to be resigned to the Will of
his great Master and Maker, the more so as he had seen the riskily conduct
of Dayananda in his last moments, over \ihich he was wont to so rapturously
and reverentially dwell whenever he found an opportunity. Who would
not covet to be in death and suffering as thou wast, Guru Datta Vidyarthi I

The moment the noble soul had quitted the mortal coil, the sad news,
that our dear brother was gone to his Great Father, was known in every
quarter and street of the town, where an Aryan lived, and in a couple of
hours it had travelled like wild-fire all over the city. Notwithstanding that
it was not a Sunday, or any other holiday, some five or six hundred men
had gathered before the house of our departed brother before it vras nine,
all sad and gloomy — some dumbfounded aud lost in thought at the greatness
of the loss, some weeping the tears of bitterness in silence, while others,
talking on the accomplishments, many and great, of the noble young man.
Oh ! who could hear unmoved the heart-rending cries of his aged mother ? Of
all her BODS, Guru Datta Vidyarthi alone had beeu spared to her, and be *&•

•

) PS >,

her last child, the child that she had obtained in her declining y<

deoth of a mother's love is unfathomable, but her love for a child -she has

X\ '
obtained in her advanced years, especially when he is honored of the m

cd, is still deeper and diviner ! Oh ! mother — yes, thou art to us more than
that, thou, who gavest birth to a noble child like Guru Dutta Vidyarthi, —
thine has indeed been a loss whose value no one can realize and feel but a
bother ! But rest assured that thy son is not lost, he is happy in the
bosom of his Creator, or if it is for him to return to the world once again to
be entitled to his bliss interminable, he will be a veritable Rishi, who will be

the saviour of millions,

At about ten preparations began to be made for conveying the body to

the burning ground. A good many men in the gathering started the pro
posal that the deceased might be photographed in his death-slumber, urging
that a photograph taken at this time would be pregnant with an invaluable
lespon to all, 'as showing that all human greatness has an ending and that
God and His greatness alone are for ever and ever ! This proposal was ob
jected to on many important considerations. The proposers again urged that
the entire gathering, and the body, while wrapped in flame, might at least
be photographed. This, though not objected to, was declared as fruitlees, for
a photo of the deceased already existed, and those who were really anxious
to derive a lesson from the fate of the young man could do so by a contem
plation of the facts of his life. The procession started at. about half past
ten. The crowd had now swelled up to about seven hundred men. It passed
through the Shah Almi Bazar and kept increasing with its progress. The
shops on both sides of the Bazar were lined with men, who, while admiring
the appropriateness of the bhajans and Veda Mantra4? sung and recited by
the Samaj Ihajanmandli and the boys of the D. A. V. Boarding House
expressed sincere and genuine regret that so able a man, so great a Sanskrit
scholar, should have been cut off at the age of twenty-five! Flowers were
profusely rained on the bier from the house tops throughtout the Bazar
When after full two hours, after necessary halts, the bier emerged into the
open plain, the procession numbered at least one thousand men. It was far
past twelve, very nearly it was one, when the body was desposited in the
cremation-ground. After the Vedi had been prepared according to stated
rules and pyre made, the body was cremated in strict accordance with letter
of the law. The samagri— ghee and all burnt with the body— was worth
about sixty rupees. After the body had been fairly consumed, a short
prayer, suited te the occasion, wqs offered up by Lala Hans Raj, and then the
people left the burning-ground with the view to bathe and to return to
their homes."

THE

TERMINOLOGY

OF

THE VEDAS.

DEDICATED

TO

THE MEMORY

OF

THE ONLY VED1C SCHOLAR

OF HIS TIME,

SWAMI DAYANANDASARASWATI,

SINCERE AND DEVOTED

ADMIRER, THE AUTHOR,

LAHORE : }

GURU DATTA, VIDYARTH,
*8, J

1st June 1888

T1IK

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE YEDAS.

THE question of the origin, nature and eternity of Shabda — human
articulate and inspired speech — has been a very important question
in Sanskrit.literature. The highly philosophical character of this ques
tion cannot be doubted, but the peculiar characteristic, which attracts
the attention of every Sanskrit scholar, is the all-pervading nature of
the influence it exerts on other departments of human knowledge. It
is not only the NairuJdikas and the Vaiyakaranis, the grammarians,.
etymologists and philologists of ancient Sanskrit times, that take up
this question ; but even the acute and subtle philosopher — the last and
the best Sanskrit metaphysician — the disciple of the learned Yyasa — the
founder of one of the six schools of philosophy — the religious aphorist
Jaimini cannot isolate the treatment of his subject from the influence
of this question. He runs in the very beginning of hjs Mimansa (dis
sertation) into this question and assigns a very considerable
part (proportionately) of his treatise to the elucidation of this question.
It is not difficult for a reader of modern philology, well- versed in dis
cussions on onomatopoeian and other artificial theories of human speech,
to perceive the amount of wrangling which such questions give rise to.
We have mentioned the position assigned to this question in Sanskrit
literature not so much with a view to put an end to all this wrangling,
which, perhaps, is unavoidable, but with a view to take up, in a brief
way, another and a more practical question involved therein, i. e., the
question of the interpretaion of Vedic terminology.

|

Up to this time all the plans that have been adopted for the inter
pretation of Vedic terminology have been based on some pre-conceived
notions. The philosophy of the subject requires that these pre-conceiv
ed notions should be carefully examined, studied and pruned of the ex
traneous matter liable to introduce error, whereas new and more ra
tional methods should be sought after and interposed — methods such
as may throw further light upon the subject.

To examine, then, the various methods that have up to this time
been pursued. Briefly speaking, they are three in number, and may,
for want of better denomination, be called the Mythological, Anti
quarian and Contemporary methods,

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS,

Firstly, the Mythological method. This method interprets the
Vedas as myths, as an embodiment of simple natural truths in the im
aginative language of religious fiction, as a symbolic representation of
the actual in the ideal, as an imbedding of primitive truth in the super
incumbent strata of non-essential show and ceremony. Now, in so far
as this concretion of thought in mythological network goes, it assumes
a comparatively rude and simple stage of human life and experience.
From this basis of a primitive savage state it gradually evolves the
ideas of Grod and religion, which no sooner done than mythic period
ends. It further argues thus : — In the ruder stages of civilisation,
when laws of nature are little known and but very little understood,
analogy plays a most important part in the performance of intellectual
functions of man, The slightest semblance, or visage of semblance, is
enough to justify the exercise of analogy. The most palpable of the
forces of nature impress the human mind, in such a period of rude
beginnings of human experience, by motions mainly. The wind blow
ing, the fire burning, a stone falling, or a fruit dropping, affects the
senses essentially as moving. Now, throughout the range of conscious
exertion of muscular power, will precedes motion, and, since even the
most grotesque experience of a savage in this world assumes this know
ledge, it is no great stretch of intellectual power to argue that these na
tural forces also, to which the sensible motions are due, are endowed
with the faculty of will. The personification of the forces of nature be
ing thus effected, their deification soon follows. The overwhelming
potency, the unobstructible might, and often the violence, with which,
in the sight of a savage, the forces operate, strike him with terror, awe
and reverence. A sense of his own weakness, humility and inferiority
creeps over the savage mind, and, what was intellectually personified,
becomes emotionally deified. According to this view, the Yedas, un
doubtedly books of primitive times, consist of prayers from such an
emotional character addressed to the forces of nature including wind
and rain — prayers breathing passions of the savage for vengeance or
for propitiation — or, in moments of poetic exaltation, hymns simply
portraying the simple phenomena of nature in the personified language
of mythology.

Whilst deductive psychology affords these data, right or wrong as
they may be, comparative philology and comparative mythology con
siderably support these views. A comparison of the mythologies of
various countries shows that the working of human intellect is analo
gous, that this process of mythification is not only everywhere univer
sal, but coincident. The Scandinavian, Greek and Indian mythologies
have no clear line of demarcation, save the accidental one of differen
tiation due to climatic effects. Comparative philology not only admits
the universality and coincidence of these phenomena, but traces even
phonetic identity in the linguistic garb with which these phenomena
are clothed.

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE V1DAS,

The evidence from these three sources— comparative philology,
deductive psychology and compdmtive mythology— is indeed very great;
and we have stated the nature of this method and the evidence upon
which its validity depends at much greater length than the short space
at our disposal could allow us, so that, for fairness' sake at least, the
value and merits of this method may not be under-rated.

The results of comparative philology and comparative mythology
need not be denied. They are the starting-points in our discussion, the
assumed axioms in the present subject. The caucus belli, the debatable
land lies beyond them, in fact, below them. They are the facts — recog
nized matters of truth. How are they to be explained? And like ex
planations of all other things, here too, there may be alternative expla
nations, rival hypotheses, parallel theories to confront the same facts
and phenomena. That mythologies of various countries are similar,
may be explained as much on the hypothesis that laws of psychological
development are everywhere the same, as on the hypothesis that they
are all derived from a common parental system of mythology or reli
gion. Phonetic similarities, apart from their doubtful and frequently
whimsical character, may analogously be traced to the operation of
analogous organs and phonetic laws, or to a common parent language
from which ail the others are derived. Nor can these methods have
any further claims to settle the dispute between these rival theories.
As methods, they can only discover mythic or phonetic similarities or
affinities, but cannot explain them. Even if we leave. out of considera
tion the alternative character of the conclusions arrived at, the explana
tions possess, considered from the standpoint of inductive validity, a
very low specific value. We seek the explanation not from a fact al
ready known to exist — we only inferentially assume a fact to have ex
isted, whilst we are at the same time assuming the validity of our
inference. The assumed fact, from which the desired explanation is
sought, is not inferred from any independent evidence, but is itself a
link in the self-returning series of concatenated facts. Further, the
growth of mythology is deductively inferred from some psychological
data. It might as easily have been inferred as a degenerate, crippled,
and then stitched and glossed remnant of a purer and truer religion.
An author has well spoken of the degeneracy of things including doc-
trines pre-eminently, if left alone. Nor is this fact in any way an
obscure one to the student of the history of church dogmas and opinions.
Who does not know of religious practices primarily designed to meet
certain real wants, degenerating, after a lapse of time on the cessation
of those wants, into mere ceremonies and customs which are regarded,
not as accidents, but as essentials? Mythologies, as well as mythic
practices, then, may arise either as products of human imagination
working under subdued int'ellect and petrified reason, or, as an out
growth of a distorted remnant of a purer and truer form of religion.

There is not one hypothesis in connection with this subject that
not a counter-hypothesis, not one theory whose claims are not met

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEI)1S.

with by a rival theory. Independently of the vague character of these
hypotheses — the philological and mythological ones — the uncertainty
of the conclusions deduced from them cannot be lost sight of. Like
the conclusions arrived at by Mr. Pocock in his ' India in Greece/
wherein he traces the origin of all Greek geographical names to Sans
krit Indian names, and whereby he infers the colonization of Greece
by the Indians, the conclusions arrived at according to the aforesaid
hypothesis constitute one full chain of circular reasonings continually
returning into themselves. Admitting the cognate relation that exists
between the Greek and Sanskrit languages it must follow that Greek
names of localities must bear a remote and far-fetched,, as contrasted
with a direct and palpable, identity to Indian names of localities. The
colonization of Greece by the Indians is not the just conclusion to be
drawn from the specific topographical relations, which Mr. Pocock has
traced, independently of the common origin of Greek and Sanskrit
languages. The identity of Greek and Sanskrit stock is a genera]
formula which cannot be any further proved by such specific con
nections. The fact of the identity of several systems of mythologies
and languages also leads to a distinct general proposition — the uni
formity of human nature. Beyond the value of this general proposi
tion, the specific mythological and philological facts have no indepen
dent value. Their value is subsumed in the general proposition.
These particular propositions; when right, cannot add to the value of
the general proposition which they go to form, but, when wrong, they
can materially vitiate the truth of the general proposition. A conclu
sion based upon the legitimacy of a general order of nature, or a
universal law, can derive no real independent logical strength from the
enumeration of particular instances of such order or law, all similar in
kind. All the remarks that have been made above may in one sense be
considered to bear upon the question of comparative mythology in gene
ral, as having no distinct individualized influence on the terminology
of the Vedas. There is one other point, however, which comes directly
into contact with the mythological theory as concerned with the termi
nology of the Vedas. Mythology, as already remarked, is the sym-
bolization of human thought in the concrete. The contrast, therefore,
of mythology with the abstract is the widest and the most thorough
going.

Philosophy, as analysed by Herbert Spencer, has for its object the
elucidation of ultimate truths or laws. These truths, in so far as ulti
mate, must be the most general. The wider the group of individual
facts that a law covers, or the greater the distance of the ultimate law
from the minute sub-laws covering a very limited and primary area, the
more abstract and the less concrete does its expression become. Philo
sophy and mythology, therefore, stand contrasted — completely contrast
ed to one another in this respect. Philosophy is abstract, expressed in
general terms and ultimate formula; mythology is concrete, expressed
in gross material terms representing primary objects and phases of

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

objects. Nothing, therefore, is so completely subversive of the value of
the mythological method as the existence of philosophy and philoso
phic ideas in the Vedas. That the Vedas are books of philosophy and
not of mythology must not be admitted merely because a well-known
professor and scholar of Sanskrit acknowledges that the germ of hu-
• man thought and reason lies in the Vedas, whereas, according to him,
its culmination lies in the philosophy of Kant, but on other and more
trustworthy bases and authorities. The growth of philosophy in
Sanskrit literature is earlier than the growth of mythology. The
Upanishads and the Darshanas, which are professedly books of philo
sophy and confessedly nearer to the Vedas, chronologically preceded,
and not followed, the Puranas, the embodiment of mythological litera
ture of India. It was philosophy that was evolved from the Vedas,
and not mythology. In the history of Indian literature, at least, it
is not mythology that gives birth to philosophy, but philosophy that
precedes mythology. How far mythology may rise as an out-growth
and a distorted remnant of a purer and truer form of religion or
philosophy, might perhaps now have been rendered more evident.
Now the six schools of philosophy are, all of them, based on the Vedas,
and support themselves by direct quotations from the Vedas. Not only,
then, has philosophy been evolved from the Vedas, but substantially
drawn out and evolved or developed subsequently. There is one,
and only one objection that can be raised against the above
views. It is that the different portions of the Vedas belong to
different epochs, for, whilst some portions are mythological, others
are decidedly philosophical. We would not here say what is
already well-known, that, however it may be, not one line of the
Vedas is later than the Darshanas or the Upanishads, not to speak
of the Puranas. Howsoever greatly wide apart may be the
epochs assigned to the various portions of the Vedas, no stretch
of artificial reasoning can make them coincide with the Puranic
period. Independently of these considerations, which are important
however, the very assignment of different epochs to the Vedas proves
the insufficiency and partial character of the mythological system.
The truth of the mythological system lies in the isolations of the
portions of the Vedas. It is not the Vedas as a whole that furnish
an illustration of this method, but in part. But what reason have we
to isolate these portions or to split up the homogeneous mass into
two ? Simply this, that they belong to two distinct epochs. Now
the assertion that the portions belong to two distinct epochs, is itself
grounded upon the insufficiency of the mythological method. If
they could interpret the whole of the Vedas by the one mythological
method, there could be no need of separating them. This they
could not, and therefore the isolation. The justification of the
partial character of the" mythological method depending upon the
correctness of the assignment of the various epochs, such assign
ment has no authority save the insufficiency of the mythological
method. Thus, then, is the partial character of the mythological

6 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDA3.

method unconsciously regarded as self-sufficient. The first method,
then, out of the three enumerated in the beginning of this subject,
considered independently, proves insufficient ; considered in conjunc
tion with philology, fares no better ; and lastly, fails in contrast with
the philosophic character of the Vedas. We will now consider the
second method.

One of the most successful methods of unravelling ancient
literary records is the antiquarian or the historical method. It
consists in approximating, in so far as possible for the interpretation
and explanation of the records in hand, to the books and general
literature of the period to which it belongs. For the obvious reason
that direct evidence is always to be preferred to second-hand infor
mation, this method is next in value to none, but to the direct evi
dence of the senses. Now, in so far as in historical research, where
the study of the past epoch is concerned, one has inevitably to fall
for information on the literature and historical record of the period
with which he is concerned; an examination of the conditions, which
render such evidence valid and a labour on it no unfruitful task, is
essential to establish the canons of historical research. The veracity
of our knowledge of past events depends upon two factors on this
method ; firstly, on the faithfulness of the records we obtain of the
event or events of the period; and secondly, on the faithfulness of
our interpretation of the records. We would forego an analysis of
the first factor as,, this factor is amenable, for the estimation of its
evidence, to laws which do not come within the compass of our
subject. The interpretation of the records is what directly concerns
us.

The excellence of the historical or the antiquarian method lies in
the fact that it renders our interpretation of past records less liable to
error. And the reason may be thus explained. Language, like all
other things that live or are of organised growth, is subject to con
stant variations, to variations, depending partly on the laws of
development of phonetic organs, partly on external circumstances of
fusion and introduction of foreign languages, and partly on the laws
of the evolution of human thought itself. Owing to this and many
other causes, all living languages are daily undergoing changes,
which accumulate and appear after a sufficiently long interval to
have created very different, though cognate, languages. Any thing,
thought or philosophic system that is invested with linguistic garb,
therefore, requires for its correct interpretation that the laws which
govern those linguistic variations and the variations of the sense of
words should be carefully studied. Otherwise, our interpretation
would suffer for misconception and anachronism. To take a concrete
example, let us consider the case of the Roman Republic. In the
time of the Roman Republic, when public press was unknown, new*

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

unheard of, locomotive engines undreamt, and other means that
engender or facilitate the communication of indelible impression
of human thought or reason, unthought of, and when Forum was the
only place of resort for all audience, and oratory had a totally
different meaning from that of modern times, the Senate signified a
different institution from what it now is ; Republic or democracy of
the people — the people then existing — was what would be to us some
thing like oligarchy, though very different from it in many essential
features. Now a reader studying the literature of the period corres
ponding to the Roman Republic would find his information of the
period incommensurate with facts, if, on account of his being unguided
in his studies, the words Democracy, Republic, and the like, were to
call forth before his mind what they now signify. Such a knowledge
would be inconsistent with itself, a medley of two epochs, and would
be such as, on critical examination, would be termed sheer nonsense.

Thirdly, the Conternporariaii method. The applications of
this method in the domain of history are, beyond doubt, various
and mo-t important. But not the less important are its applica
tions in the fixing of the dates, or the succession of periods, of the
Puranas, the Darshanas, the Upanishads, Manu, the Ramayana,
the Mahabharata, and so on. Various professors have fruitlessly
tried to fix dates of these writings by searching in them, in most
cases in vain, for any well-established consistent historical facts.
But far more important in the fixing of these dates is the knowledge
of historical evolution of Sanskrit literature. The Sanskrit of
the Puranas is so different from the Sanskrit of the Mahabharata,
and that of the Darshanas, which again is so different from that of
the Upanishads, that a clear line of demarcation in each case is easily
laid down. The one cannot be confounded with the other.

It is a matter of great surprise and Avoiider that in the case of
the Vedas the method, whose merits are so evident and obvious, and
which is so well recognised in the domain of history, should not have
been applied, or, so loosely and carelessly applied as to render modern
interpretations of the Vedas by some very well-known professors of
Sanskrit simply unintelligible and absurd.

In the case of the Vedas the learned professors of Sanskrit, whose
versions of the Vedas are so extant, have all derived their inspira
tions from the commentaries on the Vedas by Mahidhara, Ravana
and Sayana, writers of a period decidedly very much later than that
of the Vedas, and only well coinciding with our own time. These
writers themselves were as much ignorant of the terminology of the
Vedas, as we are. Their interpretations of Vedic terms, according
to their meanings extant in their own times, were as wrong as
would be those of words like democracy in our studies concerning
ancient Rome. Mahidhara and Sayana fare in no way better than
ourselves. It seems astonishing that in adopting the interpretation of
the Vedas by Sayana and Ravana, our modern professors of Sanskrit

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE

should have forgotten the invaluable maxim that the nearer we
approximate to the literature of the period to which the Vedas belong
for their interpretation, the greater would be our chances of the in
terpretation being more probable and more correct. According to
the date assigned by these professors to the Vedas, their interpre
tation of the Vedas would be based on the literature of a period so
heterogeneous to the time and spirit of the Yedas as to give rise t.o-
nothing but confusion and error.

To the view of any impartial reader, who has studied the investi
gations of Goldstucker on this point, the whole fabric of dates crum
bles to dust, and the whole system of modern recognized chronology
is easily upset. According to the best [and they are, as a matter of
fact, the worst] authorities on the subject, no writings of date anterior
to five or six thousand years before Christ seem to have existed. The
whole world seems to have been circumscribed within 8,000 years. The
whole region of the intellectual activity of man seems to have been
focussed in the 6,000 years before Christ.

Irrespective of these views let us come directly to the subject of
the Vedas. The Shatapatha and the Nirukta are confessedly books of
much anterior date to the commentaries of Sayana, Havana and Mahi-
dhara. We should rather resort to them and the Upanishads than to
the times of Puranas, of Havana and of Mahidhara, for the interpre
tation of the Vedas,

The Upanishads inculcate monotheism. Where, in the Upanishada
or the Shatapatha, do Indra, Mitra, and Varuna signify the deities
and not the Deity ? The Nirukta even lays down explicit rules on
the terminology of the Vedas which are, as yet, quite unheeded by the
modern professors.

The Niruktakara, in the very beginning of his book, forcibly in
culcates that the terms used in the Vedas are Yaugika (possessing"
derived meaning) as contrasted with Rurhis (terms having conven
tional, arbitrary or concrete meaning). We will, on some future
occasion, quote at full length from the Nirukta, and render a better
exposition of this doctrine. Here, however, we have simply said what
the main assertion of the Nirukta is. This assertion is supported by
the Mahabhashya and other older books on the subject, including
Sangraha.

If the main line pursued in discussing the question of the Termi
nology of the Vedas be correct, the conclusion we have arrived at
leads to the following inquiry ; —

What is the opinion of ancient Vedic scholars on the subject? Are
the authors of the Nirukta, the Nighantu, the Mahabhashya, and the
Sangraha, and other old commentators, at one with the modern com
mentators, i ",, Ravana, Sayana, Mahidhara and others, who have, of

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS

late, followed the same line ; or, are they at variance with the modern
writers ? That, if they differ, reliance must be placed upon old com
mentators, the preceding remarks would have made clear. Let us
then examine the views of ancient writers on this subject.

Speaking broadly, then, three classes of words are used in the
.Sanskrit language; the yaagika, the rarhi and the yoga-rurhi words.
A yaagika word is one that has a derivative meaning, that is, one
that only signifies the meaning of its root together with the modi
fications effected by the affixes. In fact, the structural elements, out
of which the word is compounded, afford the whole and the only clue
to the true signification of the word. These being known, no other
element is needed to complete its sense. Speaking in the language
of modern logic, the word is all connotation, and by virtue of its
connotation determines also its denotation. A r&rki word is the
name of a definite concrete object, or answers to a definite concrete
technical sense, not by virtue of any of its connotations but by virtue
merely of an arbitrary principle. In the case of a yaugi/ca word, we
arrive at the name of an object by what may be called the process of
generalisation. We see, taste, touch, smell, and operate upon the
object by the multifarious means man possesses of investigating pro
perties of sensible objects ; we compare the sensible impressions it
yields with sensible impressions already retained in our minds and
constituting our past knowledge ; we detect similarities between the
two, and thus get a general or a generic conception. To this generic
conception we give an appropriate name by synthetically arriving
at it from a root, a primitive idea or ideas. The word, therefore, thus
ultimately formed, embodies the whole history of the intellectual
activity of man. In the case of a rurhi word, the process is far
different. We do not generalise. Nor is, therefore, any synthesis
required there. We only roughly discriminate one object or class of
objects from other objects, and arbitrarily place a phonetic postmark,
as it were, upon it. An individual, to roughly discriminate him from
others, is arbitrarily called John, another, Jones ; so an object is
arbitrarily denominated Khatva, another Mala, and so on. Here,
we only discriminatively specify the object we are naming, without
coming into general contact with it.

A third class of words, yoga-rurhi, is one in which two words
are synthetically combined into a compound, denoting a third object
by virtue of the combination of these two words. Such words express
any relation, or interaction of phenomena. The Kamala stands, for
instance, in the relation of the born to mud, the bearer ; hence Icamala
is denominated as pankaja, ($anka, the mud, and ja signifying to
bear).

Now the author of the Mahabhashya maintains that fcthe Vedic
terminology is all yaugika..

10 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

" Nartia cha dhatujamah Nirukte Vyakarane Shakatasya chot,
tokam. " Naigama rurhi bhavam hi susadhu." — Mahabhash ya,
Chap, iii., Sect, iii., Aph. L

Which means : —

Etymologically speaking, there are three classes of words, the
yaugika, the rurhi and the yoga-rurhi. But the authors of the
Niruktas, Yaska and others ; and Shakatayana, among the gram
marians, believe all the words to be derived from dhdtus, that is,
believe them to be yaugikas and yoga-rurhis, and Pdnini and others
believe them to be rurhis also. But all the Rishis and Munis,
ancient authors and commentators, without exception, regard Vedic
terms to be yaugikas and yoga-rurhis only ; and the laukika terms
to be rurhis also.

The above is a clear and definite statement of the Mahabhashya
to the effect that the Vedic terms are* all yaugikas. It is not diffi
cult to prove by numerous and long quotations from Nirukta, Sang-
raha and other older writings, that all of them agree as to the
nature of the Vedic terms.

Without going, then, into the details of this subject, it may
be assumed that the Vedic writers of older epochs do not agree with
those of modern times.

It is a strange thing to find our modern professors of Sanskrit,
well- versed philologists, and professed antiquarians so forcibly assert
ing the value of the " Antiquarian Method/' and yet blundering at
the very outset of this momentous question.

After the remarks we have made, it is not suprising to find
that our modern scholars should think of finding mythological data
in the Vedas, or, of having come across the facts of ruder bronze age,
or golden age, in that " book of barbaric hymns."

THE

TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

»

AND

EUROPEAN SCHOLARS.

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS'

AND

European Scholars,

With us, the question of the terminology of the Vedas is of
highest importance, for, upon its decision will depend the verdict to
be passed by the future world respecting the great controversy to
rage between the East and the West concerning the supremacy of
the Vedic Philosophy. And even now, the determination of this
question involves issues of great value. For, if the Vedic philosophy
be true, the interpretations of the Vedas, as given at present by Pro
fessor Max Miiller and other European scholars, must not only be
regarded as imperfect, defective and incomplete, but as altogether
false. Nay, in the light of true reason and sound scholarship, we
are forced to admit their entire ignorance of the very rudiments of
Vedic language and philosophy. We are not alone in the opinion we
hold. Says Schopenhauer—

" I add to this the impression which the translations of Sanskrit
works by European scholars, with very few exceptions, produce on
my mind. I cannot resist a certain supspicion that our Sanskrit
scholars do not understand their text much better than the higher
class of school boys their Greek or Latin."

It will be well to note here the opinion of Swami Dayananda
Saraswati, the most profound scholar of Sanskrit of his age, on the
subject. He says : — " The impression that the Germans are the
best Sanskrit scholars, and that no one has read so much of Sanskrit,
as Professor Max Miiller, is altogether unfounded. Yes, in a land
where lofty trees never grow, even ricinu* rom munis or the castor-
oil plant may be called an oak. The study of Sanskrit being alto
gether out of question in Europe, the Germans and Professor Max
Miiller may there have come to be regarded as highest authori
ties. .......

I came to learn from a letter of a principal of some German Uni
versity, that even men learned enough to interpret a Sanskrit letter

* A paper of this name was submitted to the public by the writer early in 1888
but it was necessarily brief and incomplete. It has now been thought advisable to
give to the same thoughts and principles a new garb, more suited to the requirements
of the reading public of the present day, to amplify the same truths by interesting
illustrations, and to supplement them by others that are necessary to complete tho
treatment of the subject.

14 TBE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS A JO) EtROPEAN

are rare in G-ermany. I have also learnt from the study of Max
Miiller's ' History of Sanskrit Literature ' and his comments on some
mantras of the Veda, that Professor Max Muller has been able only
to scribble out something by the help of the so-called tikas, or para
phrases of the Vedas, current in India."*

It is this want of Vedic scholarship among European scholars,
this utter ignorance of Vedic language and philosophy that is the
cause of so such misimpression and prejudice even in our own
country. We are, indeed, so often authoritatively told by our
fellow-brethren who have received the highest English education
but are themselves entirely ignorant of Sanskrit, that the Vedas are
books that teach idol- worship or element worship, they contain no
philosophical, moral or scientific truths of any great consequence,
unless they be the commonest truisms of the kitchen, It is, therefore,
a matter of greatest concern to learn to attach proper value to the
interpretations of these European scholars. We propose, therefore,
to present a rough outline of those general principles according to
which Vedic terms should be interpreted, but which European scho
lars entirely ignore ; and hence much of the misinterpretation that
has grown up.

In the discussion of philosophical subjects, pre-conceived notions
are the worst enemies to encounter. They not only prejudicially bias
the mind, but also take away that truthfulness and honest integrity
from the soul, which alone are compatible with the righteous pursuit
and discernment of TRUTH. In the treatment of a question, such
as the estimation of the value of a system of philosophy or religion,
extreme sobriety and impartiality of the mind are required. Nor is
it to be supposed that a religious or philosophical system can be at
once mastered by a mere acquaintance with grammar and language.
It is necessary that the mind should, by an adequate previous dis
cipline, be raised to an exalted mental condition, before the recondite
and invisible truths of Man and Nature can be comprehended by man.
So is it with Vedic philosophy. One must be a complete master of the
science of morals, the science of poetry, and the sciences of geology
and astronomy f ; he must be well- versed in the philosophy of dharnta,
the philosophy of characteristics, the doctrines of logic or the science
of evidence, the philosophy of essential existences, the philosophy of
yoga, and the philosophy of vedanta J ; he must be a master of all these
and much more before he can lay claims to a rational interpretation
of the Vedas.

* Sattyarth Prakasha, 3rd Edition, page 278.

t These are the well-known six Vedangas :— 1. Shiksha, 2. Vyakarana, 3. Nirukta,
4. Kalpa. 5. Chhanda, and 6. Jyotisha.

t These are the well-known, six Upangas or Darshanas :— 1. Piirva Mimansa*
2. Vaisheshika, 3. Nyaya, 4. Sankhya, 5. Yoga, and 6. Vedanta.

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS. 15

Such, then, should be our Vedic scholars — thorough adepts in
science and philosophy, unprejudiced and impartial judges and seekers
after truth. But if impartiality be supplanted by prejudice, science
and philosophy by quasi-knowledge and superstition, and integrity
by motive, whereas predetermination takes the place of honest inquiry,
truth is either disguised or altogether suppressed.

Speaking of the religion of the Upanishads and the Bible, says
Schopenhauer, who has 'washed himself clean of all early-engrafted
Jewish superstitions, and of all philosophy that cringes before these
euperstitions': —

" In India, our religion (Bible) will now and never strike root ;
the primitive wisdom of the human race will never be pushed aside
by the events of Galilee. On the contrary, Indian wisdom will flow
back upon Europe, and produce a thorough change in our knowing
and thinking."

Let us now see what Professor Max Miiller has to say against
the remarks of this unprejudiced, impartial philosopher. He says : —

" Here again, the great philosopher seems to me to have allowed
himself to be carried away too far by his enthusiasm for the less known.
He is blind to the dark Bide of the Upanishat ; and he wilfully shuts
his eyes against the bright rays of eternal truths in the Gospel, which
even Ram Mohan Roy was quick enough to perceive, behind the mist
and clouds of tradition that gather so quickly round the sunrise of
every religion."

With the view that the Christianity of Max Miiller may be set
forth more clearly before the reader, we quote the following from the
" History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature", p. 31, 32 : —

" But if India has no place in the political history of the world,
it certainly has a right to claim its place in the intellectual history of
mankind. The less the Indian nation has taken part in the political
struggless of the world and expended its energies in the exploits of
war and the formation of empire, the more it has fitted itself and
concentrated all its powers for the fulfilment of the important mission
reserved to it in the history of the Bast. History seems to teach that
the whole human race required a gradual education, before in the
fulness of time, it could be admitted to the truths of Christianity. All
the fallacies of human reason had to be exhausted, before the light
of a higher truth could meet with ready acceptance. The ancient
religions of the world were but the milk of nature, which was in due
time to be succeeded by the bread of life. After the primeval
physiolatry which was common to all members of the Aryan family,
had, in the hands of a wily priesthood, been changed into an empty
idolatry, the Indians alone, of all the Aryan nations, produced a new

16 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS

form of religion, which has well been called subjective, as opposed to
the more objective worship of Nature. That religion, the religion of
Buddha, has spread far beyond the limits of the Aryan world, and, to
our limited vision, it may seem to have retarded the advent of
Christianity among a large portion of the human race. But, in the
sight ot Him with whom a thousand years are but as one day, that
religion, like all the ancient religions of the world, may have but
served to prepare the way of Christ by helping through its very errors,
to strengthen and to deepen the ineradicable yearning of the human
heart after the truths of God."

Is not this Christian prejudice? Nor is this with Max Miiller
alone. Even more strongly does this remark hold good of Monier
Williams, whose very object in writing the book known as "Indian
Wisdom" is to caricature the Vedic religion, which he calls by the
name of " Brahmanism," and to hoiai up Christianity by the meritorious
process of deliberate contrasts. Writes Monier Williams: —

(f It is one of the aims, then, of the following pages to indicate
the points of contrast between Christianty and the three chief false
religions of the world, as they are thus represented in India,"
(Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom, Introduction, p. XXXVI,

Speaking of Christianity and its claims ' as supernaturally com
municated by the common Father of mankind for the good of all
His creatures/ he says : —

" Christianity asserts that it effects its aim through nothing
short of an entire change of the whole man, and a complete renovation
of his nature. The means by which this renovation is effected
may be described as a kind of mutual transfer or substitution, leadr
ing to a reciprocal interchange and co-operation between God and
man's nature acting upon each other. Man — the Bible affirms— was
created in the image of God, but his nature became corrupt through
a taint, derived from the fall of the first representative man and
parent of the human race, which taint could only be removed by a
vicarious death."

" Hence, the second representative man — Christ — whose nature
was divine and taintless, voluntarily underwent a sinner's death,
that the taint of the old corrupted nature transferred to him might
die also. But this is not all. The great central truth of our religion
lies not so much in the fact of Christ's death as in the fact of His
continued life. (Rom. viii. 34), The first fact is that He of Hig
own free-will died ; but the second and more important fact is that
He rose again and lives eternally, that He may bestow life for death
and a participation in His own divine nature in place of the taint
He has removed."

AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS 17

" This, then, is the reciprocal exchange which marks Christianity
and distinguishes it from all other religions— an exchange between
the personal man descended from a corrupt parent, and the per
sonal God-made man and becoming our second parent. We are
separated from a rotten root, and are grafted into a living one. We
part with the corrupt will, depraved moral sense, and perverted
judgment inherited from the first Adam, and draw re-creative force
— renovated wills, fresh springs of wisdom, righteousness, and
knowledge — from the ever-living divine stem of the second Adam,
to which, by a simple act of faith, we are united. In this manner
is the grand object of Christianity effected. Other religions have
their doctrines and precepts of morality, which, if carefully detached
from much that is bad and worthless, may even vie with those of
Chirstianity. -But Christianity has, besides all these, what other
religions have not — a personal God, ever living to supply the free grace
or regenerating spirit by which human nature is re-created and again
made God-like, and through which man, becoming once again ' pure in
heart/ and still preserving his own will, self-consciousness and per
sonality, is fitted to have access to God the Father, and dwell in His
presence for ever." (Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom, Introduction
P. XL— XLL)

Again, speaking of " Brahmanism," he says : — .

" 3. As to Brahmanism, we must in fairness allow that, according
to its more fully developed system, the aim of union with God is held
to be effected by faith in an apparently personal God, as well as
by works and by knowledge. And here some of the lines of Brah-
manical thought seem to intersect those of Christianity. But the
apparent personality of the various Hindu gods melts away, on closer
scrutiny, into a vague spiritual essence. It is true that God becomes
man and interposes for the good of men, causing a seeming combina
tion of the human and divine — and an apparent interchange of action
and even loving sympathy between the Creator and His creatures. But
can there be any real interaction or co-operation between divine and
human personalities when all personal manifestations of the Supreme
Being — gods as well as men — ultimately merge in the Oneness of the
Infinite, and nothing remains permanently distinct from Him ? It
must be admitted that most remarkable language is used of Krishna
(Vishnu), a supposed form of the Supreme, as the source of all life
and energy (see pp. 144 — 148 and see also pp. 456, 457) ; but, if
identified with the One God, he can only, according to the Hindu
theory, be the source of life in the sense of giving out life to re^
absorb it into himself. If, on the other hand, he is held to be only
an incarnation or manifestation of the Supreme Being in human form,
then, by a cardinal dogma of Brahmanism, so far from being a
channel of life, his own life must be derived from a higher source
into which it must finally be merged, while his claim to divinity

18 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAB

can only be due to his possessing less of individuality, as distinct
from God, than inferior creatures." (Monier Williams' Indian Wis
dom, Introduction, P. XLIY— XLV.)

And lastly, in conclusion, he says : —

<e It is refreshing to turn from such unsatisfying systems, how
ever interspersed with wise and even sublime sentiments, to th«
living energizing Christianity of European nations, however lament
ably fallen from its true standard, or however disgraced by the
inconsistencies and shortcomings of nominal adherents — possessors
of its name and form without its power."

" In conclusion, let me note one other point which of itself stamps
our religion as the only system adapted to the requirements of the
whole human race — the only message of salvation intended by God
to be gradually pressed upon the acceptance of all His intelligent
creatures." (Monier Williams' Indian Wisdom, Introduction, p. XLV.)

It is clear, then, that Professor Monier Williams is labouring
under hard Christian prejudices, and cannot be viewed in any way
as an unprejudiced, impartial student of the Vedas. No wonder, then,
if modern sophisticated philology, propped by the entire ignorance of
the laws of interpretations of Vedic terms, and fed by the prejudices of
Christian superstitions, should raise its head against Vedlc philosophy,
and gain audience among European Christian nations or deluded
educatad natives of India who possess the high merit of being innocent
of any knowledge of Sanskrit language or literature.

But now to the subject. The first canon for the interpretation
of Vedic terms, which is laid down by Yaska, the outhor of Nirukta,
is that the Vedic terms are all yaugika* The fourth section of
the first chapter of Nirukta opens with a discussion of this very
subject, in which Yaska, Gargya, Shakatayana and all other Gram
marians and Etymologists unanimously maintain that Vedic terms are
all yaugika. But Yaska and Shakatayana also maintain that rurhi-f
terms are also yaugika inasmuch as they were originally framed from
the roots : whereas Gargya maintains that only the rurhi terms are
not yaugika. The section concludes with a refutation of the opinion
of Gargya, establishing it as true that all terms, whether Vedic

* A yaugika term is one that has a derivative meaning, that is, one that only
signifies the meaning of its root together with the modifications effected by the affixes.
In fact, the structural elements, out of which the word is compounded, afford the
whole and the only clue to the true signification of the word. The word is purely
connotative.

t A rurhi term is the name of a definite concrete object, where the connotation
of the word (as structurally determined) gives no clue to the object denotad by the
word, Hence, it means a word of arbitrary significance.

AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS 19

or rurhi, are yaugika. It is on this authority of Nirukta that
Patanjali expresses, in his Mahabhashya, the same opinion, and dis
tinguishes the Vedic terms from rurhi terms by the designation of

naigvma. Says Patanjali,— ''5^ ^Tl^TJUW f^f^W c^n^T^ ST^iZTO
?<Tta?*T/' and a line before this, — ?f^ ^f%V[4 f% ^T^H* " Chap. Ill-
Sect, iii. Aph. T.

The sense of all this is, that all the Rishis and Munis, ancient
authors and commentators without exception, regard all Vedic terms
to be yaugika, whereas some laukika terms are regarded by some as
rarhi also.

This principle, the European scholars have entirely ignored; and
hence have flooded their interpretations of the Vedas with forged or
borrowed tales of mythology, with stories and anecdotes of historic
or pre-historic personages. Thus, according to Dr. Muir/the following
historical personages are mentioned in the Rig Veda, viz.— the Rishis
Kanvas, in 1. 47. 2 ; Gotamas, in i. 71. 16.; Gritsamadas, in ii. 39. 8;
Bhrigavas, in iv. 16. 23; and Vrihaduktha, in x. 54. 6. But what is the
truth ! The words Kanva and Gritsa only signify learned men in gene
ral (see Nighantu iii. 13) ; the word Bhrigavah only signifies men of
intellect (see Nighantu, v. 5). The word Gotama signifies one who
praises; and Vrihaduktha is simply one whose ukthas, or knowledge of
natural properties of objects, is vrihat or complete. It is clear, then,
that if this principle is once ignored, one is easily landed into anecdotes
of historical or pre-historic personages. The same might be said of
Max Muller discovering the story of Shunah-shepa in the Rig Veda.

Shepa, which means " contact/' (Nirukta iii, 2. —

being suffixed to sj^; °r 5[^«T, which means knowledge,

^ra^Tt ^fefiWH: raT?T ), means one who has come into
contact with knowledge, i. e., a learned person. It shall appear, in
the progress of this article, how mantra after mantra is misinterpret
ed by simply falsifying this law of Nir

To an unprejudiced mind, the correctness of this law will never
be doubtful. For, independently of the authority of Nirukta, the
very antiquity of the Vedas is a clear proof of its words being yaugika.
And even Professor Max Muller, in his mythological moods, is com
pelled to confess, at least concerning certain portions of the Vedas,
that their words are yaugika. Says he : —

" But there is a charm in these primitive strains discoverable in
no other class of poetry. Every word retains something of its radical
meaning ; every epithet tells ; every thought, in spite of the most

Muir's Sanskrit Texts, Vol. Ill, pp. 232-234,

20 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS

intricate and abrupt expressions, is, if we once disentangle it, true,
correct, and complete." (Max Muller's History of Ancient Sanskrit
Literature, Page 553.)

Further again, says Max Miiller : —

"Names. . . are to be found in the Yedas, as it were, in a still fluid
state. They never appear as appellatives, nor yet as proper names; they
are organic, not yet broken or smoothed down." (Ibid p. 755.)

Can there be any thing clearer than this? The terms occurring in
the Vedas are yaugi/ca, because " they never appear as appellatives,
nor yet as proper names," and because "every word retains something
of its radical meaning." It is strange to find that the self-same Max
Muller, who has perceived the yaugika character of words in some
mantras of the Vedas, should deny the same characteristic in other
portions of the Vedas. Having said that words are yaugika in these
"primitive strains " the Vedas, he proceeds to say: —

" But this is not the case with all the poems of the Vedas. It would
be tedious to translate many specimens of what I consider the poetry
of the secondary age, the Mantra period. These songs are generally
intended for sacrificial purposes, they are loaded with technicalities,
their imagery is sometimes more brilliant, but always less perspicuous,
and many thoughts and expressions are clearly borrowed from earlier
hymns." (Ibid, p. 558.)

This he calls the Mantra period. The "primitive strains" belong to
what is called the Chhandas period. He describes the characteristics
of the Chhandas period, as distinguished from the Mantra period that
has been above described, thus : "There is no very deep wisdom
in their teaching, their laws are simple, their poetry shows no very
high flights of fancy, and their religion might be told in a few
words. But whatever there is of their language, poetry and religion,
has a charm which no other period of Indian literature possesses ;
it is spontaneous, original and truthful." (Ibid, p. 526.)

Professor Max Muller quotes Big Veda, VII. 77, as a specimen
hymn of the Chhandas period. Says he: —

" This hymn, addressed to Dawn, is a fair specimen of the original
simple poetry of the Veda. It has no reference to any special sacrifice,
it contains no technical expressions, it can hardly be called a hymn,
in our sense of the word. It is simply a poem, expressing without
any effort, without any display of far-fetched thought or brilliant
imagery, the feelings of a man who has watched the approach of the
dawn with mingled delight and awe, and who was moved to give
utterance to what he felt in measured language." (Ibid, p. 552.)

From these quotation it will be clear that Professor Max Muller
regards different portions of the Vedas belonging to different periods.
There are some earlier portions, (according -to Max Muller's highly
accurate calculations, the very exactness and infallibility of which Gold-

AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS. 21

stucker bears ample testimony to) which he calls as belonging to tho
Ckkandas period. The word Ckkandas, in lauki/ca Sanskrit, means
spontaneity. Hence he regards Chhandas period to be the one the
hymns of which period only teach common things, are free from the
flight of fancy and are the spontaneous utterances of a simple (foolish)
mind. The Mantra period (2,900 years older) is full of technicalities
and descriptions of elaborate ceremonies. Now we ask what proof has
Max Muller given to show that the different portions of the Vedas
belong to different periods. His proofs are only two. Firstly, the ill-
conceived, confused idea of the difference between Ckkandas and
Mantra-, and secondly, the different phases of thought represented by
the two portions.

We will consider each of these reasons in detail.
Says Yaska —

II ft^ooi^ll It means that there is no
difference in the meaning of mantra and Chhandas. The
Veda is called the Mantra, as through it one learns the true
knowledge of all existences. The Veda is also called the Chhandas
as it removes all ignorance, and brings one under the protection of
true knowledge and happiness. Or, more explicitly still, we read in

8hatapatka,VIIL29

"The mantras are called Chhandas, or a' knowledge of
all human conduct is bound up with them. It is through them that we
learn all righteous conduct." The yaugika sense of the words will also
lead to the same conclusion. Mantra may be derived from the root
man, to think, or matri, to reveal the secret knowledge. Panini thus
derives the word chhandas : ^F^H^*^?: * Chhandas is derived from

the root chadi to delight or illumine. Ckhandas is that, the know
ledge of which produces all delight, or which illumines every thing,
i.e., reveals its true nature.

The second reason of Max Muller, for assigning different periods
to different portions of the Vedas, is that there are two different
phases of thought discoverable in the Vedas. The one is the truth
ful and simple phase of thought which corresponds to his chhandas
period. The other is the elaborate and technical phase of thought
that corresponds to his mantra period. But what proof has Max
Muller to show that the hymns of his secondary period are full of
elaborate and technical thought ? Evidently this, that he interprets
them thus. If his interpretations were proved to be wrong, his dis
tinction of the two periods- will also fall to the ground. Now, why
does he interpret the hymns of the mantra period thus ? Evidently

* LJuadi Kosha, iv. 219,

22 THE TERMINOLOGY Of1 THE VEDAS,

because, on the authority of Sayana and Mahidhara, he takes the
words of those hymns to signify technicalities, sacrifices, and arti-*
ficial objects and ceremonies, or, in other words, he takes these
words not in their yaugika, but in their rurhi sense. It is clear;,
then, that if Max Miiller had kept in view the canon of interpreta
tion given in Nirukta, that all Vedic words are yaugilca, he would
not have fallen into the f allacious anachronism of assigning different
periods to different parts of the Vedas.

But there is another prejudice which is cherished by many
scholars evidently under the impression of its being a well-recog
nised scientific doctrine. It is, that in the ruder stages of civiliza
tion, when laws of nature are little known and but very little under
stood, when mankind has not enough of the experience of the world,
strict methods of correct reasoning are very seldom observed. On
the other hand, analogy plays a most important part in the per
formance of intellectual functions of man. The slightest semblance
or visage of semblance is enough to justify the exercise of analogy.
The most palpable of the forces of nature impress the human mind in
such a period of rude beginnings of human experience, by motions main
ly . The wind blowing, the fire burning, a stone falling, or a fruit dropp
ing, affects the senses essentially as moving. Now, throughout the range
of conscious exertion of muscular power, will precedes motion, and
since even the most grotesque experience of a savage in this world
assumes this knowledge, it is no great stretch of intellectual power
to argue that these natural forces also, to which the sensible mo^
tions are due, are endowed with the faculty of will. The personifica
tion of the forces of nature being thus effected, their deification
soon follows. The overwhelming potency, the unobstructible might,
and often the violence, with which, in the sight of a savage, these
forces operate, strike him with terror, awe and reverence. A sense
of his own weakness, humility and inferiority creeps over the
savage mind, and, what was intellectually personified, becomes emo-*
tionally deified. According to this view, the Vedas, undoubtedly
books of primitive times, consist of prayers from such an emotional
character addressed to the forces of nature including wind and rain —
prayers breathing passions of the savage for vengeance or for pro
pitiation, or, in moments of poetic exaltation, hymns simply port
raying the simple phenomena of nature in the personified language
of mythclogy.

It iff therefore, more agreeable for these scholars to believe that
the Vedas, no doubt books of primitive times, are records of the
mythological lore of the ancient Aryans.

And since, even according to the confessions of Max Muller,
higher truths ot philosophy and monotheism are to be found here and
there in the Vedas, it has become difficult to reconcile the my
thological interpretations of the main part of the Vedas with tho
philosophical portions. Says Max Muller ; —

A\D EUROPEAN SCHOLARS 23

" I add only one more hymn [Rig. x, 121 ] in which the idea of one
God is expressed with such power and decision that it will make us
hesitate before we deny to the Aryan nations an instinctive monothe
ism." (Max Mullens History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 568).

It is, therefore, argued by some that the mythological portions
are earlier than philosophical ones ; for, the primitive faith, as al
ready indicated, is always mythology,

The fundamental error of this supposition lies in regarding a
contingent conclusion as a necessary one ; for, although mythology
may be the result of barbarous intellect and analogical reasoning, it
is not necessarily always so. It may even grow up as a degenerate,
deformed and petrified remnant of a purer and truer religion. The
history of religious practices, primarily designed to meet certain real
wants, degenerating, after a lapse of time, on the cessation of those
wants, into.mere ceremonies and customs, is an ample testimony of
the truth of the above remarks. Had the European scholars never
come across the mythological commentaries of Sayana and Mahi-
cihara, or the puranic literature of post-Vedic (nay anti-Vedic) period,
it would have been impossible for them, from the mere grounds of
comparative mythology or Sanskrit philology, to alight on such inr
terpretations of the Yedas as are at present current among them,
May it not be, that the whole mythological fabric of the puranas,
later as they are, was raised long after the vitality of true Yedic
philosophy had departed from their words in the sight of the ignorant
pedants? Indeed, when one considers that the Upanishads inculcate
tliat philosophical monotheism, the parallel of which does not exist
in the world — a monotheism that can only be conceived after a full
conviction in the uniformity of nature, — and that they, together
with the philosophical darshanas, all preceded the puranas ; when
one considers all this, he can hardly resist the conclusion that, at
least in India, mythology rose as a rotten remnant of the old philo
sophical living religion of the Yedas. When, through the ignorance
of men, the yaugika meanings of the Yedic words were forgotten,
and proper names interpreted instead, there grew up a morbid my
thology, the curse of modern idolatrous India. That mythology may
thus arise on account of the decay of the primitive meaning of old
words, even Professor Max Miiller admits, when speaking of tKo
degeneration of truth into mythology by a process, he styles 'dialec
tic growth and decay, or dialectic life of religion. He says : —

" It is well known that ancient languages are particularly rich
in synonyms, or, to speak more correctly, that in them the same
object is called by many names — is, in fact, polynymous. While in
modern languages most objects have one name only, we find in
ancient Sanskrit, in ancient. Greek and Arabic, a large choice of
words for the same object. This is perfectly natural. Each name
could express one side only of whatever had to be named, and not
satisfied with one partial name, the early framers of language pro-

42 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

duced one name after the other, and after a time retained those
which seemed most useful for special purposes. Thus the sky-
might be called not only the brilliant, but the dark, the covering,
the thundering, the rain-giving. This is the polynomy in langu
age, and it is what we are accustomed to call polytheism in religion,
(pp. 276, 277, Max Muller's History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature.)
Even, in the face of these facts, European scholars are so
very reluctant to leave their pre-conceived notions that, as an ex
ample of the same influence, Fredrick Pincott writes to me from
England :

" You are right in saying that the commentators, now so much
admired, had very little, if any, better means of knowledge on Vedic
Terminology than we have at present. And you are certainly
right in treating the Puranas as very modern productions ; but you
are wrong in deducing India's mythological notions from such recent
works. The Big Veda itself, undented ly the oldest book which
India possesses, abounds in mythological matter."

Does " you are certainly right," and " you are wrong " amount
to any proof of the Vedas abounding in mythology ? But further he
says : —

" After the great shock which the spread of Buddhism gave
to the old Indian form of faith, the Brahmans began to make their
faith seriously philosophical in the Darshanas. Of course, many
bold philosophical speculations are found in the Upanishads, and
even in the Sanfiitas • but it was at the time of the Darshanas that
the religion was placed on a really philosophical basis."

Nothing shows so great a disrespect towards the history of an
other nation as the above. One is, indeed, wonder-struck at the way
in which European scholars mistrust Indian chronology, and force
their hypothetical guess-work and conjecture before the world as a
sound historical statement of facts. Who, that has impartially studied
the Darshana literature, does not know that the darshanas existed
centuries before even the first word of Buddhism was uttered in
India? Jaimini, Vyasa and Patanjali had gone by, Gautama,
Kanada and Kapila were buried in the folds of oblivion when Budd
hism sprang up in the darkness of ignorance. Even the great
Shankara, who waged a manly war against Buddhism or Jainism,
preached nearly 2,200 years ago. Now this Shankara is a com
mentator on Vyasa Sutras, and was preceded by Gaudapada and
other Acharyas in his work. Genarations upon generations had passed
away after the time of Vyasa when Shankara was born. Further,
there is no event so certain in Indian History as Mahabharata,
which took place about 4,900 years ago. The darshanas, therefore,
existed at least 4,900 years ago. There 'is a strong objection against
the admission of these facts by European scholars, and that ob
jection is the Bible. For, if these dates be true, what will be

AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS 25

come of the account of creation as given in the Bible ? It seems,
besides, that European scholars, on the whole, are unfit to com
prehend that there could be any disinterested literature in the past.
It is easier for them to comprehend that political or religious revo
lutions or controversies should give rise to new literature through
necessity. Hence the explanation of Mr. Pincott : —

" The old Brahmans were superstitious, dogmatic believers in
the revelation of the Vedas. When Buddhism spread like wild fire,
they thought of shielding their religion by mighty arguments and
hence produced the darshana literature."

This assumption so charmingly connects heterogenous events
together that, although historically false, it is worth being believed in
for the sake of its ingenious explanatory power.

To return to the subject. Yaska lays down a canon for the
interpretation of Vedic terms. It is that the Vedic terms are
yaugika. Mahabhashya repeats the same. We have seen how this
law is set aside and ignored by the European scholars in the inter
pretations of the Vedas, whence have arisen serious mistakes in their
translations of the Vedas. We have also seen how Dr. Muir, falling
in the same mistake, interprets general terms as proper nouns ; and
how Max Muller also, led by the same error, wrongly divides the
Vedas into two parts, the Chhandas and Mantras. We have also
seen how, due to the ignorance of the same law, Mantras upon
Mantras have been interpreted as mythological in meaning, whereaa
some few Mantras could only be interpreted philosophically, thus
giving rise to the question of reconciling philosophy with mythology.
To further illustrate the importance of the proposition, that all Vedio
terms are yaugika, I herewith subjoin the true translation of the
4th Mantra of the 50th Sukta of Rig Veda with my comments
thereon, and the translation of the same by Monier Williams for
comparison. Surya, as a yaugika word, means both the sun and the
Divinity. Monier Williams take^ it to represent the sun only. Other
terms will become explicit in the course of exposition. The Mantra
runs as follows : —

i nRwir T^r n

The subject is the gorgeous wonders of the solar and the electric
worlds. A grand problem is here propounded in this Mantra. Who
is there that is not struck with the multiplicity of objects and
appearances ? Who that has not lost thought itself in contemplation
of the infinite varieties that inhabit even our own planet ? Even
the varieties of plant life have not yet been counted. The num
ber of animal and plant species together with the vast number of
mineral compounds may truly be called infinite. But why confine
ourselves to this earth alone. Who has counted the host of heavens
and the infinity of stars; the innumerable number of worlds yet

26 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS

made and still remaining to be made ? What mortal eye can mea
sure and scan the depths of space ? Light travels at the rate of
18,0000 miles per second. There are stars from which rays of
light have started on their journey ever since the day of creation,
hundreds of millions of years ago, the rays have sped on
and on with the unearthly velocity of 180,000 miles per second
through space, and have only now penetrated into the atmosphere of
our earth. Imagine the infinite depth of space with which we are on
all sides surrounded. Are we not struck with variety and
diversity in every direction ? Is not differentiation the
universal formula? Whence have these manifold and different
objects of the universe proceeded? How is it that the same
Universal-Father- Spirit, permeating in all and acting on all, produced
these heterogenous items of the universe ? Where lies the cause of
difference ? A difference so striking and at once so beautiful !
How can the same God acting upon the universe produce an earth
here and a sun there, a planet here and a satellite there, an
ocean here and a dry land there, nay, a Swami here and an idiot
there ? The answer to this question is impressed in the very solar
constitution. Scientific philosophers assure us that colour is not
an intrinsic property of matter as popular belief would have it.
But it is an accident of matter. A red object appears red, not
because it is essentially so, but because of an extraneous cause.
Red and violet would appear equally black when placed in the dark.
It is the magic of sunbeams which imparts to them this special in
fluence, this chromatic beauty, this congenial coloration. In a
lonely forest, mid gloom and wilderness, a weary traveller, who
had betaken himself to the alluring shadow of a pompous tree, lay
down to rest and there sank in deep slumber. He awoke and
found himself enveloped in gloom and dismal darkness on all sides.
No earthly object was visible on either side. A thick black firma
ment on high, so beclouded as to inspire with the conviction that
the sun had never shone there, a heavy gloom on the right, a
gloom on the left, a gloom before and a gloom behind. Thus labour
ed the traveller under the ghastly, frightful windspell of frozen
darkness. Immediately the heat-carrying rays of the sun struck
upon the massive cloud, and, as if by a magic touch, the frozen gloom
began to melt, a heavy shower of rain fell down. It cleared the-
atmosphere of suspended dust particles ; and, in a twinkling of the
eye, fled the moisture-laden sheet of darkness, resigning its realm to
awakened vision entire. The traveller turned his eyes in ecstatic won
der from one direction to the other, and beheld a dirty gutter flowing
there, a crystalline pond reposing here, a green grass meadow more
beautiful than velvet plain on one side, and a cluster of variegated fra
grant flowers on the other. The feathery creation with peacock's
train, and deer with slender legs, and chirping birds with plumage
lent from Heaven, all, in fact all, darted into vision. Was there
naught before the sun had shone ? Had verdant forests, rich with
luxuriant vegetation, and filled with the music of birds, all grown in a

AND fiUROPEAN SCfiOLAttfl 27

moment ? Where lay the crystalline waters ? Where the blue
canopy, where the fragrant flower ? Had they been transports)
there by some magical power in a twinkling of the eye from dark
dim distant region of chaos ? No ! they did not spring up in a
moment. They were already there. But the sunbeams had not shed
their lusture on them. It required the magic of the lustrous sun to
shine, before scenes of exquisite beauty could dart into vision. It
required the luminous rays of the resplendent orb to shed their
influence, before the eyes could roll in the beautiful, charming,
harmonious, reposeful and refreshing scenes of fragrant green.
Yes, thus, even thus, is this sublimely attractive Universe,

ffa»f ft*of, illuminated by a sun *nrsnVTTf%, the Sun that
knows no setting, the Sun that caused our planets and the solar orb
to appear s'sftfassi^, the Sun that evolves the panorama of
this grand creation, f^sccT^sfrT, the eternal Sun ever existing

through eternjty in perpetual action for the good of all. He sheda
the rays of His Wisdom all around ; the deeply thirsty, parching and
blast dried atoms of matter drink, to satiation, from the ever-flowing,
ever-gushing, ever-illuminating rays of Divine wisdom, their appro
priate elements and essences of phenomenal existence and panoramic
display. Thus is this Universe sustained. One central Sun produc
ing infinity of colours. One central Divinity, producing infinity of
worlds and objects. Compare with this Monier Williams' trans
lation : —

:t With speed beyond the ken of mortals, thou, 0 sun,

Dost ever travel on, conspicuous to all.

Thou dost create the light, and with it illume

The entire universe."

We have shown why we regard Ckkandas and Mantra as synonymous,
Wo have also seen how Max Muller distinguishes between Ckhandas
and Mantra, regarding the latter as belonging to the secondary age,
as loaded with technicalities, and as being less perspicuous than
the former. He points out its chief character to be that " these
songs are generally intended for sacrificial purposes." Concerning
this Mantra period, he says, " One specimen may suffice, a hymn
describing the sacrifice of the horse with the full detail of a super
stitious ceremonial. (Rig Ye da, i. 162)."

We shall, therefore, quote the 162nd Sukta of Rig Veda, as it
is the specimen hymn of Mux Muller, with his translation, and
show how, due to a defective knowledge of Vedic literature and to
the rejection of the principle that Vedic terms are all yaugilta, Pro
fessor Max Muller translates a purely scientific hymn, distinguish
able in no characteristics from the chhandas of the Vedas, as re
presentative of an artificial and cumbersome and highly superstitious
ritual or ceremonial,

28 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

To our thinking, Max Muller's interpetation is so very incongruous'
unintelligible and superficial, that were the interpretation even re
garded as possible, it could never be conceived as the description of
an actual ceremonial. And now to the hymn. The first mantra runs
thus : —

fa* ^* WWnif^S' ^W^T TROT tjf?^Z««T I

ft^i €UsTfa[ II * II

Max Muller translates it, " May Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Ayu,

Indra, the Lord the Ribhus, and the Maruts not rebuke us, because

we shall proclaim at the sacrifice the virtues of the swift horse sprung

from the gods." (Max Muller's History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,

•p. 553.)

That the above interpretation may be regarded as real or as true,
let Professor Max Muller prove that Aryans of the Vedic times enter
tained the superstition that at least one swift horse had sprung from
the gods^ also that the gods Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Ayu, Indra, the
Lord of 'Ribhus, and the Maruts did not like to hear the virtues of
the swift horse proclaimed at the sacrifice, for, if otherwise they would
have no reason to rebuke the poet. Not one of these positions it is
ever possible to entertain with validity. Even the most diseased con
ception of a savage shrinks from such a superstition as the " swift
horse sprung from the gods." It is also in vain to refer for the veri
fication of this position to the ashwamedha of the so-called Puranas.
The whole truth is that this mythology of ashwamedha arose in the
same way in which originates Max Muller's translation. It originates
from an ignorance of the dialectic laws of the Vedas, when words
having a yaugika sense are taken for proper nouns, and an imaginary
mythology started.

To take, for instance, the mantra quoted above. Max Muller is evi
dently under the impression that Mitra is the 'god of the day/ Varuna
is the 'god of the investing sky/ Aryama the 'god of death/ Ayu the
'god of the wind/ Indra the 'god of the watery atmosphere/ Ribhus the
1 celestial artists/ and Maruts are the 'storm-gods/ But why these gods.
Because he ignores the yaugika sense of these words and takes them as
proper nouns. Literally speaking, mitra means a friend; varuna, a
man of noble qualities ; aryama, a judge or an administrator of justice;
ayu, a learned man ; indra, a governor ; ribhuksha, a wise man ;
marutdhs, those who practically observe the laws of seasons. The word
ashwa, which occurs in the mantra, does not mean horse only, but it
also means the group of three forces — heat, electricity and magnetism.
It, in fact, means anything that can carry soon through a distance.
Hence writes Swami Dayananda in tke beginning of this Sukta : —
(Rv. Bhashyam Vol : 11. p. 533.)

n

AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS 29

"This Sukta is an exposition of asTiica ridya which means the
science of training horses and the science of heat which pervades
everywhere in the shape of electricity."

That 'ashwa' means heat will be clear from the following quota
tions : —

^TSCcf cfc^T ^K^=fW f^UT ^rfcT ^fa: II Rig Veda.

The words ashwam agnim show that ashiva means agni or Heat
And further :— (Rv. i. 27, I.)

which means : "Agni, the ashwa, carries, like an animal of conveyance,
the learned who thus recognize its distance-carrying properties." Or,
further :— (Shatapatha Br. 1. iii. 3. 29-30)

The above quotations are deemed sufficient to show both the mean
ings of ashwa as above indicated.

Professor Max Miiller translates the "devajata" of the mantra as
"sprung from the gods." This is again wrong, for he again takes
dew i in its popular (laukiki) sense, god ; whereas devajata means "with
brilliant qualities manifested, or evoked to work by learned men, "
the word deva meaning both brilliant qualities and learned men. Again,
Max Muller translates "virya" merely into virtues, instead of "power-
generating virtues." The true meaning of the mantra, therefore, is : _

" We will describe the power-generating virtues of the energetic
horses endowed with brilliant properties, or the virtues of the vigorous
force of heat which learned or scientific men can evoke 'to work for
purposes of appliances (not sacrifice). Let not philanthropists, noble
men, judges, learned men, rulers,wise men and practical mechanics
ever disregard these properties."

With this compare Max Muller's translation : —

"May Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman, Ayu, Indra, the Lord of Ribhus,
and the Maruts not rebuke us, because we shall proclaim at the sacri
fice the virtues of the swift horse sprung from the gods."

We come now to the second mantra which runs thus : —

II ^ n

Max Muller translates it thus : —

"When they load before the horse, which is decked with pure gold
ornaments, the offering, firmly grasped, I lie spotted goat bloats while
walking onwards ; it goes the path beloved by Iiidra and Pushaii."

Here a.gain there is no sense in the passage. The bleating of the
joat has no connection with the leading of the offering before the horse

30 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS

nor any with its walking onward. Nor is the path of Indra and Pushan
in any way denned. In fact, it is very clear that there is no definite
specific relation between the first mantra and this, according-io Miiller's
translation, unless a far-fetched connection be forced by the imagina
tion bent to discover or invent some curious, inconceivable mythology.
And now to the application of the principle that all Yedic terms are
yaugika. Max Muller translates reknasas into ' gold ornaments', whereas
it only means ' wealth (see Nighantu, ii. 10). Rati, which signifies the
mere act of 'giving/ is converted into an ' offering;' vishvarupa which
only means ' one having an idea of all forms' is converted into ' spott.ed';
aja, which means ' a man once born in wisdom, being never born again'
is converted into a ' goat ;' memyai, from root mi to injure, is given to
mean ' bleating ;' suprang, which means, from root prachh to question,
' one who is able enough to put questions elegantly,' is translated
as ' walking onward' ; pathah, which only means drink or food, is trans
lated into 'path ' ; and, lastly, the words indra and pushan, instead of
meaning the governing people and the strong, are again made to signify
two deities with their proper names ' Indra ' and l Pushan.' Concerning
the word patha, writes Yaska, vi. 7: —

II

Mukhato nayanti, which means, 'they bring out of the organ of
speech', or 'they explain or preach,' is translated by Max Muller into
' they lead before.'

It is thus clear that, in the one mantra alone, there are nine words
that have been wrongly translated by Max Muller, and all is due to
this that the yaugika sense of the words has been ignored, the rurhi
or the laukika sense being everywhere forced in the translation. The
translation of the mantra, according to the sense of the words we
have given, will be :

" They who preach that only wealth earned by righteous means
should be appropriated and spent, and those born in wisdom, who
are well-versed in questioning others elegantly, in the science of
forms and in correcting the unwise, these and such alone drink the
potion of strength and of power to govern."

The connection of this mantra with the foregoing is that the
ashwa vidya, spoken of in the first mantra, should be practised only
by those who are possessed of righteous means, are wise, and havo
the capacity to govern and control.

We come now to the 3rd mantra of 162nd Sukta.

n ^ n

Max Muller translates it thus ;— y

AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS

31

" This goat, destined for all the gods, is led first with the quick
, horse, as Pushan's share ; for Tvashtri himself raises to glory this
pleasant offering which is brought with the horse."

Here, again, we find the same artificial stretch of imagination
which is the characteristic of this translation. How can the goat be
destined for all gods/ and at the same time be ' Pushan's share '
alone ? Here Max Miiller gives a reason for the goat being led first
as Pushan's share; the reason is that ( Tvashtri himself raises to
glory this pleasant offering.' Now, who is this Tvashtri, and how is
he- related to Pushan ? How does Tvashtri himself raise to glory this
pleasant offering ? All these are questions left to be answered by
the blank imagination of the reader. Such a translation can only do
one service. It is that of making fools of the Vedic rishis whom
Max Miiller supposes to be the authors of the Vedas.

The word vishwadevyas, which Max Miiller translates as ' destined
for all the gods/ can never grammatically mean so. The utmost that
one can make for Max Miiller on this word is that vishwadevyas
should mean ' for all the devas,' but ' destined ' is a pure addition
unwarranted tby grammar. Vishwadevya is formed from vishwadeva
by the addition of the suffix yat in the sense of tatra sadhu. (See
Ashtadhyayi, IV. 4, 98) . The meaning is : —

or vishwadevyas is whatsoever is par excellence fit to produce useful
properties. We have spoken of Max Miiller translating pushan, which
means strength, into a proper noun. Tvashtri, which simply means
one who befits things, or a skilful hand, is again converted into a
proper noun. Purodasha, which means food? well-cooked, is transla
ted into ' offering.' The words ' which is brought with ' are, of course
Max Miiller's addition to put sense into what would otherwise be
without any sense. Arvat which, no doubt, sometimes means a
horse, here means ( knowledge/ For, if horse were intended, some
adjective of significance would have so changed the meaning. Saush-
ravasaya Jinvati, which means " obtains for purpose of a good food/'
Shravas (in Vedic Sanskrit, meaning food or anna,) is translated by
Max Miiller into ' raises to glory.' The true meaning would be : _

'' The goat possessed of useful properties yields milk as a streng
thening food for horses. The best cereal is useful when made into
pleasant food well-prepared by an apt cook according to the modes
dictated by specific knowledge of the properties of foods."

We have criticised Max Miiller's translation of
mantras of the sukta in detail, to show how he

every case the error consisting in taking the rurhi meaning instead of
the yaugika one of the word. It will not be difficult to pass from
mantra to mantra till the hymn is finished, and show that the true
origin of all errors lies in not recognising the yaugika sense of Vedic
terms. But we deem the above three mantras as sufficient. We

the first three
errs at every step in

32 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS

however, subjoin herewith Max Miiller's translation of the remaining!
mantras of this hymn, with our occasional remarks in the foot-notes. I

Max Miiller's translation : —

4. " When thrice at the proper seasons, men lead around the
sacrificial horse which goes to the gods, Pushan's share comes first,
the goat, which announces the sacrifice* to the gods.

5. Hotri, Adhvaryu, Avaya (Pratiprasthatri), Agnimindha'
(Agni dhra), Gravagrabha (Gravastut), and the wise Sanstri (Pras-'
astri), may you fill the streams (round the altar) with a sacrifice
which is well-prepared and well-accomplished.t

6. They who cut the sacrificial post, and they who carry it,
they who make the ring for the post of the horse, and even they
who bring together what is cooked for the horse, may their work
be with us.

7. He came on — (my prayer has been well performed), the
bright backed horse goes to the region of the gods. Wise poets
celebrate him, and we have won a good friend for the love of the
gods.

8. The halter of the swift one, the heel-ropes of the horse, the
head-ropes, the girths, the bridle, and even the grass that has been
put into his mouth may all these which belong to thee be with
the gods.

9. What the fly eats of the flesh, what adheres to the stick, or
to the axe, or to the hands of the immolator and his nails, may all
these which belong to thee be with the gods. J

10. The ordure that runs from the belly, and the smaller
particles of raw flesh, may the immolators well prepare all this, and
dress the sacrifice till it is well-cooked. §

* The word yajna which originally indicates any action requiring association of
men or objects, and productive of beneficial results, is always translated by European
scholars as ' sacrifice.' The notion of sacrifice is a purely Christian notion, and has no
place in Vedic philosophy. It is foreign to the genuine religion of India. Heuce
all translations in which the word ' sacrifice' occurs are to be rejected as fallacious.

f Max M tiller herein puts five words as proper nouns, and thus does not accept
their yauyika sense. The words ' round the altar' are supplied by Miiller's imagination
on the ground that sacrifices are conducted at the altar. Both ideas are foreign to
Vedic philosophy.

£ Here Max M tiller does not understand the structure of the sentence. The
original words are ashvasya krarisho which he takes to mean ' the flesh of the horse,'
but kravisho is an adjective qualifying ashvasya, the whole really means, ' of the pacing
horse.' Kravisho does not mean ' of the flesh ' but ' pacing ' from the root kram, to
pace. The meaning would be. " What the fly eats of whatever dirty adheres to the
horse," &c. Again the words s>carau and swadhitlu are translated into stick and axe
which is never their meaning.

§ Amasya kravisho, which means ' raw food yet undigested and disposed to come
out ' is similarly translated by Mtiller into ' raw flesh ' here. Ama is the state of the
undigested food in the belly. Here again, Miiller does not follow the structure of the

AMD EUROPEAN SCHOLARS, 33

11. The juice that flows from thy roasted limbs on the spit after
tlmu hast been killed, may it not run on the earth or the grass; may
it be given^to the gods who desire it.*

12. They who examine the horse when it is roasted, they who
say " it smells well, take it away," they who serve the distribution of
the meat, may their work also be with us.f

13. The ladle of the pot where the meat is cooked, and the
vessels for sprinkling the juice, the vessels to keep off the heat, the
covers of-the vessels, the skewers, and the knives, they adorn tho
horse.

14. Where he walks, where he sits, where he stirs, the foot-
fastening of the horse, what he drinks, and what food he eats, may
all these which belong to thee, be with the god !

15. May not the fire with smoky smell make thee hiss, may not
the glowing cauldron swell and burst. The gods accept the horse if
it is offered to them in due form.

16. The cover which they stretch over the horse, and the golden
ornaments, the ^head-ropes of the horse, and the foot-ropes, all these
which are dear" to the gods, they offer to them.

17. If some one strike these with the heel or the whip that thou
mayst lie down, and thou art snorting with all thy might, then I
purify all this with my prayer, as with a spoon of clarified butter at
the sacrifice.

18. The axe approaches the 34 ribs of the quick horse, beloved,
of the gods. Do you wisely keep the limbs whole, find out each -joint
and strike. J

19. One strikes the brilliant horse, two hold it, thus, is the cus
tom. Those of thy limbs which I have seasonably prepared, I sacri
fice in the fire as balls offered to the gods.§

20. May not thy dear soul burn thee while thou art coming near,
may the axe not stick to thy body. May no greedy and unskilful
immolator, missing with the sword, throw thy mangled limbs together.

Ayain pachyamauad, which means 'forced by the heat of anger,' is translated
Jv Muller as « roasted,' and hatasya, which means ' propelled,' is here translated by
Muller as " killed."

t Tho translation of this mantra is especially noteworthy. The word wajinam
•om waja, cereals, is here taken as meaning « horse,' and Professor Max Muller is BO
xious to bring forth the sense of the sacrifice of the horse that, not content with
Ins, he interprets mansa bhiksham iip«*t<', which means ' he serves the absence, of meat
into « serves the meat.' Can there be anything more questionable ?

t The number of ribs mentioned by Muller is worth being counted and verified
Vankri which means ' a zigzag motion '" is here translated as ' rib.' This requires proof!
§ Twashtu ra*hva*ya is here translated as ' brilliant horse, ' as if tvthra were the

pun and tvaahta its qualifying ad jectfve. The reverse is tho truth. Twaxfha is the noun
ignifying electricity, and ashua is the qualifying adjective signifying all-pervading. Tho

rds, "offered to the gods, " in the end of the

ullcr, to give the whole a mythological colorin

34 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

21. Indeed thou diest not thus, thou sufferest not ; thou goest to ]
the gods on easy paths. The two horses of Indra, the two deer of the
Maruts have been yoked, and the horse come to the shaft of the ass (of

the aswins)**

22. May this horse give us cattle and horses, men, progeny and
all-sustaining wealth. May Aditi keep us from sin, may the horse of
this sacrifice give us strength ! " — pp* 553 — 554.

We leave now Max Miiller and his interpretations, and* come to
another commentator of the Yedas, Sayana. Sayana may truly be
called the father of European Vedic scholarship. Sayana is the author
from whose voluminous commentaries the Europeans have drunk in
the deep wells of mythology. It is upon the interpretation of Madhava
Sayana that the translations of Wilson, Benf ey and Langlois are based.
It is Sayana whose commentaries are appealed to in all doubtful cases*
" If a dwarf on the shoulders of a giant can see further than the giant,
he is no less a dwarf in comparison with the giant." If modern exegetes
and lexicographers standing at the top of Sayana, i.e., with their main
knowledge of the Yedas borrowed from Sayana should now exclaim,
" Sayana intimates only that sense of the Vedas which was current in
India some centuries ago, but comparative philology gives us that
meaning which the poets themselves gave to their songs and phrases ";
or, if they should exclaim that they have the great advantage of put
ting together ten or twenty passages for examining the sense of a word
which occurs in them, which Sayana had not : nothing is to be wondered
at. Madhava Sayana, the voluminous commentator of all the Vedas.
of the most important Brahmanas and a Kalpa work, the renowned Mi-
mansist, — he, the great grammarian, who wrote the learned commentary
on Sanskrit radicals : yes, he is still a model of learning and a
colossal giant of memory, in comparison to our modern philologists and
scholars. Let modern scholars, therefore, always bear in mind, that
Sayana is the life of their scholarship, their comparative philology, and
their so much boasted interpretation of the Vedas. And if Sayana was
himself diseased — whatsoever the value of the efforts of modern
scholars — their comparative philology, their new interpretations, and
their so-called marvellous achievements cannot but be diseased. Doubt
not that the vitality of modern comparative philology and Vedic
scholarship is wholly derived from the diseased and defective victuals
of Sayana' s learning. Sooner or later, the disease will develop its
final symptoms and sap the foundation of the very vitality it seemed
to produce. No branch of a tree can live or flourish when separated
from the living stock. No interpretations of the Vedas will, in the
end, ever succeed unless they are in accord with the living sense of
the Vedas in the Nirukta and the Brahmanas.

* Hari is again as a rurhi word translated into " two horses of Indra " andprishati
into "two deer of maruts." The ' shaft of the ass ' is, perhaps, the greatest curiosity
Max Muller could present as a sign of mythology.

AND EUROPEAN SCHOLARS. 35

I quote here a mantra from Rigveda, and will show how Sayana's
interpretation radically differs from the exposition of Nirukta. The
mantra is £rom Rigveda, ix. 96. It runs thus : —

\

Says Sayana : —

" God himself appears as Brahma among the gods, Indra, Agni,
&c: He appears as a poet among the dramatists and writers of lyrics;
He appears as Vashishtha, &c. among the Brahmanas ; He appears aa
a buffalo among quadrupeds ; He appears as an eagle among birds ;
He appears as an axe in the forest ; He appears as the soma-juice
purified by mantras excelling in its power of purification the sacred
waters of the Ganges, &c., &c."

The translation bears the stamp of the time when it was produced.
It is the effort of a Pandit to establish his name by appealing to

superstition had so far increased that the waters of the Ganges were
regarded as sacred ; incarnations were believed in ; the worship of
Brahma, Vasishtha and other rishis was at its acme. It was probably
the age of the dramatists and poets. Sayana was himself a resident of
gome city or town. He was not a villager. He was familiar with the
axe as an instrument of the destruction of forests, &c., but not with
the lightning or fire as a similar but more powerful agent. His
translation does not mirror the sense of the Vedas but that of his own
age. His interpretation of brahma, kavi, devd, rishi, vipra, mahisha,
mriga, shyena, gridhra, vana, soma, pavitra — of all these words, without
one exception, is purely rurhi or laukika.

Now follows the exposition of Yaska in his Nirukta, xiv. 13.
There is not a single word that is not taken in its yangika sense.
Says Yaska : —

ftmnrf

^Tr^T

THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE

We will now speak of the spiritual sense of the mantra as Yaska
gives it. It is his object to explaic that the human spirit is the
central conscious being that enjoys all experience. " The external
world as revealed by the senses finds its purpose and object, and,
therefore, absorption, in this central being. The indriyas or the
senses are called the devas, because they have their play in the ex- !
ternal phenomenal world, and because it is by them that the external :
world is revealed to us. Hence Atma, the human spirit, is the brahma
devanam, the conscious entity that presents to its consciousness all
that the senses reveal. Similarly, the senses are called the kavayas,
because one learns by their means. The Atma, then, ispadavi kavinam
or the true sentient being that understands the working of the senses.
Further, the Atma is rishir vipranam, the cognizor of sensations ;
vipra meaning the senses as the feelings excited by them pervade the
whole body. The senses are also called the mrigas, for they hunt
about their proper aliment in the external world. Atma is mahisho
mriganam, i.e., the great of all the hunters. The meaning is that it
is really through the power of Atma that the senses are enabled to
find out their proper objects. The Atma is called shyena, as to it
belongs the power of realization ; and gridhras are the indriyas, for
they provide the material for such realization. The Atma, then,
pervades these senses. Further, this Atma, is swadhitir vananam, or
the master whom all indriyas serve. Swadhiti means Atma, for the
activity of Atma is all for itself, man being an end unto himself. The
senses are called vana, for they serve their master, the human spirit.
It is this Atma that, being pure in its nature, enjoys all." Such, then,
is the yaugika sense which Yaska attaches to the mantra. Not only
is it all consistent and intelligible unlike Sdyana's which conveys no
actual sense ; not only ip each word clearly defined in its yaugika
meaning, in contradistinction with Sayana who knows no other sense
of the word than the popular one, but there is also to be found that
simplicity, naturalness and truthfulness of meaning, rendering it in
dependent of all time and space, which contrasted with the artificiality,
.burdensomeness and localisation of Sayana's sense, can only proclaim
Sayana' s complete ignorance of the principles of Vedic interpretation.

This is Sayana, upon whose commentaries of the Vedas are
based the translations of European scholars.

We leave now Max Muller and Sayana with their rurki trans
lations, and come to another question, which, though remotely con
nected with the one just mentioned, is yet important enough to be
separately treated. It is the question concerning the Religion of the
Vedas. European scholars and idolatrous superstitious Hindus are of
opinion that the Vedas inculcate the worship of innumerable gods
and goddesses, Devatas. The word devata is a most fruitful source
of error, and it is very necessary that its exact meaning and applica
tion should be determined. Not understanding the Vedic sense of
the word devata, and easily admitting the popular superstitious in-

AXD EUROPEAN SCHOLAR*.

terpretation of a belief in mythological gods and goddesses, crumbling
into wretched idolatry, European scholars have imagined the Vedas
to be fuli of the worship of such materials, and have gone so far in
their reverence for the Vedas as to degrade its religion even below
polytheism and perhaps at par with atheism. In their fit of benevo
lence, the European scholars have been gracious enough to endovr
this religion with a title, a name, and that is Henotheism.

After classifying religions into polytheistic, dualistie, monothe
istic, remarks Max Muller : —

, " It would certainly be necessary to add two other classes—
the henotheistic and the atheistic. Henotheistic religions differ from-
polytheistic, because, although they recognize the existence of
various deities or names of deities, they represent each deity as
independent of all the rest, as the only deity present in the mind of
the worshipper at the time of his worship and prayer. This character
v,v eery prominent in the religion of the Vedic poets. Although many
gods are invoked in different hymns, sometimes also in the same hymn,
yet there is no rule of precedence established among them ; and,,
according to the varying aspects of nature, and the varying cravings
of human heart, it is sometimes Indra, the god of the blue sky, some
times Agni, the god of fire, sometimes Varuna, the ancient god of the
firmament, who are praised as supreme without any suspicion of
rivalry, or any idea of subordination. This peculiar phase of religion,
this worship of single gods forms probably everywhere the first stage
in the growth of polytheism, and, deserves, therefore, a separate
I name."*

To further illustrate the principles of this new religion, henothe-
ism, says Max Muller : —

" When these individual gods are invoked, they are hot conceived
as limited by the power of others as superior or inferior in rank.
Kach god is to the mind of the supplicant as good as all the gods.
He is felt, at the time, as a real divinity, as supreme and absolute,
in spite of the necessary limitations which, to our mind, a plurality
I of gods must entail on every single god. All the rest disappear for a
moment from the vision of the poet, and he only who is to fulfil their
lesires stands in full light before the eyes of the worshippers. ' Among
, 0 gods, there is none that is small, none that is young; you are
ill great indeed, ' is a sentiment which, though perhaps not so dis
tinctly expressed as by Manu Vaivasvata, nevertheless, underlies afl
ihe poetry of the Veda. Although the gods are sometimes distinctly
invoked as the great and the small, the young and the old (Rv. i. 27-13)r
ihis is only an attempt to find out the most comprehensive expression
cor the divine powers, and nowhere is any of the gods represented as ,
she slave of others." t

As an illustration : —

* Max Muller : Lectures on the Science of Religion, London, 1873, pp. 141-142.
+ Max Mailer : History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, pp. 532-533.

38 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE V1DAS.

" When Agni, the lord of fire, is addressed by the poet, he is
spoken of as the first god, not inferior even to Indra. While Agni isj
invoked, Indra is forgotten ; there is no competition between the twoj
nor any rivalry between them and other gods. This is a most import-|
ant feature in the religion of the Veda, and has never been taken!
into consideration by those who have written on the history of ancient!
polytheism."

We have seen what Max Miiller's view of the Religion of the
Vedas is. We may be sure that the review of other European
scholars also cannot be otherwise. Is henotheism really, then, the
religion of the Vedas ? Is the worship of devatas an essential feature
of Vedic worship ? Are we to believe Max Miiller and assert that
the nation to which he hesitates to deny instinctive monotheism, has
so far uprooted its instincts as to fall down to an acquired belief in
henotheism ? * No, not so. Vedas, the sacred books of the primitive
Aryans, are the purest record of the highest form of monotheism
possible to conceive. Scholars cannot long continue to misconstrue
the Vedas, and ignore the laws of their interpretation. Says
Yaska:—

ll— Nirukta, vii, 1.

Devata is a general term applied to those substances whose
attributes are explained in a m<mtra. The sense of the above is that
when it is known which substance it is that forms the subject of
exposition in the mantra the term signifying that substance is called
the devata of the mantra. Take, for instance, the mantra : —

II * II

" I present to your consideration agni which is the fruitful source
of worldly enjoyments, which is capable of working as though it were
a messenger, and is endowed with the property of preparing all our
foods. Hear ye, and do the same."

Since it is agni that forms the subject-matter of this mantra, agni
would be called the devata of this mantra. Hence, says Yaska, a
mantra is of that devata, with the object of expressing whose pro
perties, God, the Omniscient, revealed the mantra.

We find an analogous sense of the word devata in another part
of Nirukta. Says Yaska : —

^fflPJJ ^tfFJjf^ij^^ft §^ II Nirukta, i. 2.
* Max Muller ; History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 546.

AXD EUROPEAN SCHOLARS. 39

1 Whenever the process of an art is described, the mantra that
completely describes that process is called the devata (or the index) of
that procQSS.'

It is in this sense that the devata of a mantra is the index, the
essential key-note of the meaning of the mantra. There is in this
analysis of the word no reference to any gods or goddesses, no
mythology, no element worship, no henotheism. If this plain and
simple meaning of devata were understood, no more will the mantras
having marut or agni for their devatas be regarded as hymns address
ed, to " the storm-god " or " the god of fire ; " but it will be perceiv
ed that these mantras treat respectively of the properties of marut and
of the properties of agni. It will, then, be regarded, as said else
where in Nirukta : —

*1\ ^RTST iffa*TT3T *3\rRTST *TCWft Wrftfa ^T \\ Nirukta vii. 15
that whatsoever or whosoever is capable of conferring some advan
tage upon us, capable of illuminating things, or capable of explaining
them to us, and lastly, the Light of all lights, these are the fit objects
to be called devatas. This is not in any way inconsistent with what
has gone before. For, the devata of a mantra, being the key-note of
the sense of the mantra, is a word capable of rendering an explana
tion of the mantra, and hence is called the devata of that mantra.
Speaking of these devatas, Yaska writes something which even goes
to show that people of his time had not even the slightest notion of
the gods and goddesses of Max Miiller and superstitious Hindus —
gods, and goddesses that are now forced upon us under the Vedic
designation, devata. Says Yaska : —

Nirukta
vii. 4.

1 We often find in common practice of the world at large, that
learned men, parents, and atithis, (those guest-missionaries who have
no fixed residence, but wander about from place to place benefiting
the world by their religious instructions), are regarded as devatas or
called by the names of devatas.' It is clear from the above quotation,
that religious teachers, parents and learned men, these alone, or thelike,
were called devatas and no others, in Yaska's time. Had Ydska known
of any such idolatry or henotheism or devata worship, which supersti
tious Hindus are so fond of, and which Professor Max Miiller is so
intent to find in the Vedas, or had any such worship prevailed in his
time, even though he himself did not share in this worship, it is
impossible that he should not have made any mention of it at all,
especially when speaking of the common practice among men in
general. There can be no doubt that element worship, or nature
worship, is not only foreign to the Vedas and the ages of Y&ska and
P&nini and Vedic rishis and munis, but that idolatry and its parent
mythology, at least in so far as Aryavarta is concerned, are the pro
ducts of recent times,

40 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

To return to the subject. We have seen that Yaska regards thej
names of those substances whose properties are treated of in the mantral
as the devatas. What substances, then, are the devatas? They are allj
that can form the subject of human knowledge. All human knowledge
is limited by two conditions, i.e., time and space. Our knowledge of
causation is mainly that of succession of events. And succession is
nothing but an order in time. Again, our knowledge must be
a knowledge of something and that something must be somewhere.
It must have a locality for its existence and occurrence. Thus
far, the circumstances of our knowledge — time and locality. Now to the
essentials of knowledge. The most exhaustive division of human know
ledge is between objective and subjective. Objective knowledge is the
knowldge of all that passes without the human body. It is the
knowledge of the phenomena of the external universe. Scientific men
have arrived at the conclusion that natural philosophy, i.e., philosophy
of the material universe, reveals the presence of two things, matter and
force. Matter as matter is not known to us. It is only the play of
forces in matter producing effects, sensible, that is known to us. Hence
the knowledge of external world is resolved into the knowledge of force
with its modifications. We come next to subjective knowledge. In
speaking of subjective knowledge, there \sfirstly, the ego, the human
spirit, the conscious entity ; secondly the internal phenomena of which
the human spirit is conscious. The internal phenomena are of two
kinds. They are either the voluntary, intelligent, self-conscious
activities of the mind, which may hence be designated deliberate
activities : or the passive modifications effected in the functions of the
body by the presence of the human spirit. These may, therefore, be
called the vital activities.

An apriofi analysis, therefore, of the knowable leads us to six
things, time, locality, force, human spirit, deliberate activities and
vital activities. These things, then, are fit to be called devatas. The
conclusion to be derived from the above enumeration is, that if the
account of Nirukta concerning Vedic devatas, as we have given, be
really true, we should find Vedas inculcating these six things — time,
locality, force, human spirit, deliberate activities and vital activities
ag devatas, and no others. Let us apply the crucial test.

We find, however, the mention of 33 devatas in such mantras as
these : —

Yajur, xiv. 31

X.xxii. 4-27.

" The Lord of all, the Ruler of the universe, the Sustainer of all,
holds all things by 33 devatas "

IUROPTSAK gCBOLARS. 41

" The knowers of true theology recognize the 33 devatas perform
ing their proper organic functions, as existing in and by Him, the One
and Only.."

Let us, therefore, see what these 33 devatas are, so that we may be
able to compare them with our a priori deductions and settle the
question.

We read in Shatapatha Brahmana : —

II II

I 8 II ^nfi ^?T *f?T I

n

fi^t ft

n c n

ff?T ^3«I, Rrf^r^ir^^^ II xiv. 16 Fic/e p. 66,

'Veda Bhashya Bhumika by Swami Dayanand Saraswati).

The meaning is : — Says Yajnavalkya to Shakalya, "there are 33
levatas which manifest the glory of God; 8 vasus, 11 rudras, 12
Idityas, 1 indra and 1 prajdpati ; 33 on the whole. The eight vasus
ire 1. heated cosmic bodies, 2. planets, 3. atmospheres, 4. superter-
estrial spaces, 5. suns, 6. rays of ethereal space, 7. satellites, 8
tars. These are called vasus (abodes), for, the whole group of ex-
stences resides in them, viz., they are the abode of all that lives,
loves, or exists. The eleven rudras are the ten prdnas (nervauric
orces) enlivening the human frame, and the eleventh is dfma (the
iiman spirit). These are called the rudras (from root rud to weep),
>ecause when they desert the body it becomes dead, and the relations
>f the dead, in consequence of this desertion, begin to weep. The

42 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VEDAS.

The twelve adit y as are the twelve solar months, marking the course of
time. They are called ddityas as, by their cyclic motion, they produce
twelve ddityas are the twelve solar months, marking the "course of
changes in all, objects, and hence the lapse of the term of existence for
each object. Aditya means that which causes such a lapse. Indra is '
the all-pervading electricity or force. Prajdpati is yajna (an active
voluntary association of objects on the part of man, for the purposes
of art, or association with other men for purposes of teaching or
learning). It also means Pushtis (the useful animals). Yajna and
useful animals are called prajdpati, as it is by such actions and by
such animals that the world at large derives its materials of susten
ance. What, then, are the three devtaas" ? Asks Shakalya. " They
are," replies Yajnavalkya, " the 3 lolcas ; (viz., locality, name and
birth)." What are the two devatas ? — asked he. Yajnavalkya re
plied, " pranas (the positive substances) and anna (the negative sub
stance). What is the Adhyardha ? He asks." Yajnavlkya replies,
" Adhyardha is the universal electricity, the sustainer of the universe,
known as sutrdtmd." Lastly, he inquired, " Who is the one Devata, ? "
Yajnavalkya replied, " God, the adorable."

These, then, are the thirty-three devatas mentioned in the Vedas.
Let us see how far this analysis agrees with our a priori deduction.
The eii^ht vasus enumerated in Shatapatha Brahmana are clearly the
localities ; the eleven rudras include, firstly, the ego, the human spirit,
and secondly, the ten nervauric forces, which may be approximately
taken for the vital activities of the mind ; the twelve ddityas comprise
time } electricity is the all-pervading force; whereas prajdpati, (yajna
or pashus,) may be roughly regarded as comprising the objects ofi
intelligent deliberate activities of the mind.

When thus understood, the 33 devatas will correspond with the
six elementsof our rough analysis. Since the object here is not so
much as to show exactness of detail as general coincidence, partial
differences may be left out of account.

It is clear, then, that the interpretation of devatas which Yaska
gives is the only interpretation that is consistent with the Vedas and
the Brahmanas. That no doubt may be left concerning the pure
monotheistic worship of the ancient Aryas, we quote from Nirukta
again:— ^

*rmrT

II Nirukta, vii. 4. This means:—

N)

" Leaving off all other devatas it is only the Supreme Soul that ia
worshipped on account of His omnipotence. Other devatas are but
the- pratyangas of this Supernal Soul, i. e.3 they but partially mani-

iKB KT7ROPEAX SCHOLARS. 43

fest the glory of God. All these devas owe their birth and power
to Him. In Him they have their play. Through Him they exercise
their beneficial influences by attracting properties, useful, and re
pelling properties, injurious. He alone is the All-in- All of all the
devout"

From the above it will be clear that, in so far as worship is con
cerned, the ancient Aryas adored the Supreme Soul only, regarding
Him as the life, the sustenance and dormitory of the world. And
vet pious Christian missionaries and more pious Christian philologists
are never tired of propagating the lie before the Avorld, that the
Vedas inculcate the worship of many gods and goddesses. Writes a
Christian missionary in India :--

" Monotheism is a belief in the existence of one God only, poly-
theism is a belief in the plurality of gods. Max Mulior says, ' If we
must employ technical terms, the religion of the Veda is polytheism,
not monotheism,' The 27th hymn of the 1st Ashtaka of the Rigveda
concludes as follows : ' Veneration to the great jrods, veneration to
the lesser, veneration to the young, veneration to the old • we worship
the gods as well as we are able : may I not omit the praise of the older
.Divinities."*

The pious Christian thus ends his remarks on the religion of the
Vedas. " Pantheism and polytheism are often combined, but mono
theism, in the strict sense of the word, ist not found in Hinduism."
Again says the pious missionary : —

" Ram Mohan Roy, as already mentioned, despised the hymns of
the Vedas, he spoke of the Upanishads as the Vedas, and thought
that they taught monotheism. The Chh&ndogya formula, eka meva-
dwitiyam brahma,' was also adopted by Keshub Chander Sen. But
it does not mean that there is 110 second God, but that there is no
second anything — a totally different doctrine."

Thus it is obvious that Christians, well saturated with the truth
of God, are not only anxious to see monotheism off the Vedas, but
even off the Upanishads. Well might they regard their position as
safe, and beyond assail on the strength of such translations as these: —

" In the beginning there arose the Hiranyagarbha (the golden
germ] — He was the one born lord of all this. He established the
earth and the sky : — Who is the God to whom we shall offer our
sacrifice ?" Max Muller.

" He who gives breath. He who gives strength, whose command
all the bright gods revere, whoso shadow is immortality, whose
shadow is death : — Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacri
fice ?"/6 id.

John Murdoch : Religious Reform* Part III, Vcdic Hinduism.

44 THE TERMINOLOGY OF THE VJCDAS.

Hiranyagftrbha, which means ' God in whom the whole luminous j
universe resides in a potential state ' is translated into the golden
germ. The WOrd^'cUaA is detached from its proper construction and
placed in apposition with pat ir, thus giving the sense of " the one
born lord of all this." Perhaps, there is a deeper meaning in this
Christian translation. Some day, not in the very remote future, ]
these Christians will discover that the golden germ means ' conceived
by the Holy Ghost,' whereas 'the one born lord of all ' alludes to Jesus
Christ. In one of those future happy days, this mantra of the Veda
will be quoted as an emblematic of a prophecy in the dark distant
past, of the advent of a Christ whom the ancients knew not. How
could they, then, adore him, but in the language of mystic interro
gation ? Hence the translation, " Who is the God to whom we shall
off er our sacrifice ?" Even the second mantra, Max Mailer's trans
lation of which we have subjoined above, has been differently transla
ted by an audacious Christian. What Max Miiller translates as " He
who gives breath," was translated by this believer in the word of God,
as " He who sacrificed Himself, i. e.t Jesus Christ" The original
words in Sanskrit are

Let us pass from these mantras and the misinterpretations of
Christians to clear proofs of monotheism in the Vedas. We find in
Rigveda the very mantra, which yields the golden germ to European
interpreters. It runs this: —

li Which means —

1 God existed in the beginning of creation, the only Lord of the un
born universe. He is the Eternal Bliss whom we should praise and
adore."

In Yajur Veda, xvii, 19, we find : —

II Which means : —

•" Being all-vision, all-power, all-motion in Himself, He sustains with
His power the whole universe, Himself being One alone."

And in AtLarva Veda, XIIL iv 16 — 21, we find : —

Which
means : —

"There are neither two gods, nor three, nor four, ....... ..nor ten. He

is one and only one and pervades the whole universe, All other
tilings live, muye and have their being in Him,"

CRITICISM

ON

MONIER WILLIAMS1 "INDIAN WISDOM)."

C R I T I C I S M
ON

MOi\IER WILLIAMS' "UDIIS WISDOM."

INTRODUCTION-

#•

WE have mentioned the Preface, the Introduction and the review
«»f the Vedas. We now come to the Brahmanas and the Upanishads.
The very ancient theological and religious records also find a place
here. They occupy 21 pages. Then come the Six Schools of Philoso
phy, — the Niyaya, the Sankhya,the VaiVheshaka, the Yoga, the Purva
Mimansa and the Vedanta schools. This chapter runs through 78
pages. Then we come to Jainism and Bhagwat Gita. Bhagwat Gita
has been, with great truth, styled the eclectic school of philosophy,
and why not so, the Sankhya Marga, the Yoga Marga and the
Bhakti Marga, the three royal roads to salvation, are equally re
cognised. This occupies 28 pages. We come now to the Yedangas, —
Siksha, Yyakarana, Nirukta, Chi, and a and Jyotish, — alphabet,
grammar, etymology, prosody and astronomy. This occupies 40
pages. Then come the Smritis ; they .occupy 114 pages. Manu
Smriti and Yajnavalkya are thoroughly reviewed. § The author is at
home here. He is well pleased to find matters of condemnation in
Manu and Yajnavalkya. We come, then, to Ramayana and Maha-
bharta. Bulky as these books are, a bulk of 140 pages of the book
is devoted to these epic poems. The later dramas, Puranas, &c., only
deserve a passing notice. They occupy 70 pages. The following is
the summary : —

PAGES.
Preface and Introduction ... ... ... 48

Vedas ... ,., 26

Brahmanas arid Upanishads ... ... ... 21

Six Schools of Philosophy ... ... ... 78

Jainism and Eclecticism . . ... ... 28

Rhetoric, Grammar and Astronomy ... ... 40

Smritis . . ...114

Epics (Ramayana and Mahabharta) ... . . 140

Puranas and Dramas . . . . ... ... 70

Alphabetical Index ... ... ... ... 23

TOTAL . . 588

* The Manuscript, about 3 pages, is missing except these last few words : — " cou.
< weting of th« author'* emarkfl aptly ntereporeed by long quotations and translations
• . irom-othej authors >J

48 CRITICISM Otf

It is evident, then, that the author is obviously a man of vast
study, of wide information, and possessed of encyclopedic knowledge)
at least in so far as Sanskrit goes. It is well for us to avail of the
information that can be derived from such a source? as such chances
are not often to be found, they are exceptional and very rare. The
more we proceed with the review of the book, the more impatient we
become to learn the scope and the contents of the book. This infor-'
mation I shall now no longer withhold from you. I proceed directly
to the scope, the aims and objects of the book.

Says Professor Monier Williams at page 3 of his Preface : —
" The present volume attempts to supply a want, the existence of
which has been impressed upon my mind by an inquiry often address
ed to me as a Baaen Professor : — Is it possible to obtain from any
one book a good general idea of the character and contents of San
skrit literature ? }>

Further on, he says : —

" Its pages are also intended to subserve a further object. Thev
aim at imparting to educated Englishmen, by means of translations
and explanations of portions of the sacred and philosophical literature
of India, an insight into the mind, habits of thought, and customs of
the Hindus, as well as a correct knowledge or a system of belief and
practice which has constantly prevailed for at least 3,000 years, and
still continues to exist as one of the principal religions of the non-
Christian world."

Then, on page 36 of the Introduction, we have : —
" It is one of the aims, then, of the following pages to indicate
the points of contrast between Christianity and the three chief false
religions of the world, as they are represented in India." — (Please
mark the word false.)

Then, on page 38 of the Introduction, we have : —

" It seems to me, then, that in comparing together these four
sostems — Christianity, Islam, Brahminism aud Buddhism — the crucial
test of the possession of that absolute Divine truth which can belong
to only one of the four, and which — if supernaturally communicated
by the common Father of mankind for the good of all His creatures —
must be intended to prevail everywhere, ought to lie in the answer
to two questions : 1st. — What is the ultimate object at which each
aims ? 2ndly. — By what means and by what agency is this aim to be
accomplished ? "

It is clear, then, the objects of the book are : —
I. — In one book to give a general idea of the character and con-
ients of Sanskrit literature,

II. — To draw for Englishmen a picture of our manners, habits,
Customs, institutions and "beliefs, not a distorted picture, a naiwepre*

M.

eentation, but a true one, for the picture is to be drawn by means of
translations and explanations of portions of our sacred literature ! ! >

III. — To indicate the points of community between Christian and
other non-Christian religions.

IV. — That Islam, Buddhism and Brahminitm (mark the last)
, are the three false religions of the world — or that Christianity is the
only true religion.

V. — That taking Christianity, Brahminism, Islam and Buddhism,
the possession of absolute divine truth can only belong to one of
the four.

VI. — That the absolute divine truth as supernaturally communi
cated by the common Father of mankind (remember this trtth is
Christianity) is one that is intended to prevail everywhere.

VII. —That firstly this absolute truth is the only religion, that
gives a correct answer to the question, what is the ultimate object
or aim? And secondly that this absolnte truth or Christianity
alone gives the true scheme by which the common end or object of all
is to be accomplished.

How far the last four articles of Professor Monier Williams'
claims are right will just appear in the sequel.

A brief sketch of the answer to the first article has already been
given in an enumeration of the book. L^t me only point out that
the four books, esteemed only next to the Vedas, and generally called
the Upa- Vedas, find no mention anywhere throughout the list. It
is especially upon the subject-matter of these books that a true
estimate of Indian and occidental civilization can be formed by
comparison. These four books are the Artha Veda, the Dhannr Veda,
the Ayur Veda and the G-andharva Veda. The Artha Veda is the
Upa- Vedi that deals with applied Mechanics, Engineering, Per-
spection, Practical Arts (Chemical and Physical), aud Gvolo:.»;v. The
Ayur Veda is the Upd-vedn that deals with Surgery, Botanv, Phy
siological Chemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Materia Medica and
Chemistry and cure of poison. The Gandharva Veda is the U[»i- Vedd
of Music or fine arts, whereas the Dhanur Veda is the science of
Martial appliances, instruments and tactics.

The second article, important as it is, will only be estimated at
its due worth, in the progress of these reviews. In the course of
these lectures it well be shown how far Professor Williams' misre
presents or otherwise, or rightly translates or mistranslates, gives
genuine explanations or forged ones of portions of our sac rod
literature.

The third article shall be reviewed full at the end of the whole
course of these reviews.

We come now to tho subject-matter of the Introduction,

50 CRITICISM ON

It deals with four poirits. Firstly, it gives a sketch of the past
and present condition. The main portion consists of a geographical
political and historicol sketch of the past condition of India as
^magined by the so-called historians and philologists to be true. All
this is foreign to the purpose of my review. One point, however, is
worth pointing out. It is where he gives his own remarks on caste
system.

This is what he says at p. 24 of his Introduction : —

" Even in districts where the Hindus are called by one name and
speak one dialect they are broken into separate classes divided from
each other by barriers of caste far more difficult to pass than social
distinctions of Europe," &c., &c. " This separation constitutes, in
point of fact, an essential doctrine of their religion. The growth of
the Indian caste system is, perhaps, the most remarkable feature in
the history of this extraordinary people. Caste, as a social institution,
meaning thereby conventional rules which eeparate the grades of
society, exists, of course, in all countries. In England, caste in this-
sense exerts 110 slight authority. But with us caste is not a religious
institution.

" On the contrary, our religion, though it permits differences of
rank, teaches us that such differences are to be laid aside in the wor
ship of Grod, and that in His sight all men are equal. Very different
is the caste of the Hindus. The Hindu believes that the Deity re
gards men as unequal, that he created distinct kinds of men as he
created varieties of birds or beasts ; that Brahmanas, Kshatriyas,
Vaishyas and Shudras are born and must remain distinct from each
other ; and that to force any Hindu to break the rules of caste is to
force him to sin against God and against nature/'

Professor Monier Williams, then, points out that caste rules in
India hinge upon: — • 1, Preparation of food; 2, Inter-marriage ; 3,,
Professional pursuits. Had the Baden Professor professed to base
these remarks upon personal observations or accounts of India as
given by various writers on the subject, we would have nothing to
add, but the Baden Professor regards the sacred Sanskrit literature
to be the only key to " the satisfactory knowledge of the people com
mitted to our (he means his or his nation's) rule/' He says : —

" Happily India, though it has at least twenty distinct dialects,
has but one sacred and learned language and one literature, accepted
and revered by all adherents of Hinduism alike, however diverse ia
race, dialect, rank and creed.'7

And it is upon the sacred Sanskrit literature of India that he bases
his remarks. Let us see how far they are correct. The Professor^
asserts : —

I. That caste system in India is a religious institution, whereas
it is only a social institution in England. It is good for our brothers
to note down the confession that there is costo svstem in Englnnd

CRITICISM ON.

II, — That, according to Christianity, all people are alike to
but in Brahminism, the Deity regards men as unequal, or

III. — That Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are born, and
IV. — That only people of the same caste eat together, inter
marry and pursue the same professional pursuits; these three being
the tests of caste-

With regard to the second point, that according to the doctrines
of Brahminism God regards men as unequal, I quote the 2nd Mantra
of 26th Adhyaya of Yajur Veda: —

finft

It Which means, " I (God) have given word

(Revelation) which is the word of salvation for all people, Brahmanas,
Kshatriyas/ Vaishyas, Shudras, and even Ati Shudras.. Therefore.
regard no one as unequal among yourselves, but try to be loved
by all wise people, to distribute gifts among ail, and always desire
the well-being of alL"

The Mantra is very clear, and I have quoted it to show that the
first position assumed by the Baden Professor is groundless. We come
now to his assertion that caste is a religious institution and not a
social one in India. Now an institution is called a religious one
when distinctions of the institution are maintained on the ground
that they are obligatory by religion, but all distinctions maintained
on the ground of differences of wealth, learning <uid industry are
social distinctions.

Let us read Manu : — fttrn*TT WT^ TOSZ ^fazTOT^fT ^rtesfrf : I

vj

M This means that the

ground of distinction among Brahmanas is from the point of learning,
that among Kshatriyas is on account of physical powers, and that
among Vaishyas is on the ground of wealth and possessions, that
among Shudras alone does birth distinction exist. Lest Monier
Williams may mistake my sense and the sense of Manu and assert on
the face of these quotations that Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas
are born, let me again quote Manu : — •

II Which means that Shudras can become Brah-
mans and Brahmans Shudras and so with Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.

Again says Manu, 5FU*r: SfRffi iTj: ^^TTm^^f^or: II All
people are born Shudras* but by ^r^TT or by virtue of
^J^rarwWTf, their acquisitions and accomplishments, be
come Brahmanas, Kshatriyas ^TW^ ^fa^T; &c.

52 M. W.'s INDIAN WISDOM.

The fourth position taken up by Monier Williams is that eating
together, inter-marriage and similarity of pursuits define a caste.
Among these three, the second only deserves consideration. For, if
similarity of pursuits be any element, it might be as reasonable for
Monier Williams to regard all Professors of Schools and Colleges in
England to belong to one caste. The same remark applies to food and
drink. Eating and drinking together is absolutely prohibited in Manu
not only for people of different castes, but for all individuals alike.

Says Manu :

u u

Let no one eat from the same dish with any one else, let none
overfeed himself and walk out after dinner without a hand- wash.

This point, therefore, is entirely out of question. What now
remains is the question of inter-marriages. We will here again quote
Manu : —

f?5frafaf inren wwiifa i ^roarer

U 13 II This means that the best form
of first marriage is that in which the male and female are of the same
g^ or what is wrongly called caste, but a Shudra woman
should only marry a Shudra, a Vaishya woman aVaishya. The
Kshatriya should marry a srS[T f *$\ ^fcft only, and the
Brahmana any.

This shows that a ^*2JT«ft or Vaishya woman marrying
a Brahmana is allowable and so for others. Professor Monier Williams
asserted that caste system in India is a religious institution, but it is
a social one in England. We have proved that caste system is not a
religious institution but a social one as it is everywhere. He asserted
that in Brahminic religion Deity regards all men as unequal, but we
have proved that He does not. He asserted that Brahmans, Kshatri-
yas and Vaishyas are born. We have proved that they are not, but
Shudras are. And lastly he asserted that similarity of professions,
inter-marriage and eating together are the characteristics of a caste.
We have shown that they are not. We now leave this point which
is peculiarly illustrative of the unrivalled learning of the Professor, and
come to the second part of his Introduction on the religion of the
^Hindus.

He says that there are 3 points of view from which any religion
may be looked at — 1, faith; 2, work or ritual; 3, doctrinei or dogmatic
knowledge. He calls the 1st two, faith and work or ritual, the exoteric

of religion; and doctrine^ or dogmatic knowledge, the esoteric

CRITICISM ON, S3

side of religion. After laying down this distinction, he says that,
viewed from an esoteric point of view, the Hindu religion is Pantheism.
He says : —

" It (Hindu religion) teaches that nothing really exists but the
Universal Spirit, that the soul of each individual is identical with that
Spirit, and that every man's highest aim should be to get rid, for ever,
of doing, having and being, and devote himself to profound contem
plation with a view to obtain such spiritual knowledge as should
deliver him from the mere illusion of separate existence and force upon
him the conviction that he is himself part of the one being constitu
ting the universe."

We shall see how far our Baden Professor of Sanskrit is right in
these assertions. He says that Hindu religion teaches ;*—

I. — That nothing but the Universal Spirit exists,
II. — That each individual is identical with this Spirit.

III. — That every man's aim should be to get rid of doing, hav
ing and being.

IV. — That each soul should free himself from being in his separte
existence.

V, — That each soul is part of the one being constituting the
universe.

Let us now examine these five propositions;

His first proposition is that nothing but the Universal Spirit exists,

I quote here from an Upanishat : —

The meaning is that " God, matter and human souls, these are the
three eternal substances, ever uncreated. The eternal human souls
enjoy the eternal matter while involved in material existence. Where
as the third eternal substance, God, exists for ever, but is neither in
volved in material existence, nor enjoys the material world." Here it
is said that not universal spirit alone exists, but matter and human
souls also exist co- eternally. If more evidence were required on this
head, it would be easy to quote many other very clear passages, but I
believe the above is clear enough.

Williams' second proposition is that each individual is identical
with the Universal Spirit. Here, let me quote from Brihadarannyaka

Qpanishat : — q ^n?*lfa fos3«=«TTcfl«Tt$»:?f;ftMHl<rW «T ^^

V *\ ^

; 11

w.'s INDIAN

Says Yajnavalkya to Maitreyi in answer to her question, " O
Maitreyi, the Universal Spirit who pervades even the human soul but
is distinct from the human soul, whom ignorant human soul does not
know, who resides in the innermost of the human soul, who is distinct
from 'human soul but witnesses the actions of human soul and
awards or punishes him, yes, He, even He, the Universal Spirit, is im
mortal and also pervades thee."

Williams' third proposition resprct.W P-nVmanical religion is that
it teaches every man the duty of getting rid of all doing, being and

having, I quote here from the 40th Chapter of the Yajur Veda:—

wriWir fsi^foiN WK2 WRT ; i *re rera ^sirift1 sfi?R sra ftnara

«f^ (I This means that each soul should desire to live for 100 years or

more, spending his life in doing actions, always performing1 good deeds.
Thus alone, and not otherwise, is freedom from sin and pain possible,
The purport is that the doing of action or good deeds is the first
essential.

Williams' fourth proposition i&that each should free himself from
the delusion of separate existence. I need not answer this, as it is
clear that, believing God to be distinct from the soul, the idea of
separate existence is not delusion, and if this be not a delusion, it is
not a proper object to get rid of.

The fifth assertion is that each soul is a part of the being con
stituting the universe. If anything need be said upon this head, it
will suffice to say that not in one Mantra but in innumerable Mantras
of Upanishads,5 the Universal Spirit is regarded as one whole without

form, body or parts, ^ig or indivisible. Since God has no parts, it

is mere by absurd to believe that human souls can be parts of the Uni
versal Spirit that is incapable of being divided into parts.

Then, in order to reconcile this pantheistic view, which does"not
admit of any necessity of faith, work or ritual, with the existence of
faiths, innumerable works or rituals in India, Williams forges a fallaci
ous reasoning which is called in Sanskrit logic by the technical name
chhaL He says that believing God to be identical with human souls
the Hindus were led to believe that human souls had only emanated
from God. English language and English brain may, perhaps, be
capable of confounding identity with emanation, but, unless a clear
proof of it is given, I am not in a position to say anything respecting
the justification of Williams' position.

I now come to the 3rd part of the Introduction, i.e., the one
respecting the Languages of India,

CRITICISM I.N. .r>;">

>v i

ua

3

ho

Says Monier Williams : —

" The name Sanskrit, cs applied to the ancient language of the
Hindus, is an artificial designation for a highly elaborated form of the
language originally brought by the Indian branch of the great Aryan
race into India. This original tongue soon became modified by con
tact with the dialects of the aboriginal races who preceded the Aryans,
•and in this way converted into the peculiar language (bhasha) of the
Aryan immigrants who settled in the neighbourhood of the seven
rivers of the Punjab and its outlying districts (Sapta S indhavas = in.
Zend Ilapta Hend'u). The most suitable name for the original lang
uage thus moulded into the speech of the Hindus is Hindu-i (=Sindu-i,
its principal later development being called Hindi,* just as the Low
German dialect of the Angles and Saxons, when modified in Britain
was called Anglo-Saxon. But very soon that happened in India
which has come to pass in all civilized countries. The spoken lang
uage, when once its general form and character had been settled,
parated 'into two lines, the one elaborated by the learned, the other
>pularized and variously provincialized by the unlearned. In India,
owever, from the greater exclusiveness of the educated few, the
greater ignorance of the masses, and the desire of a proud priesthood
to keep the key of knowledge in their own possession, this separation
became more marked, more diversified, and progressively intensified.
Hence, the very grammar wrhich with other nations was regarded
only as a means to an end, came to be treated by Indian Pandits
as the end itself, and was subtilized into an intricate science,
fenced around by a bristling barrier of technicalities. The language,
too, elaborated pari past-it with the grammar, reje'cted the natural
name of Hindu-i or ' the speech of the Hindus/ and adopted an arti
ficial designation, viz. Suntikrita9 the perfectly constructed 'speech*
(.va7/t = ro?i, ATI Ja= fact us, ' formed '), to denote its complete severance
from vulgar purposes, and its exclusive dedication to religion and
literature; while the name Prdkrita — which may mean 'the original'
as well as ' the derived ' speech — was assigned to the common dialect.
This itself is a remarkable circumstance ; for, although a similar kind
«ic separation has happened in Enrope, we do not find that Latin
.nd Greek ceased to be called Latin and Greek when they became the
anguage of the learned, any more than we have at present distinct
ames for the common dialect and literary language of modern
• tion."

Herein Monier Williams asserts 6 distinct propositions :

i- — That Sanskrit (well-formed) is an artificial designation.

It may he thought by Pome that this dialect was nearly identical with the Lang
uage of the Vedic hyrnns, and the latter often gives genuine Frakrita forms (as Kvta for
krita) ; but even Vedic Sanskrit presents great elaboration scarcely compatible with the
notion of its being a simple original dialect (for example, in the use of complicated
grammatical forms like Intensive*), and Panini, in distinguishing between the common
language and the Vedic, us«-s t la- term Rhcmha in contradistinction lo C'hhuHfia* (the
Veda).

56 M. w.'s INDIAN WISDOM.

ii. — That it is highly elaborate.

Hi. — That it was modified by the tongue of aboriginal tribes and
gave rise to Bhasha.

•iv. — That Grammar is so elaborate that it was regarded as an
end and not as a means.

v. — That Sanskrit Grammar is an intricate science fenced by a*
bristling barrier of technicalities.

vi. — That Prakrit means the original tongue.
We will take each of his propositions turn by turn.

A designation is artificial when it is arbitrarily chosen not on the
ground of the sense expressed by it. For an individual being called
John, or Monier Williams, John or Monier Williams is an artificial
designation, because it does not signify any attribute or attributes of
the individual which the word Monier Williams denotes. Well, then,
is Sanskrit an artificial designation ? He himself admits that Sanskrit
means well-formed. Let us see if Sanskrit is well formed. * * * * *

* Manuscript missing.- ED.

CRITICISM

ON

Monier Williams' "Indian Wisdom."

LECTURE I.

THE HYMNS OF THE VEDAS, (1.)

I COME now to Monier Williams' Lecture on " The Hymns of the
Vedas." He proposes in this lecture to offer examples of the most re
markable religious, philosophical and ethical teachings of ancient
Hindu authors. He can hardly convey ' an adequate idea of the
luxuriance 6f Sanskrit literature.' He complains of 'the richness of
the materials ' at his command, for, he confesses his inability to do
justice to it. But let us not think that a man of Monier Williams'
temper can ever be too warm in his panegyrics on such bosh as Hindu
writings. They are ' too often marked by tedious repetitions, redun
dant epithets and far-fetched conceits. In Sanskrit there is not to
be found that coldness and severe simplicity which characterizes an
Englishman's writings. He lives in a climate too cold to admit of
oriental warmth of style. He is surrounded by too severe and simple
a civilisation in England to admit of the gentle but complex civilisation
of India. The standard of judgment set upon India differs very much
from that set upon England. ' With Hindu authors excellence is apt
to be measured by magnitude/ and ' quality by quantity/ But he can
not close his eyes against ' the art of condensation so successfully
cultivated as in some departments of Sanskrit Literature' (he means
the Sutras). And in reconciling his view with the existence of the
Sutras, Professor Williams offers an explanation. It is this, " Pro
bably the very prolixity natural to Indian writers led to the opposite
extreme of brevity, not merely by a law of reaction, but by tho
necessity for providing the memory with " aids and restoratives" when
oppressed and debilitated by too great a burden." Professor Williams
would have been perfectly right in passing the above remarks, were
it not that the Sanskrit writings that abound in prolixity have followed
and not preceded the condensed literature in point of time. Leaving
out of account the Vedas which are the starting point of Indian
literature, the Upanishats, the Upavedas and especially the six
Drashanas may be called the condensed literature of India; whereas
the later novels, dramas, puranas and vrittis and tikas may, with per
fect truth, be styled the prolix literature of India. Now, not a single
line of the Upanishats or the Upavedas or the Darshanas was
written posterior to the puranas t tho dramas, &c. ; and Professor
Williams also admits this. What meaning are wo, to attach, then,.

58 M. NV/S INDIAN WISDOM.

to Williams' assertion that the condensed [literature was due to
a law of reaction ? Does Monier Williams mean that long before
there had occurred an action, i. e. long before the prolix literature
came to be written, there had set in a reaction, i.e. that of condensed
writings ? Monier Williams is much to be credited for his logic, for,
according to him, a reaction precedes the action of which it is a
reaction. Supernatural Christianity, which is the religion of Monier
Williams, finds a very true advocate in him. A son without a father
is what Christianity would have us believe. But Monier Williams
would rather that the son existed long before the birth of his father.
We shall find, as we proceed further on , that this is not in any way a
startling proposition as compared with others that Monier Williams
has yet to assert. His second reason is that the ancients had recourse
to the condensed methods of writing as aids and restoratives to an
oppressed and debilitated memory. Now, gentlemen, be fair and
judge yourselves. What was there to oppress and debilitate
the memory ? Was it the Upanishats, the Upavedas or the Brah-
manas ? Professor Williams must be bluntly ignorant of Sanskrit
literature, if he thinks that the Upanishats, the Brahmanas or the
Upavedas could oppress or debilitate the memory. It is one of the
blessings of modern civilisation to deteriorate the intellect and enslave
memory. I here quote from a number of a well-known scientific
paper, "Nature," dated 25th January, 1883:

" Few students of science can fail to feel, at times, appalled by the
ever-increasing flood of literature devoted to science and the difficulty
of keeping abreast of it even in one special and comparatively limited
branch of inquiry. Were merely the old societies and long-established
journals to continue to supply their contributions, these, as they arrive
from all parts of the country and from all quarters of the globe, would
be more than enough to tax the energy of even the most ardent
enthusiast. But new societies, new journals, new independent works
start up at every turn, till one feels inclined to abandon in despair
the attempt to keep pace with the advance of science in more than
one limited department."

"One of the most striking and dispiriting features of this rapidly
growing literature is the poverty or worthlessness of a very large part
of it. The really earnest student who honestly tries to keep himself
acquainted with what is being done, in at least his own branch of
science, acquires by degrees a knack of distinguishing, as it were, by.
instinct, the papers that he ought to read from those which have no
claim on his attention. But how often may he be heard asking if no
moans can be devised for preventing the current of scientific litera
ture from becoming swollen and turbid by the constant impouring of
what he can call by no better name than rubbish,"

If more evidence were required on this head, I would refer the
reader to the prevalent systems of education for a verification of the

CRITICISM ON 59

results. Who is here that does not acknowledge the all-importance of.
cramming in passing the examination ? Who is here that would not
evince to the fact of mathematics and even philosophy being nowadays
learnt on the cram system ? It is not India alone that is teeming with
these deformities. Much more so is this the case with England. There
the cry of memory complaints has risen so high that many professors
have set up entirely new schools of memory training with the ^xpresa
object of saving poor English memories from utter destruction and
ruin. Is it not clear, then, that the prolixity of literature, the
" exuberant verbosity" and the worthlessness and rubbish character,
of which Monier Williams so much complains, are more to be found
in his own camp of modern civilisation than in the natural, simple,
and invigorating writings of the authors of the Upanishats, the Upa-
vedas and the Darshanas. To prove this, let me quote here from the
well-known Upaveda, Sushruta, on medical science.

The meaning of which is that " the various physiological subjects
called 5c27, ^r, ip^, sftw, &c., &c., are subjects, which some
times even puzzle the most clear-headed intellect. Let every student
of medical science, then, apply his ff (^intellect) in com

prehending or understanding these principles and let him reflect."
There is no need of multiplying quotations, for, it cannot be doubted
that the Upanishats, the Niruktas, the Upavedas and the Darshanas
are all addressed to the intellect, and the complaint is that they often
puzzle the most clear-headed intellects and not that they cannot be
remembered. It is clear, then, that ihe condensed literature of
Sanskrit, the Sutras, are not due to reaction, and that "they are not
aids or restoratives to memory, but rather appeal to the intellect OP
the faculties of understanding.

Professor Williams now passes from this, which is a pure digres
sion from the subject, to the proper subject. Only once before the
treatment of the subject, like an impartial writer, he inculcates tlio
of studying fairly and without prejudice Hie other religions <>(

60 M. TV.'s INDIAN WISDOM.

the world. That his fairness and freedom from prejudice may not
be ill judged, I again quote from the fair and unprejudiced Christian,
Professor Moiiier Williams ; —

" For, may it not be maintained, that the traces of the original
t ruth imparted to mankind should be diligently sought for in every re
ligious system, however corrupt, so that when any fragment of tlu&
living rook is discovered, it may at once be converted into a fulcrum
for the upheaving of the whole mass of surrounding error ? At all
events, it may reasonably be conceded that if nothing true or sound
can be shown to underlie the rotten tissue of decaying religious
systems, the truth of Christianity may at least in this manner be more
clearly exhibited and its value by contrast made more conspicuous."

Leaving Monier Williams with his hopes regarding the not-
decaying but living Christianity aside, for the moment, we come now
to the proper subject. Professor Williams confesses that "the idea
of a revelation, though apparently never entertained in a definite
manner by the Greeks and Romans, is perfectly familiar to the
Hindus." ' But the Vedas are not a revelation in the sense in which
the Bible is to the Christian or the Qoran to the Mohamedan.

The Qoran is "a single volume manifestly the work of one author,
descended entire from heaven in the night called alqadr, in the month
of Ramazan." " The Old Testament was furnished with its accompani
ments of Chaldee translations and paraphrases called Targums." But
" the word Yedn " says Professor Williams, " means knowledge ; and
is a term applied to Divine unwritten knowledge, imagined to have
issued like breath from the Self-existent, and communicated to no
single person, but to a whole class of men called Rishis or inspired
sages. By them the divine knowledge thus apprehended was trans
mitted, not in writing, but through the ear, by constant oral repeti
tion, through a succession of teachers, who claimed as Brahmins to
be its rightful recipients Moreover, when at last, by its con
tinued growth, it became too complex for mere oral transmission,
then this Veda resolved itself, not into one single volume, like the
Qoran, but into a whole series of compositions, which had in reality
been composed by a number of different poets and writers at different
times during several centuries."

Monier Wiliams herein asserts : —

1- — That the Vedas are really unwritten knowledge issuing like
breath from the Self-existent.

IT. — That they were communicated to a whole class of men called
Rishis- or inspired sages.

III. — That they continued to grow, hence their present written
Ibook form.

CRITICISM 0!f 6f

IV. — That the Vedas are a series of compositions by a number of
different poets and writers at different times during several cen
turies.

We will take Professor Wiliams' propositions one by one. His
first proposition is that the Vedas are really unwritten knowledge
issuing like breath from the Self-existent, Now, does Professor
Williams imagine that there can ever be anything like a written
knowledge ? But it is here clearly to be understood that I am not
here speaking of the knowledge being written down, but of written-
knowledge. Professor Williams seems to imagine that the Vedas
are laboring under a very serious defect. The Christians, he seems
to think, have a definite revelation, as it is put down in black and
white ; and so have the Mohamedans, for, their book descended from
heaven in its present form. He, therefore imagines that the Christians
have a settled revelation, a something definite to lay their hand*
upon as their sacred books, but the Veda being unwritten knowledge
is not tangible, is not a reality or a something definite. In this he
is entirely wrong, and, if not wrong, he very sadly betraya a want of
philosophical culture. For, Vedas being unwritten knowledge, let
me ask, — Can there be anything which can with philosophical precision
be called written knowledge ? Let us be clear on the subject. A
revelation is a revelation in so far as it is revealed to some body.
The Bible is alleged to be a revelation, it was therefore revealed to
some body. A revelation is only a revelation in so far as it is re
vealed to the intellect, i.e., in so far as tKe person to whom it is
revealed, becomes directly conscious of the facts revealed. Admitting,
then, that the Bible is a revelation, and that there was some body
to whom it was revealed, that some body must have been conscious
of the contents of this revelation. Is this, his consciousness of the
facts revealed, in any way distinct from the knowledge of the facts
revealed ? If not, then the Bible is a knowledge, and, in so far as
it lay in the consciousness of the person to whom it was revealed,
which is the true signification of the word revelation, it was un
written knowledge. Thus, then, the Bible revelation is also an un
written knowledge, and Professor Williams cannot in any way free
himself from the dilemma that either Bible revelation itself is an
unwritten knowledge and in that case does not differ in any way
from the Revelation of the Vedas which is also unwritten knowledge,
or that the Bible is a mere record not felt in consciousness, but made
to descend just as Qoran descended to Mahomed, Mahomed himself
being illiterate, not understanding it, but only being specially directed
and empowered by God to circulate it for the spread of faith. In
this case, the Bible is no more a revelation. It is a mere dead-letter
book sent miraculously through some people who themselves did not
understand it. Can Professor Williams get rid of this difficulty ?
The fact is that he w«ints to sing praises of popular dogmatic
Christianity, and being afraid lest he should be called a heretic, con-

M. W. 8 INDIAN WiS'DOM.

descends to let tlie Bible rot into a mere dead-letter book, rather
than accept a position which should make him to be considered a
heretic. Whether it is more philosophical to believe that God sent
a sealed book which descended entire, or that God only reveals to
the understanding of some who thus illuminated record down what
they are revealed to, is for you to judge. So far with respect to the
first part of the 1st proposition asserted by Professor Williams. •

We now come to the 2nd part. This refers to the mode of re-1
relation of the Veda or the origin of the Veda. He says : —

"There are numerous inconsistencies in the accounts of the pro
duction of the Veda ...... 1. One account makes it issue

from the Self-existent like breath, by the power of adriMa, without
any deliberation or thought on His part ; 2. another makes the four
Vedas issue from Brahman like smoke from burning fuel ; 3. another
educes them from the elements ; 4. another from Gayatri ; 5. a hymn
in the Atharva Veda educes them from kala or Time (XIX. 54); 6.
The Shatapatha Brahman asserts that the Creator brooded over the
three worlds and thence produced three lights, the fire, the air and
the sun, from which respectively were extracted the Big, Yajur and
Sam-Vedas. Maim (I. 23) affirms the same. 7. In the Purusha
Sukta, the three Vedas are derived from the mystical victim Purusha. 8,
Lastly, by the Mirnansakas the Veda is declared to be itself an eternal
Sound and to have existed absolutely from all eternity, quite inde
pendently of any utterer or revealer of its text. Hence it is often
called Shnda} " what is heard." 9. In opposition to all this, we have
the rishis themselves frequently intimating that the mantras were
composed by themselves."

In this little paragraph Professor Williams points out that there
are nine different conflicting theories maintained with respect to the"
production of the Vedas, and enumerates the nine theories and thinks
that he has done enough to demolish the ground of Vedic revelation.
But he is sadly mistaken. He simply betrays the woeful depth of
his ignorance of even the ordinary Sanskrit words, not to speak of
the higher Sanskrit literature. The fact is that not only are there no
nine conflicting hypotheses, but that these are one and the same
hypothesis invariably maintained by each and all of the ancient Vedic
writers. The one unitary conception concerning the production of
the Vedas is that the Vedas are a spontaneous emanation from the
Deity, an involuntary natural and original procession of God's innate
wisdom and knowledge principles into this world. It is this one
•uniform idea which is maintained throughout. Let us take each one
'of the theories enumerated by Professor Williams.

The Vedas issued from the Self -existent like breath. Says Shata-

|patha, Kanda 14, Adhyaya 5— ijcf m ^ftsTO *Jf <Tt

I The meaning

CRITICISM Otf 63

is that Yajnavalkya replies to Maitreyi in answer to her question, "O
Maitreyi, the Vedas have proceeded from God, who is even more
omnipresent than ether and more extensive than space, as naturally and
spontaneously as the breath proceeds spontaneously and involuntarily
from the human organism," and not deliberately and with thought as
Professor Williams will have his own revelation, for the God of Truth
And the God of the Universe, who is also the God of the Aryas
need not trouble the cerebral substance of his brain with violent
vibrations to produce the thought of imparting a revelation to man
kind. Wisdom and knowledge flow from God as naturally and
spontaneously as the breath flows in and out from the human orga
nism. The power of adrihta to which Professor Williams refers in his
note, is nothing different from the invisible, spiritual potency of the
recipients of the revelation to receive the revelation of the Vedas.
This, then, is the first account.

We come now to the second. According to this, the Vedas
issue from Brahman like smoke from burning fuel. The meaning is
very clear. It is that the Vedas proceed from Brahman, God, as
spontaneously as the smoke proceeds from burning fuel silently,
noiselessly, naturally and without any exertion. The central idea is
yet the same, but to the jaundiced eye of Monier Williams this is a
second account inconsistent with the first.

The third hypothesis accounts for the origin of the Vedas from
the elements. Here Professor Williams is, wrong in his translation.
The original word in Sanskrit for what he calls .the elements is

Now Wrf does not mean elements but Godhead.

^^

^rfl — God is called Bhuta, as all

things that have ever existed exist in Him. To convey the idea that
the Vedas have existed for ever in the womb of the Divine Wisdom,
the Vedas are spoken of as issuing from Bhuta, i. e.y God who is tliu
Universal Intelligent repository of all things past or old, i. e., all
eternal essences and principles. This account does not in the least
conflict with the first two, but the poetical use of the word bhutu, for
God rather more sublimely expresses the same sentiment.

The fourth account is that of the Vedas proceeding from Gayatri.
There also Professor Williams betrays his entire ignorance of Vedic
literature by sayiug that this fourth account is a different one, incon
sistent with the three foregoing ones. In 3rd Chapter, 14th Section

Nighantu, which is the lexicon of Vedic terms, we have ?U3fa

. the meanin of which is that

the root Jimfn signifies Wfe to worship. Hence, th^Being
*4io deserves to be adored and worshipped by all, is called

C4 M. W.'S INDIAN WISDOM.

:. So also says Nirukta in its 7th Adhyaya, III Pad,
and 6th Section, urcnft iraifc *fa WTOfH TOW 3T faqftrlT

The Vedas, then, have

proceeded from Gayatri, i. e.t God who is worshipped and adored
by all.

Now comes the 5th account of the same in the 3rd Mantra of 5th
Kanda of 1 9th Chapter. cRT*n£^: *TflH3R gsr. cffT^T^tTO?!
which Monier Williams translates as if meaning that Rig and Yajur
Vedas have been produced by time ( ^?ra )• Here again,

our learned Boden Professor of Sanskrit and world-renowned
Oriental Scholar does not understand the meaning of the word

Says Nighantu, Chap. II, Kanda 14,

fTWTff ^RfT^ft which means that the Spirit that is
intelligent and pervades all is called kola or 3?RRlf?T jfegfa
: that Infinite Being in whose comparison

all that exists is measurable, is called kola. Kala, therefore, is the
name of the same Infinite Being, the same God Gayatri or Brahma
or Swayambhu from whom the Vedas have been described to proceed
in the first four accounts given above.

We come now to the sixth. No mistake can be more serious on
the part of Monier Williams than the one he has committed in render
ing Shatpatha Brahmana's account of the origin of the Vedas. Ac
cording to this account, the Creator brooded over the three worlds
and thence produced three lights, fire, the air, and the sun, from
which respectively were extracted the Rig, Yajur and Sama Vedas.
Here also Williams' mistake lies in substituting English worlds for
Sanskrit ones. William's own translation only with the modification
of putting the original Sanskrit words for which he has put the Eng
lish ones will be : God, the Creator, brooded over the three worlds

and thence produced the three jyotis, ^rfi»r ^Ttf and ^ft and

thence extracted the three Vedas. Now jyoti does not mean light
but illuminated being, man in the spiritual state, i. e., in the superior

condition, and "Sffje? 3THT and ^f% are no names for fire, air

and sun, bnt are names of three men. The meaning of the passage
then, is that God in the beginning, created the organizations which
received the spirits of ihree men known by the names of Agni, Vayn

CRITICISM ON UCl 6*5

and Ravi. To these three rishis, *ffhf: sntf and ^fa,\inen iii

the superior condition, God revealed the knowledge of Rig,

and Sama respectively. Now, in what way does it contradict the

other explanations ? Nor does Manu prove what Williams says. Says

Maim :—

This means that the three Vedas, Rig Yajur and Sama were re
vealed to the three rishis, Agni, Vayu and Ravi, to give a knowldege
of how to accomplish the purpose of life in this world.

We come now to the 7th account in Purusha Sukta, where accord
ing to Monier Williams, the Vedas are derived from the mystical
victim, Purusha. I here quote the Mantra of the Purusha Sukta : —

II

The plain meaning of which is that Rig, Yajuh, Sama, and
Chhandas or Atharva Vedas have proceeded from that Purusha who ia
Yajna and Sarvahuta. Williams renders it into the mystical victim,
Purusha. But he is in the wrong. Purusha is the universal spirit
that pervades all nature. Says Nirukta II. 1. 5.

f<*fa

the meaning of which is that God is called Purusha, because he is
jftwi, that is, hepervads the universe and even lives in the

interior of the human soul. It is in this sense that the mantra of the
Veda is revealed, saying there is nothing superior to God,
nothing separate from him, nothing more refined, nothing more ex
tended. He holds all but is himself unmoved. He is the only one.
Yes, He, even Ho, is the spirit that pervades all. It is clear then
that Purusha means the universal spirit of God. We come now to tho
second word Yajna. Says Nirukta, III, 4, 2 : —

H^rftfa

The meaning is this. Why is Yajana the name of God ; Because
He is prime mover of all the forces of nature ; because He is the only
being to bo worshipped ; and because to Him the Yajur mantras point
out. The moaning, then, of the passage of Purusha Sukta quoted
by Williams is this ; From that God who i;, called Purusha, i. c.} tho

66 M. W/S INDIAN WISDOM.

Universal Spirit, arid who is also called Yajna for reasons given
above have proceeded the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvan.

Eighthly, the Mimansakas declare the Yedas to be eternal and
independently existent, a view which does not at all conflict with
the former ones.

And lastly, says Williams, " We have the rishis themselves fre
quently intimating that mantras were composed by themselves." In
these days of spiritualism, no wonder if the spirits of the rishis
appeared before Monier Williams and mystically whispered into his
ears the composition of the Vedas by themselves. But in so far as
the writings of the rishis themselves go, not only is the assertion of
Williams merely false and baseless but positively injurious and very
perverted. For the rishis themselves declare themselves to be not
at all the authors of the Vedas. The Vedas are regarded by all of
them as apaurusheya, i. e., not the production of human beings. I will
quote here Nirukta I, 6, 5 : —

TO=cnr^: I Also, Nirukta II, 3. 2, as follows : —

II

The meaning of these is that rishis were those people who had
realised the truths in the ./mantras and having done so began to
enlighten those of their fellow-brethren who were ignorant of the
truths in the same. Further on, says Aupamanyava, the rishis are
only the seers of the mantras, but not the composers.

We have now shortly dismissed with the first proposition of
Williams and partly with the second. The assertion of Williams that
the mantras of the Vedas were composed by a whole class of men
called rishis is entirely baseless. Not only were they not composed
by the whole class, but not even by one individual of that class. The
reason why Williams regards this to be so, is that every mantra of
the Vedas gives four things, its Chhanda, Swara, Devata and Bishi.
The name of the rishi only indicates the man who, for the first time>
taught the meanings of that mantra to the world at large.

The third proposition of Williams is that Vedas continued to
grow till they became so bulky that their division into the present
four volumes became necessary. Here, again, Monier Williams be
trays his ignorance of Sanskrit. For, the four- fold classification of
the Vedas, which according to Williams is due to the accretion of
compositional matter, and not to any systematic and logical principle..
I refer the reader to what I once published in the Arya Patrika
dated 13th July 1886 :—

"The word " Rig signifies the expression of the nature and pro "
perties of, and the actions and reactions produced by, substances/

rfilTlflSM ON 67

Hence, the name has been applied to Rig Veda as its function is to
describe the physical, chemical and active properties of all material
substances as well as the psychological properties of all mental
substances. Next to a knowledge of things, conies the practice,
application of that knowledge, for all knowledge has some end,
that end being usefulness to man. Hence, Yajur Veda comes next
to Rig Veda, the meaning of Yajur being application. It is upon this
double principle of liberal and professional or technical education
that the well-known division of the course of study of Aryans, the
Vedas, into Rig and Yajur is based/7

After a knowledge of the universe and the practice of that know
ledge, comes the elevation and exaltation of human faculties, which
alone is compatible with the true Upasna of Brahma. The Sama
Veda has, for its function, the expression of those mantras which
lead to this^exaltation of mind, in which one enters in the superior
condition and becomes illuminated.

Let us not mock at the position taken by the Aryas with respect
to the nature of the Vedas, for there are reasons enough to justify
this position. Not being a novel position at all, it is the position that
is maintained even according to the Hindu systems of mythology,
which are but gross and corrupt distortions of the Vedic sense and
meaning. The broad and universal distinction of all training into pro
fessional and liberal, has been altogether lost sight of in the Puranic
mythology, and like everything else has been contracted into a narroAv~
superstitious sphere of shallow thought. The Vedas] instead of be
ing regarded as universal text books of liberal and professional
sciences, are now regarded as simply codes of religious thought
Religion, instead of being grasped as the guiding principle of all
active propensities of human nature, is regarded as an equivalent of
certain creeds and dogmas. So with the Rig and Yajur Vedas. Yet,
even in this distorted remnant of Aryan thought and wisdom — the
Puranic mythology — the division of the Vedas into Rig and Yajur,
the liberal and the professional, is faithfully preserved. The Rig. now
implies a collection of hymns and songs in praise and dwrl/tfion of
various gods and goddesses ; whereas Yajur, now, stands for tho
mantras recited in the ritual, the active part of religious ceremonies.
This is the view taken by the so-called Scholars of the day.

\Ve come now to Williams' account of the Vedas. He says that
the Vedas consist of 3 parts. — I. Mantra ; II. Brahmana ; and III,
Upanishad. We will not dwell here upon the fact that the mantra*
only are the Vedas and not the Brahmanas and the Upanishads, for
tho Brahmanas and the Upanishads are mere commentaries of the,
Vsdas. He says : —

"They (the mantra portion of tho Vedas according to Williams)
arc comprised in II principal Sanhitas or collections of Mantras,
•illed respectively Rig, Atharvan, Samun, Tiiitrrya and Vajasaneya/'

63 M. W.J8 INDIAN WISDOM.

In one fullstop we have two assertions of Williams : —

I. — That Sanhita means a collection of Mantras.

II. — That there are five such collections, Rig, Atharva, Sama,
Taitreya and Vajasaneya.

That Sanhita should mean a collection is another indication of
Williams' ignorance of Sanskrit Grammar. Says Panini I, 4, 107.

' ¥f%7TF. which means that the sannikarsh^of one

pad with another is called Sanhita. To make the distinction clear,
I will refer the reader not to Panini but to Oriental Scholars them
selves. Recently there have been published two editions of Rig
Ye da — I, Sanhita Patha, and 23 Pad Patha. Both are collections of
Mantras, but not Sanhitas. Now, had Sanhita meant collection of
Mantras, Max Muller would not have unconsciously refuted himself
and bis brother scholar Monier Williams. His second assertion is

with respect to the number of the Vedas. Vajasaneya ^f
is just what is known by the name of ?r?pf^, whereas Tai

treya *ff%?n is no Mantra ^ff^rfT but snU**F tff%??T.. Could

Williams, unless he had a willingness to distort Sanskrit words and
literature and a conscious desire to misrepresent and maliciously
interpret every V.edic truth, have ever committed a greater blunder
tiiaa this? We are ever reading of if^sft and if^fis^ift, but

i)o one not even Williams hirqself, has even heard or read of
$^^^Wl. The fact is that the reticence or abettment of

gther scholars has made Williams too bold, and there is not one lie
regarding Sanskrit literature that his omnipotent sacred pen cannot
ponvert into an authoritative truth for the blind followers of the
blind. Having defined the Vedas as prayers, invocations and hymns,
Williams then proceeds to the discussion of another question. I shall
state it in his own words.

" To what deities, it will be asked, were the prayers and hymns
of these collections addressed ? This is an interesting inquiry, for
these were probably the very deities worshipped under simila names
by our Aryan progenitors in their primeval home, somewherer on the
tableland oi Central Asia, perhaps in the region of Bokhara, not far
from the sources of the Qxus. The answer is . — They worship ped those
physical forces before which all nations, if guided solely by the
light of nature, have in the early period of their life instinctively
l)owed down^ and before which evyn the more civilized and enlighten
ed have always been compelled to bend in awe and reverence, if not
in adoration. . . . ."*

* Manuscript missing.— ED.

LECTURE II.

THE HYMNS OF THE VEDAS. (2);

I COME now to Monier AVilliams' criticism on the Vedas proper.
Here is what Monier Williams has to say on the subject : —

" In the Veda this unity soon diverged into various ramifications.
Only a few of the hymns appear to contain the simple conception of
one Divine Self-existent, Omnipresent Being, and even in these the
idea of one God present in all nature is somewhat nebulous and un
defined. Perhaps, the most ancient and beautiful deification was
that of Dyaus, ' the sky ' as Dayauth-pitar, f Heavenly Fa'ther ' (the
Zeus or Jupiter of the Greeks and Romans). Then, closely connected
with Dyaus, was a goddess Aditi, 'the* Infinite Expanse/ conceived
of subsequently as the mother of all the gods. Next came a develop
ment of the same conception called Varuna, 'the Investing Sky/ said
to answer to Ahura Mazda, the Ormazd of the ancient Persian (Zand)
mythology, and to the Greek Ovpavos — but a more spiritual conception,
leading to a worship which rose to the nature of a belief in the great
. . . This Varuna, again, was soon thought of in connection witn
another somewhat vague personification called Mitra, ' god of day.'
After a time these impersonations of the sky and c,elestial sphere
were felt to be too vague. Soon after, therefore, the great investing
firmament resolved itself into separate cosmical entities with separate
powers and attributes. First, the watery atmosphere — personified
under the name of Indra, ever seeking to dispense his dewy treasures
(indu), though ever restrained, scondly} the wind — thought of either
as a single personality named Vayu, or as a whole assemblage of
moving powers coming from every quarter of the compass, and per
sonated as Maruts or ( Storm-gods.' At the same time in this process
t)f decenterlization — if I may use the term — the once purely celestial
Varuna became relegated to a position among seven secondary deities
of the heavenly sphere called Adityas (afterwards increased to
twelve, and regarded as diversified forms of the sun in the several
months of the year), and subsequently to a dominion over the waters
when they had left the air and rested on the earth."

" Of these separately deified physical forces by far the most
favourite object of adoration was the deity supposed to yield the
dew and rain, longed for by Eastern cultivators of the soil with even
greater cravings than by Northern agriculturists. Indra, therefore —
trie Jupiter Pluvius of early Iijdian mythology — is undoubtedly the
principal divinity of Vedic worshippers, in so far at least as th4
g reater nufaer of their prayers and hymns are addressed to him»"

70 M. W.'S INDIAN WISDOM.

" What, however, could rain effect without the aid of heat ? A
force the intensity of which must have impressed an Indian mind with
awe, led him to invest the possessor of it with divine attributes.
Hence the other great god of Yedic worshippers and in some respects
the most important in his connection with sacrificial rites, is Agni
(Latin Ignis), 'the god of fire/ Even Surya, 'the sun' (Greek hlios),
who was probably at first adored as the original source of heat,
came to be regarded as only another form of fire. He was merely
a manifestation of the same divine energy removed to the heavens,
and consequently less accessible. Another deity, Ushas, ' goddess of

the dawn/— the of the Greeks,— was naturally connected with

the sun, and regarded as daughter of the sky. Two other deities, the
Ashvins, were fabled as connected with Ushas, as ever youiig^ and
handsome, travelling in a golden car and precursors of the dawn. They
are sometimes called Daxas, as divine physicians, ' destroyers of dis
eases; sometimes Nasatyas, as ' never untrue/ They appear to have
been personifications of two luminous points or rays imagined to
precede the break of day. These, with Yama, ' the god of departed
•spirits,' are the principal deities of the Mantra portion of the Veda/

Herein there are 13 points that Monier Williams brings in
and also exactly 13 points that can be disputed, Williams points
out that the Yedas sanction the worship of : —

1. Dyauh-pitar, as , the father of the sky Dyauh-pitar, which
among Greeks ,or Romans becomes Zeus or Jupiter.

2. Aditi, the goddess of infinite expanse mother of all gods,
3 Yaruna, the God of investing sky, corresponding to

Ahurmuzda of Persians and Ozr and Gos of the Greeks.

4. Mitra, the God of day, associate of Yaruna.

5. Indra, the god of the watery atmosphere.

G. Yritta, the spirit of evil that opposed Indra.

7. Yayu, the god of wind.

8. Maruts, the storm-gods.

9. Adityas, who were first regarded as seven in number. The
number was finally increased to 12. The worship of the sun and ifl
golar months being thus established,

10. Agni, god of fire.

11. Ushan, goddess of dawn.

12. Ash wins, twin precursors of dawn, called also Daxas or
doctors and nasatyas or never untrue.'

lo Yama. the god of departed spirits.

CRITICISM QN. 71

Kach one of these positions can he disputed, but I have
neither time nor William's provocation to do so. It would
take us a long time to run over the list of these 13 gods and show
that Williams has not understood any one of these. But it would
be useless, as Williams only quotes the Vedas on the subject of only
seven out of these thirteen, i., e., Varuna, Mitra, Indra, Aditya, Agni,
•Ash win and Yama, and two more, kola or Time and ratri or Night,
and leaves the remaining undiscussed.

In a future lecture we shall take up each of these assertions in
turns and show the strength of the proof on which Williams bases the
truth of his assertions. But at present I have neither time enongh
nor the disposition to perfrom this task, as another and more im
portant question is pressing. Suffice it to say then that in the
opinion of Monier Williams the Vedas are records of a rude and
barbarous age when fetish worship prevailed, when the various
objects and forces of nature, like the sky, the firmament, the vast
expanse, the day, the watery atmosphere, the cloud, the wind, the
storm, the rain, the sun with its 12-months, the fire, the dawn, the
break and the spirits of the dead were worshipped. Of course,
•onier Williams asserts that the deified forces addressed in the
lantras, wei*e probably not represented by images or idols in the
redic period ; but he says that doubtless the early worshippers
clothed their gods with human form in their imaginations. Williams'
panegyric, then, on the non-idolatrous character of the Vedas, is a
mere panegyric and no more. His objects is, however, to show that,
notwithstanding all allowances that can.be made,«the Vedas are, at
the best, books that contain fetish worship and low, uncivilized
'neology. For, let me remind you of the quotation that I read in the
beginning. He says : —

"In the Veda, this unity soon diverged into various ramifications.
Only a few of the hymns appear to contain the simple conception of
one Divine Self-existent Omnipersent Being and in these the idea
of one God present in all nature is somewhat nebulous and un
defined."

-

My object to-day is simply to point out that nowhere can these
remarks of Williams be so well applicable as in the case of the Bible,
the Bible which Monier Williams holds in such esteem, the Bible
\\hi(-h he calls the sacred word of God, teaching the only true
•vligion, as opposed to three false religions of the world.—
Brahnaanism, Islam and Uuddhism, where as the Vedas do, not only in
^few passages, contain the simple conception of a Divine Self-existent
Omnipresent Being, bnt throughout the \7edas we find Cod described
as a Divine Self-existent and Omnipresent Being, ami not only is thi>
idea not cloudy, nebulous or undefined even in these passages, hut
there can possibly be no clearer statemeni onthe subject than [Jios<

• "iilaineil in 1 he Ye<iu<

72

I shall show that the Vedas only sanction pure unde filed
monotheism, whereas the Bible is the book wherein the idea of one
Divine, Self-existent, Omnipresent God is most nebulous and extremely
undefined.

To come to the Vedas :

T Pur fa^ftrarcr TOT *ri i tnsi ^ irtf

fr, C--

* * *r<> $. *• u m * u

the meaning of which is : —

We worship Him, the Lord of the universe of the inanimate and
animate creation, for, He is the blesser of our intellect and our
protector. He dispenses life and good among: all. Him do we
worship, for as He is our preserver and benefactor, so is He our way
to bliss and happiness also.

II ^o ^b ^ ^o o ?T ^ II The wise people always desire to

obtain communion with Him who pervades everywhere, for, He is
everywhere. Neither time nor space, nor substance can divide Him.
He is not limited to one time or one place or one thing, but is every
where just as the light of the sun prgvade's everywhere in unob
structed space.

Agan—

irerTOfTfsrTrjj *tir*u •T^fSTOf^^sr 11 ^TO ^ i \\ \\

God pervades through all matter and space, even the distant
suns, the far-off directions and is consciously present everywhere. He
is conscious of His own powers. He made the elemental atoms
with which to begin the creation of the Universe. He is all-bliss and
eternal happiness. Any human sotil that perceives and realises the
existence of this Divine Being within himself and lives in the pre
sence of this God, is saved.

^o ^fc || JBrahhfia, \vlvo is the greatest of all and

worthy of being revered by all, who is present in all the worlds, and
fit to be worshipped, whose wisdonl and knowledge are boundless3
who is even the support of the infinite space, in whom all reside
and are supported, as a tree resides in the seed and is supported by it,-
so is the world supported by Him,

CRITICISM ON. 73

II 5fTS£IT[ T ^ ^Wt insreq II

i^ m ii *5f *rfwr t^i ^ s<ft wfr?r u ^<> ^\TO *^

— ^t II He is only one, there is no second, no

third, no fourth God. There is no fifth, no sixth, no seventh God.
Yes, there is no eighth, no ninth, no tenth God. In him, the Unitary
Being, all live, move and have their being.

You have seen, then, what the religion of the Vedas is. Can
there be any better, clearer, more distinct expression of monotheism
than this ? Can we better assert the divinity and omnipresence of
God?

We come now to the Bible, the pet darling of Monier Williams,
the Christian's rock of ages, to prove the excellence of which
Monier Williams so misinterprets, distorts and vilifies the Vedas.

Bishop Watson in his letters to Thomas Paine said, " An honest
man, sincere in his endeavours to search out truth in reading the
Bible, would examine first whether the Bible attributed to the Supreme
Being any attribute repugnant to holiness, truth, justice and goodness,
whether it represented Him as subject to human infirmities." — B.
"VVatson, p. 114.

I woulcl follow the same course. We 'find that the Bible does
represent God as subject to human infirmities and that it does attribute
to him attributes repugnant to holiness, truth, justice and goodness.

It represents God as subject to human infirmites. It represents
him as having a body, subject to wants and weaknesses like those of
ourselves. When he appears to Abraham, he appears, according to
tbe Bible, as three angels. Then they talked to Abraham &c. The
Bible runs thus : —

"2. And he (Abraham) lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three
rnen stood by him : and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from,
the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.

3. And said, my Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight
pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant :

4. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet,,
p-nd rest yourselves under the tree.

5. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye, your hearts;
after that ye shall pass on : for, therefore, are ye come to your servant.
And they said " so do, as thou hast said."

6. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, (his wife)
find said, " Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it,
jind make cakes upon the hearth,"

74 M. W.'S INDIAN WISDOM.

7. And Abraham ran into the herd, and fetched a calf tender
and good, and gave it unto a young man ; and he hasted to dress it.

8. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dress
ed, and set it before them ; and he stood by them under the tree, and
they did eat.

9. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife ? And he
paid, Behold, in the tent.

10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according
to the time of life ; and lo, Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son. -
liencsis, Chap. XVIII*

* The rest of the criticism is missing.— -Ep.

LECTURE IV.

THE HYMNS OF THE VEDAS, (4).

In this lecture, I propose to deal with the 50th Sukta of the first
AMaJca of the Rig-veda, whose translation as well as remarks there
upon by Monier Williams, I subjoin herewith. Says Moaier
Williams : —

" The next deity is Surya, the sun,* who, with reference to tha
variety of his functions, has various names — such as Savitri, Arya-
man, Mitra, Varuna, Pushan, sometimes ranking as distinct deities of
the celestial sphere, As already explained, he is associated in the
minds of Vedic worshippers with fire, and is frequently described as
sitting in a chariot drawn by seven ruddy horses (representing the
seven days of the week), preceded by the Dawn, Here is an example
of a hymn (Rig-veda 1, 50) addressed to this deity, translated almost
literally ; —

" Behold the rays of dawn like heralds, lead on high

The Sun, that men may see the great all-knowing god.
The stars slink off like thieves in company with Night,

Before the all-seeing eye, whose beams reveal his presence,
Gleaming like brilliant flames, to nation after nation.

With speed, beyond the ken of mortals, thou, 0 Sun,
Dost ever travel on, conspicuous to allf

Thou dost create the light, and with it dost illume
The universe entire ; thou risest in the sight

Of all the race of men, and all the host of heaven.
Light-giving Varuna ! thy piercing glance doth scan,

In quick succession all this stirring, active world,
" penetrateth too the broad ethereal space,

Measuring our days and nights and spying out all creatures,
Burya, with flaming looks, clear-sighted god of day.

Thy seven ruddy mares bear on thy rushing car.
With these thy self-yoked steeds, seven daughters of thy chariot,
Onward thou dost advance. To thy refulgent orb,

J3eyond this lower gloom afid upward to the light

Would we ascend, O Sun, thou god among the gods,"

* Vaska makes Indra, Agni and Surya, the Vedic Triad of gods.

76 M. W/S INDIAN WISDOM.

In this paragraph Monier Williams asserts :

(i) That Surya, the sun, was worshipped as a deity under differ
ent names, Savitri, Aryaman, Mitra, Varuna and Pushan.

(ii) That in the minds of Vedic worshippers Surya was associated
with Fire.

(iii) That Surya is described as sitting in a chariot drawn by
seven ruddy horses preceded by the dawn.

(iv) That these ruddy horses represent the seven days of the
week.

Monier Williams subjoins an almost literal translation of the 50th
Sukta of the 1st Ashtaka of the Kig-veda, which has been mentioned
before.

I need not say that Pushan, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman and Savitri
are only other names of the same Surya, and that Agni is also another
name for it, but, unlike Williams, they are not the different names
under which Surya, the sun, was worshipped. Surya is rather the

God of the Universe ^dr W*U SfJIeTCrftSJ^: He is the Urii-

versal Spirit that pervades the whole animate and inanimate creation.

The Sapta harita are not the seven ruddy horses of the sun that
pull his chariot, nor has the sun any chariot. The Sapta harita are
the seven rays as shall appear further on. The ratha means this
sublime universe. The seven days of the week are not the seven
haritas. But the value of Williams' translation will appear better
after the true translation is given.

I shall now proceed with my explanation of each one of the
Mantras giving Monir Williams' translation of the same, so that
both might appear side by side in a position fit to be compared.
. . . * the Divine essentials within the very interior of ever-
living soul.

Compare with the above the Monier Williams' translation of tha
same (3rd) mantra. Says he : —

"(The Sun), whose beams reveal his presence.

Gleaming like brilliant flames, to nation after nation. "

In vain do we seek for that purity of meaning, that sublimity of

thought, that absorbing importance of the subject-matter, in

Williams' translation of the Mantra. 5T«n ^T, to William's

N>

scholarly mind, means nation after "nation, " The Ketavah and Agna-
* Manuscript missing.

CRITICISM Otf. 77

yah become beams and brilliant flames. In vain do the philologists of
the West try to distort the sense of Vedic Mantras, and to make it
correspond with the records of a primitive, comparatively savage and
mythological age. I say, in vain, do these so-called scholars of oriental
languages try to interpret the Vedic records according to the
light of their brain-bred, I mean, fancy-bred, science, philology. For,
p,ll philologies, scholarships and learnings melt away like ice before the
concentrated, penetrative, heat-pouring potent beams of truth. f

We come now to the 5th Mantra of this Sukta, with Mor>ier
Williams' characteristic translation ..... " Thou (the sun)
risest in the sight of all the race of men, and all the host of heaven."
Can Williams ever be said to understand the meanings of Yedic
Mantras, or say specifically of this Mantra ? Where is his conception
of Vedic mythologies ? Where is his keen Christian sense which
smells of element-worship in the Vedas ! Has it gone so wrong as to
incapacitate' him even from understanding the simplest things. The
sun never rises at once in the sight of all the race of men ; bat poor
ignorant superstitious Vedic worshippers might have imagined so, but
can even an idiot, a Zulu savage, that has not even the millionth
part of the experience that Williams has — can he, even he imagine the
sun to rise in the sight of all the host of Heaven — he means the starry
firmament. No ! Expresssd in the language of a savage, the sun simply
blinds the glittering sights of the starry host of the Heaven. It simply
blows the night-gems, the stars, into a finejDowder of nothingness and
oblivion. But it never rises in the sight of all the host of Heaven,
for, as it rises, the stars get blinded and shrink into nothingness.
Whence, then, the mistake into which Monier Williams has stepped.

Clearly it is thus. Williams translates $3i»n*j into the starry
host of Heaven. He has forgotten his translation of dera into gods
and deities. But here ^3!«jf means all the host of Heaven.
Monier Williams' memory further slips the words of the Mantra
I I It seems that the Vedic poet had put this

unmeaning phrase here only to keep up the poetical metre ! But ano
ther explanation is possible. Williams was so much occupied with.
all the host of Heaven that as the sun rose, with the host of Heaven,
departed his memory of this phrase also. Hence the vacum in his
translation.

We have said that God is the cause of this panorama of the uni
verse. Is He not fit to be worshipped? He who undoubtedly live*

t "For Pandit Guru Datta's translation of the 4th Mantra, see pp. 30-112 of
'Termionlogy of the Vedas and European Scholars,"'

M. W.'S INDIAN WISDOM.

in us, mortal wns?TH men, and in the hearts of the wise

N* *•

as well as the material objects of creation. He who lives by, actually
residing in the interior of every thing and being tfcSi^, yes He

is the most fit object of our worship. In worshipping Him, we dd
not worship a mere phantom-picture, we dd not worship & distant be
ing or existence, but the ever-present, omniscient living God. It is no
worship of Christ, one, who, if Bible-g'ossip be true, lived and died some*
1900 years ago, who is now no more among us, who lived in Judea and
Jerusalem, not in India or America, who lived among the Hebrews,
not among the Aryas and the American Indians, and in spite of all
this, who only lived, but does not live as he did once in hunman form,
in flesh and blood. Christ-days are gone, but God-days are ever alive.
Compared with the pure and sublime faith of the Vedas, which is
also the faith of the Aryas, compared with the worship of the living
divinity in us, Christianity is but a very crude form of Idolatry.
Further more, the Vedas enjoin a divinity worship not in solemn
words and amid congregation, in sky-piercing churches and " farces
of fruitless prayer," but in the living temple of human heart, a wor
ship which consists only in the realisation on earth and hereafter of

that Universal bliss, that reigns calmly everywhere,

I talk of no production of my imagination when I speak of the
worship of God in the living temple of the human heart. This alone
is the true worship. It conducts itself as naturally and silently as
the fragrance of .flowers. It requires no set formulae of the churches,
no Bhajans and Sangit-malas of his or her composition. True wor
ship is an undisturbed mind, a virtuous life perpetual. Says Krishna : —

" The residence of God is

in the innermost heart of man." Let me supplement this idea with
quotations from the Vedas and the Upanishats.

" Any place where the mind of man can be undisturbed is suitable
for the worship of the Supreme Being."

" The vulgar look for their gods in water ; the ignorant think they
reside in wood, bricks and stones ; men of more extended knowledge
seek them in celestial orbs ; but wise men worship the Universal Soul.

" There is One living and true God, everlastnig, without parts or
passions ; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness ; the Maker and
Preserver of all things.

" That Spirit, who is distinct from matter and from all beings
contained in matter, is not various. He is One and He is beyond
description ; whose glory is so great that there can be no image of
him. He is the Incomprehensible Spirit, who • illuminates all and
delights all ; from whom all proceed, by whom they live after they

CRITICISM ON 79

are born ; nothing but the Supreme Being should be adored by a
wise man."

" Through strict veracity, Uniform control of the mind and senses,
abstinence from sexual indulgence, and ideas derived from spiritual
teachers, men should approach God, who, full of glory and perfection,
works in the heart, and to whom only votaries, freed from passion and
desire can approximate."

Let me not multiply quotations in proof of my position. But
rather, let us, like sincere devotees of the truth, confess that formal
congregational worship is quite informal, and that, worship, and true
worship, is never offered in words, not at all in pathetic, tear-shedding
sermons. The only true worship that Vedas enjoin and which we
also should learn to conduct is the practice of strict veracity, of uni
form control of mind and senses, of abstinence from sexual indul
gence, of learning lessons from spiritual tachers, and of freedom from
passion and 'desire,

This, then, is, in brief, the Vedic Worship. Contrast with it, if
you please, the worships of the whole religious world. This worship
alone can lead us to the realization of pure Divine wisdom. No other

can. For, the light, the intelligent light ^¥, that shines
through the world and through men, that witnessess all our actions
3Rl<T*qfa, and regulates the phenomena of the material
spheres WC^ro*5?} ^«T, is the light that can lead. us to wisdom
and purity ^nm WTO? II Let it be understood, then, that none

who has not learnt to conduct this true worship of the Universal
Soul, can ever attain to purity and wisdom. This is the true mode of
worship, for, this exactly is the sense of the 6th Mantra of the 50th
Sukta of Rig Veda which runs thus :

EVIDENCES

OF

i*

THE HUMAN SPIRIT.

EVIDENCES

OF

THE HUMAN SPIRIT.

"^ ff

II IIWT« 8, £ II

the human spirit it is that sees, feels, hears, smells, tastes, znV/.v,
__, does and understands everything. The human spirit is the real
•conscious mqn. — Prashna Upanishat. iv, 9.

How painful is ignorance. Pdtanjali says that ignorance is the
only soil where evils can grow and germinate. * And so it«is. All
the evil of this world is the result of misdirection of natural forces
.^ultimately traceable to ignorance. Nowhere is ignorance, however,
BO baneful as when it appertains to the ignorance of one's own self!
Under the stunning effect of ignorance people imagine themselves to
be deprived of their own vital essence. And the so-called theologies
of the world, no less than the materialistic* objective externalism of
•the day, are busy in propagating scepticism, and «ven downright
cnihilism, on the subject. As a matter of fact, more is due in this
direction to the pious teachings of the so-called religious world than
to the sincere and logically- arrived-at convictions of philosophers and
•scientific men. The conclusions arrived at by sincere investigators
>and unprejudiced, unbiased reasoners, are, at the worst, only doubt
ful and fluctuating. They terminate in the confession of a mystery,
or of some indefinite relation between mind and body. But our wise
theologians of all religions go further. Their assertions are positive,
Bogmatic, and leave no room for doubt. The pious missionary, who
believes in the perfected political religion of the western world, i. e.,
^popular Christianity refined, returns this unequivocal answer to the
query, — What is human spirit ? " And the Lord God formed man
(Adam ?) of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
•the breath of life ; and man became a living soul." f And Mahomet's
tdoctrine of Nafakht Fih, as given in the Qoran, is but a reiteration of
tin; same, an echo of the biblical account in every sense. Thv* i*
grand problem of life and death solved by the Mahomedan nm!
Christian worlds alike; and thus is the human spirit declared to be

ti, 7.

82 EVIDENCES OF

a mere breath. Faithful to the instincts of his atheistic Christian
land, poet-laureate Tennyson thus puts the answer in the mouth of
personified Nature : —

" Thou makest thine appeal to me :
I bring to life, I bring to death :

The spirit does but mean the breath :
I know nc more." *

Not only is the human spirit, then, deprived of its proper func
tions and powers, but even scared out of existence. Apart from the
absurdity of the supposition, for, the Great Eternal Being must have
become almost tired — so as to require almost rest on every ? seventh
day — of so constantly blowing out of his exhausting lungs breaths of
vital fire to keep alive so many millions of millions of millions of living
beings, living upon the innumerable worlds, inhabiting the infinite
space, the doctrine is in itself highly pernicious and misleading. For,
what can be more pernicious than this, that a human being should
be declared to be a void, a phantom, a breath, and no more.

Once admit that the human spirit is not a substance or an identity as
real as palpable matter, (nay it is more real) ; once admit, like Budhas,
that human life is but an evanescent spark passing off like a transient
meteor in the sky ; or, like Christians, that it is a mere breath ; o r,
l::kc modern subjective evolutionists, that ' spirit ' is only a conception
inherited by th# civilized races from their savage progenitors who
formed it, misled by the delusive phenomena of dreams wherein a
savage is represented to dream a friend coming and talking 'to him,
whereas, on awakening, he finds that the friend is nowhere, thus giving
to the savage a notion, that every human being must have got a cor
responding invisible second self, that appears in dreams, but is not
tangible ; once admit the airy nothingness of the human spirit, and
down goes with it the whole fabric of all religion and morality. Can
supernatural Christianity, with its gratis scheme of salvation, be based
upon this sand-foundation of spirit-notion ? O vain Christian ! wipe
off your theology and your scheme of salvation, for, there is no
human spirit to be saved. That which you would save, is but a
phantom, a mere breath. It is no substantiality. And ye Mahomedans !
get rid of your doctrine of prophetic interposition, for, interposition
will only save a phantom that has already disappeared, or would,
perhaps, be destroyed the next moment. And all ye, who believe in
the generationt of human spirit, i. e., in its creation out of nothing by

* In Memoriam, 56, 2.

t '* Generation, progress and eternal existence are the characteristics of soul.'*
Brahmo Samaj Tract, '• Sadharana Sutrarn," translated by Navina Chandra Rai,
Chapter III. Sutra, 35>

THE HUMAN SPIRIT. S3

the fiat of the Deity, understand that what sprang into existence
out of nothing will fall back into the chaos out of which it sprang,
and be resolved into nothing i

This superstition, ©r misimpression of the non-entity of spirit, ia
not confined to the primary strata of religion alone. It has begun
*yo permeate through the civilized world, till it has reached the margin
of ' scientific speculation.'

f The mechanical theory of the universe nndertakes not only to
account for all physical phenomena by describing them as variances
in the structure or configuration of material systems/ but strives
even to appreheud all vital and physiological phenomena by reducing
them to the elements of mass and motion. Thus, Wundt, speaking of
physiology, says, " The view that has now become dominant (in phy
siology), and is ordinarily designated as the mechanical or physical
view, has it£ origin in the causal conception long prevalent in the
kindred departments of natural science, which regards nature as a
single chain of causes and effects wherein the ultimate laws of causal
actions are the laws of mechanics^ Physiology thus appears as a
branch of applied physics, its problem being a reduction of vital
phenomena to general physical laws, and thus ultimately to the funda
mental laws of Mechanics." Again, says professor Haeckel in

clearer terms, " The general theory of evolution assumes

that in nature there is a great, unital, continuous and everlasting
process of development, and that all natural phenomena, without
exception, from the motion of the celestial bodies and the fall of the,
rolling stone up to the growth ef the plant and the consciousness of man,
are subjeet to the same great law of causation — that they are ulti
mately to be reduced to atomic mechanics." Not this alone, bu^
Haeckelt further declares that this theory which affords a rational
explanation of the universe, and satisfies the craving of the intellect
for causal connections, inasmuch as it links all the phenomena of
nature as parts of a great unital process of development and as a
•series of mechanical causes and effects." * Working under the charms
ef this mechanical theory of the universe, Dr. Biiclmer, in his " Matter
sind Force," denies even existence to psychology or subjective philo
sophy. Many regard matter and its chemical workings as sufficient
<to account for all force and all mind. The notion of personality, im-.
mortality or independence of matter are again discarded by some as
superstitious and absurd. Thus it is with philosophers and scientific
men, who live from day to night in dread of utter annihilation.

Notwithstanding the fact that such materialism has long prevail
ed and even now prevails in the strongholds of Science and Religion
in Western countries, it is remarkable to note that there have been

* StaiJo's Concepts of Modern Physics, pp, 19—20.

$4 EVIDENCES OF

from time to time men who have fearlessly explored the regions of
nature and made attempts at understanding and stating the bare
truth.

Deep researches in physiology have revealed the fact that the
human organisation is endowed with a self-conservative energy. Anfl
physicians and medical men in different ages have come to the con^-
clusion, on the basis of their medical experience with the sick and the
diseased, that there is in the human organisation a self-healing power
which goes to restore the sick and throw off disease, and that medi
cines are only aids to this healing power. Thus, Von Helment was
obliged to recognise a principle which he called " Archeus," and
regarded it as independent of inert and passive matter — a principle
that presided over all diseases and inspired the proper medicines with
vitality enough to heal or to restore. The same principle was called
by Stahl "anima" and was regarded as supplying losses and repairing
injuries, besides overcoming diseases. The same principle was called
by Whytt " the sentient principle." It was differently styled by Dr.
Cullen, who called it the " vis medicatrix naturae" ; by Dr. Brown,
who called it the "Caloric'' ; by Dr. Darwin, who named it "Sensorial
energy," by Rush, who called it "occult cause" ; by Brousais, who call
ed it "vital chemistry" and by Hooper, who calls it the " vital principle"
Living power, Conservative force, Economy of human nature, and
powers of life, these and many such others have been the names by
Avhich the same principle has been called.

Whereas physicians and medical men have proceeded on the one
•side to approach the belief in a vital principle, theoretic speculation oh
biology has advanced far enough to probe the question of the genesis
of life. And honest investigators and sincere writers have been com
pelled to recognize that, " life, however, may also be considered as a
cause, since amongst the phenomena presented by all living beings,
there are some which cannot be referred to the action of known phy
sical or chemical laws, and which, therefore, temporarily, at any rate,
we must term "vital "*

It has also been maintained that there is a plastic carbon-com
pound, called protoplasm, composed of four inseparable elements — Car-
*bon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitrogen — which is the physical basis of
life, and consequently very often the doctrine of organisation-genesis
of life has ben urged. But to do justice to this physical basis of life,
it must be remarked that, although the presence of these four elements
apparently fixes it as a physical basis, that it possesses always
a definite composition, is very much doubted. " It has not yet been
shown that the living matter, which we Designate by the convenient

* Nicholson's Manual of Zoology, 6th Edition, page 7.

THE HUMAN SPIRIT. T g£

~~"~~ V* V"~~

term of protoplasm, has universally and in all cases a constant -mid'
undeviating chemical composition ; and indeed there is reason to
believe that this is not the case."* Furthermore, in consideration of
the vital phenomena presented by tho lowest animals, scientific
authorities have been obliged to confess that organisation is not an
intrinsic and indispensable condition of vital phenomena, Speakino-
Of Amoeba, remarks Professor Nicholson, "This animalcule, which is
structurally little more than a mobile lump ot semi-fluid protoplasm
digests as perfectly— as far as the result itself is concerned— as does
the most highly organized animal with the most complex digestive
apparatus. It takes food into its interior, it digests it without the
presence of a single organ for the purpose ; and, still more, it possesses
that inexplicable selective power by which it assimilates out of its food
such constituents as it needs, whilst it rejects the remainder. In the
present state of our knowledge, therefore, we must conclude that even
in the process of digestion, as exhibited in the Amoeba, there is
something that is not merely physical or chemical. Similarlv any-
organism, when just dead, consists of the same protoplasm as before
m the same form, and with the same arrangements ; but it has most
unquestionably lost a thing by which all its properties and actions
were modified and some of them were produced. What that some
thing is, we do not know, and perhaps never shall know; and it is t
sible, though highly improbable, that future discoveries may demon
£trate that it is merely a subtle modification of some physical force

t appears, namely, in the highest degree probable, that every vital
action has in it something which is not merely physical and chemical
but which is conditioned by an unknown force, higher in its nature
and distinct in kind as compared with all other forces. The presence
of this vital "force " may be recognized even in the simplest pheno
mena ot jmtrition ; aud no attempt even has hitherto been made
to explain the phenomena of reproduction by the working- of an
known physical or chemical force. "t

Speaking of the same, Professor Huxley remarks :— " It scems
difficult to imagine a state of organisation lower than that of Greqari-
mda, and yet many of the Rhizopoda are still simpler. Nor is there
any group of the animal kingdom which more admirably illustrates
a very well-founded docrine, and one which was often advocated l,v
John Hunter, that life is the cause and not the consequence of or
gamsation, for, in these lowest forms of animal life there is absolutely
nothing worthy of the name of organisation to be discovered by the
microscopist, though assisted by the beautiful instruments that are
now constructed. In the substance of many of these creatures, noth

•*• Nicholson's Zoology page 9, note.

t Nicholson's Zoology, 6th Edition, pp. 12^

86 EVIDENCESOP

ing is to be discovered but a mass of jelly, which might be represent
ed by a little particle of thin glue. Not that it corresponds with
the latter in composition, but it has that texture and sort of aspect ;
it is structureless and organless, and without definitely formed parts!
Neverthelessj it possesses all the essential properties and characters
of vitality : it is produced from a body like itself, it is capable of
assimilating nourishment and of exerting movements. Nay, morej
it can produce a shell, a structure, in many cases, of extraordinary
complexity and most singular beauty.

:e That this particle of jelly is capable of guiding physical forces,
in such ft manner as to give rise to those exquisite and almost
mathematically arranged structures — being itself structureless and
without permanent distinction or separation of parts — is, to my mind,
a fact of the profoundest significance."^

The irresistible conclusion to which the above leads, land which
Haeckel also holds, is that " the forms of their organisms and of their
organs result entirely from their life." It is clear, then, that by
whatsoever name it may be called, life, vital principle, organising prin
ciple occult cause, sensorial energy, vis medicatrix nature, anima or so
many ather names, modern scientific world has come face to face with
a dynamic physiological reality which they call life. Is is no more
a mere breath, a mere phantom, or a mere product of organisation.
It is rather a subtle, refined, dynamic substance, a reality that builds
up the organisation, causes growth, vitality, and motion, repairs
injuries, makes up losses, feeds, feels, is sentient, originates actions,
resists, overcomes and cures diseases. This is the irresistible con
clusion to which physiological researches have led sincere investi
gators and philosophers in western countries. Thus it is that they
have been compelled to admit a reality, (call it material if it will
please you), yet, a reality, which the ancient philosophers of the east

styled Atma ( *rTr*TT )•

If we have purposely avoided mentioning ancient eastern authori
ties on the subject, it is for the plain reason that India of the present
day derives its intellectual activity, faith, belief and conviction
mainly from civilized occidental England. Had we, in the very
beginning, culled evidence from ancient Sanskrit authors just to
prove even these very positions literally, there is no doubt that these
remarks would have been unhesitatingly pronounced as super
stitious, whimsical, unscientific and old-grown ; although, even after
the best evidence from western authors on the subject has been.
collected, there is not to be found that systematic, exhaustive enumera-

f An introduction to the classifications of animals, by Thomas Henry Huxley
IX. o., F. R. s., London, 1869, pp, 10— H.

THEHUMANSPIRIT. 87

tion of evidence which is the characteristic of a settled or decided
opinion.

To come, however, to the proper subject, " Evidences of the
Human Spirit " from the standpoint of Vaixheshika philosophy. As
already pointed out, the ancient philosophers of Aryavarta styled
this vital principle Atma. It is one of the nine dravyas of the Vaishe-
shika philosophers. A dravya, in Vaisheshika philosophy, is something
in which attributes and actions inhere,* or what in English philosophy
would be called a substance, or better still, a substratum, or a
noumenon. It is clear, then, that Atma is a reality, one of the nine
noumena of the universe, a substance in which attributes and actions
inhere.

Let us, therefore, divest ourselves of our previous notions con
cerning the human spirit, so that we may the better understand it3
nature, according to this philosophy. English metaphysicians having
generally regarded the human spirit as an immaterial nothing some
thing, have been unable to offer any explanation as to how the mind
knows the external univesse and acts on it. Regarding the human
mind, as, they did, as altogether immaterial, i. e., as divested of all
the properties of matter, even of the substantiality and extension or
•space-occupation of matter, they found their intellects compelled to
halt, when the problem of the cognition of the external world was
presented to them. In vain, did they attempt to solve the problem
by referring cognitions to impressions of external matter or to corres
pondences produced by the Divine energy ; for the problem still re
mained the same.

A soft, plastic melting bar of wax is taken, spread upon a
surface, and a hard, rigid, solid carved design imprinted upon it. The
wax easily takes the design upon it. This is the impression on the
wax. It was similarly urged that external objects which are material,
cannot be perceived by the altogether immaterial spirit directly, for
we cannot conceive of any action between things that have no pro
perties in common, for instance, such as mind and matter — mind,
which is almost altogether ideal, invisible, impalpable, phantom-
like airy nothing; and matter, which is independently existing,
external, real, visible, tangible and perceptible. It was, therefore-,
asserted that what takes place in the perception of things is
this : — The sensorium first takes the impression of things external,
and it is this impression in the sensorium which is ultimately
perceived by the spirit. But this does not solve the problem.
For, if the sensorium takes the impression of objects external, however
soft, plastic and liquidous the sensorium may be, it must be yet mate*
rial : for, no matter what the substance may be, a material substance
can only leave impressions on a material something. The sensorium,

\\ Valsheshika, Sutra 1. i. 15,

$8 EVIDENCES OF

therefore, must be itself material, if it can be impressed by external
matter at all. If, then, the sensorium itself be material, as we are
compelled to believe it is, the problem has not been solved ; for, the
difficulty still remains as to how the altogether immaterial mind can
perceive the material and, therefore, external impressions on the
sensorium.

Some philosophers have maintained that Divine interposition is the
only means of getting rid of this difficulty. They, therefore, theorize
that the Divine Being the spirit of God, through omnipotence, works
out the material phenomena of nature in the physical external world
•on one hand, and corresponding internal mental changes directly in the
world of mind, on the other ; that thus, we are every moment conscious,
not of matter and material phenomena, but of corresponding mental
•phenomena, existing independently by the direct working of the
Divine Will. It is needless to say that this theory, instead of explain
ing the cognition of the external world, cuts short the gordian knot
by utterly denying the very existence of any such cognition at all. It
not only robs us of our cognition, but robs us of the very external
world itself, for, if we be not conscious of the external world, but of
'mental changes only, say, correspondingly worked out by Divine
interposition, what proof have we that any such external world exists ?

This difficulty of explaining the cognition of the external world
becomes augmented still further, when we come to consider the par
allel and correlate question of the action of the human spirit upon
matter. Here may lie a heavy mass of iron, say, 20 seers in weight.
At the command of the spirit, the arm rises, and the weight is lifted
up. Here is another mystery to be explained. How can the alto
gether immaterial spirit lift up the altogether material and^ external
weight of twenty seers ? Replies the impatient reader, the weight is
moved in consequence of the hand. But, who moved the equally
material hand ? One may go a step further and say that the feat
was accomplished by a regular contraction of the muscles, but the
muscles are material still, and the question still remains, who contract
ed the muscles ? Here the vain physiologist may say that there
passed a nervous current from the brain and straight contracted the
muscles. But the question still nutters before the mind, what stimula
ted the nervous currents? You answer, the will of the spirit. And
here lies the question of questions, how could the immaterial spirit
stimulate, by his immaterial will, the solid, white, fibrous, silvery
•'material nerves to yield up their nervous fluid and contract the
muscles ? It is plain, then, that there can be no escape from the final
riddle : and whence this riddle ? Clearly enough from the pre-conceiv-
cd erroneous notion that the spirit is an altogether immaterial airy
nothing, phantom-like, or breath ly something.

THE HUMAN SPlfclT.

89

Once admit, as the Vaisheshika philosophy teaches, that the Atnia,
human spirit, is at least as good a substance as
matter, as good a noumenon or substratum as ordinary external
objects are possessed of, and it will be clear how substance can act
upon substance or be impressed by substance. This peculiar sub-
tance, Atmb, is the seat of two grand manifestations, the voluntary
and the involuntary. The voluntary or conscious functions of Atma
are the functions called cognition, feeling and will : also called Buddhi
(consciousness), sukha (feeling of pleasure), dukha (feeling of pain),
ichchhd (desire), dwesha (repulsion), and prayatna (conscious exertion).
These voluntary functions of the spirit have formed the basis of
discussions of all metaphysicians who have ignorantly or wilfully
neglected the treatment of the other set of functions— pranapana or
respiration, nimeshonmesha or nictitation, jivana or physiologic ^build-
ing and animation, nianas or sensation, gati or movement, indriya or
activity of the senses, and antaravikara or organic feelings. The
result of the separation of these two sets of the functions of the spirit
has been that schools of metaphysicians and scientific men have been
set up in conflict with each other, both denying the substantiality of
the spirit. The metaphysicians deny the substantiality of the spirit,
evidently on the ground that sensations, feelings, wills, desires and
ideas, perceptions and cognitions have no independent existence of
their 'own, but seern to be manifested only in organised structure.
There is, besides, a tendency, among metaphysicians, to regard what
soever is internal or mental as imaginary or as phenomenal, but not as
real or substantial. Hence, dealing as they do, with the departments of
cognition, feeling and will, they regard the mind no more real than its
phenomena. Had they also recognised the involuntary functions of
the spirit, they would have readily preceived that the real something
which produces such tangible, real phenomena as the building up of
structures or the animation of organism, or which produces motion
and the co-ordination of motion, is the reality that sentiently feels,
knows and wills.

On the other hand, the scientific world has been prone to deny
substantial; r- to spirit from the opposite ground that their external
phenomenal re .earches into the functions of organisms could only
reveal to then*, at their best, the involuntary potencies of the spirit,
and this could not otherwise happen. For, the whole material world,
from the psychological point of view, is merely objective existence,
The human spirit is the only substance that is both objective and
subjective at the same time. The scientific world, owing to its m:iteri:il-
ism and the deep-seated tendency of only depending on
testimony, hive only soufffet the objective side of the human spirit,
fcnd have, therefore, landed themselves into a nihilism which denies
the subjective side of the human spirit. Not finding the involuntary

EVIDENCES OF

tendencies of the spirit anywhere outside of organic matter, for, then,
they would not be manifest, they have denied to consciousness an
independent substratum. For, it is to them more agreeable and
uniform to regard life also as one of the forces, and since conscious
ness has no place in this list of forces, it must be the apparent,
delusive result of the most complicated working of natural forces.
To them, matter with its chemical affinity is all-sufficient. Had both
sets of functions, voluntary and involuntary, of the human spirit,
been simultaneously viewed, no darkness would have enshrouded the
realm of mind. It would have been perceived that the human spirit,
in performing what are called the involuntary functions of the mind,
behaves just in the same way as different elements of matter do,
The spirit, too, with its inherent chemical affinities and dynamic
activities, attracts and repels blood from the heart, air from the
lungs, and nervous currents or electricity from the brain. This

double-phased existence of Atmd (w*tT) is the subject of

the following quotation from the Prashastapada Bhashya of
Gautama.

ii

*rf?f

: H I H I MAN * F 1 n I T. 91.

imv

n u inremT^TTrar wsus^w u

The following is a rough and almost literal translation of the
above passage : —

" The next substance is called Atmd, as it is endowed with the
property of circulating itself freely in the organism. On account of
its being a refined and subtle entity, it is imperceptible by the senses ;
and, hence, its existence has to be inferred from the harmonious
play displayed by such instrumental organs as the eye, the ear, &c.,
for, it cannot be doubted that the organs are merely the instruments
which, like all other machinery, require an agent to work them up.
When, besides, the nature of sounds, colours, tastes, &c., is well
admitted to be cognizable, the existence of a cognizing being is a natural
inference. This cognizing being cannot be the body, the organs,*
or the , raawa.vt, the soul or spiritual body, for they are not
endowed with consciousness. The body is not endowed with
consciousness, because it is the product of the composition of dead,
inert and altogether unconscious elements and atoms of matter,
just as such common objects as the pitcher, &c., are devoid of
consciousness. But, further, the body is not the conscious being,
because, if consciousness were really due to the body, the body
would not be unconscious after death ; which is not so. Nor are the
organs the conscious entities; because, firstly, they are mere instruments
and, secondly, had it been so, their destruction would be always followed

* By the word ' organs' is here meant the 'Iiirlriyas' or the senses. The
arc the invisible orgirii.sation of the spirit as distinct from the visible organs wherein
these spiritual organs or powers reside.

t Man is viewed in Sanskrit philosophy as a compound of three entities : 1, the gross
physical body, called the HthtUa nhftrira ; 2, the spiritual body, hero called tho
manas. It is an organisation of, life and sensation principles and is a fine im
perceptible intermediate connecting link between tin; gross material body ; and 3, the
internal spirit who is the true man, the central reality that acts, feels, enjoys and is
conscious. One of the consequences flowing from this organization of the manan is thai
it is impossible for the spirit to be cognizant of two impressions at the same time.

92 EVIDENCES OF

by the loss of consciousness, and their existence by the manifestation
of consciousness, whereas both alternatives are wrong. Even when the
eye gets deranged, coloured objects may not be perceived, but they can
be remembered, so that consciousness in the state of after-memory still
remains even on the derangement or destruction of an organ. Also,
when the organs are all sound, consciousness may not exist when the.
objects of perception are not presented to the organs. Hence, the
organs are not the conscious entities. .Nor is the manas (the spiritual
body) the conscious being, for, it is an instrument still, and were it not
an instrument in the hands of the spirit, it would be possible for the
{spiritual body to be cognizant at one and the same time of more
conscious impressions than one, which is not so. Hence is clearly
established the existence of a fourth entity other than the gross body
the organs, and the manas the spiritual body."

" The primary inference with respect to the human spirit is that
of a controlling being. When the driver, by the exertion of his mus
cular power, turns the reins of the horses that pull the carriage, on
one side or on the other, the carriage obeys the motion, and forthwith
rolls on to that side. Now, a similar turning of the activities of the
body, called pravritti and nivritti, i. e., application to what is deemed
pleasurable, and voluntary withdrawal from what is deemed painful,
is perceived to take place in our bodies. Our body is thus like a
carriage ; the driver, Atmd, regulating, by the reins he holds, at his
will, the pravritti and nivrilti of the body. Our second inference
with respect to the human spirit is that of a blacksmith given con
stantly to force wind out of the bellows. The air that enters the lungs
gets chemically vitiated, and the Atmd constantly forces it out blowing
it through his bellows, the lungs. Our third inference is from the
natural nictation of the eye-lashes. Just as a juggler makes the
puppets move at every pull of the wires, so the tension of the' proper
nerves produced by the exertion of Atmd keeps the eye-lashes execut
ing their movements. Our fourth inference is with respect to the
spirit as an architect. An architect-master of the house soon builds
up an edifice of his house, repairs a gone-down ladder or a worn-up
ceiling, and plasters or whitewashes his dirty rooms. So does the
architect — Atmd — cause the growth of the yet undeveloped body, re
pairs its wounds and its fractured or injured parts. Our fifth in
ference with respect to the Atmd is that of a child moving with a
stick the spider from one corner of the room to the other. So does
the Atmd move the spiritual body, with the curiosity of a child, from
one corner (organ) of the body to the other. Our sixth inference is
that of a spectator standing in the centre of a circular hall provided
•with windows on all sides, who can see undisturbed, from his elevated
position, through proper windows, what goes on in each direction.
A fruit is presented to the se^vse of sight. The colour only is seen
but the taste of it is soon remembered and outflows the saliva

! 11 I II I M A X S I' I K I T. 93

the tongue in the luxuriance of deliciousness. Besides, we infer the
existence of a substratum from such attributes as pleasure, pain,
desire, hatred, will and knowledge. These attributes do not belong to
the body or the organs. For, the ego identifies itself with these
attributes but not with the body or the organ. " I feel, I desire," are
true interpretations of consciousness, but not that the body or the
organs feel, desire or are conscious."

" These attributes refer to a substance wherein they inhere, are
not to be found in any and every substance, and are not cognizable by
the outer senses. Hence they are the attributes of a third something,
Atmd. The attributes of Atmd are knowledge, feeling of pleasure,
feeling of pain, desire, hatred, exertion, morality and immorality, im
pressibility, number, magnitude, separate existence, connectibility and
separability. The first six attributes have been already dealt with,
Morality and immorality are attributes of Atmdj for, the human spirit
is a responsible agent. The spirit is also impressible, for such impres
sions alone can be the cause of memory. The ego of each individual
being conscious of a different set of enjoyments from the others, and
bein^ unable to present to his consciousness the states and feelings of
another individual, it is clear that each human spirit has a distinct
entity and is, therefore, in itself a unit, i. e., possesses the attribute
" number." As freely circulating itself in the body, it has magnitude.
The feelings of pleasure and pain all rise in the spiritual body, and
the spirit is only conscious of them by its contact with the spiritual
body and through it with the object of feeling. Hence its attributes
of connectibility and separability."

To illustrate the reasonings in the above-mentioned passage : — •

Firstly, it should be pointed out that Atmd is there viewed as a re
fined and subtle entity, imperceptible by the senses. There exists a pre
judice against this view, which it will be well to clear out before pro
ceeding further. The prejudice is to disbelieve all that is invisible, im
perceptible oruncognizable by the senses. This prejudice arises either from
too superficial an experience, or from an exclusive devotion to material
or physical pursuits and to purely experimental or empirical sciences,
whsre tha faculties of observation are constantly in demand, but the
faculties of reflection, imagination or abstraction are seldom, if ever,
used. An intimate acquaintance, however, with the phenomena of these
very sciences will prove that the true causes of these phenomena, and
therefore the true realities, are always hidden, invisible and impercepti
ble. Take, for instance, the most familiar case of Gravitation. Every
particle of matter attracts every other particle of matter in the universe,
with enforce in proportion to the product of their masses, and in inverse
ratio with the square of their ' distances. And this force the scientific
men term Gravitation. Observe the infinity of palpable effects which
the operation of this single law or the working of this single force

EVIDENCES OF

produces. Every thing, from the smallest atom to the most majestic
sun, is under its control. Gravitation is the parent of all phenomena
of cosmic motions, — of the movement of planets in their orbits, of the
movement of satellites round the planets, of the change of seasons, of
the flight of comets, of the fall of meteors, tides and ebbs, and of
eclipses. And yet, notwithstanding the palpability of its multifarious
effects, is Gravitation itself palpable, or is it a subtle, invisible, ' yet
real force, existing in nature, and revealing its presence by the visible
palpable phenomenal effects it produces? Or, to take another
example, electricity. What is this all-pervading substance ? No
particle of matter is without it. Exciteable by friction, or induceable
by influence, it dwells within the interior of every material body,
hidden and unperceived. When the electric current passes through
the telegraph wires in the process of the message being transmitted
it passes unawares all the way long, leaving no palpable, visible
effects on the wires ; but the same invisible, hidden element makes
itself felt in the receiving-station by the ringing of the alarum, the
sharp clicking movement of the magnet, the motion of the dial,
or the jolting of the ink or the pencil. More mysterious still is the
working of magnetism. There may lie a huge mass of iron, in the
shape of a horse-shoe, surrounded by a long coil of shellac-covered
copper wire ; and in its vicinity may lie huge masses of iron nails,
pins, hammers, &c. As yet, the magic of magnetism is not at work.
In an instant, the current of a strong battery is sent through the
coil, and the inert lifeless piece of horse-shoe becomes alive with a
strange energy. It avariciously attracts the nails and the hammer,
the pins and every other iron around. There is no visible, palpable
change in the iron of the horse-shoe. But, though unperceived, it is
now the playground of magnetism, which, though so potent in its
effects and manifestations, is itself subtle and invisible.

It is clear, then, that the true causes of things are hidden, in
visible and imperceptible by the senses. Their effects, the pheno
mena produced by them alone, are visible or perceptible. The chief
fallacy of reasoning in such cases, consists, in regarding the visible
and immediate media of action as causes ; whereas, true causes are
hidden, and yet real and eternal. If the vital phenomena manifested
by living organisms, and, above all, by man, have a cause at their
basis, that cause must, of necessity, be hidden, invisible, and imper
ceptible by the senses and consequently eternal. The subtle, in
visible nature of Atma, therefore, instead of being an objection
against its existence, is, in the true light of things, rather a proof
corroborative, an essential consequence of its existence.

Viewed objectively, therefore, Atm<i can only be the subject of
inference. Now, every inference pre-supposes two things, the some
thing whose existence is to be inferred, and the certain data from
which such existence is inferred, the ground of inference being some

THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 95

similarity or resemblance. The great problem of inference really
lies in determining which similarity or resemblance is to be deemed as
sufficient and which as insufficient for the purposes of such inference,
The known datum or data, from which the unknown * something is
inferred, are called, in Sanskrit logic, the linga, and the something
inferred is called the anumeya. With reference to this question of
inference, says Kashyapa, the logician : —

•' That alone is a valid datum for inference (linga} which has.,

firstly, been known to co-exist with the thing to be inferred at some

time or place, secondly, is also known fc> be present wherever the like

of the thing to be inferred exists, and, thirdly, to be absent wherever

the unlike of the thing to be inferred exists." To take, for instance,

a concrete example. From the fall of the barometer is inferred the

decrease of the pressure of the air. Let us see if such an inference

can be a valid inference. The fall of the barometer is known, the

decrease in the pressure is unknown. But we know, from a specific

experiment (i. e., an experiment conducted at a particular time and

] i:u-e), that decrease of pressure produces fall of barometer. This

fulfils the first condition. Secondly, similar cases of the decrease of

1 1] vssure, by whatsoever cause, are attended with the fall of barometer,

Dut the third condition is not fulfilled. It is'not true that where-ever

.here is no fall in the barometer, there is no decrease ' of pressure ;

for, there may be no fall of barometer, although the pressure may

lave decreased. The mercury, through rise of temperature, expanded

and became lighter. Had the same pressure continued, the column

of mercury would have risen higher up, but the fall of pressure

compensated for the rise and left the mercury apparently where it

was. The three canons of Kashyapa, therefore, conclusively prove

Jiat the fall of the barometer is not the linga of the decrease of

Dressure. Similar reasoning will show that the decrease in the

rveight of the superincumbent column of mercury is the linga (in

erence) of the decrease of pressure.

Having shown, in general, what data are fit to be the ground
)f inference, it remains to see upon what phenomena can the in-
"erence of the existence of Atma, be grounded. Thesje phenomena
must bear some definite relation to Atm&, must be known to occur,
in some cases where the essential attributes of Atma are found; and
ihere should be no At-md, where these are not found. These phenomena
are of two kinds ; firstly, the working and the activity of the bodily
organs, and, secondly, the sensations of which one is cognizant. Hence,
it is ^from those two classes of ' phenomena that the existence of
Atma can be objectively inferred. For, consciousness being the
characteristic attribute of Atma, sonic activities of bodily organs arc

06 EVIDENCES OF

not only known to be produced by the will of the conscious
Atma, but there are other activities that are not produced by will
but are invariably observed wherever there is consciousness; and
besides, in all cases of living bodies dying, or of inanimate objects, the
organism or the object is devoid of the performance of those functions.
And so with respect to sensations.

Before proceeding, however, to a detailed enumeration of such
phenomena, it will be useful to review a theory that has so often
been alleged against the independent existence of Atmd, and, in the
minds of some unoriginal students, so constantly thrown its obstruc
tive feelers against the clear comprehension of the subject on the
part of an honest inquirer. That theory is the mechanical theory.
We shall show how far the mechanical theory can render an explana
tion of consciousness.

Leaving apart Atmd, man consists of three things, sharlra, indriya,
and manas. Sharlra, as Gautama defines it in his Nyaya philo
sophy, ( ^s^fcs^nEifag: *l€ta*J * I ^ II )> is the solid frame
work of the body together with the visible organs that are located in
it. It is the ground-work of all activity, the seat of all senses and
their sensations. The indriyds are the fine subtle entities, distinct
from, located in, the five visible organs of sense respectively, by
virtue of each of which the Atma obtains a distinct and definite con
sciousness of each of the five sensations, smell, taste, colour, touch
and sound. The indriyds are, accordingly, the invisible internal
media of sensation for the perception of the spirit. That
they are independent of the visible organs is not to be laughed
at. For., in many cases, the tympanic membrane, the hammer
and the anvil of the ear have been removed, leaving thei
staples alone, without injuring the sense of hearing. And so with
other organs. Indeed, the fact of the senses being independent of the
visible organs, instead of, in any awy, contradicting our experience, is
BO clearly borne out by human experience that unsophisticated
reason never doubts it. For, " during the hours of physical
repose, while the parts of the system are recruiting and repro
ducing new strength and energy, and while the organs of sense ,
are closed to all external impressions, the mind, free from all obtru-l
sive and disturbing influences, makes imaginative excursions to differ
ent places and contemplates different things in existence. It supposes,
it sees or hears ; while sometimes it is arrested in its .travels by the,
sound of beautiful music, or by various pleasing scenes which itj
appears to enjoy. Sometimes it supposes it walks, feels, tastes, or|
suffers excruciating pain. It also appears to be irresistible in many
places where it had no previous desire or intention to be. During all
of these peregrinations, the wave of sound, the reflection of lightJ
the susceptibility of feeling, the pleasure of tasting are all supposed

THE H0MAN SPIRIT. 97

to be enjoyed ..... This proves tliat there is an internal medium
of sensation by which the mind enjoys its capacity, as if the external
were in connection with the world. It proves also that there is a
medium existing upon these nerves of sensation, independent both of
internal and external exciting causes."* This medium of sensation is the
indriya. And, lastly, manas, the soul or the mind, is a third entity
distinct from Atma. Says Gautama in his Nyaya philosophy,

l U I U » " The existence of manas

(mind) is established from the fact that one is only capable of attending
to one thing at a time." It is said of a Greek philosopher that he was
eno-aged in solving a mathematical problem when an army passed by,
and he was altogether unconscious of it, till a soldier effaced the circle
the philosopher had drawn on earth,* a fact which alone disturded
the attention of the philosopher. What followed may be left to
history Was tht movement of an army entirely noiseless ? Were
no sound waves propagated when the philosopher was solving his
mathematical problem ? Did not the waves enter the cavity of his
ear and put to vibration the tympanic membrane, the delicately placed
stapes and the grain-filled liquid in the internal labyrinths of the ear,
in fact the invisible medium of sensation upon the nerves, the indmya?
All this did take place, but the philosopher was not attending to it.
There was in the philosopher a something which, when engaged in
thinkino- (i e.y solving the problem), was not in contact with the inter
nal ear; a something whose contact with onedndriyaor faculty preclud
ed its contact simultaneously with another. Its contact with an in-
driya and therefore with an organ is what we call attention ; its separa
tion from this cuts the cords of connection, and the result is what we
call absent-mindedness. Nor is this mono* the conscious entity; for,
who does not know that all the ideas that our experience has acquired
for us lie for the most time in a latent registered state in the brain,
or, more correctly, in the ma,nas, but that each and any of them is
remembered whenever it is recalled.

We have seen what sharira, indriya and manas are. We shall now
examine whether any one of them is endowed with consciousness.
ForT barring Atma aside, man consists of three substances, shanra,
Indriyi^ mLw, and each of them be proved to be ™™*™™™
unfit to evolve consciousness, no doubt would remain as to a fourth
Substance Aim*, being the conscious entity. Firstly ^then, the sharira
Kot^CoLmoui entity, for,itis the product of the composition _ of
dead inert and altogether unconscious elements and atoms of matter,
and al bodies that are the product of the composition of such parti
cles are themselves dead and inanimate. The whole world of inorganic
chemical compounds, including watches, steam engines, &c., i

$8 1VIDKNCESOF

illustration of the principle. Nor are the organic compounds an
exception to this law. So long as organic bodies are associated with
a living germ, their manifestations remain very much modified and
changed, but, when deserted by the enlivening principle, ever) organic
structure fails to show any signs of vitality and consciousness. To be
clearer still, suppose the sharira to be endowed with consciousness. Let
us inquire whether this consciousness be inherent in the sharira, or
mere accidental to it. If inherent, the sharire should be conscious
even after death, which is not so. If accidental, the statement amounts
to saying that we must seek for some other substance besides the body
for consciousness. Nor are the indriyas the conscious entities, for,
they are mere instruments requiring an agent to work them np.
Besides, their presence is not necessarily attended with consciousness
as in the case of absent-mindedness \ nor is their loss accompanied with
the loss of consciousness, for, even when the eye is deranged or alto
gether removed from the socket, coloured objects may be remembered
in consciousness. Nor is the manas the conscious being1, for, if it
were so, it would be directly conscious of every impression, and we
should observe no such restriction in practice as the inability to
cognize two impressions at one and the same time.

A little reflection and calm, sound reference to- one's own consci
ousness will convince every one of the entire distinctness of the Ego,
Atmd, from tbe body, its organs, functions, affections, and even sensa
tions. There are two grand general principles which underlie the whole
of the above reasoning. The first is the well-known and much-abused
principle, ex nihilo nihilfit. It is enunciated thus : —

" What is noty never becomes something, and whatsoever is', is never
reduced to nothing." The wise men have fully measured the entire
truth of both these assertions. Prejudiced, sophisticated, vicious,
ignorant minds cannot easily comprehend this, f This is the cardi
nal principle of all sound philosophy. Creation is simply impossible.
The principles of Nature only reveal formation. For, let us for one
moment suppose creation to be possible, and let something come out
of nothing. This very supposition assumes that there is a nothing
which can produce something*. Hence there are two kinds of noth
ing, firstly, the ordinary nothing from which nothing comes out ;
secondly, this peculiar nothing which gives rise to something. Now,
whatsoever has many kinds is not nothing but something. Hence,
" nothing, " which is of two kinds, is not nothing but something.
Or, something can only arise out of something. The reverse of it is

* Bhagavat Gita, II. 16.

t Swami Dajinanda t Satyartha Prakasha, page 222, 3rd Edition.

T-H.S HUMAN ftFrniT.

simply inconceivable. The second principle, which may be regarded
as the corrollary of this, is thus formulated in Vaisheshika philo
sophy : —

rt The effect only reveals whatsoever pre-existed in the cause.
Ko new attribute can spring up." If these two principles were
vividly and constantly kept before the mind, one would be quite safe
from the attacks of unsound reasoning. But our materialists of
modern times, who hold the mechanical theory to be sufficient for
explaining the phenomena of the universe, are not only content with
forgetting these two principles, but orjenly and broadly contradict
these very innate conception's of the human mind. Says Charles
Bradlaugh, — " Religionists seem to think that they avoid the difficulty,
or turn it upon us, by propounding riddles. They analyze the bodyr
and, giving a list of what they call elementary substances, they say :
Can oxygen think? Can carbon think ? Can nitrogen think ? and when
they have triumphantly gone through the list, they add, that as none
of these by itself can think, thought is not a result of matter but a
quality of soul. This reasoning at best only amounts to declaring :
' We know what body is, but we know nothing of soul ; as we cannot
understand how body, which we do know, can think, we therefore
declare that it is soul which we do not know, that does think/ There
is a still greater fault in this theological reasoning in favour of the
soul, for, it assumes, contrary to experience, that no quality or result
can be found in a given combination which is not also discoverable
in each or any of the modes, parts, atoms, or elements combined.
Yet this is monstrously abntrd. Sus'ar tastes sweet, but neither
carbon, nor oxygen, nor hydrogen, separately tasted, exhibits sweet
ness ; yet sugar is the word by which you describe a certain combina
tion of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. I contend that the word
" soul," in relation to human, vital, and mental phenomena, occupies
an analogous position to that which used to be occupied by such words
as " demon," " genii," " nonie," "fairy," " gods," in relation to general
physical phenomena.":):

Is this sound philosophy ? Does Charles Bradlaugh think that, if
this soul-hypothesis cannot explain the phenomena of consciousness,
his material atoms can ? Here is his answer : —

"The ability to think is never found except as an ability of animal
organisation, and the ability is always found higher or lower as the
organisation is higher or lower ..... The orthodox main-
tainers of soul .... contend that what they call the soul will

t Vaisheshika, Sutras II. i, 24.

.£ Chari« Brrdlangh : " Has man a soul ? " p. 4—5.

100 EVIDENCES OP

live when the human being has ceased to live, but they do not
explain whether it did live, before the human being began to live."*
Here Charles Bradlaugh speaks of the Christians, for the Vedic
philosophy verily establishes the eternity, and hence the pre-existence
of human spirits. Further on, he says, " The orthodox contend that
what they call the elementary substances, taken separately, do not
think, therefore man without a soul cannot think, and that as man
does think he must have a soul. This argument, if valid at all, goes
much too far ; a trout thinks, a carp thinks, a rat thinks, a dog thinks,
a horse thinks, and, by parity of reasoning, all these animals should
have immortal souls/'t And undoubtedly they have ; but timid
Christians are afraid of confessing it, and hence the righteous attack
of Brad)augh on orthodox Christians. His arguments, instead of
invalidating any of the principles of Vedic philosophy, rather prove
it. But to return to the first quotation from Bradlaugh. Evidently
we cannot explain how body can think, and so long as the principle,
ex nihilo nihil fit remains true, and its reverse utterly inconceivable,
no man shall ever understand how body can think. What, then, is the
irresistible c.n lusio i ? Evidently this, that if tha existence of con
sciousness is ever to be explained to the understanding, it should be,
not by referring to body or the elements of which it is composed, but
to something, to begin with, not body. This something, with respect
to which nothing more is predicated than "the cause of thinking that
is not body," may be coveniently termed the spirit, or, as the English
world puts it, the soul. What harm is there, then, in declaring that
" it is the soul (about which we predicate no more than what has gone
before) that thinks" And yet Bradlaugh has to find fault with this.
And further, he contradicts the very two principles enumerated above,
and says that the assertion, that no quality or result can be formed in a
combination that is not discoverable in the elements of combination, is
" monstrously absurd." He adduces the illustration of sugar, and says
the elements of sugar do not taste sweet, but that sugar does. Is not
this a superficial reasoning? Has no one, in a dream, ever tasted the
sensation of sweetness ? And yet there is no sugar, no certain com
bination of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen there. Sweet taste is not
in the sugar, for, if it were, no one could ever dream of tasting sweet
ness, and hence it need not be in the carbon, oxygen and hydrogen
of which sugar is composed. It is enveloped in a certain agitation
of the proper nerve, and the specific combination of carbon, oxygen
and hydrogen, known as sugar, only serves to set free by chemico-
electrical energy of dissolution in the saliva of the tongue, a definite
quantity of energy, which produces the agitation of the proper nerve,
and hence the sensation of sweet taste. In dream, this agitation is
produced, not by external means, but by internal ones. The case of:

•*• Charles Bradlaugh : " Has man a soul ? " p. 5.
t Ibid, p. 5.

THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 101

sugar is, therefore, a further illustration of our principle, instead of
being a refutation.

But there are materialists wiser than Charles Bradlaugh, who,
instead of denying the two grand generalisations of philosophy above-
mentioned, rather take their stand upon them, and bring in the word
latent to rescue the mechanical theory from its intrinsic inability to
explain the fact of consciousness. They fare no better, for, as we
shall see, they are the victims of a graver logical fallacy. They
reason thus : — It is true that in the act of combination, no new
qualities or results are produced, but it very often happens that the
process of combination or organisation forces out that which was
formerly latent, and makes it manifest. For instance, gunpowder,
when heated, possesses the power of* exploding. The explosive power
is already latent in the gunpowder, and the act of firing only renders
manifest vrhat.was latent. To explain it further. It is well known
that wood or charcoal when heated in the presence of oxygen burns.
It is also well known that friction and percussion develope heat.
And it is well known as well that if a part of space is filled up
with a quantity of a gas, more than it can hold at ordinary pressure,
it will expand and will propel any body in the way of its expansion.
The propulsion of cork from soda-water bottles is a familiar illustra
tion. And, lastly, it is well known too that heat expands gases, and
that gases occupy so many hundred times more space than the same
substances in the solid condition do. All' these are well known and
familiar truths; yet the manufacture of gunpowder is not an obvious
invention. Why ? Because, we require a definite arrangement o£
substances arid forces to gradually and naturally evolve a desired
result. We want explosion. Now explosion means .propulsion of
shot. I^et, therefore, a gas expand against shot. But whence are we
to get a pressed or squeezed quantity of gas to expand ? Evidently
from a solid that by decomposition might evolve a gas and large
quantity of heat. This gas is to be the carbonic acid, the gas of the
soda-water, and the heat is to come from chemical action. But car
bonic acid is the product of carbon and oxygen. Hence the solid
mixture must contain charcoal, the source of carbon, and saltpetre
or nitre, the source of oxygen. The primeval concussion is to be the
source of the fire applied to the charcoal. Hence gunpowder is
an ultimate mixture of charcoal, sulphur and nitre. A chemist
thus explains its action. "The general decomposition which occurs
when gunpowder is fired may be expressed by saying that the oxy
gen of the nitre combines with the charcoal forming carbonic acid
and carbonic oxide, whilst the nitrogen is liberated, and the sulphur
combines with the potassium (of the nitre). Hence, gunpowder can
burn under water or in a • closed space, as it contains the oxygen
needed for the combustion in itself ; and the great explosive power
of the substance is due to the violent evolution of large quantities

102 B TIDING S3 OF

of gas, and a rapid rise of temperature causing an increase of bulk,
sudden and great enough to produce what is termed an explosion."
It is thus clear that in the process of combination only the pro
perties that were latent become manifest. Hence it is argued that
the specific combination of matter, which we call the organism of
man, develops or renders manifest the latent consciousness of
matter. Hence, there is no conscious spirit. Matter with its infinity
of properties is enough to explain all consciousness. Let us weigh
this doctrine of " latent consciousness " carefully. When a pound
of ice is taken and a thermometer inserted in it, and the whole heat
ed, a large quantity of heat is absorbed till the whole of ice becomes
water. This heat has no effect upon the thermometer. Or, if the hand
were dipped in ice till the whole of ice were converted into water, the
hand will not feel any sensasion of warmth. Heat is, in this case,
said to become latent in water. This example is enough to show
that any quality or property of which there is no consciousness for
the time being, but which begins to be felt under proper conditions,
is said to be latent. Now, what is meant when it is said that the
latent consciousness of matter becomes manifest ? Can there be any
latent consciousness ? Can any one conceive such a jargon ? All
properties of substances that are external to us, or are objective but
not subjective, may be conceived as existing and not exciting conscious
ness. But can any one conceive a consciousness that is not conscious
ness ? For, what is latent consciousness but a consciousness of which
there is no consciousness, or an unconscious consciousness ? Latent
consciousness is no more a reality than a circular square or a not- white
white. It is a contradiction in terms. This entire reasoning is based
on a real ignorance of the signification of consciousness. It is simply a
hetwbdhasa (pseudo-reasoning) arising out of the metaphorical misuse
of the word latent when applied to consciousness. i

We will also here mention the physiological theory which is in
vogue at present with scientific men and philosophers of the experien
tial school. This theory is another attempt to- reduce consciousness
to the terms of matter and motion. It establishes that brain is not
only the principal organ of mind, but that the nerve currents generat
ed in the brain are the whole source of the mind we know. Says a
writer : " The brain is highly retentive of the impressions made upon
it, they are embodied in its structure and are a part of its growth.
They may be reproduced on after occasions, and then what we find
is a series of currents and counter- currents, much the same as what
existed when the impression was first made. When the mind is in
the exercise of its functions, the physical accompaniment is the
passing and repassing of innumerable streams of nervous influence.
Whether under a sensation of something actual, or under an emotion
or idea, or a train of ideas, the general operation is still the same. It

* Henry E. Roscoe ; Lessons in Elementary Chemistry.

THE HUMAN • F I R.I T. 103

seems as if we might say, no cwrrents, no mind." * To it might be added
what Herbert Spencer gives in one of his volumes on Synthetic
philosophy. After stating how water, nitrogen and carbon establish
the easily modifiable nature of the brain, he goes on to state that the
nature of the current is the dislodgment of energy, and that all cerebral
action is simply a case of the dislodgment of energy. The brain centres
may be compared to wound-up springs. The nerves by their agitation
start the first movement of the spring, and the brain centre begins to
unwind itself. To show the merits and demerits, or the explanatory
limit, of this hypothesis, let us consider the question, as to how is
the consciousness of differences in degree and quality produced, and
how are these two kinds of differences differentiated in pure conscious
ness. Every one knows what qualitative and quantitative differences
(i. e., those belonging to quality and -degree) are. Two tons of soap
differs from five tons of soap in quantity. But glycerine soap differs
from carbolic soap in quality. Similarly our sensations, subjective
experiences^ also present differences of degree and quality as well. The
taste of an ounce of sugar dissolved in two tumblers of water differs
in degree from the taste of the same dissolved in five. But the sensa
tion of taste differs from the sensation of colour in quality. The
question is, How came man to know that there are any such things as
a difference of degree, and a difference of quality ? and, lastly, How
does he distinguish between these two ? Here is an account of both
on the dislodgment theory, which will render its futility very plain: —

Whenever molecular energy is dislodged at the conscious centres
of the brain, consciousness is the result. Now on this hypothesis,
consciousness of differences in degree results from the disengagement
of greater or less quantity of molecular energy from the same centres
of the brain. Differences of quality, which objectively arise from
sensation being transferred from distinct separate extremities, or,
organs, tnrough different channels, will be subjectively consciousnessed
on this hypothesis, by the disengagment of molecular energy from
different centres of the brain. Thus far, the explanation may proceed
without error. But why should disengagement of molecular energy
at one centre of the brain produce a consciousness qualitatively dif
ferent from the consciousness produced by the disengagement of energy
at another centre, still remains a problem.

Perhaps some would suggest that the chemical energy disengaged
at different centres is disengaged by disintegration of atoms of dif
ferent elements, or atoms of different compounds, and hence the dif
ferent sensations experienced. But even if it be so, the question
still remains the same. For, whether it be the energy disengaged
by the decomposition of this compound or that, or by the setting
free of the elements of this atom or that, the energy disengaged
is energy still. And the only difference that we can conceive

* Alexander Bain : Senses and the Intellect.

EVIDENCES OF

between the energies disengaged at two different centres of the
brain, is the difference of quantity or degree, and not of quality, for,
energies disengaged are energies still. Hence, we should only be
conscious of difference of degree, even if molecular energy is dislodged
at different centres of the brain, an assertion which is against all
experience. We have shown how differences in quality connot be
explained by the theory of disengagement of molecular energy. It io
at this stage that the physiological hypothesis remains at a stand-still
in reducing consciousness in terms of energy.

We have thus shown how all materialistic explanations fare. It
remains now to state the true objective inferences regarding Atmd.
The first inference is from the structure of the nervous system with
which man is endowed and its connection with muscular movement.
The brain consists of collections of a grey matter, called brain-centres
from which proceed fine white silvery threads, called the nerves.
Some of these nerves, called the motor nerves, terminate in muscles,
which are appropriated for definite motions. The function of the
nerves is mainly that of a conducting medium like the telegraph wires.
The brain centres originate the influence that is sent through the
nerves to the muscles that obey the influence. This influence is called
the nervous current. Thus is the apparatus of movement constructed
in the human organism. Suppose, I desire to move my hand. At the
command of will, the proper brain centre yields forth the nervous
current which, travelling through the proper nerves, produces the
contraction of the desired muscle and forthwith moves the hand. This
working of the muscular and nervous system proves the existence of a
willing, controlling agent. A very fit parallel of this is the case of the
driver, turning by the exertion of his muscular power, the reins of the
horses that pull the carriage. The driver is the willing, controlling agent.
The hand of the driver that yields the impetus to the reins is the
proper brain centre that yields the nervous current to the nerves. The
reins are the nerves and the horse is the muscular organ which it is
desired to move. The Atma is, therefore, regarded as the rathi, the
driver of the body. This is the first inference.

The second inference is from the action of the lungs. There is in
the act of respiration, an inspiration, (a holding of the breath within,}
and an expiration. In the act of inspiration, by the motion of proper
membranes, the air of the atmosphere passes within the lungs to
oxidize blood, convert carbon into carbonic acid and burn off other im
purities. Says Manu : —

^n: irrow ftrarera H

The goldsmith by blowing strongly against a piece of impure gold
removes its impurities by oxidation. So a proper blowing of the lungs

THE HUMAN SPIRIT. 105

produces the removal of all impurities of tlie body and the bodily
organs by oxidation.

Hence this vitiated, chemically changed air, now laden with
carbonic acid and other impurities, is further expelled by the act of
expiration. This process is continually kept up, and thus, by the cyclic
movement of expiration and inspiration, the body expels its waste
matter, renovates its blood, derives strength and nourishment from
the invisible elements of the air, and repairs lorses and injuries.
This process argues the existence of a blower. To make the inference
clearer, let us take the case of a goldsmith or blacksmith blowing
with his bellows air into the furnace against a piece of geld or iron ;
when the air is forced out of the bellows into the furnace, a certain
muscular force has to be exerted. But it requires no exertion on the
part of the smith to fill the bellows again with air. So with the
lungs. The expiratory function is under the control of the will. But
inspiration is a purely involuntary act. Hence ifc is clear that the
structure of the lungs displays the activity of an. agent that con
stantly blows the air out,

A similar inference may be drawn from the phenomena of wink
ing. This function, too, like the lungs, is controlable by will, but
even in its ordinary performance it is so exact and regular that it has
been aptly compared to the movement of puppets at the hand of a
skilled master. Winking may be artificially produced by touching the
inner surface of the upper eyelid with anything solid, when the
spasmodic flutter produced will most vividly bring out 'the notion of an
interiorly residing hidden master, at whose command the flutter is
produced, like the dance of the puppet, in the effort to remove any
such foreign material,

The physiological phenomena of recuperation and growth are,
above all, most suggestive. The spirit, in the process of the growth of
the organism, builds up by its interior anatomy all parts of the body
proportionately, repairs the injured parts, heals the wounds, find, more
rema^able still, puts forth an intrinsic eifort to shake off all disease
and disturbance. This power of the spirit, as an architect, is well
known and has given rise to such terms as the " conservative" powers,
or "economy ''of the human organism. A true appro-"' ;tion of this
fact has also given rise to a noble school of physicians who regard the
human organism as a self-healing institution, the medicines occasionally
given under this treatment being meant to assist nature and not to
counteract disease. Concerning this physiological power and other
allied functions of the human spirit, says a medical authority, " By
Materialists it is said that digestion is caused by the action of a certain
organic mo.tter called pepsin in conjunction with several free acids
called lactic, acetic, hydro-chroric. While the truth is, especially in
mankind, the peristaltic movement in the alimentary channel like tha

106 EVIDENCES OF

motion of the innumerable glands in the mucous membrane, and there
fore digestion itself is caused inependently of the many wondrous
cerebro-spinal centres, by the soul-principle acting through the fila
ments of the sympathetic system, which is the residence and fulcrum
of the automatic instincts and especially of those vital self -intelligent
principles which flow from the ethers and essences in the constitution
of nature into similar substances in the spiritual organisation of man.
Hunger, therefore, is a universal voice of the soul in bel;.°lf of itself and
the dependent body ; and digestion is an appropriation by the soul of
whatsoever is supplied for the upbuilding of both itself and body."

Lastly, the complicated relations into which the passive organs of
Bense enter with the active vital organs, offer a most strong ground of
inference for the existence of Atmd. The colour or the smell of an
object soon recalls its taste, au-d the idea of its taste immediately
stimulates the tongue to secrete large quantities of saliva, as if in
readiness to eat the substance. It is, in fact, by this very process that
large quantities of saliva are obtained for experimental purposes from
the tongues of dogs by presenting to their sight delicious dishes of
the fleshy food, without actually allowing the dogs, at least for the
time being, to partake of it. Such, indeed, is the complicated relation
ship of the functions of the organs of sense and of the vital organs,
that serious diseases may be started up or caused by the associations
thus started up by a single perception. All these facts lead to the
inference of a central conscious being here called Atmd.

ISHOPANISHAT,

ISHOPANISHAT.
II ^t II

n * 11

v , % »

1. — By one Supreme Ruler is this universe pervaded, even every
world in the whole circle of Nature. Enjoy pure delight, O man, by
abandoning all thoughts of this perishable world, and covet not the
wealth of any creature existing.

2. — Aspire, then, O man, to live, by virtuous deeds, for a hundred
years, in peace with thy neighbours. Thus alone, and not otherwise,
will thy deeds not influence thee.

! II S II

3. — To those regions where Evil Spirits dwell and utter darkness
prevails, surely go, after death, all such men as destroy the purity of
their own souls.

II 8 II

4.— There is one unchangeable, eternal, intelligent Spirit, even
more vigorous than mind. Material senses cannot perceive Him.
Therefore the sage withdraws his senses from their natural course and
perceives the Supreme Being everywhere present.

110 ISHOPANISHAT.

5. — He moves all but Himself does not move. To the ignorant

He is far, but to the wise He is at hand. He pervades inside and
outside of all,

ff^t * ftfafar^rfh II ^ II

0\ O

6. — " He who considers all beings as existing in the Supreme
Spirit, and the Supreme Spirit as pervading all beings, cannot view
with contempt any creature whatsoever."

H $ n

7. — How can joy and sorrow overtake him who, through wisdom,
perceives the Unitary Spirit as dwelling in all beings ?

8. — " He overspreads all creatures. He is entirely Spirit without
the form either of a minute body, or an extended one, which is liable
to impressien or organization. He is the ruler of the intellect, self-
existent, pure, perfect, omniscient, and omnipresent. He has from all
eternity been assigning to all creatures their respective purposes."

WJ W rWt *J ^ ftsTTST Trnl II d II

9.-—" Miserable are they who worship ignorance j but fftr mor»
miserable are they who arrogantly presume knowledge."

ISHOPANISHAT.

n ?° n

10. — Saints, wise and firm, assure us that ignorance, the life
o.f senses, produces one result ; and knowledge, the life of spirit>
produces exactly the reverse.

11- — He, who realizes both, passes through physical dissolution
by virtue of the life of senses, and enters into immortality by virtue
of the life of spirit.

wr

12. — Miserable are they who worship atoms as the efficient cause
of the world ; but far more miserable are they who worship the visiblQ
things made of atoms.

13. — Saints, wise and firm, assure us that the worship of atoms
leads to one result, and that of things visible to the reverse.

\

II ^8 II

14. — He, who realizes both, enjoys, after death which is the con
sequence of the worship of things visible, immortality, the fruit of
the realization of divine power displayed in atmoa.

112 ISHOPANISHAT.

15* — " O Thou who givest sustenance to the world unveil that
face of the true sun which is now hidden by a veil of golden light,
so that we may^see the truth and know our whole duty/'

C\

16. — 0 Sage of sages, Preserver, Ruler, Eternal Light, and Life
of the creation ! gather up Thy rays, so that I may be able to feel
Thy glorious presence full of beatitude. This alone is my earnest
prayer.

I
II ^O II

17. — The air shall sustain the immortal spiritual body, the gross
one shall only la^t till cremation. 0 thou ! who hast sown the seed of
deeds, remember that the same thou shall reap.

n
u ^ 11

18. — 0 All-wise Being ! Thou art the source of knowledge.
Inspire us with Thy wisdom, lead us to rectitude, and drive off our
evil, To this end, we repeatedly praise Thee and adore.

ISHOPANISHAT.

EXPOSITION.

consciously, or, at the best, in a state of semi-consciousness by un
feeling hearts, who, in their lives and conduct, have betrayed In
human vices, cruelty, uncontrollable passions, strong antipathies and
inexcusable weaknesses; forced ceremonials, adopted through "a?

wast' 'I rS U0n' CUSt°m' °r fear°f S0°iet^ cost'y' usel*4 energy-

wasting and time-consuming rituals; bold iniquities, that priests and

leaders of sects have practised, establishing inequities of men "n

sight of Heaven; these and similar other absurdities have usurped

f £ raek9wn> and ha™ inundated the world with an un

controllable flood of misery, vice, crime, war and bloodshed The

mntenance of religion has become completely disfigured bv looks of

mutual hatred and diabolical enmity, by freaks of

ambition, by anxiety-toned glare of selfish eyes, by

rlnn, KeaS*°" ^ fait'lfulness have been divorced from the entiro
domain Of intellect. Religion has become synonymous with a mere
profession o creeds or opinions. Mere faith has been substituted^
ving good lives and doing gracious deeds. Words have dethroned

Z m f UPerf l-10n and mythol°gy ^e dictated explanations of
the mystery of tne universe-explanations that are not less interest
mg, nor more true than the tales of Arabian Nights. lEtagS
has been driven to bear witness to the competency of thesLry.

slhng, lie-manufacturing machinery of these explanations. Guess
and conjecture fill the room of exactness and certainty. Dreams

»ve been entrusted upon society as facts. Imagination has been
strained to yield forth supernatural theology, preternatural mircales
and unnatural doctrines. Human nature has been vilified insulted
and stigmatized as wholly depraved. Hope and expectation hive
been banished from the future. Eternal hell-flames and mighty
gmes of torture have been forged and imposed upon the people
in

Many useful and noble faculties have been denied their privilege
others have been completely suppressed; whereas some have been

114 EXPOSITION OF

put to severe persecution and trying ordeal. The whole stock of
energy has been consigned to bigotry and dogmatism. Such, in fact,
has been the office of religion.

Many gifted intellects, endowed with clear heads, have perceived
this ruinous character of religion, and have revolted at it. And
such is the sad spectacle still presented that many minds do yet
revolt at it, and feel an aversion towards religion which is highly
prejudicial to the interests of progress and truth. The noble con
ceptions which true religion might have engendered, the joys that
might have sprung therefrom, fertilizing and -gardenizing the soil
of life, are entire strangers to the necessarily sceptical honest, truth-
seeking minds of present times.

u

Is not all this deplorable ? Is nothing better possible ? Are we
to be set adrift on the ocean of uncertain, yet honest scepticism ? Is
the mystery of life really insoluble ? Perhaps, it is not given to
man to understand the nature of things ! If it be so, life would be
a sad spectacle indeed ; pains and miseries of this world would b&
simply unbearable.

Fortunately, however, the above is attributable to human
ignorance of true religion. True religion is free from all artificiality
and fabrication. True religion is not merely an oral profession. It
is no mythology. It is a living essence. It is highly practical. It is
founded on entire truth. It takes for its basis the harmonious develop
ment of all the faculties, the righteous unfolding of all our capabilities
of knowing and being.

Religion, true religion, consists in living a life in Divinity ; for,
" There's a Divinity that shapes our ends,
" Rough-hew them how we will."

To realize the existence of this Divinity and to feel its presence
everywhere and at every time with us, is the first lesson to be learnt
in religion. The conception that Nature, with her immutable laws
and inexhaustible energies, with her infinity of forms and pheno
mena — is not an edifice of " chance," but has the positive fact of
an Ever- Active and Moving Principle diffused throughout Nature for
its basis, is the beginning of religion. When one has realized this,
and, in the joyous depths of his consciousness, can exclaim, " BY
ONE SUPREME RULER IS THIS UNIVERSE PERVADED,
EVEN EVERY WORLJ) IN THE WHOLE CIRCLE OF NATURE/'
he is then fit to take a step further, and learn the lesson of individual
reformation. But the lesson of individual reformation is never received
till man has learnt to penetrate through the fleeting forms and pheno
mena of Nature to Nature's God.

rSHOPANISHAT. Tl'5

Nature widely spreads her evanescent charms and fleeting beauties
everywhere. Man is easily misled by her alluring attractions and wild
enchantments to forget the Everlasting, Eternal God that resides in the
interior of, and pervades each of, her ephemeral productions. The
human mind, when as yet undeveloped and unrefined is soon held
in captivity by the bondage of sensuous phenomena of the world. The
gorgeous display of riches and wealth, the pompous show of rank and
dignity, the luxuriant abundance of opulence, the licentious sensual
isms of ease and affl tience, not unoften unbalance the young unsophisti
cated mind, and merge him into a sea of worldly ambitions, and expose
him to the earthly anxieties of Envy, Passion, Jealousy, Hatred and
Vice. Not seldom is man thus blinded to the interests of his everlast
ing life; and the true delight that eve»r enters the bosom of a devotee,
who, while holding himself aloof from the affections of this phenomenal
world, contemplates the All-pervading God of the Universe in His
bounteous dispensation throughout Nature, is thus a stranger to him.
Man, consequently, requires to be reminded that this world is a fleet
ing show, that the pleasures of senses are never permanent, that an
earthly life is an uii weedy garden that never grows to seed, and that
empty titles, names and honors, reaped in this world, will not last long.
It is wrong to hold out our affections for things perishable. The
Eternal, the Everlasting should engage our attention, draw our affec
tions, absorb our interest, and excite our aspirations, for, then alone,
is true delight possible. ,

Wouldst thou, O man, flee from the evils of this world, from th-3
glamour of earthly pomp and deception ? Wouldst thou get rid of envy,
passion, jealousy and hatred ? Wouldst thou be released from the
restraints, burdens, cares and anxieties of earthly bondage? Dost thou
seek for the pure, everlasting enjoyment of peace and happiness ? Then,
« ENJOY PURE DELIGHT, O MAN, BY ABANDONING ALL.
THOUGHTS OF THIS PERISHABLE WOULD."

When thus conceived, what a blessing is religion, pure religion ! Its
lessons are full of wise and useful teachings. Led from Nature to
Nature's God, we learn to contemplate the perishableness of this world
and dislodge our affections for it. When thus fitted, we are able to take
a step further; and that leads directly to individual reformation, which
essentially depends upon the perception of justice 9. a principle deepest
engrained in human nature.

There is a Deific Essence that rules and governs all by a general
wise providence, intended for the highest good of all. This universal
providence enlivens the minutest atom as well as the largest sun, and
fits the one and the other each for its respective mission which is the
highest good of all. A realisation of this providence working for the
highest good of all, and a sympathetic vibration with the pulsations
of this providence constitutes a true perception of the principle.

116 [EXPOSITION OF

The highest good of all being the object, the wondrous system of
Nature is the Divine Institution fulfilling this mission in a truly wond
rous and sublime manner. Its eternal, immutable, unchangeable laws
are the Divine code of perfect legislation, breathings from the essence
of the Deity, modes in which He eternally lives, rules, and governs all.
He keeps no vigilant, watchful, designing, conspiring, and often-time^
dishonest, corruptible police to keep a record of each one's doings, and
to superintend his actions, lest they disturb the general peace of His
subjects. The Divine Institution is not susceptible of such weaknesses.
Each one's memory is his infallible record-keeper, whereas the sensible
organisation that apprises each of pleasure and pain, is the omnipre
sent police whose mission is not to punish but to teach lessons and to
reform. There are no courts wh,ore law suits are decided ; but social
feelings, affections and other emotions are the interior chambers of the
mind, where Reason sits on the throne of perpetual judgment. This
is the universal machinery employed in the Institution of Nature. And
its object being the highest good of all, it is so regulated that the
personal good of each, on the whole, consists in the good of all. The
eternal and immutable laws of Nature, consequently, recognize no
special obligations, no individual isolated rights, and are no respecters
of persons. One way the whole current of Nature flows — THE COMMON
WEAL. No violation of this common course is possible without in
volving the transgressor in the consequences of his transgression —
consequences by virtue of which he is thrown off from the common
course, for a moment, to leave the general current undisturbed, to
get himself purified, rectified, and resigned, if not willing to be sub
servient to the interests of the universal whole.

The law of justice, that keeps each being in peaceful relations with
lii s neighbour, and dictates to him the standard of purity of his own
soul, also enjoins upon him the self-chcsen and pleasing duty of living
in peace with his neighbours, and in tune with the external world.
The destruction of this equilibrium is what constitutes discord, disease,
misery, war and destruction. Should any individual, therefore, attempt
to disturb the general peace, the indispensable consequences of this
transgression will inevitably devolve themselves upon him. But far dif
ferent is the case of one who consciously and wilfully adopts the career
that Providence has designed and regulated for all. His path, though
difficult in the beginning, leads straight to individual happiness
and social welfare. His is a path of peace and tranquillity. No
envious heart-burn, no exhausting emulation, no feeling of contempt
or disgust, no despair or disappointment, no discontentment with his
environments ever prompts him to swerve from the righteous course
and spoil the temple of his personal health and individual existence.
On the contrary, his social and fraternal feelings are saturated to
satiation, his disinterested nature uplifts him above ordinary persecu
tion on one hand and selfishness on the other, his reason is unclouded,

ISSOPANISHAT. 117

and his will pure and undefiied. For, let man once comprehend that
there is a wise Providence that regulates the affairs of the boundless
universes around us by the ordination of general laws, let him once to
his satisfaction understand, comprehend and know these general laws,
and feel the existence of this Providence in the depths of his heart
fully enough never to forget it for a single moment in his life, let him
'once enter this condition, and he will feel the unity of his spirit with
that of others. He will find himself in tune with all others. Then will
arise a perception of true brotherhood with mankind, for it will be seen
that our delight consists in making others delighted, our happiness
in making others happy.

It is this perception of universal justice (which regards all mankind
as one brotherhood and impels man to seek the harmonization of his
interest with duty, lest, in not doing so, he may transgress the motion
of natural currents that lead to general good), that can keep one
willingly and delightfully from infringing upon the rights and liberties
of others. Thus alone, when in accord with the maxims of universal
justice, can he truthfully exclaim " COVET NOT THE WEALTH
OF ANY CREATURE EXISTING." Only then, and not till then, is
true individual reformation possible.

Religious progress, however, does by no means end here. Merely
to keep one's self aloof from the turmoils of this earthly life, to remain,
as it were, unimpressed by the fleeting shew and vanity of this world,
or, lastly, to abstain from infringing upon the rights and liberties of
others, is but the negative or prohibitive side of religion, with which
even sinful indolence, coldest indifference, conniving reticence, and an
abettor's silence are compatible. Religion is too positive to be restric
ted to these mere prohibitive duties. The wondrous organization of
man endowed with potent energies and vivacious capabilities, has some
more imperative demands, points out to the existence of some higher
ends, and cannot be silenced by the dicta! es of mere prohibitive mora
lity. For purposes of mere peaceful enjoyment; never in conflict with
the enjoyments of others, a passive organization would have been
quite enough. But man possesses active powers, innate energies,
and stirring elements : and all these are not in vain. They beckon him
towards the constant application and energetic employment of all his
bodily and mental powers for the glorious end of achieving peace and
happiness for himself and his neighbours. Activity and not sluggish
ness is the law of Nature. Animate and inanimate Nature, both, is full
of lively energy and restless animation. Nothing is idle. The ant is ever
busy, the earth we live upon ever whirls round and round, the plants
and trees are ever employed in their growth, the air is always circulat
ing and the waters are always bubbling and flowing ! Look round and
say, what religion does Nature enjoin, what lessons does it widely
outspread ? Everywhere in the domain of Nature, the inherent forces
are ever busy in manifesting their presence.

118 EXPOSITION or

Nature enjoins but one religion, and that is Action, incessant,
untiring, powerful, energetic Action, — for good, for glory, for health
and for happiness of Each and All. " ASPIRE, THEN O MAN, 1O
LIVE IN VIRTUOUS DEEDS, FOR A HUNDRED YEARS, IN
PEACE WITH THY NEIGHBOURS. THUS ALONE, AND NOT
OTHERWISE, WILL THY DEEDS NOT CONTAMINATE
THEE."

To one who leads a life of incessant useful activity, how beaute
ous is the universe ! It is a rich mine of happiness that only requires
digging down and taking possession of. And what are human
faculties to him ? Speech with its power to soothe and to bless,
music with its power to calm and to refresh, affections with their
mainsprings to elevate and to 'support, and thoughts with their
wings to take the loftiest flights and to soar ; these and other facul
ties are full of hidden beauties, Bach organ is pure and holy, as its
mission is noble and sublime. Can one admire this beauty of the
human system, appreciate it at its worth, comprehend its holiness,
desire its purity and still remain disagreeable, discordant and de
formed himself ? No, he is too alive to the beauties of internal purity
and the lustre of inward holiness, ever to linger in the darkness of
filthy sensualism or hell of moral decrepitude. Purity of motives,
holiness of deeds and loveliness of lives are the internal beauties that
he prizes most, and values above all. He cannot degrade himself
by destroying this internal beauty, for, he is alive to the truth that
« TO THOSE REGIONS WHERE EVIL SPIRITS DWELL AND
UTTER DARKNESS PREVAILS SURELY GO AFTER DEATH
ALL SUCH MEN AS DESTQRY THE PURITY OF THEIE OWN
SOULS" He is rather filled with joy at the glorious capabilities of
his existence and at the priceless gift of life, is inspired with grate
fulness for His endowment of reason, and moved to thanksgiving
for the possession of his moral nature. His spirit is moved with
gratitude towards Him who pervades all immensity, animates the
orbs ef heaven and the worms of earth, and destines them for cease
less action for millenniums to come. Where is there an object in the
unfolded universe, that does not inspire the grateful mind to sing
praises of Him who reigns supreme everywhere, showering beau
ties and blessings around ? In due acknowledgement of our
gratefulness and our dependence upon Him, our souls rise in worship
ful attitude towards Him, who is " ONE UNCHANGEABLE, ETER
NAL, INTELLIGENT SPIRIT, EVEN MORE VIGOROUS THAN
MIND." It is true that "Material senses cannot perceive Him," but
the heart bends in homage, ever grateful for the beauteous gifts of
providence. Flavours, odors, colors, sounds and other external im
pressions may affect the externallv-minded man and render him
forgetful of the source from whom all tliese flow, but one in whose
spirit beauty blooms, and gratitude rises with fragrant incense of

ISHOFANISHAT. 119

submissive homage, cannot help penetrating beyond them. He
"WITHDRAWS HIS SENSES FROM THEIR NATURAL
COURSE AND PERCEIVES THE SUPREME BEING EVERY
WHERE PRESENT." No more do the delusive phenomena of the
world delude him. Sensuous charms and external vanities no more
blind his expanded and internally-unfolded vision. Far from external
strife, and in the quiet of his mind, he perceives the Supreme Being
that MOVES ALL BUT HIMSELF DOES NOT MOVE. Yes, to
the worldly-minded, passion-stricken, ignorance-ridden individuals,
He may be far, But TO THE WISE HE IS AT HAND," for, " He
pervades inside and outside of ALL." For a mind thus moved with
the spirit ef gratefulness, discord, discontent and disturbance exist
no more. For, what are jealousy, hatred, envy, contempt and other
discords but different forms of antip'athy ? And how can antipathy
exist, when one has realised for all mankind a common destiny, when
one perceives each spirit moved by kindred influences of the same
Providence, each item of the vast universe animated by the same
breath and each individual heart flaming with identical heaven-
lighted fires. All differences melt away. Human kind is one
family. All are brothers. There are no enmities, no rivalries, no
jealousies and no oppositions. Under the patronage of such a men
tal exaltation, one is delightfully led to consider " ALL BEINGS
AS EXISTING IN THE SUPREME SPIRIT AND THE SUP
REME SPIRIT AS PERVADING ALL BEINGS,"-and " CANNOT
VIEW WITH CONTEMPT ANY CREATURE WHATSOEVER ; »
nor can "joy and sorrow overtake him," for, he perceives through
His wisdom " the UNITARY SPIRIT THAT DWELLS IN ALL
BEINGS."

Reverence, admiration and love are the only feelings that actu
ate him whose perception extends to the Unitary Spirit of the universe.
When one reflects, how one is moved with reverence even towards
those surperiorly endowed individuals, who, though superior, are
fallible, finite, liable to pain, ignorance, disappointment, weakness
and their consequences, it ceases to be a wonder that he should be
moved with greater respect, admiration and reverence towards Him
who "OVERSPREADS ALL CREATURES, IS ENTIRELY
SPIRIT, WITHOUT FORM, EITHER OF A MINUTE BODY OR
AN EXTENDED ONE, WHICH IS LIABLE TO IMPRESSION
OR ORGANISATION." " WHO IS THE RULER OF THE IN
TELLECT, SELF-EXISTENT, PURE, PERFECT, OMNISCIENT
AND OMNIPRESENT,"— THE KIND FATHER "WHO HAS
FROM ALL ETERNITY BEEN ASSIGNING TO ALL CREAT
URES THEIR RESPECTIVE PURPOSES."

Blessed are they who enjoy the knowledge of this Divinity,
this Omnipresent Providence. Excessive joy dwells in the conscious

120 EXPOSITION OF

depths of those who feel the presence of this Great Reality. Life
is a rich luxury, an immanent blessing, an eternity of enjoyment and
growth. Death is swallowed up in victory. But miserable are they
who are tied within the meshes of ignorance all around. Insensible of
this Great Reality of the universe, can ignorance go further ? See
what a wreck it makes. There is nothing more hideous than ignor
ance. It has been truly said that when man only once becomes con-:
scions of his ignorance, it is simplv unbearable. Wisdom, therefore,
begins with the consciousness of ignorance. The wise Socrates was
right, assuredly right, when he said, " I only know that I know
nothing/' All discord springs out of ignorance. See what a hideous
picture it presents. Says immortal Patanjali : —

c Fourfold is the fearful power of ignorance. It leads its pitiable vic
tim, in the first place, to conclude that this visible, audible universe,
the very elements of which are given to decomposition and decay, shall
last for ever, that this gross physical body, this mortal coil, is the only
thing that lasts after death. In the second place, it leads him to the
horribly erroneous conviction that female beauty, — beauty which has
been styled by some philosophers as a silent cheat, practice of falsehood,
theft and the like, the very essence of which breathes filth and impurity
are enjoyments pure and desirable. In the third place, it plunges him
into that ocean of pain and misery, the sea of passions and sensualities, in
the gratification of which the blind victim of Ignorance imagines
the acquisition of pleasure and of happiness. Fourthly and lastly,
the victim of Ignorance has no conception of soul and spirit. To him
there is no soul beyond this material, ponderable, visible substance."
Such is ignorance, and as such it may truly be called the life of senses,
for, what is it but a recognition of no happiness beyond sensual
pleasures, of no life beyond that of senses, and of no world beyond
the sensible one? Surely "MISERABLE ARE THEY WHO
WORSHIP IGNORANCE ; BUT FAR MORE MISERABLE ARE
THEY WHO ARROGANTLY PRESUME KNOWLEDGE." For,
he is not wise who presumes to know more ; who claims to carry a
pile of books in his brain ; or a thick cluster of words and phrases
in his memory ; or a shower of sarcastic vocabulary in his tongue ;
or a borrowed magazine of that stuff (which is so useful for purposes
of victory in intellectual warfare, commonly known by the name
of arguments) in his promiscuous store-house, called the mind. Wise is
rather he who feels noblij, thinks nobly, lives nobly and ACTS NOBLY.
The difference between wisdom and ignorance is the difference of
opposites. Wisdom is life perpetual, happiness eternal, and peace for
ever. Ignorance is all the misery, all the crime, all the sickness, all the
evil, that exists in this world. The difference between Wisdom and
Ignorance is all the difference that is possible in this world. They

ISHOPANISHA.T.

were not wrong who proclaimed « THAT IGNORANCE, THE LIFE
OF SENSES, PRODUCES ONE RESULT ; AND KNOWLEDGE,
THE LIFE OF SPIRIT, PRODUCES EXACTLY THE REVERSE."

But blessed is the wise man who gets good out of evil and nectar
out of poison. For a wise man the very senses have a sacred function

to perform. This is the function of sfrF tffqre^ (Karmdpd*

, — that well-ordered, righteously regulated religious life which
leads to emancipation from bondage, from sins, from misery and from
death. Yea, wisdom extracts discipline out of senses, righteousness
out of passions, elevation out of affections, emancipation out of
ignorance, and yields forth as its fruit everlasting bliss and immorta
lity. Of such, has it been said, '''HE WHO REALIZES BOTH,
PASSES THROUGH PHYSICAL DISSOLUTION BY VIRTUE
OF THE LIFE OF SENSES, AND ENTERS INTO IMMORTALI
TY BY VIRTUE OF THE LIFE OF SPIRIT."

Many are the victims of Ignorance, and direful are the forms it
assumes. One of them is what may, for want of a better name, be
called scientific atheism. This is a belief in the omnipotence of atoms.
The externally-minded scientific man, whose mind is replete with
conceptions of matter and motion, with dynamical and mechanical
explanations, ever true to his instinct of never believing any thing
except on the testimony of his senses, begias the task of crude ana
lysis. He dissects organised structures, nerves, muscles and tissues,
and re-dissects, but throughout all the labyrinths of the brain, all
the complicated net work of veins and arteries, he finds no trace of
an intelligent God, all is motion or matter in motion. He begins his
physiological researches and ends in chemical and nervous action
everywhere. Again he leaves the organic department of nature, and
analyzes and decomposes, and again analyzes and decomposes each
solid and liquid and gas, now in a crucible, then in a retort, now
by means of heat, and then by means of electricity, here with re
agents, and there with reactions, but meets everywhere with atoms,
their affinities and their valencies, but nowhere with God. On the
positive evidence of direct observation, and from the infallible platform
of personal experience, with his head raised in the proud majesty of
knowledge, and his spine straightened with the nervous energy of natural
forces, he bids farewell, a last farewell to the barbaric dogma of a belief
in the existence of an intelligent, all-pervading, all-mvoing principle.
His belief in the potence of atoms is boundless. They are unanalyr-
able, undecomposablej simple monads} uncreated and eternal in their
existence, endowed (not by anything else, but naturally through
necessity of existence) with inconceivable motions. In the vast
chaotic operation of these atomic forces, specific atoms met through
accident and selection, united together, assumed a temporary organi-

122

zation, exhibiting signs of breathing conscious life. This germ ol
life, on account of wholly unexpected and inc mprehensible cireum*
stances, under favorable conditions, (favorable through chance or
selection) propagated itself and multiplied. Great was the struggle
for existence then raging. Many fortunately organized beings were,
in the course of this struggle, again hurled back into the atomic
chaos whence they sprung. This is extinction. But some fortunate
organizations (fortunate, not through merit or desert, nor through
design, hut fortunate somehow) survived this diresoine catastrophe,
and prospered. Their organization modified and developed new
organs, and remodified and redeveloped, till man appeared on the
stage. Now man, this man, the product of fortuitous combination*
of atoms, with his heated brairu_ exudes entirely unsupported doc
trines of immortality and Providence. Can a sensible man believe
such dogmas ? Vain are thy efforts, O theologian ! to construct an
edifice of religion on the foundation of sand. Human race, as a
race, may, for long ages to come, survive, but individual man shall
only go back to the vile dust from whence he sprung.

Such is scientific atheism. All is uncertain and unreliable. Life
is but an accidental spark produced by the friction of mighty wheels,
the blind whirling motion of which constitutes the phenomena of
the universe. There is no hope of futurity, no consolation for oppress
ed virtue or disappointed justice, hereafter. A natural result of
which is that the worshipper of omnipotent atoms, dashed headlong
into a sea of Unrighteousness and immorality, tramples all justice
without a pang, suppresses all virtue without a sigh, and over the
wreck of all that is noble and elevating in human nature builds his
philosophy of desperate-ism. He is desperate in his actions, despe
rate in his feelings. Or perchance his is a philosophy of resignation.
Desperate or resigned, there are the signs of brutal violence "to human
nobility rendered, and as is the case of all violence rendered to
human nature, the sudject is agitated, disturbed, listless, melancholy,
petrified or simply unconscious of himself. Miserable, though, is
this extreme form of scientific atheism, there is a softened form of
it, however, which is compatible with a certain and a very high
degree of morality. For, there is in the scientific atheist, a strong
belief at least, in the unchangeable, and immutable nature of laws,
or of the order of Nature. He is not superstitious. In the world of
effects, at least, he is a master. Miserable and disturbed as his life
of the interior may be, his external life is, no doubt, a complete
success. But far different is the case of one who, through supersti
tious ignorance, neither has any conception of the Intelligent Ruler
of the universe, nor a definite conception of any law or order in the
universe, but substitutes for the ennotjjing belief of a monotheist or
the natural dependence of an atheist, n, mean, grovelling or debasing
worship of elements like earth, or of objects like stones and trees, or

ISHOPJLNISHJLT. 123

even of bodies of men. Of such degrading and debasing forma of
theism, the world is full. There is the homotheism (man-worship) of
the Christians, the Loco — theism of the Mahomedans, the idolatry of
the pagans, the pantheism of the Vedantis, and the polytheism of
the Hindus ; and all bigotry, dogmatism, sectarianism, intolerance
and fanaticism of which the world's history is so full, is wholly
•attributable to, and is a standing evidence of, the miserably dege
nerated condition of the people at large. Incalculable are the evils
that flow from the worship of things visible. Truly has it been said,
"MISERABLE ARE THEY WHO WORSHIP ATOMS AS THE
EFFICIENT CAUSE OF THE WORLD, BUT FAR MORE MIS
ERABLE ARE THEY WHO WORSHIP THE VISIBLE THINGS
MADE OF ATOMS.

i

Leading, as they do, to widely differing results, scientific atheism
and various forms of worship of things visible are capable of a use
to which wisdom puts them, when they are no more those disgusting
things that they were. The mighty hand of wisdom extracts out of
things visible that sense-education and useful application ,which is
the primary basis or the granite-foundation of all interior development.
Man's life-term is thus converted into a pleasant, instructive, in
vigorating, power-awakeniug journey that leads through the invisi
ble portals of death to calm eternal. Not alone is the visible material
of the universe thus converted into a rich, useful store for future, but
the invisible undecomposable atoms also are., by the touch of wisdom's
hand, seen to be the seat of the power of the Almighty Maker. Atoms
are but the vehicle through which the Lord Divine sends forth
everlasting energy and life into the visible. Thus "HE WHO
REALISES BOTH, ENJOYS, AFTER DEATH WHICH IS THE
CONSEQUENCE OF THE WORSHIP OF THINGS VISIBLE, IM-
MORTAJjITY, THE FRUIT OF THE REALIZATION OF THE
DIVINE POWER DISPLAYED IN ATOMS."

Here let us pause, and take a survey of the great eminence to
which we have ascended. There is God, the Supreme Ruler of the
universe, pervading in all, distributing justice for all, and assign
ing for each and all, their respective mission. Here is man endowed
with potent, active faculties, energetic capabilities, and all-achieving
powers, adequate to fulfill the mission to him assigned ; and here is a
glorious, beauteous universe, so attractive, so useful, so beautiful, so
harmonious that the heart rises in utter gratitude to the Great Dis
penser of all gifts, « O THOU WHO G1VEST SUSTENANCE TO
THE WORLD, UNVEIL THAT FACE OF THE TRUE SUN
WHICH IS NOW HIDDEN, BY A VEIL OF GOLDEN LIGHT,
SO THAT WE MAY SEE THE TRUTH AND KNOW OUR
WHOLE DUTY." O PHKSja'YKK, SACK OF SAGES, RULER,
ETERNAL LIGHT, LIFE OF THE CHKATK )N ! CATHER UP
THY RAYS, SO THAT 1 MAY BE ABLE TO FEEL THY

124 EXPOSITION Of ISHOPANISHAT.

GLORIOUS PRESENCE FULL OF BEATITUDE. THIS ALONE
IS MY EARNEST PRAYER. Wonderful is the immortal life
Thou bestowest, and wonderful the justice Thou dealest. Sublime is

the process by which the immortal spiritual body (*T5*f *j€fa)

is raised out of the gross physical one and supported. For, even
after death, Thou peoplest us in a world, the enjoyments of which
are the fruits of the very seeds that here with our deeds we have sown.

«O ALL-WISE BEING! THOU ART THE SOURCE OF
KNOWLEDGE, inspire US WITH THY ivisdom, LEAD US TO
RECTITUDE, AND DRIVE OFF OUR EVIL. To this end, WE
repeatedlg PRAISE THEE AND ADORE.

-: o

MANDUKYOPAMSHAT.

n

MANDUKYOPANISHAT.

1. "OM" is the name of the Eternal and Omnipresent Spirit.
The Vcdas and tihastras, and even the whole universe, when
understood, declare the nature' and attributes of the same
Being. He, Om, encompasses the past, the present and the
future, aud is perfect. He encompasses even what the past,
the present and the future do not comprise.

NOTES — I. Akshara has been translated into ' eternal and omni
present.7 See Mahabhashya, Patanjali's Commentary, 2nd A'lmika, on
the Seventh Shiva Sutra. Says Patanjali : —

— or, altfiliara is that which does not decay, decompose, move or
change; also, akxhara (from the root ash and unadi suffix saran) means
that wMch is all-pervading, Hence ' eternal and omnipresent/

Swami Dayananda translates the passage thus in his Introduction
to the Yeclas, (Riyvedddi Bhdshya Bhuiiiika), p. 44, lines 21 — 25.

This is literally as we have interpreted.

Our rendering of Hliutam, Jlhawat and BhavisKyat is that of sub
stantives, meaning ' God encompassing the past, God encompassing
the present and God encompassing the future, unlike the ordinary
meaning of mere adjectives, meaning past, present and future, qualify
ing the A'ord Sarvam. Also, we have translated Sarvam as perfect. For
reasons, see Nirukta, Parishfshta, 14th Chapter, I3th and 14th Kandas,
Yfhsrebhuta^hawat) bhavishyat und aaruaw are given as names of God
or Atma.

128

MANDtJKYOFANISHAT.

2. He is the Great God, perfect in all. He who per
vades my soul is the Supernal Soul of Nature. The phases of
His existence are four in number.

II ? n

3. The first phase is the wakeful phase. In this phase,
God is manifest as diffused in external nature ; causing inces
sant interaction among the seven parts that constitute the
organisation of the Universe ; determining the disposition of
the nineteen organs of thought and correlation, that enable
organisms to seek their enjoyments in gross palpable matter;
and regulating, with precision and order, the physical motions
of the Universe.

fwtat m^: n 8 n

II. — Atma — " the Supernal Soul that pervades."

8

or Atma is derived from the root at and unadi suffix manin.

T — Atma is that which pervades all.
Also See Nirukta, III, 15.—

3lTcf ^ TOT ST cZTTWrf ^ II

Swami Dayananda translates the passage,

(one of the well-known vnahdvdkyas of Neo-vedantins) in the SATTYA-
ETHA PRAKASHA, 3rd Edition, p. 195, line 26, thus : —

rl^ ^ ^i^rlT

Pad — phase of existence (from the root pad, which, means gati).

III. — Saptanga — seven parts of the organisation, (1) Head, (2)
Eyes, (3) Ears, (4) Organ of Speech, (5) Organ of Respiration, (6)
Heart, (7) Feet. They are also sometimes slightly differently enume
rated. Explanation to follow.

! — Nineteen internal organs of thought

and correlation. They are the 5 organs df senses, i. e., of hearing,
touching, tasting, smelling and seeing;. 5 organs of motion, i. e., hands,

MANDT7XYOPANISHAT. 129

4. The second phase is the contemplative phase. In
this phase, God is viewed as living in the interior design that
fixes the relation of the seven parts to each other, or adapts
the nineteen functions of correlation to the purposes in View,
thus interlinking the several ideas that constitute the design,
and giving to the Universe an invisible but interior organisa
tion.

: nun

feet, reproductive organ, organ of excretion and organ of speech ; 5
pranas, or vital nervauric energies, i, e,} pro/no, that, in (ha act of re
spiration, forces the air into the lungs ; aj^jithat produces mpt ion from
inside outwards; samdna that circulates the blood from the heart
throughout the system ; uddna that stimulates the glossopharyngeal
nerves and moves the muscles near the throat to draw in food and drink,
and vytna that produces motion in all parts of the body, (See SATYARTHA
PRAKASHA, p. 242, lines 15 — 18) ; Manas, or organ of will and desire ;
Buddhi, or organ of thought ; Chitta, or organ of memory ; Ahankdra,
or organ of individuality.

Vaishwdnara has been here translate'd into God ' manifest as
diffused* or ' causing incessant interaction,' or ' determining the disposi*
ition ' of organs ; or ' regulating the motions ' of the Universe. Yaska

thus says of Vaishwanara,

II

Nir. VII, 21.

Which means: — Vaishwdnara is He who controls and directs all
beings, towards whom all beings are led, or who is himself Vaishwanara,
i. e.t One residing in all things and moving them.

IV. — *TC«T ^T;TT J has been translated into 'contemplative
phase/ for, in dream, ordinarily cnlled swapnat it is only the mind that
is active, not discriminating between things and their thought. Hence,
the only realities then present before the mind are its own thoughts,
It is in this respect that swapnasthana has been translated into tho
" contemplative phase."

Concerning the words taijasa and prajnay occurring in the next
passage, Yaska remarks, Nirukta, XII. 37 — m^^TWlS^^r-

*^?gTr*nrf?W^5i" The words prajna and taijasa signify two
modes of existence of Atma.

130 .J4ANDUKYOPANISHAT.

5. When the human soul reposes in sound slumber, sus
pending all voluntary function?, neither willing, nor desiring,
nor dreaming, he is said to be sushupta, or in the slumbering
condition. The third phase is the slumbering phase, where,
like the human soul that is folded within itself, God is viewed
as himself, an Embodiment of all ideas and principles, Him
self all delight, enjoying but delight, only manifest in. His
consciousness, and endowed with the highest wisdom.

f% WfHTW n ^ n

6. Such is the Ruler <5f all, the Omniscient Principle,
even the Controller of life interior, from whom has proceeded
all, the Source and Resort of all beings.

mi

*ri?r ftr^R^M ^rrif TFS^ q WOT *r ftite: u o u

7. View Him neither as designing interiorly, nor as
diffused throughout external nature, nor in the tansitional

V. — The meaning of the word sushupta is very clear. It means
sound sleep. The correspondence between the ordinary state, called
sound sleep and what is here called slumbering condition, is the spon
taneity and regularity of motion without the direct and wilful action
of consciousness. Consider the state of a man in sound sleep. Al
though all volition is suspended, yet the involuntary function's are per
formed most regularly. The powers of volition seem to have become
materialized or metamorphosed ; hence Prajndna ghana, which literally
means ' intelligence solidified or embodied' ; hence the translation
"embodiment of ideas and principles." (See PANINI'S ASHTADHYAYI, III.
iii. 77, murtau ghanah. The root han assumes the form ghana, when
the meaning to be expressed is murti, or solidification or condensation).

VII. — Prapancha, the relative or the conditioned world, i. e.} the

phenomenal world from the root— uf% c^fcfi?; or,
^^ — packi, to render sensible, or to develop in detail.

Ubhayatah prajnam refers to the .state midway between waking
and dreaming. The word ^Wffi! *% or, as Shankara says,

to indicate that here we exclude

also the state midway between both.

K Y O P A N I S II A T.

mood between both ; neither emdodiment of intelligence, nor
fraught with volitional consciousness, nor devoid of conscious
ness ! but as the Invisible, Uniinpressible, Incomprehensible,
Indefinable, Unthinkable, Unknowable Being, only Conscious.
of Self in Self, i.e., the Absolute, and the Unconditioned, with
r>o trace of the relative or the conditioned world about Him, All
calm, All-bliss, One and Only. This is the fourth or the-
essential mode of existence. This is the Atma, ^TTfHT, the
Universal Spirit. He should be known.

srr^r

II c II

8. OM is the most estimable name of the Eternal, Omni
present, Universal Spirit, the modes ot existence of this Spirit
being truly represented by matras or the single letters, A, U,
M, (%^,tr) of which the monosyllable Om is made up.

9. A (^), the first tnatra, means the wakeful phase, or
God diffused in external nature ; for, ^r means that which ia
diffused throughout and is known in the first step. He, who
realizes this mode of Divine existence; becomes gratified to
the full measure of his desire and has taken the first step.

f^r^fi- H^frf H ^ ?^ II 1° \\

"vj

10. U (^), the second mdtrat means the contemplative
phase, or God living in interior design; for, H means that which

VIIL — The word mdtra has been here given as meaning something
that represents or estimates the value of another. Sea UNNADI KOSH,

IV, 168— f TfflWftozi^Tl or ^r^Rf WT^T ?TR ^T, m&trai*

that which measures, estimates or gives the value of, hence ' represents.'

IX. — Here the mdtra A. is shown as derivable from the root ap
(aplri vyaptau) to pervade, or as an abbreviated form of ddi, which
literally means the very first step, hence the one who has taken the
very first s.tep, or only a zealous beginner.

X. — Here U is shown to»be derivable from ulkareha or nbhaya ;
the former from krisha, to draw out an outline or murk, hence to
design, and the latter meaning both,

182 MANDOKYOPAN1SHAT.

designs, or does both, ?. c., designs and executes. He, who re
alizes this mode of Divine existence, attracts wisdom towards
himself and becomes harmonized. Never is in his family born
an individual who can ignore the knowledge of the Divinity.

11. M (tr), the third m&tra, means the slumbering phase,
or God viewed in Himself; for, 5R means that which measures
all, or is the resort of all. He, who realizes this mode of

Divine existence, measures out (a) the whole knowledge of
the Universe and retires unto Him.

T W V ^ ^ II U II

12. The fourth is no m&tra, for, it represents the Un
knowable, the Absolute, and the Unconditioned, without a
trace of the relative or the conditioned world about Him.
He, who realizes this, the true Atma, Omkara passes from
self into the Ruler of self, the Universal Spirit, i. e., obtains
moksha, or salvation.

(a) — " That which measures all " means " that viewed in comparison
with whose infinite power, the structure of the Universe is but finite
and measurable."

MANDUKYOPAN13HAT.

EXPOSITION.

WORSHIP is the first act of pure relrgion. It is a spontaneous
declaration of the inmost affections, as distinguished from the false
worship of the churches, where every action is predetermined instead
of being spontaneous, where we have declamation instead of declara
tion, and pretended show of assumed seriousness instead of free
play of inmost affections. Such is not true worship. True worship,
on the other hand, is brimful of genuine feeling, profound attraction,
and soul-absorbing meditation. True worship, as an outcome of
pure religion, is deeply ingrained in human nature.

Folded within the depths of the? human soul lies the germ of all
religion. Every human being is endowed with a spiritual nature, a
nature that lifts him towards all that is pure and holy, superior and
attractive. Not only do the holiness of life, purity of motiv.es, sublimi*
ty of thought, and nobility of chaiacter ii spire us with the appro
priate feelings of respect, regard, admiration or reverence, but our
aspirations rise high towards the just, the true, the infinite and the
divine. It is this part of our spiritual nature that is the foundation
of all religion, endows us with the sentiment of reverence for
all that leads to high and noble aspirations, and with the sentiment
of humble gratitude for all that has contributed to our edificatiou
and elevation.

Like all other affections of the human mind, the religious affec
tions are also capable of being misused, or of being perverted in their
use. The religious sentiment, under the effect of excessive stimula
tion, may exaggerate or portray in brighter colours a simple truth,
may over-estimate or unduly estimate the ssnctity of an action, and,
where the sovereign faculty of Reason is yet undeveloped, or but
very weak, this over-estimation may develop into idolatry or super
stitious reverence; or, on the other hand, where, through want of clear
perception, or through want of interpenetration, the reasoning facul
ties are very active, but discerning faculties comparatively torpid,
the consequence may be a sceptical, atheistic, or disrespectful tempera
ment. But the elevation felt or pure liberty enjoyed will be exactly
in proportion to the normal exercise of this faculty. Man, in hia
ignorance, often worships a false deity. Instead of the God of Nature,
he worships a god of his imagination, a god of fashion, a god of
popular sanction, or a god of his own feelings and ungratified desires.
And what is the consequence ? A life of superstition, unrighteous
ness, cruelty and injustice. A true mode of worship is, therefore,
highly desirable ; a mode of worship, not dictated by false religious
educatiou, or fashionable popular custom, but by the higher interests
of spiritual nature and by the deepest penetration of Reason. This
system of worship, it is the subject of Mdndukyopcmishat to furnish.

184 IMPOSITION OF

It enjoins the worship of tlie Supreme Deity alone, the Eternal
Omnipresent Being, the Supernal Soul of Nature. For, what but a
true conception, knowledge and realisation of the Universal Spirit,
can be^ consistent with that overflowing, exultant, blissful attitude
of the mind, otherwise designated as worship. The worship of the
Eternal Being is the only worship that is inculcated in the Upanishats \
and this Eternal Being is everywhere named Omkara,

In Kathopanishat, II. 15., we read : —

OM is the adorable Being ( to the study of whom all life of
brahmacharya is consecrated, or all practice of meditation devoted,
and whose realization it is the object of the four Vedas to accomplish.

Or, in the words of Chhandvgya Upanishat Blfariffi^T JT-
^tsr trm^trf — " Cm is the Eternal, Omnipresent Being ; He
alone should be worshipped." Or, more explicitly still, in Mundakopa-
nisliat, II. ii. 5-6 : —

n ^ n

He who interiorly and invisibly sustains the sun, the earth and
the intervening space in their respective positions; even He, who
sustains the life, the brain, the lungs and all the various senses, is
the Unitary Interpervading Spirit. Try, 0 men ! to know Him alone,
and leave all other talk ; for, He is the only principle that leads tq
immortality. (5). Just in the heart, where all the blood-vessels meet,
very much like the spokes of a wheel meeting in the navel or the
centre, resides the interiorly-governing Divine Spirit, manifesting
His glory in ways multifarious. Contemplate Him, the Om, this in
teriorly-governing Spirit, for, thus alone can you reach, with safety,
the blissful haven, far beyond the ignorance-begotten miseries of this
troubled ocean of Life. (6).

What, then, constitutes the contemplation of Om? What is the
process to worship Him ? An answer to this question is furnished in
Yoga Darshana. I. i. 27-28 : —

I fi^w^T3n*I " Om is the inestim

able name of the Supreme Being who is the Ruler of the Universe,

MANDUKTOPANI8HAT. 135

<To recite this, His name, and to constantly recall to our mind its
profound signification, this is the twofold process of meditation, called
updsnd." Vyasa, in his cemmentary on the two S-utra&, remarks : — •

" Om indicates the Ruler of the Universe. Is it by mere
arbitrary convention, or by some natural process, just as light
indicates the lamp or the source of light ? Surely, the relation
between the symbol Om and that of which it is a symbol, is not con-
Ventional but actual, and the symbol but expresses the actual re
lation. To take a parallel example, the relation between the father
.and the son is real. The relation really exists, even before we can
express it in such terms as these. ' He is his father, and he his son/
.Even in the cycles of creation to come, since words signify things
not arbitrarily but by a fixed natural standard, the same symbol, Om,
is made to express the same idea, because it is an established fact,
with those twho know Revelation, or those yogis who have realized
what the relation between the signifying symbol and the thing signi
fied is, that the words, their corresponding ideas, and the relation
between them is eternal, or exists in nature, and not by human con
vention."*

" The recitation of Om, and the constant presentation before the
mind of its signification, these are the two means of His updsnd or
worship. The yogi, who constantly does both, develops concentra
tion, or, as has been elsewhere remarked, tjie aforesaid recitation and
realization develop concentration, and concentration facilitates re
alization, till, by the continual action and re-action of both, the light
of the Supreme Divinity begins to fully shine in the heart of the yogi."
VyasaBhdxhya, Sutras 27 and 28.

The recitation of Om and the constant presentation of its significa
tion to the mind, being the two essentials of Divine worship, it is of
the greatest importance to know what the significance of the Unitary
Syllable Om is, for, the recitation is only preparatory to the presenta
tion. We have only said that Om is the Eternal Omnipresent Spirit*
This is by the way of indication. But we have not as yet any
definite knowledge of the detailed significance of this syllable. It is,
however, a very palpable fact that no word is so sacred in Vedic?
literature as Om. It is regarded as the essence of the V'edas, as the
highest, the sublimest and the dearest name of the Supreme Deity,
and is especially appropriated in updsnd. No Vedic mantra is ever
read without a previous recitation of the syllable, Om. It is not only

* Perhaps this truth will be more easily brought home to the sceptical reader of
the nineteenth century if it were expressed in the "words (to us, less acceptable, for,
more indefinite), of Max MiUler, who says, "They (the roots) are phonetic types, pro
duced by a power inherent in human* nature. They exist, as Plato would say, by
luilure : though with Plato we should add that when we say by nature, we mean by tna
hand of God."— Lectures on the Science of Language, 4th edition, London, page 402.

136 EXPOSITION OP

because Om is the most soft, melodious and smoothly-flowing syllable
in sound, nor merely because the letters composing Om spontaneously,
and without education of any sort, escape the lips of the babe who is
just beginning his vocal exercises, but because there is something
deeper, dearer and diviner in its significance. It is true that, whereas
other names of God are also names of things temporal, (for instance,
the Sanskrit ishwara is also the name of a governor, even Brahma is
also the name of the universal ether and of the Vedas, agni is, besides,
the name of fire, and so on), Qm is only the name of the Eternal,
Omnipresent, Universal Spirit. That can only be a reason in behalf
of its precision and definiteness of meaning, but hardly a reason for
the extremely superlative importance that is attached to it. It is
also true that Om is more comprehensive in meaning than any other
term signifying God in Sanskrit, or, in other words, that it connotes
a number of attributes that no other word or syllable singly does,
but even that is of secondary importrnce. The deepest, and in truth,
the highest reason is that the signification of Om is the key-note of
the realization of the Divine Spirit. The several letters of Om, with
unparalleled exactness, mark the successive steps of meditation by
which one rises to the realization of the nature of Divinity.

The process of this realization is exactly the reverse of the process
by which the mind acts on the external universe. If the latter be
called evolution, i. e., folding out of the internal faculties of the mind,
till they become externally 'manifest, the former should be called in
volution, i. e.} folding the mind within itself, till tho faculties that
were working on the outer plane retire from outside and turn in
side for more interior work. To take a familiar illustration, when
an archer shoots a mark, he directs his attention from within out
wards with his eye pointing towards the mark in the same straight
line with the arrow, he stretches ihe bow and lets the arrow' fly. This
is how mind acts on things external. To pass within, to contemplate
Divinity, he withdraws his senses from their outward course, and,
when the outer activity of the mind is stopped, he passes, by gradual
steps of reflection, embodied in the constituent letters of the syllable
Om, to the more interior and, therefore, more perfect realization of
the Divine Spuit.

Before we begin our exposition of the several letters composing
Om, it will be useful to present a rough outline of the four planes
of manifestation of mind's activity. The Divine Being is a spirit,
and to realize this spirit we have to pass through its outer manifesta
tions to the more and more interior ones, till the final cause, the
Spirit, is reached. Perhaps, our understanding will be much facilitat
ed by taking the analogous case of the Oworking of the human spirit,
although it must be remembered that an analogy is, at the best, an
analogy, and not an exact coincidence.

M A N D U K V 0 P A N i S H A T, 13*

Let us begin with the case of a watch-maker. He has made the
watch, and the principles embodied in the watch are doing their
actual work. The spring, the balance, the wheels, and other pieces of
the machinery; all perform their respective appropriate functions,
and the minute and hour hands regularly move on the dial. In fact,
the skill, dexterity, and designing capacity of the watch-maker are
not only embodied in, and stamped on, the watch, but the very material
forces ^and mechanical principles, that the watch-maker had at his
| disposal, are actually living in the watch and manifesting themselves
by the precision and regularity of motion of appropriate parts. This
is the first, the most external and the most palpable manifestation of
the watch-maker's skill. Thus the spirit outwardly stamps matter
with its impress. This is what has been designated in the translation
portion, " the WAKEFUL PHASE " <jr the externally manifest mode
of spirit's existence.

But, secondly, the first watch-maker in the world, before he sat
up to manufacture a watch, must have made an ideal watch, \. e.y must
have designed the watch. He must have previously known the prin*
ciple or the fact of elasticity, its isochronism, the principle of trans
mission of motion by wheels and pinions, the principle of escapement,
the frictional, elastic and other properties of steel, brass, iron, jewels,
&c., and must have patiently and slowly elaborated in his mind a
scheme of the application of all these principles, till a definite purpose
could be served by them. He must have thought out the pros
and cons of one arrangement and the other, and chosen one in
preference to the other, till he finally settled upon a mentally perfect
scheme of the watch. He must have mentally seen his ideal watch,
thus slowly moving, thus ultimately stopping and requiring a wind
ing for possibility of further movement. In short, the watch-maker
must havQ drawn from the promiscuous store-house of his knowledge
the necessary items of information, applied them properly, and, for
a time, lived in the self-made design, before he was actually able to
undertake the manufacture of a watch. This is what has been called
"the CONTEMPLATIVE PHASE," or the designing mode of
spirit's existence.

And yet, this is not all. There was a time, when no thought,
not a trace of this design existed in the watchmaker's mind. His
mind was a store-house filled with promiscuous information, not yet
arranged or applied. And the principles embodied in the watch were
not all he knew. Perhaps he knew much more about astronomy,
physics, psychology, mathematics and aesthetics, perhaps about chem
istry, medicine and aetiology. A merely fragmental part of his
knowledge was brought to light and applied. Compared with the
knowledge that was actually rendered useful, his whole information
was encyclopedic. And yet, was he, all the while, conscious of the
Vast amount of massive information that he always carried about

139 EXPOSITION OP

himself ? Surely not ! In moments of bright recollection, or in
moments of practical necessity, only fractional portions of his
^accumulated, experiences were illuminated and called forth in con
scious array before his mind; but the vast majority of his cognitions
Btill slumbered as latent ideas, like congealed, solidified, incrusted
bits, in the dead, calm, silent chambers of his brain or sensorium.
Revocable at pleasure ; they were the invisible guests of his mind,
living for the most part in the back-ground, shaded from immedi*
ate recognition by the exquisite, dark veils of oblivion hanging
over the chambers of memory. This condition has been denominat
ed the " SLUMBERING PHASE," or the inactive mode of spirit's
existence.

Beyond the wakeful phase^ or the active manifestations of the
mind as embodied in material things and phenomena, like phantas
magoria, projected from within the magic lantern outward on the
specular screen ; beyond the contemplative phase, or the energetic
display of mental activities, now reconnoitering one group of ideas,
then another, now selecting, then arranging, till, as in a dream, woven
into a texture, stands before the mind the glowing picture of a
marvellous painting, heretofore unconceived ; beyond the slumbering
phase, or the inactive repose of mental faculties, replete with tactual
or sensual mentalities, impelled to remain by the omnipresent law of
re-action, at an imperative rest, beyond these and behind these, re
moved far, far away from these phenomenal activities and passive
modifications, resides the* true reality, the substance spirit, the watch
maker in essente. This has been styled the " essential mode " of
spirit's existence.

Let us, clearly conceive these four modes of spirit's existence,
the Wakeful, the Contemplative, the Slumbering and the Essential.
Man, in his life, repeats these modes of his spirit-existence every day.
When it is broad daylight, and the human mind is fully awake, the eye
perceiving colours, the ear hearing sounds, the nose smelling vapors, the
tongue tasting fluids, and the body feeling solids, he lives a life in
material objects. This is the Wakeful state. When the folds of darkness
overtake the day, and 'the ploughman homeward plods his weary
way,' when perhaps, the ignorant labourer tries to forget the severity
of his toil in a cup of wine — the active world retires, and so does our
model-man. Straight he stretches himself upon his bed. The eye
lids close as with a superincumbent weight, and gradually the other
senses give way, and our model-man has fallen into sleep. Perhaps
he is dreaming. Suppose he is a student. The solid walls of his
seminary have really dissolved from his view, for he is not waking.
Without books, class-fellows, or companions, he is lying on his bed,
solitary and alone. And yet he dreams. The examination-hall with its
flocking candidates is painted before him, hiruself seated amidst them.
The papers are distributed so to-day, so to-morrow, and so the day after

MANDUKYOPANISHAT.

(all in the dream). Home he returns in anxious wait for the result,
| and lo ! a paragraph in a Gazette, or a telegram from a friend, brings
him the cheering news, or, perchance, the news of ,his failure.
Wonderful are the mysteries of dreaming. This corresponds to • the
contemplative phase. Soon after the dream, or without a dream, he
falls into a sound slumber. Where is that living voice, and that
active brain ? Where are those dreamy paintings ? Have they
vanished, melted into nothing, or been annihilated ? Stored in the
organisation, though invisible, lie the possibilities of their manifesta
tions still, though now congealed and materialized, so to speak.
This is the Slumbering state. How speedily flows the current of
life. Day after day of wakeful activity passes away, night after
night of disturbed or sound slumber is counted. And yet, amid these
changing scenes, these veering manifestations, man preserves a sort
of independence, his personal identity, because he is the Essential
existence, to wjiom the aforesaid states are either accidents or non-
involving influences.

Doubt not, gentle reader, but that the spirit exists in these four
moods. The wakeful mood is the most exterior, the contemplative
the more interior, the slumbering the more interior still, till we reach
the innermost reality, the essential spirit. And so Grod's spirit, which
is diviner, holier, infinite far, essentially exists, as an embodiment of
principles, designs and imparts life and vitality to all external nature*
And the first glimpse of Divinity that is caught by the dry scientific
mind is of the most external kind, in fact, derived from the adapta
tion of physical motions to one another, their regularity, precision,
uniformity, and such other traits that the universe exhibits to a
mind well-versed in the study of effects. After the mind has fami
liarized itself with this, there dawns a philosophical perception of
the interior design of nature, with which perceptions the mind soars
higher, till the design itself is found to be the outcome of constitu
tional and spontaneous tendencies of the Deity, called principles*
Contemplating from the platform of these principles, the mind
rises to the Fountain of all principles, the Essential Divinity, embody
ing all in One.

These being the successive steps through which the mind rises to*
the contemplation of the Eternal, Omnipresent Being, the syllable Om,.
which consists of three letters, A., U & M, or ^, ^ and *r, is
made the means of this contemplation ; for ^ presents the
wakeful phase, ^, the contemplative, and w, the slumbering
phase, not merely mnemonically but by virtue of their inherent
meaning. Hence the true devotee, in the recitation of Om, thinks of
the three letters composing Om, dwells on the meaning and significa-
ation of each letter which rep'resents one corresponding phase, and
thus lives alternately in the order and regularity displayed in nature,

140 EXPOSITION OF

in the design moving mature, and in the principles spontaneously and
naturally elaborating design. Since the very lowest phase, thua
contemplated^ involves but the highest generalization of the order
of the universe, its contemplation is pre-eminently calculated to
develop concentration, and concentration facilitates contemplation, sa
that ultimately, by the continued action and reaction of both, the light
of the Supreme Divinity begins to fully shine in the heart of the yoyi*
Hence the words of Vyasa : —

TOITWT

We come now to the explanation of the three letters ^ ^ & ^f.

In contemplating the deep signification of ^rt the yogi
liolds before his mind the vast expanse of the universe, with its
mighty of bs rolling in their magnificent splendour undisturbed through
vacuous paths, carving ethereal waves of unseen exquisite beauty in
the ocean of infinity, and contemplates upon the grand meaning of
the universe, f or.^ in the words of the Upanishat, the mighty volume
of nature is spread as a commentary on the nature and attributes of
the Eternal Omnipresent Being. The universe appears to his illu
minated vision as a vast organisation of definite parts. And such ia
the uniformity of plane t in this organisation, that even the most
distant orbs — whose light, emitted millions of years ago, carried ont
the speedy wings of ether at the unearthly rate of 180,000 miles per
second, has not as yet been able to penetrate the atmosphere ©f our-
earth — yea, even orbs more distant are organized internally on the
same plan on which the solar system, of which our earth is a part,
is constructed. To contemplate the wise and intelligent structure of
the universe, a structure even as perfect as that of the most highly
developed being on earth, man, a structure as well endowed with a
brain, stomach, the feet and the various other parts justly composing
the wondrous organism of the macrocosm, let us turn our attention
to the following sublime mantras of Atharva Veda (X-xxiii, 4,3 2 — 34)
on the constitution of the universe as typically represented by our
solar system : —

o\

: u srasr *re^r^Fs;^3=5flT*:^ s^^N: i *ffi*i OT^t irror \

«rsr TO: u TOI ^ici: UTOT *rorl w*rc*w it

MANDUKYOPANISHAT.

141

' We approach. ( in our contemplations), with highest reverence,
the Great Adorable Being, who has made this frame of the
universe as a living demonstration of His existence, as a highly
fitting lesson on His nature and attributes, and who has placed
in this wondrous organisation (1) the sun with its luminous at
mosphere as the brain, (2) the super-terrestrial space intervening
between the sun and the earth as the stomach, and (3) the earth
(typical of all planets) as the lower body, the feet. ' We adore
the Great Being in whose creation (4) the sun and the moon
are the two eyes, and (5) heat, the mouth. We adore the
Great Being who has made (6) the atmospheres as the lungs,
and (7) the directions of space as the organs of hearing. Let us
adore Him, the Infinite Being, the Source of all wisdom.'

»

Here is displayed to the mind of the devotee the scheme of per
fect organisation. For, is not the sun, with its atmosphere, the brain
of this system ? The brain in the human body, technically called the
cerebrum and the cerebellum, is an organisation of sublimated elements,
a battery of vital powers, the seat of nervous energy, the controller
of all motions and functions of the body. And the sun too, like the
brain, is a reservior of sublimated elements, an infinitely powerful
battery of magnetic, electric, optic, actinic, caloric and dynamic
forces, the seat of combustible, vegetative energy, and of what has
bjen called in geology by the technical ,name of sub-serial denuda
tion ; the controller of all planetary and cometary motions. And the
superterrestrial space teeming with the atmosphere is truly the
stomach, the organ of digestion, refining and elaborating the materials
consigned to it. It is in the atmosphere that clouds are formed, vap
ours attenuated, streams of electricity generated, surface particles of
earthly, salts and metals volatilized, and the products of all these pro
cesses diffused and mixed up, till all is reduced to a homogeneous fluidi
ty, carried above the lower strata of the atmosphere, there condensed,
and then poured out as pure, precious, plant-feeding rainfall very
like the stomach that, after refining, sublimating and attenuating the
food it receives, extracts from its juicy contents the elements of the
crimson vital liquid, and pours it forth, like rainfall, into the heart.
Before, however, the materials pass into the stomach, they have to
pass through the mouth that by the aid of its maxillary organism
divides and re-divides the solid food, till it is powdered down and
mixed with saliva and thus converted into a fluid material. In the
same way, before the earthly materials are consigned to the stomach,
the atmospheric space, they pass through the mouth, the Heat. For,
what is the channel that transmits the earthly materials to upper
regions- ? What is it that powders, atomizes, and reduces to vaporous
subtility the hard solid materials of earth, or what is it, that dissolves
these materials in the saliva of nature, water ? It is Heat that does

142 EXPOSITION OF

all the work. Impelled by the restless, vivifying, vibratory oscilla
tions of Heat, solids are dashed into liquids and liquids into gases.
It is by Heat that gaseous particles, thus endowed with rarity, are
borne or> the wings of warmth to upper regions of comparative cold.
It is Heat that licks out of the liquid lake the watery elements of the
atmosphere. Heat is the mediator between the earthly materials and
the atmosphere, just as mouth is the mediator between the food and
the stomach. And the foot is the lowest part of the organisation,
symbol of obedience to the throned monarch, the brain. It obeys the
motor impulse communicated to it from the brain through the nerves.
So does the earth obey the influence of the sun communicated to it
through the ethereal channels of space. The eyes in the human
organism are constructed to enable man to perceive colours and develop
taste. Similarly, the light keams of the sun, angirasa

(^rfw^f) of the mantra, develop the spectral universe, thus

standing in the same relation to the universe as the eye stands to the
human body.1 The human lungs are fitted not only to act as the
bellows, drawing in and expelling air, or to oxygenate blood, but to
draw in invisible elements that directly strengthen the brain. So the
atmosphere is fitted not only to attract particles of vaporous matter or
repel the suspended earthly particles, but to draw out from the earth,
especially at the two poles, as if at the ventricles, streams of positive
and negative electricity that leave the earth for ever and for good.

The analogy,* therefore,' is complete in every reasonable aspect.
The whole universe, to the contemplation of a devotee, presents a brain,
a mouth, a stomach, the eyes, the ears, the lungs and the feet. And
it is thus that the human body is organized. Kealizing the perfect

* To impress the reader with this part, we will present only the analogy of slightly
differing pictures of the same from different parts of Vedic literature, so that "he may
be able to form a somewhat general and comprehensive conception of the organization
of Nature, and not to take the analogy too literally. We quote Yajur Veda
XXXI. 13:—

"God has placed the super-terrestrial space in the place of the stomach, the sun in
the place of the head, the earth in the place of the feet, and the open space in the place
of the ear cavity." In Mundaka, II. 1. 4, we read—

it

"The Eternal Spirit that resides in the interior of all things, has disposed ,the fir&
instead of the brain, the sun and the moon in lieu of the two eyes, the open directions
of space in lieu of ear cavities, the Vedasas His organi of speech, the atmosphere as His
lungs, the whole universe as His heart, and the planets as His feet. It is thus that
H» lives."

MAKDUKYORANtSBAT. 143

adaptation of the mouth to the stomach, of the stomach to the lungs,
of the lungs to the brain, and of the brain to the whole body, and also
realizing correspondingly the mutual adaptation of the parts of the
universe, can he for one moment forsake the Omnipresent "Eternal
Spirit, so glorious in His manifestations ? For, even in the
human body, let us inquire, are the brain, the lungs, the stomach, and
'the other parts in vain, merely to carry out the material, physical or
physiological functions all unconsciously, like pieces of dead
matter ? Is this beautiful adaptation of parts merely the result
of chance, or of mere ' fortuitous concourse of atoms' ? Have the
blind forces of matter met unconsulted, and, after unexpected, un
known and unpredictable clashes, embraced each other and linked
themslves into the apparently beautiful organisation of man ? No,
this adaptation of functions is not in* vain. The edifice, constructed of
the brain, the lungs, the stomach, the feet, the eyes, the ears, and
the mouth; is but the building of a theatre. The adaptation of its
rooms is the design of an architect. Surely, the architect made it for
some one to act in. Who are then, the actors on this arena
of the human organisation ? The actors, no doubt, there are, but
they could not manifest their skill and activity without a proper and
well-managed stage. These actors are the five organs of sense, i. e.,
of hearing, of touching, of seeing, of tasting, and of smelling; the five
organs of motion, i. e., the hand, the feet, the throat, the generative
and the excretive organs; the five vital nerve forces, i. e., of inspiration,
of expiration, of blood-circulation, of glossopharyngeal action, and of
muscular contraction, in general ; manas, or the inte'rnal organ that
originates the impulse to communicate with the external world, and
displays the power of imagination; bnddhi, the faculty of decision;
chitta, the facalty of memory; and ahankara, the organ of personality.
These are the nineteen invisible actors in the drama of life. The
human spirit, through the physical temple, manifests his powers of life,
sensation, locomotion, memory, perception, imagination, decision and
individuality. For, how can life be manifested, unless the various
parts of the body be mutually adapted, the one supplying the demand
of the other, and the mechanical, chemical and electrical forces, gene
rated by their mutual action and friction, be equilibrated ? It is thus
necessary for the body to possess an organisation, before it can evolve
mechanical, chemical and electrical forces in equilibrium with eact
other; and further, it is necessary for these forces to be well organised,
before life can manifest itself. And it is only when life has thus
vitalized the body, rendered it elastic, impressible and vibrous, that
it can manifest any tendency towards sensation or locomotion. Not
before the principle of sensation is fully established, can perception
and imagination dawn ; and it is only after perception has provided
with requisite mental apprehensions that the faculties of com
parison and discrimination can come into play, and weave the
mental impressions into generalized, symbolic ideas. It is these ideas

144 EXPOSITION OP

that memory takes in, and so carefully stores. And, lastly, it is on
the faithful retentivity of memory that the mystery of personal
identity hinges; for, what is personal identity but that each human
spirit feels himself as separate from all others on the ground of
the entirely distinct experiences he has had. It is thus evident that
the physical temple is but a grand stage well-prepared for the
purpose, on which the master-dramatist, the human spirit, sends-
his vice-gerents, each in his turn, one after the other, to act and
prepare the stage for the ensuing. On the stage of the physical
temple, appears the first vice-gerent, Life, acts his scene and pre
pares the ground for the next vice-gerent, Sensation. He, in hia
turn, plays his own part, and fits the scene for the advent of Per
ception, Comparison and Memory in turn, till the human spirit
himself, in the last, appears on tVie fully-prepared stage to manifest
the potencies of his personal individuality. Not without purpose,
then, is this beautiful adaptation.

As with the human spirit, so is it with the Divine Being. Why
this wonderful disposition of the sun, the moon, the planets, the
atmosphere and the elements in the actual positions they hold in
Nature, but that the Divine Spirit required the organisation of
physical elements into a perfectly vitalized body of the Universe,
like unto man, to manifest H is eternal elements of Universal life, sensation
and intelligence, and to give His impersonal personality an expression
on the outer plane. Hence it is that the yogi starts with the letter
A of the syllable Om ; repeats in his mind its deep signification ;
pictures to himself the seven-organed fabric of the grand universe ;
settles himself upon its functional and anatomical organisation j
contemplates its necessity, its purpose, its usefulness, and its reality ;
is deeply impressed with the existence of the more interior and
spiritual principles (the nineteen principles enumerated above),
impatiently pressing for manifestation ; and thence contemplates the
All-regulating, All-pervading Spirit, Vaishwanara, which is exactly
the sense of the letter A out of the three letters composing Om.

And now to the second phase of contemplation. Out of order,
comes out order ; out of chaos, chaos. Organised forces acting upon
matter will produce organised structures; a chaos of forces can
only result in chaos. Mathematical science is full of proofs of this
proposition. Take, for instance, the orderly, uniform, and regular
motion of a body in a circle. Mathematicians tell us that this motion
is the result of two forces, centrifugal and centripetal. If the velocity
of the moving body be v and the radius of the circle in which it
moves r, the centripetal force will be ^r Thus mathematicians tell
us that when a body is moving in a circle its centrifugal and cent
ripetal forces are balanced by each other and bear a definite relation
to the velocity of the body and the radius of the path. This definite
relation (or, which is the same thing, organisation of the two forces)

ItAKDtTKTOtlNllltlT. 145

alone can produce circular motion. Let there be another definite
relation, and the motion will be elliptical. Thus it is clear that it is the
internal organisation that gives form and order • to the outer
manifestation. Or, to give further illustrations, it is the internal
slow motion of particles that determines the solid. It is the internal
volubility of the particles that produces the visible liq uid. It is also
internal extreme mobility of particles, producing what is called the
excursion of the molecules along free paths, that produces the gaseous
condition. Or, to take more familiar examples still, it is the invisible,
internal organisation in the seeds that gives each of them the power
to reproduce exactly its own kind and no other ; and, finally, the
human spermatozoa, endowed as they are with internal though in
visible organization, because of being formed by extracting, through
the activity of the vital essence, partMes from all parts, organs, and

faculties of the living body (WT^rrWWftr ' *TTH^), are,

only by virtue of this interior organisation, capable of reproducing ex
actly the human organism. Thus it is clear that it is always the internal
organisation of producing causes that develops form, order, organisation
or adaptation in the exterior. Must not, then, the All-regulating,
All-pervading Divine Spirit, Vaishwanara, that builds up this grand
and highly perfect edifice of His physical temple, the Universe, be
also himself organised ? Surely the plastic, formative, associative,
dissociative principles of the Divine Power, must themslves flow into
definite tendencies, and be filled with a law 'of co-operative sympathy,
causing periodicity in their activity, just to give birth- to such pre
cision, regularity and periodicity, as the sun, moon and stars, to
gether with the earth and planets, display in the succession of days
and nights, of seasons and tides, of light and darkness, of rising and
setting, of eclipses and occultations, of perihelion and aphelion, of
forward a*nd retrograde motions, and of the alternating phases of the
(satellites. And yet that is not all. There are millions, nay billions,
of organisms of each species — and the number of species, both in the
animal and vegetable kingdoms, is innumerable — each not only
growing, living and reproducing its own kind, but also manifesting
feeling, sensation, perception, judgment, memory and intelligence,
according to the degree of its refinement. Whence this display
of wonderful powers and activities ? Surely the Divine element of
life, sensation, and intelligence must have likewise flowed into
mutual harmony, fused into unity, and interblended into an in
terior organisation whereby to develop such well-endowed and adapted
organisms of living beings. Before the materials of the Universe were
disposed into the seven parts of which the fabric of the Universe is made
up, the interiorly organised Being, Taijasa, brooded over the design of
creation; and, before the elements of motion were appropriated by life,
those of life by sensation, and those of sensation by intelligence, thus,
endowing organisms with various faculties, the same Divine

146 EXPOSITION or

y lived in the yet-contemplated design of living creatures. To
contemplate God in His everlasting designs, in the interior constitution
of the Universe, is to contemplate Him in the 2nd phase, i. e., the
Contemplative phase, or, which is more literally the ' Dreaming phase/
For, as in a dream, when man but partially retires from the conscious
work and action of the cerebrum, a so-called physical sleep comes
on. The activity of the senses, whereby the internal spirit might havfe
acted upon outer matter, is suspended, yet the mind is not at rest.
Playful amidst the many chambers of its cerebral mansion, it collects
the materials of its recollected sensations and ideas, and, for the time,
not discriminating between these ideas and the objects of which they
are the ideas, weaves them into a texture, and, whilst dreaming, enjoys
the scene just as really as though the texture had been made up of the
actual objective materials. So 'is it with the ( Contemplative phase.
For, although we do not view God as acting upon universal matter
and disposing it of in various shapes, yet we view Him, ap in a dream,
associating particles of matter, -aggregating and disposing them in
their respective places, till an entirely complete design is interiorly
contemplated. As if retired from the physical Universe, God is
viewed as contemplating the design of creation.

From this view of the Divinity, which is exactly the sense of the
2nd letter U, composing Cm, the yogi passes to the contemplation of
the 3rd letter M, corresponding to the third phase, the ' Slumbering
phase/ We have mentioned that, in the state of dreaming the mind
is but partially retired from the conscious work and action of the
cerebrum. When, however, sound sleep overtakes the dreamer, the
mind wholly retries from the cerebrum, only maintaining the life of the
physical frame, restoring the vitality and strength of the body by its
recuperative and constructive processes, which take place all of them,
so to speak, involuntarily. So let us contemplate the Divme Spirit.
Let us consider what determined the flow of the Divine elements of
life, sensation and intelligence into mutual harmony. What made the
elements of God's intelligence arrange and dispose themselves into a
perfect design of the Universe ? The human mind is moved to a
conception of new thoughts, or to a planning of new designs, either
under the influence of education, or under the stimulation of some
keenly-felt necessity, or, in a few cases, also through prospective
precaution. But the Divine mind is not subject to such laws of education,
necessity, and precaution, as frail human beings are controlled by.
The law of Divinity is His own constitution. Unimpressed by any
external motive, unurged by any want-born necessity, the elements
of God's will flowed into an organisation or design, only impelled by
inherent Omniscience and constitutional spontaneity. Or, in the words
of the Upanishat: —

MANDUKYOPANI^HAT. 147

n

" The Great Eternal Spirit undergoes no modifications, requires
no instruments to work with, has no equal, nor any superior.. He is
the Supremely Powerful Being, endowed with innate Omniscience ,
Omnipotence, and Activity" As in sound slumber the circulation of the
blood, the respiratory functions, and the recurperative processes are
all carried out with greater regularity, precision, and naturalness,
only by virtue of the mere contact of the human soul with the body,
requiring neither volition, nor design, but the mere spontaneous
activity of the soul; so in the slumbering phase God is viewed as
exercising Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnificence, with the
greatest regularity, precision and perfection, without the exercise of
strained will, or brain-elaborated design, but by the spontaneous
working of the eternal self-intelligent principles and ideas, whose
embodiment He is. From this belief in the spontaneous activity of
the Divine Mind, there flows a soul-consolation; for, this belief, instead
of generating fatalism or the evils of pre- determination, creates strong
faith in the inherent wisdom of the self-intelligent principles embodied
and condensed, so to speak, in Godhead.

Or, to approach the subject in another way, let us consider the
process whereby the bodily eyes are made to perceive external objecta.
The organ of the eye has been likened to a camera obscura, its
aqueous humour to a crystalline lens, and vitreous humour supplying
the place of the refracting lenses, and the retina playing the part of
the plate of ground glass in the ordinary camera. Just as focussing is
necessary for a clear image of the object being formed, 'so the appended
membranes in the organism are the focussing apparatus whereby
the eye is adjusted to any desired distance. The organ of the eye,
therefore, considered merely as an organ, possesses the power of seeing
no more than the camera obscura of the photographer. At the back
of the camera stands the photographer who adjusts the lenses, takes
the image and perceives it. So is it with the human eye. At the
back of the physical eye resides the principle of visual perception, at
the back of the ear, the principle of hearing, and so at the back of
each sense, the true principle of corresponding sensation. When man
has ' shuffled off this mortal coil/ he is no more destitute of these
principles of perception and sensation than is the photographer
destitute of the power of vision without his camera obscura. The
human spirit is the true embodiment of these principles. So is it with
the Divine Spirit. He is the true embodiment of all eternal,
unchangeable principles, residing at the back of all form or organisa
tion and independent of it, and standing at the foundation of all
design. He is, in fact, the Supreme Eternal Omnipresent Spirit, of
whom th-t Upanishat says : —

: i

N* N

148 EXPOSITION OF

" He has no physical hands and feet, but without hands and
feet grasps and moulds all matter by virtue of the inherent principles,
Omnipotence and Omnipresence. He has no physical eyes, but He
sees all ; no physical ears, but He hears all ; no internal organ of
thought, but He knows all, and is Himself unknown. He is the
Supreme Spirit that pervades All." God is, therefore, viewed in this
phase as Himself, an Embodiment of all ideas and principles. This
is the Slumbering phase, the sense of the 3rd letter M composing the
monosyllable Om.

The fourth, a hyatus, which is no mdtra or letter, nor is even
uttered or spoken, but is the true Ineffable Name, represents the
Essential Existence, the true Atma, the Divine Spirit, the Invisible,
Unimpressible, "[Indefinable, Unthinkable, Unknowable Being, only
conscious of Self in Self, i. e., thte Absolute and the Unconditioned,
without a trace of the relative or conditioned world about Him, All-
calm, All-bliss, One and Only. He should be known.

We cannot better finish this interesting, though imperfect and
necessarily brief, exposition, than in the words of Prashnopanishta,
5th Prashana : —

n TO

n 8 H

: TOffiT V^WrW! VfftOTVi: I flRSTO
WX1KT* if Wtt ^: H I M ^fafTf

vj vj

I fWt^TT^RfR^T^fa ft W t

n

O ! truthful inquirer, Om is the Great God. Wise me,n attain
their object sustained by this Om. He who contemplates %
the 1st mdtra of Om, i. e.} contemplates God in the 'wakeful' phase,

MANDUKTOPANISHAT. 941

soon becomes wise, and even, after death, is re-born as man, the lord of
creation, and, by virtue of his previous upasana, leads a life of devo
tion to study, of control of passions and anger, and of search after
truth, and, thus virtuously circumstanced, experiences the pleasures
of noble nature. He who contemplates gr, the 2nd mdtra
of Om, or God in the ' contemplative ' phase, obtains a glimpse of the
interior world of causes, and is, by virtue of this updsana, transported
the spiritual world, and, after experiencing exaltation there, is re-
>rn as man. But he who contemplates *r, the 3rd mdtra of

Om, i. e.y views God as Himself, becomes illuminated and obtains
Moksha. Just as a serpent, relieved of its oldened skin, becomes new
again, so the yogi, who worships the 3rd mdtra, relieved of his mortal
coil, of his sins and earthly weaknesses, free with his spiritual body
to roam about throughout God's tlni verse, enjoys the glory of
the All-pervading Omniscient Spirit, ever and evermore.

To recapitulate. The three mdtras of Om, when duly contemplated
and in their respective order, set free the devotee from the troubles of
this world. The contemplation of the first mdtra confers upon him the
most exalted state of existence possiblo on this earth, that of the
second fills him with the joys of the spiritual world, and the con
templation of the last mdtra blesses him with moJcsha or immortality."

•: o :

MUNDAKOPANISHAT

Whatever other scholars may think of the difficulty of
translating the Upanishats, I can only repeat what I have
said before that I know few Sanscrit texts presenting more
formidable problems to the translator than these philosophical
treatises. . . . I have again and again had to translats
certain passages tentatively only, or following the commen
tators, though conscious all the time that the meaning which
they extract from the text can not be right one."

Max Muller.

MIJNDAKOPANISHAT.*

il ^ 1 1
I. MUNDAK/lsT KHAND.

1. B,rahma was the first of literati, who was master of
the physical laws of nature, and an adept mechanician. He
was the protector of mankind. He taught his eldest son,
Atharva, Brahma Vidya, or the knowledge of the Deity,
\vhich is superior to all other kinds of knowledge.

gf Tjcfrf sllU5Ic^T flf

ire HTT^i^T ^TT^TTW n * ti

2. Atharva taught Angira that spiritual knowledge
which Brahma bad taught him ; Angira taught it to Satyavaha,
a descendant of Bharaddwaj ; and Satyavaha taught it to
Angiras. It has thus come down in succession.

3. Sownak, a great chief, having respectfully approached
Angiras, asked, " Sire, what is it, that being known, all else
is known? "

rf q?!T ^mn ^ II 8 II

4. He said, " You should know that there are two
kinds ^of knowledge, which the divine sages call Parti
(esoteric) anc! Aparti (exoteric).

.* This Upanishat was translated by Lala Durga Prasad and revised by Pandit
€»uru Datta Vidyarthi, M. A., while confined to sick-bed in uii advanced state of the
disease which eventually carried Uim away.— tid,

154 MUNDAKOPANISHAT.

: ftmr

i ^ra TO ^rar cfTOnrara n

5. The Apard or exoteric knowledge is the reading of
the Kig, the Yajur, the Sama, and the Atharva Vedas ; the
Shiksha (phonetics), the Kalpa (ritual law), the Vyakarana
(grammar), the Nirukta (philology), the Chhanda (prosody)
and the Jyotish (astronomy). The Pard or esoteric know
ledge is one which leads to the realization of the Immortal
Being.

6. That Immortal Being is invisible, incomprehensible,
without origin, without symbolical distinction, without eyes
and ears, without hands and feet, ever-lasting, all pervading,
omnipresent, subtle, imperishable ; whom the sages perceive

to be the source of all beings.

u « n

7. Just as the spider outbrings and absorbs the cobweb,
as the earth throws up the vegetation, and as the living
bodies excrete the hairy growth ; so does the universe eman

ate from the Indestructible Being.

\\ c ti

8. When that Great Being contemplates creation, the
universe springs up into material forms, and thence evolve
vegetation, life, intelligence, truth, birth, good deeds, and
immortality.

II

9. The Supreme Being is omniscient, all-wise, whose
very activity is knowledge itself; from Him has come out the
material universe with its diverse forms and names.

MUNDAKOPANISHAT.

I. MUNDAK, 2ND KHAND.

1. It is true that the sages divided the mantras, which
enjoined the performance of religious deeds, into three
sanhitas. Perform those duties regularly and with rational
desires. It is the path that leads to the worlds dispensing the
fruits of good deeds.

n

2. When the fire fed with fuel flickers into flames, the
oblations of clarified butter should be thrown into it with
faithful convictions.

ltaiRpfll^

3v He ruins all the prospects of happy future life, who
does not perform the agnihotra on the occasion of darsha
(amaivas), puran mds, chatur mds (Clwumasa), anagrayanam
(harvest time), who does not entertain learned guests, per
form vaishivadeva yajna or agnihotra at all, or who per
forms them against the precepts of the Vedas.

t II 8 II

4. The seven zones of burning flame are black, brown,
heated, red-hot, unburnt, scintillating, and luminous.

I1 1 II

5. The oblations that are offered into the burning fire
in proper way, are carried by the rays of the sun to those
regions of trie atmosphere wherein the clouds float.

156 MUNDAKOPANISHAT.

v> C\

6. The offerings return to the world of the offerer in
fructifying showers, saying, as it were, to him, " Come,
Come here, enjoy the fruits of your good deeds."

cT *J5T *W aTwrl l! O II

7. These religious performances, including eighteen
forms of ceremonies, are inferior in merit, transient and
fleeting. Those who consider them as bliss, are foolish and
repeatedly undergo the misery of senility and death.

TOT

t ll c II

8. Many ignorance-ridden people arrogantly consider
themselves to be wise,-and, being puffed up with vain know
ledge, go about the world as the blind leaders of the blind,
to the great misery of others.

3n?rraf

9. Others, again, being ignorant, believe themselves
to have attained the object of life by mere deeds. But, since
mere acts and deeds do not lead to the knowledge of God,
such people, immersed in worldliness, become miserable and
go from bad to worse.

ufrT

10. Those who foolishly consider success in worldly
affairs to be the only end of life, and nothing superior to it,
after enjoying the highest pleasure possible in this world,
again fall into lower states.

MUNDAKOPANISHAT. 157

snm
ftrcsnt wra s^TOci; *r wtfh ^JC^TTHT iu? n

11. The learned men of calm mind, living the righteous
Jife in retirement, imbued with the desire of knowing and
embracing truth, freed from passions, and subsisting on alms,
attain to the unchangeable, immortal, all-pervading Spirit
with their spiritual body.

12. Let the learned man, seeing that all the enjoyments
of the world depend upon deeds, and that, mere deeds do not
lead to the knowledge of God, abandon the love of the world
and repair to a preceptor well-versed in the Vedas, and
wholly devoted to God, with suitable presents, to acquire the

knowledge of God.

13. The preceptor should initiate such a contented,
quiescent student into Brahma Vidya, which reveals the
presence of the Eternal, All-pervading Being.

n * n

II. MUNDAK, IST KHAND.

1. Verily, 0 Dear Inquirer, innumerable principles
emanate from the ImmoFtal Being, and lose themselves as
welHn Him, just as thousands of similar sparks fly from a
blazing fire.

158 MUNDAKOPANISHAT.

2. That Immortal being is glorious, incorporeal, all-
pervading, existing in and out, unborn, without organs of
life and of mind, holy, subtler than the all-filling ether, and
even than the human soul.

3. He is the author of the organs of respiration and
mind, all the senses, essences, ethers, vapors, fluids, solids
that support all other things.

4. The Eternal Spirit that resides in the interior of all
things, has disposed the fire instead of the brain, the sun
and the moon in lieu of the two eyes, the open directions of
space in lieu of the ear cavaties, the Vedas as His organs of
speech, the atmosphere as His lungs, the whole universe as
His heart, and the earth as His feet. It is thus that He
lives.

5. From Him proceed the great battery of forces,
whose fuel is the sun which draws by its rays liquid vapors
above. Thus the clouds are formed which shower on the
earth, producing rich vegetation. This, in its turn, is con
sumed by males who refine it into spermatozoic fluid and
thereby fructify the females. Thus, the infinity of creatures
is brought into this world by the mighty working of His
immutable law.

n 4 u

6. The Rig, Sama, Yajur, initiation, yajnas, charity,
the year, the agent, the surroundings where the sun and the
moon perform their respective functions, all have sprung
from Him.

MUNDAKOPANISHAT. 159

rra*^r ^^r *Tr*i ?rsrf faa:^ ii o ii

7. He is the father of innumerable learned men, skillful
experts, ordinary men, animals, birds, vital airs, various kinds
of food, austerity, faith, truth, chastity, and the law.

mi: i

II c II

8. He has placed in the heart seven prdnas (vital
powers), seven archis (their influences or activities), seven
samidhas (their respective objects of sensation, perception
&c.,) seven homas (their knowledge), and seven lokas (the
organs of those powers or senses wherein the pranas work.)*

n d n

9. He has made the seas, the mountains, together with
all the rivers that flow in their meandering paths, as well as
all the herbs, and their juices; and it1 is He who interiorly
pervades and upholds them.

10. This very universe, together with the activities of
men, their knowledge of the Vedas, penance, immortality,
exists in the Omnipresent Being. O Dear Inquirer ! he
who knows this Being in the depth of his heart, breaks a-
sunder the ties of ignorance and obtains salvation.

(vitality) becomes seven-fold, as it works in seven organs of the body,
private part*, the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the nose, and the heart. It extract*
vitality from food and distributes among these organs, which thus become capable of the
mental acts of sensation, perception, <fcc.

160 MI7NDAKOPANISHAT.

fester

II. MUNDAK, 2ND KHAND.

1. Verily, the Supreme Being is everywhere manifest
ed and is always near at hand, pervading the intellect, the
great asylum, the repository of all this moving, living, and
throbbing universe. Know Him to be self-existent, invisible,
adorable, and subtler than we can comprehend. Indeed, He
is the only adorable Being for His creatures.

frf%m
I rT^rTrtfrST rTff rli\Iclf ^)^ fsrff IK II

2. He is glorious, finer than atoms, and holds worlds
and the creatures thereof. He is the undecayable Supreme
Being, the life of all, the essence of speech and mind, all-
truth, and immortal. 0 Dear Inquirer, know that He alone
is to be aimed at.

*rt ^TOT faferf ^"SrterT I

[ *?ter ftfi? ii ? ii

3. Hold the bow — the Upanishats ; fit in it the sharp
arrow of concentrated attention ; draw it with the whole force
of devotion ; and bear it in mind that the mark is the Great
Immortal Being.

« H

4. Om, the Great Name of God, is the bow, the soul
arrow, the mark the Supreme Being Himself. Shoot it with
dl your force and vigilance ; and just as the arrow is pierced
into the mark, so is the soul lodged in the Divinity.

MUNDAKOPANISHAT.

5. He who interiorly and invisibly sustains the sun, the
earth and the intervening space in their respective positions,
even He who sustains the life, the brain, the lungs and all the
various senses, ^ he Unitary Interpervading Spirit. Try, O
men, to know Him alone, and leave off all other talk ; for, He
is the only Principle that leads to immortality.

6. Just in the heart, where all the blood vessels meet,
very much like the spokes of a wheel meeting in the navel,
resides the interiorly-governing Divine Spirit, manifesting
His glory in ways multifarious. Contemplate Him, the Om,
the interiorly-governing Spirit, for, He alone can lead you
with sr.fety to the blissful haven, far beyond the ignorance
begotten miseries of this troubled jean of life.

n o u

7. The All-wise, Omniscient Being, whose greatness is
manifested ii. 'ie heavens and on the earth, is only found in
the depth of the heart. He is the controller of the mind, the
vital airs and the body. He has ordained that food should
be the nourisher of the heart. By His knowledge the sages
are able to feel bliss and immortality.

8. The perception of that Omnipresent Being destroys
all ignorance of the heart, eradicates all doubts of the mhid,
and puts a stop to all the wicked actions.

162

'. II £ Tl

9. The Great God, without impurity and without parts,
resides in the most interior. It is He that the seers perceive
to be the holiest and the glory of glories.

ftvnfa n 1° »

x3

10. Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, nor
even the lightnings illume H;m ; much less this terrestrial
fire. It is through His lustre that all these shine ; it is
through His illumination that all this is illumined. •

1 1 U ll

11. The Great God is immortality ; He is before and
behind, right and left, above and below, pervading all this
grand stupendous universe through and through.

ST^TOT

>

y^f: fott^f

III. .-MUNDAK, IST KHAND.

1. There are two conscious entities, possessing divine
qualities, co-eval companions, embracing each other, and
residing in one and the same univercelum. One of them
enjoys the fruits of his actions and the other looks on the
same, unaffected by consequences.

u ^ n

2. The soul, engrossed in worldly desires, falls into grief
through ignorance, not having realized God. But when he
realizes the Almighty Ruler of the universe and recognizes
His greatness, he is then emancipated from his grief,

II ^ if

3. When the seer perceives the beatific presence of the
Self-glorious Being, the Maker and the Ruler of the world,
the Omnipresent Being, the origin of all knowledge, he, dis
carding all good and bad actions, becomes free from all taint
of matter and attains to the harmony of the soul.

3: *

sTSI f^T ^ft^Bt II 8 II

4. He is life, whose wisdom is stamped on all universe.
The sage who knows Him, leaves off useless talk. Rejoicingr
in the self, absorbed in the self, and endowed with energy,
he becomes the foremost spiritual teacher.

5. Through strict veracity, uniform control of the
mind and: senses, abstinence from sexual indulgence, and ideas
derived from spiritual teachers, man should approach God,
who, full of glory and perfection, works in the heart, and to
whom only votaries, freed ficm passion and desire, can
approximate.

n ^ \\

G. Truth always triumphs, and untruth is always
vanquished. Truth is the pathway which learned men treacf.
It is by this path that the • sages, satiated in their desires,
have obtained salvation in Him, who is the infinite ocean ojf
truth.

] 64 MUNPAKOPANISHAT.

If ^

u a H

7. He is the greatest of all beings, the most wondrous,
incomprehensible, and the subtlest of all principles. He is
farthest of all and also near at hand, nay He is found in the
interior of the self of those who have eyes to see Him here
on earth.

8. He is apprehended neither by the eye, nor by speech,
nor by the other senses, nor by austerities, nor by deeds.
The contemplator, whose intellect has become refined,
apprehends Him by the tranquil, unflagging light of
knowledge.

d !l

9. This subtle Spirit can be known by the intellect only,
which is governed by the five vital airs. The rninds of all
creatures are inter-woven with life. When the mind becomes
pure, the spirit begins to feel its powers.

10. Whatever regions the person of pure and calm
intellect thinks of in his mind, and whatever desires he enter
tains, he is sure to reach and obtain. Hence one who longs for
great powers, should reverently se.ek the spiritual teacher.

JfUNDAKOFANISHAT. 1&5

ii TO

d. >»

. \\ \\
ill.— MUNDAK, 2ND KHAND.

1. He knows that Supreme God, fehe asylum of all,
wherein the whole universe rests and looks splendid, who
adores Him, the Holy Being, disinterestedly. Such a wise
man rests beyond the turmoils of the world.

n * H

2. Whoever entertains desires, is born midst their
objects. But the desires of him, who is satiated in them, and
who has obtained the summum bonum, disappear even here
on earth.

n u

3. The Spirit God is obtained neither by lecturing, nor
by much hearing, nor by ingenuity. Whoever heartily seeks
Him obtains Him. This Spirit reveals His glory to him
who renders himself a body unto Him. •

8 M

4. This Spirit is obtained neither by the week, nor by
the indolent, nor by misplaced austerity. But the person
who tries to find Him out by proper means, finally obtains
the realization of God.

TT n VL n

5. The sages, who are satiated through knowledge, who
have obtainad divine knowledge, who are freed from all affec
tions and who are calm, firm of mjnd, and wise of intellect,
finally rest in Him, who is present everywhere, and whp is
accessible from every quarter.

166 MtJNDAKOPAfllBHAT.

6. Those persons who are convinced of God by the
knowledge of Vedanta, whose intellects are pure by virtue of
resignation, and who have full controlover themselves, will
resume the course of life, after having enjoyed immortality
for a parant* cycle.

7. 'The fifteen kalas disappear, all the senses resolve
into their component elements. The soul and its actions are all
absorbed in the Supreme, Eternal, All-encompassing Being.

ire: TO

8. Just as the rivers falling into the sea lose their dis
tinction, name and form, so does the learned man, freed from
the phenomenal world, obtain the Glorious Being, who per
vades all and is higher than the highest.

T fi?:f?f m^T^f ^wfNwit ftw#rs^ wrfh n ^ H

9. He who knows the Great God, becomes absorbed in
Him. No issue ignorant of God is ever born in his family.
He rises above sin and sorrow, is freed from the ties of
ignorance, and becomes immortal.

: TOT
^g^?Tii ^<> n

10. The Vedas also declare, " Let spiritual knowledge
be imparted to those, who properly observe the tonsure cere
mony of sannyas, who are practical yogis versed in the
Vedas and devoted to God, who invoke the All-wise God
in their hearts, and who are actuated by the motives of truth
and truth alone."

* Paranta Kala = 31, 10, 40,00,00, 00, 000 years.

MUNDA1C OPANIS-HAT. 167

11. Angirah has truly said that one who is not qualified
in the above manner, never acquires spiritual knowledge.
Salutation to the great divine sages ! Salutation to the
great Divine sages !

-f ••^»:

VEDIC TEXTS.

II **H II

VEDIC TEXTS.

.. I.

THE ATMOSPHERE.

II ^Ro |l *To ^ I

THERE i? nothing which so beautifully illustrates the bounteous
dispensation of Providence in Nature as the atmosphere, which sur
rounds our earth to a certain height all around. This gaseous en
velope, which is elastic and at the same time so rare, is especially
characterised by its lightness, which renders it amenable to the in
fluence of disturbances even, the slightest.

Imagine a huge mass of iron lying inett, say, in one position,
and suppose a heavy stone or a dense ball dashed against this grotes
que ball of iron, and see what follows. You will see how sluggishly
the grotesque mass obeys the impulse, how reluctantly, as it were, the
idle mass parts with its inert condition to be alive with the activity
of the impinging stone ! What a wide contrast does the atmosphere
present t6 this- inert mass. Each molecule of the air, on account of
its lightness and elasticity, so readily succumbs to all forces from
without, so mechanically multiplies the impulse, as it were, by its
mobility, that even the slightest tremor first communicated to it sends
it dashing along the- free path of molecules in air, until it meets a
fresh encounter with another molecule. This molecule, like a waiting
position, immediately stands up and proceeds on its errand. The
next molecule obeys the first and the third obeys the 2nd and so on.
Only a few moments elapse, (not more than five or six seconds), in the
twinkling of an eye, when a vast tract in the expansive ocean of air,
— a tract of almost a mile in area, 5 times 1,100 feet long, — is fur
rowed over with ripples of exquisite beauty. Just imagine how
sensitively delicate the molecules of air must be. There is not ' a
faint flutter of wings, not a noiseless breath that ever escapes and
does not furrow tracts upon bracts of air with exquisite waves..

Tremors are thus communicated with gigantic velocity by this*
mobile air. The invisible artistic designs into which the molecules

172 VEBIG TEXT NO. I.

of air thus cast, are only beautiful beyond description. A genuine
transcript of the true state of things are the words of poet Emerson.

" Thou canst not wave thy staff in air,
Or dip thy paddle in the lake.

But it carves the brow of beauty there,

And the ripples in rhymes the oars forsake."

It is on the mobile wings of air that the fragrance of flowers, the
odour of essences and the effluvia of substances are wafted to immense
distances, creating a diffusiveness that blends motion into uniformity
and harmony. Is not, then, a light, mobile, tremor-communicating,
effluvia-carrying medium a better and a more exact appellation for
this masterly creation of the Architect of Nature than the ugly,
unmeaning, inexact and half-articulate word air. It is exactly this
sense, italicized in the above lines, which the Vedic word v6yu conveys,
the word with which the mantra quoted above begins.*

We have seen what the physical properties of the molecules, which
compose the air, are. Let us now consider the phenomena which it
gives rise to. The rays of the sun falling upon the earth heat the
layers of earth, which in their turn heat the layers of air in contact
with them. These layers of air, when heated, become lighter and
ascend. Colder layers of air rush in to fill up the vacuum created
by the ascending hot layers of air, are heated in their turn, rise and
make room for the advent of other similar layers of air. Thus a
rapid circulation of heat goes on, which gives rise to currents. Of
exactly similar nature are all the winds that blow. From the same
cause originate those north-easterly and south-eastern winds known as
trade-winds. The portions of earth near the equator always receive
a greater quantity of heat from the sun than others do. The layers
of air in contact with those portions of earth rise, and colder air from
northern and southern quarters rushes in towards the equator, and,
coupled with the rotatory motion of earth, gives rise to north-eastern
and south-eastern winds. Firstly, then, we find that the air is always,
circulating and giving rise to currents in perpetual motion. This.
vayu, then, (dydhi) is always moving in the form of currents.

Next, see what effect it has in modifying the phenomena of light.
The rays of light, that traverse through solar and interplanetary
regions, ultimately strike upon the highly-rarefied layers of air, high
above in the skies. In passing from vacuum into air,, these rays of
light deviate in their course, and pursue a bent direction on account

* Vdyu, derived by the Niruktakara from the root Fa, to move, to carry
odoriferous matter, or from Vah, to communicate tremors, is always moving in the form
of currents : is the cause of extension, of vision and of other appearances ; it furnishes
the plant with air and food and preserves the equilibrium between the vegetable and
the animal kingdoms and it makes our sounds and all others as well heard*

THE ATMOSPHERE. 173

of refraction. Had the lower layers of air, through which these rays
have to pass, been of uniform temperature, once having bent in its
course in contact with the first layer of air, the ray of light would have
then pursued its course undeviated in air. But meeting with la'yers of
air of different temperatures and, therefore, of different densities, it is,
^at each step that it advances, a little refracted again and again
'so that these rays, having passed through all curious paths, all zigzag
ways that it is possible to imagine, ultimately meet terrestrial objects,
including the eyes of man, and there excite vision. How wonderfully
it modifies and extends the range of vision, will then be apparent.
Even the most delusive appearance known as " the mirage," that is
often seen by travellers in the hot sandy deserts, is due to the reflec
tion and refraction of light at innumerable snrfaces presented by the
heated layers of air. It is through air, then, that we are able to J see not
only in the direction of the source of light, the sun, but in all other
possible directions. It thus extends the range of our vision. It is also
due to air that such delusive phenomena or appearances as t/he mirage
start into vision. Our atmosphere, then, besides giving rise to currents,
extends the range of our vision and is the cause of the phenomena like
that of mirage. Hence it is, that we have, in the Vedic mantra quoted
above, the word darshata, i. e., the cause of extension of vision and of
other appearances.

Another and a very important part which the air plays in the
economy of nature is the purpose it serves "of the maintenance of vege
table world. Always there is a certain quantity 01 carbonic acid
present in the air, which however slight, is sufficient to maintain
the equilibrium between the animal and the vegetable worlds.
The trees and plants, the main body of which essentially consists of
carbon, _ derive all their carbon from the air. The leaves of plants
possess a kind of substance called chlorophyl, which in the presence of
light decomposes the carbonic acid gas present in the air. The car
bon which results from this decomposition, is assimilated by the plants,
and the oxygen is set free. This oxygen, freed from carbonic acid, so to
say, is what animals inspire. Animal life is maintained by the continu
ance of animal heat, which is due to the combustion of oxygen with
carbon of the animal frame. Thus all animals inhale oxygen and
exhale carbonic acid, whereas all plants absorb carbon of the carbonic
acid. Air thus stands a common vehicle between the vegetable and
the animal kingdoms. Due to these causes, all plant and animal life
depends upon tbo presence of air. Not only is air necessary for the
existence of plants and animals, but also necessary for the maintenance
of dynamical equilibrium between these two classes of organic nature.
The word soma used in the Vedas, means something that springs out of
earth, and especially designates the vegetable kingdom which, as such,
is necessarily dependent upon the soil from which it springs. Hence
we have soma arankritdh tenham pahiiu the Vedic mantra, meaning

174 TEDIC TEXT NO. I. THE ATMOSPHERE.

thereby that the atmosphere furnishes the plants with air and food,
and preserves the equilibrium between the vegetable and the animal
kingdoms.

Another fact worth noticing in discussing the phenomena of air, is
that it is the vehicle of all sounds. Man has been often called a speak
ing animal ; and, no doubt, the capacity of speech distinguishes man to,
» very great extent from other members of the animal kingdom. Now
this speech, which, in this sense, is at the root of our advancement and
civilization, essentially consists of articulated sounds, the utility of
which would have been entirely marred, if there had been no air. Air,
then, is also a vehicle of sound, a fact which is mentionod in the
mantra in the last two words, shrudhi havam — it makes our sounds and
all others, as well, heard.

JTo. IT.

COMPOSITION OF WATER.

^o ii ^o ^ i tf o e H

THE word rig signifies the expression of the nature, properties
and actions and re-actions produced by substances. Hence, the name
has been applied to Rig Veda, as its function is to describe the physical,
chemical and active properties of all material substances as well
as the psychological properties of all mental substances. Next to a
knowledge of things comes the practical application of that knowledge,
for all knowledge has some end, that end being usefulness to man.
Hence, Yajur Veda comes next to Rig Veda, the meaning of Yajur
being application. It is upon this double principle of liberal and
professional (or technical) education that the well-known division
of the course of study of Aryans, the Vedas, into Rig and Yajur, i&
based.

Let us not mock at the position taken by the Aryas with respect
to the' nature of the Vedas, for, there are reasons enough to justify
this position. Not being a novel position at all, it is the position that
is maintained even according to the Hindu systems of mythology which
are but gross and corrupt distortions of Vedic sense and meaning.
The broad and universal distinction of all training into professional
and liberal has been altogether lost sight of in the Puranic mythology,
and like everything else has been contracted into a narrow, supersti
tious sphere of shallow thought. The Vedas, instead of being re
garded as universal text-books of liberal and professional sciences,
are now regarded as simply codes of religious thought. Religion,
instead of being grasped as the guiding principle of all active pro
pensities of human nature, is regarded as an equivalent of certain
creeds and dogmas. So with the Rig and Yajur Vedas. Yet, even
in this distorted remnant of Aryan thought and wisdom, — the Puranic
mythology, — the division of the Vedas into Rig and Yajur, the liberal
«tnd the professional, is faithfully preserved. The rig, now, implies a
collection of hymns and songs in praise and description of various gods
and goddesses; whereas Yajur, now, stands for the mantras recited
in the ritual, the active part of religious ceremonies. This is the view
taken by the so-called scholars of the day.

176 VEDIC TEXT NO, II.

Let us not, however, altogether forget the original distinction.
There is much in it to recommend itself. The mantra at the top,
which has been taken from second Sukta of Rig Veda, is cited here
as a sample to justify the veiws entertained by the Aryas with respects
to the Rig Veda. This mantra describes the process or steps (dhiyam)
whereby the well-known of liquids, water, can be formed by the com
bination of two other substances (gritachim sadhanta). The word
sadhanta is in the dual number indicating that it is two elementary
bodies which combine to form water. What those two elementary
substances, according to this mantra, are, is not a matter of least import
ance to determine. The words used to indicate those two substances
are mitra and varuna.

The first literal meaning of mitra* is measurer. The name is
given to a substance that stands,, as it were, as a measure or as a
standard substance. It is the measurer of density, or of value, other
wise known as quantivalence. The other meaning of mitra is "associ
ate." Now in this mantra, mitra is described as an associate of varuna.^
It will be shown how varuna indicates oxygen gas.J Now it is well-
known that hydrogen is not only the lightest element known, nor is it
only monovalent, but that it has a strong affinity for oxygen ; hence it
is that it is described as an associate of varuna. Many other analogies
in the properties of mitra and hydrogen go to suggest that what is
in Vedic terms styled as mitra, is in fact identical with hydrogen.
Mitra, for instance, occurs as synonymous with udana in many parts
of theVedas, and udana is well characterized by its lightness or by its
power to lift up.

The second element with which we are concerned is varuna.
Varuna is the substance that is acceptable to all. It is the element
that every living being needs to live. Its well-known property is
rishadah, i. e., it eats away or rusts all the base metals, it burns all the
bones, &c., and physiologically purifies the blood by oxidizing it, and

* The word mitra is formed by adding the unadi suffix ka, to tho
root mi, according to the sutra *rfafefirorfwgi 3t II ^^° 8 I \$.% \\

The meaning is fiwf?f JU^ST 3iK\f?f ftl^! or one that measures or

stands as a standard of reference.

t Again, we have in Nighantu, the Vedic Dictionary, Chapter V,

Section 4 fa^T ^f?HJ^«TTWrqf<5rW II Hence mitra means that which

approaches or seeks association with others.

J Varuna is formed by adding unadi suffix unan to roou vri to

^ UHence; it means that which is accept*

able to all or seeks all.

CO MPOSITION OF WATER. 177

thereby keeping the frame alive. It is by these properties that varuna
is in general distinguished ; but it is especially characterized here as
rishadah. No one can fail to perceive that the substance thus dis
tinctly characterized is oxygen gas.

Another word used in the mantra is puta daksliam. Puta is pure,
free from impurities. Daksha means energy. Puta daksliam is a
substance, pure, possessed of kinetic energy. Who that is acquainted
with the kinetic theory of gases, cannot see in puta daksha the proper
ties of a gas highly heated ?

The meaning of the mantra taken as a whole is this : — Let one
who is desirous to form water by the combination of two substances take
pure hydrogen gas highly heated, and, oxygen gas possessed of the
property rishadhaj and let him combine them to form water.

It would, no doubt, sound strange that long before Cavendish
performed his experiment on the composition of water, or long before
oxygen and phlogiston were known to the philosophers of the west,
the true philosophy of the composition of water was recorded in the
Vedas and perhaps understood by many philosophers of the east.

Let not any of our readers imagine that the interpretation of the
Vedic mantra given above is purely an imaginary production of the
brain of the writer. The above interpretation is, in fact, based upon
gome already existing commentaries of the Vedas, and there is enongh
either in ancient commentaries or in that of Swami Dayananda to sug
gest this and similar interpretations of all mantras.

7/b. ILL

GRIHASTHA.

-fL Scientific IExpos^t^on ofJ\£cuntrcusJ\Tos. 1,
<§ of the 50th Suhtcu, 10th -finTAwaJk,jirs4,J\£cu't .
of the ^ig 'Veda ~be oaring on the subject
of household.

H ^if^rf *ftc\3 '» i w f^^ra ^a^w n ? tt

BEFORE I begin an exposition of a few mantras of the 50th Sukta
of Rig Veda bearing on the subject of Grihastha, let it be remarked
in due justice to ancient rishis who lived in days when Yedas were
better understood and more sincerely, honestly and truthfully revered
than the Bible, the Zendavastha and the Qoran are now-a-days — yes,
let it be remarked in justice to those rishis> that to their minds many
of the obvious and more recondite forces of nature were the ladders
by which they rose from the lower depths of material objects to the
celestial heights of divine "contemplation. Their thought familiarly
climbed upon the ladder of physical forces till a glimpse of the divine
was obtained. Invigorated with the light thus received, it as easily
retraced its footsteps to share the bounty with their fellow-brethren,
the whole race of mankind. Let me observe that, whilst I speak in
this strain, I am giving expression to no vague indefinite ideas of my
own, to no whisperings of erratic, chaotic imagination. These are no
words of flattery, offered as sacrifice at the altar of national conceit,
prejudice, or custom. They are rather honest but imperfect expres
sions of the sublime lives which rishis , no doubt, lived. But more
sublime and astonishingly charming was the state of those four rishis,
Agni, Vayu, Aditya and Angirah — living in the beginning of creation,
whose faculties were, according to the beliefs of the Aryans, illumed
by the light of the Vedas. The dizzy heights to which the thoughts of
these rishis soared, but with no giddiness ; the mea-ndering labyrinths
through which their intellects traced the unity of the divine design,
quite unperplexed, and not fatigued, but rather cheered and invigo
rated by the effort ; these are facts, which we — innocent darlings of
the ninteenth century, the era of civilisation — we darlings, fed in the
lap of material science, nourished by the milk of ponderous truths,
discovered by elaborate ratiocinative and inductive processes, and
fcupported by the carbonaceous aliment of isolated facts and nitrogen
ous edibles of constructive theories and hypotheses, cannot easily
conceive. The truth-loving, poetical, beauty-admiring temperament

V E D I1 C TEX T. Nr 0. II I, 179

of these risk-is is far, far removed from the money-loving, practical
use-admiring callous minds of moderns. No wonder, then, that wo
should find so very few expositors of Vedic lore in this era of re
search and activity. Truth with sectarian ignoramuses and religious-
prejudice spectacle Wearers may be measured by the number of its
adherents or votaries, and well might Christians argue that their
overwhelming number in the world is a proof that Christianity is the
dispensation destined by the divinity to prevail over the world. But
far different is the erase with Vedic truth. It is perennial. It is
not the birth of to-day or yesterday just as other religions are. The
measure of Vedic truth is not its power to grow and spread, but its
inherent power to remain the same, ever to-day and to-morrow. " Men
and parties, sects and schools are but the mere ephemera of world's
day, Truth, high-seated upon its rock' of adamant, is alone eternal
and supreme."

It was this truth of God and Nature that was given to the
primitive four rtekis to comprehend. Justly, may our uninspired
eyes roam about in vain from here to there, from rocks to- vegetables
and from vegetables to men to detect unity ; but the inspired minds
of the four rishis could only perceive the unity of the Divine mind
in every thing. The minerals, the vegetables and the animals were
to them but one book, in which they read but the power, the justice
and the wisdom of Grod. 0\ving to the sublimity of revelation, wera
foreshadowed before their mind's eye landscape — paintings of human
institutions, achievements and aspirations in a/ long- distant future
and in all these, they saw the spirit of the Father brooding with
paternal care over eternal designs for the happiness and benefit of
His children. Rjader, imagine yourself once in this exalted condi
tion. Then alone are you in a fit position to grasp and understand
the deep meaning of the Vedic mantras. This deep meaning is every
where spiritual There is a fine and very sublime link between
mantra and mantra, which can be perceived 'but in such moments of
exaltation alone.

We must bear in mind that internal is always the more difficult
to grasp. The modern scholar, whose powers of the senses have been
well trained to observe and carefully irote the phases and changes
undergone by physical phenomena, may not find any connection or
coherency between mantra and mantra. To him the Vedas may \y&
mere collections of isolated prayers to deified forces of nature includ
ing wind and rain ; but to an earnest, truthful inquirer, who has enter
ed the exalted condition I have above described, thorn is that logical
coherence and philosophical regularity in the sequence of the mantras
which can only be called divine. In this spirit should we study the
Vedas, a sample of which is presented by the 50th Sukta,

I have before said that the universe, as construed by the rinhis, is a
ladder along which the inspired mind rises to the contemplation of the

180 GRIHASTHA,

Divine. This exactly is the subject-matter of this mantra of the 50th
Sukta of Rig Veda.

In a dark, rainy, stormy night, in an hour of stillness and dead
slumber, a thief entered the treasure room of a peaceful family, and
stole away all precious metal and property, and in the mad joy of his
possession ran aback over twenty miles of wet ground, and betook hiin-
self as quite safe from the grasp of the owner. But the light dawned,
and the owner awoke in full consciousnesss of his stolen property.
Fearlessly and resolutely but in entire calm of his mind, he began the
track and slowly but surely reached the rendezvous and seized the thief
with the treasure which he had appropriated. This is but mere ana
logy. I have nothing to do with the stealth and the property, but with
the indelible, unmistakable footprints, not of a thief, but of the Creator
on the frame of the universe. ' The wise man, who has his intellect
lumined by universal benevolence,^^^; ^falt bent upon finding out

the First Cause, begins his inquiry, and, slowly but steadily tracing
Nature back to its source, halts at God. There, the inquisitive and
penetrative faculties of the intellect are cooled to satiation, and lie in
peaceful repose in the enjoyment of the treasure thus found. To such
a mind, what are the different objects of this universe ? They are the
footprints of the Deity, the postmarks tracked by the divine rays of
wisdom along their path of action. They are just as the Vedic mantra
puts it, 3frf3t> the flag-signs, track-beams, the design types which
point with one voice to Him (rSJw) from whom all knowledge has

proceeded (sUff^^f). He is the eternal Sun that ever shines.
it is who makes us see this grand panorama of the universe (t£ST
So also is thecase with the sun of the meterial universe.

Would you see the variegated objects of Nature ? Study, then, the
sunbeams playing amidst wonders of space, and see what they lead you
to. They lead us to the globe of the sun, who is truly the cause of all
we see ; for, not only has all the matter of the planetary system proceed
ed from the sun, but the very light which reveals to us the existence
of the material objects in their diverse forms and colours, points out to
the sun as its source and fountain-head. Would you, then, see the
universe? Then observe that the universe points you out to the wonder
of the planetary system, the sun. Would you enjoy your term of
earthly life in peace of mind and happiness perpetual ? Observe, then,
that the entire happiness of the world points out to the sacred institu
tion of marriage, of grihastha, the institution where alone the filial, the
paternal, the fraternal and conjugal affections are cooled to satiation ;
for, from pure, truthful, affectionate and wisely conducted marriages
1 alone can happy progeny flow into the world. This is the three-fold
sense of the Vedic mantra. It points out to God as the fountain of all

V E I) I C T K X T N 0. I I I. 181

causation, to the sun. as the source of all the planetary world arid its
chromatic wonders, and to the sacred institution of marraige, founded
upon pure, rational and spirtual physiology, as the source of all
happiness and bliss on this earth.

I come now to the second mantra of the same Sukta. I have
mentioned that happiness on this earth can only be secured by rightly
conducting tlie sacred and divine institution of marriage. I need not
speak here at length on this subject, l]ut it will be well to point out
that all attempts to regenerate our society in any other direction are
merely fruitless. Do you ever expect a heroic, Swami-like, intellectual
progeny from the present marriages contracted in an unnatural age
by parties forced by unnatural compulsion of parents into these
contracts ? To expect this, is to expect an impossibility. Teaching and
preaching, education and consociation can mould the superficial or the
external character of man, but strike ineffectually at the deeper and
more permanent character, the hereditary or the constitutional charac
ter, which flows with our blood, which we have drunk in with the very
milk from our mothers, which we have inherited with our very bones
and nerves, blood and muscles. Believe it, then, that the true cure of
the evil that exists in our society is the physiological cure, the cure
that strikes at the very root of the disease of our society, the cure that
professes to mould the individual and society from their very birth, by
enjoining the observance of the Divine injunction of pure, truthful
rational marriage, as contrasted with compulsatory, impulsive, formal,
marriage. What, then, is the law of marriage ; what is the observance
that can secure health and happiness to society ? The answer to this
question is imprinted in the indestructible divine laws of nature.
Observe the starry host of heaven, •rer^TI, or the moisture-
laden ocean of the atmosphere, ?ITO9'- What law do they obey ?
Are they not regular in the succession of the phenomena they present ?
Regularly, after every 24 hours, does the starry host of heaven unite

itself with night, ^r^mfVlt, regularly for 12 hours in 24 does it

depart from the society of the sun, mm f3S3^^T§. Here are

suggestions for the married people. Let them reflect over this and
chalk out a path of piety for themselves. Again, study the
atmospheric envelope. What law does it obey? Regularly after
every year does the monsoon blow, regularly for six months do
the winds continue to take the same direction. These proclaim
'a lesson fur the married. The lesson is for the married parties

182 GRIHASTHA,

to separate themselves invariably during sunlight, as the starry
heaven disconnects itself from the sunlight for every 12 hours. The
second lesson for them is to observe the law of periodicity, just as day
and night, trade- winds, and monsoons, obey their periodic laws of
succession. If these laws were carefully observed, there would flow
into the world that happiness and health which were never realized
before. Earth would be a beautiful garden to live in, far more
attractive and real than the paradise of the Moslems or the heaven
of the Christians, which is all paved with hard gold, with no stuffed
cushions to relieve us of its hardness. Compare with this natural,
spiritual, physiological marriage, the beastly marriages, a countless
number of which are being contracted from day to day in our country
without exciting the ridicule or even the thought of the reformers. I
count upon no responsibility sq, serious as that of ushering an in
dividual being organised like our own selves into the world. How
many are they who feel this responsibility ? How few children are
there who are born of a wilful, appreciative, conscientious consociations
of their parents ? How many of them are the products of lust, blind
impulse, and purely fortuitous concourse ? These are the things that
may well sound obscene to many of our delicately constituted readers,
but human nature is sacred in every part. It calls for obedience to
its dictates in each direction. It is no respecter of creeds or person
alities. Let us learn, then, the law of periodicity, and realize the
happiness that is in store for us by virtue of the divine ordination
mentioned in these mantras.

I do not wish to leave the subbject of marriage without impress
ing upon the minds of my reader another truth which is not ths lesa
important, a truth which forms the subject-matter of the 3rd mantra
of this Sukta. What language, but the sweet accents of the Vedas,
can adequately express this truth ? These are the words of the
mantra : —

I do not wish to discourse upon an irrelevant topic, but all
nature is unique. Truth is all of one type. The digression may be
excused. Scientific people believe, and no doubt, upon grounds in
dubitable that, light and heat are eternal associates of each other.
Each possesses in its bosom, the essence, the elements, and the power
of developing the other. Both are forms of motion, they are vibr
ations only differing in the frequency of their occurrence. The
vibrations occur in the same medium. Light is capable of being re
flected. So is heat. Light is capable of being polarized. So is heat.
Heat maintains the life of the animal fr^,me. Light maintains the
life of the vegetable kingdom. Heat produces the vapoury atmosp
here. Light precipitates the cloudy mass in rain and pours it upon
the plains. Light and heat are conjugal associates in nature. Heat

VKDIC TEXT NO. Ill, 183

is warm, light is cold and refreshing. Heat and light are the love
and life of the body. They are each other's companions and comple
ments in Nature. The gorgeous display of colours, which light makes
us familiar with, are not less striking than the equally important
molecular and chemical changes which heat works out. By heating a
body, you can raise it to incandescence, till it begins to burn ; by pro
per means, you can entrap light and make it heat our articles and even
burn them, if necessary. But see how they proceed from the sun,
their commou fountain. They proceed in pairs. The warm-exciting rays

of the sun are the *srT*f^«ft ^"TOl*. of the Vedic mantras ; tie

light-emitting, colour-providing variegating rays of the sun

are theTTOtfteficI^ of the mantra. ( How beautifully are they
interlocked with each other. Held in each other's embrace, these
caloric and spectral rays dart from the sun, and journey on together
through millions of miles of gorgeous space to fall on earth, to warm
life and illuminate dormant intellect. The arrogant man of science
may claim to himself the power of sifting these interlocked, interwed-
ded, embosomed conjugal pairs of rays by iodine filters and alum solu
tions ; but there is no absolute separation, no entire dissevering of
bonds. Let us learn a lesson from this. The Vedic mantra enjoins upon
us this lesson. It enjoins upon men the duty of learning the lesson of
conjugal relation from the heat and light rays of the sun gjjff ^»f.

It inculcates the inviolability of the marriage tie. Let the married
couples preserve their sacred relation inviolable and intact, and not
frustrate their peace and happiness by adopting the opposite course
of free-marriages. The designs of the Divinity can only be wrought
by the inviolability of this tie. One inviolable marriage conducted
according to the periodic law alone is compatible with an acquisition
of the true knowledge of the Divine Being. This is the sacred law of
inviolability that the Vedic mantra enjoins. But there is another and
a deeper meaning of the mantra which should not be lost sight of.
It is that light and heat permeate through every possible material

object of creation sffif nftszt II 5f»f is the class of created

objects. Let us not laugh at this proposition. It has the solid bul
wark of science to support it. Heat is a motion of the molecules
composing the body. There is no substance, of whatever description,
that is entirely destitute or completely devoid of molecular vibration.
Vibration is the general law. Light is an accident of ether, the lumini-
f erous medium, whose vibration essentially constitutes light. Is there
any substance throughout the range of created objects, wherein motion
and ether do not conjugally and co-evally dwell ? Yes, even in the same
way, the Divine essence lives within the very interior of every living
soul.

THE REALITIES

OF
INNER LIFE.

THE DUTIES OF INNER LIFE.

The fact that man lives on a double plane of existence, that lie
leads a two-fold life, is not new in any sense. He lives the life of
the flesh and the life of the spirit. Scientific minds term the one
objective and the other subjective existence. True poets of nature
and religious men agree alike in this. " 0 man ! the brute and the
angel are alike in thee."The metaphysicians of older Sanskirt schools
styled these two modes of existence, the life of Bahishkarana and
the life of Antashkarana, the outer life ofc the Senses and the inner life
of the Intellect. But the law of double existence is not. applicable to-
it alone. It'is a universal law. it applies to the universe. Matter
is the entity of the Outer life, and, God the reality of the Inner life.
And the Trinity of God, Matter and contemplating Spirits exhausts
the substances of the Cosmos, Thus the universe lives a two-fold
existence, the outer, the phenomenal and the inner, the nmimenal.

The outer plane of existence is the one that is familiar to all. But
the inner, the internal, is a blank page, a white sheet to many. The
inner, in so far as inner, is poetry ; the outer, as the external, is prose*
And poetry is, to many, nothing but wild fantastic imagination let loose*
Hence it is that matter, with the ephemeral host of its 'countless attri
butes, is the only reality, the only true God to many.

"Earth's powers and principa'ities exclude most men from the-
society of poetry and eternal principles. Matter is a powerful and
controlling God ; it is the prince of darkness " to millions of our
throbbing humanity. Matter clings and clusters heavily about man's
interior life ; it is the dead-freight of his perilous voyage from the
cradle to the crematory. Men are necessitated to worship at the
shrine of matter. They make it the chief object both of masterly
effort and spiritual contemplation. Thousands reverence matter
incessantly. They bow down before its altars. They bring to it
many offerings — covering its temples with every thing within the
power of man to bestow : with scientific art, and the works of genius,
with developments of the noblest talents, with everything, even life
itself.

Mammon is but the servant of matter ; matter is but the servant
of soul : soul is but the servant of spirit ; but in this world, it happens
that spirit' and soul and matter are the servants of mammon. No
human soul is independent of *its material surroundings. All life is real
bondage to matter. Matter is the mind's jailor. Want is the over*
ibeer who lashes the prisoner into his daily labour.

188 THE REALITIE

"Tis the mandate of matter which the mind obeys nine-tenths of
earthly time., The sight of objects, the taste of fruits, the smell of
odors/the cognition of sensations, the hearing of sounds — thus the
spirit looks out and lives through the grated icindows of its prison-
castle/'

How, then, can man, thus immersed in the life of the senses, realize
the interior realities of inner life ? The death of matter is the birth
of the soul. Light and darkness cannot co-exist.

This is the tenth mantra of the 40th Adhyaya of Yajur Veda,
and it means : —

"The* life of senses (avidya) produces one result, and the life of
spirit (vidya) produces exactly the reverse." ^if^n *Zr*t <T!T^T
f35JT2TP5rTtfSC»r?T " the life of the senses is spiritual death, the life
of the spirit is the new birth, immortality."

This is the 15th Mantra of the same Adhyaya, and it means : —

" The resplendent face of truth is hid beyond the veil V)f 'the
glitter of mammon "— f%T*CWN tJnN *rfof%rT " 0 Preserver of the
universe ! remove the veil, so that we might see the immortal truth. "
Yes, the veil must be removed, the brute in man crushed, before the
influx of the Divine Light can be realized.

"The universe with its beauties and laws and harmonies, is
nothing to the idiot mind caged in matter. The gorgeous heavens
with their unnumbered systems of suns and stars are nothing to a
soul bowed down by the daily drag of material necessities. The
ponderous globes of spaces, so attractive to the uplifted mind of the
philosopher, are nothing to him who makes a God of gain. Matter
and money surround him on either side. He drives through his
surroundings, and then they drive through him ; and so goes his daily
life " to the last syllable of recorded time."

The fair sky of heavenly truth never covers the earthly mind.
Faith in such circumstances is impossible. Doubt, yes doubt, is the
only paramount functionary that lives arid flourishes. And what else
is possible under such circumstances ? In such a state, the mind

OF INNER LIFE. 189

seeks, in vain, for a soul-consoling philosophy. The world of matter,
the region of discord alone, is visible. The Omniscient Intelligence
of far-off immensities of the universe is nowhere to be found. The
whisperings of the regnant functionary, Doubt, are too positive*. " Has
it not been said that 'by searching none can find out God ?' And is
,it not true that the most strenuous God-believers confess that it is
only a belief with them ; that they really know nothing on the sub
ject ? " These are the whisperings of Doubt. But this prime
minister of the life of senses, this sceptical functionary does not end
his researches here. He is thorough-going. He enters the material
world, asks the sciences whether they can disclose the mystery and
this is the result of his investigation : —

" Geology speaks of the earth, the formation of the different
strata, of coal, of granite, of the whole mineral kingdom. It reveals
the remains and traces of animals long extinct, but gives us no clue
whereby we may prove the existence of a God."

" Natural History gives us a knowledge of the animal "kingdom in
general, the different organisms, structures and powers of the
various species. Physiology teaches the nature of man, the laws
that govern his being, the functions of the vital organs and the
conditions upon which alone health and life depend. Phrenology
treats of the laws of the mind, the different portions of the brain, the
temperaments, the organs, how to develop some and repress others
to produce a well-balanced healthy condition. But in the whole
animal economy, though the brain is considered to be a ' microcosm '
in which may be traced a resemblance or relationship with everything
in- nature, not a spot can be found to indicate the existence of a God."

" Mathematics lays the foundation of all the exact sciences. It
teachestthe art of combining numbers, of calculating and measuring
distances, how to solve the problem to weigh mountains, to fathom the
depths of oceans ; but gives us no directions how to ascertian the
existence of a God."

" Enter Nature's great laboratory — Chemistry, she will speak to
you of the various elements, the combinations and uses of the gases
constantly evolving and combining in different proportions, producing
all the varied objects, the interesting and important phenomena we
behold. She proves the indestructibility of matter, and its inherent
property — motion ; but in all her operations no demonstrable fact can
be obtained to indicate the existence of a God."

" Astronomy tells us of the wonders of the solar system — the
eternally-revolving planets, the rapidity and certainty of their motions,
the distance from planet to planet, from star to star. It predicts
with astonishing and marvellous precision, the phenomenon of
eclipses, the visibility on our earth of comets, and proves the immut
able law of gravitation, but is entirely silent on the existence of a
God."

190 THE REALITIES

"In fine, descend into the bowels of the earth, and you will learn
what it contains ; into the depths of the ocean, and you will find the
inhabitants' of ,the great deep ; but neither in the earth above, nor in
the waters below,can you obtain any knowledge of His existence.
Ascend into the heavens, and enter the milky way, go from planet to
planet to the romotest star, and ask the eternally-revolving systems.
Where is God ? and echo answers — Where ?

" The universe of matter gives no record of His existence.
Where next shall we search ? The universe of mind ! Read the
millions of volumes written on the subject, and in all the speculations,
the assertions, the assumptions, the theories and creeds, man has only
stamped the indelible impress of his mind on every page. Human
records are, at the best, delineations of human character, of phases
of human mind, picture of huma» existence, but where is God ?

" Look around you and confess that there is no evidence of
intelligence, of design, and consequently of a designer ? ' What is
intelligence-? It is not a thing, a substance, an existence in itself,
but simply a property of matter, manifesting itself through organi
sations."

These, then, are the fond insinuations of doubt, the whisperings
of Scepticism, and the legitimate consequences of a life of the senses,
an existence in matter, a worship of Mammon, a belief in omnipotent
atoms.

For, how can God be thus known : Geology, Natural History,
Physiology, Anatomy, Phrenology, Mathematics, Chemistry, Astro
nomy and all are but grosser developments, the outer kernel. They
deal only with the tangible, the tactual, the optical, the audible* the
edible, the olfactory and the palatal. But God, the Universal Spirit

of nature, H^fcrfTTrJTT, is beyond the sensible, ^Rf^T ^ffT^^*T
rT5T^t$*=9T'Triif?f is far beyond the transient, mobile, vibratory

phenomena of the senses. Do you descend into the earth, and ascend
into the heavens, and explore the regions of immensity to discover
the locality of the Universal Spirit.

He is remoter than remotest, as the physical senses discern Him
not. He is nearer than the nearest, for, He is the innermost, but
foreign or exotic to all that is external.

The law of God's revelation into the soul is the inner harmony.
The whirlwind of matter obstructs the adjustment of the internal
Abstraction, meditation, mental quiet aud contemplation alone are
compatible with the realization of the Divine.

OF INNER LIFE. 101

But when he who makes boast of his high impregnability, is
himself most vulnerable ; he who prides himself upon his va'or, is
himself most cowardly ; he who preaches truth to others, 'is himself
most untruthful ; he who sets himself up as the leader of a legion, is
himself misled ; he who styles himself an honest citizen is unjustly
living upon heavy profits filched from the daily toil of hopeless men ;
he who claims to belong to an honorable profession., fills pockets upon
the bargains of others' forgeries, iniquities and legal niceties ; he who
calls himself the noble physician, the philanthropic curer of the body,
is only interested in the pecuniary health of his patients ; he who
administers peace to the soul, when preaching on the pulpit, is
profane when cursing the enemies of his creed ; he who talks of
liberty and independence of thought, permits the government, public
opinion, or the church to gag the ^'ree-born soul : he who boldly
challenges the world to refute his dogmas, his policy, or his charit
ableness, himself hesitates to broach one particular question in private
to defend one particular line of action, or to allow one., particular
charity, does he or can he maintain any harmony of the Internal ?
Why then expect that he can be good, holy, and pure, full of the
inspirations of divinity.

So long as might is mistaken for right : brute-force is made to do
the work of love : folly is substituted for the hints of wisdom : hypo
crisy is more fashionable than innocent virtue ; wealthy vice is more
courted and sustained than poor virtue ; ho'vv can diseases, crimes and
miseries cease to exist, or peace, progression and happiness prevail ?
That is why in the boundlessness of ignorance man assumes the possee-
sion o^ rare intelligence. The slanting rays of science, a sun that has
not yet risen, he applauds as the full blaze of absolute truth.

These maladies of inner life have attracted the notice of thinking
minds, these diseases have been pointed out by the religiously ear
nest, and, as is the custom with bodily discords and corporeal maladies,
patent medicines have been invented supposed to cure these evils,
reform society and purge off individuals. A sect of such patent
medicine- vendors prescribes " prayer " as the best emitic purgative
for such diseases, and advises men and individuals to absorb long
doses of prayer both by day and night. Thus malformations are being
generated, perpetuated and encouraged, and the enerving, swoon
ing effect of decaying spiritual energy is mistaken for the chastening
'effects of " prayer." First of all, diseases, discords and pains are
positive evils. With the progress of " prayer," the praying soul
learns to put up with them, he then regards them in his self-abnega
tion as the dust of travel, he ultimately succumbs to them and swoons,
and takes this for the quiet of his mind which he calls the bliss, the
salvation, the presence of divinity in the soul. With this the vital
energy begins to decay, and this he styles the death of the brute in
him. This patent medicine is but the fire of sentiments, the spark of

THE REALITIES

ungratified desires, the ember of unprovisioned needs, the hea& of
friction, the broth and boil of conflict. The quiet of the mind, the
swoon that follows, is the death of the intellect upon whose ashes
simmer0 and bubble the vapours of passions, of griefs, of pangs, of
ecstasies and other abnormalities. But the true influx of divine light
comes with expansion of the intellect, the elevation of feelings, and
the increase of vitality. Then true intuitions dawn. Let us not mis
take the external signs for the internal. All that glitters is not gold.
In fact, the external is delusive, the invisible is the real, And the
search of the invisible is the true search after God, its discovery and
appropriation, the true birth of the spirit and the immortality of the
• soul. Decidedly, then, I give preference to the invisible over the
visible.

" That my meaning may be more distinctly comprehended, let it
be observed that the body is a form, is transient, is changeable, the
internal is not changeable. The man is the internal, the effect or
form is external. The mind is not acted upon, but acts on the body.
That which is internal is the reality ; that which it acts on is visible
and mortal. And all appearances foreign are composed of the same
mortal ingredients, mortal in the restricted sense of that term.

Now it being clear that the visible is not the real, but that the
invisible is the eternal, it follows that we must make the best of truth
to consist in an imperceptible yet unchangeable and eternal principle.
Admitting this much, you &re able to advance one step further in the
cognizance of possible probabilities. Effects are witnessed, they are
traced to an immediate cause, which is demonstrated by strict and
severe analysis. This cause producing this effect shows you that, the
effect is not without a cause. This effect produces another and that
also another ; and so by analogy you may see that there is an endless
and incalculable amount of causes and effects. And tracing ,,causes to
effects and effects to causes, is the correct process of reasoning, and
this you do in your imagination, until you arrive at a chaos of existen
ce, then stop breathless and return to ask : What was the cause of the
first cause ? You would not have gone upon these trackless peregri
nation, if you had but considered all forms and externals as not causes
but effects. Let us illustrate this by an example.

Conceive of a germ being hidden beneath the surface of this hard
earth. Imagine that you forget its existence. Let a few years of
time elapse, and cast your eyes to the spot where it was concealed,
and you see a lofty and beautiful tree, standing in all the majesty
and dignity of its nature. Would it not be as absurd and impossible
to disbelieve the existence as it would be to doubt Jor one moment, tha
germ which has produced this existence ? The tree stands and ia
visible as an ultimate man stands an(J is also an ultimate. The
germ of the tree, you knew of its existence, but the germ of the
world, you do nofc know of its existence, But is it not evident that

OP INNER LIFE. 193

the latter is at least possible since the first is known and demonstrated?
By even assenting to such a possibility, we become prepared t to take
one more careful step in this investigation.

Let ua illustrate the next step to be taken by another example.
Suppose a man diseased : physicians examine his case guided both
by physiological manifestations of the disease, and by the feelings
which the disease produces, which are not perceptible to them by any
processes of external observation. The patient communicates his
own feelings, the physicians taking them for granted, and from these
together with the symptoms manifest, they decide upon the name
of the disease. Every one of these physicians, from the evidence
which he has received through the senses, differs from the others as to
the character of the disease. Have ^you not here proof that the
external and manifest is the effect and cannot be relied on, while the
cause is hidden and you do not possess any means by which to investi
gate its cause ?

Again, a man has a carious tooth ; he tells you he experiences
a severe pain ; but you doubt his word and ask for proof. He points
you to the tooth which is the object tangible. But does the evidence,
of which your senses admit, convince you that he has a pain ?

Another example. The whole world of mankind can give in
their united testimonies that they positively and absolutely see the
sun rising in the east and setting in the* west. Is there not in
ternal evidence that the external and manifest of this is positively
unreal ? Inward searching after truth has established the causo of
this phenomenon and proved that the sun does not move. But it is
the visible and the external that you are deceive^ by and not the in
visible which is the reality.

Hence, the true student of Nature contemplates the invisible in
the visible, silently contemplates the cause at the back of nature which
produced this theatre of human existence, and, with highest re
verence for truths pertaining there unto, associates with the first
Principle of life and activity. His aspirations are purely of an in
tellectual or moral character. The universe is fully of the Lord,
and there is 'nothing of the universe that is not of the Lord :

To his purified understanding, freed from passion and dislike,
devotion and meditation, confidence and dispassion open the way
where the beams of wisdom softly enter and shed a mellow, agree
able lustre on his feelings and intellect. He has discovered the
true saviour, the invisible master, in whom the universe has its
being. To him the interior is the real. His expanded intellect
passes through the dross to that which is essential, to the spirit*
within the body, to the life within the law, to the science within the
substance.

194 THR REALITIES OF INNER LIFE.

The conclusion from the above is that it is the expanded in-
tellect,and not prayer, that can lift the soul to the realisation of the
divine reality; that the most earnest prayer we can ever utter, is
the righteous exertion .to merit the inspirations that flow into £he
intellect from the Fountain-head of all Wisdom.

It has been my object in frhe present imperfect hasty sketch
of my ddeas presented to you to establish and make plain three
conclusions :

1. — That 'there is a true inner life, and that man subjected to
the interference of the commotions of the world -cannot fully perceive
a?nd -comprehend the Universal Truth.

'3.— That from inability to perceive this Universal Truth by
the expanded intellect or purified reason have sprung up the
patent theological .remedies of prayer-doses and tearful brain-
reliefs.

3. — That the Original Organiser of the Universe is the In
visible, the Potent, the Universal, and the All-governing reality of
£hs inner world.

-v-

PECTJNIOMAN.IA.

PECUNIOMANIA.

Under this head, we propose to deal with the question " how
far the pursuit of wealth is a healthy pursuit/'
Says Manu, II. 13 :—

It is only those who stand aloof from the pursuit both of wealth
and of carnal pleasures that can ever obtain a knowledge of true
religion. It is the duty of every one who aspires after this object,
to determine what true religion is by the help of the Vedas, for, a
clear and perfect ascertainment; of true religion is not attained al
together without the help of the Vedas.

In the verse quoted above, Manu maintains three propositions ;
first, that the pursuit, of artha (wealth), is opposed to the acquisition
of the knowledge of true religion; secondly, that the pursuit of
kdma (carnal pleasures) is opposed to the acquisition, of the same ;
and, lastly, that the study of the Vedas is necessary for those who
would' make it their business to investigate true religion.

The first and second propositions of Manu -may be regarded as
one ; for the pursuit of carnal pleasures is, in the majority of cases,
BO interwoven with the pursuit of wealth, that it is generally im
possible to command the gratification of the former without a previous
inordinate accumulation of the latter. We take, therefore, the
first half of the verse of Manu to mean that an inordinate pursuit
of wealth is inconsistent with the acquisition of true hnowledge of
religion, and this will be the subject of the present paper. The
second half 'of Manu's verse, we shall deal with some other time.

Had Manu lived in the present nineteenth century — the cry
of which from all quarters is, ' the struggle for existence/ or ' the
survival of the fittest/ the demand of which is ever something
practical, either in the shape of money, or of goods, or of materials,
— it would have been very bold of him to have asserted the pro-
postion .conveyed in the first line of his verse quoted above ; for,
the actual meaning of it wijl be that men of the present generation,
immersed as they are in practical pursuit of wealth are not qualified
for an understanding of the truths of pure religion. This assertion
of Manu, no doubt, seeds to be a very sweeping and insulting one,

198 P E 0 tl N I O M A N I A.

It is, nevertheless, nothing but true. For, the light of religion only
dawns or the soil of abstraction, meditation, mental quiet, and
contemplation. And the headlong pursuit of wealth, in which the
present practical world is wholly absorbed, is so very prejudicial to
the growth of these mental conditions, that, in the interests of truth,
religion and higher human nature, it has become needful for the busy,
practical world to reconsider its position, and at least, to bestow a
thought before plunging into the active labor entailed by the pre
dominant principles of Jealousy, Competition and Ambition. It is
true that, under the stimulation of these powerful incentives for
material progress, man has become neglectful of his higher duties to
Truth, and so very true is it that even eminent men of science have
be^un to feel the dangerous and disgraceful efforts of this tendency.
Remarks Dr. White, President' of Cornell University,: —

" We are greatly stirred, at times, as this fraud or that scoundrel is dragged to
light, and there rise cries and moans over the corruption of the times ; but my i'rienda,
these frauds and these scoundrels are not the corruptions of the times. They are the
mere pustules which the body politic throws to the surface. Thank God, that there ia
vitality enough left to throw them to the surface. The disease is below all, infinitely
more wide-spread.

" What is that disease ? I believe that it is first of all indifference — indifference to
truth as truth ; next, scepticism, by which I do not mean inability to believe this or that
dogma, but the scepticism which refuses to believe that there is any power in the uni
verse strong enough, large enough, good enough, to make the thorough search for truth,
safe in every line of investigation,; thirdly, infidelity, by which I do not mean want of
fidelity to this or that dominant creed, but want of fidelity to that which underlies all
creeds, the idea thau the true and the good are one ; and, finally, materialism, by which
I do not mean this or that scientific theory of the universe, but that devotion to the
mere husks and rinds of good, that struggle for place and pelf, that faith in mere'.naterial
comfort and wealth which eats out of human hearts all patriotism and which is the very
opposite of the spirit that gives energy to scientific achievement. " *

Here is an eminent man of science complaining that the society is
at present pested with four fatal diseases, indifference, scepticism,
infidelity and, finally, materialism. And the cause of all this is
evidently the modish worship ofmightly matter and money.

In order that this truth may be more easily brought home to the
earnest reader, let us cast a look upon the large number of lawyers,
physicians, capitalists, tradesmen, engineers, contractors, clergymen,
educationists, clerks, and other life-draggers in the innumerable fashion
able professions of the day, that swarm in our own country, and whose
main object, in choosing the very professions they hold, is the hoard
ing of the shining gold, so alluring to the jaundiced eye of the
competition-sick practical man. It is in vain that we seek for a ration
al explanation of the existence of these harassing professions on the
grounds of benevolence or of rational usefulness. But for the filthy
lucre they bring, these professions would never have sprang into
existence. Bees do nob hum and buzz so thickly on a lump of sugar,

* President White's Address, appendix to Lectures on ' Light' by J. Tyndal, Third
edition, 1882, pp, 238-239,

PF.rUNIOMA-NIA. 199

as do lawyers and traders, physicians and contractors at the shrine of
money. It is literally true that money is the God that is ruwe wor
shipped than the God of Nature.

Nor is that alone, money being the pursuit of almost all. Nay, it
in the topic of topics. There is the self-styled reformer bewailing over
the extreme poverty of his country, over the consequent misery, sin
and crime that prevail. He is awfully pained to see that arts do not
flourish in his country. By long and tiresome efforts, he succeeled in
establishing an institution that might have richly improved the resour
ces of the material prosperity of his country, but his disappointment
is past all description at the fact that the institution is soon doomed
to starvation. Thus meditates the reformer in his solitary moods : —
our country is poor, because we have no wealth ; sin and misery prevail,
because we have no wealth ; arts cannot flourish, because we have no
wealth ; institutions cannot live long and succeed, because we have no
wealth. From all sides is the ambitious reformer repelled to>Vards the
problem of wealth. He employs his gigantic material intellect in
the solution of this problem. Individual enterprises alone can render
his country wealthy; but how can individual enterprises be undertaken
without money ? Perhaps, there is another solution. He would
introduce machinery into his country, and that would yield rich
harvest of wealth and opulence. But machinery is costly, and a poor
country cannot buy it. Or, perchance, our reformer is a protectionist.
He would not import machinery or foreign improved modes of carrying
on industry, but would encourage and foster native manufactures.
Unfortunately for our reformer, unwise human nature is made after
cheapness, and competition fells, with its direful a$e, the structure of
protection so carefully raised by the reformer.

There is the materialistic philosopher. What a charming thing is
civilisation ! In accordance with his superficial modes of philosophiz
ing, he analyzes civilization into its elements, and discovers the whole
fabric of civilization to rest upon wealth. Steamers and locomotive
engines, telegraphs and post office arrangements, printing presses and
labor-economizing machines would vanish into mere coal, iron and
sand — fruitless articles — without the mighty, labor- sustaining hand of
wealth.

Nor is this the case with the reformer and the philosopher alone.
The politician, the statesman, the newspaper-writer, the public lecturer,
each in his turn, is hurled back upon the problem of wealth. And
thus the world, in its talks and conversations, lectures and public
meetings, private meditations and silent reflections, echoes and re
echoes " MONEY," till the whole fabric of Society begins to reverbe
rate, and the atmosphere is filled with phantoms of a like nature.

Reader, carefully observe the ephemeral bustle and transient
activity of the so-called civilized society. Do you not note that at

200 PECUNIOMANIA.

least seventy-five per cent, of the phenomena that find their way to
publicity in the civilized world, owe their origin to the love of power,
love of enjoyment (i. e. of pleasures of the senses), love of honor, love
of superiority, love of fame, and love of display ? Why is it that the
master extracts obedience from his servants ? Why is it that men
always desire to move in circles of society higher than their own «?
Why is it that so many reises and rajahs would willingly incur or main
tain useless regal expenditure, but to win mere empty titles of
Rajah or Rai Bahadur, or Sardar Bahadur? Impelled by imperious
love of power or love of superiority, love of honor or love of fame,
love of display or love of enjoyment ! And where is the mighty
engine to manufacture means for the gratification of these basely,
inordinate, selfish loves ? It is MONEY.

Again, go into the lower strata of society, (by lower, I mean lower
morally, though not necessarily socially,) and see wKat part the
feelings of jealousy, anger, envy, rivalry and competition play in that
blind rush of living forces, called civilized life. The constantly
increasing litigation, the strifes and feuds of nobility, the corruptions
of courts and police, the life-sucking exhaustion of competitive
candidates — all bear testimony that the society is at present deeply
agitated by wretched feeling of jealousy, envy, rivalry and competi
tion, so unbecoming of man. Where would you find the man, who,
although benevolence of nature, would restrict the operation of
vengeance or .anger ? In the civilised society, hardly any ! Perhaps,
the poverty-stricken, misery-laden wretch, who has not the means to
practice the dictates of his rebellious nature, but has only the -misfor
tune to be subject jto disappointment and melancholy, may be found,
here or there, dragging his life with impatience and restless nightmare.
0, if he had the power to wreak his vengeance upon oppressing civiliz
ed society ! Does not all this, again,appeal to the potency of mighty
MONEY.

Imitation is the grand principle upon which society is at present
constructed. Imitation is the fulcrum upon which hinges the mighty
lever of society. Not to speak of custom, fashion, dint of beaten
groove, fear of idiosyncrasy, all of which spring in one way ©r other
from the parental principles, imitation, — even in matters of religious
belief, or in the department of opinions, ninety per cent, of the
inhabitants of the world are swayed by the influence of the same
all-pervading principle, Imitation. Speaking of the same ape-like
faculty of Imitation, J. S. Mill says : —

' In our times from the highest class of society dovrn to the
1 lowest, every one lives as under the eye of a hostile and
' dreaded cencorship. Not only in what concerns others, but in
' what concerns only themselves, the individual or the family
' do not ask themselves — What do I prefer ? or, what would suit
my character or disposition ? or what would allow the best and

PJECUNIOlfcANIl. 201

' highest in me to have fair play, and enable it to grow and
' thrive ? They ask themselves, what is suitable to my position ?
' What is usually done by persons of my station and pecuniary
1 ( circumstances ? Or (worse still) what is usually done by persons
' of a station and circumstances superior to mine ? I do not
' mean that they choose what is customary in preference to
' what suits their inclination. It does not occur to them to have
€ any inclination, except for what is customary. Thus, the mind
' itself is bowad to the yoke ; even in what people do for
' pleasure, conformity is the first thing thought of ; they live in
' crowds, they exercise choice only among things commonly
f done : peculiarity of taste, eccentricity of conduct, are shunned
' equally with crimes ; untill by dint of not following their own
' nature, they have no nature to follow ; their human
' capacities are withered and starved ; they become incapable of
' any strong wishes or native pleasures, and are generally
' without either opinions or feelings of home-growth, or , properly
' their own. Now is this, or is it not, the desirable condition of
* human nature ?

Such, then, is the power of imitation. Who can resist its imper
ative influence ? Can one see the busy, practical world, — lawyers,
physicians, engineers, contractors and all— running mad after the
pursuit of MONEY; can one hear philosophers, politicians and
patroits, all with one cry extolling the efficacy of glittering GOLD ;
can one see the enthusiastic admirer of civilisation -confessing the
omnipotence of the PECUNIARY deity ; can one observe the
aristocratic hunters after ease, pleasure and comfort ; the
ambitious suitors of power, distinction or title, offering libations
at the shrine of MAMMON ; or,can one mark anger, revenge, envy,
rivalry and jealousy, all suplicating PLUTUS, to bestow them means
of their gratification ; can one see all this, and yet not swear fealty to
the soverign power, GOLD ?

By dint of imitation or example, man is pushed from right to left,
to seek MONEY. Society is a whirlpool, wherein are caught all
swimmers on the current of life, then tossed with violence hither and
thither, now hurled this way, and then the other — till man is no
better than a 'money-making machine? Is not this state of society
deplorable ?

See what a wreck of nobler feelings this love of money makes.
Duty clashes with interest. Evils are shielded under the suppressing
power of Mammon. The dictates of higher human nature are cruelly
eet aside and trampled under foot ? Physicians, instead of dissemi
nating the knowledge of p'hysiology and making the laws of health
public, disguise even simple disease and medicines under the garb of
foreign names, and the modes of their preparation under the mysterious
symbolism of prescriptions. The numerous host of physicians, now

202 PICUNIOMANIA.

existing in the country, instead of wisely administering to th®
destruction of disease and blooming of cheerful health, earnestly
pray, every day, that men endowed with purse and power to pay
should fall sick oftener, and suffer more frequently. Lawyars,
instead of breeding feelings of peaceful friendship and encouraging
reconciliation, encourage feud and strife, and fan the flames of
haughty pride or revengeful animosity. Tradesmen, instead of
administering to the wants and needs of the people, and regulating
with justice the law of demand aud supply, get all they can, and give
as little, keep their trade recipes secret or patented, and delude the
ignorant consumers with adulterated materials. Even the preacher
or the clergyman, whose business it should be to bestow consolation
of simple truth and morality, and to shed the sacred blessings of
religious piety and spiritual l^ght, revels in the grand money-making
scheme of winding up his lengthy, glooming, effected, hipocrysy-
infected sermons with a mysterious nonsense, which he himself does
not and cannot understand.

It is not thus alone that urged by the society-born instinct of
hoarding money, the physician and the clergyman, all alike, are led
to the perversion of their duty and avocation. More serious still are
other evils into which the society is plunged, but for the possession of
wealth. There is the rich wine-dealer, or the opulent tobacco or
opium-seller, suffered to live and flourish by his trade in society, and no
one ever casts a look of disgust or disapproval at him, simply because
he is rich. There are thousands of poor innocent people charged with
crimes they never committed, and are punished ; but the ' wealthy
culprits/ armed with bribe or corruption, influence or intercession,
escape with impunity. Inspite of the inspiration of the poet and the
philosopher to the effect that all mankind are kin, in spite of the weak
whisperings of pure religion that all are children of one, common
father, is the wealthy class fostering inequality by its constant
aggressions, oppressions, iniquities and tyrannies inflicted upon the
weak and the poor. Under the strong infatuation of money, even
the graduating student forsakes his tastes and inclinations, if he
has any, and although fully confident of his intrinsic unfitness for the
profession he chooses, he rushes into medicine, law, engineering and
service, and floods the world with the consequences of his iniquitous
calling. And the newspaper writer, who is never ashamed of calling
himself the leader of public opinion, without a pang, delivers up his
conscience, and feeds the vanity of the party that supports him.
Head the degenerate newspaper literature — for newspaper literature
is seldom reforming, regenerating or elevating — and you will see,
how little is devoted to sound advice, true leadership, or to the cause
of justice and trsth, and how much to party-feeling, sentiment alism,
race-prejudice, selfish bias, and wilful misrepresentation. All
^benevolence and disinterestedness is affected for mere show and
ceremonialism, and in truth and in heart, exchanged for base
selfishness and combatant sectarianism. Is this humanity ?

FECUNIOMANIA. 203

The conclusion that irresistibly flows from the above considera
tions is, that the 'love of money' is no\v-a-days a disease, a form of in
sanity. Modern science of pathology would be imperfect and in-
coirtplete without a record of this discovery of the widest-prevalent
disease, that at present infects society and saps the very foundation
of morality and religious feeling.

This disease is to be styled " PECUNIOMANIA," for, like all
other forms of insanity, it produces destruction of mental equilibrium
and generates incoherency of thought : it communicates an irrevocable
bias in one direction, withdrawing the human mind from all other
channels of activity, and excercise; and, lastly, it creates an over-3xcit-
ed condition of the whole system, incompatible with moderation, or
normal exercise of functions. Like mar^y contagious diseases, cholera
and the like, it spreads its germs of destruction most profusely, and
most widely,, and is easily caught by r.he susceptible organisation of
man. And like hereditary diseases, this is also easily transmitted
from father to son, from brother to brother, and f?om companion to
friend. Hence : —

Pecuniomania is a disease of the type of Insanity, very contagious,
transmissible by hereditatioiij incurable or hardly curable, of the most
virulent type.

In order that the appreciating reader ^may have no difficulty in
diagnosing the disease, we give below its most remarkable symptoms,
Its symptoms are : — insatiable thirst, or ambition ; always hungry
stomachy a phlegmatic (filled with indifference) and splenetic (peevish)
temperament ; extreme sensitiveness and irritability ; strong heart
burn of animal and inhuman passions; restlessness, anxiety and
sleeplessness ; fits of pride, power and f everishness ; paralysis of moral
and spiritual faculties, insensibility to impressions ultra-sensual or not
physical; extreme proneness to over-feeding, over-clothing, indolence,
luxury and comfort; an assumed air of superficial independence;
personal weakness and infirmity.

And now, we will ask the anxious reader, whether, in the namo
of truth, justice and goodness, a disease that renders man insane ; a
disease that sneers at all metaphysics, looks down upon all thoughtful
reflection or philosophy, and discards all theology as speculative, un
practical and absurd ; a disease that stigmatizes all efforts to ennoble-
and elevate mankind morally, rationally and spiritually, as theoretical ;
a disease that pronounces self-knowledge as impossible ; a disease that
brings morality down to the level of expediency ; a disease that,,
instead of' the worship of God of Nature, sets up a worst and most
wretched form of idolatry, the worship of copper, silver and gold ; a
disease that denies to man the possession of any nature other than the '
one capable of eating, drinking and merry-making : we again ask,
whether such a disease should not be at once uprooted, destroyed, ami

204 PECUNIOMANIA.

burnt never to grow again ? For, so long as this disease exists, there
shall be no morality, no religion, no truth, no philosophy.

The law of the influx of religious ideas is sound mind, disinterest
ed truthful temperament, composed and tranquil attitude, powerful
persevering intellect and concentrated meditation. And it is the
foundation of these very conditions that the headlong pursuit of
money undermines. The anxiety and pride, which the possession of
money invariably brings, rob the mind of its composure ; and the
complicated relations and interests which the possession of power
(wealth is power) always engenders, even take away the iota of
disinterestedness or truthfulness that may have been left; till, restless,
through anxiety, turbulent through pride, and biased through interest
man loses both the power of concentration and of clear thought.

How elevating and dignifying is independence, true real
independence, where man is no more a slave of his surroundings and
circumstances, but a master. And yet, there is nothiug that does,
more violence to the growth and existence of this blissful condition in
man than the possession of wealth. A man proud of wealth is
invariably a slave of his wealth. A stout healthy man is always in
enjoyment ef his health. He feels self-conscious of his power, and is
legitimately proud of the independence he feels in the exercise of
his power. He exerts his locomotive apparatus, whenever he desires
change of place or scenery ; he takes to physical exercise whenever
he desires restoration of strength and vigour ; he goes on a walk to
breathe the free air of heaven or to enjoy the scenery of nature-,
whenever he desires refreshment ; he entertains elevated thoughts and
plunges into meditations, whenever he desires to feel as » true man,
a, human spirit; and he rouses the dormant conservative forces of his
self-healing nature, whenever diseases or extremes of heat ind cold
attack him. In short, he is amply provided, in himself, with what
soever he needs. But the rich man is altogether dependent on the
tinsel of matter ; conveyance by carraiges, instead of locomotion by
muscular action ; plethoric fulness, borrowed from the activity of
drugs, or the ministrations of attending physicians, instead of inborn
healthy glow ; rich viands but impaired digestion which strongly needs
the stimulation of the liquor to perform its functions, instead of
simple diet and healthy stomach ; dead photographs, and mute
portraits hanging by the walls of his rooms, instead of the scenery of
nature ; entire dependence upon the cooling power of pankhas, and
the warming properties of fire, refreshing power of beverages,, and
stirring influence of wines, instead of natural endurance. Is. this tha
independence which a human being should feel ?

It is not to this extent alone that Uie effects of this tendency
"have extended. Modern civilisation, — a phenomenon, mainly due to
the chameleon-like properties of wealth — is brimful of the illustrious
consequences of this tendency. The ancient world produced bar-

PECUNIQMANIA. 205

barians and savages; because, they were gigantic specimens of
human nature, living almost naked in caves or mere huts built just
for a temporary protection from wind and rain ; because, their wants
being few, their arts were simple and not numerous; because,
possessed of powerful memories, their knowledge was all they learned
by rote, and their reference books or library, the infallible record on
the tablet of their memory ; because, possessed of a clear head, their
illustrations were so simple and common that their reasoning must
appear as shallow : because, being penetrative, they reasoned by
analogy, and therefore they knew observation only. In short, they
were men quite different from what the modern world produces. The
modern world produces civilized men who are 'starved specimens of
human nature* ; their architecture is grand and more permanent; their
arts are complex and more numerous ; their memories are weak and
defective, and more faithless ; their libraries are unportable and more
cumbersome ; their illustrations are heavy and unique because they
have been bedaubed as scientific by a process of baptism in unintelli
gible, classical and technical phraseology. Their reasoning' is induc
tive ; their test is experiment ; and their logic is the theory of pro
babilities. Such, then, is the widespread influence of wealth on
civilisation, both moral and intellectual.

If, then, the possession of wealth be fraught with so many evil
tendencies and dangerous consequences, let it not be imagined that
what is commonly regarded as its reverse , i. e. poverty, is less so.
For, to quote a Sanskrit line : —

: fa*

' There is no sin or crime that is unknown to poverty/ By
poverty we do not mean the absence of that hard heavy metal, other
wise known as gold, (for how can dead substances like copper, silver
and gold, affect the physical, mental and moral prosperity of the
living soul), but we mean the poverty of mind. Where the
absence of metal is the only thing to be complained of, industry of
muscle and thoughtful ingeniousness of the brain can, with much
greater advantage, be substituted for it. But how and whence is to
be suppliedi that deficiency in the true substance of the mind, in the
mental and moral stock, which alone is the foundation of all industry,
genius, honesty and enjoyment alike ? The error of the world consists
in thinking the gross material ojocts of the world to be of any value,
in regarding the abundance of such meterials as an emblem of wealth.
True wealth is the riches of the soul, repletion of the mind with its
fourfold endowments — the endowment of health, of will and muscular
power, the endowment of intellectual faculties, and the endowment of
moral and emotional stock. Let every one, who is possessed of a due
share of these mental gifts, ' discard, with contempt, the little hard
indigestible shining bits of metal, known as coinage, for, there is ho
liberty, genuine independence and dignity outside the exercise of these

206 PECUNIOMANIA.

normal faculties of the mind. Mind is everywhere the regnant princi
ple. The furious lion, the gigantic elephant, the ferocious tiger, the
howling wolf, the blood-thirsty hound, have been cowed down by the
subdi^ing power of the superior mind of man. The wild beasts of the
forests have been tamed and rendered docile. The solid rocks have
been compelled to part with their quarry, the depths of the earth
have been forced to yield up their locked-in treasures, the mighty*
rivers have been made to change their course, the cataracts to give
up their impetuous force to the whirling machinery, the water and
fire have been driven to drag thousands of tons of loads every
moment, at the tremendous rate of 40 or 50 miles an hour, and even
the electricity of the heavens has been imprisoned by pointed conduc
tors ; all this, under the guidance and control of the superior mind.
Nor has the material universe, or the animal kingdom alone, been
thus vanquished by the power of the mind. Even arbitrary royalty,
powerful oligarchy, the aristocracy of nobility and the pride of
heraldry have been thrown down and surrendered by the democracy
of reason, ' the monarchy of mind/ ' the republic of intellect/ And
further the pride of aged pedantry, hoary with age, has cast off its
self-assumed importance, and learnt lessons at the feet of superior,
though young, minds. Even the industrious dexterity and skilful
ingenuity have bowed under the swaying omnipotence of new ideas.
It should, then, be clearly borne in mind that the richness of
mind, is the true richness. It is the undecayable wealth that deseves
the greatest respect and highest reverence. Physical, material wealth,
should be the lowest thing in our estimation. Says Manu : —

" Wealth, nobility of blood, age, professional skill or honest in
dustry and knowledge (the wealth of mind), these are the five things
to be respected, the one following more than the one preceding it/7
This truth has been amply illustrated in the remarks made above,
concerning the superiority of the mind. The conclusion to be
cherished is that the possession of mental riches is the best possession,
and that the pursuit of these (as contradistinguished from the pur
suit of wealth), is the pursuit that is becoming of the nobility of human
nature. Mind is the true source of power, and ideas (or knowledge)
are the true wealth, before which all else crumbles to dust, to rise no-
mere. Says the Upanishat : —

True power comes from the spirit, ,ind immortality from the
possession of ideas.

A REPLY ,

TO

MR. T. WILLIAMS' LETTER

ON

"IDOLATRY IN THE VEDAS."

A REPLY,

IN THE FORM OF FOOT NOTES,

TO MR. T. WILLIAMS' LETTER,

ON

"IDOLATRY IN THE VEDAS,"

ADDRESSED TO THE EDITOR, ARYA PATRI£A.

DEAR MR. EDITOR, — Ifc is now some time since I addressed you.
The fact is that it is only now that I have the leisure to write to you ;
and I trust that the courtesy which then actuated you in venturing to
insert my communication in your paper, will now too induce you to do
so.

My subject is " Idolatry in the Vedas." Before opening my
argument, let me state what ' idolatry' is. It is not merely the
worship of any thing man has made of wood or stone or metal or any
such thing. It is the worship of the creature instead of the Creator,
i. e., the worship of any thing whatsoever other than God.(l) I
think you will agree to this ; I should think, no Arya would demur to
it, bat rather accept it as a sufficient definition. And now to my
argument.

If my definition be true, then the worship of the atmosphere, or
of the, water, or of the sun, or of the dawn, or of the Soma juice, is
idolatry. Now, I assert that, in the Rigveda, we find the worship of
all these creatures, i. e., the worship of other than God. In this
paper I shall not attempt to substantiate my assertion with regard to
all these creatures enumerated, and shall probably find that what I
have to say about the worship of the atmosphere will be fully suffi
cient for this article.

Now, sir, we have Mr. Guru Datta's authority for saying, that in
Rigveda, 1. 2. 1. the word Vayu means the atmosphere, (Vide Vedic
Texts, No. 1). In that verse, Vayu is in the vocative case, and must
be rendered, in English, " 0 Vayu " ! * The pada form of the verse
shows authoritatively that this is so. Indeed, Sanskrit Grammar can
not allow of any other case. Vayu being in the vocative, the verbs
depending upon ii, are in the imperative, as might be expected.
There are three verbs, thus dependent, which must be rendered in
English, as ' come/ 'drink,' and 'hear.' The person adressed to in each
case is Vayu, so that we have " 0 Vayu, come, — 0 Vayu, drink, — O

1. We quite concur with this definition. Idolatry is, ' worship of any
whatsoever other than God.' And according to this definition, God of Nature being
one, the worship of three Gods of the Trinity is also idolatry, and so is the worship of
Man-god or God-man, and so also the worship of the Infallible word, Jho worship of
the cross is no exception to this.

210

Vayu, hear." With Mr. G. Datta's authority let us put 'atmosphere'
for Vayu, and we get. "0 atmosphere, come, — 0 atmosphere, drink,
— 0 atmosphere, hear." Of course, Mr. Gruru Datta cannot possibly
be wrong. But if he be right, then we have the Veda recording the
edifying fact that some simple-minded Arya, ages upon ages ago,
thought that the atmosphere was a god that would come at his in
vitation, drink at his request and listen to his call !! This simple
Arya was of a sociable turn, for the beverage (2) he had prepared for
the atmosphere to drink was the exhilarating Soma so beloved of the
gods and of Indra in particular. (3)

The correct rendering of the verse, both etymologically and
grammatically is, " Come, 0 sightly Vayu, these somas are prepared.
Drink of them. Hear our invocation/'

I have demonstrated then,. by the help of Mr Guru Datta, that
there is 'Idolatry in the Vedas.'(4<)

2. The writer of this article, Mr. Williams, betrays a strange ignorance of
Sanskrit Grammar her.e. Besides the fact, that there is nothing in this mantra to
substantiate that the " Soma " is the beverage referred to, there is something to
show that the word " Soma " does not mean " beverage " here. The Sanskrit word's
are "Ime Sornah," which mean "these Soma." Now had Soma meant,
" beverage," we should have met with the word " Soma " in the Singular number
and the qualifying pronoun "asau " or " saym " and not " ime." It will not do to
say that there may be many kinds of beverages, for, although it may be true,
"Soma" is only one kind of beverage, and hence can not be spoken of in the
plural number. To substantiate his view, Mr. Williams should also quote
Mantras that deal with the materials of " Somah " and of their mode of preparation^

3. " Soma " so beloved of the godg and of Indra in particular." Mr. Williams
is here in his " clerical " moods. Justice would require that he should make tfie
best of this mantra, and reserve his " highly accurate information," on other" poinU
till occasion requires, or, if he is so fond of thrusting his well-acquired mythological
information, he should substantiate it there and then. What proof has he given
in this article of the assertion that Somah is beloved of all the gods and particular
ly of Indra. But he might say, that although he has not given any proofs in thi»
article yet proofs can be forthcoming. Will he allow the same license to his adver
sary 1 No, it will be against Christian Justice. Without waiting for proofs, just
as we have to wait for proofs to be given by Mr. Williams, Mr. Williams
construes the silence of the author of a Vedic text on certain grammatical forma
ioto a serious charge 1 He says, " It is because if he did' so and did so honestlyr
(i. e. discussed the grammar) he could not regard the verse as a scientific state
ment of any sort whatsoever, for, grammar would compel him to, represent the
verse a» the simple prayer of a simple-minded Arya , whose real conceptions of a
God rose no higher than that of regarding the atmosphere around as something
divine,that might come at his call, drink of the "sorua" he had prepared, and listen
to his call." Surely it is a " Christian " virtue to attribute motives without the
•lightest evidence for them. Let us however, give a parody. Why is it that Mr.
Williams does not substantiate Bis meaning of "somah" as juice, the plural number
of the word "soma," " together with a plural pronoun " iiue," and the assertion
that "soma" was much beloved of the gods and particularly of Indra. It is
because if he did, and did so honestly he would find his meanings falsified, instead'
of being substantiated, and himself a mere misrepresenter of Vedic mantras,
tt rough fear that if the Vedas turn out to be true, what will become of the almost
•core-centuried Bible Revelation ?

4. In the light of T. Williams' logic and learning, the use of a noun signify
ing any thing other than God in the vocative case, and tke consequent use of the
2nd person in the depending verte, &c.j or, of the imperative mood, i» a proof

ON 1IOIATBY IN THK VEDAS. 211

Now, Mr. Editor, whoever impugns my argument, must do so in
one or more of these ways i. e., first, he may impugn Mr. Guru
Datta's rendering of Vayu as Atmosphere ; or, second, he may , deny
that Vayu is in the vocative case ; or, thirdly ' he may deny that
Ayahi, pahi, and shrudhi are in the second person, singular, imperative.
Whoever cannot do this is bound (5) to accept the conclusion I have
stated, that there is ' Idolatry in the Vedas'

I will begin with the third case, and ask, are , Ayahi/ ' pahi/ and
* shrudhi' (the spelling is Mr. Guru Datta's) in the second singular,
imperative ; or are they not ? Every sound grammarian would say they
are. The mere tyro in grammar would know that ( Ayahi' is as I
have said. It is evidently a Vedic as well as a later Sanskrit form.
It cannot possibly be any thing else, so^Yaska, when he quotas this
verse (Nir. 10. 2.), does not give the modern equivalent of Ayahi
simply bec?,use the ancient and modern forms are identical, or, to use

incontestable of Idolatry in a book that so reads. I quo.te from Shakespeare]
"Frailty, thy name is woman," and apply the canons of T. Williams here.
Fi-ailty is in the vocative case, 'thy' is a pronoun in the 2nd person. Hence thia
Terse clearly proves the existence of idolatry in Shakespeare's Hamlet. But T.
Williams lias to say that it is not only these features in the Vedas but the atmos
phere representedas capable of coming, drinkingand hearing, which proves idoUtry

Let ine quote from 'In Memoriam ' (Tennyson).
" So careful of the type ? but no "
From scarped cliffand quarried st^ne
She cries, " Athens and types hare gone,
I care for nothing, all shall go.
Thou makest thine appeal to me.
' I bring to life, I bring to death :

The spirit doth but mean the breath : .
I know no more, &c.'

Here Nature is represented as " crying " 'caring for nothing' ' hearing appeal*1
'answering appeals' 'bringing to life 'or 'bringing to death "knowing" only
•omething. Are not these clear indications of idolatry. Or again : —
O sorrow, wilt thou lire with me,
No casual mistress, but a wife,
My bosom friend and ' half of life'
As I confess it need must be ;
O sorrow, wilt thou rule my blood,
" Be sometimes lovely like a bride.
And put thy harsher mood aside,
If thou wilt have me wise and good.

Here is sorrow in vocative case, with second person pronoun, " thou, " represen
ted as capable of living as a wife, as hearing, as confessing, as ruling, as desiring
others to be good and wise ; and here is poet-laureate appealing to this god in
prayer " wilt thou." Can there be anything clearer than this ?

It is, indeed, very strange that these and other passages so often occuring in
English poetry will be construed neither by T. Williams, nor any other Christian
philologist, into indications of idolatry, but as the result of poetic imagination, and
personification ; and yet, when even these philologists come across similar passage-*
in the Vedas, they forsake their common sense and at once begin to find idolatry
in the sacred books of the " pagans."

5. As much bound to accept, as T. Williams is to accept the conclusion thai
there is idolatry in the passage of Shakespeare and Tennyson given above.

212 EIPLY TO T. WILLIAM'S LETTER

technical terms, the word Ayahi is both Naigama and Laukika. But
for 'pahi' and ' shrudhi/ Yaska does give their modern equivalents and
says they mean 'pivahi' and ' shrinu/

Now, Sir, I find ( Ayahi ' occurs 64 times in the Eigveda, and
' yahi ' 67 times, and in every case they are to be translated as 2nd
sing, impv, so that any man that translates otherwise is to be
condemned on every hand as violating the plainest grammar and
disregarding venerable authority. Now, I find that Dayananda Saras- .
wati renders e Ayahi/ not ' Agacchava/ but it is to Agacchati that he
clings. So he gives for ( pahi/ ' rakshayati/ and for ' shrudhi/
f shravayati.' The man who dares to say that ' Ayahi = Agacchati7
or ' pahi = rakshayati/ or ' shrudhi' = ' shravayati/ does so in utter
defiance of grammar or authoritative precedent. There is absolutely
no justification for such rendering in any shape or way: For a man
to treat a book that he professes to revere, in this disgraceful way,
stamps him as one utterly unscrupulous (6). I have another instance
of Dayananda' s scant respect for the book that he proclaims as
superior to any other, and, Mr. Editor, I shall give it to you in some
future paper.

But now one must ask how Mr. G. Datta deals with these
verbs. He says nothing about them grammatically. This is extraor-
nary, for, he sets out with^ declaring he will show how the Veda
teaches us what the atmosphere is. Now, if the Veda asserts a thing,
it must employ a verb in order to do so. But of the three verbs
employed in the verse Mr. G-. Datta says nothing qua verbs,( i. e.,
he does not discuss their grammar in the least ; and as with the' verbs
so with the nouns. The grammar is not discussed in the least. Why
is this ? It is because if he did and did so honestly, he could not
regard the verse as a scientific statement of any sort whatever, for,
grammar would compel him to represent the verse, as the simple
prayer of a simple-minded Arya, whose rude conceptions of a God
were no higher than that of regarding the atmosphere around us
something divine, that might come at his call, drink of the soma he
had prepared, and listen to his call. Mr. Guru Datta makes the
science he asserts the Rigveda contains, depend not upon1 grammar
and authoritative rendering, (such as Yaska), but upon etymology ;
and the futility of this as regards its securing for the Eigveda any
extraordinary credit, I have already shown when I demonstrated
that l Vayu/ air and wind, have exactly the same connotation, so that
what may be claimed for the one, may, with equal right, be claimed for
the three.

6 If in explaining the above lines of Tennyson, <A Professor in the Chair of English
language, should convert " 0 Sorrow" into mere " .Sorrow," he would be, equally with
Dayananda Saraswati, " violating the plainest grammar and disregarding venerable
authority." The English Piofessor, who dares do so in defiance of grammar or
authoritative precedent, must be regarded as "utterly unscrupulous.

ON IDOLATRY IN THE VEDAS. 213

±,N^\ this goes to show that tlle rendering of the Veda
forth by Dayananda a, I to followers, is not fafbe trusted buton tte
co.rran is to be tho, ,-l,ly mistrusted. If this be the Sa° £
Grai.n-.ir and exegesis taught in the Dayananda College it needs
special inspiration to confidently predict that it will be an evil day

-

Mr. Editor there is an axiom of Panini, 'Vahnlam cchandosi '
which occurs in his grammar some 18 times. Now this axiom or sutra
would seem to be the Mag™ Uharta of Davananda and his foUoS
for, it means in the hands of uns, , people, that the Veda may

mean just what any one may clause to make it mean ; and so becomes
nt merl " " ' '

not merely "Vahnlam " but ' bavala.\ 6'j

r:rs host o£ Chrsitian yet id°M™ ^l ~£*zss*.^ r^e

host o£ Chrsitian

the

The passages quoted by Pundit Gnru Datta are after all from the
:s of poets who may, (according to Mr. T. Williams' canons of
course,) inculcate the rankest idolatory for what Mr. 'Williams cares
A man ot such deep faith would require something directly from the
"inured writings." To please Mr. William, we° open the word of
(rod and, after a minute's looking over, light on the following edify
ing passages : — *

" Lift up your heads, 0 ye gates ; even lift them up, ye everlast-

°ry sh l come in'" D^v'd's Psalms'

noiseunto G°d, all ye lands."

We leaw it to Mr. Williams to say whether or not the Bible
inculcates idol-worship according to his mode of finding out idolatry
m another ma' — y

•: o :•

A REPLY

TO

MR. T. WILLIAMS' CRITICISM

ON

N I Y 0 G A.

A REPLY

TO

MR. T. WILLIAMS' CRITICISM

ON NIYOGA.

Says a writer, — "To ascertain what a person's character is, in
quire of him concerning the God in which he has faith ; and his reply,
if legitimately and honestly stated, will be a disclosure of his own
disposition and spiritual or intellectual growth."

This proposition is perfectly true. The whole experience of man
and nations justifies it, and the Bible of the Christians is also a proof
of it. " God made man in His own image/7 says the Bible (Genesis, I,
26). Therefore, man, as an image, reveals the nature of God, or man is
(in his own notion) just what his God is. Or, perhaps, it is more true
to say that man makes God after his own image. Even in this case
God is a true index of his own character and intellectual worth ? Tak
ing this : truth as our guide, we wish to examine, in this article, T.
Williams' character and worth as a critic of Dayananda. For, as it is
invariably true that " it is a giddy head that thinks that the world
turns round/' may it not be that what Mr. T. Williams stands himself
accused of, be exactly what he charges Dayananda with. The fact is,
that T." Williams has the good fortune of wearing the spectacles of
Christian prejudice, and to him, just as to a jaundiced eye, every
thing appears tinged with the colour of his spectacles. T. Williams
in his article appended herewith charges Dayananda with : —

1. Having scant respect for the Vedas.

2. Preaching the astounding, grossly immoral and monstrous
doctrine of Niyoga.

3. Having the unenviable distinction of so fathering the doctrine
on the Rig Veda.

4. With telling a lie, gross lie, a deliberate lie, a terrible lie, and
with scandalously falsifying the Vedas.

5. With idiocy.

6. With being a dangerous enemy of the Vedas of his times; and,
lastly, T. Will iams, with a truly Christian spirit absorbed at the
pulpits, damns Dayananda and his doctrine.

In this article I shall make no distinction between " Lord/' a$
occurring in the Old Testament, and Christ. For, the " Lord " of the
Old Testament is Jehovah, or God, whereas the world- renowned (be-

A REPLY TO T.

cause of its pre-eminent intelligibility) doctrine of Trinity will have
that God. the Father (Jehovah), God the Son (Christ) and Holy Ghost
(the Ijord) are one and the same. I will, therefore, substitute for the
word " Lord," in the Old Testament, the word Christ, to give it a
pleasant, modern Christian, garb. And now to proceed with the
subject. I shall show that what T. Williams accuses Dayananda of,
if the Bible be true, is what Christ (Jehovah or Lord) stands accused
of.

T. Williams accuses Swami Dayananda, firstly, of having scant
respect for the Vedas.

Now to quote Paul (1 Cor. 7, 12). " But to the rest speak I, not
the Lord" Again (2 Cor. 11, 17.) " That which I speak, I speak it
not after the Lord, but as it vr&G foolishly , in this confidence of boast
ing." But be it remembered that Paul is an inspired personage and
Paul's inspiration, which means Christ's thoughts, led him to say that
what he is inspired of (a portion of the Bible), is not after the Lord
but foolish and uninspired. Therefore, God or Christ stands accused
of having scant respect for the Bible, for he declares that the Bible is
not inspired.

Secondly, T. Williams accuses Swami Dayananda of preaching-
the astounding, grossly immoral, and monstrous doctrine of Niyoga.,
We quote from Deuteronpmy XXV : 5- —10 : — u If brethren dwell
together, and one of them die and have no child, the wife of the dead
shall not marry without unto a stranger, her husband's brother shall
go in unto her, and take her to wife, and perform the duty , of an
husband's brother unto her and it shall be that the first born, which
she beareth, shall succeed in the name of his brother, which is dead,,
that his name be not put out of Israel. And if the man like not to
take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate
unto the elders, and say ' my husband's brother, refusefh to raise up
unto his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of
my husband's brother.' Then the elders of the city shall call him,
and speak unto him : and if he stand to it, and say, ' I like not to
take her'; then shall his brother's wife come unto him, in the presence
of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot and spit in his face
and shall answer and say, " so shall it be done unto that man that
will not build up his brother's house — and his house shall be called in
Israel the house of him that has his shoe loosed." This is clearly
Niyoga, and so Christ stands accused of preaching "the astounding,
grossly immoral, and monstrous doctrine of Niyoga."

Thirdly, and consequently, Christ stands accused of having the
unenviable distinction of having fathered'this doctrine upon the Bible*

Fourthly, T. Williams accuses Dayananda of telling lie, a deliber^
ate lie, a terrible lie, and a scandalous falsification.

CRITICISM ON K1YOOA. 219

Now, I Kings 22, 23. " And there came forth a spirit, and stood
"before the Lord, and said, I will persuade him. And the Lord said
unto him, wherewith ? And he said, I will go forth, and I will Jbe a
lying spirit in the inouch of all his prophets. And he said; thou shalt
persuade him, and prevail also ; go forth, and do so. Now, therefore,
behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these, thy
prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee." Again, (2
Thes. 2. II) u and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion,
that shall believe a lie."

Does not the Christian God here stand accused of putting lie in
the mouth of his prophets, of deluding people by a lie, " a gross lie, a
deliberate lie, a terrible lie, and a scandulous falsification":'

Fifthly, T. Williams charges Swr»mi Dayananda with idiocy.
** Idiocy," says Webster, " is a defect in understanding." To show
that Christ or God suffered from this defect we turn to Gen. 1-30,
where it reads : — " And God saw everything that He had made and
beheld it was very Good." Here to God's understanding every thing
He had made appeared very good. Aj<ain, in the 6th Chapter and
sixth verse of the same book, we read : " and it repented the Lord that
Ha had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart." From
the above it is clear that time proved to God's defective understanding
that he had cherished fallacious hopes of his creation being very good,
as, on the contrary, it turned out a source o£>repentence and grief to
him. Is not this defective understanding, idiocy ? God or Christ,
therefore, stands accused of idiocy with % hich T. Williams so anxi
ously charges Dayananda.

We have shown how Christ declares the Bible to be uninspired,
and, therefore, declares himself also a dangerous enemy of his
Bible. It is no wonder, then, that T. Williams should charge
Swami Dayananda with being a dangerous enemy of the Vedas of
his time.

And, lastly, T. Williams, with a truly Christian spirit, throws
his missionary weapons against Swami Dayananda, whom he repre
sents as exposed to a damning charge. This is ro more unlike T.
Williams' God than the former charges were. " TLo Biblo repre
sents God or Christ as cursing and as dooiuing to pain and agony, to
servitude and death, whole races of his croatures, throughout all
lands and throughout all ages, for the sin of one individual. It
represents him as cursing all serpents, making them cursed above
all cattle, dooming them to go on their belly arid eat dust, as putting
enmity in men's hearts towards them, because one solitary serpent
tempted Eve. It represents .him as dooming all women, as cursing
the earth for the sin of one man, cursing it to bring forth thonu
and thistles to annoy all fu'. iro generations, dooming a:l mankind
throughout all lands and throughout all ages to eat of the ground,

2 20 A REPLY TO T. WILLIAMS*

in sorrow all the days of their life, to eat the herb of the field,, to
eat their, bread with the sweat of their brow, and, lastly, to return to
the (Just. The thought is appalling. Countless millions mercilessly
doomed to daily and hopeless misery for sins committed before Itiiy
of them were born, as if one blasphemy were not enough.

One word before we come to the proper subject. Let T.
Williams always remember what his Bible teaches. He alone should
throw arrows at his brother who is himself innocent. Mr. Williams,
you should first clear the Bible of its disgusting absurdities and
monstrosities, its evil and pernicious doctrines, thus rendering your
self and your God innocent, before you raise your head to attack the
doctrines of the Yedas, which, Biblically circumstanced as you are,
notwithstanding your twenty ^years' patient study of Sanskrit, you
are as unable to grasp as the little Grammar Schoolboy his dusty
Greek or Hebrew. And now to the subject.

Speaking of ftig, 10.10.10, the authority adduced by Swami, the
Rev. Missionary says : " Are you not aware, Sir, that in what
Da vananda quotes from Rig Veda 10.10.10, the speaker is a brother
and the woman he speaks to is that brother's sister ! I ! The speaker is
Yama and the woman lie speaks to is Yami, aye, not only his sister
but his ticin sister." It needed a special revelation in the nineteenth
century for the Missionary elite, T. williams, to know that Yama
and Yami were twin brother and sister. The proof of this revealed
text of T. Williams' inspiration we will learn by and by, but the
sinister motive in his insisting upon this personal revelation is obvi
ous and it is purely Christian. Like a serpent under the Vose, he
throws his flattering, flowe.; feelers among the self-deluded Hindus,
to exasperate them against he \ryas by joining in a common cause,
pretending to show th^ siii the mantra means Yami disking her
brother Yama's hand and Yama refusing it, the Vedas do not sanc
tion Niyoga. This is all pretence, the hidden insinuation is that there
were ancient Aryans, the revered and sacred forefathers of the
Hindus, the great olden Vedic Rishis, among whome even such a
depravity prevailed that a sister dared ask her twin brother's saciT<
H.s-/i% hand. In the light of present criticism, such hypocrisy slu >i.
no longer last, and no more will T. Williams arrogate the position
which belongs to God alone. Here is T. Williams' arrogant blas
phemy : — " I say it with all positiveness that Dayananda knew tl^at it
was- Yama that speaks and that he speaks to her twin sister Yami.
How terrible, the", is the lie that he is guilty of." Poor Wiilian s, is
not your positiveness the most terrible lie that you are guilty of,
terrible because you lie against a person, whose staunch -moral cha
racter even outdoes your ideal Christ-? (Vide Theosophist on the
« subject.)

As a proof of his assertion, T. Williams quotes Nirukta, 6-0-0
and, forgetting the original, falls upon a spurious commentary, l>ut>

CRITICISM ON NIYOGA. 221

rising from his sleep, comes to Nir. 11-11-13, and quotes "Yami

Yamam chakame tarn pratya chakshu," which means, according to

T. Williams, Yami desired sexual intercourse with Yama, lie refused

r." Where is T. Williams' ositive assertion that Yama ancl? Yami,

positi

are brother and sister ? Poor Williams can only reply, " Yaska's
commentator says, " an author is not bound by what his commentator
might say," Yaska's commentator shares a remorseless fate. Admitted
that the Nirukta of Yaska is a Veddtiga, and has full Vedic authori
ty, we trust no one will be so mad as to believe, like Mr. T. Willams,
that Nirukta being a Veddnga, its commentary too is a Vedanga.
Impotent Christian logic ! !

He comes now to Katyayana, whose words are, " vaivasvatayor
yama yamyoh samvadah" Now, learned T. Williams, the infallible
authority on Sanskrit, translates Vaivaxvatayor into " son and daugh
ter of Vaivasvata," and thus infallibly proves that the hymn is a
conversation between twin brother and sister. But, says Nirukta,
7-26, " Vaivasvata Aditydd prerat vata pragafadva," which means
that Vaivasvata is the sun. Again, in Nirukta, 12-10, we read,
Adityad Yama rnithunam janayain chakare," and, in 12-11, we read,
" ratri radityasya adityodaye antardhiyate," which means, wherever
Yama and Yami, the couple, are mentioned in connection with
Vaivasvata, the sun, the meaning of the allegory cleared is, that the
night or gloom disappears on the rise, of the sun. Has this any
thing to do with Yama arid Yami, the twin brother and sister, the
sons of Vaivasvata ? Absolutely nothing. There is in this allegory
no trace of Yami asking the hand of Yama, or the reverse. But}
Kfityaiia, whose authority need not be forced upon ns, simply says
that Yama means a person desirous of continuing the control of his
passions, and Yami a similar woman, and the hymn, in an allegorical
conversation, describes the duty of such male and female persons.

T. Williams comes, thirdly, to the mantras themselves. He is
very proud of counting Yama and Yrmi six times and three times
each as proper names, and his proofs of these as proper names are
curious. His first proof is that in the 13th verse, Yama occurs in the
vocative c^se and Yami in the fourteenth verse in the same case. Is
T. Williams ashamed of his logic after he has read our criticism on
his last article on the Idolatry in the Vedas ? We quote from
Solomon's song, 13. 16, "Awake, O north wind and come tliou south/'
Here wind is in the vocative case. Will T. Williams' Biblical logic
believe that "wind" is a proper name ? Again we quote from the
book of the prophet Isaiah, 1-2, " Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear O
earth." Are " heavens " and " earth " proper names ? Again, in
Isaiah, 21-13, "0 ye tr;m II ing companies," is " companies" a proper
name ? T. Williams has, perhaps, learnt his Bible and grammar in a
Mission School only, or, he would not have fallen upon such admira
ble logic which .shines out of the Bible,

222

T. Williams now discovers the relationship of his " vocative case
proper names." He says, that Yama calls Yami his kinswoman
" salakshma." (Does "salakshma" mean kinswoman, or " of similar
virtues •?" «.

" Further on," Williams says, "in the fourth verse, Yama says
that Gandharva and his watery wife were their source — ndbhi, and
that their relationship was consanguinous — Jami." " Watery wife,"
a Biblical imagination only can conceive, and the husband of such a
watery wife, Gandharva, must be residing in tracts of waters mid
naval people unknown to ancient Aryans, the inhabitants of the land
of Aryavarta. T. Williams has not even that grain of human
dignity and pride which keeps a man consistent. Are Yama and
Yami the son and daughter of Faivasvata or of Gandharva and his
watery wife ? T. Williams should have answered this question to
himself before rushing into print. Again says he, "in the 8th verse,
Yami says that Twashtri formed them as husband and wi$e,dampatit
in the womb." This, instead of proving Yama and Yami us twins,
proves them as husband and wife, (if we are to accept the historical
phraseology, ) by legal contract or mere ceremony, but they were very
much naturally inclined, by disposition and constitution, towards this
relation. This alone can be the reasonable meaning of Twashtri
forming them as husband and wife in the womb. Otherwise, are wo
to think that wise T. Williams is piling objections unwittingly
against his own position ? Or, if T. Williams be right, might we not
question which of the three alternatives is true ?" Were Yama and
Yami born of Vaivasvata, or of Gandharva and his watery wife, or
of Twashtri in his womb ? * . • .

Again, quoting 9th verse, says T. Williams " that in heaven
and earth pairs, ' mithuna .' i. e. twins, are closely united.", Here
again, how does T. Williams conceive that "mithuna," which means
pair, means twins ? Does the fact of the pairs being 'mated prove
that the twins are mated ?

T. Williams' criticism on the tenth verse is no better. " Yatr&
jamayah krinvan ajami," which means, •' the childless become with the
child by the marriage relation," is translated by our Sanskrit scholar
of twenty years' standing, into " hereafter blood relations will do what
is unbecoming their blood relationship." At this stage comes the
Swami's quotation on Niyoga, where Yama says, " Desire another
husband than myself." We may leave verses 11 -12, as the relation of
brother and sister, which T. Williams wants to establish between
Yama and Yami, has already, by his own translations, been proved
to be false.

Now, Sir, if, after this, any one cavils as to the correctness of
Da^ananda's translation, why, that man is an idiot. I have shown
that the allegorical dialogue is not between twins and that the Swami'a

CRITICISM ON' NTYOflA. 223

translation is right. Dayananda's vilifier T. Williams, calls^himself a
scholar of twenty years' standing ! I am quite prepared to subscribe,
however, to this, that, having proved T. Williams and his God 'guilty
of deliberately telling lies and of having scant respect for Bible,
thus charging the Divinity with grossly immoral attributes, T. Wil
liams is undoubtedly the most dangerous enemy of the Bible of his
times. The Vedas, however, are beyond such puerile assail.

— f "^ : o :

T. WILLIAMS' LETTER.

(Replied to above.)

In the Satyartha Prakasha, (of 1884) on pa<?e 118, Dayananda
puts the question: — " Does Niyoga take place even when the hus
band is living, as well as when he is dead ?" The answer he
gives himself is : — "It takes place even when he is living/ Now we
know what Dayananda means by Niyoga. It is that when a couple
(man and wife) has no children then the non-impotent party (man or
the wife) may cohabit with certain others of the opposite sex for the
sake of obtaining children.

In the* preceding part of the Chapter he teaches what a wife
should do when her husband dies. Advancing from this he here
shews what a wife should do even when the husband is living but
impotent. He starts the astounding doctrine that the wife of a child
less man, while that man is yet alive, may betake herself to some other
married man in order to have a child ly him. Support for this mons
trous doctrine he pretends to find, not in Manu as before, but strange
to say, in the Rig Veda ; and quotes part of the 10th hymn of the 10th
mandala, as the grand authority, and the only authority for it.

Now, I do not mean to say that there is no indecency in the Rig
Veda, for there is, as I can show, but it was left for Dayananda, the
founder of the Arya Samaj, to show that the Rig Veda actually en
joins the grossly immoral doctrine that a woman should betake herself
to some other married man for cohabitation if her own husband be
impotent ? I do not mean to say, either, that the Hindus hear this
doctrine for the first time from the Dayanandis, for it is notorious
that as a matter of practice the thing has been done by the Hindus
for centuries. Use is made in this way of the Panday Brahmans at
Allahabad, and it is this kind of thing that has brought such ill
fame to the Mahajans of the Vallabhacharya sect, and attaches such
an ill character to the Jaina marriage rites. But what I would say
is this that I have reason for thinking that this monstrous doctrine
has now, for the first time, iu the history of the Hindus, been fathered

T. WILLIAMS' LKTTER

upon the^Rig Veda, and that the unenviable distinction of so father
ing it belongs, to Dayananda, the founder of the Arya Samaj.

But, Sir, the unenviability of this distinction becomes a thousand
times stronger when it is discovered that it is all a lie. Yes, Sir, to
say that the Rig Veda teaches and enjoins this doctrine is a gross
lie. What can any man think of Dayananda after such an instance
of scandalous falsification of the Rig Veda, — the book he professes
to revere as a divine revelation and yet drags so ruthlessly in the
mire.

Are you not aware, Sir, that in* what Dayananda quotes from
Rig Veda, 10, 10, 10, the speaker is a brother, ajidthe woman he speaks
to is thq,t brother'* SISTER !!! The speaker is Yarna and the woman he
speaks to is Yami, his siste^r, — aye not only his sister, but his
ticiu sister !

What1 wonder that up to this time no Hindu was ever so mad as
to father such a d'octrine upon the Rig Veda, for, every Hindu
who knew the Veda at all, knew that it is Yama who speaks and
that he speaks to his twin sister Yami. Dayananda translates
it, saying that the speaker is a husband and the woman he
speaks to, the speaker's wife. Now, here he deliberately lies. I
say it with all positiveness that Dayananda knew that it was Yaina
that speaks and that he, speaks to his twin sister Yami. How
terrible, then, is. the lie that he is guilty of ! ! ! ! — terrible, because he
deliberately lies against a book he professes to believe in as, and
proclaims to be, a divine revelation.

The only way far the Dayanandis to escape from this damning
charge is to show that it is not Yama that speaks and that the
woman he speaks to is not Yami, his twin sister. But how vain any
such contradiction must be I will show conclusively. For : —

(1) Apart from the hymn itself, the earliest authority capable of
being adduced is Yaska. He, in Nir. 6, 5, 5, quotes the 13th verse
of this same hymn and his comment by saying, " Yami speaks to
Yama," &c. &c. But lest any one say that an author is not bound
by what his commentator might say, I hasten to give Yaska' s own
words. When explaining in Nir. 11, 3, 13, the 14th verse of this
evening hymn, Rig 10, 10, he himself says, " Yami Yamam chakame
tarn pratyachachaksha " which means that "Yami desired sexual
intercourse with Yama. He refused her." Now, surely this is plain
enough for, it is evident that Yaska and his commentator regard the
verses they quote as part of a dialogue between Yama and Yami,
in which Yami desires cohabitation with Yama, but that Yama re
fuses. What has this to do with an impotent husband bidding his
wife go to another married man for cohabitation !!! Yaska's com
mentator says expressly that Yama was Yami's brother. It is
needless to remind you, Sir, that this Nirukta of Yaska is a Vedanga

REPLIED TO ABOVF,. 225

and therefore lias full Vedic authority. How dare Dayananda go
directly in the teeth of Yaska, whom he professes to, altogether
respect, and say that here we have the case of an impotent
husband! !

(2) My next authority is one scarcely inferior to Yaska. It is
Katyayana. His Sarvanukrainanika of the Rig Veda, giving the
Rishi and Devata &c, of every hymn of that Veda, is the great au
thority for these matters and is respected by all. He, Katyayana,
too, is the author of the Srauta sutras of the Shatapatha Brahmana
of the Yajur Veda, and, as a Grammarian, is second not even to,
Panini and the author of Mahabhashya, Patanjali, who is engaged
chiefly in illustrating Katyayana's vartikas on Panini'a Grammar. As
to the overwhelming character, therefore, of Katyay ana's -authority
in all matters such as we are discussing, there can be no question.
Now, in Ms Sarvanukramanika, he says that there is no Rishi or
Swata of this hymn, Rigveda 10, 10, but he says that the hymn is a
dialogue between Yama and Yami, the son and daughter of Vaivasvat.
His words are " Vaivasvatayor Yama Yamiyoh samvadah." Now,
Sir, apart from the hymn itself, it would be impossible to bring
anybody whose authority can, in any respect anywhere, approach
that of either of these. Bnt, now, I turn to the hymn itself,

(3) (a) The names Yama and Yami occur in the hymn six
times, three times each — as proper names. In the (13fch verse, Yama
occurs in the vocative case, ( O, Yama/ and in 14th verse Yama occurs
in the same case, " 0 Yami." These are the two last verses. The
Shatapatha shows that no other construction than that of tho
vocative case is possible. This, then, shows the names of the in
terlocutors.

(b) Now as to their relationship. In the 2nd verse Yama calls
Yami his kinswoman, " salakshma." In the 4th verse Yama says
that the Ghandharva and his watery wife were their (Yama and
Yami) source — ' Nabhih/ and that their relationship was consanguin-
ous — "jami." In the 5th verso Yami says that Twashtri formed
them as fyusband and wife — ' dampate/ in the womb. She hereby
shows they were united as twins and she argues from that that they
ought to be man and wife. Again, in verse 9, she argues in the same
w«y that in heaven and earth, pairs, — 'mithuna/ — i.e. twins, nro
closley united — ' Sabandu/ and in the same verse she says she
wishes to treat Yama as not consanguinously connected with him.
In the 10th verse Yami says that hereafter blood relation —
"jam*y*h " — will do what is unbecoming their blood relationship
— " ajami." In the lltfy Yami complains that Yama, though n
"brother, — ' bhrata J — does not help her, arid that, though she is,, his
sister, — ' svasa ' — yet he allows calamity to come upon her. In the
12th verse Yama refuses to coh'ibit with Yami, because he says they

T. WILLIAM'S LETTER IMPLIED TO AHOVK.

call him a dimir — "papam " — who sexually approaches — 'niyacchhat'
— his sister — 'svasaram/ and in the end of the same verse he says
" thy brother, 0 fair one, deserves not this," — "na te bhrata, subhaga,
vashiyetat." In the Atharva Veda copy of this hymn this verse is
enlarged and Yama's refusal made more decided and solemn .

Now, sir, if after this any one cavils as to the relationship of
Yama and Yami, why that man is an idiot.

I have then shown that the speakers throughout this dialogue,
are twins, a brother and sister. The sister Yami desires ardently
that her brother Yama should sexually lie with her, The brother
Yama points out the sin of so doing, and steadily refuses her, but tells
her, to desire and embrace some other man. It is just this in the
10th verse that Dayananda quotes, and translates falsely, so as to
show that a woman should, if her husband be impotent, betake herself
to some other married man, for the sake of obtaining off-spring ! ! !
Dayananda' s apt seholar, Guru D&tta, calls his master " the only
Vedic Scholar of his time." I am quite prepared to subscribe, how
ever, to this, that having proved Dayananda guilty of deliberately
falsifying the Yeda and of endeavouring to father upon the Iligveda
a grossly immoral doctrine of which that Veda is wholly innocent,
Dayananda is undoubtedly by far the most dangerous enemy of the
Veda of his times.

MR. T. WILLIAMS

ON

VEDIC TEXT p. 1,

" THE ATMOSPHERE."

Mr. Guru Datta says that the Vedic word " Vayu" conveys the
meaning of " a light, mobile, tremor-communicating, effluvia-carrying
medium." , He has no other authority for this meaning than the
verbal root from which the word 'Vayu' is derived.* Now, Sir, what
ever meaning the word ' Vayu' may have on accoynt of its derivation,
that very same meaning would the English word " wind " have, and
also the Greek word, Englished as, '* air," for, both these words have
the same root as " Vayu/' which root is no more or less than that re
presented by the Sanskrit ft Va."t Mr. Guru Datta is worng in
saying that the Niruktakar derives " Vayu " from the root " va " to
move, to carry odoriferous matter, or from 'vah* to communicate
tremors." Yaska, the prince of Niruktakaras, only gives " va " (Nir.
10,2) and his commentator adds to " Va," " gatigandhanayos "
quoting from Ad. P. It is probable that this " gandhana " sugges
ted Mr. Datta's odoriferous matter," but he ought to know that it ia
now a settled thing that the word " gandha " — smell — comes from
the verbal root " gandh," which never means to smell, but to go, or
to hurt,' or to ask ; and " gandhana " is from this verbal root and not
from the noun, agandha."J But this is not his great mistake in his
derivation of " Vayu " : it is in his saying that " Vah " is given by a
Niruktakar as an alternate root ! What is his authority for this ?

* No other authority, it must be remembered, is at all required. For, in the
Vedic literatine the yaugika sense of the word is the only guarantee of its correctness,
and in some cases, is the only sense possible to give to a word. — Guru Datta Vid-
yarthi.

t This is incorrect, for, it is only proper to take that sense of the word only,
which is recalled into consciousness of those who employ the word whenever the
word is spoken. Now, the word ' wind ' does not recall any such meaning in the
minds of its speakers. But in the case of Vedic word, (which as Vedic are quite
distinct from Laukika), no sense is at all recalled, unless it be the very sense accruing
to it from its derivation. This essential difference between Laukika and Vedic words,
the critic does not understand, and hence his mistake. — G. D. V.

t The critic is wrong when he thinks that the author of the Vedic Texb
No. I confounds "Gandhana" with the noun "gandha." For, it is " gandhaiia "
which means a form of Suchana producing that form of consciousness which is called
fimelling.— G. D. V.

228 T. W1LIAMS ON VEDIC TEXT XO. I.

He should have given chapter and verse for his statement. The
derivation v from ( va ' is clear enough and the only one given by the
chief Niruktakar Yaska, or by any other commentator that I have
yet seen. * It is from this root that " Wind " and " air " t are
derived, so that I repeat, whatever Mr. Datta has to say for " Vayu,"
that is true, that must also be said for those two words. His vit
uperate reference to the word " air " is both foolish and ignorant. {
Now from what I have said, there is nothing specially to be attribut
ed to the Vedas because this word " Yayu " occurs in it as an appell
ation of the Atmosphere. Long before Maddhucchandas composed,
or, if Mr. Datta will have it, saw this Rk., the idea of the word
" Vayu " as an appellation for the atmosphere was the common pro
perty of ajl the Indo-European peoples. §

Is it not strange to find that the critic should betray the very same jgnorance of
Nirukta with which he charges Mr. Guru Datta. For 'va' is not the only root given
by Niruktakar,kas the critic would suppose, but in one place whose reference is not
given in the text, the Nirqktakar derives it from at least these, ' vati,' ' vetti ' and
• eti,' I quote the passage from memory, " Vayurvater vetter vosyadgati karmanah,
eteriti sthaulashtive. — Ed. A. P.

t Mr. Williams must be a great philologist to derive "wind" and "air "from
the same root.— Ed. A. P.

t Mr. Williams could well have spared such harsh words. They cannot prove
his contention. — Ed. A. P.

§ What does vague philology know of human history ? Long ages after Maddhuch-
handas or earlier rishis saw thii Rk. the European nations had not even assumed their
existence, what to say <jf the idea of the word 'vayti ' as an appellation for the atmos
phere being the common property of all the Indo-European peoples.— £. D. V.

•: o :•

MR. PINCOTT ON THE VEDAS.

Mr, PINCOTT ON THE VEDAS/

IT will be interesting for our readers to hear what a well-knowrf
man in England of Mr. Pmcott's ability, has to say on the faubj. ct
of the Vedas, His letter on the subject is annexed. It is, no
doubt, " interesting1 to the Samaj to come to a clear idea of
what coMstitute-s the Vedas." Bn-t the Samaj never had any
nuclear ideas about them, for, whenever we speak of the Vedas, th'o
UMM" is to us "self-explanatory," find, no doubt, tlie four well-known
Sanhita books are present to our mind whenever we speak of the
\ edas. It has been a matter of great difficulty, of course, for European
Scholars to distinguish between the Vedic and the non-» Vedic, for,
arguing upon merely hypothetical grounds, fovfhded not upon any
genuine scholarship of Sanskrit literature or language, but upon a
Pseudo-philological and evolutional grounds, mainly deriving their
support from the so-called Comparative Psychology, whereas they were1
at the same time prepossessed with a quite erroneous Biblical
chronology, these h^/u-xt, confiitttunt Scholars had to deal with matters
purly conjectural, when the Vedas were presented to them for study.
•So far removed were the language of the Vedas, their diction and
their subject-matter from-what they expected to meet with on a priori
•.•'•nception, that their wholescheme of the already well-known methods
"I interpreting archaeological records had to be given up, and, to meet
tho demands of their pre-conce-ived notions, all interpretations had to
be elaborateoV son^tknes forged, and at other times- distorted from
theiroriginalson.se. Hence their conclusion "that the term Veda
applies to only "that portion of Sanskrit literature which existed before -
the historical period* commenced;" as if, implying thereby, that there
was ;uiy portion of Sanskrit literature that was pre-historic or unhis-
topical.- Tim they could not help, for, although a chronological record
of the various periods at which those books of Sanskrit literature)
which are now called pre-historic or Vedic, were recorded, existed^
yet the epochs assigned according to this system were so immense as
to tninscend all bounds of Ei;r.»pi';iii Biblical matter-of-fact imagina
tion. Howsoever exactly or approximately may the epochs assigned
l»y Hindu chronology tally with the conclusions of unsophisticated,
geological and scientific research, to assign such an immense anti
quity to the Vedas was involuntarily perceived- to be a death-blow to
the very foundation of Christianity. Under these circumstances o£
prejudiced European Scholarship, Mr. Pincott does a great service to
point out that the term Yc'das can only be applied to the 8anhitod,
Tim Brahmanas, the Upjinisliads, the Aranyakaa, the Shrauta Sutraa
and the Vedungas; being only meant to explain the Sunhitay, arc decid-

232 MR. PFXCOTT

edly vedic but not the Vedas ; all other books, philosophies, plays, law-
books, epochs and Puranas decidedly being non-Vedic. He also does
well to point cut the various functions of the Vedangas, the Shrauta
Sutra&, the Aranyakas and the Brahmanas. But to think that at l^ast
some of the Vedangas were meant to teach the ceremony of sacrifice and
proper astronomical times to offer worship, is not wholly correct. The
object of the two Vedangas, Kalpa and Jyotish, is decidedly sacrificial
and astronomical, but neither the sacrifices are meant as ceremonies,
nor astronomy as intended to fix times for offering worship. The object
of both is to elucidate certain problems concerning the constitution of
the moral and physical universe, a proper understanding of which can
alone ensure a realization of Vedic truths. And again, to think that
the Brahmanas treat of transcendental subjects and were first uttered
at " a time when no contradiction or objection was anticipated, for, all
questions of probability or possibility are thrown to the winds and the
wildest statements are unhesitatingly made in simple faith' with all the
luxuriance of unrestrained growth," evinces an ignorance of the Brah
manas which is in rib way praiseworthy. Discussions on transcendental
subjects there are, and the wildest statements aresoasthesiwp/e faith
of Christians can not concieve of the truthful luxuriance and unrestrain
ed growth of theological truths.

Laying aside these differences, we are at one with Mr. Pincott in

the functions to be assigned to various Vedic records.

i

As for the Vedas themselves, there is much to differ. That
in the older period only three Sanhitas were recognized and the
language of the Atharva Veda is so modern that the sane an
tiquity can not be assigned to it, is not necessary for us to refute, for,
keeping out of consideration the application of the term Atharvav,
to the fourth Veda, it cannot be doubted that the fourth Veda is made
mention of in the other 8anhitas. To quote, for instance, from the 31st
Chapter of Yajur Veda, 7th Mantra, Tasmad yajnyat Sttrvahuta Richa
Samani Tajnire Chhandansi Tajnire tasmad yajus tasmadajayata. The
emanation of the four Vedas from the Divine essence is clearly pointed
out under tho four respective names of Rig, Sama, Chhandansi, and
Yuju, and to preclude the supposition of Chhandansi as merely mean
ing metrical compositions and therefore as simply qualifying the other
three Vedas, the verb jajn ire is distinctly coupled with Chhandansi
which clearly shows that a fourth Veda is made mention of. It remains
now for the historical genius of European scholars to discover that an
anterior Veda existed still before the others and to prove beyond doubt
that the one referred to is not the Atharva.

The value of the assertion that "no European Scholar would
dream of placing it (Atharva) higher than the Brahmana period," is
sufficiently plain. As for its being the source of Hindu religion, one
has only to refer to the various Sanskar Padhitis and to find out how
niany mantras of this Veda are used in them,

ON THE VEDAS. 233

We come now to the other three Vedas, for a correct knowledge of
the respective functions of which we would refer the reader to '' The
Terminology of the Vedas." But we wish to point out in, this connection
th#t the mistake of European Scholars in arguing the priority • of the
Rig Veda from the fact of the Yajur and Sama texts being wholly or
partially found in the Rig Sanhita lies in their ignorance of the modifi
cations both in sense and relation effected by what are called the
Swaras of the Vedas, a branch of study which Europeans so littla
know of. That the same mantras appear in different Swaras, and
with different devatas in the three Vedas, may be taken as a proof of
the priority of any one of them to the other two, but the proof really
amounts to the statement of the independence of the texts of tha
three Vedas,

We come now to the Rig- Veda, Whence according to the Europ
ean scholars, the two other Vedas are derived. We shall not dwell
upon " the simple directness of its style " nor upon " the plain matter-
of-fact way in which all its statements are made^ for, the aphoristic
saying, Bhtidhi purvika vakya kritir vede, i.e. everywhere in the
Vedas we meet with a diction designating the highest intelligence, is
too well-known to be disputed. Further, as clearly proved by Jai-
mini, the Vedas are not "the natural out-pourings of the human
heart in times beyond the reach of history," they are rather the
Divine influxions of religious injunctions at a time which forms the
first link in the chain of History. Td a reader well- versed in the
Bible, it is easy to conceive that the sacrifice should • come to be re
garded as a " simple spontaneous act of worship/' but to the un-
sophi&ticated inquirer, unless he be a believer in the preternatural
doctrine of vicarious atonement, the sacrifice, as understood by the
Christian world, is neither a " simple nor a spontaneous act of wor
ship." ' Surely, the above-mentioned doctrine plus the untheological
belief that Grod can be moved or propitiated by flattery or presents
made, can afford a ground for such an unqualified assertion as that of
the " sacrifice " being a " simple spontaneous act of worship." Tho
yajna, so ignorantly translated by the European world as " sacrifice/'
really implies an application of natural principles to practice, and, by
the consent of the Rishis of India, became necessarily significant of
Buch application for sanitary and charitable purposes.

The assertion further made with respect to the Rig- Veda being a
collection of poems " representing various stages of development/1
also deserves to be considered. The first and natural impressions
produced upon seeing a book bearing a definite name is that of its be
ing the production of one author, and this is the impression naturally
believed in mil il further evidence is recieved to the contrary.
shall deal with the Vedas also in the same light,

234 MK. PINCOTT

It is assumed that there is one author of the Vedas, so long as
evidence- to the contrary does not overthrow this assumption.
Such e. vidence in the case of the "Vedas is mainly two-fold : — Firstly,
because various portions of the mantras are assigned, how it mafters
not, to different Ilishis, and, 2ndly, some mantras seem, to contain
" simple prayers of child-like faith, others are profoundly philosophi
cal," " while others, again, are, d'stinctly sacerdotal." Since " child
like," and " philosophical " cannot both originate from the same
source, nor perhaps in the same age, it is essential to assign not only
various epochs, but different authorships also to different portions of
the Yedas. Such being the evidence of the various stages of develop
ment represented in the mantras, it behoves the truth- seeking inquir
er as well as the honest student of the Vedas to note down that the
truth of the conclusion entirely depends upon the truth of its pre
mises. Parts of the Vedas proclaim " child-like " faith and others
are " profoundly Philosophical ? " May not our system of interpre
tation, which assigns so wide a difference to the contents of different
portions of book held equally authoritative and equally ancient by its
believers, be wrong ? It is more reasonable to believe that our inter
pretation is wrong than to hypotheticate different epochs as well as
different authorships to meet our fancied interpretations.

By some the Yedas have been constructed to yield abundant
stock of historical harvest as thus interpreted. The fact of " Gold
and silver ornaments, war chariots, costly dresses, handsome build
ings, manufactures, trade, sea-voyages, ceremonial observances and
several classes of priests being mentioned in a book " whioh also
speaks of the Sapata Sindhwa, or the seven rivers, is indeed an infalli
ble evidence of the advanced state of civilization. May not a student
of Bacon, meeting in the course of his studies with rich and faithful
dissertations on the methods of experimental philosophy and induc
tive reasoning, as infallibly conclude that when Bacoirfs Novum Orga-
num first saw the light, the country of Bacon's nativity ivas in a highly
advanced state of civilization, for not only are all the methods of scien~
tijic investigation known and therefore practised hut they are found
mentioned INCIDENTALLY, — a fact so significant of the entire
familiarity with science in those days ?

We come now to the recent discovery that the hymns of the Rig
Veda, contrary to the previously prevalent opinion, are arranged in a
definite order, according to the family and poet to which they are
ascribed, according to the deity addressed and according to the
length of each poem, — a discovery which at once throws light on the
Rig Veda being a collection of one thousand, seventeen hymns
arranged in ten divisions, six out of which, not to speak of the other
four which are occupied with the ritual of an ancient sacrifice, with
the praises of the sacred liquid offered at the scrifice, and with the
mythological luUcellany, have been preserved traditionally in six

ON TIIK VEDAS. 235

ancient families or tribes. The secret of all this is that European
scholarship is not as yet aware that vansha or family in ancient India
was constructed according to birth or according to learning, 'the one
being called gotra or jativansha, and the other viflyakid. t The
different Rishis, the seers of the mantras which are so ignorantly
ascribed to them, belonged, by virtue of their being seers of the
mantras, to the same vidyakul and not to the same family or tribe.

We have finished briefly oar remarks on the Rig Veda and very
summarily disposed of the misconceptions that have crept thereon.
One thing more and we have done. »

It is to be deplored that the six schools of philosophy should
have been so much misunderstood and misconceived by European
scholars. The Darshanas date at a period when not a trace of
Buddhism was at all to be found, but ^he sceptical, atheistic, and
reason-demanding temperaments have never been rare, and the con
troversial character of the Darshanas, apparent to the European scho
lar, is due rather to the comprehensive, imaginative, clear, anticipating
and fore-casting minds of the Darshanawriters than to the hurricane
sweepings of the Budhistic reform, a re-action which is rather embodi
ed in the new-Vcdant of Shankracharya, than in the Darshanas.

We shall, at our leisure, take up and dwell upon, at length, the
various points herein but briefly touched, at some future date.

. MR. PINCOTT'S LETTER,

Replied to above,

' -+o : *6*: CM

->

It cannot be other than interesting to the Samaj to come to a
clear idea of what constitutes " the Vedas." Many people J speak of
" the Vedas" as though the term were self-explanatory ; or as though
some well-known books were always present to the mind whenever tho
expression was used. This, however, is very far from being tho
case. The majority of people have no idea whatever as to what
constitutes a the Vedas." Hindu scholars apply the term to much
which Europeans peremptorily reject as obviously non-Vedic ; and
even Europeans are far from unanimous as to the precise limits to bo
ascribed to the Vedas. But upon one point there is no doubt or varia
tion of opinion among both Europeans and Hindus, and that is, that
the term ".Veda " applies to only that portion of Sanskrit literature
which existed before the historical period commenced. " The Vedas/*
properly speaking, comprise only that fragment of Hindu literature
which is believed to be the revealed Word of God ; mid the term is

236 MR. PINCOTT

precisely equivalent to the Bible among Christians and the Quran
among Masalmans. But when we have arrived at this conclusion the
difficulty is not removed ; for there are no generally recognized books
which 'can be presented to view as " the Vedas;" there is, instead** of
that, a vast literature, unsettled quantities of which are held to be
Vedic, and the rest more or less secular.

In the few moments at our disposal I cannot explain the simple/
but laborious methods by which scholars have separated Sanskrit
literature into its various stages, and have established the truly Vedic
portion of the whole. The application of the simplest tests reveals
the fact that the Puranas are subsequent to the Darshanas or philoso
phical works ; and that the six schools of philosophy, the law-books,
the plays, and the epochs, were all composed after the great gram
matical epoch, when the famous works of Panini, Yaska, and the1
older Pratisakhyas, were put together for the purpose of. explaining'
the still more ancient Vedas. Prtndit Guru Datta, to whose learned
paper we listened afc a recent meeting, states that the very language
in which Sanskrit books are written, marks the historical development
of the series. His words are, " Sanskrit of the Puranas is so diff
erent from the Sanskrit of Mahabharata and that of the Darshanas,
which again is so different from the Upanishads, that the clear line
of demarcation in each case is easily laid down."

The various processes of investigation have established the
conclusions that the books called the Sanhitas are the oldest
Hindu books- now existing ; that next to them come the Brahmanas,
and in intimate connection with these last are books known as Aranya-
kas, and others called Upanishads ; and that these were followed by
treatises known as Srauta Sutras, and the Vedangas. Most of these
"books are by well-known historical personages ; and, indeed, the names
of even the saints who first proclaimed the Vedas, are, generally
speaking, recorded ; although the saints are not considered to have
been the authors of what they taught. They are held to have been
highly favoured mortals who received from On. High certain Divine
revelations, and then proclaimed to their fellow mortals the secrets
they had received. But all the works of which we are now speaking
are intimately bound together by one great fact, that, whether ascri
bed to authors or to divinely inspired saints, they all directly refer to
and are based upon, the books called Sanhitas. The object of all the
other Vedic works is to explain the meaning and the proper use of the
portion called Sanhita ; and this of itself is sufficient to show that the
Sanhitas are the most ancient relics of the Hindu religion, and form
the back gronnd, so to speak, of all Hindu literature. In short,
Sanhitas form, properly speaking, the Vedas } the other works to
jvhich I have just alluded are certainly "Vedic, because their whole
object is to explain and illustrate the Vedas ; but no other portion of
Hindu literature, save the Sanhitas, Brahmanas, &c., has any right
to be included Under the terms Fecfa or Fj?<Wc, AU the bwks which

ON THE VEDAS. 237

we hear so much about — the Philosophies, the Plays, the Law-books,
the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Puranas — are quite outside
the pale of Vedic literature.

This matter is of much significance to the Arya Samaj ; because
one of the rules of that Society is a pledged reverence for the Vedas.
It is impossible for me to enumerate the various works which are
really Vedic, nor is it necessary that I should do so. Without reckon -
ing abbreviations and commentaries, the India Office Library alone
contains about 300 original Vedic works. It happens, however, that
all Vedic works may be classed under one or other of the following*
heads : —

1. The Veddngds which teach the student how the words of the
Veda should be pronounced, grammatical construction, and derivation
of the words, the metrical rules for correctly reciting the ceremony of
sacrifice, and the proper astronomical times for offering worship.

2. The Srauta-Sutras. These important treatises give the com
plete ceremonial for the performance of Vedic rites both in public and
in private. They comprise special treatises for the different kinds of
priests, teaching them how and when they should perform their
various functions in conformity with the Veda.

3. The Upanishads. These are short works of a highly philoso
phical character treating of the hidden meaning of the Bralimanas
and the ancient hymns, and reasoning on the nature of God and the
soul with much earnestness and logical acumen.

4. The Aranyakas. These form one branch of Upanisnad litera
ture ; but there is something about them of a more primitive char
acter. They were intended to guide the thoughts of the ancient
ascetics, who, after performing the active duties of life, retired to the
forest and spent their declining years in reflecting on the spiritual
meaning of the Brahmans.

5. The Brahmans. These are, primarily, ceremonial works for
the use of Brahmans ; but in addition to the directions they give for
the performance of sacrifices, they comprise a great deal of extrane
ous matter connected with the origin and history of the world,
speculations of a more or less philosophical character, mixed with
explanations, old stories, &c. These works have preserved for our
use the first speculations of the Brahmanas on transcendental sub
jects, and they were obviously first uttered at a time when no con
tradiction or objection was anticipated, for all questions of probabil
ity or possibility are then thrown to the winds, and the wildest state
ments are unhesitatingly made, in simple faith, with all the lux
uriance of unrestrained growth. These most ancient works, however,
Were always held in deep reverence, and are recokoned part of the
Kevealed Word, The primary use of these curious works was,

MR. VI N i OTT

however, to explain the sacrifices at which the older hymns were
sung, and, therefore, they also are only dependent upon and grew
out of the Sanhitas.

This 'brings us to the last and highest point in Hindu literature <;
but in order to lead the mind back to the starting point of all Hindu
religion we must examine the Sanhitas themselves, and see what
relation they bear the one to the othor. In more recent times four
Sanhitas are reckoned, called the " Rik," the " Sam," the " Yajuh,"
and the " Atharva." In the older period, however, only three
Sanhitas were recognized ; but no one can deny the modern character
of the language in which the Atharva Veda is expressed, and allow
it the same antiquity as to the other three. Indeed, Indian comment
ators themselves are very undecided as to its authority, and no
European -would dream of placing it higher than the Brahman a
period, the style and language ot which, in some part, it resembles.
The Atharva is most certainly not the source of the Hindu -religion,
and may safejy be set aside.

There remains, then, the three primitive Sanhitas ; and of these
two may be immediately distinguished from the remaining one by
purely ritualistic character. The "Yajuh," as its very name tells
us, is " that by which the sacrifice is offered ; " and it consists of
verses almost entirely taken from the Kik-Sanhita, accompanied by
profuse, directions as to the actions to be performed while they are
being recited. The Sama consists of hymns and parts of hymns the
whole of which is - taken from the Rik-sanhita ; but in the Sama
Veda, these quotations are arranged in the order in which they are
to be chanted at the sacrifice. It is perfectly plain that both *the
Sama and the Yajur must be subsequent to the Rik-sanhita, for they
consist of little else than quotations from the Rik, taken out of their
natural poetic connection, and placed in the artificial order necess
ary for sacrificial purposes.

Setting, then, these rituals aside, we come to the work whence
they were both derived — the famous " Rik," or " Rigveda-sanhita."
This work is conspicuous in all Indian literature by reason of the
simple directness of its style, and the plain matter-of-fact way in
which all its statements are made. It contains the natural "out-pour
ings of the human heart in times beyond the reach of history, when
the sacrifice was a simple spontaneous act of worship, and man was
looking up, in hope and fear, from nature's works to nature's God.
The Rig Veda stands high and away above all the speculations
and crudities which have been built upon its honest statements ;
and will continue to stand a monument of unaffected piety, and a
perpetual beacon to guide the human mind in the path of Truth.

It must not be supposed, however, that" the Rigveda is a collec
tion «of simple poems expressing one phase of thought and civiliz
ation ; on the contrary, it contains poems differing widely from each

ON THE VEDA*. 239

other, representing various stages of development. Some are simple
prayers of child-like ^aith, others are profoundly philosophical ;
while others, again, are distinctly sacerdotal. When these hymns
first saw the light, the country of " the seven rivers " was in an
advanced state of civilization ; for, we find frequent mention of gold
and silver ornaments, war chariots, costly dresses, handsome build
ings, manufactures, trade, sea-voyages, ceremonial observances, and
several classes of priests. But all these things are mentioned in
cidentally ; the poems themselves are short compositions addressed to
one or more deities, asking for success in war, prosperity in trade,
or long life, in return for the praises offered.

The Rig Yeda contains 1,017 hymns, arranged in tei^ divisions;
the first division I have recently discovered to be the ritnal of an
ancient sacrifice, and it is probably the oldest ritual in the world ;
the next ^ix divisions contain hymns preserved traditionally in six
ancient families or tribes, all the hymns ascribed to each particular
saint being placed together; the eighth division contains hymns
which had not acquired general recognition at the time the arrange
ment took place ; the ninth division is a special collection of hymns
in praise of the sacred liquid offered at the sacrifice ; and the tenth
division is a miscellaneous collection of long and short poems of a
more or less mythological character, and, for this reason, properly
placed at the end.

It is clear from this sketch of the arrangement of the Rig
Veda, that it is not a ceremonial text-book, like the Sama Veda or
Yajur Veda ; but that it is a collection of sets of poems, preserved
from an indefinite antiquity in various faniilies, all the hymns
ascribed to one saint and one family being placed together. It
was formerly my good fortune to discover that, contrary to the
opinion universally entertained previously, the hymns of the Rig ,
Veda are arranged in a definite order, according to the family and
poet to which they are ascribed, and according to the deity addressed
and the length of each poem. The Rig Veda is simply a well-ordered
store-house, from which poems could be .selected, as desired, for
sacrificial purposes. Some of the hymns were first uttered at a time
when official priests were unknown ; others were promulgated when
a priesthood had come into being ; but at the time when the whole
collection was brought together in the form in which it has been
transmitted to our days, a complicated ceremonial was in existence.
It was for the purpose of authorizing that cremonial that the collec
tion was made ; and it was in order to perform that ceremonial that
the special arrangement of hymns forming the first division of the
Rig Vecla was put together.

It is impossible to pursue this interesting subject further on ,the
present occasion ; but I hope I have said enough to. show that the Rig
Veda is the only real Veda, and that is the book which all should

240 MR. PINCOTT ON THE VEDAS. /

study who entertain respect for the Vedas. Everything else in
Hindu literature rests upon, and has grown out of that book. As
regards the rest, beyond the Sanhitas, Brahmans, Aranyakas, Upani-
shads, Srauta- Sutras and Vedangas, — nothing else has the slightest
right to be ranked as either Veda or Vedic.

After the Yedangas, the Budhist reform swept over India like
a hurricane ; and the Brahmanas were driven to reason with their
antagonists, and to develop the schools of philosophy for the purpose
of establishing the logical consistency of their faith. During the
Budhistic period Greek influence also spread over Northern India,"
and when Buddhism fell, all recollection of Vedic ideas and all
sympathy with Vedic feeling had passed away. Then modern
Brahmanism arose, with its philosophies, its shastras, its theatricals,
its poetry, and its Puranas.

The growth of this wild jungle of scholarship and fable was
brought to stoppage by successive Muhamniadan incursions, and by
the final subjugation1 of the country to Mughal rule. Under a more
enlightened administration the intellect of India is again developing,
and is wisely returning to a study of those real models of national
development found in the hymns of the Rig Veda.

PRINCILPES

) op

THE ARYA_SAMAJ.

I. The Primordial Root — the Eternal Unseen Sus-
God, His charac- tainer— of all true knowledge, and of

teristics. objects made known by true knowledge —

aye of all these — is the Supreme God.

II. God is Personification of Existence, Intelligen-
His attributes and ce andBliss. He is Formless, Almighty >

worship. Just, Benevolent, Unborn, Endless and- In

finite, Unchangeable, Beginningless, 'Incomparable, Support
of all, Lord of all, All-pervading, Omniscient and Controller of
all from within, Undecaying, Imperishable, Fearless, Eternal,
Jloly and Maker of the universe. To Him alone worship is
due.

III. The Veda is the Scripture of true knowledge. It

is the paramount Duty of every Arya to

His Word, the Veda. ^^ ^ ^^ ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ and ^

recite it to others.

IV. We should ever be ready to embrace truth and to
Truth; forsake untruth.

V. All acts should be clone in accordance with Dharma,
Righteousness. after deliberating what is Right and Wrong.

VI. The prime object of the Arya Samaj — Vedic

Church — is to do good to the world, that is,
to promote Physical, Spiritual and Social
good of every sentient being.

VII. Our conduct towards all should be guided by
Love and Justice. Love, Righteousness and Justice.

VIII. We should dispel avidya — Nescience — and pro-
Nescienco and mote vidyct — Science, spiritual and phy-

fccience. &\Q&\.

IX. No one should be content with promoting his own
individualism and good onlyj on the contrary, he should look

Altruism. for his gOOd in promoting the good of all.

X. All men should subordinate themselve^to the laws
Subordination and of Society calculated to promote the well-
being of all ; they should be free in regard to

the laws for promoting individual well-being

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