Confluence of Opposites

Author(s): Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: Champat Rai Jain
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/006704/1

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Permit me to show you the things of beauty and value in your own faith. Author's request Confluence - DesiSeoteror nezanese sexy Opposites. - C. R. JAIN, laalaalaalaalaalaallaallaalku von International www.lainelibrary.org

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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE-By C. R. JAIN. Second Edition, Demy 8 vo. about 1200 pages, neatly bound in cloth, gilt letters. Price Rs. 12. The Pioneer, March 12th 1916 :-"Me. Rar's book is singuTarly lucid and readable... .and not a word in it coold a word in it could give ambrage to the most sensitive votaries of the creeds discussed." The East and Weat. March 1916.- ...... The author's learning and breadth of outlook entitle bim to patient hearing........" The Jain Hitechu."No English knowing Jaina has attempted to gather such a mass of information on religious and philosophical subjects." DR. BROJENDRA NATH SEAL, M. A., P., D. (KING GEORGE V. Professor of Philosophy, Calcutta University).-" The book has been a source of great delight to me, it is so fresh and exhilarating, 80 Bane and liberal, it is indeed worthy of Jainism in its free and Catholic spirit. It is thoughtful and provokes thought...... Dr. F. W. THOMAS, M. A., Ph. D. (INDIA OFFICE).---"... It is inspired by a spirit of sincerity and contains the fruits of a very wide and enlightened reading and a mature capacity for philosophic contemplation and reflection........." Mr. ALEXANDER GORDON (LONDON).--" The book is exceptionally interesting from a student's point of view as it is not a mere statement of facte.........." The Indian Review.--" The English is excellent, the style is Incid, and the work is full of sublime thonghts...... Indian Thought (vol. viii for 1916).- ......The book...... is..... one of those few books that deserve all praise.......MR. CHAMPAT Ral is to be congratulated on the very important contribution he has made to the literature of Comparative Religion......" The Indian Phalosophical Review (July, 1920)-"......The Key of Knowledge is a great book and if read with the care it requires, will be not only supremely interesting but eminently deful......" Mr. H. WABBEN (LONDON).-......I find it very refreshing, enlightening and instructive......" The Taina Mitra.--"fagra WITH yeach T zAkayanIya lAbha utthaayNge|" Jain Educaton International wwwlinelibrary :09

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES. 18

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Confluence of Opposites. Svefutza Taiftarfer 1 "I am the way, the HIET AIT:" i truth and the life." -The Jaina Bible (Tattvartha Sutra, I. 1). ! --ST. JOHN XVI. 6. BY CHAMPAT RAI JAIN, BAR-AT-LAW. 1921.

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All rights reserved. Permission for translation to be obtained from the author.

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ABBREVIATIONS USED. ERE.=The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. PHB.=The Permanent History of Bharatavarsha. SBE.=The Sacred Books of the East. SBH.=The Sacred Books of the Hindus. SBJ.=The Sacred Books of the Jainas. SSP.=The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy by Max Muller.

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FOREWORD. The series of lectures now in the reader's hand is the out come of many years' patient and persistent study of the carises of diversity and difference among the prevailing religions of the world. In presenting them to the enquiring public I have to announce the momentous discovery of a secret language or script that will revolutionize reli. gious belief and change the very complexion of thought. It has, indeed, been long surmised that the Bibles of the world contain 'pure, personifications of diverse physical forces and phenomena, e. 9., clouds, rain, spirit of vegetation, fire and the like, but the suppositiou does not satisfy the prying intellect and has failed to command general acquiescence which it should have done if true. Yet it is obvious from the number and nature of the discrepancion alone that are to be found in them that the scriptures of the world could not and were not intended to be read historically. The discovery that has now been made will show that the Vedas, the Qur'an, the Zend Avesta and, indeed, all other ancient mythological scriptures are composed in one siugle langnage ut withstanding the outward diversity of the alphabets and fougies in which they are couched. We may call this secret language Pictokrit to distinguish it from Prakrit, the people's tongue, and from Sanskrit, the language of the learued. The sig. nificance of the term Piotokrit lies in the fact that it gives expression to the moet sablime of human thought in pictorial form, its special merit being its capacity to embody whole philosoplies in a single picture or panel of paintings. Some of the matter dealt with here has already appeared in my earlier work, the Key of Knowledge, and a small portion of it was incorporated in the Appendix to

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( vii) the Practical Path published by me in the year 1916. The present work, composed in the form of lectores, 6013! ap the result of the wbole investigation, in small compaso, and is sent out in the hope that it will at least stimulate scientific research. It is a matter of 20 small satisfaction to me that I am able to offer the work at a price which should be within the reach of one and all It only remaius to be added that these lectores are concucted with one another after & plan, ani should be read in the order in which they are arranged. Hazpol ? 31st March, 1921. 0. N. JAIN

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TABLE OF CONTENTS. FOREWORD: FIRST LECTURE. Comparative religion is a science ascertains the views of die verge religious-its policy constructive in the paiu-MadhAV Acharya's work--the modern problem--inethod of comparison--difficulties in the way--the results expected -rational method--bias and bigotry to be avoidedprivate iutritions to be rejected also.-even scriptural text not always a safe guide-tenets of different faithsJainiem- VedicismZoroastrianiem-Judaism--- Vedanta -Sainkhya --- Nyaya Vaiseshika--- Yoga-BuddhismChristianity ---- Ielam- Brahmanism Parapicisni--- Yajnais -Shaktiisin-- Occultistu - Rosicrucianism Freemasonry--Radhaswamiam --Shintoisin ---- Bahism--Kabir Paoth- Dada Panth-Sikhisin-- Arya Samaj Brahmo Samaj-Deo Samaj--Theosophy -- Taoisin--Confucianinn American colts-Chervakiom--their featnrer of reremblance and differences SECOND LECTURE. The method of comparison--uubiaggod mind the first requisite value of nelief in the religion of birth-truth knowable by rigid rationalism oarces of knowledge-obaervation ipference-testimony- science--metaphysics--scripture rational thought follows the role of canso and effect-logic --Naya Vada-how to inaster logic in lees thao three

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quarters of an boor-the logical rule (Vyapti)--modern logio artificial- m atural versus artificial logic-five kinds of Vyapti-seven types of joference-different systeins of logic-Jaina logic~-Nyaya logic-Buddhist logic-Aristo. telian logic~-classification-lakshano (characteristic) -- analysis--Naya Vada--function of Scriptore ... 35 THIRD LECTURL. 55 (a) Religiou asi science-science implies kuowledge-error--- doubt mignorance--the first asium of science---constancy of nature eternity of substanice--ils triple fonction--components of the world-spirit and matter-materialism -- brain and conscio avesso-distinguishing features of consciousness-perception--- ter of consciousness--nature of kuowledge-logical inference-wit licity of wou!--bistance -memory-a priori elements of consciousness--soul potentially omnisciont--the Unknowablo-Bowne on minud (1) Lesiour of the brain---reflection--perceptian and recollec ti0n-immortality of the soal-sool blissful by nature-- analysis of happines-pleasure and pain--divicity of the sonl-wiiy this divinitytut manifested-curtwiling in. Anence of karmus--material bugis of karmas-sonl never iu a condition of purity in the part-division of kirmas-- fattvas - pudarthas.aws governing fnsion of spirit and watter-subtle bodies of the gon!--scientific basis of transmigration - how to obtain releage--the true 'path'--- Right faith--Right knowledge Right Conduct --psychological changes lending Right Buith-Ahimxa-the hoose holder'e etage -- the eleven pratimas - Vowe sannya81.--the ton excellent raleg of dharma---merit of Right Faith-Jainisin and science ... 89

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FOURTH LECTURE. Metaphysics-- what it means--religious metaphysics--the six Hindu Schools-Vedanta--epsentials of rationalism Samkhya versus Vedanta-liberation in Vedanta--Sufi - ism--Shahudiaus--Samkhya-grounded on analogy-the Nyaya---Nyaya versiis Vedanta--the Vaiseshika School Cateogories of the Vaiseshikas--Yoga-Jainisin and Yoga - Samadhi -- pranayama - occult powers-the Purva Mimanga-Jaimivi ou determination of fruits of karmas mwthe Mahabharata on sacrifice-Max Muller's estimation of Eliudu darshanas--opinion of Hindir scholarship--Bud. dhiem ... ... 121 FIFTH LECTURE. a Mythology-failure of scholars to oravel diverse iny thologies--Agui cannot be fire--por culinary art-ludra is not rain-Surya, not the sun--causes of errors of scholars and others--- mythological scriptures couched in two languages-their real language Picto-it-Jacoiliut on the interpretation of the Vedas.-K. N. Jyer's 03planatiou-the Vedaugas- the riruletum-Judaism similar in composition---the Kabbalah-bumeral meaning of words -The Now Testament also couched in the secret script Pryse on the secret of the N. T. Origea's viewm-historical reading falal to the Bible-its geoineness challenged by critics-contradictious and discrepancies of the New Testament--sources of the Gospel myths.J. M. Robertson on the Biblical doctrinee-Joseph McCabe's viewsresemblance between Slithraism and Christianity-The Bible on its owu iuterpretatiou...-historicity of JesusIslam--the allegorical interpretation of the Qur'an--the

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(xi) Shiva Batinites-Islam and philosophy-solution of mytholgies -Ganesha-the scheme of the Vedic gods-Surya-Indra -Agni-Vashishta rashi-Vishwamitra-the lokas-Brahma-VishouRishabha Bharata-the bullthe Jambu Dvipa-Bharata varsha-Kurukshetra-Prayaga -Mathura-the Gobardhana mountain-Haridwar-the Gauges the Jumna-the Saraswati-the avataras-mythology in the Old Testament-the fall-the Garden of Eden-Adam-Eve-the Serpent--the trees of life and of knowledge of good and evil the transgression-the curses-Kaliya, the serpent-king-the sons of AdamAbel and Cain-their sacrifices- Abel's murder-Cain's curse-Seth-Enos ... (b) Mythology-the teaching of the New Testament-divinity of the soul-the fall-the redemption-the bondage of sin-means to the end-works-Christian Gnosticism -symbolism in Jesus' life-Carpenter's son-the temptation-the crucifixion-the place of Golgotha-the rending of rocks the darkening of the sun-the rending of the veil of the temple-the opening out of the graves-transmigration in the New Testament-ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free'-redemption not a matter of favour or grace-resurrection-why no marriages on resurrection-raga and dvesha-transmigration believed in by Jews-soul's sex-sous of Godmerit of renunciation-agreement between Biblical text and Jaina Scriptures-Jesus and John-Evanson On John's doings-Life and Intellect-the baptisms of Jesus and John-devotion and vairagya-the bride-hristos or Krishaa-the raising of the Gobardhiana hill-the gopis amours-the Mahabharata personality the splitting of the - 466 444 Islam Mahomed's moou the svastika 153

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il xii) and the crescent woon-the archangel Gabriel--other angels of the Qur'an--the teaching of Islam--the reason of the secret teaching by Mahomed-Shamsh of Tahroz --Farid ud-dio Attar and other mystics of Islamhuman and animal life in the Qur'an-Muslim acknowledgment of prior revelations--taqdir..the lauh-i mahfaz (logisme cut-transmigratiou--salvation- meang for salvation--works ... ... ... ... 198 SIXTH LECTURE. Ancient and extinct faithgathe Babylonian cult-Tammox --Innini - Istarihe gyptian coli-Osiris--HerorotusPlutarch's explanation--the death and resurrection of Osirin-the Egyptian and Greek Mysteries--DionysusZugreue-the Titang--Troiem-what is the T20-how to attain to Tao-'I am the way, the troth and the life,' - the triple 'path' of Jainism --- Mithraism -- Mithra and Varuna-correspondence between Hindi and Parsi deitiegenthe idea of creation in Zoroastria niem--the scheme of Parsi mythology--- Alltra Mazda anit Aharman -the mingling of the conflict--the Parsi angels--their demong and fiends the purpose of Avestan Creation-- Yima's Vura--the repovation of the world--the final conflict-- Aharmau's defeat had flight-transmigration in Zoroastrianibm---Paisi asceticisin-the modern Pargi opinion the true view ... 246 SEVENTE LECTURE. God--the popular idea of God-nature of proof in gopport of the popular belief-God and the authorship of anythological scriptures-true characteristics of revelation --the idea of God as providence or creator-eternity of simple

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(xiii) aubstances-St. Paul's distinction of spirit, soul aud body how are rewards and punishments of deeds meted out-God a pure effulgence of spirit-creation not a fauction of spirit-attributes of deity from different theological scriptures-Huxley on attributes of divinity -no ontside giver of moksho-siguificance of the doctrine of grace-two kinds of emancipated souls-the bhavyas and the abhavyas-why no salvation for the abhavyas the five labdhis-ahimsa-absorption into Godhead-vision of God-mystic names of deity-'I AM-agreement on this-other names of deity-the original of the mystic conception of God-Paramatman Rishabba Deva-Hinda testimony-Tirthamkaras-how tirthamkarahood obtained Tirthamkara's glory - pluralistic idea of Godhead in different creeds-miracles no proof of divinity--significance of certain names of Godthe teraphim-the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse-explanation of the mystery of the Apocalypse-the initiation of the Lamb-baptism-the fatherhood of God-the idea of creation in Hinduism-the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesha-three kinds of Gods-the true God that is secondless - the worshipful Tirthamkaras-mytho- - logical gods-the worship of the last-named forbidden -the 24 Ahuras of Zoroastrianism-the 24 Buddhasthe 24 Counsellor-Gods of Babylon EIGHTH LECTURE. / 0-0 The practical side of religion-ritual and worship-components of ritual-prayer--whom to pray to-who is to praywhat is to be prayed for-how to pray-efficacy of prayer -fasting-the miracles of Jesus-response to prayer-the prayer of the wicked-serving both God and Mammon 244 285

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( xiv ) the Lord's prayer-components of the Jaina samayikathe kingdom of God-the Muslim form of prayer--the Buddhist's prayer--the Gayatri mantram--the Parsi prayer--the samayila patha--the doctrine of sacrificethe Bible on sacrifice---sacrifice iu Zoroastriapism----sacrifice in Islam-Hindu sacrifices-Yajna--the cow sacrifice explained-nafs--the idea of a sun of God--Indra--the holy Trinity etymological significance of the word sacrifico-pilgrimage-Juvayd on pilgrimage--meditationhelpful causes of meditation--Isaiah on parity of food and driek--forms of meditation-enteriug into life-Yogadifferent kinds of Yoga - Raja Yoga-Bhakti YogaHatha Yoga--Jnana Yoga-life of Jesus m delled on a Tirthamkara's life--ahimsa ... ... 327 NINTH LEOTURE. General summary and conclusions--happy agreement, along tbe ser mingly irreconcilables--differences due to mytho. ogical comp sition--scientific truth the real basis.--classification of religions--Jainisin the ouly scientific religion bence Jaida platform the one plase for reconciliation--- anekanta-vuda verens ekanta-vads - absoluta. of conclusions reached--fature of the world -- revelation origin and growth of mythologies-conflict between esotericism and exotericigin--position of newest faiths the Key of Knowledge -- the Temple of Uviou aud Trath-xhortation to study mahimsa aud mercy---life's idealsbe householder's and sadhu's ideals-viriue and vice as causes of iransmigration-J. M. Pryse on the moyetery of the Apucalypse--the error about the 4 Ellers the true explanatiou-Jaivas blamed for locking up Sacred Literature--science ad religion--evolution---the fiual prayer--Peace aod Goodwill to all ... 372

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1 xv ! ERRATA, 19 2od [The very large nuinber of errors to be found in such a small book is much to be regretted, but the inore importaut corrections are given below :) PAGE LINE. FROM. FOR. READ, 5th top Omit Purusha---, 20 1st omnit a. 42 10th & ilth top forua of tion foundation of 7th bottoon omit hips. 320 top untitpaksha anti + paksh li 9th bottom nucleas nucleus 7th top insert a after of. 3rd bottom pian pain top fact feat lith hanging changing 11th omit sensory. 1 tl bottom ner U or 10th for far, 2nd bottom of the reatter the matter of 11th op on to 16th extract extracting 10th is in . . 8tb quaility quality 96 10th of the 5th builders-philo builderd=philo sophers sophers 104 bottom a termed termed a 106 9th this thus 110 1st Haven. Wards Haveawards 114 14th of of a top top of 4th

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125 130 142 169 189 192 2'5 264 293 304 326 330 350 351 355 362 4th 10th 2nd 7th 1st 11th 10th 5th 10th 10th 2nd 6th 8th 11th 14th 12th 1 19 $7 39 top "" bottom top 11 ( 12 bottom 14 13 :* top 32 xvi ) add one after only. omit brackets. ad Peiris add of after knowledge. omit of the diverse. subelances Persions It divine, samsara transmigratory merely 41-17 nasf facer re fad Osiris substances Persians If divine. 8amsara trave migratory. me early iii-17-4. nafs facere are

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES. . OR COMPARATIVE RELIGION. FIRST LECTURE. General Survey. Comparative Religion is a science. It is that department of rational knowlege which seeks to ascertain the views of different religions to reconcile their teachings to one another, collecting, sorting and interpreting ancient lore to getat truth. It proceeds upon a policy of criticism that is constructive in its ultimate nature, in so far, at least, as it seeks to find out the element of truth behind every form of belief, though, naturally, a great deal of destructive work is to be performed in the beginning to get rid of the cobwebs of superstition and error adhering to diverse faiths. The field of enquiry is vast and almost unexplored. Indeed, no one is known to have ever approached the subject in a scientific spirit. There is one known work of the fourteenth century, termed Sarva Darshana Sangraha, but it is neither scientissc in nature nor exhaustive in scope, its author (Madhava Acharya) contenting himself with a general discussion of a few abstract points raised by the diverse schools of Indian metaphy

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GENERAL SURVEY sics known to him. The problem of today is concerned not so much with the metaphysical analysis of discursive thought as with the bringing into a line of systems so diametrically opposed as Jainism, Vedicism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Judaism appear to be. This task, it is superfluous to add, has never been attempted before, though in recent times a few unqualified or half-qualified writers have endeavoured, from highly laudable motives of goodwill and buman love, to establish a somewhat far-fetched harmony between some of these creeds. As embracing all the diversified forms of belief, that is to say, in its entirety, the subject has never been approched bitherto, nor have the rootcauses of misunderstanding bel ween different religions been ever laid bare in the history of human thought. With respect to the method of comparison), also, it has been a favourite method with those who bave gone before us to try to reconcile the diverse faiths to one another by pointing out and emphasizing a few features of resemblance in each one of them and by ignoring and minimising all kinds of differences in their teachings, as if they could be disposed of so easily-by merely being ignored. This method does not appeal to me as satisfactory, for there can be no true or lasting reconciliation so long as the differences remain unexplained, To arrive at true reconciliation, then, we must analyse these differences themselves to obtain their common unifying principle, if there be one underlying them. We shall have to dive deep beneath the surface of things

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES to understand the very genesis of differences, so to speak. We shall thus be erecting a Temple of Truth which shall also be a real Temple of Union that shall be the place of worship for all kinds and classes of men, where differences shall not need to be stifled but shall actually go to clarify the real fundamental tenets of Truth and to cement friendship and amity amongst men all the more closely for their reiteration. Puig I must not, however, suffer you to remain under the erroneous impression that anything like complete justice can be done to the subject. This is simply out of the question, being precluded by the vastness of the field of enquiry. My difficulty arises as much from want of time, which is entirely inadequate for the task, as from lack of knowledge and penetration into a very large number of quaint conceptions of mystic and mystifying thought that have been woven into theological dogmas and myths. In the face of all these elements of difficulty there is, however, one great feature of reassurance and encouragement which consists in the discovery of the important fact that mystic thought has been running on parallel lines in all the different creeds and cults and that an elucidating 'key' is nearly always to be found concealed, or is, at least, easily traceable in almost every ancient scripture. The large and varied assortment of mystic conceptions and symbolic thought is thus reducible to a definite number of principles which fully justify us in the formulation or rather the reformulation and re-construction of the original systems 3

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GENERAL SURVEY of religious thought that have lain buried beneath the dust of centuries. Positive assurance, akin to absolute accuracy is predicated in favour of the results thus reached by nothing less than the direct convergence of the several lines of research-scientific, metaphysical, mystic and hierologicalon to one single point, namely, the re-constructed Truth. We shall thus be not only laying down the beginnings of a science of Comparative Religion to be built upon by our successors, but shall also be raising up a real Temple of Truth and Union which shall be a permanent heritage of mankind for all times and ages,-a lofty moral edifice, complete and self-contained in all its departments, though admitting of additional structures to be raised on lines and foundations already laid down. The results of our spade-work here will, I trust, suffice to demonstrate the validity of the method and means recommended. With respect to the method of reconciliation, you and I who stand in this Hall of Reason must agree that the strictest logic must be our guide in the elucidation of the different problems as they arise in the course of our investigation. Bias and bigotry are subversive of truth, and fanatical fervour destructive of reason itself, As for private convictions and vague intuitions of individuals, well, we have to leave them out of account if for no other reason than this that they do not tend to lucidity of thought and are therefore out of place in scientific research. As said by me elsewhere, if private intuitions of individuals could be relied upon in place

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES of scientifically true conceptions of reason, every lunatic would have acquired the right to fill the chair of philoso. phy and every morbid subject of hysteria and hallucination to rank as a patron of Science. Reason and reason alone must be our guide throughout, at least till such time as a Teacher is found whose intuitive wisdom can be implicitly relied upon as an unfailing light to guide our steps in the right direction. For the same reason we must leave Scriptural text out of consideration, at least in the first instance, for, in addition to being full of matter which is highly incredible and most unacceptable to any one except those who accept it as part of their faith, the Holy Scriptures of almost all the religiops now prevailing in the world as well as of those that flourished in the past are generally self-contradictory and discrepant with one another, so that it is not possible for them to be accepted as truth pure and simple, What intellectualism signifies, and how it can be specdily developed, will be explained in the next lecture, meanwhile it is clear that no one who has not eliminat. ed all traces of superstition from his mind can be considered qualified to study the truth. If there be any one present here who declines to abide by the arbitra. ment of his own unbiased reason, he should not feel aggrieved if his claim to rationalism is non-suited in the supreme court of common sense. I shall now proceed to briefly describe the tenets and doctrines of the diverse faiths, so as to be able to

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GENERAL SURVEY ascertain their common features of resemblance as well as their points of difference. Jainism lays down the following seven tattvas (essentials or heads of study) : (i) jiva (spirit), (ii) ajiva (non-spirit), (ii) a srava (influx of matter into spirit), (iv) bandha (bondage), (v) samvara (stoppage of influx), (vi) nirjara (destruction of bondage), and (vii) moksha (salvation). There are nine prrddrathas, formed by the addition of two other subjects namely, (viii) punya (merit) and (ix) papa (demerit) to the seven tattvas. The world is eternal and uncreate, and comprises two kinds of substance, namely, spirit, or living substance and non-spirit, or njiva, which class includes several realities such as matter, space, ether etc. Of these spirit and matter are the two really important substances. Spirit comprises an infinite num. ber of units, or individuals, termed jivas (living beings), and matter (pudgala) is atomic. The changing, shifting nature of the universe is due to the interaction between spirit and matter, which is governed by certain welldefined laws of nature. Mundane souls are spirits existing in combination with matter by whose union the natural attributes of the former are curtailed in

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES varying degree, according to the type of their fusion and the quantity of matter adhering to each soul. Complete freedom from matter is moksha (salvation) which leaves the soul as pure Spirit and therefore without the curtailments imposed upon its attributes by the association of matter. The attributes of pure Spirit include : (i) Omniscience, (ii) Blissfulness, and (ii) Immortality. Accordingly, every freed Soul becomes Omniscient, Ever-Blissful and Immortal, in consequence of separation from matter. For this reason is a Redeemed One termed Paramatman (Supreme Soul). The Paramatmans reside at the topmost part of the universe, at a Place termed Siddha Sila (the Abode of the Perfect Ones) whence there is no returning into the pain and misery of samsara (transmigration). All the rest whose number is infinite remain involved in transmigration and subject to repeated births and deaths. The migrating soul passes through four grades of life, known as four gatis. These are the deva, naraka, manushya and tiryancha gatis. The first of these is the condition of existence as a resident of heavens ; the second, of life in hells ; the third signifies human existence, and the fourth embraces all other forms of life, that is birds brutes, insects, plants, metals and the like. There are different grades of conditions and circumstances in each of these four gatis, but the main types are only four, The residents of heavens enjoy great felicity and plea

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8 . GENERAL SURVEY sure, though they are not altogether free from misery and pain ; those in bells bave for their lot intolerable suffering ; man experiences both pleasure and pain, with the latter generally preponderating; and the tiryancha gati is also full of misery and pain, Birth and death characterise every one of these four types of existence, and only those who pass out of the sphere of transmigration enjoy eternal life. But there is no fear of the merit acquired in one life being lost in a succeeding 'rebirth'. The effect of punya (virtue) and papa (evil) is carried by the soul from lise to life and determines the type of reincarnation (gati). Release from transmigration is obtained by the observance of the vows of ahimsa (non injury), truthfulness, non-stealing, continence and indifference to wordly goods, and by the practising of certain ethical rules,-humili'y, forgiveness and the like,-as well as by mental and physical asceticism, e.g., study, meditation, contemplation and fasting. Put in a nutshell, the path to Nirvana consists in the confluence of Right Faith (belief in tattvas), Right Knowledge (knowledge of tattvas) and Right Conduct (observance of the prescribed rules). This triple Right Path is designed to enable the soul to attain to Godhood which is its own nature potentially. An infinity of Souls have already attained to divine status by following this Right Path, which, it is insisted upon, is the only method of obtaining nirvana (the status and glory of Godhood). This method is twofold: (1) less rigid for householders and (2) strictly austere, to

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CONFLUENCE OY OPPOSITES be pursued by ascetics and saints. The householder begins with the acquisition of Right Faith and takes to the observance of the vows already described, gradually rising, step by step, through what are technically known as pratimas, to the stage of asceticism when he becomes subject to the severer rules laid down for the guidance of saints. The pratimas are eleven in number and mark the spiritual progress made by the soul, from time to time, as well as from one step to another, each succeeding step signifying an additional feature of progress over and above the precediog one. The life of a sddhu is one of great severity; he aims at the attain. ment of pure self-contemplation by completely detaching himself from the world, and by mortifying his lower nature. In this way, by means of penances and fasts, he frees his soul from the undesirable conpanionship of matter, thereby destroying the dominion of karma and transmigration. With its karmas destroyed, the Soul becomes Omviscient and Immortal, and is filled with its own svabhavik (natural) bliss, which shall never know deterioration or abating at any time in the future, According to Jainism, the soul must undergo transmigration till nirvana be reached. There are certain souls that shall never obtain nirvana, though the potency of Gudhood is as much a characterisatic of their nature as of any other soul. Their karmas are of a very malignant type and shall always debar them from the ratna trai (triple Jewel) of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, without which salvation is not

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10 GENERAL SURVEY to be obtained. As we shall see later, the Jaina stand. point is purely the scientist's point of view and there is, consequently, no room for any gods and goddesses within its scope, though it recognises the being of 24 Teachers in every cycle of time of incalculable duration, These Great Masters are termed Tirthamakaras (Founders of a fordable passage) to take the soul to the other shore beyond the turbulent sea of samsara (transmigration). These Great Ones are not incarnations of any god or other greater or lesser divinity ruling in high heaven, but men who perfected themselves by following the very method which they afterwards preached to others. Vedicism is the expression of human adoration for a certain type of supernatural beings of whom the most notable are three primary deities that are compressible into or reducible to one. These are (1) Surya, the Sun, (2) Indra and (3) Agni Surya is the leader and king in heaven; the other gods follow him and he bestows immortality on them. It is to him that the sacred prayer termed Gayatri is addressed daily by almost all classes of Hindus. The text of this most sacred prayer reads as follow :"Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier ; may he open our understanding."

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES Indra is the lord of the thunderbolt, and the leader of the heavenly hosts. His is a unique figure in Hindu mythology. The seducer of his own spiritual preceptor's wife, he was made more handsome by Brahma who transformed the thousand ugly spots resulting in consequence of the adulterous intercourse into so many eyes. The enemy of the god is Vritra, "Whose demon hosts from age to age With Indra war unceasing wage; Who, times unnumbered crushed and slain, Is ever newly born again, And evermore renews the strife In which again he forfeits life." Dr. Muir. Indra is a powerful god, and directly after his birth demands, "Where, mother, dwell those warriors fierce Whose haughty hearts these bolts must pierce ? 13 II At last a battle is fought between the god and the demon, resulting in the victory of the former. The third of these most prominent of the Vedic deities is Agni. He is the priest of gods at whose invocation they appear. He is also their mouth, so that the gods are directly nourished and strengthened by the sacrifices offered to him. Agni is represented in pictures as having three legs and seven hands. As a priest, Agni is regarded as 'the divinest among the sages, immediately acquainted with all the forms of worship; the wise director, the successful accomplisher, and the

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GENERAL SURVEY protector of all ceremonies, who enables men to serve their gods in a correct and acceptable manner' (Wilkins,' Hindu Mythology). 12 As said before, these three gods are the most prominent among the Hindu deities of the Vedic age; they are not conceived as limited by the powers of the others, and none of them ranks superior to any other, As a matter of fact, the same epithets are used with reference to them all indiscriminately. The object of the Hindu worship of gods may be gathered from the following verses of Dr. Muir, composed with reference to another of the Vedic gods whose worshipper is promised all that is implied therein : "All imperfections leave behind: Assume thy ancient frame once more Each limb and sense thou hadst before, From every earthly taint refiued. "And now with heavenly glory bright, With life intenser, nobler, blest, With large capacity to taste A fuller measure of delight. "In those fair realms of cloudless day, Where Yama every joy supplies, And every longing satisfies, Thy bliss shall never know decay." Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion of Persia, and is now followed by a section of Indian people, the Parsis (of Persian extraction). The Parsi worship is chiefly devotion to a deity, named Ahura Mazda, who

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES is one of an eternal pair of twins, the other being Angra Mainyu also known as Ahriman. Of these, Ahura Mazda is the good Spirit and the other, the power of evil. The name Ahura Mazda signifies the All-wise Lord, from Ahura=the Lord and Mazda, the All-wise. In addition to Abura Mazda, the Parsis offered adoration to other gods, including the Sun, the Moon and Agni. The Parsis believe in resurrection of the dead and in regeneration of the world on the destruction of the creation of Ahriman. The soul is regarded as immortal and responsible for its actions. All souls will be furnished with new bodies on resurrection and shall enjoy enternal bliss thereafter. The Parsis display a great deal of reverence, bordering on devotion, for Fire-whence their nickname of fire-worshippers. Good thought, good word and good deed constitute the ethics of Zoroastrianism. The Ashem Vohu, the prayer formula that every Zoroastrian learns by heart, teaches: 'Holiness is the best good and happiness; happiness to him who is the Holy One for the sake of the best Holiness' (ERE. Vol. IX. page 648). Amongst the puri. ficatory rites of the Parsis is included the ghosel, a washing with gomez (cow's urine). The sacrosanct Ahuna Vairya, a sort of holy mantram (formula) is recited by the Parsis as a very effective means of repelling evil. It reads as follows: "As the Ahu is to be chosen, So (let) the Ratu (be) from every legal fitness, A creator of mental goodness,

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GENERAL SURVEY And of life's actions done for Mazda ; And the kingdom (be) to Ahura, Whom (the Ahu, or the Ratu) He has appoint ed as nourisher to the poor."-ERE. I. 238. This is to be recited not only at the time of ceremonial worship but also in connection with the ordinary duties and work. The scriptures of Parsism, which have come down to us only in fragments, also mention Mithra as a deity to be worshipped, but I propose to deal with Mitbraism separately in one of the subsequent lectures. It may, however, be mentioned here that Metempsychosis is openly taught in certain of the Parsi Books, e. g., Mihabad (see Fountainhead of Religion, pp. 156-158.) The bright, all-happy, "blissful abode of the Holy Ones" (SBE. XXIII, page 34) is the place where the Residents know neither sickness, nor pain nor death. This seems to correspond to the Sidba Sila of the Jainas on reaching which sickuess and sorrow are parted from for ever and where the soul enjoys immeasurable happiness, eternal life and all-embracing knowledge. Judaism is the ancient creed of the Jews whose god is Jehovah or Jahweh. He is the maker of the universe and also of all things. He made the first pair of human beings, and placed them in the Garden of Eden which he planted, and which contained, among others, a tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and one of Life. Man disobeyed Jehovah's injunction, and, at the instance of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 15 the serpent, ate the fruit of the first named tree. For this he was turned out of the Garden of Eden with his consort Eve who was his companion in the transgression and who became his wife thereafter. Death also came to fasten itself on Adam in consequence of the act of disobedience. Adam had at first two sons, Abel and Cain, the former of whom was murdered by the latter, his brother. Cain was thereupon cursed by Jehovah, and he became a fugitive and wanderer on the face of the earth. Subsequently a third son, Seth, the appointed, was born to Adam, and it was Enos, the son of Seth in whose time people began to call on the Lord, or, according to another reading of the text, to call themselves by the name of the Lord (vide marginal notes to Genesis (iv, 26). Ever since the transgression Jahweh has been exhorting the people to obedience and has repeatedly sent messages to that effect to Israelites through sundry prophets. The worship of Jehovah, whose most signi- . ficant name is I AM, consisted in prayer, psalm and sacrifice chiefly. Jehovah describes himself as a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of men into the third and fourth generation of them that hate bim. As for future life, metempsychosis was rejected by Exoteric philosophers among the Jews but accepted by the Kab. balists (ERE. VII. 626). In a way, the Jews believed in resurrection and also the advent of a future Messiah who is to establish a new order of things. Their ethical code may be said to be summed up in the following com

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16 GENERAL SURVEY mandments of Jehovah which are said to have been imparted to Moses : (1) "Thou shalt lave no other God before me. (2) "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything. (3) "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaio. (4) "Six days shalt thou labour, but the seventh is the sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work. (5) " Honour thy father and thy mother, (6) "Thou shalt not kill. (7) "Thou shalt not commit adultery. (8) "Thou shalt not steal. (9) "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, (10) "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's." Vedanta is the most famous of all the systems of Hindu metaphysics and pursues the line of thought known as Idealism. The visible perceptible world, all that the senses reveal, everything that the mind knows, is unreal, unsubstantial and imaginary. The senses are deceptive; we often mistake a rope for a serpent ! How, then, can a man in possession of his wits rely

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 17 upon their revelation ? It is a huge illusion that lies stretched before us ; a tremendous perennial dream is being played on the mystery-stage! Yet the actors are the very spectators who have forgotten themselves. What is it all due to? How, why, where and when it began? How, why, where and when will it end? How, why, where and when came the spectators to en. gage themselves as actors ? It is no good putting these questions ; can a dreamer expect to get satisfactory answers to such questions while the dream persists ? No ; you should similarly wait till you are safely out of it. Even this talk about a getting out of it is illu. sory. You were never in it; how, then, can there be a getting out for you? This is maya the anii unchaniya (indescribable) ! Underlying this huge panoramic illusion is one reality or existence, immutable, all-pervading, self-subsisting. This ubiquitous existence is character. ised by sat (existence), chit (consciousness) and ananda (bliss), and is termed, after its attributes, Sachchida. nanda (Sat-chit-ananda). It is also called Brahman. It is the only reality ; there is nothing else in existence, Individual souls are of the nature of phantoms in a dream ; they have no existence of their own. There is no question of salvation or of being saved. Know yourself to be free and free you are there and then, This sublime truth is to be realised to escape from the illusory misery of an illusory world. Self-knowledge is necessary for the realisation of the idea of the Self, that is the true reality and the only existence. Self 2

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18 GENERAL SURVEY realization is attained in samadhi which means the merging of the mind in the Reality or Self, with body and thought controlled. Samadhi is to be attained by practising certain rules laid down in works on yoga. This is Hindu Monism or rigid Idealism of the nondual Vedanta. Apart from this, there are two other systems also known as Vedanta. They differ from the monistic school in so far as they admit, though with many limitations and qualifications, the existence of a world and individual souls besides Brahman. Inconsistent as it seems, all these schools of Vedanta subs. cribe to the doctrine of transmigration which is to be terminated on the realisation of the Self. Vedanta is essentially an Indian, or, to be more exact, a purely Hindu form of belief, but it seems to have influenced non-Hindu thought outside India in one instance at least. For Muslim Sufe-ism is practically a copy of the Vedanta with slight variations which cannot be closely looked into here for want of time. The Sankhyan school of Hindu metaphysics, founded by Kapila, starts by positing two eternal realities, purushar and prakriti. The purusha is merely a spectator and is separate from the spectacle, Prakriti is the equival. ent of nature, conceived, in an abstract way, as being characterised by intelligence (sattva), motion (rajas) and rest (tamas). All that is changing and shifting, all that is impermanent and transient, all that is produced from reflection, as also all that is concerned in the process of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 19 reflection, pertains to and is evolved out of prakriti. There is an alternation of involution and evolution, the order of the one being the reverse of that of the other. The following is the order of evolution : Purusha-Purusha-PRAKRITI. (1) Mahat (intelligence). (2) Ahamkara (egoity). Modified by tamas, Modified by sattua (4.8) they Manas five senses (9-13) Five kinds of motor fanctions. Sound Touch Colour Flavour Smell (14) (15) (16) (47) (18) Ether Air Fire Water Earth (19) (20) (21) (22) (23) These 23 products of evolution taken with purusha and prakriti constitute the 25 tattvas of the Sankhyan school, the kuowledge of which is necessary to obtain release from transmigration. Of course, in a system like Kapila's there is no room for the notion of creation, though some of the later writers have endeavoured to drag it within the fold of Ishivara-vada (theism). As to every other system of Hindu Thought, yoga is also an accessory to Sankhya. Nyaya (the logical school) lays down no less than sixteen tattvas as follows -

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20 GENERAL SURVEY (1) pramana (a right knowledge or means of know ledge), (2) prameya (object of pramani), (3) doubt, (4) purpose, (5) illustration, (6) siddhantir (final couclusion or truth), (7) premises, (8) confutation, (9) ascertainment, (10) discussion, (1) wrangling, (12) cavil (13) fallacy, (14) quibble, (15) futility, and (16) occasiou for rebuke. The soul, body, senses, objects of sense, intellect, mind, activity, fault, transmigration, fruit, pain and release are the objects of right knowledge, Pain, birth, activity, faults and misapprehension are the things to be destroyed. On their successive annihilation, in the reverse order, follows release. There is no reference to a creator in the Nyaya Sutras of Gautama on which the system is founded, except once incidentally in meet. ing a Buddhist argument. The Vaiseshika system maintains that supreme good, that is to say cessation of pain, results from the

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 21 knowledge of predicables of which there are six, namely, substance, attribute, action, genus, species and combination. Substances are nine in number-Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Ether, Time, Space, Self and Mind. Attributes are colour, taste, smell, touch, number, measure, separateness, conjunction, disjunction, priority, posteriority, understanding, pleasure, pain, desire, aversion and volition. Throwing upwards, throwing downwards, contraction, expansion and motion are actions. Release from transmigration is obtained when action does not origin. ate in the mind that has become steady in the soul. Like the Nyayikas, the Vaiseshikas, did not originally acknowledge a world-making god, though they bowed to the authority of Vedas as the word of a qualified Teacher. The Yoga school of Hindu philosophy recognises (1) God as the ideal for contemplation, (2) Souls, and (3) Matter, Release from transmigration is the aim of the soul It results in the cessation of pain which is to be attained in samadhi. Samadhi itself is the culmination or the last of a series of steps, called limbs of yoga. These steps are termed (1) ynma, (2) niyama, (3) asrna, (4) prandydama (5) pratyahara, (6) dharna, (7) dhyana and (8) samadhi. Yama consists in the following five kinds of restraints ;

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22 GENERAL SURVEY (i) ahimsa (not killing or injuring), (ii) truthfulness, (iii) non-stealing, (iv) sexual abstinence, and (v) avoidance of avarice, that is of worldly goods Niyama signifies. (i) cleanliness, (ii) contentment, (iii) asceticism, (iv) study, and (v) devotion Asana is posture for meditation, and prandyama, regulation of breath; but pratyahara signifies the annihilation of the senses, consequent on the state of catalepsy to be induced by practice. Of the remaining limbs, dharna is mental concentration, dhyana, meditation or contemplation, and samadhi, the culmination of them all in an ecstatic trance. Buddhism was originally an Indian religion, though It is now extinct in India. It was founded some twothousand five hundred years ago by a man who subsequently came to be known as Buddha. Buddha's teaching comprises the sponteneity of the world, that is a denial of its creation as well as of a creator, and nonpermanence of things, including the soul, Nirvana is the extinction of the will to be which is the cause of transmigration. Buddha's description of transmigration has the merit of novelty and is altogether unique. There

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23 is no continuity of individuality from life to life, according to Buddha, but only of the quintessence of individual character or experience, which, finding a suitable soil of which there is no lack immediately sprouts forth, and is thus engrafted upon a different stock from the one on which it was nurtured and formed. It is the destruction of this nucleus of re-birth which is thrown out by each "bundle" or aggregate of being-and according to Buddhist Metaphysics, every thing including life or soul is only an aggregate of impermanent processes-that is to be brought about to escape from transmigration. Great stress is laid in all Indian religions on the painful nature of existence, and Buddhism is no exception to the rule. To exist is to suffer; but the suffering is not due to existence; it is caused by desire. Suppression of desire is effected by observance of the "good law" which means Buddhist principles. Accordingly, the four noble truths of Buddhism are: CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES (1) the existence of pain(2) the cause of pain, (3) the removal of pain, and (4) the method of removal of pain, These noble truths constitute the eternal immutable Law, which had been proclaimed by twenty four infallible Teachers or Buddhas in ancient times. The eight-fold path consist in : (1) right views, (2) right aspirations,

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GENERAL SURVEY (3) right speech, (4) right conduct, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness, and, (8) right rapture, that is mental tranquillity, This eight-fold path is intended to stop the wheel of Lise, which revolves because of twelve kinds of nidanas each of which is caused by the one preceding it, accord. ing to the following enumeration: (1) ignorance, (2) mental predisposition or karma, (3) consciousness, (4) individuality (vame and form), (5) sensibility, (6) contact (sensory stimulus), (7) sensations, (8) craving, (9) attachment (clinging to life), (10) becoming (existence), (11) birth, and (12) old age, death, grief, lamentation, suffering, depression and despair... How consciousness gives rise to individuality? is to be worked out in this way : it is the union of aggregates which makes the individual; consciousness arises from aggregates; "every person or thing or god is therefore a putting together, a compound" (Early Buddhism, page.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 25 57). The question whether the soul is the same as the body or different from it, was one of the Indeterminates proscribed questions (ERE. IV. 234). Christianity which claims to be the fulfilment of Judaism and which is complementary to that religion, is grounded principally upon the following seven points of belief: (1) the blissfulness of existence in the Garden of Eden, (2) the temptation to eat the fruit of the Tree of Kilowledge of Good and Evil, (3) the consequent fall, (4) redemption by the "Key of Knowledge", i (5) crucifixion, (6) resurrection, and, (7) ascension. Christians profess no definite belief about the soul, and openly range themselves against transmigration. Salvation, too, is not to be bought by merit or works, but is a matter of grace to be obtained through the favour of Christ. According to the Nicene Creed, a Christian is expected to subscribe to the following formula of faith: We believe : 1. (1) in one God .........

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26 GENERAL SURVEY II. (2) And in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father............. (3) who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and lived as man among men, (4) Suffered, (5) And rose the third day, (6) Ascended into heaven, (7) Is coming to Judge the quick and the dead. III. (8) And in the Holy Ghost, There are many parallels to this form of belief among the ancient and extinct faiths, but they shall be dealt with in a subsequent lecture separately. Islam, the youngest of the most widely spread religions, was founded in Arabia by one Mahomed on the ruins of the neighbouring creeds. It consists in belief in the existence of one god, termed Allah, in the revelation of the Qur'an and in the messengership of Mahomed, The doctrines of Islam include a belief in resurrection and in the existence of heavens and hell where souls go by way of reward or punishment for their deeds on earth. Muslims generally deny transmigra. tion, though several notable philosophers among them,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 27 EUR.8, Ahmed ibni Yunus, Abu Moslem of Khorasan (vide Philosophy of Islam, p. 27) openly subscribed to the doctrine. Meretorious deeds in Islam include prayer, fasting, pilgrimage and purification generally. Brahmanism by which term I mean later Hindu-- ism is twofold ;(1) Puranicisen i. e., the worshipping of Puranic gods, and (2) Yajna-ism, the sacrificial cult. Puranic deities are a legion numerically, but the most important ones among them are Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Krisnna. It is believed that all kinds of boons can be obtained from the gods by their worship. The sacrificial cult, or Vajna-ism, as I have termed it, is the sacrificing of living beings to propitiate supernal powers in favour of the sacrificer, Human beings, too, it is certain, used to be sacrificed in the past on certain occa. sions, and the diabolical practice had survived in the form of the immolation of little children to the spirits of rivers, etc., which has only been put a stop to in recent times. The most widely-practised sacrifices were those of the ram, the bull and the he-goat, which seem to have been universally selected by all sorts of sacrifi. cial cults, In India gomedha and ashvamedha, that is, respectively, the cow and the horse sacrifice, were also practised in ancient times, but they have since been abandoned, and the former has now become even one of the chief causes of contention and quarrel between Hindus and Mahomedans. Mysticism, Yaga-ism, Shakti-ism and Occultism, are all terms which more or less convey the same idea,

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28 GENERAL SURVEY They all aim at the acquisition of certain vaguely-defined, vaguely-conceived powers by means of secret instruction. Rosicrucianism and Free-Masonry are two other such systems which claim familiarity with the secret Alchemy of Life. Many kinds of "Mysteries" are known to have been practised in the past in connection with the cults of different gods in different lands; their teachings were kept secret and only imparted to approved candidates at different stages of initiation. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali a great many nervous ganglia in the body are mentioned as points for concentration for the acquisition of psychic powers. The idea underlying all these diverse notions is that psychic powers are developed in the soul by means of certain practices, principally by the concentration of mind on certain nervous centres in the body, and the acquisition of these powers is the principal if not the sole aim and ambition of life. In modern times," RadhaSwami-ism (founded in the last century) has attracted some notice on account of a certain part of its teaching which is imparted in secret and which its followers are bound, probably under an oath of secrecy, to preserve. The founder is simply worshipped as a god, and even the succeeding gurus (preceptors) are held so high in esteem that certain products of their body are swallowed by their followers without demur. The teaching of Radha-Swami-ism resembles in most parts that of the Vaishnavite sect of Hindus, but Hindu ncarnations of deity are not recognised. A long list

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 29 of Mahomedan saints and half-saints, Shams-i-Tabrez, and others, set up as messengers of the new faith is a special feature of Radha-Swami-ism. This practically disposes of all important religions. Of the remaining ones, Shintoism, the religion of Japan, is a jumble of ancestor-worship, demonology, witchcraft and divination. Immortality of the soul was, however, clearly recognised in Japan, and many divine heroes and illustrious personages were believed to have been trans. lated to the "plain of High Heaven" (ERE. I. 457). Babism or Bahaism which is centred round the my. stic teaching about the last Imam of the Muslim church, who is said to be biding his time to appear at the end of the world is a recent offshoot of Islam, its founder claiming to be the missing Imam in person. Amongst the Indian creeds, Kabir Panth, Dadu Panth, Sikhism and Arya Samaj are some of the newer faiths, arising in response to some kind of a need felt by their respective founders in their time. For instance, Sikhism was originally intended to reconcile both * Hinduism and Islam, though ultimately bitterer bostili ty arose between Mabomedans and Sikhs than that * which bad originally prevailed between Hindus and Mahommedans. All these faiths are devotional in nature, and they all subscribe to the doctrine of transmigration. Of the remaining Indian religions, BrahmoSamaj is the wersternised Ishvara-vada (one-god cult)

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30 GENERAL SURVEY founded in the last century in Bengal, one of whose followers and missionaries, a man known by the name of Sheonarain Agnihotri, ultimately set himself up as the founder of an independent faith which he called Den.Samaj. The tenets of Deo-Samaj include belief in a soul that is liable to extinction unless developed to reach a higher life, which can be accomplished by uniting with one who has already reached it in his own person. The founder of Deo-Samaj, it is said, has reached the highest point that can be reached by any soul. He is, therefore, to be adored by his followers as the most reverend, most worshipful, most exalted Divine Teacher and Blessed Lord, Theosophy, the only other noteworthy creed amongst the newly-founded faiths, was founded by a Russian woman, named H. P. Blavatsky, whose mysterious feats, described by her as due to the agency of certain invi. sible mahatmas or Masters and as pure and simple deception by certain investigators (vide Farquhar's Mo. dern Religious Movements in India), attracted much potice about the close of the last century when it was established. There seems to have been at first much talk about these mysterious mahatmas who were said to be working miracles from behind the scenes, but its work is now that it is under different guidance confined to the piling up as in a florist's shop, of choice speci. mens from different nurseries and hot-houses and to the stringing together of some of them on a somewhat attenuated thread of unsubstantial Esotericism.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES To pass on now to a consideration of the Chinese religions, the oldest faith of that country is Taoism, which will be described in a later lecture. Another of the Chinese religions is Confucianism which was founded by Confucius a little over two thousand and five hundred years ago. But this is almost wholly a code of moral laws put together by a wise man and so unlike religion in its essential features that I shall not deal with it in these lectures. Confucianism might, no doubt, be possessed of an esoteric side, like certain other religions, but if that be so, it must be left to the better equipped future explorer for its unravelment and elucidation. Buddhism the third prevailing religion of China has already been described in today's lecture. 31 There remain the American cults to be dealt with; but from what is known to me of them they appear to be most unlike religion, and, except for a passing observation or two here and there in their tenets, appear to have consisted almost exclusively in the worst and the most blood-curdling of human sacrifices, without anything in the shape of a redeeming feature. If there ever was an esoteric side to these inhuman cults-and it is not impossible for them to have evolved round an evaporated symbolical nucleus imported from Asia or Europe-it was soon lost to view, and its place taken by the most revolting of sanguinary human sacrifices devoid of every vestige of religion. I shall leave them out of account in these lectures as purely barbarous ritual and savage demonology.

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32 GENERAL SURVEY Our survey of the principal religions of the world is now finished, and my only regret is that it is not as No account is taken complete as I should like to see it. here of the ancient religions that are now extinct, the religions of Babylonia, Assyria and Egypt which are expected to throw much light on the situation, The reason for this is that our knowledge of these ancient but extinct religions is so scanty and comes from sources so misleading and unreliable that it is much better to leave their elucidation to the future generation of better qualified researchers than to start on a course of error and misapprehension from the very outset. I shall, however, deal with some of these ancient cults in a subsequent lecture, so far as I can safely go. Of the minor schisms and cults and other speculative miscellany, e.g., New-Platonism, Pythagorianism. etc., etc., I shall purposely say nothing, since we already possess sufficient material to form a basis for scientific comparison in our subsequent lectures and since time I have does not permit our going into minute details, said nothing about Charvakism, because I propose to deal with it under the head of Materialism later. Our survey of the principal religions of the world being now complete, it only remains to ascertain their common features of resemblance as well as their striking differences and disharmonies. The following points will be found to be common to all religions

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CONFFUENCE OF OPPOSITES 33 (I) a hereafter and a future lise : (2) the existence of a soul as apart from the body, except in Buddhism where a nucleus of sanskaras (karmic forces) is posited as the basis of transmigration ; (3) the possibility of a better life in the future; (4) the freedom of human will to make or mar its future by following the right path or its antithesis ; and (5) the existence of some kind of divine life, manifesting itself in certain deified Beings, or gods, or in one monotheistic god. Their differences may also be summed up as falling under the following heads :(1) the nature, names and functions of divinity, and the number of Gods ; (2) the nature and origin of the world ; (3) the nature and prospects of the soul, includ. ing transmigration and resurrection, and (4) the means of obtaining the summum bonum including ahimsd and sacrifice of living animals and men, These points will be generally found to cover all the satures of resemblance as well as dissimilarity among

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GENERAL SURVEY the numerous creeds examined by us today, and to furnish a proper basis for the elucidation of the mystery surrounding the origination and differentiation of religion amongst men. As we have now reached a point which exhausts the subject-matter of this evening's lecture we shall stop here for today, beginning with the description and means of speedy acquisition of the power of intellectualism in the next lecture,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 35 SECOND LECTURE. METHOD OF COMPARISON. It was stated in the preceding lecture that the me. thod of comparison of different doctrines and beliefs: should be exclusively rational. It shall be our task to. day to define the method of comparison with greater definiteness and to lay down the means for arriving at accurate knowledge of things. The first thing to do is to get rid of the mental bias which in 99 cases out of every 100 is sure to be lurking behind the loudest protestations of impartiality, We are so constituted that there is an overwhelming sub-conscious predisposition in us in favour of the faith in which we are born that unconsciously forces the most critical of us to reject, and that on the fiimsiest of grounds, any and every hostile or seemingly hostile theory and fact. And even where extreme tolerance is the guiding characteristic of the enquiring mind, the burden of proof of every point contrary to the cherished notion is sure to be thrown on the opponent, and that only too often in defiance of reason and good sense. It does not require any great familiarity with canons of logic to predict that no really satisfactory results are to be achieved while this frame of mind predominates over the spirit of enquiry. It is certainly not the proper disposition or atti. tode for a really enquiring mind,--for a mind that is really anxious to discover the truth for itself. Belief ink

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METHOD OF COMPARISON the religion of birth depends merely on the incident of being born in a certain family and surroundings; but surely that is no criterion of truth. If instead of being born in religion X, I were born in religion Y, I should have had Y as my religion ; and Z, if born in 2! But because I thus believe in religion X and not in Y or Z is no test of the truth of X, for those born in Y and Z also regard them just as true as I regard X. Private beliefs do not, therefore, establish the truth of the mat. ter of belief. Even Scriptural text, as stated in the first lecture, is no test of truth, for why should one scripture be preferred to another? This does not mean that all Sacred Books are to be rejected by us en bloc, but that we should try to find out for ourselves which of them, if any, is the word of a qualified Teacher and worthy of being accepted and followed. How, then, is the truth to be known ? By means of rigid rationalism and scientific method ! Broadly put, the sources of knowledge are (i) observation, (ii) reflection or meditation, i. e., inference and (iii) testimony. Of these three, the first, namely, observation, is the foundation of science; the second, that is inference, is the basis of philosophy, and the third, i.e., testimony, when it proceeds from the most unimpeachable and fully qualified source, that is to say, the word of an Omnis. cient Teacher is scripture. In short, perfection of Observation is science ; perfection of Inference is Meta. physics ; and perfection of Testimony, Scripture.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES Science is the accurate knowledge of nature, tested by experiment, and capable of yielding immediate and certain results. It divides itself into two parts, physics and metaphysics, of which physics may be taken to be the department of knowledge dealing with concrete things and the other as concerned with their analysis, classification and generalisation, as well as with the systematization of all knowledge or thought itself. True metaphysics must, for this reason, always remain in touch with concrete nature. It has nothing in common with those ambitious flights of fancy which seek to break away from the terra firma of fact to enjoy a wild romp in cloudland. It will be noticed that where science and metaphysics do not agree on a point, the disagreement is generally due to the latter having somewhere lost sight of the concrete reality, The philosopher who would acquire fame as such should harness both " Fancy" and "Facts" to the chariot of his mind, curbing the tendency of the one to rush for the peak through loose impassable by-paths and cuts, and pulling up the other, whenever necessary, to prevent its lapsing into rumination at the roadside. As for the criterion of truth, it is generally safe to lay down that where science and metaphysics agree truth may be said to be established there ; but in the department of Religion there is an additional safeguard im. posed upon this agreement which consists in confirma-' tion by Scripture. For Scripture is the word of an Omniscient Teacher and cannot but be in agreement

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METHOD OF COMPARISON with truth. The notion that the word of God is beyond reason is itselt devoid of reason, for omniscience and reason are not contradictory terms. From this point of view, philosophy may be defined as the science in which (i) facts are taken from mature, (ii) conclusions are checked by logic, and (iii) final confirmation is sought for in scripture, i.e., the irrefutable word of an all-know ing Teacher. And, certainly, where the three agree, the case is put beyond doubt and dispute. Observation is the principal instrument of science which should be supplemented with experiment to get at the exact knowledge of causation of things, that is to say, of the great Law of Cause and Effect, Causes in nature are constituted by the properties and qualities of things, and effects are produced by physical processes and chemical action, e.g., the sweetness of the pudding is due to sugar, so, that whenever sugur is not put into the material of the pudding 10 sweetness is to be found in it. This is pure science, though in its most domesticated form; and it is thoroughly reliable, and the only thing that can be relied upon to produce immedi. ate, certain and unvarying results. The Chief instruments of philosophy or metaphysics are i

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 39 Inference, Classification (iii) Analysis . Logic and (iv) Nayavada (appreciation or system of stand points). Of these inference is the method of accurate deduction; classification, of accurate determination of general attributes; analysis, of accurate knowledge of ingredients and component parts of ideas and things, and nayavdda, of accurate appreciation of truth with reference to diverse standpoints. We shall deal with each of these subjects here, and shall also point out how logic can be easily mastered in less than three quarters of an hour by a school boy of ordinary intelligence. The first thing to understand is that in order to become an expert logician it is not at all necessary that the mind should be burdened with complex definitions and purplexing formulas to be found in modern text books on logic. Real logic is a very simple thing and requires no technical terminology to be learnt by rote. This is evident from the fact that many illiterate men are highly rational and logical; and even little children at times display a remarkable talent for accurate dednction. This should be impossible if logic depended upon the study of a highly complex and complicated system of technicalities, definitions and terminologies. The fact is that logic is simply the science of deduction with the aid of an invariable unalterable rule. If I ask you to tell me what day it will be tomorrow, you will immediately say, Tuesday, today being a Mon

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40 day; but you cannot tell me the number of keys in my bunch, nor the amount of money in my pocket, nor the metal of my watch, whether it be gold or silver or any thing else. The reason is that while there is a fixed unalterable order according to which a Monday is always followed by a Tuesday, there is and can be no fixed invariable rule, neither nature's nor man's, that I would always have so many and only so many keys in my ring, or only so many rupees and neither more nor less in my pocket, or that my watch should be made of one particu. lar metal and never of any other. If there were even one single exception in the case of a Tuesday following Monday, you could not say with certainty that it would be Tuesday tomorrow, for it might be the turn of the exception, in which case it would not be a Tuesday but some other day that would occur tomorrow. From these cases we can deduce the principle that wherever there is an invariable rule, without a single exception, there alone can a logical conclusion be drawn in agree. ment with that rule; and that no proper inference is possible in the absence, or in defiance, of such a fixed unalterable rule. This is the one simple rule of logic which every one understands more or less clearly, and a text book must be deemed to have failed to fulfil its function if it muddle up such a simple proposition. It is according to this rule that the illiterate rustic, and, for the matter of that, even a moderately small child who sees smoke issuing from a place, immediately infers the presence of fire there. Your cultured "text-book" METHOD OF COMPARISON

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 4E logician also does this, but in an unnatural, round about way. He will first of all construct a proposition in the from of a formula, Here Hence, we have S. is P. S. smoke. P.=fire. Smoke is fire. This is the first of the premises of a modern syllogism. The second is This is smoke. Our logician will now try to ascertain whether his middle (or common) term be distributed or not. But there is so much room here for error and bewilderment through technicalities and forms that he deserves to be congratulated if he can actually settle the point. We now have (1) All S. is P. (2) This is S. as our permises, which, put in popular language, should read: (1) In all cases smoke arises from fire, (2) This is a case of smoke. And now we are entitled to draw the conclusion, This smoke also arises from fire.

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METHOD OF COMPARISON All this bewilderment, confusion and entanglement is avoided by natural logic, which simply requires a fixed rule to proceed upon. The distribution of the middle term, I may point out here, is not in the nature of a special charm or magical formula designed to guarantee the validity of an Aristotelian deduction in some mysterious way. It is simply another way, and a highly involved one for that of stating the logical principle which is the true foundaof tion deduction. For a term is said to be distributed when it is used in its entire extent, that is universally in other words, when reference is made to all "indivi. duals" or cases falling within its definition. Modern logic itself has to recognise that "inference always implies an effort on the part of the mind to see how phenomena are necessarily connected according to some general principle and, in carrying out this purpose, the mind must begin with the knowledge which it already possesses. When the general law of connection is known, and the object is to discover the nature of some particular fact, the method of procedure is deduc. tive. But when the problem by which we are confront. ed is to read out of the facts of sense-perception the general law of their connection, the method of: in. ference which must be employed is that of induction" (quoted from S. N. Banerjee's Handbook of Deductive Logic, pp. 80 and 81). It is this necessary, generl connection, the true basis of valid deduction, which Western logic endeavours ww

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 43 to enunciate in the confusing and confounding "scholarly" terminology of text-books, No wonder that even college students find their brains in a muddle over it. It is also to be noted that modern logic does not guarantee the accuracy of the conclusion though natural logic does. I shall again quote from Mr. Banerjee's excellent little text book where he cites Dr. Ray. "In deductive or syllogistic reasoning we draw conclusions from given propositions as data. Given the premisses, we ivfer the conclusion that follows necessarily from them. We are not in any way concerned to prove our premisses; but our conclusion must be true, if the premisses be true. Hence it is evident that the truth we arrive at by deduction or syllogistic reasoning is entirely of a hypothetical character, depending for its trustworthiness entirely on the trustworthiness of the data." To illustrate the contrast between artificial and natural logic in this respect, it is perfectly correct according to the former to say : (1) All men are fools; (2) Socrates is a man; (3) . Secrates is a fool : But it is simply impossible for natural logic to commit such a blunder, since it only proceeds where there is a fixed rule, and since there is no such fixed rule that declares all men to be fools.

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-METHOD OF COMPARISON It should be noted that every rule of practice does not give rise to a logical inference, no matter how long so ever it might have been observed and how strictly so ever followed. For instance, if a particular person has been known for the last fifty years to pass my door every morning without a single exception we cannot inser from this fact that he will for a certainty pass by my house tomorrow also, for there are a thousand and one reasons which might prevent his doing so. This shows that the true logical rule, dermed viyapti in Sanskrit, is something in the nature of a law which has not only held good in the past but which must hold good also in the future. A mere rule of practice will not do bere. There are five kinds of logical relations with reference to which it is possible to have a fixed rule (vydpti) giving rise to logical inference. These are : (1) Cause and Effect, (2) Antecedence and Consequence, (3) Concomitance, (4) Whole and Part, and (5) Identity. These five kinds of relationships hips give rise to seven kinds of inferences, as follows :(1) From cause to effect, e. g. Moist fuel is burning in the kitchen ; There is smoke in the kitchen. (2) From effect to cause e. g., There is smoke here. ::

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 45 There is fire here. (3) From antecedent to conequent,e. g., Monday following Sunday. (4) From consequent to antecedent, e. g., Childhood preceding adolescence and old age. (5) From concomitance, e. g., Age and experience going together, (6) From the principle that the whole includes the part, e. g., There is no fruit tree is this place; There is no mango tree here. 6) Identity, e. g. There is no pitcher in this room ; Because there is nothing answering its description (identity) here. The last form of logical relationships might appear, at first sight, to be misplaced, as one is apt to regard the conclusion. There is no pitcher in this room. as a fact of perception rather than a logical infer. ence; but in that case we should have to assert that the eye can actually perceive negations, which would be ridiculous. This finishes the entire subject ; and I may add that there is no room for error in this method of infer. ence if the vyapti is carefully and scientifically tested, The final test of the accuracy of any particular vyapti is the Scripturad Text, which, being the word of an

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MATHOD OF COMPARISON Omniscient Teacher, holds good for all times, the past present and future. Hence, where one's own observation is supported by the experience of mankind in general and is also confirmed by the word of an Omniscient Teacher there is no room left for any manner of doubt there. This is the true function of Scripture which, as such, should be highly valuable as a Reference Book of Permanent Values. We might pause here for a while to compare the merit, of the different systems of logic which have been known to prevail among men. These are (i) The Jaina, (ii) The Naiyayika, (iii) The Buddhist, and (iv) The European or Aristotelian methods. Our treatment of the subject in this lecture represents the Jaina system. The nyaya system bases the validity of inference on a homogeneous example (snha. dharmi drishtanta). Smoke was seen in the kitchen "Where there was fire; smoke is also seen on the moun. tain-top; hence there is fire on the mountain top. There is no question of a scientifically valid vyapti ; the in. ference is not drawn by the force of a fixed unalterable rule, but simply from a homogeneous example. Even the safeguards against error laid down in the form of fallacies do not place the subject on a scientific basis. The fallacies are five in number, namely:

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 47 (1) The erratic, which implies that the reason is sometimes associated with the sadhya (that which is to be established) and sometimes with its opposite. (2) The contradictory which is the reason that is opposed to the conclusion, e.g., A pot is a manufactured article ; Because it is eternal. (3) The equal-to-the-question which repro duces itself, e.g., Sound is non-eternal; Because it is not possessed of the attri bute of eternity. (4) The unproved, which itself stands in need of proof, e.g., Shadow is a substance; Because it is endowed with motion. (5) The mistimed, i.e., that which is adduced when the time in which it might hold good is past, e.g., Sound is eternal ; Because it arises by union, like colour. Properly amplified, the argument here comes to this that sound is like colour because the one is manifested by contact between a drum and a drum-stick, and the other by the contact of the light of a lamp with a coloured article. Now, since colour is eternal because light is only needed to reveal and cannot be said to create it, so, too, sound must be eternal. It is this kind of reason which is

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48. METHOD OF COMPARISON termed mis-timed, the basing of a conclusion on an example which has a different time-value. This exhausts the list of Naiyayika fallacies, but it is evident that no such thing as an invariable logical relationship is established with their aid. The point of difference between the Jaina and the Naiyayika logic lies in the fact that while the latter draws an inference from a similar example in all cases except where an instance can be pointed out to the contrary, the fallacy of erratic reason-or has not the same time-value, the former will refuse to draw a conclusion except where the reason on which it is to be based is a true logical vyapti. The following illustration satisfies all the requirements of a Nyayika syllogism, but is nevertheless one on the accuracy of which no true logician will ever stake his reputation, Illustration, (1) The unborn child of Z. is a boy ; (2) Because he is the child of Z.; (3) Like all the orher children of Z, who are boys. Here the reason the quality of being a child of 2.-is a homogeneous instance, and neither erratic, nor otherwise open to objection, but as there is no logical connection between it and any particular sex, there is no guarantee that the next child in Mrs. Zi's womb will be a boy, too. The reason in this case has always been invariably attended by the sadhya (the fact to be proved) in each and every one of the homogeneous examples

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 49 on the strength of which the deduction is made. It is certainly not erratic, because no one can point to the quality of being a child of Z. residing in a girl; and it is not mistimed, because it actually resides in the child in the womb all along, including the very moment of deduction. It is sometimes said in defence of this element of weakness in Gotama's logic that possibly he only intended to throw the burden of disproving his statements and propositions on to his opponents, but even if it be so it is a highly dangerous thing to base a logical conclusion on such slippery foundations, leaving it to some one else, if he be willing and able, to correct our errors, The Buddhist logic, too, like the. Nyaya system, ignores the scientific vyapti, and does not hesitate to draw an inference from a homogeneous example, provided that the reason (1) is found in paksha, (2) and is present in sapaksha, (3) but is not to be met with in vipaksha. In the following syllogism: (a) There is fire on the yonder mountain top; (b) because there is smoke on it; (c) like the kitchen; (d) and unlike the lake; (e) so, therefore, there is fire on the yonder mountain top. the mountain top yonder is paksha (the abode of the sadhya, the fact to be proved, here fire); the already observed kitchen is sapaksha (sa-like+paksha, i, e.,

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50 .' METHOD OF COMPARISON a similar place known to have been the abode of fire .. on a previous occasion); and, the lake is vipaksha (vi=antitpaksha) which is known to contain neither fire nor smoke. But although these requirements are met in the instance of Zi's unborn child, there is no knowing that the little imp will not upset the Buddhist calculations in revenge for having bad bis sex brought into controvesry so early in its career. Western logic, too, fails to come up to the mark, for not only is its syllogism artificial and uunatural, as must be fully evident by this time, but also because it is not concerned in arriving at truth, It is more like a method of interpretation than a science of accurate deduction. No doubt, it is more exact than either the Naiyayika of Buddhist logic in its application, but its scope is almost wholly limited to determining and here we must. be fair to admit, with utmost precision-the contents of a given proposition or propositions, so as to ensure consistency of thought. According to Hamilton and Mansel, logic is merely the science of consistency and has no concern with the real relations of things. Mill and Bain certainly aspire to raise it to the dignity of a true science whose conclusions should conform to matters of fact, i. e., the real relations of things; but they leave it as cumbersome and unwieldy and artificial as ever. The practical value of modern logic as a science, judged from the fact that its inferential processes are never actually ressorted to by men--not even by lawyers, philosophers and logicians--in their daily life is nil. Its innumerable technicalities and definitions entail 2

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES. SI heavy burden on the memory, and its forms and formulas confound and confuse where they should illuminate and elucidate. It is the natural logic as described here today which can be taught to every one however stupid; and certainly it can be imparted to little boys and girls in the sixth and the seventh classes with the greatest ease. It is enlightening and assures consistency of thought, and thus sweetens life, while the modern method aspires for pedentry, is elucidative of nothing practical and ends with imparting the look of spectacled-learning to its devotee. Any one who has understood the subject, I am sure, will not differ from me when I say that the highest achievement of modern logic is the possession of a set of rigid formulas and diagrams for testing the formal validity of propositions, quite irrespective of the fact whether they embody actual truth or not, while the least gain from natural logic is the facquisition of a logical turn of mind that seeks to discover actual relations among things and the true principles of causation of events in nature. The highest gain from natural logic must, therefore, imply a complete mastery over the empire of nature for the highest conceivable form of human good. It will be a great day for mankind when natural logic is freely taught to school boys and girls, and I trust it will even be introduced in some simplified form in primary : schools. This finishes the department of logic, which, I am sure, has not taken us more than ihree quarters of an hour to assimilate.

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52 METHOD OF CONPARISON I must now say a word about classification which means the sorting or arranging of things into classes or sets according to their characteristics. A characteristic (lakshana) may be an inalienable property of a thing, e. g, heat, which cannot be separated from fire, or a temporary one, e. g., beard, of man. The true characteristic is one that is actually to be found in common in every member of the class, but in nothing else outside it. The next ally of a metaphysician is analysis which gives us the knowledge of the ingredients, material or parts of which a body or thing may be composed; and the last is nayavada that requires, on account of its great importance, to be dealt with at some length. It is safe to say of nayavada that all the misunderstandings and trouble that have ever arisen among men with respect to religion and metaphysics are simply due to their ignoravce of its fundamental principles. Literally, nayavada means a system of standpoints; in metaphysics, it is the keeping in mind, at the time of raising a subsequent mental superstructure thereon, of the particular side or aspect from which any specific statement is made or a specific conclusion reached. This is necessary to prevent the metaphysical superstructure from becoming top-beavy. For instance, we observe all things of matter changing and shifting and perishing in nature, but this is so only in respect of the forms in which matter appears, not in respect of matter itself, which is eternal. Suppose we generalised upon the impermanence of things and left out of account the underlying continuity of matter

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53 as matter, to better emphasize the transiency of its forms, and then set out to build up a system of metaphy. sics upon this one sided emphasis; we should have something like the school of thought known as kshanikvada, which maintains that there is nothing permanent in nature, so that things must constantly arise out of and vanish into pure nothing. Here the confusion has obviously arisen from the ignoring of the fact that the impermanence of things is confined to their forms, and does not extend to their material or substance, This one instance suffices to demonstrate the principle of nayavada and to warn us against all such one-sided absolutisms. There are many sides of looking at a thing, and so there are many standpoints. The more important of these may be classified as follows: CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES STANDPOINT 1 Real or Scientific (nischaya), e g., calling a pitcher of clay containing water, a pitcher of clay. Dravyarthika (having reference to substance and pure natural properties of things). I Popular or vulgar (vyavahara), e.g., calling the pitcher of clay a pitcher of water, because of its containing water. Paryayarthika (having reference to forms and modifications of things). This is sufficient to give you an idea of nayavada, which is very essential for true metaphysics. I shall now revert for a moment to the true function of Scripture which has already been touched upon to

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34 METHOD OF COMPARISON some extent in todays! lecture. This is not the place to plunge into the highly controversial subject of what revelation implies and what is its true source, for we shall have better opportunities for that purpose later on; here it is sufficient to state that the true function of scripture is to instruct mankind in the proper way, so that they may obtain the highest good by conforming to truth, To this extent any Scripture is valuable, provided that it proceeds from a properly qualified source. As already stated to day, the word of an Omniscient Teacher, who directly perceives the past, the present and the future and who knows all things and their relations, is the true criterion and final test of the validity of a logical relationship (vyapti), so that what is not in agreement with the Scripture of Truth must necessarily be the cause of error and undoing and dowvfall. : This exhausts the subject of this evening's discourse and we shall therefore stop here too.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 55 THIRD LECTURE. SCIENCE. (A) The subject of this evening's lecture is the Religion of Science. The expression Religion of Science is a somewhat misleading one since what is understood nowadays by the term science is a body of materialistic doctrines that subscribe to no religious belief. What is meant here is Religion as a science rather than a set of doctrines or tenets of any particular body or class of men. The term science is the opposite of nescience, and implies accurate kuowledge of existing substances and their properties together with that of the true principle of causation of things,--a knowledge that is free from error, doubt and ignorance and that may be tested by experiment. Exact knowledge is what is signified by the term, and, apart from reliable testimony, exact knowledge is obtained only after observation and experiment by finite man. The first axiom of science is the constancy of nature. This means that substances and their attributes are eternal and unvarying ; they never cease to be and are never produced from nothing. This is proved by the experience of men, both in the present and the

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SCIENCE past; and the experience that proves this is not that: of any particular man or woman, nor of any particular class or body of men, but of the whole of the human race without a single exception. For whatever people may think or hold about the origin of the world and the theory of creation, not one man can be found who claims to know, from direct personal observation, that things can arise from or vanish into nothing The Law of Constancy of nature means that substance is eternal so that whatever really and truly exists can never be destroyed. When a thing seems to have disappeared, it has merely changed its form, but has not been altogether wiped out of existence, 6.8., a piece of sugar that has melted in water or milk has merely changed its form, having passed from the solid into a liquid state. Similarly, a shower of rain is simply the moisture of the atmosphere cast down in the form of drops of water; it certainly is not produced from nothing by a god working from behind the clouds. Water evaporates by boiling, and vapour becomes liquid again by passing through colder temperature. As Haeckel points out, nowhere in nature do we find an example of the production, or 'creation', of new mattor ; nowhere does a particle of existing matter pass entirely away. "This empirical truth is now the unquestionable foundation of chemistry; it may be directly verified at any moment by means of the balance" (The Riddle of the Universe).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 57 The Law of persistence of substance implies that properties and attributes of substances are also constant though liable to modification in different combinations and groupings, e. 8, colour, smell and the like which are the attributes of matter have always been the attributes of matter and will always remain so. As a matter of fact, substance and attribute are the two sides or aspects of the same thing, for there can be no substance apart from its attributes. This is tantamount to saying that attributes only inhere in substances and substances are but bundles of attributes, e.g., gold is only the sum-total of all its properties, yellowness, heaviness, materiality etc., etc., and cannot be thought of as anything apart from these attributes. Substance is characterised by the triple function of origination, destruction and continuance at one and the same time. When a bar of gold is melted in the crucible, there is destruction of bar-ness, origination of the liquid state and continuance of gold as gold throughout, This is the triple function of substance. Nor may we hold that the destruction of bar-ness is not simula taneous with the origination of the molten state, because there is no intermediate state between them, so that the assumption of the liquid state is the very form of the destruction of the bar-ness of gold. If you allowed an interval of time between the two states or conditions of the piece of gold, you would be compelled to hold that the destruction of bar.ness left it without any form whatsoever in the first instance,

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58 SCIENCE and that it subsequenlty became transformed into a liquid state from absolute formlessness. But this is absurd, because things cannot be conceived as existing without some kind of form. The world is resolvable into two kinds of substances in the main, the living and the nonliving. The former of these signifies that which is characterised by life or consciousness and the latter, what is not so characterised, e. g., matter. They are technically termed Jiva (living) and njiva (a=not + Jiva, thus the non-living) respectively. We may also call them Spirit and non-spirit. Modern science denies the existence of spirit (Jiva substance), and attributes consciousness to matter. But scientists are hard put to it to account for the origin of life, and invent fanciful theories to explain its first appearance ou the earth, some holding that its germ or seed fell on our globe from some other planet in the first instance, others that it arose spontaneously, and so forth. We shall first of all examine the theory according to which there is a primitive nucless of sensitivity bound up in each atom of matter. This elementary consciousness, it is premised, in the course of evolution developed into the keen, refined and complex intellectualism of a Kant, a Schopenhauer or a Tyndall, and may develop still further. Upon this supposition the higher forms of consciousness would arise by the intensification of the original nucleus, But this is pure guess-work ; and it rests upon two

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES - 59 kinds of facts of observation and one kind of mis. conceplion of theological origin. The facts are (1) that matter is known to affect the manifestations of consciousness, and (2) that all beings are not endowed with the same kind of mental powers ; and the misconception is that there can be no soul unless it remains in one and the same conditiou under all circumstances. I have nothing to say agaiust the facts; they are well attested and cannot be gaivsaid. As a matter of fact we shall see that Religion proper has not failed to give them the fullest consideration they are entitled to. The misconception is evident from the following lucid expression of Haeckel's views in his world-famous "Riddle of the Universe" ;"These and other familiar facts prove that man's cong-i ciousness--and that of the nearest mammals-ie changeable [Haeckel's own italics), and that its activity is always open to modificatiou from inuer (alimentation, circulation, etc.) and outer causes (lesion of the brain, stimulation, etc.,)........The ontogenesis of consciousness makes it perfectly clear that it is not an immateial entity but a physiological function of the brain, and that it is, consequently, no exception to the general law of substanse." As a matter of fact, Religion proper never regarded the soul to be an 'immaterial entity' in the Haeckelian sense of the expression, nor ever maintained that it could not be affected by matter. Wbat the European

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60 SCIENCE scientists had to contend with, however, was not the true view of Religion, but a highly misleading theological fallacy of mystic origin which regarded the soul as absolutely immaterial and unchanging, For this reason we do not take the scientist's denial of the soul to be absolute, as he has never had a chance of considering the true view. According to Religion, spirit and matter are both substances which have a number of properties but not consciousness in common between them. Consciousness is the exclusive property of spirit or soul-substance, which, consequently, is not an 'immaterial' entity, in all respects, but only in so far as it is not material, that is to say, not made of matter, Both spirit and matter are capable of affecting each other under certain condi tions, e. g., the curing of disease by purely mental suggestion, the augmentation and diminution of the degree of consciousness by certain drugs and medicaments, and the like. The effect of the union or fusion of spirit and matter is the curtailment of the faculties and functions of the former, so that nirvana actually implies nothing more or less than the complete emancipation of the soul from the pernicious companionship of matter. Under the influence of matter when it is of the very worst type, the soul's consciousness is reduced almost to what may be termed the zero point, and it is then capable of only responding to barest sensations of touch.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES . 61 In the above description of the soul which is taken from the Jaina siddhanta, it is clearly recognised that consciousness is liable to be affected by matter. The issue which now arises between Religion and science, therefore, is not whether there is an unchanging immaterial entity, in the human or animal organism, but whether consciousness is a function of atomic matter or of a distinct kind of substance which has an affinity for or with matter but which, in its real nature, is not matter? Now, if sensation be regarded as the fundamental property of an atom of matter, the higher consciousness of man and the manifestation of such supernormal faculties as clairvoyance and the like must be due to an intensification or augmentation of that primitive nucleus, But we have not a case of simple augmentation or intensi. fication before us ; the difference between the bighest and the lowest forms of consciousness is not merely to be represented in terins of quantity ; it is qualitative most strikingly. For the most pronounced materialists have not associated atomic sensitivity with either smellor sight or heating, and the wildest conjecture fails to guess how these faculties, could arise, by mere augmentation or intensification, out of the barest susceptibility to-tactile sensations which is all that this supposed atomic consciousness is capable of. The chasm between pure sensitiveness to touch and such higher functions of life as judgment and will is too great to be bridged over by pure jugglery with deceptive phrases and terms, and

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62 SCIENCE demands a satisfactory explanation from those who would explain these phenomena by a simple exaggeration or magnifying of the primal nucleus. There is not an iota of evidence to support the proposition that a bare sensation of touch can be transformed into clairvoyant perception or logical inference, and you certainly cannot expect to have the highly cultured mind of Kant or a Schopenhauer by multiplying a simple sensation of touch a thousand, a million or even a hundred thousand millions of times by itself. Besides this, what is bound up in an atom must be altogether inalienable from it, because an atom is indestructible and therefore devoid of separable parts and qualities. The intensification of an inner psychic state of an entity like our supposed atomic soul is altogether out of the qustion, since no such soul is possessed of any alienable attributes which it might gift away or lend to a brother or sister in need. Nor can you lend any of your psychic properties to any of your needy brethren, for will, memory, judgment and sight are not transferable like worldly goods. We thus see that the supposition of an atomic senis tivity as the primal nucleus which becomes, by gradual intensification, the highly varsatile soul of a Christ or a Kant is utterly inadequate to explain the fact and phenomena of consciousness and must be rejected. But materialism has yet another thesis to advance to account for consciousness. We are now told by another set of materialists that consciousness is the

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 63 product of the brain. In summing up his case against the view that consciousness is the function of the soul, Ernst Haeckel of the University of Jena writes: "From the fact that consciusness, like all other paychio functions, is dependent on the normal development of certain organs, and that it gradually gofolds in the child in proportion to the development of those organs, we may already conclude that it has arisen in the animal kingdom by a gradual historical development." But this is a pure conjecture, and not a logical inference grounded on any well-founded vyapti, without which, as you are already aware, no true deduction can be made. Haeckel is himself instinctively forced to realize the weakness of his position, for he immediately adds:"Still howevor certain we are of the fact of this natural evolution of consciousness, we are, unfortunately, not yet in a position to enter more deeply into the question and construct special hypotheses iu elucidation of it." Strange theorising, indeed; the "fact" has not yet been elucidated by special hypotheses and still we are certain of it I Consciousness is produced by the brain, we are told, but whence did the brain acquire it itself? Did: it grow out of a supposed primal nucleus embedded in atoms of matter, from a crude primitive atomic soul which has already been seen to be an indefensible position ? Haeckel himself is opposed to the notion of an atomicsoul, as he distinctly says in Chap. X of the "Riddle." Where. olse could it come from, then? You cannot have blood

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SCIENCE out of stones; neither can you have sensation, feeling, memory, judgment or will out of dead unconscious atoms. The argument put in the mouth of Bishop Butler in the famous Belfast address, which the late Prof. Tyndall declared to be unanswerable, has in 110 way been refuted since, "Take your dead hydrogen atoms, your dead oxygen atoms, your dead carbon atoms, your dead nitrogen atoms, your dead phosphorous atoms, and all the other atoms dead as grains of shot, of which the brain is formed. Imagine them separate and sensationless, observe them running together and forming all imaginable combinationg. This as a purely mechanical process, is seeable by the mind. Bat can you see or dream, or in any way imagine, how out of that mechanical act and from tbese individually dead atoms, sensation, thought and emotion are to rise? Are you likely to extract Homer ont of the rattling of dice, or Differential Calculas out of the clash of billiard-balls?......... You cannot satiefy the human understanding in its demand for logical continuity between molecular proceeses and the phenomena of consciousness." Tyndall himself tried to evade the difficulty by enlarging the definition of matter to include Life and Consciousness. He said :- . * If we look at matter as pictured by Democritus, and as defined for generations in our scientific text books, the notion of conscious life coming out of it cannot be formed by the mind. The argument placed in the mouth of Bishop Batler suffices, in my opinion,

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65 to crush all such materialism as this. Those, however, who framed these definitions of matter were but partial students. They were biologists;......their science not was mechanical science, not the science of life...............Let us reverently, look the question in the face. Divorced from matter, where is life? Whatever our faith may say, our knowledge shows them to be indissolubly joined. Every meal we eat and every cup we drink, illustrates the mysterious control of the mind by matter." CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES Unfortunately Tyndall only knew of the current contemporary misconceptions about the soul; he did not know that no unredeemed soul was free from the companionship of matter or immune from its influence, and that Redeemed souls were altogether out-side the reach of modern science, having entered nirvana of which it had no notion whatsoever. Therefore, it never occurred to Tyndall or any one else of the scientific fraternity in Europe before or after him that the association of the mind and matter was not, in any sense. an argument, much less a conclusive argument, against the existence of the soul. For the dependence of consciousness on the development of the brain might be explained not only on the supposition that it is secreted or otherwise produced by the brain, but in other ways besides. The brain may have not necessarily a productive function with respect to consciousness, but of a different kind, eg, a transmissive one, as Prof. William James, the famous psychologist, points out. These different pos5

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66 SCIENCE sibilities have never been considered by modern science and cannot be said to have been excluded from the field of discussion. Thus when certain admirers of modern science think that that science has demonstrated the soul to be an illusion pure and simple, they delude themselves with imaginary conclusions that have never even been in issue in reality. The fact is that modern in. vestigators have never applied themselves to ascertain the attributes of spirit and matter, and are, consequently, unable to distinguish the one from the other. A study of the principal characteristics of consciousness will convince any one that it cannot possibly be a function of the brain, howsoever closely it may be associated with it. For as we shall see presently consciousness is (1) Ludividualistic, (2) Psychic, and (3) Immortal, while the brain is (i) composite, (ii) non-psychic, and (iil) perishing. Haeckel and his colleagues seem to treat conscionsness as if it only meant the highly illuminated discrimina. tive faculty of man and of certain higher aminals but as not including the lower manifestations of sensitive impressionabili'y, e. &, the feeling of pian which is common to all living beings, or of shock to which even plants and trees are subject, as the recent researches of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 67 the great Indian savant, Prof Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose have recently demonstrated with the utmost sciens tific precision. The following emphatic statement from Haeckels' Riddle of the Universe is expressive of the materialistic view on the subject:"As every body knows, the new born infant has no conscious ness. Preyer has shown that it is only developed after the child has begun to speak; for a long time it speaks of itself in the third person. In the important moment wheu it first pronounces the word 'l', when the feeling of self becomes clear, we have the beginning of self consciousness, and of the antithesis to the non-ego." I have italicised the crucial points in this passage, The statement is simply astounding, especially as it comes from a person accustomed to very exact and sober thinking. If the new born infant has no consciousness who feels the pain that finds its expression in the cry that accompanies child-birti? If consciousness is only develuped after the child has begun to speak, how account for the likes and dislikes of the infant before it has acquired the power of speech? The position becomes perfectly. ludicrous when it is sought to strengthen the conclusion by the fact that for a long time the infant speaks of itself in the third person. Does it mean that the child feels its affections also in the third person, as if a pure spectator to some one else's conditions ? Let us not deceive ourselves by such seeming truths and half-truths. Intellectualism, ratiocination, intelligent speech all come from the same source as the

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68 SCIENCE capacity to feel one's affections and impressions. Intelligence and sensation or feeling are the two phases or functions of the same entity, of the power that makes one aware of the conditions of one's being, that is to say of the power of self awareness. Sensation and feeling are as much states of consciousnesses as intellectual conceptions and verbal ideas that pass by the name of knowledge. There are not two different kinds of sensitivenesses or consciousnesses in nature. Intelligence is one, whether it be manifested through instinct or intellect; and sensitiveness is present all along and is never altogether estinct or destroyed though its manifestation be reduced to the barest susceptibility to tactile sensations alone for the time being. There are certain conditions that are necessary for the manifestation of instinct and intelligence, some sort of an instrument of control or self-control is needed to rise above a purely automatic existence. Here you have your brain which is imposed, like a loop, over the sensory and motor systems to enable the ego to attend to the incoming sensory stimulus from without and to regulate or control the motor movements of the organism in response. But it is a fallacy to imagine that sensitiveness originated with the brain, For automatic response in brainless creatures does not negative the existence of consciousness; it is accompanied by sensation and feeling. Sensation and feeling are not purely physical in their nature; their type is psychic, though they may not be presided over by deliberative

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 1 69 intelligence. It cannot be urged, I think, that the excitation always suffices, in or by itself, to produce a movement in the motor reflexes. Such a supposition would reduce the whole thing to pure mechanical activity where consciousness would have absolutely no function to serve. It is, moreover, to be doubted if there is any proportion between the excitation of a sensory filament, or nerve, and the ensuing movement of the organism or limb, e. &, a pin.prick may cause a mammoth to move its collosal foot, and a mosquito bite, a sleeping giant to turn over in his bed ! What seems actually to happen in such cases is this that the sensory excitement has no more function to perform after it has given rise to a sensation, and that the resulting reaction of the experiencing consciousness is the source of the bodily movement which is performed through automatic reflexes where the deliberative faculty is lacking, and through selected appropriate channels in the converse case. May it not, then, be that psychic automatism represents a faculty' asleep rather than the crude beginning of a function that is to grow and develop through a long, tortuous and protracted course of evolution ? May it not also be that the development of the brain is in. tended to meet a demand from an ego already advanced in self-control rather than as a distillery or factory for the manufacturing of the ego itself ? It is significant that the highest function of the mind, namely, selection, discrimination or judgment is performed only by such of the living beings as are able to arrest their psychic

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70 SCIENCE automatism, that is to say, to arrest the ceaseless flow of action to cbtain a pause for deliberation. Hence, the brain is needed only by such beings as happen to possess some degree of control over the motor springs of their actions-desires. As is well known, there are many highly intellectual men and women who are simply unable to exercise their discrimination in certain circumstances, especially when faced with some over-powering temptation. They invariably then do things of which they repent in their calmer moments. It seems to me that there is a clear conflict here between the faculty of judgment and emotion, the latter overruling the former for the time being. It would be difficult to conceive how this could happen if discrimination were a function of the brain and the brain were actually functioning at the time when it was overruled by emotion and continued to forge the ego thereafter. Everything becomes lucid, on the other hand, by the simple acknowledgment of a pre-existing ego that brings with it all its pre-natal tendencies evolved out elsewhere in earlier surroundings, such tendencies constituting the demand in response to which its future organism is to be made. The brain would then be an instrument of discrimination made to meet the demand of an individual already advanced in self-control, and its functioning would depend both on its own conditions and on the emotional states of the ego. The inability of the newly-born infant to define his own being clearly to himself or to any one else, in an intel

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 71 lectual way, would thus be due to the difficulties involved in handling a new and extremely delicate tool, while the failure of the intellectual wrong-doer to utilise the ser. vices of lvis brain simply result from his inability to control his desires. But we must now define the ego in more defiuite terms. The first thing noticeable about our consciousness is that it is individualistic. This is tantamount to saying that every one is aware of himself as himself and as 110 body else, however much the fiefinition of what he knows as himself may vary from time to time, from different causes. Simi. larly, nobody ever knows himself as more than one or a multitude of personages. There may be a conflict between our emotions and desires on one side and judgment and far-sightedness on the other ; but one never feels orieself as a corporation or board consisting of many individualities, with the decision of matters resting on a preponderance of votes. Reflection shows that our sense of awareness which we term conscious. -ness is an inner, subjective, psychic state that is best described by the term feeling of awareness, so that my knowlege of a thing is my feeling of awareness of its existence or presence. As such my consciousness of an object implies the simultaneous awareness of my own being as well as that of the object of my knowledge. This will be clear to any one who has understood knowledge to consist in a sense or feeling of awareness, for one can only feel one's own being and the states or

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72 SCIENCE conditions of that being as modified by the influence of another being or thing. It will be monstrous to suppose that I can feel another's being but not my own! As a matter of fact my knowledge of another de. pends on my capacity to feel the states of my own being. Hence it is wrong to say that in knowing an object the ego only knows the object but not itself. The fact is that only that which has a concrete existence can be felt by the soul, and as the states of consciousness, that Is to say of the soul-substance, have no existence apart from the soul-substance itself, they can only be felt simultaneously and along with the soul's own being, This is even so with reference to the feeling of pleasure or pain with which all of us are familiar. When I say I am feeling pain' or 'I feel pleasure,' I do not mean that pleasure and pain are concrete things outside me which I have alighted upon in some mysterious way. What I do mean is that I am aware of a state or modification of my owo being which is painful in one case and pleasant in the other. Pleasure and pain are thus only states of my consciousness, that is to say, of that general feeling of awareness which I have of my own being. The newly born infant that cries out on coming into the world, undoubtedly, also feels pain as a state of his own conciousness, though he is unable to form a clear picture of bis little personality in his mind for want of Intellectual lucidity at the time. Notwithstanding what modern wisdom may urge to the contrary, the fact is that a feeling of pleasure or pain cannot be experienced

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73 except in the first person. If one could accomplish the fact of experiencing pleasure and pain in the third person, it would be a miracle; for what one witnessed in another could only be a spectacle, never an affection or experience. Preyers' infant, too, if Preyer ever observed him under the influence of hunger before he learnt to talk, could not but have felt hungry in the first person singular, and in the first person singular also must have been experienced by him the satisfaction that followed the nourishment on such occasions. We thus conclude that the first characteristic of consciousness is individuality which is inseparable from it even in its lowest form, the barest susceptibility to sensations of touch. It is, no doubt, possible for us to conceive this low form of consciousness in association with an atom of matter, but a majority of leading materialists themselves are opposed to this view, and it is altogether untenable for the reasons that have been already given as well as for those that will be given later on. But if not the property of an atom of matter, consciousness cannot be a function of the brain also, for the individualistic attribute of conscious life is altogether inconceivable as the product of a human or animal brain, which is itself devoid of indivisibility, hence individuality. For the brain is composed of atomic matter and can have nought but a corporational' personality,-a board of consciousnesses presiding over the affairs that might be placed before them. I grant that one's ideas about oneself may change from time to time from different CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES /

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74 SCIENCE causes, disease, hynotic suggestion and the like ; but that is not the same thing as making out consciousness to be like a board of councillors, * at a county council meeting. If a composite substance like the brain can produce individuality at any time, it must be the individuality of an atom of its material, for nothing else in the brain has a claim to individuality; but we have already agreed to reject the hypothesis of an atomic soul. The notion of a County-Council' chamber of consciousness is further negatived by the fact of logical inference which becomes possible only where the conclusion is to be drawn by the same unit of consciousness as is in possession of the premises from which it is to be drawn, not otherwise. For if one councillor of The individuality of the soul is not affected by the fact that there are to be found more living beings than one in certain organisms. As Jainism points out, there are two kinds of organisms, namely, firstly, those that are inhabited by one soul each, and, secondly, those that resemble a colony of souls. The characteristic of the latter is that they generally have a common mouth or share certain other organs of their bodies in common, but are otherwise separate and distinct from each other. They certainly do not combine to form one soul by intensification or any other process or method ; and the destruction of one or more of them does not necessarily mean the destruction of them all. They are like the Hungarian twins one of whom died without in any way affecting the individuality of the other, although the latter must have suffered grievously, in mind and body both, from the demise of one so closely affiliated to her as to share her lower limbs.

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75 CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES our County-Council be only aware of one premise and another of the other premise, then neither of them nor any one else can draw any inference whatsoever from the given premises. Similarly, if one part of the brain be possessed of one premise and another part of the other premise, it will be impossible for a conclusion to be drawn from them. But since the ego is capable of drawing a logical conclusion, it follows that it is not the same thing as the brain, but a different kind of thing, that is to say, not a compound or composite substance or thing, but a simple, indivisible, that is, partless individuality. sensa With respect to memory also, we can see that it cannot be a function of a hanging, perishable thing like the brain; for the brain that experiences a tion today will not be the same that will recollect it or its experience fifty years hence. Recollection would thus be a miracle, if the brain be the recollector of events; it would be tantamount to our recollecting the experiences of a being that existed 50 years back, in other words, to recollect having been some else, which, as Maher S. J., a great Roman Catholic thinker points out, is an absurdity pure and simple (see Maher's Psychology). It is thus evident that memory cannot be the function of that which is generated afresh every moment, like a stream, which consciousness must be if it is to be regardedas a function or secretion of the brain. In order that the events of one

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SCIENCE a life-time may be remembered by an individual, his recollecting faculty must bave subsisted uninterruptedly throughout. One who comes into existence, for the first time, at a particular moment of time, only to be gathered to bis forefathers in the very next instant, cannot, by any possibility, know what its predecessors knew, or feel as they did in certain associations. A substratum of individuality which continues in time, i, e., a something which endures, is necessary for the purpose ; and 110 amount of "learned talk" can explain the facts of consciousness, that is, feeling, memory and willing if we posit a consciousnes that is generated afresh, every moment, from the physical matter of the brain in place of the true individual, namely the atman or soul. The next characteristic of consciousness is its psychic nature as distinguished from the physical nature of matter and material things. There is an inside to consciousness which may become the repository of even infi. pite knowledge, enthusiasm, goodness, will, etc., etc.; but the atom of matter has no inside to expand. Evolution in reference to matter means the improvement or modification of bodies through continuous readjustment of molecular groupings. Evolution in respect to mind means the enrichment of consciousness by internal lucidity and expansion of thought. Conscious. ness is a world in itself which can be peopled by an infinity of ideas, impressions and concepts; but matter bas no interior to its atom to accommodate even a

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 77 thought. Intellectual lucidity is obtained not by the intensification or magnifying of a supposed primal tactile nucleus, but by the removal of dullness, cloudiness and mental fog. This is so most certainly with respect to what is known as avadhi jnana which means roshan zimiri (s), i. e., the clairvoyance of saints that is acquired by severe asceticism, fasting and self-denial. Clearly here we have a case of recovering a buried Pompeii out of dried lava, and not of building and peopling a new city by some mathematical jugglery of imagination out of a single sensory brick! The truth is that every individual, soul, or ego is endowed with potential omniscience and may recover it by discovering himself. This might appear astounding at first sight but will be readily assented to on mature reflection. For knowledge is not a thing that can be said to have a concrete existence outside the being of a conscious entity or ego, consisting, as it does, in nothing other than states of the ego itself, that are usually described as states of consciousness. There are things outside ourselves, not knowledge; and our sense of awareness of things is called their knowledge. With respect to such things as the notion of Time, Space, infinity, causality and the like, Kant has shown them to be given a priori to the knowing consciousness, that is to say as not being derived from perception in any way and there is not one materialist known to me to-day who claims to differ from this great German philosopher in this regard. If our consciousness has evolved

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78. i SCIENCE out of a primitive form of sensitivity, this a priori knowledge must have been there within that priinitive nucleus. But how can you think of these a priori concep. tions, in connection with or as coming out of the crude nucleus of sensitivity supposed to be residing in an atom of matter? Why were they not functioning in the primitive form of sensitiviry? Did they, too, exist then in some primary form ? But Kant absolutely declines to listen to this argument, because these no. tions are not the outcome of experience. Causality, certainly, is not such a concept as may be said to have been developed by evolution, nor could a notion like that of the infinity of space be conceived as growing along with the development of the brain. The human mind fails to picture a primitive form of these conceptions from which they could have developed or grown by evolution. They are inherent in the mind whence they arise with lucidity of thought. Inalienable assets of consciousness, they must bave sluinbered in the bosom of consciousness when the intellect lay wrapped up in the lowest form of sensitivity. Thus do all ideas knowledge itsell-lie dormant in the ego. We have said that every ego is potentially omni scient hy. nature. This is easily proved. The soul being not an "immaterial entity," but a kind of substance, the natural properties of the soul-substance must be the same wherever it may be found, This is tantamount to saying that all souls are alike in respect of their attributes, however much they may

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 79 differ from one another in respect of their actual mani. festation. As the attributes of pure gold are the same whether you come across it in India or China or England, so are the natural attributes of the soulsubstance the same ; and as the differences in the qualis ties of gold are due to the presence of alloy in different proportions, so are the differences among souls due to the admixture of some foreign substance in varying proportion. Itfollows from this that what one soul knows all others can know also, a sound principle of practical utility which is the very foundation of our educational institutions. For if there were fixed limits of knowledge for different souls, it would be simply waste of time to raise schools and colleges in every city and suburb. Now, since what is known to one individual is capable of being known by everybody else, it follows that everyone has an inherent capacity within him to know all that every one else knew in the past, all that everyone knows in the present, and also all that every one shall ever know in the future. In other words, every soul is potentially omniscient, though the actual knowledge it may possess at any particular time of its career may, owing to the presence and in. fluence of a knowledge-and lucidity.obstructing agent. in the form of a foreign material or alloy, be so poor as will not entiile any one to boast of. With reference to the quality of omniscience, it is also to be borne in mind that the fullest degree of know

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80 SCIENCE ledge is what is implied by the term. According to some writers there are certain limits on human knowledge which are imposed by a thing or things termed, in a spirit of more or less subdued awe, 'the unknown.' But this is merely begging the question. Actually there can be no such thing as the unknown in the empire of nature. For we have a right to ask whether in talking of an unknown, you be talking of things which you know of or not. Now, if you reply that you know that there is an unknown thing existing which will never be known to any one, then, my dear sir, your own admission that you know that such a thing existsfalsifies your proposition; but if you say that you do not, then you should take my advice and say no more about it, because then you will be babbling like babes of things which you know nothing about and which you have absolutely no reason to suppose exist! You may now seek shelter behind the plea that your unknowable is a paragon of virtues some of which will ever remain impervious to the obtruding gaze of an explorer. But here again you are merely repeating your early error. Have you any reason to suppose the existence of those attributes that can never be known by any one, or are you only talking for talking's sake? In the one case you already know the thing, since you have inferential or reasonable knowledge of it, like that of ether and space, but in the other you have no right to be in the arena of metaphysics and should retire from it at once, The argument that if living

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 81 beings come to an end before the completion of scientific enquiry, things must ever remain unknown is beside the point for that would not make them unknowable. That term, it will be seen, is not a synonymn for what is termed unknown, but possesses the additional attribute of never being known to any one, althougli capable enquiring minds exist and become engaged in the exploration of nature and the investigation of truth. Hence, if radium, wireless telegraphy, gramophone and other such discoveries and inventions of the nineteenth century A. D. had remained for ever unknown because of the total destruction of knowing beings at the end of the eighteenth century, it wonld only have been a case of knownble things remaining unknown, but not of any of the unknowable sort! The fact is that without strict proof nothing can be taken to be a fact of existence, so that what can never be kuown by any one at any time will never be proved to have an existence. The unknownble, whether you spell it with a capital nor a small one, is thus a mere bug.bear invented by a slovenly metaphysics with which to frighten immature untrained novices. On the side of concrete nature, also, it is obvious that things affect one another and are known through their effects on others even when not perceivable by the senses, e. g., ether which is invisible but is known through its properties. Hence, to say that a thing can never he known is to say that it never enters into relations with any thing else in the universe throughout the unimaginably vast infinity of duration that is implied

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82 SCIENCE in our conception of time, past, present and future. But this is only possible for things that are outside the universe, that is to say, outside the possible range of existence. Hence, what never entered or enters into relations with anything else is non-existent, We thus come back to the proposition that all things are knowable and that there are no limits to the knowing.capacity of the soul. Thus, every soul is omniscient potentially. If you have followed me thus for you will now see more clearly than ever low absurd is the position of the materialistic philosophy which posits a consciousness that is the outcome of a rudimentary sensitiveness in an atom of matter. We know that intellectual lucidity is obtained by the removal of mental cloudiness, opacity, dullness or fog, which are conceivable in connection with a composite personality, arising from the union of more than one substances where each one tends to curtail the functions of the other. But an atomic soul is not encumbered with any such curtailing agent, because an atom is a simple indivisible thing, Hence, the fullest degree of mental lucidity should be the characteristic of the soul, on the hypothesis of its being synonymous with atomic sensitivity. This is . fatal to the hypothesis of atomic consciousness, which proceeds on the assumption of a rudimentary form of sensation in atomic malter. The hypothesis of a brain consciousness, too, fares no better with reference to the powers and faculties of the soul in respect of

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83 CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES knowledge. If any one will pause and reflect over what is implied in the term knowledge-observation, investigation, classification, comparison, inference, interpretation, judgment, etc. etc,-and recollection, he will not, I am sure, refuse to lend his assent to the following considered dictum from the pen of Prof. Bowne (see Bowne's Metaphysics, pp. 407-410):-- "By describing the mind as a waxen tablet, and things as impressing themselves upon it, we seem to get a great insight until we think to ask where this extended tablet is, and how things stamp themselves on it, and how the perceptive act could be explained even if they did...... The immediate antecedents of sensation and perception are a series of nervous changes in the brain. Whatever we know of the outer world is revealed only in and through these nervous changes. But these are totally unlike the objecta assumed to exist as their causes. If we might conceive the mind as in the light, and in direct contact with its objects, the imagination at least would be comforted; but when we concieve the mind as coming in contact with the outer world only in the dark chamber of the skull, and then not in contact with the objects perceived, but only with a series of nerve changes of which, moreover, it knows nothing, it is plain that the object is a long way off. All talk of pictures, impressions, etc. ceases because of the lack of all the conditions to give such figures any meaning. It is not even clear that we shall ever find our way out of the darkness into the world of light and reality again. We begin with complete trust in physics and the senses, and are forthwith led away from the object into a nervous labyrinth, where the object is totally

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SCIENCE displaced by a set of nervous changes which are totally uolike anything but themeelven. Finally, we land in the dark chamber of the skull. The object has gone completely, and knowledge bas not yet appeared. Nervous signs are the raw material of all knowledge of the onter world, according to the most decided realisin. But in order to pass beyond these sigus ioto a knowledge of the onter world, we must posit an interpreter who shall read back thene signs into their objective meaning. But that interpreter, again, must implicitly contain the meaning of the universe within itself; and these sigos. are really bat excitations which cause the soul to unfold what is within itself. Inasmuch as by common cougent the goal communicates with the outer world only through these signs, and never comes Dearer to the object than ench signs cau bring it, it follows that the principles of interpretation must be in the mind itself, and that the resulting construction is primarily only an expression of the mind's own nature. All reaction is of this sort ; it expresses the nature of the reacting agent, and koowledge comes uuder the same head." I have underlined the important passages in this lucid statement of Prof. Bowne's to emphasize the point. We can now see that education, from e, out, and duco, to lead, is, really, the bringing of knowledge out of the recesses of the mind, as the etymology of the word rightly points out. Let us now go back to the hypothesis that the brain is the producer of consciousness for a moment. You know that the brain is not a permanent substance; of the matter which it is composed is constantly passing out and being replaced by other such matter. You

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 85 also know and can take it as an indisputable fact that this changing perishable brain cannot give rise to aught but momentary products which exist for a moment and pass out almost as rapidly as they are formed. A consciousness that is produced by such a brain must resemble, then, a rapidly rushing stream in which the same volume of water is never at a place for more than a moment. Or you may liken it to a continuous series of flashes of light which are not continuous in themselves. Now, you know the amount of education, the years of toil and hard work that are necessary to produce a Kant, a Schopenhauer or a Lloyd George; and you have just seen, in the quotation from Prof. Bowne's work, what is implied in knowledge and the interpretation of nervous signs. I now ask you, who know all this, whether you can think of or in any way imagine a method whereby the knowledge, the education and the general mental equipment of a passing flash of consciousness can be instantaneously transferred, whole and entire, to another such flash of illumination that follows on its heels, and is being pushed by yet another member of its tribe eager to take its place? Nay, can you further conceive how complex mental processes can be carried on, without interruption or break, through long hours, with the aid of these self-taught meteor-like infant prodigies of the brain, and in the total absence of an enduring reasoner ? To me the whole supposition appears to be nothing short of the miraculous, and I reject it as such.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES THIRD LECTURE. SCIENCE (B) How do I, then, account for the lesions of the brain affecting recollection? Well, the explanation is this conscious life is like a current composed of diverse kinds of forces of desires, passions, emotions and inclinations which are constantly being modified as a result of the contact with the outer world, in other words, by experience. These are purely active forces, usually bent on action, so that if their function is not arrested or cancelled by deliberation they will constantly engage themselves in action and sensation, except when unable to do so from one cause or another. Intellectualism which is the other branch of conscious functioning, however, requires, as already pointed out a little earlier, a more or less complete suspension of this ceaseless action to obtain a pause for deliberation. Intellectualism thus signifies the stoppage of the current of life's tendencies and inclinations, and reflection requires its being reflected (in the fullest etymological sense of the word) on itself, to obtain a principle of guidance in the experience of the past. This is accomplished by the merest change of attention, by its not running with the present, but lingering over a moment that is passing or by turning to the past. Now, memory 87

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88 SCIENCE is not preserved in the shape of ready-made images or photos, for the simple reason that there is no picture gallery or photo album anywhere in the system, not even in the much-lauded brain, but in the form of liquid possibilities of reconstructing perceptions, for memories are but perceptions recalled. Hence, the character of our perceptions must also determine the nature of our recollections. But perception is the sense of awareness resulting from the action of the external stimulus on the perceiving consciousness. Memory, too, is, then, necessarily, the reproduction of the original stimulus from inner excitation. The part, or parts, of the organism concerned in perception are the nervous systern and the sensory centres of the brain, where the greatest sensitivity is enjoyed by the ego. These sensory centres of the brain have a two-fold function to perform with reference to our mental life, namely, (i) in perception they receive the incoming stimulus and pass it on the ego, and (ii) in recollection they supply, in consequence of the inner activity of reflection, i. e., in response to a demand from the ego, sensory garments for the de-materialized phantoms of memory to rehabilitate themselves in. For memory images not being actual photos or pictures of the past cannot materialize themselves except by slipping into the 'body' of an actual excitation, whether external or internal. But this they can do only if there is a body that will fit them in certain respects. Hence when there is no suitable body for them to slip into, they

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89 cannot take shape or materialize themselves. Now, a lesion of the brain centers just does this and no more: in perception it interrupts the external stimulus, in recollection, the internal. It does not affect the ego otherwise, nor diminish its individuality or life in any way. If you ask me where memory is preserved, I must tell you to search for it within that mysterious faculty known as attention. The current of activities of life, already alluded to, is loaded with the entire past experience preserved in the form of modifications of its constituents, and its point is the organ of attention, which is now turned to this and now to that channel of information or communication with the outer world. It is the high tension of attention (from ad, to, and tendo, to stretch) which keeps the mind engaged in the present and which prevents the stimuli of the other senses than the one to which it is actually directed at any particular moment of time from penetrating to the ego. But when this high tension is slackened, the rhythm of the current of activities is changed, and the slower tones and vibrations resulting from the relaxing of at-tention come into play. It is the operation of these slower tones and vibrations which, in collaboration with the so-called memory centres of the brain, is responsible for the reproductions of the mind known as memory. In different words, in recollecttion the tones and vibrations come from attention while in perception they come from the external object. In both cases the brain centres only furnish the sensory CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES

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90 SCIENCE adjunct in the manner already explained. The diseases of re-collection would thus have a two-fold character; they would either arise from the inability of attention to be thrown back into a particular type of tone or rhythm, or the lesion of the memory centres in the brain would prevent the internal stimulus from robing itself in a sensory garb. But this does not mean that memory is altogether immaterial. That hypothesis would be as absurd as that which makes it out to be a pure product of the matter of the brain. All samskaras (impressions) are material in nature, no exception being made even in the case of those formed from the data of the senses other than sight. There are constant streams of vibrations impinging on the senses from without, so that there is nothing surprising in the fact that some of this fine material should be utilized for the formation of memory. Incleed, the surprise would be all the other way, should it be urged that a memory impress is devoid of all materiality whatsoever. As said in the Key of Knowledge, memory is a faculty which pertains nether to pure spirit nor to pure matter, but to a soul vitiated by the absorption of matter. For pure spirit is endowed with omniscience, which is inconsistent with limited knowledge like recollection ; and matter is unconscious, hence devoid of memory. I shall now pass on to a further consideration of the important attributes of the soul.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 91 It must have already occurred to most of you that our analysis of the substance of consciousness necessarily proves it to be an immortal entity; for it is indivisible or partless in its constitution, and as such absolutely imperishable and deathless. The reason which proves that an atom of matter is eternal also establishes the eternity of the soul, inasmuch as that which is not composed of parts that might fall apart is necessarily immune from destructionand death. The soul is, therefore, immortal by same nature. The only other property with reference to which we shall study the nature of the soul is joy, delight or happiness which we all are unceasingly engaged in extract in one way or another from our surroundings. But unfortunately there is no such thing as happiness in the world outside ourselves. There are things and events, no doubt, in nature from which we all try to slake our insatiable thirst for eternal joy; but it is not in the nature of things and events to be the repositories of happiness. We see one man rejoice in the birth of a son, while another who expected to succeed to that man's enormous wealth laments his own bitter fate, for a direct descendant now stands between him and the much coveted riches, The child is, however, only a fact or event, and neither pleasure nor ill luck in itself. The same is the case with all other things.. The pan, for instance, which is so pleasing to the Indian palate is actually distasteful to the European.

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.92 SCIENCE matter Further, if there were real happiness in any of the things outside my being, it could only reach me through the see I only gateways of my senses, but passing through them but never happiness or joy itself. We thus see that our sensations of pleasure arise from an agreeable modification of the soul-substance, when acted upon by the properties of the things from without or from mental stimulus; and that pain. ful sensations are similarly due to a like modification, but of a disagreeable type. Both pleasure and pain are transient, the latter being mostly the lot of living beings in this world of For even ours, aptly described as the Vale of Tears. the little pleasure that is to be had here is obtained after so much worry and trouble and is generally productive of so much suffering, both in its procurement and subsequently, that it is no exaggeration to say that it is born vin pain and ends in tears. Fortunately, however, there is another kind of joy, available to us, but of this we are almost wholly ignorant. pure This joy consists in the natural 'pulsation' of delight (from de, a prefix of intensity, and light as des tinguished from heavy, hence, intense lightness) of the -soul, which being its very attribute becomes an inalienable asset in its hands the moment we destroy the causes that obstruct its realisation. We are all more or less familiar with the feeling of mixed light-hearted

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 93 ness and satisfaction which arises on the successful perforinance of some task imposed on our will, ego, on the successful passing of a University examination. The question is whence does this feeling of joy arise ? Obviously, it is not an affection of the soul like pleasure, for pleasure arises on the real or imaginary contact between an external object and it sense-organ. But in the instance under consideration there is no such contact between the ego and any object real or imaginary, though the eye is undoubtedly deemed to have fallen on a scrap of pink paper containing the telegraphic message relating to success. Observation shows that neither the scrap of paper, nor its peculiar colour, nor even the writing on it has anything to do with the state of joy which arises on a perusal of its contents. If you do not agree with me on this point, then you may put down the words of the message on the same or a similar piece of paper and read it as often as you please. This would suffice to convince you that there is nothing in the communication or the paper on which it is written to cause an effervescence of joy. Analysis makes it clear, on the contrary, that the feeling of de-light arises, like the effervescence of sparkling vintage, from within the soul itself, the message being the occasion, but not the cause, of its display. What seems to happen in such cases is this that the communication, is believed to be true, removes something of the load of worries and anxieties that lay heavy on the soul, thus enabling the natural

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94 SCIENCE state of its beirig to manifest itself to a certain extent. It is, thus, not the imbibing or absorbing of anything from without but the removal of an obstruction, the pulling or drawing out of a kind of mental stopper, which enables the natural effervescence of the soul to be enjoyed at the time. The idea of pleasure cannot bere keep pace with that of joy, in any sense ; for while true joy is the sense, or rather the sensation, of freedom from the burden of worry and anguish imposed by some liability or limitation, pleasure depends on contact, whether real or imaginary, with an external ob. ject, and conveys no idea of freedom in its unqualified import. The feeling of joy which is rooted in the idea of freedom, it will be further noticed, is not a momentary sensation like pleasure, but lingers in the soul till the imposition of some fresh obstruction or obligation or infliction of pain or worry in some other form, again obstructs, its manifetation. We also observe that success is more than one enterprise at the same time augments our sense of delight and intensifies its quaility. It is, therefore, safe to say that the greater the sense of freedom, the greater the pulsation of de-light, so that absolute freedom from all kinds of undertakings, limitations and obligations must actually be the signal for the coming into manifestation of the intensest kind of blissful ecstacy, the undy. ing, unabating, and unchanging emotion of joy. We thus conclude that the soul is itself the real source of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 95 all bliss and blessedness. Nor can its springs of happiness ever run dry, for the joy that arises from within one's being can only be an attribute of one's own self, since there can be no other meaning to the term 'inside' with reference to an indivisible, partless substance like the soul. Now, since a substance and its natural attri butes are eternal, it is impossible that the happiness which pertains to the soul should ever become exhausted when once the obstacles to its realisation are completely removed. We can now perceive why every one feels happy when the desires and passions that robbed him of mental serenity and peace have subsided. As for grief and pain, they arise from causes external to the soul, and are, for that reason, but temporary conditions of our life. If it were otherwise, that is to say, if pain and misery were the attributes of our being, then they should have arisen in the soul from the quiescence or subsidence of our desires and passions, because whatever is a natural attribute of a thing always arises without a cause as soon as the obstacles which bar its way are removed from its path. Now, both grief and misery arise from extraneous causes which may be summed up under two general heads for the sake of brevity, namely, (1) the association, real or imaginary, with that which is undesirable, and (2) the dissociation from what is desirable and desired.

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96 SCIENCE They do not, certainly, arise when we are left to ourselves, that is without the one or the other or boil, of the causes just enumerated. Indeed, so far as physical pain is concerned, it is the resultant of physical pro. cesses or of chemical action between different substances and elements going on in the body, and not a spontane. ous growth froin within the soul. From the above analysis of the nature of happiness we are entitled to conclude that the soul is itself the repository of purest joy which it vainly seeks to exract from its surroundings. .. How is it, then, that this natural happiness is not always enjoyed by the soul? The answer to this all important question is furnished by the fact that our infatuations and ignorance have defled the natural attributes, of our being whose properties have become vitiated in consequence. To the extent to which these infatuations and ignorance are destroyed in us, do the natural attributes of our souls become ours to be enjoy. ed by us. Verily shall the soul experience full perfect happiness and enjoy all-embracing infinite knowledge when the forces that stand in the way of their realisation are destroyed. Immortality shall also be the reward of the conqueror of these enemies of the soul. The decreeing of Omniscience, Blissfulness and Immortality in favour of the soul is tantamount to declaring it to be its own God, inasmuch as these are the principal attributes associated with our most exalted

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 97 .conception of Divinity. And this is the literal verification of the old Biblical text, " the stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner" (Ps, CXVIII. 22; Matt. XXI. 42). Verily, the soul which the materialists (builders-philosophers) rejected bas turned out to be the "head of the corner," endowed with all divine attributes and perfections ! These divine attri. butes are not enjoyed by the soul now because they are vitiated and neutralised by certain forces operating on the soul-substance, so that they cannot come into manifestation till they are set free from the dominion of these defiling, neutralising agents. As said in the Jaina Theory of Karma (See Indian Philos. Rev. Vol. III. P. 153), the soul is a reincarnat. ing ego which passes from life to life in an unbroken succession, till nirvana be attained. This is evident from the fact that the soul is immortal by nature, so that it must have had a past, however much it might be ignorant of it in its present incarnation. The nature of memory of the causes that obstruct it and of the process of its recovery have been explained in the Key of Knowledge to which you are referred for further enlightenment on the point. But when even the events of a few moments back are forgotten and cannot be recalled by us, what is there surprising in our inability to recollect anything of a past which has since been followed by wholesale cataclysmic changes in our being? Immortal by nature, the soul must have been in

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98 SCIENCE existence throughout the whole of the past eternity of time, as surely as it will continue to exist in the future. But the soul could not have existed as a pure spirit in the past, for in that case it would be impossible for it to be born in the world. This is because in its natural purity the soul is the enjoyer of full perfect knowledge, infinite perception, unbounded happiness and all other divine attributes, which, in the absence of a restraining force or body of some kind, must be deemed to be manifested in the fullest degree in its nature. The idea of such a perfect being descending to inhabit a body of flesh and thereby crippling its natural unlimited perfection in a number of ways is too absurd to be entertained for a moment. It follows from this that the soul did not exist in a condition of perfection prior to its present incarnation, and that the existence of some force capable of dragging jivas (souls) into different wombs is a condition precedent to their birth in the different grades of life. But how shall we conceive force operating on a soul and dragging it into an organism, if not as the action of some kind of matter? It is, therefore, clear that the soul must have been in union with some kind of matter prior to its birth in any given incarnation. It is the influence of matter, then, which is responsible for all those conditions of the soul which are not natural to a pure spirit; for the fusion of different substances always results in the limitation or suspension of their pure natural functions, e. g., hydrogen and

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 99 oxygen which are deprived of their gaseous nature so long as they remain locked up in each other's embrace as water. But it is not a case of actual annihilation of an attribute because the separation of substances is marked by the immediate restoration of their natural properties in full (Indian Philos. Rev. p. 155). Observation shows that the soul involved in impurity is unabie to enjoy its natural perfection in respect of knowledge, perception and happiness which, therefore, must be held in abeyance by some kind of forces operating on it. We thus get three different kinds of forces namely :(i) those which obstruct kuowledge (jnanavar niya), (ii) those that interfere with perception (darsa navarniya), and (iii) those that stand in the way of happiness, leaving the soul to experience pleasure and pain through the senses (vedaniya). Besides these, observation also proves the existence of another kind of force, which does not permit the adoption of the right faith (Scientific Truth). The ener. gies falling under this head are divisible into two classes : those which interfere with the very acquisition of faith, and those that offer opposition to its being put into practice. To the former class belong such forces as prejudice, bigotry, false beliefs and all those other kinds of mental. energy-passions and emotions of the worst (anantanubandhi) type whose uncontrolled and uncontrollable impetuosity deprivesjone of the full and proper exercise

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100 SCIENCE of the faculty of reflection, the most essential requisite for the discernment of truth; and under the latter type fall all those deep-rooted inental traits-anger, pride, deceit and greed of different degrees of intensity other than the anantanubandhi, already referred to that rob the mind of determination and serenity and prevent the adoption of what is known to be useful and good, also certain minor faults, e. g., joking, attachment and the like, as well as certain bodily habits and propensities (e. g., laziness) which are prejudicial to an attitude of self-control. All these are termed mohaniy a (infatuation), which is of two kinds, darsana-mohaniya (infatuations opposed to the acquisition of right faith) and charitra-mohaniya (infatuations opposed to living up to right faith. There is also another kind of force which interferes with the doing of what is desirable and desired and prevents effectiveness in general with reference to mental resolves. This is known as antarava. These are, broadly speaking, the forces which ** debar us from the enjoyment of our natural prefections and divine attributes, omniscience and the like. It follows, therefore, that the destruction of these inimical forces must immediately lead to the acquisition of all its suspended divine powers and prerogatives on the part of the soul, since they are its own natural attributes and have not to be acquired from outside its own being. Religion claims to be the method which enables the soul to attain to divine perfection. This it accomplishes by studying the nature of the properties and attributes of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES IOI the soul as well as of the causes that interfere with the functioning of those properties, and of the means to be employed for the destruction of the forces of obstruction. I need not tell you that all this study must be made with the utmost scientific rigour, for nothing but science or scientific thought can be relied upon to produce immediate, certain and unvarying results. Religion thus may be defined as the Science of Bliss which knows nothing of dogma or unreasoning faith. It proceeds on the principle of cause and effect and furnishes a complete explanatio of the whole misery and suffering of being, prescribing, at the same time, a certain unfailing remedy for every conceivable form of human woe. The field of enquiry is comprised in seven tattvas (heads or ultimates of knowledge) which must be clearly understood. These tattvas are the outcome of a logical treatment of the subject, and can be understood with ease. The deliverance of the soul from the power and forces of darkness and evil being the end in view, the first thing to know is the nature of that which is to be freed-whether it is or is not capable of being liberated ? The very first point or subject for study, therefore, is the nature of the soul. Hence, soul (jiva) is our first tattun. The next thing to know is the nature of the material of which the forces that are inimical to the well-being of the jiva, that is, the soul, are composed. This gives us our second tattva, namely, ajiva (nonliving substance). How does the ajiva approach the

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102 SCIENCE jiva?, how is it converted into obstructive forces ? how can its further inflow be stopped ?, how to des. troy the existing forces ? are further points for investigation. Accordingly, the third tattva is termed asrava (inftow of matter into the soul), the fourth, handha (the generation of sorces from the inflowing matter), the Afth, sanivara (the stoppage) of the inflow), and the sixth, nirjare (the destruction of the existing forces). The last tattva is termed noksha (liberation). Tersely put, the result of the scientific investigation may be expressed in the following sentence, with the small numerals pointing to the tattvas : the jival (spirit) is defiled by agiva 2 (non-spirit, here matter) which flow s3 (asrava) into it and is transformed by combining with it into powerful forces4 (bandha) destructive of its natural attributes; the stoppage5 (samvara) of this influx and the destruction (nirjara) of the existing forces lead to liberation? (moksha) i, e, salvation, which signifies the wholeness of perfection. Ethics, i, e, the entire range of duty, and fruition of virtue and vice are really covered by the third and fourth tittvas; but they may be dealt with separately, in which case they constitute, along with the tattvas, the nine (7+2=9) padarathas (principles or categories of knowledge of the science of Bliss). To have a full grasp over the entire subject of emancipation, in the religious sense of the term, it is neces. sary that you should clearly understand the nature of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 103 asrava and bandha, the third and fourth tattvas respectively. The coming together of spirit and matter is what is signified by asravn, and the law which governs it may be described in the following words : All actions of embodied living beings, whether mental or physical or vocal, are accompanied by an infux of inatter towards the soul. There is a constant stream of material vibrations eternally knocking and pressing against the senses which they are constantly engaged in transmitting to the soul. Whether I see, hear, smell, eat or touch anything. I only extract and draw to myself a quantity of different kinds of sensory stimulus or material. Even when I do not attend to this ceaseless traffic from without and shut myself up in the closet of the mind, sensations, implying actual intercourse between the ego and the sensory centres of the brain, continue. If I speak I am conscious of hearing my own voice and of perceiving the muscular sensations of the organs involved in articulation of words. Here also the flow of the raw material of sensation is continued uudiminished. There is no rest ; no interruption ; no holiday with these intruders on the senses. The eye, no doubt, may obtain a sort of respite if it be shut, and the tongue is also capable of being protected in a similar manner to a great extent. But the condition of the skin, the nose and the ear is altogether pitiable ; they are meant to serve as the open doors of a courtesan's house and must give admission to whosoever may care to pass in.

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104 SCIENCE Such briefly is the nature and description of asrava: which is our third tattva, The law that governs. bandha is to be deduced by observing the consequences that follow the asravn of matter. Now observation shows that sensation does not always follow the exterDal influx which we have just seen is constantly im. pinging upon the senses. If the mind is engaged elsewhere no relish is experienced of the food that may be actually on the tongue; the ear is then deaf to music, the sense of smell, dead to odour, and tactile sensitivity, to contact. The rule of impressionability would appear from these facts to be this that the mind has an inhibiting action ou all the senses except the particular one to which it may be attending for the time being. On the other hand faint impressions received in a mechanical way are magnified by our attending to them. The explanation of the taste of the morsel of food on the tongue not being felt when the mind is busy elsewhere lies in the fact that no new state of consciousness has resulted from it. The physiology of taste seems to indicate that while the bulk of food passes through the gullet into the stomach, some fine particles of its relish reach the soul through the glands of taste, and by combining with it in a chemical sense produce a characteristic change or modification in the substance of its being. This change is what is a termed state of consciousness, and is felt by the soul, whence its sense of awareness of the relish. But these relish particles must be there all the same whether the soul

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 105 attends to them or not. It would follow that they do not combine with the soul except when they find the door open and attention ready to take them into the presence of her mistress. But attention always implies interest, whether it indicate the merest wish to know or the most passionate longing to embrace. We may, then, say that the fusion of spirit and matter cannot take place unless the soul be first thrown into an attitude of desire, signifying its willingness to mate with the strangers from without. This gives us our second law of interaction between spirit and matter which may be enunciated thus: the fusion of spirit and matter does not take place except where the soul is thrown into a condition of expectancy, i.e., weakness. When existing in a vitiated condition the soul is generally unable to exercise any discrimination and has little or no will of its own. In the worst cases it is even ignorant of the inimical nature of the "cavaliers " from the outside world who, like the Russian Vampyre, Dracula, only need the first invitation to get in, after which they do not leave their victim in a con. dition to resist any further ousiaught on their part. We can now understand why the harmful forces engendered by the fusion of spirit and matter are termed karma-praki itis in the Jaina Siddhanta. Because they originate in a desire on the pari of the soul, which is itsown action, they signify karma (action in English), and being in the nature of powerful forces are termed prakritis (energies or forces).

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106 SCIENCE The compound resulting from the fusion of spirit and matter is termed harmana s'arira (the body of karmas). This subtle, invisible inner body is the root of the soul's troubles, and along with another similar body, made of highly magnetic matter, is only destroyed at the time of liberation. This second subtle body, known as taijasa s'orira, is a necessary link between the extremely subtle karinann s'arira and the outer body of gross matter. There is a continual readjustment of the form of the kar mana s'arira from "lise to life" in the course of transmigration, aud the varying conditions of the different phases of life in the highly chequered career of the eternal pilgrim are due to the organising forces and agencies residing in that body itself. In consequence of the magnetic affivities residing in its taijasa s'arira, the soul is drawn into a new "womb" immediately after its "death" in a given incarnation wlien the forces dwelling in the karmana s'rrira, become operative to organise a new outer body for it. The body, its longevity the bodily limbs, as well as the status in life which is really dependant on the family of one's birth, are this conditions which directly spring from one's own karmas in a previous life, and it is madness to throw the blame for one's own shortcomings, defects and deformities on a being wliom we are prepared to worship as the highest expression of goodness, holiness and perfection. The kar mana s'arira, then, is the seed of re-birth. Its absence will make it impossible for the soul to incarnate in flesh and blood; for he who is free from

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 107 the crippling companionship of matter must be pure Divinity in actual manifestation, and there is no power in nature which can drag a perfect God into bondage and transmigration. This is the true sense in which a Perfect Soul is said to be all powerful ; for outside the holy land of Nirvana, karma is all powerful every where else, so that the greatest of Indras (Ruler of heavenly worlds), devas (celestial beings), asurns (demous) and men are all helpless before it. There is no power in nature that can interfere with the Perfect Souls in Nirvana ; Their happiness is unexcelled in all the three worlds ; Their perfection simply immeasurable. And who can describe the power of that Great One whose merest "glance" can acquire knowledge of all that is, of all that has been, and of all that shall ever be, unlimited by time and space ! How, again, shall we gauge the measure of the glory of that Most High Conqueror of the forces of darkness and evil whose supreme bliss nothing can mar, and whose unwavering dhyana none cau disturb even for the mil. lionth part of a second. The Perfect Soul is never affected by sleep, stupor, or laziness ; death, disease and senility cannot approach His presence, and Time attends upon Him only to place the choicest blossoms of Eternal Youth and Immortality at His holy worshipful feet. If omnipotence only mean all this, then such a Perfet Being alone is Omnipotent ; none else. To revert to transmigration, I must tell you that it rests on the solid foundation of the eternity and indes

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108 SCIENCE turctibility of souls, so that being eternal, and, therefore, also, uncreated, they must have existed in some form or other in the past. Furthermore, miracles being inadmissible in science, the present incarnations of the souls now existing in the world cannot all have been determined by anything in the nature of a lawless occurrence, but must be due to a lawor laws which are concerned in the shaping of our destinies. Take now into consideration the infinite variety of circumstances sur. rounding all the different grades of life in the scale of being, and see what explanation nature offers of the pain and misery that are only too evident all round. The fact is that all tbat a living being undergoes, all that he feels, and all that he experiences is in consequence of his own actions in the past! We need not discuss the laws and forces of reincarnation any further, they have been already sufficiently described today. It only remains to consider the weapons and means for overcoming the forces of ignorance and evil which stand in our way. The question is an easy one and can be answered in a few words. Your trouble is wholly due to your desires; therefore, destroy those desires. Whatever your circumstances, do all you can to curb your appetites and longings. Whenever you have time, wherever you may happen to be, decline to yield to internal cravings. You must engage yourself in a deadly struggle with this foe of yours-desire never letting go, but always tightening your grip on it. No good

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 109 postponing it either; you may have no opportunity for it later on. Whether it be penance or fasting or any other method of self-denial, you must impress each and every one of them into service to vanquish the foe. It is no use your expecting to reach nirvana by lolling in your arm-chair; you cannot destroy the forces of karmas that way. Begin to prepare yourself from now for a life and death stuggle with the enemy in all seriousness of purpose, or be ready to face the inevitable consequences-birth as a dog, a cat or a caterpillar, longcontinued intolerable suffering in hell and the like-that flow from a life abandoned to passion and desire. Thus while there is no royal road to perfection, there is a narrow scientific path out of this Vale of Tears; it is one for all, from which you can only deviate to fall into the ravines below, to be broken against the hard boulders of falsehood and infatuation. It is not a question of individual tastes either; there is and can be no choice of means in a scientific pursuit of the ideal, We cannot allow the soldier to determine for himself whether he will go through the prescribed drill. He has got to do so if he wishes to join the army. This narrow rigidly scientific 'path' consists in the acquisition and adoption of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct. Of these, Right Faith has its eye constantly fixed on the great ideal of Perfection and Bliss, and never loses sight of it for a moment, Its function is to determine the direction of individual

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IIO SCIENCE activity in the right way, preventing it from becoming self-destructive. Faith is like the man at the helm, always directing and guiding the barge of life, in storm and in calm to the looked for Haven of Freedom and Rest. He whose heart is not chastened by Right Faith is like the rudderless ship that is soon dashed to pieces against rocks, for want of proper guidance and control. The necessity for Right Faith is fully obvious from the fact that people only live up to their beliefs, never in opposition to them. Right Knowledge is the detailed knowledge of the process of self-realisation. It is like the chart which is intended to furnish an accurate description of the path to be traversed, of the obstacles to be encountered on the way, and of the means to be adopted to steer clear of them. As no one who has not provided himself with such a chart is ever expected to take his boat successfully across an ocean, so is not the soul that is not provided with Right Knowledge ever likely to land in sefety in nirvana, Right Conduct is the third essential for success, since without the doing of the right thing at the right moment no desired result can ever be achieved by any. one. If Right Faith is the properly directed rudder and Right Knowledge the chart of navigation in the ocean of life (transmigration), Right Conduct is the force which actually propels the Barge of Being Haven-Wards.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES Taken singly, Right Faith only opens the outlook of life to embrace the highest good, Right Knowledge is merely the diagram of the action to be performed, while Right Conduct is simply inconceivable in the absence of faith and knowledge of the right sort. As already stated, this straight, rigid, narrow 'path' consists in the total eradication of desire, so that the harmful forces that are engendered by and through it may be completely destroyed, leaving the soul in its natural state as pure effulgence of Intelligence, all-knowing, ever-blissful and altogether divine in every way. III Any one who will reflect on the nature of the gulf that separates this supreme ideal of divine perfection from the low wretched type of sinfulhumanity that is to attain it will readily agree with me that nothing but the severest form of asceticism can ever succeed in cutting. down the huge embankments of desire to fill up the chasm. To become a God. an all-knowing, ever blissful God, is not a joke. A renunciation so complete as to exclude in its last stages everything of personal requirement, even that very last vestige of raiment the langotimust be practised, if spiritual wholeness is to be attained. But the commencement is not so forbidding. There is a ladder of gradually progressive steps which enables the top to be reached by degrees, and with case and everincreasing enthusiasm. The first step to be taken is the acquisition of Right Faith which means unshakeable belief in the tattvas

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II2 SCIENCE and veneration for those Great Does who have already attained to Godbood by following those very vital principles of Inana (knowledge). As the man who wishes to attain to eminence in law, as a profession, must sit at the feet of some great lawyer, siraping his own life after that of his model, so must the man, who desires to reach the summit of Perfection of Life, follow in the footsteps of those Worshipful Souls that have already attained to the supreme status of Divinity. The following psychological changes occur in the mind which result in the acquisition of Right Faith :(i) a general loosening or weakening of the forces of karma, (ii) clarity of intellect, (iii) the development of scientific turn of mind that will listen to and retain the teaching of truth, (iv) a general subsiding or quiescence of power ful emotions, and (v) meditation or reflection on the true na. ture of the soul. I have enumerated these steps simply to impress on your minds the inestimable value of a scientific turn of mind which comes from a proper study of natural logic, especially from an investigation of the true principles of causation of things. Right Faith being acquired, the knowledge of the believer in Truth is at once transformed into Right

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 113 Knowledge, since Right Faith only means an unwavering belief, i, e., an un-doubting conviction in the subject matter of the tattvas. The start in Right Conduct is to be made by the renunciation of the very worst habits and thoughts as soon as Right Faith is acquired. Wanton cruelty, animal flesh, intoxicating drinks and sport are the very first things to be abandoned. It is no use our endeavouring to make a headway on the 'path' without renouncing these worst forms of himsa. * It is interesting to note that the ancient Jewish Creed prohibited the eating of fiesh from a living animal (ERE. Vol, vi. 245). The Parsis, too, way (The Teaching of Zoroaster, p. 43) : << Of all kinds of sine which I have committed with reference to Heavou against the Ameshaspead Bahuman with reference to the world agaiust the cattle and the various kinds of cattle, if I have beaten it, tortored it, plain it wrongfully, if I have not given it fodder and water at the right time, if I have castrated it, not protected it from the robber, the wolf, and the waylayer, if I have not protected it from extrerae heat and cold, if I have killed cattle of usefal strength, working cattle, war horses, rams, goats, cocks, aud heng, so that alike these good things and their protector Bahman have been injured by me and uot contented with me, I repent." Io Shayast La-Shayast (chap. I. 8-9) it is said :~ The rule is this, that reverential should be the abstidence from unlawfully plaaghtering of any species of animals ; for in the Studgar Nashk it is said, concerning those who have unlawfully slaughtered animals, the punishmeat is such that each hair of those animals becomes like a sharp dagger, and he who is onlawfully a slaughterer is slaio. Of animals, the slaughtering of the lamb, the goat, the ploaghing

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114 SCIENCE How shall be whose foot has never touched the first rung of the ladder reach the top? The Gods in whose company we fain would sit are the well. wishers of all; they neither devour vor destroy any living being. How, then, can he who causes pain to living beings to afford momentary pleasure to his palate or tongue ever aspire to become a God ? The aspirant after immortality and joy must, therefore, give up these evil habits at the time of the adoption of Right Faith. For similar reasons, he should also give up gambling, profligacy, thieving and falsehood. These most sinsul habits broken up, the believer in truth gradually begins to train himself for the assiduous life of asceticism. He lives in the world, as other men do, and marrying a suitable spouse settles down in life, striving always to constantly advance in piety, virtue and zqiraggu (renunciation). There are eleven stages of the householder's life, through which the aspirant must pass to reach sannyasa (asceticism). These are : (1) the giving up of sport, theft, animal flesh etc., (2) the observance of vows against (i) hiinsa (the inflicting of injury or barin on others), (ii) aisehood, (iii) Siealing, ox, the war-korse, the bare...the cock, un to..is most to be abetained from" (SBE. Vol. V. p. 319),

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES (iv) incontinence, and (v) worldly goods. (3) practising holy meditation, three times a day, (4) fasting, at least four times a month, (5) avoidance of fresh vegetables, etc., (6) refraining from eating after sunset # and before sunrise, (7) total sexual abstinence, (8) withdrawing from takings, 115 occupations and under (9) dispossessing oneself of all kinds of property, I am happy to note the following correspondence of this rule in the Books of Zoroastrianism: "This, too, is declared: When in the dark it is not allowable to eat food; for the demons and fiends seize apon one third of the wisdom and glory of him who eats food in the dark," (SBE. Vol. V. 310). The Mahabharata also has it : "Offerings, bathing, the performance of shraddha, worshipping making of gifts and in particular eating should not be done at night." It is also interesting to note that bastra pUtaM jalaM pivet (water should be taken after straining it through cloth) is the common injunction of both the Jaina Siddhanta and the Mahabharta, as Prof. Virupaksha Beriyar points out (see the Jaina Path Pradarshaka, vol. iii. part 3, p. 114.)

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116 SCIENCE (10) refraining from even participation in consultation on wordly matters, and (11) placing further restrictions on food that is henceforth to be taken only once a day, at the morning meal, at a pious householder's. and on personal apparel, which is reduced to a langoti (loin-strip). The eleventh pratima perfected, the aspirant takes to sannyasa, and becomes a homeless ascetic. These steps take one roughly to the commencement of old age, between the 45th and the 55th years of life. The householder has hitherto [given his best to the world in the form of service, advice, charity, and the like; but he now withdraws himself from it to study his own future. As an ascetic he has no more concern with anything else but the destruction of his real enemies, the forces of passion and desire. The vows he practises are the same as he did in the house-holder's stage, but they are now characterised with utmost severity. In addition, he observes carefulness in walking, speech, eating, handling things and evacuating bodily excre. ments. He also avoids the engagement of his mind, speech and body in worldly traffic, and practises the ten most excellent rules of Dharma (spiritual merit), namely, (1) forgiveness, (2) humility, (3) honesty, (4) truthfulness, (5) dispassion, (6) mercy, (7) self-denial, (8) non-attachment, (9) contentment, and (10) chastity, all qualified by the word uttama (commendable, praise

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 117 worthy or noble). Both forms of tapas (asceticism), internal and external, are practised by him, with ever-increasing severity. Meditation on the nature of the soul and on the transitoriness of the world, its temptations and vanities, constantly oceupies bis mind. All this is tough, uphill work, but, as I said before, you cannot achieve success anywhere in life unless the means employed are commensurate with the end to be achieved. In reality, Right Conduct only consists in self-realisation, i. e., the contemplation of one's own greatness and glory, which seems easy enough to do; but just sit down to see if you can do it at present even for the brief space of a second. All your cravings, desires, appetites, tendencies, habits of thought, bodily longings and mental propensities will rise in revolt against you the moment you think of settling down to attend to your inner self. Each and every one of these insurgents is a powerful foe and has to be destroyed before you can hope to be left to yourself. Mercy is not meant for these foes of Life; they are unrelent. ing themselves and will fight to their last gasp. Does the prospect of so much hard, uphill work frighten you? There is nothing that man cannot accomplish, if he once girds up his loios for it. And even if one is not successful all at once there is no fear of the fruit of one's labour being destroyed by death. The merit acquired by Faith and Conduct is carried from one incarnation to another in the shape of auspicious

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118 SCIENCE modifications of the karmann sarirn, and becomes air important factor in determining the conditions of existence in the next incarnation, Seriousness of purpose and a cheerful disposition are, then, all the essentials to success on the acquisition of Right Faith. If a lawyer, when a babe in arm, were told and allowed to brood over, the number of hooks that he would be required to read and of those he would have to consult, there is little doubt that he would have died of fright; but you have among you many eminent lawyers who not only excel in law but in other branches of literature besides! And it is not that there are only troubles and trials in store for him who sets his foot on the 'path.' It is true that you never find a rose without a thorn in nature, but it is equally true that there is also no real tborn that does not lead to a rose, if you only know how to search and persevere. Now, if you only attempt to reach the rose by ignoring the thorn, you will have all the smarting of its sting for your labour, but if you first deal with the thor, you may take the rose away wherever you please. I bave no time to plunge into a detailed analysis of the different stages of the path, but I may say while I am still on the subject that after a while the ascetic begins to experience such happiness as is even beyond the imagination of millionaires and kings. The house-holder, too, at times has his reward in the joyous pulsating of his life, though such moments are rare in his case, and depend on the degree of dispassion and the sense of detach

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 119 ment evolved out by him. The ascetic finally also attains to omniscience prior to nirvana, though, owing to bad times, there are no such ascetics just now in our part of the universe. For we men of today are but puny mannikins compared with our ancestors of the past, and not having inherited their adamantine frames fail to approach them in respect of pure self-contemplation. But though denied this purest form of self-realisation, we are not debarred from the delights appertaining to the other forms of holy meditation, and would be well-advised to adopt them, according to our capacity and circumstances. It should, however, be never forgotten that the primary root of spiritual knowledge and conduct, the very seed of the ever-green life-giving Tree of Life is nothing other than Right Faith, concerning which the following occurs in an ancient work of authority (the Ratnakaranda Sravakachara} "In the three worlds and in the three periods of time there is nothing more auspicious than Right Faith, nor anything more inauspicious than a false conviction. Those whose hearts have been purified by Right Faith become the lords of splendour, energy, wisdom, prowess, fame, victory, and greatness; they are boru in high families, and possess the ability to realise the highest ideals [dharma (religion), artha (wealth), kama (pleasure) and moksha (salvation)] of life; they are the best of Those who have the Right Faith are born in the heaven-worlds where they become the devotees of Lord Jinendra, and, endowed with eight kinds of miraculous powers and great splendour, enjoy themselves for long men.

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120 SCIENCE millenniums in the company of devas and devangrad (residents of heavens of both sexes). Those who are endowed with Right Faith are attended apop by great emperors and kings; they acquire all the most wonder - ful things ip the world ; the entire earth comes under their sway, and they are goinpetent to command all men, - They who take refnge in Right Faith finally attain to the Soprene Seat, which is free from old age, disease, destruction, decrease, grief, fear and donbt, and implies anqualified perfectiou in respect of Wisdom and Blier and freedom from all kinds of impurities of karna. The bhavya * who follows the creed of the Holy Tirthamkaras of acquires the immeasurable glory of deva-life and the discus of a chakravarti I before whom kings nud rulers of inen prostrate thenuselves, and, attaining to the supremely worshipful status of Godhood, finally also reaches nirvans." It only remaios to say that the couclusions drawn in this evening's lecture are all those that are embodied in the Jaina Siddlanta, which is seen to be in full agreement with science. We shall also find most of these conclusions in the other creeds as we get on with our studies in comparative religion. * The soul that is destined to reach nirvana. An Omniscient Teacher. I lhe title of the twelve great kings who possessed the di vive weapon called chalera (adiscus).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES FOURTH LECTURE. METAPHYSICS. This evening's lecture is concerned with what is termed metaphysics. There is some doubt as to what is precisely meant by the term, but it was originally applied to a certain group of the philosophical dissertations of Aristotle which were placed in a collection of his manuscripts after his treatise on physics. But whatever be the significance the term was intended to express, I think, we may safely take it to refer to that department of knowledge which transcends physics. Thus, while physics deals with what may be termed concrete facts, metaphysics assorts them into concepts and relations, and, finally, reduces them into consistent systematised knowledge. As we have had occasion to observe ere this, philosophy and science are wedded together, so that the divorcing of the one from the other is fatal to both. For science must tend towards the comprehensive consistency of systematic thought to rise above the petty trivialities of existence, and philosophy must adhere rigidly to rationalism of nature to secure the generally neglected harmony between imagination and actuality, or fact. Metaphysics may thus be defined as the process or expression of reflection on the facts of experience, culminating in an all-comprehen 121

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* METAPHYSICS sive consistent system of thought that is explanatory of the nature of our surroundings, and, therefore, capable of being harnessed into service for the obtainment of the highest good. This definition is all the more important for our purpose as we are not concerned here with every form and type of mental speculation, but with that alone which has a bearing on religion. We are also not interested in, nor can afford to be interested in compiling a history of human thought or in collecting what speculators of different countries and times have thought with reference to religion. Such treatment of the subject will not only be quite irrelevant and unnecessary for our purpose, but will also involve an amount of time and labour altogether beyond the scope of the present lecture and the capacity of the lecturer before you. 122 We shall, therefore, confine our investigation to the region of the practical, that is to say, to those schools of metaphysics which are associated with the prevailing religions; and with respect to these even we shall not attempt anything like a thorough criticism except where this is absolutely necessary to understand the fundamental tenets of any particular system. I shall begin my investigation with the monistic Vedanta which teaches that there is only one reality behind this phenomenal show that is termed the material universe. This one reality is termed Brahman, and as it is the only existent being or thing, everything else necessarily has only a seeming being. The

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 123 universe is, therefore, nothing but a bundle of names and forms; in plain terms, an illusion. What, then, is the individual soul? Brahman itself, and as such omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, but neither the doer of works, nor the gatherer of their harvest (Deussen's System Of The Vedanta, p. 468). The summum bonum, therefore, does not consist in becoming Brahman; for the soul is always Brahman, even when it does not know itself. Liberation implies the knowledge, on the part of the individual soul, of its being the sat-chita-ananda (=Existence-Consciousness-Bliss), which is descriptive of the essence of Brahman, though the usual method of defining Brahman is by the words neti, neti (not this, not this). I should have taken this purely negative description as being in the nature of an emphasis on the point that Brahman is devoid of sensible qualities, but for the fact that the Vedantists take it literally. After the Brahmanhood of the soul. is recognised, liberation follows at once ("that thou art" is the pharse, not "that thou wilt be "); simultaneously with the attainment of knowledge of the identity with Brahman the soul becomes the soul of the Universe (Deussen). The salient features of Vedanta may now be put down as follows: (a) the unreality of the world, (b) the being of only one reality, or soul, and (c) the attainment of 'liberation' by knowledge.

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a 24 METAPHYSICS As to the first of these points it is interesting to note that Logic takes for granted certain self-evident truths; and it is no use our trying to found anything like a system of metaphysics without acknowledging them in the first instance. These truths are tersely summed up in a small work on logic (A Handbook of Deductive Logic) by S. N. Banerji, and may be enumerated as follows:(1) that there exists a material world apart from our mind; (2) that our mind can frame exact images of things, so that things are as we actually perceive them ; (3) that amidst the ceaseless minor changes of the universe there is order and uniformity, so that the world remains essentially the same in all ages (past, present and future) for all observers; and (4) that there are or must be universal tests to dis. tinguish truth from falsehood-rules to guide all reasoners in their way to truth, avoiding the snares of fallacy. These are self-evident truths which you have to adopt, and it is no use our denying them. They are the very foundation of a logical vyapti, which cannot be established in their absence. Now, the first proposition of Advaitism is that the universe is an illusion, which contradict's the first and the third axioms of Logic, as laid down above, that there exists a material world

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES : 125 apart from our mind, and that it remains essentially the same in all ages (past, present and future). Order and regularity are found to prevail in the world, and these certainly are pot the distinguishiog features of illusion. Vedanta, which persists in calling this orderly world an illusion, is, therefore, not entitled to be admitted in the council of Rationalism, As regards the second characteristic feature of Vedanta, that there is only one reality or soul in existence, we shall let the propounders of the Sankhyan School refute that view, "If there were but one Purusha, as the Vendantins hold, then if one were happy, all would be happy; if one were unhappy, all would be unhappy, and so on in the case of people affected by trouble, confusion of race, purity of race, health, birth and death. Hence, there is not one Purusha, but many, on account of the manifoldness indicated by form, birth, abode, fortune, society, or loneliness." -(SSP. p. 256). I thiuk it is not possible to deny the force of the Sankhyan objection in this instance. With respect to the third distinguishing feature of Vedanta, namely that liberation consists in the knowledge of Brahman, it seems to me that there is a great deal of confusion even here with respect to the ideas of bondage and liberation. There is only soul we are told, and that an immutable unchanging existence. Who then is there to be liberated ? For whose benefit is. all this teaching and preaching intended? And what

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126 about those that have been liberated in the past, if any? Are they still in existence or have they totally The confusion is disappeared from all existence? further confounded by the doctrine of transmigration which Vedanta subscribes to. It is a vain endeavour to construct an infinity of transmigrating souls out of one solitary individual, or, what is the same thing in other words, from one partless individuality. If the Liberated Souls are all parts or phases or aspects of one and the same reality, are we not forced to the . conclusion that certain parts of a partless entity are liberated while certain others are still undergoing the pain and misery of repeated births and deaths? There can also be no significance of liberation if the liberated soul is to remain what it already is (not "thou wilt be that", but "thou art that"). These observations also apply to Sufi-ism which marks the nearest approach of Muslim speculation to Vedanta. The Shahudiaus, for instance, maintain that the alam (world) is a reflection of God, METAPHYSICS "A man enters a glass-house and sees himself reflected in a hundred directions. These reflections virtually depend on the man and have no existence of their own. The attributes and the ego of man are thus the reflection of the attributes and essence of God. The alam (the world) is the rupee of the juggler, which - in reality is a piece of pottery (a nothing); but by the skill of the juggler shows itself like the silver of the Thus everyrupee. thing is with him '." (The Philosophy of Islam, pp. 5 and 6). We have already seen in our last lecture that the souls are eternal, being simple, that is to say indes.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 127 tructible, by nature. They cannot, therefore, be the reflection of any one. Unfortunately it never occured to the author of the view just quoted that there was absolutely not one particle of proof or evidence in support of the proposition that mere reflections could be endowed with consciousness, feeling, willing, memory and judginent. The analogy of the Sun and its reflection through a magnifying lens is not to the point, because, firstly, that is not a case of true reflection inasmuci, as the Sun's reflection is in reality the concentration of the Sun's rays at a point by means of the nagnifying glass ; secondly, because the Sun itself is not comparable to a partless immutable spirit that does not radiate any kind of rays, and, thirdly, because feelings, judgment, willing and the other functions of consciousness are not alienable in any sense, as was proved in the last lecture. The notion is not supported by any kind of logical vyapti (see lecture II) and has to be rejected. We shall now turn to Sankhya which is unlike any other system, oriental or occidental. Volumes have been written both in friendly and hostile comment on this famous school of Hindu Metapliysics ; but unfor. tunately not one writer ever succeeded in getting anywhere near the founder's original line of thought, You remember the enumeration of tattvas as given by Kapila, the originator of this school of thought. For facility of reference reproduce them again here.

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128 PURUSHA (1) f Unmanifest, i. e,, the state of equilibrium (2) L Modified by sattva 1 r 5 Senses (6-10) (5) METAPHYSICS Air (22) PRAKRITI Manifest Manas (5 Kinds of Motor functions (11-15) Mahat Mahat (3) I Ahamkara (4) 1 T Sound (16) Touch (17) Colour or form (18) Flavour (19) Smell (20) 1 1 Fire } Earth Ether (21) (25) (23) Modified by tamas water (24) You have in this table the principles as well as the order of their appearance, beginning with mahat (No. 3), as the first two are eternal. According to Kapila, the purusha principle is merely a spectator, neither an actor nor an enjoyer (bhogta) of the fruits of action. All changes, therefore, appertain to the spectacle, which is, consequent. ly, conceived to be characterised by intelligence (sattva), in addition to movement (rajas) and rest (tamas). The equilibrium of these essential attributes, sattva, rajas, and tamas, is taken to mean the cessation of the spectacle, so that there is nothing which a purusha can then perceive. When this equilibrium is again disturbed after some time, in obedience to some unknown heartbeat of nature, the curtain is rung up again, and the

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 129 process of evolution begins througii the steps as desa cribed. We thus have involution and evolution alterDately; involution proceeding in the reverse order, with the last evolute disappearing first in point of time, This order is the most important part of Sinkhran Metaphysics, and it is also very important for us; for it clearly proves that the system is the outcome of the notion that the world-process proceeds upon the analogy of a consciousness that is lieing awalsened from sleep. In a rough general way be following transformations may be conceived as occurring before the world of waking reality may be said to burst upon human consciousness when it wakes up from sleep: (1) the manifestation of intellect; (2) the dawning of the notion of "1" xha: kora) in the intellect; (3) the unioidment of the faculties and fupce tions of the "I", that is of the ritunas (attention or mind) and of the organs of sensation and action; (4) the stimulation of the senses, i. e., sensation and (5) the projection, in external space, of sensa tions, i, e., of the data or bundle of sensible qualities of which objects are composed. If you would only bear in mind the notion entertained by certain idealists that the sensible world is only held in the mind of its percipient and the objects

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130 METAPHYSICS are but our sensations spatially projected, you will have no difficulty in comprehending the position of Kapila. We shall compare the Sankhyan order of evolution side by side with the manner in which Kapila appears to have understood an awakening mind to perceive the world. The Awakening Mind, World.process or Evolution, (1) Alternation of waking (1). Alternation of evoluand sleeping. tion and involution, (2) In deep-sleep the ego 1 (2) In involution (pralais not destroyed, but ya) purushe is not des. there is nothing to per troyed, but the world. ceive. performance bas stopped so that there is nothing to perceive. to perceive (3) In awakening, intelli- (3) In evolution, Intelgence or intellect is lect (mahnt) is produced roused first of all, first of all. (4) From Intellect arises l (4) Mahnt is then trans "l-ness" (ahamkara). formed into (nhamkara). (5) From the sense of (5) From ahamkarir the "I-ness" flow the functions manos, the five senses, of"I" -manas (attention and the five kinds of or mind), the senses and organs of action, hands, motor faculties. feet and like are formed, (6) Sensations are then (6) The ahamkara is felt. transformed into sensa. tions, i. e., sound, touch, colour, flavour and smell,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES (7) The data of sensations are then projected and constitute the perceptible world. 131 (7) The data of sensations, i. e., the subtle elements of smell, etc., are transformed into the five gross elements, ether, air, fire, water and earth of which the phenomenal world is composed. It is thus clear that the metaphysical inspiration of Kapila was derived from the simple analogy of an awakening consciousness. It must be now evident that Kapila knows nothing of an outside world apart from the projections of his own mind, i. e. the transformations of his own sensations, touch, smell and the like. Unfortunately for this view, it never seems to have occurred to Kapila that a sensation did not wholly originate in the mind, and that there was such a thing as external stimulus which played an important part in our sensations. Had he noticed this distinguishing feature of sensation, he would not have described the gross elements, fire, water, etc., as transformations of the subtle tanmatras of sensations. Time does not permit my going into the further inaccuracies of the system of Sankhya about the correspondence of elements and sensations, the relations of elements amongst themselves, and the like. You will find some of them dealt with in my Key of Knowledge to which I am content to refer you for further information.

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132 METAPHYSICS * But though not valid as Metaphysical explanationsof the world, boch Vedanta and Sankhya are higuly valuable to us in so far as they throw interesting side light on the terlets of the ancient Vedic faith of our Hindu brethren, since they both acknowledge the authority of the Vedas and, like the other syscems of Hindu Philosophy, only profess to furnish philosophical explanation of the revealer word. The Hindu mind, it is obvious, would have sooner or later plucked ofi these new offshoots if they did not furnisli, or at least, did not profess to furnish Metapliysical props for the accepted doctrines of the faith. It is certain that they would never have been acknowledged as belonging to the family. And what is true of these diverse schools of Hindu Philosophy in relation to the tenets of Hinduism alse holds good with respect to the relationship between Sufi-isin and Islain. The inost inportant thing for us to kuow, then, is that all these three systemos regard the human soul to be fully divine in nature and essence, I must now pass ou to a consideratiou of the Nyaya or the "logical" school. We have had occasion to find fault with its quaint conception of vyapti which is described as a homogeneous example, but it is refreshing to note how Gotama proceeds to tackle the argument of the eternal pai vapakshin (oppouent) who: denies the existence of ani external world. Gotama objects to this doctrine, " Gist of all because if it were impossible to prove the existence of any external things

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 133 it would be equally impossible to prove their nonexistence. And if an appeal were made to dreams, or visions produced by a mirage, or by jugglery, it would be remembered that dreams also, like remembrance, presuppose previous perception of things; and that even in mistaking we mistake something, so that false knowledge can always be removed by true knowledge" (SSP, P. 427). Gotama maintains that knowledge belongs not to the senses and inind but to the soul; he believes in transmigration, and considers attachment, aversion, and stupidity to be the chief faults of which stupidity is the worst. The separation of the soul from the body is obtained by the cessation of deserts. The notion of a god occupies a very secondary position in Gotama's philosophy, bis existence being simply necessary to decree fruits of actions to the infauity of acting souls. The categories of Nyaya do not include the true essentials of knowledge, as laid down in our discourse on the scientific side of Religion, and there is no description even of the state of Moksha, the end in view. The Vaiseshika school, founded by Kanada, is prastically a sister to Nyaya l'hilosop!iy. There is not much in it that is peculiar to it. Kanada's chief merit lies in the development of the atom theory which is also to be found in a crude form in Nyaya. His categories, however, are:

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134 METAPHYSICS (1) substance, (2) attribute, (3) action, (4) genus, or general qualities, (5) species, or special attributes, (6) combination, and (7) non-existence, Amongst the substances is mentioned atman or soul ; but attributes are said to be " colour, taste, smell, touch, number, measure, separateness, conjunction and disjunction, priority and posterity, understanding, pleasure and pain, desire and aversion, and volition" (SBH. Kanada Sutras), There is no mention of bliss amongst these unless it be included in the term pleasure, which according to Naiyayikas is only a form of pain (The Nyaya Sutras by S.C, Vidyabhushan, pp. 122-123). No positive contents of knowledge are mentioned even with reference to moksha which is simply described as consisting in "the non-exis. tence of conjunction with the body, when there is, at the same time, no potential body existing, and conse. quently no rebirth can take place". No true explanation is given of bondage or transmigration, and there is no mention or consideration of the real tattvas The arguments employed are chiefly concerned with fanciful abstractions, while scientific treatment is almost invariably wanting.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 135 The difficulties of the Vaiseshika school are also to be found in the Yoga philosophy. According to some writers the word Yoga is derived from a root which means to join. This is certainly the sense in which the mind, speech and body are regarded as the three yogas (channels) of asrava in Jainism. Mr. Ram Prasad, M. A., the learned translator of the Yoga Sutras in the Sacred Books of the Hindus series, takes it to mean." to go to trance, to meditate." According to Max Muller, the word more probably signifies harnessing oneself for some work, to prepare oneself for hard work, for restraining the activities or distractions of our thoughts. There is no question of joining oneself to any one else, not even to an Ishvara or Lord, for the idea of absorption in the supreme godhead forms no part of yoga. "Patanjali, like Kapila, rests satisfied with the isolation of the soul, and does not pry into the how and where the soul abides after separation" (Rajendra Lal Mitra quoted in the Six Systems of Hindu Philosophy, p. 310). Certainly, there can be no absorption of one individual into another. The soul is an individual and will continue to exist as an individual. The idea of Ishvara in Patanjali's mind is not that of a maker or creator or ruler of worlds, but simply that of a Pure Spirit that is not afflicted by karmas, ignorance or pain, and whose perfection in respect of omniscience is full and unexcelled by any one else. He is not the giver of moksha or joy or anything else, but only an

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136 METAPHYSICS object of meditation, or contemplation. This view is almost identical with that of the Jaina Siddhanta which prescribes contemplation of the glory of it Perfect Soul and the study of His life-story as a transmigrating ego as the surest means of leading the devotee to become steady in the contemplation of the glory appertaining to his own soul. Patanjali also is right when he says that the jivas (souls) are involved in matter, and the aim of Yoga is to free them from the meshes of matter (Int, to SBH., Yoga Sutras of Patanjali). But Patanjali hias no idea of the true tnttvas, and is unable to give any explanation of the why and wherefore of the means to be employed for getting rid of matter, We should, however, remember that he cioes not claim to be the founder of the system, but only a compiler. This is evident from the very first verse which reads : atha yogAnuzAsanam which means "now a revised text of yoga." We have no right therefore to blame Patanjali for the shortcomings of what he only set out to collect and revise. Apparently there has been a great deal of borrowing in the course of this compilation, for we find the five kinds of restraints not only identically the same as are known as the five kinds of cows in the Jaina Siddhania, but they are also mentioned in the same order in which they are given by the Jaina writers,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES [ 137 Of these restraints, akimsa, which is the first in the order of enumeration, is again the one which is a special characteristic of Jainism, its very motto being ahimsa parmo d2797ah (non-injuring is the bighest dharno). The greatest stress is laid in the Yoga system on the attainment of sannidhi, which is, no doubt, the culmination of the process of self-contemplation, but its description is vague and meagre, and the steps which are said to lead to it in practicable. For pure self-contemplation is not possible for a house. holder; it arises as the culmination of a long course of training, both as a pious layman and an ardent ascetic. Priniyama, on which so much stress is laid by the Hindus in modern times, is in reality a very secondary affair. Patanjali bimself only just-alludes to it. It is merely a device to prevent mental distraction. It is not even touched upon in many of the other systems, and in Jainism also much; importance is not Hitached to it (see the frinernavn). The real samadhi is iternal, and arises from a subjugation of one's desires and lusts. The forms of meditation which lead to pure self-contemplation are also not described by Patanjali. I refer those of you who are interested in the subject to chapter XIII of my "Key of Knowledge" where the whole subject has been discussed and described. The space at my disposal does not admit of my going into so intricate a subject here. I now come to the most fascinating part of Yoga which is concerned with the acquisition of miraculous

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138 METAPHYSICS powers. I presume some of you must be very eager to know what the final verdict of research is going to be on this point, Well, gentlemen, I am a lawyer and the instincts of the learned profession to which I belong are, as you know, opposed to the admission of 'hearsay'. There is, however, a very large body of tradition of different creeds and faiths which undoubtedly supports the view that miraculous powers can be acquired by leading the life of purity, virtue and asceticism, I think this tradition is admissibie, though a certain amount of caution is indispensable in letting it in. On the other hand there is the fact, and a very siginficant fact, too, that India boasted of many more yogis and mahatmas about the time of the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni and the subsequent influx of Musalmans in. to India. I take it that the early Muslim invaders were heartily hated by the Hindus, and would have been wiped off if yoga knew of any method of encompassing their ruin. But yoga failed persistently then.. A few centuries later when the beaf- and pork-eating chrishtan came to India, we again witnessed a failure of Hindu occultism, and this tine not alone, but in company with Mohammedan thaumaturgy, Personally I have seen very little of occultism, but from what I have seen and read about it I have come to the conclusion that there is no reason why a fairly large bulk of ancient tradition should be regarded as outside the bounds of possibility; but I should not like to substitute any other words for those I have used. It seems to

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 139 me that occultism is not a reliable science by itself, that is, when taken apart from religion, and that truly miraculous powers spring only from regular asceticism, though fanatical fervour is also not unlikely to produce some minor mysterious effects, owing to the abnormal development of the inuer psychic forces of life. The latter are, however, most likely to deceive one in the hour of need, and also lead to unhappy conditions and results. For Religion has nothing in common with the ambition for world-power or show. Dispassion and vai agya (desirelessness or renunciation) are the essential conditions for progress on the path, so that he who aspires for power, whether temporal or spiritual, can hardly be said to have put his foot on it. Hence, even if these psychic powers could be acquired in the way they are described in the Yoga Sutras, they can only be acquired by those saintly ascetics who do not long for them and who will certainly not use them to harm even an enemy. For others it is useless even to think of them. I must now say a few words about the sixth school of Hindu thought before summing up the results of our investigation in respect of these world-famous darsanas, This sixth darsana was founded by Jaimini, who again seems to be only a compiler and not the original author. It is known as Purva (prior) mimansd, while Vedanta is termed Uttara mimansa (a subsequent dissertation or ratiocination). But there is nothing in this literal significance to furnish a ground for in

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140 METAPHYSICS ferring a real chronological priority in time in favour of Jaimini's system (SSP. 197). On the other hand, it is quite likely that the notion of priority of his compilation is associated with a pre-conceived priority of "works" (dharma) which are supposed to precede jnana (knowledge). As for the subject inatter of this darsana, its opening live-athato ilharma jizniisa (now, therefore, for an enquiry into the philosophy of works ")---sufficiently indicates its scope. This is very signisicant in comparison witl: athato Brahman lijnasie (now, therefore, for an enqiury into Braliman), which is the opening line of the Uttara Miminsi, better kuowo as Vedanta. The idea of "works" in Hinduism is centered round the principle of " Sacrifice" wirich is practised for the obtainment of Heaven and other kinds of divine blessings and goodi. Jaimini's work deals with the doctrine of sacrioce, and its purport is evirent from the list of its contents which we give here. (1) Authoritativeness of injunctions, explanations etc., etc., (2) The mysterious effect of hymus apd sacri ficial formulas (the Apurea). (3) Revelation, context, etc., and the duties of a sacrificer. (4) The influence of the principal and subordi vate rites on other rites,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES (5) The order of performance of a sacrifice. (6) Qualifications of a sacrificer, substitutes for sacrifices, etc., etc. 141 (7) The transference of the ceremonies of one sacrifice to another. (8) Further treatment of the subject of trans ference. (9) The adaptation of hymns, etc. (10) The non-performance of rites, etc. (11) Repetition and combination of acts. (12) The chief and subsidiary purposes of sacrificing, etc. This abridged list of the contents of the Purva Mimansa should suffice to give you an idea of the subject matter dealt with. 1 shail not comment on this subject here; but shall only say that Jaimini does not believe in a god as creator or governor of the Universe, holding even that no judging divinity is necessary to determine the effect and to adjudge the degree of punishment and reward our actions, of which bear their fruit themselves. "In order to explain this, Jaimini assumes that there was a result, viz. an invisible something, a kind of after stato of a deed or an invisible antecedent state of the result, something Apurra er miraculous, which represented the reward inherent in good works. And he adds, that

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142 METAPHYSICS if we suppose that the Lord himself caused rewards and punishments for the acte of men, we should often have to accnse him of cruelty and partiality; and that it is better therefore to allow that all works, good or bad, prodace their own results, or, io other words, that for the moral government of the world no Lord is wanted" (SSP, 211). Max Muller, commenting upon this theory of karmas bearing their own fruits, says:-- "..... Jaimini would not make the Lord responsible for the injustice that seems to prevail in the world, and henoe reduced everything to cause and effect and saw in the inequalities of the world the natural result of the continaed action of good or evil acts. This surely was not atheism, rather was it an attempt to clear the Lord of those charges of crnelty or ondue partiality which Have so often been brought against him. It was but another attempt at justifying the wisdono of God, an ancient Theodicee, that, whatever we may thiuk of it, certainly did not deserve the name of atheism" (Ibid. pp. 211--212). So much for Jaimini's view as to the efficacy of * works". As for the cult of sacrifice, it will suffice for the present to quote what the Mahabharata declares on the subject: ahiMsA sarva bhUtAnAmetat kRtyatama matam / etaptadamanudvignaM variSThaM dharma lkssnnm|| hiMsA parAzcaye kecayeca nAstika vRttayaH / sobha moha samA yuktAste ve nirayagAminaH /

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 143 [ Tr. "The real characteristic of the best Dharma is harmlessness. Atheism, inclinations to injure, avarice, etc., lead to hell." -Ashva-Medha Parva (PHB. Part II. pp. 636, 637 and 639) ). Our survey of the different systems of Hindu Philo. sophy is now complete. We find them in several instances contradicting one another as well as the sound principles of good reason. They are ignorant of the true Lattvas. The suminum bonum they try to encompass is obscure and indefinite, though they all agree upon showing respect to the Vedas. As Prof. Max Muller whose treatment of Hindu Metaphyscis is marked with great sympathy and good will remarks: "...... while we can goderstand that each of the six systems......ay succeed in removing pain, it is very difficult to see in what that actual happiness was supposed to consist which remained after that removal. The Vedanta speaks of Ananda, or bliss, that resides in the highest Brabman; but the happiness to be enjoyed by the souls near the throne of Brabman, and in a kind of paradise, is not considered as final, but is assigned to a lower class only. That paradise has no attraction, and would give up real satisfaction to those who have reached the knowledge of the highest Brahman. Their bliggfal kuowledge is described as oneness with Brah: man, bat no details are added. The bliss held out by the Sankhyas is also very vagae and indefinite. It oan arise only from the Parusha bimself, if left entirely to himself, far from all the illusions and distorbances arising from objective nature, or the works of Prakriti.

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144 METAPHYSICS "Lastly, the Apavarga (bliss) of the Nyaya aud Vaiseshika systetus seerns entirely negative, and produced simply by the removal of false kuowledge. Even the different names given by eacli system of philosophy tell me very little. Makti and Mokslia meat deliverance, Kaivalya, isolatiou or detachuient, , .. Anurita, immortality, A pavarga, delivery..... I doubt even whether the Upanishads could have giveu 08 a description of what they conceived their highest Makti or perfect freedoro to be. Infect they confess themselves (Taitt. UP. II. 4,1) that all speecin tarus away from the blise of Brahmau, wable to reach it', aud vlien language faile, thoaght is not likely to fare better.'-(SSP. pp.372373). The italics are mine. It is not that only European writers have been 100favourably impressed with these attempts at philosophising the teaching of the Vedas; Hindu savants, too, have had to write very inucb iu tlie same strain. It is frankly acknowledged in the preface to the ninth volume of the Sacred Books of the Hindus, edited by a highly qualified editorial staff of learned Hindus themselves:--- ".... none of the six Darsanas .... was, as we have hinted more than once, a complete system of philosophy in the Westeru sepse, but rnerely a catechism explaining, and giving a reasoned account of some of the truths: revealed in tbe Vedas and the Upanishads, to a particular class of stadenta, .... without atteippting to solve to them the transceudental riddies of the ubiverse, which in their particular stage of mantal aud spiritual developmeut, it would have been impossible for them to grasp".

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145 This attempted justification, no doubt, does great credit to the faith of the writer, but there is nothing in the entire range of Hindu philosophy to support it. As said earlier, these systems are valuable as furnishing important evidence of Hindu ideals and beliefs which they vainly sought to place on an intellectual basis. As our interest lies in getting at the real Hindu tenets of faith, I shall now endeavour to give you the points which the darsanus held in common with one another. CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES (1) The immortality of the soul, whether as Brahman or an individual. (2) That the soul is in bondage and undergoes transmigration. (3) That the condition of transmigration is full of pain and misery. (4) That there is a way out of this mundane suffering and pain. There is one additional striking feature of all these chools which Prof. Max Muller describes in the followng words: "Though there is a strong religious vein running through the *ix so-called orthodox systems, they belong to a phase of thought in which not only has the belief in the many Vedic gods long been superseded by a belief in a upreme deity, . bat this phase also has been left behind to make room for a faith in a supreme power or in the Godhead which has no name but Brahman, or Sat, 'I am what I am" " (SSP, pp. 449-450). We also learn from Max Muller (Ibid. p. 450) : -- 10

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146 METAPHYSICS "Atheism with lodian philosophers means something very different from what it means with us. It means a denial of an active, busy, personal, or humanised god' only who is called Isbvara, the Lord. But behind him and above him Hindur philosophers recognized a higher power, whether they called it Brahman, or Paramatman, or Purusha. It was the denial of that reality which constituted a Nastika, a real heretic." Before concluding the subject of Hindu Metaphysics I must not omit to quote a very healthy piece of advice from the Mahabharata:"Manifold philosoplical doctrines have been proponoded by various teachers; but cling to tbat oply which has been settled by arguments, by the Veda and by the practice of good people" (SSP. p. 455). . I shall now briefly deal with the Buddhistic Metaphysics during the remaining time at my disposal today, and in the next lecture we shall apply ourselves to unravel the mystery of the Vedas, and the Holy Bible along with some other mythological doctrines. It would seem that metaphysical knowledge was at first no essential part of the Buddhist discipline, The true Law was a practical training and nothing more. Deliverance from pain was to be obtained by saintliness; saintliness by deliverance from desire ; and deliverance from desire by asceticism and meditations that fired the mind with vairagya, an overwhelming sense of disgust for the world and the cbjects of pleasure. Buddha's own attitude was qucertain at times ; be spoke sometimes as a believer in permanence (sasvata), sometimes

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 147 in favour of annihilation (uchchheda). But on the whole the Buddhistic metaphysics lays all the stress it can on the impermanence of the soul. According to the Hinayina or Abhi-dharma School of Buddhism : " There is no self (atinan), person (pudgala), living being (sattva), or principle of life (jiva)--a flat negative not only of an unchangeable Self as recognised by the Brahmanic philosophies, but also of the substantial principle that the popular philosophy considers as a transmigrating entity, a soul differont from the body. Man is a complex con posed of five skandha 8-the material ele. medt, rupa, or body, and four intellectual elements, samjna, (feeling), vedana (sepse-perception), samskaras impressions), vijnana, (consciousness). The ego, or man', is described in terms of its constitative elements, and is compared to a chariot which lacks personality because it is composed " (ERE. Vol. IX. p. 847). The other sect, the Mahayana School, goes considerably further and denies the very existence of things. It is the doctrine of voidness (sunyata), a sort of Idealism pushed to the extreme. There are not only no external things, but there is even no sell, an individual generator of thoughts. Even thoughts are void, not substantial. Voiduess characterises all, With notions such as these it was, of course, impossible to thiuk of a nirvana that did not imply annibilation out and out, or of a transmigration of souls that did not mean the punishment of some one other than the doer of evil.

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148 METAPHYSICS Mrs. Rhys Davis in her Buddhist Psychology points out (p. 26) that the Buddbists are unenlighiened as to the nature and medium of the rebirth-force, though its logic is irrefutable for them. The Buddhists certainly have no scientific ideas about the four most important points with reference to transmigration,-srava, handha, samvarn avd nirjaramthough they employ the terms asram and saamvara in their books. As the latest authority confirms (ERE. Vol. VII. p. 472):--- " The Jains understand these terian in their literal meaning, and use them in explaining the way of salvation (the samvara of the asravas and the nirjura lead to molsha). Now these terms are as old as Jainism. For the Boddhists have borrowed from it the most significant term asrava, they use it in very much the same sepse as the Jains, but uot in its literal meaning, since they do not regard the karma as subtle matter, and deny the existence of a soul into which the larm could have an influx. Instead of ramvaru they say asavakkhaya (asravak saya), 'destrnction of the agravas', and identify it with magga (marga, 'path'). It is obvious that with them asrva has lost its literal meaning, and that, therefore, they must bave borrowed this term from a sect where it had retained its original significance, or, in other words, from the Jaine, The Buddhists also 189 the term samvara, e. g., silasanuvara 'restraint under The moral law', and the participle samvuta, controlled," words which are not used ju this senge by Brahinapical writers, add therefore, are nost probably adopted from Jainism, where in their literal sense they adequate. ly express the idea that fliey devoto. Thus the same argument serves to prove at the same tine that the

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 149 karma theory of the Jains in an original and integrat part of their system, and that Jainism is considerably older than the origin of Buddhism." . Personally I am inclined to think that Buddhism was intended as a protest against the caste system of the Hindus and the severe asceticism of the Jainas, not as a new metaphysical system, at least, not in its inception. Buddha had spent a number of years in the company of monks of different religions and was familiar with their doctrines though probably not with their scientific explanation, On one occasion le said There are, brethren, certain reoluses (Achelkas, Ajivikas, Niganthas, etc.) who thus preach and believe : Whateoever an individual experiences, whether it be happy, or painfni, or neutral feeling, all bas been caused by previoue actions. And thus from the cancelling of old actions by tapas, and by abstaining from doing uew actions, there is no influx into future life ; by this non-influx karma is destroyed and so ill in destroyed, and so feeling is destroyed, and so all pain will become woru away. This, brethren, is what the Niganthas (Jaius) say...... Is it true, I asked them, that you believe and declare this ?...............They replied ... Our leader, Nataputta, is all-wise.........out of the depth of bir kuowledge he tells as: Yo have done evil in the past. This ye do wear away by this hard and painful course of action. And the discipline that here and now, by thought, word, and deed, ie wrought, is a minus quautity of bad karma in future life. . . thus all karma will eventually be woro away, kod all pain. To this we assent (Majjhima.. ii. 214 f. ; cf. i. 238)".-ERE. Vol. II. p. 70.

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$50 METAPHYSICS Notwithstanding this assent, when faced with the severity of parisha-jaya, which signifies cheerfully enduring all kinds of hardships incidental to asceticism, and finding them only leading to enfeeblement and emaciation, but not to the enlightenment that he sought, Buddha declared : "Not by this bitter course of painful hardship shall I arrive at that separate and supreme vision of all-sufficing, noble (Aryan) knowledge passing human ken. Might there be not another path to enlightenment ?"-ERE. Vol. II. p. 70. He thenceforth began to look after the welfare of the body once more. At last the middle course that he was looking for occurred to him under the famous Bo tree. It was a compromise between rigid asceticism on the one hand and the life of unrestrained licentiousness under the guise of karma-yoga (the doing of all worldly actions, but without attachment to their fruits) on the other. Whether the middle course thus arrived at was scientifically valid or not, was not the point; what mattered was the avoidance of pain in any form. If asceticism itself led to pain, how could it lead to its destruction? "Dukkha is evil", said the Enlightened One, "and must be removed. Excess is Dukkha. Tapas is a form of excess, and multiplies Dukkha. It does not even lead through suffering to any gain; it is unprofitable" (ERE. Vol. II. p. 70). What Buddha would have thought or said on the subject if he had known that he was

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 151 trying to perfect himself in sunnyasa without ever having passed through the prescribed stages of a householder's preparatory course, we do not know. Probably it never occurred to him that a ladder was necessary to reach the top and that asceticism never led to anything but distress and pain unless accompanied by faith and knowledge of the right sort. Thus did Buddha live to a ripe old age, preaching the noble' middle path, and exhorting the people to seek release from pain in the extinction of being in nirvana. He died after eating a dish of boar's flest in the soth year of his life. Buddha's teaching has appealed to a vast majority of mankind chiefly because it did not entail a severe discipline and went a long way to tone down the rigours of Hatha Yoga, truly a useless system of physical distortions which must be clearly distinguished from the true form of tapas as given in the Jaina siddhanta. But whatever we may say or think of the Buddhistic metaphysics, of its theory of metempsychosis that would make another being than the doer of deeds the recipient of rewards and punishments flowing from them, and of the teaching about the impermanence of souls, there can be 110 withholding of praise for Buddha's very clearest perception of the misery of unemancipated life and for the most faithful picture that he drew of it in words. Such language has seldom been surpassed. . " Woo upon youth, threatened by old age! Woe upon health, which so mnany maladies destroy! Woe apon human life

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152 METAPHYSICS which lasts but a little space! Woe on the temptations of the flesh, which lure the heart of the wige! Would that there were neitlier old age, nor illness, cor death and the pains of death" (The Lalita Vistara, qaoted froro. Metchnikoff's Nature of Man.) In the same straip, again, it is said:"Miserable in truth is this world, in which there is beginning, bixtb, growing old, death, disappearance and renewal. Alas ......... to all who are there comes old age, and illuese, and death and their like"-(Ibid.) Truly, is this world, which appears so beautiful and full of pleasure and fun to the thoughtless, like the Giant's Island in the Arabian Nights Entertain. ment, the unfortunate captives of which are fattened only to be devoured a while later! Here also we have nothing but old age, misery and death in store for us as the end of life in every one of its recurring phases, Those of us who have understood the nature of being and the terms of existence, and are sorrowful in heart, are the wise who withdraw themselves as completely as they can from the lusts and temptations of the flesha to ultimately escape from this huge cannibal's cave, but the rest, who abandon themselves to the pleasures of love and soog and dance, or who only cultivate refined Epicurean tastes, are seized upon and crushed and mangled in the powerful jaw's of the monster (Death) over and over again, in the course of their perennial rovings.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 153 153 FIFTH LECTURE. MYTHOLOGY. (A) This evening's lecture deals with a subject which is of the utmost importance to the proper study of Religion and, therefore, also to the humanity at large. We are going to explore today the region of mythology wbich bas denied the best attempts of the moderns at unravelment. The greatest confusion has hitherto prevailed amongst the propounders of the sacred text, and scholarship, both autochthonous and foreign has been only knocking its head against a dead wall. For some have perceived in the gods of the different countries and pantheons real actual beings and in their strange doings and impossible relationships, irrefutable evidence of their superhuman nature, while others who have either had no superstitions 10 warp their judgment or who have shaken themselves free of them, by education, or otherwise, have taken these innumerable gods and goddesses to be personifications of such natural phenomena as light, rain, fire and the like, or of different kinds of sciences and arts, the art of governing people, the culinary art, etc. etc. But to each and every one of these learned scholars have the Vedas,' the Holy Bible and the Zend Avesta remained a sealed book. The Orientalist thinks that he has a complete solution of the mystery as soon as be has identified Vedic

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154 MYTHOLOGY Surya, Indra and Agni with the sun, ciouds and fire and read the Old Testament and the New Testament compilations historically; and the learned of our day have banded themselves together into a sort of mutual admiration society wliose members are ever ready to ascertain to whom the credit of their diverse discoveries belongs and to proclaim it in a spirit of commendable self-less impartiality. If I have to criticise even a tenth parth of what these learned explorers of the Bibles of the world have written or said on the subject, it would require at least a volume of about a thousand pages. It is not that they are insincere, or uneducated; some of them are really men who have not their equal in respect of learning in this age. But unfortunately they are all, each and every one of them without a single exception, suffering from mental myopia of which they are altogether ignorant. This mental short-sightedness is furtner aggravated by their lavish praises of each other's insight and breadth of view, already binted at. If the learned professor who identified Agni with fire or the eloquent Arya-Samajist who took it to represent the culinary art had taken the trouble to note its strange characteristics, he would have surely found much that would have jarred in the most unwholesome manner upon his self-complacent nerves. He would have found that the ancient Rishis described this strangest of gods as

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 15.5 (1) having three legs, seven hands and seven bongues, (2) the priest of gods, (3) at whose invocation they appeared, (4) by feeding whom they were fed and streng thened, and (5) a devourer of clean and unclean both. There are several other characteristics of Agni, but these are by themselves quite sufficient to arrest any one's attention. I ask you now to show me these distinguishing marks of Agni in your fire or the culinary art, I ask you also to see if you can discover in the elucidations of the learned and the eloquent an explanation of how rain or clouds committed adultery with its or their preceptor's wife and the whereabouts of the marks of disease that were ultimately turned into eyes by Brahma. But you may search as long as you please; modern explanations bave nothing to tell you on these points! . Besides this, it is permissible to ask what may be the relevancy of fire to religion, and what the connection between the art of cooking and the salvation of the soul? But there is no reply to these questions. I reproduce here a portion of a hymn translated by the Arya Samajists to show the flimsy nature of their interpretation. "(1) We whall describe the power-generating virtues of the energetic horses endowed with brilliant properties, or

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156 MYTHOLOGY the virtues of the vigorous force of heat which learned or scientific mon can evoke to work for parposes of appliances (uot sacrifice). "(2) They who preach that only wealth Garded by righteoue nieans should be appropriated and spent, and those born in wisdom, who are well-versed in questioning others elegantly in the sciouce of forms and in correctiog the unwise, these and sach alone drink the potion of strengti. and of power to govern. "(3) The scat possessed of usefui properties yield: inilk, # stengthening food for horses. The best cereal is usefal when made into pleasant food well prepared by an apt cook according to the modes dictated by specific know ledge of the properties of foods." Here you can see at a glance that the distinguishing features of this compositiou are that (1) it has no bearing on religion, and (2) it is like a school-hoy essay in style, and yot a scientific exposition of any art or craft, Needless to say that it is also not the recognised reading of the Vedic hymn of which it purports to be a translation. If this is not dragging down the Vedic Text from its. bigh place of sanctity where the spirit of Hinduism places it we do not kuow what it can be. It is certainly not complimentary to the Hindu community that follow the Vedas. Neither have the Sanatan.dharmists fared any better in this respect. They have blindly repeated the errors of their predecessors, never stopping even to consider

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157 whether the attributes mentioned with reference to the diverse gods and goddesses were or were not the true components or constituents of divinity. Indra committed adultery with his preceptor's spouse, Brihaspati, the deva guru (preceptor of gods), seduced his elder brother's wife during her pregnacy, and Soma, also known Moon, begat a son on the better half of the deva guru himself. But the Sanatan-dharmist has no eyes for these and other similar escapades of the gods. as CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES The strangest thing about these strange deities is that they are no longer making history. Their deeds were all finished and accomplished, so to speak, prior to the composition of the scriptures. How is this possible with living beings especially with actors such as those who cannot live peacefully for a moment without thinking of running away with their neighbours' wives? This one peculiarity of the gods should have sufficed by itself to open the eyes of any seeker after the truth; but, unfortunately, the majority are content to follow blindly in the wake of usage ! What, then, is the true explanation of Vedicism, and what the secret of the divers gods mentioned in the hymns? But before I undertake to answer that I should tell you something about the reason why all these three kinds of Vedic scholars, the superstitious Sanatanist, the Darwinised European, and the half-Darwinised Indian, have failed in getting at the truth. This reason lay in the fact that the Vedas are not written in Sanskrit, just as the Holy Bible is not written in

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158 MYTHOLOGY Hebrew and Greek, or the Qur'an in Arabic! Does this astonish you! It is nevertheless a fact; these sacred scriptures that I have wamed are all written in two languages, not in one. The wordl-symbolism used in their composition, no doubt, is the spoken tongue of a particular people, but tbere is a sense symbolism behind the words which is the real language of the text. It is this language which I have termed Picto-krit (the language of Pictures) in the Foreword. The scholars knew nothing of this sense-symbolism and exhausted themselves on the outer husk. They missed the kernel of truth altogether. This is why the Vedas, the Zend Avesta, the Bible and the Quran have appeard to contain only such childish stuff as nature myths, and the personifications of lakes and rivers and brooks. Generally these scriptures themselves caution us against a literal interpretation). Louis Jacolliot, citing the authori. ty of the Agrouchade Parikchai, says of the Hindu Scriptures (see the Occult Science in India, p. 102) - "The sacred scriptures ought not to be taken in their apparent meaning, as in the case of ordinary books. Of what ose would it be to forbid their revelation to the profane if their secret meaning were contained in the literal senge of the language usually employed.... The Vedas do not explain themselves, and they can only be understood when the guru has removed the garment with which they are clothed, and scattered the clouds that veil their celestial light." Unfortunately Jacolliot bimself acquired no true insight in Hinduism though he understood the true prio,

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CONFLUENCE OF orrosites , 159 ciples of reading these Books. His mind was too much obsessed with current materialistic notions to enable him to get at the underlying spiritual significance. " The Sacred Text," writes Mr. K. N. Iyre in bis highly valuable work, The Permanent History of Bharatavarsha', "the sacred Text never tells tales of past history, but contains valuable instructions in the best interest of humanity. The proper scientific method or procedure for religious development is described in the garbof histories and geographies, law and politics." The Vedas require the aid of the Vedangas to be understood, and the most important Vedanga is Niruktum (the method of interpretation) without a knowledge of which no one is allowed to explain the Vedic Text. In the preface to his highly interesting Mahabharata or Karma Yoga, Mr. K. N. Iyre again urges :"For the purpose of enlightening the ordinary people in the manner above described, the ancient anthors have explained valuable scientific truths in the guise of stories for conveying religious instructions. Suitable technical terms were coined and defined which in themselves would suggest their intended meanings by the very roots of their formation, known as Niruktam, one of the six Angas of the Vedas. --The technical terms so coined were also carefully defined in the texts to prevent possibilities of error from the very beginning." We may or may vot agree with M<<. Iyre as to the justification for this method of instruction, but there

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160 MYTHOLOGY can be no doubt but that the text was not intended to be read in the literal sense of the words. Not only has a derivative significance been employed to alter the current purport of words, but free use has also been made of allegory and other forms of subtle symbolism to depict human thought in a garb so alluring and enchanting as to elude the gaze of the prying intellect at every turn. In Judaism and Christianity a method of what may be termed numerical equation of words was also resorted to to conceal the real sense of the writers. The Kabbalah is the Esoteric side of Judaism, "It is now felt", writes S. L. MacGregor Mathers in the Introduction to his 'Kabbalah Uoveiled', "it is now felt that the Bible which has been probably more misconstrued than any other book ever written contains Dumberless obscure and mysterious passages which are utterly un-intelligible without some key wherewith to unlock their meaning. That key is given in the Qabalah." The Kabbalah is divided into three parts ; Gematria, Notariqon and Temuru. Of these Gematria is based on the numerical values of words and phrases, I hose of an identical value being taken as synonymous. The other two are complex methods of forming seatences by taking the letters of a word to stand for a complete word each, and the like, with which we have no concern bere. Great stress was laid in Jewish Esotericisin on the science of numbers as this method of equation of terms may be called. There are no separate numeral characters in Hebrew, each letter

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 161 having a peculiar numerical value; aliph=I; beth=2; gimel=3; daleth=4, and so forth. This is the foundation of the doctrine that every word is a number and every number a word. We have the identical system of numerical values of words in Urdu and Persian, commonly known as the abjad ( ) method. The Jews seem to have made the greatest use of this system in composing their scriptures. The scriptures thus represent a real body of secret doctrines that can only be known by the elucidation of the symbolism, in which they are couched. "According to the Kabbalah, all these esoteric doctrines are contained in the Hebrew Scriptures. The uninitiated cannot perceive them ; but they are plainly revealed to the spiritually minded, who discern the profound import of this theosophy beneath the surface of the letters and words of Holy writ" (Ency. Brit. Eleventh Edi. Vol. XV. p. 621, art. Kabbalah). "This secret mysticism," we learn from ERL. (vol. VII. p. 622 art. Kabbalah)," was no late growth. Difficult though it is to prove the date and origin of this system of philosophy and the intluences and causes which produced it, we can be fairly certain that its roots stretch back very far, and that the medieval and Geonic Kabbalah was the colmination and not the inception of Jewisla esoteric mysticism." This method of secret instruction is also followed in the New Testament. Mr. J. M. Pryse tells us (see the Apocalypse Unsealed, p. I.) :"Every thoughtful student of the literature of the ancient religions, including that of early Christianity, cannot

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162 MYTHOLOGY bat be impressed by the fact that in each and all of theus may be found very clear intimations of a secret traditional lore, an archaic acionce, handed down from times immemorial. This secret body of kuowledge is repeated. ly alluded to in the New Testament, as algo iu the Upanishads and other ancient writings, in whose pages a few of the arcane doctrines are cautiously nuveiled ; and from the ineagre glimpses thus afforded by the system it is clearly apparent that it was essentially the same in all the old religions aud philosophies, coustitating, in fact, their commou vsoteric basis. In the primitivo Christian church, organised as a secret society, this Guosis or secret science, was guarded with jealous care. being imparted only to a comparative few who were deemed worthy of initiation, according to the maxim many are the called bat few are the chosen'. Through corrupting political influences and the altimate domiDance by a selfish aud decadent priesthood, the Christian society in the early centaries lost this esoteric kuowledge, in place of which there grew np during the succeeding centuries 4 system of cognatio theology formulated from the literal interpretation, the dead letter, of the books of the Old and the New Testaments. On the hypothesis that the Bible, as a divino revelation, contains a record of God's dealings with maukiud throughout the ages, the historical element in it has been onduiy emphasised, while books that are purely allegorical and mystical have been construed as history." With reference to the mysterious work entitled the Apocalypse, Mr. Pryse einphatically asserts that it gives the key to that divine Goosis which is the same in all ages, and superior to all faiths and philosophies--

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 163 that secret science which is io reality secret only because it is hidden and locked in the inner nature of every wan, however iguorapt and humble, aud uone but himself can turu the koy.... In plain words... it gives the esoteric interpretatiou of tho Christos rayth; it tells what Iesoas, the Christos' really is, it explains the nature of the old ser pept, who is the Devii and Satan '; it repajiates the profane couception of an authropomorphis God; and with sublime imagery it points out the true and the only path to Lite eternai" (Ibid. p. 5). It is not a new case that I am making out before you. As early as the fourth century A, D. Origen, a famous Christian, who was, on the authority of the Encyclo. Britannica, the inost distinguished and most influential of all the theologians of the ancient Chris. tian church, had applied the allegorical method witir reference to the interpretation of the Holy Bible. Origen fully believed that there was not either in the Old or the New Testament a single syilable that was void of divine meaning and import, << But how," he asks, 'can we conciliate with thi, tenet of their entire inspiration the existence in the Bible of such tales as that of Lot and his daughters, of Abraham prostituting first one wife and then another, of a succession of at least three days and nights before the sun war created ? Who will be found idiot enough to believe that God planted trees in Paradise like any husbandman ; that he set up in it visible palpable tree-trunks, labelled the one * Tree of Life,' and the other Tree of koowledge of Good and Evil,' both bearing real fruit that wight be masticated with corporeal teeth ; that he went

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164 MYTHOLOGY and walked about the garden; that Adam hid under a tree; that Cain fled from the face of God? The wise reader may well ask what the face of God is, and how any one could get away from it? Nor is the old Testament only full of such incidents as no one regardful of good sense and reason can suppose to have really taken place or to be sober history. In the Gospels equally such narratives abound. How can it be literally true, how a historical fact, that from a single mountain-top with fleshly eyes all the realms of Persia, of Scythia, and of India could be seen adjacent and at once? The careful reader will find in the Gospels any number of cases similar to the above" (quoted from the History of The New Testament Criticism, by F. C. Conybeare, pp. 9 and 10.) Read historically the Bible, like the Vedas, can only yield a harvest of contradictions and absurdities. Even the genuineness of the Bible as an historical record is open to question. Impartial Biblical scholars, professing Christianity, have found themselves forced to regard certain portions of the Old and the New Testaments as simple forgeries (Encyclo. Britannica, art. Bible). I have ne time to point out to you the contradictions in the Holy Bible, but here is an abridged extract from a learned article which summarises a few of them (see The Theosophist, Vol. xxxv. p. 396) : "The gospels constantly contradict each other and S. John's is so different from the other three that a division has been made by all scholars between it and what are called the three synoptic Gospels...... Apart from the fact that S. John's way of speaking of the Christ is very different

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 165 from that we find in the synoptics, he does not mentions the Lord s supper, he gives a different day for the Lord'sdeath, speaks of three feasts of the Passover where the others speak but of one, and relates alrnost all the incidents of the life of Christ as taking place at Jerusalem, whereas, according to the synoptics, only the end of his life was spent there. In S. John's version the character of John the Baptist loses almost all its importance, the miracles are quite different, becoming more astonishing and, at the same time, more symbolical ; the whole character of Jesus is much more divine and more like an aspect of the LOGOS than in the synoptics ; but at the same time he speaks of Jesus as the son of Joseph, and does not mention the birth from a virgin...... Neither do the so-called synoptica agree together. To begin with the date of the birth of Jesus is fixed by Matthew as occarriog four years before our era at the very latest (ander Herod). Luke makes it ten years later (dariog the enrolment), or in the year 6 A. D., yet states, further on, that in the fifteeath year of Tiberius--our 29 A. D.--Christ was about thirty years old.... The Miraculous birth is not related by S. Mark ; S. Matthew and S. Luke give two quite different genealogies for Christ'e: descent, through Joseph, from King David, but there... are in contradiction with the story of His birth from a Virgin. Had Mary and Joseph known of the miraculous birth, would they have been astonished when Christ spoke in the Temple of Hie Father's business (Luke, ii. 58)? The miracles related by the synoptics, are much alike, but the circumstances ander which they are stated to have occurred are very different...... The greatest miracle--the raising of Lazarus-is related only by S. Johu. The other miracles art...often allegories (the

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166 MYTHOLOGY multiplication of loaves, the changing of water into wide, etc.) The names of the persons at the foot of the cross are not given in two placus alike. On the sabject of resurrection the synoptics Jiffer considerably. What Mark says io XVI 9. 20 is an appendix added afterwards ....(Luke's] historical indications are false. Herod was verer Kiog, hat a governor. Cyrenius, whom he brings Avto his history of Je$15, governed from the year 7 to 11 A. D., and had consequently nothing to do with the story. He also mentions the wame of Lysapias, although he had died thirty-four years before Jesus was born...... The Gospel writers cannot have been familiar with the customs of the Jews in Palestiue, when they speak of baptising in a river, and especially in the Jordan, where even bathing was prohibited. In Luke we find two high prieste, Caiaphas and Adnan, existing at the same tinie which is impossible. We find Jesu: teaching in the Temple where ouly sacrifices took place, the synagogue serving for preaching......It we compare the Jewish Legal Code with the Gospel stories we come across very strauge contradictions. It was strictly prohibited to hold jodicial proceediogs on days of religious feasts, $0 Jesus can never have been judged on the day of the Pansover. It was also forbiddeu to carry arms on such days, so that the chief priests would never have sent the Temple Guard to arrest Christ, and Peter would cerainly not have woru a sword." The above is a summary of but a few of the Biblical contradictions. But European Scijolarship has not been content with pointing out mere discrepancies in the Bibilcal text; it has also busied itself in tracing the sources of the varions Joctrines of the Gospels them.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 167 selves. It has now been shown, as the result of this scholarly investigation, that. Ha number of data in the Christian gospels, both miraculous aod 000-miraculous, held by Christians to be historical, or at least, accretiops rouod the life and doctrine of a remarkable religious teacher and creed-founder, are really mere adaptations from royths of much greater antiquity ; and that accordiogly the alleged or iuferred personality of the Founder is under suspicion of being as mythical me that of the demigods of elder lore...... Broadly, the contention is that wben overy salient item in the legend of the gospel Jesus torus out to be more or less clearly mythical, the matter of doctrine, equally so with the matter of action, there is simply nothiog left which can entitle anyone to a belief in any tangible personality behind the maine. Such a view. as scholars are aware, ir pot now in the listory of criticiant, though the grounds for it may be so. Jo the second century, if not in the first, the Docetoe' had come to conceive of the Founder as a kind of snperuatural phantom, which only seemed? lo suffer on the cross; and many Goostics had all aloug regarded him as an abstraction. One or other view recurs in medieval heresy from time to time. A Docetio' view of Jesus was proferred by the secret rooiety of cleries and others which was broken ap at Orleaux aboat 1022 ; and in England, as elsewhere, in the sixteepth ceutary, nectaries are found taking highly mystical views of the Foouder's personality. To the fifteenth century, again, Voltaire tells of dinciples of Bolingbroke who on ground of historical criticiso denied the historicity of Jesus ; and in the period of the French Revolutiou we have not only the works of Volaey and Dupuis, reducing the gospel

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168 o MYTHOLOGY biography to a set of astronomical mythe, but the anonynuous German work mentioned by Strauss as reducing it to an ideal which had a prior existence in the Jewish mind, thongh admitting divergences."...("Cbristianity and Mythology" by J. M. Robertson, p. 276). Another writer of note, and one who was for a number of years associated most intimately with the Christian Church from which he ultimately withdrew himself, is Joseph McCabe who writes in his "Bankruptcy of Religion," pp. 162 et seq. as follows :" The science of comparative religion... enquires how the mythical Jeggs of the Gospele was evolved and the task is not difficnlt. We do not know where the gospels were written, but we know that at the time they were written Christianity was spread over the eastern end of the Mediterranean at least from Alexandria to Corinth, and the fival Gospels were most probably written in that region. Now in these cities the myths and creeds and priesthoods of all religions were richly represented. Priests of Egypt, Syria, Persia, Greece, Rome and of less known provinces of the Empire, set up their temples and vigoronely proselytised everywhere. Myths, legende and rites passed easily from one religion to another. Many of the myths were found to resemble each other closely in religions. which came from quite distant countries...... There never was such a melting pot in the history of the world as that eastern shore of the Mediterranean in the first century of our era when Rome fuged the natious into one empiro. "Careful research into the movements of the old empires, the sacred books of the old religious, the writings of the Christian fathers and certain of the pagaus have now

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 169 established that all the chief mythical elements of the life of Jesus already existed in that cosmopolitan World. The healing and other miracles do not, of course, require any special study. Such things are not only ascribed to holy mon, in the Old Testament, but they were claimed in every nation and religion of that uncritical age....., The works of the Right Hou'ble J. M. Robertson ...contain an exhaustive and learned study of this important branch of comparative religion. Mr. Robertson has, in fact, traced anythical parallels to the Gospel stories in such minute details that he is convinced that no such person as Jesus ever existed ; that the whole story is a mythical compilation founded on a sacred drama or mystery-play....... The evidence accumulated by Mr. Robertson, and in part repeated and expanded by Sir J. G. Frazer in his Golden Bough, must convince any impartial person that the stories of the birth, resurrection, aud the atoning mission of Jesus are but the application to Jesus of raythy that were widely current in religions of the time......The death and resurrection of Christ are probably to the average believer the central and unique truth of the Christian religion. Now every well-informed theologian has known for ages that in the Roman World in which Christianity arose the appual commemoration of the death and resurrection of a god was the most cominon religious feature. The Egyptian calt of Psiris, the Babylonian cult of Tammuz (or Adonis), and the Phrygian cult of Attis had celebrated this annual solemnity for unknown ages, and had, in the fusion of natious in the Roman Empire spread it over the whole eastern world. The Greeks adopted the festival centuries before Christ was born ; the Persian cult of Mithra also adopted it. It is safe to say that

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170 there was not a city of that old world, before the time of Christ, which had not one or more temples, of different religions, attracting full public attention to the annual celebrations of the death and resurrection of a god." The resemblance in the Mithraic temples actually went so far that the resurrected god was hailed as "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." All this is certainly fatal to the historicity of Jesus himself who is the central figure in the New Testament. It is certainly most astonishing that God should not have revealed the existence of his son to any of the earlier or tater prophets, especially of such a son as Jesus who was to redeem the world. On the contrary we were distinctly told by God (Isaiah, xliii. ii): MYTHOLOGY "L, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour." This is not contradicted but confirmed by Ecclesiastes (iv-8): 20 There is one alone, and there is not a second, yea he hath neither child nor brother." Is it the same God that is supposed to be the Father of Jesus who is speaking here? If so, why does he deny his having a child? And is it the same Supreme Divinity that the Hindus worship as Ishwara, the Muhomedans as Allah and the Parsis as Ahura Mazda ? If so, why did he not tell them, too, that he had a son? Islam succeeded Christianity after six centuries, and is said to be founded on revelation. How is it, then, that Mahomed denied the sonship of Jesus? There is sufficient food for reflection here in this circumustance. We must come to

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 171 one or the other of the two conclusions that either the father of Jesus is not the same being as Ishwara of Hindus, the Allah of Islam, and the Mazda Ahura of Zoroaster, or that the books of these diverse religions are pot really meant to be read as history. The fact is that the Gospels themselves make no secret of being written in a secret script, the meaning of which is required to be elucidated. The sayings of Jesus were imparted in parables that has to be explained to the disciples over and over again, and yet they understood not at times even then (see Mark ix. 31-32; Luke xviii. 32-34 ; Mark ix. 10). Jesus is even said to have opened the understanding of his disciples after his resurrection (Luke, xxiv. 45). so that they might understand the scrip. Irres. The injunction against enlightening the profane is recorded in these memorable words in Matthew vii. 6 : avised "Olive uot that which is holy onto the dogs, weither cast ye your pearls before gwiue, lest they trainple them under their feet and tarn again and rend you.' Israel had already been told by Isaiah (vi-9): " Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye itdeed, but perceive not." Jesus conforms to and fully confirms this wiien he says :** Therefore speak I to them in parables : because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.......... For this plople's heart is waxed grose, and their ears are dull of leariog, and their eyes they have closed" (Matt. XII. 13 and 15).

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172 MYTHOLOGY "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,"-was the oft-repeated word of warning with Jesus (Matt. xiii.. 9). There was something, then, in the teaching of the New Testament which required seeing, hearing and understanding ! It was not a case of plain-speaking; the divine teacher was not preaching history, even though he became a very great factor in its subsequent making. The Gospel-writers did not take even the earlier records of Judaism in their literal sense. Jesus is once reported to have said : "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John, viii, 32). To the Doctors of Law who set themselves up as the teachers of truth he said :* Woo unto you lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge ; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered" (Luke, xi. 52). The learned cleric has absolutely no idea of what this passage means. He certainly knows nothing of a key, much less of a key of knowledge, and has never heard of any Hall or Place from which the unfortunate * lawyers' debarred themselves and their followers by, taking it away'! To him all is history, and nothing but bistory,--the history of a mad love for the unbelieving, idol-worshipping Israel on the part of Jehovah, or of the doings of a newly-announced son of God, become flesh to redeem the sinners! Iu vain do the Gospel-writers cry themselves hoarse in shouting "whoso readeth, let him understand" (Matt, xxiv. 15); so sure

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 173 are we of our "history" that we cannot afford to be moved by the injunction! In the book of Revelation also we have it :"He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith anta the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, wbich is in the nidst of the paradise of God" (ch&p. ii. 7). I think it is useless to multiply further instances, It is a clear case of non-historical documents being treated as narratives of fact. The impossible relationship of a father and a son both of whom are said to be co-eval and eternal is a sufficient reason, in itself to falsify the bistorical sense. As I stated in the Key of Knowledge, we are not dealing here with a case where an historical nucleus is needed to account for subsequent deification ; the documents before us are purely mythological in nature, and cannot be construed as bistory. The only real person at the back of this huge tangle of mythical lore is the composer of the original work which seems to have furnished the source and substratum of the mutually contradictory accounts of the gospels; but unfortunately he has not deemed it fit to reveal himself to the world. That he was a man of considerable wisdom and enlightenment and familiar with some of the most abstruse doctrives of mysticism and yoga is evident from his work, though, for obvious reasons, we are precluded from regarding the gospel narratives as his auto-biography, The nature of the contradictions which exist in connection with the life of Jesus, when we try to study

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174 it from the stand-point of the historian, is so deliberate and determined that no single fact can be seized as an actual event in the world of men. There is piling up of allegory upon allegory and metapher upon metaphor, on the one hand, and a delightful determination to violate the order of events, invent personalities, defy facts, disregard chronology, and, in every possible way, to act as if history was only meant to be topsy-turvy, on the other, The inference is plain: the narrators were anxious to guard against being understood in an historical sense, and took every precaution to set it at nought. The gospels, thus, constitute the records of the spiritual progress of "Jesus", the soul, rather than so many editions of the " Life and Teachings of Jesus, the Man", written by so many writers. MYTHOLOGY Our theory, then, is that the Biblical contradictions, like those of the Hindu scriptures, are either due to a deliberate effort on the part of the gospel-writers to discredit the historical sense, or arise as a natural consequence of mythological symbology. We shall presently see that this theory will not only prove to be the true explanation but will also at once bring the teaching of the Bible in a line with the earlier scriptures, reconciling it with the true scientific view of things at the same time, I shall now take up Islam, which, as you know, was founded about thirteen hundred years ago, by Mahomed who became ultimately associated with history. The sacred book of Islam, too, is couched in

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 175 mythological garb. It mostly follows the teaching of the portion known as the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, and has a body of tradition of its own besides. There is a tablet of destiny on which Allah wrote at the commencement of the world with the Pen of Fate of which the Jews and the Christians were both kept ignorant. The story of Dhul Qarnein, the history of the bro. thers Yajuj and Majuj, and the disobedience of Satan are some of the other items of interest in Al Qur'an. That these are pure mythologies, like the fall of Adam, is hardly open to doubt in our day. As a matter of fact there was a sect of Muslims themselves who maintained that the allegorical method was the only true method of interpretation of the Quranic text. As shown in ERE. (vol. ix. p. 881): "One of the main problems of Maslim philosophy was naturally the definition of its relation to religiou, as presented in the Qur'an and the Tradition. Many theologiaus, more or less couscions of this problem, were already working towards its solution by spiritualising the letter of the law, having taken ovor from Hellenigma the allegorical method of interpreting sacred writings. Those who applied this. method in thorough going fashiou were called Batinites (adherents of the inner sense, [batin, interior ', inside]). Extreme mysties, rationalists, and free-thinkers all came in this way to the same results. Another theory common to them all was that the inner genge of the word the trath- as revealed to only a few, whether by diving enlighteumeut (mystics) or by one's own reflection - (rationalists and free-thinkers)."

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176 MYTHOLOGY We are further informed that Muslim Aristotelians agreed with this view in the main, Averroes, for instance, * holding that there was no ground for conflict between reason and faith. since the doctrines of religion were simply symbolical expressions of philosophic truth (Ibid). As a matter of fact, the early admiration for philoso. phy on the part of the leaders of Islam is clear evidence of the belief in an underlying harmony between the scriptural text and science, however much Muslim Vandalism may be responsible for the destruction of knowledge in later times. The Prophet himself bad, according to the Tradition, highly extolled the faculty of intellect, saying ; "He dieth not who giveth (bis) life to learning" (see "The Sayings of Mohammed "). Ali is also reported to have said : " Philosophy is the lost sheep of the faithful; take it up again, even if from the infidel" (ERE. vol. ix. p. 878). Muslim Aristotelians, too, we learn from the same source, held that their philosopliy was the highest form. of truth attainable by mai). Amongst later thinkers, S'adi of Shiraz lays the greatest emphasis on kuowledge when he says:wnlu islas Wlo.fj polo se as (he who is without knowledge cannot know God). It is thus clear that the scriptural text in the Holy Qur'an, too, is not to be taken in the literal sense of the words, and the inclusion of such mythis as the Talbet of Destiny, the eating of the forbidden fruit,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 177 and the like, at once stamps the Bible of Islam as a work of the same type as the Vedas and the Books of the Old and the New Testaments, We shall now undertake to solve some of the mythologies ourselves. To begin with the Hindu god Ganesha, who insists on being invited before other gods, he is described as (i) riding on a rat; (ii) having a body composed of a human trunk and an elephant's head ; (iii) the youngest of gods ; (iv) yet the most mischievous, if neglected at the commencement of an undertaking; (v) engaged in eating a laddu (an Indian sweet meat ball); and (vi) called ek danta, because of bis having only one tusk instead of two in his trunk. This child-god has hitherto defied unravelment, because the scholars have only searched in the outside world for the object which he represents. The true secret was given in the Key of Knowledge for the first time in this age. Ganesha represents Intellect or Wisdot, as is evident from the following correspondences :(i) the rat, which is chiefly known on account of cutting up things, is a symbol for analysis ; (ii) Ganesha himself with an elephant's trunk joined to a human body is the very 'form of synthesis (piecing up or putting together);

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178 MYTHOLOGY (iii) Wisdom is the youngest of gods (divine qualities), because the soul that has wandered in transmigration for the whole of the past eternity of time acquires it only when about to obtain salvation; (iv) though the youngest of gods Wisdom or Intellect insists on being the first to be consulted at the commencement of an undertaking, disaster being but a natural result of its being neglected; (v) the laddu represents the fruit of Wisdom, since the wise naturally enjoy happiness (sweet); and "eko (vi) Ek-danta stands for the monistic text Brahman duyityo-nasti" (Brahman is the one being, and there is no second), which is supposed to be the final conclusion Wisdom ultimately establishes. Such is the charming personality of Ganesha. It is interesting as well as instructive. The original composer of this elegant impersonation was, as we learn from the visiting card, hidden in the missing tusk, a learned monist (Vedantist) whose knowledge of psychologly turns out to be as exact as it is astonishing. Ganesha to whom we have just had the pleasure of being introduced is,. thus, not the outcome of a primitive savage mind bent on personifying wind, clouds or

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 179 rain, but an idolising, in poetical garb, of the most essential element for salvation, as is clear from such texts as rite jnanan na mukti (no salvation without knowledge). . Having offered our obeisance to the divinity of Widom, we shall now proceed to study the scheme of the Vedic gods. As Sayana, the most distinguished of the Vedic commentators, says, there are three principal gods that are really reducible to one in the Vedas. These are Surya, Indra and Agni, who have been grossly misunderstood by one and all in modern times, Now, in order to understand their nature fully it is necessary to bear in mind the scientific truths estaba lished by us in an earlier lecture, I shall summarise them for facility of reference once more. (i) The soul is a substance which is endowed with potential Omniscience, that is to say which will be omniscient but for the clogg. ing impurities adhering to it. (ii) The impure soul is constantly engaged in traffic with the outside world through the door ways of the senses, and undergoing metempsychosis, (iii) The means to the attainment of divinity and perfection is tapas (severe self-denial, ze, asceticism), In other words, every soul is a paramatman (God) in potency ; it is however a jivatman (unredeemed or

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180 MYTHOLOGY impure ego) so long as it is involved in matter ; and the escape from matter is possible through tapas. The three subjects wiich everyone desirous of obtain. ing salvation must study are, therefore, (i) the nature of the soul-substance, (ii) the characteristics of an impure jiva, and (iii) the method of its purification. These three I must now tell you are also the subjects which are represented by the three principal gods." Surya, Indra and Agni-in the scheme of the Vedic Pantheon. (i) Surya is a symbol for Omniscience. for, as the sun reveals all objects when it rises in the sky, so does Omniscience reveal all objects of knowledge when it arises in the soul; (ii) Indra stands for an impure ego, trafficking with the world through indriyas (the senses); and (iii) Agni is tapas personified, which is the cause of salvation, In a detailed way, Indra (i) committed adultery with his own preceptor's wife, (ii) in consequence of which he was afflicted with ugly spots all over his body ; (iii) but these were turned into eyes at the inter vention of Brahina. soul

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 18 (iv) Indra is also the father of his own father. The correspondence of these is as follows: (i) (a) The adultery is the penetration of spirit into matter, a forbidden act, since emancipation only signifies release from the embrace of matter. (6) Life and Intellect are the two faculties of the soul of which Lise is continuous or enduring but Intellect subject to vicissitudes, e.g., its suspension in sleep. (c) The source of education to Life is Intellect, external books and teachers being only ins trumental but not the real causes. (d) Intellect is as a rule inclined towards mat ter and but rarely turns to the study of Life, e.g., European Intellectualism which has hitherto been confined to soul-less' materialism. The conception of the penetration or entry of pure spirit into matter is that of a forbidden act (adultery) with what is most intimately related to (hence the wise of) Intellect, that is the true teacher of Life (hence its own guru). (ii) The disease-marks are the ignorant jivas, the product of the interaction between spirit and matter; they are blind' at first on: account of ignorance.

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182 MYTHOLOGY (iii) But when they become self-conscious in conse quence of Brahman Jnana (prayer to Brah. - ma) their eyes are, as it were, opened. Hence, Brahma is said to have converted the ugly spots on the body of Indra into eyes. (iv) Indra is the father of his own father, because, .(a) the term father is a symbol for what is termed the material cause of a thing, and (6) because the material cause of a purified spirit is an impure ego, while the latter is itself the product of union of pure spirit and matter. Hence, is the one conceived to be the source (father) of the other. Such briefly is the nature of Indra and such the description of bis highly reprehensible adultery with his preceptor's wife. We have no time to go into further details here, but it may be stated that the enemy of this god is the demon of darkness which stands for ignorance, and the rain that is associated with his name is the peaceful shower of shanti (tranquillity) which descends when the heat of passions and mithyatua (error) has subsided. Agni, the third member of this most important trio of deities, is the symbolisation of tapas as already stated. We saw how irrelevant and absurd it was to treat this deity as a personification of fire or as the culinary art ; but the relevancy of tapas needs no demonstration.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 183 Even the word Agni (fire) is the most appropriate one for tapas, because asceticism is really the purification of the mind by the fire of vairagya, or the baptism of fire, as it is termed, in the canonical books of Christianity. As for the special characteristics of Agni, the god (i) has three feet, (ii) seven hands, and (iii) seven tongues ; (iv) he is the priest of gods who appear at his invocation ; (v) he is the devourer of the clean and the un clean both, and (vi) the giver of strength to gods, so that the more he is fed by sacrificial oblations, the greater is the strength imparted to gods, The Explanation of these highly artistic conceptions is as follows: ) Tapas rests on three kinds of controls, namely, (a) the control of the mind, (b) the control of the body, and (c) the control of speech. There can be no tapas if only two of these controls are exercised, and there is no fourth thing to control. Because tapas rests on these three kinds of controls, it is said to have three legs or feet.

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184 MYTHOLOGY (ii) The seven hands represent the seven kinds of occult powers that are acquired by ascetics, There are seven psychic chakras (plexes) in the spinal column and a specific occult force is conceived as slumbering in each one of them. These are roused into activity by asceticism. As power is exercised by hands generaliy, these seven kinds of occult powers are described as the seven hands of Agni. (iii) The seven tongues are the five senses, manas or mind and buddhi (intellect) which are to be offered up as a sacrifice to Agni. (iv) As the divine attributes of the soul become manifest by the practising of tapas, Agni is said to be the priest of gods (= divine attri butes) who appear at his invocation, (v) Virtue and vice are both causes of bondage, the former leading to pleasant and the latter to unpleasant kinds of rebirths. Both of them have to be given up ultimately for pure self-contemplation. Hence Agni is the devourer of the clean (virtue) and the unclean (vice) both. (vi) The food of Agni is self-sacrifice, i.e., the sacrificing of desires, because asceticism consists in curbing one's desires. The divine qualities and attributes of the soul are developed and strengthened by the

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 185 destruction of desires. These divine qualities and and attributes are termed gods in the language of symbolism. Hence, the gods are strengthened by the offering of sacrifices to Agni. Such is the character of Agni, which, as you are aware, is not only venerated by the Hindus but also by the followers of the Zend Avesta. The entire scheme of the Vedic mythology is thus clearly reducible to the following important points ; (1) the indivial soul is its own God--the jivatman and the Paramatman are one ; (2) the pure soul is fully divine, being endowed with Omniscience which is a mark of divinity; (3) this natural divinity of the soul is marred by its union with matter; and (4) asceticism is the path which leads to Perfection and Godhood. We thus see that the Vedic Mythology is nothing but an expression in symbolical language of some of the most important scientific truths about Life. The subject is highly interesting, but I cannot afford to dwell any longer on it. You will find it discussed in my Practical Path' and in the Key of Knowledge' which deals with different mythologies in a cosmopolitan spirit of enquiry. Another buok to which I would like to refer you in this connection is the Permanent History of Bharatvarsha that has already been quoted in the

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186 MYTHOLOGY course of this evening's lecture. It is a compilation containing an explanation of hundreds of mythological - symbols for which the author quotes chapter and verse, though no attempt is made at an original study by determining the correspondences of the allegorical at. tributes of the diverse gods and goddesses. It would seem that the Hindu mind at one time evolved out a mania for personification, and devoted itself whole-heartedly to adorning the progeny of its exuberant thought in all sorts of ways. Not one word of its sacred literature is therefore valid historically, not even the narratives of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Its indications of time and place are as unreal scientifically as the personages associated with them. Vasishta rishi is not a human being, but a symbol, expressing s'ruti (revelation), while Vishvamitra is meditation ( manana); their quarrels signify the con. flict between revelation and reason which is fairly common with mystic creeds. S'ruti, however, always triumphs in the end, and so we have Vasishti overcoming his rival. The fourteen lokas (regions) are the fourteen sthanas or positions assigned to man in his religious development. The creation of the world has reference to the peopling of the mind with spiritual thoughts; preservation signifies the development of spiritual life ; and destruction is of the evil tendencies and traits. Brahma, the creator, is, thus, the spiritual buddhi (intellect) that reduces the mental chaos into orderly thought, peopling the mind with holy concep

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 187 tions and ideas. Vishnu, the Preserver, is dharma which is the cause of increased merit; he preserves what Brahma has created and nothing else. Lastly, Shiva or Mahesha is vairagya (desirelessness or renunciation) that is the destroyer of the forces of karma and evil. From another point of view, Rishabha is dharma, Bharata, the son of Rishabha, devotion, and bull the symbol of dharma. Jambu-dvipa is the devotional sphere for the mortal man, and Bharatavarsha, the processes and scope of devotional karmas. Kurukshetra is the psychic chakra (plexus) at the junction of the nose and eyes in the human body; Prayag, in the heart, Mathura, the thousand-petalled lotus, in the head, and Gobardhana. is the mind. Haridwar stands for dispassion, the Ganges, the Jamna and the Saraswati, for the three nerve-currents known respectively as the Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna; and yugas are divisions of tapas, with the human body reckoned as a year. The avataras (incarnations of deity) are the gradual steps on the path of dharma, leading to the goal of perfection. I think this is sufficient to show you the real nature of Hindu mythology. I shall now proceed to unravel the doctrine of the fall' which is the basis of Judaism and Christianity. To begin with, you must banish from your minds the notion that there ever was a spot on the earth or in heaven, known as Eden, where a Supreme Being. planted a grove of beautiful trees once upon a time. We have seen, in the quotation from Origen, how

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188 MYTHOLOGY absurd such a supposition really is, If you try to picm ture to yourself further the two famous trees, that of Life and that of knowledge of Good and Evil, you will see the absurdity of the supposition becoming still more ridiculous. Then, why should knowledge of Good and Evil be forbidden to man? Why, again, should he be punished so cruelly for just one piece of the fruit as to be cursed and turned out of the Garden, to become subject to death, and to have his children and grand-children, and their remotest descendants, down to the very last man, inflicted with wretchedness and misery ? And if the punishment was what * was intended from the very first and an omniscient god must be deemed to have known from the very outset that Adam will prove disobedient--why do we find Jehovah repeatedly sending down prophets for the guidance of the fallen humanity ? Could he not have redeemed them with a word, just as he had cursed them with a word ? If you ponder over these aud other similar questions that arise on the literal interpretation of this legend, you will agree with Origen that it is not to be taken as a narrative of facts. Its purport is hidden, like the purport of the Vedic deities, I shall now place before you the esoteric interpretation of this fable. (1) The Garden of Eden is a represention of the attributes of the soul.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 189 *2) The Tree of Life and the Tree of knowledge Good and Evil are two such attributes that are the most important of all; hence, they grow in the centre. (3) Adam is the individual ego that has reached the stage of evolution known as "human birth," (4) Eve is the Intellect that is made from Adam's rib taken out in sleep-an apt simile since the intellect is only a form or function of the ego, with which one finds oneself endowed on waking up from sleep. (5) Man alone is qualified for salvation and therefore entitled to be taught dharma (re. ligion). The animals are debarred from salvation because of their general deficiencies in respect of intellect and other bodily and mental functions. Even the residents of heavens and hells are not entitled to salvation because they are not fitted to perform tapas, Hence, man is the principal recipient of dhar. mic injunctions. (6) The Tree of Life represents Life itsell, and the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, the determination of the value of things. 6 The fruit (consequence) of knowledge of good and evil represents what are termed zdga (attachment) and dvesha (aversion), because we long to possess what we regard as

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190 MYTHOLOGY good and to destroy what is bad. If you will now pause for a moment to ponder over the nature of good and evil you will find that they are not concrete things, nor even constants in nature, but mere terms of comparison, In the already noticed instance, the birth of an heir is hailed with joy by the childless millionaire, but it is the actual source of despair and gloom to the expectant' reversioner. The child is bimself but an event ; it is auspicious, lucky and therefore good to its parents ; but the source of life-long despair and misery to those whom its presence debars from stepping into the jewelled shoes of the millionaire. In the breast of the one it excites love and affection (attachment), in that of the other batred and anger (aversion). Thus, attachment and aversion are the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil', (8) Attachment and aversion (raga and dvesha) are two general forms of desire which is the cause of bondage, as demonstrated in an earlier lecture. Hence, the injunction against the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, (9) The soul is immortal by nature, being a simple substance, but birth and death are imposed on it on account of its embodied condition. Hence, the statement: "In the day

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 191 that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die "* (Genesis, ii, 17). It is noticeable that Adam did not die on the day that he ate of the fruit of discrimination, but lived for a very considerable period of time thereafter, dying at the age of 930 (Genesis, v. 5). The true interpretation of the text of Genesis, ii, 17, then, can only be this that the liability to death is incurred as the result of the eating of the forbidden fruit. (10) The force of desire which drags the soul away from the path of dharma to what is forbidden is the serpent through which came the temptation. Tbe ego entangled in the discrimination of good and evil of the objects of the senses has no knowlege of the true nature of the Soul that the self is the true God-and bides himself from external deities through superstition, (12) Adam throws the blame for the evil deed on" his understanding (Eve), while Eve (Under standing or Intellect) asserts that she was misled and overpowered by desire (the serpent). This is fully in keeping with the psychological functions of the will, intellect and desire. For our will is guided by the intellect, and the intellect in its turn is governed by desires, the subject of intellectual discrimination being

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192 MYTHOLOGY determined not by that faculty, but by the predominant desires of the ego. As pointed out in the Key of Knowledge, the lotellect is like a lantern to guide the footsteps of the individual, but whether it direct him to a gambling den or to a place of worship depends solely on the inclinations of the ego and not on any choice on the part of the intellect itself. (13) The punishments of the transgressors are all descriptive of the nature, of the diverse functions and attributes of the will, intellect and manas (desires collectively). (a) The serpent is cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. It is to go upon its belly and to eat dust all the days of its life. The element of sensuality (the serpent) may degrade one even below the the level of the lowest beasts and brutes; hence is sensuality rated below the lowest grades of "cattledom". The manas (sensuality) is constantly engaged in trafficking with matter (that is in extracting and imbibing the raw material of sersations from the objects outside). This raw-material of sensations, constantly pouring in through the door-ways of the senses is the "dust" which the serpent (manas) is to eat all the days of its life. Enmity is also put between

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 193 the serpent and Eve. "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise bis heel" (Genesis, iii, 15.) This refers to the tatural conflict between the intellectual and the sensual aspects of the ego, Desires are finally subdued by asceticism as the result of true Wisdom (the 'seed' of Intellect). This is beautifully described in the Hindu Books as the subduing of the Serpent-king, Kaliya, by the Child Krishna, the latter being, not an avatar of an extra cosmic divinity, but only the allegorical representation of the divine Ideal of Perfection. The serpent-sacrifice instituted by Jenamejaya is another beautiful allegory of the sacrificing of desires (see The Mahabharata or Karma Yoga, by K. N, lyre, B. A., pp. 191 et seq.) According to the Book of Genesis (iii, 14) the serpent is also coomed to go on its belly. This is because sensuality can never aspire to soar to spiritual heights, never having a moment's respite from the enjoy. Inent of pishaya-bhogas (objects of sensual pleasure) to pause for self-contemplation. The curse on Eve is also fully descriptive of the nature of the Intellect. Her sorrow and conception are greatly multiplied. The animal has no regrets nor misapprehensions, but the man endowed with the In 16)

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194 MYTHOLOGY tellect has both. The conceptions of the intellect greatly multiplied are indicative of the prolific notions men entertain about the world-process and things in general. "In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Genesis, iji. 16). The Intellect is governed by the Will, ber husband in, allegorical speech; her children are the diverse theories which are conceived and formulated with a great deal of labour and trouble, and her very raison d'etre is the well-being of her Jord (Will.) (c) The curse on Adam in also typical of the nature of the impure ego: (i) "Cursed in the ground for thy sake; (ii) "in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; (iii) "thorus also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the berb of the field ; (iv) "in the sweat of thy face shalt thou cat bread, till thou return into the ground for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return"-(Genesis, iii 17-19.)

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 195 The significance of these terms is that the distresses, privations, wars and suffering that appear on the earth are the result of the lusts, vices, villainy and hypocrisy of human beings; that notwithstavding all human efforts to rule over the world or the empire of nature, only thistles and thorns shall be the lot of the greedy lustful man; and that it is not in the province of a soul-less materialism to impart the true strength that only comes from Religion). As for the earthly nalure of the ego, there are three kinds of personalities : (i) the bahiidtman (the bodily sell), (ii) the antar atman (the soul), and (iii) the paramatman (God). The foolish mnan only looks upon himself as the bodily self that is a pure compound of matter, perishable and mortal. The enlightened man knows himself as a soul that is immortal and to be perfected, when he shall become paramatman (God). It is the first kind of conception of the self, the bahiratmon, of the fallen ego, that is described in the Biblical curse. (14) After the fall Abel and Cain are born to Adam, of whom Abel is the keeper of sheep and Cain, the tiller of soil. They both take

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196 MYTHOLOGY the offerings of their respective occupations before God, but Abel's offering is approved and not Cain's. Cain thereupon murders Abel, for which he is cursed by God. Seth (the . appointed) was the next son of Adam, and Seth's son was Eos : "then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord" (See Marginal Notes to Genesis, iv. 26). (15) Now, Abel is faith which is turned towards life, while Cain is reason wedded to matter, Hence, is Abel a keeper of sheep (the symbol of Life) and Cain the tiller of soil (=Matter). The offerings of the brothers signify the fruit of their respective occupations, Abel's consisting in the best produc's in the department of Life-gentility of the 'lamb' (uttama arjava = excellent meekness), and the like-and Cain's, of the highest achievements--electric light, aero-plaires, etc. etc.,-of a purely material science. Abel's work is naturally acceptable to God, the Ideal of divine perfection and joy, because uttama asjava etc., are really the first steps on the true "path." But Reason and Faith are incompatible by nature, for the ove is critical and the other dogmatic. For this reason is Abel murdered by Cain. (16) The curse pronouncert on Cain is also in keeping with the nature of Reason and, bas been fully explained in the fourth chapter of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 197 the Key of Knowledge. Here we have no time to go into the subject. But Seth which means the appointed is the divine Wisdom which is to take the place of the murdered Abel (unreasoning faith). It is Enos, the child of divine Wisdom, who calls himself by the name of the Lord, that is to say, who regards himself as a God. Such is the true purport of the legend of the fall in the Jewish Scripture. It is not a narrative of the anger of an omoiscient god at the petty transgressions of a couple of puny mortals, nor a nursery tale composed by savage humanity, soon after its emergence from the monkey race; but a description of some of the most valuable principles of a spiritual science, the psychological analysis of which is more exact and rational than anything known to what is termed science in our day.

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198 MYTHOLOGY FIFTH LECTURE. (B) To proceed to the teaching of the New Testament which is said to be the fulfilcient of the Old Testament, the inost noticeable feature of the Gospels is their parabolic teaching. The" Key of Knowledge" for the loss of which Jesus found fault with the Lawyers of Israel is also needed to open the hidden sense of the Messianic speech. Here and there we, no doubt, come across real gems of great value lying on the surface, but just be. cause they are loose and unset they are liable to be twisted and forced into any kind of a setting. On the whole, the cardinal doctrine of the Messiah in the New Testament may be taken to be as follows. (1) Perfection and Divinity of the soul-substance. (i) " I said, ye are Gods" (John, x. 34). (ii) "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a bill cannot be hid" (Matt, v. 14). (iii) "Ye are the salt of the earth" (Matt, v, 13). (iv) "Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know thai, when he shali appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as be is" (John's First Epistle General, iii. 2).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 199 (v) " Behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke, xvii. 21.) (vi) "And no man bath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven ; even the son of man which is in heaven" (John, iii. 13). (2) The fall of man, (i) "For all have sinned and conie short of the glory of God" (Romans, iii. 231. (ii) "For God hath concluded them all in un ielief," " (Romans, xi. 32). (3) Redemption by the Key of Knowledge. (i) "Woe unto you lawyers ! for ye have taken away the Key of Knowledge : Ve entered not in yourselves, and them that were en. cering in ye hindered" (Luke, xi.52). (ii) "Ye shall know the truth, and the iruth shall make you free" (John, viii. 32). (iii) "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt, v. 48). (4) The bondage is the bondage of sin, that is to say of wrong.doing (karias=actions that bind the soul). (i) "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel" (Mait. v. 15). The allusion here clearly is to the jnandvar. niya (knowledge-obstructing) karmas that

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200 MYTHOLOGY act as a covering over the faculty of infinite knowledge of the ego. (ii) "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin" (John, viii. 34). It is this servitude or bondage of sin which is to be terminated by the knowledge of truth (John, viji, 32). (5) This bondage is destroyed by the practising of asceticisin and other forms of purifications that are destructive of desire. (i) "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but is ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans, viii. 13). (ii) " He that soweti to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlast ing" (Galatians, vi. 8). (iii) " Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth" (Colossians, iii. 5). (iv) "For to be carnally minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans, viii, 6.) (v) "Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat : because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. vii. 13-14). for (vi) "Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger...Blessed are ye that hunger now: ye shall be filled" (Luke, vi. 25 and 21). (vii) "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take his up and follow me" (Matt. xvi, 24). cross, 14 (viii) He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me" (Matt. x. 38). 201 (ix) "If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife and children, and brethren and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke, xiv. 26). (x) "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it " (Luke, xvii. 33). (xii) (xi) "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the son of man hath not where to lay his head" (Matt. viii. 20). "In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Corinthians, xi. 27). (xiii) "...there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" (Matt. xix. 12).

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202 MYTHOLOGY (xiv) "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection " (1 Cor. ix. 27) (xv) "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the aflections and lusts" (Galatians, v. 24). (xvi) " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans, xii. I). Such is the nature of the light that is thrown by these stray gems and jewels of real philosophical worth. Christian Gnostics, toc, "regarded persection as the prerogative of the 'spiritual 'those redeemed from the bondage of matter and the flesh--for it was assumed that sin was an inseparable association of matter." Persection, according to these Guostics, was only attaited by knowledge acquired througli initiation ; "it was an esoteric state entered through theosophic insight and had no living connection with Christ" (ERE. vol. ix. P. 733). Ou the Esoteric side of Christianity we find the doctrines of crucifixion, resurrection and ascension as utterly misunderstood by Christians as Agni, Iudra and Surya by the Hindus. The whole life of Jesus is a series of ingenious symbolisras, depicting the glory of a self. conscious Soul. : When the conception of the divinity of Life is formed by the mind, Christ, Christos or Krishwa is said to be born.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES Being intimately connected with Life, He is associated from his very birth with kine (go in Sanskrit, signifying the senses, whose control is intended by go-rekshya, vide PHB. Vol. II. p. 520). Mary, the virgin mother, is the intellect which conceives in consequence of spirit's brooding over it. The father of Jesus is a carpenter, another ingenious symbolism for the faculty represented by the Hindu deity Ganesha, since he cuts up (analysis) and joins together (synthesis) things. The conception is immaculate, because it is intellectual, not fleshly. The child developes in secret, till its enemies are destroyed, which means that the manifestation of Christhood is delayed after the acquisition of Right Faith so long as the evil tendencies and habits and beliefs are not sufficiently eradicated from the heart,by the quickening of the germ of Spirit from within. Then there is a course of asceticism which is to be followed and in consequence of which certain psychic powers are acquired by the soul. Now comes the important moment in the life of a novitiate when he stands at the cross-roads of destiny, so to speak, with the, forces of life and death in his power, for he has only to utilse these terrible powers for wordly dominion to mar his true progress. This is the temptation, the Evil One showing the realms of worldly empires to be acquired by obeisance to him. But the ascetic cannot turn away from his determination to crucify his lower self. He thus carries his cross, and is crucified at the place of Golgotha which means the place of the skull. The special significance of the skull is that it is the seat of an important 203

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204 MYTHOLOGY psychic plexus in the brain where attention is finally to be fixed in dhyana (meditation). The following passages from the Bible may be cited here as confirmatory of this esoteric view : (i) "Jesus was not yet glorified" (John, vii. 39), and (ii) "wio for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame" (Hebrews, xii, 2). The effect of the crucifixion of the bahir diman (bodily self), to come into the real life which is at once abundant and glorious, is manifested in (i) the rending of rocks, (ii) the darkening of the sun, (iii) the rending of the veil of the temple from top to bottom, and (iv) the opening out of the graves and the ap pearing of the dead. These are all mystic allegories which have a hidden meaning that are being revealed to you for the first time in modern times. (i) The rending of the rocks means the rending of the adamantine knots of karmic forces in the inner constitution of the soul. You must have read in the Hindu and Jaina Paranas that the throne of Indra in the heavens is shaken by the asceticism of saints and that the attainment of omniscience on

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 205 the part of Jinas (conquerors of samsara) is accompanied by the spontaneous ringing of bells in the regions of devas, Well, the explanation of these phenomena is to be found in the fact that the powerful vibra. tions set up by the rending of harmic knots, in consequence of one-pointed dhyana (selfcontemplation), are carried by the 'wireless' medium of a subtle electricity, and iinpinging upon the ethereal matter of the ludras' thrones and bells in the regions of the devas, set them shaking and resounding and reverberating This is the explanation of the shaking of the thrones of the Rulers of the heavens and of the ringing of heavenly bells in the palaces of the devas (residents of the heaven-worlds). (ii) The darkeving of the Sun signifies the loss of the lower inental equipment, i.e., of senseperception and intellectual function. These disappear with the dawn of omniscience, and are no longer needed. Much as we prize our senses and intellect, tiey are really the obstructors of the full blaze of the real, inberent, all-tinbracing knowledge of the soul. Their loss is a blessing when it arises in the course of ascericism. since it is then immediately followed by the acquisition of infinite simultaneous knowledge of all that has happened in the past,

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206 MYTHOLOGY . (iii) all that is happening in the present and all that is to happen in the future, though at all other times it is a calamity pure and simple. The rending of the veil of the temple is also an allegorical description. The veil that is rent is not of a man-made temple of brick and mortar, but of the temple of the soul. It is the bushel over the inner light that is removed, revealing the true divinity, and not the destruction of a temple or of a part of a temple of masonry or stone. Inner illu zaniziri) is the) rwshn Dmyry mination 1oslua immediate result of the destruction of this internal veil. (iv) But the most beautiful metaphor of all em ployed in this connection is the opening out of the graves. What is meant is, of course, not the graveyard in a cemetery, where dead bodies lie buried, nor the appearance in public of the rotting carcases of the dead thrown out by some sort of a volcanic force ; but the cemetery of human memory where lie the events, sensations and impressions of the past, as is buried underground. The allegory is indicative of the recovery of the memories of the past lives of the soul that is obtained as the fruit of advanced asceticism. Iu vain shall we be told that transmigration is not a fundamentaltenet of Christianity and that the tea.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 207 ching of Jesus is on the whole opposed to any such doctrine; the truth is that those who say so have not read their Bible in the light of the injunction : "whoso readeth let him understand," which we had occasion to refer to ere this. There are, as you are now aware, in the Bible secret tenets and concealed doctrines, bidden behind apparently meaningless words. But for this we. should not liave been told: "I will open my mouth in parables ; I will atter tbioge which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world" (Matt. xiii. 35). The text of John, viii. 32 becomes very important here. It was the bondage of karmas which Jesus referred to when he said : << And ye sball know the truth, and the truth ghall make your . free "---John, viii. 32. The fictitious discourse recorded in the verses that follow this dynamic truth was only desigried to furnish a hint to the thoughtful as to the nature of the bondage referred to. The important verses bearing on the point are reproduced below :33. "They answered him, we be Abraham's seed and were Deyer in bondage to any map: how sayest thon, Ye shal} be made free ? 34. " Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35. "And the servant abideth not in the house for over ; but the son abideth ever. 86. " If the sou therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

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208 MYTHOLOGY If we are to construe these verses correctly, we must first endeavour to find out the truth each of them lays down. Careful reflection will show that the 34th is intended to setile the question raised in the 33rd--whe. ther the bondage meant national or political subjugation? The answer is plain : it is the servitude of sin that is meant, not national captivity! In the 35th verse a distinction is made between the conditions of servitude and sonship, the former of which is pronounced to be terminable, but the latter, eternal, The 36th, finally, lays down that true freedom from all kinds of bonds-note the force of indeed' after 'free' can only be conferred by the Son who is to abide for ever. Now, the word 'son' in the mouth of Jesus signifies the soul that has inherited the status and glory of God. According to St. Paul, " as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ... The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified togetler" (Romans, viii, 14, 16 and 17). Thus if we put down our conclusions categorically, we get, (1) that the word bondage-in religion means the the servitude or tliraldom of sin ; (2) that this thraldom is not ever-lasting, but the condition of Sonship is eternal; and

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 209 (3) that the soul obtains true freedom only when it acquires the status of the Son. These propositions are fully in harmony with the teaching of Jainism, and only reproduce three of the most fundamental truths of religion. They are not exhaustive of the why and the wherefore of the doctrine of transmigration, but only intended as a hint to the wise. Let the reader ask himself as to what is meant by sin, and he will soon perceive that there can be no being or substance corresponding to the term. It is a mere word, and were we to search for it from now till the Judgment Day, it is certain that it will always remain what it is to-day-a pure wordy abstraction. The truth is that sin only conveys the idea of wrong doing, there being no concrete being or thing to correspond to it in nature. The bondage of sin, thus, is clearly the thraldom of actions, i, e., karmas (actions or deeds), which is to be shaken off to bring the state of sonship" into manifestation. 258 Now, if the reader will further pursue the theme, and enquire how the soul can be bound by its acts he will not be long in coming to the conclusions which have been already established regarding the nature of asrava, and bandha. For there can be no binding of real subsisting beings or things with mere imaginary notions, or by pure ideas and words. A force is needed for the purpose, and no force is conceivable apart from a substance of some kind or other.

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210 MYTHOLOGY .. It is here that the exact teachng of Jainism is found to be of inestimable service ; for while some creeds have pure words, illusion, maya and the like to bind the soul with, others vaguely talk of desire, and others again of such generalities as karma, action, sin and taqdir (destiny or fate). The importance of scientific knowledge has been pointed out ere this, and it is clear that vague generalities are wholly responsible for the amount of confusion which has prevailed in theological circies hitherto, It is not likely that a man would now be found to insist on interpreting the word son to mean Jesus of Nazareth in the 36th verse of the 8th chapter of St. John's Gospel; but should one venture to entertain that supposition, it would be well to remember that no one can help another in the spiritual region, except to the extent of pointing out the way for obtaining release from the turmoils of samsara. And the case is nowise altered by our individnal beliefs; for the laws of nature are not dependent on the whims of men and other higher or lower beings, but work independently of them. Hence, when people say that it is more comforting to believe that some one else will, out of grace, do the needful for them, they lull themselves into false security and allow themselves to fall asleep on the verge of an innocent looking volcano whose apparent quietness is soon to be changed into a sudden outburst of destructiveness. It is a corollary to be deduced from the spiritual laws already described that the bondage of the soul cannot

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* CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 211 possibly be terminated by any agency outside its own self. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that no one can possibly control the desires of another, which, being the causes of the fusion of spirit and matter, must continue to produce their effects so long as they exist. The teaching of Jesus with reference to resurrection, which is the last strovghold of Christian hostility to the theory of transmigration itself leads to no other conclu. sion when studied pbilosophically, Here is the text, in full, which was propounded in answer to a question put by certain Sadducees as to whose wise a certain woman would be in resurrection, she having married, here on this earth, seven brothers in succession, that is one after another, as they died. "The children of this world warry and are given in marriage; "But they which shall be accoguted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: "Neither can they die any more: for they are equal onto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection."--Luke, xx. 34-35, Here we are distinctly told (i) that resurrection is not open to every body but only to those who are accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead; (ii) that there is no such thing as marriage in that world'; and

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212 MYTHOLOGY (iii) that those who obtain resurrection acquire immortality, and are known as the children of God by virtue of their being the children of resurrection. But the very first of these statements is fatal to the popular sense of resurrection according to which every one shall be made to rise up irrespective of worth. Jesus distinctly says that it is open only to those who are accounted worthy to obtain it, The second particular is still more fatal to the popular belief according to which men and women shall be made to rise up in their physical bodies, with the prospect of a re-union of families. Now, if there is to be a distinction of the male and female amongst the risen dead, their condition would resemble that of Hindu widows whose cause Christians are ever ready to champion on the ground of its being inhuman and unjust to enforce a life-long widowhood on them. What, we ask, must be the plight of those residents of the post resurrection world who are formed male and female and who are never io know the happiness of married life? Will not the gift of the organ without its function be the source of the greatest conceivable misery in their case ? It is too much even to expect from every one of the uvdisciplined souls, that shall enter the kingdom of God, not through the strait gateway and narrow path of *works', but through the favour a saviour, to betake himself or herself to practising eternal celibacy, after the manner of a Jaina or Hindu widow ! Well, this is

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES : 213 the kind of muddle in which unscientific thought finds itself wben bent on theorising against facts. The third particular, the obtainment or acquisition of immortality by each and every risen individual, is equally astonishing. An embodied soul is a compound of spirit and matter, and it is not in the nature of compounds to be eternal. Nor is immortality a thing that can be purchased in two-penny packets at a chemist's, The fact is that the doctrine of resurrection is really the doctrine of transmigration of souls, though couched in mystic symbology. It was not unknown to the Jews, and the Pharisees actually subscribed to it. Before them it was well known to the Egyptians who had probably borrowed it from Persian sources. But the original of the Lord of the Judgment Day is to be found in the god Yamaraja of Hindu mythology, who weighs the merit and demerit of creatures on their death and disposes of them accordingly. Now, Yamaraja is a personification of the Law of karmiz, which, being the effect of the operation of the forces bound up in different substances, is absolutely unerring. The idea of a general rising of the dead on a certain day at the end of the world.cycle was, however, never associated with this doctrine in any religion, though some of the passages of the esoteric teaching are liable to be twisted in that direction. What was meant was that as each individual died his future was determined automatically by the operation of the Law of Karma, personified as the Lord of Death, and he

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214 MYTHOLOGY was drawn into the most suitable womb for his next incarnation. This process continued till nirvana was attained, which meant the conquest of death, hence resurrection from the dead. The dead are all those souls that are not spiritually alive, as in the text: " Let the dead bary their dead" (Matt. viii. 22), This is also the sense of the passege in Revelation (i-18) where the Redeemed Soul is made to say ; "I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, behold, I ain alive for ever more, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of death." Resurrection from the dead then meant the conquest of death, the removal of the liability imposexi upon the soul as a consequence of the 'fall.' This liability is due to the entertainment of raga and duesha (euphemis. tically, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and is put an end to by the conquest of death by * works,' when he who is accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead cannot die any more (Luke, xx, 36). We thus have the region of death confined to the sphere within which raga and dvesha, i.e., private loves and hatreds, prevail. As explained in the lecture dealing with the scientific aspect of Religion, ragit and dvesha are the real causes of the bondage of karma and transmigration ; they lead to the union of spirit and matter, thereby crippling and maiming the soul. This is precisely what Christian Gnostics themselves held, as we have already seen, though

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 215 they did not possess detailed knowledge of the entire subject, The Jewish Esotericism, which is the true side of Judaism, as must be quite clear by now--for literalism' is only the kernel-less husk-also professed belief in metempsychosis (ERE, vol. vii. p. 626). According to Prof, Metchnikoff (The Nature of Man, pp. 143-144) :"At the date of the Cabalistic philosophy, the Jews bad en braced the doctrine of transmigration of souls, and had come to believe that the spirit of Adam had entered David and would pags on to Messiah." As a matter of fact the doctrine is implied in the very fundamentals of Judaism from the very earliest times. But to continue with our subject, death is the consequence of the fusion of spirit and matter, for independentty of each other they are death-less, pure spirits as well as atoms of matter being both simple indestructible subslances. He who would attain immortality must, therefore, seek it within himself, by separating from his soul (every particle of foreign material that may be adhering to it. This is possible only in one way--by tapas. When the individual is rid of raga and dvesha in every form, he is said to conquer death, though he lingers in the world of men so long as his body (or rather bodies) are not completely dissolved.' He is then called a jivanmukta. Finally, when he is completely freed from all kinds of connection with matter, Heimmediately ascends

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216 to the top-most part of the Universe as pure Effulgence of Spirit, and is termed the Most High. MYTHOLOGY Why there is no marrying or being married in 'that world' is because there is no distinction of sex there. Sex appertains to the body, but not to the spirit; hence the same soul becomes now a male, now a female in the course of transmigration. But when the other shore" is reached both the longings of sex-passion and the physical bodies that are necessary to support sex-organs are burnt up with the fire of asceticism and jndna, and there is consequently neither marrying nor giving in marriage in nirvana. The Sons of God, thus, are those pure and perfect Souls who have attained their high Ideal, and become Gods. They have destroyed the. bondage of karmas and the consequent lability to repeated births and deaths, and are now living at the top of the Universe as the Conquerors of the Dragon of Ignorance and its chief allyDeath. They are called the Sons of God, because they are heirs to the heritage of divinity, so to speak, having attained the perfection of God, which is the goal of spirit's evolution. Pure, perfect happiness, ie., eternal, unabating bliss, the power to defy Death, i.e., immortality, omnipotence, infinite knowledge and infinite perception, called the ananta chatushtaya in Jaina Scriptures, are the attributes of Their divine Souls. They are the true Teachers of mankind and the fountain-head of perfect Wisdom, hence Religion. Their chief characteristics, as given out by Jesus (Luke, xx.-34-36), are:

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES : 217 (1) the possession of spiritual merit which entitles them to obtain that world 'i. e., nirvana, (2) freedom from sex, that is, the absence of all material bodies, (3) non- liability to death, and (4) the enjoyment of Godly status, It is not possible to lay too much stress on the words 'any more' in the Messianic observation recorded by Luke (xx. 36). The statement will lose all its merit, if souls are born and die only once in their career, The fact that it was made only with reference to those Great Ones who obtain that world' and the resurrection from the dead, is sufficient to show that it is not applicable to all souls indiscriminately. Thus, while all those who have not perfected themselves remain liable to repeated births and deaths in the course of transmigration, those who attain the fullest degree of spiritual unfoldment are necessarily exempt from dying any more (The Key of Knowledge). We can now understand what is meant by the saying : " Blogsed are the meok, for they shall inherit the earth " (Matt. v. 5). This clearly means that they shall be born as kings and rulers of men on earth in their next incarnation, The orthodox interpretation of the resurrection-text would make this saying a dead letter; for what shall the meek inherit if the earth is to pass away before the resurrection ?

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218 Similarly, it is said: "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life" (Matt. xix.22). MYTHOLOGY This is precisely what the Jainas say, as will be evident from the following from the Ratna Karanda Sravakachara, a work of great authority, dealing with the rules of conduct applicable to a house-holder : "Those whose hearts have been purified by Right Faith become the Lords of splendour, energy, wisdom, prowess, fame, wealth, victory and greatness; they are born in high families and possess the ability to realise the highest ideals [dharma (religion), artha (wealth), kama (enjoyment) and moksha (salvation)] of life; they are the best of men. "He who has quaffed the nector of dharma becomes freed from all kinds of pain, and drinks from the endless, unsurpassed and exalted fount of blissfulness of libera tion, "Those who follow the rigid path of renunciation and dharma dwell unexcelled for all eternity, in the joy of final beatitude, endowed with infinite wisdom, faith, energy, dispassion, bliss, satisfaction and purity. And if there be a cosmic disturbance violent enough to destroy the three worlds still no change is observable in the condition of the Perfect Souls even after the lapse of hundreds of kalas (cycles of time)." We shall now work out the connection between Jesus and John the Baptist whose personality is one of the

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 219 most puzzling in the whole Bible. He is the cousin of the Messiah, to begin with, and jumps up with delight, while yet an unborn babe, on hearing the voice of his cousin's mother (Luke, i. 41). John, it is said, met Jesus at the Jordon and when asked to baptize him, meekly entreated, saying: "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me" (Matt. iii. 14)? It was only when he was assured by Jesus that it behoved Christ to be baptized by him in the first instance that he performed the ceremony. Suffer it to be so now for it becometh us to fulfil all right eousness" (Matt. iii. 15). John saw the heavens opened and the spirit of God alighting on Jesus in the form of a dove. This is what he says about it himself:"And I saw, and bear record that this is the Son of God" (John. i. 34). The next day John pointed out Jesus to two of his disciples, saying: "Behold the Lamb of God" (John, i. 36). Asked to explain his mission, lie declared "I am not the Christ, but...I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and beareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. Be that cometh form above is above all: he

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220 MYTHOLOGY that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all" (John, iii. 28-31). Also: "I indeed baptize you with water: but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize yon with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Luke iii. 16). John said all this, yet a few months later when he was thrown into prison by Herod, he actually sent his disciples to ascertain whether Jesus was "he who should come," or should they look for another (Matt. xi. 2 and 3). I need not comment upon this grotesque change of front on the part of John in my own words; I shall simply let Mr. Evanson (a curate of the church from which he ultimately withdrew on account of his critical views about the authenticity of such passages) tell you what he thought on the subject : "Now it seems simply impossible that John, after being from his earliest infaucy personally acquainted with Jesus, and not only in possession of all the information respecting him, which he must have learnt from the two families, but so miraculously impressed with affection and reverence for him as to exalt with joy, though but an embryo in the womb, at the mere sound of his mother's voice, could at any time have entertained the least doubt of Jesus being the Messiah" (see the History of The New Testament Criticism, p. 91).

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* CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 221 The author of the work quoted, Mr. F. C. Conybeare, gives us the verdict of modern criticism on Luke's version in the following significant words (Ibid p. 91): "The trpe view, of course, is that Luke, in spite of his pretensions to accuracy, was a careless and credulous writer," Evanson himself regarded the first two chapters of the Gospel according to St. Luke as "the daring fiction of some of the easy-working interpolators of the beginning of the second century from among the pagan converts, who, to do honour as they deemed it to the author of their newly-embraced religion were willing that his birth should, at least, equal that of the pagan heroes and demigods, and who thereby laid the foundation of the succeeding orthodox deification of the man Jesus, which, in degree of blasphemous absurdity, exceeds even the gross fables of pagan superstition" (Ibid. p. 92). : Unfortunately, it never occurred either to Evanson or to any of the modern critics or even to the clerics themselves that the New Testament was not written in the language of the script and was not to be read as a narrative of facts. What might have been their conclusion then, I cannot say, but let me proceed to unravel the secret teaching to enable you to determine its value for yourselves. Jesus and John are two different aspects of the soul which arise when the individual consciousness is awakened to spiritual Life. Jesus represents Life Trium.

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MYTHOLOGY phant while John stands for Intellect Repentent. Being but different faculties' or aspects of the soul-substance, they are described as related to each other. Hence is John the cousin of Jesus. John's mission is described as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and the purport of his cry, to exhort humanity to repent and to straighten the path for the coming of the Lord (Mark, i. 3 and 4). This is characteristic of the mind that has begun, in seriousness, to reflect on his destiny. When the lower self is tired of the pursuit of worldly pleasures and has reached the end of its tether, it begins to reflect on its destiny, and realises that neither friends, nor riches, nor position, nor physical prowess, nor anything. else can come to its rescue or relieve it of the impending gloom of death and extinction which stare it in the face. It then cries out in the anguish of its loneliness in the midst of the world, and, becoming disgusted with the pleasures and joys of the mortals which had hitherto diverted its attention from its real nature, gradually learns that the source of all bliss, blessedness and immortality is none other than its own true self. This is the stage which is likened to the voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying, 'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Now, because the activity of the intellect is exhausted with the purification of the body alone, which can be accomplished by means of water, and since the will, rather than the intellect, is the real cause of progress, the baptism of John is necessarily that of water. The intellectual self is of the 222

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES earth, earthy; but the soul is from heaven, and, therefore, heavenly. Hence, the Intellect is made to say that it is unworthy to loosen the latchet of the shoes of the Messiah. Again, because it is only through the Intellect that one can become convinced of the existence of the higher self, it (the Intellect) is the solitary witness to the coming Messiah, at whose birth it leaps with joy. But in so far as wisdom is a necessary attribute of the Christos, he cannot do without the baptism of the Intellect, in the first instance. Hence the remarkable words of Jesus: "Suffer it to be so now, for it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Matt. iii. 15). The Intellect, again, is not the enjoyer of bliss, hence, not the bridegroom, but it is natural for it to feel joy at the bridegroom's voice, for he is to turn the wilderness into a veritable paradise. Lastly, because the freedom of the soul means the attainment of omniscience which arises on the destruction of the lower mental equipment-judgment, memory, and the like the Intellect is described as saying, 'he must increase, but I must decrease.' The sending of his disciples by John to ascertain whether Jesus (soul) is the Messiah, i. e., the Redeemer, in spite of the fact that he bad exulted with delight at his mother's voice, is in keeping with the nature of the Intellect, which always doubts and hesitates, and is seldom satisfied with its own conclusions. It is, thus, clear that the personality of John, the Baptist, is typical of the intellectual self of the man who has become conscious of the fuller Life of the higher Ego. The Holy Ghost is the spirit that 223

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224 MYTHOLOGY makes one holy; it is the giver or source of saintliness, in plain language it is Vairagya (an overpowering sense of detachment from the world). Fire is tapas (fasting and other forms of asceticism). Vairagya and tapas are the two purifiers of the spirit. Hence does the Messiah baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The Holy Ghost is also termed the comforter, because though asceticism appears to be austere and forbidding in its outer aspect, it is really accompanied, in its advanced stages, by such joys as cannot even be described in words. The power of asceticism to lead to full knowledge is also implied clearly in the following statements of Jesus :"But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all thinge, and bring all things to your remembrances what. Boever I have said unto you" (John, xiv. 26). " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide unto all trath" (John, xvi. 13-14). As to whence this knowledge is to arise, we already know that education is a drawing out from witthin in a strictly etymological sense--from e, out, and duco, to lead. In the Gospel according to St. Matthew also we are told : "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candle stick ; and it giveth light anto all that are in the house" (Matt. v. 14-15).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 225 The relation between devotion and asceticism is in. dicated in the following from the fourth Gospel (John, xvi. 7): "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send him and you." This plainly meant that the disciple's devotion stood in the way of their practising asceticism which is the source of joy (comfort). Joy itself is conceived as a bride, the giver of happiness to the bridegroom whence the speech of John, the Baptist : " He that hath the bride is the bridegroom." John's dissertation about him that is earthly and speaketh of the earth, and of him that cometh from heaven is also highly instructive. The intellectual ego is not a pure spirit, but a compound of spirit and matter, the bahiratman that is made out of the dust of the ground with the vital breath infused in him. It is this outer self, the ego that discriminates between good and evil, and the function of which is exhausted as soon as it has itellectually conceived the divinity of the soul-it is this half material half spiritual self, personified as John, the Baptist; that is to decrease and disappear, while his cousin, the dematerialising ego of Life Triumphant is to wax and increase. In other words, while the process of un-winding in de-materialisation leads to the perfection and divinity of Life, it signifies the dis

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226 MYTHOLOGY ruption of all those faculties and functions which are useless and burdensome to a pure spirit, however serviceable they might be to a fallen ego. Hence, the highly significant speech of Jobo : "He shall increase, but I shall decrease.". As already stated, the Messial also figures in Hindu. ism in the guise of Krishna, the Lord of Gopis and Cows. I can only just barely touch upon the basic principle of this personification in the briefest way, consi. dering that the events of his life bave filled whole puranas. The need for the elucidation of this impersonation is also not very pressing now that we liave an autioritative Hindu exposition (The Permanent History of Bharatyarsha) of the whole of the mythical teaching of the Mahabharata, including the part assigned to Krishna. In a general way, when the fruition of good karmas leads an individual to turn to his inner self. the conception of the divinity of the soul is formed by the intellect, and the quickening of his spirit takes place in consequence of the acquisition of Right Faith, St. Paul aptly describes this in the following terms : " And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit " (1 Cor. xv. 45). This quickening of spirit is the birth of Krishna, the true Saviour of man; for when fully quickened, the soul is itself transiormed into a full, perfect God. For this reason, Krishna is the abode of all Godly attributes. He is the Lord of Gopis and Gopas (sacred hymns, sites etc, etc.).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 227. At an early period in life he subdues the SerpentKing, Kaliya, which has already been explained, as representing manas (desires). When Indra (the impure ego) endeavours to interfere with the cows, Krishna raises the Gobardhana bill (the desiring manas) on the tip of his little finger and thus protects the kine. The luring of gopis from the beds of their busbands in the the darkness of night, the giddy moonlight dances on the banks of the Jumna, the stolen kisses and embraces, all of wbich would be highly condemnable from a moral point of view, if ascribed to an actual being, are fully appropriate to the Messiah or Christos. For Krishna is the divine ideal for the soul (gopi), to pour forth all her affection upon. She must wander out in the solitude of night (when the mind is not occupied with worldly things) on the banks of the placid Jumna (mind stuff, hence the mind), disregarding both her love for her husband (worldly attachments) and the fear of society. When she stands before her Redeemer, stripped of her clothes (worldly possessions), when she gives up even the last vestige of feminine modesty, and, standing upright joins her hands above her head, disregardful of her nudity and the rules of worldly decorum, then is the notion of duality between Love and the Object of Love dispelled from the mind, and the fruit of Love enjoyed. The hopes and fears of the love-lorn gopis, their neglect of their household duties, their abandonment of their children and husbands, their passionate yearnings to be enfolded in the arms of the Beloved all these are

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228 MYTHOLOGY pure allegories, describing the degree of devotion or zeal necessary for the realisation of the great ideal of perfection, personified as Christos or Krishna, the Redeemer (The Key of Knowledge). The birth of Krishna is a symbol for the commencement of the greatest battle (the Mahabharata) that the soul has ever fought, The quickening spirit cannot remain idle ; there is work to be done ; the business of the Father (in Christian thought) must be attended to. It is said in St. Luke's Gospel :" Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth " (Luke, iii. 5). But this work is not to be done unopposed ; there are the Giants of Darkness to be reckoned with, and they are prepared for fight. Then is there a gathering of clans; heroes are bori), warriors trained, armies assembled. Under the guidance of Krishna, the frail, doubting soul (Arjun) engages the enemy hosts in mortal combat. At last, Evil is overpowered, victory attained, and the bondage overthrown. Then there is nirvana and joy and bliss, with no more battles to fight, no enemies to be dreaded or conquered. Such is briefly the purport of the Mahabharata. Some times this'mortal combat is described as a war between devas (divine beings) and asuras (demons of darkness and fury). The leader of the devas is Indra, and they fight well when he is in their midst. This is

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 229 because the devas are only so many attributes of the soul and have no existence apart from it. The enemies of the gods are the forces of darkness (ignorance) and fury (passion). The devas are immortal, though liable to suffer defeat at times; but the asuras are mortal. The explanation is that the divine qualities of the soul are really the attributes of the soul-substance, which may be curtailed, limited, or suspended from time to time but can never be completely destroyed, while ignorance and passions are the products of a soul vitia. ted by the union of matter, and must disappear completely on their separation from one another. Most of the world's mythologies contain stories of such wars bet. ween the devas of Light and the powers of Darkness and Evil. The Celtic, the. Teutonic and the Greek systems. of mythologies seem to have been conceived on a gigantic scale, though nowhere near approaching the gran. deur of the Hindu Epics ; but owing to spoliation on the part of their pious and "enlightened "translators, these "pagan "myths rarely yield their secret through the medium of modern European works. The Greeks, however, openly applied the allegorical method of interpretation to their sacred literature, and a solution of some of the classical legends has also been given by me in the Key of Knowledge. But I must not linger any longer over the Christian and Hindu myths. To proceed to Islam, there can be no denying the fact that the Holy Qur'an is also a document of the same description as the Bible and the Vedas. As a

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230 matter of fact, Islam is a descendant of Judaism and Zoroastrianism as the Revd. W. St. Clair Tisdaill has so well shown in his very admirable work "The Sources of the Qur'an." A good deal has been said by non-Muslim writers by way of attack upon Mahomed for his shortcomings. But we cannot listen to all that, for the very simple reason that Mahomed never said of himself that his example was to be followed by men. Mahavira, Buddha and other Indian Teachers had invited men to follow their example, and Jesus had repeatedly asked mankind to do the same, but not Mahomed. He never said to any one: Go sell off all thou possessest; give it away in charity, and come and follow me.' If Mahomed therefore had nine wives, if he framed special rules for his own convenience, if, in short, he did not perfect himself in respect of renunciation and charitra, these are his private concerns, though they must be fully accounted for in determining the degree of self-realisa tion attained by him. MYTHOLOGY There can be no doubt but that Islam was at first only intended as a sort of reform over the unrestricted libertinism and mammon-worship that were rampant among the Arabs in Mahomed's day; but the sword the Prophet was forced to draw to defend himself did not admit of the idea being fully carried out. I am here not concerned with the political aspect of Islam, but it is evident that the teaching of the earlier creeds as to the excellence of the extreme degree of forgiveness and dispassion for the sadhu could not and did not find any

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES: 231 place in the Bible of Islam. The product of necessity, the Qur'an could not, and as a matter of fact did not, teach the offering of the other cheek if smitten on one. Jehad became the outward symbol, though the crescent moon still remains the inward mark, of Islam. It is to be doubted whether any living Mabomedan knows whence the crescent Moon was taken. Probably a great many of them connect it in their minds with the miracle of the splitting of the moon; but the esoteric significance of that is very different. As explained in the Key of Knowledge, that miracle only signified the acquisition of a kind of second sight, what the theosopbist would probably call the opening out of the individual's conscionsness on the 'Astral plane. It is supposed that the first of the series of veils that obstruct clairvoyance is made of a kind of subtle material, the "astral matter,' wbich is supposed to have a marked affinity for the moon, and it was the penetration of this, the first veil of matter, which was intended by the miracle. As for the proper significance of the crescent moon, I had better refer you to the ancient symbol of Jainism which consists of the crescent moon placed above a szvastika or cross, with one cipher digit on the top and three such digits below the crescent thus : OOO The explanation of this symbol is this : the four Jimbs of the swastika, or cross, indicate the four types

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232 MYTHOLOGY of life, through which souls wander in the course of transmigration, namely. (i) deva (as a resident of heavens), (ii) manushya (as a human being), (iii) narka (as a resident of a hell), and (iv) all others, collectively termed tiryancha (birds, beasts, insects, plants, minerals, etc.). The three cipher-digits symbolise Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, and the crescent moon is the mark of the quickening spirit who is bound to grow and wax strong, till He becomes Full and Perfect (like the full Moon). The cipher-digit at the top is, of course, an emblem of Godhood, full and perfect. This is the true explanation of the crescent moon in the language of symbolism. As for the arch-angel, Gabriel, Sir Syed Ahmad declined to believe in his existence, holding that when the Prophet said that an angel had appeared unto him he meant nothing more or less than the simple fact that an unknown person had met him (The Philosophy of Islam by Khaja Khan, p. 54). But the true explanation is to be found elsewhere. It is said in the Shiva Samhita, a notable work on yoga :" When the yogi thinks of the great Soul, after rolling back hig eyes, and concentrates his mind to the forehead, then he can perceive the lustre from the great Soul. That clever yogi who always meditates in the abovementioned way, evinces the great soul within himself and can even bold communion with Him."

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 233 It is this lustre from the "great Soul" which seems to have been personified as the arch-angel Gabriel. Of the other angels, there are two that are deputed to take an account of a man's behaviour, "one sitting on the right hand, and the other on the left : he uttereth not a word, but there is with him a watcher ready to note it" (Al Qur'an chap. 50). These are clearly the two principal currents of the vital breath, termed Ida and Pingali, that pass through the chains of sympathe. tic ganglia, in which is preserved the quintessence of bodily tenden'cies, that is the essence of passions, emo. tions and thoughts of the individual. I had better say that the Ida passes through the left and the Pingala. through the right nostril. To come now to the real doctrines of Islam, there is no doubt but that the same fundamental principles are to be found in the Qur'an as in other religions, though for obvious reasons the admixture of the useful and the useless is the most bewildering in that scripture. Times out of number is God defined in the Qur'an, as he who seeth and heareth. We know that seeing and hearing appertain to consciousness or life, not to one particular being or soul. In Suratul Hadid it is said : "God is with you wherever you are". In Suratul Rahman He is said to be the first and the last, the apparent and the real, and all-knowing. Surah Fatah points out : "The people who strike palm with thee, do not strike it with thee, but with God."

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234 MYTHOLOGY Elsewhere it is said that God is nearer to man than his camel's neck. Sura Wakiya records: "We are nearer to man than you, but you do not observe." In Sura Zariyat it is recorded: "I am nearer to man than his jugular vein." Finally it is openly said in this very Sura Zariyat : "I am in your individuality, but you do not see." These expressions need no comment now from me. The reason why these highest truths of philosophy were imparted to men in this laconic way is to be found in the attitude of the people and the state of human society at the time of the different prophets. Mansur was impaled for saying "analbaq" (I am God), as you know, and there were others who had been put to death for similar "faults" by fanatical mobs. championing the cause of exoteric gods, whence the practice of speaking in proverbs' (cf. John, xvi, 25 and Matt. vii, 6). Jiu The hidden sense of these parables is clear enough once you are familiarised with the Scientific Truth and the mystic way of expressing it; but otherwise might. easily pass for poetical license or elegant diction without exciting comment. How did Muslim esotericists understand these sayings is evident from Ali's injunction to acquire philosophical wisdom even from an infidel if necessary. The Prophet himself said: "Man, know thyself." Amongst mystics we may refer to Al Hallaj, commonly

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235 known as Mansur, whom we have already referred to. There is Shamsh of Tabrez also who says: Zhu CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES `jb mn shmsh tbryzm khh gshtm shynkhh br khrd chwn khwdr khwd nZr khrdm ndydm jz khd dr khwd [How wonderful I am Shamsh of Tabrez; when I came to look into myself, I found none but God in the self !] Maulana Rum writes: "Oh my soul, I searched from end to end, I saw in thee nought save the Beloved. Call me not infidel, O my soul, if I say that thou thyself art He. Ye who in search of God, of God, pursue, Ye need not search for God is you, ig you !" The Sufi thought approached perfection with Faridul-din Attar who said : t tw hsty khdy dr khwb st tw nmny chw wshwd bydr Rendered into Urdu it would read: b`th ykh khd khy khwb Gflt khy tyry hsty hy tw th `lm myN tw wh bydr hw jwy [Tr. So long as thou art in evidence, a God is asleep; when thou shalt cease to be, He shall wake up.] h Is this any thing other than a repetition of the old Indian principle that the soul is its own God, or different from the Messiah's word:

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MYTHOLOGY 236 "He that findeth his life shall lose it : and he that logeth hig. (Matt. x. 39). life for my sake shall find it." Here are a few of the more precious gems from tne Sufi Treasury of Thought: :: :: :: : (1) mqm rwH brmn Hyrt amd nshn z dy bgnkhn Gyrt amd (2) nwy'y `shq bZhr dr Tryqt twy'y m`shwq bTn dr Hqyqt (3) khr bkhh khwd tr bshd rhy z khd w khlq byshkh akh hy (4) hm zyn gfth st dr bHr Sf nyst ndr jbh 'm Gyr khd (0) `yn apy ab my jwy'y `jb nqd khwd r tsyh mygwy'y mjb (1) pdshhy rj@ mymty kd gnjh dry chry'y pr nw (7) pr pnh dst dr zyr nqb hmchw dry khw nhn shdh dr Hbb (8) prdh brdr w jml yr byn dydh wkhn chhr@ srr byn (9) khshf dr m`ny bwd rfy` Hjb bwd tw myd bzry tw nqb These may be translated into English as follows : of the soul was full of wonders (1) The place for me; I feel ashamed of my failure to des. cribe it in words. | WWW.jainelibrary.org

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 237 (2) Thou thyself art the outward lover, conformably to usage; thou thyself art in reality the Beloved! (3) Couldst thou but find a way to thine own mystery, without doubt, thou shouldst know God and the world. (4) For this reason, it is said in the Behr-i-safa : there is none but God inside my cloak. (5) Purest water thou art, and seekest thou water; it is strange! Thine Treasures thou hast forgotten, and now askest for them; it is strange ! (6) Thyself a king, why remainest thou a beggar ? Owner of all treasures, why art thou penniless? (7) The Beloved is hidden under the veil, like water that lieth concealed beneath a bubble. (8) Lift up the veil and behold the glory of the Beloved; open thine eyes and perceive the face of the mystery! (9) Separateness is destroyed by the sense becoming illuminated; thine own being hath come over thy face as a veil. All these are beautiful commentaries on the simple statement of truth by the Prophet: "He who knoweth himself, knoweth God " (Sayings of Mahomed).

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238 MYTHOLOGY Such is the nature of the soul according to Islam; and it is a source of real pleasure to me to find animal life placed on the same level as the human in the Qur'an. * There is no kind of beast on earth, nor fowl which flieth - with its wings, but the same is a people like uoto you ; we have not omitted anything in the book of our dec. roes : then unto their Lord shall they returu " (chap, vi), It is also very refreshing to find in the Qur'an such passages as acknowledge prior revelation of truth amongst other uations and countries. As a matter of fact, it is a part of the teaching of Islam that men were professors of one religion only at first; afterwards they dissented, (Al Koran by Sale, p. 151). As for reincarnation, the Muslim idea of predestin nation, which bas brought upon Islam the stigma of fatalism, itself suffices to prove the theory of transmigration, if investigated philosophically, " Taqdir, or the absolute decree of good and evil," says T. P. Hughes in ' A Dictionary of Islam,' " is the sixth article of the Mahomedan creed, and the orthodox believe. that whatever has, or shall come to pass in this world, whether it be good or bad, proceeds entirely from the Divine will, and has been irrevocably fixed and recorded on a preserved tablet by the pen of fate." This preserved tablet is the Perspicuouis Book, the Book of God's decrees, called lauk.i.mahfuz (bogenowe zoud in Arabic, and is said to contain all that has happened in the past and all that is to happen in the future. - Nor is anything added unto the age of him whose life is prolonged, neither is anything diminished from his age,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES: 239 but the same is written in the book of God's decrees " (Sura xxxv). It is pointed out in the Sura Y. S.:-- " Verily, it is we who will quicken the dead and write dowa the works which they have sent on before them, and the traces which they shall bave left behind them and everything have we set down in the clear book of our decrees." The actions of men are determined according to what is written in the Book of Decrees; and the same holds true with respect to every other creature, for "all things have been created after fixed decrees" (Sara liv. 49). To the same effect are the following: * No one can die excepi by God's permission according to the book that fixeth the term of life (Sara, iii, 139). "The Lord bath created and balauced all thinge aud hath fixed their destinies and guideth them." (Sura, xxxvii. 2). " By no means can aught befall us but what god has destined for us (Sura, ix. 51)." Such is the nature of the Perspicuous Book. But the question which remains to be answered is: how are the decrees contained in the Book of Fate enforced in the world of men ? There may be a book, or even a whole library, in the cosmic archives, but unless there is a force which connects every individual soul with the actions it is destined to perform, it is inconceivable how the decrees of fate can be worth anything more than the cash-value of the tablet on which they are inscribed. If our Muslim friends will take the trouble to work out the problem of the connection between the decrees

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240 MYTHOLOGY of fate and the actions of men and other beings in the three worlds, they will not fail to perceive that the force which compels obedience to the decrees of fate is none other than the force of karma, and that the bogeno qu (lauh-i-mahfuz), the Perspicuos Book, whose decrees can never be challenged, is the cosmic memory,' the self-registering Ledger of karma, in which are recorded all things that have happened in the past and also those that are to happen in the future, or, in the language of the Qur'an, all actions of men, including 'the works which thev have sent on before them, and the traces which they shall leave behind them.' The reader has only to turn to the doctrine of karma, * as propounded in the Jaina Siddhanta, to understand the nature of the Perspicuous Book and of the process which auto. matically records and registers the actions of men and their future, hence predetermined, fruits. The whole doctrine, thus, is a highly abridged and condensed ver. sion of the theory of karma. Cf. " Verily, God changes not what a people has unless they change what is in themselves." (The Quran by Abul Fazal, vol. II. p. 386). Salo's translation of this verse which is as follows is also very sigoificant. "Verily, God will not change his grace which is in men, until they change the disposition in their souls by sin" (Al Koran, p. 182). The italicised words in Sale's translation are only intended to develop the sense, which is however quite clear even without them. The idea here, clearly, is that of a modifi'cation of what is in men by their own evil deeds, in other words of a modification of disposition by actions. This is certainly in agreement with truth, as demonstrated ere this.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 241 The passage "O my people ! how is it that I bid you to galvation, but that ye bid me to the fire ?"which occurs in the fortieth surah (verse 66) throws considerable light on the true tenets of the Qur'an, and is intelligible only on the hypothesis of trans. migration For the Arabic word najat jolau) employed in the text to denote the idea of salvation, will be meaningless except as signifying freedom from some kind of bondage or restraint, the true interpretation of which must be sought on the same lines as that of the famous Biblical text in Jobin, viii. 32-"And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." This is sufficient to show that the doctrine of the bondage of karma is taught in secret both in the Bible and the Holy Qur'an. We shall now briefly dwell upon the means prescribed by Islam for the obtainment of salvation. They comprise : (1) sacrifice, (2) prayer, (3) fasting, (4). pilgrimage and (5) the general rules of piety. We shall consider the first two of these in a subsequent lecture, but pilgrimage is common to all religions, 16

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MYTHOLOGY 242 as it is a powerful means of intensifying faith, and fasting and general piety call for no special mention here. They all were intended to uproot the poisonous tree of desire which is the root of all trouble; and there have been many notable Muslim saints who understood these injunctions in this sense. Here are a few notable verses from the writings of Shamsh of Tabrez and Farid-ul-dio Attar in support of this view : (1) zdny trkh khyr z bhr dyn tw twkhl br khd khn blyqyn tw (2) qlm ndr bSwrt khwysh dr zn HSr nfs r z byn brkhn (3) Hws khmsh r chwn dzd brynd jw bsty dzd ymn bsh mykhnd (3) chw byd rftnt zyn dr dnh chrbndy tw dl drkhr dny (5) bGflthy dny khlq mGrwr bkhrdh yd mrg z dl hmh dwr (1) `lyqhy dny qT` grdn HzyN dl bsh dr wy chwn Grybn (7) zhy Gflt khh mr khwr khrd st khh yd mrg z dl dwr khrd st (8) t nh grdd nfs tb` rwH r khy dw yby dl mjrwH r

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES (9) mqm fqr bs `lymqm st mly w m dr anj bs Hrm st (10) dr an mnzl bwd khshf w khrmt wly by'd gzshtn zn mqmt 243 (11) gr dny w `qby pysh ay'd nZr khrdn dr an hrgz nshyd (12) gr grdy tw dr twHyd fny bHq bby bqy'y zndgny The English rendering of these couplets would be something like the following. (1) For the sake of din (religion or salvation) retire thou from the world; assuredly thou shouldst trust in God. (2) Thrust the pen through the image of self ("I" and "mine"); pull down the fortress of desire from its foundation. (3) Close the five senses, as thou wouldst lock up a thief; having secured the robber thou may. est rest in peace and laugh. (4) When thou hast to leave the world why dost thou tie thyself to its concerns? (5) Inflated with pride are men with the vanities of the world; [alas !] they have altogether put aside the thought of death. (6) Cut off the chains that tie thee to the world; like a stranger thou shouldst live sad of heart.

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244 MYTHOLOGY (7) Strange is the infatuation that has blinded us-that has banished from the mind the thought of death, (8) So long as the desiring nature is not brought under subjection to the soul, how shalt thou obtain a salve for the aching heart ? (9) Saintliness (asceticism) is the true exalted seat; me and mine are forbidden in that state. (10) Illumination and miracles occur in that stage [of self-contemplation); but one should not linger there. (1) If both this and the future worlds lie before the saint, he should not look at them. (12) If thou losest thyself in the unity of being, thou sbalt find eternal lise in the Truth. The insistence on knowledge as a means of true progress is clear from the following passages in the Qur'an, the references being to the pages of Sale's Translation : (i) "Use indulgence, and command that which is just, and withdraw far from the ignorant " (p. 125). (ii) ".. that they may diligently instruct themselves in religion " (p. 149). (iii) "How few revolve (these things) in their mind" (p. 353)! (iv) "It is not fit for a man, that God sbould give him a book of revelations, and wisdom and prophecy ; and then

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 245 he should say unto men, Be ye worshippers of me, besides God ; but he ought to say, Be ye perfect in knowlodge, and in works, since you know the scriptures, and exercise yourgelf thereia " (p: 41). The last quotation is also a direct authority for the view that "works" are necessary for salvation. I pro. pose to stop here for the day and to continue the investigation of mythology in another direction in the next lecture.

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246 SIXTH LECTURE. SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS. I propose this evening to look into certain ancient faiths. As is now well known, the ancient Babylonians celebrated a sort of mystic rite that was centred round the god Tammuz who was dead and rose again from the dead, through the labours of Innini, his weeping mother, and, finally, also his bride. The Semitic legend of the descent of Istar who descended into Hades to rescue the young god Tammuz, is another myth of the same type. So is the Egyptian cult of Osiris in connection with which certain forms of ritual were gone through annually in secret and were known as mys. teries." The following account of this ancient cult is given in the ERE. (vol. iv. p. 243): "The details of his myth do not concern us; but briefly, the doctrine of the Egyptian religion taught that Osiris, a beneficent god and king, after being slain by the treachery of Set, his malevolent antithesis, was restored to life again, justified before the gods against the accusations of Set, and made God and Judge in the under world. Already by the time of the 5th dynasty the idea had been concieved that the story of Osiris was repeated in the case of each Pharaoh, and the conception gradually filtered down until it was held that every man who was possessed of the necessary knowledge might after death become an Osiris, be restored to life, be justified before the gods, and enter into ever-lasting blessedness. Prao (1

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 247 tically the Egyptians believed, from the earliest historical period, that because Osiris died and rose again, and after being justified entered into ever-lasting life, therefore those who believed in him would share the same destiny......... This belief is held, with no essential varia tions, throughout the whole historic period." In the Book of The Dead (chapter cliv) it is said : "Homage to thee, O my divine father, Osiris ! thou...... didst not decay...... thon didst not become corruption. I shall not decay......I shall not see corruption... I shall have my being, I shall live, I shall germinate, I shall wake op in peace." The following is the explanation given by Herodotus of these mysteries (ERE. vol. ix. p. 74) :" At Sais is the burial place of one whom I scraple to pame [Osiris]......On the lake [of the temple], the Egyptians represent by night the sufferings avdergone by Him and this representation they call Mysteries. All the proceedings in these Mysteries are well-known to me, but my lips shall piously refrain from mentioning them ** (Herod. ii. 170. f.). And Plutarch adds (ERE. vol. ix. p. 74): " Isis would not that her own woes and grievous journeyings, that the deeds of his wiedom and heroism should fall into oblivion and silence. She therefore institated holy, sacred mysteries which would afford an image, a representation in mimic scenes of the sufferings he epdared that they might serve as a pious teaching and a congolatory hope to the men and women who passed through the same hardships" (Platarch de Is. et Osir. xxvii). .

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248 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS Osiris was murdered according to an Egyptian le gend by his brother Seth which means typhoon. The coffin containing his body was then launched into the Nile. It drifted away thence to a place where it was discovered by Isis and was taken thence by her to Egypt. Here Seth found the corpse and cut it into pieces, which he cast into the Nile. Isis resumed her search for it, and she raised a tomb over every fragment of the body wherever she found it. Then Horus, the son of Osiris, Thoth and Anubis, his friends, came to Isis' help to avenge Osiris; they justified him before the court of gods, and restored his mummified body to life and immortality. Thus could Osiris hand over his realm to his son, Horus, who became the patron and ancestor of the Pharaohs (ERE. vol. ix. p. 74). The scheme of the Osirian Mysteries that has now been partially reconstructed with the aid of an old account, dating from the year 1875 B. C., runs as follows: (1) Isis and Nephthys have searched and found the body of Osiris upon the river of Nedit; and there is prolonged lament. (2) On hearing the cries, the gods come in haste; Horus, Anubis and Thoth carry magical implements and vases filled with fresh water; Osiris is cleansed of all stains by four libations and fumigations. (3) Divine magic effects a series of miracles (a) the dismemberment of the body of Osiris is

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 249 restored ; (b) by unction with oils and paint and by the agency of the adze of Anubis mouth, eyes and ears in the body of Osiris are opened'; (c) the members are put into motion, and each organ recalled to life; (d) other methods are employed to revive Osiris" body : it is buried in the earth ; (e) Osiris is also revived by simulating an animal rebirth; the priest who plays Anubis lies in a recumbent position-which is that of the foetus in the mother's womb-under the skin of some sacrificial animal. He symbolises Osiris being conceived anew, being reborn in the hide, and issuing, as if, from the matrix, after assimilating to himself the life of his sacrificed adversary, Seth. As the result of all these rites Osiris is brought back to life. Offerings are then offered to bim and he is adorned and crowned. He also recovers the privilege of 'creative voice' whereby he is able to baffle all dangers, and to create instantly whatever in any emergency necessity demands (ERE. vol. ix p. 75). In addition to these rites, there is reason to believe, there were other rites complementary to these which related to the purification of Osiris, and which were probably only known to the initiates. These ceremonies were performed that they might serve as a piety and consolation for the men and women who should suffer the

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250 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS same trials. In the words of the writer of the Article on the Egyptian Mysteries in the ERE., "the Egyptian Mysteries, like the Eleusinian and Isiac Mysteries, claim to...reveal the way to enter upon a new blissful life. Every notion that we have of them is connected with the cult of Osiris, who is, in the Egyptian Pantheon, pre-eminently the dead and resuscitated god." To come now to the Greek Mysteries of which there were several sorts, and which were believed to deliver men from the torments of the other world, while the neglect of them was punished by an awful doom : it was clearly stated that happiness in the next world was confined to those who had been initiated in these mysteries, and the initiate was enjoined in the following remarkable words : " Above all remember and retain in your heart that the remaining space of your life on earth is dedicated to me, to whom you owe all your being " (ERE. vol. ix. p. 82). As for the cult of these mysteries, the same theme of the death and resurrection of a god is common to them all. An interesting account of one of these mystery.cults is thus given in the ERE: "The special form of Dionysiac worship... is connected with the name Zagreus, wbich was applied to Dionysus. The legends which told the story of the birth, death and resurrection of Zagreus are of a particularly revolting kind... Zagreng was the child of an amour of Zeus and Persephone. While still an infant he was entrapped by the Titans, who attracted him with toys and then

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 251 tore him to pieces and devoured him. Only the beart Burvived, which was rescued by Athene and carried to Zous, who slew the murderers with him thunder-bolte, and produced from the heart another Zagreus." This legend was thus explained by Orphic teachers: "In all of us there is a divine element not wholly overwhelm ed with wickedness of which the Titans are the emblem. By innate impurity men are condemned to a cycle of births and deathe, from wbich they can escape and be made fit for communion with Gods only by purification and initiation in the Mysteries" (ERE. vol. ix p. 80.). I do not think I am called upon to add another word of explanation to this, as it must be quite plain to you by this time that the resurrection cult in all these 'mysteries' bears reference to the soul's own divinity which is to be rescued from the clutches of the Titans (forces of karma and transmigration) and immortalised with all the lost limbs and members (attributes and powers) restored. This is in full agreement with the following from the Hindu Puranas already quoted in our first lecture. "All imperfections leave behind. Assume thine ancient frame once more Each limb and sense thou hadst before, From every earthly taint refined." , I shall now briefly describe the teaching of that ancient religion of China which passes by the name of Taoism. Isses bga chinese mof that

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252 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS Tao-ism was reformed or put together afresh about the sixth century B. C., by a certain Chinese mystic who was known as Lao-tze. The theories of Lao-tze, in many instances, bear close resemblance to Indian thought and are in the main an abridged version of the teachings of Jainism. The term Tao which has proved very troublesome to the translator (see the iutroduction to SBE. vol. xxxix. pp. 12-15) means Life, and on account of the different aspects in which Life manifests itself, has caused endless confusion in the minds of men. Some think it means a path or road, others that it was intended for nature, others, again, that it stands for reason. But the true reading is Life, in all its diverse aspects, especially as "the way, the truth and the life" (cf. St. John xiv. 6.) Accordingly, Lao-tze defines his Tao as the ultimate reality, anterior to and higher than heaven, existing before time began and precedent to the manifested God. Of course, Life is eternal, and its essence is prior to its manifesting itself in its full divinity as manifested God. Taken in the abstract, it is devoid of personality and is without any of those attributes which are associated with humanity, including Reason. Its action is represented as necessary and automatic, and it is devoid of sensible qualities, The ultimate source of all existence, it pervades, influences and harmonises all the phenomena of nature, and its quiet but all-effective operation is the example upon which all human activities should be modelled, in contradiction to the bustling

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 253 officiousness and blustering self-assertiveness that are characteristic of mankind is general. Tao, of course, is the natural heritage of man, but, in the majority of cases, that inheritance has been set aside by other interests. The quest of Tao must be undertaken if men are to regain that tranquillity, that complete contentment which can never be acquired by the worldly minded. For Tao is also the goal tawards which all things tend. The means by which the goal is to be reached are generally available to all, demanding only the condition of absolute self-abnegation. To abandon the vaunted *wisdom' of the schools, to lay aside all self-interest, to throw open every avenue of thought and feeling to the entrance of Tao are the necessary steps to that final consummation, viz, return to Tao. Ambition, luxury, wealth and pleasure have no place in the life-programme of the Taoist. He must strive for the attainment of quietness, for nothing else, not even for the promotion of virtue, or the preaching of his doctrines. The Taoist holds that virtue which is artificially developed is valueless as compared with that which is the unconscious expression of the Tao within. Tao must be attained, therefore, by every means in one's power. It is only when the root is present that flowers will bloom! Amongst the steps the first is purgation. Only he who is eternally free from earthly passions will reach Tao. The second is illumination when dispassion becomes a habit. The third is the attainment of unity, when "without going out of doors one may know the whole world." The process,

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254 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS however, is long and involves many hardships. The novice must first acquire esoteric knowledge of the Truth at the feet of an Adept. He should then establish himself in the principle of 'Quietism,' devoting his whole spare time to self-introspection; he must also develop complete contempt for material things and worldly relations. Then alone will he be qualified to enter into Tao, that is Life Eternal. The above account which is taken from the article on Chinese Mysticism in the ERE. is really an abridgement of the teaching of Religion proper, and shows at a glance how widely prevalent its doctrines were in the ancient days. According to a French work the 'Histoire des Religions (vol. iii)., quoted in Metchnikoff's 'Nature of Man,' "One of the chief claims of Taoism was the possession of a specific against death....... And some of the masters of Taoism, such, for instance, as Chang-Tao-Ling, ascended to heaven without dying, by climbing a lofty peak and vanishing into the skies.......To arrive at this, Lao-teen simply expanded and applied to mankind generally an idea that was already familiar to him, the conception of the transmigration of one soul through several successive bodies. By means of......expiatory transformations, a man who had not reached it directly through the holiness of his life, could attain the immortality of the genii and the blessed." I suppose this only means that if a man failed to attain to immortality in one life, by reason of death intervening before the destruction of the causes of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 255 transmigration, the fruit of his labours was not lost and would be bis in the next rebirth, so that by means of steady work nirvana could be easily attained in the course of a few lives'. That this simple doctrine should have puzzled the Orientalists is not surprising, because what they have read hitherto is not the scientific explanation of Religion proper, but only the disconnected mystic or, at best, speculative tenets of mythological creeds passing current as Religion. The vanishing into the skies of Chang Tao-ling is thus described in the Introduction to the 39th volume of the SBE. (p. 42): "Among Liang's descendants in our first ceatury was a Kang Tao-ling, who, eschewing a career in the service of the state devoted himself to the pursuits of alchemy, and at last succeeded in compounding the grand elixir or pill, and at the age of 123 was released from the trammels of the mortal body, and entered on the enjoga ment of immortality......" I think this is more like a secret teaching than a literal statement of a fact; and a strong hint of the emblematic nature of the teaching is conveyed in the part that refers to release from the trammels of the body, which is certainly an indication of nirvana, and opposed to the notion of a perpetuating of bodily existence by means of chemical or alchemical potions and pills.

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256 - SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS The Tao Teh Ching, the mysterious Book of Taoism, bas it : "The further that one goes out (from himself), the less he kpows" (SBE. vol. xxxix. p. 89). And the following from the same work "He who has in himself abundantly the attributes (of the Tao) is like an infant. Poisonous insects will not sting him ; fierce beasts will not seize him, birds of prey will : not strike him" (Ibid. p. 99).-- is in the same strain as the prophecy in the Gospel of St. Mark towards the end of the 16th chapter, or the teaching of Hinduism (The Yoga Vashishta by Narain S. Ayer). Self-knowledge is pointed out as essential to the knowledge of God. "By exerting his mental powers to the full, man comes to understand his nature. When he understands his own pature, he understands God" (The Religions of Ancient China, by H. A. Giles, L.L. D., p. 43). Shao Yung (1011-1077 A. D.) defines the residence of God thus : "The heavens are still : 10 sound. Where then shall God be found ? Search not in distant skies; In man's own heart He lies" (Ibid. p. 58). The ultimate end, too, is God (Ibid. p. 50). Every one who attaches importance to the external, becomes internally without resource (The Musings of a Chinese

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 257 Mystic, by L. Giles, p. 100). Perfection is not constitu. ted by "......charity and duty to one's neighbour. 1t is found in the cultivation of Tao. Perfection of hearing is not hearing others, but oneself....... Perfection of vision is not seeing others, but oneself. For a man who sees not himself, but others, takes not possession of himself, but of others, thus taking what others should take and not what he himself should take. Instead of being himself, he in fact becomes some one else" (Ibid. p. 97). By mental perfection good and evil cease to exist. A Chinese Mystic puts it : "The question is, how to bring the miod into a state of calm, in which there is no thinking or mental activity ; how to keep the lips silent, with only natural inhalation and exhalation going on. If you give yourself up to mental perfection, right and wrong will cease to exist; if the lips follow their natural law they know not profit or loss" (Taoist Teachings, p. 41). We also have it from the same source : " The only way to etherealise the body being to parge the mind of its passions " (Ibid. p. 42). The mind is the seat of felicitous influences : " Look at that aperture : the empty apartment is filled with light through it. Felicitous influences rest in the mind thus emblemed), as in their proper resting place" (SBE. vol. xxxix. p. 210). The True man, a Master of the Tao, or the spirit-like Man, is defined as "a recluse of the mountain, whose bodily form has been changed, and who ascends to

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258 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS heaven" (ibid, 237 footnote). The sagely man is "the Great Conqueror" (Ibid. p. 385). "Men of the highest spirit-like qualities mount up on the light, and the limitations of the body vanish" (Ibid. p. 324), The human spirit, it is said (Ibid. p. 367), transforms and nourishes all things, and cannot be represented by any form ; its name is "the Divinity (in man)". The Chinese term liere used is Ti, which, according to a footnote of the translator (on p. 367), is regarded as "a very remarkable use of Ti for the human spirit in the sense of God." He to whom profit and injury are not the same is not a superior man (Ibid. p. 239). As to what is the significance of the attainment of the aim:* Complete enjoyment is what is meant by the attainment of the air ......Now-a-days what is called the 'Attainment of the aim' means the getting of carriages and coronets. But carriages and cororets belong to the body; they de not affect the nature as it is constitutse. When such things bappen to come, it is but for a tiine; being but for a time their coming cannot be obstructed and their going cannot be stopped....... The one of these conditions and the other may equally couduce to our enjoyment, which is simply to be free from anxiety. If now the departure of what ig transient takes away one's enjoyment, this view shows that what enjoyment it had given was worthless. Hence it is said, "They who lose themselves in their pursuit of things, and lose their nature in their study of what is vulgar, 101286 be pronounced people who turn things apside down " (Ibid. pp. 372-373). All this is in full harmony with the teaching of tbe. Scientific Religion as we know it now.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 259 Let us pause here for a moment to ascertain the precise significance of the Biblical text "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John. xiv. 6), It is in reality nothing but a paraphrase, or rendering in other words, that is to say, a literal translation, virtually, of the Ratna Trai (triple-jewel) of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct which, taken together, constitute the Path of Salvation according to Jainism. The way the true, proper or Right Faith. The truth = The true, proper or Right Knowledge. The lifeThe true, proper or Right mode of living, hence Conduct. The very first sutra of the Jaina Bible, otherwise known as the Tattvartha Sutra, teaches : samyaga darzana jJAnacAritrANi bhokSa mArgaH // This means: Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct (together) constitute the path to liberation. And it is said in the 27th sloka of the Drava Sangraha (see SBJ., vol. I. p. 110): "Because by the rule a sage gets both the causes of liberation by meditation, therefore practise meditation with careful mind." The two causes of liberation referred to are known as vyavahara and nishchaya. Their difference is due to the standpoint from which we may approach the subject. The vyavahara is the practical point of view, while the other is the absolute or real point of view, From

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260 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS the practical point of view the (vynvahara) the belief in the doctrine of the Tirthamkaras, is Right Faith, the knowledge of the Tattvas, as taught in the Jaina . Scriptures, Right Knowledge, and the observance of of the rules of conduct prescribed for the layinan and the monk, Right Conduct ; but in reality the soul being its own God, is itself an embodiment of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, Mr. S. C. Ghoshal writes in his commentary on the Dravya Sangraha, just referred to, "Perfect faith, perfect knowledge and perfect conduct are the cause of liberation from the ordinary point of view; while really the soul itself possessed of thege three is the cause of liberation" (SBJ. vol. i. p. 110). This is the reason why a self-conscious soul may justly maintain of itsell, " I am the way, the truth and the life." The order in which these three attributes are mention. ed is also full of significance ; for they are always mertioned in this very order in the Jaina Books. This significance appears sufficiently clearly from Mr. J. L. Jainis' translation of the Tattvartha Sutra, which constitutes the 2nd volume of the Sacred Books of the Jainas series. "Of these three, right belief is the basis upon which the other two rest. It is an essential preliminary to right knowledge. It is the cause and right knowledge is the effect. Right knowledge always implies it. Similarly right conduct is preceded and caused by right knowledge,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES ! 261 and implies both right knowledge and right belief. For this reason, in the aphorism we find right belief mentioned first, then right knowledge and lastly right con dact" (SBJ. vol. ii. p. 2). We come now to Mithraism which at one time flourished all over the western tract of Asia, extending from India to Rome, in spirit at least, if not in name. The Vedic Mitra is now generally acknowledged to be the original of the Mithra cult. According to the inscriptions found by H. Winckler at Boghaz-keui in 1907, especially the one chronicling the treaty between Subbi. luliuma, the Hittite king, and Mattiuaza, the son of Tushiratta, the king of Mitanni, Mitra, Varuna, Indra and the twin Aswins were worshipped in the district of Mitanni as far back as the fourteenth century B. C. This is strong evidence of the fact that the Indian Aryans had extended their conquest up to Asia Minor in those ancient days. I am inclined to agree with Moulton, who says that the fact probably means no more than that the chieftains were Aryan, the people whom they conquered being indigenous. This might also indicate a pre-historic migration of Indian Aryans Westwards as some have surmised. The Iranian Parsis would certainly seem to be a colony of Indian Aryans who settled down in Iran in remote times, and carried Indian ideas and customs with them as is made suffi. ciently clear in the Fountain-Head of Religion by B. Ganga Prasad, whose opinion seems to be in agreement with the best of European thinkers on the point. A

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262 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS tablet from the library of Assurbanipal, the king of Assyria (668-626 B. C.), establishes the identity of Shamsh with Mithra, while Assara Mazash is simply the Ahura (Sanskrit, asura) Mazda in his Assyrian form (ERE. vol. viii, p. 754). Plutarch tells us that the cult of Mithra was taken to Rome by Cicilian Pirates, taken captive in 67 B.C. (Ibid. p. 755). As to what Mitra represents, there can be no doubt but that Mitra was regarded as a god of light which meant that he represented some aspect of knowledge or dharma. Mitra is the god of day and to be distin. guished from Varuna who is the god of night, the day and night probably being intended to distinguish the two phases of spirit, namely, purity of essence and the condition of impurity. Mitra (literally, a friend) would, thus represent Divine Wisdom or Revelation or even the faculty of Intellect which is the best friend of man, and Varuna some specific function of Life, governing conditions of being in the state of bondage. Varuna is, accordingly, the arbiter of our destiny which is automatically adjusted in obedience to the operation of the Laws of nature. Varuna is thus described in Hindu Mythology. * He is said to have good eye-sight, for he koows what goes oo in the hearts of mev. He is the king of gods and men ; is mighty and terrible ; done can resist bis authority. He is the sovereign ruler of the Universe. It is he who makes the sun to shine in heaven ; the winds that blow are but his breath ; he has hollowed out the channels of the rivers wbich flow at his command, and he has made

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 263 i the depth of the sea. His ordinances are fixed and unassailable; through their operation the moon walks in brightness, and stars, which appear in the nightly sky, vanish in day light. The birds flying in the air, the rivers in their sleepless flow, cannot attain a knowledge of his power and wrath. But he knows the flight of the bird in the sky, the course of the far-travelling wind, the paths of ships on the ocean, and beholds all the secret things that have been or shall be done. Ile witnesses men's truth and falsehood. "His spies descending from the skies, glide all this world around; Their thousand eyes, all scanning, sweep to earth's remotest bound. Whate'er exists in heaven and earth, whate'er beyond the skies, Before the eye of Varuna, the king, unfolded lies. The secret winkings all be counts of every mortal's eyes; He wields this universal frame as gamester throws his dice. Those knotted nooses which thou flingst, O god! the bad to snare, All liars let them overtake, but all the truthful spare (quoted from Wilkin's Hindu mythology). The omniscience of 'Varuna is, of course, the poetic omniscience of nature which cannot be evaded, deceived, disobeyed or cheated by any possibility, while the unerring accuracy of results in the domain of a Law that is automatically put in operation by and through the properties of diverse substances and things is a

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264 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITIIS conception of impartiality which human judges in vain emulate. Mitra's omniscience, however, is the omniscience of pure spirit, and a very different thing from this poetic omniscience of Varuna. Among the Persions Mitbra occupied a position of equality with Ahura Mazda, who says :"When I created Mithra, lord of wide pastures, then, 0 Spitama, I created him as worthy of sacrifice, as worthy of prayer as myself, Abura Mazda" (Yt. x. I). Mitbra is also described as Mithra the Mediator, which would mean that he was regarded as the Messiah, Mithra is generally depicted as slaying a bull which, in connection with sacrifice, is the emblem of cattledom, that is to say, sensuality. For further identity of thought between the Hindu and the Parsi mind, I may refer you to the following striking passage from the ERE. (vol, ix. p. 568):"As Ahura Mazda is surrounded by a court of moral hy postases, so the wise Asara of India is the first in a group of personified religious abstractions--the Adityas....... In India, amongst those abstractions, we find Bhaga, 'good lot,' Ampa, 'the share', Daksha, 'ability, etc. If they happen not to be the same as the Amesha Spentas, it is probably a mere chance, because, the equivalents of the various religious hypostages of Iran are to be found also in the Vedic mystic. Not only does rta correspond to asha, arta, but aramiti, 'piety,' 'prayer', is the equival. ont of ormaiti, 'piety,' wisdom,' Ksatra is the kingdom of Varana as Xshathra Vairya is the realm of Mazdah, saurvatati, 'integrity' is Haurvatat, while the conception

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- 265 CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES of good mind (Vohu Manah), though not found in the Vedas, seems to have belonged to the moral vocabulary of the ancient Indians, since one of these Vedic prieste is called vagumanas, 'he who possesses good mind.' Varunas' association with the night has also its corres. pondence in Parsi-ism. "When Ahura Mazda who has put on his cloth, made by the spirits and adorned with stars, is there with Mitbra and Rashnu and the holy Armaiti who bas neither end nor beginning" (Yt xiii. 3; see ERE. ix. 568). As the overseer of the world of strife, Varuna may be likened to the moon who is the lord of the night. In the Assyro-Babylonian Pantheon the moon-god, we are told (ERE. vol. ix. 569) enjoyed a considerably high position. In Zoroastrianism, too, the moon is said to be the abode of the Amesha Spentas (archangels); "it is repeatedly called the ratu, 'master,' 'patron,' of Asha, justice " (ERE. vol, ix. 568, quoting Yt. vii. 3). With reference to the idea of creation also, the esotericism of the Zoroastrian thought is apparent at every stage. According to L. H. Mills in the SBE. (vol. xxxi. p. 26), "It is undeniably 'abstract,' very, and just in proportion as it lacks colour and myth are its depths visible." The fact, however, is that it is both mythical and abstract, no part of it, not even the calculations about millenniums, ages, dynasties and years, being intended to be read historically. It may be that we are not able today to unravel the mystery of each and every character

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266. SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS that has a part to play in this sacred drama of Lise, but neither is our knowledge so meagre as not to warrant our tracing the general outline of the plot with confidence and certainty, Ahura Mazda is Life in its aspect of Dharma, i, e., the Law or 'Path. The term ahura is equivalent to the Sanskrit asura, wbich means deily or lord ; and Masda corresponds to medhas which signifies science in Sanskrit, Hence Ahura Mazda is the embodi. ment of the Divine Dharma-jnana, that is the Science of Life Eternal. Ormmazd, the Parsi from of the Pahlavi Aubar Mazd, popularly known as Ahura Mazda, dwells in 'eternal and endless light,' inasmuch as Dharma can only exist in the being of pure Spirit which is Endless Light Eternal. The enemy is Evil, that is darkness, so thick that you can grasp it by the band (ERE. ix, 567). This is fully characteristic of matter in which evil bas its abode. The being of a corrupter of souls is proved by the author of the Shikand-Gumanik Vijar in the following manner (SBE. vol. xxiv. 1671: ......from the necessity of preserving the soul are manifested the defilement and delusion of the soul, and from the defilement and delusion of the soal is manifested a deliler and delader of the thougts, words and deeds of maukind. On the whole a corrupter of the souls is manifest." The writer might well have added that the corrupter must be a substantive agent to be able to corrupt a

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 267 substantive being. The result of this defilement is thus described in the Dina., Mainog-i Kbird (SBE. vol. xxiv. p. 32).* And Aharman, the wicked, miscreated the demons and fiends, and also the remaining corrupted ones, by his own uopatural intercourse." These demons are lust, greed, anger and other evil traits and propensities of the soul that arise from the adulteration of spirit and matter. But this is purely the Jaina doctrine of asrava and bandha which was explained in connection with the scientific basis of religion. This is further evident from the teaching of the Zad-Sparam (chap. ii.9)."....... on the whole earth were the snake, the scorpion, the lizard, and noxious creatures of many kinds; and so the other kiuds of quadrupeds stood among the reptiles; every approach of the whole earth was as though not as much as a needle's point remained, in which there was no rash of poxious creatures," In chapter four of the Zad Sparam (the tenth verse) Alarman is said to cause disfigurement of the creatures of Ahura Mazda, which also points to a material agent by necessary implication. The explanation of this disfigurement is furnished in Shikand. Gumanik Vijar (Chap. ii. 6-9) as follows: "Being jujured and injuring, however they occur, do not take place except from difference of nature and those of a different nature. Because in those of a like dature there exist similarity of will and unanimity, one towards the other, not injuring and being injared. And those

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268 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS of a different nature, on account of their opposing nature, are destroyers and injurers, one of the other, however they come together. Those of a like patare, on account of unanimity and similarity of nature, are lively, efficient, and mutually helping, when they come together" (SBE. vol, xxiv. 123). What, then, becomes of the omnipotence of Ahura Mazda, if he is unable to keep off Aharman ? The reply is (SBE, vol. xxiv, pp. 124-125): "...The evil deeds of a harman are owing to the evil nature and evil ill which are always his, as a fieod. The omnipotence of Auhar Mazd is that which is over all that is possible to be, and is limited thereby......If I gay that the creator Auhar Mazd is able to keep Aharman back from the evil which is his perpetual nature, it is possible to change that nature which is demoniacal into a divine one, and that which is divide into a demoniacal one; and it is possible to make the dark light, and the light dark." - This is simply charming; omnipotence, certainly, does not include the doing of the impossible. Accordingly, Angra Mainyu boasts of his indestructibility in the following remarkable words ;"All the gods together have not been able to smite me down in spite of myself, and Zarathoshtra alone can reach me in spite of myself. Be smites me with the Ahuna Vairya, as strong a weapon as a stone big as a house ; he burng me with Asha-Vabishta, as if it were melting bran. He makes it better for me that I should leave this earth, he, Spitama Zarathushtra, the only one who can daant me" (SBE. vol. xxiii. pp. 274 and 275).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 269 The Ahuna Vairya is Parsi prayer and Asha-Vabishta a purificatory formula, so that what is meant is that the Enemy, whom the gods are powerless to destroy is actually vanquished by a Master Ascetic who has perfected himself in holiness and piety. The meeting of the two opposite forces takes place in neutral territory--a sort of "no-man's land"-where the final battle is to be fought. This is because neither the real nature of spirit (the realm of Dharma.Jnana) nor that of Matter (the abode of Evil) can be penetrated by any possibility, so that what is affected by their mingling or commingling is only the manifestation of attributes. Hence it is said of Auhar Mazd and Aharman that " between them was empty space, that is, what they call air,' in which is now their meeting" (Bundahish, i. 4; SBE. vol. v. p. 4). The combatants are the angels of light and the progeny of darkness, that is, fiends. The leader of the former is Aubar Mazd who is omniscient, but the leader of fiends is "unobservant and ignorant" (Bundahish, i. 19) and cannot foresee his future doom (Din kart; ERE. vol. i. 237). Accordingly, Ahura Mazda says to the Evil One: "You are not omniscient and almighty, O evil spirit ! so that it is not possible for thee to destroy me, and it is not possible for thee_to force my creatures so that they will not return to my possession" (Bunda. hish, i. 16). The final defeat of Abrman is to be brought about by man (ERE. vol. i. 237). Dharma-Jnana (Aubar Mazd), therefore, obtains time from bis blind and ignorant adversary for "the inter

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270 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS mingling of the conflict" (Bundabish, i. 18). For, the final overthrow of evil not being possible till the appearance of the righteous man, Auhar Mazda, incapable of accomplishing the impossible, is powerless to obtain a victory over the hated rival. This is the period of the "intermingling of the conflict," during which the soul passes through the minerai, the vegetable, the animal and also through unsuitable human forms. The principal angels are: (1) Vohu Mavali=Good Thought; (2) Asha Valishta= Perfect Righteousness; (3) Khshathra Vaiiya=Wished-for Kingdom ; (4) Spenta Armaiti=Holy Harmony (piety); (5) Haurvatat=Saving Healili; ard (6) Ameretat = Immortality. These are the six archangels. The demons are their opposites. The chief of fiends is, of course, Abarman, whose place is filth and who does not think, nor speak, nor act for the welfare of the creatures of Auhar Mazd (Bundahish, xxviii, rand 2). Amongst the others, the business of Akoman is that he "gave vile thoughts and discord"; Taromat is the producer of disobedience; Mitokht is the liar; Arask is malice; Akatash represents perversion ; Az, greediness ; Aeshm, wrath ; and Nas causes pollution and contamination. And" with every one of them are many demons and fiends co-operating....... There are demons of rain, pain, and growing old ....., and bringers of stench, decay and

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 271 new "" vileness, who are many, very numerous, and very noto. rious; and a portion of all of them is mingled in the bodies of men, and their characteristics are glaring in mankind......Various new demons arise from the various sins the creatures may commit (Ibid. chap. xxviii). Because the demons are produced and strengthened by evil thoughts, words and deeds, it is said: "commit no lustfulness; so that harm and regret may not reach thee from thine own actions" (Dina-i Mainogi Khird, ii. 23-24). The same idea runs through the following statements also: 44 ...and demon worship was performed by thee, and demons and fiends were served (Ibid. ii. 172-173).......The ceremonial worship which they perform in a fire-temple, when not done aright, does not reach unto the demons; but that which they perform in other places, when they do not perform it aright, does reach unto the demons; for there is no medium in worship, it reaches either unto the angels or unto the demons (Shay asht-La-shayasht.. ix-5). 23 Angels are not created by our deeds, of course, because they are already in existence as the opposites of the evil tendencies of the soul, so that the destruction of the demoniacal tendencies is really the means of their appearance or manifestation, but not of their creation. For this reason they are regarded as the creations of Dharma-Jnana (Auhar Mazd), out of whose eternal splendour they arise. They are said to shower bounties and blessings on men, because prosperity is the result of such excellent qualities as good "thought," "holiness," and the like. The angels

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272 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS dwell in the Realm of Light, in the splendour of Dharma-Jnana, protected by the rampart of understanding (Zad Sparain, v. 1) built by the beneficent spirit, Auhar Mazd. Of the other varieties of creation, everything represents some abstraction, pertaining to religion or its antithesis, irreligion. Death is spiritual extinction, corruption, the filth of disbelief, and cow, spiritual piety. The Iranians are the pious followers of Auhar Mazd. Armaiti is saintly piety, and the soul of the kine, the spirit of the pious, wailing in distress for the advent of the saviour. The same spirit of personification prevails in all the other departments of creation. This is very clearly stated in the nineteenth chapter of the Bundahish from wbich we need quote only the following striking passages :" The conclusion is this, that, of all beasts and birds and fishes, every one is created in opposition to some noxious creature...... The cock is created in opposition to demons and wizards, co-operating with the dog ; as it says in revelation, that of the creatures of the world, those which are co-operating with Srosh, in destroying the fiends, are the cock and the dog......The dog is a destroyer of such a fiend as covetousness, among those which are in the nature of man and of animals (verses 30, 33 and 34)......Dogs are created in opposition to the wolf-species and for securing the protection of sheep (verse 27). ...... Auhar Mazd created nothing useless whatever, for all these are created for advantage ; when one does not understand the reason of them, it is necessary to ask the Dastur (high priest), for his five dispositions are created

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 273 in this way that he may continually destroy the fiend (verge 36)." I do not suppose there is a dastur alive to-day who has the least idea of what the creations of Aubar Mazd mean ; they all seem to have imbibed the poison of exotericism rather well, and cannot perceive aught but the fashionable "lofty monotheism" (see, for instance, The Teaching of Zoroastrianism by S. A. Kapadia, p. 17) in every nook and corner of their Holy Books. I bave no doubt whatsoever after reading the Bundahish that it is the real key to the elucidation of the wonderful mythologies of the Jewish, the Christian and the Muslim creeds, and will not unlikely be found to have furnished the frame-work of many another system of myths and legends which flourished at one time in the countries Iying west and north-west of Iran. I hope the Parsis will not now rest content till they solve the entire riddle, which naturally must come easier to them than to an utter outsider who may not be familiar with their customs and manners and above all with their language and traditions of the past. I have said enough here to point out the direction of investigation, and I do not think it should be at all difficult for an enthusiastic band of really competent scholars to restore the hole lofty edifice of their dharma in a short time. They should, however, always bear in mind that revelation according to their Scriptures is "The omniscience and goodness of the unrivalled Auhar Mazd" (Bunda. hish, 1.2), and is concerned with the "explanation of 18

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274 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS both spirits together" (Ibid. verse 3). This is a clear indication that the allegorical text of the Scripture is readable only in the light of the scientific truth, the numerous phases of which are personified as angels, men, and the like. Scientific truth, therefore, is the real key to the opening of the rusty padlocks and other contrivances of mythology and mystic thought, To revert to the termination of the divine scheme of creation, it is noticeable that resurrection itself has quite the scientific significance which is associated with the idea of redemption or nirvana, for it is said (Yasna, xix. 9): "And the more bountiful of the two spirits (Ahura) declared to me (Zarathushtra) the entire creation of the pure, that which exists at present, that which is in the course of emerging into existence, and that which shall be, with reference to the performance and realisation of the actions of a life devoted to Mazda." And this is proclaimed as a symbol to the learned (Ibid. verse 11). The individual character of the doctrine is taught even more clearly in Yasna xxx, the second verse of which reads: "Hear ye then with your ears: see ye the bright flame with (the eyes) of the Better Mind. It is for a decision as to religions, man and man, each individually for himself. Before the great effort of the cause, awake ye (all) toour teaching!" Verse 3 then exhorts men to make their choice not as evil doers...

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES :. 275 " Thus are the primeval spirits who as a pair (combining their opposite strivings), and (yet each) independent in his action, have been famed (of old). (They are) a better thing, they two, and a worse, as to thought, as to word and as to deed. And between these two let the wisely-acting choose aright (Choose ye) not (as) the evil-doers." Finally it is said in the Zad Sparam (chap. v. 4): "It is said in the Gathas, thus, 'So also both these spirite have approached togther unto that which was the first creation--that is, both spirits have come to the body of Gayomard. Whatever is in life is so through this purpose of Auhar Mazd, that is : 80 that I may keep it alive; whatever is in lifelessness is so through this purpose of the evil spirit, that is : So that I may utterly destroy it; and whatever is thus is so until the last in the world, so that they (both spirits) come also on to the rest of mankind. And on account of the utter de. pravity of the wicked their destruction is fully seen, and 80 is the perfect meditation of him who is righteous, the hope of the eternity of Auhar Mazd." (SBE. vol. v. 168). Zarathushtra, therefore, is not a World-Redeemer, but an abstraction of the same type as the Messiahs in different faiths, Krishna, Christ, Tammuz and others. The readjustment of things at the resurrection only means the purification of the soul-substance, poetically conceived as the "renovation of the world." For the soul-substance is to be renovated by being purged of every particle of matter, through the elimination of all ideas of virtue and vice both. Godhood is above both

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276 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS good and evil, and consists in pure Self.Contemplation, but virtue is as much a cause of bondage as vice, the only difference between them being that while the bondage resulting from virtue is less unpleasant and more agreeable, that brought about by vice is intolerable and bitter. To proceed with the final restoration at the resurrec. tion, it is distinctly said that it will not be a creation of that which liad 110 existence whatsoever, like the attributes arising from the fusion of spirit and matter that neither exist in pure spirit, nor in pure matter, but arise, as it were, miraculously, from nought. So it is said :" Observe that when that which was not was then produced, why is it not possible to produce again that which was? for at that time ove will demand the bone from the spirit of earth, the blood from the water, the hair from the plants, and the life from firs, since they were deliver ed to them in the original creation" (Bundahish, xxx 6). The attributes mentioned are certain properties of spirit which become vitiated by the defilement of matter, and which remain unfunctioning during the condition of impurity. The idea of Yima's vara explains this principle fully. The legend of this vara is as follows: a great disaster was to come over tlie world; Ahura Mazda employed Yima, the parariise-king, to prepare an enclosure to hold cattle, beasts of burden, useful animals, men and women, of the best and most beautiful kinds, together

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 277 with birds, and burnicg fires, and seeds of all kinds of trees,-all these in pairs without any blemish or token of the evil spirit. This vara is now hidden under ground, but will be opened in Husbetar's millennium, when men and animals will issue from it and arrange the world again and there will be a time of fulness and prosperity (The Teachings of Zoroaster, by S. A. Kapadia, p. 30; ERE. vol, i, 207). The idea is that the best attributes of the spirit are now lying hidden behind the impurities of matter, without performing their functions, but when the righteous Redeemer shall arise who shall dispel the impurities from his soul, these most excellent attributes which are only hidden now shall become manifest and the purity of Spirit as an Omniscient God, Full and Perfect in His own Self shall be attained. The last stage of the "Renovation of the world" is thus described in the Bundanish (chap. xxx) :" Afterwards the fire and balo melt the metals of Shatvairo, in the hills and mountains, and it remains on this earth like a river. Then all men will pars into that melted metal and become pure....... Sophyans, with his agsistants performs a Yazishn ceremony in preparing the dead, and they slaughter the ox Hadhayos in that Yazishn : from the fat of that ox and the white Hom they prepare Hush, and give it to all men, and all men become immortal for ever and everlasting ......80 they act now in the world, but there is no begetting of children....... Afterwards, Auhar Mazd seizen on the evil spirit, Vobuman on Akoman, Ashavahisht on Andar, Shatvairo on Savar, Spen

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278 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS darmad on Taromat who is Naunghas, Horvadad and Ameredad op Tairey and Zairich, true-speaking on what is evil-speaking, Srosh on Aeshm. Then two fiends remain at large, Aharman and Az ; Auharmazd comes to the world, himself the Zota and Srosh and Raspi, and holds the Kusti io his hand ; defeated by the Busti formula the resources of the evil spirit and Az act most impotently, and by the passage through which he rushed into the sky be runs back to gloom and darkness. Gochibar burns the serpent in the melted metal, and the stench and pollution which were in hell are burned in the metal, and it (hell) becomes quite pure. He (Aubar. mazd) sets the vault into which the evil spirit fled, in that metal; be brings the land of bell back for the enlargement of the world ; the renovation arises in the univerge by his will, and the world is immortal for ever and everlasting...... This earth becomes an iceless, slopeless plain ; even the mountain whose summit is the support of the Chinvar bridge, they keep down, and it will not exist." Such is the beautiful allegorical narrative of the events that are sure to take place in the experience of every one to be redeemed. The drama is repeated each time that an impure soul attains to the purity of its true self. Then are all tendencies and traits and notions and ideas levelled to the ground and thrown into the melting pot of vairdgya wliere all that is other-than-theself is completely burnt and destroyed by the fire of tapas. The hole of desire through which ihe evil spirit rushes on the creatures of Ormazd is now closed for ever, and is covered over with the vault of desirelessness,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES. 279 the symbol and assurance of Divinity, that is of Omnisa cience, Omnipotence, All-blissfulness, Perfection and Immortality. The souls that reach nirvana, of course, neither marry nor are given in marriage; They wear no clothes, nor partake of food; nor is a shadow cast by them. Our survey of Parsi-ism is now complete, and it entitles us to say that there is nought in its real teachings to disentitle it to a seat in the great Pandal of Wisdom where Rationalism presides over the congress of Faiths. It rather seems to me that the sublime allegories of Zoroastrianism have supplied the basic frame-work to several of the neighbouring creeds for their own mythologies. The doctrines of creation and deluge are the most striking parallels among others. Their explanation, too, is to be sought on the lines already laid down, not in an historical sense. Perhaps the day is not far off when all these mythologies will be made to yield their secrets. In the meanwhile the present state of our knowledge fully warrants the conclusion that they lend not the least support to the notion of creation which they are popularly supposed to teach. The fact is that the secrets embedded in these mythologies were so. subtile and profound as to be almost wholly beyond the man in the street, and the Jews at least had actually forbidden their study, except with proper safe guards against error. "The work of creation," the Mishna taught, "should not be studied by a company of two, and the Chariot [metaphysics] not even in solitude, unless the student be sagacious and

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280 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS capable of drawing the right conclusions," (ERE. vol. iv. p. 245). The Hindus, too, prohibited the sudras (uninitiated) from reading the Vedas. In Zoroastrianism, also it is said : "Comprehending the sacred being is possible through unde cayed understanding, fervent intellect, and decisive Wisdom" (Shikand-Gumanik Vijar, v. 5; SBE. vol. xxiv. p. 140). Again, as to the method of comprehending the Sacred Being, it is said in the same book (chap. x. 33-37):: "Now it is necessary for every intelligent person to under stand and to know thus much, that is, from whom it is pecessary for us to flee and to abstain, and with whom is the hope, and with whom the maintenance of our protection. The method for this acquisition is nothing else but to understand the sacred being in his nature, because...... it is not only to know his existence, but it is necessary to understand his nature and his will." I shall now complete this sbort survey of the fundamental doctrines of Zoroastrianism before concluding this lecture. That its doctrines implied transmigratior is evident from the general scheme of its teachings already outlined by me. We have also authority for the view that the soul is immortal by nature. " The spirit of the body," says the Dadistan-i-Dinik (chap. xvii. 4), "on account of being the spiritual life for the heart in the body, is indestructible ; so is the will winicha resides therein, even when they shall release it from its abode."

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES According to Shayast La-shayast (xvii. 7), "the soul of him who commits sodomy will become a demon, and the soul of him who performs religious rites of apostasy will become a darting snake." 281 In chapter four of the Shikand-Gumanik Vijar the destiny of the soul is traced out in this way: "Moreover, if the births of the worldly existence are mostly manifest through the occurrence of death therein, even then it is seen that that death is not a complete dissolution of existence, but a necessity of going from place to place, from duty to duty. For, as the existence of all these creations is derived from the four elements, it is manifest to the sight that those wordly bodies of theirs are to be mingled again with the four elements. The spiritual parts, which are the rudimentary appliances of the life stimulating the body, are mingled with the soulon account of the unity of nature they are not dispersed -and the soul is accountable for its own deeds. Its treasurers, also, unto whom its good works and offences are intrusted, advance there for a contest. When the treasurer of the good works is of greater strength, she preserves it, by her victory, from the hands of the accuser, and settles it for the great throne and the mutual delightfulness of the luminaries; and it is assieted eternally in virtuous progress. And when the treasurer of its offences is of greater strength, it is dragged through her victory, away from the hands of the helper, and is delivered up to the place of thirst and hunger and agonising abode of disease. And, even there, those feeble good works, which were practised by it in the wordly existence, are not useless to it, for, owing to this same that hunger and thirst and punishment are inflict reason,

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282 SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS ed on it proportionately to the sin, and pot lawlessly, because there is a watcher, of the infliction of its punishment. And, ultimately, the compassionate creator, who is the forgiver of the creatures, does not leave any good creature captive in the hands of the enemy. But one day, he saves even those who are sioful, and those of the righteous through atonement for sin, by the hands of the purifier, and makes them proceed on the happy course which is eternal " (SBE. vol. xxiy. pp. 136-138). In the thirty fifth chapter of the Dadistan-i-Dinik the important question is raised : "Does this world become quite without men, so that there is no bodily existence in it whatsoever, and then shall they produce the resurrection, or bow is it?" This is answered as below : "The reply is this, that this world, continuously from its immaturity even up to its pure renovation has never been, and also will not be, without men ; and in the evil spirit, the worthless, no stirring desire of this arises. And near to the time of the renovation, the bodily existences desist from eating, and live without food : and the offspring who are born from them are those of an immortal, for they possess durable and blood-exhausted bodies. Such are they who are the bodily-existing men that are in the world when there are men, passed away, who arise again and live again." In addition to these a great many authorities are quoted in the Fountain-Head of Religion by Ganga * Some of the texts referred to read as follows:-- 1. "To reject the old frame and to assume a new body is inevitable" (Hoshang, 14).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 283 Prasad which plainly teach metempsychosis without qualification or reserve. The Mazdakyahs, a sect of the Magi, openly professed belief in transmigration (see Haug's Essays on The Parsis, p. 15). These authorities clearly point to the continuity of life after death, and to its transmigration into different conditions, till with the aid of the purifier (the Holy Ghost, i. e., tapas) it can effect its escape from subjection to death, when it rises up to the Holy Abode of the Blessed, as pure and purified Effulgence of Spirit, Holy, Immortal and Divine in all respects. As for tnpas, the weaklings of our day are all, 'more or less, eager to maintain that it is undesirable, and the Parsis are no exception to the rule, as is evident from the following from Mr. Kapadia's Teachings of Zoroaster (page 44): "Unlike other religions, it condemos fasting or total abstaining from food as a wicked and a foolish act, which injures and enervates the body." 2. "......he who...... has done good deeds, is born as a king, minister, ruler or a rich man; so that he may reap the fruits of good deeds....... Those griefs, troubles, and disease which befall kings during their enjoyments are due to the evil deeds of their previous birtb....... The lion, the tiger, the leopard, the panther, the wolf, and all other ferocious animals which cause injury to other animals...... were previously men possessed of authority and digpity ; while those animals which are now killed by men were their ministers, servants and helpers, and did evil deeds ander their instructiong and with their help, and caused pain to harmless and innocent animals (Nama Mibabad, 67, 68, 69 and 71). i

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284 This is, however, quite untenable in the light of our knowledge. The Dadistan-i Dinik shows how individual effort must rise upto what is termed disquietude to eradicate sin. SOME ANCIENT AND EXTINCT FAITHS "........decrease of sin and the increase of good works, owing to good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, arise really from the effort and disquietude which come on by means of the religion the soul practises, and through the strength in effort, steadfastness of religion, and protection of soul which the faithful possess" (SBE. vol. xviii. 34). The life of the body is to be offered as a sacrifice. It is said in Yasna xxxiii (verse 14) : "Thus, as an offering, Zarathushtra gives the life of his very body" (SBE. vol. xxxi p. 79). Again, in Yasna xiv (verse 2) it is said: "And to you, O Ye Bountiful, Immortals I would I dedicate the flesh of my very body, and all the blessings of a prospered life" (SBE. vol. xxxi. p. 253). What these passages teach is the old doctrine of mortifying the flesh and bodily lusts, though, of course, fasting alone is not the end in view. "With us the keeping of fast is this, that we keep fast from committing sin with our eyes, and tongue, and ears, and hands and feet."-(The Teaching of Zoroaster, p. 44.) I do not think that the tongue and the hands can be said to observe a fast when they are engaged in killing an innocent life or in devouring its flesh! It is also distinctly said that "near to the time of the renovation the bodily existences desist from eating, and live without food" (Dadistan-i Dinik. chap. xxxv. 3; SBE, vol. xviii. P. 77).

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SEVENTH LECTURE. GOD. The subject of this evening's lecture is God or rather the idea of God, which has given rise to the greatest amount of misunderstanding among men. The most widely prevalent idea of Godhead is that there is one Supreme Being who is the maker and ruler of the world and the arbiter of the destinies of living beings, judging and awarding the fruits of actions of men according to their deserts. 285 I now propose to examine this idea in its different bearings and aspects.. The very first question in connection with the notion of such a god is about the nature of the evidence that is adduced in proof of his existence and attributes. A thing is proved in one of the following three ways, namely, (1) by personal observation, (2) by the inferential processes of the mind, or (3) by the testimony of reliable witnesses. Let us see by what kind of evidence is the popular idea of god sought to be proved. Now, our personal observation certainly does not prove it. There is no one who has actually perceived a pure Spirit, and God is certainly said to be a pure Spirit. Besides, pure Spirit is not endowed with sensible qualities which alone are perceivable by the senses. It is idle to talk of private intuitions, since there is no kind of a god whose devotees have not claimed to know him through intuition. Be

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286 GOD sides, as stated in the very first lecture, if vague convictions of men could be substituted for sound reason, philosophy and science might as well begin to pack off, The extreme absurdity of the intuitive theory is evident from the fact that these erratic Aashes of native wit prove, on careful examination, to be of the nature of pure self-deluding assurances born of a faith that is at once over-zealous and unreasoning. With respect to testimony, also, it is evident that no one is entitled to speak from personal knowledge, For he who would give evidence of the existence of a pure Spirit must have seen Him himself; but this is impossible, as already seen. We are thus left with the scriptural text as the only kind of evidence that miglit be admissible, provided that the scripture which is supposed to prove the being of a Supreme Being pro ceed from an Omniscient God and also that it be a true record of what such a Teacher said on the point. Now, none of the scriptures that are deemed to prove the being of a creator, or providence, is, or can be, the work of an Omniscient Teacher. They are mythological in nature, and betray their fivite human origin at every turn. For the one simple reason that suffices to establish their human authorship is to be found in the fact that their authors failed to see the amount of misunderstanding, hatred and bloodshed that was sure to flow from mythological conceptions passing current as real characters and figures of history. An Omniscient. Teacher, instructing humanity for their good must be

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 287 presumed to have foreseen that the disguising of the basic principles of truth in mythological masks would make the Mahomedan, the Jew, the Christian, the Hindu and all others fly at one another's throat, so that be must be accused of having deliberately planned the pillage, vandalism and carnage that have been wrought in the world in the name of religion and god. I am sure no theist will be willing to attribute to his god all this. The true characteristics of the Word of an Omnis. cient Teacher are given in the Ratna Karanda Srava-, kacharn as follows: (1) It proceeds from a Tirthamkara, of whom there are only 24 in each cycle of time (of countless millions of years); (2) It cannot be over-ridden in disputation; (3) It cannot be falsified by perception, inference or testimony; (4) It reveals the nature of things as they exist; (5) It is helpful to all souls-human beings, animals, and all others; and (6) It is potent enough to destroy all forms of falsehood. The creed of Mercy and Truth (science) enunciated by omniscient lips' is the true Word of God; for mercy (and not sacrifice) is helpful to all, and scientific truth is alone endowed with the other qualifications enume. rated under heads two to six. And the absolute accuracy

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288 GOD of revealed truth is fully guaranteed by the omniscience of the Teacher which is all-embracing in its scope. It is no use looking out for these attributes in mythological compilations; they are more likely to be met with in the scientific Siddhanta of Jainism. If the theists of the diverse creeds would but pause to ponder over the differeuces about the attributes, functions, connections and doings of their respective Godhead, they would not be long in arriving at the conclusion that the god who is said to be the Father of Jesus cannot possibly be the same as the Allah of Islam or the Ishvara of the Hindus who deny having any such thing as a son. Neither can the god of the Arabs, who claim to have had a direct revelation on the subject, be the same divinity whose followers deny the very fact of revelation in Arabia and Palestine. In these circumstances, it is idle to talk of revelation; what would be more profiting would be to work out the nature of the different Bibles and Gospels with a view to get at their real teachings on the lines already laid down in these lectures. As a matter of fact, what has already been said is more than sufficient to disprove the allega. tion that certain scriptures teach the worship of a creator. Mythological in conception and expression, they can. not be accepted in their literal sense or laistorically even in respect of a single particular. There remains the inferential method to prove the existence of an all-wise creator and manager of the Universe, But as to this I would like you to read what

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES Joseph McCabe who was an ordained clergyman of the Christian church for a very long time has to say on the subject. "The men and women of our time", writes Mr. McCabe, "are not much interested in the God of nature. A cold intelligence, that fashions atoms and stars and flowers, and leaves men to their own imperfect devices, is not quite the God Christianity led them to expect. Where is the God who counts the hairs of our head, and marks the fall of sparrows, and loves men above all his works? "This is the gravest question raised by the war in connection with religion. The Rev. R. J. Campbell, who has made earnest efforts week by week to stem the rising tide of scepticism, complained that the war really raised no new issue at all. He could not, he said, understand why religious people were suddenly disturbed. Of course it has raised no new issue. What it has done is to enforce, to give a tragic and stupendous form to, questions that have long been in people's minds. The ordinary man or woman is, as I said, mildly interested in the God of nature. It is God as Providence that matters. We should like to see a little of this vast intelligence devoted to helping the stumbling steps, sparing the bleeding feet, of man. We should like to see this supreme benevolence that feeds ravens making some mark in the human order, helping our halting wisdom to lessen the world old flow of tears and blood, guarding the innocent from pain and privation, snatching the woman and child from the wardrunk brute-or, what would be simpler and better, preventing the birth of the brute or the germination of his impulses. Just this has always been the supreme difficulty of the theologian. He cannot show us any 19

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GOD clear trace of the action of God in the human order. He leaps occasionally at legends like that of the angels at Mons, or the miracles of Lourdes, which do not survive enquiry, but he is, as a rule, pained to find that the human order is precisely that in which the finger of God cannot be clearly traced. He murmurs that God works secretly, subtly, in the dim depth of the mind, that he has given men 'free will' and must respect it; that perhaps the highest from of kindness is to let a man grow strong by himself. Behind all these nervous apologies is the blank perception that the God he sees so clearly in sunsets and roses and birds of paradise cannot be definitely traced any where in the life of man. Has anything happened in this generation, anywhere on earth, in which one can plausibly trace the finger of God? Is there any event in this whole long record of man's career in which we detect it? Where is the event that we cannot satisfactorily resolve into its natural causes? It is this doubt that the war has clinched. It was not as if men did not need assistance. What an agonising record is that of our race! Hundreds and thousands of years were spent by primitive man in stumbling through the horrors of savagery toward the threshold of civilisation. Then this civilisation was so imperfect, and retained so many barbaric ideas, that pain and misery were still the lot of millions. Even to-day we gaze almost helplessly upon the wars, the diseases, the poverty, the crimes, the narrow minds and stunted natures which darken our life. And God, it seems, was busy gilding the sunset or putting pretty eyes in peacock's tails.......Religious writers say hat God permitted the war on account of sin. The motive matters little. Such 'permission' is still vindictive punishment of the crudest order. What would you think

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 291 of the parent who would stand by and see bis daughter grossly outraged, while fully able to prevent it? And would you be reconciled if the father proved to you that his daughter had offended his dignity in some way?" ---(The Bankruptcy of Religion, pp. 30-34), I think Mr. McCabe leaves nothing for me to add against the notion of a Providence ruling over the world. I shall, therefore, now proceed to examine the idea of God as a creator. Now, the argument by which Theology seeks to establish its proposition that there is a world-maker -consists in an analogy between a watch and the world ; you cannot have a watch without a watch maker neither can you have a world without a world-maker! This is all that there is of logic in the theologian's case ; and this also is but very poor logic in itself; for analogy is no argument, as every logician knows. We have seen in our second lecture that a vyapti (an universally true logical relationship) is needed to found a syllogism upon. It is certainly not an universal truth that all things require a maker. What about the food and drink that are converted in the human and the animal stomach into urine, faeces and filth? Is this the work of a god ? There are other forms of filth which are made in the body. I shall never believe that a god gets into the human or animal stomach and intestines and there employs himself in the manufacture, storage and disposal of filth. Now if this dirty work' is not done by a god or god. dess, but by the operation of different kinds of elements and things on one another, in other words, if bodily

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292 GOD. products be the result of purely physical and chemical processes going on in the stomach, intestines, and the like, it is absolutely untrue to say that it is a rule in pature according to which everything must have a maker or manufacturer. The argument is also selfcontradictory with respect to the maker of that supposed world-maker of ours, for, on the supposition that everything must have a maker, we should have a maker of that maker, and another maker of this maker's maker and so forth! There is no escape from this difficulty except by holding that the world-maker is self-existent. But if nature could produce an unmade maker, there is nothing surprising in its producing a world that is self-sufficient and capable of progress and evolution. This simply means that if a creator can be supposed to exist without having been created by any one, it involves no violation of the canons of logic or laws of thought to posit a world which is eternal and indestructible. We have seen that both the souls and the ultimate units of matter, whether they be called atoms or any. thing else, are devoid of parts and indestructible. Neither could they have been manufactured in any way, for they contain no elements which might be said to have been put together. The case with spirits, which are termed souls in their impure state (notice the distinction between spirit, soul and body, drawn by St. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians, v. 23) is still more striking, for their supposed maker is also a pure Spirit. How can

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 293 spirit be eternal in one case and a created article-a product ex nihilo, in the fullest sense of the phrasein all others ? I think this marks the limit of absurdity in metaphysics, Whence the rewards and punishments for the deeds and misdeeds of individuals, then ? Whence, indeed, if not from the very agency that is responsible for the punishment of him who sitting on the tree trunk would strike at its root ? It I put my band on fire, I can tell you precisely what the result of my folly would be long before it is to be judicially determined by a divine judge in hea. ven ! Nature is all-powerful; she requires no judge, no constabulary and no prisons for her culprits. Her punishments are swist, sure and unrelenting. If we only know where to look for them, we shall find her judgments' unerring. The man wbo is cruel and selfish, who leads an unrighteous life who tramples upon the feelings and susceptibilities of others does not suspect that the recording angel of Destiny is noting all his misdeeds in the self-registering Ledger of Karma that perpetually readjusts itself automatically. He has no idea that his purer human instincts are being gradually debased into evil tendencies and traits, and knows absolutely nothing of the terrible changes which are taking place in the constitution of the inner karmana sarira that will drag him into unhappy surroundings and evil associations when this outer mortal coil shall have been shaken off. The, man of

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294 piety and self-denial is, likewise, affected, literally, by his virtue. He generates forces that will lead to happy prosperous conditions, an attractive healthy body and exalted status, and, on the complete separation of his soul from matter, finally, also, to nirvana, No judge or magistrate is needed for all this; the properties and functions of different substances suffice fully for the rewarding and punishment of souls. GOD If the theologian would but pause to ask himself: how a god created the world or awarded punishments and rewards, he would perceive the untenability of the position taken up by him. For the God of theology is pure Effulgence of Spirit, and has no "hands with which to compound elements together and manufacture things, or condition the circumstances of man. Besi les, Godhood is the perfection of holiness, and cannot be deemed to find it agreeable work to be constantly engaged in the formation of men and animals with his hands in such unholy places as some of the wombs obviously must be. But there is just one more loop-hole of escape here left to exotericism, and that is the analogy of the soul's own activity. I now imagine him to say that as the soul moves its physical, bodily limbs, though it has no hands and feet itself, in the same way we should think of the actions of a creator. Even here the important fact is ignored that analogy is no argument! But even the analogy itself is not sound in this instance because it ignores the most striking feature of the distinction between an

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 295 unredeemed soul and God which consists in this that the former is literally tied to the bars and levers of movement in the physical body, through two inner bodies of fine matter, while the latter is altogether mukta, i. e., free from all kinds of ties and bonds and from all sorts of subtle and gross bodies. Because of its being thus tied to the nerves, and through them, to the muscles of the hands and legs, every movement of the soul is immediately communicated to the bodily limbs. A pure Spirit, such as the creator is said to be, is not tied to anything in this or in any other manner and consequently cannot move any one's hands or feet. Apart from this, assuming even for the sake of argument, that there is a creator who is tied to the world in the manner of an unredeemed soul, his movements will be always infructuous, in the absence of a hand to grasp, to mix and to manufacture, so that he will be really able to make nothing. We have seen that the attribute of holiness associated with God is utterly incompatible with the creative activity attributed to him. But is his perfection in respect of happiness any the less incompatible with his constant engagement as a maker and creator? We know now that perfect happiness is possible only on perfection in renunciation, so that he who has not a spare moment to himself from one end of eternity to the other cannot possibly be regarded as happy. I have no time to pursue this theme any further in this lecture here; but there is just one argument which

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296 GOD Settles the whole point if any one would but reflect on it dispassionately; and it is this that in respect of its properties and functions one spirit is like any other spirit, so that if creative activity be a function of one spirit it must also be a function of every other spirit. Every soul would then be endowed with creative activity, which is not the theologian's case by any means. All these and greater difficulties than these has the theologian created for himself by adhering to the dead. letter of the text. I shall cite here some of the holy texts expressive of divine attributes from different scriptures. (1). "I create evil" (Isaiah, xlv. 7.) (2) "Wherefore I gave them statutes that were not good, and jadgments whereby they should not live" (Ezekiel, xx, * 25). (3) "It repented the Lord that he had made man ou earth and it grieved him at his heart" (Genesis, iv. 6). (4) "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me" (Deat. V. 9). "Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord have not done it" (Amos, III. 6) ? "He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them. He made a way to bis anger ; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence" (Psalms, Ixxviii, 49--50).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 297 The above are from the Holy Bible. Turning to Al Qur'an, we find : (1) "Whatever misfortune befalleth you is sont you by God" (Chap. xlii). (2) "We have created for hell many of the jions and men" (Chap. xlv. 180). (3) "He whom God shall cause to err shall have po direc tion" (chap. xiii. 33). "God misleadeth whom he will and whom he will be guideth" (chap. xvi. 95). (5) "The word which has proceeded from me most neces sarily be fulfilled when I said, "Verily, I will fill hell with jinns and med altogether" (Sura Sijda). The Hindu Scripture also has it : " He makes whomsoever he wisheg to lead up from these worlds, do good deede ; and makes him whom he wishes to lead down from these worlds, do bad deeds" (Kaush. UP. iii. 8 ; SSP. p. 212). ! The Hindu Puranas even ascribe deception to their Godhead, such as his appearing in the form of a beautiful maiden at the churning of the Ocean, when he not only deceitfully prevented the asuras (demons) from drinking the nectar to which they were entitled according to their compact with the devas (gods), but also immediately slew Rahu, who, perceiving the fraud, had managed to secure a little of the immortalising draught. Such are a few of the attributes of Divinity accord. ing to the several scriptures quoted. I donot know if

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298 GOD you have read Huxley's works, but in one of them he has some very pertinent observations to make on our subject. He writes (see "Science and Hebrew Tradi. tion," p. 258): "In my opinion it is not the quantity but the quality, of persons among whom the attributes of divinity are distributed, which is the serious matter. If the divine might is associated with no higher ethical attributes than those which obtain among ordinary men ; if the divine intelligence is supposed to be so imperfect that it cannot see the consequences of its own contrivances ; if the supernal powers can become furiously angry with the creatures of their omnipotence and, in their senseless wrath, destroy the innocent along with the guilty ; or if they can show themselves to be as easily placated by presents and gross flattery ag any oriental or occidental despot; if, in short, they are only stronger than mortal men and no better, then surely, it is time for us to look somewhat closely into their credentials, and to accept none but conclusive evidence of their existence." I do not think it is necessary for me to belabour the point any further ; it is evident that the error in this instance also is rooted in tlie inisinterpretation of the scriptures which in the cases examilied are all mytho. logical without a single exception. I shall presently explain what is the proper significance of the idea, but I want you to see in the first instance that moksha is not a thing that can be given by any one from without. The destruction of desire by a life of 'suffering,' and not the grace or favour of another is the means of deliver

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 299 ance from bondage and transmigration. St. Paul teaches : "The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God : and if children, then heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together."-Romans viii. 16-17. Again in 2 Timothy ii. 11-12 he writes : - If we be dead with him, we eball also live with him ; if we suffer, we shall also reign with him." In 2 Cor. iv. 10 he writes : Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." It is the grace of the Messiah within which is impli. ed in the doctrine of Grace, not the favour of a friend at Court, For well does Mahomed say in the Holy Qur'an : " Dread the day wherein one soul shall not make satisfaction for another soul ; neither shall any intercession be accepted from them, por shall any compensation be received, peither shall they be helped " (Sura Baqr). " No Soul shall acquire any merits or demerits but for itself ; and wo burdened soul shall bear the burden of another" (Sura Anam). In the New Testament, too, jesus says with reference to himself :(1) "If you love me, keep my commandments" (John, xiv. 15).

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300 GOD (2) "Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say " (Luke, vi. 46). (3) "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me" (Matt. x. 38) (4) "And I seek not mine own glory" (John, viii. 50). (5) "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke, xiji. 3). (6) "The blessed are they that bear the word of God and keep it" (Luke, xi. 28). As for Hinduism, it has always taught that'salvation was to be had by knowledge and works, but not by the favour or grace of another. Wherever you find grace referred to in this connection in the scriptural text, you will find it to bear reference to the in-dwelling divinity of the soul itself, though the true significancy of words is more likely to be concealed by the employment of a mystic and mystifying symbolism, as a setting. In very truth, Omniscience, Immortality and Joy are the natural attributes of the soul itself; hence there can be no obtaining them from without. They have to be brought out from within by the removal of impurities, not to be acquired by purchase or otherwise from another. The bonds, even, that debar us from the realisation of these inborn, inherent perfections of ours are not destructible otherwise than by one's

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 301 4 own exertion; for they can only be destroyed by perfect desirelessness and dispassion which must evolve out for itself. every soul I think I should explain, while I am still on the subject, that there are two kinds of souls, namely, (i) those that shall obtain salvation sooner or later (the bhavya), and (ii) those that shall never obtain salvation (the abhavyaa, not + bhavya). The latter are quite as good in all respects as the bhavya, but, unfortunately, their karmas are such as will never make them accept the teaching of Truth. There are two kinds of souls in this class, namely, those to whom the Truth will be always disagreeable and who will therefore never be induced to accept it, and those to whom the true Teaching will not be disagreeable, but who will never get an opportunity for acquiring it. It is to the case of the abhavyas that such text as the following bears reference: "We have created for hell many of the jinns and men" (Al Qur'an, chap. xvi. 180). They shall never have the light of Life and consequently never find a way out of the samsara (transmigratory condition). Yet no external god or creator is responsible for their eternal bondage. Their own karmas (evil deeds) stand in their way and debar them from the acquisition of the five labdhis (auspicious psychological changes) described in our third lecture, It is

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302 GOD with the acquisition of these labdhis that the doctrine of grace is associated, for they cannot be acquired by study or argumept or instruction. They are themselves necessary for the serenity of disposition and clarity of mind without which truth cannot be distinguished from untruth or be acceptable to the soul. How, then, can they be acquired ? By grace and grace alone; that is to say by the soul itself becoming invested by the element of grace. The grace of anyone else will not do; every soul must manifest that most auspicious of the divine attributes in its own being. And the only way for the acquisition of grace is the practising of the divine virtues of forgiveness and mercy. Here it is that the true value of the doctrine of ahimsa (non-injur. ing any form of life) is realised, for refraining from. killing and maiming or otherwise injuring others is the true scope of forgiveness and mercy. Those who practise ahimsa, therefore, are alone entitled to obtain nirvana, for they shall speedily acquire divine grace that shall put an end to their transmigration. The doctrine of grace, thus, itself teaches a very different thing from what it is supposed to do. As for the idea of absorption in God, that is clearly a mystic teaching, implying no more than the acquisition of the status and divinity of Godhood. For there can be no merger of two or more real entities into one another by any possibility. The analogy of the absorption of a drop in the sea is beside the point, and actually proves the opposite of that which it is intended to prove, sioce

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 303 the sea is but a collection of drops, so that the additional drop only goes to increase the number of those already there. Some say that it is the vision of Ishvara which they seek. These are also mystics, who have taken the metaphorical expression of their predecessors in a literal sense. For the vision or contact of another cannot possibly afford anything more than a passing sensation which is as different from true happiness as chalk from cheese. As a matter of fact, true joy is an attribute of the soul, and becomes an actuality of experience the moment one gives up the idea of extracting it from things outside his own self. Therefore, so long as we try to extract it from objects external to our own self, so long as we expect to obtain it from an Ishvara or an Ishvara's vision, it cannot come into manifestation. And what are we to think of a being who promises to grant boons to his worshippers in lieu of their worship? Can he be full and perfect in himself ? No, certainly not, else why desire to be worshipped ? He cannot even be a true friend to his devotees, for all the favours that any outside agency can confer on the soul must fall under the class of epithumetic or sensual pleasure that is to say the pleasure that is enjoyable or enjoyed through the senses) which is the forbidden fruit. I think here also it is evident that the entire confusion has resulted from a misinterpretation of the language of our scriptures. I shall now proceed to

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304 GOD explain what the idea of God represents in mystic script. The Persian word for God is khuda, which is a descriptive appellation, and means the self-existent. This, no doubt, bears reference to Spirit or Life that is its own source and eternal. The word Jehovah (more correctly, Jahweh) also literally means the Living Reality (see the Lost Language of Symbolism, vol. i. p. 302). This is in complete harmony with the nature of Life, which, as we have seen, is fully divine, Jehovah himself said : "That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thon mayest cleave unto him : for he is thy life, and the length of thy days..." (Dent. xxx. 20). Jesus, too, says: " I am the resurrection and the life " (Joho, xi. 25). St. Paul also refers to Christ " who is life" in his Epistle to the Colossians (chap. iii. 4). The most significant name of God is " I am." This is common to Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity, yo'sAvasau puruSaH so'hamasmi // -says the Isavasya-Upanishad (mantra 16), which means " That yonder person who dwells in Agu (Life) is known by the name of Aham 'I' (i. e., the supreme) and Asmi 'I 'am' (i. e., the only standard of existence).---SBH. (Isavasya-Upanishad).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 305 This is the text of the great ineffable name of God, Soham Asmi (I am that I am), according to Madhva (Ibid. Intro). In the Hormuzu Yasht it is recorded : * Then spake Zarathushtra : Tell me thou, 0 Pure Ahuramaz. da, the name which is thy greatest, best, fairest and which is the most efficacious for prayer. "Thus augwered Ahura Mazda : My first name is Ahtai (I am)...and my twentieth is Ahmi yad Ahmi Mazdao (I am that I am, Mazda)."-Haug's Essays on The Parsis, p. 195. Ahura, as Dr. Speigel opines (see the Fountain-head of Religion, p. 73), is identical with Jehovah and means the Lord of Ahu (Sanskrit Asu - Life). As for Juda. ism, the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible records the following significant dialogue between Jahweh and Moses : "And moges said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me anto you; and they shall bay anto me, What is his name ? What shall I say unto them ? " And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say goto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exodas, iii. 13-14). Lastly, Jesus also refers to I AM in the mysterious expression which Christians find it so difficult to explain : "Before Abraham was I am " (Joha, viii. 58). 20

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306 GOD The context in wbich this is given is a disputation between Jesus and certain of the Jews. The former in his usual parabolic way declared : "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day : and he saw it, and was glad." . What followed is thus described by John:" Then said the Jewe up to him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ? "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say onto you, Before Abraham was I am " (John, viii. 56-58.) If you simply treat the term 'I am' as it was intended to be treated, namely, as a noun, the name of God, that is Life, you will avoid the difficulty which others have felt in connection with this mysterious utterance of Jesus. It would then simply read : I AM' was before Abraham. . And this is certainly very much to the point. Do you now perceive the nature of Divinity ? His name is ' I AM', a most appropriate descriptive appellation of Life or Being, which truly is, Suppose you were desirous of personifying Lise as an anthropomorphic deity, and asked it to describe itself and to find for itself a name that was expressive of its functions: do you think it could describe itself more accurately or in a better way than by saying 'I am he who is,' i, e., I am that am,' or simply as ' I am ?, I do not thiuk it is possible to find a better expression than 'I AM'as a name for Life. We thus come back in this round about way to the old scientific formula of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 307 Religion : with reference to the nature of the essence of being, the jivatman (ordinary soul) is the same as the Paramatman (God). Amongst the Muslim names of God also we find AlHaiy (The Living), Al Qaiyum (The Subsisting), AsSamad (The Eternal), Al-Awwal(The First) and Al-Akhir (The Last). The last two of these names are the same as are given in the Book of Revelation in the Bible (chap. 1.8), where it is said : " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, gaith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." The same is recorded in the Book of Isaiah : "I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God" (chap. xliv. 6). This is repeated in several places (see Isaiah, xlviii. 12 in particular). Iu Sura Zariyat it is said : "I am in your individuality, but you do not see." What else is there which is in our individuality and divine except Life itself? The true interpretation of the text of John viii. 58, which must be quite clear by this time, is that the soul is immortal and has existed from all eternity in the past. Hence it existed also in the day of Abraham. Jesus might as well have used the language of the Bhagavad Gita in answering the Jews :

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308 GOD * Nor at any time was I not, por thon, nor these princes of men, por verily shall we ever cease to be " (Disc. ii, 12). As regards the statement: "Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad," it is clear, especially with reference to the words "my day," that the allusion is to the glory appertaining to the status of a *son of God, but not to Jesus whose "day" could be seen by Abraham only if it were possible to annihilate the long centuries which separated them from each other. Where we go wrong is in trying to idolize a living or imaginary being-whether be be Krishna, Jesus or anyone else--instead of idenlising the Messiah, or Jina (The Conqueror), as He is termed in Jainism, Idealatry, I repeat, is the path of Salvation ; idolatry will only keep us entangled amongst stones ! St. Paul claimed no higher merit even in the resurrection of Jesus. He distinctly says: . - Bat if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ Dot rised " (1 Cor. xv. 13). This is repeated a few verses later in a still more uncompromising spirit : "For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not risen " (1 Cor. xv. 16). The fact is that we have utterly deluded ourselves with false notions about the personality of Jesus, and have therefore faited to understand the true teaching of Religion, To Paul's mind the resurrection of Jesus was a corollary from the fact of the "rising of the dead,"" not the basis for the inference of their rising, Christ

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 309 is thus the Ideal of Life appearing in the mystic garb of the Jews, as much as Krishna is the same Ideal in a Hindu setting. The original at the back of all these mythologies is the real Conqueror, the true Jina, or Tirthamkara. The last of the Tinns is Paramatman Mahavira, who realised the inherent Divi. nity and Perfection of Life in His own Worshipful Self, and who taugiit the Path of Perfection, along lines of scientific thought, to others. He was preceded in this cycle of time by 23 other Holy Ones whose worshipful Feet have left indelible impressions on the sands of time for us to walk on. The first of these Holy Paramatmans is Rishabha Deva whose very name is the symbol of dharma in the oldest mythology (the Vedic) of the world. His distinguishing mark, the bull, is also an emblem of dharmin (religion). tasya bharatasya pitA RSabhaH hemAdreIkSiNaM darSa mahadvAra 77# TTTET I -varAha purANam RSabho merudevyAJca RSabhAdrato bhavat / HTTAIGNEaa" harfgafafra yol ---- 1 GITUH II The meaning of these texts is that Bharata is the son of Rishablia by Maru Devi. He ruled over Mahat. Bharat:-Varsha to the south of the Himavat and Bharata.varsha took its name from him. His son is named Sumati. In the Narada Purana also it is said: "O, king, the Bharata-khanda originally took its

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310 name from Bharata son of Rishabha (PHB. Vol. 1. pp. 205, 207, 210 and 213). Mr. Iyer's comment on this is as follows: GOD 33 "The name Rishabha constantly mentioned as referring to the father of Bharata, signifies Dharma usually described as a bull in the Puranas " (Ibid. p. 213). According to Srimad Bhagavata, Rishabha Deva was the son of Nabhiraja by Maru Devi, and Bharata was his son. This is in agreement with the Jaina tradition. Thus, all these works on Hindu mythology definitely show that in personifying Dharma for the requirements of their mythological teaching, the minds of the rishi-composers of these ingenious symbols naturally went back to Rishabha Deva, as the first Tirthamkara and founder of Dharma. The bull is the mark by which the images of Paramatman Rishabha are distinguished from those of the other Tirthamkares in the Jaina Temples, and it is therefore not at all surprising that the bull should also be associated with Dharma in the symbolical language of Hindu mythology. As implied in the passage from St. Paul, already quoted-"For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not risen" (1 Cor. xv. 16)-souls have been always obtain. ing resurrection from the dead and attaining nirvana; but the Tirthamkaras are only 24 in each cycle. They are the greatest of all living beings and attain to the most exalted Supreme Status on account of having evolved out the following auspicious characteristics, in

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 311 the highest degree of excellence, in their previous life or lives: (1) purest faith, (2) devotion to the three-fold marga (path) and to those who follow it, (3) observance of vows, (4) study, (5) constant attachment to dharma and detachment from the world, renunciation, i. e. possession-lessness, (6) (7) tapas (asceticism), (8) sadhu-samadhi (self-contemplation), (9) service of all beings, especially of the saints and true-believers, (10) idealatry or devotion to the Tirthamkara, (II) devotion to the acharya (head of saints), (12) devotion to spiritual teachers (upadhyayas), (13) devotion to scripture (i, e, study of the scriptural text with great respect and veneration for the Word of God), (14) observance of rules of conduct prescribed by the scripture, (15) the spreading of the Truth and living up to it oneself, and (16) affection, like that of a cow for her calf, for all those who are pursuing the right marga (path).

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312 GOD The effect of the merit acquired by these s'ubha (auspicions) karmas is the obtainment of the highest status as a Tirthamkara. The Tirthamkara is a man of whom we may say in the words of the prophetic author of the Apocalypse : "I am he that liveth, and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for ever, more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (chap. i. 18). Tirthamkarahood is obtained on the manifestation of omniscience as a result of the destruction of the knowledge-obstructing 'bushel' (jnana-avarana = a cover on knowledge) from the soul. The Tirthamkara is free from (1) hunger, (2) thirst, (3) senility, (4) disease, (5).birth, (6) death, (7) fear, (8) pride, (9) attachment, (10) aversion, (11) infatuation or delusion, (12) worry, (13) conceit, (14) hatred, (15) uneasiness, (16) sweat, (17) sleep and (18) surprise. Devas and men assemble to worship Him; His speech is like the "voice of many waters" (Rev. i. 15), that can be heard for a great distance and is termed Tina-bani (the Voice of God) or S'ruti (Revelation), His countenance is resplendent like a thousand suns shining in one place; His feet resemble "fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace," His eyes, a "flame of fire" (Rev. i. 14-15). A perfect embodiment of mercy, He preaches dharma to the blessed amongst devas and men and others prior to his entering nirvana, when the complete separation of spirit from matter leaves Him as pure Effulgence of Paramatmanship, faultless, deathless,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES ' 313 painless, and avidya-less (ignorance-less), and endowed with Omniscience, Eternal Bliss, Immortality and Veerya (Irresistibility or Unconquerability). As such, there is no further continuation of Sruti in the absence of matter, the medium of sound (speech). The Tirthamkaras and the other Holy Ones who have attained nirvana have no desire to be worshipped by men; nor do they undertake to grant boons for a sacrifice or song. They are above the reach of desire and want. Their perfections are immeasurably greater than language can praise; Their virtues transcend all that can be described by words. Their worship is not idolatry but idealatry; They are models of perfection for us to copy and imitate and to walk in the footsteps of. Such is the description of Divinity in the pure language of Religion, the Science of all Sciences. I can now imagine you asking the question, how is it that this pluralistic teaching about Gods is not to be found in other religions? But do not be surprised if I tell you in reply that you have not looked for it where you should have, and that this is the true basis of all religions, except of those that have spring up, like mushrooms, in recent times, purely on the error-heap of others. These last-named religions are neither founded on revelation, nor on a philosophic inquiry, nor even on anything like a true insight into the arcava of ancient dogma and myth. I shall vot, tiierefore, refer to them in the course of these lectures; but leave you to form your own opinion about them. Only one observation I need

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314 GOD make about them here, and that is that in some cases miracles are supposed to have been performed by their founders--a fact which in the minds of unthinking masses is generally associated with divinity or divine grace. You will excuse me if I cause any of you pain by saying that I frankly disbelieve these modern miracles. Some of them have been exposed in works written by Messrs. Maskelyne, Farquhar ('Modern Religious Movements Etc'), Joseph McCabe ("Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud") and others. But even assuming them to be true, which I think would be rather rash to say the least of it, miracles are alleged to have been performed by Hindus, Mahomedans, Jainas, Christians, and others, including savages and fetish-worshippers. whom to believe, then ? I think the true secret of wonder-working in all genuine cases lies in the development of certain 'mysterious' faculties of the soul, normally or abnormally brought about; but these are like athletics which have nothing to do with the beliefs or disbeliefs of men. :. To revert to the pluralistic conception of Godhead, Hinduism in almost all its phases teaches the divinity of the soul, and is altogether pluralistic in form and belief, so that it is unnecessary to dwell upon it any longer. Amongst the rest, Allah, tlie muslim name of God, which is in fact Al-ilah, is really pluralistic in sense. The Encyclo. Religion and Ethics has the following significant comment to make on the word (vol, vi, p. 248):

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES "The word Ilah (identical with the eloah of Job)............ appears from its form to be originally a plural, and, indeed, of the earlier semitic il (Heb. el). ............. Of ilah itself the Biblical elohim is a further plural, of which, curiously, there appears to be a trace in the Arabic vocative of Allah, viz., illahumma, which the native grammarians find the greatest difficulty in explaining." 315 The etymological significance of the word God is not quite clear, but according to the Imperial Dictionary, it was applied in Old Norse or Icelandic, the oldest of the Scandinavian group of tongues, -- to heathen deities (neuter and almost always plural, and afterwards changed to gud, to signify God." But if the etymology of the word is not quite traceable, the Bible itself leaves no doubt about the plurality of the Godhead. In the very first book of the Old Testament Godhead is spoken of in the plural. 51 "Behold the man has become as one of us (Genesis, iii. 22). The italics, no doubt, are mine; but not the words they emphasize. According to the fifth verse of the third chapter of the book of Genesis the serpent tempted Eve, saying "Ye shall be as gods." In the sixth verse of the 82nd Psalm it is said: "I have said, ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High." In John x. 33-34 Jesus says directly with reference to this statement :

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316 GOD "Is it not written in your laws, I said, yo, are gode ? If he called them gods unto whom the word of god came, and the scripture cannot be broken : "Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemost, because I said, I am the son of God ? " In Exodus xxii. 28 it is forbidden to revile the gods"Thou shalt not revile the gods, por curge the ruler of thy people.'' It is well kuown that the ancient Jews had their teraphim who are thus described in the Imperial Dictionary :: " Teraph. A household deity or image reverenced by the ancient Hebrews. The teraphim seem to have been either wholly or in part of human form............They appear to have been roverenced as household gods.......... They are mentioned several times in the old Testament." Laban, Jacob's relation, possessed images of such household' deities which were carried away by stealth by Rachel, Jacob's wife (Genesis, xxxi. 19). Then came God to Laban in a dream (verse 24). Laban next day demanded from Jacob: "Wherefore last thou stolen my gods?" (verse 30). In Hosea (chap, iii. 1) we are told :" For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and withont a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim."

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 317 But if the Books of the Old Testament only refer to Gods in the plural in a general way, the last book in the New Testament, namely, the Apocalypse or Revelation actually refers to the Tirthamkaras and also men. tions Their number as four and wenty. The fourth, the fifth and the sixth chapters of the Apocalypse deal with the subject and run somewhat as follows :Chapter iv. (1) A door was opened in heaven, and I, John, the divine, beard a voice : 'come up bither; I will show thee things which must be hereafter.' (2) John was immediately in spirit, and beheld & throne set up in heaven, "and one sat on the throne. (3) "And round about the throne were four and twenty seats ; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (4). "And out of the throne proceeded light nings and thunderings and voices, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God. (5) " .........and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind."

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GOD (7) (6) The first beast was like a lion, the second like a call, the third had the face as a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of these beasts has six wings which are full of eyes, and they rest not day and night, but keep on saying, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." (8) "And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, 19) "The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast down their crowns before the throne, saying, (10) "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power : for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created," Chanter v. (1) "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, and sealed with seven seals, (2) "And I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof ? 13) "And no mau......was able to open the book, neither to look thereon, ?

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 319 (4) "And I wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. 15) "And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda... hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. (6) "And I beheld in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb. (7) "And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne." (8-14) The Lamb is now hailed with rejoicings and blessing by a whole multitude including the 24 Elders and the four beasts, and every living being wishes him blessings, and honour, and glory and power. Chapter vi. The Lamb opens the seals of the book which is written inside and at the back and is sealed with seven seals, and which he had taken from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Such is the graphic account of that "which must be hereafter," which John, the Divine, has recorded in the Book of Apocalypse. But it is not to be supposed that John is here narrating a would-be scene in a would be

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320 .. GOD drama on a would be Judgment Day in the future. Of what earthly use would it be to us if he did that? The Book of Revelation was not intended for our mystifi. cation, but as a partial listing up of the veil which bung over the inner secrets of what was known as the "mysteries" portion of the secret doings at the divers lodges of mysticism, The narrative is an account of the initiation of the " Lamb" in the Divine Court of Life and in the presence of the four and twenty Tirthamkaras or Masters, all robed in white and wearing crowns of gold. * The one on the throne is Lile itself, without which there would have been no court, vo jiva to be saved, no in, itiation and no divinity. Thunder and lightnings are emblems of Life's explosiveness, since dead things move pot of themselves. The four beasts with eyes in both direce tions are the four classes of living beings, that is those whose bodies are made of the four different elements of matter, the air-bodied, the fire-bodied, the water-bodied, and the earth-bodied, eyes being symbolical of percep. tion or knowledge that is a function of Life and the different beasts representing different elements of matter (see the Key of Knowledge). The six wings of each of these beasts have a reference to the descending and ascending arcs of time, called avasarpini and utasarpini which are divided into six aras (spokes) each, in which the four kinds of jivas (souls) undergo different kinds of experiences, on account of the changes of conditions, The seven lamps of fire before the throne signify

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 321 the seven kinds of inpas, symbolised by the seven tongues of Agni in Hindu symbology, and the "Lamb" is the symbol of excellent harmlessness (meekness), the soul (Jesus) must acquire before it is qualified to receive the" book written inside and at the back" from the hands of Life. The part assigned to the 24 Elders is also emblematic of the relation between Life and Its most glorious manifestations, the Tirthaikaras. The worshipping* of the one on the throne is the symbol of the recognition of the Divinity of Life that is common to all the perfected Souls. Thus, while true divinity appertains to Life, the Tirthamkaras are the Teachers under whose instruction that divinity is to be developed ; for They have attained to the loftiest heights of Perfection Themselves. A Tirthanikari is, accor. dingly, the inost venerable and the most worshipful Teacher. He is called Father or Heavenly Father, not because He is the maker of anything or being, but on the same ground on which ordinary priests and precep. tors are termed father. The doctrine of baptism, or the The adoration of the " Lamb " in the Apocalypee (chap, v. 8) similarly means the adoration of the world-gaviour, i. e., Tirthamkara, the object of worship being not any particular individual whether God or man, but the attributes of Divinity, as found in the Highest Manifestation of Life Divine. For wise men worship' not in. dividuals, to be allowed to pick up crumbs from their tables but the supreme status, that is to say the attributes of Perfection in Parani atmans (Gods) which they aspire to develop in their own souls.

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322 GOD second birth, which is common to most of the Indian religions and Christianity is the root-doctrine of the idea of the fatherhood of the Teacher. As said in the Key of Knowledge, " It will not surprise modern theology a little to be told that its error of regarding God as a maker is ultimately traceable to the notion of the second birth, which .....is ground ed on the doctrine of baptism, i. e., initiation into the secret science of the soul. If modern theologians would but reflect on the matter, they would not be slow to realise that the fatherhood of the clergy, which prevails in almost all the ancient religions of the world, can have reference not to the physical body but to the initiation of the soul in the mysteries of the spiritual side of Life, poetically described as the birth of man in spirit, or simply as the second birth. It is with the notion of this second birth that the idea of the fatherhood of tie clergy is associated ; for the guiu (spiritual preceptor) who bring it about, and who is entitled, for that reason, to all the respect, if not to greater reverence, than what is dae to the progenitor of one's physical person, is ite cause or author, and must be described as * father' to keep up the metaphor. 6 Now because the Tirthamkara (God) is the greatest and the most worshipful guru of all, nobody is better entitled than He to the title. This was the original idea ; but when the true teaching of religion was lost sight of in the underground mazes of mythology, and the conception of divinity was replaced with erroneous notions of the latterday theology, which insists on reading the mysterylanguage of its scriptures in a literal sense, the purity of the original conception of the fatherhood of God also

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 323 came to be replaced by the coarse and undignified notion of a maker in the physical sense. That the clergy should have remained unaffected by the errors affecting divinity, is not surprising under the circumstances, and is precisely what was to be expected; for they have never passed through the melting pot of mythology to give rise to misunderstanding, though many people are DOW ignorant of the precise reason why they should be addressed as father' and take the appellation as merely a term of respect" (chapter vi). Certainly, the words 'Heavenly Father' in the mouth of Jesus do not signify a creator, and have no reference to the notion of a general or special creation of anything. That notion has been acquired from the outer husk of the Old Testament teaching without any regard to its real significance. In Hinduism, too, the idea of Ishvara as the creator of the Universe is a coarsening of the real significance of the function of Brahma, the creator. Life itself is the true creator, in reality, for every soul is the maker of its own body and conditions; but Life is, as such, only an aspect of the essence of the soul, Brahma is not even a personification of Life, but of the buddhi (intellect) that is turned towards Life. Hence, Brahma's creation consists in the spiritual ideas with which he peoples the realm of the mind, and, as we have already seen, it is this creation that Vishnu (Dharma) preserves. Mr. K. N. Iyer, has the following interesting note on the creation of Brahma in his Permanent History of Bharatavarsha (see vol. i. p. 395) :-- "The creation of Brahma...... virtually means the destruction of all the worldly desires, and the consequent rising of a

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324 : GOD devotional tendency in man. Vishou preserves and develops the buddhi created by Brahma and does not preserve any other absurdities. Shiva is primarily the cause of Brahma's creation by his destroying the worldly desires, and, lastly, he is the cause of tinal liberation by annihilating the good effects of religious devotion and practice. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva....exhaust the religious requirements for the final emancipation of man." Thus, the real God for the soul is its own life or being, that is the soul-substance itself, which is the material 'cause (upadani karana) of the subsequent Godhood, to be evolved out under instructions from one who has already attained to Godhood, namely, a Tir. thamkara, the outer Guide and God. This amounts to saying that there is only one real. God for each soul-its own Self-which is similar in nature to but not identical with any other soul whether Perfected, i. e., a Saved One, or not. To this God it is enjoined to cling with all its might. This is the ground on which is founded the doctrine of absolute unity of God, and man is warned against associating any other with this God. If you reflect on this, you will see that there is no giver of Godhood, Immortality, Bliss and other altributes of Persection outside the soul itself; for these are inherent in the soul's own nature and cannot be had from any one else. Hence, the emphasis on the exclusive unity of the real God. As taught in the Qur'an (chapter xxii), whoever associates another with this God is like that

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 325 which falleth from heaven. Besides this real God, there are two other kinds of Gods whose worship is prevalent in the world, namely the true Masters or Tirthamkaras, who are to be idealised as models of Perfection for us to take pattern after, and the imagi. nary gods of mythology, which are pure personifications of the different aspects of life and of certain other abstractions, It is the worship of these mythological products of the buman imagination that is forbidden and is the cause of all kinds of misunderstanding, bloodshed and superstition. We shall consider the proper form of worship in our next lecture, but before concluding this one I inust draw your attention to the fact that in Zoroastrianism also the conception of Ahura Mazda is pluralistic. Haug points out with reference to the word ahuraonho (see Essays on The Parsis, p. 199, footnote) :"From this......one inay clearly see that ahura is not a title copfiued to the Supreme Being, but can be applied to men algo." 11 Yasna xxviii. 9 it is said :" With these bounties, 0 Ahura, may we never provoke your wrath, O Mazdah and Right and Best thought,...yo are they that are mightiest to advance desires and Dominion of Blessings " (Early Zoroastria nism, p. 346). The same idea underlies the teachivg in Yasna li. 20, which reads : " Your blessings shall ye give us, all ye that are one in will ; with whom Rigbt, Good Thought, Piety, and Mazdab

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326 GOD (are one), according to promise, giving your aid when worshipped with reverence." It is even acknowledged that there were prior true religions which were worshipful. "And we worship," says Yasna xvi. 3 (SBE. vol. xxxi. pp. 255-259)," and we worship the former religions of the world devoted to righteousness a...." What is still more significant is that Zoroastrianism mentions the number of Ahuras as precisely four and twenty* . (see Early Zoroastrianism by Moulton, pp. 402 et seq.). Turning to Buddhism, too, one finds the same number twenty four also as the number of previous Buddhas. Even the number of Babylonian "counseller-Gods," we learn from Mr. J. M. Robertson's interesting compilation, Pagau Christs (vide p. 179), was four and twenty, but as little or nothing is known about them we cannot draw any certain inference one way or the other from this otherwise significant number, * Cf. "... Mayst thou [O Man !) rise up there... along the path made by the Goods, the watery way they opened" (Vendidad, Fargard xxi. iii-C;SBE. vol. iv. p. 227). It is interesting to note that the etymological significance of the word tirthamkara is the finder of a fordable channel across the sea (of samsara-tradgmigratory condition).

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EIGHTH LECTURE. Ritual. In this lecture we shall endeavour to enquire into the different forms of worship which have prevailed amongst men. These may be summed up under the following beads : (1) Prayer, (2) Sacrifice, (3) Pilgrimage, (4) Meditation, (5) Purification, and (6) Tapas. We shall take these one by one to understand their 'real significance. To begin with prayer, which in the current sense is only a begging for favours and boons from a superhuman being, it is evident now that there can be no such thing as a prayer-bureau in nature. The stern realities and howid facts of the modern European war prove only too eloquently that there was none to listen to the wail and lament of the starving, suffering, and heart-broken peoples. Men of every religion which taught prayer constantly prayed for years, from day to day. Hindus, Mabomedans, Buddhists, Christians, Jews and others joined in begging for the cessation of the conflict, or at least for the lessening of

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328 RITUAL suffering and pain, but all in vain! And, we are still suffering from its terrible effects even today. Surely, it is a pure farce if this is all the result that prayer has to show! But the fact is that prayer was never intended to be used in this way. 'Prayer is analysable into (i) whom to ask from, (ii) who is to ask, (iii) what is to be asked, and (iv) how to ask? As to the first of these points, we have already seen that the Tirthamkaras are only Teachers, but not the givers of boons or grantors of prayer, while the mytho. logical deities are purely imaginary. There is no other god to grant a prayer except the one that is within, and it is this inner Divinity that is the real grantor of wishes. For the rule with Life is that it is affected by its beliefs, so that whatever it believes it becomes. For this reason it is that Jesus said : "Therefore I say onto you, What things soever ye desire, when yo pray, believe that yo receive them, and ye shalt have them."-Mark xi. 24. The element of belief which is altogether out of place with reference to an external deity, is fully in keeping with the nature of the divinity of the soul that becomes a quickening spirit by self-consciousness. Hence, the greater the clinging to this in-dwelling God, the greater the manifestation of Divinity and the power to work miracles. Jesus also said with reference to his miracles :

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 329 " Verily, I say uoto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (John, xiv: 12). Power is developed by fasting and prayer, as Jesus explained when his disciples having failed to exorcise an evil spirit demanded an explanation of their failure from him. " This kind can como forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting " (Mark, ix. 29). But the inost significant of these stray passages is the one recorded in Mark vi, 5 and 6, with reference to the miraculous powers of Jesus when he visited his own country : * And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hand upon a few sick folk, and healed them. " And he marvelled because of their unbelief." When performing a healing miracle, Jesus never failed to ask the sick person if he believed, and after his recovery, to tell him that his faith had made him whole. This shows that there is a law governing miracles which is quite independent of personality and status. It, no doubt, happens at times that we get what we pray for, but this is not confined to any particular class or community of men, and even worshippers of such things as dead men's graves, stones and trees have had their prayers 'granted' at times! All this is really co-incidence, which means that the event prayed for was bound to happen, and would have happened,

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330 RITUAL whether any one prayed for it or not, and that its synchronism with prayer could not be attributed to interference on the part of a prayer-granting agency. in any sense. There are many co-incidences always occurring in nature which even the most unreasoning deism would refuse to regard as evidence of a divine response to prayer, e.g., the death of an enemy or his being overtaken by calamity. But if we are debarred from regarding these dark occurrences as response to prayer, because of their tendency to leave a stain on the honour and goodness of their perpetrators, what is our warrant for ascribing any other to the agency of a God? So much for the first point; as for the second which is covered by the question, who is to ask or pray? I think you will agree with me that the real grantor of wishes being the inner God, only he who is a devotee' of His is entitled to pray to Him. As for others who do not do His will, they are hypocrites and workers in iniquity ; they know not their God, and cannot have their wants attended to. The Book of Proverbs (The Old Testament of the Holy Bible) points out the attitude of Life towards them in striking terms (chap. i. 28 and 29);"They shall call upon me, bat I will not answer; they shall seek merelv, but they shall not find me. "For that they hate i knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord." Again it is said: "The Lord is far from the wicked, bat he heareth the prayer of the righteous" (Proverbe, xv. 29).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 331 The wicked has his eyes turned outwards in the direction of the world of desire and lust, while the Realm of Life lies inwards. On the other hand, the righteous man is the doer of the right thing, and the right thing is the will of the Lord, that is to say what pleases Life. Hence is the Lord far from the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the righteous ! Again be who will pray to Life must be endowed with Right Faith, that is to say, he must believe in the divinity of Life, for it is said: "He that turdeth away his ear from hearing the law, oven his prayer shall be abomination" (Proverbs, xxviii. 9). The devotee should also be free from himsa (causing injury to living beings) "And when ye spread forth your hande, I will hide mine eyes from you; yes, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood" (Isaiah, i. 15) Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct are then indispensable for prayer; it is vain for anyone else to pray. The third point is: what is to be asked for in prayer? This is practically already answered under the second head; there should be nothing against Law (Dharma), and nothing that would be incompatible with Right Faith. The faithful should only attend to the business of the 'father' (Luke, ii. 49). That is the only thing we can ask from Life.

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332 RITUAL To beg for wealth, children, wordly pomp, destruction of those we hate, etc., is forbidden.' They only engender evil karma, and put you away from God. This is what Jesus meant when he said : "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or either he will bold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mam mon. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? --Matt. vi. 24 . and 25. The form of the prayer actually taught by Jesus to his disciples is full of hidden meaning. This is how it reads (Matt. vi. 9-13) :o. "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name 10. "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be doue in earth, as it is done in heaven. 11. "Give us this day our daily bread. 12. "And forgive us our debts [sing), as we forgive our debtors, 13. "And lead us not into temptation, bat deliver us from evil : for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." This is surely not prayer, but a combination of (i) praise for the Lord (Life), (ii) an expectancy of the coming of His king dom, together with a longing for a differ U ,

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333 ent order of things on earth, as it is in heaven; (iii) a request for just one's daily bread, i. e., an implied disclaimer of the wealth and pomp that might be possessed by the devotee ; (iv) repentance for sins; and CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES (v) a sense of horror for future failings, coupled with a desire for deliverance from evil. Such is the analysis of the Lord's Prayer as taught by Jesus to his disciples. This is, however, nothing but simply another version of the Jaina samayika (daily meditation) which was taught by Paramatman Mahavira to his disciples just a little over six hundred years before Jesus. Here are the component parts of the samayika, as described in Jaina Books : (i) repentance for past faults, (ii) resolving to refrain from sinning in the future, (iii) renunciation of personal likes and dislikes, (iv) praise of the divine attributes of the Holy Tirthamkaras, who are models of perfection for us to copy, (v) adoration of any particular Tirthankara, whose biography is to be taken as furnishing inspiration for our own soul, the Perfect One having risen to the supreme status of Divinity from the ordinary position of a sinful soul, and

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334 RITUAL (vi) withdrawal of attention from the body, and its being directed towards the soul. # Of these six limbs of the samayika, the first two aim at the elimination of sin, the third is directed at the development of the spirit of dispassion, the fourth, at impressing the mind with the divinity of Life and the heights of glory to which a soul may attain, the fifth, at securing speedy deliverance from evil by following in the footsteps of a Living Example, and the sixth at the correction of the error of the body being taken for the man as well as at the subjugation of the flesh. I ought to say while I am still on the subject that the Biblical idea of the kingdom of God, which the devotee longs to behold, is nothing other than that of a manifestation of the Godhood of Life in his own self. This is how Jesus described it on one occasion : "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation ; neither shall they say, lo here ! or, lo there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke, xvii. 20-21). Now, what is within us is just simply Life which is divine, so that the words 'thy kingdom come' in the Lord's prayer actually imply a fervent longing on the worshipper's part for his own spiritual evolution. I shall now take you through the Muslim form of prayer, omitting some parts of it that merely refer to the personality of the Prophet. "I have purposed to offer up to God only, with a sincere heart,......prayers.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 335 "God is great ! " Holiness to Thee, O God ! " And praise be to thee ! Great is thy name ! Great is Thy Greatness! There is no deity but thee! " I seek refuge from God from cursed Satan," "In the name of God, the compassiouate, the merciful." " Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds ! The compassionate, the merciful! King of the day of reckoning ! Thee only do we worship, and to thee only do we cry for belp. Guide thou us in the straight path, The path of those to whom thou hast been gracious; With whom thou art not angry, And who go not astray.--Amen." "Say: He is God alone : God the eternal ! He begetteth not, And is not begotten ; And there is none like unto Him, . God is great! " 1 extol the boliness of my Lord, the Creat.! " I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Great ! "God hears him who praises Him. "O Lord Thou art praised.

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336 RITUAL "God is Great! "I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Most High ! "I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Most High! "I rise and sit by the power of God! "God is Great ! "I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Most High! "I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Most High ! "I extol the holiness of my Lord, the Most High! "I seek forgiveness from God, My Lord, and I repent before Him! "God is Great! "The adorations of the tongue are for God, and also the adorations of the body, and alms-giving! "Peace be on thee, O Prophet, with the mercy of God and His blessings ! "Peace be upon us and upon God's righteous servants! "I testify that there is no deity but God. "O God, thou art to be praised and thou art great! O God our Lord, give us the blessings of this life, and also the blessings of life everlasting. Save us from the torments of fire. "The peace and mercy of God be with you." "The peace and mercy of God be with you." -Huge's Dictionary of Islam. Here also we have praise, repentance, fear of evil, the longing to tread the 'path' of those to whom Life has been gracious and who go not astray and insis tence on the unity of Life, on the attribute of holiness,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES . 337 and on the employment of speech and body in the praises of the Lord and of the purse in alms-giving. The Buddhist prayer is likewise a combination of an expression and an inspiration-expression of belief and inspiration of ideal and zeal. As an expression of faith, Buddhist prayer pays homage to Buddha, to his truth and community, mostly in adoration and exultation which serve at the same time as a confession of faith. As an inspiration of ideal aspiration it takes the form of a solemn vow to commit ourselves to efforts in moral perfection (ERE. vol. x. page 167). As compared with this, the Hindu Gayatri is simplicity itself: "We.meditate on the excellent glory of that Sun God; may he draw our intellect towards himself." It is a prayer for enlightenment and knowledge to the Sun, the worship of the Sun signifying merely the adoration of the internal atman (soul). For it is said in the Maitrayanopani shad. ." The sun outside is the objective Atman and prada (life) in the internal Atman. The workings of the one are compared to those of the other. Therefore meditate mpon the sup as one and apply to the atman" (PHB. vol. 1. p. 473). The Parsi prayer has been already given in the first lecture, and reads: "As the Ahu is to be chosen. So (let) the Ratu (be) from every legal fitness, A creator of mental goodness, 22

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338 RITUAL And of life's actions dope for Mazda; And the kingdom (be) to Abura, Whom (the Abu, or the Ratu) He has appointed as nourishier to the poor," ERE. I. 238. Haug's rendering of this is even more lucid ; be translates it thus:"As a beavenly Lord is to be chosen, so is an eartbly master (spiritual gnide), for the sake of righteousness, (to be) giver of good thoughts, of the actions of life towards Mazda, and the dominion is for the Lord (Ahura) whom he (Mazda) has given, as a protector for the poor" (Hang's Essays on The Parsis page, 141, Footnote.) Here also there is no question of begging for boonsbut only of the merits or qualifications of the heavenly Lord or Guide and of the earthly spiritual preceptor. It is thus evident that the term prayer is a misnomer with reference to these so-called prayer formulas and texts and that it was never understood in the ancient days to be a supplication to any external deity for boons. As regards the fourth point, namely, how to pray? it is clear that daily meditation must combine all those elements which are necessary for the increase of faith, merit and dispassion. Now, faith increases by impress. ing the mind with the divinity of the soul and by a reading, with respect and reverence, of the lives of those who have attained to divinity. Merit is obtained by refraining from sin, that is, by confession and repen. tance; and dispassion is acquired by the elimination of

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 339 raga (attachment) and dvesha (aversion) and by the mortification of the flesh, All these points are kept in view in the Jaina Samayika, which, for this reason, is the most excellent form of meditation, I need not dwell upon the subject any longer, but may aptly close it with the recitation of the Samdiyka Patha by saint Amitagati, which is also a very beautiful composition from a liter. ary point of view. An English translation of it was published by Mr. Ajit Prasad Jain for the first time in 1915 and I have departed from it but little.. The Santyika-patha: -- like the sword from its scabsanveSu maitrI guNiSu pramoda, bard, the self which is fault less and possessed of in kliSTeSu jIveSu kRpAparatvam / finite power from the body! mAdhyasthabhAvaM viparItaTattau, duHkhe sukhe vairiNi bandhuvameM, sadA mamAtmA vidadhAtu deva // 1 // yoge viyoge bhavane vane vA / O Lord [Life] ! make nirAkRtAzeSamamatvabuddheH, myself such that I may always have love for all be samaM mano me 'stu sadApi nAtha // 3 // ings, pleasure in the com- __May my mind, O Lord! pany of those endowed with be always at equilibrium, excellent qualities, sympa. with the sense of attach. thy for those in pain and ment completely destroyed, tolerance for those perverse- in pleasure and pain, among ly inclined! friends and foes, in gain and in loss, at home and zarIrataH kattumanantazaktiM, abroad! vibhinnamAtmAnamapAstadoSam / munIza ! lInAviva kIlitAviva, jinendra koSAdiva khaGgayaSTi, sthirI niSAtAviva vimbitAviva / tava prasAdena mamAstu zaktiH // 2 // . : May Thy Grace enable pAdoM tvadIyo mama tiSThatAM sadA. me, O Jinendra! to separate, | tamodhunAnau hRdi dIpakAviva // 4 //

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RITUAL 340 O Revered of all saints! may Thy feet be ever enshrined in my heart as a light that destroys all darkness, and there be engraved, and impressed, and fixed, and maged and unified with it! ekendriyAyA yadi deva dehinaH, pramAdataH saMcaratA itastataH / kSatA vibhinnA militA nipIr3itA, tadastu mithyA duranuSThitaM tadA // 5 // O Lord! if I have, by the carelessness of my movements, destroyed, cut asunder, brought in (incom | patible) connection, or other wise injured, any organism endowed with one or more senses, may such wrong action of mine be annulled! vimuktimArga pratikUlavarttinA, mayA kaSAyAvazena durdhiyA / cAritra zuddheryaMda kAri lopanaM, tadastu mithyA mama duSkRtaM prabho // 6 // Moving away from the path of salvation, if I have, in consequence of being overpowered by passions and lusts, perversely omitted to observe the rules of proper conduct, may suchfailings of mine, O'Master ! be set at nought ! | vinindanAlocana gaurahaM, manovacaH kAyakaSAya nirmitam / nihanmi pApaM bhavaduHkhakAraNaM, bhiSagviSa maMtraguNairivAkhilam // 7 // By self-analysis, selfcensure and repentance, I destroy sin, from which all ills in the cosmos proceed, whether it be committed through mind, speech or body or through passion, just as the physician destroys the evil effect of poison by the power of incantations ! zratikramaM yaM vimatervyatikrama, jinAticAraM sucaritrakarmaNaH / vyadhAdanAcAramapi pramAdataH, pratikramaM tasya karomi zuddhaye // 8 // O World-Victor! I purify myself by performing expurgation for all foolish deviations from rectitude due to indifference, whether it amount to atikarma, vyatikarma, atichara anachara! or kSatiM manaHzudvividheratikramaM, vyatikrama zIlaTa tevi laMghanam / prabho'ticAra viSayeSu varttanaM, vadantyanAcAra mihAtisaktatAm // 6 //

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES Atikarma is the defiling of the purity of the mind; vyatikarma is the violation of the moral vows; atichara, O Lord! is indulgence in sensual desires, and andchara is defined as excessive attachment to things! yadarthamAtrApadavAkyadInaM, mayA pramAdAyadi kiJcanoktam / tanme samitvAvidadhAtu devI, sarasvatI kevalabodhalabdhim // 10 // 345 yaH smayete. sarvvamunIndravRndaiH, yaH stUyate sarvanAmarendraiH / yo gIyate vedapurANazAstraH, sadevadevo hRdaye mamAstAma // 12 // Pi May that Lord of Lords be enshrined in my heart, Who is an object of contemplation for groups of ascetic saints, Who is adored by all monarchs and Lords of the celestials, and Whose praises are sung by Vedas, Puranas and Scriptures! O Goddess Saraswati | [Jina-bani ie., the Word of God ] ! pray excuse me if, through inattention, I have uttered anything wanting in meaning, spelling.. word. or sense, and grant me the boon of knowledge absolute! | yo darzanajJAnasukhasvabhAvaH, samasta saMsAravikArabAhyaH / samAdhigamyaH paramAtmasaMjJaH, sa devadevo hRdaye mamAstAma // 13 // bodhiH samAdhiH pariNAmazuddhiH, svAtmopalabdhi: zivasaukhyasiddhiH / cintAmaNiM cintitavastudAne, tvAM vadyamAnasya mamAstu devi // 11 // O Goddess, Thou art like the Jewel Chintamani in granting all desired objects; may I, by worshipping Thee, obtain wisdom, control of mind, purity of thought, realisation of my own self, and perfect happiness ever-lasting! May that Lord of Lords be enshrined in my heart, whose nature is Knowledge, Wisdom, and Happiness, Who is free from all kinds of imperfections that abound in the world, Who is reached through samadhi (pure unruffled selfcontemplation), and Who is termed the Most High! niSUdateyeA bhavaduHkhajAlaM, nirIkSate yo jagadantarAma yo'ntargata yoginirIkSaNIyaH,

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342 RITUAL sa devadevo hRdaye mamAstAma // 14 // | ings, Who is wisdom perMay that Lord of Lords sonified and is above the be enshrined in my heart, I senses and Eternal! ' Who destroys all the tram. yo vyApako vizvajanInaTattaH, mels of the world, Who sees | sido vibuddo dhutkrmbndhH| all that is innermost in the Universe, Who can be re dhyAto dhunIte sakalaM vikAraM, alized by the inner self and sa devadevo hRdaye mamAstAma // 17 // Who is perceived by His May that Lord of Lords devotees! be enshrined in my heart, vimuktimArgapratipAdako yo, Who, being the source of yo janmamRtyuvyasanAdvyatItaH / / universal good, is all-per. vading, perfect and all. trilokalokI bikalo'kalaGkaH,, knowing, Who is the dessa devadevo hRdaye mamAstAm // 15 // troyer of bonds of karma, and by turning to Whom all May that Lord of Lords forms of evil are annihilabe enshrined in my heart, ted there and then! Who has shown the path of salvation Who has passed na spRzyate karmakalaGkadoSaiH, beyond Birth and Death yo dhvAntrasaMdhairiva tigmarazmiH / Ithat proceed from sin), nAmjanaM nityamanekameka, Who sees the three worlds and Who is bodiless and taM devamAptaM zaraNaM prapadya // 18 // faultless! I seek shelter in that kor3IkRtAzeSazarIrivargAH, Supreme Lord, Who can not be touched by the con. rAgAdayo yasya na santi doSAH / tamination of karmic filth, nirindriyo jJAnamayo'napAyaH, just as volumes of darkness sa devadevo hRdaye mamAstAna // 16 // cannot affect the strong rayed Sun, and Who is -- May that Lord of Lords stainless, eternal, one, and ve enshrined in my heart many! Who is free from all kinds of passions and faults which vibhAsate yatra marIcimAlI, are found in embodied be- | na vidyamAne bhuvanAvabhAsI /

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES svAtmasthitaM bodhamayaprakAza, taM devamApta zaraNaM prapadye // 16 // I seek shelter in that Supreme Lord, Who, centred in His own self, diffuses the Light of Wisdom and illumines the universe in a way that the sun cannot! vilokyamAne sati yatra vizvaM, vilokyate spaSTamidaM viviktama / zuddha zivaM zAntamanAdyanantaM, taMdevamApta zaraNaM prapadya e // 20 // I seek shelter in that Supreme Lord, by seeing Whom all the universe is distinctly and clearly seen, who is Pure, Blissful, EverTranquil, and without deginning and without an end! a yetA manmadhamAnamUrcchA, viSAdanidrAbhayazokacintAH / cayA'naleneva taruprapaJca, staM devamAptaM zaraNaM prapadye // 21 // I seek shelter in that Supreme Lord, Who has annihilated desire, pride, delusion, anguish, sleep, fear, sorrow and anxiety, like a wild fire that burns whole forest. a 343 na sa staro'zmA na tRNaM na medinI, vidhAnato no phalako vinirmitama / yato nirastAkSakaSAyavidviSaH, sudhIbhirAtmaiva sunilo mataH // 22 // Neither a cushion of grass, nor a wooden plank, neither a slab of stone, nor even a seat on the ground is essential for the purpose of meditation; the Atman himself which has subdued its foes-passions and lusts -has been described by the wise as the pure seat! nasaMstaro bhadra samAdhisAdhanaM, lokapUjA na ca saM ghamelanama / yatastato'dhyAtmarato bhavAnizaM, vimucya sarvvamapi bAhyavAsanAma 23 // No seat, my good friend! is needed for communion with God; neither are joint worship of assemblies of men, nor group meetings required for the purpose; renounce thou all desire for the not-self, and engage thyself constantly in thing own self, in every possible way ! na santi bAhyA mama kecanArthI, bhavAmi teSAM na kadAcanAhama ! itthaM vinizcitya vimukhya bAhya,

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344 RITUAL svasthaHsadAtvaM bhavabhadramuktyai // 24 // / yasyAsti naikyaM vapuSApi sAI, "None of these objects tasyAsti ki ptrkkhtrmitr| outside me is mine; may I never be theirs."-deter. pRthakkRte camaNi roma kRpAH, mine this in thy mind, kuto hi tiSThanti zarIramadhye // 27 // and break thy connection How can be, who is not with the not-self; and, O one even with his own body, good friend! if thou wishest be connected with his son, to secure Deliverance, thou wile, or friends? If the shouldst always remain skin be removed from the centered in Thyself! body, where would the prAtmAnamAtmanyavalokyamAna, | pores abide! stvaM darzanajJAnamayo vishuddhH| saMyogato duHkhamanekabhedaM, ekAgracittaH khalu yatra tatra, yato'znute janmavane zarIrI / sthitopi sAdhulabhate samAdhima 25 tatanidhAsau parivarjanIyo, __ Thou, who seest Thyself yiyAsunA nitimAtmanInAma // 28 // in Thyself, art pure and The Self, encased in the possessed of perception and body, undergoes various wisdom. The sage who kinds of sufferings, because can concentrate his mind, of this connection; thereattains communion howso. fore, he who desires Deli. ever situated! verance should avoid this ekaH sadA zAzvati ko mamAtmA, corporeal contact through mind, speech and action! vinirmajaH sAdhigamasvabhAvaH / sarvaM nirAkRtya vikalpajAlaM, bahirbhavAH santyapare samastA, na zAzvatAHkarmabhavAH svkiiyaaH||26|| saMsArakAntAranipAtahetuma / viviktamAtmAnamavekSyamANo, __My self is ever One, Eternal, Pure, and All. knowing nilIyase tvaM paramAtmatatve // 26 // in essence; all the other Liberate thyself from the objects are outside me, not trammels of doubt through eternal, and are connected which thou art lost in this with me through my own World-forest, Realize thy. karmas! self as separate and absorb ____

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES ed in contemplation of the Highest Self. svayaM kRtaM karma yadAtmanA purA, phalaM tadIyaM labhate zubhAzubhama / pareNa dattaM yadi labhyate sphuTaM, svayaMkRtaM karma nirarthakaM sadA // 30 // Whatever karmas you | have performed previously, you experience their consequences, whether good or evil. If what you experience is caused by another, then the karmas you have performed have clearly been of no effect ! franfela na fagro tfest, na kopi kasyApi dadAti kiMcana / vicArayannevamananyamAnasaH, 345 "Leaving aside the selfgathered karmas of the dweller in the body, no one gives anything to any one."-think of this with a concentrated mind, and give up the idea that there is another who gives! | yaiH paramAtmA'mitagativandhaH, sarvavivikto bhRzamanavadyaH / zazvaddhyAto manasi, labhante, muktiniketaM vibhavavaraM te // 32 // paro dadAtIti vimuJca zemuSIma 31 | tion ! B Such persons as those who always meditate upon the Highst Self Who is revered by Amitgati, Who is distinct from every thing, and Who is worthy of high praise attain the supreme bliss which abides in Salva I now pass on to a consideration of the doctrine of sacrifice which still prevails in many religions. I have no time here to trace the origin of this cruel practice, but we shall see that it is one of those doctrines which have been grossly misunderstood by men. It is not necessary to dwell on the subject at any great length; a few extracts from the Scriptures of those very creeds which practise it will suffice to remove the delusion. The following passages in the Old Testament have a direct bearing on the interpretation of the ` sacrificial texts.

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346 1. 3. 2. "I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor hegoats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the Most High" (Ps 1. 9-15). "O Lord, Open thou my lips; my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt offerings" (Ps. li. 15 and 16). and "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.... Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them and when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you yea, wheu ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood " (Isaiah, i. 11-15). 5. RITUAL "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams " (1 Sam. xv. 22). "He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man, he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations" (Isaiah lxvi. 3).

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 347 6. "I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more thao burnt offerings " (Hosea, vi. 6). 7. "To what purpose there cometh to me incenge from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me" (Jeremiah, vi 20). 8. "They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifice of my offerings, and eat it, but the Lord accepteth them not : now will be remember their iniquity, and visit their sins ; they-shall return to Egypt " (bondage]-Hosea viii. 13. 9. "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me borot offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts ' (Amos, v. 21 and 22). 10. "Put your burnt offerings into your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not onto your fathers, uor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices : but this thing commanded I them, saying : Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people : and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you" (Jeremiah, vii. 21-23). 11. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hath thou opened: burnt offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required" (Ps xl 6). 12. "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horps and hoofs" (Ps. Ixix. 30 and 31).

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348 RITUAL 13. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit ; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (P. li. 71). 14. "Where with shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God ? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calvos of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleaged with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the frait of my body for the siu of my soul? He hath showed theo, Oman, what is good ; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do jastly, and to love mercy, and to walk hambly with thy God."-(Micab, vi 6-8). These are the quotations from the Old Testament itself, and they leave 110 doubt in the mind that the grossest error has been made in the matter of sacrificial ritual by reading the text in the literal sense, which was never intended to be so read by any one. Jesus saw the fatal error and abolished sacrifice. "I will have mercy and not sacrifice" (Matt. ix.13)--was his message of love. According to Zoroastrianism, also, meat offerings are condemned. It is said in Shayast La-Shayast (xi.5):"There bave been those who may have spoken about protection, and there have been those who may have done so about meat-offerings; whoever has spoken about protection is such as has spoken well, and whoever bas spoken about meat-offerings has not spoken everything which is noteworthy" (SBE. vol. V. pp.337-338). wo ways, and their soul

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 349 It is also said in the same work (chap. x. 34; SBE, vol. v. p. 332). "The rule is this, that meat, when there is etench or decom position not oven originating with it is not to be prayed over." To turn to Islam, there is no doubt that Mahomed understood the real significance of the doctrine of sacri. fice, but he feared to kindle the ire of his countrymen, Accordingly, he merely contented himself by pointing out the symbolic nature of sacrifice, but did not forbid it openly, as Jesus had done before him. It is said in Al Qur'an chapter xxii:* " The camels slain for sacrifice have we appointed for you as eyinbols of your obedience goto God. Their Aesh is not accepted of God, veither their blood, but your piety is accepted of bim." * It is impossible for language to be more clear or emphatic! But, alas! it fell dead on the Arab ears, as the earlier prophetic speech had fallen on the Jewish ears, Wonderful is man even in his stupidity! He imagines even the Holiest of the Holy bending low to eat the fesh and drink the blood of red beasts! We shall deal with the cow sacrifice of Islam later on. Turning to Hinduism, we find the same allegorical explanation of the sacrificial text as in the other creeds examined by us. 1, "The sacrificer is bimself the victim. It: (the sacrifice) takes the very sacrificer himselt to beaven" (Tait. Br. ii. 12. 4. 3.)

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281. 350 RITUAL 2. "The sacrificer is the animal" (Sp. Br xi. 1. 8.) ... 3. "The animal is ultimately the sacrificer himself" (Tait. Br. 11. 2. 8. 2). 4. "The sacrificer is indeed the sacrifice" (Tait. Br. 1, 28). In the symbolical speech of the Hindus, "The ten sepses are the sacrificers, their objects are the sacrificial stuffs, and burning their stuffs away is the sacrifice. The ten senses, or the Devas, are the ten fires. Chita (mind) is the sacrificial ladle and the sacred knowledge is the wealth atilised?....... Tamas is smoke and Rajas its ashes. "The secret of yoga.yegna is this. There are four sacri ficers to be known. The five senses, mind and intellect make up the seven causes or Karmas. Their actions constitute the Karma. The Ego underlying these is the doer or Karta. When one is attached to these seven, the good and bad affect him, otherwise they become the real sources for moksha or emancipatiou" (The Permanent History of Bharat Varsha, vol. ii. pp. 638 and 639, and for the original Sanskrit quotations, pp. 634 to 636). According to the Chbandogya Upanishad (chap. 41. 17): "Austerity, charity, simplicity, ahimsa and truthfuluess form his fee (let the aspirant acquire these by self-sacrifice)." It was, thus, the sacrifice of desires that yana signified, not the cruel slaughtering of poor helpless dumb animals whose blood could only go to form a hard encrustation of evil karma about the sacrificer's own

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 351 soul dragging it in the end into conditions of existence which one simply shudders to think of. It is dreadful to think of the countless millions of horses, cows, buffaloes, bullocks and goats that have paid with their lives for our stupidity! The horse that was to be sacrificed is the mind, the cow,the lower or sensual ego in the sense of wei (lit, breath), buffaloe, ignorance, bullock, stupidity or stiff-neckedness, and the goat, carnal lust. Of these, the cow has been the source of a great deal of bloodshed in recent times in India. Yet the cow is a mere symbol for the senses, or, in general, sensuality or nafs, as it is termed in Isiam. In Muslim symbology nafs (cm ) is also represented by dog which is the most unclean of animals; for the dog is kuowu to eat up all kinds of things clean and unclean both, and applies bis nose to any thing directly be sees it, while nuts (the ego given to sensuality, is uo better. Sag-i-dunia (dog of the world) is the contemptuous expression of saints for those entangled in the world, on account of their sensuai nasf-parasti (lit. sense-worship, hence the pursuit of lusts). It is this lustful nafs triat is symbolised by cow for the purpose of sacrificial teaching. The occasion of the sacrifice is thus related in the Qur'an (chap ii) : { " Aud when Moses said unto his people, verily God commands 1. you to sacrifice a cow, they answered, Dost thou make a jest of us ? " Moses said, God for bid that I should be one of the foolish. - They said, Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would show 2. ug what it is.

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352 RITUAL 3.1 "Mones apowered, He saith, it is a cow neither old nor young, of a middle age between that: do ye therefore that which ye are commanded. 4.1 " They said, Pray for us outo thy Lord, that he would show us what colour she is of. 5. "Moges answered, He saith, she is a red cow, intengely red, ber colour rejoiceth the beholders. "They said, Pray for as upto thy Lord, that he would show us what it is, verily cows are alike to 18, and we, if God please, will be directed. 7. Moges answered, He saith, sbe is a cow not broken to plough the earth, or water the field, a sound one there is po blemish jd her. They gaid, now thou hast brought the truth. 9. << Then they gacrificed her, yet they were near not doing it. " And when ye slew a man and contended ainong yourselves concerning him, God brought forth to light that which - ye concealed. "For we said, Strike the dead body with part of the sac rificed cow: 80 God raised the dead to life, and 14. rishoweth yon his signs, that perad-venture ye may under15. stand." Such is the legend of the sacrifice of the red heifer, and it is a truly remarkable story, ingenious, well-conceived and inystic to its core. I have underlined the most remarkable portions of it, and numbered them on the margin. (1) Our item No. 1 is a surprise. The God with whom the Jews are familiar wants the sacrifice of a cow, yet is his command received

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 353 with levity and surprise. -Dost thou make a jest of us? Neither God nor Moses is, however, angered by this levity. Moses is quite serious ---God forbid that I should jest with you in this matter! (2) The Jews now ask, "What it is ?" This is suffi. ciently significant by itself. What do you mean by a cow-sacrifice ? God is the protector of life, and you say that he wants a sacrifice ! If this is not a joke what is it? (3) It is a cow that is neither young nor old, but of a middle age between that.' (4) "Teil us its colour,' they ask again. (5) Red, intensely red, the delight of the behol ders!'answered Moses. (6) They still ask, "What is it, for cows are alike to us?' (7) "The one that is not broken to plough the earth or water the field, a sound one, with no ble mish in her!"---replies Moses. (8) At last the interlocutors are satisfied "Now hast thou brought the truth," Moses has obtained pass marks ! (9) The cow is now sacrificed, yet the levity of the people is not at an end! They are yet near not doing it ! (10) The "they" of Moses' time now becomes "ye" and "yourselves,"

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354 RITUAL (11) "Ye slew a man and contended among your selves concerning him' (whether it was not all a delusion, the man and the deed?). (12) The dead is striken with part of the victim's body, (13) He is raised to life by God, (14) This is a sign. (15) Peradventure ye may understand ! I think it is impossible for language to be more pointed than it is here. The purport is plain; let him who has ears to hear and eyes to see perceive the truth. The cow that is neither old nor young, that is not broken to plough the earth or water the filed, that is sound, without a blemish, of an intensely red colour and the delight of the beluider is the nass that is rooted in the bahiratman, composed of the intensely red blood and the fiesh made from it. Ils colour is the delight of the beholder, because no colour can rejoice a beholder more than the glowing animation of life in living flesh. This idea is so well expressed in Chinese mysticism that I shall merely content myself by quoting from it (SBE. yol, xxxix. p. 230) : *Kung-ni said 'Once when I was sent on a mission to Khu, I saw some pige sucking at their dead mother. After a little they looked with rapid glances, when they all left her, and ran away. They felt that she did not see them, and that she was no longer like themselves. What they had loved in their mother was not her bodily figure, bat what had given animation to her figure." ..

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 355 As for the colour of the heiser, I may add that the literal translation of the Arabic word used in the text is yellow, but as there are no kine of a yellow, and most certainly none of an intensely yellow colour, the use of the word with reference to the desired cow will not make any difference with our interpretation, as in that case it will directly exclude the cow as a class from the scope and application of the text. Its significance when it is taken to mean red* (see Sale's Koran, p. 9, footnote) has already been given here. The derivation of the English word sacrifice, I am happy to note, is singularly accurate, and directly points to the true sense of a sacrifice (Lat. sacrificium from sacer, holy and facer, to make). It is, thus, the doing of an act that is calculated to make us holy. This most certainly can never be the shedding of the blood of an inno. cent victim for blood washes a way not the inipurities of passions and lusts, but actually liardens the tender bumau nature which is a very necessary qualification for-salvation. And even if it were possible to maintain, which it is not in the light of our knowledge to-day, that by the sacri. ficial blood some supernal power could be induced to forgive or condone the sins of a villain, it is clear that that would not convert the evil.doer into a saint. An internal change on the part of the sinner himself is needed to make him holy. The true etymological significance of the word holy itself is very instructive. It is derived cf. " The red colour of the cow...suggests the coloar of blood" (EBE, vol. xi. p. 36).

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RITUAL 356 from the Auglo-Saxon hal (Old German and Icelandic, heil and Gothic hails), meaning whole, sound or safe. There is, thus, no question of condonation or forgiveness of sins, but of making whole, of removing unsoundness, of eradicating 'disease.' It is the sacrificing of the bahiratman, in symbolic thought the purusha-medha of the ancient Hindus, which alone has the effect of making us holy. As the unholy traits and tendencies constituting this ill-omened factor of evil are eradicated and destroyed from the mind, divine grace is set free to manifest itself in the life of their destroyer, till, finally, on the destruction of all the forces of sin and evil, the perfection of Divinity is enjoyed by the Jiva (soul) now become perfectly whole and holy by the very act or fact of ridding himself of these agents of defilement and corruption. The substance of the accusation-when ye slew a man (according to the letter of the text, it should be, when ye slew a soul)-is that the real man has been smother & by the apparent ego, the bahiratman, of the soul-less humanity, who regard Life as the product of matter, and themselves as no other than the physical body. They have killed the soul, as it were, and then contend among themselves concerning it-whether it exist ? whether it be not the product of matter? and so forth. God (Life) now astonishes you with a miracle. He asks you to touch what you regard as a dead carcass with a part of the sacrificed cow, when lo! and behold!

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES. 357 a quickening Spirit iinmediately springs into life to name the bahiratman as His slayer! Such is the magical effect of the dead nafs. No sooner is the soul touched (characterised) by the dead nofs than is it electrified into Life. This is how the dead are raised to life! Peradventure ye may understand. Perhaps it will not be quite uninteresting to give the whole story of this red heifer. It is thus related in Sale's Koran (see pp. 8 anii 9): A certain mau at his deatb ieft his son, then a child, a cow calf, which wandered in the desert till he came of age; at which time his rnother told him the heifer was his, and bid him fetch her, and sell her for three pieces of gold. When the young man came to tho market with his heifer, an angel in the shape of a man accosted him, and bid him six pieces of gold for her, but he would not take the money till he had asked his mother's consent; which when he had obtained, he returned to the market place, and met the argel, who now offered hiu twice as much for the heifer, provided he would say nothing of it to his mother but the young man refusing went and acquainted her with the additional offer. The womari perceiving it was an angtl, bid her son yo back and asks him what must be done with the heifer, whereapou the angel told the young inan that in a little time the children of Israel would buy that heifer of hin: at any price. And soon after it happened tbat an Israelite, named Hannmiel, was killed by a relation of bis, who, to prevent discovery, conveyed the body to a place considerably distant from

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.358 RITUAL that where the fact was committed. The friends of the slain man accosed some other persons of the murder before Moses, but they denying the fact. and there being no evidence to convict them, God commanded & cow, of such and such particular marks, to be killed, but there be. ing no other which answered the description except the orphan's heifer, they were obliged to buy her for as much gold as her hide would hold; according to some, for her full weight in gold, and, as others say, for ten times as much. This heifer they sacrificed and the dead body being, by divine direction, struck with a part of it, revived, and standing up, named the pereon who had killed him, after which it immediately fell down dead again." This is the legend, which, according to Sale, "seems to be borrowed from the ied heifer, which was ordered by Jewish law to be burnt, and the ashes kept for purifying those who happened to touch a read corpse ; and from the leiser directed to be slain for the expiation of an uncertain murder" (Ibid. p. 9, footnote). The general opinion about the differences between the Bible and the Qur'an, of course, is that Mahomed knew little or pothing of the Jewish history and tradition and that the Qur'an contains only half distorted half-understood tenets of Judaism. It is true, no doubt, that the Qur'an is not an original work and much of what it contains was taken from the the earlier creeds as Tisdall bas fully shown ; but that Book itself never made any secret of it and openly said :

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 359 * Every age hath its book' of revelation (Chap. xiii].... The Koran is not a new invented fiction, but a confirmation of those scriptures which have been revealed before it [Chap. xii]...There has been no nation but a preacher hath in past times been convergant among them [Chap. iii-25] ..I swear by the instructive Koran that thou art one of the messengers of God, sent to show the right way" (chap. iv. 36). Modern critics unfortunately know nothing of religion, and like the exotericists themselves display gross ignorance in understanding the mysterylanguage of Mysticism. The story of the red heifer is not a narrative of facts that could be borrowed or twisted out of shape; it is the heritage of the whole race, and belongs as much to you and me as to Mahomed and the Israelites. No one has a right to object to your embellishing it still further, provided you have the capacity to do so; but otherwise you must hand it down the ladder of posterity as you received it, without change or alteration. As regards the elucidation of the further details of the legend of the red heiser, the man who left a son and a heifer at his death is Spirit whose death signifies its impurity. + The soul is the son of Spirit * It is interesting to note that purusha (literally, male) is the term used in Sankhyan Metaphysics for the Soul. + The idea of death in the case of Spirit is that of the loss of Self-Kuowledge which is due to the contact of matter. This is also the sense in which Jesus rebuked the disciple wbo wauted leave to bury the dead. 4 Follow me and let the dead bury their dead" (Matt. viii. 22).

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360 RITUAL and the owner of the heiser of nats. This is the doctrine of Sonship once more in disguise. Before Mahomed, Jesus had preached it to the world, and before him had Hosea declared ; " Ye are the sons of the living God? (Hosea, i, 10). And Hosea had no delusions about this, for we also have it from him : * Yet I am the Lord thy God, from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt kuow no God but me for there is no savioor beside me" (chap. xiii, 4). . St. Paul, too, maintained that as many as were led by the spirit of God were the sons of God (Romans, viii. 14). In Hinduism, too, the curse of Savitri on Indra, ie, Life personified, was that he was to lose his city and station and to be bound in chains. This was modified by Gayatri to the effect that his son would be his liberator. The doctrine of 'son ship' did not, it is cbvious, originate with Jesus who escribed himself clearly as a man in John VIII. 40. Luke (chap, iii. 23) tells us, "And Jeaug himgelf began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli." The brackets are not mine, The element of consusion arises from the ignorance of Naya-Vada (the differentiation of stand-points). According to the body, the This certainly meant that the burial of the dead wam to be left to those who though alive physically were dead in spirit, in other worde, to those who knew not themselves as spirits. The raising of the dead, or the recurrection from the dead, we also kaow now, means the conquest of death, and not the reising of the dead in the literal sense of the expression.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 361 man is the son of a particular person; but from the point of view of the soul, he is the child of Life itself. Hence, the mystifying speech of a Self-conscious Soul, who is now described as a man and now as a Son of God. The mystery of the co-existence of the Father and the Son in the Holy Trinity also finds an easy solution now. In so far as the Perfected Soul is the manifestation of the divinity of Life, he is the Son of Life; but in so far as He is the very soul-substance itself that existed in the condition of impurity previously, and in fact eternally, he is co-eval with Life itself, hence contemporaneous with the Father'! To revert to the heifer-myth, the desert in which the heifer wanders during the infancy of the 'son' is the dreary realm of transmigration where the heifer of nafs may be said to wander about unchecked, till manhood be reached. This refers to the advantage of the human birth which is generally the starting point for the journey to nirvana. Here an opportunity is offered for the subjugation of the wandering heifer with knowledge and tapas. The term desert is to be compared with the Garden of Eden where man was placed before the fall. The orphanage of the son is indicative of the nature of life, which has no outside patron or protector. It is taught in the book of Psalms (Ps. xlix. 7): None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him."

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362 RITUAL : The Prophet, too, taught : "Dread the day wherein one soul shall not make satisfac tion for another soul ; neither shall any intercession be accepted from them, por shall any compensation be re ceived, neither shall they be helped" (Sara Baqr). And in the Jaina Scriptures the helpless condition of the unemancipated soul is actually appointed a subject for meditation. This is how this particular form of meditation runs: - "None can help the jiva in his troubles; he alone has to bear his pain and suffering; friends, relations, wife and children te powerless to combat suffering and disease; akarnia is the only protector of the helpless."-(The Practical Patb, p. 53). It is this want of a protector that is likened to the condition of orphanage. The mother referred to is the understanding which at first arrives at a low estimate of the nafs. The inarket is the world of strife and bustle where meu offer their 'goods' for the necessaries and comforts of life. Here the worldly man goes out to sell his soul for three pieces of gold, to be explained anon. The angel in human guise is the effect of meritorious deeds in the past lives appearing as a good counsellor. The insistence on the consultation of the understanding (the mother) is an indication of wisdom, that avoids doing things rashly. The refusal of a more tempting offer still is an indication of self-restraint. The Israelite killed is the soul that is slain by its relation, the bahiratinan-he who shall find bis life shall lose

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363 it etc.' (Matt. x. 39). The denial of the soul is its slaying. The discovery of the deed is prevented by the body being conveyed to a place considerably distant from that where the fact took place'-this signifies the wholesale drastic constitutional changes that are implied in rebirth. CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES The friends of the slain man who accuse the bahiratman of having murdered the soul are the attributes of pure discrimination, judgment and the like which have come to suspect the real nature of the 'usurper.' The accused persons (the attributes of the bodily man) deny that there was a soul to be murdered. The evidence is not sufficient to convict the unrepentant bahiratman, This means that speculative intellectualism (as the mystics know of) is seldom sufficient to convince an unwilling disputant. A practical test is called for under the circumstances. 'Strike the "dead" with a part of the burnt nats.' It is done; and lo! a complete miracle is wrought. The cow that was worth three pieces of gold when alive is of inestimable value now. that it is dead! It is literally worth its weight in gold. The three pieces of gold for which living nafs was to be sold represent ample means for procuring necessaries, comforts and luxuries of life, or, according to another line of thought, ample provision for (i) physical needs and bodily requirements, (ii) mental delights and aesthetic joys, and (iii) gifts and offerings to gods.

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364 For these men barter their nafs. The description of the cow is not answered by any other cow than the orphan's; for nafs is really not a member of the bovine class. The bodily man regards himself as entirely composed of blood, whence the colour of the orphan's cow, red, intensely red. We have it in the fifth book of Moses that the blood is the life (Deut, xii. 23). RITUAL Blood is also neither young nor old, but both youth and old age. An ordinary cow could not surely help growing old between the death of the orphan's father and the attainment of manhood by him who was but a child at his father's death. And who would have paid three'pieces of gold for an untamed useless cow that had wandered all its days in a desert? The description, that it is not broken to plough the earth or water the field, is also very suggestive, showing that one need not look for the object to be sacrificed among the cattle that are employed in the plough or for the irrigation of fields. It not being the rule of practice for kine to be employed for the purpose of ploughing and irrigating fields, the negation of such employment is intended to exclude their tribe, the males of which (i. e., bullocks) are certainly employed in fields as well as for drawing water. The falling dead of the body after the 'miracle' is probably intended to signify the escape of the soul from its long-continued captivity when the body is left behind and the Spirit soars away upwards to nirvana. common to

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 365 Such is the sublime teaching embedded in the legend or the sacrifice of the red beifer, which, unfortunately, has been understood in quite an opposite sense. Indeed the entire doctrine of sacrifice has been grossly misunderstood by men who have been doing themselves incalcuJable harm instead of good. I need only add about this heifer legend that it contains, within the small dimensions of a solitary pictogram, the highly condensed essence of the entire religious and philosophical lore, and esti. mates, most accurately, the value of nafs with reference to three kinds of ideals, material, beavenly and divine. Its temporary control enables man to eke out his living in this lise, by manual labour or otherwise (three pieces of gold); by curbing it regularly heavenly pleasures are enjoyed in the next rebirth (six pieces of gold); but if it be destroyed totally it immediately leads to Godhood which means eternal Life and joy and Immortality (its full weight in gold)! I now pass on to a consideration of the third item on the list of means for salvation, namely, pilgrimage. Now, pilgrimage is made to a place with a view to develop the germ of spirituality in the soul. and its efficacy depends on the accompanying mental attitude and the spirit of renunciation (vairagya) which are best developed outside the atmosphere of worldly bustle and home lise. Junayd, a Maliomedan saint, well brings out the purport of pilgrimage in the course of his conversation with a man who has just retumed from pilgrimage 1o Mecca.

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366. . RITUAL "From the hour when you first journeyed from your home have you also been journeying away from all sins ?" He said "No!" "Then," said Junayd, "you have made no journey. At every stage where you halted for the night did you traverse a station on the way to God?" "No," he replied. "Then," said Junayd, "You have not trodden the road, stage by stage. When you put on the pilgrim's garb at the proper place, did you discard the qualities of human nature as you cast off your clothes ?!"No."" Then you have not put on the pilgrim's garb. When you stood af Arafat,' did you stand one moment in contemplation of God ?" "No," " Then you have not stood at 'Arafat,' When you went to Muzdalifa and achieved your desire, did you renounce all sensual desires?" "No." "Then you have not gone to Muzdalifa. When you circumambulated the Ka! ba, did you behold the immaterial beauty of God in the abode of purification?" "No," "Then you have 100 circumambuiated the Ka'ba. When you ran between Saia and Marwa, did you attain to purity (Safa) and virtue (Muruwwat)?" "No." "Then you have not run, When you came to Mina, did all your wishes (muna, cease p" "No" "Then you have not yet visited Mina, When you reached the slaughter-place and offered sacrifice, did you sacrifice the objects of worldly desire ?" "No." "Then you have not sacrificed. When you threw the pebbles, did you throw away whatever sensual thoughts were accompanying you ?" "No," "Then you have not yet thrown the pebbles, and you have not yet

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES. 367 performed the pilgrimage" (The Mystics of Islam, pp. 91 and 92). The best place of pilgrimage, no doubt, is where the associations are the most ennobling and elevating, that is to say, which is associated with the Great Ones, the Tirthamkaras. Thither should the pious flock, for excellence in faith, renunciation and merit. There is little or no good in visiting such places as are associated with man-made goils and goddesses. I shall now briefly touch upon the subject of meditation which consists in the withdrawal of the mind from the world and in its becoming engaged in self-contemplation. The object is not merely to remain engaged in metaphysical speculation, but to realise the inner meaning of Life by directly feeling its pulsation in one's own self. Every movement, every iremour, every breath of this mysterious subsiance, must, therefore, be brought under personal observation and minutely analysed, But this can only be done by keeping the attention fixed steadily on the soul, exclusive of every thing else. The mind is, however, so constituted that it will attend to anything but the soul, if left to itself; and even when deliberate effort is made to bring it under some sort of control, it is inclined to break loose on the very first shadow of an excuse-bodily discomfort, sensual excitement and the like-that might present itself. For this reason, the curbing of passions and desires and the mortifying and subjugation of the flesh are absolutely essential as necessary preliminary

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368 steps to meditation. A well-regulated life, with pure wholesome food, is, therefore, absolutely necessary, if real progress is to be made on the path. The use of meat and wine is forbidden, as they tend to disturb mental equanimity, excite the passions and coarsen those finer "threads" and nervous filaments which con. nect the soul with the mind, preventing thereby the turning of attention inwards in the direction of the Self. Well does Isaiah say: RITUAL But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are cut of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean" (Chap. xxviii. 7-8). These are the external accessories to meditation. The interual helpful causes are certain thought-forms which have been found to be highly useful as aids to self-realisation. Of these a very simple form is to imagine a pure Effulgent Divinity, a partless embodiment of pure Intelligence, pure Happiness and Peace seated within the physical body. This is to be visualised by partly closing the eyes and by fixing the attention on the "inside." If it be found necessary to employ words with reference to this Divine Embodiment of pure Knowledge and Joy, it should only be meditated upon with the aid of such words as are descriptive of the true nature of the soul-Om, Soham, Arhan, Sid

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 369 dha, Paramatman, Niranjan (pure), and the like. The following s'loka is especially recommended : eko'haM niramalaH zuddho jJAna darzana lakSaNaH zeSA me bAhirA bhAvA sarve saMyoga lakSaNaH This is to the effect that I am One; I am free from impurities ; I am divine; I am pure ; I am invested with the attributes of knowledge and perception; all else is outside me ; is not me; and is the product of karmas. In this way should one meditate on one's own Self. As the power of steady meditation increases, a time comes when there is a coalescence of the subject and the object of contemplation, when he who contemplates finds himself merged jo the being whom he contemplates upon ; when the apparent is absorbed in the real. The Lover and the Beloved here become one ; the devotee now realises bis oneness with his God (Atman Dharma, pp. 27-29). What is meant is the merger of the potential in the ideal, the stamping of the purified substance of being with the impress of Divinity, the transformation of the jivatman into Paramatman, i.e., God. This is termed entering into life, and is a process so full of life and joy that those who have experienced its thrilling ecstacy even for the brief space of a second have been filled with it, Such, briefly, is the description of meditation which is the most potent means of self-realisation, * The remaining two items, namely, purification and tapas have already been sufficiently dealt with in these lectures. But it is well to know that purification and 21

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370 RITUAL tapas are concerned almost exclusively with the riddance of the internal filth, not with the washing of the outer carcass or with bodily distortions and poses. Physical posture, fasting and the like are, no doubt,necessary for progress on the path, but they are only accessories to self-contemplation, which is the direct cause of libera. tion. For without the controlling of the mind, speech and body it is not possible to enjoy any thing like steadiness in dhyana (meditation or contemplation); but without the dhyana itself what purpose shall be served by simple bodily mortification and self-torture? Neither Raja Yoga (uriion through the mind) nor Hatha Yoga (the path of physical austerity) is likely to lead to satisfactory results for this reason. Even Jnana Yoga (the path of knowledge) is not the right method by itself. The proper path consists in the union of Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct, as defived, in an earlier lecture. Bhakti Yoga (devotion) is certainly a very useful ally on the path, is rightly employed. The object of devotion is, however not a mythological god or goddess, but one's own soul primarily, though so long as perfection is not attained, one must idealise and be devoted to the Tirthamkaras than whom there can be no greater Teacher. As the Qur'an pointedly asks (Sura Baqr, verse 132): "The baptism of God! and who is better than God at bap tiging ? and we are to Him servante." The life of Jesus is an epitome, in charming allegory, of the life of a Tirthamkara. It is the highest

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 371 ideal, in Jewish thought and with all its Jewish imperfections, of Life Triumphant, of a Divine Sonship of Pure Spirit, of Divinity made manifest in man. Verily, "...I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the Temple. But if ye bad known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless" (Matt. xii. 6 aud 7): Accordingly, the Message of Truth on the VictoryBanner of Gods is the Gospel of Life and Joy, composed in three of the sweetest of words--ahimsa parmo dhar - mah (non-injuring is the highest religion), that hold out a promise of Life to all beings, and to him who follows it in daily living, Lise Eternal as a Paramatman (God)!

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j 372 NINTH LECTURE. General Survey and Conclusions. Our labours are now about to be ended, this being the last of the lectures that I have to deliver before you. We have seen how different religion has proved to be from what we had taken it to mean, and how it really was the same teaching, the same principle, the same doctrine, the same tenet under different names and forms and formulas. Systems as hostile as Hinduism, that sanctified the cow and Mahomedanism that enjoined its sacrifice, theologies so wide apart as Christianity that made the belief in the existence of a son of God and Judaism and others that denied that their God had a wife or son, have been found to have been real brothers, descendants of the same Parent,-the Scientific Truth-though unknown to and unrecognised by one another, owing to the differences of robes and masks they have been wearing and also of the parts they have been playing on the mythological stage from hoary antiquity. For say what you may to the contrary scientific truth must have existed in the world before men could have set out to build their mythological pantheons on its principles. Allegory cannot precede fact; it is the fact that precedes allegory. far "Surely it were a foolish attempt," writes Thomas Carlyle, that English writer who is well known for his far-sightedness, "surely it were a foolish attempt to pretend explaining.. .......such a phenomenon as that distant distracted cloudy imbroglio of Paganismmore like a cloud field than a distant continent of firm land and facts! It is no longer a reality, yet it was one. We ought to understand that this seeming cloud field

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 373 was once a reality; that pot poetic allegory, least of all that dapery and deception were the origin of it. Mep, I Bay, never did believe idle sopge, dever risked their soul'e life on allegories: men in all times, especially in early earnest times, have had an instinct for detecting quacks, for detecting quacks. Let us try if leaving out both the qoack theory and the allegory one, and listening with affectionate attention to that far off confused rumour of the pagan ages, we cannot ascertain so much as this at least, that there was a kind of fact at the heart of them; that they too were pot mendacious and distracted, but in their owo poor way true and gape"-(Heroes and Hero-Worship). Carlyle, of course, knew nothing about the true interpretaton of these 'Pagan' myths; but the value of his opinion is not lessened in the least thereby; for though unable to penetrate to the core of the secret script in which the mythologies of the world are couched he was fully convinced of real wisdom being the basis of true mythology. But you might ask where is that real wisdom, where the scientific foundation, now which assuredly existed at the time of the framing of these mythologies? How is it that we bave only the mythologies left to us and not the scientific truth? The answer is that the allegorisers were not the original pioneers themselves but highly-gifted Artists, who came afterwards. They were not builders and they dug not their foundations themselves, but were content to embellish and decorate the Edifice of Truth raised by their Predecessors. Where is the scientific truth to be found? Who are these predecessors of the allegory men? Let us classify religions in a tabulated way to understand the narrative of the past. The following arrangement is justified by the conclusions established in the course of these lectures.

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374 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS RELIGION. Rational Irrational [stone-, tree, river-, ancestora, demon-worship, totemism, nature worship, etc., etc.) Requiring no key of interpretation. Requiring a key of interpretation. Scientific Speculative. JAINISM. -Yoga. laterialism -Vaishebika. --Nyaya. -Buddhism. - Sankhya. -Sufeism. -Vedanta. Ancient Stocks. Later offshoots. Vedicism. Zoroas- Judaism. trianism. Mysticism Chris- (in general.) tianity. Islam. Taoism, etc. Last Comers via Textual Literalism. |--Radhaswamism. -Deo Samaj. -Arya Samaj. -Brahmo-Samaj - Theosophy Babai-ism _Chaitanyaism. -Sikhism. Dadu Panth. Kabir Panth,

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES . 375 The position of Jainism is clear from the contents of our third lecture, which bas been the true basis of comparison and the means of reconciliation of the diverse faiths examined by us. As a matter of fact, the Creed of the Tirthamkaras furnishes the only platform where all other creeds may meet and be reconciled to one another. This "Confluence of Opposites," as the reconciliation of the apparently conflicting religions may be termed, is not possible elsewhere, not because they have no platform for a gathering of men, por be. cause they are all characterized by intolerence, nor because they do not desire to be reconciled, but because they are the followers of Ekinta-Vada (one-sided absolutism), the irreconcilable antithesis of AnekantaVadir (many-sidedness or relativity of thought). The difference in the two views lies in this that while a non-J aina would insist on the truth of his own faith, and would absolutely deny the validity of an opposite wiew, the Jaina would actually go out in search of the point of view (if any there be) from which the opposite view might be maintained. You have before you, in these lectures, the result of the Jaina research in the domain of religion. I need not tell you what conclu. sion it points to. There is a very happy agreement, as we have seen, amongst all religions on the points established in the Jrinn Siddhanti, every other ancient creed vying, as it were, with its compeers in offering its quota for the glorification of the Scientific Truth. This in itself, I am sure, is ample reward for the labour

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376 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS involved in studying the stand-points of others. As for our own satisfaction, we have the highest guarantee in the agreement between (i) science, (ii) reason, and (iii) testimony; and, as stated in the second lecture, where these three combinedly agreed on any point, the matter was put absolutely beyond doubt and dispute for ever. We have before us (i) the truth as taught by the Perfect Ones, the Trithainkaras, who attained to Godhood with its aid [Testimony of Gods]; (ii) the confirmation of the Word of Law by a scientific study of nature [Science] ; (iii) the agreement of reason after the most searching enquiry [Logic]; and the most important of all (iv) actual corroboration furnished by every other ancient religion without a single exception, showing, in the clearest possible manner, the concurrence of the entire Human race in the past as to the reality and practi. cability of the method. The next question is, why are there no Omniscient Teachers to-day amongst us to settle our disputes? The reply is that these are very bad times, with worse to come in the future. The humanity of this age is not qualified for practising asceticism, You cannot have omniscience except as the culmina. tion of a very high order of asceticism. Hence, when you have no true ascetics, you can have no omniscient Teachers either. Tbese are, indeed, very bad times that we are passing through, None of the residents of our part of the world can obtain inoksha in this age from this region. Worse times are to come. The whole of this evil period is of 42,000 years of which about

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 377 2500 years have already passed by. For this period the prophecy is that nirvana shall not be attainable then. There is a covert reference to this in the New Testament Scripture also. " ........... When heaven was shut ap three years and six . mooths, when great famine was throughout all the land" (Luke, iv. 25). The number of mouths in 3 years and 6 months corresponds to 42 millenniums, taking a month as equi. valent to a thousand years. Be that as it may, it is evident that there has been great deterioration amongst men during the last 2500 years in respect of (i) faith, that has been almost wholly replaced by either a pure soul-less materialism or by fantastical Literalism of inythological lore; (ii) morality, which is daily growing lax, with deception, trickery and treachery being the prevailing traits amongst men ; (iii) leisure and ease, which are fast disappearing with the rise in the cost of living ; (iv) intellectualism, the most highly lauded of which in our day has just settled down to the belief that the founders of our religions were primitive men, and but little better in point of culture and accomplishment thai mere babes ;

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378 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS (v) science, which has finally consoled itself with the belief that there is to be an eternal peaceful end in the grave, there being happily no soul to worry one with its future destiny; (vi) physical strength, which has deteriorated in some places quite appreciably and which must further deteriorate as an inevitable result of privations, pestilence and perennial wars; and (vii) peace of mind, which is almost impossible without Religion, and which in many cases is being throttled by the high-pressure speed of modern civilization. These deteriorations are most pronounced in India and in certain other parts of Asia, but the turn of others is coming. The European Mahabharata has already laid the foundation of suffering and distress in the West, and the trend of the civilization of our times, with its soul-less politics and aspirations that do not admit of any one living for long in peace, may be depended upon for completing the work of ruin in due course of time. One of the prophecies of religion is that there would be no fire left after 18500 years hence, and it is significant that coal is diminishing fast! Be that as it may, I am not here to regale you with prophecies. These are bad times undoubtedly, and worse are still in store, though we may fairly expect an occa

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 379 sional arresting of the downward movement from time to time. This is the reason why there are no Tirthamkaras in our midst to-day, and why there will be none for some time to come. The next Tirthamkara will appear when a better order has been re-established after a certain time (about 81500 years hence), according to the Jaina Scriptures. The origin of Religion in a world that is eternal is out of the question. Whenever a Tirthamkara arises, He re-establishes the Scientific Truths about the nature of Life, and these Truths are collectively termed Religion. The Word of Instruction of the Tirthamkara is called Sruti, as distinguished from Smriti (memory, or what is worked out by the mind with the aid of memo. ry). Apta-vachanam (the word of a Professor, hence Tirthamkara) is descriptive, in a scientific way, of the exact nature of things as they exist in nature; but it is not argumentative. The real characteristics of the true Sruti have been described by me ere this; they all bear out its scientific nature. To-day men have the most fanciful notions concerning revelation, some say that it takes place only once before creation, some, that it proceeds from a Godhead in the high heavens, some, that it should be unintelligible in the nature of things, being the word of an infinite God. But all this is pure imagination. The character of true Sruti is described thus in the Permanent History of Bharatvarsha, with which you have already become familiar:

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380 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS "Srati Pramana is one of the six varieties of proofs classified in Sanskrit Logic, such as direct perception, etc. The instruction from an Apta or Professor of a practical sobject with wbich he is practically acquainted, is described as Sabda or Sruti Pramana. The instructions received from him furnish only a theoretical knowledge which has afterwards to be converted into practical koowledge, by actual experiment or experience, in order to attain to the level of the professor's knowledge....... The word Rishi denotes a person who has obtained the real knowledge by direct personal experience and his description of such experience is first grasped by Brati or hearing by his scholars who have afterwards to practige for themselves and become Rishis or Seers like their Master" (vol. i. pp. 28 avd 29.) Of course, the greatest Professor of Religion is the Tirthamkara, wbo rises to Godhood and Omniscience than which, respectively, no status is more exalted and worshipful and knowledge, more perfect, The Word of the Master is spread far and wide by men; and is pre. served in Scripture composed in different ways, according to the abilities and tastes of its composers. In the present cycle what seems to have happened is this that a class of poets busied themselves with the Word of Truth, and built elegant fanciful myths round it. These were highly appreciated and proved so attractive for their hidden charms that men of all classes and countries vied with one another to secure the highest excellence, with the result that the Word of Law was literally smothered under the prolific produc

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 381 tions of human imagination and poetic fancy, and came, after a time, to be lost to view. In course of time and the vicissitudes of human destiny temples and pagodas sprang up exhibiting these mythological conceptions of the mind, and the outer rabble were invited to visit, and, later even encouraged, to worship the man-made deities thus installed as objects of meditation and veneration. The outer rabble then had their turn. For with the inculcation of this impious form of worship which was a source of income to the priestly class, there sprang up a sharp division between those who held the secret, the esotericists, and the vulgar laity, the exotericists, who fed the former. The element of greed upon which the relation between the teacher and the taught rested was also not unproductive of evil result. In course of time the masses came to firmly believe in the exoteric faith which alone was known to them, and intolerance for an opposite view, which, later on, even led to bitter feuds and hatreds, began to be practised by men. The number of esotericists dwindled, as was inevitable, side by side, till at last matters came to such a pass that no esotericist dared openly preach the truth to the outside rabble at large. It was then that the wisdom of secret initiation came to be recognised by the "divines," and many institutions and lodges were established all over the land. They went by different names in different countries, but all aimed at the same thing-the resurrection of Life, the son, or the son of God, from the dead.

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382 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS By this time the estrangement between those who followed the word of the Tirthamkara in its plain undisguised form, and the esotericists themselves, fos. tered as it was, on the part of the latter, to keep up appearances before their vulgar clientele, had become quite pronounced. Matters went on like this till at last the branch finally set itself up in opposition to the Tree, and is now vociferously engaged in denying its relationship with the Source, calling it now atheistic, now indefinite, now anti-Dharma (the destroyer of Dharma). The "ast-comers" in our enumeration of religions are those who have come either as reformers of existing creeds or who have endeavoured to strike out into paths that run parallel to the ancient tracks but little. They have had no revelation, and their knowledge is derived mostly from the misunderstood word of some ancient scripture or other to which they have attached themselves. In short, they may be said to bave just rushed up to the platform through the half-lit passage of Textual Literalism, and are now waxing eloquent on their notions concerning the shadows they passed by in that dim uncanny light. Here and there we, no doubt, come across gleams of real insight in some of their works; but that is only where a reformer lingered a bit over some particular shadow in the course of his rush through the region of mythology and myth. To turn now to the relation of the different creeds among themselves, Religion may be described as a

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 383. Central Pagoda set on a bill-top in the leart of a beau. tiful city, where the Effulgence of Pure Intelligence pre. sides in its Eterval Splendour. This is the Holy Jina. Bani (Revelation) that proceeds from the Tirthamkara whose Worshipful Image is installed in the sanc. tuary to guide and inspire mankind in the Right Path. The Light of Intellectualism is here so powerful that only a few worshippers can approach the Sanctuary without blinking. But there are covered passages from different parts of the city which lead to an underground maze of courts over the walls of whicii are painted many beautiful figures of gods and men done in life-like perfection. Each tribe has its own court in the maze ; there are the Vedic Court, the Jewish Court, the Parsi Court, the Arabian court and many other Courts raised by different peoples some of whom have now entirely passed away. All these courts are built round the base of the Sanctuary where the Goddess Jina-bani presides over the IMAGE of TRUTH; and the paintings on their walls are so arranged that they exactly fit into niches carved out in the wall of the Sanctuary itself by the Sculptors and Artists of old. And so excellent is their workmanship and so cunning the skill of the Sculptor that you do not perceive them as images made by human hand, but as living gods and men and animals, engaged in the fun and frolic of the Immortals. Here you have Ganesha presiding over the entrance to the Hindu Court, where you may still see Indra embracing his guru's wife, marked with ugly spots that are

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384 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS turning into eyes at Brahma's intervention. In the Hebrew Court you see your Garden of Eden, with its two famous trees, and the tragedy of the fall being enacted in all its grim detail. Yonder in the Court of the New Faith you find Johv baptising at the forbidden Jordon, a Divine Soul raising the dead and crucifying the fleshly bahiratman in the place of the skull; and in 'Araby! you bave Mahomedans and Jews joining in the cele. brations over the sacrificial cow. But there is no passage from here into the Sanctuary, except through certain bidden doorways which are so completely concealed by the Artist's work as to be altogether unperceivable except with subtier vision. The whole of this maze of courts is plunged in total darkness, except for the thin coloured light from within the Sanctum Sanctorum that is illumining the wonderful images and pictograms themselves There was a key which every one of the old Artists possessed, but it had been lost long before the commence. ment of the A. D. era, though it was re-constructed again at the time. Some 1300 years ago this key was again fitted into some of the locks, but since then it is to be doubted if any one has ever possessed it or opened any of the locked doors till now. To-day you have had that key placed in your hands. As you see, it is not a key of iron or brass or even of a precious metal, like silver or gold, but the KEY of KNOWLEDGE that illumines itself and its surroundings. Its supernal phosphores. cence enables its possessor to perceive the hidden bars and locks that bar the way to the Inner Court of Life

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 385 and Light. It is this Key of Knowledge for the loss of which Jesus upbraided the Doctors of Law : "Woe apto you, lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge : ye entered pot in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye biodered." (Luke, zi. 52). It is this very Key of Knowledge that has been reconstructed now and placed in your hands, and I trust you will not suffer it to be lost again. There is one striking feature about this business of re-construction of the Key of Knowledge : it was lost by Lawyers originally and it is a lawyer who is restoring it now! I hope I have given you a true picture of the Temple of Unity and Union as it is and as it should be, for I should be sorry to tread upon any one's susceptibilities. We must not, however, allow hysterical sentiment to interfere with scientific work ; and if any one feels aggrieved with my results, I can only assure him of my sincerity of purpose. All further talk is necessarily forbidden by the scientific nature of the research. There is real sweetoess in the reflection that Scientific Truth was known to the whole of the human race at one time in the past, and, certainly was not the exclusive property of the Jainas of to-day. Nay, it is not un-likely that the Jainas of today are the descendants of men that took up the torch only in recent historical times and that have been thwarted by ill-luck from carrying it round the world. Your ancestors, then, are as likely 25

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386 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS to have been the custodians of Knowledge Divine in the remote past as mine, so that you are no strangers to Truth ! And now a word about putting the Ideal of Life into practice, Religion is, of course, o no avail unless it is put into practice. Mere theory is useless, though it is absolutely true that Faith once acquired must inevitably lead to nirvana, because it is a psychological law that belief never fails to translate itself into action sooner or later. Now, if you look around you, you will find the world only too full of trouble and misery and discontent all over. There is desolation everywhere and hearts of men are pierced with grief and aching with pain. The havoc wrought is not due to any other cause, but has been brought about by the human band itself. Our insatiable lust for dominion and gold is mainly responsible for all our calamities and suffering. We falsify our engagements; we violate our promises, solemoly made, and we trample on our treaties when they no longer serve our purpose! Yet we are ever ready to talk of Equity and Law and are never abashed to proclaim that we are walking in the appointed path of Duty and Dharma! Poor, wretched, purblind man ! in his conceit he would not only deceive himself and his neighbour, but would also cheat the Law if he only knew how to throw dust into the eyes of Nature! The very first thing a man should do is that he should be honest with himself. All these hypocritical ideas and

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 387 grabbing ideals should be replaced with the true conceptions of Life. For, as it is said in the Bible, 46 ......... what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"-Matt. xvi. 26. 'Live and let live' is the true motto for a truly religious life, with the emphasis placed on the second part. For if you are killed in the endeavour to make another live, your reward is life more full and abundant in the next incarnation, but should you be so unfortunate as to sacrifice another's life so that you might prolong your days on earth, there are only suffering and pain in store for you in the hereafter. Have you not read in the Bible. "Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice" (Matt. x. 13)? This is again repeated in Matt. xii, 7: "But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice." Does it not strike you that if the taking of life be cruel and calls for the exercise of mercy when done in the name of a god or goddess, does it cease to be cruel when done in the name of one's own palate or tongue? As Tolstoy says, "if a man's aspirations towards a righteous life are serious his first act of abstinence will be abstinence from animal food, because not to mention excitement of the passion produced by such food, its use is plainly immoral, as it requires an act contrary to moral feeling-i, e., killing--and is called forth only by greed."

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388 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS He who deceives himself in the matter of animal food, will be deceiving himself in all other things. Life is dear and joyous to all and lie who destroys it for a momentary gratification of his palate, is certainly not fit to be admitted in the Realm of Mercy and Love that are the two most prominent attributes of Divinity, With unmerciful instincts in full operation, the fusion of spirit and matter takes the very worst forms and drags one into the most undesirable surroundings and conditions in the next re-birth. It is possible for us now that we have the light of reason to guide us to reform ourselves, but it will not always be so if we fall into lower grades of life in the future, When this lust for flesh is lessened, we shall acquire a clearer outlook in politics, and the relations of nations, communities and states will then be adjusted and regulated by the rules of Mercy and Love. It is well to know that there are four kinds of ideals in life which are termed (i) dharma (religion or virtue), (ii) artha (wealth), (iii) kama (pleasure), and (iv) moksha (salvation). Of these, the first three are meant for the householder, and the last for the sadhu (saint) who has renounced the world. The rule of wisdom governing the house-holder's ideals is that pleasure (kama) is the lowest of all ideals, and must be subordinated to the

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 389 acquisition of wealth, which, in its turn, must be controlled by Dharma. For if you spend the time that should be devoted to the acquisition of wealth in reckless Bacchanalian revelry, you will soon find your. self reduced to beggary, while wealth acquired without a due regard to the rules of Religion can only lead to unhappy results in the end. Therefore, *.........seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. vi. 33.) The sadhu, who has renounced the world, can, of course, have no other ideal in life than salvation. He, therefore, seeks neither pleasure, nor wealth nor even virtue, but becomes engaged in pure self-contemplation, to destroy his karmas. It should be stated that virtue is a cause of bondage as much as vice, the difference being that the bondage resulting from the former is pleasant-birth in a high family, happy surroundings and the like-while vice gives rise to undesirable circumstances and conditions. The sadhu, therefore, avoids both virtue and vice by becoming engaged in pure self-contemplation, which destroys the root of bondage-raga (attachment) and dvesha (aversion)-in no time, I think I must stop now. I have said sufficient to enable you to get along without stumbling over the objects lying awry in the half-lit region of mythology. You must now take the spade in your own hand, and carry on the work of investigation in other places

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390 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS and beyond the limits which it has been possible for me to reach. Mr. Iyer's work already so often referred to in the course of these lectures, namely, the Permanent, History of Bharatvarsha, practically leaves little to be done with respect to Hindu Mythology, though I wish it could be more systematic and elucidative. The other systems have hitherto been in the nature of a sealed book, except for a highly creditable attempt at the elucidation of the mystery of the Apocalypse by an American writer, Mr. J. M. Pryse, who set to work with a great deal of enthusiasm and insight. There are not many errors to be found in the "Apocalypse Unsealed," and the few that there are are such as could hardly be avoided by an European or American writer who has not paid his homage, with due humility, to the Goddess and Patroness of Truth, better known as Jina-bani, the Daughter of God (Tirthamkara). One instance will suffice for illustration. Mr. Pryse did not know the nature, function, divinity and number of the Holy Tirthamkaras, so that when he came across the passage about the 24 Spiritual Elders in the Apocalyptic drama which was explained in our seventh lecture, he was at a loss as to what to make of it, and in his perplexity hit upon the idea of 24 fortnights, which he hurriedly passes by without another word. It did not occur to him to ask, what earthly purpose could the 24 fortnights serve with reference to salvation ? You remember that these four and twenty Elders are seated on four and twenty seats, round the Throne of Life, at the initiation of an aspir.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 391 ing soul! As Tirthamkaras They are the right men in the right places; for They are the true Teachers and initiation only signifies the imparting of instruction by a duly qualified guru (preceptor) to a novice. Certainly, there can be no teacher greater than the Tirthamkara, for He is God Himself, and we have it from the Qur'an, in a passage already cited elsewhere. The Baptism of God! and who is better than God at baptis ing?'' (Sara Baqr). Let me remind you, the scene is laid 'in spirit' (Apocalypse, iv. 2) in the Court of Life. An aspiring soul, possibly a future Tirthamkara, is to be initiated. The secret to be imparted is the mystery of the book written within and on the back side and sealed with seven seals, which plainly means the secret of embodied existence, the spinal column and the seven psychic chakras of yoga being the original of the mysterious book. The one on the throne is Life in the abstract, for it is not shown as wearing any kind of clothes and is not described any further in any manner with reference to any bodily peculiarities. In this Court, in these surroundings and under these circumstances you are to conceive 24 fortnights as occupying the four and twenty seats which are all that are provided for there ! * The real explanation has already been given. The one on the throne from which proceed thund. erings and lightnings and voices is Life, thunder, lightnings etc., being emblems of its explosiveness, The four and twenty Elders are the great Tirthamkaras

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392 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS who appear in each cycle. Their wbite raiment is indicative of individualised being as distinguished from the pure abstractness of Life as a property common to all living beings. As such They are pure Embodiments of the purified Effulgence of Life, the white of their raiment being an emblem of the absence of all kinds of impurities that are ultimately material in nature. In plain English, they are only robed in their own Effulgence, while the crowns of gold, which, it will be seen, are not worn by any one else in that scene, are emblems of the supreme status of Divinity. I am sure you will agree with me that there is no room here for weeks or fortnights anywhere in this drama. As already observed, Mr. Pryse knew nothing about Jainism, which is by no means his fault. The present lecturer, too, was quite in the dark as to the tenets of Jainism till the year 1913, though a Jaina by birth: The reason is that the Jaina Literature has only come to be published in Hindi and English in recent times, so that those who only knew these languages could not gain access to Jaina Books which were not even pub. lished in any language 20 years ago. For this the Jainas are to be blamed unreservedly. As the Tirthamkaras are just barely alluded to elsewhere and as the full accounts of Their Lives are only preserved in Jainism, there is nothing surprising if a seeker after the truth in the distant continent of America has been misled by our reticence. We all are quite as liable to commit similar mistakes. After all mythology is not a science

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES : ;393 to be encouraged, though its elucidation is now necessary for reconciling us to one another, For the real aspirant who wishes to know the Truth the scientific path alone is indicated. He will find it much safer to keep away at a respectable distance from these winding by-paths and twists than to run the risk of losing himself in their labyrinthine mazes and unillumined crypts. In short, mythology is to be approached in the spirit of an explorer, never as a devotee; and the explorer's qualification-scientific knowledge of the department of Life whose various aspects lie petrified in the now-crumbling pantheons of the world-is as essential to successful work as is a spirit of sympathy for the views of the Architects whose hands were engaged in the shaping of the diverse gods and goddesses. And now a word about the modern theories of evolution that proceed upon the assumption that mankind has evolved from a lower into a higher state, especially with respect to intellectualism and religion. Well, I have only to say as to this that you have seen for yourselves whether we are wiser today than the ancients at whose primitive "simplicity' it has become a fashion with the learned of our day to laugh in and out of season. Judge for yourselves whether you knew the truth or the ancients, and in case you come to the conclusion that your ideas about the wisdom and worth of the ancients were wrong, then modify your notions of evolution and other erroneous views accordingly. I have not much time at my disposal now, nor do I possess the necessary qualifications to

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394 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS speak on the subject, but I will say this that our theories and notions about evolution and other kindred subjects are not based on any general or special revelation which cannot be altered; they are purely provisional hypotheses, hastily formed and intended only, as all provisional hypotheses are, to serve as working bases for further research. No true scientist will ever venture beyond this but it is reserved for the indifferent thinkers outside the region of science to shout them. selves hoarse on the irrefutability of opinions thus hurriedly formed on insufficient basis! The hidden wisdom of the ancients is there to knock on the head all such speculations of the moderns who are even today almost wholly ignorant of this very secret Science of the soul. Hence, he who would form a theory of the intellectual infancy of the entire human race in the past would have first to account for this wealth of misunderstood wisdom which he has inherited from the remotest ancestor of his in the shape of fables and myths. The fact is that knowledge is not a monopoly of any particular period, much less of the present age. The ancients were better qualified for it by their simple living and high thinking, though in the very nature of things pure divine knowledge must always be confined to but a few assiduous men. Those outside the zone of this divine illumination must necessarily comprise all shades and grades of opinion from absolute savagery upwards, and these would both copy and invent according to their lights and inclinations.

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 395 Many of the ancient myths and rites, especially those centred in human sacrifice, appear to be purely barbarous in origin, yet they might be no more than unhappy copies from symbolic originals. At the same time it is a fact that barbarism is at least as old as enlightenment, and the very attempt to spiritualise the sacrificial cult points to the huma. nising effect of Religion on a savage and barbarous horde. Certainly, the composers of the myths and rituals associated with human or animal sacrifice could not well have been truly pious vegetarians who were not likely to have recourse to a symbolism that must bave been revolting to their natural instincts and the merciful bend of the mind. The full development of Hindu thought has been traced out in the Appendix to the Practical Path, and probably other systems would have to be worked out in the same way. Every case must, however, be dealt with on its own merits, as no hard and fast rule can be laid down which will govern all cases indiscriminately. I think I have said enough on the subject in these few words. - I shall now sum up the purport of religion which we have been studying for these past few weeks, in one sentence. The formula selected by me for the purpose is not a new one, though some of you know it not. For this summing up is not my work, but is said to have been done by Life itself on a previous occasion, long long ago. This is the famous text :"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and

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396 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS cursing : therefore, choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" (Deuteronomy, xxx. 19). In other words, " Life is God, and I am He," is the watch-word in Religion, *and you shall certainly not go astray if you endeavour, in every possible way, to make your abode in your Life, which is your true work, ___And, now, before we part, let us join in praying to Life for its Divine Gifts of Love and Mercy and Vairagya, and in wishing Peace and Happiness to all living beings, including every manifestation of Life divine, howsoever lowly placed in the order of being today. jisane rAga dveSa kAmAdika jIte saba jaga jAna liyA, saba jIvoM ko mokSa mArga kA nispRha ho upadeza diyaa| buddha, vIra, jina, hari, hara, brahmA, yA usako svAdhIna kho| bhakti bhAva se prerita ho yaha citta usI meM lIna raho // 1 // He who has subdued his passions and desires ; Who has realised the secret of the Universe in its entirety, Who is variously termed Buddha, [Maha-] Vira, Jina, Hari, Hara, Brahma and Self ; In Him, imbued with deep devotion, may this mind [of mine] eternally dwell ! viSayoM kI prAzA nahiM jinake sAmya-bhAva dhana rakhate haiM, nija-para ke hita-sAdhana meM jo niza dina tatpara rahate haiM / svArtha tyAga kI kaThina tapasyA binA kheda jo karate haiM, aise jJAnI sAdhu jagata ke dukha samUha ko harate haiM // 2 //

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 397 Those who have no longings left for sense-produced pleasures, * Who are rich in the quality of equanimity; Who are day and night engaged in encompassing the good of all,--their own as well as of others ; Who undergo the severe penance of self effacement without flinching,--such Enlightened Saints, verily, conquer the pain and inisery of mundane existence. rahe sadA satsaGga unhIM kA dhyAna unhIM kA nitya rahe, unakI jaisI caryA meM yaha citta sadA anurakta rhe| nahIM satAU~ kisI jIva ko jhUTha kabhI nahi~ kahA karU, paradhana-vanitA para na lubhAU~ saMtoSAmRta piyA kruuN||3|| May I always associate with such aforesaid Holy. men ; May my mind be constantly occupied with their contemplation; May the longing of my heart be always to tread in their foot-steps ; May I also never cause pain to any living being; May I never utter untruth ; and May I never covet the wealth or wife of another! ahaGkAra kA bhAva na rakkhU nahIM kisI para krodha karU~, . dekha dUsaroM kI bar3hatI ko kabhI na IrSA bhAva dhruuN| rahe bhAvanA esI merI sarala-satya vyavahAra karU, bane jahAM taka isa jIvana meM auroM kA upakAra karUM // 4 // With pride may I never be elated ; angry may I feel with none;

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398 GENE RAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS The sight of another's luck may not make me envi. ous with his lot! May my desire be ever for dealings fair and straight, and may my heart only delight in doing good to others to the best of my abilities all the days of my life! maitrI bhAva jagata meM merA saba jIvoM se nitya rahe, dIna dukhI jIvoM para mere ura se karuNA strota bahe / durjana-kara-kumArga ratoM para lobha nahIM mujhako Ave, sAmya bhAva rakkhU maiM una para aisI pariNati ho jAve // 5 // May I always entertain a feeling of friendliness for all living beings in the world; May the spring of sympathy in my heart be ever bubbling for those in agony and affliction. May I never feel angry with the vile, the vicious and the wrongly.directed ; May there be such an adjustment of things that I should always remain tranquil in dealing with them! guNI janoM ko dekha hRdaya meM mere prema umar3a Ave, bane jahAM taka unakI sevA karake yaha mana sukha pAve / hoU~ nahIM kRtaghna kabhI maiM droha na mere ura Ave, guNa-grahaNa kA bhAva rahe nita dRSTi na doSoM para jAve // 6 // May my heart ever overflow with love at the sight of virtuous men; May this mind (of mine] rejoice always in serving them to the utmost of its power ; May I be never ungrateful ;

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES May jealousy never approach me, May my longing be always for assimilating the virtues of others; and May the eye never alight on their faults! old, koI burA kahA yA acchA lakSamI Ave yA jAve, lAkhoM varSo taka jIUM yA mRtyu Aja hI Amade | athavA koI kaisA hI bhaya yA lAlaca dene Ave, tA bhI nyAya mArga se merA kabhI na paga Digane pAve // 7 // Whether people speak of me well or ill; Whether wealth come to me or depart; Whether I live to be hundreds of thousands years. Or give up the ghost this day, Whether any one hold out any kind of fear, 399 Or with worldly riches he tempt me; In the face of all these possible things may my footsteps swerve not from the path of Truth! hokara sukha meM magna na phUle dukha meM kabhI na ghabarAve, parvata - nadI - smazAna bhayAnaka aTavI se nahi bhaya khAve / rahe aDola akampa nirantara yaha mana dRr3ha tara bana jAve, iSTa viyoga aniSTa yoga meM sahana zIlatA dikha lAve // 8 // With pleasure may the mind be not puffed up, Let pain disturb it never, May the awesome loneliness of a mountain, forest or river, Or a burning place, never cause it a shiver;

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400 GENERAL SURVEY AND CONCLUSIONS Unmoved, unshakable in firmness, may it grow ada. mantine ; And display true moral strength when parted from the desired thing, or united with what is undesired ! sakhI raheM saba jIva jagata ke koI kabhI na ghabarAve, vaira-pApa abhimAna chor3a jaga nitya naye maGgala gAve / ghara ghara carcA rahe dharma kI duSkRta duSkara ho jAve, jJAna-carita unnata kara apanA manuja-janma phala saba pAve // 8 // May happiness be the lot of all, May distress come near none, Giving up hatred, sin and pride, May the World pour fourth one continuous eternal pean of delight! May Dharma become the main topic of conversation in every household; May evil cease to be easily-wrought;" By increase of wisdom and merit of works, May men realise the purpose of human lifeMoksha. Iti bhIti vyApe nahiM jaga meM vRSTi samaya para huA kare, dharma niSTha heAkara rAjA bhI nyAya prajA kA kiyA kre| roga marI durbhikSa na phaile prajA zAnta se jiyA kare, parama ahiMsA-dharma jagata meM phaila sarva hita kiyA kare // 10 // May distress and suffering no longer exist; May rains descend in good time; May the king also be righteously inclined ;

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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES 401 And impartially administer his justice amongst men ! May disease, epidemics and famines cease; May people live in peace; May the exalted himsa dharma prevail, And the Gospel of mercy-- GET T UR : [not injuring any one is the highest religion)--hecome the source of good to all ! phaile prema paraspara jaga meM mAha dUra para rahA karai, fa7-4c-77877 Tot af atores para fiet bana kara saba yuga bIra hRdaya se dezonnati rata rahA kareM, vastu svarUpa vicAra .khuzI se saba dukha saMkaTa saha karaiH // 11 // May there be mutual love iv the world ; May delusion dwell at a distance ! May no one ever utter unpleasant speech Or words that are harsh, with his tongue ! May men, made heroes, O Juga! Kishore Whole-beartedly work in their country's cause ! May all understand the Laws of Truth, And joyfully, sorrow and suffering endure ! Ameu ! Om: Peace : Shanti, Shanti, Shantih!

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THE Central Jain Publishing Depot, ARRAH, Undertakes to supply all books on Jainism in Hindi, English, Urdu, etc., including the publications of the late Kumar Devendra Prasad Jain of the Central Jaina Publishing House, Arrah. ANANT KUMAR JAIN (PROPRIETOR.)

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Works by C. R. Jain. Rs. ..12 0 ] 0 2 1. The Key of Knowledge .. 2. The Practical Path 3. The Science of Thought 0 80 4. The Householder's Dharma 0 12 5. Immortality and Joy 6. A Peep Behind the Veil of Karma 7. What is jaitism ... 01 8. Atma Dharma 9. Sacred Philosophy 10. Logic for Boys and Girls ... 11. Confluence of Opposites .. ... 10 12. Itihad-al- Mikhalfio (Urdu trar slation of the confidence') ... 1 2 13. EAT EITH (Hindi translation of the Confluence) ... 10 .s. 0 0 TO BE HAD FROM CHAMPAT RAI JAIN, Bar-at-Law, HARDOI. For Private & Personal use. Only