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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 Vasishtı 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. Brahmâ, 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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