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RECONCILIATION.
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surprising, when we remember that the masses love anything which allows them the free indulgence of the senses, and care not to plunge into the study of any complicated system of metaphysics, or to practise yoga austerities. Probably Epicure was a follower of Chårvâkism, and the same seems to be the case with the author of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Holy Bible. Much of its literature, if it ever boasted of one, is now lost, because of the hostility and opposition which it encountered everywhere in the world of thought; and, beyond a very little more than what has been stated here, practically nothing is known about its founder, literature, or philosophy. So great was the opposition which prevailed against this sort of philosophy that anyone who had at all dabbled in metaphysics, and who could anathematize a bit, never felt any hesitation in emptying his broadside into its ranks. But, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, it seems to have made a considerable impression and to have secured a fairly large number of followers for itself, at least, in the early part of its history.
So far as its merit is concerned, it might be that it was not intended to be a license for libertinism and sensuality. It is not impossible to interpret its tenet--eat, drink and be merry--in a highly technical sense ; for it might be argued that its insistence on remaining merry under all circumstances rendered its practical side as hard as that of any system of severe tapas or yoga, since cheerfulness is for all intents and purposes synonymous with equanimity which is the aim of religion to develop in the soul. But if that was the real doctrine of this school, it is a pity
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