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INTRODUCTION.
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referring of themselves' to the Brahman, and the passage which refers to an understanding of the Brahman by means of the Vedas, according to the principle of the moon and the branch—these seem rather to point to a portion of the Vedas which was regarded as giving instruction in truc knowledge, as distinguished from merely laying down various sacrifices and ceremonials for special purposes. In fact, in one passage we have the germ of the whole Vedantic theory as afterwards settled. For there we are told, that sacrifices and penances are laid down as the preliminary steps towards the acquisition of true knowledge. By those sacrifices one is purified of one's sins, and then acquires a knowledge of the supreme self as described in the Vedaswhich, I apprehend, must mean the Upanishads. .
There is but one other point on which we need say anything further. And that is connected with the definition of a Brahmana. That definition appears to me, to point to an earlier stage in religious progress than is indicated in Apastamba and Manu. The true Brahmana is he who is attached to the Brahman. Perhaps, this marks some little advance beyond the more general doctrine of the Gita, but it is still very far short of the petrified doctrine, if I may so call it, of the later law-givers. The Brahmana has not yet degenerated into the mere receiver of fecs and presents, but is still in possession of the truth.
We thus see, that the external and internal evidence bearing upon the question of the position of the Sanatsu. gåtiya in Sanskrit literature, seems to point to nearly the same period and place for it as for the Bhagavadgita. It is plain enough, that the evidence under both heads is extremely scanty and meagre. But such as it is, it appears to us to justify a provisional conclusion, that the Sanatsugatiya dates from a period prior to the rise of Buddhism, and forms part of that same movement in the religious history of ancient India of which the Gita is another embodiment. More than this, we are not at present in a position to assert. To this extent, the evidence cnables us, I think, to go. And we accordingly bold, that unless
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