In this last phrase not only the pantheistic conception of Deity, but that of the efficacy of the contemplation of the Deity to purify and assimilate the soul to him, and finally to absorb it into himself, begins to emerge. We shall see it more fully developed further on.

"Thus the man who perceives in his own soul the Supreme soul present in all creatures, acquires equanimity toward them all, and shall be absorbed at last in the highest essence, even that of the Almighty himself."

It is easy to see, here, the rude foundation in nature of the Christian doctrine of the value of worship. But in the morals of Manu the fine gold is mingled with "iron and miry clay."

"If one seek long life, he should eat with his face to the east; if prosperity, to the west; if truth and its reward, to the north. A Brahman beginning and ending a lecture on the Veda, must always pronounce to himself the syllable óm (something like our amen), for unless it precede his learning will slip away from him, and unless it follow nothing will be retained. The triliteral monosyllable is an emblem of the Supreme; and the suppression of breath, with a mind fixed on God, is the highest devotion. The Brahman who has intentionally eaten a mushroom, swine's flesh, a town cock, etc., is degraded immediately. Not a mortal exists more sinful than he, who, without an oblation to the Manes, or the gods, desires to enlarge his own flesh with the flesh of another creature. Sacred learning, austere devotion, fire, holy aliment, earth, water, smearing with cow-dung, etc., are purifiers of embodied spirits. No sacrifice is allowed to women apart from their husbands. Women have no business with the text of the Veda; therefore, having no knowledge of expiatory texts, sinful women must be as foul as falsehood itself. A Brahman, having shuffled off his body by ascetic sacrifices and devotion, and becoming void of sorrow and fear, is exalted into the Divine essence."

The idea in this last sentence, as will be seen further on, fills a large place in the Brahmanic theology. False witness is allowed to save an innocent man from a tyrant. Crimes committed by Brahmans are lighter, and those against them heavier than in the case of others. For killing a cow, (sacred to the Hindu as a reminiscence of the early pastoral life of the Aryans), one must wait, in abject service, on a herd for three months. For cutting down fruit trees, or killing insects, one must repeat texts of the Veda, eat clarified butter, or suspend the breath.

"He who can repeat the whole of the Rig-Veda, would be free from guilt even had he killed the whole of the inhabitants of the three worlds."

"By devotion the souls of insects and vegetables may attain heaven."

I have aimed to give fair examples, on both hands, of the moral ideas of Manu.

Gradually the Brahmanic mind assumed a speculative tone; and from the early twilight, where their origin cannot be distinctly traced, three leading systems of philosophy-the Sánkhya, the Vedanta, and the Nyasa were developed. They agree in having for their object deliverance from the evils of time, change, and sorrow; the sense of which hangs with overshadowing gloom over the Hindu mind, more and more heavily, as we shall see, as its history unrolls. They agree that existence in time and space is an evil; the world of time and sense an illusion; and the ideal the only real substance; that the cessation of transmigration by absorption in the Absolute brings final deliverance; that the means to this end are to be found in knowledge, especially of reality, as opposed to appearance; but this should supplement, not replace, the system of religious worship taught in the sacred books.

Each of these philosophies has a speculative and a practical side; the speculative answering the question, "How did the Universe come?" the practical, "How shall man be delivered from evil?"

In answering the first question the Vedanta, or Mimansa philosophy teaches that there is one eternal and uncreated principle, or Being-Brahm; and that all else is Maya, or illusion. The Sankhya recognizes two eternal and unrevealed substances-soul, and nature; the Nyasa assumes three-atoms, souls, and God.

The solution of the second problem is the same in the three systems; by knowledge the soul is emancipated from body, matter, and nature. Worship is inadequate, though helpful. Action is injurious, as implying desire. Desire is dissatisfaction, and therefore an evil to be escaped from; and the distinction between evil and sin seems not to be clearly seen. While desire continues, the soul will transmigrate and suffer. "When it gathers itself up in calm insight it ceases to wander, and finds repose-absorption in Brahm-the Absolute."

More and more comes to view the idea of the absorption of the soul into the Absolute One as its final good—the Hindu heaven; where individual existence, and of course all discontent, and even desire ceases; with its basis-the idea of one only real existence, all else being illusion. These terms, how

ever-real and illusory-seem to be used with some temperament of meaning. Objects called illusory, it must have been seen, do exist, and are full of evils; but not with any permanent or real existence like that of the Absolute One. It is doubtful whether the sounder, clearer minds meant much more by this distinction between reality and illusion, than that recognized in Christian philosophy between the Infinite and Eternal, and the finite and transitory. The Hindu mind is in its nature extremely abstruse and metaphysical; but the language it holds in the most rarefied regions, when passing down to a lower and grosser class of minds, would become vulgar, absurd, or even paradoxical.

The character of the Hindu mind appears in the Pantheistic teachings of the Vedanta philosophy respecting the Divine

nature:

"Brahma unfolds himself into the Universe as creator and created; becoming first ether, then air, then fire, &c." "The generation of Brahma was before all ages, unfolding himself evermore in a beautiful glory." "Being and Not-Being are unveiled through Brahma." "That which cannot be thought by the mind, but by which all thinking comes; this, I know, is Brahma." "One cannot attain to it through the word, through the mind, or through the eye. It is only reached by him who says, It is, It is."

"He who exists," an expression beautifully recalling the Hebrew, "I am that I am," is the root of all creatures.

"Only by perfect abstraction, not only from the senses, but from the thinking intellect, and remaining in the intuitive intellect, does the devotee become identified with Brahma."

Acts of virtue and of worship, effect favorable transmigrations, but do not secure the end. "The knower of God becomes God." "The wise man annihilates all sensible things in spiritual things, and contemplates that one spirit who resembles pure space.' e." Some teachers even deny the real existence of the soul. Others, and probably the truer Vedantists, say the individuation of the soul is from Maya, and illusion; but the substance of it is from Brahma; and destined to be absorbed into him again; that is, if, and when, escaping from transmigration by the proper means.

The Sankhya philosophy, recognizing two eternal principles, soul and nature, is often called atheistic. But some of its

teachers say it does not deny, but only is silent concerning God. But it argues:

"Desire is want; that is, imperfection. If, then, God desired to create, He would be finite and could not do it. If able, He must be perfect; that is, satisfied, and could have no desire to do it."

The gods are, however, spoken of in this philosophy, and by their usual names; but perhaps finite beings only are really meant. The visible universe proceeds from the union of souls and nature by a sort of causal generation. The final effect of the emancipation of the soul by knowledge is a kind of nonexistence, which yet is not no existence at all, but probably no individual existence. "Neither I am, nor is aught mine, nor do I exist." The development of this idea in the Buddhist Nirvana will appear in the 'study of that system. Further differences between the three systems of Brahmanic philosophy are of little significance so far as our present object is concerned.

During the later Vedic ages, what is called the Hindu Triad comes into view. The immediate external cause was the natural development in so extensive a country, of the leading position attained by different gods in different regions, whereby it came to pass that in order that the whole might be embraced in a single system, a partnership of deities must be recognized. The occasion for such a strategy was the Buddhist movement, which, near the time of the Christian era, threatened to establish its supremacy in India. The different wings of Brahmanism must unite in order to make head against it.

There is, however, a deeper cause lying beneath. Speculative minds in all ages have been impelled toward the conception of a Divine Trinity by the evident harmonies and the discords which at once pervade the universe. The harmonies reveal a single creator, the discords an opposing power; or in other words, life and joy speak of a beneficent creator, and pain and death of a destroyer. But in the universe neither seems to gain a complete victory. Hence the idea of a third principle, or power, that of compromise and preservation. Hence the appearance of a Trinity among the religious ideas of so many peoples.

That this conception in India was not altogether that of three independent gods, but of something more like the Christian

Trinity, appears in the more ancient Vedic saying, that “the highest Being exists in three states, that of creation, that of destruction, and that of continuance." When developed, the Trinity consists of Brahm, the primary god of creation; Siva, the god of destruction; and Vischnu, the harmonizer and sustainer. Krishna is another name for Vischnu, and sometimes is regarded as identical with the sun.

Practically, the worship of Brahm has nearly ceased; and that of Vischnu or Krishna, and Siva, divide the attention of the Hindus.

Vischnu is the subject of the doctrine of the "Avatars," or incarnations of the god, assumed as the necessary means of destroying certain demons, giants, or devotees who by extreme ascetic piety had attained to power which might disturb even the gods. Here, again, we recognize the singular idea of the power of extreme and persistent asceticism, even in a finite and wicked being, to defy the right and the gods its representatives, being overcome at last by mingled fraud and force on their part; and the vicious effect of such an element in a moral system.

The resemblance of the Avatars to the Christian incarnation will be observed. The principle seems equally to underlie both, that in order to act most effectively in nature, the gods must become a part of nature. "Wherefore it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren." Ten of these Avatars are enumerated in Indian Mythology, nine passed, and one to come. Juggernaut is Vischnu in one of his Avatars.

In India, as elsewhere, where the polytheistic idea of deifying the powers of nature prevails, there is practically no limit to the number of gods, many of whom not here named occupy by their worship more or less conspicuous places.

Among the later semi-sacred writings of the Hindus are two great epics, too remarkable to be left without notice.

The Ramayana relates, at the length of fifty thousand lines, the wars of Rama, an incarnation of Vischnu, aided by monkeys who were incarnations of lesser gods, with giants and demons of the south, for the recovery of his wife-Sita. It was probably founded upon some war between the early Aryans and the original Turanian Hindus; though some think, against chrono