English
0 The primary object of a person in planting a tree, is the fruit; the secondary one is sitting under its shade. The chief fruit -of devotion, is a fixed mind on Bramha; the inferior fruit is a temporary enjoyment of happiness with the gods. He who has obtained emancipation, does not desire this inferior fruit. Those things which perfect the knowledge of Bramha are : 1. Discriminating wisdom, which distinguishes between what is changeable and what is unchangeable ;— 2. A distaste of all worldly pleasure, and of the happiness enjoyed with the gods ; 3. and unruffled mind ; the subjugation of the passions ; un- repenting generosity ; contempt of the world ; the absence of whatever obstructs the knowledge of Bramha, and unwavering faith in the Veda ; — 4. The desire of emancipation. Bramha, the everlasting; the everliving, is one ; he is the first cause ; but the world, which is his work, is finite, inanimate, and divisible. The being who is always the same, is the unchange able Bramha, and in this form there is none else. That which sometimes exists, and at other times is not, and assumes various shapes, is finite : in this definition is included all created ob jects. 'Devotedness to God is intended to exalt the character, and to promote real happiness. If in ardent attachment to present things there be some happiness, still, through their € Pythagoras taught, that when it [the soul], after suffering successiv, purgations, is sufficiently purified, it is received among the gods.'- page 397. ( 85 ) ^subjection to change, it terminates in real sarrow, for as affec tion produces pleasure, so separation produces pain ; but devo tion secures uninterrupted happiness. On this account, divine sages, who could distinguish between substance and shadow, have sought pleasure in God. Those learned men who declare that permanent happiness is to be enjoyed in the heavens of the gods, have erred, for we see, that the happiness which is bestowed in this world as the fruit of labour is inconstant ; whatever is the fruit of actions, is not permanent, but change able ; therefore the wise, and those who desire emancipation, despise it. Hearing the doctrines of the Ve'da'nta philosophy ; obtaining,, by inference, clear ideas of their meaning, and fixing the mind on that which is thus acquired ; these three acquisitions, added to a knowledge of the rules to be observed by a student, and that power over the mind by which a person is enabled to reject every other study, is called Shama. Dama is that by which the organs and faculties are kept in subjection. If, how ever, amidst the constant performance of Shama and Dama, the desire after gratification should by any means arise in the mind, then that by which this desire is crushed, is called Uparati ; <* and the renunciation of the world, by a Sanyasi who walks according to the Veda, is called by the same name. Those learned men who wrote the comments on the Ve'danta before the time of Shankaracharya, taught, that in seeking emancipation, it was improper to renounce religious ceremonies, but that the desire of reward ought to be forsaken ; that works' should be performed to obtain divine wisdom, which, being acquired, would lead to emancipation ; that works were not to be rejected, but practised without being considered as a bar gain, for the performance of which a person should obtain such and such benefits; that therefore works, and the undivided desire of emancipation, were to be attended to ; which is illus trated in the following comparison : Two persons being on a d Disgust. ( 36 ) jou'i-ney, one of them loses his horse, and1 the other his carriage ; the first is in the greatest perplexity, and the other, though he ean accomplish his journey on horseback, contemplates th fatigue with dissatisfaction. After remaining for some time in great suspense, they at length agree to unite what is left to each, and thus with ease accomplish their journey. The first,- is he who depends on works, and the latter, he who depends on; wisdom. From hence it will be manifest, that to obtain eman cipation, wrorks and divine wisdom must be united. Formerly this was the doctrine of the Vedanta, but Shank&racharya in a comment on the Bhagavat-gita, has, by many proofs, shewn, that this is an error ; that works are wholly excluded, and- that knowledge alone, realizing every thing as Bramha, procures liberation. Cold and heat, happiness and misery, honout and dishonour, profit and loss, victory and defeat, &c. are termed Dwanda. Indifference to all these changes is stiled Titiksha. This indifference, together with a subdued rnind, is called Samadhi. Implicit belief in the' words of a religious^ guide, and of the Ve'danta, is termed Shraddha. This anxious wish, ' when shall I be delivered from this world, and obtain God?' is called Mumukshatwa. The person who possesses these qualities, and who, in discharging the business of life, and in practising the duties of the Veda, is not deceived, possesses the fruits of the Vedanta ; that is, he is adhikari. — Here end* the first part of the Vedanta, called Adhikdri. The next part is called Vishaya, throughout which this idea is inculcated, that the whole meaning of the Vedanta are com prised in this, that Bramha and individuated spirit are one. That which, pervading all the members of the body, is the cause of life or motion, is called individuated spirit (jeeva); that which pervades the whole universe, and gives life or motion to all, is Bramha. Therefore, that which pervades the members of the body, and that which pervades the universe, imparting motion to all — are one. The vacuum' between the ( 87 ) separate trees In a forest, and universal space, Is of the same nature ; they are both pure ether ; and so Bramha and in dividuated spirits are one ; they are both pure life. That wisdom by which a person realizes that individuated spirit and Bramha are one, is called Tattwa-gnana, or the knowledge ,of realities. Bramha, the governor, or director of all things, is ever-living, •unchangeable, and one ; this inanimate, diversified, and change able world, is his work. Governors are living persons ; the dead cannot sustain this office ; every species of matter is with out life ; that which is created cannot possess life. This com parison is .drawn from secular concerns ; and thus, according to fche Ve'da, all life is the creator, or Bramha ; the world is inani mate matter. All material bodies, and the organs, are inani mate ; the .appearance of life in inanimate things arises from their nearness to spirits : in this manner, the chariot moves because of the presence .of the charioteer. That through the presence of which bodies and their members are put in motion, is called spirit. He is the first cause; the ever-living ; the excellent God, besides whom there is none else. Therefore, in all the shastras he is called Vishwatma ; the meaning of which is, that he is the soul of all creatures.e This is the meaning of the whole of the Ve'danta. Wherefore all [spirits] are one, not two ; and the distinctions of I, tho, he, are all artificial .existing only for present purposes, and through pride [Avidya]. Though a man should perform millions of ceremonies, this Avidya can never be destroyed but by the kowledge of spirit, that is, by Bramhagnana.f This Avidya is necessary to the e " Thales admitted the ancient doctrine concerning God, as the animating principle or soul of the world." Enfield, page 143. " The mind of man, according to the Stoics, ia a spark of the divine fire which is the soul of the world. " Ibid page 341 . f Krishna, in the Bhagavat-gita, thus describes the efficacy of the principle of abstraction : "If one whose ways are ever so evil serve me alone, he is as respectable as the just man. Those even who may be of the womb of sin ; women ; the tribes of vaiahya shudra, shall go the supreme journey, if they jfcake jijMietuary with me," < 88 ) present state only : divine knowledge secures emancipation.-— That Jiva and Bramha are one is, therefore, the substance of the second part of the Vedanta. The third part is called Sambandha ; g and teaches, that the Vedanta contains the knowledge of Bramha and that by the Ve'danta the knowledge of Bramh& may be obtained.