English
For, in listen- ing to our Bauddha friend, I cherished a sort of hope that his Supreme Intelligence, however apparently tranquil, might still have arranged matters for our happiness by some far-seeing wisdom, or at least, in any extreme peril to poor mankind, might be so far roused as to put forth some energy for our help ; but with you soul is apparently passive, and nature blind, and those deities, to whom we might look up for succour, are them- selves mere evolutions of nature, divine plants, as it were, blossoming for an hour, and fading. So that, whether the jaws of extinction yawn for me, or whether any error springing from passion or darkness obscure the glance of my soul, and lead my footsteps astray, there is no provider of help for me mentally to lean upon. Nor again, can I quite reconcile your doctrine with the professions of allegiance which you made some time back to the received deities, and your worship, for example, of Vishnu." OR PHYSI-THEISTICAL. 61 "That indeed,*' interposed Vidy;£chdrya here, "is very dif- ficult." Saddnanda however answered, — "We neither wish to annoy any one by obtruding our knowledge on those who have been educated in different notions (and I have not attempted to change the religion of England), nor again would we withhold correct knowledge from those who inquire, as you seemed yourself to inquire for it. But this alarm of yours proceeds partly from your having learnt difierently elsewhere, and partly from your not considering how vast are the periods of time over which we recognise the existence of the gods as ranging. When we speak of a day of Brahmd, we mean a period of 2,160,000,000 years, and perhaps a ftdl hundred of days of that length may go to make up the existence of Brahmd or of Vishnu the upholder. Now, beings whose wisdom preserves them so long, may well be more powerful than man, and may play an important part, even as any veiy eminent man may, in the great drama of Nature. They may reasonably be conceived therefore to give assistance to lower beings, who are like our- selves in part, products of the same plastic force. Our doctrine therefore does not discourage piety, though we lay more stress upon accurate knowledge of things than upon mystic dreaminess. But as to our conclusions, they are forced upon us by the state of the case. For, if there had ever been a time when an Iswara, all-wise and all-sufficient, such as you imagine, existed alone without a world, he being happy in himself would have had no inducement to create, nor again could he have created without materials ; and, if even he had created a world, being all-wise, he would have made it more perfect far than the state of things around us. Living things would not have preyed upon life, nor man have injured man. But now consider again this argument. You think that the world is sufficiently good to imply an Iswara; we ourselves think otherwise. But your argument sufficiently shews that a certain order is observed, and that too veiy much such an order as would arise upon our theory of like begetting like, or causes containing their effects. For all things you see I 62 NATURE EVOLVING. proceed in the gross, and as it were by waves of the tide, rather than by droppings from the hand. The more perfect then you conceive this order to be, we make no objection so far, but advise you to derive consolation from the comparative certainty of things in respect of cause and effect. Such a certainty may well assure you, that by adapting your conduct (if you believe that a man is a free agent) to the revolutions of nature, or, as we should say, by contentedly suffering the unavoidable, and liberating the soul so that it can rejoice in the grandest of all spectacles, you will both secure such a happiness as it is in the nature of things for you to enjoy, and also act consistently with piety, whether your notions or ours may be the more correct. Not, however, that I venture to offer you the above counsel, as if I thought our opinions doubtful. For you have already seen them to be founded upon scientific investigation. *^ You may also please to consider one argument for their truth, which is not generally given in our books, and which therefore I have not yet mentioned. Many people imagine that the world is daily becoming better. That, indeed, is not our own received belief, either as derived from our religious books, or as dependent upon reasoning. Let us, however, for a moment entertain the opinion as not an absurd one. Why then should the world become better? Is it not clear that nature is daily struggling through her manifold forms of activity, so that, upon the opinion we are now supposing, there is an upward growth, and an evolution of higher forms of being ? Whereas, on your theory of a creation once for all, the world would remain as it came from the hands of its Iswara. But the course of things, evolving daily life and novelty, especially if, as some suppose, the evo- lution is of the nature of a higher development and aspira- tion, shews that Pracriti must be considered as the primal element, which is the fruitful womb of many successive births. Let it however be remembered, that the analogy which I above borrowed from the Veddnta, of the spider putting out its threads and drawing them in again, is a more instructive TENDENCIES OF DOCTRINE. 63 illustration of what we consider in general the nature of the world." "Perhaps," rejoined Blancombe, '*it would not be proper for me to deny that your system may turn out to be founded, as you believe, upon systematic investigation ; though, as far as we have hitherto gone, I observe only illustrations or analogies, rather than arguments, adduced for its groundwork : but at least the reflexions, which you suggest as consolatory, do not remove from my mind the overwhelming awe with which I contemplate a theory in which the universe seems whirled on a blmd career without compass or guide. Supposing however, upon greater familiarity with your views, this alarm of mine should subside, as you imagine it would, I almost fear that it might give place to even a greater disease of the mind." " What might that be?" asked Saddnanda. " Why perhaps scarcely less," answered Blancombe, " than an incurable reck- lessness of the difference between right and wrong, or a readiness to indulge whatever vicious temptation, either the promptings of Pracriti, or of whatever is lowest and most bestial in man, might engender. Not that probably such an effect is produced in persons like yourself, in whom it may be neutralised by some better disposition ; but with many men your doctrine would at least tend, either to alarm, or to corrupt ; either taking away the stay of their mental hope, or the safeguard of their moral conduct : and that this latter apprehension is not merely imagi- nary may seem proved by some of the sectarians whom you do not willingly acknowledge as associates, and who, indeed, appear ashamed of their own secret worship. For you are aware, and indeed I have heard pious Hindtis lament, that bodies of men exist whose worship is addressed merely to the productive powers of nature in their animal aspect, and who therefore indulge secretly in a licentious ritual ; while, although the opinion of other men tends somewhat to check their vile propensities, it can scarcely fail but that their belief must act injuriously upon their general conduct in the relations of life. 64 TENDENCIES OF DOCTRINE You call such persons, I- believe, left-handed worshippers of Sakti ; their sacred Ixwks, if such books can in any propriety of speech be desigTiated sacred, are the Tantras ; and they are themselves so ashamed of their degrading ritual as rarely, if ever, to profess it in public; thereby shewing that evil shrinks from the light. Now I think it quite needless, in arguing with yourself, to condemn such men ; but it seems not irrelevant to remark that their conduct might derive some sanction from your opinion of the all-absorbing activity of Pracriti, and from the passive character of the soul of man. For thus you appear to degrade mankind from accountable beings into machines; and to leave thereby little room for either praise or censure.