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primeval and archetypal Deity which we gather from the Linga Purina, and which might be confirmed by reference to other Purdnas, such as the Matsya and the Kiirma. Nor are they inconsistent, as some strangers appear to insinuate, with the general tenor of the Vedas : for all the hymns in those venerable books are addressed either to some of the divine agencies in nature, as we have already seen, or to some holy beings in whom the excellence of the all-embracing Deity has more especially manifested itself. Nothing then hinders us from saying that Stirya, or Savitri, whether he nourishes or whether he divides the seasons, and the Dawn, and the Stars, and the Skyey Influences in general, as well as Heaven which embraces them all, and Holy Men who by prayer or contemplation have become worthy of a like serene felicity, are all alike manifestations, if our friend here prefers it, I will say of Vishnu, or if any other follower of the Vedas should so require it, I would say of Brahm^, but this or these again both, of Siva, from whom we come, and to whom we go, who was before all thought, and who although he is eternally modified, or rather because he is so, will be for ever one. Satisfied with the calm contemplation of this great truth, I am not much disturbed by little difierences, though in them- selves persons who introduce such things may be blameworthy, and they should beware of the invisible witnesses who will accompany them to the house of Yama; but leaving all such things, I endeavoiu* to take refuge with the Eternal, that I may escape further contact with this disturbing world, and pass into participation of the unspeakable blessedness of Swarga," Here the A'chdrya paused, but Mountain made no answer, seeming to be either satisfied with what he had heard, or rather perhaps to be considering it inwardly; so Blancombe asked, *^ What, then, is Swarga?" "By Swarga,'' answered Vidy- dch^a, " we mean nearly what you term paradise, or heaven. It is the name of one of our places of blessedness ; only you need not understand me as if I intended to assign local limits to either that presence of Deity which is universal, or to the abode of HINDU QUIETISM. 77 Spirit which ought not to be confined. Since, however, men in general approach divine things only by means of parables and images, our scriptures are mercifully adapted to the needs in this respect of people in general ; and, if this seemed expedient to divine wisdom even in former times, much more it must be needed in this degenerate age." "I understand," said Blan- combe ; " but this loss of the local appropriation as it were of the term does not appear to deprive you of the happiness which should be connected with it ; for you evidently enjoy a tranquil- lity of mind in the prospect of an hereafter, though in the uncompassable sort of extent of the revolution of life and decay which you speak of, as in the somewhat analogous one mentioned by Sadinanda, my own frail intellect sees matter for awe and blank prostration rather than peace." *^ Certainly," replied the Achirya, " I enjoy tranquillity, which indeed seems to be the gift of our religion in a greater degree than of any other I have heard of: for in the first place we are taught to subdue all the turbulent passions from which war and misery arise among man- kind. To refrain our senses, and to keep them low, has been in all ages the virtue of the Hindds, as you may read it to have been a characteristic of the heroes in our earliest poems. Again, although Manu, our wise legislator, has taught us to consider the duties of life and family as having a certain claim on our regard, we are still permitted after a proper time of life to retire into a state of contemplation. Most indeed of my coimtrymen, even of the better sort, are prevented by the circumstances of these times from enjoying such a retreat ; but to those who do so, what can be happier than to prepare for a higher union with the Eternal Spirit from whom we come ? Yet indeed something of the same happiness belongs to every regenerate man ; for in the first place he is bathed from sin, since his daily bath repre- sents the purification of his mind ; hence MedhAtithi, son of Kanwa, divinely sings in a hymn of the Rig- Veda : ' Waters, take away whatever sin has been in me, whether I have dane wrong; or have pronounced imprecations or untrutL 78 THEANTHR0P18M. ' I have this day entered into the waters : we have mingled with their essence : Agni, abiding in the waters, approach and fill me, thus bathed, with vigour. < Soma declares, that all medicaments are in the waters.* {SukUi, xziiL) Compare Elphinstone's Hist. IncL Book L Chap. iv. Secondly, the regenerate man who is duly instructed in our religion, has the consolation of knowing that the divine benevolence has often been incarnate to deliver the world from evil ; hence, whether" he worship R4m& or Crishna, or whether he judge otherwise, still he holds in reverential regard that which pious persons declare to be their divinity, and in which he himself also perceives something divine ; then again, what- ever accidents befall him, he knows them to be the divine rule, and thus he has an unfailing source of tranquillity. With respect, however, to the grandeur of the scale of that vista of things eternal, opened by our religion, we readily confess not every gaze to be so purged that it should sustain the con- templation without being appalled. Surely, you would not yourself say that eternity can be a little thing, or that men whose souls are laden with sins and absorbed in evil passions, can look over such a precipice unamazed. Bather the power of so doing must be the reward of many prayers, and much meditation, and a lifelong struggle; thus to the devout, the resigned, and the passionless, the great God gives justly as a reward the capacity of that divine vision in which all things are very good ; and so they return, like sparks re-absorbed into a parent flame, into that one everlasting and unutterable Being, from whom they were separated only by ignorance and then blown about through existence as if by gusts of wind. Why should any one not think such a prospect happiness? To those indeed who separate the divine from humanity or the human from divinity, many thmgs must happen terrible in the progress of this present world. They may lose friends, or suffer pain, and see mankind subject to war and oppression; while it is certain that many living things destroy life, tod the wrong in BEATITUDE. 79 many ways seems to trimnph. Then again, if a man seeks for a reward through human works alone, it is clear that he builds upon the sand, for such things pass away with time, and leave no trace behind. But when a man has learnt that what appears firee-will (Swdtantrya) is really the operation of the Deity, or divine grace (Iswara-prasdda) in each part of the whole, and that what seems an individual is really not distinct, then by faith (Sraddhd), and by devotion (Yoga) resigning what ap- peared himself more entirely to the guidance of God, he is lifted beyond the reach of accident ; and even in this life we think it not absurd for him to be believed to perform super- natural acts^ (jivanrm'&cti ;) then when his soul quits this body, it ascends to the supreme light which is Brahm, and comes forth identified with him, being conform and undivided, as pure water, dropt into the lake, is such as that is. * You in this fair world See some destroying principle abroad ; Air, earth, and water, full of living things. Each on the other prejring ; and the ways Of man a irtrange peirlexing labyrinth, Where crimes and miseries, each producing each, Bender life loathsome, and destroy the hope That should in death bring comfort Oh ! my friend, That thy Mth were as mine ; that thou couldst see Death still producing life, and evil still Working its own destruction ; couldst behold The strifes and tumults of this troubled world, With the strong eye that sees the promised day Dawn through this night of tempest ! aU things then Would minister to joy : then should thy heart Be healed and harmonised, and thou shoiildst feel God always, everywhere, and all in alL' " "All that you have said," here again remarked Blancombe, ** about the happiness which you conceive to be connected with your views, only renders it more wonderful to me, that you should * Golebrooke, Vol I. pp. 369, 376. 80 CASTE — ACCOM MODATION.