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Now, gentlemen, let us see what Vedanta has to say on this point. In Saririka Sutras the refutation is given thus: — I. — The Sutra a#; means that materialism 'cannot hold, firstly be- cause it is against revelation, and secondly because it is against reason. This primordial unintelligent matter cannot produce the THE VEDANTA PHIL6S0PHT. 65 world which is differeni} ia characteristic qualities from that original matter,- The fundamental ground of reasoning is that the effect must potentially exist in the cause before its origination, and is non-dif- ferent from it. The stock example here is the milk and the curd. The cause, which is the milk' is only called the curd when it is viewed as an effect. It is impossible to bring about an effect which is materially different from its cause. The fundamental cause of all appears in the form of this and that' effect up to the last effect of all, , just .as an actor appears in various robes, and so becomes the basis of all notions and terms about him. Therefore materialism being insufficient for our purposes, we hold that Brahman, affected with Maya, and having many divine powers, is the cause of this world, (3) The Sutra means that a non-in telligent matter, without being guided by an intelligent ■ being, can- not possibly produce effects capable of subserving our purposes. This is the grand argument of design, (4) The Sutra means that the purely non-intelligent matter cannot be A LECTURE OE m the ' cause of actiyity in producing the world. The motive power of intelligence is incontrovertible, that is, motion can he reconciled with the doctrine of an intelli- gent first cause, and not with a dull non- intelligent one. (5) The Sutra meatfs that dull matter cannot be the cause, on account of the absence of any purpose on its part to bring about the creation, where- as it is conceivable in the case of an intelli- gent first cause. Thus the V edanta concludes that material- ism is an absurd theo-ry, which is not competent to explain, and account for, the world phenomenon. II. — The Atomic view of the world is refuted in almost the same fashion as ab- solute materialism. III. — ^Thirdly comes the [Buddhistic Nihilism. It is called the or which means that the world came out of a void, or out of nothing. In other words entity emanates from non-entity. A Ve- dantist would say that entity csiinot come out of non-entity, for, if things camcome out of a characterless nothing, ow THE VEDANTA PHILOSOTHt. 6? nullity, then the plants, the curds, the pot, and so forth, may come out of such, pure nullities as the horns of a hare, &c., because all nullities are in nature the same. Hence this theory is utterly unreasonable. lY. — ^Fourthly we come to the Buddhis- tic Vijnanavada, or Sensationalism. Accord- ing to this theory, there is no external worlds and consequently no creator of it is wanted. Every thing is internal, and all that we call external only seems to be so, and is not really external. To this the Vedantist replies that if there be nothing external; how cananything appear external, e., be like an external thing, No one, says “ Vishnumitra, looks like the son of a childless mother,” If we are to accept the truth as it is given to us in our experience, we must affirm that the thing perceived is presented externally, and not only that it is presented like an external thing. In. other words the Vedanta will not allow a perfect idealism. In so doing it is not to b.0 considered .as inconsistent with .itself, as- weknow that , the external things with the Vedanta ar.e as real as the minds that perceive them. Individual Souls, and their environments, are true for the many, they have a.practical existence, .and they are rea][ A LECTURE OS’ from the practical point of view. They are only unreal from the transcendental or metaphysical point of view. V. Fifthly. — We come to the Doctrine of Dualism, i. e., of the existence of matter and spirit, which is equally unreasonable to a Vedantist. In other words, the idea that God, the highest Spirit, created matter out of nothing, is absurd with a Vedantist, since the idea goes against his. axiomatic principle that something can- not come out of nothing ; and this truth,. God even with His omnipotence, cannot, set at nought. Thus a Vedantist proudly announces that his doctrine is perfectly acceptable , to all people, as it is an out-come of solid reasoning. To an Indian Hindu, it is. both revelation and the soundest philo- sophy. Thus, gentlemen, we are now in a posi- tion to understand Brahman as the mate- rial and efficient cause of the universe in a modified form. Let us now learn some- thing about the nature of this highest- Soul. This Brahman, the impersonal Self, the absolute Truth, the only Reality with- out a second absolute reality by its side,, THE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 69 is the Higher Brahman. .This Higher Brahman, this principle of reality when viewed as associated with the co-eter- nal principle of unreality, i, e., Maya or the creative principle, is called Lower Brahman, or Iswara. This Brahman again, when connected with further deve- lopments of Maya, is looked upon as an individual. ' To understand this idea more thoroughly let us imagine an algebraical series such- as a;®, &c ad in- finitum, Here we see that each of the succeeding terms in the series varies ac- cording to its index or power. On ac- count of the difference of the index only, the terms of the series appear different from one another ; but we see that the base X remains all along constant. Now if we' suppose the indices, viz,^ 1, 2, 3, &c. to vanish, we^see that all the terms become one and the same, since a;® will always be the 'same as unity. If we apply the signs to illustrate the Vedanta doctrine, we take the power or index to be Maya, vary- ing at each step of its development, and the constant x to be Brahman, appearing in different Souls, When this Maya, like the index, vanishes, {i, e., when the index is reduced to zero,) the individual being, 70 A LECTURE ON like each of the terms in the series, be- comes Brahman, which like the first term of the series is represented by unity. The different terms represent Brahman, Iswara, Taijasa, and Prajna, &c.,to endless individuals. Let us now speak a few words about the nature of this Higher Brahman. To make the idea clear I shall quote the Upanishads : — crifTH (It has nothing before it or after it, nothing without it or within it.) ^ cTf^f^cn^ (Where eyes cannot penetrate, where words are baffled, and where minds fail. We cannot know it, we cannot grasp it. Whom, therefore, shall we instruct about it. ? It is beyond the known and beyond the unknown;) Sin u cm II . 3^ sit ^rr^l i SPHE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. 71 rg?T II ^cl m%iT 5 t mPsrfh i?TtiF:^?rR i ?Ti^ am fafe ii (Which, {. e.f Brahman, the mind cannot know, but by which the mind is known; which the eyes cannot see but by which the eyes are seen ; which, the ears cannot hear but by which the ears are heard ; which the vital airs cannot breathe, but by which they are breathed : you are to know that as Brahman and not that which is worshipped.) rf^acqH^Tff 11 6 ^ vjl (He, who has perceived that which is without, sound, without touch, without form, without decay, without taste, eter- nal, without smell, without beginning, with- out end, beyond the Great and unchange- able, is freed from the jaws of death.) ' 5T ^gimfcT ^ 72 A LEOTtJRE ON TOfl ^Tkts'w (The sun does not shine there, nor the moon and the stars, nor these lightnings and much less the fire. V/hen he shines, everything shines after him. By his light all this is lighted. That immortal Brah- man is before, that Brahman is behind, that Brahman is right and left. It has gone forth below and above : — Brahman alone is all this : it is the best.) This Brahman is the uncaused cause of all, but in 'its real essence and pushing the world-fiction and its figments out of view, it is neither cause nor not cause, nor .both cause and not cause. It is other than the known, and above the unknown, i, e., it is the same as the self of the knowing subject. It is this pure light which ac- tuates the inner sense by irradiation, and. as this pure light or self transcends all objects of outer and inner sense, the in- ward sense is incompetent to approach it. Brahman causes the unconscious THE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY. TB' modes conscious modes of the mind. It is self-luminous. It is unconscious^ for consciousness begins with duality. It is the intelligence and thought without any objects. It is the eternal knowledge with- out any object to be known. It is dream- less thought. Brahman is beatitude, i, e., bliss beyond the distinction of subject and object. W e can say Brahman is knowledge, ' and not that Brahman • has knowledge. Thus Brahman is existent thought, bliss, truth, and infinity. Thus it is absolutely unacceptible to human thought and not exr / pressible by human words, e,, where words fail and mind cannot reach. TV^batever attempt is made to describe Brahman, it fails, and we are only justified m saying, is not so, it is not so. So Brahman is pure, as being untouched by the world-fiction, passionless, and inert ; it is intelligent as, being self unminous, it is free as being linembodied, and therefore exempt from the miseries of Individual life. N'ow, gentlemen, instead of prolonging our discourse by dwelling on the subject of absolute Brahman, which subject alone will fill up volumes without .our being able to arrive at .any satisfactory;, or even partial A liECTITRE ON ?4.