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It leaves it to material and scientific knowledge to discover and make known the things, such as the creation of the world, and similar topics-the origin and descent of species— protoplasm, sperms, germs, here- dity, the influence of environment, ‘ natural selection or the survival of the fittest in the universal struggle for existence, to Avhich we OAve the extinction, pre- servation, and distribution of organic forms on the earth’ of which that knoAvledge thinks it has giv’en in the above method an explanation, though the appearance both of the forms that conquer and of those that perish still remains a secret. The province of the Vedanta philosophy is higher. It purposes to reveal the Lorfl, the cause of the Avoi'ld, and the oneness of God, man, and the universe. ^ It is evident to the thoughtful that all nature is working its way onward and npAvard to full self by the uplifting power — the Self — inherent in it. The ‘full self’ is knoAvledge (?T!f ), which it reaches in man, and through which alone it attains to salvation. To know higher we must he higher. The Vedanta raises 1. Brahnia-Siitra, I, 4-14. 64 its appreciative disciples to a height from which the social and political life seems dwindling away into mere phantoms. They learn to grasp the inner soul rather than external environment. They see much which is unseen to others, and find all that truth concerning the Divine, — man’s Self and the High* est Self, — which has, in one form or othei’, fascinated the enlightened of all times and countries. On the Vedanta philosophy a vast literature, con- taining thousands of volumes, has been created, and much more still will continue to be created. A study of this literature permanently enlarges the intellectual horizon of whoever approaches it. The Leading Ideas of the Vedanta Philosophy. Here only the quintessence of this system can be touched upon. An ancient sage gives it in a couplet as follows: — ^ ^ grm; H” ‘ In half a verse I shall tell you what has been taught in ( kotis ) thousands of volumes: — Brahman ( the highest Self) is true; jagat (the world ) is false ( not true in the same sense as God ); and Jlva, ( the soul, the Self, i. e. the part of all- pervading Highest Self immanent in the living body ) is even Brahman, and nothing else.’^ Here, there are three or four fundamental terms which predominate, and on which the superetructure 1. It may be stated here once for all that I have availed myself mostly of the translations of the original Sanskrata pass- ages by Principal G. Thibaut, Dr. Max Muller, Prof. Dr. Paul Deussen, and Mr. Mab&deva S'Sstri. 65 of the sublime Vedanta philosophy is constructed, viz,, (1) Brahman (the highest Self), (2) Mdyd ( universe-projecting-connecting link ), and ( Mdyd- produced) Jagat (the world), and (3)Jipa(the individual Self). Modern philosophical inquiry has led to conclu- sions identical not only in the spirit but with the letter of the Ved5.nta Philosophy as will be seen from the following passage: — “Having thus reduced all the varieties of the ego to an unconditional unity, viz., soul, and having also reduced all the varieties of the non-ego to an uncon- ditional unity, viz., the world, our task would seem completed; yet on looking deeper, we find that these two ideas presuppose a third — a unity still higher, the source of both the world and of the ego — ^viz., God. “God ( Brahman ), the soul ( Jiva ), and the world ( Jagat ) are therefore the three ideas of reason, the laws of its operation, the pure form of its existence. They are to it what space and time are to sensibility, and what the categories are to understanding.”^ After reducing multiplicity to trinity, as above, the VedS,nta again reduces the trinity to unity. It declares that there is in reality only one without a second. Brahman. To this the conclusion of . modem philosopher’s bears a remarkable similarity, as will appear from the following: — 1. hewea' Biographical History of PhUosoj^y, Kant’s Psycho- logy. p. 657. 66 "Fichte said that the Non-Ego was created by the Ego. Schelling said that the two were equally real, and that both were identibed in the Absolute.”^ Brahman is All in All ; whatever is, is Brahman. It appears through its association with M4y&, as it were, all difference and plurality, such as the universe and the souls, just as in the mirage the sun’s refracted rays appear like a lake, &c. Or, as clouds hiding the rays of the sun show themselves in various colours and forms by the light of the very sun, so the Mdyd- cloud hiding Brahman from the common sight, shows itself under innumerable names and various forms of the world and souls. But behind her appearances there is nothing but Brahman. As by knowing the source we know all that proceeds from it, so by knowing Brahman and Mdyd one is enabled to know all that is necessary to know about the world and souls. The Chhandogya Upanishad ( Prapilthaka vi ) teaches that ‘by knowing one clod of clay all that is made of clay is known, or by knowing one nugget of gold all that is made of gold is known, the dif- ference being only the name (and form) arising from speech (and sight), but the truth being that all (made of clay ) is clay or all ( made of gold ) is gold.* For these modifications or effects are names only, while in reality there exists no such thing as a mo- dification. In so far as they are names they are un- true, in so far as they are clay or gold- they are true. The Vedanta knowledge, like all scientific know- ledge, is based upon exj^erience. But to acquire it, a 1. Lewes’ Biographical History of Philosophy, p. 605. 67 certain method of its own is to be followed, just as in science, which in each of its branches, has its own method. To acquire a knowledge of Chemistry one must go to the laboratory, take different substances, mix them up, compound them, experiment with them, and a result is known. For the Vedanta knowledge one has to do several things. He has to do good to the world by thought, word, and action, and to purify his internal- sense-organ or mind, which then is to be illumined by higher knowledge. When its powers are con- centrated, by true knowledge, or by meditation, into one focus, the true light is brought forward. With this light he can see his own divine Self which is Sat-chit-dnanda, Existence, Intelligence, and Beatitude, immortal and perfect; and his gross part of Mdyd dis- appears. The aim and end of science is to find a unit — that One out of which all these manifold pheno- mena are being manufactured, — the One Real appear- ing as many. The Vedanta convincingly demonstra- tes that One to be Brahman. It teaches us how to observe facts, and how, then, to generalise and draw our conclusions. Brahman ( sTfR.). The Vedfinta doctrine is divided into three chief parts : (1) Theology, the doctrine of Brahman, God, or of the philosophical principle; (2) Kosmology, the doctrine of May4, Jagat, the universe; (3) Psychology, the doctrine of Jiva, the soul.’ This Tt'ipiUi, trinity, 1. See The Panchadaa'i Chitra D!pa. vi, 12. Compare the Christian Trinity : — God the Father and the One Absolute, Jesus Christ and the First Intelligence or Universal Mind, and the Holy Spirit and the World-Soul. ( J ules Simon, i, 308. ) 68 is to be clearly understood in order to reduce it eventually to the Absolute One, Brahman, i. e. to acquire a knowledge of the Unity, the essence and first principle of all. Though it is impossible to adequately describe the true nature ( ) of Brahman, attempts have been made to adumbrate It by innumerable words and phrases, by the varieties of expressions and illustrations, by allegories and anecdotes, some of which it is supposed are sure to remove the veil of Nescience from our mind, and the effulgent glory of Brahman is then cognized everywhere. With a view to facilitate the apprehension of Brahman, a popular maxim of ‘ the bough and the moon ’ called ‘S'dhM-Chandra-Nydya!^ is resorted to in the Vedanta. By means of this and many other devices the extremely subtle and incomprehensible Brahman is indicated. In (^ankara’s Bhdshya of the Chh^ndogya Upani- shad ( VIII, 12 ) it is observed that ‘ when one who wishes to show to some one the thin crescent of the new moon on the second day, first shows ( the branch of) the tree in the front of the moon, saying: ‘Just look here, there is the moon;’ then he points 1. Nyaya is an a inference from a familiar instance. It is consi- dered fortunate, and consequently is very usual in this country, to see the new moon on the 2nd day, when the crescent is very thin. One who has seen it first is asked to point it out to others. He then makes them face the West, then direct their attention to a tree and then to its bough, near which she appears, though con- siderably distant from it. This contrivance is used when the position of an object, though at a very great distance, is fixed by that of another object, to which it appears to be contiguous. 69 to another higher object, then still another, such as the top of a hill, which may be nearer to the moon,' Going on in this manner, he is enabled at last to point out the very distant and subtle crescent to the other. In the same manner a good and competent teacher guides his pupil, and by one or another method indicates Brahman to him. The Vedanta now contains the true knowledge of Brahman, the one unknowable and unnamable God, the Supreme Being, the Absolute, the Greatest, the Beyond ; and is chiefly occupied with the highest conceptions possible of Him, or rather of It. It makes It intelligible to all whose minds are happily developed enough to undei-stand It. The Vedanta proves It to be the One only, without a second or the secondless.