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I touched my limbs — the limbs Were strange, not mine — and yet no shade of doubt. But utter clearness, and thro’ loss of Self The gain of such large life as matched with ours Were Sun to spark — unshadow able in words. Themselves but shows of a shadow- world.” Tennyson, The Ancient Sage. Brahman is always subjective, and therefore It cannot be known in the same way as all other objects are known, but only as a knower knows that he is and that he knows. 76 We see a wondrous universe peopled with wond* rous beings, yet none of these beings exists by itself, but through another ; they are not the authors of their own existence; they do not rest upon their own reality, but on a greater Reality, Substance, Brahman, which is standing under all phenomena, supporting them and giving them reality. It is called absolute Existence, Sat (^^). From It all individual concrete existences arise. All that exists, exists in and by Sat. It is the fountain of life. The inconceivable variety of phenomena re- solves itself into the unity of Sat. A few passages of special importance from the Upanishads, the Brahma-SAtras,’^ the Bhagvad-GltA, and (^ankarAchArya's works are given below, in order to help the reader approximately to understand and realize the incomprehensible Highest Brahman, whose cognition constitutes the task of the VedAnta- philosophy and is the only road to final release. A The Vedanta conceives that the Srutis, like a very kind mother, while disclosing simple and gracious truths, use a variety of expressions, fascinating illustrations and pregnant similes and metaphors adapted to our human understanding, to make clearer and more intelligible the fundamental ideas about Brahman, MAy^, the universe, and the soul. They are very interesting and valuable in our search after- truth. But the Vedanta asks us at the same time to remember that in its poetical language an illustra- 1. The Brahma-Shtras are also knovn by the names of the Ved&nta-Shtras, VyftsarShtras, Uttara-MtmansfirShtras, Shfirimka Mtmftns&rShtras. 77 tiv® simile is meant to illustrate one point only, not all. Whenever two things are compared, they are so compared only with reference to some particular point they have in common. No entire equality of the two can ever be demonstrated; indeed, if it could be de- monstrated, there would be an end of that particular relation which gives rise to the comparison. ( Br. S. IIL 2. 21 ). Upanishads on Brahman, Sat-Chit-Ananda. “ Brahman is true Being ; Knowledge, without end ( in- finite ).” ( Taittiriya Up. II, 1. ) “ Brahman is knowledge and bliss.” ( Briliaddranyaica Up. Ill, 9, 28. ) “ The in- finite ( Bhhman ) is bliss, the infinite alone is bliss The infinite is immortal. It rests in its own greatness.” ( Chhdndogya Up. VII, 23, 24. ) “ Brahman is Bliss. From Bliss these things are born ; by Bliss when bom, they live ; into Bliss they enter at their death.” ( Taitt. Up III, 6. ) “ There is no likeness oi him whose ( Brahman’s ) name is great glory.” ( Vd’josneyi Samhitd XXXII, 3 ). “ He is the one God ; hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one ; free from qualitiea” { Svetds'vatara Up. FI, 11. ) “Brahman alone is all this.” ( Mundaka Up. II, 2, 11. ) “The Self is all this.” ( Chhando. Up. VII, 25, 2. ) “ In it ( Brahman ) there is no diversity.” ( Brih. Up. IF, 4, 19 ). “ He to whom there is nothing superior, from whom there is nothing different. ” ( Svet, Up. Ill, 9. ) “ He is all substance every- where, the Self of all, the source of all ; that in which every thing is absorbed, that the sages know as Brahman.” ( Svet. Up. Ill, 17. ) “ As a mass of salt has neither inside nor outmde, but is altogether a mass of taste, thus, indeed, has 78 that Self ( Brahman ) neither inside nor outside, but is alto- gether a mass of knowledge”! {Brih. Up, /F, 5, 13 ). “Grasping without hands, hasting without feet, He sees without eyes, He hears without ears. He knows what can be known but no one knows Him ; they call Him the first, the great person.” ( Svet. Up, III, 19 ). “Brahman is with- out sound, without touch, without decay.” ( Katha, Up, /> 3,15). “ That within which forms and names are, that is Brahman.” ( Clihdndo. Up. VIII, 14, 1. ) “ That heavenly Person is without body, He is both without and within, not produced.” ( Mund, Up. II, 1,2.) “That Brahman is with- out cause, and without effect, without any thing inside or outside, this Self is Brahman, omnipresent and omniscient.” {Brih, Up. II, 5, 19.) “ It (Brahman) is. the ear of the ear, the mind of the mind, the speech of speech, the breath of breathe and the eye of the eye The eye does not go thither, nor speech, nor mind. It is different from the known. It is also above the unknown, thus we have heard from those of old, who taught us this.” ( Tcdavakdra or Kena. Up. I, 2, 4. ) The pupil says: — “I do not think I know It ( Brahman ) well, nor do I know that I do not know It. 2 He among us who knows this, he knows It, nor does he know that he does not 1. That means : — ‘That Self has neither inside nor outside any characteristic form but intelligence ; simple non-differentiated in- telligence constitutes its nature.’ S'ankara. 2. That is to say: — ‘We cannot know Brahman, as we know other objects by referring them to a class and pointing out their differences. But, on the other hand, we do nob know that we know It (Brahman) not, {, e. no one can assert that we know It not, for we want Brahman in order to know anything. He, therefore, who knows this double peculiarity of the knowledge of Brahman, knows Brahman as much as It can be known.* A Bankara. This is a true sign of the philosophic ii|)irit of the seeker after truth. Cp. the reply of Socrates when he was declared to be the wisest man in Greece by the Delphic Oracle. He observed ;-“Because I know that I know nothing.” Also Spencer’s conclusion: — “The God, that we know, is not, but the God, that we know not, is,” 79 . know It It is thought to be known (as if) by awakening, and (then) we obtain immortality indeed. By the Self we obtain strength, by knowledge we obtain immortality. If a man know this here, that is the true ( end of life ).” ( Ken. or Tal Up. II, 2, 5 ), '' As the one fire, after it has entered the world, though one, becomes like unto every form which it takes ( like unto whatever form it bums ), thus the one Self within all things becomes different, according to whatever it enters, but it exists also without.” ( Katha. Up., Valli V, 9. ) As the sun, ( by its light ) the eye of the whole world, is not contaminated by the external impurities seen by the eyes, thus the one Self within all things is never contaminated by the misery of the world, being himself without.” ( Katha. Up., Valli. F. 11. ) There is one ruler, the self within all things, who makes the one form manifold. The wise who perceive him within tlieir Self or soul, to them belongs eternal happiness, not to others.” ^ {Katha. Up., Valli. F. 12. ) “ The higher knowledge is this by which the indestructible is apprehended. That which cannot be seen nor seized, which is without origin and qualities, without eyes and ears, with- out hands and feet, the eternal, all-pervading, omnipresent, infinitesimal ( which is imperishable, that It is which the wise regard as the source of all beinga” ( Mitnd. U^x 1, 1, 5-6. ) The Brahma-Sutras on Brahman, Sat-Chit-Ananda. The nature ( ) of Brahman is ( ) Sat-Chit-Ananda, The Brahma-SAtra (Adhyaya I, Vkda I, SAtra 2), declares : — Brahman is that) from which the origin (subsistence, and dissolution) of this (world proceeds).’^ The full sense of this Sfitra, as explained by <^ankara, is : ‘ That omniscient, omnipotent Cause 1. Here, to perceive Him, the immortal soul or Self, means^ that He is imaged by the ( pure and steady ) heart, by wisdom, by ( the enlightened ) mind. 80 from which proceed the origin, subsistence, and dis- solution of this world — which world is differentiated by names and forms, contains many agents and en* joyers, is the abode of the fruits of actions, these fruits have their definite places, times, and causes, and the nature of whose arrangement cannot even be conceived by the mind, — ^that cause is Brahman.’ This and some other Sfitras treat of Sat, Existence. “And ( scripture ) declares ( Brahman ) to consist of that ( i, e. intelligence ).” ( Br. S. Ill, 2, 16 ). The meaning of this Sfitra is that ; ‘ Brahman con- sists of intelligence ( Ckaitanya, Chit ), is devoid of any other characteristic, and is altogether without difference.* “For this very reason ( there are applied to Brahman ) comparisons such as that of the images of the sun and the like.” ( Br. S. Ill, 2, 18. ) That means : — ' Because Brahman is of the natm’e of intelligence, devoid of all difference, transcending speech and mind, to be described only by denying of It all other characteristics, therefore the Moksha , Sdstras compare It to the images of the sun reflected into water and the like ; meaning thereby that all difference in Brahman is unreal, only due to Its limiting conditions.’ This and some other Sfitras treat of Chit, Knowledge. “ Bliss and other ( qualities ) as belonging to the subject of the qualities ( have to be attributed to Brahman everywhere ).” ( Br. S. Ill, 3, 11 ). The sense of this Sfitra is : — ‘ Those scriptural texts which aim at intimating the characteristics of Brah- man separately ascribe to It various qualiti^, such 81 as having bliss for Its nature, being one mass of knowledge, being omnipresent, being the Self of all A and so on.