English
To sum up this iu the words of Prak&s'^nanda who in his SiddMnta-MuhtdvaU ^ supporting by argu- ment declares Brahman to be ‘That Reality which lies hidden in the Veda, abso- lute Bliss, in its own nature eternal and unrelated to aught else, the existent, smaller than the small, and infinite ; this is ( the immortal light or final ) emancipation and is to be apprehended only by the emancipated, a small part of a part of it is all this false world, It is in Its essence the light within. It is blessed/ The Ved^n tin's object in the conduct of his %vritings, as remarked by impartial readers, is simply to teach the principles and truth he knows and is in possession of. It may be remembered that even in an ordinary subject, ideas which are easy to the one are dif- ficult to the other ; nor is their evidence presented in the same way to the mind of each. For this and many other reasons the Vedantin thinks it of ad- 1. This SiddhAnta-MuMvali is rradeied into BkigliBh by Dr. Arthur Veuis, and is published at Benares, 1890. 94 vantage to present Vedanta knowledge to the mind, in as great a variety of different lights as possible. He generally offers ' a familiar parallel or an illustra- tion drawn from something of which the student has that direct or indirect impression which gives a reality to the sublime idea to be communicated to him, and thus infuses an animated meaning into what was before lifeless. It is a property of knowledge and illustrations of this kind, ( says an observer), to strike no two minds in the same manner, or with the same force ; because no two minds are stored with the same images, or have acquired their notions of them by similar habits. It may place transcendent ideas not merely in a new and uncommon, but in a more impressive and satis- factory light. It may dispel some obscurity, clear up some inward mis-giving, and supply some link which may lead to the understanding of connections and deductions unknown before.’ The Vedanta and Plato’s Philosophy. In studying the Vedanta philosophy the student of ancient and modern philosophies will recog- nise many nearer approaches to it in the writing of the representative philosopher Plato and Kant and their numerous followers. They reflect the sublime and magnanimous truths of the Veddnta which have delighted the hearts of good men from time imme- morial. The following two remarkable passages taken for brevity’s sake from the analysis by J owett of Plato's "Eepublic" are quoted here for ready reference. It will assist such readers as are conversant with the philosophical thoughts of Europe and America in understanding more clearly some of the ennobling and great ideas of the Vedinta, which are to follow. The reader will observe that the accord of Ved^nt- ism and Platonism is wonderful. The Platonic Socrates says in his parable: — ^'Imagine human beings living in a sort of under- ground den which has a mouth wide open towards the light; they have been there from childhood, and, having their necks and legs chained, can only see before them ( towards the lower end of the cave. Whewell’s Translation ). At a distance there is a fire, ( opposite to the mouth of the den so as to throw the shadows of objects at the lower end of the den ), and between the fire and the prisoners a raised way, and a low wall built along the way, like that over which marionette players show their puppets. Above the wall are seen moving figures, who hold in their hands various works of art, and among them images of men and animals, wood and stone, and some of the passers by are talking and others silent. ‘A. strange parable,' he ( Gloucon ) said, ‘and strange captives.’ They are ourselves, I ( Socrates ) replied ; and they see nothing but the shadows which the fire throws on the wall of the cave; to these they give names, and if we add an echo which returns from the wall, ( of the cave on which the shadows were seen ), the voices of the passengers will seem to proceed from the shadows. Suppose now that you suddenly turn them round aird make them look with pain and grief to themselves at the real images; will they believe them to be real \ Will not their eyes be dazzled, and will they not try to get away from the light to something which they are able to behold without blinking t And suppose further, that they are dragged up a steep and rugged ascent into the presence of ‘the sun himself, will not their sight be darkened with the excess of light ? Some time will pass before they get the habit of perceiving at all; and at first they will be able to perceive only shadows and reflections in the water; then they will recognize the moon and the stars, and will at length behold the sun in his own proper jjlace as he is. Last of all they will conclude: — This is he who gives us the year and the seasons, and is the author of all that we see. How will they rejoice in passing from dark- ness to light ! How worthless to them will seem the honours and glories of the den or cave out of which they came ! • As Homer says: ' Better to be the servant of a poor (living) master than a prince over all the dead.’ And now imagine further, that they ( the enlightened ) descend into their old habitations; — in that underground dwelling they will not see as well as their fellows, and will not be able to compete with them in the measurement of the shadows on the wall; there will be many jokes about the man who went on a visit to the sun and lost his eyes — men should not do such things — and if they find anybody trying to set free and enlighten one of their number, they will put him to death, if they can catch him. Which things are an allegory: The cave or den is the world of sight, the fire is the sun, the way upwards is the way to knowledge, and in the world of know- ledge the idea of good is at last seen and with dif- ficulty, but when seen is inferred to be the author of 97 good aiul l iglit — parent of the lord of light in this world and of truth and understanding in the other. He who attains to the beatific vision is always going upwards ; he is unwilling to d|^cend into political as- semblies and courts of law ; for his eyes are apt to blink at the images or shadows of images which they behold in them — he cannot enter into the ideas of those who have never in their lives understood the relation of the shadow to the substance. Now blind- ness is of two kinds, and may be caused either by passing out of darkness into light or out of light in- to darkness, and a man of sense will distinguish between them, and will not laugh equally at both of them, but the blindness which arises from fulness of light he will deem blessed, and pity the other; or if he laugh at the blinking idiot looking up at the sun, he will have more reason to laugh than the in- habitants of the den at those who descend from above. There is a further lesson taught by this parable of ours. Some persons fancy that insti'uc- tion is like giviiig eyes to the blind, but we say that the faculty of sight was always there, and that the soul only requires to be turned round towards the light. And this is conversion; other virtues are almost like bodily habits, and may be acquired in the same manner, but intelligence has a diviner life and is indestructible, turning either to good or evil according to the direction given. Did you never observe how the mind of a clever rogue peers out of his eyes, and the more clearly he sees the more evil he does ? Now if you take such an one and circumcise his passions, and cut away from him the leaden weights which drag him down and keep the 9 98 eye of his soul fixed upon the ground, the same faculty in him will be turned round, and he will be- hold the truth as clearly as he now discerns his meaner ends. And hjjve we not decided that our rulers must neither be so uneducated as to have no fixed rule of life, nor so over-educated as to be un- willing to leave their paradise for the business of the world! And we must choose out the natures who are most likely to ascend to the light and knowledge of the good, and not allow them to do as they do now. 1 mean to say that they must not be allowed to romai)i in the region of light, but must be forced down again among the captives in the den to partake of their labours and honours. Is not this hard ? and what if tliey had rather not V You should remcmbei-, my friend, that our purpose in framing tlie State was not that our citizens should do what they like, but that they should serve the State for the coinmongood ofall."^ Further on Socrates observes: — ''He ( a maker ) makes out only vessels but plants .and animals, himself, and all other things, the earth and heaven, and tilings under the earth; he makes the Gods also “There is a sense in which you ( any man ) could do the same. You have only to take a mirror, and catch the reflection of the sun, and the earth, and • plants and animals, and yourself in it, — there now you have made them. ‘Yes, in appearance, but not in reality’ ; 1. The Dialogues of Plato, translated by Jowett. Vol. Ill, p. 3 - 85 . 99 " Reflect: — Here are three beds ; one in nature, (<". e. the idea of a bed ) which is made by God ; an- other, which is made by the carpenter ( according to the idea ); and the third, by the painter, and there are three artists, who preside over them, — God, the maker of the bed, the painter. God only made one We may therefore conceive God to be the natural maker of the bed, and in a lower sense the carpenter is also the maker, but the painter may be more pi’operly described as the imitator of what the other two make ; he has to do with a creation Avhich is thrice removed from reality.