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^ Or, in other words, “ Brahman described as ( ) 'the existent, knowledge, infinite,' is the sole substance ; the notions of ( fjsR: ) Creator and { ) individual soul, ( commonly ascribed to It ) are erroneously surmised (by means of MayS.) through two limiting adjuncts. (37) "That inexplicable M&yti, appears, as it were, her- self ( ) conscious by the occurrence upon her of ( ) a reflection of the absolute Intelligence. The Absolute obtains for us ( ) the notion of Creator through the contact of Mdy& as limiting condition. (40) " The Absolute appears as or becomes for us the individual soul when we think of ( ) at- 1. See the Brahma-SUk'a 1,3,19. 113 tributes of the five vestures as its limitations. Just as the same man may be father and grand-father to his son and grand-son, and is neither father nor grand- father when son and grand-son are not in mind; so when ( ) Maya and ( ) the five vestures are kept out of view, the Absolute is neither Creator nor personal Soul.” (12)’^ The Ved^ntin divides knowledge into two, the knowledge of ( STiTTrinrs Andtma-Jada ) the non-self, the unreal and phenomenal objective world, matter, and that of Atman ) the Self, the real and noumenal subjective spirit. He has always contented himself by adopting necessary notions about the objective world, matter, the physical nature of things &c., from other schools, and devoted himself to the knowledge of the Self, the subjective, in which he has distanced all philosophers of Asia, Europe, and America, as much as they have distanced him in the investigation and discoveries of the objective and visible world, matter, &c. He has built up in the centre of the busy world the grandest pyramid of knowledge of the highest Self. One has only to ascend it, step by step, as far* as his strength of thought and intelligence will carry him, in order to understand the skilled labour and enjoy the comprehensive view on the lower ground, and the pure bliss of the most serene and sublime and high atmosphere which it affords. When he mounts high enough, he will feel that none of world’s philoso- phers has ventured to build such a monument. The light of higher knowledge set upon it illumines 1. See the Panchada8% Panchakos'aviveka, IIL, 37-42. 114 the moral and religious atmosphere around and below it, and continues to shine upon all succeeding generations. In erecting this sublime and brilliant monument of knowledge the Ved^ntin has in some cases utilized some of the methods used by other schools, and adapted to the average of human capacity. Know- ledge ( jffpf ) supposes three terms : (^I?n) a being or a subject who knows, (^) a thing or an object to be known, and (frTr) a relation determined between the knowing subject and the known object. This relation properly constitutes knowledge. Knowledge of things is of two kinds-lower and higher. The former embraces the whole objective phenomenal world (sTSfTrJPl,) — including our body — extended in time and space; the latter the subjective Self of all. There are two stand-points from which the nature of things is investigated. One is empi- rical, in which we regard things in the form in which they appear to us ( that is as they are reflected in human consciousness ). This is the knowledge obtain- ed by observation. The result is Physics. Another stand-point is transcendental, in which we try to discover what things are in themselves, ( independent of our consciousness ). This is the knowledge ob- tained by principles or reasons. The result is Meta- physics. It is remarked that ‘when we look abroad upon Nature, we observe an endless variety of trans- formations. At first these seem without order ; on looking deeper we find that there is a regular series of development from the lowest to the highest. These transformations are the struggles of the Idee to manifest itself objectively. Nature is a dumb In- 115 telligence striving to articulate. At first she mumbles ; with succeeding etForts she articulates ; at last she speaks’ A To understand Nature there are vai'ious methods or paths of transit whereon mankind may travel in quest of truth. All thinkers try to find a path from the phenomenal to the nouroenal in order to he in possession of the truth. According to Comte, the founder of the Positive school of philosophy : — " Every branch of knowledge passes successively through three stages: 1st, the supernattiral, or ficti- tious; 2nd, the metaphysical, or abstract; 8rd, the positive, or scientific. The first is the necessary point of departure taken by human intelligence; the second is merely a stage of transition from the supernatural to the positive • and the third is the fixed and definite condition which knowledge is alone capable of pro- gressive development. “ In the supernatural stage, the mind seeks after causes ; aspires to know the essnices of things and their modes of operation. It regards all effects as the productions of supernatural agents, whose inter- vention is the cause of all the apparent anomalies and irregularities. Nature is animated by superna- tural beings. Every unusual phenomenon is a sign of the pleasure or displeasure of some being adored and propitiated as a God. The lowest condition of this stage, is that of the savages, viz, Fetichism. The highest condition is when one being is substituted for 1, Lewes’ Biographical History of Philosophy^ p, 627. 116 many, as the cause of all phenomena. ( This is near to Brahman reflected into May^ of the Vedanta. ) "In the metaphysical stage, which is only a modi- fication of the former, but which is important as a transitional stage, the supernatural agents give place to abstract forces ( personified abstractions ) supposed to inhere in the various substances, and capable them- selves of engendering phenomena. The highest condi- tion of this stage is when all these forces are brought under one general force named Nature. ( This is near to M^y^. ) " In the positive stage, the mind convinced of the futility of all inquiry into causes and essences, applies itself to the observation and classification of laivs which regulate effects ; that is to say, the invariable relations of succession and similitude which all things bear to each other. The highest condition of this stage would be, to be able to represent all phenomena as the various particulars of one general view. “ But no science could have its orgin in simple observation; for if, on the one hand, all positive theories must be founded on observation, so, on the other, it is equally necessary to have some sort of theory before we address ourselves to the task of steady observation. If, in contemplating phenomena, we do not connect them with some principle, it would not only be impossible for us to combine our isolated observations, and consequently to draw any benefit from them ; but we should also be unable even to retain them, and most frequently the important facts would remain unperceived. We are consequently 117 forced to theorize. A theory is necessary to ob- servation.*^^ In short, the seeker after truth has, as is well- observed, to fix his mind on the laws of nature in their sequence and connection ; on the truths which are acknowledged by the few, not on the opinions of the many. There is no part of truth, whether great or small, which he will dishonor; and in the least things he will discern the greatest. Keeping in view such method and law as these, of mental evolution, along with their own methods and laws Vedanta philosophers, blessed with the noblest gifts of nature and desiring to make the best and highest use of them, treat their sublime and elevating subject in such a manner as carries conviction home to the students and leads them to the truth. Their profound and luminous doctrines are so striking and satisfactory that when once they are grasped the reflective mind feels some difficulty in conceiving any other possible. They love truth and hate falsehood. They cannot rest in the multipli- city of phenomena, but are led by a sympathy in their own nature to the contemplation of the Ab- solute, Brahman, One of their methods for this is to proceed by regular steps to a system of universal knowledge, which infers the parts from the whole rather than the whole from the parts. ( ) The Universe, Emanation. All the visible and invisible Jagat, Emanation, 1. Lewes’ Biographical History of Philosophy^ pp. 646-7A Sir John Lubbock^s Hundred Books. 16. 118 Univerae, Samsdra (the endless cycle of birth, action and death ) proceeds from this Mkyk or Nescience. She is the seed of it. Samsdra is her effect, product. The Samsdra is thus described in the Bhagvad- Gitd : — ‘They speak of the indestructible — inexhaustible — eternal Advattha (fig-tree) with roots above and branches below.’ Qankara-Bhflshya thus explains this:— " Brahman, with its unmanifested potential energy ' of M^ya, is referred to by ‘above’, for it is unlimited in time, being the Cause, Eternal and Vast. Brahman is the root of this tree of Samsdra, and the tree is, therefore, said to be ‘with roots above . (He quotes) From the S'ruti: — “whose roots are above and branches below”, ( Katha Up. 111,2,1. ) In the Pu- rina also ( it is thus described ); — ‘The eternal — inexhaustible — tree of As'vattha ( Sa/msdra) has sprung from the root of Avyahta, the Unmanifested, and has developed by the strength of the same Unmanifested. Its trunk is Buddhi ( intel- lect, mind ), Indrtyas, the senses are its hollows, the great elements its boughs, the sense-objects its leaves, Dharma — merits and Adharma — demerits its fair blossoms, ( Sukha ) pleasure and ( Didikha ).