Cover Story

Vedantism or The Religion of the More Intelligent of the Community- WJ Wilkins

To speak correctly, this is rather a system of philosophy than of religion; and whilst there are some Vedantists in philosophy who are really and truly polytheists and idolaters, still in the case of many it is their form of religion, and, as said above, may be taken as perhaps the form nearest to orthodox Hinduism from which the teaching of the sects has more or less departed.

What polytheism and the popular forms of Hinduism in their grosser forms are to the mass of the Hindus, Vedantism is to the educated and more intelligent and thoughtful. This system is generally ascribed at Vyasa, the great compiler of the Hindu scriptures, but was probably put into form about 5000 B.C. The Mahabharata gives an account of the way in which it was taught by Krishna to his friend Arjuna. Its main doctrines are as follows:

The nature and attributes of the Divine Being: The Vedanta teaches the unity of God. It speaks of Him as light, and declares that He is eternal, self-existent, immutable, perfect, incomprehensible, omniscient, almighty, formless, supremely happy, and the sustainer of all things. It is most curious to notice how the Hindus can hold these ideas respecting God, and yet at the same time entertain such directly opposite views respecting the various incarnations. Often have I heard men who were worshipping some of the gross representations of Deity declare Him to be formless, perfect, and pure. This string of the attributes of God is often on the lips of the Hindus, even the very ignorant, though their practice shows conclusively that they cannot realize their true meaning. Vedantism never speaks God as possessing power except when united to matter. It teaches that He is "within and without everything." The words of Vyasa are, "The Supreme Being is the material as well as the efficient cause of the universe"; and further, "an effect is not other than its cause." In showing that the supreme Brahma is at once cause-and-effect, he uses the following amongst other illustrations: "Hair, and nails which are insensible grow from a sensible animal body." "The sea and its waters are one, yet waves, foam, froth, & c., differ from each other." "As milk changes to curd, and water to ice, so is Brahma variously transformed and diversified."

Creation: As the Divine Being is essentially connected with matter, everything visible and invisible in the universe is but an emanation from the Supreme. Brahma is the first cause. He educes from himself the materials of creation, as the spider draws out the web from its own body. At first the work is carried on with only partial success by himself; afterwards he works through the Prajapatis, or progenitors.

Man: Man is said to consist of three parts: Spirit, which is an essential part of the Supreme Being; and two bodies, a grosser and a more sublimated or refined one. When the grosser body dies, the spirit still continues to inhabit the finer one, and by it the consciousness of its identity is preserved, and the person recognized after death. When the spirit is re-absorbed into Brahma, or re-born into the world, this finer body is supposed to vanish.

It should be noticed here that the idea of recognition after death is not at all commonly received by the Hindus generally. Their books teach, and the people generally believe, that as they bring no reminiscences of past lives into their present life, so they carry with them no memory of the present into any future life.

The Universe: The universe has three main divisions: Earth, heaven, and hades. Regarding the earth as the center, the seven parts of heaven are above , the seven of hades below. Of the seven above the earth, six are to continue for longer or shorter though definite periods, but the highest of all, called Satya Lok (the abode of truth), is eternal, in which there are four kinds of blessedness: Salokya, dwelling with God; Sarupya, likeness to God; Sayujya, union with God; and Nirvana, absorption into God. Of the parts under the earth, the lowest of all is called Patal, or hell, and is divided by some into 21, by others into 28 parts, the names of which correspond with the peculiar punishment inflicted there, or with the vices that there finds their peculiar punishment.

In this, as in other systems of Hinduism, a great deal is made of Maya, or illusion. It is owing to this illusion that men imagine themselves to be free agents, able to think and speak and act as they desire; whereas they are impelled by the divine forces to act as their Maker desires. All men are more or less under the influence of this Maya, and fancy themselves to be free; whilst in reality they are but parts of God, and are impelled by His subtle power to act in harmony with His will. All enjoyment and suffering is simply the result of illusion. And as a natural consequence it is taught that the universe will continue only for a limited time, after which it will be re-absorbed into the great Brahma from whom it emanated.

Salvation is gained through a recognition of the relation existing between the soul and God; when its identity with God is realized, absorption into the Deity will follow. Hence it is no uncommon thing to see Hindus continuing, through weeks and months, meditating on nothing; making the mind a complete blank under the impression that they are qualifying for the highest blessedness man can attain unto. Works of merit are inculcated because a certain amount of happiness in heaven is attached to their performance; whilst evil deeds will send a man to hell to suffer the penalties an almighty fiat has attached to them. But in both cases there will be the endurance of other lives on earth until the highest excellence is attained – viz., realization of oneness with the Supreme.

There is no moral law given in this system. Some acts are said to be good, others mixed, and others, again, evil; but these are not moral distinctions. Its followers are exhorted to be truthful, continent, careful of all forms of life, and forbidden to steal; but in as much as the Vedantists of the present day acknowledge deities worshipped as the incarnations of God, though they may not take an active part in the ordinary worship, it is evident that their moral nature cannot be well trained, for nearly all of these popular deities were guilty of the very acts that are forbidden by their system.

Having glanced at the tenets of what may, to a certain extent, be regarded as the ordinary creed of the orthodox Hindu, before passing on to notice the peculiarities of some of the more commonly known sects, to one or other of which the great mass of the Hindus belong, I shall give a very brief account of the sects that were in existence before the 14th century. It is a most interesting fact that there have come down to us two works, written about that time, with the express object of refuting the errors of these sects, from which we learn their peculiar tenets. It is interesting to notice how similar the history of religious faiths in India has been to that of other lands. The sects that in the 14th century were regarded as heterodox, with the exception of those concerned mainly in the worship of the female energies, are now regarded by the Hindus generally as orthodox.

<< Back