3tlfara, JJetn fork CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 Cornell University Library BL 1031.B36 Ideals of the East. 3 1924 023 008 240 ft'' If' %3 IDEALS OF THE EAST BY THE SAME AUTHOR. DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. With Portrait after Giotto. Fcp. 8yo, cloth, 2s. 6d. [Dilettante Series.^ IDEALS OF THE EAST HERBERT BAYNES, M.R.A.S. AUTHOR OF "THE IDEA OF GOD AND THE MORAL SENSE IN THE LIGHT OF LANGUAGE," " THE EVOLUTION OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT IN MODERN INDIA,'* ETC. LONDON SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., LiM. PATERNOSTER SQUARE 1898 \n1 ^lOH ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS. TO The Right Honourable The LORD REAY, G.C.S.I.. G.C.I.E., LL.D., PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, WHOSE NAME BY EAST AND WEST IS WELL BELOVED, THIS VOLUME, WITH MOST SINCERE RESPECT, 5b S»e&fcatc&. The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023008240 PREFACE. The Ideals of the East may be shortly classified as the ethical, the metaphysical, the theosophical and the religious. In many respects they differ from those of the West, but, for this very reason, are highly interesting and instructive. To the Occident we look for Law, to the Orient for Light. Believing that this Light is best expressed rhythmically, that poetry is the most fitting medium for rendering those lofty Ideals of Reason with which alone we are con- cerned, I have in each case given a metrical rendering of the original. The diction of the idealist, whether in India or Greece, is not that of the crowd ; it is one full of types and tropes, is essentially poetic. The work of the trans- PREFACE. lator should therefore surely be, so to interpret the Eastern Sage's thought, that the philosopher of the West may not be too conscious that the sublime ideas to which he is introduced are the outcome of a thinker wholly unlike himself both in language and in mind. Of the many examples of the religious aspira- tions of the ages I have chosen five, to the last of which all Ideals of Faith lead up, and in which alone we fully find " the way, the truth and the life ". H. B. CONTENTS. Chapter I. THE ETHICAL IDEAL:— PAGE The Noble Eightfold Path of Gautama, the Budd'^a , . . , I Chapter II. THE METAPHYSICAL IDEAL:— I. The Tao of the Chinese Sage Lao-26 . . i8 3. The Creation Hymn of the Rs'^is . , ,26 Chapter IH. THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL:— I. The B'=agavad-Gita 30 3. The Isa Upanis'^ad 35 3. The MANDttKjA Upanis"^ad 43 Chapter IV. THE RELIGIOUS IDEAL:— 1. D'^armadar^a, the Baudd'^a Confession of Faith 68 2. Zoroaster and the Sacred Name . . .78 3. Islam's AllAh 84 4. Semitic Monotheism 91 5. The Son of Man and the Ruler of the Jews . 95 Na tatra Suijo b^iti, na Kandia-tliTakam Na ima vidjuto b'^Snti, kuto 'jam agnih. Tam eva b^antam anub'^ati sarvam, Tasja b^clsi sarvam idam vib'^iti. Kat"=aka Upanis'^ad, v. 15. Kcd 71 v^Kts oil ^^iav ex^i rod 7i\iov ou5e ttjs ffe\'fiVTjs, tya tpcduovo'iv auTp . ^ yap S6^a toS eeoC iiptirurev aMiv, Kal i \vxros oir^s rh 'Apvtov. Apoc. xxi. 23. Chapter I. THE ETHICAL IDEAL. Anikkasavo kjlsdvam jo vatf^am paridahessati Apeto damasak'k'ena na so kasavam arahati. Whoso from lust and lies is not yet free Of yellow robe can never worthy be ! — D'^AMMAPADAM, i., Q. THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. As a purely ethical ideal, there is nothing surpassing the Noble Eightfold Path described by S&kja-Muni, Gautama, the Budd'^a, at least 500 years before the Christian era. The circumstances under which this ideal was set forth to the world are most memorable, but, in order to fully appreciate them, we must glance at the main features of the Indian teacher's life. Gautama, Sidd'^rt'^a, the Tat^dgata, was born in THE ETHICAL IDEAL. Kapilavastu, a city about ninety-three miles north- east of Benares, on the river Rdhini, now known as Kdhana, on a Friday of the year 623 B.C. He was the son of King Sudd'^ddana and Queen Maja who ruled over the Sikjas at the foot of the Himaiaja. Alarmed at the prophecy of Kalad^vila, who, coming from the Himavanta forest soon after the prince's birth, threw himself down at the foot of the child and exclaimed : " Truly this child will become a complete and absolute Budd'^a," his father used every means in his power to hinder its fulfilment, for he wanted Prince Sidd'^art'^a to become a world-ruling monarch. So he had three palaces built for his son, one for each of the three Indian seasons, surrounded by wide gardens and groves and beautiful parks, in which were cool grottoes and exquisite flowers, above all the lily and the lotus. Here, amongst the noble of the land, the young prince lived far from the toil and turmoil of the world, knowing nothing of pain, disease or death. In his sixteenth year the king gave him in marriage to Princess Jas6d'^ara, the daughter of King Suprabudd'^a, and THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. in due time a son was bom to make their happiness complete. But in the course of his wanderings in the parks and gardens he saw four remarkable phe- nomena, which led him to meditate deeply on the nature of life, namely, an old man bowed by the weight of years, a sick man covered with sores, a putrefying corpse and a venerable mendicant monk. These facts had such a depressing effect upon him, convincing him not only of the mortality and relativity of all human knowledge but also of the sadness and illusiveness of life, that he thenceforth renounced all the pomps and vanities of a Royal House and the cares of State, and devoted himself to the investigation of the causes of sorrow, death and re-birth, and of the means to be used for their extinction. Like the venerable monk who appeared to him, he resolved to leave the world and go forth into the wilderness. One night, at the age of twenty-nine, he left palace, wife and child to begin the life of a hermit. Having come to the river Anoma, he cut off his long, beautiful hair, and gave his arms, trinkets and horse to his faithful Kanna, THE ETHICAL WEAL. charging him to tell the King and Princess Jasod'^ara what had become of him. Seven days he stayed on the banks of the Andma, changed his raiment for that of a passing beggar and made pilgrimage to Rag'agrha, the capital of the kingdom of Magad'^a. Near here lived two pandits, Alara and Uddaka, and to these learned men Gautama joined himself as a pupil. They taught that the soul could be purified and salvation obtained by means of prayers, sacrifices and religious rites. Gautama performed all the ceremonies but failed to find peace. There were, however, certain Br^hmans who preached mortification as the way to salvation ; so Gautama tried to live according to their rules, burying himself in the thick forest of Uruvela and practising the most severe auster- ities. Here, at Budd'a Gaja, five disciples came to him, namely, Kaundinja, B'addag'i, Vappa, Mahanama and Assag'i. For nearly six years this little company remained in the Uruvela forest, until, one night, after much THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. fasting and watching, Gautama fainted and fell, his companions supposing him to be dead. At length he came to himself and soon became convinced that asceticism was a mistake. When he decided to take nourishment regularly his followers were offended and forsook him. Still the teacher went on pondering on the way to perfect enlightenment. One morning he bathed in the river Nerang'ara, took rice from the hands of a maiden named Sug'ata and felt refreshed and strengthened. The whole day he spent in meditation by the river's bank and, toward evening, went and sat under a mighty Nigrod'^a {ficus religiosa), ever since called by the Sramanas Bod'^i, i.e., Enlightenment, where, at the end of seven days, he became Sammasam- budifa, " the wholly Enlightened," and attained Nirvana. Then he arose and went to the fig-tree Ag'apala. Under this tree Mara, the Tempter, came to him and said : — " Now enter peace eternal, O Sublime One ! Thou hast beholden truth, difficult to obtain, bringing joy THE ETHICAL IDEAL. and bliss, which alone is revealed to the wholly- Wise. Why linger on earth? Mankind is given up to worldly pursuits, and only finds pleasure therein. The sublime World-Order, the law of con- catenation of cause and effect it will not grasp ; it will not hear the doctrine of denying the will to live, of curbing the passions and of the way to salva- tion. Abstain, then, from proclaiming the doctrine and enter everlasting peace ! " " Away with thee. Wicked One ! " said the Budd'^a, " I shall not enter eternal peace until the saving doctrine is firmly rooted in the hearts of my followers, until I have made disciples who, when I am gone, shall preach the way of salvation to all such as are pure in heart and of good will, so that the truth may be spread abroad over the whole world, to the joy and blessing of all people, to the weal, comfort and salva- tion of gods and men." Then the Tempter left him. But Gautama stayed three weeks more under this fig-tree, enjoying the bliss of emancipation and perfecting in all its parts the teaching of the Enlightened. During these twenty- THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. eight days he was quite alone and took neither food nor drink. Then he arose and said : — " Open is the gate of salvation ; whoso hath ears, let him hear the doctrine and believe ! " Curiously enough, the first people to join the Noble Order of the Yellow Robe were those same five ascetics who left Gautama because he had given up self-mortification. Budd'^a happened to meet them in the Mrgadava forest near Benares, At first they were not inclined to follow the teacher, as they looked upon him as an apostate, but the dignity of his appearance and the look of peace upon his brow had such an effect upon them, that, against their will, they made obeisance and hearkened to his words. The Budd'^a's first sermon, preached to these Brah- man J6gis in the deer-park Isipatana at Benares, is one of the most remarkable discourses of all time. It was in this that he invited all the world to tread the Noble Eightfold Path, which alone leads to Nirvana. In the British Museum there is a very fine MS. of this discourse, which is known as D^armak' akrapravar- tana Siitra, or Sermon on the Foundation of the THE ETHICAL IDEAL. Kingdom of Righteousness. To all Baudd'^as it is as dear as the Sermon on the Mount is to ourselves. In the metrical translation which follows we have striven to give alike the spirit and the letter of the original, very little having been added to the actual words of the Siitra, except by way of introduction. This sermon made such an impression upon the five ascetics that they recognised in Gautama, the Budd"^a, the Enlightened One, and longed to become his disciples. And they did in fact become the first of the Brotherhood of the Chosen (Samg^a), the Budd'^a receiving them with the words : " Come hither, Brethren. Well proclaimed is the doctrine: hence- forth walk in holiness, to put an end to all sorrow ! " Of these five disciples the aged Kaundinja (Kon- danna) was the first to secure the pure and spotless eye of truth, to reach the fourth and highest stage of holiness, whereby he became an Arhat and obtained Nirvana. The other four soon followed. After these came a youth of noble family named Jasa. But not only Brihmans and men of high degree, the common people heard him gladly, for, unlike the Brihman THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. priests, Gautama made no distinction of caste, rank or position, but preached salvation to all. At the end of five months the number of followers already amounted to sixty, not including the lay adherents. And now for the first time in the history of the world we have the manifestation of a missionary religion. The Buddha called upon the brethren to assemble and directed them to wander one by one into the world to spread the enlightening truth. " Ye are free," said the teacher, •' from all bonds, human and divine. Go forth, then, brethren, preach the doctrine for the well-being and salvation of all beings, out of pity for the world, to the joy, blessing and salvation of gods and men. There are many who are of pure heart and good will, but, unless they hear the saving doctrine, they will perish. These will become your adherents and confessors of the truth." Some of the earliest members of the Brotherhood were relatives of the Buddha, namely, Rahula, his son, Ananda, his cousin, Devadatta, Upali and Anurudd'^a. Besides these the most distinguished THE ETHICAL IDEAL. disciples of the Enlightened were Saripfitra, Maud- galjijana and Kasjapa. In the eight fine months of the year the Budd'^a and his followers went as missionaries from village to village, from city to city and from land to land, warning, preaching and teaching. The four months of the rainy season the teacher always spent at one place, either at the house of a follower or in the gardens and groves which were presented to the Brotherhood by rich adherents. Most frequently he stayed in the bamboo forest of VeWvana, near Rag'agrha, once a park which King Bimbis^ra had given to the Order, and in the G^ta grove, close to Sravasti, a gift of the rich merchant Anaf^apindika. In both Viharas, or monasteries, were built for the B'^ik'^sus. These places have since become famous in the history of the Baudd'^a religion, as it was here that most of the discourses recorded in the Trpitaka were delivered. Altogether the Budd'^a preached forty- five years. His last words to the Sramanas, spoken before the gates of Kusinagara, as he was about to enter parinirvina, were : " Brethren, be ever mindful THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. of my injunction : All that is, passes away ; strive without ceasing after salvation ! " Before giving the sermon on the Path it may be well to say a few words about the temple and en- closure at Gaja. To followers of this gentle teacher the four most sacred places are Kapilavastu (now B'^iiila), where he was born ; Isipatana, close to Benares, where he first preached ; Kusinagara, where he died ; and Gaj^, where he attained Nirvana. Of these four undoubtedly that which most appeals to Baudd'^as all the world over is the last — Budd'^a Gaja, about fifty-seven miles from Patna. It was here that King As'dka erected a noble temple, now almost the sole surviving shrine of all those 84,000 which were built to the memory of Gautama, the Buddha, 218 years after the Nirvina. "Beyond the little village of mud huts and the open space where dogs and children and cattle bask together in the dust," says Sir Edwin Arnold, " beyond the Mahant's College and yonder great fig-tree which has split with its roots that wall, twelve feet thick, built before England had ever been discovered, is an abrupt THE ETHICAL IDEAL. hollow in the surface, symmetrical and well-kept, and full of stone images, terraces, balustrades and shrines. It is oblong — as big, perhaps, altogether as Bedford Square, and surrounded on its edges by small houses and buildings. From one extremity of the hollowed area rises with great beauty and majesty a temple of very special style and design. The plinth of the temple is square, with a projecting porch, and on the top of this soars to the sky a pyramidical tower of nine storeys, profusely embellished with niches, string courses and mouldings, while from the trun- cated summit of this an upper pinnacle rears itself, of graceful form, with a gold finial, representing the amalaka fruit. A smaller pyramidical tower stands at each corner of the roof of the lower structure, and there is a broad walk round the base of the Great Tower. Over the richly worked porch which fronts the East a triangular aperture is pierced, whereby the morning glory of the sun may fall through upon the gilded image seated in the sanctuary within.'' A little beyond the temple is what is dearer still, namely, the Bdd^i-Manda, a square platform of stone, about a THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. 13 yard high from the ground, out of which a tree grows. It is the great representative of the famous Nigr6d'^a under which, " in the full moon of Vesak," 2484 years ago the Tat'^agata thought out the eight parts of the Noble Path which leads to Arhatship, and the ten fetters or temptations which hinder the pilgrim from following the same. Under this tree sits to-day not a Baudd'^a but a Saiva priest exclaiming : Gajd ! Gajd Sirsa ! Bod^i Gaja ! For more than 1400 years this Gaja wholly belonged to the Baudd'^as and was under their control, but in the thirteenth century, when the Tat'^agata's teaching was forgotten in India and passed over to Eastern Asia, this Place of Mah^ Bod'^i became neglected and for- saken. About 300 years ago a pilgrim Saiva Samn- jasin happened to pass this way, and the spot, hal- lowed by religious association, seemed to the ascetic a suitable place in which to settle and to call round him others who had taken the vow of renunciation. The result has been the formation at Buddha Gaja of a College of Saiva Brihmans, presided over by the Mahant. In order to restore this interesting spot to 14 THE ETHICAL IDEAL. real followers of the Budd'^a a movement was set on foot some six years ago by Sir Edwin Arnold, which has since developed into the many-branched MahEl Bdd'^i Society with representatives in China, Japan, Mongolia, Assam, Korea, Kambodia, Siam, Burma, Arakan, Nepal, Tibet and Ceylon. But now to the Sermon on the Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness, wherein is set forth the BuddVs Ethical Ideal of the Noble Eightfold Path.i Isipatana — word of wondrous thought To weary wanderers on life's fitful way The low-born and the high, who truly sought To reach the end of sorrow and decay Here met the Master in the Mango grove And heard him speak of pity, peace and love I For, scarcely had Sidd'^sirta donned the dress Of great renunciation and release And gone with alms-bowl so from door to door When lo ! a little band, in truth not more Than five, half doubting, half convinced, in peace Of pious purpose, brooding deeply, less In doubt than in surprise, approached the gate Whereby the Teacher entered the wild wood Beloved of the gazelle. Ah I happy time When thus together, slowly they did clime 1 For a prose translation I may refer the reader to that of Prof. Rhys Davids in the nth volume of the Sabred Books of the East. THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. 15 The slope of Mrgadava and then stood Expectant, eager, all too glad to wait ! And so that quiet forest by the shrines Of Varanasi saw the first of him Yclept the Sakja lion, and those Five Of lofty birth, who all, to reach alive The goal, abandoned wealth and filled the brim Of abnegation, all along the lines Which faithful Jogis follow fearlessly. At length when all were seated, he began Whose name in many tongues is honoured still. And these the words, like moonlight on the sea Or flakes of falling snow, which lightly ran From heart to heart upon that sunlit hill : — O Brothers of the Yellow Robe, lay well To heart this potent truth, that you may tell The sons of sorrow-laden, sinful men, How all at last to peace may come, and then The end of birth and burdens, passion, pain : The world's release and everlasting gain ! Know then, that ev'ry traveller on the Path Two great extremes must daily shun. He hath Alone the truth of conduct, who has seen The sin of Sensuality, the queen Of sorrows and the crown of ills ; a low And loathsome way of life, whence still there flow Those floods of evil that surround the world And hinder so migrating souls, found hurled Far backward on the rushing stream of life And struggling strongly in the coils of strife. The other falsehood, too, though not so viTong, That folly of Self-Torture. Spirits strong Hereby are often led astray and lose. i6 THE ETHICAL IDEAL. Through constant laceration, power to choose High moral purpose and achievement, yea, All earnest aspiration. Who can say What noble souls by this have missed the truth And wasted talents in a fruitless youth ! But listen ! your Tat'^agata has found A middle way, which frees all spirits bound By falsehood of extremes, and gently leads To true emancipation, killing weeds Of selfishness and sin. To follow this Must mean for all mankind a lasting bliss, True peace of mind, and that consummate prize Nirvana, best of all. O lift your eyes. Behold the Noble Eightfold Path : right views, High aims, kind speech, wrong-doing to refuse An active mind, a harmless livelihood. Ecstatic longing after all things good. Yea, pure and perfect conduct ! This the road To saintship and to that supreme abode Where dwell the Arhants who have known Nirvan And call to constant thought Isipatan ! And I would have you know the verities, The Budd'^a said, profound and noble ; rise To these, O B'^ik'^sus, and attend to such As make for your eternal peace. How much On four of these depends ye soon will see, For I will set them forth full feelingly : All birth is sorrow— illness, age and death. To leave the dear, to miss one kindly breath Of love, to suffer what one must abhor, Nay, life itself is just the very core Of suffering, yea, this is sorrow's soul. THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH. 17 The second noble truth gives us the whole Of sorrow's cause : the will to constant life That leads from birth to birth and weary strife Of passions, longing after selfish bliss And individual happiness, 'tis this Which eats the heart of joy. O brothers, see With me the great, the saving verity 1 Deny the will to life, renounce the greed Of gain, and sow at once the goodly seed Of sorrow's ceasing : tread the Eightfold Path, Abandon folly, sufFring, ruth and wrath. Embrace the saintly calling, know Nirvan And call to constant thought Isipatan ! Chapter II. THE METAPHYSICAL IDEAL. 1. THE TAO OF LAO-ZO. Metaphysical speculation in China really begins with Lao-Zo, who, according to the great historian So-Ma-Zien, was born at Ku-s'en in the state of Ku, in the third year of the reign of Tin Wan, of the Kau dynasty (606-585 B.C.). He was named Er and surnamed Li. His style was Po-Jan and his nick- name or posthumous title was Tan. Lao-Tan is the name by which Confucius usually refers to him. Being a diligent student he soon obtained a good appointment under the Kau govern- ment. As '^sau-zan-'^si-k'i-'^si or keeper of the records at Loh, an office corresponding to that of our Master of the Rolls, this ancient philosopher had not only every facility for consulting the annals of the past, (18) THE TAO OF LAO-ZO. 19 but many opportunities of meeting with the best hearts and minds of his time. Whilst in residence at the Court of Kau he was visited by two young men of parts, who had come in a carriage and pair from the far state of Lu, to learn from the aged master the weighty lore of a bygone age. One of these was the great Kun Kju or Con- fucius and the other his friend Kin-'^Su. The former is alleged to have expressed his keen regret that neither mankind in general nor rulers in particular would listen to his exhortations to return to the good old paths. Whereupon Lao-Zo exclaimed : " If it be known that he who talks errs by excess in arguing, and that he who hears is confused by too much talk, the Path can never be forgotten ". But, according to Kwan-Zo, Confucius was fifty-one before he went to see his former teacher, and retired from the interview disconcerted at the master's bold flights of imagina- tion, " soaring dragon-like above the clouds to Heaven ! " Concerning the latter years of our philosopher's life much uncertainty prevails. It is said that on THE METAPHYSICAL IDEAL. retiring from office he went westward intending to pass through the Han-ku-kwan to the Kwan-lun mountains and, if possible, to Arj^varta. But Jin-Hi, the keeper of the pass, who had been expecting a sage to come that way, constrained Lao-Zo to stay and teach him. This study of the Path was mutually interesting and satisfactory, but, at length, they had to part, and, at the pupil's request, the master left with his friend 5000 words on Tao and Te. It is not at all likely that Lao-Zo himself committed anything to writing. What probably happened was that the master taught the disciple, who then related to Wen- Zo and others the views of the former, until at last they came to be enshrined in the eighty-one short chapters of what is now known as the Tao-te-Kin, the Classic of the Ideals of Reason. Before attempting a definition of Tao or Td we must try to realise the course of thought which led up to Lao-Zo's standpoint. Primitive man conceives the Kosmos as a dualism, and indeed, by the law of relativity, the very granite of his thought, language itself, obliges him so to do. THE TAO OF LAO-ZO. Things first presented themselves to human thought and feeling as matters to be enjoyed or suffered, longed for or declined, rather than as objects of con- templation. Many are the tongues which know great and small, much and little, good and bad, hot and cold, but few indeed are the early idioms having words for quantity, temperature, conduct. And the great facts of nature — day and night, heaven and earth, male and female, life and death — would seem to confirm mankind in this dualism. Now in China this primary dualism from time immemorial has been known as /en and /an, by which are understood earth and heaven, darkness and light, male and female, motion and rest. These were symbolically represented by Fuh-hi, the founder of the Middle Kingdom (2852-2737 B.C.), by a broken and a whole horizontal line : and . But the human mind could not rest there. It sought unity, some all-embracing subsumptive principle, and in China found it in man himself— TJ-avTcov fierpov avOpMiros, in the ancient doctrine of the Tao. As long ago as 1876 the late Prof. Von der Gabelentz THE METAPHYSICAL IDEAL. pointed out that the oldest really historical account of the Jen and Jan mentions in the same breath with these principles the Tao. In the "Su-Kin (pt. 3, bk. XX., par. 5), the Emperor Kin of the Kau dynasty (1043-1006 B.C.) commands three of his highest ministers " to consider the Tao, to rule the states and to carefully harmonise the Jen and the Jan ". Here there can be little doubt that the word is used in its primary sense of Path, according to the radical of the Chinese character. The advisers of the Crown were to follow the course laid down by the good and the great of all ages, so as to govern wisely and to bring into harmonious relations things by nature opposed. Then comes the philosopher. Reflecting upon life's contradictions and the manifold antinomies of thought, he seeks some principle of reconciliation, soon discovering that thinking is a synthesis of thesis and antithesis in rapid alternation. This Lao-Zo found in his theory of the Tao, and Kau-Z6 in his doctrine of the Tai-Ki. The truth would seem to be that originally Tao was the Way in the general meaning of road along THE TAO OF LAO-ZO. 23 which all travellers pass, that at the hands of such a thinker as Confucius it received an ethical colouring, in the sense of the Way of the Heart or Conscience, and that, finally, a metaphysician like Lao-Zo raised the intension of the concept so as to signify the reconciliation of contradictions. In the '■S'd Kin we read of the Wan Tao or Royal Road, which is just and right, and leads to perfection. Again, " the great Road is plain and straight, but bad men choose devious winding paths ! (Ta Tao fun min Ki, Kjen sin ^Kju, ^Kju hin)". In the second chapter of the same book there is a transition to the " Way of the head," so that Tao is here equivalent to Ao'io'i. " The heart of man," we read, " is full of rocks, but the heart of the Ideal of Reason (Tao) is simple and hidden. Be pure, be simple, and ever keep to the just mean ! " To him who was pre-eminently a transmitter and not a maker, a moralist rather than a metaphysician, it was always the ethical aspects of a question that were most interesting and important. Hence with Kun, the master, Tao is the " way of the heart," the 24 THE METAPHYSICAL IDEAL. moral sense, the categorical imperative or guiding principle. To follow the Tao is to pursue the right course of conduct, to choose what the man to whom the Voice comes conscientiously believes to be the best. Thus in the Lunju we meet with the remark- able words (bk. iv., cap. 8) : — If a man hear the Tao in the morning, he may die at night with- out regret. To define the Tao as conceived by Lao-Zo is by no means easy. It is cosmic emotion which cannot be uttered ; a many-coloured wordless thought. In some passages it is the moral Order of the World, and corresponds to the Vedic Rta, the A'^sa of the Avesta, though this thought was only fully developed by the Aryans. Such a view of Righteousness as is shown in the following Mantra of the Rg-veda (ii., 28, V.) is unknown to Chinese literature : — Vi mat s'raf^aja ras'anSm iva agah rd'^jam te Varuna "^K^m Rtasja | Ma tamtuh "^Kedi vajatah d'^ijam me ma mltra s'ari apasah pura Rt6h |{ From sin, yea, from the net, O set me free. That I may open up the fount of right : Let not devotion's thread be out of sight Nor break the staff that leads the soul to thee 1 THE TAO OF LAO-ZO. 25 Nor is the Tao ever spoken of as the " well-spring of Righteousness," an expression used of Haoma in the Avesta (A'^sahe '^Kio). Nevertheless it is an ideal of Reason which implies evolution and makes for Progress. In the following poetic rendering of Lao-Zo's thought we have strung together different passages from the many chapters of the great classic. Far down the ages, past our power's recall, In silence, 'mid the gentle flush and fall Of space and time, where all is dim surmise. The nameless secret of Existence lies ! So far transcending all the sages taught Is this, the hidden spell, a wordless thought. It is a viewless principle of all ; No human eyes upon its features fall : Upon the key-board of its thought is heard No sound or tremor, but one voiceless word Of wonder, which the human soul has sought, Best known to man's high consciousness as " ought ". Before the firmament, the hills, the plains. This secret was, and is, and aye remains ! And if, o'erleaping prudence, man demand A name, lo ! one alone can truly stand As adumbration — Tao, march of mind. The silent, watchful Purpose ; yea, that kind Of crescive Spirit which is with us still. And sometimes worketh good, and sometimes ill I 26 THE METAPHYSICAL IDEAL. In days so potent, so divinely rare, Such thoughts as " I " or " thou " and " he " were there As weighty seed, which forthwith 'gan to clime Along the pillared halls of growing Time. To-be and not-to-be together lay, And all we know is : both began to play Upon the plastic possibilities Of sperm and germ and coruscating skies. The spirit of the valley sought the soul Among the peaks : the part knew not the whole, But there was life in the profound abyss. And more we know not, only this, yea, this ! 2. THE CREATION HYMN OF THE RS'IS. The hymns of the Rg-v6da are, for the most part, sung to gods which, alike from the etymology of their names and the character of their myths, are obviously personifications of the forces and phases of nature. And in India these physical deities have always been regarded as the guardians of moral order and the good government of the world. Such a mantra as that ad- dressed to Varuna, which was cited in the Introduc- tion to the Tao, implies a high standard of ethical feeling. At the same time the moral character of the THE CREATION HYMN OF THE RS^IS. 27 gods themselves, with the one exception of Varuna, is little developed, and this is perhaps the reason, as Prof. Deussen well observes, of the rapid decadence of the V6dic pantheon. It is not long before a certain scepticism appears ; gods and priests are both derided, and one poet actually exclaims: "There is no Indra! " Yet, side by side with this growth of doubt we find the germs of philosophic reflexion. There is a feeling after that eternal Unity upon which all the gods, all worlds and things depend. Now this striving after the One finds expression in two very remarkable hymns, one in the first Mandala (164), and the other in the tenth (129), which is our Hymn on the beginning of things. It is generally ascribed by the Rs^is to Prag'apati Parame'^st'^in, but in all likelihood it is the composi- tion of more than one poet and originally consisted of more than the seven mantras which have come down to us. As regards its date we may perhaps place it at about 1000 B.C. For majesty of expression there is hardly anything to equal it, especially that wonderful line — 28 THE METAPHYSICAL IDEAL. AnSt av^tam svad'^ajS. tad Ekam. The One alone breathed breathless, waiting, self-profound ! This unity having once been formulated, attempts were made to conceive it under a more concrete form, as Prag'^pati, Vis'vakarman, Brahmanaspati, Puru'^sa. Hence the singularly noteworthy fact that, in India, the abstract preceded the concrete, for we can follow these conceptions through the Brahmanas and hymns of the At'^arva-V^da until they are finally merged in the Brahman-Atman doctrine of the Upanis'^ads. CREATION HYMN. The birth of Time it was, when yet was naught nor aught, Yon sky was not, nor heaven's all-covering woof ; No life, no death, no amplitude of breath was sought In those primeval days. What clouded all ? what roof Of many-twinkling eyes, if need of such could be ? Unknown alike were sun and moon ; no light or sound E'er broke the awftil sameness of that vast, wan sea ; The One alone breathed breathless, waiting, self-profound 1 Beyond It lay the void, a chasm deep and wide, A darkness hid in darkness — gloom in depth of gloom. So sullen and so soulless was this early tide, Like death's dread image in the prospect of the tomb. Then rent the chaos-wrapped It th' eternal veil Of its own nothingness, and, by evolved force Of inner fervour, grew. And first in all the scale THE CREATION HYMN OF THE RS'^IS. 29 Of being rose that subtle spring named Love, whose course Connected naught with entity^a linked joy ! This radiating gladness, beam of purest light, Suffused, translucent, bringing bliss without alloy — Who, lost in thought, did win it from the infinite ? Then fecundating powers arose and energized above. Whilst freighted germs burst forth beneath and mighty forces strove. The secret of it all — proclaim it boldly he who can : Who made the heavens then ? and who, forsooth, quick-feeling Man ? No gods were there to say : who then can know or half foretell The unravelling of this mighty universal spell ? Whether by Will or of Necessity arose this earth. He of high heaven alone can tell, who knows nor death nor birth. Or haply even He knows not 1 Chapter III. THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. 1. THE B^AGAVAD-GITA. Throughout the length and breadth of India no work is so popular with the higher castes as the B^agavad-Gtta or Song Celestial. Its familiar Samskrt has been translated into nearly all the vernaculars ; in fact, to know the Gita is to get ready access to the Hindft heart. It is held in esteem alike by Brahmans and Baudd'^as, and even here in the West Wilhelm von Humboldt thanked God that He had let him live long enough to get to know this book. Yet its real author is wholly unknown. It is a dramatic poem not altogether unlike some of Plato's dialogues, and lies hidden like a pearl in the great ocean of the Indian epic — Maha B'^^rata. Perhaps we should not be far wrong in assigning (30) THE B^AGAVAD-GITA. 31 its place between the Upanis'^ads and the sastras of the modern theistic movements in India. The speakers in the dialogue are the two principal persons of the Mahi B'^arata, namely, Arg'una and Krs'^na. In the great war which arose between the two families of the sons of Pindu in the contention for the kingdom of Hastinipura, Krs'^na, who was said to be related to both sides, refused to take up arms for either party, but agreed to act as Arg'una's charioteer, and to advise him. When the poem opens, the two contending armies are drawn up in battle array, and, as he looks round upon so many of his relatives, Arg'una is struck with " ayenbite of inwyt ". He confesses his remorse, confiding in Krs'^na, here an incarnation of the Supreme Being, whose answer really constitutes this most remarkable theosophical poem. Nowhere has the world-old struggle between light and darkness, good and evil, the spiritual and the animal been more beautifully described. Arg'una (mankind) finds himself on the battlefield of human action between two opposing armies, the higher spiritual faculties (P^ndavas) and 32 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. the lower animal tastes (Kurus), and the Gita tells us how the holy influences (sradd^a, b^akti, jud'^i'^stira) of the great Spirit (Krs'na) prevail, how the human may- become divine 06ga). We here render two of the most characteristic scenes — Krs'^na's address and Arg'una's reply. KRS^NA'S ADDRESS TO ARG'UNA. Where'er, Arg'una mine, I am By mortal man discerned, and where In me alone the universe Is known, from him I ne'er depart. Now, therefore hearken unto me. And unto meditation tune Thy willing heart : — Naught of beginning do I know, The ancient Sage am I, Ruler And All-sustainer. In fashion Like to none ; than subtlest atoms More minute ; cause of the great All ; Created by me and dissolved ; All things therein, like pearls upon A string, on me do hang. The light In sun and moon am I, darkness From me is far removed ; in flame The brilliancy, of lights most pure, The subtle voice in ether, and earth's Own fragrance ; the seed eternal THE B^AGAVAD-GITA. 33 Of existing things, the life in all : Forefather, friend, and mother of the world. Husband, lord, upholder : I am Its refuge and its way, its habitation And receptacle, its witness — I. Both victory and energy Know thou in me ; the Universe I watch with eyes both here and there. With face this way and that. As wisdom in the heart of all I dwell. The Goodness of the good Am I, Beginning, Middle, End — e'erlasting Time. I am the Birth, the Death of all. Among the symbols I am ever A, The whole creation is of me a part. In act, or rite, or taking food, In giving to the poor, in off'ring Holy sacrifice, or deed of holy Penance, do it e'en all to me ! The lowly e'en, and of no rank, May find the way to perfect holiness If they will rest in me ; far more Canst thou, a soldier-prince, a Brahman, Come to me. Be not, then, cast down ; From all thy sins I will deliver thee. O think on me, have faith, adore ! And yoke thyself in meditation unto me. So, to my blest abode thou shalt attain. Where Sun and Moon do never lend a ray, For, know in me, its everlasting day ! Then follows Arg'una's reply : — 3 34 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. VISION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM. Clothed in a robe of purest love And exquisite translucency, Infinity of form revealed, Thee, mighty Lord of all, I see. Like to the sun with glory crovi^ned. Knowing nor first, nor last, nor golden Mean, pervading earth and sky in thy Immensity, thou, the everlasting Man, dost e'er preserve imperishable Law ; the threefold world is stricken At this stupendous vision of thy form, Infinite love and infinite delight ! To thee alone the universe bows down, In thee, the one, it doth the Godhead own. And crave thy mercy — the Deity shown ! Before thee flee the spirits of the night, In terror driven by the breath of heaven. The Company of Holy Ones adore thee — Thee, of all Most High, the first Creator, Eternity's lord, all knowing, but unknown. Infinitely vast thou comprehendest all, — Thou art the All. E'en as the rivers In the mighty Deep, so lose themselves In thee earth's greatest men, blending At last with essence all-divine. A thousand songs of joy to thee be sung From everywhere around by every tongue Above, behind, before. All hail ! thou All ! Once more and yet again I worship thee. Take pity and forgive that I, unwittingly. Did e'er presume to call thee firiend ; and where In thought or word I have come short, oh I pardon THE ISA UPANIS^AD. 35 Me. Before thee prostrate do I fall, In silence worshipping the God of gods ; Father alike of quick and dead, e'en as a father Bear with me, or as a lover with his cherished one. Great is indeed my fear, as now I see Thee as in truth thou art — the habitation Of the Universe : once more to me thy human form display, For never was such ecstasy as I have seen to-day 1 2. THE ISA UPANIS'=AD. This " rahasja " of the Vlc'ASANfijiNS, which is one of the shortest of these ancient treatises, forms the last chapter of the later collection of the Jag'urvSda called SUKLA, " white," and may be said to be the companion to the Kat^A Upanis'ad, which belongs to the earlier collection of the same VMa called Krs'^NA, " black ". The Vdg'asaneja SanthitA is ascribed to Rs^i Jig'navalkja and called Sukla because the Mantra portion is kept distinct from the Brihmana, whereas in the older Taittirija-Samhita of Vais'amp^jana the separation between the Mantras and the Br^hmanas is greatly obscured, if not alto- gether lost. Hence its name Krs'^na. 36 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. Like the Talavakcira of the Sdma Veda our Upani- s'^ad is also known by the first word of the first Man- tra, which in this case is Is'a. There is great uncer- tainty about the text, not only as to the number, but also as to the order of the Mantras, and even as to the Sinti-pit^a. The text we have used is that of the Allahibad edition {Samvat 1945). Of all the Upanis'^ads the Vag'asaneja is perhaps the most spiritual. It has been more than once trans- lated into English prose, but we venture to think that, excellent as these translations often are, notably those by Dr. Roer and Prof. Max Muller, we shall never rightly appreciate such majestical Mantras of the aspiring Spirit until we strive to render them into verse. After invoking the divine blessing upon the reverent aspirations of both master and pupil, the RsS begins by boldly stating the sublime truth, so familiar to us in the words of the Hebrew poet, that " the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein ". This is all the more remarkable because the word used is not Brahman or Atman, but THE ISA UPANIS^AD. 37 the far more personal Is'a. It is the very secret of B^akti-g'ig'nasa. a very similar thought, though with a more pantheistic tendency, is exquisitely ex- pressed in the Gtta : — Samam sarves"^u bhutes'^u tis'^tantam Parames'varam Vinas'jatsvavinas'jantam jah pas'jati sa pas'jati. Samam pas'jan hi sarvatra samavasf^itamis'vara Na hinastjatmanatmanam tato jati param gatim. In all things dwells the Lord supreme, Undying, when they cease to be. Whoso can look beyond the dream And know Him — he indeed can see : The Self within he cannot wrong. But treads the Path serene and strong I Then we are told how the traveller on the Path must know the secret of vairdgja, of action without attachment. Having once seen that the world is in the Lord, we must not set our affection upon things that pass, but rather strive after the Heart of things and find that He is our Pearl. Rs4 and Sufi agree in this, that Kullu S'^ejin halikun ilia vag'hu-hu, All things shall perish save His face ; and can exclaim together : — 38 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. Tuia si Kungara-i-ars"^ mi-sanand safir : Na dUnamat ki dar in K'^ikdan k'e uftadast. From God's high throne in love to thee they call, This dust-heap and thy goods abandon all 1 The B^agavad-Gita says that there are four classes of men who seek refuge in God : the oppressed, those who seek truth, such as are impelled by good, and the wise. Of these, it says, the wise man who in uninter- rupted devotion consecrates himself wholly to the One, is the best, for he loves God above everything, and God loves him. So here, the man who by SxMA- SANJAMA jQga, voepa eVa^^ as Plotinus hath it, has found the vanity of this passing world, gives up wealth and earthly enjoyment for the deep, quiet gladness of a soul set free in God. With the great poet of the Middle Age he feels In la sua volontade e nostra pace, Ella e quel mare al qual tutto si muove Cio ch'ella cria e che natura face I His will having become one with the .supreme Will, he discovers the Divine in all his fellows and can never again look with contempt upon any member of the human race. Indeed, to the true jogin it must THE ISA UPANIS'^AD. 39 ever be a matter of profound sorrow, that any of God's creatures should so put out the light that is in them, as to be fit for nothing but those depths of sunless gloom where dwell those of whom Dante used to say : non ragioniam di lor, ma guar da e pass a ! And so the seer passes from Purus'^a to Pr^na, from Skamb'^a to Uk'k'is'^ta, until the goal is reached — Is'a, Lord of all, in whom he lives and moves and has his being. He discovers the meaning of Creation and sees how, from the foundation of the world, the All- Father has been assigning to His children their stations and duties. But the materialists, who see nothing in the dawn upon Himala peaks, in the brooding blue of the star- strewn sky, but a chance concatenation of a congeries of atoms ; who can behold, unmoved, the abundance of Nature in the tropical forest at noonday, who can watch the flight of a swallow, the play of the breeze in the summer-grass or the dainty dance of a shining sea and still proclaim : " No God ! " are of all men most miserable. We can almost hear the Rs^i weep as he utters these sorrowful s'lokas ! And, indeed, if 40 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. this were the last word of Indian wisdom we too might shed the tear for Arjavarta. But it is not. As in the Kabbala the devout Hebrew finds AnI to be the secret name of God, so here the Rs'^i rests at last in the great Aham, and the Upanis^ad ends with the exquisite thought of the unfolding of the infinite Spirit —6m, K'^am, Brahma— whose face is hidden in the golden veil of Truth ! By Om protected may we be ; 'Mid all our study, till it cease, Be softly chanted : peace ! peace ! peace ! Illumined in serenity ! O dweller 'neath these nether skies, To see how all things in accord Proclaim : " the world is in the Lord " Abandon wealth and lift thine eyes ! For life, if thine a hundred years. Must be naught else but faithful deed Without a thought of praise or meed. Escaping penitential tears ! To sunless regions 'neath the ground, Where dark and lonesome spirits hide, Go slayers of the soul, who slide From depth to depth without a sound ! More hidden, more soul-piercing far Than sight or hearing, taste or touch Is He, the great first Spirit, such As only sages know, fixed as the primal Star I THE ISA UPANIS^AD. 41 He wandereth not, yet moves about, Is far, but still for ever near : The world within is His, and clear His traces in the world without ! Beholding all things in the Soul, The Self in all the world around. We know no Sorrow, nor are found To lo'ok with scorn on Nature's scroll I He ev'rywhere is seen to be All-knowing Prophet, Poet pure, To each assigning, to endure. Reward of works eternally ! Ah I truly to be pitied they Who worship what they do not know, But most of all are full of woe Who grope in darkness through the day. For wisdom's life is of the heart, But folly's ever one of sense ; So say the sages, and the whence To them is known : they live apart. And he who truly masters these. In ignorance sees naught but death. In knowledge life, ay, lasting breath That to the spirit leads with ease ! O ye who find in atoms all The first and last of Nature's law. Ye worship blindly, and the awe Of things unseen — beyond your call ! For spirit's life is of the heart. But that of matter one of sense : So say the sages, and the whence To them is known : they live apart. 42 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. And he who realises this, Who dies to matter and who lives To spirit, he it is who gives Himself to everlasting bliss ! O Soul, sustained by ether free, Undying part of man's estate, Seed-sower, thou, ere 'tis too late. Just think : what shall the harvest be ? O Fire divine, by those fair ways That lead to good, us truly guide, And ward all evil from our side. That we may yield thee lasting praise I O Om, O Spirit infinite Whose face within the golden veil Of truth is hid : to thee all hail I Thou art our refuge, our delight I 3. THE MANDUKJA UPANIS^AD. Hiranmajena pitrena satjasja apihitam muk'^am Jah asau aditje purus'^ah sah as§.u aham 6m! K'^am! Brahma! Perhaps no class of metaphysical literature is likely to exercise so great an influence on future schools of thought in Europe as those mystical products of the Indian mind known as the Upanis'^ads. No less an THE MANDUKJA UPANIS^AD. 43 authority than Prof. Deussen does not hesitate to say : " Whatever, with growing knowledge, may be the final form of these and other parallels, they at all events prove what penetrating questions have been raised and in their way answered by the Indians, and what a mistake it is to exclude the philosophy of the Hindus from the philosophical curriculum. In the course of time this state of things must and will be altered." Prof. Max Miiller has contributed two volumes of translation of these ancient treatises to the Clarendon Press series, and, to judge alike from the friendly and the adverse criticism of which they have been the subject, interest in these matters is likely to grow rather than to diminish. Now the Mdndukja, which, in the opinion of com- petent pandits, best expresses in terse form the essential theosophy of India, does not form one of the aforesaid series. There is a short literal English translation of the work by Dr. Roer in the second volume of the Bibliotheca Indica, a similar prose rendering into German in his Indische Studien by 44 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. Prof. Albrecht Weber and into French by M. Reg- naud. But hitherto, at all events in Europe, this UpamYad has not received the attention which it undoubtedly deserves. It bears its name from an ancient Rs'^i called Manduka, the Frog, or from a school of Ak'^rjas of that name, the Mandflkja S&k'^i. Prof. Weber has pointed out that we read in the Prdtis'dkya of a Minduk^ja as one of the Rk grammarians. To fix the exact date of its composition seems quite impossible. It is certainly after that of the eleven classical Upanis'^ads, but we know it must have been before Giudap^da, the teacher of G6vinda, and before Samkara, the latter's pupil, who both wrote a commentary on the work, which is attached to the Afarva Veda. For a true understanding of the doctrine and history of Brah- man and as a preparation for the standpoint of the Upanis'^ads the Afarva Veda is most important. In the fifth Mandala we have a description of the origin of man, of the Vedic student as an incarna- tion of Brahman and of Brahman as the Breath THE MANDUKyA UPANIS^AD. 45 of Life, the World- Support and the Teleological Principle. Says the K''dnddgja (v., 18, 2) : "Of that Afarvana Veda the head is Suteg'as, the eye Vis'varupa, the hreath. prfagvartman, the trunk bahula, the bladder raji, the feet the earth, the chest the altar, the hairs the grass on the altar, the heart the gdrhapatja fire, the mind anvdhdrja fire, the mouth the dhavanya fire ''. The position taken up by the Mdndukja may be described psychologically, cosmologically and theo- logically, the idea being that the macrocosm and the microcosm are involved and evolved in the same way, the whole process being symbolised by Om, the real Brahman. It is the doctrine of AXMAN TRkAu^A or three-sheathed Soul. From a psychological point of view we have a representation of the states known as the conscious, the sub-conscious and the super-conscious, here called VAI^VA, TAIG'as and PRAG'NA, corresponding to the three Kds'as named annamaja, the sheath of nourishment, of the gross body ; g' dgradvdsand, the sheath of the subtle body ; and dnandamaja, the 46 THE THEOSOPHICAL IDEAL. sheath of bliss, of unity and liberty. In later books the qualities TAMAS, RAG' AS and SATTVA are similarly conceived and applied. According to Indian psy- chology ahamkdra, individuality, consists of SarIra the solid frame, INDRIJA the sensor nerves, MANAS the motor nerves, and Atman the subsuming and controlling Spirit, certain phases of Atman being sometimes distinguished as buddH the faculty of de- cision and kitta the faculty of memory. The Atm4, represented by our Upanis'^ad in three states, appears first of all as what metaphysicians of the older schools used to call BAHIS'^KARANA ; that is to say, the human spirit manifests itself through the physical temple in manifold activity of body and brain as kluK vAl^VANARA. The Atlantic cable and the telephone, the railroad and the ironclad, the T4g' Mahal, the statues and chryselephantine pro- ducts of Aegina, the MahAU^Arata and the Iliad, the Prometheus, Antigone and Hamlet, the Ninth Sym.phony and the Hym.n of Praise ; all the creations of genius, the highest achievements of science and of art come under this head. We have, in fact, the THE MANDUKJA UPANIS'^AD. 47 action and re-action of indrija and manas, resulting in the many-coloured activities of an ordered world. Pravrtti of PURUS^A or Vl^VA of Atman is thus the first modal expression of what Spinoza would call Natura naturans, the primary form of Natura naturata. In the second place we have NiVRTTi or Atman TAIG'ASA. This is the sub-conscious state, in which the soul withdraws from the outside world in order to pass in review the forms and fancies of the Kosmos known to 3.tm§. v&is'v&nara. It is ANTAHKARANA, the dream of the doer, the Maja of the mind. In the words of the great poet of the Middle Age, it is UfC alma sola, che vive e sente e si in si rigira. The third phase is the super-conscious, in which the ItmaN PRAG'NA beholds, as it were, its own apotheosis, the Many is resolved into the One, trkO^A is again f kakO^A, in the blissful state of sAmjAvast^a. Cosmologically the theory is that the universe, when it comes out of the Absolute, manifests itself 48 • THE THBOSOPHICAL IDEAL. from finer to grosser states in three stages and goes into the Absolute in the opposite way, and he who knows this secret, which has been symbolised by the threefold Om and by the Atman, becomes master of his own different states of existence and knows the truth. But the theological, or rather theosophical, stand- point is the really important one, to which the other two are altogether subsidiary. " I pray Thee, tell me Thy name" is the prayer of the poet in all ages, struggling, like another Jacob, with the thought that is within him. About the same time that Rs'^i Manduka was whispering this rahasja, the old Persian prophet Zarat'^us'^tra exclaimed {Ormasd YasH, i., V.) :— " Tell me Thy name, O holy Ahura Masda, that name which is the greatest, the best, the most beauti- ful, the most efficacious, the strokes of which are the most victorious, which succours best, which best con- founds the malice of demons and of men, that I may overcome both, and Jatus and Pairikas, so that none may destroy me ". THE MANDUKJA UPANIS'=AD. 49 After enumerating nineteen names Ahura Masda answered : — I am that I am ! Amongst the Greeks, too, who can forget the chorus in the Agametnnon of Aischylos ? ZetJs, (((TTiS TroT effriy, el t65' av — T^