religion is free from all artificiality and fabrica-
tion. True religion is not merely an oral
profession. It is no mythology. It is a living
essence. It is highly practical. It is founded
on entire truth. It takes for its basis the har-
monious de^^elopment of all the faculties, the
righteous unfolding of all our capabilities of
knowing and being.
126 WISDOM OF THE RISHI3
Religion, true religion, consists in living a
life in Divinity: for,
"There's Divinity that shaj^es our ends.
"Rough-hew them how we will,"
To realize the existence of this divinity and
to feel its pre fence everywhere and at every
time with us, is the first lesson to be learnt in
religion. The Co ncepfioii that Nature, with her
immutable laws and inexhaustible energies, with
her infinity of forms and phenomena — is not aii-
edifice of "chance^" but has the positive fact
of an Ever- Active and Moving Principle diffused
throughout Nature for its basis, is the beginn-
ing of religion. When one has realized th:"s, and
in the jovous depths of his consciousness, can
exclaim/ "BY ONE SUPREME RULER IS
THIS UNIVERSE PERVADED,EVEN EVERY
WORLD IN THE WHOLE CIRCLE OF
NATURE," he is then fit to take a step further
and learn the lesson of individual reformation.
But the lesson of individual reformation is
liever received till man has learnt to penetrate
through the fleeting forms and phenomena of
Nature to Nature's God.
Nature widely spreads her evanescent charms
andfleeting beauties everywhere. Man is easily
misled by her alluring attractions and wild
enchantments to forget the Everlasting^ Eternal
God that resides in the interior of, and pervades
each of, her ephemeral productions. The
human mind, when as yet imdeveloped and
COMMENTABY ON UPANISHADS 127
unrefined is soon held in capti^^ty by the bon-
dage of sensuous phenomena of the world.
The gorgeous display of riches and wealth, the
pompous show of rank and dignity, and luxuri-
ant abundance of opulence, the licentious-
sensualisms of case and affluence, not unoften
unbalance the young unsophisticated mind,
and merge him into a sea of ivordly ambitions^,
and expose him to the earthly anxieties of Envy,
Passion, Jealousy, Hatred and Vice. Not sel-
dom is nipn thus blinded to the interests of his
everlasting life; and the true delight that ever
enters the bosom of devotee, who, while hold-
ing himself aloof from the affections of this
phenomenal world, contemplates tlie AJl-per-
vading God of the Universe in His bounteous
dispensation throughout Nature, is thus a
stranger to him. Man consequently, requires
to be reminded that this world is a fleeting show^
that the pleasures of senses are never perma-
nent, that an earthly life is a weedy garden
that never grows to seed, and that empty titles,,
names and honours, reaped in this world, will
not last long. Jt is wrong to hold out our
affections for things perishable. The Eternal,
the everlasting should engage our attention^
draw our affections, absorb our interest, and
excite our aspirations, for then alone, is true
delight possible.
Wouldst thou, man, flee from the evils of
this world, from the glamour of earthly pomp
128 WISDOM OF THE RISHIS.
and deception ? Woiildst thou get rid of envy»
passions, jealousy and hatred ? Wouldst thou
be released from the restraints, cares and anxie-
ties of earthly bondage ? Dost thou seek for
the pure, everlasting enjoyment of peace and
happiness? Then, -ENJOY PURE DELIGHT,
O MAN, BY ABANDONING ALL THOUGHTS
OF THIS PERISHABLE WORLD."
When thus conceived, what a blessing is
religion, pure religion ! Its lessons are full of
wise and useful teachings. Led from Nature
to Nature's God, we learn to contemplate the
perishableness of this world and dislodge our
affections for it. When thus fitted, we are able
to take a step further; and that leads directly
to individual reformation, which essentially
depends upon the perception oi justice, a principle
deepest engrained in human nature,
There is a Deific Essence that rules and
governs all by general wise providence, intended
for thehighest good of all. This universal provi-
dence enlivens the minutest atoms as well as the
largest sun, and fits the one and the other each
for its respective mission which is the highest
good for all. A realisation of this providence
. working for the highest good of all, a sympathe-
ti(3 vibration with the pulsations of this
providence constitutes a true perception of the
principle.
The highest good of all, being the object, the
COMMENTARY ON UPNISHADS 129
wondrous system of the Nature is the Divine
Institution fulfilling this mission in a truly
wondrous and sublime manner. Its eternal,
immutable, uhchangeable laws ara the Divine
•code of perfect legislation, breathings from the
essence of the Deity, modes in which He eter-
nally lives, rules and governs all. He keeps
no vigilant, watchful, designing, conspiring, and
often-times dishonest, corruptible police to keep
a record of each one's doings, and to superin-
tend his actions, lest they disturb the general
peace of his subjects. The Divine Institution
is not susceptible of such weaknesses. Each
one's memory is his infallible record keeper.
Whereas the sensible organisation that apprises
«ach of pleasure and pain, is the omnipresent
police whose mission is not to punish but to
teach lessons and to reform. There are no
courts where law suits are decided; but social
feelings, affections and other emotions are the
interior chambers of the mind, where Reason
sits on the throne of perpetual judgment. This
is the universal machinery employed in the
Institution of Nature. And its object being
the highest ^ood of all, it is so regulated that
the personal good of each, on the whole, consists
in the good of all. The eternal immutable laws
of Nature, consequently, recognize no special
obligations, no individual isolated rights and
are no respecters of persons. One way the
130 WISDOM OF THE RISHIS
whole current of Nature flows — The Common^
^^ EAL. No violation of this common course is^
possible without involving the transgressor in
the consequences of transgression- consequences
by virtue of which he is thrown off from the
common course, for a moment to leave the
general current undisturbed, to get himself
purified, rectified, and resigned, if not willing
to be subservient to the interests of the
imiversa] whole.
The 'aw of justica, that keeps each being in
peaceful relations with his neighbour, and
dictates to him the standard cf purity and his
own soul, also enjoins upon him the self -chosen
and pleasing duty of living in peace with his
ne^shbour, and in tune with the external world.
The destruction of this equilibrium is what con-
stitutes discord, disease, misery, war, and des-
truction. Should any individual therefore,,
attempt to disturb the general peace, the in-
dispensible consequences of this transgression
will ine\itably devolve themselves upon him.
But far different is the case of one who consciously
and wilfully adopts the career that Providence
has designed and regulated for alt. His path^
though difficult in the beginning, leads straight
to individual happiness and social welfare. His
is a path of peace and tranquility. No envious
heart-burn, no exhausting emulation, no feeling^
of c6ritempt or disgust, no despair or disappoint-
COMMENTABY ON VTAUISHADS 1 >l
ment, no discontentment with his environments
ever prompts him to swerve from the righteous
course and spoil the temple of his personal
health and individual existence. On the con-
trary, his social and fraternal leelings are
saturated to satiation, his disinterested nature
uplifts him above ordinary persecution on one
hand and seltislmess on the other, his reason is
unclouded, and his will pure and undetiled. For,
let man once comprehend that there is a wise
Providence that regulates the affairs of the
boundless universes around us by the ordination
of general laws, let him once to his satisfaction
understand, comprehend and know these general
laws, and feel the existence of this Providence in
the depths of his heart fully enough never to
forget it for a single moment in his life, let him
•once enter this condition, and he will feel the
unity of his spirit with that of others. He will
tind himself in tune with all others. Then will
arise a perception of true brotherhood with
mankind, for it will be seen that our delight
â– consists in making others delighted, oiu* happi-
ness in making others happy.
It is this perception of universal justice (wihch
regards all mankind as one brotherhood and
impels man to seek the harmonization of his in-
terest with duty, lest, in not doing so, he may
transgress the motion of natural currents that
lead to general good), that can keep one willingly
132 WISDOM OF THE RISHIS
and delightfully from infringing upon the rights
and liberties of others. Thus alone, when in
accord with the maxims of universal justice,
can he truthfully exclaim * 'COVET NOT THE
WEALTH OF ANY CREATURE EXISTING.'^
Only then, and not till then, is true individual
reformation possible.
Religious progress, however, does by no
means end here. Merely to keep one's self aloof
frcm the turmoils of this earthly life, to remain,,
as it were, unimpressed by the fleeting show
and vanity of this world, or, lastly, to abstain
from infringing upon the rights and liberties of
others, is but the negative or prohibitive side of
religion, with which even sinful indolence, coldest
indifference, conniving reticence, and an abetter's-
silence are compatible. ReHgion is too positive
to be restricted to these mere prohibitive duties..
The wondrous orgnization of man endowed with
'potent energies and vivacious capabilities, has
some more im/perative demands, points out to the
existence of some higher ends, and cannot be-
silenced by the dictates of mere prohibitive
morality. For purposes of mere peaceful enjoy-
ment, never in conflict with the enjoyments of
others, a passive organization would have been
cpiite enough, But man possessess active powers,,
innate energies, and stirring elements; and all
these are not in vain. They beckon him towards
the constant application d<>nd energetic employment
COMMENTARY ON UPANISHADS 133-
of all his bodily and mental powers for the glo-
rious end of achieving peace and happiness for
himself and his neighbours. Activity and not
sluggishness is the law of Nature. Animate and
inanimate Nature, both, is full of lively energy
and restless animation. Nothing is idle. The
ant is ever busy, the earth we live upon ever
whirls round and round, the plants and trees
are ever employed in their growth, the air is
always circulating and the waters are always
bubbling and flowing ! Look round and say,
what religion does Nature enjoin, what lessons
does it widely outspread ? Everywhere in the
domain of Nature, the inherent forces are ever
busy in manifesting their presence.
Nature enjoins but one religion, and that is
Action, incessant, untiring, powerful, energetic
Action, — tor good, for glory, for health and for
happiness of Each and All. ^'ASPIRE, THEN
OMAN, TO LIVE IN VIRTUOUS DEED,
FOR A HUNDRED YEARS, IN PEACE
WITH THY NEIGHBOURS. THUS ALONE,
AND NOT OTHERWISE, WILL THY DEEDS
NOT CONTAMINATE THEE."
To one who leads a life of incessant useful
activity, how bounteou'^^ is the universe ! it is
a rich mine of happiness that only requires
digging down and taking possession of. And
what are human faculties to him ? Speech with
its power to soothe and to bless, music with its-
134 WISDOM OF THE KISHIS
power to calm and to refresh, affections with
their mainsprings to elevate and to support, and
thoughts with their wings to take the loftiest
flights and to soar; these and other faculties are
full of hidden beauties. Each organ is pure and
hol3% as its mission is noble and sublime. Can
one admire this beauty of the human S3^stem,
appreciate it at its worth, comprehend its holiness,
desire its purity and still remain disagreeable,
discordant and deformed himself ? No, he is too
alive to the beauties of internal i)urity and the
lustre of inw^ard holiness, ever to linger in the
darkness of filth}^ sensualism or hell of moral
decrepitude. Purity of motives, holiness of
deeds and loveliness of lives are the internal
beauties that he prizes most, and values above
all. He cannot degrade himself by destroying
this internal beauty, for, he is alive to the truth
that "TO THOSE REGIONS WHERE EVIL
SPIRITS DWELL AND UTTER DARKNESS
PREVAILS SURELY GO AFTER DEATH ALL
SUCH MEN AS DESTROY THE PUB.ITY
OF THEIR OWN SOULS/' He is rather filled
with joy at the glorious capabililitiesof his exis-
tence and at the priceless gift of life, is inspired
with gratefulness for His endowment of reason,
and moved to thanksgiving for the possession of
his moral nature. His spirit is moved with
gratitude towards Him who pervades all immen-
sity, animates the orbs of heaven and the worms
COMMENTARY ON UPANISHADS 135
â– of earth, and destines them for ceaseless action
for millenniums to come.Where is there an object
in the unfolded universe, that does not inspire
the grateful mind to sing praises of Him who
reigns supreme everywhere, showing beauties
and blessings around ? In due acknowledgment
â– of our gratefulness and our dependence upon
Him, our souls rise in worshipful attitude to-
wards Him, who is "ONE UXCHAXGEABLE,
ETERNAL, INTELLIGENT SPIRIT, EVEN
MORE VIGOROUS THAN MINP." It is true
that "Material senses cannot perceive Him," but
the heart bends in homage, ever grateful for the
bounteous gift of providence. Flavours, odors,
â– colors, sounds and other external impressions
may effect the externally-minded man and
render him forgetful of the source from whom
all these i\ow, but one in whose spirit beauty
blooms, and gratitude rises with fragrant incense
:of submissive homage, cannot help penetrating,
bevond them. He "WITHDRAWS HIS SEN-
SES FROM THEIR NATURAL COURSE AND
PERCEIVES THE SUPREME BEING EVERY
WHERE PRESENT." No more do the delusive
phenomena of the world delude him. Sensuous
and external vanities no more blind his expan-
external strife, and in the quiet of his mind, he
perceives the Supreme Being that MOVES ALL
BUT HIMSELF DOES NOT MOVE. Yes, to
136 WISDOM OF THE RISHIS
the worldly minded, passion-stricken, ignorance-
ridden individuals. He may he far, but TO THE
WISE HE IS AT HAND," for, HE pervades
iiiside and outside of ALL. '^ For a mind thus
moving with the spirit of gratefulness, d'scord,
discontent and disturbance exist no more. For,
what are jealousy, hatred, envy, contempt and
other discords but different forms of antipathy ?
And how can antipathy exist, when one has
realised for all mankind a common destiny, when
one perceives each spirit moved by kindred influ-
ences of the same Providence, each atom of the
vast universe animated by the same breath and
each individual heart flaming with indentical
heaven-lighted fire. xA.ll differences melt away,.
Mankind is one family. All are brothers. There
are no enmities, no rivalries, no jealousies and
no oppositions. Under the patronage of such
a mental exaltation, one is delightfully led to
consider "ALL BEING AS EXISTING IN THE
SUPREME SPIRIT AND THE SUPREME
SPIRIT AS PERVADING ALL BEING," and
CANNOT VIEW WITH CONTEMPT ANY
CREATURE WHATSOEVER;" nor can ''joy
and sorrow overtake him," for he perceives
through his wisdom "the UNITARY SPIRIT
THAT DWELLS IN ALL BEINGS."
Reverence, admiration and love are the only
feelings that actuate him whose perception
extends to the Unitary Spirit of the universe^
COMMENTARY OX UPNISHADS 13T
When one reflects, how one is moved with rever-
once even towards those superiorly endowed in-
dividuals, who though superior, are fallible,
finite, liable to pain, ignorance, disappointment,
weakness and their consequences, it ceases to be
a wonder that he should be moved with greater
respect, admiration and reverence towards Him
who ^'OVERSPREADS ALL CREATURES, IS
ENTIRELY SPIRIT, WITHOUT FORM,
EITHER OF A MINUTE BODY OR AN EX-
TENDED ONE, WHICH IS LIABLE TO IM-
PRESSION OR ORGANISATION." "WHO IS
THE RULER OF THE INTELLECT, SELF-
EXISTENT, PURE,PERFECT,OMNISCTENT
AND OMNIPRESENT,"— THE KIND FATH-
ER "WHO HAS FROM ALL ETERNITY
BEEN ASSIGNING TO ALL CREATURES
THEIR RESPECTIVE PURPOSES."
Blessed are they who enjoy the knowledge
of this Divinity, this omnipresent Providence.
Excessive joy dwells in the conscious depths of
those who feel the presence of this great Reality.
Life is a rich luxury, an immanent blessing, an
eternity of enjoyment and growth. Death is
swallowed up in victory. But miserable are
they who are tied within the meshes of ^g7iorance
all arouud. Insensible af this great Reality of
the universe, can ignorance go further ? See
what a wreck it makes, There is nothing more
hideous than ignorance. It has been truly said
138 WISDOM OF THE EISHIS
that when man only once becomes conscious of
his ignorance^ it is simply unbearable. Wisdom,
therefore, begms with the conciousness of ig-
norance. The wise Socrates was right, assuredly
right, when he said, "I only know that I know
nothing." All discord spring out of ignorance.
See what a hideous picture it presents. Says
immortal Patanjali : —
'Fourfold is .the fearful power oi ignorance.
It leads its pitiable victim, in the first p'ace, to
conclude that this visible, audible universe, the
very elements of which are given to decomposi-
tion and decay, shall last for ever that this gross
physical body, this mortal coil, is only thing
that lasts after death. In the second place, it
leads him to the horribly erroneous conviction
that female beauty, — beauty which has been
styled by some philosophers as a silent cheat,
practice of falsehood, theft and the like, the very
essence of which breathes filth and impurity are
enjoyments pure and desirable. In the third
place, it plunges him into that ocean of pain and
misery, the sea of passions and sensualities, in
the gratification of which the blind victim of
Ignoran<^e imagines the acquisition of pleasure
and of happiness. Fourthly and lastly, the vic-
tim of Ignorance has no conception of soul and
spirit. To him there is no soul beyond this
material, ponderable, visible substance.'' Such
COMMENTARY On UPNISHADS 139
is ignorance^ and as such it may truly be called
the life of senses y for what is it but a recognition
of no happiness beyond sensual pleasures, of no
life beyond that of senses, and of no world be-
yond the sensible one ? Surely '* Miserable ARE
THEY WHO WORSHIP IGNORANCE; BUT
FAR MORE MISERABLE ARE THEY WHO
ARROGANTLY PRESUME KNOWLEDGE"
For he is not wise who presumes to know more;
who claims to carry a pile of books in his brain;
or a thick cluster of words and phrases in his
memory or a shower of sarcastic vocabulary in
his tounge; or a borrowed magazine of that stuff
(which is so useful for the purpose of victory
in intellectual warfare, commonly known by
the name oi arguments ) in his promiscuous
store-house called the mind. Wise is rather
he who feels nobly ^ thinks nobly, lives nobly and
ACTS NOBLY. The difference between ivisdom
andignorance is the difference of the opposites.
Wisdom is life perpetual, happiness eternal, and
peace for ever. Ignorance is all the misery, all
the crime, all the sickness and all the evil that
exists in this world. The difference between
wisdom and ignorance is all the difference that
is possible in this world. They were not wrong
who proclaimed "THAT IGNORANCE, THE
LIFE OF SENSES, PRODUCES ONE RESULT;
AND KNOWLEDGE, THE LIFE OF SPIRIT,
PRODUCES EXACTLY THE REVERSE.''
140 WISDOM OF THE RISHIS
But blessed is the wise man who gets good out
of evil and nectar out of poison. For a wise
man the very senses have a sacred function to
perform. This is the function of ^^^Tf^t^jt
{Karmopasana). — that well-ordered, righteously
regulated religious life which leads to emancipa-
tion from bondage, from sins, from misery and
from death. Yes wisdom attracts discipline out
of senses, righteousness out of passions, eleva-
tion out of aifection. emancipation out of igno-
rance and yields forth as its fruit everlasting
bliss and iwmortality. Of such, has it been
said, «'HE WHO REALIZES BOTH, PASSES
THROUGH PHYSICAL DISSOLUTION BY
VIRTUE OF THE LIFE OF SENSES, AND
ENTERS INTO IMMORTALITY BY VIRTUE
OF THE LIFE OF SPIRIT."
Many are the victims of ignorance, and dire-
ful are the forms it assumes. One of them is
what may, for want of a better name^ be called
scientific atheism . This is belief in the omnipo
tence of atoms. The externally-minded scienti-
fic man, whose mind is replete with conceptions
of matter and motion, with dynamical and
mechanical explanations, ever true to his instinct
of never believing any thing except on the testi-
mony of his senses begins the task of crude
analysis. He dissects organised structures, ner-
ves, muscles and tissues, and re dissects, but
throughout all the labyrinths of the brain, all the
complicated network of veins and arteries, he
COMMENTARY ON UPNISHADS 141
iiads DO trace of an intelligent God, all is motion
or matter in motion. He begins his physiologi-
cal researches and ends in chemical and nervous
action everywhere. Again he leaves the organic
department of nature, aud analyzes and decom-
poses, and again analyzes and decomposes each
solid and liquid and gas, now in a crucible, then
in a retort, now by means of heat and then by
means of of electricity, here with re-agents and
there with reactiors, but meets everywhere with
atoms, their affiniti>. and there valencies, but
nowhere with God. On the positive evidence of
direct observation, and from the infallible plat-
form of^e/,so?ia^ experience, with his head raised
in the proud majesty of knoivledge^ and his spine
•straightened with the nervous energy of natural
forces, he bids farewell, a last farewell to the
barbaric dogma of a belief in the existence of
a,n intelligent, all-pervading, all-moving principle
His belief in the potence of atoms is boundless.
They are unanalyzahle^ undecomposahle^ simple
monads, uncreated^ eternal in their existence; en-
dowed ( not by anything else but naturally
through necessity of existence) with unconceiva-
ble motions.. In the vast chaotic operation of
these atomic forces, specific atoms met through
accident and selection, united together, assumed
a temporary organization, exhibiting signs of
breathing conscious life. This germ of life, on ac-
•count of wholly unexpected and incomprehensible
142 WISDOM OF THE RISHIS
circumstances^ under favourable conditions^
(favourable through chance or selection) propa-
gated itself and multiplied. Great was the
struggle for existence then raging. Many fort'm-
ately organized beings were, in the course of this
struggle, again hurled back into the atomic
chaos whence they sprang. This is extinction^
But some fortunate organizations ( fortunate,
not through merit or desert, nor through design
hwt fortunate somehoiv ) survived this diresome
catastrophe, and prospered. Their organization
modified and developed new organs, and re-
modified and redeveloped, till man appeared on
the stage. Now man, this man, the product of
fortuitous combination of atoms, with his heated
brain, exudes entirely unsupported doctrines of
immortality and providence. Can a sensible
man believe such dogmas ? Vain are thy efforts
O theologian ! to construct an edifice of religion
on the foundation of sand. Human race, as a
a race, may, for long ages to come, survive, but
individual man shall only go back to the vile-
dust from whence he sprang.
Such is scientific atheism. All is uncertain and
unreliable. Life is but an accidental spark pro-
duced by the friction of mighty wheels, the
blind whirling motion of which constitutes the
phenomena of the universe. There is no hope
of futurity, no consolation for oppressed virtue
or disappointed justice, hereafter. A natural
COMMENTARY ON UPNISHADS 141^
result of which is that the worshipper of omyii-
potent atoms, dashed headlong into a sea of un-
righteousness and immortality, tramples all jus-
tice without a pang, suppresses all virtue with-
out a sigh, and over the wreck of all that is
nobie and elevating in human nature builds his
iphilosoiphj oi desperate-ism . He is desperate in
his actions, desperate in his feelings, or percha-
nce, his is aphilosphyof resignation. Desperate
or resigned there are the signs of brutal violence