Page:An Essay On Hinduism.pdf/91

of worship they had a philosophy which discouraged the oppositions and reconciled the contradictions. It is necessary to recall here some more of their philosophical tenets.

To the Hindus who believe in the Vedānta philosophy, the highest aim of life is to be united with Brāhma. This Brāhma, the one universal essence, is to the external world what yarn is to the cloth, what milk is to the curds and to butter, what earth to a jar and what gold is to ornaments made thereof. This Essence is both creator and creation, actor and act. Nothing really exists in the world without Brāhma. It is our ignorance which prevents us from seeing the real unity of all the objects in the world through the various diversities. As the consciousness and the pride of our individuality is nothing but an inadequate appreciation of the unity, it is the aim of life to realize that unity thoroughly by merging ourselves into the one universal and eternal essence.

The end of all sciences according to the Hindu philosophy is the realization of the unity of everything that exists. Realization of this final truth is "the knowledge." The knowledge of God and the union with him is nothing else. Evidently that knowledge is salvation and the object of human life.

It has been the dogma of the orthodox philosophy that salvation could be reached by "knowledge" alone. Though the Hindus of the various schools of thought and religions (sampradāya) admitted this principle, it did not prevent them from devotion, vow worship or sacrifice, for they also held, that the required knowledge could not be reached at once, as persons who could be able to acquire that knowledge easily would necessarily be few. Very few are the people who will be able to cross the obstacle of