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=5 Vedanta-Sara: Translated THE =5 VEDANTA-SARA: TRANSLATED PR. 3. 11. BALLANTYNE, t Prii. eipal, SANSKRIT COLLEGE, BENARES, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES, < 1 AND H ,X EXAMINATION OF ITS CONTEXTS, H H f^ ( ^ LITERATURE SOCIETY FOR INDIA: PK LONDON AND MADRAS. *!>> K3861 IS314 1898. 1898 ce 4 A* 5 As. Ic.l ; Poft-free, 'ROBARTS rmTfjiTfr rrn ( Presented to the LIBRARY of the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO by KNOX COLLEGE LIBRARY THE VEDANTA-SARA BY DE. J. E. BALLANTYNE, Principal, SANSKRIT COLLEGE, BENARES, AN INTRODUCTION, AND AN EXAMINATION OF ITS CONTENTS. " The Vedanta, the highest conclusion of Indian thought, is based on a mistaken and pessimistic view of life ; on a formulated dogma unsupported by any evidence and untaught in the hymns of the Big-Veda : the whole an elaborate and subtle process of false reasoning." Rev. T. E. Slater, SMiet ithe Upauithads, p. 47. ^^ FIRST EDITION, 3,000 COPIES. THE CHRISTIAN LITEEATUEE SOCIETY TOE INDIA: LONDON AND MADRAS. 1898. NOTE. The References to the Upanishads are taken from Hindu Pantheism, by Colonel Gr. A. Jacob, who has als kindly read the proofs of the following pages. In addition to the Concord- ance to the Upanishads, the following works have been prepared by Colonel Jacob : a. Hindu Pantheism (Triibner's Oriental Series.) &. Mahanarayana-Upanishad, with Commentary (Bombay Sanskrit Series.) c. Suresvara's Naishkarmyasiddhi, with Commentary (Bombay Sanskrit Series.) Sans- d. Eleven Atharvana-Upanishads, with Commentaries ( Bombay krit Series.) e. Vedantasara, with 2 Commentaries. (Nirnayasagar Press.) CONTENTS. Page INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... ... 1 ORIGIN OP HINDU PHILOSOPHY ... ... 2 THE Six SCHOOLS OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY ... ... ... 7 The Nyaya, 8; The Vaiseshika, 9; The Sankhya, 10; The Yoga, 12; Mimansa, 13; The Vedanta, 14; The Eclectic School, 14. THE VEDANTA-SUTRAS... ... ... ... ... 15 VEDANTA-SARA ... 22 INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... ... 22 TRANSLATION ... ... ... ... 25 I. INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... 25 II. QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY IN A STUDENT, ETC. ... 25 ' ' III. ERRONEOUS IMPUTATION ; THE REAL* AND THE UN- REAL' ... ... ... ... ... 28 IV. COLLECTIVE AND DISTRIBUTIVE IGNORANCE ; I'SVARA AND PRAJNA ... ... ... 29 V. THE CAUSAL, SUBTILE AND GROSS BODIES, &c. ... 32 VI. REFUTATION OF CHARVAKA, BUDDHA, AND OTHER FALLA- CIES, &c. ... ... ... 37 " " VII. MEANING OF REFUTATION &c. ... ... 39 " " VIII. MEANING OF " THAT AND " THOU IN THE GREAT SENTENCE ... ... ... ... 40 " IX. EXPLANATION OF THE GREAT SENTENCE, THAT ART THOU"&C. ... ... ... 40 X. ERRONEOUS EXPLANATIONS OF THE GREAT SENTENCE AND THE TRUE MEANING... ... ... ... 42 ' ' XI. MEANING OF THE SENTENCE, I AM BRAHMA, &c. ... 44 XII. MEANS TO BE EMPLOYED TO REALIZE THE GREAT SENTENCE ... ... ... ... 46 XIII. MEDITATION WITHOUT DISTINCTION OP SUBJECT AND OBJECT ... ... ... ... ... 48 XIV. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE JIVANMUKTA ... 50 EXAMINATION OF VEDANTISM ... ... ... 52 INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... 52 CHIEF DOCTRINE OF ADVAITISM ... ... ... 54 AVIDYA AND MAYA ... 55 Three Modes of Existence 57. IV CONTENTS. Page "ONE WITHOUT A SECOND" ... ... fie BKAHMA OR BRAHM... ... ... ... ... G^ Attributes of Brahma 65. I'SWAKA CREATION ... ... ... ... MAN: BODY AND SOUL TRANSMIGRATION... ... ... ... THE GREAT SENTENCES, TAT TWAM Asi, BRAHMASMI... MUKTI OR LIBERATION ... ... EUROPEAN ESTIMATES OF VEDANTISM ... ... ... 112 CONCLUDING REVIEW ... ... ... 116 CAUSES OF THE FAILURE OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY THE IMPORTANCE OF BELT QION ... ... 118 Two GREAT DOCTRINES, THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD AND BROTHER- HOOD OF MAN Two GREAT DUTIES .;. ... ... MAN'S SINFULNESS ... ... ... ..'. OUR DUTY AS SINFUL ... ... ... ... -.. APPENDIX, LIST OF PUBLICATIONS THE VEDANTA-SARA. INTRODUCTION. " Carlyle says : Of a man or of a nation we inquire first of all : What religion they had ? Answering this question is giving us the soul of the history of the man or of the nation. The thoughts they had were the parents of the actions they did ; their feelings were the parents of their thoughts : it was the unseen and spiritual in that them determined the outward and the actual ; their religion, as I say, was the great fact about them." Man is a religious being : he will worship. In whatever part of the world he may be found, however degraded in many respects, he has a religion of some kind or another. India is now the scene of a momentous revolution. Railways, education, the press, and contact with the West are producing vast changes. Of all, the most important are those connected with It is true that few are thus religion. comparatively yet affected ; the masses are largely untouched. But the new ideas will filter down, and gradually influence the whole. Lyall thus indicates the probable course of events : " It seems possible that the old gods of Hinduism will die in these new elements of intellectual light and air as qnickly as a net full of fish out of the water that the alteration in the lifted up ; religions needs of such an intellectual people as the Hindus, which will have been caused by a change in their circumstances, will make it impossible for them to find in their new world a place for their ancient deities. Their primitive forms will fade and disappear silently, as witchcraft vanished from Europe, and as all such delusions become gradually extinguished." * " An effort is now made to prevent the old of being " gods Hinduism" from dying in the new elements of intellectual light and air." This has been tried even in the case of Krishna. All such attempts will be as fruitless as those made to arrest the decline of polytheism in Europe. Educated Hindus generally profess to be adherents of the " only Higher Hinduism." By this is understood the VEDANTA or the eclectic system of the BHAGAVAD GITA. It is very desirable that the followers of every religion should its have an accurate acquaintance with principles ; and know the 1 Asiatic Studies, pp. 299,300. a THE VEDANTA-SARA. light in which it is regarded by intelligent men of the present day. The Vedanta is at least two thousand years old. Much knowledge has been accumulated during that long period. Students of the Vedanta should not only know what Veda-Vyasa actually taught, but what is thought of his system viewed in the light of the nineteenth century. To aid them, a summary is given in the following pages of the Vedanta-Sutras and a complete translation of the Vedanta- Sara, the next standard on the subject. Explana- tory notes, from the best Orientalists, are added where necessary, and there is a complete examination of the system. The whole has been revised by Colonel G. A. Jacob, author of Hindu Pan- theism, and a Concordance to the Upanishads, one of the first Euro- pean authorities on Hindu Philosophy. THE BHAGAVAD GITA may be regarded as the loftiest production of Hindu religious thought. It contains some noble sentiments, it and beautifully expressed ; but teaches polytheism pantheism, besides claiming a divine origin for caste. An English transla- tion of the complete work is given in the publication noted below. 1 To enable the reader to form his own judgment of Vedan- tism, one of the standard treatises is given in full, followed by an examination of its doctrines. ORIGIN OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY. " Intellectual Growth. The life of a nation," " says Morell, bears an obvious analogy to that of the individual." The child gives life to every object around it. Whatever affords the strikes the imagination delight ; most extravagant tales are accepted as true. " The severing of imagination on the one hand from abstract principles on the other, marks the rise of another era in a nation's development, that, namely, which corresponds with the sphere of THOUGHT, -properly so called. The separation is effected by the understanding, and is marked by a decided tendency to meta- physical speculations. " When these periods have run their rounds, then the age of positive science commences, that in which the reason gathers up all the results of the other faculties, and employs them for the 2 direct investigation of truth." 1 THH BHAGAVAD GITA. 8vo. 108 pp. 4 As. Post-free, 5 As. An Enplish Translation, carefully revised ; numerous Explanatory Notes, and an Examination of its Doctrines. Sold by Mr. A. T. Scott, Tract Dep6fc, Madras. 2 MorelFs Elements of Psychology, pp. 263, 264. OEIGIN OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY. 6 The Hindus, in represent the childhood of humanity. general, " Every thing around them is instinct with life. The idlest legend," " says Professor Cowell, passes current as readily as the most authen- tic fact, nay, more readily, because it is more likely to charm the in this of and imagination ; and phase mind, imagination feeling supply the only proof which is needed to win the belief of the audience." The to the of tendency metaphysical thought," speculative stage the human intellect, may be called the childhood of philosophy." In Hinduism, this may be described as the religion of the Upa- nishads, the Darsanas, and Bhagavad Gita. There is no sharp line of demarcation between popular and philosophic Hinduism. They blend into each other. Some combine the two. Even the common people are leavened, more or less, with some of the notions of Hinduism. " philosophic The Age of Positive Science" is yet represented in India by a handful will only ; but the minority grow. Course of Hindu Thought* India was first occupied by non- Aryan races, generally like the wild tribes still found in various parts of the country, although some had attained an elementary civilisation. Their religion apparently consisted in propitiating the demons and tutelary gods ; and this, to the present day, forms the actual cult of the masses. The Aryans poured in from Central Asia through the western passes, and spread over the great river-basins of the Indus and Granges, where they gradually became mingled with the pre-existing population, the two races mutually acting upon each other. In later Vedic times the Indian tribes were gathered together in farms, in huts of sun-dried mud, in houses of stone, in hamlets, and in fenced towns, under village chiefs and Rajas.
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