A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY, ART, LITERATURE AND OCCULTISM: EMBRACING MESMERISM, SPIRITUALISM, AND OTHER SECRET SCIENCES. VOL. 3. No, D. BOMBAY, JUNE, 1882. No. 33. and tIle primitive Brahmoism was first split into tw~ and, Inter, into three churches. The first and, as churned, 'l'lJEHE IS NO RELIGION I1IGHEH THAN 'l'lW'l'H. original 0110 is known as tllO Adi Brahmo Samaj, of which [Fami!." ",otto of t/,e 1I["/«I)"".i"I.., of Bell,,)"es] the now venerable amI always equally revered Babu Debendra N,lth Tagoreis theoretically, butBabu Haj Nara.in Bose practically-owing to the retirement of the !'onnCl' to 'I'lle Editol's disclaim j'csponsl'bility fOI' opiniollB e.t'pressed, by COil­ a life of relicrions seclnsion at Mussooree,-the ellld, Tho tributol's in tl,(/'I' articles, leitlt SUIliC of wlu"clt tlwy (lg/'ee, wltlt utllel'S not. Ureat lutz'tude is ado/ceel to correspondents, aml tl,ey alolle ~re latter gentl~lllan may also be almost said to be in retire­ accounitlbte fIJI' ·ltltat they 1cl'ite. 'I'I;eJoul'llal is o/l"J'ed as (lud,lcle ment since he lives at DeogIlllr, Bengal, an almost exelu­ for tlwwide disscmination of facts and opinioils conllected /citl, tlw si vely con tern plative life. The secoud Samaj comprises a .lsi(/tic I'digions, pla'losop1a'c3 and sciences, All wIlli Ilave a n.1Jthiilg slllall group which ha~ followed the lea~1 of Ba,b:! KesLa,b lcortlt telling arc made 1cclcomc, (Iud not intel/ereel/ritl!, iI,jected NSS. w'e not returned. Chander Sen out ofllls "Brall 'no SamaJ of Indza -as IllS first schism was called-dow II the slippery road to the quag­ lIIire of Infallibility, Direct Revelation, an,d Apostolic Succession, where he has planted the gaUlly Silken flag of XO'I'ICE 'I'O CO lWES l' O.YDEN 'I'S. llis New Dispensation, besiLle the pontifical banuer of the (?i'f The Correspondents oftlw TlIEOSOl'lIZSTW'C prtl·ticltlarly requested Pope of Rome. At Calcutta, we were told that of actual to send their !lUlnuseripts very leyiblYIiTittell, (Iud wz·tlt tome space disciples he can scarcely eOllut more than ,jifl!J-/1ve, t~lOl1gh leli bet~vee1/ tIle lines, in order to tilcilitate tIle work of tIle printer, and his marvellous eloquence always commands lar~e al!(hellc~s to prevent typograplll'culmistakcs lelliclt arc (IS ve.catious to us as of interested bearers. It was also the Unanlll10US tei:itl­ thel! must be to tlw cOl'l'espondlJIlts thcillsdvcs. ..Illt COlll1ll~mication8 shozdd be /t'l'itten on one side of the pltpcr ollly, mony t.o - us of his friends, as well as foes, that Bab~l Keshab's influence is rapiLlly dying ont, and that, after Ius death not even tllO rnarkecl ability of his cousin and ellief ~ssistant, Babll Pro tab Chandra MOZUll1llar, is likely HINDU TIlEISM. to holll the Samaj together. The third b~'aneh of the orirrinal Drahruo Samaj of Ham :Mohan Hoy IS - calleel tho OlJ readers will recollect our desire, long ago expressed, Sadharan Bralllno Somaj, and headed by Pandit Sivanath that sOllie respectable Brahmo would undertake, in these Shastri w110 is it '''entle111<1n of unblemished character, columns, a candill exposition of the views of his Samaj. modest disposition, ~ well-read Sanskritist, and a good, Friends, in both Europe and America, have asked for somo 'though not exceptional, orator. authoritative statement of Brahmoism, that the \Vest We IJave had quite recently the great pleasure of might iutelligelltly study the present drift of Asiatic readin o' a pamphlet by Pandit Sivanath Shastri, in which thought in the channel opened, half a eentury ago the hi~ory of the Bralnnic movement is clearly and aLly (A. D. 1830), by the religIOUS fervour and bright geuius of sketched and which the reader \VonlLl do well to procure Ham Mohan Hoy. Their desire, and oms, is at last grati­ from the' author.* Our \Vestern friell(lR, especially who fied. III the present number is priuted the first instal­ have sueh iucorrect ideas of Balm Keshab's character and ment of a discourse upon" Hindu Theism," by a man whose relatiollship with contemporary Brahmoism, will be startled t'potless private character mzd pious sincerity have won aUll shocked to read Pandit Sivanat!I's j lldicially calm the respect and confidence of multitudes of his country­ analysis of the career of his quondalll colleague tow::trds men, even of those who do not at all sympathize with his tllO worst abomiuation-from Ham 1'Il01mn Hoy's point of views, or his sect's, upon religious questions. 'rhe Brahmic view-of personal leadership amI re~kle::;s ego!sm. ~nd or~o Church of India was, as is known, founded by the late IS III tlllS tililJO"0' as lmd as bad can be, not ~!lIven Hajah Ri>m Muhan Roy on the lines of a pure Theism, pamphlet, viz.: that on the day of the last annual celebra- though not announced as a sect. No country can boast tion of an idulatrons festival at Calcutta, Babn Keshab a pmer or hulier son than was this Indian reformer. The allowed his disciples to batllO his person, bedeck it with Haja died in England in 1831, and, for the next few years, garlands, and put lzim in n swing as the Hindt~s.put tl,lCil' his movement languished under the leadership of a very idols and swinO" him as thOll()'lz he were a dlvme bemg. noble-hearted man, Pandit Hamchandra Vidyabagish. In Bey~nd this, t1~ere is scm-cel; any ~xtravagance o~ childi.sh 1838, the leadership fell into the hands of Babn Dehendra vHnity to be guilty of. The mtelhgent reader WIll easily N ath 'fagore, a Bengali gentleman of high family, and of a deduce for it what fnte is ill store for tltis branch of a once sweetness of character and loftiness of aim equal to that noble tree. of the lateHaja. In every respect he was worthy to wear the The discourse ofBabu Haj Narain Dose, 1I0W to be given mantle of the Founder and able to ta~e upon himself the in these columns, though delivered in Bengali in the yeal' chief burden of the herculean work he had begun. Of the 1872, has uever until 1I0W appenred in an English dress. bright minus who clustered about them, the most conspi­ Tile learueLl allCI most esteemed author has generously cuous and promising were Babus Haj Narain Bose, Keshab revised his translation and placet! it at our disposal. As Chander Sen, and Sivanath Shastri. For years they the portiolls snccessivel'y appear, tlJeY will be put int? t.ype worked together for the commun cause without discord, at tllO Samaj Press, in Bengal, and when our last ll1stal- and the Drahmic Church was a unit. But the infirmities of human nature by deegrees opened breaches " '1"0 bo had of Mr, 111. Butchiah Pantulu, :MudI'U8, nnd of thQ Sadhamn which resulted in the setting lip of schismatic Sumajis} DrnhlllV Samltj, 13, Mil'lnl'ol'O St" CAlcutta, Prico, 8 annas. 21G THE THEOSOPHIST. lji.lllc, iS82. lIIl'lIt is prillLcd, tho allthor will publish tIlO clltiro Iccture scriptures, lie then spoke of the {.(rosscl' n~pcct. of lIindlli>:m, in pamphlet for~n, Thc Adi 13rablllo Sallinj is lIoal'cst of ]wlllely, b.;t, illoilltry ; 211d, puntl,cislJJ ; 3nl, lI"ceticislll alHlllu:,tere tllo threo to bClllg orthodox, and least rovolutionary as 1lI0l'tifil!atiou ; ~Ih, t.he system o( cllste ; /luri proved tllnt they nre regards .Hindllislll, Its Illanngers wisoly kocp a goo!l dcal 1I0t EHlIctioliel1 vy the higher teachings of the nool-Vedic sCl'ip­ of what is excellcnt ill tlll,ir lIatiollA[ religion, instead ture:', uJllch less hy the Ve!lie fcri pt.ur('~, The Icct.IIJ'('1' Ihen of flingillg, so to say, tllo family treasures alit of tho proceeded to reflll(, the el,arg('.~ Ul'01lght agltimt IIincilli,m­ windows alld clalllouring fur !lew lamps, They find fir"tly, that it do('~ lIot inellieall' Ille lIeee""it.y of' rcpcntallce [IS othel' scriptnres do ; H'\:Olldly, Ih:lI, it dOl);; not worship GI)(l "s H.ill!lllilllll to be a ]1111"0 all!1 OSllolitial Tboislll, and lmvo t.he Falher alld i\Iot.lwr of lJIJi\('r~e; tlJil'dly, tlwt it does not bill down t1leir new cburch all that foulIdntion, Jt ig treat of Divine LOI'l', tile highest. point of dc\('loPIlJ~lIt o( el'clY not 0111' jlrovinco to express an . outsido opillioll upon a religion; Illid fOllrt.hly, that it does 1101, illCldcllte forgil'l'lIcss subject whose exegesis, we COllCO!VO, should bo left to its towllrd5 ellclJJic~ as the Christilill ~eriptllres do, III cOIJ'obnJ'[J­ own authol'isl,tl toac1H;rs, Tho" TlIEOSOl'lII~T" was orirrill­ tioll 01' what he caid 011 tile slIt.jcet" he ciled 1I11111CrOIlS lexts ally anlloullccd as It tribune froll! whir.h all rolicrions miaht frolll the IIindu ~cJ'iptllre~, Tlte ledl1rel' tllen ~ltoweu tlte '" t:> bo expounded by their bost lIleli ; allli so it will eVt~r be, 8npcriority of lIimluit;llI to otller prcvlliling religions ill thete In conclusion, we must note t}w coillcidollce that, UpOli re"pect.s :- tho vory Ilco1 of tbe S\\,ll1lli's defection, co'nes It most I, That thl' name of the Ilindl! religioll is 110t derived from cordial greeting frolll 13abll Raj Narnin Bose, lemlcr of that of lilly llJIIlI II~ t.hat of Cltrist.iu,Jit.y, i\lahollJedaui:3llJ, 01' UllOtller HilJdl! socioty, alltl a lllall whose approbatiun and 11l1ddlJislll is, This ~how~ it, i11dependcnt.