Religious Philosophy of Upanisads

Indian has always been recognized as so determinedly pantheistic in its religious thought that "Indian Theism' will seem to many an unnatural collocation of words. There are some, no doubt, who will maintain that whatever can be so described is really foreign to the Indian spirit and must be credited to Chiristian or Muhammadan influences. Were this the case the study of the course of the theistic development in India would much of its interest and value. A closer acquaintance with the facts will, however, that Indian, religion has had a far wider range of expression than is here suggested. The spirit of no people certainly not that of the Indian races-can be summed up in a single formula. Theism, no doubt, assumes various aspects in various environments and as it passes through various minds. For the reasons it will be found in India always to bear certain characteristic marks that determine it as Indian. But while that is the case it can hardly be denied that what can be definitely described as theistic is both ancient in the land and indigenous to the soil. It might indeed be maintained, were this the appropriate place to do so, that the common heart and conscience of mankind everywhere has in it the promise and potency of such a religious attitude.

THE greater part of this book was submitted as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Letters of the University of Glasgow, As it is now published it has been considerably enlarged, several chapters having been added. In its preparation I have not had the advantage of consulting Sir Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar's detailed treatment of most of the subject in his Vaisnavism, Saivism and Minor Religious Systems, which appeared a year ago. By that time the manuscript was already complete, and it was only possible to make use of this work in one or two footnotes. That is the more to be regretted as this is a subject on which no one can speak with such authority and such knowledge as this venerable scholar, who is himself an adherent of the school of bhakti. No one who knows, Dr. Bhandarkar', as his friends still prefer to call him, could treat with anything but deep respect a religious movement of which at its highest he may be said to be the representative.

I desire to acknowledge with much gratitude the assistance given in the preparation of this volume by Mr. J. N. Farquhar, one of the editors of the series to which it belongs. Were it not for the guidance that his wide knowledge of all aspects of Indian religion has afforded, the defects of this book would be still greater than they are. He has also by the pains he has taken in the correction of the proofs done much to bridge the wide interval that lies in this case between the author and the printer.

INDIA has always been 'recognized as so determinedly pantheistic in its religious thought that 'Indian Theism' will seem to many an unnatural collocation of words. There are some, no doubt, who will maintain that whatever can be so described is really foreign to the Indian spirit and must be credited to Christian or Muhammadan influences. Were this the case the study of the course of the theistic development in India would much of its interest and value. A closer acquaintance with the facts will show, however, that Indian, religion has had a far wider range of expression than is here suggested. The spirit of no people certainly not that of the Indian races-can be summed up in a single Theism, no doubt, assumes various aspects in various environments and as it passes through various minds. For that reason it will be found in India always to bear certain characteristic marks that determine it as Indian. But while that is the case it can hardly be denied that what can be definitely described as theistic is both ancient in the land and indigenous to the soil. It might indeed be maintained, were this the appropriate place to do so, that the common heart and conscience of mankind everywhere has in it the promise and potency of such a religious attitude. Without controversy, there are certain profound needs and longings of the heart which a faith in a personal God would seem alone to satisfy, while we are conscious. at the same time of the fact that the demand of reason in us is steadily advancing simultaneously towards a conviction of the ground of the universe as one. We shall accordingly find at all periods of the Indian religious development certain elements in it which, far off as they often are from what we understand by the Theism of Western theologians and philosophers, yet can justly claim to share with them that designation.

Those cults and systems, often embryonic, often. fragmentary, appear sometimes as efforts of revolt from the ceremonialism or the intellectualism of the official religion. In such cases they have their roots in popular piety; and generally, when the wave of religious emotion has spent itself, they sink back to assume their place among a multitude of scarcely distinguishable sects. The fact that Indian Theism so often has this source renders the task of its historian particularly difficult. Piety seldom expresses itself in the literature and the language of the learned-and in early India practically the only literature that has survived is that which makes use of the learned language-and piety often attracts so little attention as to obtain no permanent recognition. It most often establishes itself in the hearts of the common people, and it may not infrequently be deepest where it is most inarticulate. In India especially, so barren in historical records, it is difficult to be sure of the character of some of those ancient movements of religious emotion or to estimate their influence. With the more intellectual Theism which has formulated itself in the systems of the philosophers it is easier to deal, though here too the setting of the ideas there expressed, the extent to which they lived in men's hearts and controlled their lives, remains obscure. As a matter of fact Theism, whether it springs from a root of simple piety or has reached self-consciousness in a formulated theology, always bears so close a relation to the lives of those who profess it that its value can only be rightly estimated by the help of its historical context, It is essentially a personal and experimental religion, and for that reason the obscurity of India's past renders the task of anyone who seeks to trace the course of Indian Theism and to appreciate its influence a peculiarly difficult one.

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