A HANDBOOK OF HINDU RELIGION-4

CHAPTER IV-PRAKRTI

Every religion deals with the nature and function of the three ultimate entities, Nature,Self and God and their relation. But, it is Hinduism that makes the study exact by calling them acit, cit. and Isvara or Prakrti, Purusa and Purusottama or pasa,pasu and pati and defining their relative positions. The meaning and value of Nature or -prakrti will be just considered. Nature refers to the objects in the world,like houses, trees, rivers, seas and mountains. It also includes the sky, the Sun, the Moon and the stars. The scientist is interested in studying the phenomena of nature in all their details. While the Chemist seeks to know the various metals and non-metals that compose the world, the Astronomer enquires into the nature of the heavenly bodies, like the Sun, the Moon and the stars. The Biologist desires to understand the nature and function of the body. While the scientist observes the phenomena of nature and tries to know the general laws underlying them, the religious man seeks to know Nature and distinguish it from the Jiva and God. It's primary interest is the knowledge of God who is the creator of the world and his mind goes from the created over to the creator.We perceive the world around us through the five senses, namely, the eye, the ear,the nose, the tongue and the hand. In perceiving a rose, for example, we see its red colour through the eye,we pluck it from the plant by the hand and smell its fragrance by means of the nose; we taste its sweetness by the tongue and so on. In the same way, we perceive all other things in the world like trees, houses, lakes, rivers and hills. The world above consists of the sky, the Sun, the Moon and the stars. Geography teaches us that the Earth in which we live consists of countries,continents, seas and oceans and it is a planet which goes round the Sun. India, the country in which we live, is a big country with large rivers like the Ganges, mountains like the Himalayas,trees like the banyan and it is very sacred to us as the land of spirituality. The Sun is the centre of heat and light, round which eight other planets like Jupiter and Saturn move, and the Moon goes round the Earth. The whole is called the Solar system and every star is said to be a sun with its own planets and moons.The study of Astronomy impresses us with the vastness of the solar and stellar systems,contrasted with our own smallness.

 Light travels at the rate of 182,000 miles a second and it takes 3l- years for the light of the nearest star to reach us. From these we know the greatest mystery, and imagination is staggered by the infinity of space. What is true of space is also true of time. While space refers to co-existence of things, time is a succession of events.The object of studying prakrti or acit is to know that our body is made of prakrti and that we are different from it. The body is made of earth, water, fire, air and ether and it has five sense organs, and is called the gross body or sthul sarira. There is a subtle body called the suksma sarira and it consists of manas, buddhi,citta and ahankara. Though in western Psychology they are classed as mind different from the body made of matter, Hinduism treats them as physical changes in a subtle form. Ahankara is egoity, buddhi is determination, manas and citta are particular perishing changes in the mind. Sarira is thus subtle and gross and may be called psycho-physical. Nothing is really lost and there is only change from one state to another. Prakrti, as Sankhya philosophy says, consists of twenty-four tattvas, namely, mahat (buddhi,citta) ahankara, the five jnanen driyas, the five karmen driyas making the body, and the five elements or pancabhutas and their earlier subtle conditions known as pancatanmatras which make up the body and the world. Prakrti has three qualities, namely, sattva, rajas and tamas,Godness or Purity, action and inertia. These three qualities are present in varying proportions in all the twenty-four tattvas.

A HANDBOOK OF HINDU RELIGION-3

 CHAPTER III-JIVA

The study of the Jiva. or the Atman holds a central place in Hinduism. Hinduism insists on the sacredness of life and the solidarity of all Jlvas. The atman is to be reflected on and realised before God or Paramatman is reflected on and realised. The atman is different from the body made of prakrti and its 23 elements. It isdifferent from the gross body consisting of the five elements, namely, earth, water, fire, air and ether, known as the pancabhutas. It is not the five pranas and is more than life. It is not the five sense organs, namely the eye, the ear, the nose,the tongue and the organ of touch. The atman is to be distinguished from the subtle body or suksmasarira, consisting of manas, buddhi, citta and ahankara or the mind, reason and egoity.Hinduism regards the mind and reason as part of the body and the atman as different from the suksmasarira and the stlmlasarira or mind-body.The bodies come and go but the atman never changes and it is eternal or nitaa. It is beyond birth and death and beyond ail mental changes,like the waking state, dream and deep sleep. It is a changeless entity by itself.

The Jiva is thus different from its quality of jnana or consciousness. The jnana or quality undergoes changes and not the substance or atman. In the jagrat or waking state, the Jiva is conscious of the external world, and its five sense organs are active. It sees things with the eyes, hears sounds with the ears, has the sensations of smell, taste and touch through the nose,the tongue and the skin. Therefore sensations are in the Jiva and the objects which cause them are in the external world. In the dream state or svapna, the Jlva does not perceive things but is only mentally active and enjoys pleasure and pain.

In deep sleep or subtle, the Jiva is at perfect rest and its consciousness does not work. Though it is not active, it is not' non-existent; it is in a latent state.The atman is by nature self-effulgent, active,joyful and eternal. It is a mode or amsa of God and though it exists as an eternal entity, it is not separate from Him. It is not born and it does not die. It is beyond the past, the present and the future and is thus beyond time and it is beyond space. The atman is essentially self conscious and it has the quality of jnana by which it thinks, feels and wills. It is' a knowing subject and is not jada or inert. It has moral

freedom and it is not passive. It is joyful and is not miserable or sick-minded. In this way it abides in its own spiritual nature and is different from prakrti and God. Atman has its own dignity, intrinsic worth and autonomy. It is not a thing or physical substance like a stone or piece of wood which is acit or jada. It is not subject to prakrti and its gunas and is free from the instincts, like lust, anger, hatred, jealousy and it has self-mastery. Thus it is a spiritual personality which is free and eternal. It is a knower, a free

agent and is joyful. The atman that subjects itself to the evils of samsra or the bondage of karma is called baddha-jiva. It somehow, owing to avidya or ancient ignorance which cannot be explained, mistakes itself for the body made of prakrti and suffers from the series of births and deaths. It is like the prince who exiles himself from his father’s throne and joins the wild hunters in the forest, marries a hunter girl, begets children by her and thus gets immersed in savage life. The atman somehow deserts its divine home, enters into the body made of acit, wallows in sense life and is caught up in the wheel of

births and deaths. Why or how it lapses from the divine heritage and suffers from avidya, kama and karm,a, is a mystery. But the jiva alone is responsible for the evils and ills of worldliness and not any outside agency. Avidya makes it JIVA identify itself with prakrti jts gunas; Kama' makes it seek the pleasures ,the senses and suffer from the pains of animal life and karma subjects it to the endless series of births and deaths. But the Jiva does not suffer from original sin or unmerited suffering. Though the

origin of avidga, or samsara cannot be understood, it can be destroyed by jnavia, and the atman can go back to God and return no mere to samsara. But as long as its true nature is concealed by avidya, it is bound by karma and is subject to the rounds of births and deaths.

Karma

The law of karma occupies an important place in Hindu Ethics, and it alone solves the problem of the inequalities of life and unmerited suffering. Why does the wicked man prosper in life and the good man suffer from all kinds of misery, physical, mental and social? and why does the new-born child suffer for the sins of its parents and from untold evils and why should there be evil and misery at all if there is a good God? These problems are as old as humanity itself. But of all the solutions offered, the theory of karma is the least objectionable. Evil and suffering no doubt exist hut each man is responsible for the ills of life he undergoes and not God or the Devil. The theory of karma is the law of causation applied to moral life and each man reaps what he sows. The effect of karma or action done by thought, word and deed (or matins,vak and kaija) is never lost; it is conserved in the mind-body or sarira. The present karma is the effect of the past, and is the cause of the future.In this way all karmas are connected as cause and effect and they form a series without any beginning. The law of causation operates uniformly

without any exception and it is the moral law of retribution. I: a man does good deeds or punyakanna he is rewarded and he enjoys the effect of his deeds, like health, longevity of life, prosperity,power and glory; but if he does bad deeds he is punished and he suffers for his bad acts and they lead to disease, poverty and misery. Good and evil thus lead to pleasure and pain and there is a mathematical ratio between virtue and pleasure and vice and suffering. In this way every man is accountable for his good and bad deeds.

Transmigration

The laws of rebirth and transmigration of Jivas follow as the consequence of karma. No child is born out of nothing; it is not born with an empty mind. It does not evolve from the parents and follow the laws of heredity. Every child is born with certain predispositions or vasanas, which are retained in the subtle body, as the effect, no deed is lost. When a person dies, the gross body alone is dissolved but the subtle body of the Jiva remains, retaining- all the effects of its karma. The Jiva then enters into a new

body suited to its past karma and is born again ,Thus every birth is the result of past karma and is the cause of a new body and birth. Just as a man throws away worn out garments and puts on new garments, the Jiva throws away worn out bodies and puts on new bodies. Just as there is continuity in a man's life from infancy to old age and personal identity, so there is continuity of the same Jiva in the series of births and rebirths and personal identity. There is identity in spite of numerous births and this is due to the eternity of the Jiva.

The adventures of the Jiva in the world of samsara are not confined to this earth alone. It migrates from body to body according to its karma in the cosmic spheres known as the three lokas ranging from Brahmaloka or Satyaloka  above to the Patalaloka below. In the celestial worlds above, starting with Svarga, the quality of sattva is dominant and the Jiva enjoys pleasure. In the nether regions, starting with Atala, the quality of tamas is dominant and Patala is the lowest region of darkness and' the Jiva suffers from pain. But the middle region called Karma Bhumi is influenced by rajas. It is the moral

world of man and it is here that he does good deeds and bad deeds and their effect is reaped in the worlds above and below. There are other Brahmandas(universes) like this and they are countless like

the stars and they are ruled by Isvara according to the karma of the Jivas. The worlds have no spatial meaning but they have hierarchical moral values. Good men ascend to higher regions according to their karma and enjoy celestial pleasures and when the effect is exhausted, they come down again and are born in different bodies, sub-human and human. Likewise wicked Jivas suffer from pain and when it is exhausted, they have a new chance and are born again in this moral world.

Freedom

The scientific view of karma in terms of cause and effect is open to the objection that it leads to fatalism and pessimism and that it does not provide any hope of bettering the future. Since every man reaps what he sows, he has to submit meekly to what happens without any moral freedom. He has to endure what cannot be cured and is a slave of circumstances. But the scientific view is only one aspect of karma as the more important side is the assertion of the moral freedom or freedom of the will. It says that every man can control his inclinations like anger,fear, lust, hatred and jealousy and that he can

control his future. The scientific theory applies only to prarabdha-karma and not to sancita karma. The former refers to the karma that has already happened, like the birth of a person and which cannot be changed. But the latter refers to the future which is in our hands. Every man is the master or architect of his destiny and not even a God can alter it. If a man has a conflict of desires, like the choice of a career, he has the moral freedom to decide for himself which career he can choose. He can control his passions, like anger or hatred and attain moral victory. But if he chooses tbe way of the animal,then he once again is chained to the wheel of samsara. But he too will one day begin to realise the futility and pain of choosing the animal way of life and turn towards the higher path of freedom through self-control. In either case freedom is inherent in every soul to choose the higher or the lower. A soul has freedom to

choose but not the power to get the results of what it chooses as it likes. The results depend on

the laws of the worlds and causation (karma).

A HANDBOOK OF HINDU RELIGION-2

 CHAPTER II-GOD

God in Hinduism is called by various names, like Brahman, Isvara, Bhagavan and Purusottama and they all refer to the same Being. But many misleading views are held about His nature and qualities and they have to be corrected before the true meaning is explained.The most prevalent mistake is to say that the Hindu makes God in his own image; he worships stones, trees, animals and departed spirits and at best God is man as an excellent person. This view is absurd as it is not Nature but the God in Nature that is adored by him. Man is made in God’s image and not God in man’s image. It is wrong to say that the Hindu is a polytheist who worships many Gods as Devas.God or Isvara is in all Gods as their inner ruler or Devadeva and therefore the Hindu is a monotheist who affirms that Brahman is the one without a second. Another mistake is that Hinduism is pantheistic as it holds that all is Godand that God is all. God or Isvara is in all beings as their ruler but is not equated with all beings. He is pure and perfect without any taint or imperfection. Still others say that the Hindu God is a mere abstraction or that it is nothing"at all.But all Hindus are agreed that Religion is essentially faith in a personal God and the same is the highest Being of the philosopher.But the existence of God cannot be proved by reason nor is it a blind faith. Every one can see God face to face directly if he eagerly seeks Him,and then he is sought by God and blessed. Just as man seeks God, God also seeks man and saves him from sinfulness and the sense of separation.This is His redemptive purpose and itis gradually realised in five aspects or stages. Brahman is beyond and is pure and perfect and He is called Para. Then He becomes Isvara or the Infinite who is called the creator, preserver and destroyer of the Cosmos or the Universe or Trimurti. 

Then He enters into the heart of all Jivas as their inner ruler or Antargamin. Then on certain occasions of cosmic crisis, He incarnates into the world and these historic incarnations are called Avataras. In the last stage, He is called Area or permanent incarnation of love in the form of Idols. The one increasing purpose of God in all these stages or descents is the redemption of the Jivas from their career of sin and ignorance.The Hindu scriptures with their infinite motherly tenderness reveal the gradual purpose as Sruti,Purana, Smrti, Itihasa and Psalms in Tamil and other vernaculars. The Upanisads reveal his perfect nature as Para and Antargamin; the Puranas describe His nature as Jsvara doing his threefold cosmic function. The Itihasas describe the redemptive acts of the Avataras. The Smrtis expound his moral and aesthetic excellences and lastly the Psalms describe His love and easy accessibility to all persons. Brahman assumes a bewitching form of beauty in order that He may attract the Jivas and annex them to Himself. His five aspects may be briefly explained as follows: Brahman is the God of the Upanisads and he is pure and perfect in the world beyond.His nature cannot be explained adequately but his essential qualities are mentioned in a way as satyam, jnanan, anantam and anandam.Brahman is sat or reality, or truth itself and is eternal and changeless unlike prakrti. He is ever self-luminous and is more effulgent than all the Suns, Moons and Stars. He is supremely good or amala and is free from all imperfections.He is by nature blissful or ananda and love itself.Brahman is the one without a second, though He has many qualities and His chief quality is love by which He imparts His nature to the Jivas and makes them like Himself. The whole universe has its being in Him and He is the supreme end of our life.Brahman in relation to the world or cosmos is called Isvara and it is He who creates it, sustains it and destroys it. 

He does the three functions of srsti(creation), sthiti(preservations) and samhara(destruction) in the three forms of Brahma,Visnu and Siva. This threefold function is described in detail in the eighteen Puranas of which the chief are Visnupurana and Bhaqavatapurana.The world consists of Jivas and Prakrti but they are eternal and not created out of nothing. Before creation they were in a latent stage in Pralaya like the seed before it becomes’ the tree. In creation they are given new bodies by Brahman according to their previous karma and they get new opportunities of becoming free and perfect. In the state of sthiti they live and move in the three worlds,Earth, Svarga and lower world in accordance with their karma. They have freedom to make or mar themselves, and Visnu the Lord, sustains them as their very life and He guides justly. Then there comes a time when the world is steeped in wickedness and sin and the Lord Siva destroys it for the timebeing.The three functions are done by the same Isvara out of his sweet and loving will and they are aspects of the one cosmic function, namely to redeem the Jivas from their ignorance and evil. This process goes on endlessly in a circle till all the Jivas attain mukti.Antarayamin .After creating the Universe, Brahman enters into it as its inner self or antaryamin. The universe consists of the physical world or acit or jada and also the world of Jivas, subhuman,human and celestial. Brahman pervades the whole world of acit and cit as Vasudeva and resides in the heart of every Jiva, plant, animal,man or deva as its inner self or saririn. Though He is in all inanimate things and Jivas, He is not in any way affected by their imperfections. As their inner self, He gives them life, rules them from within and they all exist for His satisfaction.But His chief purpose in dwelling in their hearts is to free them from their sinfulness and make them into His image or likeness. One chief defect pointed out by critics of Hinduism is that it is pantheistic because it says that Brahman pervades all beings and is the same as a stone,dog or dog-eater. That view is wrong because Hinduism says that God is in all beings as their inner ruler and is not identical with all beings. Inanimate things are different from Jivas and God is different from both, and He enters into them with a view to be in intimate contact with them. As the Lord o; love dwells in the heart of the Jiva or man called the lotus-heart of hrdayakamala, the human body extolled as the very temple of God or Brahmapuri. As the seat of Divinity, it is held sacred, not defiled as a filthy place of sin. God is love and He is in the Jiva in order that the Jiva may be made Godly.

Avatara 

The theory of Brahman as redeemer is clearly brought out by that Avatara or Divine incarnation as revealed in the two Itihasas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It is fully revealed by the author of the Bhagavad-gita who is the highest incarnation of God. As the Lord himself says in the Gita, He incarnates into history when virtue or dharma declines and is threatened with destruction by adharma or vice. He comes down with a unique form of his own to punish the evil-doer and reward the virtuous man and restore the moral order of the world.The real motive of the incarnation is moral and religious as it consists in redeeming even the evil-doer from his ways of wickedness or sin and blessing the devotee or bhakta by revealing His form made of love or krpa. Even punishment or dandana is dayakarya as its real object is to reform the offender- and not repress him. Avatara is not descent from a higher place to a lower place with a physical body. It is spiritual descent into human and even subhuman planes and is due to divine love and accessibility or saulabhyn.The tihasas refer to ten chief avataras of Visnu of which the most important are Rama and Krsna. The earlier avataras like those of the fish, the tortoise, the boar and the man-lion and the dwarf or Matsya, Karma, Varaha and Nara simha and Vamana were made on critical occasions in cosmic history to restore the cosmic moral and spiritual order and establish the kingdom of righteousness. Rama was born to punish the evil-doers like Ravana and establish righteous rule or Rama rajya based on the eternal rules of dharma. The Ramayana and the Gita refer to the avatara as the very embodiment of Divine Love and they guarantee salvation or mukti to all Jivas regardless of their birth and status,including even the subhuman species. The Avatara is, therefore, extolled and adored as sarvaloka-raksaka or universal redeemer.

Area 

The worship of God as area or vigraha made of stone, wood or copper is very popular among the Hindus as a permanent incarnation of Divine grace and love, sanctified by the hymns of the Alvars, Hyanmars and other devotees. 'What appears a graven image to the critic or the materialist, is to the devotee with a spiritual eye a speaking Beauty radiating life and love. The so-called idol is not an idea or ideal; an image or symbol; but is the loving, all-pervading presence of the Lord who resides permanently as area in response to the prayer of the bhakta. The image is only the embodiment of divine mercy and it is easily accessible to all who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The devotee seeks the Lord in a particular form as Visnu, Siva or Sakti and Divinity beyond all name and form incarnates into that form and he melts with love and is lost in the rapture of communion. The Alvars sought refuge at the feet of the Lord and preferred to be a stone step at the altar of Srinivasa to be trodden by the faithful to even bhakti and mukti.

Mother

The doctrine of Motherhood is a special feature of Hinduism as it brings out the tender love and mercy that is the special mark of divine mercy. The idea of Isvara as the almighty and the holy draws out the quality of reverence and awe around in the worshipper as an unworthy creature. The prayer to God as the father in Heaven or lokapati is based on the doctrine that every man is made in the image of God or son of God. Even this view does not fully bring out the nature of divine love and mercy and it is only the fact of the motherhood of God that appeals to mercy and love as the very heart of creation. God as ruler or law giver metes out justice to every one according to the strict rules of karma and dharma. It provides no hope of mercy for the persons who violate the rules and no man is so pure or sinless as to say that he walks in the ways of righteousness. But God as mother is forgiving and no sin is so sinful as not to merit mercy or daya.. Therefore every one seeks the grace of Laksmi or Parvatl or Sakti as the very embodiment of redemptive love. But mercy by itself may encourage favouritism and indulgence and the sinner may exploit the quality of forgiveness.The Hindus therefore worship divinity in the dual form of Isvara and Isvari. Law is severe and love is indulgent; but in God law and love are wedded together and they are really one though they function as two.

A Hand-book of Hindu Religion-1

 

CHAPTER I-INTRODUCTION

Hinduism is one of the most important of living religions in the world; it is the oldest of all and is called Sanatana Dharma. No study of religion can be complete without taking its finest and highest forms as revealed in its sacred scriptures and as interpreted by its leading exponents and realised by its seers, sages and saints..

Hinduism in a sense supplies the fullest material for the study of religion and can claim to be the one religion which is most comprehensive and universal.It is not an historical religion, but it is a religion without any historic founders and it has eternal foundation. Historical religions base their' doctrines and dogmas on the revelations of their' prophets. Hinduism is based on the Vedas, the eternal scriptures revealed to the seers and sages and testified to by the Smrtis and transmitted in an unbroken tradition. The Veda is the word of God and is God Himself and is therefore eternal or nitya. It is apauruseya., impersonal, not man made. Hinduism is sanatana religion without beginning and end and is one continuous revelation consisting of the Veda, Vedahgas, Smrtis,Itihasas, Puranas, Agamas, the hymns of the Alvars and the Nayanmars. It deals with eternal spiritual truths adopted to changing conditions and is therefore fixed in essentials and flexible in non-essentials like rites and rituals.The term Hinduism is of foreign origin and vague. The term Sanatana Dharma is therefore preferable to it and it has a rounded perfection and is comprehensive; but the name Hinduism is sanctioned by usage. Dharma applies to righteousness exemplified in practical life, individual and social, and implies also moksa-dharma or the nature of freedom from the ills of life or samsara. It is thus a way of life and a view of

life and includes both theory and practice. The Veda is the chief authority or pramana for Hinduism, and as aids to its practical understanding are the other scriptures like the Smrtis.

There are four Vedas, the Rg-veda, the Yajurveda,the Sarnaveda and the Atharvaveda. Each Veda has three divisions, namely the Mantra, the Brahmana and the Upanisad. One who knows the inner meaning of the Mantras and the Brahmanas is a Mantra-drs, who acquires mastery over nature, internal and external. It is.wrong to say that the Vedas belong to the child stage of humanity. An ancient Vedic text which says that the Sat or God is one and the :seers call it variously contains the keynote of Hinduism and its universality. The Upanisads or the Vedanta are the most sublime teachings of Hinduism and are called Brahma Vidya, containing the wisdom of Brahman, by knowing

which everything is known. They are the solace of life and death. Vedic knowledge is summed up in the Vedantic wisdom of Brahman enshrined in the Branava or Aum. Though the Vedas refer to the economical and ethical (the hedonistic) ends of life, the highest end is moksa or the realisation of Brahman. It is therefore called Brahmavidya. The Veda cannot be known without aids or ahgas and there are six aids like phonetics, grammar and astronomy.

The Smrtis like those of Manu bring out the ethics of the Hindus in their individual and social aspects. They deal more with duties and virtues than with rights or; ,privileges. There are cardinal virtues like truth and ahimsa which are universally applicable and also relative duties or yuga-dharmas which are true only in certain periods. The Smrti of sage Parasara is meant for this age of Kali. The two Itihasas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata describe the two avataras of Visnu, Sri Rama and Sri Krsna. God’

incarnates into history at critical periods to restore' righteousness and punish wickedness. Even such punishment is ultimately only for the reformation of the wicked man. There are eighteen Puranas of which the chief are the Visnupurana and the Bhagavgita. They are chiefly cosmic accounts dealing with the origin, the preservation and. the destruction of the Universe. Their chief aim is to bring out the increasing purpose of God as raksaka or the maker of muktas. The Agamas explain the way in which God comes down to the world of man in the form of area or idol in order to redeem him from his sinfulness. The hymns of the Nayanmars and the Alvars are mainly sung in praise of area or idol in the temple for the bestowal of His redemptive grace:

The study of the Vedas, the Smrtis, the Itihasas, the Puranas, the Agamas and the experiences of the Alvars and the Nayanmars reveal the inner truth of religion, viz., the gradual descent of God to the human level to lift him up to the Divine level. The Brahman of the Vedas becomes the antaryamin of the- Vedanta, the Tsvara of the Smrtis and the Puranas, the1 Avatara of the Itihasas and the area of the Agamas,Alvars and Nayanmars. With God’s grace man ascends from the animal and human through, the spiritual stages to the divine stage of mukti.Thus all the scriptures have a unity of spiritual purpose suited to different types and persons.Hinduism as Vedanta expounds this unity of import in a philosophic way. The six Darsanas

or systems cf philosophy were composed by different rsis with one single aim, namely, the removal of the ills of life to the attainment of moksa. Nyaya-Vaisesika deals with the logic or pramanas and their categories of life. The Sahkhya-Yoga deals with purusa and prakrti and the way in which the purusa frees himself from prakrti. Purva-mimamsa stresses the ethics of dharma. Uttara-m,imdmsa or the Vedanta is the supreme philosophy of Brahman by knowing whom everything is known. Each of these systems helps the mumuksu or the seeker after Brahmam to attain viveka, vairagya and ethical purity respectively as essential steps to the attainment of Brahman.The pramanas prove that Brahman is the highest object of knowledge. They affirm the reality of the supreme purusa. The highest dharma consists in attaining Him. This is the way of Vedanta as taught in the Upavisads,the Gita and the Brahmasutras which are called the three prasthanas. The Upanisads describe the direct experience of God by the Rsis;the Gita is the essence of the Upanisads and the Sutras expound their philosophy.

The term darsana brings out the comprehensiveness of the Sandtana Dharma or Vedanta.Darsana ordinarily applies to knowledge gained through the senses or pratyaksa as in the example, “ This rose is red.” It is real and not illusory though it is particular and fleeting. The knowledge gained through reason or anumana is more stable as it gives us some insight into the universal laws which explain the particular facts given in sense-perception. It is thus darsana in the sense of reasoning, as in the example, “The earth goes round the sun, because it is a planet.Higher than inference is intuition or direct knowledge of God or Brahman, as in the experience of mystics like Nammalvar. It is Brahma darsana and is the supreme end of knowledge.Thus darsana, is going from the physical sense organ to the inner eye of reason and finally to Brahma-caksus or the direct realisation of Brahman. In this way knowledge leads to the more of itself; it grows from sense-perception or pratyaksa to reasoning or anumana. Reasoning develops into direct realisation of Brahman as given in sastra. All these three ways are inter connected and complementary and there is no contradiction in their relation. Veda is not blind faith as it is a spiritual verity verified by the Rsis and other seers of God. The best test of Vedic knowledge is in our direct intuition of God with the guidance of the Guru who has seen Him face to face. In this way darsana as sense-knowledge becomes darsana or seeing with the inner eye of reason and finally as direct Brahma-darsana or experience of God by the Rsis and other seers of God. Thus the term darsana applied to Hinduism is all-inclusive. It accepts the reality of matter or the world of nature as described by science, but rejects materialism as the final view of life. It accepts the importance of reason but rejects rationalism as the final view of life. It accepts the importance of scripture or sastra but rejects theology as blind faith. Hinduism gives a place to science, philosophy, and theology and reconciles them. It says that the best proof of the existence of God is the experience of God.Hinduism is not a personal religion as it insists on the unity of life as a whole and the duties of each person to the other members of the society. But it does not accept the western view that God needs man’s co-operation in the furtherance of His purpose. Man does his work as worship of God in the spirit of kainkarya in utter humility. Every act of social service is really the adoration of God as the inner self in all beings. There is no spiritual barrier between one Jiva and another.

Hinduism is thus coherent, synthetic and universal. It is coherent because it satisfies every Pramana and sees no dividing line between reason and revelation. It is synthetic because it gives a place to every system of thought and every school of Vedanta. It is also tolerant because it recognises sects though it rejects sectarianism.It is universal because it affirms the truth that every man is a son of God and he can intuit Him directly. But it is not a mere hotch-potch or eclectic faith. It provides for different types of people but at the same time emphatically declares that the goal or aim is the same. Every one is atman or spiritual, and there is one atman in and beyond all; and every one can realise Him. The terms applied to Hinduism like Sanatan Dharma, Vedanta or Darsana and Brahma-vidya are all synonymous. They all affirm the same truths in spirituality and service.The chief topics that are dealt with in this work relate to the three reals or tattvas, the means of attaining God, including Hindu sociology and methods of worship and the nature of the supreme purusartha or moksa, and finally the value of Hinduism as a universal  religion.