DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0039
Philosophical Brahmanism. 27
object of liberating the spirit of man from the bondage of
repeated bodily existence, and reuniting it with the Supreme
Spirit as a river is reunited with the ocean. This is called
the way of knowledge (j'fiana). This constitutes the right
measure (prama) of all difficulties. This is the summum
bonum of Brahmanical philosophy.
What, then, are the articles of a Hindu philosopher's
creed? They are the doctrines which to this day underlie
the religious belief of the majority of thinking Hindus, to
whatever sect or system they may nominally belong.
Most Hindu thinkers agree that spirit or soul1 is eternal,
both retrospectively and prospectively. The Spirit of God
and the spirit of man must have existed and must continue
to exist from all eternity. The two spirits are not really
distinct; so says the Vedantist. The living spirit of man (jlva)
—the human Self (Atman)—is identical with God's Spirit.
It is that Spirit limited and personalized by the power of
Illusion; and the life of every living spirit is nothing but an
infinitesimal arc of the one endless circle of infinite existence.
Again, Hindu philosophers agree that mind (manas) is
distinct from spirit or soul. Mind is not eternal in the
same way. It is an internal organ, standing between the
five organs of perception and the five organs of action,
belonging to both, regulating the functions of both and re-
ceiving the impressions conveyed by both. These functions
are perception (buddhi) and volition (sankalpa, vikalpa)
respectively. Hence the spirit cannot exercise perception,
consciousness, thought, or will, unless joined to mind and
invested with a bodily covering or vehicle.
And of actual bodily coverings there are two :—first, the
1 It is generally better to translate the philosophical terms Atman,
Brahman, and Purusha by 'spirit' rather than by 'soul,' because the
expression 'soul' is liable to convey the idea of thinking and feeling,
whereas pure Atman, Brahman, and Purusha neither think, nor feel,
nor are conscious. The translation ' Self is sometimes more suitable.
object of liberating the spirit of man from the bondage of
repeated bodily existence, and reuniting it with the Supreme
Spirit as a river is reunited with the ocean. This is called
the way of knowledge (j'fiana). This constitutes the right
measure (prama) of all difficulties. This is the summum
bonum of Brahmanical philosophy.
What, then, are the articles of a Hindu philosopher's
creed? They are the doctrines which to this day underlie
the religious belief of the majority of thinking Hindus, to
whatever sect or system they may nominally belong.
Most Hindu thinkers agree that spirit or soul1 is eternal,
both retrospectively and prospectively. The Spirit of God
and the spirit of man must have existed and must continue
to exist from all eternity. The two spirits are not really
distinct; so says the Vedantist. The living spirit of man (jlva)
—the human Self (Atman)—is identical with God's Spirit.
It is that Spirit limited and personalized by the power of
Illusion; and the life of every living spirit is nothing but an
infinitesimal arc of the one endless circle of infinite existence.
Again, Hindu philosophers agree that mind (manas) is
distinct from spirit or soul. Mind is not eternal in the
same way. It is an internal organ, standing between the
five organs of perception and the five organs of action,
belonging to both, regulating the functions of both and re-
ceiving the impressions conveyed by both. These functions
are perception (buddhi) and volition (sankalpa, vikalpa)
respectively. Hence the spirit cannot exercise perception,
consciousness, thought, or will, unless joined to mind and
invested with a bodily covering or vehicle.
And of actual bodily coverings there are two :—first, the
1 It is generally better to translate the philosophical terms Atman,
Brahman, and Purusha by 'spirit' rather than by 'soul,' because the
expression 'soul' is liable to convey the idea of thinking and feeling,
whereas pure Atman, Brahman, and Purusha neither think, nor feel,
nor are conscious. The translation ' Self is sometimes more suitable.