DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0529
Modern Theism. Rammohun Roy's successors. 519
energetically sung by the appointed singers, the prayers
earnestly repeated, and the address solemnly delivered by
the minister, but the congregation neither stood nor knelt,
and seemed to take no really cordial part in the proceedings.
It is true that a sitting posture at prayer is customary, and
by no means intended to imply irreverence; yet I came
away persuaded that the Prarthana-Samaj of Bombay, in
spite of honest strivings after a pure soul-stirring Theism, is
still chilled and numbed by the lingering influence of the old
Vedantic Pantheism, which it is unable wholly to shake off.
Before concluding these remarks I should note that occasional
Reformers still arise who make efforts to go back to the
Veda, and to found a pure Theism on the doctrines con-
tained in the hymns. A conservative Theistic movement of
this kind has recently been inaugurated by a remarkable
GujaratI Brahman named Dayananda SarasvatI SvamI—now
about 60 years of age—who calls his new church the Arya-
Samaj. He is a strong opponent of idolatry as well as of
both Pantheism and Polytheism, but contends that the four
Vedas are a true revelation, and that the hymns to Agni,
Indra, and Surya are really hymns to One God. In the
printed statement of his creed he declares that he is not an
independent thinker (naham svatantrah), but a follower of
the Veda; that the four Samhita texts of the Vedas are
to be received as a primary authority in all matters relating
to human conduct; that the Brahmanas, beginning with the
Satapatha; the six Angas or limbs of the Veda, beginning
with Siksha.; the four Upa-vedas; the six Darsanas or
Schools of Philosophy, and the 1130 schools of Vedic teach-
ing (sakhas1) are to be accepted as secondary authority in
expounding the meaning of the Vedas, and that adoration,
prayer, and devotion are to be offered to One God only,
1 That is ' branches.' Of these there are one thousand for the Sama-
veda, one hundred for the Yajur-veda, twenty-one for the Rig-veda, and
nine for the Atharva-veda. See Patanjali's Mahabhashya I. 1. 1.
energetically sung by the appointed singers, the prayers
earnestly repeated, and the address solemnly delivered by
the minister, but the congregation neither stood nor knelt,
and seemed to take no really cordial part in the proceedings.
It is true that a sitting posture at prayer is customary, and
by no means intended to imply irreverence; yet I came
away persuaded that the Prarthana-Samaj of Bombay, in
spite of honest strivings after a pure soul-stirring Theism, is
still chilled and numbed by the lingering influence of the old
Vedantic Pantheism, which it is unable wholly to shake off.
Before concluding these remarks I should note that occasional
Reformers still arise who make efforts to go back to the
Veda, and to found a pure Theism on the doctrines con-
tained in the hymns. A conservative Theistic movement of
this kind has recently been inaugurated by a remarkable
GujaratI Brahman named Dayananda SarasvatI SvamI—now
about 60 years of age—who calls his new church the Arya-
Samaj. He is a strong opponent of idolatry as well as of
both Pantheism and Polytheism, but contends that the four
Vedas are a true revelation, and that the hymns to Agni,
Indra, and Surya are really hymns to One God. In the
printed statement of his creed he declares that he is not an
independent thinker (naham svatantrah), but a follower of
the Veda; that the four Samhita texts of the Vedas are
to be received as a primary authority in all matters relating
to human conduct; that the Brahmanas, beginning with the
Satapatha; the six Angas or limbs of the Veda, beginning
with Siksha.; the four Upa-vedas; the six Darsanas or
Schools of Philosophy, and the 1130 schools of Vedic teach-
ing (sakhas1) are to be accepted as secondary authority in
expounding the meaning of the Vedas, and that adoration,
prayer, and devotion are to be offered to One God only,
1 That is ' branches.' Of these there are one thousand for the Sama-
veda, one hundred for the Yajur-veda, twenty-one for the Rig-veda, and
nine for the Atharva-veda. See Patanjali's Mahabhashya I. 1. 1.