The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1894-02-24
4 PEEP INTO ~sRAHMANlsM.
A. Interesting Article BY Prof.G.N. Chakra,
yarti, . High Caste Rranmin.

waste DrHnIntn6 VINO nave ever O0on II
the country, and the following 10 thu
first article written by him for N
American newspaper. He is professor
of mathematics It Allahabad college,
Allahabad. India, and came to Ameri
Ca as the delegate to the Thesophical
convention recently held at the worlds
fair. He is now on his way back "a
India"
Brahmanism is decidedly the very old.
est of the living religions Of today, and II
often does strike me as strange that this
ancient religion, which might be rs old rs
the world itself for aught that historical
research can tell us, should for age after
age have stood the work of time and de.
cay, while religions much younger should
ave been completely disintegrated and
leaving q trace behind. Under the above
circumstances, it may be interesting to
people even in the west to get q momen.
tary glimpse OF some one OF its manifold
aspects-all of which are now seen in
India, not in the beauty of shining youth,
rowed over with age TO the
superficial observer of this grand and
transcendentAl religion, the existence OF
the so called idolatry among the people OF
India 10 h the red rag is to the bull,
and he does not pause to think il there
may be, nndernsath the crust OF what he
considers SILLY superstition,n the great
rock of truth, which alone could with.
standf for centuries the incessant batter
Ing of h waves of destruction from ont
side, One single fact Is enough to dispei
the delusion that Brahminism and .'de.
basing idolatryn mean the same thing.
Brahminism, as Is now we'll known in tho
lVnuf tha - III IN k1,~ La -~.r m II ~
OF European scholars, Is essentially
pantheistic. 1t believes that all
that exists, from the minntest atom
commonly regarded by the ignorant US
dead-to man, the thinking, reasoning
being, is p%erneated by the great spirit
from which, according to its conceptions,
all things proceed and Into which they
finally return. The universe, both seen
and unseen. both animate and Illuminate,
both rational and irrational Is but a man.
Hesitation of the great divine one, which
liveth from chaos to cosmos and from
cosmos to chaos. pure. u~ndecaying an |
nndying; and the universe is therefore in
one sense c0-extensive with God and Is
God. To any thinking mind it will be
vident on q moments reflection that
.idolatry'can have no pincai in q system OF
religion which starts with the above prop.
osltion as the has . axiom from which all
other truths follow. = How can q relig. on
which In every page IND every line OF it,
sacred writings teaches the oneness. the
all pervading and this Intimate nature of
the spirit, In the same breath inculcate on
its followers the belief that God can re.
sid In an isolated portion OF matter. is q
question which people who run away with
the idea that Brahmanism Is synonymous
with heathenism would do we'll to answer.
From the very earliest dawn of Brah,
manic photography down to its dim even
ing, the one idea that has always baen
lost sight OF is the e~phemeral
and Elusive nature of matter
which is technically called maya in its
philosophical systems. In all the trans
cendental and mystical works, in all the
metaphysical and even scientific writings
in all the %allegories and fables, and in al,
the talk and traditions of the great Hindu
race, the one characteristic which gives
color to them all, and diHerentiates then
from similar works and institutions o.,
other nations, is the ever present ides
verse, and that matter In all shape and
form. In all its phases of evolution, is az
illusion given rise to by the thought Of
the : divine spirit, and will finally
vanish into its bosom, just
as q bubble rising on the breast
which has imbibed this doctrine from IT..
mothers milk and grows and is nurtured
In this belief can regard a few cubic
inches of matter of the lowest type as
divinity is a problem to be solved by
those who jump at the conclusion that thu
Hindus are heathens immersed in barbara
Gus superstiticns and need the light o fmod,
err religious and philosophic thought ia
take them out Of their intense darkness
The fact, however, is that no other nation
realizes so deeply, so intensely and so WV
idly, as the Hindu the reality and
he eternity of h spirit, be
cause the Hindu has inherited
this belief as the result Q.
centuries If thought on those lines And
Brahmanism insists. as probably no othet
religion does, upon forcing matter to tax.
its proper place In the economy OF nature
and not allowing it to assert its ascend
ency in the ,sublimer realms by usurpini
the throne which really belongs to spirit
That q man, constantly realizing til.
transitory and Elusive character of al
that can be perceived by the five senses
should strive to direct his bndy, mind AMI
soul toward that which is permanent ant
undying, is the kernel of all Brahmanica
teachings. So long as a person is i'm
mersed in matter and pursues vainly tn:
qualification of his senses. his rea
son will be clouded. his intuition blindr,
and his upward path blocked, for not with
the dead weight of material tendencie.
can one mount up to the regions wher.
The light of spirit shines forever.
G~YANRNDRA N ~CHAKRAvART1.
NJ A, LII b., FITS.