Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 2.djvu/80

 44- HISTORY OF INDIA. [Book lY.

AD- " Thou art self- existent ; thou art the most excellent ray ; thou givest effulgence ; grant it unto us." An oblation, consisting of tela or sesamum, flowers, barley-

Drahminicai Water, and red sandal- wood, is then made in a copper vessel shaped like a boat and placed on the head. With various other prayers and ceremonies, including an invocation of the gayatri, winch is characterized as 'light," as "seed," as " immortal life," as " the holiest sacrifice," and " the divine text who dost grant our best wishes," the daily morning devotion is brought to a close.

Th five At noon and in the evening the service slightly varied ought to be repeated.

Other portions of the day should be occupied with what are called "the five ofreat sacraments." These are — 1. The sacrament of the Vedas, or the teachinfj and studying of them. 2. The sacrament of the Manes, or an oblation of cakes and water to departed ancestors and progenitors generally. 3. The sacrament of the Deities, or prayers to all the gods of the pantheon, accompanied with an oblation to fire. 4. The sacrament of Spirits, or an oblation of rice and other food to all animated creatures ; and 5. The sacrament of Men, or the perform- ance of the rites of hospitality. In all of these the observance must be accom- panied with prayers, ceremonies, and gestures, still more minute, unmeaning, and fantastical than those required in morning devotion, the whole forming an irksome routine, in which neither the intellect nor the affections have any share, and the most solemn religious acts degenerate into mere mechanism. It is not to be wondered at that a great majority of the Brahmins have found means to evade the letter of these requirements, and to curtail them to such a degree that one hour suffices for rites for which, if fully performed, at least four hours would be necessary. Unfortunately, in curtailing frivolous and useless ceremonies, no care has been taken to supply their place by something better, and the only effect has consequently been to bring that class which ought to set the example to aU other classes, nearer than before to practical atheism.

Observances The great uiass of the population, ever ready to take the law from those whom

of the vulgar. i i • i i • i

they regard as their superiors, select only those observances which are most agreeable, and thus make religion not a curb, but rather a stimulus to their natural depravity. In pursuing this course they are countenanced by a remark- able peculiarity in Hindoo faith and practice. A fundamental axiom of the Christian religion is, that he who offends in one point is guilty of all ; in other words, that every precept is of absolute obligation, and consequently that the habitual neglect of any one known duty makes him who is guilty of it virtually an infidel. The Hindoo axiom, on the contrary, is, that all obedience is optional, and that within certain Hmits every individual is at liberty to lay down a rule for himself He who aspires to the highest degree of future bliss will be contented with nothing short of perfection, and will consequently endeavom- to fulfil every obligation to the very letter. He, on the other hand, who has no such exalted aims, and desires to be religious only so far as may be necessary to secure him against the loss of caste and the worst forms of future punishment, may