Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/221

Rh as distinct from his creation, but the monotheism of the Upanishads, which has been the monotheism of the Hindu religion ever since, recognizes God as the Universal Being: all things else have emanated from him, are a part of him, and will mingle in him, so as to have no separate existence. This is the great idea which is taught in the Upanishads in a hundred similes, stories, and legends, that impart to them their unique value in the literature of the world. In this spirit the Chhandogya Upanishad declares:—

"All this is Brahma (the Universal Being). Let a man meditate on the visible world as beginning, ending, and breathing in Brahma.

"His body is spirit, his form is light, his thoughts are true, his nature is like ether (omnipresent and invisible), from him all works, all desires, all sweet odours and tastes proceed; he it is who embraces all this, who never speaks and is never surprised.

"He is my self within the heart, smaller than a corn of rice, smaller than a corn of barley, smaller than a mustard seed, smaller than a canary seed or the kernel of a canary seed. He also is my self within the heart, greater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater than heaven, greater than all these worlds.

"He from whom all works, all desires, all sweet odours and tastes proceed, who embraces all this, who never speaks and is never surprised, he—my self within the heart—is that Brahma, When I shall have departed from hence, I shall obtain him."

Such is the sublime language in which the ancient