Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/40

 is and what is not; I have been everything; I am always and shall always be; I am Brahma and likewise Brahma; I am the cause which causes, I am the truth, the ox, and all living things; I am older than all; I am the past, the present, and the future; I am Rudra, I am all worlds,” &c.

Thus Brahma is the One, and is also everything independently which is conceived of as God. Among other prayers, we find one addressed to speech, in which it says of itself, “I am Brahma,” the universal supreme soul. Brahma is thus this One, which, however, is not exclusively held fast to as this One. He is not such a Being as we have in our minds when we speak of one God; this One God is universal unity; here everything which is independent, which is identical with itself says, “I am Brahma.”

By way of conclusion, another description may be given here, in which all the moments which we have hitherto considered in their divided state and dialectic are expressed unitedly.

Colonel Dow translated a history of India from the Persian, and in an accompanying dissertation he gives a translation from the Vedas, and in it there is a description of the creation of the world.

Brima existed from all eternity in the form of immeasurable expansion; when it pleased him to create the world he said, “Rise up, O Brima!” What was first had thus been desire, appetite. He says this to himself. Immediately thereupon a spirit of flames of fire, having four heads and four hands, issued from h s navel. Brima looked around and saw nothing but his own immeasurable image. He journeyed a thousand years in order to attain a knowledge of his expansion and to understand it. This fire again is Brima himself, and he has himself alone for his object as immeasurable. Now Brima, after the journey of a thousand years, knew as little about his expansion as he did before. Sunk in