Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 2.djvu/41

 wonderment, he gave up his journeyings and considered what he had seen. The Almighty, who is something different from Brima, had then said to him, “Go, Brima, and create the world; thou canst not understand thyself; make something understandable.” Brima had asked, “How shall I create a world?” The Almighty had answered, “Ask me and power shall be given thee.” Fire had now issued out of Brima, and he had seen the Idea of all things, which hovered before his eyes, and had said, “Let all which I see become real, but how shall I preserve the things so that they do not go to destruction?” Upon this a spirit of blue colour proceeded out of his mouth; this again was Brima himself, Vishnu, Krishna, the maintaining principle, and this he commanded to create all living things, and for their maintenance the vegetable world. Human beings were as yet wanting. Thereupon Brima commanded Vishnu to make mankind. He did this, but the human beings which Vishnu made were idiots with great bellies, without knowledge, like the beasts of the field, without emotions and will, and with sensuous passions only; at this Brima was wroth and destroyed them. He himself now created four persons out of his own breath, and gave them orders to rule over the creatures. But they refused to do anything else than to praise God, because they had nothing of the quality of mutability or destructibility in them, nothing of the temporal qualities of existence. Brima now became angry. His vexation took the form of a swarthy spirit, which came forth from between the eyes. This spirit sat down before Brima with crossed legs and folded arms, and wept, saying, “Who am I, and what is my dwelling-place to be?” Brima replied, “Thou shalt be Rudra, and all nature thy dwelling-place; go and make men.” He did so. These men were more savage than tigers, since they had nothing in them but the destructive quality; they destroyed themselves, for their only emotion was wrath. Thus we