Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/407

355 alone exists. God is the universe; beside him there is no existence; all that exists is God. What then, it will be asked, is matter? If God is a Spirit, and beside spirit there is no existence, what are these rocks and oceans? What is this body, and what the earth on which I tread? To this the Vedantist boldly replies, “All this is maya—illusion or self-deception. You, in your folly, suppose that you have individuality, a separate existence; this is maya, illusion—God alone exists. You imagine that you see forms, and touch material bodies; this is illusion—they do not exist. But one thing exists; that is, God.”

It must be acknowledged that this statement is somewhat startling to poor ignorant creatures who have always entertained the idea that they slept and waked, eat and drank, handled and were handled. But the philosopher of the Vedanta school assures us that there can be no doubt as to the matter. "Ex nihilo nihil fit," of nothing, nothing is made, is an axiom that may not be disputed. If God therefore is an immaterial Spirit, from him matter cannot proceed; and, since he alone exists, there can be no such thing as a material universe. The idea of creation, of an almighty