Page:Ranjit Singh (Griffin).djvu/60

54 tures he has made and which are an emanation from himself, unaffected by the universal Māya or delusion and resting uncontaminated by it, as the lotus flower remains distinct from the pool on which it rests. Polytheism is discountenanced and discredited in many parts in the Granth, when it takes the realistic form of idolatry; but Nának, in his teaching, did not directly denounce the polytheistic theory, and allowed the acceptance of the myriads of Hindu popular deities, all immeasurably inferior to the one Supreme Being, from whom, with all other things, they proceed. Nanak taught that the great object of human exertion was to avoid transmigration, which is the principal object of apprehension by Hindus and Sikhs alike.

The Hindu doctrine is that all earthly actions, good or evil, carry with them their own reward or punishment. Those who have been altogether virtuous are received into heaven where they remain until the merit has worked out. Then the saint returns to earth and is reborn as a man under the most favourable conditions, through which he passes in innumerable transmigrations, his future being again determined by his conduct. If his life has been vicious or worldly, he is thrown into purgatory from which, after long periods of punishment, he is reborn in animal forms, the most degraded of which are reserved for the greatest moral turpitude. After countless transmigrations he again becomes a man and is able by virtuous conduct gradually to work off his former