Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/248

 1233 The Religion of the Veda

scient guardians of the moral law and order of the universe. Avestan Ahura Mazda and Vedic Varuna are the guardiansinuchief of the rm, the cosmic and moral order of the universe and man...‘l Vedic Varuna in his ethical strength has a Hebraic ﬂavor. By the side of even the loftiest ﬁgure and the loftiest traits of the Hellenic or Toutonic Pantheon Varuna stands like a Jewish prophet by the side of a priest of Dagon. And yet what permanent moral strength have the Hindus derived from Varuna, and what he- comes of Varuna himself in the course of his de- velopment ? A second rate Neptune, “ Lord of the Waters,” a mere stage ﬁgure. In the straight~lined advance, looking neither to the right nor to the left, to the recognition of the one Brahma, the universal spirit, as the one Reality, and the consequent illu- soriness of the entire phenomenal world, there is really no more room for righteous and stern Varuna than for an idol of clay, unless you can make out that Varuna is but a particular manifestation of the One Brahma, and then he is no more important than any other manifestation.

The absence of a strong chronological scaffolding is felt not only for the events of Hindu history, but also for the events of Hindu thought. It is the cus- tom to speak rather glibly of “ late ” and “ early ” in

ISee above, p. 126.