The Secret of the Sacred Books of the Hindus(An Old and Rare Book)

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Life, with its questions about the origin and end and existence of things, presents a number of intricate problems to the thinking mind; for, in spite of the strange spectacle of the pairs of opposites, things appear gradually to merge into one another, and man is for ever striving not only to understand the laws of Nature, but also to gain control over its forces. This leads inevitably to the problem of the origin of things, -the creation of the universe and the modifications it under- goes from time to time; and this has exercised the minds of thinkers of all countries and ages. They have, each in his own way, attempted a rational approach to the question, and arrived at their own conclusions. Their process of thought is essentially inductive; and a number of hypotheses, put through certain tests, empirical, intuitional, or introspective-have developed into several theories, which are classified as philosophical speculations from time to time. It is this that has given birth to different systems of thought, some of which are purely rational and depend on the pronouncement of no individual, however great; while others rest on the support of some authority, which they regard as infallible or such as cannot be questioned. These are what are popularly called the heterodox and orthodox systems; and both have made their own contributions to the ancient thought of India; for the great thinkers of the past approached the problem from every conceivable point of view, and framed their theories in all imaginable ways, from atheism to pure monism of God, and from nihilism to the conception of one great entity inherent and immanent in the whole universe. The Indian systems of philosophy begin with the Charvaka school and the school of the Sunyavadins, and, by a gradual process of thought, culminate in Vedanta; and they are all concerned with the great problem of Life and its laws. Their essential idea is accordingly the same,-the realization of the Unseen through the Seen, and the knowledge of the real character of the Seen; and so there is small wonder that they are all connected with one another, and may even be regarded as having developed out of the same source. The object of all is the realization of Truth, the Ultimate and the Eternal-for that alone is the summum bonum of human life-its source of salvation and fountain of joy; and it is this that man has tried to attain from time to time, though often in vain. But failure has failed to discourage him, and he is for ever trying again and again. It is a deep and in- exhaustible study, and requires a synthetic spirit even more than an analytical mind; for without the former we are likely to be lost in the labyrinth of speculation, for ever creating fresh problems without solving them, or going back to the point from where we began. This is, in any case, true of the six major systems of Hindu Philosophy, which contain the secret of the sacred books of the ancients, and call for the special attention of thinkers and scholars today.