REINCARNATION/PART 5
CHAPTER V.
The Hindus.
While Reincarnation
has been believed and taught in nearly every nation, and among all races, in
former or present times, still we are justified in considering India as the
natural Mother of the doctrine, inasmuch as it has found an especially
favorable spiritual and mental environment in that land and among its people,
the date of its birth there being lost in the cloudiness of ancient history,
but the tree of the teaching being still in full flower and still bearing an
abundance of fruit. As the Hindus proudly claim, while the present dominant
race was still in the savage, cave-dwelling, stone-age stage of existence—and
while even the ancient Jewish people were beginning to place the foundation
stones of their religion, of which the present Christian religion is
but an offshoot—the great Hindu religious teachers and philosophers had
long since firmly established their philosophies and religions with the
doctrine of Reincarnation and its accompanying teachings, which had been
accepted as Truth by the great Aryan race in India. And, throughout forty
centuries, or more, this race has held steadfastly to the original doctrine,
until now the West is looking again to it for light on the great problems of
human life and existence, and now, in the Twentieth Century, many careful
thinkers consider that in the study and understanding of the great fundamental
thoughts of the Vedas and the Upanishads, the West will find the only possible
antidote to the virus of Materialism that is poisoning the veins of Western
spiritual understanding.
The idea of
reincarnation is to be found in nearly all of the philosophies and religions of
the race, at least in some period in their history—among all peoples and
races—yet, in India do we find the doctrine in the fullest flower, not only in
the past but in the present. From the earliest ages of the race in India,
Reincarnation in some of its various forms has been the accepted doctrine, and
today it is accepted by the entire Hindu people, with their many divisions and
sub-races, with the exception of the Hindu Mohammedans. The teeming millions of
India live and die in the full belief in Reincarnation, and to them it is
accepted without a question as the only rational doctrine concerning the past,
present and future of the soul. Nowhere on this planet is there to be found
such an adherence to the idea of "soul" life—the thinking Hindu
always regarding himself as a soul occupying a body, rather than as a body
"having a soul," as so many of the Western people seem to regard
themselves. And, to the Hindus, the present life is truly regarded as but one
step on the stairway of life, and not as the only material life preceding an
eternity of spiritual existence. To the Hindu mind, Eternity is here with us
Now—we are in eternity as much this moment as we ever shall be—and the present
life is but one of a number of fleeting moments in the eternal life.
The early Hindus did
not possess the complicated forms of religion now existing among them, with
their various creeds, ceremonials, rituals, cults, schools, and denominations.
On the contrary, their original form of religion was an advanced form of what
some have called "Nature-Worship," but which was rather more than
that which the Western mind usually means by the term. Their "Nature"
was rather a "Spirit of Nature," or One Life, of which all existing
forms are but varying manifestations. Even in this early stage of their
religious development they held to a belief in reincarnation of the soul, from
one form to another. While to them everything was but a manifestation of One
Life, still the soul was a differentiated unit, emanated from the One Life, and
destined to work its way back to Unity and Oneness with the Divine Life through
many and varied incarnations, until finally it would be again merged with the
One. From this early beginning arose the many and varied forms of religious
philosophy known to the India of today; but clinging to all these modern
forms is to be found the fundamental basis idea of reincarnation and final
absorption with the One.
Brahmanism came
first, starting from the simple and working to the complex, a great priesthood
gradually arising and surrounding the original simple religious philosophy with
ceremonial, ritual and theological and metaphysical abstractions and
speculation. Then arose Buddhism, which, in a measure, was a return to the
primitive idea, but which in turn developed a new priesthood and religious
organization. But the fundamental doctrine of Reincarnation permeated them all,
and may be regarded as the great common centre of the Hindu religious thought
and philosophy.
The Hindu religious
books are filled with references to the doctrine of Reincarnation. The Laws of
Manu, one of the oldest existing pieces of Sanscrit writing, contains many
mentions of it, and the Upanishads and Vedas contain countless reference to it.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna: "Know thou, O Prince of
Pandu, that there never was a time when I, nor thou, nor any of these princes
of earth was not; nor shall there ever come a time, hereafter, when any of us
shall cease to be. As the soul, wearing this material body, experienceth the
stages of infancy, youth, manhood, and old age, even so shall it, in due time,
pass on to another body, and in other incarnations shall it again live, and move
and play its part. * * * These bodies, which act as enveloping coverings for
the souls occupying them, are but finite things—things of the moment—and not
the Real Man at all. They perish as all finite things perish—let them perish.
He who in his ignorance thinketh: 'I slay' or 'I am slain,' babbleth like an
infant lacking knowledge. Of a truth none can slay—none can be slain. Take unto
thy inner mind this truth, O Prince! Verily, the Real Man—the Spirit of Man—is
neither born, nor doth it die. Unborn, undying, ancient, perpetual and eternal,
it hath endured, and will endure forever. The body may die; be slain; be
destroyed completely—but he that hath occupied it remaineth unharmed. * *
* As a man throweth away his old garments, replacing them with new and brighter
ones, even so the Dweller of the body, having quitted its old mortal frame,
entereth into others which are new and freshly prepared for it. * * * Many have
been my births and rebirths, O Prince—and many also have been thine own. But
between us lies this difference—I am conscious of all my many lives, but thou
lackest remembrance of thine."
In the Mahabarata is
said: "Even as when he casteth off an old garment, man clothes himself in
new raiment, even so the soul, casting off the wornout body, takes on a new
body, avoids the fatal paths leading to hell, works for its salvation, and
proceeds toward heaven."
The
Brhadaranyakopanishad, one of the old Hindu writings, contains the following:
"As the caterpillar, getting to the end of the straw, takes itself away
after finding a resting place in advance, so the soul leaving this body, and
finding another place in advance, takes himself off from his original
abode. As the goldsmith taking little by little of the gold expands it into a
new form, so, indeed, does this soul, leaving this body, make a new and happy
abode for himself."
But to attempt to
quote passages relating to incarnation from the Hindu books, would be akin to
compiling a library of many volumes. The sacred writings of the East are filled
with references to Reincarnation, and if the latter were eliminated it would be
"like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet omitted."
We cannot enter into
a description of the various schools of Hindu religious thought and philosophy
in this work, for to do so would be to expand this little volume in several of
larger size, so extended is the subject. But underlying the many divisions and
subdivisions of Hindu thought may be found the fundamental idea of an original
emanation from, or manifestation of, One Divine Being, Power and Energy, into
countless differentiated units, atoms, or egos, which units, embodying in
matter, are unconscious of the spiritual nature, and take on a consciousness
corresponding with the form in which they are embodied. Then follows a series
of embodiments, or incarnations, from lower to higher, in which occurs an
evolution or "unfoldment" of the nature of the soul, in which it
rises to higher and higher planes of being, until finally, after æons of time,
it enters in Union with the Divine Nirvana and Para-Nirvana—the state of
Eternal Bliss.
The great difference
between the Hindu thought and the Grecian is that while the Greeks considered
repeated life with joy as a means of greater and greater expression of life,
the Hindus, on the contrary, regard life as but a period of travail and sorrow,
the only light to be perceived being the expectation and hope of eventually
emerging from the region of materiality, and illusion, and regaining true
existence in the Spirit. The Hindus nearly all agree that this material life is
occasioned by "avidya" or ignorance on the part of the soul of its
own real nature and being, whereby it fails to recognize that this material
life is "maya" or illusion. They hold that Wisdom consists in the
soul recognizing its real nature, and perceiving the illusion of material life
and things, and striving to liberate itself from the bondage of materiality and
ignorance.
The principal
differences among the various Hindu schools of religion and philosophical
thought arise from their differing views regarding the nature and constitution
of the soul on the one hand, and the means of attaining liberation and freedom
from material embodiment on the other. The doctrine of "Karma" of
spiritual cause and effect, which we shall consider in another chapter, also
runs along with all the varying Hindu conceptions, doctrines, and theories.
Without considering
the matter of differences of opinion between the various schools, concerning
the nature and constitution of the soul, we may say that all the schools
practically agree that the constitution of Man is a complex thing, comprising a
number of sheaths, bodies, coverings, or elements, from the grosser to the
more spiritual, the various sheaths being discarded as the soul advances on its
way toward perfection. There are disputes between the various schools regarding
terminology and the precise arrangement of these "principles," but
the following classification will answer for the purpose of giving a general
idea of the Hindu views on the subject, subject always to the conflicting
claims of the various schools. The classification is as follows, passing from
lower to higher:
1. Physical or
material body, or Rupa. 2. Vitality of Vital Force, or Prana-Jiva. 3. Astral
Body, Etheric Double, or Linga Sharira. 4. Animal Soul, or Kama Rupa. 5. Human
Soul, or Manas. 6. Spiritual Soul, or Buddhi. 7. Divine Spirit, or Atma.
From the beginning,
the tendency of the Hindu mind was in the direction of resolving the universe
of forms, shapes, and change, back into some One Underlying Principle, from
which all the phenomenal world emerged—some One Infinite Energy, from which all
else emerged, emanated, or evolved. And the early Hindu mind busied itself
actively with the solution of the problem of this One Being manifesting a
Becoming into Many. Just as is the Western world of today actively engaged in
solving many material problems, so was ancient India active in solving many
spiritual problems—just as the modern West is straining every energy toward
discovering the "How," so was ancient India straining every effort to
discovering the "Why." And from that struggle of the mind of India
there arose countless schools of religious and philosophical thought, many of
which have passed away, but many of which persist today. The problem of the
relationship of the human soul to the One Being, and the secondary problem of
the life, present and future, of the individual soul, is a most vital one to
all thinking Hindus today as in the forty centuries or more of its philosophical
history. To the Hindu mind, all material research is of minor importance, the
important Truth being to discover that "which when once known, all else is
understood." But, as we have said, in spite of the numerous
religions, schools, and phases of teaching, among the Hindus, the one
fundamental conception of Reincarnation is never lost sight of, nor is it ever
doubted in any of the forms of the philosophies or religions.
Ignoring the
subdivisions of Hindu philosophical thought, we may say that the Hindu
philosophies may be divided into a few general classes, several of which we
shall now hastily consider, that you may get a glimpse at the variety of Hindu
speculative philosophy in its relation to the soul and its destiny. You will,
of course, understand that we can do no more than mention the leading features
of each class, as a careful consideration would require volumes for each
particular school.
We will first
consider the philosophy of Kanada, generally known as the Vaisheshika Teaching,
which inclines toward an Atomic Theory, akin to that formulated by the old
Greek philosopher Democritus. According to this teaching the substance of the
universe is composed of an infinite number of atoms, which are eternal,
and which were not created by God, but which are co-eternal with Him.
These atoms, combining and forming shapes, forms, etc., are the basis of the
material universe. It is held, however, that the power or energy whereby these
atoms combine and thus form matter, comes from God. This teaching holds that
God is a Personal Being, possessing Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence.
It is also held that there are two substances, or principles, higher, that the
material energies or substance, namely, Manas, or Mind, and Atman, or Spirit.
Manas or Mind is held to be something like a Mind-Stuff, from which all
individual minds are built up—and which Mind-Stuff is held to be eternal.
Atman, or Spirit, is held to be an eternal principle, from which the Selves or
Souls are differentiated. The Atman, or Spirit, or Self, is regarded as much
higher than Mind, which is its tool and instrument of expression. This
philosophy teaches that through progression, by Reincarnation, the soul
advances from lower to higher states, on its road to freedom and perfection.
Another great school
of Hindu philosophy is the philosophy of Kapila, generally known as the Sankhya
system. This teaching opposes the Atomic Theory of the Vaisheshika system, and
holds that the atoms are not indestructible nor eternal, but may be resolved back
into a primal substance called Prakriti. Prakriti is held to be an universal,
eternal energy or ethereal substance, something similar to certain Western
scientific conceptions of an Universal Ether. From this eternal, universal
energy, Kapila held that all the universe has been evolved—all material forms
or manifestations of energy being but manifestations of Prakriti. But, the
Sankhya system is not materialistic, as might be supposed at first glance, for
side by side with Prakriti it offers the principle of Purusha, or Soul, or
Spirit, of which all individual souls are atomic units—the Principle of Purusha
being an Unity of Units, and not an Undivided One. The Purusha—that is, its
units or Individual Souls—is regarded as eternal and immortal. Prakriti is
devoid of mind, but is possessed of active vital energy, and is capable of
producing forms and material manifestations by reason of its inherent energy,
and laws, and thus produces what the Hindus call "Maya," or material
illusion, which they hold to be devoid of reality, inasmuch as the forms are
constantly changing and have no permanence. This philosophy holds that
Prakriti, by means of the glamour of its manifestations of Maya, entices the
individual souls, or Purushas, which when once in the centre of attraction of
the Maya are drawn into the vortex of material existence, losing a knowledge of
their real nature. But the souls never lose entirely the glimmer of the Light
of the Spirit, and, consequently, soon begin to feel that they have made a
mistake, and consequently begin to strive to escape the bondage of Prakriti and
its Maya—but such escape is possible only through a gradual rising up from the
depths of Maya, step by step, cycle by cycle, by a series of purification and
cleansing of themselves, just as a fly cleanses itself of the sticky substance
into which it has fallen. This escape is accomplished by Spiritual
Unfoldment or Evolution, by means of Reincarnation—this Evolution not being a
"growth," but rather an "unfoldment" or
"unwrapping" of the soul from its confining sheaths, one by one.
Another great school
of Hindu philosophy is the philosophy of Patanjali, generally known as the Yoga
Philosophy, but which differs from the Yogi Philosophy of the West, which is
eclectic in nature. The Yoga Philosophy of Patanjali bears some resemblance to
the Sankhya school of Kapila, inasmuch as it recognizes the teachings regarding
Prakriti, from which universal energy the material universe has been evolved;
and inasmuch as it also recognizes the countless individual Purushas, or souls,
which are eternal and immortal, and which are entrapped in the Maya of
Prakriti. But it then takes a position widely divergent from the Sankhya
school, inasmuch as Patanjali's Yoga school holds that there also exists a
Supreme Purusha, Spirit, Soul—or God—who is without form; infinite; eternal;
and above all attributes and qualities common to man. In this respect,
Patanjali differs from Kapila, and inclines rather toward agreement with
Kanada, of the first mentioned school of the Vaisheshika system. All three
philosophers, however, seem to generally agree in the main upon the Mind
Principle, which they hold to be beneath Soul or Spirit, and to be in the
nature of Mind-Stuff, which is of a semi-material nature—Kapila and Patanjali even
going so far as to hold that it is a manifestation of Prakriti or the Universal
Energy, rather than a distinct principle. They hold that the Purusha, or
Spirit, not the Mind, is the Real Self, and the source of consciousness and the
real intelligence. The practical teachings of the school of Patanjali is a
system by which the Purusha may escape from and overcome the Prakriti, and thus
gain emancipation, freedom, and a return to its natural and original purity and
power. This school, of course, teaches Reincarnation, and Progression through
Rebirth, in accordance with the principles mentioned above.
Another great school
of Hindu philosophy is that known as the Vedanta Philosophy, which many
consider the most advanced of all the Hindu systems, and which is rapidly
growing in popularity among the educated Hindus, and also among many very
intelligent students of philosophical thought in the Western world. Its
followers claim that the Vedanta Philosophy has reached the very highest point
of philosophical thought, speculation and analysis possible to the human mind
of today, and many Western students have claimed that it contains the highest
conceptions found in any and all of the great World Philosophies. Be this as it
may, it certainly contains much that is the most subtle, refined and keen in
the field of philosophical speculative thought of the world, and while, as some
claim, it may lack the "appeal to the religious emotions" that some
other forms of thought possess, still it proves very attractive to those in
whom intellectual development and effort have superseded the
"emotional" side of philosophy or religion.
The Vedanta System
holds that the Ultimate Reality, or Actual Being, of the universe—the One
Absolute Energy or Substance from which all the universe proceeds—is THAT which
may be called The Absolute, which is eternal, infinite, indivisible, beyond
attributes and qualities, and which is the source of intelligence. The Absolute
is held to be One, not Many—Unique and Alone. It is identical with the Sanscrit
"Brahman," and is held to be THAT which has been called "The
Unknowable"; the "Father"; the "Over-Soul"; the
"Thing-in-Itself"—in short, it is THAT which men mean, and have
always meant, when they wished to express the ABSOLUTE REALITY. The Vedantists
hold that this Absolute Brahman is the essence of "Sat," or Absolute
Existence; "Chit," or Absolute Intelligence; and "Ananda,"
or Absolute Bliss. Without attempting to enter into an analysis, or close
exposition, of the Vedanta Philosophy, or so far as concerns the soul, and its
destiny, we may say that it holds that there do not exist the countless
eternal, immortal souls or Purushas of the Sankhya philosophy, but instead that
the individual souls are but the countless "images or reflections" of
the Absolute Being, or Brahman, and have their existence only by reason of the
Real Existence of the One Only Being. Consequently, the Spirit within the soul
of Man, and which is "the soul of his soul," is Divine. The
Vedantists admit the existence of a "Logos," or Ishwara, the Lord of
the Universe, who is, however, but a manifestation of Brahman—a Great Soul, as
it were, and who presides over the evolution of Universes from the Prakriti,
and who plays the part of the Demiurge of the old Grecian and Gnostic philosophies.
The Vedantists admit the existence (relative) of Prakriti, or Universal Energy,
but hold that it is not eternal, or real-in-itself, but is practically
identical with Maya, and may be regarded as a form of the Creative Energy of
the Absolute, Brahman. This Maya (which while strictly speaking is illusion
inasmuch as it has no real existence or eternal quality) is the source of time,
space, and causation, and of the phenomenal universe, with its countless
forms, shapes, and appearances. The Vedantists teach that the Evolution of the
Soul is accomplished by its escaping the folds of Maya, or Materiality, one by
one, by means of Rebirths, until it manifests more and more of its Divine
Nature; and thus it goes on, and on, from higher to still higher, until at last
it enters into the Divine Being and attains Union with God, and is "One
with the Father."
Another great Hindu
philosophy is the philosophy of Gautama, the Buddha, which is generally known
as the Buddhistic Philosophy, or as Buddhism. It is difficult to give a clear
idea of Buddhism in a concise form, for there are so many schools, sects, and
divisions among this general school of philosophy, differing upon the minor
points and details of doctrine, that it requires a lengthy consideration in
order to clear away the disputed points. Speaking generally, however, it may be
said that the Buddhists start with the idea or conception of an Unknowable
Reality, back of and under all forms and activity of the phenomenal
universe. Buddha refused to discuss the nature of this Reality, practically
holding it to be Unknowable, and in the nature of an Absolute Nothing, rather
than an Absolute Something in the sense of "Thingness" as we
understand the term; that is to say, it is a No-Thing, rather than a Thing—consequently
it is beyond thought, understanding, or even imagination—all that can be said
is that it IS. Buddha refused to discuss or teach of the manner in which this
Unknowable came to manifest upon the Relative Plane, for he held that Man's
proper study was of the World of Things, and how to escape therefrom. In a
vague way, however, Buddhism holds that in some way this Unknowable, or a part
thereof, becomes entangled in Maya or Illusion, through Avidya or Ignorance,
Law, Necessity, or perhaps something in the nature of a Mistake. And arising
from this mistaken activity, all the pain and sorrow of the universe arises,
for the Buddhist holds that the Universe is a "world of woe,"
from which the soul is trying to escape. Buddhism holds that the soul
Reincarnates often, because of its desires and attractions, which if nursed and
encouraged will lead it into lives without number. Consequently, to the
Buddhist, Wisdom consists in acquiring a knowledge of the true state of
affairs, just mentioned, and then upon that knowledge building up a new life in
which desire and attraction for the material world shall be eliminated, to the
end that the soul having "killed out desire" for material
things—having cut off the dead branch of Illusion—is enabled to escape from
Karma, and eventually be released from Rebirth, thence passing back into the
great ocean of the Unknowable, or Nirvana, and ceasing to Be, so far as the
phenomenal world is concerned, although of course it will exist in the
Unknowable, which is Eternal. Many Western readers imagine the Buddhistic
Nirvana to be an utter annihilation of existence and being, but the Hindu mind
is far more subtle, and sees a vast difference between utter annihilation on
the one hand, and extinction of personality on the other. That which
appears Nothingness to the Western Mind, is seen as No-Thingness to the
Oriental conception, and is considered more of a resumption of an original Real
Existence, rather than an ending thereof.
There is a great
difference between the two great schools of Buddhism, the Northern and
Southern, respectively, regarding the nature of the soul. The Northern school
considers the soul as an entity, differentiated from the Unknowable in some
mysterious way not explained by Buddha, and yet different from the individual
Purusha of the Sankhya school, before mentioned. On the contrary, the Southern
school does not regard the soul as a differentiated or distinct entity, but
rather as a centre of phenomenal activity saturated or charged with the results
of its deeds, and that therefore the Karma, or the Essence of Deeds, may be
considered as the soul itself, rather than as something pertaining to it. The
Northern school holds that the soul, accompanied by its Karma, reincarnates
along the same lines as those taught by all the other Hindu schools of
Reincarnation and Karma. But the Southern school, on the contrary, holds that
it is not the soul-entity that re-incarnates (for there is no such entity), but
that instead it is the Karma, or Essence of Deeds, that reincarnates from life
to life, according to its attractions, desires, and merits or demerits. In the
last mentioned view of the case, the rebirth is compared to the lighting of one
lamp from the flame of another, rather than in the transferring of the oil from
one lamp to another. But, really, these distinctions are quite metaphysical,
and when refined by analysis become hair-splitting. It is said that the two
schools of Buddhism are growing nearer together, and their differences
reconciled. The orthodox Hindus claim that Buddhism is on the decline in India,
being largely supplanted by the various forms of the Vedanta. On the other
hand, Buddhism has spread to China, Japan and other countries, where it has
taken on new forms, and has grown into a religion of ritualism, creeds, and
ceremonialism, with an accompanying loss of the original philosophy and a
corresponding increase of detail of teaching, doctrine and disciple and general
"churchiness," including a belief in several thousand different kind
of hells. But even in the degenerated forms, Buddhism still holds to
Reincarnation as a fundamental doctrine.
In this consideration
of the philosophies of India, we do not consider it necessary to go into an
explanation of the various forms of religions, or church divisions, among the
Hindus. In India, Religion is an important matter, and there seems to be some
form of religion adapted to each one of that country's teeming millions. From
the grossest form of religious superstition, and crudest form of ceremony and
worship, up to the most refined idealism and beautiful symbolisms, runs the
gamut of the Hindu Religions. Many people are unable to conceive of an
abstract, ideal Universal Being, such as the Brahman of the Hindu Philosophy,
and consequently that Being has been personified as an Anthropomorphic Deity,
and human attributes bestowed upon him to suit the popular fancy. In India, as
in all other countries, the priesthood have given the people that which they
asked for, and the result is that many forms of churchly ceremonialism, and
forms of worship, maintain which are abhorrent and repulsive to Western ideas.
But we of the West are not entirely free from this fault, as one may see if he
examines some of the religious conceptions and ceremonies common among ignorant
people in remote parts of our land. Certain conceptions, of an anthropomorphic
Deity held by some of the more ignorant people of the Western world are but
little advanced beyond the idea of the Devil; and the belief in a horned,
cloven-hoofed, spiked-tail, red-colored, satyr-like, leering Devil, with his
Hell of Eternal Fire and Brimstone, is not so uncommon as many imagine. It has
not been so long since we were taught that "one of the chief pleasures of
God and his angels, and the saved souls, will be the witnessing of the tortures
of the damned in Hell, from the walls of Heaven." And the ceremonies
of an old-time Southern negro camp-meeting were not specially elevating or
ideal.
Among the various
forms of the religions of India we find some of the before mentioned forms of
philosophy believed and taught among the educated people—often an eclectic
policy of choosing and selecting being observed, a most liberal policy being
observed, the liberty of choice and selection being freely accorded. But, there
is always the belief in Reincarnation and Karma, no matter what the form of
worship, or the name of the religion. There are two things that the Hindu mind
always accepts as fundamental truth, needing no proof—axiomic, in fact. And
these two are (1) The belief in a Soul that survives the death of the body—the
Hindu mind seeming unable to differentiate between the consciousness of "I
Am," and "I always Have Been, and always Shall Be"—the knowledge
of the present existence being accepted as a proof of past and future existence;
and (2) the doctrine of Reincarnation and Karma, which are accepted as
fundamental and axiomic truths beyond the need of proof, and beyond doubt—as a
writer has said: "The idea of Reincarnation has become so firmly fixed and
rooted in the Hindu mind as a part of belief that it amounts to the dignity and
force of a moral conviction." No matter what may be the theories regarding
the nature of the universe—the character of the soul—or the conception
concerning Deity or the Supreme Being—you will always find the differing sects,
schools, and individuals accepting Reincarnation and Karma as they accept the
fact that they themselves are existent, or that twice one makes two. Hindu
Philosophy cannot be divorced from Reincarnation. To the Hindu the only escape
from the doctrine of Reincarnation seems to be along the road of the
Materialism of the West. From the above statement we may except the Hindu
Mohammedans and the native Hindu Christians, partially, although careful
observers say that even these do not escape entirely the current belief of
their country, and secretly entertain a "mental reservation" in their
heterodox creeds. So, you see, we are justified in considering India as the
Mother Land of Reincarnation at the present time.
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