Civilisation : Its Cause and Cure 



being or creature not knowing or perceiving its 

 emanation from, or kinship with, the One — 

 and of course any action done under this condi- 

 tion of avidya^ however outwardly correct, was 

 essentially wrong ; while on the other hand all 

 actions done by beings fully realising and con- 

 scious of their union with the One were necessarily 

 right. 



Of this attitude towards Right and Wrong 

 there are abundant instances in the Upanishads. 

 The choice of the path does not lie between Good 

 and Bad, as in the Pilgrim s Progress^ but it lies 

 above and in a region transcending them both. 

 " By the serenity of his thoughts a man blots 

 out all actions, whether good or bad.''^ " He 

 does not distress himself with the thought, Why 

 did I not do what is good ? Why did I do what 

 is bad ? " 2 All religions indeed, by the very 

 fact of their being religions, have indicated a 

 sphere above morality, to which their followers 

 shall and must aspire. What else is St. Paul's 

 reiterated charge to escape from the dominion of 

 sin and law, into the glorious liberty of the chil- 

 dren of God ? And in all ages the great mystics 

 — those who stand near the fountain-sources of 

 evolution and emanation — have seen and said the 

 same. Says Spinoza : — " With regard to good 

 and evil, these terms indicate nothing positive 

 in things considered in themselves, nor are they 

 anything else than modes of thought, or notions 



I Mattra-jana-Brahmana-lJpanishad, vi. 34, 4. 

 * Taittiriyaka-Up, ii. 9, etc. 

 244 



