• METAPHYSICS. 257 



sound. He maintains, in the most decided manner, the ex- 

 istence of mind as entirely distinct and infinitely superior 

 to body, fancifully comparing matter to a female dancer, ex- 

 hibiting herself to the soul as a spectator ; but considers 

 the perfection of intellect as attainable only by an entire 

 abstraction from material objects. In contemplating, how- 

 ever, the remarkable union existing between mind and 

 body, he has been unable to form a conception of it with- 

 out the intervention of some connecting link. This he 

 imagines himself to have found in a certain mysterious sub- 

 stance, which he denominates " the subtile person." He 

 describes it as an animated atom, hovering above the brain 

 like the flame of a candle over its wick. The subtile per- 

 son is superior to, and independent of the material frame, 

 on the dissolution of which it proceeds to animate other 

 bodies. Yet the soul, till entirely disengaged even from 

 this substance, is not exempted from evil, decay, and death. 

 The gods themselves, being in a great measure composed 

 of the subtile person, have a lengthened, indeed, yet a lim- 

 ited term of existence. " Many thousands of Indras and 

 of other gods have passed away, overcome by time, — for 

 time is hard to overcome." There are, however, means by 

 which the soul may soar at once above every thing mortal 

 and transitory ; but his explanations on this subject show 

 that he had adopted the fantastic chimeras of the yogues 

 and fakirs. Along with profound meditation he recom- 

 mends constrained and painful attitudes, suppression of 

 breath, and the mechanical repetition of certain mysterious 

 words and syllables. By these processes, it is said, man 

 may not only secure absorption into the divine essence at 

 last, but may in this life attain supernatural power, and the 

 means of gratifying every wish, however extravagant ; he 

 may sink into the earth as in water, may touch the moon 

 with the tip of his finger, and hold dominion over all things 

 animate and inanimate. From this brief analysis it must 

 be obvious, that this system, though acute, and in some par- 

 ticulars sound, is decidedly marked by those imperfections 

 which attach to the early state of the science, as well as 

 with that extravagance which pervades every thing within 

 the range of Hindoo mythology. 



Perhaps the most valuable' portion of Indian literature 

 consists in the fables or apologues, where the supposed ad* 



Y 2 



