108 Vedanta- Sara, or Essence of the Vedanta. [No. 158. 



that both views are essentially the same : this way of reasoning, 

 however, must not be applied to the pure Bramha. Here then both 

 systems differ, and if we must assign to the Vedanta the meed of 

 greater purity in its principle, we must expressly state, that in the 

 development of the system Spinoza is as infinitely superior to the Vedanta 

 as the science of his time was to that of the Hindoos generally. 



It is easy also to find many points of resemblance between the 

 modern Vedanta and the doctrines of Fichte* and Schelling ; as the 

 world, being a production of Maya, or unconsciousness, and according 

 to Fichte, being a phenomenon of the Ego in its different modes of 

 considering itself, and Schelling's negation of the nothing by the abso- 

 lute substance, his absolute Selbstbejahung, compared with the infinite 

 Bramha, without whom nothing exists, are ideas closely related ; but 

 we abstain from further comparisons and conclude this introduction 

 with some remarks on Hindoo philosophy in general. 



We must acknowledge the ingenuity and originality of thought, by 

 which this system was brought forth. It is evidently not a primitive 

 notion of the mind, such as might almost arbitrarily assign a general 

 cause to certain phenomena, which provoke reflection. It is an elabo- 

 rate system, in which the principle and the method are clearly defined, 

 and the inferences are fairly deduced, and compared with the original 

 impulses, by which reflection was called forth. It is also evident, that 

 such a doctrine, especially as it was considered as the last goal of per- 

 fection by all classes, must have had a powerful influence in the form- 

 ation of individual character as well as on the civilisation of the people ; 

 for to obtain its final object, purity of the moral character was indis- 

 pensable. It is, to confess the truth, a philosophical system, elevated, 

 far above the crude notions, connected with national superstitions, 

 above the prejudices of caste, as well as above the formalities of ceremo- 

 nial worship ; for the supreme substance is only known by a continued 



* Fichte, in asserting that the external objects are merely productions of the 

 ego, appears to be most closely connected with the modern Vedanta. This is, 

 however, not the case. The Vednatists maintain the world to be appearance, be- 

 cause it cannot be considered as real : Fichte, on the contrary, from its being a mere 

 appearance in the Ego, argues its unreality. This Ego moreover, as the identity of 

 subject and object, is very different from any doctrine in the Vedanta, and the idea- 

 listic principle, from which it appears to proceed, is only pretended, as the pheno- 

 mena of nature are in fact derived from a realistic basis. 



