7S RELIGIOUS SECTS. 



to her own sons : to their questions of her origin and character, she tells 

 them, she was the bride of the first great invisible being, without shape 

 and void, and whom she describes agreeably to the Veddntd notions ; that she 

 is now at liberty, and being of the same nature as themselves, is a fit associate 

 for them : the deities hesitate, and Vishnu, especially putting some rather puz- 

 zling queries to Mdyd^ secured the respect of the Kahir PanfhiSi and excited 

 the wrath of the goddess : she appears as Maha Maya, or Durgd, and frightens 

 her sons into a forgetfulness of their real character, assent to her doctrines, 

 and compliance with her desires : the result of this, is the birth of Saraswaih 

 Lalcshmi and Z7w«, whom she weds to the three deities, and then establishing 

 herself at Jwdlamiik'hi, leaves the three wedded pairs to frame the universe, 

 and give currency to the different errors of practice and belief which they 

 have learnt from her. 



It is to the falsehood of Maya and her criminal conduct that the Kahir 

 Fant^Jiis perpetually allude in their works, and in consequence of the deities 

 . pinning their faith upon her sleeve, that they refuse them any sort of reveren- 

 ' tial homage : the essence of all religion is to know Kabir in his real form, a 

 knowledge which those deities and their worshippers, as well as the followers 

 of Mohommed, are all equally strange to, although the object of their reli- 

 gion, and of all religions is the same. 



Life is the same in all beings, and when free from the vices and defects 

 of humanity, assumes any material form it pleases : as long as it is ignorant of 

 its source and parent, however, it is doomed to transmigration through vari- 

 ous forms, and amongst others we have a new class of them, for it animates 

 - the planetary bodies, undergoing a fresh transfer, it is supposed, whenever a 

 star or meteor falls: as to heaven and hell, they are the inventions of Maya, 

 and are therefore both imaginary, except that the Swerga of the Hindus, and 

 Bihisht of the Musselmans, imply worldly luxury and sensual enjoyment, whilst 



