312 SKETCH OF THE 



during pupilage, but the Guru of the present day exacts implicit devotion 

 from his disciples during life. It is unnecessary here to repeat what 

 there has been previous occasion to notice with respect to the extravagant 

 obedience to be paid by some sectarians to the Guru, whose favour is 

 declared to be of much more importance than that of the god whom he 

 represents. 



Another peculiarity in the modern systems which has been adverted to 

 in the preceding pages, is the paramount value of Bhakti — faith — implicit 

 reliance on the favour of the Deity worshipped. This is a substitute for all 

 religious or moral acts, and an expiation for every crime. Now, in the 

 Vedas, two branches are distinctly marked, the practical and speculative. 

 The former consists of prayers and rules for oblations to any or all of the 

 gods — but especially to Indra and Agni, the ruler of the firmament and 

 of fire, for positive worldly goods, health, posterity and affluence. The lat- 

 ter is the investigation of matter and spirit, leading to detachment from 

 worldly feelings and interests, and final liberation from bodily existence. 

 The first is intended for the bulk of mankind, the second for philosophers 

 and ascetics. There is not a word of faith, of implicit belief or passionate 

 devotion in all this, and they seem to have been as little essential to the 

 primitive Hindu worship as they were to the religious systems of Greece 

 and Rome. Bhakti is an invention, and apparently a modern one, of the 

 Institutors of the existing sects, intended like that of the mystical holiness 

 of the Guru, to extend their own authority. It has no doubt exercised a 

 most mischievous influence upon the moral principles of the Hindus. 



Notwithstanding the provisions with which the sectarian Gurus 

 fortified themselves, it is clear that they were never able to enlist the whole 

 of Hinduism under their banners, or to suppress all doubt and disbelief. 

 It has been shewn in the introductory pages of this essay, that great 

 latitude of speculation has always been allowed amongst the Brahmans 



