No. 25—1882.] 



NIRVANA. 



169 



the essence of all existence : others resolved matter and 

 mind into light. Some analyzed life, its conditions and 

 circumstances into a spirit in which they lived and moved : 

 others referred their life and its phenomena to spiritual or 

 meditational warmth. Whatever any of these thinkers fixed 

 upon as the ultimate analytical unit or essence, they all 

 agreed in condemning the Vedic polity which sanctioned 

 animal sacrifices, and inculcated that worldliness itself was the 

 last goal of all human aspirations. Ahinsa (recognition of all 

 animal life being sacred) was the cardinal point of their belief ; 

 but they did not in a wholesale manner condemn the past. The 

 Vedic polity with its devotion to caste, to sacrifice, and to the 

 prior rights which they secured was adjudged to be inferior to 

 the new philosophy,* the result of the new departure taken by 

 these reforms. If sacrifice deserved attention and recognition, 

 it deserved attention, because it led to contemplation of the 

 essence of all intellectual, moral and physical phenomena, f A 

 systematic attempt was made to interpret anew the utterances of 

 the Bishis known as Mantra, and many Mantras were spiritualized 

 away : worldliness was interpreted into spirituality. Women 

 were freely taught : Gargi and Maitreyi discoursed on meta- 

 physical subjects with their distinguished husband Yajnanalkya. 

 Young men of doubtful birth were initiated into the mysteries of 

 the new philosophy. Thus the land-marks of the Vedic polity 

 were washed off. Aspiration after a new philosophy, earnest 

 spirituality, a spirit of adjustment, new interpretation, a liberality 

 of spirit with which caste and all prior rights were incompatible, 

 distinguished these reformers. Nirvana at this time signified 

 identity and absorption into the unlocalized, universal, subtle 

 essence which pervades all phenomena. A teacher points this 

 out to a pupil : — " That thou art, Somija t, that spirit which 

 moves the air, from whose fear the sun regularly shines, and to 

 which death itself is obedient ."§ Attached to the Vedic polity, 



* Distinction between Para and Apara Vidya (Mund. 1, 1, 5.) 

 f A'dhi Daiv.am kc. See Chhandogya (IV. 3, 2.) 

 X Tattvamasi. See id. (VI. 8. 7.) 



§ Bhiso-deteti Siiryah * * Mrityus Dhavati Panchamali. Sec the Brah- 

 ma Vida Upanishad (VIII.) 



