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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1180
Vedas, which relates to the orthodox ceremonies, ritual, worship, etc., was
recognized and accepted, but not dwelt upon, the attention of the Vedanta
being principally devoted to the subject-matter of the latter part of the
Vedas, known as the Upanishads, which concerns itself with the questions of
“the inquiry into Brahman,” or the Absolute, and the manifestations of the
latter in the phenomenal universe.
The Vedanta evidently sprang into being, or rather was evolved gradually,
in response to the demands of the philosophical minds of India, who desired
a grouping together, or scientific arrangement of that part of the general
philosophical system of the race which dealt with the One and its relation to
the many, rather than with the ecclesiastical ceremonies, ritual, and religious
dogmas upon which the early part of the Vedas laid so much stress. And
from the first the new system attracted many of the brightest minds of India,
and has continued to grow and prosper for about two thousand years,
attracting the thoughtful minds of the race to it, and away from the more
orthodox systems favoured by the priesthood. For while the Vedanta does
not oppose the ceremonies and forms of the temples, regarding them as
necessary for minds of a certain degree of development, still the system
itself is far more of a philosophy of Pure Reason than a religious System of
thought based upon revelation or faith. And much of its success has come
by reason of its broadness and catholicity of spirit and doctrine.
The Vedanta has offered a friendly refuge to all shades of thought,
doctrine and opinion, giving to each that which his particular development
called for. Its universality is wonderful when compared with other systems.
Holding as it does that there is but One Reality, and that all the rest is illusory,
it can see degrees of truth in all of the doctrines, and yet recognizes all short
of the One as non-truth. As Max Müller has said: “The Vedanta Philosophy
leaves to every man a wide sphere of real usefulness, and places him under
a law as strict and binding as anything can be in this transitory life; it leaves
him a Deity to worship as omnipotent and majestic as the deities of any
other religion. It has room for almost every religion; nay, it embraces them