Truth Triumphant - Benjamin G. Wilkinson

ut fleeting manifestations of divinity. They were
without essential reality. Only one thing was real—
Brahma, the Absolute, the Infinite, the
Indescribable, the All.
The doctrine of transmigration struck terror to
the hearts of the people of India. It contemplated a
never-ending succession of funerals and
subsequent rebirths into lower animal or plant
forms of life. Existence in this present life for the
Hindu masses meant at the best only one misery
after another. Death, however, held no release for
them. Instead of bringing relief to life’s sufferings,
the soul must descend to earth again to become a
snake, a dog, or a filthy swine. If any hope existed
in a chance to choose the lesser of two evils in the
world to come, they must obey the priests in this
life. Hence, the power of the Brahmans.
The third doctrine, nirvana, was the belief in
the utter absorption of existence at death. It meant
the annihilation of the man, the self, by complete
union with Brahma. It contemplated the melting
away of all conscious entities into the passionless
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