ic prayers and ritual. The
direct influence of the Vedas upon religious life and ritual in India
today is practically _nil_; while that of the Upanishads, which are the
_fons et origo_ of the all-potent philosophy, is felt in every Hindu life,
however humble.

This aspect of the two faiths is not unexpected when we remember:

(_b_) Their very dissimilar conceptions of God. The monotheism of the one
and the pantheism of the other are clear and uncompromising. They have
stood for many centuries as representatives, to the world, of these very
dissimilar beliefs. Christianity inherited from Judaism its passion for
monotheism, and brings the "God of Israel" very near to our race as the
infinitely loving Father. It has not only emphasized His personality but
reveals, with incomparable power and tenderness, His supreme interest in
our race and His loving purpose concerning it.

On the other hand Hinduism derived its highest wisdom and deepest
convictions concerning the Divine Being from the ancient rishis through
the Upanishads. There they accepted, once for all, the doctrine of the
Brahm (neuter)--the one passionless, immovable, unsearchable, ineffable
Being who, without a second, stands as the source and embodiment of all
real being.

Barth truly remarks that "this is the most imposing and subtle of the
systems of ontology yet known in the history of philosophy." This
inscrutable Being is the only _real_ existence, all else being illusion
projected by ignorance. This doctrine of identity or nonduality
(_advaitha_) lies at the foundation of all their religious thinking. This
Being which is devoid of qualities (_nirguna_), because incomprehensible
to man, can be of no comfort to him. In this respect the Hindu is an
agnostic of a profound type.

For this mystical philosophy one word of praise is eminently due. It is
not to be confounded with that species of Western pantheism which is rank
materialism--making God and the material universe convertible terms. Sir
William Jones emphasized this difference--the difference between a system
which, in all that it sees, sees God alone, and that which acknowledges no
God beyond what it sees. One is the bulwark of materialism; the other its
most uncompromising enemy. Whatever the defects of this philosophy of the
Upanishads it must be confessed to be deeply spiritual.

And yet in this very effort to conserve the spiritual and transcendental
character of Brahm the Aryan sage has cover