ouls are but the
countless "images or reflections" of the Absolute Being, or Brahman, and
have their existence only by reason of the Real Existence of the One
Only Being. Consequently, the Spirit within the soul of Man, and which
is "the soul of his soul," is Divine. The Vedantists admit the existence
of a "Logos," or Ishwara, the Lord of the Universe, who is, however, but
a manifestation of Brahman--a Great Soul, as it were, and who presides
over the evolution of Universes from the Prakriti, and who plays the
part of the Demiurge of the old Grecian and Gnostic philosophies. The
Vedantists admit the existence (relative) of Prakriti, or Universal
Energy, but hold that it is not eternal, or real-in-itself, but is
practically identical with Maya, and may be regarded as a form of the
Creative Energy of the Absolute, Brahman. This Maya (which while
strictly speaking is illusion inasmuch as it has no real existence or
eternal quality) is the source of time, space, and causation, and of
the phenomenal universe, with its countless forms, shapes, and
appearances. The Vedantists teach that the Evolution of the Soul is
accomplished by its escaping the folds of Maya, or Materiality, one by
one, by means of Rebirths, until it manifests more and more of its
Divine Nature; and thus it goes on, and on, from higher to still higher,
until at last it enters into the Divine Being and attains Union with
God, and is "One with the Father."

Another great Hindu philosophy is the philosophy of Gautama, the Buddha,
which is generally known as the Buddhistic Philosophy, or as Buddhism.
It is difficult to give a clear idea of Buddhism in a concise form, for
there are so many schools, sects, and divisions among this general
school of philosophy, differing upon the minor points and details of
doctrine, that it requires a lengthy consideration in order to clear
away the disputed points. Speaking generally, however, it may be said
that the Buddhists start with the idea or conception of an Unknowable
Reality, back of and under all forms and activity of the phenomenal
universe. Buddha refused to discuss the nature of this Reality,
practically holding it to be Unknowable, and in the nature of an
Absolute Nothing, rather than an Absolute Something in the sense of
"Thingness" as we understand the term; that is to say, it is a No-Thing,
rather than a Thing--consequently it is beyond thought, understanding,
or even imagination--all that can be said is that i