e higher power, such as
the sun or Brahm[=a].

The philosophical writings called Upanishads[7] take up this question
in earnest, but the answer is already assured, and the philosophers,
or poets, of this period seek less to prove the truth than to expound
it. The soul of man will not only join a heavenly Power. It is part of
that Power. Man's spirit (self) is the world-spirit. And what is this?
While all the Upanishads are at one in answering the first question,
they are not at one in the method by which they arrive at the same
result. There is no systematic philosophy; but a tentative, and more
or less dogmatic, logic. In regard to the second question they are
still less at one; but in general their answer is that the
world-spirit is All, and everything is a part of It or Him. Yet,
whether that All is personal or impersonal, and what is the relation
between spirit and matter, this is still an unsettled point.

The methods and results of this half-philosophical literature will
most easily be understood by a few examples. But, before these are
given, it will be necessary to emphasize the colloquial and scrappy
nature of the teaching. Legend, parable, ritualistic absurdities,
belief in gods, denial of gods, belief in heaven, denial of heaven,
are all mingled, and for a purpose. For some men are able, and some
are unable, to receive the true light of knowledge. But man's fate
depends on his knowledge. The wise man becomes hereafter what his
knowledge has prepared him to be. Not every spirit is fitted for
immortality, but only the spirit of them that have wisely desired it,
or, rather, not desired it; for every desire must have been
extinguished before one is fitted for this end. Hence, with advancing
belief in absorption and pantheism, there still lingers, and not as a
mere superfluity, the use of sacrifice and penance. Rites and the
paraphernalia of religion are essential till one learns that they are
unessential. Desire will be gratified till one learns that the most
desirable thing is lack of desire. But so long as one desires even the
lack of desire he is still in the fetters of desire. The way is long
to the extinction of emotion, but its attainment results in happiness
that is greater than delight; in peace that surpasses joy.

In the exposition of this doctrine the old gods are retained as
figures. They are not real gods. But they are existent forms of God.
They are portions of the absolute, a form of the Eternal