1
tragic. Whoever hopes to find it anything else, either now or in
some far-of heaven, hopes unquestionably in vain. If that is pessi
misml,-andin one sense, namely, in the sense in which many tender
but thoughtless souls have used the phrase, it is pessimism, being
opposed, to the gentle and optimistic hopes of such-then a Vedan
tist has never been optimistic in that sense, but a maintainer of the
sterner view that life is forever tragic. But a Vedantist does not
stop here; he goes further and says-Only spirituality consists in
being heroicenough to accept the tragedy of existence, and to glory
in the strength wherewith it is given to the true lords of life; to
conquer this tragedy, and to make their world after all divine*
The doctrine of Maya, which is so highly abstruse and hence
apt to be misunderstood and miscriticised, and which has, indeed,
been called the gveda point of the Vedanta is the pivotal principle of
the Advaita philosophy—the final pronouncement of Indian specu
lation on the conception of Reality and Appearance. It is now
beginning to be understood and appreciated in the West in the light
of the teachings of Kant and Schopenhauer. Carlyile writes, ‘‘Thisso
solid seeming world after all is but an airimage over Methe only
reality: and nature with its thousandfold productions and destruc
tion but the refex of our inward force, the fantasy of our dream.'
All visible things are emblems. What thou seest is not there on its
own account; strictly speaking is not there at all. Matter. exists
only spiritually, and to represent some idea and body it forth.' Dr
Deussen once wrote as follows:—१८ Whatever may or may not be the
opinion of * * * the greatest truth of all the Indian philosophy is that
this world is Mayथे,—a mere illusion. It agrees wonderfully with
the best that Occidental philosophy has produced, Ramanuja and
others are un worthy accomodations to the empirical standpoint.
These are the words of a great man who has devoted his life to the
study of this philosophy
)
११
- विद्वान्न बिभेति कुतश्चन . (तै. ड. २. ९० ), अभयं प्रतिष्ठां विन्दते (तै. उ. २. ७. ), अहं विषं
भुवनमभ्यभवाम् (तै. उ. ३. १० ). cf. भ. गी. २. १४-१५.
