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THE PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS weapon, as the Cakravartin's symbol, and as the Law set in motion by the Buddha is derived in turn from an immensely old and far-spread solar symbolism. Louis XIV of France parodied the formula when he styled himself the Solar King, le Roi Soleil. The sun, the light and life of the world, shines on all alike, without distinction; so too shines the true Cakravartin. His power is that of nature's supreme and culminating manifestation, the enlightenment of Man the King-balanced perfectly in reason, justice, mercy, and understanding.
But what mockeries of this ideal have been the dynasties of the pretenders to the solar virtue! Their roads to victory have all been soaked with blood. For sheer extent, the rich domains of the north Indian Gupta conquerors of the fourth century A.D. might well have qualified those kings for the majestic title that they proudly took unto themselves; but their dynasties were supported by the crafty and violent art of niti. Being themselves nothing if not a manifestation of the primeval matsyanjaya doctrine, they did not transmute the base ocean waters into gold. Vor can anything better be said for that self-styled Roi Soleil whose neo-Persian concept of the absolute monarch prepared the social atmosphere of France for the downfall of his vain dynasty. Cromwell in England, at the very moment of Louis' apogce, was laying the foundations of Anglo-Saxon, Protestant democracy across the Channel-also in a sea of blood. The first royal head had already fallen. With the French Revolution the new age released its fury to the downfall of many kings and emperors throughout the world. But where, to this day, is the boon of everlasting peace?
In the recent Occident (during the last two decades of the Western world dominion, 1918–38) a generous attempt was initiated to make come true the millennial dream. Self-control, co-operation, and mutual good will were to prevail against the primeval law. Steps were taken to make effective in the sphere of international competition the laws of human decency that
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| SR No. | 007309 |
| Book Title | Philosophies of India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell |
| Publisher | Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd |
| Publication Year | 1953 |
| Total Pages | 709 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 34 MB |