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THE FOUNDATIONS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY vehicles, of the manifest life-process, which constitute the gross body; neither with any of the various highly individualized faculties, states of reasoning, emotions, feelings, or perceptions that go to make up the subtle body. The true Self (åtman; brahman) is wrapped within, and not to be confused with, all the "spiritual" and "material” stratifications of its perishable covering
Brahman-cosmic power, in the supreme sense of the termis the essence of all that we are and know. All things have been precipitatcd wonderfully out of its omnipresent all-transcending omnipotence. All things bring it into manifestation--but only the holy wisdom of the competent wizard-sage deserves its name; for this sage is the one being in the universe devoted to making conscious in himself, and consciously manifest in action, that which in all else is deeply hidden. Bịhas-pati, Brahmaņas-pati, is the potent knower and bringer into form of every kind of sign and instrument of sacıcd wisdom: charms, hymns, and rites, as well as exegetical interpretations and elucidations. In him the bubbling waters from the hidden source (which is the divine power in us all) flow freely, abundantly, and with unremitting force. To tap and live by those waters, fed by their inexhaustible force, is the alpha and omega of his priestly role. And he is able to maintain himself in that role because of the yoga technique that has always attended, guided, and constituted one of the great disciplines of Indian philosophy.
Every being dwells on the very brink of the infinite ocean of the force of life. We all carry it within us: supreme strengththe plenitude of wisdom. It is never baffled and cannot be done away, yet is hidden deep. It is down in the darkest, profoundest vault of the castle of our being, in the forgotten well-house, the deep cistern. What if one should discover it again, and then draw from it unceasingly? That is the leading thought of Indian philosophy. And since all the Indian spiritual exercises are devoted seriously to this practical aim-not to a merely fanciful contem
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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 |