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BRAHMAN
plation or discussion of lofty and profound ideas-they may well be regarded as representing one of the most realistic, matter-offact, practical-minded systems of thought and training ever set up by the human mind. How to come to Brahman and remain in touch with it; how to become identified with Brahman, living out of it; how to become divine while still on earth-transformed, reborn adamantine while on the earthly plane; that is the quest that has inspired and deified the spirit of man in India through the ages.
Still, we cannot say that this is exclusively an Indian objective; for it is reflected in many myths throughout the world. The ancient Mesopotamian hero Gilgamesh set forth to seek the Watercress of Immortality. The Arthurian knight Owein found the Fountain of Life; Parsifal, the Holy Grail. So likewise, Herakles overcame the guardian monster-dog of the realm of death, and after numerous deeds of valor ascended in the flame of the funeral pyre to a seat of immortality among the gods. Jason and the Greek heroes of his day, in their stout vessel Argo, gained the Golden Fleece. Orpheus sought Eurydice, his cherished soul, hoping to bring her back from among the shadows. And the Chinese emperor Shih Huang sent forth an expedition (which never returned) into the vast Eastern Sea, to secure the Plant of Immortality from the Isles of the Blest. Such tales represent in the universally known picture-language of mythology the one primal and final, everlasting human quest. The adventure was continued in medieval Europe in the secret laboratories of the mysterious alchemists, who were concerned with the transmutation of vile matter into imperishable gold and the production of the philosophers' stone-that materialized Brahman, containing a supreme power over all phenomena, which should be potent to change everything into anything. Throughout the world we find men striving for this summum bonum: the gold, the pearl, the watercress of deathlessness. Maui, the trickster-hero of Polynesia, lost his life attempting
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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 |