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OF THE HINDUS.
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easily conceived, are exceedingly embarrassed and unsatisfactory. Brahma—not Brahmá in the masculine, but Brahma in the neuter form, the term commonly applied to the supreme first Cause-is for the most part defined by negatives. He is incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, unborn, uncreated, without beginning or end; he is illimitable, inscrutable, inappreciable by the senses, inapprehensible by the understanding, at least until that is freed from the film of mortal blindness; he is devoid of all attributes, or has that only of perfect purity; he is unaffected by emotions; he is perfect tranquillity, and is susceptible therefore of no interest in the acts of man or the administration of the affairs of the universe. Vyása declares that the knowledge of the Supreme Being is not within the boundary of comprehension, that what and who he is cannot be explained *.
These are the most generally adopted sentiments, and conformably to them no temples are erected, no prayers are even addressed to the Supreme. Texts from the Vedas and other authorities, enjoining the worship of God alone, were adduced, as I noticed yesterday, by Rámmohan Roy in support of the reforin which he set on foot; but it is generally and consistently enough maintained by his opponents, that they intend spiritual worship, mental adoration, abstract meditation --- not formal, practical, or external worship--and that they are applicable only to
* [Colebr., Essays, p. 216 – 38.]
