A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s7.54

v1.c8.s7.54

And in India we see how, already in the Brāhmaṇas, the priest exalts himself over the gods through the *sacrifice*; in the epics we read countless stories of ascetics who, through *asceticism* attain to such ascendancy that the gods tremble upon their thrones. In Buddhism, however, the divine beings, with Indra the prince of gods, have fully dwindled into quite insignificant beings, who differ from ordinary mortals only in that they are somewhat better situated, and even that only so long as they remain devout Buddhists; and infinitely high above these gods stands not only the Buddha himself, but every man who, through *love for all beings* and through renunciation of the world, has become an Arhat or saint.¹