The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c11.80

c11.80

We may be sure that Yājnavalkya does not really intend to expound to his beloved Maitreyī the extremes of super-sensual rationalism. In effect he expresses the ideal of union with the supreme being, the ultimate endeavor of all religions that have evolved a supreme being worth uniting with. At a later period there comes out of the permanently untenable, cool intellectualism of the Upanishads the religion of the Bhāktas or "pious devotees." The destiny of Upanishad thought is, after all, an acute and mystic monotheism, very like the mysticism of those Christian "friends of god," John Tauler and Thomas à Kempis. By knowledge they discover the Supreme Intelligence and perceive its essence; by devotion (*bhakti*) they feel the sweetness of the Supreme Being and reciprocate its loving intent. So the Bhagavadgītā, the "Song of the Celestial," can finally make the Supreme Being say of the pious man: "Through love he recognises me in truth, my greatness and my essence. He that loves me is not lost." It comes to this finally, that knowledge of the Supreme is but a preparation for what we call love of God. In the words of the modern Bengāli Saint and Ascetic Rāmakrishna: "The Knowledge of God may be likened to a man, while the Love of God is like a woman. Knowledge has entry only up to the outer rooms of God, but no one can enter into the inner mysteries of God save a lover, for a woman has access even to the privacy of the Almighty.”¹ And finally the same thinker arrives at the last possible conclusion: “Knowledge and love of God are ultimately one and the same. There is no difference between pure knowledge and pure love.” We might have predicted the same result. To a religion which strives with all its might to know the truth, truth’s sister, love, does not long remain a stranger.