The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c6.18

c6.18

The dreadful institution of Suttee, or widow-burning abolished in 1829, under the administration of Lord William Bentinck, by decree of government; the car of Juggernaut; the sect of the Thugs; and the practice of self-hypnosis to the point of prolonged trance or apparent death, are evidences of the frenzying quality of Hindu religion, and the way it has of overshadowing individual sanity and public interest. There has been, and there still is, too much so-called religion in India: Brahmanical hierarchy, sacerdotalism, asceticism, caste; infinitely diversified polytheism and idolatry; cruel religious practices; and bottomless superstition. All this the higher Hindu religions, or rather religious philosophies, blow away as the wind does chaff. In their view such religiosity is mere illusion or ignorance, to save from which is their profession. But they can save only the illumined of mind. On the real life of India the great philosophies are merely a thin film. Anyhow they have not as yet penetrated down to the Hindu people, and we may question whether India’s salvation will come that way, rather than through the growth of social and political intelligence which so gifted a people is sure, in the long run, to obtain.