The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c9.s1.78

c9.s1.78

For the history of the human mind this last outcome, present in the ancient literature of this gifted people, is of unusual importance. The rather mystic idea of the divinity of Devotion and its expression, the notion that the sacred inspired thought and word can itself be god, will concern us more later on. From the point of view of religious feeling it is the last and best word of the Hindus as to the nature of the divine. There comes to mind the first verse of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Here the original Greek for "Word" is Logos. This is not quite the same as the Hindu "Devotion," or "Holy Utterance," which we shall meet again in its finished expression as Brahma. The Logos originated in the philosophy of the Stoics and the Neo-Platonists: it is intellectual rather than emotional. But the two are alike in this: they seek the creative power and the creative plan in the mind or heart of the universe rather than in its mechanical manifestations. We shall see farther on how very peculiar is the treatment which the Hindus gave to this important and original concept, led on thereto by the melancholy genius that may be supposed to preside over the hot sombre land. For the present, and in this connection, we may be satisfied to see the origin of this seemingly mystic idea exposed to our eyes with a degree of clearness that is not obscured by its mythological coloring. Like almost all other important religious ideas of the Hindus this idea, when analysed patiently with the help of their rich literature, sheds light on the seeming mysteries of other religions.