The Religions of India c19.2

c19.2

While the pantheistic believer proceeded to anthropomorphize in a still greater degree the *ātmā* of his fathers, and eventually landed in heretical sectarianism; while the orthodox Brahman simply added to his pantheon (in Manu and other law-codes) the Brahmanic figure of the Creator, Brahmā; the truth-seeker that followed the lines of the earlier philosophical thought arrived at atheism, and in consequence became either stoic or hedonist. The latter school, the Cārvākas, the so-called disciples of Brihaspati, have, indeed, a philosophy without religion. They simply say that the gods do not exist, the priests are hypocrites; the Vedas, humbug; and the only thing worth living for, in view of the fact that there are no gods, no heaven, and no soul, is pleasure: ‘While life remains let a man live happily; let him not go without butter (literally *ghee*) even though he run into debt,’ etc.¹ Of sterner stuff was the man who invented a new religion as a solace for sorrow and a refuge from the nihilism in which he believed.