The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s13.21

v2.c40.s13.21

From the point of view of ethics the demerits of the system of the Upaniṣads are even more glaring than from the point of view of the intellect. It is doubtless impossible to arrive at certainty on questions of the ultimate nature of reality, but it is an easier matter to establish some principles of moral obligation, and to bring them into harmony with a scheme of the universe which if theoretical shall none the less be at any rate plausible. The defect of the Upaniṣads is that they render morality in the ultimate issue valueless and meaningless. We may reasonably assume that any complete metaphysic must seek to explain as essential ingredients of existence, truth, goodness, and beauty, and we may safely conclude that a system, which, like that of the Upaniṣads, regards beauty and goodness as nothing but hollow mockeries, is defective and essentially unsound in its theoretic basis.