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India

India: Mystical Systems — It would be beyond the scope of such a work as this to undertake to provide any account of the several religious systems of India, and we must confine ourselves to a description of the mysticism and demonology which cluster around these systems, and an outline of the magic and sorcery of the native peoples of the empire.

Hinduism — It may be said that the mysticism of the Hindus was a reaction against the detailed and practical ceremonial of the Vedas. If its trend were summarized, it might justly be said that it partakes strongly of disinterestedness; is a pantheistic identifying of subject and object, worshipper and worship; aims at ultimate absorption in the Infinite; inculcates absolute passivity, the most minute self-examination, the cessation of the physical powers; and believes in the spiritual guidance of the mystical adept. For the Indian theosophists there is only one Absolute Being, the One Reality. True, the pantheistic doctrine of Ekam advitiyem “the One without Second” posts a countless pantheon of gods, great and small, and a rich demonology; but it has to be understood that these are merely illusions of the soul and not realities. Upon the soul’s coming to fuller knowledge, its illusions are totally dispelled, but to the ordinary man the impersonality of absolute being is useless. He requires a symbolic deity to bridge the gulf betwixt the impersonal Absolute and his very material self, hence the numerous gods of Hinduism which are regarded by the initiated merely as manifestations of the Supreme Spirit. Even the rudest forms of idolatry in this way possess higher meaning. As Sir Alfred Lyall says: “ It (Brahminism) treats all the worships as outward visible signs of the same spiritual truth, and is ready to show how each particular image or rite is the symbol of some aspect of universal divinity.

The Hindus, like the pagans of antiquity, adore natural objects and forces—a mountain, a river, or an animal. The Brahmin holds all nature to be the vesture or cloak of indwelling divine energy which inspires everything that produces all or passes man’s understanding. The ascetic life has from the remotest times been regarded in India as the truest preparation for communion with the deity. Asceticism is extremely prevalent especially in connection with the cult of Siva, who is in great measure regarded as the prototype of this class. The Yogis or Jogis (disciples of the Yogi philosophy), practice mental abstraction, and are popularly supposed to attain to superhuman powers. The usual results of their ascetic practices are madness or mental vacancy, and their so-called supernatural powers are mostly prophetic, or in too many cases, pure jugglery and conjuring. The Parama­Hamsas, that is “supreme swans” claim to be identical with the world-soul, and have no occupation except meditation on Brahma. They are said to be equally indifferent to pleasure or pain, insensible to heat or cold, and incapable of satiety or want. The Sannyasis are those who renounce terrestrial affairs. They are of the character of monks and are, as a general rule, extremely dirty. The Dandis, or staff-bearers, are worshippers of Siva in his form of Bhairava the Terrible. Mr. J. C. Owen in his "Mystics, Ascetics and Sects of India" says of these Sadhus or holy men:

“Sadhuism whether perpetuating the peculiar idea of the efficacy of asceticism for the acquisition of far-reaching powers over natural phenomena or bearing its testimony to the belief of the indispensableness of detachment from the world as a preparation for the ineffable joy of ecstatic communion with the Divine Being, has undoubtedly tended to keep before men’s eyes as the highest ideal, a life of purity and restraint and contempt of the world of human affairs. It has also necessarily maintained amongst the laity a sense of the rights and claims of the poor upon the charity of the more opulent members of the community. Further, Sadhuism by the multiplicity of the independent sects which have arisen in India has engendered and favored a spirit of tolerance which cannot escape the notice of the most superficial observer.”

One of the most esoteric branches of Hinduism is the Sakta cult. The Saktas are worshippers of the Sakti, or female principle as a creative and reproductive agency. Each of the principal gods possesses his own Sakti, through which his creative acts are performed, so that the Sakta worshippers are drawn from all sects. But it is principally in connection with the cult of Siva that Sakta worship is practiced. Its principal seat is the north-eastern part of India—Bengal, Behar, and Assam. It is divided into two distinct groups. The original self-existent gods were supposed to divide themselves into male and female energies, the male half occupying the right-hand and the female the left-hand side. From this conception we have the two groups of “right-hand” observers and “left-hand” observers. In the Tantras, or mystical writings, Siva unfolds in the nature of a colloquy in answer to questions asked by his spouse, Parvati, the mysteries of Sakta occultism. The right-hand worshippers are by far the most numerous. Strict secrecy is enjoined in the performance of the rites, and only one minor caste, the Kanlas, carry on the mystic and degraded rites of the Tantras.

Brahmanism — Brahmanism is a system originated by the Brahmans, the sacerdotal caste of the Hindus, at a comparatively early date. It is the mystical religion of India par excellence, and represents the more archaic beliefs of its peoples. It states that the numberless individual existences of animate nature are but so many manifestations of the one eternal spirit towards which they tend as their final goal of supreme bliss. The object of man is to prevent himself from sinking lower in the scale, and by degrees to raise himself in it, or if possible to attain the ultimate goal immediately from such state of existence as he happens to be in. The code of Manu concludes, “He who in his own soul perceives the supreme soul in all beings and acquires equanimity towards them all attains the highest state of bliss.”

Mortification of animal instincts, absolute purity and perfection of spirit, were the moral ideals of the Brahman class. But it was necessary to pass through a succession of four orders or states of existence ere any hope of union with the deity could be held out. These were: that of brahmacharin, or student of religious matters; grihastha, or householder; vanavasin, or hermit; and sannyasin, or bhihshu, fakir or religious mendicant. Practically every man of the higher castes practiced at least the first two of these stages, while the priestly class took the entire course. Later, however, this was by no means the rule, as the scope of study was intensely exacting, often lasting as long as forty-eight years, and the neophyte had to support himself by begging from door to door. He was usually attached to the house of some religious teacher and after several years of his tuition, he was usually married, as it was considered absolutely essential that he should leave a son behind him to offer food to his spirit and to those of his ancestors. He was then said to have become a "Householder” and was required to keep up perpetually the fire brought into his house on his marriage day. Upon his growing older, the time for him arrived to enter the third stage of life, and he “cut himself off from all family ties except that (if she wished) his wife might accompany him, and went into retirement in a lonely place, carrying with him his sacred fire, and the instruments necessary to his daily sacrifices.” Scantily clothed, and with hair and nails uncut, it is set down that the anchorite must live entirely on food growing wild in the forest—roots, herbs, wild grain, and so forth. The acceptance of gifts was not permitted to him unless absolutely necessary, and his time was spent reading the metaphysical portions of the Veda, making offerings, and practicing austerities with the object of producing entire indifference to worldly desires. In this way, he fits himself for the final and most exalted order, that of religious mendicant or bhikshu. This consists solely of meditation. He takes up his abode at the foot of a tree in entire solitude, and only once a day at the end of their labors may he go near the dwellings of men to beg a little food. In this way he waits for death, neither desiring extinction nor existence, until at length it reaches him, and he is absorbed in the eternal Brahma.

The purest doctrines of Brahmanism are to be found in the Vedanta philosophic system, which recognizes the Veda, or collection of ancient Sanskrit hymns, as the revealed source of religious belief through the visions of the ancient Rislus or seers. It has been already mentioned that the Hindu regarded the entire gamut of animated nature as being traversed by the one soul, which journeyed up and down the scale as its actions in its previous existence were good or evil. To the Hindu the vital element in all animate beings appears essentially similar, and this led directly to the Brahmanical theory of transmigration, which has taken such a powerful hold upon the Hindu mind.

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