The World’s Great Religions, I. Introduction and Brahmanism

THE WORLD'S GREAT RELIGIONS. BY PROFESSOR LEVI EDGAR YOUNG, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH. I. INTRODUCTION. The religion of the Latter-day Saints is an absolute religion, for it embraces all truth. We who defend it see in it salvation for the race, and the redemption of God's children from all sin. However, all religions have some truth. All religions have some great future life in view. As a people, we are characterized by our zeal in missionary work. Our brethren go into all the world to preach the gospel, so we naturally deem it necessary that the missionaries understand the fundamentals of all religions, religions especially that have played such tremendous parts in history. By knowing them, the brethren become more tolerant , for it opens up a bond of sympathy between them and the foreign races. If we have the new and everlasting gospel, it is good for all God's children, for, it will be received by all, but only in accordance with their reason and intelligence. The more we know, the better it is. People have little confidence in a teacher who knows but his own. It means that his belief is not the result of careful consideration of all other beliefs. The greatest good done to a people is by the teacher who thoroughly understands them, and their religious status. Other reasons will be evident to the thoughtful person, not the least of which will be the fact that by learning all we can

THE WORLD'S GREAT RELIGIONS. 203 of the world, we are making ourselves stronger in our own faith, for, ''knowledge is power." BRAHMANISM. India, the home of the Brahmans, is full of beautiful rivers and wondrous mountains. The Himalayas, on the north, are the highest in the world, and may be seen for miles through the transparent air. In the valleys and the lower regions, the climate is warm and the vegetation luxuriant. It is a land of the lemon, the orange, the vine, and the olive. In the days of sunshine, the sky is a rich blue, and the trees and flowers are brilliant. All nature reflects those delicate tints which one sees only in the warmer climes. At evening everything suggests the lines of Edward Griggs: "Mountain heights are glowing in red and golden, Softly falls the evening o'er the valley, Hesper brightly shines in the glow of sunset, Everywhere is peace." India has always been a land of mysticism. A country full of nature's best gifts produces a people more or less emotional and idealistic, and therefore the Hindoos have ever been an extremely sensitive and deeply religious people. They came originally from the country that borders on the Caspian sea, when the great Indo-European stock broke up, and wandered to the fourquarters of the earth. Yet, strange to say, when the Hindoos crossed the head-waters of the Indus river, ages before the coming of Christ, they found a native people whom they had to conquer. Then it was that they became a pastoral people, and built their cities and their homes just as all other primitive people have done . They had a religion, and though pristine in its nature, it satisfied their souls. All great world religions are more or less spiritual. Brahmanism is no exception to the rule. It bred in the people an idealism which was to free the pure spirit from the power and influence of matter. Therefore, the God of the Brahmans was, and remains to this day, an absolutely universal divine power that permeates all created things. To Brahm itself no sacrifices are offered. It is the substantial unity of all things, and cannot be discerned by the senses. Says the German, Hegel, "If a Brahman is asked

[^04 IMPROVEMENT ERA. what Brahm is, he answers, 'When I fall back within myself, and close all external senses and say om to myself, that is Brahm.' Om is a mystic syllable which represents the three highest gods, which form a sort of trinity. Before one can pronounce this sacred word, one must be in perfect harmony with god, or Brahm. One must be free from the influence of materiality." To the ordinary reader, this god of the Brahmans is a very abstract thing. But. the god of all oriental people is only fanciful; hence, all eastern religions are pantheistic. The awe-inspiring things of nature become gods, — the sun, the moon, the stars, the Ganges, etc. History teaches us that the more abstract the idea of God is among a people, the more they are given up to ceremonii'^'s and conventional forms in religion. The Brahmans have their inferior deities, but Brahm remains the final Essence. The inferior deities represent the elements, as Indra, air; Agni, fire; Varuna, water; Prithivi, earth. Then, as I have said, the heavenly bodies are deified. Such a system of gods produces a terrible superstition. There are good and evil spirits in nature, fierce giants and huge serpents. The moral soul of man comes in contact with them all. He is tormented by them, but he must learn from them, for who knows but that he might become one of these terrible demons, or spirits in time to come? What is the practical part of the Brahman religion? The question is not hard to answer. The rituals occupy a great part of the Hindoo code. Sacrifice is the most important act whereby man attains his highest end. According to Dr. Hopkins of Bryn Mawr College, the Hindoos believe that all the gods were once human, but in time became divine, because of their sacrifices in life. Fearful but voluntary suff'ering brought them to where they are. So with the individual. Every act of his is pregnant with consequences which result in a rigidity of living and a sacrifice of the material self, that has never been equalled even by the ascetics of the middle ages. There are four distinct classes or casts in India, and each class has its peculiar rites and ceremonies. The Brahmans are the highest class, and in a sense are divine. They have won divine powers at least, and are the interpreters of the Vedaic scriptures, the sacred books of the Hindoos. The Brahmans have their ele-

THE WORLD'S GREAT RELIGIONS. 205 vated position by birthright. All others have to win their position with tite gods. The Hindoo of any of the lower classes must therefore reverence the Brahman as a divine soul. He must fall down before him and exclaim, *'Thou art God." The Sudras are the lowest class. They were always the serfs, and are perhaps descendants of the original settlers of the soil of India, who were captured by the Hindoos. The Sudras are not allowed to read the scriptures, nor even hear them read. The Brahman has many strange duties. He must take a morning bath in some river. His body must be kept clean, and his garments white. If he meet a man of inferior station, he must immediatelypurifyhimself by bathing. At certain stated times he is never to look at the sun, and while bathing he is never to go quite naked. The Brahman has five distinct duties during the day, viz., study the scriptures, make oblations to the deities, give rice to living creatures, receive guests with respect, and make oblations to the Manes. The Manes are the sacred fathers of the earth, who have become divine, and who aid the gods in looking after the good of the earth. The reading of the Vedas must be carefully done , and all entertainment of strangers must be done with pure motives. Every class has its peculiar rites and ceremonies. At the birth of a child, there are certain ceremonies to be performed. All classes, except the serfs, must know the scriptures, and live as free from materiality as possible . The Vaisya are the free agriculturists and merchants; the Kshatriya, the judges and soldiers. Both classes share with the Brahman the privilege of reading the scriptures, but the Brahman must explain all the passages and principles of religion. The Brahmans have always had high ethical laws . Their gods are the spirits of light. There are also demons of darkness. Man is free to choose the evil or the good, so he has many duties, if he struggles for right. He must show good works with faith, he must be truthful and unselfish. He must not be a thief, a glutton, or a murderer. He must pray at certain fixed times, and do sacrifice. Our knowledge of the moral law of the Hindoos comes from the Vedas and their great national epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana . Both poems relate to the powerful tribes of northern India, who lived about 1,200 B.C. The Ramayana is extremely

206 IMPROVEMENT ERA. tragic, but it exhales a spirit of sweetness not often surpassed by our literature of today. The poem begins with a description of a righteous city, where dwelt a pure people: Neighbors lived in human kindness, helpful with their ample wealth, None who begged the wasted refuse, none who lived by fraud and stealth. Cheat and braggart and deceiver lived not in the ancient town, Proud despisers of the lowly wore not insults in their frown. Poorer fed not on the richer, hireling friend upon the great, None with low and lying accents did upon the proud man wait. Men to plighted vows were faithful, faithful was each loving wife, Impure thought and wandering fancy stained not holy wedded life. Twice-born men were free from passion, lust of gold and impure greed. Faithful to their rites and scriptures, truthful in their word and deed. An idealistic purity, this. A purity that lies at the very root of Brahmanism , The Brahmans believe in the transmigration of souls. The soul has three qualities, goodness, passion, darkness. Good souls become deities; but those given to passion, boxers, wrestlers, warriors, kings, etc. Those whose thoughts are steeped in darkness enter the bodies of lower animals, as worms, snakes, horses, dogs, and camels. Transmigration is necessary, for souls must receive rewards for their deeds. Strange doctrine! The Brahmans have their scriptures, or books of holy writ. They are the Vedas. They teach the unity of God, and the moral law, whereby a Brahman may become a God. They are a collection of hymns and poems, something like the Greek Iliad and Odyssey. They date some fifteen centuries before the Christian era. There are other sacred writings, and a literature of great worth, among which are the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, already mentioned. There are today some two hundred and fifty millions who follow the religion of Brahma. They are mostly confined to India and islands of the Indian ocean. Buddhism is to Brahmanism what Protestantism is to Roman Catholicism in our own history. Buddhism will be the subject of our next paper. Salt Lake City, Utah.