{"1": {"fulltext": "L33\\nI W65\\ny 1", "height": "4712", "width": "2964", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "", "height": "5040", "width": "3112", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "133\\n2 W65\\npy 1\\nVEDANTA PHILOSOPHY\\nLECTURE BY\\nV\\nSWAMI ABHEDANANDA\\nON\\nThe Word and me Cross in Ancient India\\nDELIVERED UNDER THE AUSPTCES OF THE VEDANTA SOCIETY,\\nAT TUXEDO HALL, NEW YORK, SUNDAY, W\\nMARCH 4th, I9OO.\\nPublished by the Vedanta Society\\nNEW YORK\\nt\\nCopyright, 1900, by Swami Abhedananda, new york\\nPrice 10 Cents.", "height": "4696", "width": "2964", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "32683\\nLibrary of Congress\\nTwo Copies Received\\nAUG 9 1900\\nCopyright entry\\nI Out ft if**\\nSECOND COFT.\\nDelivered to\\nORDER DIVISION,\\ni\\n68231", "height": "4601", "width": "3046", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": ".(\\\\8\\nVI 4?\\nThe Word was Brahman (or The Absolute.)\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Bri. Upaniskad.\\n14 He who exists by Himself let first stream forth the Word, the Eternal,\\nwithout beginning or end, the Divine Word which we read in the Veda, whence\\nproceeded the evolution of the world. Mah bh rata.\\nTHE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT\\nINDIA.\\nSince the beginning of the Christian era the fol-\\nlowers of Christ have popularised the two great sacred\\nsymbols of the ancient Aryans the Word or the\\nSon of God, and the Cross. Although these two\\nsymbols were unknown amongst the Semitic races,\\nespecially the ancient Hebrews, yet they were known\\nto the pre-Christian Greek philosophers as well as to\\nthe Aryan philosophers and thinkers who lived in an-\\ncient India.\\nThe conception that the Word was the only be-\\ngotten Son of the Father, the first-born, or the Son of\\nGod, was rooted deep in the abstruse philosophical\\nspeculations of the Aryan minds who tried to bridge\\nover the gulf that exists between the visible and the\\ninvisible, between the phenomenal and the noumenal,\\nbetween the individual soul of man and God the Crea-\\ntor of all. The Aryan seekers after the ultimate cause\\nof the universe and the true relation of soul to God\\nadvanced many theories to explain the apparent sepa-\\nration between the Creator and the created, between\\nGod and the soul of man; and made various attempts", "height": "4696", "width": "3012", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY,\\nto discover the means by vtfiich the two can be\\nbrought together in closer union and by which the\\nsoul of man will return to its Creator.\\nIn ancient Judaism, however, the conception of\\nJehovah was so objective, so far from the universe, so\\nmajestic and so high that the idea of union between\\nthe individual soul and Jehovah or even its approach\\nto His throne was considered to be blasphemous, and\\ninsulting to Jehovah the Supreme Deity. The result\\nof this conception was that the idea of the sonship of\\nman, or of the Word, never took any hold upon the\\nancient Semitic minds. The superficial readers of the\\nOld Testament may find some vague expressions of\\nthe idea of sonship of man in such passages as Ye\\nare the children of the Lord your God Deut\\nxiv. i or in the passage where Moses says Of the\\nRock that begat thee thou art unmindful and hast\\nforgotten God that formed thee Deut. xxxii. 18;\\nor when he asks Is not he thy father that hath\\nbought thee? Hath he not made thee and established\\nthee? Deut. xxxii. 6. In whatever manner the\\nChristian theologians might interpret such passages\\nthey never meant the same idea of the fatherhood of\\nGod, or the sonship of man, or of the Word or of the\\nChrist which pervades the Fourth Gospel. Moses\\nmeant nothing more than the fatherly goodness of the\\nCreator. Through the paternal goodness of Elohim\\nYahveh, Abraham became the friend of God. A simi-\\nlar meaning lies behind the passage where Adam is\\ndescribed, once only in the New Testament, as the\\nSon of God.", "height": "4672", "width": "3112", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "THE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT INDIA. 3\\nThe deep philosophical meaning which is con-\\nnected with the first verse of the Fourth Gospel In\\nthe beginning was the Word, and the Word was with\\nGod and the Word was God, was never expressed\\nbefore by any of the writers either of the New or of\\nthe Old Testaments. Some of the Christian theolo-\\ngians have tried to trace the origin of the meaning of\\nthe Divine Word as given in the Fourth Gospel to\\ncertain expressions of some Hebrew prophets of the\\nOld Testament. For instance, they refer to the pas-\\nsage, By the Word of the Lord were the heavens\\nmade and all the host of them by the breath of his\\nmouth Psalm xxxiii. 6. Some again refer to\\nanother passage He sent his word and healed\\nthem Psalm cvii. 20. In these and similar other\\npassages word does not stand for any other mean-\\ning than simple commandment, as we find in the\\nverse He sendeth forth his commandment upon\\nearth; his word runneth very swiftly Psalm cxlvii.\\n15. Thus we can understand that in the Jewish Scrip-\\ntures there is no historical antecedent of the idea of\\nthe Divine Word as the Son of God which is described\\nby the writer of the Fourth Gospel in the first verse\\nof the first chapter.\\nThe Oriental scholars are unanimous in their opin-\\nion that the writer of the Fourth Gospel was a fol-\\nlower of Philo, the reformed Jewish philosopher, who\\nwas a contemporary of Jesus and who lived in Alex-\\nandria from 20 B.C. to 60 A.D., but never heard of\\nJesus. The writings of Philo Judeas abound in pas-\\nsages which show that he was a student of Greek", "height": "4696", "width": "2972", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY,\\nphilosophy and that he adopted the Greek conception\\nof the Word, or the only begotten Son of God, as ex-\\nl ained by the Stoic philosophers of the pre-Christian\\nera. It was through Philo that the Greek conception\\nof the Divine Word was introduced amongst the\\nthoughtful class of the Jews then living in Alexandria,\\nand was afterwards identified with Jesus the Christ by\\nthe writer of the Fourth Gospel, and was later ac-\\ncepted by Christians generally. Alexandria was in\\nthose days the principal centre of education and cul-\\nture, where Jewish, Greek, Hindu, and Buddhist phil-\\nosophers met and interchanged thoughts and religious\\nideas. The Greek philosophers called the Divine\\nWord Logos. Logos is a Greek word which meant at\\nfirst simply word, not as a mere sound, but as thought\\nembodied in sound. The theory of the Logos first\\noriginated with Heraclitus, one of the earliest Greek\\nphilosophers who lived about 460 B.C. Although he\\nbelieved that fire was the primitive element of the\\nphenomenal universe, still he postulated some power,\\nforce, or law which controlled the material element\\nfire. He called that power Logos, that is, reason or\\norder. Though the theory of the Logos, that reason,\\nor order, was the primal cause of the Cosmos, origi-\\nnated in Greece with Heraclitus, yet it did not\\ndevelop in meaning until the time of the Stoics. The\\nStoic philosophers believed that Logos, or Supreme\\nReason, or God, pervaded all matter. It was not only\\nthe Creator of all things but controller and ruler also.\\nThe Stoic philosophers held that the Logos was uni-\\nversal and eternal and that the human soul possessed", "height": "4688", "width": "3032", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "THE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT INDIA. 5\\na portion of the universal Logos and therefore man\\nhad a share of intelligence and reason. They believed\\nthat word, or speech, was the manifestation of Reason,\\nor thought, which would remain as non-existent for\\nus, without the power of speech. This Logos became\\nthe medium through which the transcendent Cause\\nof the universe was related to the phenomenal world.\\nIt was like the bridge between God and the world.\\nPhilo s mind, which was seeking some explanation\\nfor the relation between Jehovah and the world,\\nadopted the Stoic explanation and the theory of the\\nLogos.\\nIn Philo s hands the theory of the Logos gradually\\ndeveloped in its meaning. By Logos he wished to\\nexpress not merely word, but the thought, or idea of\\nwhich word or speech is but the manifestation. As\\nthe audible or perceptible sound of a word is the ex-\\npression of an imperceptible thought or idea, so the\\nvisible universe is the expression of the ideal universe,\\nor the universe in a thought form existing in the\\nDivine mind. This ideal creation, or concept of the\\nuniverse, or type of the universe in the Divine mind\\nwas the Logos, and it was called by Philo the only\\nbegotten Son, or unique Son. Philo always used the\\nonly begotten Son in its philosophical sense, that is,\\nas the Thought of God, made visible in the world\\neither by creation or projection, but there is nothing\\nin his writings to show that he ever personified the\\nLogos. These terms, more or less poetical with Philo,\\nbecame afterwards most technical when the Logos\\nwas identified with Christ by the writer of the Fourth", "height": "4696", "width": "3012", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "6 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY.\\nGospel. The author of this gospel did not identify\\nthe Logos with Jesus of Nazareth, who was son of\\nMary, but with Christ the incarnation of the ideal\\nman, the perfect type of man which existed in the\\nDivine mind from the beginning. As the Logos was\\nthe only begotten son of God according to Philo, who\\nnever heard of Jesus the Christ, so it was with his dis-\\nciples. The author of the Fourth Gospel, believing\\nin Jesus as the perfect type of man, gave him all the\\npredicates of the Logos and described him as the Son\\nof God.\\nSome scholars are of opinion that this meaning\\nwhich was given to the Logos or word by Philo and\\nthe Neo Platonists of later date was the result of the\\ninfluence of the Hindu philosophers who lived in Al-\\nexandria and Greece about the time of Alexander\\nthe Great, 333 B.C. This has been supported by the\\nwritings of Eusebius, who quotes a work on Platonic\\nphilosophy by Aristocles, who states therein on the\\nauthority of Aristoxenes, a pupil of Aristotle, that an\\nIndian philosopher came to Athens and had a discus-\\nsion with Socrates. When Socrates told him that his\\nphilosophy consisted in inquiries about the life of\\nman, the Indian philosopher is said to have smiled,\\nand to have replied that no one could understand\\nthings human who did not understand things divine.*\\nIn the most ancient writings of the Hindus, the\\nVedas, we find the idea of Logos most clearly ex-\\npressed. There are many Sanskrit words used in the\\nVedas which signify that Divinity is the Lord of\\nSee Max Muller s Theosophy or Psychological Religion, pp. 83-84.", "height": "4688", "width": "3204", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "THE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT INDIA. 7\\nSpeech, or word, the Lord of thought and reason, or\\nLogos. For instance, Brihaspati is a Sanskrit com-\\npound word which we read often in the Vedas. Brihas\\ncomes from the Sanskrit root verb Brih or Barh,\\nmeaning to break forth or drive forth; from the same\\nroot Latin Verbum and English Word can be derived;\\nand Pati means lord or father. Therefore Brihaspati\\nmeans the Lord or Father of word. A synonym of\\nBrihaspati is the Sanskrit Vachaspati Vdchas or Vak\\n(the same as Vox) means word. So Vachaspati also\\nmeans the Lord or Father of word, or speech. In\\nBrihadaranyaka Upanishad we read Vak vai Brahma,\\nThe word was Brahman, or the Absolute. Again,\\nit is stated that That, of which these things are\\nborn, by which when born they live, and into which\\nthey return and enter after death, or dissolution, is\\nBrahman. He with his mind united himself with\\nhis word. In the beginning, Divine Vak, or Word\\neternal, without beginning or end, consisting of wis-\\ndom, was uttered by the Self-existent One from\\nwhich all activities proceeded. In the beginning\\nthe Lord of the universe shaped from the words the\\nnames and forms of all beings, and the procedure of\\nall activities. f In one of the ancient writings of the\\nHindus we read I know that great Self-effulgent\\nBeing who thought all forms and made their\\nnames. J He desired let a second body be born\\nof me and embraced word with his mind. All\\nBrihadaranyaka Upanishad.\\nSmriti.\\nX Taittiriya Aranyaka III., 12, 17.\\nBrihadaranyaka Upanishad I., i, 24.", "height": "4696", "width": "2964", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "8 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY.\\nthings that can be thought of had beginning in word,\\nor the eternal concept in the Divine mind. Again,\\nin the Mahabharata we read: He who exists by\\nhimself let first stream forth the Word, the eternal\\nwithout beginning or end, the Divine Word which\\nwe read in the Veda, whence proceeded the evolution\\nof the world. The Hindus believe that the phe-\\nnomena of the world exist because they are in the\\nVeda. The word Veda does not stand for any book or\\nwriting but for Logos, or Sophia, or Wisdom, and\\ncomprehends all named concepts necessary for the\\ncreation of all created things. In the Veda it is said:\\nWhen the Lord projected the concept of the earth\\nfrom His Divine mind, the earth was formed, etc.\\nBy Word the Vedic sages did not mean mere sound,\\nbut thought or concept in the Divine mind; there-\\nfore, the Divine mind was the Father, and Word or\\nconcept or ideal type was the Son, like the Greek\\nLogos, as explained by Philo.\\nThe later Hindu philosophers took up this idea, dis-\\ncussed it, and wrote volumes after volumes on the\\nLogos theory. Whenever any man or woman reached\\nperfection and manifested divinity, he or she was wor-\\nshipped as the incarnation of the Word, the first-born,\\nor the manifestation of the ideal man or woman as\\nexisting in the Divine mind. Krisna, Siva, Rama,\\nBuddha, and others are worshipped in India as the\\nideal types of men, or incarnations of the Word.\\nAs the doctrine of the Logos, the very life-blood\\nof Christianity was purely of Aryan origin, most\\nprobably of Hindu origin, so the symbol of the Cross,", "height": "4676", "width": "3112", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "THE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT INDIA. 9\\nwhich is the corner-stone of the structure of Chris-\\ntianity, originated not amongst the Hebrews but\\namongst the Aryans.\\nWell has it been said by St. Augustine What is\\nnow called the Christian religion has existed among\\nthe ancients and was not absent from the beginning of\\nthe human race until Christ came in the flesh, from\\nwhich time the true religion, which existed already,\\nbegan to be called Christian. Whatever import-\\nance the followers of Christ may attach to the worship\\nof the Cross by connecting it with the crucifixion of\\nJesus of Nazareth, it existed as a religious symbol for\\ncenturies before the birth of Christ, and was largely\\nused as a sacred symbol by the Egyptians, Persians,\\nHindus, Buddhists, Tibetans, Chinese, and other an-\\ncient nations of almost all parts of the world. The\\nCross is the oldest religious symbol that has ever been\\ninvented by human mind. Traces of the worship of\\nthe Cross as a religious symbol can be found amongst\\nthe most ancient pre-historic aboriginal tribes of the\\nold and new worlds.\\nThe ancient Egyptians used the Tau Cross, which\\nis like the English letter T. In the Egyptian hier-\\noglyphics, the Cross has been interpreted variously;\\nfor instance, a Cross with four equal arms has been\\nassumed to have meant four elements. When the\\nform of the Cross was composed of two or four scep-\\ntres with a circle at the point of interception it is said\\nto indicate divine potentiality. It stood sometimes\\nfor protective power, sometimes for life to come,\\netc. Some of the Egyptian deities, as Ra 9 Ammon-Ra,", "height": "4696", "width": "2892", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "IO VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY.\\nand Ammon had the sacred Tau Cross in their\\nhands. The Cross was used by the Egyptians in tat-\\ntooing the body, in the paintings on the walls and\\ntombs at Thebes. A long Cross surmounting a heart,\\nmeaning good or goodness, was fixed upon the fronts\\nof houses in Thebes and Memphis, intimating This\\nis the abode of the good. The Egyptian symbols of\\nfive planets had a Cross connected with each. The\\nnatives of Abyssinia used to observe certain religious\\nrites by plunging a Cross in the river Gitche. In an-\\ncient India the Cross was used as a sign of prosperity,\\ngood luck, longevity and happiness, a protector from\\nevil, and was used largely in connection with religious\\nrites and ceremonies. The most ancient form of Cross\\nwhich has been used in India from prehistoric times\\nis called Swastika. It is like a Greek Cross, but its\\narms are bent at right angles. It literally means in\\nSanskrit Su, well, and Asti, being, that is, well being,\\nwelfare. Originally the form of Swastika was two\\nlines crossing each other, but afterwards it was shaped\\nlike ffi The word Swastika had been in existence in\\nthe Sanskrit language long before Buddha was born.\\nIn the Rig Veda we read, Swasti me Indra, Do\\nthou, O Indra, grant me welfare. Swastika Cross\\nappears in the hands of Visnu, the Preserver of the\\nworld, and represents the world-sustaining power\\nwhich Visnu possesses. It was found in the foot-\\nprints of Buddha in Buddhistic temples. In the\\nBuddhistic inscriptions and coins, the Swastika or\\nCross very often occurs. In the Ramayana we read,\\nBharata selects a ship marked with the sign of the", "height": "4696", "width": "3044", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "THE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT INDIA. II\\nCross or Swastika. The Buddhistic Stupas (tombs)\\nwere built in the form of a Swastika or Cross. When\\na woman covers her breast with crossed arms it is\\ncalled Swastika posture, that is, the sign of good luck,\\nprosperity and protection. It is supposed that a\\nwoman with Swastika posture is free from all dangers.\\nWhen a person sits cross-legged, it is called Swastika\\nposture, which is the best of all the sitting postures.\\nIn ancient times houses were built in the form of a\\nSwastika Cross.\\nWhen the Cross became the religious symbol of\\nthe Buddhists, wherever Buddhism went the symbol\\nof the Cross travelled with it. In Tibet, China,\\nKorea, Japan, Burma, Ceylon, Java, and in other\\nplaces the Cross as a religious symbol was introduced\\nfrom India. In China, Japan, and in other countries\\nthe statues of Buddha were usually marked with a\\nSwastika or Cross. In Tibet the Cross is to be found\\nas the royal emblem of the Bonpa deities. The\\nLamas, or Buddhist priests, carry a Cross and use\\nit at the time of benediction.\\nSir Stamford Raffles, after living in Java for twenty\\nyears, writes: Java received her civilization and art\\ndirectly from India. Out of the six steps of the most\\nancient prehistoric temples in Java, three are in the\\nform of a Cross.\\nIn the most ancient paintings of the Hindus,\\nKrisna has a Cross in his hand. Yama, the ruler of\\nthe departed ones, is painted as holding a Cross in\\none hand. Some of the Christian missionaries say\\nthat the Cross was introduced into India by the early\\nLofC.", "height": "4688", "width": "2896", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "12 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY.\\nChristians who visited the country. Such statements\\nare not correct. Among the most interesting ancient\\nrelics that have been recently excavated in the forests\\nof Central India which were never visited by any\\nChristian missionary, two rude stone Crosses have\\nbeen discovered. The archeologists think that those\\nCrosses must have existed in good shape at least three\\nthousand years before the advent of Jesus the Christ.\\nMoreover, the ancient rock-cut cave of Elepanta is\\nnearly in the form of a Greek Cross; its dimensions\\nbeing longitudinally 130 feet and transversely 123\\nfeet, and height is about 17 feet. In this cave, which\\nwas cut before the Buddhistic period, there is a figure\\nof Hindu Trinity -holding a huge Cross in one hand.\\nTavernier, who visited Benares in the end of the\\nseventeenth century, seeing the temple of Visnu, said\\nthat the body of this edifice was built in the form of\\nan immense Cross. This temple was destroyed by\\nAurungzebe, the Mogul emperor, who built a huge\\nmosque in its place.\\nThe Cross is to be found in almost all the ancient\\ntemples of India. Amongst the Jains, the Swastika\\nor Cross is the oldest religious symbol. In the San-\\nskrit grammar of Panini, written at least 400 B.C.,\\nSwastika or Cross is described as one of the ancient\\nsigns for marking cattle, and even to-day cattle and\\nsheep are marked with a Cross by the illiterate classes\\nof India. Swastika is mentioned in the Atharva Veda.\\nEven to-day the Hindus paint a Swastika or Cross on\\nthe walls of the room which the newly married couple\\nenter immediately after the wedding.", "height": "4696", "width": "3012", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "THE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT INDIA. 13\\nThe Y -shaped Cross is drawn on the foreheads\\nof the Vaisnavas, the dualistic worshippers of Vis nu.\\nThe Cross was used in the Hindu coins of prehistoric\\nperiod. It was also used as decoration on walls,\\nfurniture, earthenware, rugs, and on garments worn\\nby the priests and priestesses.\\nThis Swastika or peculiar form of the Cross is the\\noldest of all forms of this symbol that are found in\\nthe West. It originated in prehistoric times amongst\\nthe Aryans who inhabited India, and from there it\\ntravelled all over the world. The same sign was found\\nin hundreds of places on the Christians tombs in the\\nCatacombs at Rome.\\nThere was a time when a great discussion arose\\namongst the early Christians as to the selection of the\\nCross which should be representative, and history tells\\nus that the Swastika was one of those which were sug-\\ngested. It is for this reason we find it on the tombs\\nin the Catacombs at Rome. The latest use of Swas-\\ntika mentioned in the literature on this subject is in\\nthe Archiepiscopal chair in the cathedral at Milan.\\nPrehistoric archeologists maintain that the Swas-\\ntika or Cross travelled into Western countries from\\nthe East during the Bronze age. They claim that\\nlong before the tin mines of Spain, Britain or Ger-\\nmany were discovered, bronze came to Europe from\\nthe East Burma, Siam, and other places where cop-\\nper and tin were first made into bronze. When\\nbronze was introduced into Western Asia, Egypt, and\\nEurope, the sign of the Cross was also introduced in\\nthose countries, as the most ancient relic is found on", "height": "4696", "width": "2828", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "14 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY.\\nbronze. Professor Wilson, in his celebrated essay on\\nSwastika, which was read before the Smithsonian In-\\nstitute, not only supports this theory of migration of\\nthe symbol of Cross from the East to the West, but\\nbelieves that it migrated from Asia to America. Re-\\ngarding the same symbol which has been discovered\\nin North and South America, Professor Wilson says:\\nAdopting the theory of migration of the Swastika,\\nwe may therefore conclude that if the Swastika came\\nfrom India or Eastern Asia (to America) it came\\nearlier than the sixth century B.C.\\nThus we can understand how the Word, or the Son\\nof God, was known in ancient India and that the\\nCross was the most ancient religious symbol of the\\nHindus. Not only this, but the earliest record of the\\nsacrifice of a divine man in space is to be found in\\nthe Rig Veda described in mythological language.\\nJohn P. Lundy, in his Monumental Christianity/\\nsays At any rate, the religion of India had its\\nmythical crucified victim long anterior to Christianity.\\nI am disposed to believe this to be the victim\\ndescribed in the Vedas themselves. We read in the\\nRig Veda: The first-born being, before the begin-\\nning of the material phenomena, became a victim of\\nsacrifice. The Devas, gods, and angels who came\\nlater took the first-born being for the animal of sacri-\\nfice, fastened him to a sacrificial post, sanctified him,\\nand afterwards sacrificed him, stretching his limbs in\\nthe eternal space. From that sacrifice arose all that\\nexists on earth and in the heavens/ Here you will\\nnotice the metaphor that the first-born being was the", "height": "4696", "width": "3012", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "THE WORD AND THE CROSS IN ANCIENT INDIA. 15\\nonly begotten son of God, the absolute Being; that\\nhe was fastened to a post and was sacrificed by the\\nDevas for the good of the universe. The students of\\nthe Vedic literature are well aware of the fact that the\\nmost ancient sacrificial post was in the form of a\\nCross. On such a post the first-born was fastened,\\nlike an animal of sacrifice.\\nJohn P. Lundy quotes from Colebrooke in his\\nMonumental Christianity When that ancient\\nsacrifice was completed, sages and men and our pro-\\ngenitors were by him formed. Viewing with an ob-\\nservant mind this oblation, which primeval Devas\\noffered, I venerate. Mr. Lundy says This looks\\nlike the lamb slain from the foundation of the world\\nand whom all the angels of God worship.\\nThus the vital points of Christianity, in whatever\\nmanner they might have been explained by priests and\\ntheologians, were of Aryan origin. Whenever we\\nworship the Cross, or the Son of God, we uncon-\\nsciously worship the Aryan symbols of prehistoric\\ntimes. Whenever we think of the sacrifice of Calvary,\\nwe unknowingly think of the mythological sacrifice\\nof the first-born being which is described in the Vedas.\\nAlthough these and other similar religious symbols\\nhave certain value in helping human minds in the path\\nof spiritual progress as objects of concentration and\\nmeditation, still they are of slight consequence if those\\nabstract truths, for which all religious symbols stand,\\nare forgotten or are not properly understood. Many\\nsymbols are used in India, each of which represents\\nan abstract truth which ordinary minds cannot easily", "height": "4616", "width": "2904", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "1 6 VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY.\\ngrasp. They are used largely by the dualistic and\\nqualified non-dualistic worshippers of God. Most of\\nthem, however, like the orthodox Christians, do not\\nunderstand the true meanings of the mythological\\nsymbols of the Word, Cross, etc., and are the easy\\nvictims of superstition and errors.\\nThe object of Vedanta philosophy is to free human\\nminds from ignorance, superstition, prejudice, and\\nerrors, as well as to lead them to the realization of\\nthose abstract truths which give foundation to the\\nnames and forms of all symbols. Therefore Vedanta\\ninsists that salvation cannot be obtained by the mere\\nworship of the Cross, or the Son of God, or the Word\\nin flesh and blood, and maintains that it can only\\nbe reached by going beyond all symbols, by realizing\\nthe sonship of the soul and its oneness with the Uni-\\nversal Spirit.\\nVedanta declares that each individual soul is in\\nreality the Word, the Christ or Son of God, which\\ndwells eternally in the bosom of the Father, nay,\\nwhich is one with Him that there is no gulf between\\nthe Father and His children, and that the realization\\nof this Supreme Unity depends upon the sacrifice of\\nthe lower self upon the Cross made by the traversing\\nof the Divine will by the human will. Such a sacrifice\\nobliterates the Cross and leaves only the Word,\\nwhich is the Father, the Absolute Brahman.", "height": "4744", "width": "3012", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "PUBLICATIONS OF THE VEDANTA SOCIETY\\nLECTURES BY SWAMI VT/EKANANDA:\\nTHE IDEAL OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION.\\nTHE COSMOS.\\nTHE ATMAN.\\nTHE REAL AND APPARENT MAN.\\nBHAKTI YOGA.\\nWORLD S FAIR ADDRESSES, 10 cents each 1 cent each for postage.\\nTHE VEDANTA PHILOSOPHY.\u00e2\u0080\u0094 An Address before the Graduate Philosophical\\nSociety of Harvard College with introduction by Prof C. C. Everett. 1 5 cents\\n2 cents for postage.\\nKARMA YOGA (8 lectures), bound, 50 cents 5 cents postage.\\nRAJA YOGA, new edition, 376 pages, bound, $1.50 1 1 cents postage.\\nLECTURES BY SWAMI ABHEDANANDA:\\nTHE MOTHERHOOD OF GOD,\\nSCIENTIFIC BASIS OF RELIGION.\\nTHE RELATION OF SOUL TO GOD\\nCOSMIC EVOLUTION AND ITS PURPOSE.\\nTHE PHILOSOPHY OF GOOD AND EVIL.\\nTHE WAY TO THE BLESSED LIFE.\\nWHY A HINDU IS A VEGETARIAN, 10 cents each 1 cent each for postage.\\nREINCARNATION (3 lectures). 25 cents.\\nOther lectures by Svvami Abhedananda will be published during the season of\\n1899-1900.\\nPERIODICALS\\nAWAKENED INDIA, monthly, $J.OO a year Single copy JO cents.\\nTHE BRAHMAVADIN, monthly, $2.00 a year; Single copy 25 cents.\\nThese magazines are published in India, and contain articles and lectures by\\nthe Swamis.\\nOrders received and filled promptly by the\\nPUBLICATION COMMITTEE\\nOF THE VEDANTA SOCIETY.", "height": "4668", "width": "2884", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS\\n\u00c2\u00abfc 6 l 029 819 715 7", "height": "4696", "width": "2968", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "", "height": "4660", "width": "2896", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "LIBRARY OF CONGRE\\n029 819 715", "height": "5280", "width": "3032", "jp2-path": "vedntaphilosophy00ab_0024.jp2"}}