has been called the "bibliolatry" of the Jewish
Rabbis. But subject to this verbal veneration, the Rishis, or learned
divines, used the utmost freedom in regard to the forced and fanciful
interpretations extorted from the sacred text, a freedom which again
reminds us of the paradoxical caprice shown by some schools of Jewish
Rabbis in their treatment of the volume they professed to regard with
awe. The various finite gods, such as Vishnu, Indra, Krishna, Marut, or
Varuna, were not the subjects of any church creed chanted every day, and
carefully stereotyped in the tender minds of children. On the contrary,
various roles were assigned by successive generations to these
divinities. So that, for instance, Varuna was at one time the god of the
ocean, and at another of the sky. But the uniform tendency of all poets
and Rishis alike was to seek, beyond all these gods, one unbeginning,
unending, and all comprehensive Being, from whom these "devas" emerged,
and into whom they must return. Not only so, but it is clearly suggested
in many passages, of which an instance will presently be quoted, that
the Eternal, called Brahma who was the true Self of all gods, was also
the true Self of man and bird and beast. So that, in fact,
notwithstanding the illogical emanation theory, He was the only real
Being, the All in All.

[Sidenote: Illustration from the Upanishads.]

[Sidenote: Monism.]

Thus, one section of the Khandogya Upanishad[4] consists entirely of
instructions given by a father, Uddalaka, to his son, Svetaketu, who had
gone through the ordinary courses of study in the Vedas, but who, in the
father's view, had failed to reach the true significance of life.
Accordingly, Uddalaka inquires: "Have you ever asked for that
instruction by which we hear what cannot be heard, by which we perceive
what cannot be perceived, by which we know what cannot be known?"[5] The
youth, more accustomed than we are to teaching by paradox, expresses no
surprise at this mode of putting things, but simply asks: "What is that
instruction, sir?" The father then proceeds to give an explanation of
what in these days is called "Monism," that is, the absolute singleness
of ultimate Being, and traces all that is, or seems to be, up to one
ultimate Essence. Now, whether in the form given by Uddalaka to his
exposition, his theory can properly be called Pantheism, according to
the definition of it assumed above, is perhaps questionable. But that it
was inte