dhi. 7. Divine Spirit, or Atma.

From the beginning, the tendency of the Hindu mind was in the direction
of resolving the universe of forms, shapes, and change, back into some
One Underlying Principle, from which all the phenomenal world
emerged--some One Infinite Energy, from which all else emerged,
emanated, or evolved. And the early Hindu mind busied itself actively
with the solution of the problem of this One Being manifesting a
Becoming into Many. Just as is the Western world of today actively
engaged in solving many material problems, so was ancient India active
in solving many spiritual problems--just as the modern West is straining
every energy toward discovering the "How," so was ancient India
straining every effort to discovering the "Why." And from that struggle
of the mind of India there arose countless schools of religious and
philosophical thought, many of which have passed away, but many of which
persist today. The problem of the relationship of the human soul to the
One Being, and the secondary problem of the life, present and future, of
the individual soul, is a most vital one to all thinking Hindus today as
in the forty centuries or more of its philosophical history. To the
Hindu mind, all material research is of minor importance, the important
Truth being to discover that "which when once known, all else is
understood." But, as we have said, in spite of the numerous religions,
schools, and phases of teaching, among the Hindus, the one fundamental
conception of Reincarnation is never lost sight of, nor is it ever
doubted in any of the forms of the philosophies or religions.

Ignoring the subdivisions of Hindu philosophical thought, we may say
that the Hindu philosophies may be divided into a few general classes,
several of which we shall now hastily consider, that you may get a
glimpse at the variety of Hindu speculative philosophy in its relation
to the soul and its destiny. You will, of course, understand that we can
do no more than mention the leading features of each class, as a careful
consideration would require volumes for each particular school.

We will first consider the philosophy of Kanada, generally known as the
Vaisheshika Teaching, which inclines toward an Atomic Theory, akin to
that formulated by the old Greek philosopher Democritus. According to
this teaching the substance of the universe is composed of an infinite
number of atoms, which are eternal, and which were not created by God,