make use of them in his own
religious experiences and aspirations. They care little for the date,
authorship, unity and textual accuracy of the Bhagavad-gita. They simply
ask, is it true, what can I get from it? The European critic, who
expects nothing of the sort from the work, racks his brains to know who
wrote it and when, who touched it up and why?

The Hindus are also indifferent to the past because they do not
recognize that the history of the world, the whole cosmic process, has
any meaning or value. In most departments of Indian thought, great or
small, the conception of [Greek: telos] or purpose is absent, and if the
European reader thinks this a grave lacuna, let him ask himself whether
satisfied love has any [Greek: telos]. For Hindus the world is endless
repetition not a progress towards an end. Creation has rarely the sense
which it bears for Europeans. An infinite number of times the universe
has collapsed in flaming or watery ruin, aeons of quiescence follow the
collapse and then the Deity (he has done it an infinite number of times)
emits again from himself worlds and souls of the same old kind. But
though, as I have said before, all varieties of theological opinion may
be found in India, he is usually represented as moved by some
reproductive impulse rather than as executing a plan. Sankara says
boldly that no motive can be attributed to God, because he being perfect
can desire no addition to his perfection, so that his creative activity
is mere exuberance, like the sport of young princes, who take exercise
though they are not obliged to do so.

Such views are distasteful to Europeans. Our vanity impels us to invent
explanations of the Universe which make our own existence important and
significant. Nor does European science altogether support the Indian
doctrine of periodicity. It has theories as to the probable origin of
the solar system and other similar systems, but it points to the
conclusion that the Universe as a whole is not appreciably affected by
the growth or decay of its parts, whereas Indian imagination thinks of
universal cataclysms and recurring periods of quiescence in which
nothing whatever remains except the undifferentiated divine spirit.

Western ethics generally aim at teaching a man how to act: Eastern
ethics at forming a character. A good character will no doubt act
rightly when circumstances require action, but he need not seek
occasions for action, he may even avoid them, and