as
female. It was the Mother idea Even gods could not be produced without a
mother.

In referring to the doctrines contained in the Geeta, one of the sacred
writings of the Hindoos, Faber observes:

"In the single character of Brahm, all the three offices of Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva are united. He is at once the Creator, the Preserver,
and the Destroyer. He is the primeval Hermaphrodite, or the Great Father
and the Great Mother blended together in one person."

The fact that a trinity in unity, representing the female and male
energies symbolized by the organs of generation, formerly constituted
the Deity throughout Asia is acknowledged by all those who have examined
either the literature or monumental records of oriental countries. The
Rev. Mr. Maurice bears testimony to the character of Eastern religious
ideas in the following language:

"Whoever will read the Geeta with attention, will perceive in that small
tract the outlines of all the various systems of theology in Asia. The
curious and ancient doctrine of the Creator being both male and female,
mentioned on a preceding page, to be designated in Indian temples by
a very indecent exhibition of the masculine and feminine organs of
generation in union, occurs in the following passage: 'I am the Father
and Mother of this world; I plant myself upon my own nature and
create again and again this assemblage of beings; I am generation
and dissolution, the place where all things are deposited, and the
inexhaustible seed of all Nature. I am the beginning, the middle, and
the end of all things.' "(42)

42) Maurice, Indian Antiquities, vol. iv., p. 705.

According to Sir W. Jones, the Brahme, Vishnu, and Siva coalesce to form
the mystic Om, which means the essence of life or divine fire. In the
Bhagavat Geeta the supreme God speaks thus concerning itself: "I am the
holy one worthy to be known"; and immediately adds: "I am the mystic
(trilateral) figure Om; the Reig, the Yagush, and the Saman Vedas." It
is a unity and still a trinity. This Om or Aum stands for the Creator,
Preserver, and Destroyer or Regenerator, and represents the threefold
aspect of the force within the sun. The doctrine maintained throughout
the Geeta is not only that the great life-force represents a trinity in
unity, but that it is both female and male. On this subject Maurice, in
his Indian Antiquities, says:

"This notion of three persons in the Deity was diffused amongst all the
nation