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The Terminology of the Vedas and European Scholars 15
acquaintance with grammar and language. It is necessary that the
mind should, by an adequate previous discipline, be raised to an
exalted mental condition, before the recondite and invisible truths
of Man and Nature can be comprehended by man. So is it with
Vedic philosophy. One must be a complete master of the science of
morals, the science of language, the science of etymology, the
science of poetry and the sciences of geology and astronomy;* he
must be well-versed in the philosophy of
dharma,
the philosophy of
characteristics, the doctrines of logic or the science of evidence, the
philosophy of essential existences, the philosophy of
yoga,
and the
philosophy of
vedanta** ;
he must be a master of all these and much
more before he can lay claims to a rational interpretation of the
Vedas.
Such, then, should be our Vedic scholars — thorough adepts in
science and philosophy, unprejudiced, impartial judges and seekers
after truth. But if impartiality be supplanted by prejudice, science and
philosophy by quasi-knowledge and superstition, and integrity by
motive, whereas predetermination takes the place of honest inquiry,
truth is either disguised or altogether suppressed.
Speaking of the religion of the Upanishads and the Bible, says
Schopenhauer, who has 'washed himself clean of all early-engrafted
Jewish superstitions, and of all philosophy that cringes before these
superstitions':
"In India, our religion (Bible) will now and never strike root;
the primitive wisdom of the human race will never be pushed aside
by the events of Galilee.*** On the contrary, Indian wisdom will flow
back upon Europe, and produce a thorough change in our knowing
and thinking."t
Let us now see what Professor Max Muller has to say against
the remarks of this unprejudiced, impartial philosopher. He says,
"Here, again, the great philosopher seems to me to have allowed
* These are the well-known six Vedangas : 1. Shiksha, 2. Vyakarana,
3. Nirukta, 4. Kalpa, 5. Chhanda, and 6. Jyotisha.
** These are the well-known six Upangas or Darshanes: 1. Purva Mimansa,
2. Vaisheshika, 3. Nyaya, 4. Sankhya 5. Yoga, and 6. Vedanta.
*** It is well known how the astronomical and geographical discoveries of
Galileo and his telescope were forced upon the world in spite of the prisons
and death—racks of the so called Christians.
t Max Muller, The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. I, p. Lx