The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON THE KING fact as in etymology, and that absorption into either the one or the other may be considered as re-entering that Equilibrium from which we originated. The first and the last words have been written on this final absorption by both the Vedantist and the Buddha alike. There no sun shines, no moon, nor glimmering star, nor yonder lightning, the fire of earth is quenched; from him, who alone shines, all else borrows its brightness, the whole world bursts into splendour at his shining.* And— There exists, O Brothers, a Realm wherein is neither Earth nor Water time naught save the Brahman was. Then ‘In the beginning Desire arose in it, which was the primal germ of Mind.” Where did that desire come from, if the Brahman was the All, and the Unchangeable. .. . Again, if the Brahman was the All, and was perfect, then what was the object of this emanation of a Sorrow- filled Universe?” The Vedantist would naturally answer to this: “To put it in another way; you say that the Universe will go to Nibbana, and that at one time naught save Nibbana will be. Then in the end Desire dies in it, which was the primal germ of mind. Where will that desire go to, if Nibbana will be the All, and the Unchangeable. . . . Again, if Nibbana will be the All, and will be perfect, then what will be the object of this emanation of a Sorrow-filled Universe?” This is all the merest twaddle of a Hyde Park atheist or Christian Evidence preacher. Granted the Hindu Brahman is rationally ridiculous, yet nevertheless it is more rational to suppose a continuous chain of Sorrowful universes and states of oblivion than an unaccounted-for State of Sorrow and an unaccountable Finality. It is as rational or irrational to ask where “ Brahman ” came from, as it is to ask where “Karma” came from. Both are illusions, and as discussion of the same will only create a greater tangle than ever, let us cut the Gordian knot by leaving it alone, and set out to become Arahats, and enter the house which so mysteriously stands before us, and see what is really inside it, instead of mooning in the back garden and speculating about its contents, its furniture, the size of its rooms, and all the pretty ladies that scandal or rumour supposes that it shelters. To work! over the garden wall, and with Romeo cry: Can I go forward when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out. * Kathaka Upanishad, 5, 15. 135