Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Página 570

TRANSMIT HATORY DOCTRINE
530
earthly objects out of the mental pale, the knowledge
of God become more and more acute, and
the soul seems to be drawn nearer and nearer to Him.
After having spent many generations in this stage, the
soul passes on to the third, the sarupyam (resemblance).
Once arrived at this point, the soul gradually acquires
a perfect resemblance to the Divinity, and shares to a
Finally, this stage leads
certain extent in His attributes.
on to the fourth, the sayujyam (identity), and then the
perfect and inseparable union of the soul with the Deity
becomes complete.
But the soul requires long periods of time to pass through
it must undergo a great
these four stages of perfection
number of re-incarnations, during which it gradually
acquires the degree of perfection which is essential to its
incorporation with the Godhead. In order to explain all
these indispensable transmigrations of the soul, the Hindu
books make use of various analogies, such as the follow-
ing
If one wished to extract gold from a mass composed
of the five metals l one could not do so by melting it once
Only by putting it through the fire several times
for all.
could one separate the different alloys of which it was
composed and extract the gold in all its purity.
They illustrate the same truth by various other similes
for instance, that which may be drawn from the process of
making clarified butter, an article of food which, as we
already know, the Brahmins are particularly fond of, and
which they consider the purest of all manufactured sub-
all
and perception
;
:
—
,
;
stances.
.
of these analogies, and the principles
deduced from them, might, if looked at from a non-con-
troversial point of view, be not altogether repugnant to
our learned metaphysicians, or at any rate to those among
us who have given themselves up to a life of meditation.
We may at any rate conclude that these ancient Hindu
penitents spent more time and thought on spiritual matters
than we might have expected. Originally, no doubt, this
spiritual side of their religion was much purer and less
fanciful than it is now, when it has become corrupted by
The majority
1
We
Dubois.
Europeans recognize a greater number
of metals
than
five.