SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINES CONTAINED IN THE BUDAH MIMANSA.* The whole world is not governed by the orders of a real Lord, and there is in truth no reality in his actual existence. Whatever of good or evil, reward or punishment, attaches to created beings, is entirely the result of their acts, deeds, and words; mortals are altogether captive in the tram­mels of their own works, and confined in the chains of their own deeds: without previous acts they are liable to no consequences. The sovereign, Brahma, the creator of all things; the angelic Víshnu, their preserver; and Mahesh, or Siva, the destroyer of existences, attained to this exalted eminence through means of righteous acts and holy deeds; nay, Brahma, through the efficacy of worship, the power of obedience, the might of his religious austerities, and by his good actions, created the world; agreeably to the express declaration of the Véda,* which accord­ing to the belief of the Hindus is a celestial revela­tion, every dignity of the celestial orders is inseparably connected with meritorious works and holy deeds; and as the intellectual soul is of the same nature as the angelic essence, the possessor may, by the exercise of angelic qualities, become one of those exalted dignities, and during a lengthened but defi­nite period, be invested with power and glory. For instance, the human spirit, which in knowledge and good works has attained to a degree accounted worthy of the rank of Brahma, is, on the termina­tion of the period of sovereignty assigned to the present Brahma, appointed to that predestined dig­nity: the same principle also applying to the other angelic degrees.

This tenet therefore leads to the same inference as the opinions entertained by the distinguished Parsee sages, namely: that the spirits of men, on attaining complete perfection, become united to the heavenly bodies, and after many revolutions, the celestial souls are blended with the divine intelli­gences. According to the Mobed:

“The cup-bearer poured into the goblet the wine of the celestial soul,

And filled the nine empyreal domes with the beverage of human spirit.”

The world has neither beginning nor ending; moreover all spirits are enchained in the bonds of their own acts and deeds; so that the spirit of high rank which adopts the practices of the inferior, can­not attain to the sublime rank peculiarly assigned to exalted conduct; and the inferior spirit, sedu­lously given up to the works of those eminent in dignity, is enabled to obtain that glorious pre-emi­nence; so that their meritorious works confer on them knowledge; and the purity of their intellects, in proportion to their elevation, conducts them to high degrees and praiseworthy deeds. The dominion obtained by an animal body over the human soul arises from works; as in their members, physical structure, and senses, all men are fashioned after one model; but through the cause of becoming or unbecoming deeds, one is a sovereign ruler, and another a destitute dependent. Thus, through the influence of praiseworthy acts, one is honored and opulent; and owing to a subservience to foul deeds, another lives degraded and indigent; the high and dignified agent of opulence and honor falls not into the depths of poverty, nor does the wretched slave to acts of covetousness and avarice ever attain the dignity of honor and riches. The world is the root and productive soil of works, and time is their developer; because, when their time comes, it brings the fruit, just as every season produces the flow­ers, sweet-scented plants, and fruits suitable to the period; in like manner, the result of every act, whether deserving of praise or censure, is made to adhere to its agent, in whatever revolution that may be proper for it. Works are divided into two kinds: those which are to be performed; the other, those which are to be avoided: under the first, come those acts, the performance of which is enjoined in the Vedas, or the celestial revelation, such as the established worship and the requisite acts of obedience which prevail among the Hindoos; under the second head come those acts, the committing of which is for­bidden by the text of the celestial code; such as shed­ding blood, theft, immoral practices, and other simi­lar acts there enumerated. The supreme Lord stands not in need of our adoration and obedience, nor is he in any want of us for the performance of the above-mentioned duties at our hands; but the results of our acts and deeds, in reference to rewards and punishments, accrue and adhere to us. For instance, if the invalid should adopt habitual moderation, he obtains that health which is the object of his wishes, and his existence is thereby rendered happy; but should he, from a bias to reprehensible pleasures, the concomitants of disease, withdraw from the restraints of abstinence, his life becomes embittered; the physician, in either case, being totally indepen­dent of the patient's welfare and sufferings. More­over, the world is the abode of disease, and human beings are the patients: if they acquit themselves in the most perfect manner of their prescribed duties, and strenuously avoiding what ought not to be done, they attain the state of health, the most elevated degree of which is liberation from this degraded body, and union with the ambrosial sweets of para­dise; which state is called Mukti by this sect; and the mode of attaining the highest degree of Mukti is not being immersed in the pleasures of this world, plucking away the heart from the gratifications of sense, being content with mere necessaries, abstain­ing from food, breaking the fast with viands not relished by the vile appetite, and such like: just as in sickness, for the sake of dissolving the morbid matter, it becomes necessary to fast one day, and to swallow bitter draughts.

Such is the substance of the tenets professed by the sect entitled Budah-Mimansá, which coincide exactly with those of the Yezdáníáns, except that the latter admit the being of the self-existent God, the sole and true object of adoration; regarding the acts and deeds performed in this world as the means of elevation and degradation in the next; holding the angelic dignities to be imperishable; and esteeming human perfection to consist in attain­ing to the society and service of the sublime assem­bly in the court of heaven; whilst the followers of the Budah Mimansa do not admit the existence of the eternal and infinite Lord; but according to them, the term “Almighty” signifies the human soul, acts, and deeds. They also assert, that the blessings of paradise are transitory, and that the angelic dignities are liable to perish. However, the orthodox opinion, which is most prevalent at this time, is this: they admit the being of the truly-existing God, by whom the world subsists; but account his holy essence altogether exalted, and exempt from what­ever effects created beings. They also believe that human beings are confined by the yokes of their own works, and enchained by their deeds, in the man­ner before stated.