Nirvana is the goal of the soul's
progress. Nirvana is the cessation of all phenomenal activity. Saints
and sages are agreed in all religions on this one common truth, that
so long as the phenomenal world is present to the soul, there can be
no communion with God. Whoever imagines that by communion with the
phenomenal world he can reach God is committing error, for the two
are incompatible. The West is full of interest in phenomena, and it
is for this reason that no great religion has ever come out of the
West. Asia on the other hand is full of interest in Brahman and she
is therefore the cradle of every great religion. Christianity,
Mahomedanism, Buddhism and the creeds of China and Japan are all
offshoots of one great and eternal religion of which India has the
keeping. |