THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

""xPREFACEfrom the Chandogya Upanisad, this was not exactlywhat was meant by the old Indian thinkers. Ihold that even if some of them really thought so,they were mistaken, and their ultra-rationalistictemperis to account for that. The BrhadaranyakaUpanisad emphatically proclaimsthat theAtman is the only reality and that all plurality isa mere matter of words the ; Chandogya Upanisad,instead of starting with the Atman, does so withthe world, and comes to the same conclusion fromthis standpoint as well, viz., that the world is strictlyspeaking the Atman itself, since there is no otherexistence but the Atman. These two positionscorrespond to Schopenhauer s parallel sayings :(i) that the word is my Vorstellung," (2)thatWille." As limited by space, time, andit is mycausality it is an appearance, but in its own natureit is the Atman.Mybest thanks are due to Professor Paul Deussen(Kiel), the Rev. Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, Professor A. A. Macdonell and Professor J.(Oxford), for their various useful suggestions.A. SmithI amalso grateful to Dr. F. H. Bradley, Dr. H. Rashdall,Dr. F. C. S. Schiller, Rev. L. P. Jacks (Oxford),Professor Henry Jones (Glasgow) and ProfessorRudolf Eucken (Jena), who were kind enough togive me opportunities to discuss with them thesubject of Maya in the light of European philosophyin order to remove some of my difficulties. I havealso to thank Dr. F. W. Thomas, Librarian, India