[82] This Hindu legend of the destruction of the world by water affords materials for a comparison with the Mosaic account of the same event, and the Chaldean story of the deluge, as recorded on the tablets which have been deciphered by the late George Smith.
[83] There are, according to the “Mahabharata,” so many easy modes of obtaining a complete release from the penalties of sin, and of attaining heaven, that it would seem that only the most culpable negligence and obstinacy could lead the Hindu to lose his chance of being purged from sin and of enjoying beatitude hereafter. It must be remembered, however, that there are also passages, in which it is emphatically laid down, that purity of heart is an essential and indispensable condition of salvation.—Vana Parva, section cc.
[84] This appeal to tradition from a sage who had actually witnessed the destruction and recreation of the entire universe is rather strange.
[85] With important differences and limitations the modern doctrine of heredity may be regarded as the scientific analogue of the Hindu doctrine of Karma. One, however, is based on indisputable facts, the other on pure fancy. But whatever their merits or shortcomings, whatever the bases of truth or reasonableness on which they rest, neither the one doctrine nor the other can, unfortunately, afford a rational mind any consolation for the ills and apparent injustice of the present life; and, assuredly, neither the one nor the other can supply any stimulus towards the performance of good actions. A small class of persons in Europe seem to have become profoundly enamoured of the subtle ideas which underlie the doctrine of Karma; but he must be strangely constituted whose sense of justice can be satisfied, or who can derive any comfort in his present struggle against the evils of life, from the thought that he is suffering the consequences of deeds done by his soul in previous and unremembered existences, or can be induced to make for righteousness by the reflection that, after his physical death, the happiness of some other being, possibly a cat, into which his soul transmigrates, will be influenced by his deeds in the present life. But, at the same time, it may be admitted that the doctrine of Karma may certainly, in the case of some races, conduce towards a helpless and hopeless resignation, counterfeiting contentment.
[86] From “Ballads and Legends of Hindustan,” by Miss Toru Dutt, the gifted Bengali girl, whose premature death in 1877, at the early age of twenty-one years, caused a sad loss to India.
[87] Here we have a glimpse of the simple life of those primitive times.
[88] A few of the questions put and answers given on this occasion may afford some insight into Indian modes of thought.
Q. What is it that maketh the sun rise? Who keep him company? Who causeth him to set? In whom is he established?
A. Brahma maketh the sun rise: the gods keep him company: Dharma causeth him to set: and he is established in truth.
Q. What is that which doth not close its eyes while asleep? What is that which doth not move after birth? What is that without a heart? And what is that which swells with its own impetus?