But  beyond  each  circle  to  which  the  horizon  of  our  contemplation
expands,  there  is  again  another  circle,  and  another.  No  Deity,
therefore,  or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  no  manifestation  of  the
Eternal  Spirit  in  any  form  can  better  represent  the  fluctuation
of  our  worlds,  or  more  worthily  receive  our  homage,  than  the
breaker  down  and  the  re-constructer  of  all  things  in  succession ;
who  Himself  never  ends,  because  He  is  the  end  of  all  things,
and  in  Him  all  things  begin  again.  From  this  explanation  you
will  already  have  perceived,  both  why  we  worship  principally
Siva,  and  why  all  the  benign  powers,  which  are  represented  in
the  Rig-Veda  as  animating  the  lively  agencies  of  nature,  may
be  considered  as  forms  of  Him  who  is  eternally  changing,  and
in  change  remains  the  same  *J'^

*  Vidy^hirya  seems  to  UDite  in  his  speech  the  philosophy  of  a  Yed^tist,  and
the  mythology  of  a  worshipper  of  Siva — ^things  difficult  logically  to  combine.  But
•uch  inconsistencies  ought  not  to  surprise  us.
NOTE  ON  PAGE  74.
In  considering  whether  Yaruna  be  ovpavo^,  we  should  remember
that  in  early  Hind(i  cosmogony  the  heavens  are  called  the  tocUers,  (as
the  Hebrews  spoke  of  the  waters  above  the  firmament  1)  and  hence
Yaruna  may  possibly  have  got  his  function  as  "  regent  of  the  waters.**
Thus  some  think,  that  from  the  ambiguity  of  the  word  Eishi  the  seven
stars  became  the  seven  wise  men.
APPROXIMATION  OF  ST8TEMS.  105


CHAPTER  IV.
HOW  CHA'RVA'CAS  MAY  BE  REFUTED.
