No hom, no sacred feasts, no places of pilgrimage to bathe in, nor did any one perform worship.

There was no love, no service, no Shiv, or Energy of his;

Then were not Veds or Muhammadan books, no Simritis, no Shastars;

The Imperceptible God was Himself the speaker and preacher; Himself unseen He was everything.

When He pleased He created the world;

Without supports He sustained the sky.

He created Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv, and extended the love of Mammon.

He issued His order and watched over all.[1]

For many centuries thinking men in India have rejected gods and goddesses, and made no secret of their faith in the sole primal Creator, by whatsoever name called.

An important question arose how the Supreme Being should be represented. He could not be seen, but He was believed to exist. The highest conception that primitive man could form of Him was that He was in man's own image, subject to the human passions of wrath, jealousy, revenge, love of praise, and adoration. This conception is what has been termed anthropomorphism-that is, that

[1. The Indian words in this hymn will subsequently be explained.]

{p. lxii}

God is in man's image, or, conversely, that God made man in his own image.[1]

When man's conception of God extended, and it was admitted that He had created the heavens and the earth, and held control over His boundless creation, it became difficult for the philosopher to imagine Him in human form. Were He such, it would appear to be a limitation of His omnipotence and omnipresence, and, moreover, the belief that God is infinite and governs His infinite creation, but at the same time is not included in it, though possibly intelligible to faith, is not equally so to reason. To overcome this difficulty the belief arose that God is diffused through all matter, and that it is therefore a part of Him. This belief is known as pantheism.