Calcutta University Readership Lectures 1929. Progressism-An Essay in Social Philosophy

The substance of what was prepared for Chapter II was included by The Open Court in its issues for September and October of 1930. viii PREFACE Though the manuscript for this book left the hands of its writer in the autumn of 1932, various circumstances caused delays in the printing and in the correction of the proofs. [...] Their sense of awe is stirred by what they read, and what they see in their parks, of the fauna and the flora of India, of the cobra and other snakes, the elephant, characteristic varieties of monkeys, and moreSOME PRELIMINARY REMARKS 3 especially the Bengal tiger ; their sense of mystery is aroused by what they learn of the life and habi- tat of these, to them, strange forms of life. [...] Let us note how the features of the religious consciousness as sketched above have reflected themselves in the philosophy of India, and have thus led to aINTERPRETATION OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY 29 divergence of the latter from the spirit of the contemporary West One of the characteristics common to all the diverse philosophical systems of India is to be found in their conception of. [...] In the one case, its associations are with utility, With particular ends to be attained, with the relations of objects and instruments to needs and desires, and to specific purposes realiza- ble through courses of action ; in the other, it refers to the satisfaction of a religious and spiritual yearning, to an experience of the absolute, to the attainment of a salvation that puts to rest the restl [...] In respect to the feeling of wonder, the concept of the practical, and the value attached to knowledge, there are significant differ- ences between the spirit of India and that of present- day America ; and in each case these differences arise from the greater prominence in the Indian mind of the religious note and of a sense of the infinite.