=The Brahmans.=--In the organization of society the Brahmans were
assigned the first place. "Men are the first among intelligent beings;
the Brahmans are the first among men. They are higher than warriors,
than kings, even. As between a Brahman of ten years of age and a
Kchatria of one hundred years, the Brahman is to be regarded as the
father." These are not priests as in Egypt and Chaldea, but only men
who know religion, and pass their time in reading and meditating on
the sacred books; they live from presents made to them by other men.
To this day they are the dominating class of India. As they marry only
among themselves, better than the other Hindoos they have preserved
the Aryan type and have a clearer resemblance to Europeans.

=The New Religion of Brahma.=--The Brahmans did not discard the
ancient gods of the Vedas, they continued to adore them. But by sheer
ingenuity they invented a new god. When prayers are addressed to the
gods, the deities are made to comply with the demands made on them, as
if they thought that prayer was more powerful than the gods. And so
prayer (Brahma) has become the highest of all deities. He is invoked
with awe:[24] "O god, I behold in thy body all the gods and the
multitudes of living beings. I am powerless to regard thee in thine
entirety, for thou shinest like the fire and the sun in thine
immensity. Thou art the Invisible, thou art the supreme Intelligence,
thou art the sovereign treasure of the universe, without beginning,
middle, or end; equipped with infinite might. Thine arms are without
limit, thine eyes are like the moon and the sun, thy mouth hath the
brightness of the sacred fire. With thyself alone thou fillest all the
space between heaven and earth, and thou permeatest all the universe."
Brahma is not only supreme god; he is the soul of the universe. All
beings are born from Brahma, all issue naturally from him, not as a