unite himself to the universal soul, but can never lose his own
individuality.

The Atomic doctrine explains the origin of the world through the
combination of eternal, simple atoms. It belongs to Idealism, for the
predominance which it gives to ideas over sensation, and for the
individuality and consciousness which it recognizes in man.

The Vedanta is the true ideal pantheistic philosophy of India. It
considers Brahm in two different states: first, as a pure, simple,
abstract, and inert essence; secondly, as an active individuality. Nature
in this system is only a special quality or quantity of Brahm, having no
actual reality, and he who turns away from ail that is unreal and
changeable and contemplates Brahm unceasingly, becomes one with it, and
attains liberation.

Mysticism comprehends all doctrines which deny authority to reason, and
admit no other principles of knowledge or rule of life than supernatural
or direct revelation. To this system belong the doctrines of Patanjali,
which teach that man must emancipate himself from metempsychosis through
contemplation and ecstasy to be attained by the calm of the senses, by
corporeal penance, suspension of breath, and immobility of position. The
followers of this school pass their lives in solitude, absorbed in this
mystic contemplation. The forests, the deserts, and the environs of the
temples are filled with these mystics, who, thus separated from external
life, believe themselves the subjects of supernatural illumination and
power. The Bhagavad-Gita, already spoken of, is the best exposition of
this doctrine.

The Eclectic school comprises all theories which deny the authority of the