ABSTRACT
IT is a relief to pass from the rituals and legends of the Brahmanas to the more vigorous speculations of the Upanishads. Some impatience appears to have been felt with the elaborate but unmeaning rites, the dogmatic but childish explanations, and the mystic but grotesque reasoning which fill the voluminous Brahrnanas ; and thinking men asked themselves if this was all that religion could teach. Earnest men, while still conforming to the rites laid down in the Brahmanas, began to speculate on the destination Of the Soul and on the nature of the Supreme Being. Learned Kshatriyas must have given a start to these healthier speculations, or at least carried them on with vigour and success, until Brahmans came to them to learn something of the wisdom of the new school. And even after the lapse of nearly three thousand years, it is. impossible rtot to be struck with the vigour, the earnestness, and the philosophy which characterise the doctrines of the Upanishads. The most important among them are (I) the Doctrine of a Universal Soul" (2) the Doctrine of Creation, (3) the Doctrine of Transmigration of So-ils, and (4) the Doctrine of Final Beatitude.
