Page 155 - Hinduism

religious philosophy the essential and intelligible basis of popular culture and national polity.
The view of life of the Hindu may be explained as the inseparable unity of the material and spiritual world. It is the foundation of Indian culture and that determines the whole character of Indian social ideals. Later Hindu thought is founded on the rhythmic nature of the world process, including evolution and involution, birth, death and rebirth, srsti and samhara. Every individual life, mineral, vegetable, animal and human has a beginning and an end. This creation and destruction, appearance and disappearance, are of the essence of the world process and equally originate in the past, present and future. According to this view, every individual ego (jivatman) or separate expression of the general will to life (icchatrsna), must be regarded as having reached a certain stage of its own cycle. This is also true of the collective life of a nation, a planet or a cosmic system. It is further considered that the turning- point of this curve is reached in man and hence the immeasurable value which Hindus (and Buddhists) attach to birth in human form. This would enable us to conclude that Indian philosophic thought developed in several stages during the Vedic period which is generally placed between 2500 B.C. and 600 B.C.
IX.4 The Upanishads
The Upanishads are diverse in character and outlook. They recognize intuition rather than reason 155