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THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION
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alone other aspects of Godhead and truth they might have realized and expressed. Shouldn’t a Christian, a Hindu, and a Mahomedan find a mutual interest in each other’s prophets, inasmuch as each of them cherished in his heart God-consciousness as primarily Superior Bliss-consciousness? As God unites all religions, is it not the conception and realization of Him as Bliss, if not anything else, that unites the consciousness of the prophets of all religions?[1]
One should not think that this conception of God is too abstract, having nothing to do with our spiritual hopes and aspirations, which require the conception of God as a Personal Being. It is not the conception of an Imper-
- ↑ Bliss-consciousness is also stressed in so-called atheistic religions,—such as Buddhism. The Buddhistic ‘‘Nirvana’’ is not, as mistakenly supposed by Western writers, a “blowing out of light,” an extinction of existence. It is rather the stage where narrow individuality is blotted out and transcendant calm in universality is reached. This is exactly what comes of higher Bliss-consciousness, though the name of God is not attached to it by the Buddhist.
