THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, AND MAN'S RELATION
TO THEM.

All Scriptures unanimously declare that God is Spirit; infinite,
eternal and unchangeable, true and One. If you ask a Christian, a
Mohammedan, a Parsee, a Hindoo, or a follower of any other sect
or creed, what is his God, each one will quote passages from his Script-
ures, giving this same answer as to what God is. The attributes of
God are with each exactly the same. The Catholic priest who bows
down before an image of Jesus and prays to Him, burns incense and
lights candles, will give the same answer. A Protestant clergyman,
Who does not believe in any image, will give the same answer. There
is no difference between the God of a Christian and that of a Moham-
medan or Hindoo, but still a Christian calls the Hindoo and Moham-
medan heathens, and they quarrel with one another; though they
give the same attributes to God, their eyes are blinded with ignorance,
superstition, bigotry, and fanaticism. They cannot see that every-
body worships the same God. It is the idea that their God is true and
their neighbor's God is not true, that does all the mischief. A fanatic
was preaching in one of the pulpits not long ago and he said, "Beware
of the heathen's God," etc.; as if there were two Gods. Ignorance
is the mother of superstition, bigotry, fanaticism, and all the effects
they produce. People cannot understand that God is common prop-
erty. How can there be many Gods when the followers of each sect
and creed say, God is infinite and one! Among those who are not
fanatical there are many who will give the same attributes to God

without understanding their meaning; who will say, "God is infinite and one," but think of some being like a man sitting somewhere outside of this universe. If you ask them the meaning of the word "infinite" their answers will be full of illogical nonsense. They will make God as finite as possible, and bring forward all sorts of fallacious arguments to support their position. Those who believe in a personal God, give the same attributes, but, without realizing the meaning of these attributes, they will give a human form to God. This is not their fault, because we are all human beings; the limit of our conception is a human being. When we attempt to conceive of the governor of the universe, we give Him a human form, like a state governor: with this difference, that the governor of the country is small in size. limited in powers, while the governor of the universe is immenselv magnified in size and unlimited in power and qualities, but is still to us a human being.

Our explanation of the universe has become human; our universe is a human universe, and our God is a human God. Suppose a cow had a religion, her conception of God would be a cow form-her explanation of the universe would be through that cow-god; she could not comprehend our God at all. So if a tiger became a philosopher and had a religion, his conception of God would be of the tiger form. If there be another being with a form different from ours, with a nature higher than ours, his God would be like himself. So none of these pictures of God, and none of these explanations of the universe would be complete in itself. It might be a partial truth, but not the whole. Such a God, or such an explanation, is incomplete and imperfect, but people can not believe that. Each is sure his conception and explanation is the best. If you ask them what are the attributes of a human God, they will give the same attributes; they will say He is infinite, eternal, unchangeable, true, and one. Yet they will unconsciously make God finite and infinite at the same time. Can there be anything more contradictory and absurd than a finiteinfinite God! What thing can be finite and infinite at the same time? If He is finite He is limited by time, space, and causation, must have a beginning and an end, and cannot be unchangeable. A finite God must be changeable, and must perish like all mortal things. Are

we ready to believe in such a perishable God? Not for a moment. We cannot give any form to God, because form means limitation in space. No form can exist without space; every form must have a beginning and an end. Consequently, a God who has any kind of form cannot be eternal and immortal. Therefore, we cannot say God is finite or has form.

He is infinite. Let us understand clearly what this word "infinite" means. That which is not limited by time, space, and causation; that which has no other cause, is infinite. God is above time and space and all limitations that we can imagine. He is absolute. The infinite must be one; otherwise it is finite. If there be any other thing besides that infinite, then it is no longer infinite; it is limited by that thing, consequently it has become finite. If we admit that God is infinite and one, we deny the existence of any other thing besides. God. If we say matter is separate from or outside of God, we have made God limited by that matter, we have made Him finite, we have made Him perishable. If we say, "I am separate from God," then our God is no longer infinite. Consequently, there is not a single particle of this universe which is separate from or outside of God who is Infinite and One; every atom of my body, from the minutest to the biggest, from the lowest to the highest-everything in this universe is one with God who is Infinite and One.

This will be startling to many, but if we want to be logical, if the word "Infinite" conveys any meaning at all, we cannot avoid the logical conclusion that will inevitably follow. But if we say " Infinite" and mean something finite, then how foolish shall we be. The conclusion is this,-if God is Infinite, then matter, mind, force, good and evil, virtue and vice, heat and cold, and all the dual, relative, opposite existences are not without but within that Infinite. The whole universe is in God, and God is in it; it is inseparable from God. He is in me and I am in Him. Nothing can exist in this universe besides God who is Infinite.

Let us understand the meaning of the other attributes of God. He is unchangeable, because He is eternal, i.e., without beginning or end. That which has a beginning must have an end. He is spirit. What do we understand by spirit? Pure Self-luminous Intelligence,

which is the background of mind and matter, of subject and object. Again, He is true. That which is not God is untrue or unreal: or in other words, that which is finite, manifold, changeable, noneternal, transitory, and not spirit, is untrue and unreal. If all these attributes of God be summed up they will signify One Infinite Ocean of Pure, Self-luminous Intelligence, which is eternal, unchangeable, and true.

Here a question arises,—if there is no other thing besides God, what will become of the diverse phenomena of the universe? Do they not exist? Yes, they do, but their existence depends on God. they have no separate and independent existence; they are like froth, bubbles, and waves on that infinite Ocean of Intelligence. We are like so many bubbles in that ocean. Any other explanation of the phenomena will be illogical and will make God finite and perishable. This ocean of pure, self-luminous Intelligence is expressed in the Vedanta by the word Brahman, and these phenomena are expressed by the word " Mâyâ." As waves and bubbles cannot exist independent of the ocean, so phenomena, or Mâyâ, cannot exist independent of Brahman. As long as the name and form of waves exist, they appear as waves, but in reality they are nothing but water. Similarly, as long as the name and form of diverse phenomena exist, they appear as phenomena, but in reality they are nothing but God or Brahman.

We see this chair and that table. Where is the difference between a chair and a table? In name and in form. Take away name and form and what remains? Common wood. Take away the name and form of wood, what remains? Molecules and atoms; take these away, only the one undifferentiated energy is left. Thus we see name and form are unreal, and that which is nameless and formless is true and eternal. Although name and form are unreal, they appear as real. Thus we see they are expressions of the eternal Truth, God or Reality. As one clod of clay appears in various forms, such as pots. vases, basins, bricks, etc., the difference being only in name and form, the substance being the same clay, so the substance of these diverse phenomena of the universe is the one Reality which is called God or Brahman. As name and form cannot exist separate from the sub,