The Hindus are also indifferent to the past because they do not recognize that the history of the world, the whole cosmic process, has any meaning or value.  In most departments of Indian thought, great or small, the conception of [Greek:  telos] or purpose is absent, and if the European reader thinks this a grave lacuna, let him ask himself whether satisfied love has any [Greek:  telos].  For Hindus the world is endless repetition not a progress towards an end.  Creation has rarely the sense which it bears for Europeans.  An infinite number of times the universe has collapsed in flaming or watery ruin, aeons of quiescence follow the collapse and then the Deity (he has done it an infinite number of times) emits again from himself worlds and souls of the same old kind.  But though, as I have said before, all varieties of theological opinion may be found in India, he is usually represented as moved by some reproductive impulse rather than as executing a plan.  Sankara says boldly that no motive can be attributed to God, because he being perfect can desire no addition to his perfection, so that his creative activity is mere exuberance, like the sport of young princes, who take exercise though they are not obliged to do so.

Such views are distasteful to Europeans.  Our vanity impels us to invent explanations of the Universe which make our own existence important and significant.  Nor does European science altogether support the Indian doctrine of periodicity.  It has theories as to the probable origin of the solar system and other similar systems, but it points to the conclusion that the Universe as a whole is not appreciably affected by the growth or decay of its parts, whereas Indian imagination thinks of universal cataclysms and recurring periods of quiescence in which nothing whatever remains except the undifferentiated divine spirit.

Western ethics generally aim at teaching a man how to act:  Eastern ethics at forming a character.  A good character will no doubt act rightly when circumstances require action, but he need not seek occasions for action, he may even avoid them, and in India the passionless sage is still in popular esteem superior to warriors, statesmen and scientists.

15. Eastern Polytheism

Different as India and China are, they agree in this that in order not to misapprehend their religious condition we must make our minds familiar with a new set of relations.  The relations of religion to philosophy, to ethics, and to the state, as well as the relations of different religions to one another, are not the same as in Europe.  China and India are pagan, a word which I deprecate if it is understood to imply inferiority but which if used in a descriptive and respectful sense is very useful.  Christianity and Islam are organized religions.  They say (or rather their several sects say) that they each not only possess the truth but that all other creeds and rites are wrong.  But paganism is not organized:  it rarely presents anything like a church united under one head:  still more rarely does it condemn or interfere with other religions unless attacked first.  Buddhism stands between the two classes.  Like Christianity and Islam it professes to teach the only true law, but unlike them it is exceedingly tolerant and many Buddhists also worship Hindu or Chinese gods.