" "Let as adore the
supremacy of that divine Sun, the Godhead, who illuminates all, who
recreates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom
we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress towards
His holy seat. What the sun and light are to this world, that are the
Supreme Good and Truth to the intellectual and invisible universe;
and as our corporeal eyes have a distinct perception of objects
enlightened by the sun, thus our souls acquire certain knowledge by
meditating on the light of truth which emanates from the Being of
beings; that is the light by which alone our minds can be directed
to the path of beatitude."
Every Brahmin must pray at morning and evening twilight in some
unfrequented place, near pure water, and must bathe daily; he
must also daily perform five sacraments, viz., studying the Vedas,
making oblations to the manes of the departed, giving rice to living
creatures, and receiving guests with honour. As to the doctrine of
a future state, they believe in the transmigration of the soul, but
that between the different stages of existence it enjoys, according to
merit or demerit, years and years of happiness in some of the heavens,
or suffers torments of similar duration in some of the hells.
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