HINDU THEISM

This influence is felt from the lowest
village worship of Gramadevata to the highest Devi-upasana of great Advaitins, like Samkara. It has penetrated even to such purely Vedic ritual as that of meditation on the Gayatri mantra in Sandhya Vandana. The Tantras are, in fact practical scriptures which have come into existence as a result of the Hindu desire in all ages not to be satisfied with mere theories in religion, but to bring every theory to the test of concrete experience.

As a recent writer has put it, "Realization is the key-note of Hinduism. That the
highest truths of religion can be realized even in this life and that real religion begins with such realization are the fundamental beliefs that have governed Hindu life for ages." One of the Tamil saints says that, if a man wants to have ghee, there is no use in his going round and round a cow and crying "O ghee, O ghee, come unto me". He should learn to milk the cow, to curdle the milk, to churn the curds, to separate the butter and make it into ghee.

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