Then BRAHMA his own mind survey'd,
                    Ere spirits were infus'd, or forms display'd~
                    As mortal eyes, if finite we compare
                    With infinite, in brightest mirrors gaze,
                    Swift as is thought¦ a shape supremely fair
                    Rose into being, with a boundless blaze
                       That fifty suns might daze.
                    Primeval MAYA was the Goddess nam'd,
                    Who to her lord with love divine, inflam'd,
                    Her thoughts divulg'd, with richest wisdom fill'd,
                    From which this gorgeous universe HE fram'd;
                       For when great BRAHME + will'd
                       Unnumber'd worlds to build
                    From unity, diversified + HE sprang,
                  Then gay Creation laugh'd, and procreant Nature rang.
                    OMNISCIENT SPIRIT! whose all-ruling power
                  Bids from each sense bright emanations beam;
                    Glows in the rainbow; sparkles in the stream;
                    Smiles in the bud'; and glistens in the flower
                       That crowns each vernal bower;
                    Sighs in the gale; and warbles in the throat
                    Of every bird that hails the blooming spring,
                    Or tells his loves in many a liquid note,
                    Whilst envious artists touch the rival string,
                       Till rocks and forests ring;
                    Breathes in rich fragrance from the sandal grove,
                    Or where the precious musk-deer, playful, rove;
                    In dulcet juice from clustering fruit distils;
                    And burns salubrious in the tasteful clove;
                       Soft banks and verdurous hills
                       THY present influence fills
                    In air, in floods, in caverns, woods and plains,
                    THY will inspirits all, THY sovereign MAYA t reigns.
                                                             JONES.
 * A fine conception of the first operation of the heavenly mind.
 + BRAHME is believed by the Hindoos to be neuter, BRAHMA and MALA are masculine
and feminine.
 ~ Still all is referred to God, or BRAHME.
  In sluggish matter there is no thought.
 I Not properties existent in matter.
 - Smiles in the bud! how enchanting the whole account!
 1- MAyA (the Minerva of the Greeks, who is said by them to hare been born
from the head of Jupiter) means sovereign goodness and
wisdom. The Hindoos believe also in an evil spirit, which wars against the
innocent joys of life, and produces the miseries incident to
humanity, and all the convulsions of nature; and Brohma is employed, sometimes
appearing upon earth, to counteract this evil. There
is a fine Hindoo Avatar, or descent of Brahma, representing the deluge, when
Brahma appears in the shape of a fish, and having procured
from the body of Typhon, the holy books, presents them to BRAHME.