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HUMAN nature is not altogether unchanging but it does remain sufficiently constant to justify the study of ancient classics. The problems of human life and destiny have not been superseded by the striking achievements of science and technology. The solutions offered, though conditioned in their modes of expression by their time and environment, have not been seriously affected by the march of scientific knowledge and criticism. The responsibility laid on man as a rational being, to integrate himself, to relate the present to the past and the future, to live in time as well as in eternity, has become acute and urgent. The Upanisads, though remote in time from us, are not remote in thought. They disclose the working of the primal impulses of the human soul which rise above the differences of race and of geographical position. At the core of all historical religions there are fundamental types of spiritual experience though they are expressed with different degrees of clarity. The Upanisads illustrate and illuminate these primary experiences.
'These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me. If they are not yours as much as mine, they are nothing or next to nothing,' said Walt Whitman. The Upanisads deal with questions which arise when men begin to reflect seriously and attempt answers to them which are not very different, except in their approach and emphasis from what we are now inclined to accept. This does not mean that the message of the Upanisads, which is as true today as ever, commits us to the different hypotheses about the structure of the world and the physiology of man. We must make a distinction between the message of the Upanisads and their mythology. The latter is liable to correction by advances in science. Even this mythology becomes intelligible if we place ourselves as far as possible at the viewpoint of those who conceived it. Those parts of the Upanisads which seem to us today to be trivial, tedious and almost unmeaning, should have had value and significance at the time they were composed.
Anyone who reads the Upanisads in the original Sanskrit will be caught up and carried away by the elevation, the poetry, the compelling fascination of the many utterances through which they lay bare the secret and sacred relations of the
human soul and the Ultimate Reality When we read them, we
cannot help being impressed by the exceptional ability, earnest-
ness and ripeness of mind of those who wrestled with these
ultimate questions These souls who tackled these problems
remain still and will remain for all time in essential harmony
with the highest ideals of civilisation.
The Upanisads are the foundations on which the beliefs of
millions of human beings, who were not much inferior to our-
selves, are based Nothing is more sacred to man than his own
history. At least as memorials of the past, the Upanisads are
worth our attention
A proper knowledge of the texts is an indispensable aid to
the understanding of the Upanisads There are parts of the
Upanisads which repel us by their repetitiveness and irrelevance
to our needs, philosophical and religious But if we are to under-
stand their ideas, we must know the atmosphere in which they
worked We must not judge ancient writings from our standards
We need not condemn our fathers for having been what they
were or ourselves for being somewhat different from them It
is our task to relate them to their environment, to bridge
distances of time and space and separate the transitory from
the permanent
There is a danger in giving only carefully chosen extracts
We are likely to give what is easy to read and omit what is
difficult, or give what is agreeable to our views and omit what
is disagreeable It is wise to study the Upanisads as a whole,
their striking insights as well as their commonplace assumptions
Only such a study will be historically valuable I have therefore
given in full the classical Upanisads, those commented on or
mentioned by Śamkara The other Upanisads are of a later
date and are sectarian in character. They represent the popular
gods, Śiva, Visnu, Śakti, as manifestations of the Supreme
Reality. They are not parts of the original Veda, are of much
later origin and are not therefore as authoritative as the
classical Upanisads If they are all to be included, it would
be difficult to find a Publisher for so immense a work I have
therefore selected a few other Upanisads, some of those to
which references are made by the great teachers, Śamkara and
Rāmānuja
In the matter of translation and interpretation, I owe a
heavy debt, directly and indirectly, not only to the classical
commentators but also to the modern writers who have worked
on the subject. I have profited by their tireless labours. The careful reader will find, I hope, that a small advance in a few places at least has been made in this translation towards a better understanding of the texts.
Passages in verse are not translated into rhyme as the padding and inversion necessary for observing a metrical pattern take away a great deal from the dignity and conciseness of the original.
It is not easy to render Sanskrit religious and philosophical classics into English for each language has its own characteristic genius. Language conveys thought as well as feeling. It falls short of its full power and purpose, if it fails to communicate the emotion as fully as it conveys the idea. Words convey ideas but they do not always express moods. In the Upaniṣads we find harmonies of speech which excite the emotions and stir the soul. I am afraid that it has not been possible for me to produce in the English translation the richness of melody, the warmth of spirit, the power of enchantment that appeals to the ear, heart and mind. I have tried to be faithful to the originals, sometimes even at the cost of elegance. I have given the texts with all their nobility of sound and the feeling of the numinous.
For the classical Upaniṣads the text followed is that commented on by Śaṅkara. A multitude of variant readings of the texts exist, some of them to be found in the famous commentaries, others in more out of the way versions. The chief variant readings are mentioned in the notes. As my interest is philosophical rather than linguistic, I have not discussed them. In the translation, words which are omitted or understood in Sanskrit or are essential to complete the grammatical structure are inserted in brackets.
We cannot bring to the study of the Upaniṣads virgin minds which are untouched by the views of the many generations of scholars who have gone before us. Their influence may work either directly or indirectly. To be aware of this limitation, to estimate it correctly is of great importance in the study of ancient texts. The classical commentators represent in their works the great oral traditions of interpretation which have been current in their time. Centuries of careful thought lie behind the exegetical traditions as they finally took shape
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. The chief variant readings are mentioned in the notes. As my interest is philosophical rather than linguistic, I have not discussed them. In the translation, words which are omitted or understood in Sanskrit or are essential to complete the grammatical structure are inserted in brackets.
We cannot bring to the study of the Upaniṣads virgin minds which are untouched by the views of the many generations of scholars who have gone before us. Their influence may work either directly or indirectly. To be aware of this limitation, to estimate it correctly is of great importance in the study of ancient texts. The classical commentators represent in their works the great oral traditions of interpretation which have been current in their time. Centuries of careful thought lie behind the exegetical traditions as they finally took shape. It would be futile to neglect the work of the commentators as there are words and passages in the Upaniṣads of which we
could make little sense without the help of the commen-
tators
We do not have in the Upanisads a single well-articulated
system of thought We find in them a number of different
strands which could be woven together in a single whole by
sympathetic interpretation Such an account involves the ex-
pression of opinions which can always be questioned Impar-
tiality does not consist in a refusal to form opinions or in a
futile attempt to conceal them It consists in rethinking the
thoughts of the past, in understanding their environment, and
in relating them to the intellectual and spiritual needs of our
own time While we should avoid the attempt to read into the
terms of the past the meanings of the present, we cannot
overlook the fact that certain problems are the same in all
ages We must keep in mind the Buddhist saying 'Whatever
is not adapted to such and such persons as are to be taught
cannot be called a teaching' We must remain sensitive to the
prevailing currents of thought and be prepared, as far as we
are able, to translate the universal truth into terms intelligible
to our audience, without distorting their meaning It would
scarcely be possible to exaggerate the difficulty of such a task,
but it has to be undertaken If we are able to make the seeming
abstractions of the Upanisads flame anew with their ancient
colour and depth, if we can make them pulsate with their old
meaning, they will not appear to be altogether irrelevant to our
needs, intellectual and spiritual The notes are framed in this
spirit
The Upanisads which base their affirmations on spiritual
experience are invaluable for us, as the traditional props of
faith, the infallible scripture, miracle and prophecy are no
longer available The irreligion of our times is largely the
product of the supremacy of religious technique over spiritual
life The study of the Upanisads may help to restore to funda-
mental things of religion that reality without which they seem
to be meaningless
Besides, at a time when moral aggression is compelling
people to capitulate to queer ways of life, when vast experi-
ments in social structure and political organisation are being
made at enormous cost of life and suffering, when we stand
perple ted and confused before the future with no clear light
to guide our way, the power of the human soul is the only
refuge If we resolve to be governed by it, our civilisation may
enter upon its most glorious epoch. There are many 'dis-
satisfied children of the spirit of the west,' to use Romain
Rolland's phrase, who are oppressed that the universality of
her great thoughts has been defamed for ends of violent action,
that they are trapped in a blind alley and are savagely crushing
each other out of existence When an old binding culture is
being broken, when ethical standards are dissolving, when we
are being aroused out of apathy or awakened out of uncon-
sciousness, when there is in the air general ferment, inward
stirring, cultural crisis, then a high tide of spiritual agitation
sweeps over peoples and we sense in the horizon something
novel, something unprecedented, the beginnings of a spiritual
renaissance We are living in a world of freer cultural inter-
course and wider world sympathies. No one can ignore his
neighbour who is also groping in this world of sense for the
world unseen. The task set to our generation is to reconcile
the varying ideals of the converging cultural patterns and help
them to sustain and support rather than combat and destroy
one another. By this process they are transformed from within
and the forms that separate them will lose their exclusivist
meaning and signify only that unity with their own origins and
inspirations
The study of the sacred books of religions other than one's
own is essential for speeding up this process. Students of Chris-
tian religion and theology, especially those who wish to make
Indian Christian thought not merely 'geographically' but
'organically' Indian, should understand their great heritage
which is contained in the Upanisads
For us Indians, a study of the Upanisads is essential, if we
are to preserve our national being and character. To discover
the main lines of our traditional life, we must turn to our
classics, the Vedas and the Upanisads, the Bhagavad-gītā and
the Dhamma-pada They have done more to colour our minds
than we generally acknowledge They not only thought many
of our thoughts but coined hundreds of the words that we use
in daily life. There is much in our past that is degrading and
deficient but there is also much that is life-giving and elevating.
If the past is to serve as an inspiration for the future, we have
to study it with discrimination and sympathy. Again, the
highest achievements of the human mind and spirit are not
limited to the past The gates of the future are wide open.
While the fundamental motives, the governing ideas which
constitute the essential spirit of our culture are a part of our
very being, they should receive changing expression according
to the needs and conditions of our time
There is no more inspiring task for the student of Indian
thought than to set forth some phases of its spiritual wisdom
and bring them to bear on our own life. Let us, in the words
of Socrates, 'turn over together the treasures that wise men
have left us, glad if in so doing we make friends with one
another'
The two essays written for the *Philosophy of the Upanisads* (1924), which is a reprint of chapter IV from my *Indian Philosophy*, Volume I, by Rabindranath Tagore and Edmond Holmes, are to be found in the Appendices A and B respectively
I am greatly indebted to my distinguished and generous
friends Professors Suniti Kumar Chatterji, and Siddhesvar
Bhattacharya for their great kindness in reading the proofs
and making many valuable suggestions
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THE Upanisads represent a great chapter in the history of the human spirit and have dominated Indian philosophy, religion and life for three thousand years. Every subsequent religious movement has had to show itself to be in accord with their philosophical statements. Even doubting and denying spirits found in them anticipations of their hesitancies, misgivings and negations. They have survived many changes, religious and secular, and helped many generations of men to formulate their views on the chief problems of life and existence.
Their thought by itself and through Buddhism influenced even in ancient times the cultural life of other nations far beyond the boundaries of India, Greater India, Tibet, China, Japan and Korea and in the South, in Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula and far away in the islands of the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. In the West, the tracks of Indian thought may be traced far into Central Asia, where, buried in the sands of the desert, were found Indian texts ¹
The Upanisads have shown an unparalleled variety of appeal during these long centuries and have been admired by different people, for different reasons, at different periods. They are said
¹ 'For the historian, who pursues the history of human thought, the Upanisads have a yet far greater significance. From the mystical doctrines of the Upanisads, one current of thought may be traced to the mysticism of the Persian Sufism, to the mystic, theosophical logos doctrine of the Neo-Platonics and the Alexandrian Christian mystics, Eckhart and Tauler, and finally to the philosophy of the great German mystic of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer. Winternitz: *A History of Indian Literature* E T Vol I (1927), p 266. See *Eastern Religions and Western Thought* Second Edition (1940), Chapters IV, V, VI, VII. It is said that Schopenhauer had the Latin text of the Upanisads on his table and *was in the habit, before going to bed, of performing his devotions from its pages*.' Bloomfield *Religion of the Veda* (1908), p. 55. 'From every sentence [of the Upanisads], deep original and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit. In the whole world, there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanisads. They are products of the highest wisdom. They are destined sooner or later to become the faith of the people.' Schopenhauer.
to provide us with a complete chart of the unseen Reality, to
give us the most immediate, intimate and convincing light on
the secret of human existence, to formulate, in Deussen's
words, 'philosophical conceptions unequalled in India or
perhaps anywhere else in the world,' or to tackle every funda-
mental problem of philosophy.¹ All this may be so or may not
be so. But of one thing there is no dispute, that those earnest
spirits have known the fevers and ardours of religious seeking,
they have expressed that pensive mood of the thinking mind
which finds no repose except in the Absolute, no rest except
in the Divine. The ideal which haunted the thinkers of the
Upanisads, the ideal of man's ultimate beatitude, the perfection
of knowledge, the vision of the Real in which the religious
hunger of the mystic for divine vision and the philosopher's
ceaseless quest for truth are both satisfied is still our ideal
A N. Whitehead speaks to us of the real which stands behind
and beyond and within the passing flux of this world, 'some-
thing which is real and yet waiting to be realised, something
which is a remote possibility and yet the greatest of present
facts, something that gives meaning to all that passes, and yet
eludes apprehension, something whose possession is the final
good, and yet is beyond all reach, something which is the
ultimate ideal and the hopeless quest.'² A metaphysical
curiosity for a theoretical explanation of the world as much
as a passionate longing for liberation is to be found in the
Upanisads. Their ideas do not only enlighten our minds but
stretch our souls.
If the ideas of the Upanisads help us to rise above the
glamour of the fleshly life, it is because their authors, pure of
soul, ever striving towards the divine, reveal to us their pictures
of the splendours of the unseen. The Upanisads are respected
not because they are a part of *sruti* or -revealed literature and
so hold a reserved position but because they have inspired
generations of Indians with vision and strength by their in-
exhaustible significance and spiritual power. Indian thought
¹ Cp W. B Yeats 'Nothing that has disturbed the schools to controversy escaped their notice' Preface to the *Ten Principal Upanisads* (1937), p 11
² *Science and the Modern World*, (1933), p. 238
has constantly turned to these scriptures for fresh illumination
and spiritual recovery or recommencement, and not in vain.
The fire still burns bright on their altars. Their light is for the
seeing eye and their message is for the seeker after truth ¹
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The word 'upanisad' is derived from upa (near), ni (down) and sad (to sit), i.e. sitting down near. Groups of pupils sit near the teacher to learn from him the secret doctrine. In the quietude of forest hermitages the Upanisad thinkers pondered on the problems of the deepest concern and communicated their knowledge to fit pupils near them. The seers adopt a certain reticence in communicating the truth. They wish to be satisfied that their pupils are spiritually and not carnally minded.² To respond to spiritual teaching, we require the spiritual disposition
The Upaniṣads contain accounts of the mystic significance of the syllable aum, explanations of mystic words like tajjalān, which are intelligible only to the initiated, and secret texts and esoteric doctrines. Upanisad became a name for a mystery, a secret, rahasyam, communicated only to the tested few ³ When
¹ In an article on Christian Vedāntism, Mr R Gordon Milburn writes, 'Christianity in India needs the Vedānta. We missionaries have not realised this with half the clearness that we should. We cannot move freely and joyfully in our own religion; because we have not sufficient terms and modes of expression wherewith to express the more immanental aspects of Christianity. A very useful step would be the recognition of certain books or passages in the literature of the Vedānta as constituting what might be called an Ethnic Old Testament. The permission of ecclesiastical authorities could then be asked for reading passages found in such a canon of Ethnic Old Testament at divine service along with passages from the New Testament as alternatives to the Old Testament lessons' *Indian Interpreter* 1913
² Cp Plato 'To find the Father and Maker of this universe is a hard task, and when you have found him, it is impossible to speak of him before all people' *Timaeus*
³ guhyā Ᾱdeśāh. C.U III 52 *paramam guhyam* Katha I. 3. 17.
vedānte *paramam guhyam* S.U VI 22
vedaguhyam, vedaguhyopanisatsu gūdham. S U V 6.
the question of man's final destiny was raised, Yājñavalkya took his pupil aside and whispered to him the truth.¹ According to the Chāndogya Upanisad, the doctrine of Brahman may be imparted by a father to his elder son or to a trusted pupil, but not to another, whoever he may be, even if the latter should give him the whole earth surrounded by the waters and filled with treasures.² In many cases it is said that the teacher communicates the secret knowledge only after repeated entreaty and severe testing.
Śamkara derives the word upanisad as a substantive from the root sad, ‘to loosen,’ ‘to reach’ or ‘to destroy’ with upa and m as prefixes and kvip as termination.³ If this derivation is accepted, upaniṣad means brahma-knowledge by which ignorance is loosened or destroyed. The treatises that deal with brahma-knowledge are called the Upanisads and so pass for the Vedānta The different derivations together make out that the Upanisads give us both spiritual vision and philosophical argument.⁴ There is a core of certainty which is essentially incommunicable except by a way of life. It is by a strictly personal effort that one can reach the truth.
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The Upanisads form a literature which has been growing from early times Their number exceeds two hundred, though
guhyalamam Marti VI 29
abhayam var brahma bhavati ya evam veda, iti rahasyam Nrsimhottaratāpani U VIII
dharme rahasy upanisat syāt Amarakosa
upanisadam rahasyam yac cintyam Š on Kena IV 7 The injunction of secrecy about the mysteries reserved for the initiated is found among the Orphics and the Pythagoreans
1 BŪ III 2 13
2 III 11 5, BŪ III 2 13
³ Introduction to the Kātha In his commentary on T U, he says, upanisannam vā asyām param śreya iti
4 Oldenberg suggests that the real sense of Upanisad is worship or reverence, which the word upāsana signifies Upāsana brings about oneness with the object worshipped See Keith The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and the Upanisads (1925), p 492.
the Indian tradition puts it at one hundred and eight.¹ Prince Muhammad Dara Shikoh's collection translated into Persian (1656–1657) and then into Latin by Anquetil Duperron (1801 and 1802) under the title *Oupnckhat*, contained about fifty. Colebrooke's collection contained fifty-two, and this was based on Nārāyana's list (c. A.D. 1400). The principal Upaniṣads are said to be ten. Śaṅkara commented on eleven, *Īśa, Kena, Katha, Praśna, Mundaka, Māndūkya, Taṭṭīrīya, Aitareya, Chāndogya, Brhad-āranyaka and Svetāśvatara*. He also refers to the *Kauṣītakī, Jābāla, Mahānārāyana and Paingala* Upaniṣads in his commentary on the *Brahma Sūtra*. These together with the *Maṇtrāyaṇīya* or *Maṇtrī Upanisad* constitute the principal Upaniṣads. Rāmānuja uses all these Upaniṣads as also the *Subāla* and the *Cūlīka*. He mentions also the *Garbha*, the *Jābāla* and the *Mahā* Upanisads. Vidyāraṇya includes *Nṛṣimhottara-tāpanī Upanisad* among the twelve he explained in his *Sarvopanisad-arthānubhūti-prakāśa*. The other Upaniṣads which have come down are more religious than philosophical. They belong more to the Purāna and the Tantra than to the Veda. They glorify Vedānta or Yoga or Saṁnyāsa or extol the worship of Śiva, Śakti or Viṣṇu.²
¹ See the *Muktikā U*, where it is said that salvation may be attained by a study of the hundred and eight Upaniṣads I 30–39.
² There is, however, considerable argument about the older and more original Upaniṣads Max Muller translated the eleven Upaniṣads quoted by Śaṅkara together with *Maṇtrāyanīya* Deussen, though he translated no less than sixty, considers that fourteen of them are original and have a connection with Vedic schools. Hume translated the twelve which Max Muller selected and added to them the *Māndūkya*. Keith in his *Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and the Upaniṣads* includes the *Mahānārāyana*. His list of fourteen is the same as that of Deussen.
English translations of the Upaniṣads have appeared in the following order. Ram Mohan Roy (1832), Roer (1853), (Bibliotheca Indica) Max Muller (1879–1884) Sacred Books of the East, Mead and Chattopādhyāya (1896, London Theosophical Society), Sītārām Śāstrī and Gangānāth Jhā (1898–1901), (G. A. Natesan, Madras), Sītānāth Tattvabhūsan (1900), S C. Vasu (1911), R Hume (1921) E B Cowell, Hiriyanna, Dvivedi, Mahādeva Śāstrī and Śrī Aurobindo have published translations of a few Upaniṣads.
Śaṅkara's commentaries on the principal Upaniṣads are available in English translations also. His interpretations are from the standpoint of advaṇta or non-dualism. Rangarāmānuja has adopted the point of view of Rāmānuja in his commentaries on the Upaniṣads. Madhva's commentaries are from the standpoint of dualism. Extracts from his
Modern criticism is generally agreed that the ancient prose Upanisads, *Aitareya, Kausītakī, Chāndogya, Kena, Tattiturīya and Brhad-āranyaka*, together with *Īśa* and *Katha* belong to the eighth and seventh centuries BC. They are all pre-Buddhist. They represent the Vedānta in its pure original form and are the earliest philosophical compositions of the world. These Upanisads belong to what Karl Jaspers calls the Axial Era of the world, 800 to 300 BC, when man for the first time simultaneously and independently in Greece, China and India questioned the traditional pattern of life.
As almost all the early literature of India was anonymous, we do not know the names of the authors of the Upanisads. Some of the chief doctrines of the Upanisads are associated with the names of renowned sages as Āruni, Yājñavalkya, Bālākī, Śvetaketu, Sāndilya. They were, perhaps, the early exponents of the doctrines attributed to them. The teachings were developed in *parisads* or spiritual retreats where teachers and pupils discussed and defined the different views.
As a part of the Veda, the Upanisads belong to *śrutī* or revealed literature. They are immemorial, *sanātana*, timeless. Their truths are said to be breathed out by God or visioned by the seers. They are the utterances of the sages who speak out of the fullness of their illumined experience. They are not reached by ordinary perception, inference or reflection,¹ but *seen* by the seers, even as we see and not infer the wealth and riot of colour in the summer sky. The seers have the same sense of assurance and possession of their spiritual vision as we have of our physical perception. The sages are men of 'direct' vision, in the words of Yāska, *sāksāt-kṛta-dharmānah*, and the records of their experiences are the facts to be considered by any philosophy of religion. The truths revealed to the seers are not mere reports of introspection which are purely subjective. The inspired sages proclaim that the knowledge they communicate is not what they discover for themselves. It is revealed to
commentaries are found in the edition of the Upanisads published by the Pāṇuṇu Office, Allahabad
¹ They are relevant in matters which cannot be reached by perception and inference *aprāpte śāstram arthavat Mīmāmsā Sūtra I 15*
them without their effort.¹ Though the knowledge is an experience of the seer, it is an experience of an independent reality which impinges on his consciousness. There is the impact of the real on the spirit of the experiencer. It is therefore said to be a direct disclosure from the 'wholly other,' a revelation of the Divine Symbolically, the Upaniṣads describe revelation as the breath of God blowing on us 'Of that great being, this is the breath, which is the Rg Veda.'² The divine energy is compared to the breath which quickens It is a seed which fertilises or a flame which kindles the human spirit to its finest issues It is interesting to know that the Brhad-āraṇyaka Upanisad tells us that not only the Vedas but history, sciences and other studies are also 'breathed forth by the great God.'³
The Vedas were composed by the seers when they were in a state of inspiration. He who inspires them is God.⁴ Truth is impersonal, apauruseya and eternal, niya. Inspiration is a joint activity, of which man's contemplation and God's revelation are two sides
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.'² The divine energy is compared to the breath which quickens It is a seed which fertilises or a flame which kindles the human spirit to its finest issues It is interesting to know that the Brhad-āraṇyaka Upanisad tells us that not only the Vedas but history, sciences and other studies are also 'breathed forth by the great God.'³
The Vedas were composed by the seers when they were in a state of inspiration. He who inspires them is God.⁴ Truth is impersonal, apauruseya and eternal, niya. Inspiration is a joint activity, of which man's contemplation and God's revelation are two sides. The Svetāśvatara Upaniṣad says that the sage Śvetāśvatara saw the truth owing to his power of contemplation, tapaḥ-prabhāva, and the grace of God, deva-prasāda.⁵ The dual significance of revelation, its subjective and objective character, is suggested here.
The Upaniṣads are vehicles more of spiritual illumination than of systematic reflection. They reveal to us a world of rich and varied spiritual experience rather than a world of abstract
¹ puruṣa-prayalnaṁ vinā praśatībhūta Ṣ.
² B U. II 1 10, M U II 1. 6; R.V. X 90 9.
³ II 4 10 The Naiyānyas maintain that the Vedas were composed by God, while the Mīmāmsakas hold that they were not composed at all either by man or by God, but have existed from all eternity in the form of sounds. It is perhaps a way of saying that the timeless truths of eternity exist from everlasting to everlasting. Aristotle regards the fundamental truths of religion as eternal and indestructible.
⁴ With reference to the prophets, Athenagoras says: 'While entranced and deprived of their natural powers of reason by the influence of the Divine Spirit, they uttered that which was wrought in them, the spirit using them as its instrument as a flute-player might blow a flute.'
Apol IX.
Cp 'Howbeit, when he the spirit of truth is come he shall guide you unto all the truth, for he shall not speak from himself, but whatsoever things he shall hear, these shall he speak.' John XVI 13.
philosophical categories Their truths are verified not only by
logical reason but by personal experience. Their aim is prac-
tical rather than speculative Knowledge is a means to freedom.
Philosophy, bıahma-vidyā, is the pursuit of wisdom by a way
of life.
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The Vedānta meant originally the Upanişads, though the
word is now used for the system of philosophy based on the
Upanişads Literally, Vcdanta means the end of the Veda,
vedasya antah, the conclusion as well as the goal of the Vedas The
Upanisads are the concluding portions of the Vedas Chrono-
logically they come at the end of the Vedic period As the
Upanisads contain abstruse and difficult discussions of ultimate
philosophical problems, they were taught to the pupils at about
the end of their course When we have Vedic recitations as
religious exercises, the end of these recitations is generally from
the Upanisads The chief reason why the Upanisads are called
the end of the Veda is that they represent the central aim and
meaning of the teaching of the Veda ¹ The content of the
Upanisads is vedanta vijñānam, the wisdom of the Vedānta ²
The Samhitās and the Brāhmanas, which are the hymns and
the liturgical books, represent the karma-kānda or the ritual
portion, while the Upanisads represent the jñāna-kānda or the
knowledge portion The learning of the hymns and the per-
formance of the rites are a preparation for true enlightenment ³
The Upanisads describe to us the life of spirit, the same
yesterday, to-day and for ever. But our apprehensions of the
life of spirit, the symbols by which we express it, change with
¹ tılesu tarlavad vede vedāntah su-pratıṣṭhitah Muktíkā U I 9 Again,
vedā brahmātma-vısayā Bhāgavata XI 21 35 ātmarakatva-vıdyā-prati-
pataye sarve-vedāntā ārabhyante SB Introduction vedānto nāma
upanısat pramānam Vedānta-sāra
² MU III 2 6 S U speaks of the highest mystery in the Vedānta vedānte paramam guhyam VI 22
³ Much of the material in the C U and B U. belongs properly to the Brāhmanas
time. All systems of orthodox Indian thought accept the authoritativeness of the Vedas,¹ but give themselves freedom in their interpretation. This variety of interpretation is made possible by the fact that the Upaniṣads are not the thoughts of a single philosopher or a school of philosophers who follow a single tradition. They are the teachings of thinkers who were interested in different aspects of the philosophical problem, and therefore offer solutions of problems which vary in their interest and emphasis. There is thus a certain amount of fluidity in their thought which has been utilised for the development of different philosophical systems. Out of the wealth of suggestions and speculations contained in them, different thinkers choose elements for the construction of their own systems, not infrequently even through a straining of the texts. Though the Upaniṣads do not work out a logically coherent system of metaphysics, they give us a few fundamental doctrines which stand out as the essential teaching of the early Upaniṣads. These are recapitulated in the *Brahma Sūtra*.
The *Brahma Sūtra* is an aphoristic summary of the teaching of the Upaniṣads, and the great teachers of the Vedānta develop their distinctive views through their commentaries on this work. By interpreting the sūtras which are laconic in form and hardly intelligible without interpretation, the teachers justify their views to the reasoning intelligence.
Different commentators attempt to find in the Upaniṣads and the *Brahma Sūtra* a single coherent doctrine, a system of thought which is free from contradictions. Bhartṛprapañca, who is anterior to Śaṁkara, maintains that the selves and the physical universe are real, though not altogether different from Brahman. They are both identical with and different from Brahman, the three together constituting a unity in diversity. Ultimate Reality evolves into the universal creation sṛṣṭi and the universe retreats into it at the time of dissolution, pralaya.²
The *advaita* of Śaṁkara insists on the transcendent nature
¹ Even the Buddhists and the Jainas accept the teaching of the Upaniṣads, though they interpret it in their own ways. See Introduction to Dhamma-pada and Vṛśesāvaśyaaka Bhāṣya, Yaśoṇijaya Jaina Granthamālā No 35.
of non-dual *Brahman* and the duality of the world including *Īśvara* who presides over it. Reality is *Brahman* or Ātman. No predication is possible of *Brahman* as predication involves duality and *Brahman* is free from all duality. The world of duality is empirical or phenomenal. The saving truth which redeems the individual from the stream of births and deaths is the recognition of his own identity with the Supreme 'That thou art' is the fundamental fact of all existence.¹ The multiplicity of the universe, the unending stream of life, is real, but only as a phenomenon.
Rāmānuja qualifies the non-dual philosophy so as to make the personal God supreme. While *Brahman*, souls and the world are all different and eternal, they are at the same time inseparable.² Inseparability is not identity. *Brahman* is related to the two others as soul to body. They are sustained by Him and subject to His control. Rāmānuja says that while God exists for Himself, matter and souls exist for His sake and serve His purposes. The three together form an organic whole. *Brahman* is the inspiring principle of the souls and the world. The souls are different from, but not independent of, God. They are said to be one only in the sense that they all belong to the same class. The ideal is the enjoyment of freedom and bliss in the world of Nārāyana, and the means to it is either *prapatti* or *bhakti*. The individual souls, even when they are freed through the influence of their devotion and the grace of God, retain their separate individuality. For him and Madhva, God, the author of all grace, saves those who give to Him the worship of love and faith.
For Madhva there are five eternal distinctions between (1) God and the individual soul, (2) God and matter, (3) soul and matter, (4) one soul and another, (5) one particle of matter and another. The supreme being endowed with all auspicious qualities is called Visnu, and Laksmi is His power dependent on Him. Mokṣa is release from rebirth and residence in the abode of Nārāyana. Human souls are innumerable, and each of them is separate and eternal. The divine souls are destined for salvation. Those who are neither very good nor very bad
¹ C U VI. 8 7, B.U. I. 4. 10.
² *a-pythak-siddha*
are subject to samsāra, and the bad go to hell. Right knowledge of God and devotion to Him are the means to salvation Without divine grace there can be no salvation ¹
Baladeva adopts the view of acintya-bhedābheda Difference and non-difference are positive facts of experience and yet cannot be reconciled. It is an incomprehensible synthesis of opposites Rāmānuja, Bhāskara, Nimbärka and Baladeva believe that there is change in Brahman, but not of Brahman ²
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Even the most inspired writers are the products of their environment. They give voice to the deepest thoughts of their own epoch. A complete abandonment of the existing modes of thought is psychologically impossible. The writers of the Rg Veda speak of the ancient makers of the path ³ When there is an awakening of the mind, the old symbols are interpreted in a new way.
In pursuance of the characteristic genius of the Indian mind, not to shake the beliefs of the common men, but to lead them on by stages to the understanding of the deeper philosophical meaning behind their beliefs, the Upanisads develop the Vedic ideas and symbols and give to them, where necessary, new meanings which relieve them of their formalistic character. Texts from the Vedas are often quoted in support of the teachings of the Upanisads.
The thought of the Upanisads marks an advance on the
ritualistic doctrines of the Brāhmanas, which are themselves
different in spirit from the hymns of the Rg Veda A good deal
of time should have elapsed for this long development. The
mass of the Rg Veda must also have taken time to produce,
¹ moksaś ca visnu-prasādena vinā na labhyate Visnu-tatva-nirnaya
² See I P Vol II, pp 751-765, B G, pp 15-20
³ idam nama rsibhyah pūrvajebhyah pūrvebhyah pathi-krdbhyah
X 14 15
B
especially when we remember that what has survived is
probably a small part compared to what has been lost.¹
Whatever may be the truth about the racial affinities of the
Indian and the European peoples, there is no doubt that Indo-
European languages derive from a common source and illustrate
a relationship of mind In its vocabulary and inflexions Sanskrit
presents a striking similarity to Greek and Latin Sir William
Jones explained it by tracing them all to a common source
'The Sanskrit language,' he said in 1786, in an address to the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, 'whatever be its antiquity, is of a
wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious
than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet
bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots
of verbs, and in the forms of grammar, than could possibly
have been produced by accident, so strong, indeed, that no
philologer could examine them all without believing them to
have sprung from some common source which perhaps no longer
exists There is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible,
for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic, though
blended with a different idiom, had the same origin with the
Sanskrit, and the old Persian might be added to the same
family '
The oldest Indo-European literary monument is the Rg
Veda ³ The word ‘Veda,’ from vid, to know, means knowledge
¹ ‘We have no right to suppose that we have even a hundredth part of the religious and popular poetry that existed during the Vedic age’
Max Muller *Six Systems of Indian Philosophy* (1899), p 41
² *samskrta* perfectly constructed speech
³ ‘The Veda has a two-fold interest it belongs to the history of the world and to the history of India In the history of the world, the Veda fills a gap which no literary work in any other language could fill It carries us back to times of which we have no records anywhere, and gives us the very words of a generation of men, of whom otherwise we could form but the vaguest estimate by means of conjectures and inferences As long as man continues to take an interest in the history of his race and as long as we collect in libraries and museums the relics of former ages, the first place in that long row of books which contains the records of the Aryan branch of mankind will belong for ever to the Rg Veda’
Max Muller *Ancient History of Sanskrit Literature* (1859), p 63 The Rg Veda, according to Ragozin ‘is, without the shadow of a doubt, the oldest book of the Aryan family of nations’ *Vedic India* (1895), p 114
Winternitz observes ‘If we wish to learn to understand the beginnings of our own culture, if we wish to understand the oldest Indo-European
par excellence, sacred wisdom. Science is the knowledge of secondary causes, of the created details; wisdom is the knowledge of primary causes, of the Uncreated Principle. The Veda is not a single literary work like the Bhagavad-gītā or a collection of a number of books compiled at some particular time as the Tri-pitaka of the Buddhists or the Bible of the Christians, but a whole literature which arose in the course of centuries and was handed down from generation to generation through oral transmission. When no books were available memory was strong and tradition exact. To impress on the people the need for preserving this literature, the Veda was declared to be sacred knowledge or divine revelation. Its sanctity arose spontaneously owing to its age and the nature and value of its contents. It has since become the standard of thought and feeling for Indians.
The name Veda signifying wisdom suggests a genuine spirit of inquiry. The road by which the Vedic sages travelled was the road of those who seek to inquire and understand. The questions they investigate are of a philosophical character. 'Who, verily, knows and who can here declare it, where it was born and whence comes this creation?' The gods are later than this world's production. Who knows, then, whence it first came into being?'¹ According to Sāyaṇa, Veda is the book which describes the transcendent means for the fulfilment of well-being and the avoidance of evils ²
There are four Vedas, the Rg Veda which is mainly composed
culture, we must go to India, where the oldest literature of an Indo-European people is preserved. For, whatever view we may adopt on the problem of the antiquity of Indian literature, we can safely say that the oldest monument of the literature of the Indians is at the same time the oldest monument of Indo-European literature which we possess. A History of Indian Literature, E T. Vol. I (1927), p. 6. See also Bloomfield: The Religion of the Veda (1908), p. 17. He says that the Rg Veda is not only 'the most ancient literary monument of India' but also 'the most ancient literary document of the Indo-European peoples.' This literature is earlier than that of either Greece or Israel, and reveals a high level of civilisation among those who found it in the expression of their worship,' according to Dr. Nicol Macnicol. See his Hindu Scriptures (1938), p. XIV.
¹ X. 129
² Isia-prāpty-anista-parihārayoralaukikam upāyam yo grantho vedayati sa vedah
of songs of praise, the *Yajur Veda*, which deals with sacrificial formulas, the *Sāma Veda* which refers to melodies, and the *Atharva Veda*, which has a large number of magic formulas. Each contains four sections consisting of (1) *Samhitā* or collection of hymns, prayers, benedictions, sacrificial formulas and litanies, (2) *Brāhmanas* or prose treatises discussing the significance of sacrificial rites and ceremonies, (3) *Āranyakas* or forest texts, which are partly included in the *Brāhmanas* and partly reckoned as independent, and (4) *Upanisads*.
Veda denotes the whole literature made up of the two portions called *Mantra* and *Brāhmana*. Mantra is derived by Yāska from manana, thinking.² It is that by which the contemplation of God is attempted. Brāhmana deals with the elaboration of worship into ritual. Parts of Brāhmanas are called *Āranyakas*. Those who continue their studies without marrying are called *aranas* or *aranamānas*. They lived in hermitages or forests. The forests where *aranas* (ascetics) live are *aranyas*. Their speculations are contained in *Āranyakas*.
Yāska refers to different interpretations of the Vedās by the ritualists (*yājñikas*), the etymologists (*nairuktas*) and mythologists (*aṇṭhāsikas*)
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. Mantra is derived by Yāska from manana, thinking.² It is that by which the contemplation of God is attempted. Brāhmana deals with the elaboration of worship into ritual. Parts of Brāhmanas are called *Āranyakas*. Those who continue their studies without marrying are called *aranas* or *aranamānas*. They lived in hermitages or forests. The forests where *aranas* (ascetics) live are *aranyas*. Their speculations are contained in *Āranyakas*.
Yāska refers to different interpretations of the Vedās by the ritualists (*yājñikas*), the etymologists (*nairuktas*) and mythologists (*aṇṭhāsikas*). The *Brhad-devatā* which comes after Yāska’s *Nirukta* also refers to various schools of thought in regard to Vedic interpretations. It mentions *ātma-vādins* or those who relate the Vedas to the psychological processes.
The *Rg Veda*, which comprises 1,017 hymns divided into ten books, represents the earliest phase in the evolution of religious consciousness where we have not so much the commandments of priests as the outpourings of poetic minds who were struck by the immensity of the universe and the inexhaustible mystery of life. The reactions of simple yet unsophisticated minds to the wonder of existence are portrayed in these joyous hymns which attribute divinity to the striking aspects of nature. We have worship of *devas*,³ deities like Sūrya (sun),
¹ mantra-brāhmanayor veda nāmadheyam Āpastamba in *Yajña-paribhās*a
² *Nirukta* VII 3 6
³ The *devas* are, according to *Amara*, the immortals, *amarāh*, free from old age, *nirjarāh*, the evershining ones, *devāh*, heavenly beings, *trīdaśāh*, the knowing ones, *vibudhāh*, and gods or deities, *surāh*.
Soma (moon), Agni (fire), Dyaus (sky), Prthivī (earth),¹ Maruts (storm winds), Vāyu (wind), Ap (water), Uṣas (dawn). Even deities whose names are no longer so transparent were originally related to natural phenomena such as Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aditī, Visnu, Pūṣan, the two Aśvīns, Rudra and Parjanya. Qualities which emphasise particular important aspects of natural phenomena attained sometimes to the rank of independent deities.² Savitr, the inspirer or the life-giver, Vivasvat, the shining, were at first attributes and names of the Sun but later became independent Sun-gods. Some of the deities worshipped by the different tribes were admitted into the Vedic pantheon Pūṣan, originally the Sun-god of a small shepherd tribe, becomes the protector of travellers, the god who knows all the paths. Some deities have their basis in abstract qualities such as śraddhā, faith, manyu, anger.³ We also come across Rbhus, or elves, Apsaras or nymphs, Gandharvas or forest or field spirits.⁴ Asuṇas who become the enemies of the gods in the later Vedic works retain in the Rg Veda the old meaning of 'possessors of wonderful power' or 'God' which the corresponding word Ahura has in the Avesta.⁵
¹ In Greek mythology Zeus as sky-father is in essential relation to earth mother See A B Cook Zeus (1914) I, p 779
² The ancient Greeks advanced the natural elements into gods by deifying their attributes Apollo shone in the sun Boreas howled in the mountain blasts Zeus threatened in the lightning and struck in the thunderbolt
³ These occur in the latest hymns of the tenth book of the Rg Veda.
⁴ The Vedic Indians were not phallus worshippers Śiśna-devāh (R V. VII 21 5, X 99 3) does not mean phallus-worshippers Yāska says that it refers to non-celibates 'śiśna-devāh a-brahmacaryāh,' IV 9 Sāyana adopts this view śiśnena divyantṛ kṛīdantī, iti śiśna-devāh, a-brahmacaryā ity arthaḥ Though it is a bahuvriḥi compound meaning those whose deity is phallus, the word 'deva' is to be taken in its secondary sense, laksyārtha It means those who are addicted to sex life. The plural number also suggests that it is not a deity that is meant Cp the later Sanskrit
śiśnodara-parāyanāh 'Addicted to the gratification of sex and stomach '
⁵ The Persians call their country Iran, which is the airya of the Avesta and signifies the land of the Aryans Even to-day after centuries of Islam, the influences of Aryan thought are not altogether effaced. The Muslims of Persia tend to emphasise passages of the Qurān which are capable of a mystic interpretation Professor E G. Browne writes. 'When in the seventh century the warlike followers of the Arabian prophet swept across Iran, overwhelming in their tumultuous onslaught
Varuna, a god common both to the Indians and the Iranians,
regulates the course of the sun and the sequence of the seasons
He keeps the world in order and is the embodiment of truth
and order which are binding on mankind. He protects moral
laws and punishes the sinful. The Vedic Indians approach
Varuna in trembling and fear and in humble reverence and
ask for forgiveness of sins.¹ Indra, who is a king among the
gods, occupying the position of Zeus in the Greek Olympus, is
invoked by those who are fighting and struggling. Agni is the
mediator between men and gods. The hymns speak of him as
a dear friend, the master of the house, grha-pati. He bears the
sacrificial offerings to the gods and brings the gods down to
an ancient dynasty and a venerable religion, a change, apparently almost
unparalleled in history, was in the course of a few years brought over the
land. Where for centuries the ancient hymns of the *Avesta* had been
chanted and the sacred fire had burned, the cry of the Mu'ezzīn sum-
moning the faithful to prayer rang out from minarets reared on the
ruins of the temples of *Ahura Mazda*. The priests of Zoroaster fell by the
sword, the ancient books perished in the flames, and soon none were
left to represent a once mighty faith but a handful of exiles flying
towards the shores of India and a despised and persecuted remnant in
solitary Yezd and remote Kīrman. Yet, after all, the change was but
skin deep and soon a host of heterodox sects born on Persian soil—
Shi'ites, Sufis, Ismailis and philosophers arose to vindicate the claim of
Aryan thought to be free and to transform the religion forced on the
nation by Arab steel into something which, though still wearing a
semblance of Islam, had a significance widely different from that which
one may fairly suppose was intended by the Arabian prophet.¹ *A Year
amongst the Persians* (1927), p. 134.
Varuna becomes *Ahura Mazda* (Ormuzd), the supreme God and Creator of the world. In one of those conversations with Zoroaster which embody the revelation that was made to him, it is recorded, *Ahura* says, 'I maintain that sky there above, shining and seen afar and encompassing the earth all round. It looks like a palace that stands built of a heavenly substance firmly established with ends that lie afar, shining, in its body of ruby over the three worlds, it is like a garment inlaid with stars made of a heavenly substance that *Mazda* puts on.' Yasht XIII Like Varuna, who is the lord of rta, Ahura is the lord of aša
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.¹ *A Year
amongst the Persians* (1927), p. 134.
Varuna becomes *Ahura Mazda* (Ormuzd), the supreme God and Creator of the world. In one of those conversations with Zoroaster which embody the revelation that was made to him, it is recorded, *Ahura* says, 'I maintain that sky there above, shining and seen afar and encompassing the earth all round. It looks like a palace that stands built of a heavenly substance firmly established with ends that lie afar, shining, in its body of ruby over the three worlds, it is like a garment inlaid with stars made of a heavenly substance that *Mazda* puts on.' Yasht XIII Like Varuna, who is the lord of rta, Ahura is the lord of aša. As Varuna is closely allied with Mitra, so is Ahura with Mithra, the sun-god Avesta knows Verethragna who is Vrtrahan, the slayer of Vṛtra. Dyaus, Apāmnapāt (Apām Napāt), Gandharva (Gandarewa), Kṛśānu (Keresāni), Vāyu (Vayu), Yama, son of Vivasvant (Yima, son of Vivanhvant) as well as Yajña (Yasna), Hotr (Zaotar), Atharva priest (Āthravan). These point to the common religion of the undivided Indo-Aryans and Iranians.
In the later *Avesta*, the supreme God is the sole creator but his attributions of the good spirit, righteousness, power, piety, health and immortality become personified as 'the Immortal Holy Ones.'
the sacrifice. He is the wise one, the chief priest, *purohita*.
Mitra is the god of light. When the Persians first emerge into
history, Mitra is the god of light who drives away darkness. He
is the defender of truth and justice, the protector of righteous-
ness, the mediator between Ahura Mazda and man ¹
Mitra, Varuna and Agni are the three eyes of the great illuminator Sun.² Aditı is said to be space and air, mother, father and son She is all comprehending ³ Deities presiding over groups of natural phenomena became identified The various Sun-gods, Sūrya, Savitr, Mitra and Vṛṣṇu tended to be looked upon as one. Agni (Fire) is regarded as one deity with three forms, the sun or celestial fire, lightning or atmospheric fire and the earthly fire manifest in the altar and in the homes of men.
Again, when worship is accorded to any of the Vedic deities,
we tend to make that deity, the supreme one, of whom all others
are forms or manifestations He is given all the attributes of a
monotheistic deity. As several deities are exalted to this first
place, we get what has been called henotheism, as distinct from
monotheism. There is, of course, a difference between a psycho-
logical monotheism where one god fills the entire life of the
worshipper and a metaphysical monotheism. Synthesising
processes, classification of gods, simplification of the ideas
of divine attributes and powers prepare for a metaphysical
unity, the one principle informing all the deities.⁴ The supreme
¹ Mithraism is older than Christianity by centuries. The two faiths were in acute rivalry until the end of the third century A.D. The form of the Christian Eucharist is very like that of the followers of Mithra.
² citram devānam ud agād anīkam cakṣur mitrasya varunasyāgneh
āprā dyāvā pythivī antariksam sūrya ātmā jagatas tāsthusaś ca
RV I 151 1
³ adıtır dyaur adıtır antariksam,
adıtır mātā, sa pītā, sa putraḥ
viśve-devā aditih pañca-janā
aditir jātam, aditir janitvam. RV I 89 10.
For Anaximander, the boundless and undifferentiated substance which
fills the universe and is the matrix in which our world is formed, is theos.
⁴ *mahad devānām asuratvam ekam* RV III 55 11.
'One fire burns in many ways' one sun illuminates the universe, one
divine dispels all darkness He alone has revealed himself in all these forms.'
eka evāgnir bahudhā samiddha
ekah sūryo viśvam anu prabhūtah
ekaivosāḥ sarvam īdam vibhāty
ekam varādam vi babhūva sarvam
RV VIII 58 2
is one who pervades the whole universe He is gods and men.¹
The Vedic Indians were sufficiently logical to realise that the attributes of creation and rulership of the world could be granted only to one being We have such a being in Prajā-patī, the lord of creatures, Visva-karman, the world-maker Thus the logic of religious faith asserts itself in favour of monotheism This tendency is supported by the conception of rta or order. The universe is an ordered whole; it is not disorderliness (akosmia).² If the endless variety of the world suggests numerous deities, the unity of the world suggests a unitary conception of the Deity
If philosophy takes its rise in wonder, if the impulse to it is in scepticism, we find the beginnings of doubt in the Rg Veda It is said of Indra 'Of whom they ask, where is he? Of him indeed they also say, he is not.'³ In another remarkable hymn, the priests are invited to offer a song of praise to Indra, 'a true one, if in truth he is, for many say, "There is no Indra, who has ever seen him? To whom are we to direct the song of praise?"'⁴ When reflection reduced the deities who were once so full of vigour to shadows, we pray for faith 'O Faith, endow us with belief.'⁵ Cosmological thought wonders whether speech and air were not to be regarded as the ultimate essence of all things.⁶ In another hymn Prajā-patī is praised as the creator and preserver of the world and as the one god, but the refrain occurs in verse after verse 'What god shall we honour by means of sacrifice?'⁷ Certainty is the source of inertia in thought, while doubt makes for progress
Agnī, kindled in many places, is but one,
One the all-pervading Sun,
One the Dawn, spreading her light over the earth
All that exists is one, whence is produced the whole world
See also X 81 3
¹ yo nah pitā janitā yo vidhātā dhāmāni veda bhuvanāni viśvā
yo devānām nāmadhā eka eva tam samprasnam bhuvanā yanty anyā
RV X 82 3
² See Plato Gorgias 507 E
³ II 12
⁴ VIII 100, 3 ff
⁵ X. 151 5
⁶ Germ of the world, the deities' vital spirit,
This god moves ever as his will inclines him
His voice is heard, his shape is ever viewless
Let us adore this air with our oblation X 168 4
⁷ kasma devāya havisā vidhema? X 121
The most remarkable account of a superpersonal monism
is to be found in the hymn of Creation ¹ It seeks to explain the
universe as evolving out of One. But the One is no longer a god
like Indra or Varuṇa, Prajā-pati or Visva-karman. The hymn
declares that all these gods are of late or of secondary origin.
They know nothing of the beginning of things. The first
principle, that one, tad ekam, is uncharacterisable. It is without
qualities or attributes, even negative ones To apply to it any
description is to limit and bind that which is limitless and
boundless. ² That one breathed breathless. There was nothing
else It is not a dead abstraction but indescribable perfection
of being Before creation all this was darkness shrouded in
darkness, an impenetrable void or abyss of waters,³ until
through the power of tapas,⁴ or the fervour of austerity, the
One evolved into determinate self-conscious being. He becomes
a creator by self-limitation. N thing outside himself can limit
him. He only can limit himself. He does not depend on anything
other than himself for his manifestation
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.
They know nothing of the beginning of things. The first
principle, that one, tad ekam, is uncharacterisable. It is without
qualities or attributes, even negative ones To apply to it any
description is to limit and bind that which is limitless and
boundless. ² That one breathed breathless. There was nothing
else It is not a dead abstraction but indescribable perfection
of being Before creation all this was darkness shrouded in
darkness, an impenetrable void or abyss of waters,³ until
through the power of tapas,⁴ or the fervour of austerity, the
One evolved into determinate self-conscious being. He becomes
a creator by self-limitation. N thing outside himself can limit
him. He only can limit himself. He does not depend on anything
other than himself for his manifestation. This power of
¹ X 129
² See B U III 9 26
³ Cp Genesis I. 2, where the Spirit of God is said to move on the face of the waters, and the Purāṇic description of Visṇu as resting on the Serpent Infinite in the milky ocean. Homer's *Iliad* speaks of Oceanos as 'the source of all things' including even the gods 14, 246, 302. Many others, North American Indians, Aztecs, etc, have such a belief.
According to Aristotle, Thales considered that all things were made of water. The Greeks had a myth of Father-Ocean as the origin of all things.
Cp Nysimha-pūrva-tāpanī U. I. 1.
āpo vā idam āsan salilam eva, sa prajā-patir ekah puṣkara-parne
samabhavat, tasyāntar manasī pāmah samavartata idam srjeyam iti
'All this remained as water along (without any form). Only Prajā-pati came to be in the lotus leaf. In his mind arose the desire, "let me create this (the world of names and forms)."
Two explanations are offered for the presence of identical symbols used
in an identical manner in different parts of the world W. J. Perry and his
friends argue that these myths and symbols were derived originally from
Egyptian culture which once spread over the world, leaving behind these
vestiges when it receded This theory does not bear close examination and
is not widely held The other explanation is that human beings are very
much the same the world over, their minds are similarly constituted and
their experience of life under primitive conditions does not differ from one
part of the world to another and it is not unnatural that identical ideas
regarding the origin and nature of the world arise independently.
⁴ *tapas* literally means heat, creative heat by which the brood hen produces life from the egg
B*
actualisation is given the name of māyā in later Vedānta, for
the manifestation does not disturb the unity and integrity of
the One The One becomes manifested by its own intrinsic
power, by its tapas. The not-self is not independent of the self
It is the avyakta or the unmanifested While it is dependent on
the Supreme Self, it appears as external to the individual ego and
is the source of its ignorance The waters represent the unformed
non-being in which the divine lay concealed in darkness We
have now the absolute in itself, the power of self-limitation,
the emergence of the determinate self and the not-self, the
waters, darkness, parā-prakṛti. The abyss is the not-self, the
mere potentiality, the bare abstraction, the receptacle of all
developments The self-conscious being gives it existence by
impressing his forms or Ideas on it The unmanifested, the
indeterminate receives determinations from the self-conscious
Lord. It is not absolute nothing, for there is never a state in
which it is not in some sense.¹ The whole world is formed by
the union of being and not-being and the Supreme Lord has
facing him this indetermination, this aspiration to existence ²
Rg Veda describes not-being (asat) as lying 'with outstretched
¹ See Paingala U I 3
In the Purāṇas, this idea is variously developed Brahma Purāna
makes out that God first created the waters which are called nāra and
released his seed into them, therefore he is called Nārāyana The seed
grew into a golden egg from which Brahmā was born of his own accord
and so is called svayambhū Brahmā divided the egg into two halves,
heaven and earth I 1 38 ff
The Brahmānda Purāra says that Brahmā, known as Nārāyana,
rested on the surface of the waters
Vidyāranya on Mahānārāyana U. III. 16 says nara-śarīrānām
upādāra-rūpāy annādi-pañca-bhūtāni nara-śabdenocyante, teṣu bhūtesu
yā āpo mukhyāh tā ayanam ādhāro yasya visnoh so'yam nārāyanah
samvidra-jala-śūyī
Cp āpo nārā iti proklā āpo varṇa nara-sūnavah
ayaram tasya tāh proklās tena nārāyanas smṛtah
The Visnu-dharmottara says that Visnu created the waters and the
creation of the egg and Brahmā took place afterwards
³ Speaking of Boehme's mystic philosophy which influenced William
Law, Stephen Hobhouse writes that he believes 'in the Ungrund, the
fathomless abyss of freedom or indifference, which is at the root, so to
speak, of God and of all existences . the idea of the mighty but blind
face of Desire that arises out of this abyss and by means of imagination
shapes itself into a purposeful will which is the heart of the Divine
personality.' *Selected Mystical Writings of William Law* (1948), p 307
feet' like a woman in the throes of childbirth.³ As the first product of the divine mind, the mind's first fruit, came forth kāma, desire, the cosmic will, which is the primal source of all existence. In this kāma, 'the wise searching in their hearts, have by contemplation (manīṣā), discovered the connection between the existent and the non-existent'.² The world is created by the personal self-conscious God who acts by his intelligence and will
This is how the Vedic seers understood in some measure how they and the whole creation arose. The writer of the hymn has the humility to admit that all this is a surmise, for it is not possible for us to be sure of things which lie so far beyond human knowledge.³
This hymn suggests the distinction between the Absolute Reality and Personal God, Brahman and Iśvara, the Absolute beyond being and knowledge, the super-personal, super-essential godhead in its utter transcendence of all created beings and its categories and the Real manifested to man in terms of the highest categories of human experience. Personal Being is treated as a development or manifestation of the Absolute.
In another hymn,⁴ the first existent being is called Prajā-pati, facing the chaos of waters. He impregnates the waters and becomes manifest in them in the form of a golden egg or germ, from which the whole universe develops.⁵ He is called the one
¹ I. 10. 72.
² Kāma becomes defined later as icchā, desire and kriyā, action. It is the creative urge
Cp with Kāma, the Orphic god, Eros, also called Phanes, who is the principle of generation by whom the whole world is created.
³ See also I 16 4 32, where the writer says that he who made all this does not probably know its real nature
'He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it,
Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven,
He, venly, knows it, or perhaps he knows not.'
X 129 7 ET by Max Muller.
⁴ I 10 121
⁵ hiranya-garbha, literally gold-germ, source of golden light, the world-soul, from which all powers and existences of this world are derived. It comes later to mean Brahmā, the creator of the world. In the Orphic Cosmogony we have similar ideas. Professor F. M
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.
³ See also I 16 4 32, where the writer says that he who made all this does not probably know its real nature
'He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it,
Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven,
He, venly, knows it, or perhaps he knows not.'
X 129 7 ET by Max Muller.
⁴ I 10 121
⁵ hiranya-garbha, literally gold-germ, source of golden light, the world-soul, from which all powers and existences of this world are derived. It comes later to mean Brahmā, the creator of the world. In the Orphic Cosmogony we have similar ideas. Professor F. M. Cornford writes, 'In the beginning there was a primal undifferentiated unity, called by the Orphics "Night" Within this unity the world egg was generated, or received as a cosmic person with a thousand heads, eyes and feet, who filled the whole universe and extended beyond it, by the length of ten fingers,¹ the universe being constituted by a fourth of his nature.² The world form is not a complete expression or manifestation of the divine Reality. It is only a fragment of the divine that is manifested in the cosmic process. The World-soul is a partial expression of the Supreme Lord.
Creation is interpreted in the Vedas as development rather than the bringing into being something not hitherto existent. The first principle is manifested in the whole world. *Purusa* by his sacrifice becomes the whole world. This view prepares for the development of the doctrine which is emphasised in the Upanisads that the spirit in man is one with the spirit which is the *purna* of the world.
Within this world we have the one positive principle of being and yet have varying degrees of existence marked by varying degrees of penetration or participation of nonentity by divine being. God as *Hiranya-garbha* is nothing of the already made. He is not an ineffective God who sums up in himself all that is given.
*Rg Veda* used two different concepts, generation and birth, and something artificially produced to account for creation. Heaven and earth are the parents of the gods; or the Creator of the world is a smith or a carpenter.
> Again 'In the beginning was the golden germ
> From his birth he was sole lord of creation.
> He made firm the earth and this bright sky;'³
In this hymn Prajā-patī, the lord of offspring, assumes the name of *Hiranya-garbha*, the golden germ, and in the *Atharva Veda* and later literature *Hiranya-garbha* himself becomes a supreme deity.⁴ The *Rg Veda* is familiar with the four-fold distinction of (1) the Absolute, the One, beyond all dualities and
¹ sa bhūmim viśvato vṛtvā aty atisthad daśāngulam
² pādo'sya viśvā bhūtāni tripād asyāmṛtam divi.
³ RV X 121 1
⁴ In the *Atharva Veda* he appears as the embryo which is produced in the waters at the beginning of creation. IV. 2 8
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distinctions, (ii) the self-conscious Subject confronting the object, (iii) the World-soul, and (iv) the world ¹
The monistic emphasis led the Vedic thinkers to look upon the Vedic deities as different names of the One Universal Godhead, each representing some essential power of the divine being. They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni. He is the heavenly bird Garutmat. To what is one, the poets give many a name. They call it Agni, Yama, Mātariṣva.² The real that lies behind the tide of temporal change is one, though we speak of it in many ways. Agni, Yama, etc., are symbols. They are not gods in themselves. They express different qualities of the object worshipped. The Vedic seers were not conscious of any iconoclastic mission. They did not feel called upon to denounce
This list finds a parallel, as we shall see, in the hierarchy of being given in the Mā U with its four grades of consciousness, the waking or the perceptual, the dreaming or the imaginative, the self in deep sleep or the conceptual, the *turīya* or the transcendent, spiritual consciousness which is not so much a grade of consciousness as the total consciousness.
Plato in the Timaeus teaches that the Supreme Deity, the Demi-urge, creates a universal World-Soul, through which the universe becomes an organism. The World-Soul bears the image of the Ideas, and the world-body is fashioned in the same pattern. If the whole world has not been ordered as God would have desired, it is due to the necessity which seems to reside in an intractable material, which was in 'disorderly motion' before the Creator imposed form on it.
² I 164 46 *ekam santam bahudhā kalpayantī* RV X 114 4 See B G X 41
Zeus is the supreme ruler of gods and men, other gods exist to do his bidding.
Cp Cicero 'God being present everywhere in Nature, can be regarded in the field as Ceres; or on the sea as Neptune, and elsewhere in a variety of forms in all of which He may be worshipped. *De Nature Deorum*
For Plutarch and Maximus of Tyre, the different gods worshipped in the third century Roman Empire were symbolic representations of a Supreme God who is unknowable in his inmost nature.
'God himself, the father and fashioner of all is unnameable by any lawgiver, unutterable by any voice, not to be seen by any eye. But if a Greek is stirred to the remembrance of God by the art of Phidias, an Egyptian by paying worship to animals, another man by a river, another by fire, I have no anger for their divergence, only let them know, let them love, let them remember.'
In the *Tattirīya Samhitā* and *Śatapatha Brāhmana*, it is said that Prajā-patī assumed certain forms of fish (*matsya*), tortoise (*kūrma*) and boar (*varāha*) for the attainment of certain ends. When the doctrine of *avalāras*, incarnations, becomes established, these three become the incarnations of Visnu.
the worship of the various deities as disastrous error or mortal sin. They led the worshippers of the many deities to the worship of the one and only God by a process of reinterpretation and reconciliation.
The reaction of the local cults on the Vedic faith is one of the many causes of variety of the Vedic pantheon. People in an early stage of culture are so entirely steeped in the awe and reverence which have descended to them that they cannot easily or heartily adopt a new pattern of worship. Even when militant religions fell the tall trees of the forest, the ancient beliefs remain as an undergrowth. The catholic spirit of Hinduism which we find in the *Rg Veda* has always been ready to give shelter to foreign beliefs and assimilate them in its own fashion. While preferring their own, the Vedic Indians had the strength to comprehend other peoples' ways.
There is no suggestion in the *Rg Veda* of the illusory character of the empirical world. We find varied accounts of creation. The Supreme is compared to a carpenter or a smith who fashions or smelts the world into being. Sometimes he is said to beget all beings. He pervades all things as air or ether (ākāśa) pervades the universe. He animates the world as the life-breath (prāṇa) animates the human body, a comparison which has been developed with remarkable ingenuity by Rāmānuja.
*Rg Veda* raises the question of the nature of the human self, *ko mu ātmā? It is the controller of the body, the unborn part, ajo bhāgah*, which survives death. It is distinguished from the jīva or the individual soul.³ The famous verse of the two birds dwelling in one body, which is taken up by the Upaniṣads,⁴ distinguishes the individual soul which enjoys the fruits of actions from the spirit which is merely a passive spectator
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. Sometimes he is said to beget all beings. He pervades all things as air or ether (ākāśa) pervades the universe. He animates the world as the life-breath (prāṇa) animates the human body, a comparison which has been developed with remarkable ingenuity by Rāmānuja.
*Rg Veda* raises the question of the nature of the human self, *ko mu ātmā? It is the controller of the body, the unborn part, ajo bhāgah*, which survives death. It is distinguished from the jīva or the individual soul.³ The famous verse of the two birds dwelling in one body, which is taken up by the Upaniṣads,⁴ distinguishes the individual soul which enjoys the fruits of actions from the spirit which is merely a passive spectator.⁵ This distinction between the individual soul and the supreme self is relevant to the cosmic process and is not applicable to the supreme supra-cosmic transcendence. Those who think that the distinction is to be found in the Supreme Transcendence
¹ I, 164, 4
² X, 16, 4.
³ I, 113, 161, I, 164, 30.
⁴ See M.U III, I, I, S U. IV 6.
⁵ I, 164, 17 *atra laukīka-paksa-dvaya-drsṭāntena jīva-paramātmānau stūyete Sāyana*
do not know their own origin, *pītaram na veda* ¹ The individual souls belong to the world of Hiranya-garbha
'Let this mortal clay (self) be the immortal god '² 'Vouchsafe, O Indra, that we may be you '³ One can become a *devata*, a deity, by one's own deeds ⁴ The aim of the *Rg Veda* is to become like gods The individual soul can become the Universal Spirit
The way to spiritual attainment is through worship⁵ and moral life Vestiges of Yoga discipline are found in a late passage⁶ which describes the *kesins* or the long-haired ascetics with their yogic powers that enabled them to move at will in space Of a *mumu*, it is said that his mortal body men see but he himself fares on the path of the faery spirits His hair is long and his soiled garments are of yellow hue Vāmadeva when he felt the unity of all created things with his own self exclaimed 'I am Manu, I am Sūrya '7 So also King Trasadasyu said that he was Indra and the great Varuna ⁸
The cardinal virtues are emphasised 'O Mitra and Varuna, by your pathway of truth may we cross '9 Mere memorising of the hymns is of no avail if we do not know the Supreme which sustains all ¹⁰
Primitive societies are highly complicated structures,
¹ yasmin vykse madhvadah suparnā
nivisante suvate cādhi viśve
tasyed āhuh pippalam khādv agre
tan nonnāśad yah pitaram na veda
RV I 164 22
² RV VIII 19 25
³ tve indrāpy abhūma viprā dhiyam vanema rtayā sapamtah. RV II 11 12
⁴ BU IV 3 32, see also IV 1 2 devo bhūtvā devān āpyetri, see also TU II 8
⁵ The solitary reference to a temple is in RV X 107 10 where the word *deva-māna*, building of a god, occurs
⁶ RV X 136 See also Aitareya Brāhmana VII 13
⁷ aham manur abhavam sūryaś cāham RV IV 26 1
⁸ aham rājā varuno RV IV 42 2
⁹ rtasya pathā vām taśema VII 65 3
¹⁰ yco aksare parame vyoman yasmin
devā adhi viśve niseduh
yas tam na veda kīm karīsyatī
ya it tad vidus ta me samāsate
RV X 164 39
See S U IV 8
balanced social organisations with their systems of belief and codes of behaviour. The fundamental needs of society are the moral and the spiritual, the military and the economic. In Indo-European society these three functions are assigned to three different groups, the men of learning and virtue, the men of courage and fight, and the men who provide the economic needs,¹ the Brāhmana, the Kṛatriya and the Vaśya. Below them were the Sūdras devoted to service. These distinctions are found in the *Rg Veda*, though they are not crystallised into castes. Ancient Iranian society was constituted on a similar pattern
Even the gods were classified into the Brāhmana, the Kṛatriya and the Vaśya according to the benefits which they provide, moral, military or economic. Our prayers are for righteousness, victory and abundance Sūrya, Savitr are gods who confer spiritual benefits. Indra is a war god and Aśvins give us health and food. In Roman mythology Jupiter provides spiritual benefits, Mars is the god of war and Quirinus is the god of plenty.
Pitras or fathers or ancestral spirits receive divine worship. The king of the ancestral spirits who rules in the kingdom of the deceased is Yama, a god who belongs to the Indo-Iranian period He is identical with Yima of the Avesta, who is the first human being, the primeval ancestor of the human race. As the first one to depart from this world and enter the realm of the dead, he became its king. The kingdom of the dead is in heaven, and the dying man is comforted by the belief that after death he will abide with King Yama in the highest heaven. The world of heaven is the place of refuge of the departed.² In the funeral hymn,³ the departing soul is asked to 'go forth along the ancient pathway by which our ancestors have departed.' The Vedic Heaven is described in glowing terms 'where inexhaustible radiance dwells, where dwells the King Vaivasvata.'³
There is no reference to rebirth in the *Rg Veda*, though its elements are found. The passage of the soul from the body, its dwelling in other forms of existence, its return to human
¹ Luther felt that three classes were ordained by God, the teaching class, the class of defenders and the working class.
² R V. IV 53 2, X 12 1
³ R V X 14
³ R.V. IX 113
form, the determination of future existence by the principle
of Karma are all mentioned Mitra is born again ¹ The Dawn
(Usas) is born again and again ² 'I seek neither release nor
return '³ 'The immortal self will be reborn in a new body due
to its meritorious deeds '4 Sometimes the departed spirit is
asked to go to the plants and 'stay there with bodies '5 There is
retribution for good and evil deeds in a life after death Good
men go to heaven⁶ and others to the world presided over by
Yama 7 Their work (dharma) decided their future 8
In the *Rg Veda* we find the first adventures of the human
mind made by those who sought to discover the meaning of
existence and man's place in life, 'the first word spoken by
the Aryan man '9
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Sacred knowledge is trayi vidyā It is three-fold, being the
knowledge of the Rg, the Yajur and the Sāma Vedas The
two latter use the hymns of the Rg and the Atharva Vedas
and arrange them for purposes of ritual The aim of the Yajur
Veda is the correct performance of the sacrifice to which is
attributed the whole control of the universe Deities are of less
importance than the mechanism of the sacrifice In the Atharva
Veda the position of the deities is still less important A certain
aversion to the recognition of the Atharva Veda as a part of
the sacred canon is to be noticed Even the old Buddhist texts
speak of learned Brāhmaṇas versed in the three Vedas 10
¹ mitro jāyate punah X 85 19
² punah punar jāyamānā I 92 10
³ na asyāh ṭasmi vimucaṁ na āvṛtam punah V 46 1
4 jīvo mṛtasya caratī svadhābhir
amariyo martyenā sa yonih
I 164 30, see also I 164 38
5 RV X 16 3
⁶ I 154 5
7 X 14 2
⁸ X 16 3
⁵ Max Müller For further information on the R V. see I P Vol I, Ch II
10 Sutta Nipāta 1019
Though we meet in the *Atharva Veda* many of the gods of the *Rg Veda*, their characters are not so distinct. The sun becomes *rohitu*, the ruddy one. A few gods are exalted to the position of Prajā-patī, Dhātr (Establisher), Vidhātr (arranger). Parameṣṭhin (he that is in the highest). In a notable passage the Supreme in the form of Varuna is described as the universal, omnipresent witness.¹ There are references to *kāla* or time as the first cause of all existence, *kāma* or desire as the force behind the evolution of the universe, *skambha* or support who is conceived as the principle on which everything rests. Theories tracing the world to water or to air as the most subtle of the physical elements are to be met with.
The religion of the *Atharva Veda* reflects the popular belief in numberless spirits and ghosts credited with functions connected in various ways with the processes of nature and the life of man.² We see in it strong evidence of the vitality of the pre-Vedic animist religion and its fusion with Vedic beliefs. All objects and creatures are either spirits or are animated by spirits. While the gods of the *Rg Veda* are mostly friendly ones we find in the *Atharva Veda* dark and demoniacal powers which bring disease and misfortune on mankind. We have to win them by flattering petitions and magical rites. We come across spells and incantations for gaining worldly ends. The Vedic seer was loth to let the oldest elements disappear without trace. Traces of the influence of the *Atharva Veda* are to be found in the Upaniṣads. There are spells for the healing of diseases, *bhaiṣajyāni*, for life and healing *āyusyāṇi sūktāni*. These were the beginnings of the medical science ³
The liberated soul is described as 'free from desire, wise, immortal, self-born ... not deficient in any respect ... wise, unageing, young ⁴
¹ dvau samnīsīdhya yau mantrayete rājā tad veda varunah tṛtīyah.
² A. V. XIX 53
³ In B U. VI 4 we read of devices for securing the love of a woman or for the destruction of the lover of a wife. See also K U.
⁴ A. V. X. 8 44.
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The elements of the ritualistic cult found in the Vedas are developed in the Brāhmanas into an elaborate system of ceremonies. While in the *Rg Veda* the sacrifices are a means for the propitiation of the gods, in the Brāhmanas they become ends in themselves. Even the gods are said to owe their position to sacrifices. There are many stories of the conflict between *devas* and *asuras* for world power (and of the way in which gods won through the power of the sacrifice).
It is not the mechanical performance of a sacrificial rite that brings about the desired result, but the knowledge of its real meaning. Many of the Brāhmana texts are devoted to the exposition of the mystic significance of the various elements of the ritual. By means of the sacrifices we 'set in motion' the cosmic forces dealt with and get from them the desired results. The priests who knew the details of the aim, meaning and performance of the sacrifice came into great prominence. Gods became negligible intermediaries. If we perform a rite with knowledge, the expected benefit will result. Soon the actual performance of the rite becomes unnecessary. Ritualistic religion becomes subordinate to knowledge.
The Brāhmanas are convinced that life on earth is, on the whole, a good thing. The ideal for man is to live the full term of his life on earth. As he must die, the sacrifice helps him to get to the world of heaven.
While the Vedic poets hoped for a life in heaven after death, there was uneasiness about the interference of death in a future life. The fear of re-death, *punar-mrtyu* becomes prominent in the Brāhmanas. Along with the fear of re-death arose the belief of the imperishability of the self or the ātman, the
¹ Katha Samhitā XXII. 9, Tattirīya Samhitā V 3 3, Tāndya Brāhmana XVIII 1 2
² See Franklin Edgerton 'The Upanisads What do they seek and Why?' Journal of the American Oriental Society, June, 1929
essential part of man's being. Death is not the end but only
causes new existences which may not be better than the present
one Under the influence of popular animism which sees souls
similar to the human in all pares of nature, future life was
brought down to earth. According to the Satapatha Brāhmana,
a man has three births, the first when he gets from his parents,
the second through sacrificial ceremonies and the third which
he obtains after death and cremation 1
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The Āranyakas do not give us rules for the performance of
sacrifices and explanations of ceremonies, but provide us with
the mystic teaching of the sacrificial religion As a matter of
fact, some of the oldest Upanisads are included in the Āranyaka
texts,² which are meant for the study of those who are
engaged in the vow of forest life, the Vānaprasthas ³ As
those who retire to the forests are not like the house-
holders bound to the ritual, the Āranyakas deal with
the meaning and interpretation of the sacrificial cere-
monies It is possible that certain sacred rites were per-
formed in the seclusion of the forests where teachers and
pupils meditated on the significance of these rites The
¹ trīr ha var puruso jāyate, etan mu eva mātus ca adhi pituś ca agre jāyate, atha yam yajñah upanamati sa yad yajate, tad dvitīyam jāyate; atha yatra mriyate yatrainam agnāv abhyādadhūti sa yat tatas sambhavati, tat triīyam jāyate XI 2 1 1 See I P Vol I, Ch III
² AU is included in the Ātareya Āranyaka which is tacked on to Ātareya Brāhmana KU and TU belong to the Brāhmanas of the same names BU is found at the end of the Satapatha Brāhmana CU of which the first section is an Āranyaka belongs to a Brāhmana of the Sāma Veda Kena (Talavakāra U) belongs to the Jaiminīya Upanisod Brāhmana Iśa belongs to the White Yajur Veda, Katha and SU to the Black Yajur Veda, MU and Praśna belong to the Atharva Veda Maitrī, though attributed to a school of Black Yajur Veda, is perhaps post-Buddhistic, judged by its language, style and contents.
³ *Aruneya U 2*
distinction of Brāhmaṇa and Āraṇyaka is not an absolute
one.
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The Āraṇyakas¹ shade off imperceptibly into the Upaniṣads even as the Brāhmaṇas shade off into the Āraṇyakas. While the student (brahmacārin) reads the hymns, the householder (grhastha) attends to the Brāhmaṇas which speak of the daily duties and sacrificial ceremonies, the hermit, the man of the forest (vānaprastha), discusses the Āraṇyakas, the monk who has renounced worldly attachment (saṃnyāsin), studies the Upaniṣads, which specialise in philosophical speculations.
The great teachers of the past did not claim any credit for themselves, but maintained that they only transmitted the wisdom of the ancients.² The philosophical tendencies implicit in the Vedic hymns are developed in the Upaniṣads.
Hymns to gods and goddesses are replaced by a search for the reality underlying the flux of things. 'What is that which, being known, everything else becomes known?'³ Kena Upaniṣad gives the story of the discomfiture of the gods who found out the truth that it is the power of Brahman which sustains the gods of fire, air, etc.⁴ While the poets of the Veda speak to us of the many into which the radiance of the Supreme has split, the philosophers of the Upaniṣads speak to us of the One Reality behind and beyond the flux of the world. The Vedic deities are the messengers of the One Light which has
¹ Aitareya Aranyaka (III. 1. 1.) begins with the title 'The Upaniṣad of the Samhitā, athātas sanhāyā upariṣat' see also Sānṛphya jana Aranyaka VII. 2.
² Cp. Confucius: 'I am not born endowed with knowledge. I am a man who loves the ancients and has made every effort to acquire their learning.' Upaniṣad VII. 10.
³ M. L. I 1 3; see also T. L. II. 8.
⁴ See also B. L. III. 9 1-10.
burst forth into the universal creation. They serve to mediate between pure thought and the intelligence of the dwellers in the world of sense
When we pass from the Vedic hymns to the Upanisads we find that the interest shifts from the objective to the subjective, from the brooding on the wonder of the outside world to the meditation on the significance of the self The human self contains the clue to the interpretation of nature. The Real at the heart of the universe is reflected in the infinite depths of the soul. The Upanisads give in some detail the path of the inner ascent, the inward journey by which the individual souls get at the Ultimate Reality. Truth is within us. The different Vedic gods are envisaged subjectively 'Making the Man (purusa) their mortal house the gods indwelt him '1 'All these gods are in me '2 'He is, indeed, initiated, whose gods within him are initiated, mind by Mind, voice by Voice '3 The operation of the gods becomes an epiphany· 'This Brahma, verily, shines when one sees with the eye and likewise dies when one does not see '4 The deities seem to be not different from Plato's Ideas or Eternal Reasons.
In the Upanisads we find a criticism of the empty and barren
ritualistic religion 5 Sacrifices were relegated to an inferior
position They do not lead to final liberation, they take one to
the world of the Fathers from which one has to return to earth
again in due course 6 When all things are God's, there is no point
in offering to him anything, except one's will, one's self The
sacrifices are interpreted ethically. The three periods of life
supersede the three Soma offerings 7 Sacrifices become self-
denying acts like purusa-medha and sarva-medha which enjoin
abandonment of all possessions and renunciation of the world.
For example, the Byad-āranyaka Upanisad opens with an
account of the horse sacrifice (aśva-medha) and interprets it
as a meditative act in which the individual offers up the
1 Atharva Veda XI 8 18
2 Jaiminīya Upanisad Brāhmana I 14 2
3 Kausītaki Brāhmana VII 4
4 KU II 12 and 13
5 M U I 2 1, 7-11, B U. III 9 6, 21, C U I 10-12, IV. 1-3.
6 B U I 5, 16, VI 2 16, C U V 10 3, Praśna I 9; M U. I. 2 10.
7 CU III 16
whole universe in place of the horse, and by the renunciation of the world attains spiritual autonomy in place of earthly sovereignty.¹ In every *homa* the expression *svāhā* is used which implies the renunciation of the ego, *svatva-hanana*².
There is great stress on the distinction between the ignorant, narrow, selfish way which leads to transitory satisfactions and the way which leads to eternal life *Yajña* is Karma, work.³ It is work done for the improvement of the soul and the good of the world, *ātmonmataye jagaddhitāya Sāmkhyāyana Brāhmana* of the *Rg Veda* says that the self is the sacrifice and the human soul is the sacrificer, *puruso var yajñah, ātmā yajamānah*. The observance of the Vedic ritual prepares the mind for final release, if it is in the right spirit.⁴
Prayer and sacrifice are means to philosophy and spiritual life. While true sacrifice is the abandonment of one's ego, prayer is the exploration of reality by entering the beyond that is within, by ascension of consciousness. It is not theoretical learning.⁵ We must see the eternal, the celestial, the still. If it is unknowable and incomprehensible, it is yet realisable by self-discipline and integral insight. We can seize the truth not
¹ *Devī Bhāgavata* says that the Supreme took the form of the Buddha in order to put a stop to wrong sacrifices and prevent injury to animals
*dusta-yajña-vighātāya pasu-himsā nivrttaye*
*bauddha-rūpam dadhan yo'sau tasmat devāya te namah*
Animal sacrifices are found in the Vedas (inserted) by the twice-born who are given to pleasures and relishing tastes. Non-injury is, verily, the highest truth.
*dvyaṁ bhoga-rataṁ vede darśitam himsanam paśoh*
*jīhvā-svāda-paraṁ kāmam ahimsaṁva paraṁ matā*
² Yāska explains it thus: *su āhā iti vā, svā vāg āheti vā, svam pīhēti vā, svāhutam haviṁ juhuti iti vā*. *Nirukta* VIII 21.
³ Cp BG III 9, 10.
Manu says: 'Learning is brahma-yajña, service of elders is pitr-yajña, honouring great and learned people is deva-yajña, performing religious acts and charity is bhūta-yajña and entertaining guests is nara-yajña.'
*adhyāpanam brahma-yajñāh pitr-yajñas tu tarpanam*
*homo daivo balār bhauṭo nr-yajño atiṭhi-pūyaṇam*
⁴ Laugāksi Bhāskara points out at the end of the *Artha-samgraha*, so'yam dharmah yad uddisya vihitah tad-uddesena kriyamānah tad-hetuh, īsvarārpana-buddhā kriyamānas tu niḥsreyasa-hetuh.
⁵ Cū VII 123
by logical thinking, but by the energy of our whole inner being. Prayer starts with faith, with complete trust in the Being to whom appeal is made, with the feeling of a profound need, and a simple faith that God can grant us benefits and is well disposed towards us. When we attain the blinding experience of the spiritual light, we feel compelled to proclaim a new law for the world.
The Upanisad seers are not bound by the rules of caste, but extend the law of spiritual universalism to the utmost bounds of human existence
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.
⁵ Cū VII 123
by logical thinking, but by the energy of our whole inner being. Prayer starts with faith, with complete trust in the Being to whom appeal is made, with the feeling of a profound need, and a simple faith that God can grant us benefits and is well disposed towards us. When we attain the blinding experience of the spiritual light, we feel compelled to proclaim a new law for the world.
The Upanisad seers are not bound by the rules of caste, but extend the law of spiritual universalism to the utmost bounds of human existence. The story of Satyakāma Jābāla, who, though unable to give his father's name, was yet initiated into spiritual life, shows that the Upanisad writers appeal from the rigid ordinances of custom to those divine and spiritual laws which are not of today or of yesterday, but live for ever and of their origin knoweth no man. The words *tat tvam asi* are so familiar that they slide off our minds without full comprehension.
The goal is not a heavenly state of bliss or rebirth in a better world, but freedom from the objective, cosmic law of karma and identity with the Supreme Consciousness and Freedom. The Vedic paradise, svarga, becomes a stage in the individual's growth 1
The Upanisads generally mention the Vedas with respect and their study is enjoined as an important duty 2. Certain verses from the Vedas such as the *gāyatiī* form the subject of meditations 3, and sometimes verses from the Vedas are quoted in support of the teaching of the Upanisads 4. While the Upanisads use the Vedas, their teaching is dependent on the personal experience and testimony of teachers like Yājñavalkya, Sāndilya. The authority of the Vedas is, to no small extent, due to the inclusion of the Upanisads in them.
It is often stated that Vedic knowledge by itself will not do. In the Chāndogya Upanisad, 5 Svetaketu admits that he has
1 The svarga offered as a reward for ceremonial conformity is only a stage in the onward growth of the human soul, sattva-gunodaya Bhāgavata XI 19 42.
Nirālambopanisad defines svarga as sat-samsarga. Heaven and Hell are both in the cosmic process atraiva narakas svargah. Bhāgavata III. 30 29
2 BU IV 4 22, I 9.
3 BU VI. 3 6.
4 BU I 3 10
5 VI 1ff.
studied all the Vedas but is lacking in the knowledge 'whereby what has not been heard of becomes heard of, what has not been thought of becomes thought of, what has not been understood becomes understood.' Nārada tells Sanatkumāra that he has not the knowledge of the Self though he has covered the entire range of knowledge, from the Vedas to snake-charming.¹
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To the pioneers of the Upaniṣads, the problem to be solved presented itself in the form, what is the world rooted in? What is that by reaching which we grasp the many objects perceived in the world around us? They assume, as many philosophers do, that the world of multiplicity is, in fact, reducible to one single, primary reality which reveals itself to our senses in different forms. This reality is hidden from senses but is discernible to the reason. The Upaniṣads raise the question, what is that reality which remains identical and persists through change?
The word used in the Upaniṣads to indicate the supreme reality is *brahman*. It is derived from the root *brh* 'to grow, to burst forth.' The derivation suggests gushing forth, bubbling over, ceaseless growth, *brhativam*. Śamkara derives the word 'brahman' from the root *brhat* to exceed, *atīśayana* and means by it eternity, purity. For Madhva, *brahman* is the person in whom the qualities dwell in fullness, *brhanto hy asmin gunāh*. The real is not a pale abstraction, but is quickeningly alive, of powerful vitality. In the *Rg Veda*, *brahman* is used in the sense of 'sacred knowledge or utterance, a hymn or incantation,' the concrete expression of spiritual wisdom. Sometimes *Vāc* is personified as the One.² *Visva-karman*, the All-Maker, is said to be the lord of the holy utterance.³ *Brahman* is *mantra* or prayer. Gradually it acquired the meaning of power or potency of prayer, It has a mysterious power and contains within itself the essence of the thing denoted *Brhaspati*, *Brahmanaspati* are interpreted as the lord of prayer.
³ RV X 125, Atharva Veda IV 30
¹ VII 1 ff
² X. 81. 7, X. 71.
In the Brāhmanas, brahman denotes the ritual and so is regarded as omnipotent. He who knows brahman knows and controls the universe. Brahman becomes the primal principle and guiding spirit of the universe 'There is nothing more ancient or brighter than this brahman.'¹
In later thought, brahman meant wisdom or Veda. As divine origin was ascribed to the Veda or brahman, the two words were used with the same meaning. Brahman or sacred knowledge came to be called the first created thing, brahma prathamam and even to be treated as the creative principle, the cause of all existence.
The word suggests a fundamental kinship between the aspiring spirit of man and the spirit of the universe which it seeks to attain The wish to know the Real implies that we know it to some extent. If we do not know anything about it, we cannot even say that it is and that we wish to know it If we know the Real, it is because the Real knows itself in us The desire for God, the feeling that we are in a state of exile, implies the reality of God in us All spiritual progress is the growth of half-knowledge into clear illumination. Religious experience is the evidence for the Divine In our inspired moments we have the feeling that there is a greater reality within us, though we cannot tell what it is From the movements that stir in us and the utterances that issue from us, we perceive the power, not ourselves, that moves us Religious experience is by no means subjective God cannot be known or experienced except through his own act If we have a knowledge of Brahman, it is due to the working of Brahman in us² Prayer is the witness to the spirit of the transcendent divine immanent in the spirit of man. The thinkers of the Upanisads based the reality of Brahman on the fact of spiritual experience, ranging from simple prayer to illuminated experience The distinctions which they make in the nature of the Supreme Reality are not merely logical. They are facts of spiritual experience
¹ *Satapatha Brāhmana* X 3 5. 11
² Cp St Anselm. 'I cannot seek Thee except Thou teach me, nor find Thee except Thou reveal Thyself', Rūmī 'Was it not I who summoned Thee to long service, was it not I who made Thee busy with my name? Thy calling "Allāh" was my "Here am I".'
The thinkers of the Upanisads attempt to establish the
reality of God from an analysis of the facts of nature and the
facts of inner life
'Who knows and who can declare what pathway leads
to the gods?'
Seen are their lowest dwelling-places only,
What pathway leads to the highest, most secret
regions?¹
The Upanisads assume that it is a distorted habit of mind which
identifies 'the highest, most secret regions' with the 'lowest
dwelling-places' The Real is not the actual The Upanisads
ask, 'What is the tajjalān from which all things spring, into
which they are resolved and in which they live and have their
being?²
The Brhad-āranyaka Upamsad maintains that the ultimate
reality is being, san-mātram hi brahma Since nothing is without
reason there must be a reason why something exists rather than
nothing There is something, there is not nothing The world
is not self-caused, self-dependent, self-maintaining All philo-
sophical investigation presupposes the reality of being, asti-
tva-nisthā.³ The theologian accepts the first principle of being as
an absolute one, the philosopher comes to it by a process of
mediation By logically demonstrating the impossibility of
not-being in and by itself, he asserts the necessity of being
Being denotes pure affirmation to the exclusion of every possible
negation It expresses simultaneously God's consciousness of
himself and his own absolute self-absorbed being We cannot
live a rational life without assuming the reality of being Not-
being is sometimes said to be the first principle.⁴ It is not
absolute non-being but only relative non-being, as compared
with later concrete existence
2 CU III 14 I, see also T U III 1, S U I 1
1 RV III 54
3 Cp 'Then God said to Moses "I am that I Am"' Exodus III 14
There is a familiar distinction between nāstika and āstika. The nāstika thinks that nothing exists except what we see, feel, touch and measure. The āstika is one who holds with RV X 31 8 naitāvad enā paro anyad asti, there is not merely this but there is also a transcendent other.
4 T U II 7, CU III 19 1-3
Even as the *nyagrodha* tree is made of the subtle essence which we do not perceive, so is this world made of the infinite *Brahman*¹ 'It is at the command of that Imperishable that the sun and the moon stand bound in their places It is at the command of that Imperishable that the heaven and the earth stand each in its own place It is at the command of that Imperishable that the very moments, the hours, the days, the nights, the half-months, the months, the seasons and the years have their appointed function in the scheme of things It is at the command of that Imperishable that some rivers flow to the east from the snow-clad mountains while others flow to the west'² When Bālāki defines *Brahman* as the person in the sun (āditya punuṣah) and successively as the person in the moon, in lightning, in ether, in wind, in fire, in the waters, also as the person in the mind, in the shadow, in echo and in the body, King Ajātaśatru asks, 'Is that all?' When Bālāki confesses that he can go no farther, the king says, 'He who is the maker of all these persons, he, verily, should be known' *Brahman* is satyasya satyam, the Reality of the real, the source of all existing things ³
In some cosmological speculations the mysterious principle of reality is equated with certain naturalistic elements Water is said to be the source of all things whatsoever ⁴ From it came satya, the concrete existent Others like Raikva look upon air as the final absorbent of all things whatsoever, including fire and water ⁵ The *Katha Upamsad* tells us that fire, having entered the universe, assumes all forms
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. ⁶ The *Chāndogya Upaniṣad*, however, makes out that fire is the first to evolve from the Primaeval Being and from fire came water and from water the earth At the time of dissolution, the earth is dissolved in water, and water in fire and fire in the Primaeval Being ⁷ *Ākāśa*, ether, space, is sometimes viewed as the first principle In regard to the development of the universe, the Upaniṣads
¹ CU VI 12 For the usage of the world as a tree, see R V I 164 20, VII 40 5, VII 43 1
² BU III 8 9 Augustine in his *Confessions* expresses the thought that the things of the world declare through their visible appearance the fact that they are created XI 4
³ BU II 1
⁴ B.U V 5 1
⁵ CU IV 3 1–2
⁶ II 5
⁷ VI 8. 4
look upon the earliest state of the material world as one of extension in space, of which the characteristic feature is vibration represented to us by the phenomenon of sound. From **ākāśa**, **vāyu**, air arises. Vibration by itself cannot create forms unless it meets with obstruction. The interaction of vibrations is possible in air which is the next modification. To sustain the different forces, a third modification arises, **lejas**, of which light and heat are the manifestations. We still do not have stable forms and so the denser medium of water is produced. A further state of cohesion is found in earth. The development of the world is a process of steady grossening of the subtle **ākāśa** or space. All physical objects, even the most subtle, are built up by the combination of these five elements. Our sense experience depends on them. By the action of vibration comes the sense of sound, by the action of things in a world of vibrations the sense of touch, by the action of light the sense of sight, by the action of water the sense of taste, by the action of earth the sense of smell.
In the *Tattirīya Upanisad*¹ the pupil approaches the father and asks him to explain to him the nature of *Brahman*. He is given the formal definition and is asked to supply the content by his own reflection. 'That from which these beings are born, that in which when born they live, and that into which they enter at their death is *Brahman*.' What is the reality which conforms to this account? The son is impressed by material phenomena and fixes on matter (*anna*) as the basic principle. He is not satisfied, for matter cannot account for the forms of life. He looks upon life (*prāna*) as the basis of the world. Life belongs to a different order from matter Life, again, cannot be the ultimate principle, for conscious phenomena are not commensurate with living forms. There is something more in consciousness than in life. So he is led to believe that consciousness (*manas*) is the ultimate principle. But consciousness has different grades. The instinctive consciousness of animals is quite different from the intellectual consciousness of human beings. So the son affirms that intellectual consciousness (*vijñāna*) is *Brahman*. Man alone, among nature's children
III
has the capacity to change himself by his own effort and trans-
cend his limitations Even this is incomplete because it is
subject to discords and dualities Man's intellect aims at the
attainment of truth but succeeds only in making guesses about
it; there must be a power in man which sees the truth unveiled
A deeper principle of consciousness must emerge if the funda-
mental intention of nature, which has led to the development
of matter, life, mind, and intellectual consciousness, is to be
accomplished The son finally arrives at the truth that spiritual
freedom or delight (ānanda), the ecstasy of fulfilled existence
is the ultimate principle. Here the search ends, not simply
because the pupil's doubts are satisfied but because the pupil's
doubts are stilled by the vision of Self-evident Reality. He
apprehends the Supreme Unity that lies behind all the lower
forms The Upanisad suggests that he leaves behind the
discursive reason and contemplates the One and is lost in
ecstasy.¹ It concludes with the affirmation that absolute
Reality is satyam, truth, jñānam, consciousness, anantam,
infinity.
There are some who affirm that ānanda is the nearest approxi-
mation to Absolute Reality, but is not itself the Absolute Reality.
For it is a logical representation The experience gives us
peace, but unless we are established in it we have not received
the highest
In this account, the Upanişad assumes that the naturalistic
theory of evolution cannot be accepted The world is not to
be viewed as an automatic development without any intelligent
course or intelligible aim Matter, life, mind, intelligence are
different forms of existence with their specific characteristics
- ¹ Cp Jalāl-uddīn Rūmī 'I died a mineral and became a plant, I died a plant and rose an animal, I died an animal and I was man Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as man, to soar With the blessed angels, but even from angelhood I must pass on All except God perishes When I have sacrificed my angel soul, I shall become that which no mind ever conceived. O, let me not exist! for Non-existence proclaims, "To him we shall return"'
and modes of action, each acting on the other but not derived
from each other The evolution of life in the context of matter
is produced not by the material principle but by the working
of a new life-principle which uses the conditions of matter for
the production of life Life is not the mechanical resultant of
the antecedent co-ordination of material forces, but it is what
is now called an emergent. We cannot, by a complete knowledge
of the previous conditions, anticipate the subsequent result
There is an element of the incalculable Life emerges when
the material conditions are available, which permit life to
organise itself in matter. In this sense, we may say that matter
aspires for life, but life is not produced by lifeless particles
So also life may be said to be aspiring for or be instinct with
mind, which is ready to emerge when conditions enable it to
organise itself in living matter Mind cannot be produced from
things without mind When the necessary mental conditions
are prepared, intelligence qualifies the mental living creature
Nature is working according to this fundamental intention,
which is being accomplished because it is essentially the
instrument of the Supreme Being
The world is not the result of meaningless chance There is
a purpose working itself out through the ages It is a view
which modern science confirms By interpreting the fragmentary
relics of far remote times, science tells us how this earth in
which we live was gradually adapted to be a place where life
could develop, how life came and developed through uncounted
centuries until animal consciousness arose and this again
gradually developed, until apparently, man with self-conscious
reason appeared on the scene. The long record of the develop-
ment of the human race and the great gifts of spiritual men like
the Buddha, Socrates, Jesus make out that man has to be trans-
cended by God-man
It cannot be argued that, when material particles are organised
in a specific way, life arises The principle of organisation is
not matter The explanation of a thing is to be sought in what is
above it in the scale of existence and value and not below it
Matter cannot raise itself It moves to a higher level by the
help of the higher itself It cannot undergo inner development
without being acted upon by something above it The lower
is the material for the higher. Life is the matter for mind and form for physical material. so also intellect is form for the mind and matter for the spirit. The eternal is the origin of the actual and its nisus to improvement. To think of it as utterly transcendent or as a future possibility is to miss its incidence in the actual. We cannot miss the primordiality of the Supreme. 'Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman'¹ There is the perpetual activity of the Supreme in the world.
The Upanisad affirms that Brahman on which all else depends, to which all existences aspire, Brahman which is sufficient to itself, aspiring to no other, without any need, is the source of all other beings, the intellectual principle, the perceiving mind, life and body. It is the principle which unifies the world of the physicist, the biologist, the psychologist, the logician, the moralist and the artist
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. The eternal is the origin of the actual and its nisus to improvement. To think of it as utterly transcendent or as a future possibility is to miss its incidence in the actual. We cannot miss the primordiality of the Supreme. 'Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman'¹ There is the perpetual activity of the Supreme in the world.
The Upanisad affirms that Brahman on which all else depends, to which all existences aspire, Brahman which is sufficient to itself, aspiring to no other, without any need, is the source of all other beings, the intellectual principle, the perceiving mind, life and body. It is the principle which unifies the world of the physicist, the biologist, the psychologist, the logician, the moralist and the artist. The hierarchy of all things and beings from soulless matter to the deity is the cosmos. Plato's world-architect, Aristotle's world-mover belong to the cosmos. If there is ordered development, progressive evolution, it is because there is the divine principle at work in the universe.
Cosmic process is one of universal and unceasing change and is patterned on a duality which is perpetually in conflict, the perfect order of heaven and the chaos of the dark waters. Life creates opposites, as it creates sexes, in order to reconcile them. 'In the beginning the woman (Urvaśi) went about in the flood seeking a master.'² Indra, for example, divided the world into earth and sky. He 'produced his father and mother from his own body.' This conflict runs through the whole empirical world, and will end when the aim of the universe is accomplished. Creation moves upward towards the divine. When the union between the controlling spirit and the manifesting matter is completed, the purpose of the world, the end of the evolutionary process, the revelation of spirit on earth is accomplished. The earth is the foothold of God, the mother of all creatures whose father is heaven.³
¹ BU I 4 10-11, Maṅtrī VI 17.
² icchantī sahile patim Jaiminīya Upamsad Brāhmana I 56
³ The Chinese believe that Chien (Heaven) is the father and Khun (Earth) is the mother of all terrestrial existence. Zeus as Sky-father is in
c
The conflict is not final The duality is not a sterile dualism
Heaven and earth, God and matter have the same origin
As regards the primordial God Hiranya-garbha, a circular
process is found The primal being spontaneously produces the
primeval water, from this comes the primordial God as the first
born of the divine Order, the golden germ of the world 'who was
the first seed resting on the navel of the unborn 'i Hnanya-garbha
who is the World-soul expresses his spirit through the environ-
ment He manifests the forms contained within himself The
world is fixed in him as are the spokes in the hub of a wheel
He is the thread, sūtṛātman, on which all beings and all worlds
are strung like the beads of a necklace He is the first-born,
prathama-ja He is also called Bṛahmā and these Bṛahmās are
created from world to world ²
In the Rg Veda,³ Hnanya-garbha is the golden germ which
enters into creation after the first action of the creator In the
Sāmkhya, prakrti is treated as unconscious and develops on
account of the influence of the multitude of individual subjects,
and the first product of development is mahat, the great one,
or buddhi, the intellect It is the development of cosmic intelli-
essential relation to Earth-mother The two are correlative See A B
Cook Zeus (1914), Vol I, p 779
Zoroaster reaches the conception of a single spiritual God, Ormuzd
or Ahura Mazda, in whom the principle of good is personified, while the
evil principle is embodied in Ahriman, or Angra Mainyu, who limits the
omnipotence of Ahura Mazda The whole creation is a combat between
the two The two principles strive eternally in life, and in this struggle
men take part Man is responsible for his actions, good or bad If he
struggles against evil, confesses God and cares for the purity of his
body and soul, then after four periods of three thousand years each in
the world's history a time shall arrive for the final victory of good over
evil, of Ormuzd over Ahriman The general resurrection of the dead and
the last judgment will take place then, assuming him of his place among
the saved and the righteous
The Jews adopted the two principles of good and evil and they were
taken over by Christianity When Blake speaks of the marriage of
Heaven and Hell, Heaven represents the one clear light over all and
Hell the dark world of passion and the senses Divided, both are equally
barren, but from their union springs joy 'Oh that man would seek immor-
tal moments' Oh that men could converse with God' was Blake's cry
¹ R V X 82, IV 58 5
² 'God once created Brahmā Hiranya-garbha and delivered the Vedas to him 'S B I 4 1.
³ X 121 I
gence or Hñanya-garbha On the subjective side, buddhi is the first element of the lünga or the subtle body. It is the essence of the individual spirit. Buddhi serves as the basis for the development of the principle of individuation, ahamkãra, from which are derived, on the one hand, mind and the ten sense organs, five of perception and five of action and, on the other hand, the subtle elements from which arise in their turn the gross elements. Sattva is buddhi, the innermost of the three circles, the outer being rajas and tamas which are identified with ahamkãra and manas, which are the emanations of rajas and tamas. The sattva or the buddhi is the bïja, the seed of the living individual, since it contains the seeds of karma which develop at each birth into a sense-organism. The sattva or lünga is called the ego, the jïva. As the buddhi is the sutrãtman of the individual, so is Hñanya-garbha the sutrãtman, the thread-controller of the world.
In the Katha Upanisad,¹ in the development of principles the great self stands after the undeveloped and the primeval spirit Hñanya-garbha, the World-soul is the first product of the principle of non-being influenced by the Eternal Spirit, Ìsvara. The prin USA of the Sàmkhya is the Eternal Spirit made many Hñanya-garbha is the great self, mahãn âtmã, which arises from the undiscriminated, the avyakta, which corresponds to the primitive material or waters of the Brãhmanas, or the prakrti of the Sàmkhya We have the Supreme Self, the Absolute, the Supreme Self as the eternal subject observing the eternal object, waters or prakrti and the great self which is the first product of this interaction of the eternal subject and the principle of objectivity. The Supreme Lord, Ìsvara, who eternally produces, outlasts the drama of the universe Samkara begins his commentary on the Bhagavad-gîtã with the verse: 'Nàrãyana is beyond the unmanifest. The golden egg is produced from the unmanifest. The earth with its seven islands and all other worlds are in the egg.' The names and forms of the manifested world are latent in the egg as the future tree is in the seed.
Hñanya-garbha answers to the Logos, the Word of Western
¹ III 10. II, VI. 7. 8, see also K U. I
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. The Supreme Lord, Ìsvara, who eternally produces, outlasts the drama of the universe Samkara begins his commentary on the Bhagavad-gîtã with the verse: 'Nàrãyana is beyond the unmanifest. The golden egg is produced from the unmanifest. The earth with its seven islands and all other worlds are in the egg.' The names and forms of the manifested world are latent in the egg as the future tree is in the seed.
Hñanya-garbha answers to the Logos, the Word of Western
¹ III 10. II, VI. 7. 8, see also K U. I. 7
thought For Plato, the Logos was the archetypal idea For the Stoics it is the principle of reason which quickens and informs matter Philo speaks of the Divine Logos as the 'first born son,'¹ 'archetypal man,'² 'image of God,'³ 'through whom the world was created '⁴ Logos, the Reason, 'the Word was in the beginning and the Word became flesh ' The Greek term, Logos, means both Reason and Word The latter indicates an act of divine will Word is the active expression of character The difference between the conception of Divine Intelligence or Reason and the Word of God is that the latter represents the will of the Supreme Vāc is Brahman ⁵ Vāc, word, wisdom, is treated in the Rg Veda as the all-knowing The first-born of Rta is Vāc ⁶ yāvad brahma tṛṣṭhati tāvatī vāk ⁷ The Logos is conceived as personal like Hiranya-garbha 'The Light was the light of men ' 'The Logos became flesh '⁸
The Supreme is generally conceived as light, gyotisām gyotih,
the light of lights Light is the principle of communication
Hiranya-garbha is organically bound up with the world Himself,
a creature, the first-born of creation, he shares the fate of all
creation in the end ⁹ But Iśvara is prior to the World-soul ¹⁰
The principle of process applies to God While he is the expres-
sion of the non-temporal he is also the temporal Iśvara, the
eternal Being functions in the temporal Hiranya-garbha
Rāmānuja who looks upon Iśvara as the supreme transcendent
Reality above all world events treats Brahmā as the demi-urge
5 RV I 3 21
¹ I. 414.
³ I 6
² I 411
⁴ II 225
⁶ Atharva Veda II 14 See Nāma-Rūpa and Dharma-Rūpa by Maryla Falk (1943), Ch I
7 RV X 114 8
⁸ John I 4, 5 See B F Westcott The Gospel According to St John (1886), p xvii
⁹ 'When all things are subjected to him then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to everyone ' I Cor XV 28
¹⁰ Cp 'Before the mountains were brought forth, or even the earth and the world were made thou art God from everlasting and world without end' See Hebrews I 10-13
Religio Medici 'Before Abraham was, I am, is the saying of Christ, yet is it true in some sense, if I say it of myself, for I was not only before myself but Adam, that is, in the idea of God, and the decree of that synod held from all eternity And in this sense, I say, the world was before the creation, and at the end, before it had a beginning'
of creation who forms the lower world in the name and bidding of God
Why is the universe what it is, rather than something else? Why is there this something, rather than another? This is traced to the divine will This world and its controlling spirit are the expressions of the Supreme Lord While the World-soul and the world are organically related and are inter-dependent, there is no such relationship between the Supreme Lord and the world, for that would be to subject the infinite to the finite. The relationship is an 'accident' to use Whitehead's expression. This word 'accident' implies two different considerations, (1) that Divine Creativity is not bound up with this world in such a way that the changes which occur in the world affect the integrity of the Divine, and (2) that the world is an accidental expression of the Divine principle Creativity is not bound to express itself in this particular form If the choice were necessary it would not be free. Creation is the free expression of the Divine mind, icchā-mātram. The world is the manifestation of Hiranya-garbha and the creation of Iśvara. The world is the free self-determination of God The power of self-determination, self-expression, belongs to God. It is not by itself. It belongs to the Absolute which is the abode of all possibilities, and by its creative power one of these possibilities is freely chosen for accomplishment The power of manifestation is not alien to being. It does not enter it from outside. It is in being, inherent in it It may be active or inactive We thus get the conception of an Absolute-God, Brahman—Iśvara, where the first term indicates infinite being and possibility, and the second suggests creative freedom.¹ Why should the Absolute Brahman perfect, infinite, needing nothing, desiring nothing, move out into the world? It is not compelled to do so. It may have this potentiality but it is not bound or compelled by it. It is free to move or not to move, to throw itself into forms or remain formless If it still indulges its power of creativity, it is because of its free choice.
¹ In the Taoist *Tao Té Ching*, *Tao*, literally ‘Way,’ stands for the Absolute, the divine ground and Té for ‘power,’ for the unfolding of the divine possibilities Cp also *tathatā* or suchness and *ālaya-vijñāna* the all-conserving or receptacle consciousness
In *Īśvara* we have the two elements of wisdom and power, *Siva* and *Sakti*. By the latter the Supreme who is unmeasured and immeasurable becomes measured and defined. Immutable being becomes infinite fecundity. Pure being, which is the free basis and support of cosmic existence, is not the whole of our experience. Between the Absolute and the World-soul is the Creative Consciousness. It is *prajñāna-ghana* or truth-consciousness. If *sat* denotes the primordial being in its undifferenced unity, *satiya* is the same being immanent in its differentiations. If the Absolute is pure unity without any extension or variation, God is the creative power by which worlds spring into existence. The Absolute has moved out of its primal poise and become knowledge-will. It is the all-determining principle. It is the Absolute in action as Lord and Creator. While the Absolute is spaceless and timeless potentiality, God is the vast self-awareness comprehending, apprehending every possibility.¹
Brahman is not merely a featureless Absolute. It is all this world Vāyu or air is said to be manifest Brahman, pratyaksam brahma. The *Svetāśvata*a Upanisad makes out that Brahman is beast, bird and insect, the tottering old man, boy and girl. Brahman sustains the cosmos and is the self of each individual. Supra-cosmic transcendence and cosmic universality are both real phases of the one Supreme. In the former aspect the Spirit is in no way dependent on the cosmic manifold, in the latter the Spirit functions as the principle of the cosmic manifold. The supra-cosmic silence and the cosmic integration are both real. The two, mṛguna and saguna Brahman, Absolute and God, are not different. Jayatīrtha contends that Śamkara is wrong in holding that Brahman is of two kinds—brahmano dvairūpyasya aprāmāṇkatvāt.² It is the same Brahman who is described in different ways.
¹ Eckhart says 'God and Godhead are as different as heaven from earth. God becomes and unbecomes.' 'All in Godhead is one, and of this naught can be said God works, but Godhead works not. There is no work for it to do and no working in it. Never did it contemplate anything of work. God and Godhead differ after the manner of working and not working
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. The supra-cosmic silence and the cosmic integration are both real. The two, mṛguna and saguna Brahman, Absolute and God, are not different. Jayatīrtha contends that Śamkara is wrong in holding that Brahman is of two kinds—brahmano dvairūpyasya aprāmāṇkatvāt.² It is the same Brahman who is described in different ways.
¹ Eckhart says 'God and Godhead are as different as heaven from earth. God becomes and unbecomes.' 'All in Godhead is one, and of this naught can be said God works, but Godhead works not. There is no work for it to do and no working in it. Never did it contemplate anything of work. God and Godhead differ after the manner of working and not working. When I come into the Ground, into the depths, into the flow and fount of Godhead, none will ask me whence I have come or whither I go. None will have missed me, God passes away.'
*Sermon LVI Evans' E T*
² *Nyāya-sudhā, p 124*
The personality of God is not to be conceived on the human lines. He is not to be thought of as a greatly magnified person. We should not attribute to the Divine human qualities as we know them.¹ We have (1) the Absolute, (2) God as Creative power, (3) God immanent in this world. These are not to be regarded as separate entities. They are arranged in this order because there is a logical priority. The Absolute must be there with all its possibilities before the Divine Creativity can choose one. The divine choice must be there before there can be the Divine immanent in this world. This is a logical succession and not a temporal one. The world-spirit must be there before there can be the world. We thus get the four poises or statuses of reality,² the Absolute, Brahman, (2) the Creative Spirit, Isvara, (3) the World-Spirit, Hranya-garbha, and (4) the World. This is the way in which the Hindu thinkers interpret the integral nature of the Supreme Reality. Māndūkya Upaniṣad says that Brahman is catus-pāl, four-footed, and its four principles are Brahman, Isvara, Hranya-garbha and Virāj.³
¹ Aquinas says 'Things said alike of God and of other beings are not said either in quite the same sense or in a totally different sense but in an analogous sense.' *Summa Contra Gentiles* XXXIV. God is not good or loving in the human sense. 'For who hath known the mind of the Lord?' Romans XI, 34. God is personal, but, as Karl Barth says, 'personal in an incomprehensible way in so far as the conception of His personality surpasses all our views of personality. This is so, just because He and He alone is a true, real and genuine person. Were we to overlook this and try to conceive God in our own strength according to our conception of personality, we should make an idol out of God.' *The Knowledge of God and the Service of God* (1938), pp. 31ff.
² In Plotinus we have a similar scheme (1) The One alone, the simple, the unconditioned God beyond being of Basilides, the godhead of Eckhart which can only be indicated by negative terms. We cannot even affirm existence of it, though it is not non-existent. It cannot be thought of as either subject or object of experience, as in it subject and object are identical. It is pure impersonal experience or perhaps the ground of all experience, it is pure consciousness, ineffable supra-existence. It is not the first cause, not the creator god. It is cause only in the sense that it is everywhere, and without it nothing could be (ii) The *Nous*. The Intelligible world which Plotinus calls One—Many, the world of Platonic forms or archetypes. Not mere Ideas or things thought by the Divine Thinker, not mere passive archetypical pictures. They are active powers within the Divine mind. It is personal God. Unity cannot be separated from diversity. The most perfect form of expressive act is thought or intellection, *vijñāna*, Divine Intellect, First Thinker and thought, the personal Lord, Universal Intelligence, The
The conception of *tri-suparna* is developed in the fourth section of the *Tattirīya Upaniṣad*. The Absolute is conceived as a nest from out of which three birds have emerged, viz *Virāj*, *Hiranya-garbha* and *Īśvara*. The Absolute conceived as it is in itself, independent of any creation, is called *Brahman*. When it is thought of as having manifested itself as the universe, it is called *Virāj*, when it is thought of as the spirit moving everywhere in the universe, it is called *Hiranya-garbha*, when it is thought of as a personal God creating, protecting and destroying the universe, it is called *Īśvara*. *Īśvara* becomes *Brahmā*, *Visnu* and *Siva* when his three functions are taken separately.¹ The real is not a sum of these. It is an ineffable unity in which these conceptual distinctions are made. These are fourfold to our mental view, separable only in appearance. If we identify the real with any one definable state of being, however pure and perfect, we violate the unity and divide the indivisible. The different standpoints are consistent with each other, complementary to each other and necessary in their unknowable Absolute is mediated to us through the Divine Intelligence. This Intellectual principle of Plotinus is the *Īśvara* of the Upanisads. This universal intelligence makes possible the multiple universe. For Plotinus this principle is the totality of divine thoughts or Ideas in Plato's sense. These Ideas or Thoughts are real beings, powers. They are the originals, archetypes, intellectual forms of all that exists in the lower spheres. All the phases of existence down to the lowest ultimate of material being or the lowest forms of being in the visible universe are ideally present in this realm of divine thoughts. This divine intellectual principle has both being and non-being. It has, for Plotinus, two acts, the upward contemplation of the One and generation towards the lower (ii) One and Many. The soul of the All is the third, which fashions the material universe on the model of divine thoughts, the Ideas laid up within the Divine Mind. It is the eternal cause of the cosmos, the creator and therefore the vital principle of the world. God is envisaged as something apart from the world, its creator or artificer. Human ideas of God are centred round him. Plotinus does not make the sensible world a direct emanation from the Intelligible World. It is the product or the creation of the World-soul, the third person of the Neo-Platonic trinity, herself an emanation from the Intelligible World, the *Nous*. Our souls are parts or emanations of the World-soul. The three stages form collectively, for Plotinus, the one transcendent being. The All-Soul is the expression of the energy of the Divine, even as the Intellectual principle is the expression of the thought or vision of the godhead (iv). The many alone. It is the world-body, the world of matter without form. It is the possibility of manifested form.
¹ See also *Paingala U*.
totality for an integral view of life and the world If we are
able to hold them together, the conflicting views which are
emphasised exclusively by certain schools of Indian Vedanta
become reconciled
Absolute being is not an existing quality to be found in the
things It is not an object of thought or the result of production.
It forms an absolute contrast to, and is fundamentally different
from, things that are, as is in its way nothingness It can be
expressed only negatively or analogically It is that from
which our speech turns back along with the mind, being unable
to comprehend its fullness
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. The many alone. It is the world-body, the world of matter without form. It is the possibility of manifested form.
¹ See also *Paingala U*.
totality for an integral view of life and the world If we are
able to hold them together, the conflicting views which are
emphasised exclusively by certain schools of Indian Vedanta
become reconciled
Absolute being is not an existing quality to be found in the
things It is not an object of thought or the result of production.
It forms an absolute contrast to, and is fundamentally different
from, things that are, as is in its way nothingness It can be
expressed only negatively or analogically It is that from
which our speech turns back along with the mind, being unable
to comprehend its fullness.¹ It is that which the tongue of man
cannot truly express nor human intelligence conceive Samkara
in his commentary on the *Brahma Sūtra*² refers to an Upanisad
text which is not to be found in any of the extant Upanişads
Bāhva, asked by Bāşkalı to expound the nature of Brahman,
kept silent. He prayed, ‘Teach me, sir’ The teacher was silent,
and when addressed a second and a third time he said ‘I am
teaching but you do not follow The self is silence.’³
We can only describe the Absolute in negative terms. In the
words of Plotinus, 'We say what he is not, We cannot say what
he is.' The Absolute is beyond the sphere of predication It is
the sūnyatā of the Buddhists It is 'not gross, not subtle, not
short, not long, not glowing, not shadowy, not dark, not
attached, flavourless, smell-less, eye-less, ear-less, speech-less,
mind-less, breath-less, mouth-less, not internal, not external,
consuming nothing and consumed by nothing'⁴ It cannot be
¹ T U. II 4, see also Kena I 3, II, 3, Katha I 27.
² S B III 2 17
³ upaśānto'yam ātmā Cp the Mādhyamika view—
paramārthatas tu āryānām tūsnīm-bhāva eva
'Then only will you see it, when you cannot speak of it; for the
knowledge of it is deep silence and the suppression of all the senses.'
Hermes Trismegistus, Lib X 5
⁴ See B U II 8 8, see also II 3 6, III. 9 26, IV 2 4, IV 4 22;
IV. 5 15. Mā 7. The Buddha, according to Amara, is an advaya-vādin
I 1. 14
There was something formless yet complete,
That existed before heaven and earth,
Without sound, without substance,
Dependent on nothing, unchanging,
All-pervading, unfailing,
O*
truly designated Any description makes It into something It is nothing among things It is non-dual, *advaita* It denies duality. This does not mean, however, that the Absolute is non-being It means only that the Absolute is all-inclusive and nothing exists outside it
Negative characters should not mislead us into thinking that *Brahman* is a nonentity While it is non-empirical, it is also
One may think of it as the mother of all things under heaven, Its true name we do not know, Tao is the by-name we give it
Tao Té'Ching 25 A Waley's E T
The Way and its Power (1934)
Plato says that the unfathomable ground of the universe, the absolute, is 'beyond essence and truth' Plotinus describes the utter transcendence of the One thus 'Since the Nature or Hypostasis of The One is the engenderer of the All, it can Itself be none of the things in the All, that is, It is not a thing, It does not possess quality or quantity, It is not an Intellectual Principle, not a soul, It is not in motion and not at rest, not in space, not in time, It is essentially of a unique form or rather of no-form, since it is prior to form, as it is prior to movement and to rest, all these categories hold only in the realm of existence and constitute the multiplicity characteristic of that lower realm' *Enneads* VI 9 3 'This wonder, this One, to which in verity no name may be given' *ibid* VI 9 5
'Our way then takes us beyond knowing, there may be no wandering from unity, knowing and knowable must all be left aside Every object of thought, even the highest, we must pass by, for all that is good is later than this No doubt we should not speak of seeing, but we cannot help talking in dualities, seen and seer, instead of boldly, the achievement of unity In this seeing, we neither hold an object nor trace distinction, there is no two The man is changed, no longer himself nor self belonging, he is merged with the supreme, sunken into it, one with it Only in separation is there duality That is why the vision baffles telling We cannot detach the supreme to state it, if we have seen something thus detached, we have failed of the supreme' *Enneads* VI 9 4 and 10
Pseudo-Dionysius, whose utterances were once accepted as almost apostolic authority, observes 'For it is more fitting to praise God by taking away than by ascription Here we take away all things from Him, going up from particulars to universals, that we may know openly the unknowable which is hidden in and under all things that may be known And we behold that darkness beyond being, concealed under all natural light'
Chuang Tzu's vision of the boundless world has this 'You cannot explain the sea to a frog in a well—the creature of a narrow sphere You cannot explain ice to a grasshopper—the creature of a season You cannot explain Tao to a pedant—This view is too limited' Waley
inclusive of the whole empirical world The Absolute is described as full both of light and not-light, of desire and not desire, of anger and not-anger, of law and not-law, having verily filled all, both the near and the far off, the this and the that.' Negative and positive characterisations are given to affirm the positivity of being
To say that the nature of Brahman cannot be defined does not mean that it has no essential nature of its own We cannot define it by its accidental features, for they do not belong to its essence There is nothing outside it As no inquiry into its nature can be instituted without some description, its svaiśpa or essential nature is said to be sal or being, cit or consciousness and ananda or bliss.² These are different phrases for the same being Self-being, self-consciousness and self-delight are one. It is absolute being in which there is no nothingness It is absolute consciousness in which there is no non-consciousness It is absolute bliss in which there is no suffering or negation of bliss. All suffering is due to a second, an obstacle, all delight
*Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China* (1939), pp 55–6 H A Giles. *Chuang-Tzu, Mystic Moralist and Social Reformer* (1926) Ch XVIII
Ānandagiri begins his commentary on *Katha Upanisad* with this verse
*dharmā dharmādyasamsrstam kārya-kārana-varjitam
kālādibhir avicchinnam brahma yat tan namāmy aham*
Paul speaks of a vision which was not to be told and had heard words not to be repeated II Corinthians 12 ff Cp Hymn of Gregory of Nyasa, 'O Thou entirely beyond all being ' 'O Lord, My God, the Helper of them that seek Thee, I behold Thee in the entrance of Paradise, and I know not what I see, for I see naught visible This alone I know, that I know not what I see, and never can know And I know not how to name Thee, because I know not what Thou art, and did anyone say unto me that Thou wert called by this name or that, by the very fact that he named it I should know that it was not Thy name For the wall beyond which I see Thee is the end of all manner of signification in names ' Nicholas of Cusa *The Vision of God*
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. E T Salter's ET (1928) Ch XIII 'No monad or triad can express the all-transcending hiddenness of the all-transcending super-essentially super-existing super-deity ' 'God, because of his excellence, may rightly be called Nothing,' says Scotus Erigena
¹ BU IV 4 5 Iśa 4, 5 *Katha* I 2 20–21, I 3 15, II 6 17 M.U. I 1 6, 1 7 SUV 8–10
² They are not so much qualities of Brahman as the very nature of Brahman Commenting on the passage Brahman is truth, wisdom and infinity, satyam jñānam anantam brahma, Ś writes
*satyādīni hī trīni viśeṣanārthāni padāni viśesyaśya brahmanah*
arises from the realisation of something withheld, by the over-
coming of obstacles, by the surpassing of the limit It is this
delight that overflows into creation The self-expression of the
Absolute, the creation of numberless universes is also traced to
Brahman All things that exist are what they are, because of
the nature of Brahman as sat, cit and ānanda All things are
forms of one immutable being, variable expressions of the
invariable reality To describe Brahman as the cause of the
world is to give its tatastha or accidental feature ¹ The defining
characteristics are in both cases due to our logical needs ² When
the Absolute is regarded as the basis and explanation of the
world, he is conceived as the lord of all, the knower of all, the
inner controller of all ³ God has moved out everywhere sa
paryagāt The Svetāśvatara Upanisad speaks of the one God,
beside whom there is no second, who creates all the worlds and
rules with His powers, and at the end of time rolls them up again ⁴
He lives in all things ⁵ and yet transcends them The Universal
Self is like the sun who is the eye of the whole universe and is
untouched by the defects of our vision ⁶ He is said to fill the
whole world and yet remain beyond its confines 'Verily
motionless like a lone tree does the God stand in the heaven,
and yet by Him is this whole world filled '7
The distinction between *Brahman* in itself and *Brahman* in the universe, the transcendent beyond manifestation and the transcendent in manifestation, the indeterminate and the determinate, *nirguno gunī*, is not exclusive.⁸ The two are like two sides of one reality. The Real is at the same time being realised.
In the metrical Upanisads, as in the Bhagavad-gītā, the per-
¹ tatasthatvam ca laksya-svarūpa-bahir-bhūtatvam Siddhānta-leśa-sam-
graha (Kumbhakonam ed.), p 53
² They are said to be *kalpita* or constructed, as the non-dual *Brahman*
is said to possess these qualities on account of its association with
*antahkarana*. They are manifestations through an imperfect medium and
therefore limited revelations of *Brahman*
³ Mā U 6
5 B U I 4 7 S U II 17
⁴ III 2 3, VI 1-12
⁶ Katha II 5 11
7 S U III 9
⁸ Cp Eckhart 'The Godhead gave all things up to God The Godhead is poor, naked and empty as though it were not, it has not, wills not, wants not, works not, gets not It is God who has the treasure and the bride in him, the Godhead is as void as though it were not'
sonal is said to be superior to the superpersonal.¹ *puruṣān na param kiñcit*, there is nothing beyond the person. It is doubtful whether the author of the *Brahma Sūtra* accepted the distinction of *saguna* and *nirguna* in regard to *Brahman*. Even the *nirguna Brahman* is not without determinations. The *Sūtrakāra* makes a distinction between the super-personal (*apurusa-vidha*) and the personal (*purusa-vidha*), i.e. between *Brahman* and *Īśvara*. The latter is not a human fancy or a concession to the weak in mind. The *nirākāra* (formless), and the *sākāra* (with form), are different aspects of the same Reality. The seeker can choose either in his spiritual practices In III. 3 we find that the author maintains that the *aksara* texts which describe *Brahman* negatively as 'not this, not this' are 'not useful for meditation '² He holds that *Brahman* is unaffected by the different states, of waking, dream, sleep. The view that *Brahman* undergoes changes is refuted on the ground that they relate to the effects due to the self-concealment of *Brahman*. Bādarāyana denies reality to a second principle.
*Hiranya-garbha*, the World-soul is the divine creator, the supreme lord *Īśvara* at work in this universe. A definite possibility of the Absolute is being realised in this world In the *Upanisads* the distinction between *Īśvara* and *Hiranya-garbha*, between God and the World-soul is not sharply drawn If the World-soul is ungrounded in *Īśvara*, if he is exclusively temporal, then we cannot be certain of the end of the cosmic process When the *Upanisads* assert that the individual ego is rooted in the universal self or *ātman*, it would be preposterous to imagine that the World-soul is unrelated to *Īśvara* or *Brahman*.
¹ *Katha I 3 11 MU II 1 1-2.*
² *ādhyānāya prayojanābhāvāt*. III 3 14, see also III 3 33
³ Valentinus whose activity may be assigned to AD 130-150, teaches a similar view The primordial essence is the Deep (*Bythos*) With it dwelt a thought called also *Grace* (for it was not conditioned) and Silence (for it made no sign of its existence) Professor Burkitt writes 'Somehow the immeasurable Deep made its own thought fecund and so Mind (*Nous*) came into being, although it was called unique, it had a correlative side to it called Truth *Nous*, Mind is an intelligent understanding, the inevitable counterpart of which is Truth, for, if there be nothing true to understand, there can be no intelligent understanding *Cambridge Ancient History*, Vol XII (1939), p 470
Eckhart refers to the World-soul and not to the Supreme God in the passage, where he asserts that 'God becomes and disbecomes'
Hiranya-garbha who has in him the whole development in germ acts on the waters. As we have seen, the image of waters is an ancient one by which human thought attempts to explain the development of the universe. The waters are initially at rest and so free from waves or forms. The first movement, the first disturbance, creates forms and is the seed of the universe. The play of the two is the life of the universe. When the development is complete, when what is in germ is manifest, we have the world-consummation. Hiranya-garbha creates the world according to the eternal Veda, which has within itself eternally the primary types of all classes of things, even as the God of the mediaeval scholastics creates according to the eternal prototype of Ideas which He as the eternal Word eternally possesses. Brahman is the unity of all that is named ¹ Hiranya-garbha or Brahmā is the World-soul² and is subject to changes of the world. He is kārya Brahmā or effect Brahman as distinct from Ṫsvara who is kārana Brahman or causal Brahman. Hiranya-garbha arises at every world-beginning and is dissolved at every world-ending. Ṫsvara is not subject to these changes. For both Śamkara and Rāmānuja, Hiranya-garbha has the place of a subordinate and created demi-urge. Ṫsvara is the eternal God who is not drawn into but directs the play of the worlds that rise and perish and is Himself existing transcendentally from all eternity
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. Brahman is the unity of all that is named ¹ Hiranya-garbha or Brahmā is the World-soul² and is subject to changes of the world. He is kārya Brahmā or effect Brahman as distinct from Ṫsvara who is kārana Brahman or causal Brahman. Hiranya-garbha arises at every world-beginning and is dissolved at every world-ending. Ṫsvara is not subject to these changes. For both Śamkara and Rāmānuja, Hiranya-garbha has the place of a subordinate and created demi-urge. Ṫsvara is the eternal God who is not drawn into but directs the play of the worlds that rise and perish and is Himself existing transcendentally from all eternity. The Vedic deities are subordinate to Ṫsvara and hold a similar position to Him in the formation and control of the world that the angelic powers and directors maintain in the heavenly hierarchy of scholasticism and of Dante.
We have thus the four sides of one whole (i) the transcen-
dental universal being anterior to any concrete reality, (ii) the
causal principle of all differentiation, (iii) the innermost essence
of the world, and (iv) the manifest world They are co-existent
and not alternating poises where we have either a quiescent
Brahman or a creative Lord These are simultaneous sides of the
one Reality
1 B U I 5 17
² For Ātman as the World-soul, see Atharva Veda X. 8 44
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The word ‘ātman’ is derived from an ‘to breathe.’ It is the breath of life.¹ Gradually its meaning is extended to cover life, soul, self or essential being of the individual. Samkara derives ātman from the root which means ‘to obtain’ ‘to eat or enjoy or pervade all.’² Ātman is the principle of man’s life, the soul that pervades his being, his breath, prāna, his intellect, prajñā, and transcends them. Ātman is what remains when everything that is not the self is eliminated. The Rg Veda speaks of the unborn part, ajo bhāgah.³ There is an unborn and so immortal element in man,⁴ which is not to be confused with body, life, mind and intellect. These are not the self but its forms, its external expressions. Our true self is a pure existence, self-aware, unconditioned by the forms of mind and intellect. When we cast the self free from all outward events, there arises from the inward depths an experience, secret and wonderful, strange and great. It is the miracle of self-knowledge, ātma-jñāna.⁵ Just as, in relation to the universe, the real is Brahman, while name and form are only a play of manifestation, so also the individual egos are the varied expressions of the One Universal Self. As Brahman is the eternal quiet underneath the drive and activity
¹ ātmā te vātah R.V. VII 87. 2.
² āpnoter atter atater vā Ṡon A.U. I. 1.
Cp also yac cāpnoti yad ādatte yac cātti visayān 4ha yac cāsya santato bhāvas tasmād ātmeti pīrtyate.
³ X 16 4
⁴ Sāyana says ajah janana-rahitah, śarīrendriy abhāgavyatirīktaḥ, antara-purusa-laḥsano-yo'bhāgo'sti. Eckhart quotes with approval an unnamed heathen philosopher as saying 'Discard all this and that and here and there and be thyself what thou art in thine inner not-being', which he adds is mens
⁵ Annapūrnā U. asks us to inquire into the nature of our inward being:
Who am I? How came this world? What is it?
How came death and birth? Thus inquire
Within yourself; great will be the benefit
(you will derive from such inquiry).
ko'ham, katham idam, kim vā, katham marana-jarmanī
vicārayāntare vettham mahat tat phalam esyasi.
I. 40
of the universe, so Ātman is the foundational reality under-
lying the conscious powers of the individual, the inward ground
of the human soul There is an ultimate depth to our life below
the plane of thinking and striving The Ātman is the super-
reality of the jīva, the individual ego
The Chāndogya Upamśad gives us a story, where gods and
demons both anxious to learn the true nature of the Self
approach Prajā-patī who maintains that the ultimate self is
free from sin, free from old age, free from death and grief, free
from hunger and thirst, which desires nothing and imagines
nothing It is the persisting spirit, that which remains constant
in all the vicissitudes of waking, dream and sleep, death,
rebirth and deliverance The whole account assumes that there
is consciousness even in the apparently unconscious states,
when we sleep, when we are drugged or stunned The gods
sent Indra and the demons Virocana as their representatives
to learn the truth The first suggestion is that the self is the
image that we see in the eye, in water or in a mirror The con-
ception of the self as the physical body is inadequate To indicate
that what we see in another's eye, a pair of water or a mirror
is not the true self, Prajā-patī asked them to put on their best
clothes and look again Indra saw the difficulty and said to
Prajā-patī that as this self (the shadow in the water) is well
adorned when the body is well adorned, well dressed when the
body is well dressed, well cleaned when the body is well cleaned,
so that self will also be blind if the body is blind, lame if the body
is lame, crippled if the body is crippled, and will perish in fact
as soon as the body perishes Such a view cannot be accepted
If the self is not the body, may it be the dreaming self? The
second suggestion is that the true self is "he who moves about
happy in dreams' Again a difficulty was felt Indra says that,
though it is true that this dreaming self is not affected by the
changes of the body, yet in dreams we feel that we are struck
or chased, we experience pain and shed tears We rage in
dreams, storm with indignation, do things perverted, mean
and malicious Indra feels that the self is not the same as
dream-consciousness The self is not the composite of mental
states, however independent they may be of the accidents of the
body. Dream states are not self-existent Indra again approaches
Prajā-patī who gives him another suggestion that the self is the consciousness in deep sleep Indra feels that, in that state, there is consciousness neither of the self nor of the objective world Indra feels that he does not know himself nor does he know anything that exists He is gone to utter annihilation. But the self exists even in deep sleep Even when the object is not present, the subject is there The final reality is the active universal consciousness, which is not to be confused with either the bodily, or the dreaming consciousness or the consciousness in deep sleep. In the state of deep, dreamless sleep, the self wrapped round by the intellect has no consciousness of objects, but is not unconscious The true self is the absolute self, which is not an abstract metaphysical category but the authentic spiritual self The other forms belong to objectified being. Self is life, not an object It is an experience, in which the self is the knowing subject and is at the same time the known object. Self is open only to self The life of the self is not set over against knowledge of it as an objective thing Self is not the objective reality, nor something purely subjective The subject-object relationship has meaning only in the world of objects, in the sphere of discursive knowledge The Self is the light of lights, and through it alone is there any light in the universe. It is perpetual, abiding light. It is that which neither lives nor dies, which has neither movement nor change and which endures when all else passes away It is that which sees and not the object seen Whatever is an object belongs to the not-self. The self is the constant witness-consciousness ¹
The four states stand on the subjective side for the four kinds of soul, *Vaisvānara*, the experiencer of gross things, *Tayjasa*, the experiencer of the subtle, *Prājñā*, the experiencer of the unmanifested objectivity, and the *Turīya*, the Supreme Self. The *Māndūkya Upanisad*, by an analysis of the four modes of consciousness, waking, dream, deep sleep and illumined consciousness, makes out that the last is the basis of the other three.
¹ Through all months, years, seasons and kalpas, through all (divisions of time) past and future the consciousness remains one and self-luminous It neither rises nor sets
māsābda-yuga-kalpesu gatāgamyesv anekathā
nodei nāstam ety ekā samvid esā svayam-prabhā.
Pañca-daśi I 7
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. The *Māndūkya Upanisad*, by an analysis of the four modes of consciousness, waking, dream, deep sleep and illumined consciousness, makes out that the last is the basis of the other three.
¹ Through all months, years, seasons and kalpas, through all (divisions of time) past and future the consciousness remains one and self-luminous It neither rises nor sets
māsābda-yuga-kalpesu gatāgamyesv anekathā
nodei nāstam ety ekā samvid esā svayam-prabhā.
Pañca-daśi I 7.
On the objective side we have the cosmos, *Virāj*, the World-soul
*Hiranya-garbha*, the Supreme God, *Īśvara*, and the Absolute,
*Brahman*¹ By looking upon *Īśvara* as *prājñā*, it is suggested
that the supreme intelligence who dwells in the sleeping state
holds all things in an unmanifested condition The divine
wisdom sees all things, not as human reason does in parts and
relations, but in the original reason of their existence, their primal
truth and reality It is what the Stoics call *spermatikos* or the
seed Logos which is manifested in conscious beings as a number
of seed logos
In treatises on Yoga, the potential all-consciousness of the
state of sleep is represented in the form of a radiant serpent
called *Kundalini* or *Vāg-devi*. We come across this representation
in earlier treatises also In the *Rg Veda*, *Vāc* is said to be the
serpent queen, *sarpa-rājñī*.² The process of Yoga consists in
rousing the radiant serpent and lifting it up from the lowest
sphere to the heart, where in union with *prāna* or life-breath its
universal nature is realised and from it to the top of the skull
It goes out through an opening called *brahma-randhra* to which
corresponds in the cosmic organism the opening formed by
the sun on the top of the vault of the sky
¹ Cp William Law 'Though God is everywhere present, yet He is only present to thee in the deepest and most central part of thy soul The natural senses cannot possess God or unite thee to Him, nay, thy inward faculties of understanding, will and memory can only reach after God, but cannot be the place of His habitation in thee But there is a root or depth of thee from whence all these faculties come forth, as lines from a centre, or as branches from the body of the tree This depth is called the centre, the fund or bottom of the soul This depth is the unity, the eternity—I had almost said the infinity of thy soul, for it is so infinite that nothing can satisfy it or give it rest but the infinity of God' Quoted in *Perennial Philosophy* by Aldous Huxley (1944), p. ² Again, 'My Me is God, nor do I recognise any other Me except my God Himself' St Catherine of Genoa (ibid, p. 11)
Eckhart 'To gauge the soul we must gauge it with God, for the Ground of God and the Ground of the soul are one and the same' (ibid, p 12)
Again 'The highest part of the soul stands above time and knows nothing of time' 'There is a principle in the soul altogether spiritual I used to call it a spiritual light or a spark But now I say that it is free of all names, void of all forms It is one and simple, as God is one and simple'
¹ 1 X 189, X 125 3 Atharva Veda IV 1
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In the early prose Upanisads, ātman is the principle of the individual consciousness and Brahman the superpersonal ground of the cosmos. Soon the distinction diminishes and the two are identified. God is not merely the transcendent numinous other, but is also the universal spirit which is the basis of human personality and its ever-renewing vitalising power Brahman, the first principle of the universe, is known through ātman, the inner self of man. In the *Satapatha Brāhmana*,¹ and the *Chāndogya Upanisad*,² it is said, 'Verily this whole world is Brahman,' and also, 'This soul of mine within the heart, this is Brahman.' That person who is seen in the eye, He is ātman, that is Brahman.'³ God is both the wholly other, transcendent and utterly beyond the world and man, and yet he enters into man and lives in him and becomes the inmost content of his very existence.⁴
Nārāyana is the God in man who lives in constant association with nara, the human being. He is the immortal dwelling in the mortals.⁵ The human individual is more than the universe. He lives independently in his own inexpressible infinity as well as in the cosmic harmonies. We can be one with all cosmic existence by entering into the cosmic consciousness. We become superior.
¹ X 6 3
² III 14 I
³ BU I 4 10 Cp Keith 'It is impossible to deny that the Ātman-Brahman doctrine has a long previous history in the Brāhmaṇas and is a logical development of the idea of unity of the Rg Veda' *The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and the Upanisads*, p 494 Herachtus says 'I searched myself' The Logos is to be sought within, for man's nature is a microcosm and represents the nature of the whole
Cp Plotinus 'One that seeks to penetrate the nature of the Divine Mind must see deeply into the nature of his own soul, into the Divinest point of himself. He must first make abstraction of the body, then of the lower soul which built up that body, then of all the faculties of sense, of all desires and emotions and every such triviality, of all that leans towards the mortal. What is left after this abstraction is the part which we describe as the image of the Divine Mind, an emanation preserving some of that Divine Light.' *Enneads* V 3 9
⁴ CU IV 15 Also *ātmaiva devatāh sarvāh sarvam hy ātmany avasthitam*
⁵ RV IV 2 I.
to all cosmic existence by entering into the world-transcending
consciousness Answering to the four grades of consciousness,
waking, dream, deep sleep, spiritual consciousness, we have
the four states of the individual, sthūla (gross), sūkṣma (subtle),
kārana (causal) and the pure self As Īśvara is the cause of
the world, so the causal self is the source of the development of
the subtle and the gross bodies ¹
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The ecstasy of divine union, the bliss of realisation tempts
one to disregard the world with its imperfections and look
upon it as a troubled and unhappy dream The actual fabric
of the world, with its loves and hates, with its wars and battles,
with its jealousies and competitions as well as its unasked
helpfulness, sustained intellectual effort, intense moral struggle
seems to be no more than an unsubstantive dream, a phantas-
magoria dancing on the fabric of pure being Throughout the
course of human history, men have taken refuge from the
world of stresses, vexations and indignities in the apprehension
of a spirit beyond The prayer to ‘lead us from unreality to
reality, from darkness to light, from death to immortality’
assumes the distinction between reality, light and immortality
and unreality, darkness and death The Katha Upanishad warns
us not to find reality and certainty in the unrealities and
uncertainties of this world ² The Chāndogya Upanishad tells us
that a covering of untruth hides from us the ultimate truth
even as the surface of the earth hides from us the golden
treasure hidden under it ³ The truth is covered by untruth,
anrta The Brhad-āranyaka and the Īśa Upanisads speak to
us of the veiling of truth by a disc of gold and invoke the grace
¹ The first tattva is the root of manifestation, called mahat or the great principle In ahamkāra we find individual consciousness which proceeds from the intellectual principle by an individualising determination Sometimes, citta is said to be the first product of prakṛti, with its triple character of buddhi or discrimination, ahamkāra or self-sense and manas or mind
³ VIII 3 1-3
² II 4 2.
of God for removing the veil and letting us see the truth.¹ According to the *Svetāśvatara Upaniṣad*, we can achieve the cessation of the great world-illusion, *viśva-māyā-nivṛttih* by the worship of God.² If this aspect of spiritual experience were all, the world we live in, that of ignorance, darkness and death would be quite different from the world of underlying reality, the world of truth, light and life. The distinction would become one of utter opposition between God and the world. The latter would be reduced to an evil dream from which we must wake up as soon as possible ³
Indifference to the world is not, however, the main feature of spiritual consciousness *Brahman*, the completely transcendent, the pure silence has another side. *Brahman* is apprehended in two ways. Śaṅkara says. *dvīrūpaṁ hi brahmā-vagamyate, nāma-rūpa-vikāra-bhedopādhi-viśistam, tad viparītam sarvopādhi-varjitam* Both the Absolute and the Personal God are real, only the former is the logical prior of the latter. The soul when it rises to full attention knows itself to be related to the single universal consciousness, but when it turns outward it sees the objective universe as a manifestation of this single consciousness. The withdrawal from the world is not the conclusive end of the spiritual quest. There is a return to the world accompanied by a persistent refusal to take the world as it confronts us as final. The world has to be redeemed and it can be redeemed because it has its source in God and final refuge in God.
There are many passages where the world of duality is suggested to be only seeming.⁴ The existence of duality is not admitted to be absolutely real. In the passage of the *Chāndogya Upaniṣad* regarding the modifications of the three fundamental constituents of being, fire, water and food, it is said that just as all that is made of clay, copper or iron is only a modification, a verbal expression, a simple name, the reality being clay, copper or iron, even so all things can be reduced to three
¹ ² ¹⁵
² I ¹⁰
³ Cp *Atma-bodha 7*
tāvat satyam jagad bhātim śuktrkā-rajatam yathā
yāvan na jñāyate brahma sarvadhisṭhānam advayam
⁴ ‘Where there is a duality as it were (iva)’ BU II 4 ¹⁴, see also IV 3. ³¹
primary forms of reality. It is suggested that all things are reducible to reality, being mere modifications. All this is to be understood as meaning that the Absolute stands above becoming and passing away which it transcends.
In the *Maitrī Upanisad*, the Absolute is compared to a spark, which, made to revolve, creates apparently a fiery circle, an idea expanded by Gaudapāda in his *Kārikā* on the *Māndūkya Upanisad*. This may suggest that the world is a mere appearance. Even here the intention may well be to contrast the reality of the Absolute with empirical reality without making the latter an illusion.
The assertion that with the knowledge of the Self all is known¹ does not exclude the reality of what is derived from the Self. When the *Artarchya Upanisad* asserts that the universe is founded in consciousness and guided by it, it assumes the reality of the universe and not merely its apparent existence. To seek the one is not to deny the many. The world of name and form has its roots in *Brahman*, though it does not constitute the nature of *Brahman*.² The world is neither one with *Brahman* nor wholly other than *Brahman*. The world of fact cannot be apart from the world of being. From one being no other being is born. It exists only in another form, *samsthānāntarcena* ³.
Māyā in this view states the fact that *Brahman* without losing his integrity is the basis of the world. Though devoid of all specifications, *Brahman* is the root cause of the universe ⁴. 'If a thing cannot subsist apart from something else, the latter is the essence of that thing.' The cause is logically prior to the effect. ⁵ Questions of temporal beginning and growth are subordinate to this relation of ground and consequent. The world does not carry its own meaning. To regard it as final and ultimate is an act of ignorance. So long as the erroneous view
¹ B U I I 4 5.7.9 C U VI 1 2 M U I 1 3
² ato rūma-rūpe sarīvasthe brahmanavātmavatī, na brahma tad ātmatān Ṣ on I C II 6 1
³ Ṣ on C U VI 2 2 I ritsrasya jagato brahma-kāryatvāt tad-ananyatvāc ca S B II 1 20
⁴ sara-īsra-rakṣṭo'pi jagato mūlam Ṣ on Katha II 3 12
5 Ṣ on B U II 4 7
atīl siddhābha prāl I āryotpatteh kārava sadbhāvah Ṣ on B U I 2 1
of the independence of the world does not disappear, our highest good will not be realised
The world is the creation of God, the active Lord. The finite is the self-limitation of the infinite. No finite can exist in and by itself It exists by the infinite If we seek the dynamic aspect we are inclined to repudiate the experience of pure consciousness. It is not a question of either pure consciousness or dynamic consciousness These are the different statuses of the one Reality They are present simultaneously in the universal awareness
The dependence of the world on God is explained in different ways In the *Chāndogya Upanisad, Brahman* is defined as *tajjalān* as that (*tat*) which gives rise to (*ja*), absorbs (*lī*) and sustains (*an*) the world.¹ The *Brhad-āranyaka Upanisad* argues that *satyam* consists of three syllables, *sa, ti, yam*, the first and the last being real and the second unreal, *madhyato anrtam*. The fleeting is enclosed on both sides by an eternity which is real.² The world comes from *Brahman* and returns to *Brahman*. Whatever exists owes its being to *Brahman*.³ The different metaphors are used to indicate how the universe rises from its central root, how the emanation takes place while the *Brahman* remains ever-complete, undiminished
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.¹ The *Brhad-āranyaka Upanisad* argues that *satyam* consists of three syllables, *sa, ti, yam*, the first and the last being real and the second unreal, *madhyato anrtam*. The fleeting is enclosed on both sides by an eternity which is real.² The world comes from *Brahman* and returns to *Brahman*. Whatever exists owes its being to *Brahman*.³ The different metaphors are used to indicate how the universe rises from its central root, how the emanation takes place while the *Brahman* remains ever-complete, undiminished.⁴ ‘As a spider sends forth and draws in (its thread), as herbs grow on the earth, as the hair (grows) on the head and the body of a living person, so from the Imperishable arises here the universe.’⁵ Again, ‘As from a
¹ III 14
² V 11 Bede tells of the Anglo-Saxon Council summoned to decide on the question of the acceptance of the Christian faith in 627 One of the dukes compared the life of man on earth with the flight of a sparrow through a banquet hall in winter, ‘a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad, the sparrow, I say, flying in at one door, and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry storm, but after a short space of fair weather, he immediately vanishes out of your sight, into the dark winter from which he had emerged So this life of man appears for a short space, but of what went before, or what is to follow we are utterly ignorant’ Bede the Venerable, *Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation* (1916), pp 91ff see B G III 28
³ See T U III, B U III 8
⁴ Cp Plotinus ‘Imagine a spring which has no commencement, giving itself to all the rivers, never exhausted by what they take, ever tranquilly its full self.’ III 8 9 *Enneads*
⁵ M U I. 1 7
blazing fire sparks of like form issue forth by the thousands even so, many kinds of beings issue forth from the Immutable and they return thither too.¹ The many are parts of Brahman even as waves are parts of the sea All the possibilities of the world are affirmed in the first being, God The whole universe before its manifestation was there The antecedent of the manifested universe is the non-manifested universe, i.e. God God does not create the world but becomes it Creation is expression It is not a making of something out of nothing It is not making so much as becoming It is the self-projection of the Supreme Everything exists in the secret abode of the Supreme.² The primary reality contains within itself the source of its own motion and change
The *Svetāśvatara Upanisad* mentions the different views of creation held at the time of its composition, that it is due to time, to nature, to necessity, to chance, to the elements, to the Person or the combination of these. It repudiates all these views and traces the world to the power of the Supreme.³
The *Svetāśvatara Upanisad* describes God as māyin, the wonder-working powerful Being, who creates the world by His
¹ II I I
² In the *Rg Veda* there are suggestions that the Imperishable is the basis of the world and that a personal Lord *Brahmanas-pati* (X 72 2), *Visva-karman* (literally the All-maker), *Purusa* (X 90), *Hiranya-garbha* (X 121 1) produces the world The Upanisads refer to the early cosmological speculations, but these are not their real interest
³ Gaudapāda mentions different theories of creation Some look upon creation as the manifestation of the superhuman power of God, vibhūti, others look upon it as of the same nature as dream and illusion, svapna-māyā-svarūpā, others trace it to the will of God icchā-mātram prabhoh srstih Still others look upon kāla or time as the source, some look upon creation as intended for the enjoyment of God (bhoga), still others attribute it to mere sport (krīdā), but Gaudapāda's own view is that creation is the expression of the nature of the Supreme, 'for what desire is possible for Him whose desire is always fulfilled?'
*devasyaīsa svabhāvo'yam āpta-kumasya kā sprhā Kārikā 1 6-9*
The world is the revelation of God's nature To the question, why does perfect being instead of remaining eternally concentrated in itself suffer the accident of manifesting this world, the answer is that manifesting is of the very nature of God We need not seek a cause or a motive or a purpose for that which is, in its nature, eternally self-existent and free The sole object of the dance of Śiva is the dance itself
powers.¹ Here *māyā* is used in the sense in which the *Rg Veda* employs it, the divine art or power by which the divinity makes a likeness of the eternal prototypes or ideas inherent in his nature Indra is declared to have assumed many shapes by his *māyā*.² *Māyā* is the power of *Īśvara* from which the world arises He has made this world, 'formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into him a living soul.' All the works of the world are wrought by Him. Every existence contained in time is ontologically present in creative eternity. The Supreme is both transcendent and immanent. It is the one, breathing breathless, tad ekam, anīd avātam. It is the manifest and the unmanifest, vyaktāvyaktāḥ, the silent and the articulate, śabdāśabdāḥ. It is the real and the unreal, sad-asat,³
While the world is treated as an appearance in regard to pure being, which is indivisible and immutable, it is the creation of *Īśvara* who has the power of manifestation. *Māyā* is that which measures out, moulds forms in the formless. God has control
¹ III 10 This power or Śakti is contained in the Supreme as oil in oilseeds
śvecchayā parā śaktīḥ śiva-tattvaikatām gatā
.tatah parisphuratī yādau sarge tailam tilād iva
The power is Śakti or Māyā. We speak in inadequate ways when we speak of Śakti as Māyā Nārada tells Rāma in the Devī Bhāgavata, that this power is eternal, primeval, and everlasting
śrnu rāma sadā nityā śaktir ādyā sanātanī.
Nothing is able to stir without its aid:
tasyāh śaktim vinā ko'pi spanditum na kṣamo bhavet.
When we distinguish the creation, preservation and dissolution in the form of Brahmā, Visnu and Siva, their power is also this Śakti:
visnoh pālana-śaktis sā
kartr-śaktih pitur mama
rudrasya nāśa-śaktis sā
tvanya-śaktih parā śivā.
The energy of everyone is a part of the divine śakti The Supreme with its power created the creator Brahmā, pūrvam saṁsrjya brahmādīn
In regard to Rāma and Sītā, Sītā becomes Śakti In the Sītā U. she is said to be mūla-prakṛti
sīlā bhagavatī jneyā mūla-prakṛti-samjñitā.
In the Devī U. Durgā's name is accounted for. 'Beyond whom there is none she is called Durgā. Because she saves from crisis therefore she is called Durgā '
yasyāh parataram nāstri, sa durgā prakīrtitā
durgāt samtrāyate yasmād devī durgeti kathyate.
¹ VI 47 18; see B U II. 5 19.
³ R.V X 5 7. M U. II. 2 1 Praśna II 5 6.
of māyā, he is not subject to it. If God were subject to māyā he would not be infinite supreme existence. Any being compelled to manifest itself is not free.Īśvara has in him the power of manifestation, non-manifestation and other-manifestation, kartum, a-kartum, anyathā-kartum
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. 'Beyond whom there is none she is called Durgā. Because she saves from crisis therefore she is called Durgā '
yasyāh parataram nāstri, sa durgā prakīrtitā
durgāt samtrāyate yasmād devī durgeti kathyate.
¹ VI 47 18; see B U II. 5 19.
³ R.V X 5 7. M U. II. 2 1 Praśna II 5 6.
of māyā, he is not subject to it. If God were subject to māyā he would not be infinite supreme existence. Any being compelled to manifest itself is not free.Īśvara has in him the power of manifestation, non-manifestation and other-manifestation, kartum, a-kartum, anyathā-kartum. Brahman is logically prior to Īśvara who has the power of manifestation, and takes him over into His transcendental being when He is not manifesting His nature.
This dual nature of the Supreme provides the basis for the reality of personality in God and man, and so for authentic religious experience. This world, far from being unreal, is intimately connected with the Divine Reality. This complex evolving universe is a progressive manifestation of the powers of the Supreme Spirit from matter to spiritual freedom, from anna to ānanda. The purpose of the cosmic evolution is to reveal the spirit underlying it. God lives, feels and suffers in every one of us, and in course of time His attributes, knowledge, beauty and love will be revealed in each of us.
When the Katha Upamsad says that the Supreme Lord experiences the results of deeds,¹ it suggests that we are the images and likenesses of God, and when we experience the results of our deeds, He does also. There is an intimate connection between God and the world of souls.²
Deussen holds that the idealistic monism of Yājñavalkya is the main teaching of the Upanisads and the other doctrines of theism, and cosmogonism are deviations from it caused by the inability of man to remain on the heights of pure speculative thought. The view which regards the universe as actually real, the Atman as the universe which we know, and the theistic developments are said to be departures from the exalted idealism of Yājñavalkya. It is not necessary to look upon the theism emphasised in the Katha and the Svetāśvatara Upanisads.
¹ I. 3. 1
² Cp Angelus Silesius 'I know that without me God cannot live an instant'.
Eckhart 'God needs me as much as I need him.'
Lady Julian 'We are God's bliss, for in us He enjoyeth without end.'
When Pascal states that Jesus Christ will be in agony till the end of the world, he means that there is a side to God, the temporal, where he suffers in every innocent man who is persecuted and tortured.
as a declension from the pure monistic idealism It is in the direct line of development of Upanisad thought
The Absolute is not a metaphysical abstraction or a void of silence It is the absolute of this relative world of manifestation What is subject to change and growth in the world of becoming reaches its fulfilment in the world of the Absolute. The Beyond is not an annulling or a cancellation of the world of becoming, but its transfiguration The Absolute is the life of this life, the truth of this truth
If the world were altogether unreal, we cannot progress from the unreal to the Real If a passage is possible from the empirical to the Real, the Real is to be found in the empirical also The ignorance of the mind and the senses and the apparent futilities of human life are the material for the self-expression of that Being, for its unfolding. Brahman accepts world existence The Ultimate Reality sustains the play of the world and dwells in it That is why we are able to measure the distance of the things of the world from the Absolute and evaluate their grades of being.¹ There is nothing in this world which is not lit up by God Even the material objects which lack the intelligence to discover the nature of the divine ground of their being are the emanations of the creative energy of God and they are able to reveal to the discerning eye the divine within their material frames What is not possible for inanimate and non-rational beings is open to the rational human being He can attain to a knowledge of the divine ground of his being He is not coerced into it, but has to attain it by the exercise of his choice The unchangeableness of the Supreme does not mean that the universe is a perfectly articulated mechanism in which everything is given from the beginning The world is real as based on Brahman; it is unreal by itself
Cosmic existence partakes of the character of the real and the
¹ Cp St Bernard 'God who, in his simple substance, is all everywhere equally, nevertheless, in efficacy, is in rational creatures in another way than in irrational, and in good rational creatures in another way than in the bad He is in irrational creatures in such a way as not to be comprehended by them, by all rational ones, however, he can be comprehended through knowledge, but only by the good is he to be comprehended also through love'
unreal It is aspiring to become completely real.¹ The Chāndogya Upanisad rejects the view that the world was originally a-sat or non-being, and from it all existence was produced.² It affirms 'In the beginning this world was just being, one only without a second.'³
The Supreme is described as a *kavi*, a poet, an artist, a maker or creator, not a mere imitator. Even as art reveals man's wealth of life, so does the world reveal the immensity of God's life. The *Brahma Sūtra* refers to the creation of the world as an act of līlā, play, the joy of the poet, eternally young.
If immutability is the criterion of reality, then the world of manifestation has no claim to reality. Change is the pervading feature of the world. Changing things imply non-existence at the beginning and non-existence at the end.⁴ They are not constantly present. Mortality is imprinted on all beings who are subject to birth, decay, dissolution and death. This very planet will decline and dissolve. While change is the mark of the relative world, this changing world reaches its fulfilment in the Absolute. What is incomplete in the relative world of becoming is completed in the absolute world of being.
Māyā is also used for *prakrti*, the objective principle which the personal God uses for creation. All nature, even in the lowest, is in ceaseless movement, aspiring to the next higher stage, of which it is itself an image or lower manifestation. *Prakrti*, not-self, matter all but cast out from the sphere of being, is tending feebly to get back to the self, receives form and is thus linked up with Absolute Being. Even matter is *Brahman* ⁵ *Prakrti* by itself is more a demand of thought than a fact of existence. Even the lowest existence has received the impress of the Creative Self. It is not utter non-existence. Absol-
¹ Cp Vākya-sudhā
asti bhāti priyam rūpam nāma cety amśa-pañcakam
ādyam trayam brahma-rūpam jagad-rūpam ato dvayam
³ VI 2 2 sad-āspadam sarvam sarvatra Ṣ
² VI 2 1
⁴ ādāv ante ca yan nāsti vartamāne 'pi tat tathā Gauḍapāda Kārikā
II 6
Milarepa, the Tibetan mystic says 'All worldly pursuits end in dispersion, buildings in destruction, meetings in separation, births in death.'
⁵ annam brahmeti vyajānāt T U. III
lute non-being is non-existent. It is impossible in a world which flows freely from the bounty of being *Prakrti* is called non-being. It is not strictly correct. This description indicates its distance from being. It is the ultimate possibility on the side of descent from the Divine, almost non-being, but not utter non-being.
While *prakrti* is said to be the māyā of God, its forms seem to us individual souls to be external to us. It is the source of our ignorance of its real nature
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.'
⁵ annam brahmeti vyajānāt T U. III
lute non-being is non-existent. It is impossible in a world which flows freely from the bounty of being *Prakrti* is called non-being. It is not strictly correct. This description indicates its distance from being. It is the ultimate possibility on the side of descent from the Divine, almost non-being, but not utter non-being.
While *prakrti* is said to be the māyā of God, its forms seem to us individual souls to be external to us. It is the source of our ignorance of its real nature.
While the world is created by the power of māyā of *Īśvara*, the individual soul is bound down by māyā in the sense of *avṛdyā* or ignorance. The manifestation of Primordial Being is also a concealment of His original nature. The self-luminous moves about clothed in the splendours of the cosmic light which are not His real nature. We must tear the cosmic veil and get behind the golden brightness which *Savitr* has diffused. The Upanisad says 'Two birds, inseparable friends cling to the same tree. One of them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating. On the same tree man sits, grieving, immersed, bewildered by his own impotence (an-īśa). But when he sees the other lord (īśa), contented and knows his glory, then his grief passes away.' We mistake the multiplicity for ultimate reality. If we overlook the unity, we are lost in ignorance.
When we get to the concept of *prakrti* we are in the realm of *Hranya-garbha*. The similes employed by the Upanisads, salt and water, fire and sparks, spider and thread, flute and sound assume the existence of an element different from being. Into the original stillness of prakrti, *Hranya-garbha* or *Brahmā* sends sound, *nāda-brahma*. By his ecstatic dance the world evolves. This is the meaning of the symbol of *Naṭa-rāja*. His dance is not an illusion. It is a timeless fact of the Divine Reality. The forms are manifestations of the Real, not arbitrary inventions out of nothing. Form, *rūpa*, is the revelation of the formless *a-rūpa*. *Nāma*, name, is not the word by which we describe the object, but it is the power or the character of reality which the form of a thing embodies. The Infinite is nameless for it includes all names. The emphasis right through is on the dependence of
¹ S.U. IV 6 and 7.
the world on Brahman The relative rests in the Absolute
There can be no echo without a noise The world is not self-
explanatory, it is not the cause of itself It is an effect The Iśa
Upanisad indicates that the basic reality is the One, and the
derivative and dependent reality is the many.¹ When the Kena
Upanisad says that Brahman is the mind of mind, the life of
life, it does not assert the unreality of mind and life, but affirms
the inferiority, the incompleteness of our present existence
All that we find in the world is an imperfect representation, a
divided expression of what is eternally in the Absolute Being
The world depends on Brahman, and not Brahman on the
world 'God is the dwelling-place of the universe, but the uni-
verse is not the dwelling-place of God' is a well-known Rabbinic
dictum The world of experience with its three states of waking,
dream and deep sleep is based on the subject-object relation
This duality is the principle of all manifestation The objects
are perceived in both dream and waking and the distinction
of seer and seen is present in both The world of manifestation
is dependent on the Absolute The Absolute Spirit which
transcends the distinction between the subject and the object is
logically prior to the manifested world.² The world is a process
of becoming, it is not being
The Upanisads make it clear that the waking state and the
dream state are quite distinct The objects of the dream state
are illusory, not so those of waking experience 'There are no
chariots in that state (of dreaming), no horses, no roads He
himself creates chariots, horses, roads.³ Imaginary objects
exist only during the time we imagine them, kalpana-kāla, but
factual objects exist not only when we perceive them but also
when we do not perceive them, bāhyās ca dvaya-kālāh.⁴ The
spatio-temporal order is a fact, not a state of mind or a phase
of consciousness
Avidyā is mentioned in the Upanisads as the source of
delusion The Katha Upanisad speaks of people living in
ignorance and thinking themselves wise, who move about
wandering in search of reality, like blind men following the
2 See Gauḍapāda
Kārikā on Mā U II 4 and 5
1 4 and 5
4 Š on Māndūkya Kārikā II 14
3 B U IV 3 9 and 10.
blind. If they had lodged themselves in vidyā, wisdom, instead of
avidyā, ignorance, they would easily have seen the truth.¹
The Chāndogya Upamsad distinguishes between vidyā or
knowledge which is power and avidyā or ignorance which is
impotence.² While māyā is more cosmic in significance, avidyā
is more subjective. We are subject to avidyā when we look
upon the multiplicity of objects and egos as final and fundamental.
Such a view falsifies the truth. It is the illusion of
ignorance. The world of multiplicity is out there, and has its
place, but if we look upon it as a self-existing cosmos, we are
making an error.³ While the world process reveals certain
possibilities of the Real, it also conceals the full nature of the
Real. Avidyā breeds selfishness and becomes a knot in the
heart which we should untie before we can get possession of
the Self in the recesses of our heart.⁴ The Praśna Upanisad
tells us that we cannot reach the world of Brahman unless we
have shaken off the crookedness in us, the falsehood (anrtam)
in us, the illusion (māyā) in us.⁵
The world has the tendency to delude us into thinking that
it is all, that it is self-dependent, and this delusive character of
the world is also designated māyā in the sense of avidyā. When
we are asked to overcome māyā, it is an injunction to avoid
worldliness. Let us not put our trust in the things of this world.
Māyā is concerned not with the existence of the world but with
its meaning, not with the factuality of the world but with the
way in which we look upon it.
There are passages in the Upaniṣads which make out that
the world is an appearance, vācārambhaṇaṁ vikāro nāmadheyam,
while Reality is pure being. There are others which grant reality
to the world, though they maintain that it has no reality apart
from Brahman. Samkara tells us that the former is the true
teaching of the Upaniṣads, while the latter view is put forward
only tentatively as a first step in the teaching to be later
¹ Katha I 2. 4. 5
² I. I. 10.
³ Māyā is viewed as the power that makes for delusion
māś ca mohārtha-vacanah yāś ca prāpana-vācakah
tām prāpayatī yā nityam, sā māyā parikhṛtītā
Brahma-vaivaria Purāna XXVII.
⁴ M.U. II. 1. 10
⁵ I
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. There are others which grant reality
to the world, though they maintain that it has no reality apart
from Brahman. Samkara tells us that the former is the true
teaching of the Upaniṣads, while the latter view is put forward
only tentatively as a first step in the teaching to be later
¹ Katha I 2. 4. 5
² I. I. 10.
³ Māyā is viewed as the power that makes for delusion
māś ca mohārtha-vacanah yāś ca prāpana-vācakah
tām prāpayatī yā nityam, sā māyā parikhṛtītā
Brahma-vaivaria Purāna XXVII.
⁴ M.U. II. 1. 10
⁵ I. 16
withdrawn The reality conceded to the world is not ultimate
It is only empirical
If we keep in mind the fourfold character of the Supreme, we
shall avoid confusion in regard to the status of the world If we
concentrate attention on Brahman, the Absolute, we feel that
the world is not independent of Brahman but rests in Brahman
The relationship between the two cannot be logically articu-
lated If we turn to the personal Ishvara, we know that the
world is the creation of Brahman and not its organic expression
The power of creation is called maya If we turn to the world
process which is a perpetual becoming, it is a mixture of being
and non-being, sat and asat, the divine principle and prakriti
Hiranya-garbha and his world are both subject to time, and
should be distinguished from the eternal But the temporal
becoming is by no means false
As to why the Supreme has this fourfold character, why it is
what it is, we can only accept it as the given reality It is the
ultimate irrationality in the sense that no logical derivation of
the given is possible It is apprehended by us in spiritual con-
sciousness, and accounts for the nature of experience in all its
aspects It is the only philosophical explanation that is possible
or necessary
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