Reading section 5

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[Footnote 1: _The Rigveda_, by Kaegi, p. 90. R.V.x. 129.]

[Footnote 2: See Eggeling's translation of _S'.B., S.B.E._ vol. XLIII. pp. 374, 375.]

[Footnote 3: _A.V._ x. 7. 10.]

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question whether this universe was at all a creation or not, which could think of the origin of the world as being enveloped in the mystery of a primal non-differentiation of being and non-being; and which could think that it was the primal One which by its inherent fervour gave rise to the desire of a creation as the first manifestation of the germ of mind, from which the universe sprang forth through a series of mysterious gradual processes. In the Brâhma@nas, however, we find that the cosmogonic view generally requires the agency of a creator, who is not however always the starting point, and we find that the theory of evolution is combined with the theory of creation, so that Prajâpati is sometimes spoken of as the creator while at other times the creator is said to have floated in the primeval water as a cosmic golden egg.

Eschatology; the Doctrine of Âtman.

There seems to be a belief in the Vedas that the soul could be separated from the body in states of swoon, and that it could exist after death, though we do not find there any trace of the doctrine of transmigration in a developed form. In the S'atapatha Brâhma@na it is said that those who do not perform rites with correct knowledge are born again after death and suffer death again. In a hymn of the @Rg-Veda (X. 58) the soul (_manas_) of a man apparently unconscious is invited to come back to him from the trees, herbs, the sky, the sun, etc. In many of the hymns there is also the belief in the existence of another world, where the highest material joys are attained as a result of the performance of the sacrifices and also in a hell of darkness underneath where the evil-doers are punished. In the S'atapatha Brâhma@na we find that the dead pass between two fires which burn the evil-doers, but let the good go by [Footnote ref 1]; it is also said there that everyone is born again after death, is weighed in a balance, and receives reward or punishment according as his works are good or bad. It is easy to see that scattered ideas like these with regard to the destiny of the soul of man according to the sacrifice that he performs or other good or bad deeds form the first rudiments of the later doctrine of metempsychosis. The idea that man enjoys or suffers, either in another world or by being born in this world according to his good or bad deeds, is the first beginning of the moral idea, though in the Brahmanic days the good deeds were

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[Footnote 1: See _S.B._ I. 9.3, and also Macdonell's _Vedic Mythology_, pp. 166, 167.]

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more often of the nature of sacrificial duties than ordinary good works. These ideas of the possibilities of a necessary connection of the enjoyments and sorrows of a man with his good and bad works when combined with the notion of an inviolable law or order, which we have already seen was gradually growing with the conception of @rta, and the unalterable law which produces the effects of sacrificial works, led to the Law of Karma and the doctrine of transmigration. The words which denote soul in the @Rg-Veda are _manas_, _âtman_ and _asu_. The word _âtman_ however which became famous in later Indian thought is generally used to mean vital breath. Manas is regarded as the seat of thought and emotion, and it seems to be regarded, as Macdonell says, as dwelling in the heart[Footnote ref 1]. It is however difficult to understand how âtman as vital breath, or as a separable part of man going out of the dead man came to be regarded as the ultimate essence or reality in man and the universe. There is however at least one passage in the @Rg-Veda where the poet penetrating deeper and deeper passes from the vital breath (_asu_) to the blood, and thence to âtman as the inmost self of the world; "Who has seen how the first-born, being the Bone-possessing (the shaped world), was born from the Boneless (the shapeless)? where was the vital breath, the blood, the Self (_âtman_) of the world? Who went to ask him that knows it [Footnote ref 2]?" In Taittîrya Âra@nyaka I. 23, however, it is said that Prajâpati after having created his self (as the world) with his own self entered into it. In Taittîrya Brâhma@na the âtman is called omnipresent, and it is said that he who knows him is no more stained by evil deeds. Thus we find that in the pre-Upani@sad Vedic literature âtman probably was first used to denote "vital breath" in man, then the self of the world, and then the self in man. It is from this last stage that we find the traces of a growing tendency to looking at the self of man as the omnipresent supreme principle of the universe, the knowledge of which makes a man sinless and pure.

Conclusion.

Looking at the advancement of thought in the @Rg-Veda we find first that a fabric of thought was gradually growing which not only looked upon the universe as a correlation of parts or a

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[Footnote 1: Macdonell's _Vedic Mythology_, p.166 and R.V. viii.89.]

[Footnote 2: R.V.i. 164. 4 and Deussen's article on Âtman in _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.

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construction made of them, but sought to explain it as having emanated from one great being who is sometimes described as one with the universe and surpassing it, and at other times as being separate from it; the agnostic spirit which is the mother of philosophic thought is seen at times to be so bold as to express doubts even on the most fundamental questions of creation--"Who knows whether this world was ever created or not?" Secondly the growth of sacrifices has helped to establish the unalterable nature of the law by which the (sacrificial) actions produced their effects of themselves. It also lessened the importance of deities as being the supreme masters of the world and our fate, and the tendency of henotheism gradually diminished their multiple character and advanced the monotheistic tendency in some quarters. Thirdly, the soul of man is described as being separable from his body and subject to suffering and enjoyment in another world according to his good or bad deeds; the doctrine that the soul of man could go to plants, etc., or that it could again be reborn on earth, is also hinted at in certain passages, and this may be regarded as sowing the first seeds of the later doctrine of transmigration. The self (_âtman_) is spoken of in one place as the essence of the world, and when we trace the idea in the Brâhma@nas and the Âra@nyakas we see that âtman has begun to mean the supreme essence in man as well as in the universe, and has thus approached the great Âtman doctrine of the Upani@sads.

CHAPTER III

THE EARLIER UPANI@SADS [Footnote ref 1]. (700 B.C.-600 B.C.)

The place of the Upani@sads in Vedic literature.

Though it is generally held that the Upani@sads are usually attached as appendices to the Âra@nyakas which are again attached to the Brâhma@nas, yet it cannot be said that their distinction as separate treatises is always observed. Thus we find in some cases that subjects which we should expect to be discussed in a Brâhma@na are introduced into the Âra@nyakas and the Âra@nyaka materials are sometimes fused into the great bulk of Upani@sad teaching. This shows that these three literatures gradually grew up in one

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[Footnote 1: There are about 112 Upani@sads which have been published by the "Nir@naya-Sâgara" Press, Bombay, 1917. These are 1 Ísâ, 2 Kena, 3 Katha, 4 Pras'na, 5 Mun@daka, 6 Mâ@n@dukya, 7 Taittirîya, 7 Aitareya, 9 Chândogya, 10 B@rhadâra@nyaka, 11 S'vetâs'vatara, 12 Kau@sitaki, 13 Maitreyî, 14 Kaivalya, 15 Jâbâla, 16 Brahmabindu, 17 Ha@msa, 18 Âru@nika, 19 Garbha, 20 Nârâya@na, 21 Nârâya@na, 22 Paramaha@msa, 23 Brahma, 24 Am@rtanâda, 25 Atharvas'iras, 26 Atharvas'ikhâ, 27 Maitrâya@nî, 28 B@rhajjâbâla, 29 N@rsi@mhapûrvatâpinî, 30 N@rsi@mhottaratâpinî, 31 Kâlâgnirudra, 32 Subâla, 33 K@surikâ, 34 Yantrikâ, 35 Sarvasâra, 36 Nirâlamba, 37 S'ukarahasya, 38 Vajrasûcikâ, 39 Tejobindu, 40 Nâdabindu, 41 Dhyânabindu, 42 Brahmavidyâ, 43 Yogatattva, 44 Atmabodha, 45 Nâradaparivrâjaka, 46 Tris'ikhibrâhma@na, 47 Sîtâ, 48 Yogacû@dama@ni, 49 Nirvâna, 50 Ma@ndalabrâhma@na, 51 Dak@si@nâmûrtti, 52 S'arabha, 53 Skanda, 54 Tripâdvibhûtimahânârya@na, 55 Advayatâraka, 56 Ramarahasya, 57 Râmapûrvatâpinî, 58 Râmottaratâpinî, 59 Vâsudeva, 60 Mudgala, 61 Sâ@n@dilya, 62 Pai@ngala, 63 Bhik@suka, Mahâ, 65 S'ârîraka, 66 Yogas'ikhâ, 67 Turiyâtîta, 68 Sa@mnyâsa, 69 Paramaha@msaparivrâjaka, 70 Ak@samâlâ, 71 Avyakta, 72 Ekâk@sara, 73 Annapûrnâ, 74 Sûrya, 75 Aksi, 76 Adhyâtma, 77 Ku@n@dika, 78 Sâvitrî, 79 Âtman, 80 Pâ'supatabrahma, 81 Parabrahma, 82 Avadhûta, 83 Tripurârâpini, 84 Devî, 85 Tripurâ, 86 Ka@tharudra, 87 Bhâvanâ, 88 Rudrah@rdaya, 89 Yogaku@n@dali, 90 Bhasmajâbâla, 91 Rudrâk@sajâbâla, 92 Ga@napati, 93 Jâbâladars'ana, 94 Tâiasâra, 95 Mahâvakya, 96 Paficabrahma, 97 Prâ@nâgnihotra, 98 Gopâlapûrvatâpinî, 99 Gopâlottaratâpinî, 100 K@r@s@na, 101 Yâjñavalkya, 102 Varâha, 103 S'âthyâyanîya, 104 Hayagrîva, 105 Dattâtreya, 106 Garu@da, 107 Kalisantara@na, 108 Jâbâli, 109 Saubhâgyalak@smî, 110 Sarasvatîrahasya, 111 Bahvrca, 112 Muktika.

The collection of Upani@sads translated by Dara shiko, Aurangzeb's brother, contained 50 Upani@sads. The Muktika Upani@sad gives a list of 108 Upani@sads. With the exception of the first 13 Upani@sads most of them are of more or less later date. The Upani@sads dealt with in this chapter are the earlier ones. Amongst the later ones there are some which repeat the purport of these, there are others which deal with the S'aiva, S'âkta, the Yoga and the Vai@s@nava doctrines. These will be referred to in connection with the consideration of those systems in Volume II. The later Upani@sads which only repeat the purport of those dealt with in this chapter do not require further mention. Some of the later Upani@sads were composed even as late as the fourteenth or the fifteenth century.]

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process of development and they were probably regarded as parts of one literature, in spite of the differences in their subject-matter. Deussen supposes that the principle of this division was to be found in this, that the Brâhma@nas were intended for the householders, the Âra@nyakas for those who in their old age withdrew into the solitude of the forests and the Upani@sads for those who renounced the world to attain ultimate salvation by meditation. Whatever might be said about these literary classifications the ancient philosophers of India looked upon the Upani@sads as being of an entirely different type from the rest of the Vedic literature as dictating the path of knowledge (_jñâna-mârga_) as opposed to the path of works (_karma-mârga_) which forms the content of the latter. It is not out of place here to mention that the orthodox Hindu view holds that whatever may be written in the Veda is to be interpreted as commandments to perform certain actions (_vidhi_) or prohibitions against committing certain others (_ni@sedha_). Even the stories or episodes are to be so interpreted that the real objects of their insertion might appear as only to praise the performance of the commandments and to blame the commission of the prohibitions. No person has any right to argue why any particular Vedic commandment is to be followed, for no reason can ever discover that, and it is only because reason fails to find out why a certain Vedic act leads to a certain effect that the Vedas have been revealed as commandments and prohibitions to show the true path of happiness. The Vedic teaching belongs therefore to that of the Karma-mârga or the performance of Vedic duties of sacrifice, etc. The Upani@sads however do not require the performance of any action, but only reveal the ultimate truth and reality, a knowledge of which at once emancipates a man. Readers of Hindu philosophy are aware that there is a very strong controversy on this point between the adherents of the Vedânta (_Upani@sads_) and those of the Veda. For the latter seek in analogy to the other parts of the Vedic literature to establish the principle that the Upani@sads should not be regarded as an exception, but that they should also be so interpreted that they might also be held out as commending the performance of duties; but the former dissociate the Upani@sads from the rest of the Vedic literature and assert that they do not make the slightest reference to any Vedic duties, but only delineate the ultimate reality which reveals the highest knowledge in the minds of the deserving.

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S'a@nkara the most eminent exponent of the Upani@sads holds that they are meant for such superior men who are already above worldly or heavenly prosperities, and for whom the Vedic duties have ceased to have any attraction. Wheresoever there may be such a deserving person, be he a student, a householder or an ascetic, for him the Upani@sads have been revealed for his ultimate emancipation and the true knowledge. Those who perform the Vedic duties belong to a stage inferior to those who no longer care for the fruits of the Vedic duties but are eager for final emancipation, and it is the latter who alone are fit to hear the Upani@sads [Footnote ref 1].

The names of the Upani@sads; Non-Brahmanic influence.

The Upani@sads are also known by another name Vedânta, as they are believed to be the last portions of the Vedas (_veda-anta_, end); it is by this name that the philosophy of the Upani@sads, the Vedânta philosophy, is so familiar to us. A modern student knows that in language the Upani@sads approach the classical Sanskrit; the ideas preached also show that they are the culmination of the intellectual achievement of a great epoch. As they thus formed the concluding parts of the Vedas they retained their Vedic names which they took from the name of the different schools or branches (_s'âkhâ_) among which the Vedas were studied [Footnote ref 2]. Thus the Upani@sads attached to the Brâhma@nas of the Aitareya and Kau@sîtaki schools are called respectively Aitareya and Kau@sîtaki Upani@sads. Those of the Tâ@n@dins and Talavakâras of the Sâma-veda are called the Chândogya and Talavakâra (or Kena) Upani@sads. Those of the Taittirïya school of the Yajurveda

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[Footnote 1: This is what is called the difference of fitness (_adhikâribheda_). Those who perform the sacrifices are not fit to hear the Upani@sads and those who are fit to hear the Upani@sads have no longer any necessity to perform the sacrificial duties.]

[Footnote 2: When the Sa@mhitâ texts had become substantially fixed, they were committed to memory in different parts of the country and transmitted from teacher to pupil along with directions for the practical performance of sacrificial duties. The latter formed the matter of prose compositions, the Brâhma@nas. These however were gradually liable to diverse kinds of modifications according to the special tendencies and needs of the people among which they were recited. Thus after a time there occurred a great divergence in the readings of the texts of the Brâhma@nas even of the same Veda among different people. These different schools were known by the name of particular S'âkhâs (e.g. Aitareya, Kau@sîtaki) with which the Brâhma@nas were associated or named. According to the divergence of the Brâhma@nas of the different S'âkhâs there occurred the divergences of content and the length of the Upani@sads associated with them.]

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form the Taittirîya and Mahânâraya@na, of the Ka@tha school the Kâ@thaka, of the Maitrâya@nî school the Maitrâya@nî. The B@rhadâra@nyaka Upani@sad forms part of the S'atapatha Brâhma@na of the Vâjasaneyi schools. The Îs'â Upani@sad also belongs to the latter school. But the school to which the S'vetâs'vatara belongs cannot be traced, and has probably been lost. The presumption with regard to these Upani@sads is that they represent the enlightened views of the particular schools among which they flourished, and under whose names they passed. A large number of Upani@sads of a comparatively later age were attached to the Atharva-Veda, most of which were named not according to the Vedic schools but according to the subject-matter with which they dealt [Footnote ref 1].

It may not be out of place here to mention that from the frequent episodes in the Upani@sads in which the Brahmins are described as having gone to the K@sattriyas for the highest knowledge of philosophy, as well as from the disparateness of the Upani@sad teachings from that of the general doctrines of the Brâhma@nas and from the allusions to the existence of philosophical speculations amongst the people in Pâli works, it may be inferred that among the K@sattriyas in general there existed earnest philosophic enquiries which must be regarded as having exerted an important influence in the formation of the Upani@sad doctrines. There is thus some probability in the supposition that though the Upani@sads are found directly incorporated with the Brâhma@nas it was not the production of the growth of Brahmanic dogmas alone, but that non-Brahmanic thought as well must have either set the Upani@sad doctrines afoot, or have rendered fruitful assistance to their formulation and cultivation, though they achieved their culmination in the hands of the Brahmins.

Brâhma@nas and the Early Upani@sads.

The passage of the Indian mind from the Brâhmanic to the Upani@sad thought is probably the most remarkable event in the history of philosophic thought. We know that in the later Vedic hymns some monotheistic conceptions of great excellence were developed, but these differ in their nature from the absolutism of the Upani@sads as much as the Ptolemaic and the Copernican

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[Footnote 1: Garbha Upani@sad, Âtman Upani@sad, Pras'na Upani@sad, etc. There were however some exceptions such as the Mâ@n@dûkya, Jâbâla, Pai@ngala, S'aunaka, etc.]

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systems in astronomy. The direct translation of Vis'vakarman or Hira@nyagarbha into the âtman and the Brahman of the Upani@sads seems to me to be very improbable, though I am quite willing to admit that these conceptions were swallowed up by the âtman doctrine when it had developed to a proper extent. Throughout the earlier Upani@sads no mention is to be found of Vis'vakarman, Hira@nyagarbha or Brahma@naspati and no reference of such a nature is to be found as can justify us in connecting the Upani@sad ideas with those conceptions [Footnote ref l]. The word puru@sa no doubt occurs frequently in the Upani@sads, but the sense and the association that come along with it are widely different from that of the puru@sa of the Puru@sasûkta of the @Rg-Veda.

When the @Rg-Veda describes Vis'vakarman it describes him as a creator from outside, a controller of mundane events, to whom they pray for worldly benefits. "What was the position, which and whence was the principle, from which the all-seeing Vis'vakarman produced the earth, and disclosed the sky by his might? The one god, who has on every side eyes, on every side a face, on every side arms, on every side feet, when producing the sky and earth, shapes them with his arms and with his wings....Do thou, Vis'vakarman, grant to thy friends those thy abodes which are the highest, and the lowest, and the middle...may a generous son remain here to us [Footnote ref 2]"; again in R.V.X. 82 we find "Vis'vakarman is wise, energetic, the creator, the disposer, and the highest object of intuition....He who is our father, our creator, disposer, who knows all spheres and creatures, who alone assigns to the gods their names, to him the other creatures resort for instruction [Footnote ref 3]." Again about Hira@nyagarbha we find in R.V.I. 121, "Hira@nyagarbha arose in the beginning; born, he was the one lord of things existing. He established the earth and this sky; to what god shall we offer our oblation?... May he not injure us, he who is the generator of the earth, who ruling by fixed ordinances, produced the heavens, who produced the great and brilliant waters!--to what god, etc.? Prajâpati, no other than thou is lord over all these created things: may we obtain that, through desire of which we have invoked thee; may we become masters of riches [Footnote ref 4]." Speaking of the puru@sa the @Rg-Veda

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[Footnote 1: The name Vis'vakarma appears in S'vet. IV. 17. Hira@nyagarbha appears in S'vet. III. 4 and IV. 12, but only as the first created being. The phrase Sarvâhammânî Hira@nyagarbha which Deussen refers to occurs only in the later N@rsi@m@h. 9. The word Brahma@naspati does not occur at all in the Upani@sads.]

[Footnote 2: Muir's _Sanskrit Texts_, vol. IV. pp. 6, 7.]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid._ p, 7.]

[Footnote 4: _Ibid._ pp. 16, 17.]

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says "Purusha has a thousand heads...a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet. On every side enveloping the earth he transcended [it] by a space of ten fingers....He formed those aerial creatures, and the animals, both wild and tame [Footnote ref 1]," etc. Even that famous hymn (R.V.x. 129) which begins with "There was then neither being nor non-being, there was no air nor sky above" ends with saying "From whence this creation came into being, whether it was created or not--he who is in the highest sky, its ruler, probably knows or does not know."

In the Upani@sads however, the position is entirely changed, and the centre of interest there is not in a creator from outside but in the self: the natural development of the monotheistic position of the Vedas could have grown into some form of developed theism, but not into the doctrine that the self was the only reality and that everything else was far below it. There is no relation here of the worshipper and the worshipped and no prayers are offered to it, but the whole quest is of the highest truth, and the true self of man is discovered as the greatest reality. This change of philosophical position seems to me to be a matter of great interest. This change of the mind from the objective to the subjective does not carry with it in the Upani@sads any elaborate philosophical discussions, or subtle analysis of mind. It comes there as a matter of direct perception, and the conviction with which the truth has been grasped cannot fail to impress the readers. That out of the apparently meaningless speculations of the Brâhma@nas this doctrine could have developed, might indeed appear to be too improbable to be believed.

On the strength of the stories of Bâlâki Ga'rgya and Ajâtas'atru (B@rh. II. i), S'vetaketu and Pravâha@na Jaibali (Châ. V. 3 and B@rh. VI. 2) and Âru@ni and As'vapati Kaikeya (Châ. V. 11) Garbe thinks "that it can be proven that the Brahman's profoundest wisdom, the doctrine of All-one, which has exercised an unmistakable influence on the intellectual life even of our time, did not have its origin in the circle of Brahmans at all [Footnote ref 2]" and that "it took its rise in the ranks of the warrior caste [Footnote ref 3]." This if true would of course lead the development of the Upani@sads away from the influence of the Veda, Brâhma@nas and the Âra@nyakas. But do the facts prove this? Let us briefly examine the evidences that Garbe himself

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[Footnote 1: Muir's _Sanskrit Texts_, vol. v. pp. 368, 371.]

[Footnote 2: Garbe's article, "_Hindu Monism_," p. 68.]

[Footnote 3: _Ibid._ p. 78.

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self has produced. In the story of Bâlâki Gârgya and Ajâtas'atru (B@rh. II. 1) referred to by him, Bâlâki Gârgya is a boastful man who wants to teach the K@sattriya Ajâtas'atru the true Brahman, but fails and then wants it to be taught by him. To this Ajâtas'atru replies (following Garbe's own translation) "it is contrary to the natural order that a Brahman receive instruction from a warrior and expect the latter to declare the Brahman to him [Footnote ref l]." Does this not imply that in the natural order of things a Brahmin always taught the knowledge of Brahman to the K@sattriyas, and that it was unusual to find a Brahmin asking a K@sattriya about the true knowledge of Brahman? At the beginning of the conversation, Ajâtas'atru had promised to pay Bâlâki one thousand coins if he could tell him about Brahman, since all people used to run to Janaka to speak about Brahman [Footnote ref 2]. The second story of S'vetaketu and Pravâha@na Jaibali seems to be fairly conclusive with regard to the fact that the transmigration doctrines, the way of the gods (_devayâna_) and the way of the fathers (_pit@ryâna_) had originated among the K@sattriyas, but it is without any relevancy with regard to the origin of the superior knowledge of Brahman as the true self.