A History of Indian Philosophy Part 4

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with regard to the wonderful mystery of the origin of the world are found is the 129th hymn of R.V.x.

1. Then there was neither being nor not-being.

The atmosphere was not, nor sky above it.

What covered all? and where? by what protected?

Was there the fathomless abyss of waters?

2. Then neither death nor deathless existed; Of day and night there was yet no distinction.

Alone that one breathed calmly, self-supported, Other than It was none, nor aught above It.

3. Darkness there was at first in darkness hidden; The universe was undistinguished water.

That which in void and emptiness lay hidden Alone by power of fervor was developed.

4. Then for the first time there arose desire, Which was the primal germ of mind, within it.

And sages, searching in their heart, discovered In Nothing the connecting bond of Being.

6. Who is it knows? Who here can tell us surely From what and how this universe has risen?

And whether not till after it the G.o.ds lived?

Who then can know from what it has arisen?

7. The source from which this universe has risen, And whether it was made, or uncreated, He only knows, who from the highest heaven Rules, the all-seeing lord--or does not He know [Footnote ref 1]?

The earliest commentary on this is probably a pa.s.sage in the S'atapatha [email protected] (x. 5. 3.I) which says that "in the beginning this (universe) was as it were neither non-existent nor existent; in the beginning this (universe) was as it were, existed and did not exist: there was then only that Mind. Wherefore it has been declared by the Rishi (@Rg-Veda X. 129. I), 'There was then neither the non-existent nor the existent' for Mind was, as it were, neither existent nor non-existent. This Mind when created, wished to become manifest,--more defined, more substantial: it sought after a self (a body); it practised austerity: it acquired consistency [Footnote ref 2]." In the Atharva-Veda also we find it stated that all forms of the universe were comprehended within the G.o.d Skambha [Footnote ref 3].

Thus we find that even in the period of the Vedas there sprang forth such a philosophic yearning, at least among some who could

[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 [email protected], 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 Praj.a.pati 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 atman.

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 [email protected] 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 h.e.l.l of darkness underneath where the evil-doers are punished. In the S'atapatha [email protected] we find that the dead pa.s.s 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

_

[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_, _atman_ and _asu_. The word _atman_ 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 atman 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 pa.s.sage in the @Rg-Veda where the poet penetrating deeper and deeper pa.s.ses from the vital breath (_asu_) to the blood, and thence to atman 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 (_atman_) of the world? Who went to ask him that knows it [Footnote ref 2]?" In Taittirya [email protected] I. 23, however, it is said that Praj.a.pati after having created his self (as the world) with his own self entered into it. In Taittirya [email protected] the atman 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 [email protected] Vedic literature atman 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

[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 atman 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 surpa.s.sing 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 pa.s.sages, and this may be regarded as sowing the first seeds of the later doctrine of transmigration. The self (_atman_) is spoken of in one place as the essence of the world, and when we trace the idea in the [email protected] and the [email protected] we see that atman has begun to mean the supreme essence in man as well as in the universe, and has thus approached the great atman doctrine of the [email protected]

CHAPTER III

THE EARLIER [email protected] [Footnote ref 1]. (700 B.C.-600 B.C.)

The place of the [email protected] in Vedic literature.

Though it is generally held that the [email protected] are usually attached as appendices to the [email protected] which are again attached to the [email protected], 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 [email protected] are introduced into the [email protected] and the [email protected] materials are sometimes fused into the great bulk of [email protected] teaching.

This shows that these three literatures gradually grew up in one

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[Footnote 1: There are about 112 [email protected] which have been published by the "[email protected]" Press, Bombay, 1917. These are 1 isa, 2 Kena, 3 Katha, 4 Pras'na, 5 [email protected], 6 [email protected]@dukya, 7 Taittiriya, 7 Aitareya, 9 Chandogya, 10 [email protected]@nyaka, 11 S'vetas'vatara, 12 [email protected], 13 Maitreyi, 14 Kaivalya, 15 Jabala, 16 Brahmabindu, 17 [email protected], 18 [email protected], 19 Garbha, 20 [email protected], 21 [email protected], 22 [email protected], 23 Brahma, 24 [email protected], 25 Atharvas'iras, 26 Atharvas'ikha, 27 [email protected], 28 [email protected], 29 [email protected]@mhapurvatapini, 30 [email protected]@mhottaratapini, 31 Kalagnirudra, 32 Subala, 33 [email protected], 34 Yantrika, 35 Sarvasara, 36 Niralamba, 37 S'ukarahasya, 38 Vajrasucika, 39 Tejobindu, 40 Nadabindu, 41 Dhyanabindu, 42 Brahmavidya, 43 Yogatattva, 44 Atmabodha, 45 Naradaparivrajaka, 46 [email protected], 47 Sita, 48 [email protected]@ni, 49 Nirvana, 50 [email protected]@na, 51 [email protected]@namurtti, 52 S'arabha, 53 Skanda, 54 [email protected], 55 Advayataraka, 56 Ramarahasya, 57 Ramapurvatapini, 58 Ramottaratapini, 59 Vasudeva, 60 Mudgala, 61 [email protected]@dilya, 62 [email protected], 63 [email protected], Maha, 65 S'ariraka, 66 Yogas'ikha, 67 Turiyat.i.ta, 68 [email protected], 69 [email protected], 70 [email protected], 71 Avyakta, 72 [email protected], 73 Annapurna, 74 Surya, 75 Aksi, 76 Adhyatma, 77 [email protected]@dika, 78 Savitri, 79 atman, 80 Pa'supatabrahma, 81 Parabrahma, 82 Avadhuta, 83 Tripurarapini, 84 Devi, 85 Tripura, 86 [email protected], 87 Bhavana, 88 [email protected], 89 [email protected]@dali, 90 Bhasmajabala, 91 [email protected], 92 [email protected], 93 Jabaladars'ana, 94 Taiasara, 95 Mahavakya, 96 Paficabrahma, 97 [email protected], 98 Gopalapurvatapini, 99 Gopalottaratapini, 100 [email protected]@[email protected], 101 Yajnavalkya, 102 Varaha, 103 S'athyayaniya, 104 Hayagriva, 105 Dattatreya, 106 [email protected], 107 [email protected], 108 Jabali, 109 [email protected], 110 Sarasvatirahasya, 111 Bahvrca, 112 Muktika.

The collection of [email protected] translated by Dara shiko, Aurangzeb's brother, contained 50 [email protected] The Muktika [email protected] gives a list of 108 [email protected] With the exception of the first 13 [email protected] most of them are of more or less later date. The [email protected] 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'akta, the Yoga and the [email protected]@nava doctrines. These will be referred to in connection with the consideration of those systems in Volume II. The later [email protected] which only repeat the purport of those dealt with in this chapter do not require further mention. Some of the later [email protected] 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 [email protected] were intended for the householders, the [email protected] for those who in their old age withdrew into the solitude of the forests and the [email protected] for those who renounced the world to attain ultimate salvation by meditation.

Whatever might be said about these literary cla.s.sifications the ancient philosophers of India looked upon the [email protected] as being of an entirely different type from the rest of the Vedic literature as dictating the path of knowledge (_jnana-marga_) as opposed to the path of works (_karma-marga_) 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 ([email protected]_). 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-marga or the performance of Vedic duties of sacrifice, etc. The [email protected] however do not require the performance of any action, but only reveal the ultimate truth and reality, a knowledge of which at once emanc.i.p.ates a man.

Readers of Hindu philosophy are aware that there is a very strong controversy on this point between the adherents of the Vedanta ([email protected]_) and those of the Veda. For the latter seek in a.n.a.logy to the other parts of the Vedic literature to establish the principle that the [email protected] 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 [email protected] from the rest of the Vedic literature and a.s.sert 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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[email protected] the most eminent exponent of the [email protected] 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 [email protected] have been revealed for his ultimate emanc.i.p.ation 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 emanc.i.p.ation, and it is the latter who alone are fit to hear the [email protected] [Footnote ref 1].