1. Selections from the Upanishads Murdoch J

SELECTIONS FROM

THE UPANISHADS

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good"

SECOND EDITION

CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY

LONDON, MADRAS AND COLOMBO

1904

Price, 4 Annas; Post-free, 5 Annas

Presented to the

LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

by

WILFRID CANTWELL SMITH

R. E. Welsh

SELECTIONS

FROM

THE UPANISHADS.

"From the Unreal lead me to the Real;

From Darkness lead me to Light;

From Death lead me to Immortality."

Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad.

THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY FOR INDIA:

LONDON, MADRAS AND COLOMBO.

PREFATORY NOTE.

The following English Translations of a few of the Upanishads appeared originally in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society. Permission to reprint them was kindly granted by the Committee on condition that no change was made in the text.

All the translations are by Dr. Roer, an eminent German Orientalist, except the extracts from the Chhāndogya Upanishad, which was translated by the late distinguished Indian Scholar, Dr. Rajendra Lāla Mitra.

The Katha, Īśā and Śvetāśvatara Upanishads, given in full, and the Brihadāraṇyaka and Chhāndogya Upanishads, from which copious extracts have been made, are considered to belong to the first rank, and give a favourable idea of the whole.

A few notes have been added from Professor Max Müller’s Translations in the ‘Sacred Books of the East.’ All who can should study his work.

To aid the reader in forming his own judgment of the Upanishads, criticism is reserved for the concluding chapters.

Some details regarding the Philosophic Schools of India will be found in “Philosophic Hinduism” (Price 2½ as.). Two of the chapters, towards the end, are quoted in the following compilation.

Every educated Hindu should have some acquaintance with the Upanishads. The following pages will enable him to form some estimate of their value.

J. Murdoch.

SCHEME OF ACCENTS.

The following plan has been followed:——Short vowels have

no mark attached. In Sanskrit e and o are always long. The long

vowels are marked thus——ā, ī, ū. The peculiar vowel, generally

written ri is marked thus——short, ṛi; long, ṛī. The cerebral letters

have diacritical marks thus——ṭ, ḍ, ṇ. The nasal letters are not

distinguished by any marks. The sibilants are represented by ś

as in sure, sh as in shun, s as in sin. The remembering of these

marks will help in the pronunciation of Sanskrit words.

LIST OF CONTRACTIONS.

Ā. = Ānandagiri.

Adh. = Adhyāya, or Chapter.

Bhag. G. = Bhagavadgītā.

Bṛ. Ā. = Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad.

Chh. U. = Chhāndogya Upanishad.

Kaṭh. or Kaṭh. U. = Kaṭha Upanishad.

Manu S. = Manu Smṛiti.

Munḍ. or Munḍ. U. = Munḍaka Upanishad.

Praś. U. = Praśna Upanishad.

Ṛig V. S. = Ṛig Veda Sanhita.

Ś. = Śankarāchārya.

Śvet. or Śvet. U. = Śvetāśvatara Upanishad.

Taitt. U. or Taitt. S. = Taittirīya Upanishad.

Tal. U. = Talavakāra or Kena Upanishad.

Vāj. U. or Vāj. S. = Vājasaneyi or Īśā Upanishad.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION ... ... ... ... ... Page 1

SELECTIONS FROM THE UPANISHADS ... ... 11

THE KAṬHA UPANISHAD ... ... ... ... 11

Introduction ... ... ... ... ... 11

First Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 19

Second Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 27

ĪŚĀ UPANISHAD ... ... ... ... ... 33

Introduction ... ... ... ... ... 33

The Upanishad ... ... ... ... ... 34

ŚVETĀŚVATARA UPANISHAD ... ... ... 37

Introduction ... ... ... ... ... 37

First Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 44

Second Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 49

Third Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 51

Fourth Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 53

Fifth Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 56

Sixth Chapter ... ... ... ... ... 58

BRIHADĀRAṆYAKA UPANISHAD ... ... ... 61

Introduction ... ... ... ... ... 61

Book I., First Brāhmaṇa ... ... ... 62

Conclusion of the Third Brāhmaṇa... ... 62

Account of Creation ... ... ... ... 63

The Meaning of Putra ... ... ... ... 65

Origin of the Vedas ... ... ... ... 66

Questions of Gārgī ... ... ... ... 66

Number of the Gods ... ... ... ... 67

Rebirths ... ... ... ... ... ... 68

Liberation during Life ... ... ... 69

The Sun nearer the Earth than the Moon ... 71

The Gāyatrī ... ... ... ... ... 71

Procreation ... ... ... ... ... 73

vi

CONTENTS.

Chhāndogya Upanishad ... ... ... ... 75

Śankara's Introduction ... ... ... ... 75

Om ... ... ... ... ... 77

The Udgītha as recited by a Dog ... ... 79

How to obtain Rain ... ... ... ... 79

Advantages of knowing the Gāyatrā ... ... 79

The Gāyatrī ... ... ... ... ... 80

" All this is Brahma " ... ... ... ... 81

Satyakāma ... ... ... ... ... 81

Creation of the Vedas ... ... ... ... 82

Transmigration ... ... ... ... ... 82

" One only without a Second " ... ... ... 82

" Thou art That " ... ... ... ... 83

The Moon escaping from Rāhu ... ... ... 84

Claimed Authorship of the Upanishad ... ... 84

EXAMINATION OF THE UPANISHADS ... ... 85

Introductory Remarks ... ... ... ... 85

Claimed Authorship of the Upanishads ... ... 89

False Science in the Upanishads ... ... 90

Account of Creation ... ... ... ... 91

Divine Origin claimed for Caste ... ... ... 91

Origin of the Vedas ... ... ... ... 92

The Gāyatrī ... ... ... ... ... 92

The Soul ... ... ... ... ... ... 93

Transmigration ... ... ... ... ... 95

Polytheism of the Upanishads ... ... ... 96

Pantheism ... ... ... ... ... ... 97

The " Great Sentences" of Hindu Philosophy ... 100

Hindu Philosophy tried by its Fruits ... ... 102

Causes of the Failure of Hindu Philosophy ... 104

A Prayer of the Upanishads ... ... ... 107

THE UPANISHADS.

INTRODUCTION.

Course of Hindu Thought.—India was first occupied by non-Aryan races, generally like the wild tribes still found in various

parts of the country, although some had attained an elementary civilisation. Their religion apparently consisted in propitiating the

demons and tutelary gods which, to the present day, forms the actual cult of the masses.

The Aryans poured in from Central Asia through the western passes, and spread over the great river basins of the Indus and

Ganges, where they gradually became mingled with the pre-existing population, the two races mutually acting upon each other.

In later Vedic times the Indian tribes were gathered together in farms, in huts of sun-dried mud, in houses of stone, in hamlets and

in fenced towns, under village chiefs and rājas. The outward aspects of their life were not unlike those of rural India to-day.

The Indians of the Vedic age tilled their rice and barley, irrigated their fields with water courses, watched the increase of their flocks

and herds, and made a hard or easy livelihood as blacksmiths, wheel-wrights, boat-builders, weavers, doctors, soldiers, poets,

priests. They lived upon the produce of their cattle and their fields, drank wine and soma juice, and exercised their leisure in

sacrificial feasts, in games, and spectacles.

The powers of Nature present themselves to them as so many personal objects. The child personifies the stone that hurts

him ; the child of superstition personifies the laws of Nature as gods. Sky and Earth are the father and mother of gods and men.

Mitra, presiding over the day, wakes men, and bids them bestir themselves betimes, and stands watching all things with unwink-

ing eye. Varuṇa, ruling the night, prepares a cool place of rest for all that move, fashions a pathway for the sun, knows every

wink of men's eyes, cherishes truth, seizes the evil-doer with his noose, and is prayed to have mercy on the sinful. Agni, the fire-

god, bears the oblation aloft to the gods. Indra, ruling the firmament, overthrows Vṛitra; Soma invigorates the gods, and

cheers mankind.

The gods require to be flattered with hymns, to be fed with butter, to be refreshed with soma juice, that they may send rain, food, cattle, children, and length of days to their worshippers. Life is as yet no burden ; there is nothing of the blank despair that came in later with the tenet of transmigration, and the misery of every form of sentient life. Pleasures are looked for in this world ; their harvests are enough for the wants of all ; their flocks and herds are many ; and pleasures are looked for again in the after-life in the body in the kingdom of Yama.

This worship of the personified powers of Nature with a view to material benefits gradually hardened into a series of rites to be performed by the priesthood. In course of time it came to be held that the sacrifices, performed without knowledge of their import, produced their desired effect,—some material good, the birth of children, long life or future happiness. This later form of Vedic religion received the name of the Karmakāṇḍa, or ritual department of the Vedas.

But in the midst of this life of the primitive Hindu, there are discernible the first stirrings of reflection. They will be described in the next chapter.

The period of the hymns was followed by that of the ritual and legendary compilations known as the Brāhmanas. Of these Brāhmanas, particular portions, to be repeated only by the hermits of the forests, were styled Āranyakas, and to the Āranyakas were attached the treatises setting forth as a hidden wisdom the all-pervading and all-animating self, or Brahman. This hidden wisdom, the philosophy of the Upanishads, in contradistinction from the Karmakāṇḍa, or ritual portion, received the name of Jnānakāṇḍa, or knowledge portion, of the Śruti, or everlasting salvation. There were now virtually two religions, the Karma-mārga, or path of rites, for the people of the villages, living as if life with its pleasures were real, and the Jnānamārga, or path of knowledge, for the sages that had quitted the world, and sought the quiet of the jungle, renouncing the false ends and empty fictions of common life, and intent upon reunion with the sole reality, the Self that is one in all things living.1

1 Abridged from Gough's " Philosophy of the Upanishads," pp. 7-17.

THE UPANISHADS.

Meaning of Title.—Śaṅkarāchārya explains Upanishad as meaning the “setting to rest” (or destruction) of ignorance. “The term,” says Gough, “imports mystic teaching, and the synonymous term Vedānta means a final instalment of the Veda. The Upanishads are also called Vedāntas, and the philosophy of the Upanishads, in its developed form, is known as the Vedāntic system.”

According to Professor Max Müller, “All we can say for the present is that Upanishad, besides being the recognized title of certain philosophical treatises, occurs also in the sense of doctrine and of secret doctrine, and that it seems to have assumed this meaning from having been used originally in the sense of session or assembly in which one or more pupils receive instruction from a teacher.”1

Place among Hindu Sacred Books.—There are two great classes, Śruti and Smṛiti. The Śruti, the higher, means heard. It is equivalent to direct revelation, and is believed to have no human author. Smṛiti, ‘that which is remembered,’ though believed to be founded on direct revelation, is thought to have been delivered by human authors.

Śruti includes the three portions of the Vedas, viz., the Mantras or Hymns, the Brāhmaṇas, directions about sacrifices, &c., and the Upanishads.

Smṛiti may be held to include ail the other sacred books, the Darśanas, Dharma Śāstras, Itihāsas, Purāṇas, Tantras, &c.

The Upanishads, as stated above, belong to the Śruti class. Max Müller says that “the recognized place for the ancient Upanishads is in the Āraṇyakas, or forest books, which, as a rule, form an appendix to the Brāhmaṇas, but are sometimes included also under the general name of Brāhmaṇa.”2 The Chhāndogya Upanishad gives the following account of its own origin : “Braḥma told this to Prajāpati, Prajāpati to Manu (his son), and Manu to mankind.”

Number.—Weber, some years ago, reckoned the number of the Upanishads as 235 ; but some of them seem to have been quoted twice under different names. A later estimate makes them 170. New names, however, are being added to the list.

1 “Sacred Books of the East,” Vol. I., pp. lxxxii-iii. 2 Ibid., lxvi.

4

THE UPANISHADS.

Max Müller says in his “History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature”:

“During the later ages of Indian history, when none of the ancient Upanishads could be found to suit the purpose, the founders of new sects had no scruple and no difficulty in composing new Upanishads of their own. This accounts for the large and ever-growing number of these treatises. Every new collection of MSS., every new list of Upanishads given by native writers, adds to the number of those which were known before; and the most modern compilations seem now to enjoy the same authority as the really genuine treatises.”

Most of the Upanishads are small and unimportant. The two longest are the Chhāndogya, attached to the Sāma-Veda, and the Brihad-Āranyaka, attached to the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa. Among others may be mentioned the Īśa, attached to the White Yajur-Veda; the Kena, of the Sāma-Veda; the Kaṭha, Praśna, Muṇḍaka, Māṇḍūkya, of the Ātharva-Veda; and the Taittirīya, of the Black Yajur-Veda. The Śvetāśvatara, attached to the Black Yajur-Veda, is considered one of the most modern of the Upanishads.

Date.—Max Müller says:

“Though it is easy to see that these Upanishads belong to very different periods of Indian thought, any attempt to fix their relative age seems to me for the present almost hopeless. No one can doubt that the Upanishads which have had a place assigned to them in the Saṇhitas, Brāhmaṇas, and Āraṇyakas, are the oldest. Next to these we can draw a line to include the Upanishads clearly referred to in the Vedānta-Sutras, or explained and quoted by Śaṅkara, by Sāyaṇa, and other more modern commentators. We can distinguish Upanishads in prose from Upanishads in mixed prose and verse, and again Upanishads in archaic verse from Upanishads in regular and continuous anushṭubh slokas. We can also class them according to their subjects, and, at last, according to the sects to which they belong. But beyond this it is hardly safe to venture at present.”1

Sir Monier Williams considers some of the more ancient probably as old as the sixth century B. C.

Orthodox Hindus believe the Upanishads to be part of the Vedas; but their quotations from the Rig-Veda Saṇhita, as well as their language, prove them to belong to a much later age than that of the Rig-Veda.

Text, &c.—Several of the Upanishads, in the original Sanskrit, have been published by the Bengal Asiatic Society. Śaṅkarāchārya, the great Hindu controversialist, who flourished about the eighth century of the Christian era, wrote commentaries on eleven of the Upanishads. There are also commentaries by other

1 “Sacred Books of the East,” Vol. I., p. lxix.

Hindu writers. About fifty of the Upanishads were translated into Persian by, or, it may be, for Prince Dāra, the eldest son of Shah Jahan. He seems to have heard of them during his stay in Kashmir in 1640. He afterwards invited several pandits from Benāres to Delhi, who were to assist him in the work of translation. The translation was finished in 1657. Persian being at that time widely read, they became accessible to many. In 1775 Anquetil Duperron, the famous traveller and discoverer of the Zendavesta, received a copy of the Persian translation. A Latin translation by him was published in 1801 under the title of 'Oupnek'hat.'1 Rāmmohun Roy translated four of them into English. Drs. Rajendralal Mitra and Roer have translated others. The most recent English Translation is by Max Müller, forming part of the “Sacred Books of the East.” But only a few of them have yet been translated or even printed. “The Philosophy of the Upanishads,” by Mr. Gough, late Principal of the Muir College, Allahabad, gives an admirable review, with copious extracts, of some of the most important of them.

Progress of Hindu Philosophic Thought.—It has been mentioned that even in the Vedas the first stirrings of Hindu speculation are discernible. Questions begin to be asked in the hymns of the Ṛishis in regard to the origin of earth and sky. Sometimes they said that they were made by the gods, or by one or other of the gods, working after the fashion of a human artificer. At other times they said the gods begot them. One of the Ṛishis asks about the earth and sky, “Which of them was first, and which was later? Ye wise, which of you knows?” Another asks, “What was the forest, what the tree, they cut the sky and earth out of, that abide and wear not out, while the days and many dawns have worn away?” In one hymn earth and sky are the works of Viśvakarma. In another it is Hiranya-Garbha, the golden germ, that arose in the beginning ; in another it is Varuna. Agni is sometimes the son of earth and sky ; at other times he is said to have stretched out the earth and sky.

In Ṛig Veda X. 72, 2, it is said : “ These (generations of the gods) Brāhmaṇaspati produced with blast and smelting like a smith. Existence, in an earlier age of gods, from non-existence sprang.”

In Ṛig Veda X. 90, the world, the three Vedas, the four orders of people, are produced out of Purusha, the highest deity, the personality that pervades all living things, offered up by the gods, the Sādhyas and the Ṛishis as a sacrificial thing. Here the idea of the emanation of the world from a divine spirit is presented in a gross form. “ A thousand heads had Purusha, a thousand eyes, a

1 “Sacred Books of the East,” Vol. I., pp. lvii, lviii.

thousand feet. . . This Purusha is all that yet hath been, and all that is to be ; the lord of immortality which waxes greater still by food.

The highest point of Vedic thought is reached in Rig Veda X. 129, which claims to be written by Prajāpati, the Supreme.

" Here," says Max Müller, " we find the conception of a beginning of all things, and of a state previous even to all existence."1

It is thus translated by Griffith :-

1. There was not non-existent nor existent : there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.

What covered in, and where ? and what gave shelter ? Was water there, unfathomed depth of water ?

2. Death was not then, nor was there aught immortal : no sign was there, the day's and night's divider.

That one thing,2 breathless, breathed by its own nature : apart from it was nothing whatsoever.

3. Darkness there was : at first concealed in darkness this All was indiscriminated chaos.

All that existed then was void and formless : by the great power of Warmth was born that Unit.

4. Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed and germ of Spirit.

Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.

5. Transversely was their severing line extended : what was above it then, and what below it ?

There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder.

6. Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence 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 ?

7. 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 verily knows it, or perhaps he knows not.

Monier Williams says: " It is interesting to trace the rudiments of the later philosophy amid the labyrinth of mystic language,

fanciful etymologies, far-fetched analogies, and puerile conceits which bewilder the reader of the Upanishads."3

It is held by Max Müller that the doctrine of Māyā, illusion, is not taught in the principal Upanishads. It begins to show itself in the Svetāśvatara Upanishad, and is more clearly taught in

the later Upanishads.1 On the other hand, Gough holds that it appears earlier.

"Liberation" the Aim of the Upanishads.—As already mentioned, in Vedic times a cheerful view was taken of life ; but with the Upanishads, says Dr. Mitchell, "commences that great wail of sorrow which, for countless ages, has in India been rising up to heaven, and which, as time goes on, will deepen into the darkness of despair. In modern Europe the evils that still afflict both the individual and society have suggested the question—'Is life worth living?' If this be the case, we cannot wonder that those ancient hermits were overwhelmed by the deep mysteries of existence and the manifold trials of life."2

The doctrine of transmigration, probably developed about the time of the Upanishads, had doubtless a great influence in producing this tone of sadness. Solomon, the richest and wisest king in ancient times, after trying every sensual pleasure, characterised them all as "vanity and vexation of spirit." Buddha, the son of an Indian Rāja, with similar experience, came to the same conclusion. His first "noble truth" is that "Existence is suffering." As a devout Buddhist counts his beads, he mutters Anitya, Dukha, Anatta—"Transcience, Sorrow, Unreality."—Life is a curse, and the great aim ought to be to get rid of it.

Hinduism has been powerfully affected by Buddhism. "Transmigration is the great bugbear, the terrible nightmare and daymare of Indian philosophers and metaphysicians. All their efforts are directed to getting rid of this oppressive scare. The question is not, What is truth? Nor is it the soul's desire to be released from the burden of sin. The one engrossing problem is, How is a man to break this iron chain of repeated existences? How is he to shake off all personality?"3

"Ask a Hindu," says Dr. Robson, "what is the chief end of man's existence? and he will answer, Liberation (mukti)." This is the answer which will be given alike by the peasant and the philosopher of any of the Schools. Ask him what he means by Liberation, and he will say that it is "to cut short the eighty-four."4

"The Upanishads express the desire of the personal soul or spirit (jīva or jīvātman) for deliverance from a long series of separate existences and from liability to pass through an infinite variety of bodies—gods, men, animals, plants, stones—and its longing for final union with the supreme soul or spirit of the Universe (Ātman afterwards called Brahman)."5

8

THE UPANISHADS.

Max Müller, in his “ Hibbert Lectures,” thus points out the object of the Upanishads :

" To show the utter uselessness, nay, the mischievousness of all ritual performances, to condemn every sacrificial act which has for its motive a desire or hope of reward ; to deny, if not the existence, at least the exceptional and exalted character of the Devas, and to teach that there is no hope of salvation and deliverance except by the individual Self recognizing the true and universal Self, and finding rest there, where alone rest can be found." pp. 340, 341.

Way of Liberation.—How is liberation to be obtained? How are the 84 lakhs of births to be cut short? It is not to be gained by a virtuous life or by works of any kind. The following illustration is used, and with the Hindus an illustration has all the force of an argument :—

" We are bound to our existence by two chains, the one a golden chain and the other an iron chain. The golden chain is virtue, and the iron chain is vice. We perform virtuous actions and we must exist in order to receive their reward ; we perform vicious actions, and we must exist in order to receive their punishment. The golden chain is pleasanter than the iron one, but both are fetters, and from both should we seek to free our spirit.

" We must seek a higher end—deliverance from pain and pleasure alike—and look for it by nobler means, by being free from works altogether. Knowledge is the instrument, meditation the means, by which our spirit is to be freed. To avoid all contact with the world, to avoid distraction, to avoid works, and to meditate on the identity of the internal with the external spirit till their oneness be realized, is the ‘ way of salvation’ prescribed by the higher Hinduism. Sankarāchārya, one of the principal authorities, says: ‘The recluse, pondering the teacher’s words, “ Thou art the Supreme Being,” and receiving the text of the Vedas, “ I am God,” having thus in theseveral ways—by the teacher’s precepts, by the Word of God, by his own contemplation—persuaded himself “ I am God,” obtains liberation.’ This is the Hindu philosophical answer to the question, ‘ What must I do to be saved ?’ It is called the ‘way of knowledge,’ and is said to be the highest and only infallible way ; the other ways being supposed to conduce to it." 1

Character of the Upanishads.—Thelarger Upanishads contain dialogues and mythical stories ; the shorter are more abstract and observe more order. The images pressed into service are of the simplest order. " The fire produced from the attrition of two pieces of wood, the spokes issuing from the nave of a wheel, the athlete running a race, cows suckling their calves, leaves attached to the branches and the stocks, a bowstring, an arrow let fly, a flaming fire, a rolling car, a bellowing ox, a drop of water on a lotus-leaf—

1 Robson's “Hinduism and its Relations to Christianity,” pp. 104, 109, 110.

such are the images which flit across our mind as we turn page after page of these ancient books. A favourite storehouse of figures is the beehive and the honey squeezed from it, which is now the best of gods, then the best of sacred writings, and anon the best of ceremonial observances."1

The gods of the Upanishads are those of the Vedas. Their number varies from three and three thousand to one, but, as in the Rig-Veda, a partiality is shown to "thirty-three" or "thrice eleven." These gods are invoked in the Upanishads. The Taittirīya begins, "May Mitra be auspicious to us, may Varuna be auspicious, may Indra, . . . may the wide-striding Vishṇu be auspicious to us."

The ceremonies referred to are Vedic. The Aśvamedha, or horse sacrifice, is graphically described and referred to again and again. The Brihadāraṇyaka thus sets forth its greatness:

"The dawn is verily the head of the sacrificial horse; the sun is the eye; the wind, the breath; the fire, under the name Viśvanara, the open mouth; the year, the body of the sacrificial horse; the heaven is the back; the atmosphere, the belly; the earth, the footstool (hoof); the quarters, the sides; the seasons, the members; the months, the half months, the joints; day and night, the feet; the constellations, the bones; the sky, the muscles; the half-digested food, the sand; the rivers, arteries and veins; the liver and spleen, the mountains; the herbs and trees, the various kinds of hair. The sun, as long as he rises, the fore part of the body; the sun, as long as he descends, the hind part of the body. The lightning is like yawning; the shaking of the members is like the rolling of the thunder."

The Soma-yajna, the Paśu-medha, or inferior animal sacrifices, and the great sacrifices, called Purusha-medha, or the sacrifice of the Lord of creatures, have also references.

"The most essential teaching of the Upanishads is, and has been so understood by the great expounders of them from ancient times, that every thing is Brahma. "That our ātmā, or soul, is itself Brahma, and the highest worship according to them is self-worship, and that consists in meditating that my own self is Brahma, that it is every thing."2

Dr. Murray Mitchell says of the Upanishads:

"These are by no means either systematic or homogeneous. They have well been called 'guesses at truth'; for they present no formal solution of great problems. They contradict one another; the same writer sometimes contradicts himself. They are often exceedingly obscure, and to Western minds repellent—vague, mystical, incomprehensible. A few rise to sublimity; others are nonsensical—'wild and

1 "Hindu Philosophy," by Rām Chandra Bose, A.M.

2 "Theism and Christianity," by Rev. Nehemiah Goreb.

10

THE UPANISHADS.

whirling words,' and nothing more. Yet there is frequently earnestness

—a groping after something felt to be needful; there is the yearning

of hearts dissatisfied and empty. In this lies the value of the Upani-

shads.'1

The Cambridge Professor of Sanskrit thus describes them :

" The Upanishads are usually in the form of dialogue; they are

generally written in prose with occasional snatches of verse, but some-

times they are in verse altogether. They have no system or method ;

the authors are poets, who throw out their unconnected and often con-

tradictory rhapsodies on the impulse of the moment, and have no

thought of harmonizing to-day's feeling with those of yesterday or to-

morrow. Through them all runs an unmistakable spirit of Pantheism,

often in its most offensive form, as avowedly overriding all moral con-

siderations ; and it is this which has produced the general impression

that the religion of the Veda is monotheistic."2

1 "Hinduism, Past and Present," p. 49.

2 Quoted by Colonel Jacob, "Vedānta Sāra," p. 15.

THE KATHA UPANISHAD.

INTRODUCTION.

The Katha Upanishad, as commented on by Sankarāchārya, consists of two parts (adhyāya), each of them containing three Vallīs (creepers). Dr. Weber1 is of opinion that the Katha originally closed with the third Vallī, and his reasons are, that the first part is complete, and has a formal conclusion, that the second part consists almost entirely of Vedic quotations, that there is a

• 1 “Indische Studien,” vol. II., pp. 197—200. Even a hasty glance at the Katha Upanishad shows that it consists of two parts, the first of which is formed by the first, the second by the second Adhyāya. While the first part is quite independent and complete, and moreover proved as such by a formal conclusion, offering promises to those who would declare or hear this “nāchiketam upākhyānam,”--the second is composed almost exclusively of Vedic quotations, which are to prove more in detail the doctrines pronounced in the first, and which are always introduced by “etad vai tad,” exactly in the manner and sense of the “ tad api esha sloko bhavati,” “tad esha bhyanūktā,” &c., in the Brāhmaṇas, and of the “tathā choktam, yatah,” “aparam cha,” in the Hitopadeśa. It is therefore quite proper, that in the enumeration of the Atharva Upanishads with Colebrooke (and in Chambers 127 b) both parts are directly counted as two different Upanishads. That the second part is later than the first, independent of the nature of the case, is clear from several other, especially linguistic, reasons. First, the name of Nachiketas is no longer mentioned therein, with the exception of one passage (added to it at a yet later time) at its close, where, however, he is called Nachiketa instead of Nachiketas, but he is constantly addressed by the name of Gautama, which name again is not used in the first part. Further, the word “ deha ” for body is not met with in this passage, I have as yet found this word only in Taitt. Ā. x. 13, and if its interpretation “what sullies” is correct, it belongs to a pretty advanced stage of Indian asceticism. With this it further agrees, that in § 3 of the second part the technical term of “ Yoga ” is known, and explained to denote the highest degree of devotion, which is perhaps a sign that this expression was then yet new and required interpretation…….Verses 7 and 8 in § 6, lastly, are only a (modified) repetition of 3, 10—11. However, likewise the second part, although later than the first, has yet a pretty ancient form, a character which it owes perhaps more to its quotations (as 5, 9—11 Agni, Vāyu, Sūrya,) than to its original passages. It is evident that the second part originally concludes after the words “tam vidyā-chakram amritam,” which for this purpose are repeated. The two next verses are a still later addition, the first prompted by a tender heart which could not suffer the reader to remain in doubt about the fate of Nachiketa (sic !); this, however, is quite un-Vedic, and never occurs in the legends of the Brāhmaṇas, viz., that he attended to the doctrines of Death,—the second is the introductory and concluding verse, already discussed, which it has in common with the three last Upanishads of the Taitt. Araṇyaka, and which here also has crept in, because this is originally considered as a Taittirīya Upanishad.

• The notes are chiefly by the Translator. Those marked Ś are from the Commentary of Sankarāchārya, and those marked Ā from Anandagiri.

difference of language in the first and second parts, and that in the Atharva list they are enumerated as distinct Upanishads. These arguments appear conclusive, and we would especially urge the difference in the composition of them. The subject of the Upanishad is indeed fully treated at the conclusion of the first part ; in the second there is no new thought ; and although not a mere repetition of the first, there is no leading idea by which its parts are arranged, so that it appears to have been composed at a later time, with a view of elucidating some of the topics of the first part more explicitly, and of proving its doctrines in a more convincing manner.

The Kaṭha has always been considered as one of the best Upanishads, and it must be admitted, that in elevation of thought, depth of expression, beauty of its imagery and an ingenuous fervour, few are equal to it. The lofty conception, by which in its introductory legend1 Death is made to give a reply to the highest questions the human mind can propose to itself, the enthusiasm and intimate conviction which Nachiketas shows about the infinite superiority of what is good over the pleasures of the world, even if their enjoyment be as perfect as lies in its nature, the firmness with which he maintains amidst all the allurements that are placed before him, and which bears some resemblance to the energy of mind with which Plato in the first and second books of his “ Republic” shows that Justice has an incomparable worth, and ought to be preserved under any circumstances, the fine comparison of the body with a car, the soul with a rider, the senses with horses, the mind with the therein, &c., and which again recalls Plato by the similar comparison in his “Phædrus,” —place it in a high rank as a poetical exposition of the doctrine that man is the same with the infinite soul.

From a philosophical point of view we cannot give the same praise, at least as to the form of the Upanishad ; there is little connection between the thoughts, no progress from one to another, so that they rather appear a compilation than the production of an original thinker. If we moreover attend to the distribution of the subject, at first no arrangement is found, the sentences do not shew a connected sequence, as when treating on one subject, another starts up without apparent necessity. On a closer examination a certain order becomes manifest, and to render this more perceptible, I shall state here the chief questions to which an answer is sought in every Upanishad, questions which are in fact, and must be, the

1 The legend itself is borrowed from the Taitt. Ā. prop. xi. 8, where Nachi-ketas' visit in the empire of Yama is described (vide Weber's “Indische Literaturgeschichte,” p. 90) ; but the mode in which it is treated here is original. The part of the legend, which is borrowed, is distinguished even in language from the rest ; for while the language of the Upanishad is elevated and refined, it is simple and even rude in the legend.

THE KAṬHA UPANISHAD.

13

subject of investigation to every philosophy, although they may assume a form very different from the one in which they are found in the Upanishads. They are one practical and three theoretical questions. 1, What is the highest object of man? 2, What is the last cause of the world? 3, In what connection is this cause with the world? and, 4, How do we know of it?

The first Vallī endeavours to answer the first question. Its views are briefly as follows :-It is generally thought that knowledge of the Vedas leads to supreme happiness ; but the happiness, which is derived from such a knowledge, and from the performance of the rites enjoined by the Vedas, viz., the enjoyment of heavenly bliss, is transient, and does not satisfy the mind of man, who is desirous of a happiness wherein there is no change.

This happiness is possible only under the condition, that the soul itself attains to an unchangeable state, and hence the question arises, whether after death there is an existence of the soul, separated from all the instruments of transient enjoyment, as the senses, the mind, &c. The investigation is difficult ; but there should be no hesitation of entering upon it; for the object is incomparably high, as it is a knowledge which leads to unalterable bliss.

In the second Vallī a general solution is given of the questions—What is the last cause of the world, and how do we know of it?

The good, in accordance to it, is different from what is pleasant, and on this account man has to choose between either ; for from the diversity of their nature both cannot be obtained together. By discrimination it will be found that the good is the higher of the two. The knowledge of the things that are pleasant is in fact ignorance,1 because it leads to delusion about the true nature of things, viz., by producing the belief, that only this world with its enjoyments exists, and not another. The result of this ignorance is, that the soul passes from life to death and vice versâ. Knowledge, on the other hand, refers to what is good, and its object is the true nature of the soul of man. It is different from virtue and vice, from cause and effect, different from past, present and future times. The soul then, by which man knows, is not born, nor does it die ; it is not cause or effect ; it is unchangeable, and the visible changes are only changes of the body. It is the one, infinite Brahma, who is incorporeal, great and all-pervading, and although placed in the cavity of the heart of the living creatures.

1 The idea here expressed, that knowledge, which has no reference to the supreme soul, is ignorance, approaches closely the tenet of the Vedānta, that the world is produced by ignorance, delusion, and far outstrips the more cautious Muṇḍaka Upanishad, (1, 4), according to which two sciences, viz., the science of Brahma and the science which refers to the Vedas, are admitted, although the latter is declared to be inferior.

14

THE UPANISHADS.

The knowledge of Brahma, or of the soul as Brahma, is difficult to obtain, it requires both an able teacher and an able disciple. It is not acquired by mere arguing, not by knowledge and understanding of the Vedas, or by manifold science, but by the union of intellect with the soul (adhyātma yoga). The most perfect means to acquire a knowledge of Brahma is the meditation on the word “ Om,” which is the substance of all the declarations of the Vedas, and which refers either to the inferior or supreme Brahma, or to Brahma, considered either in his relations to the world, or in his own absolute nature. Or the knowledge of Brahma can only be gained by a person, whose senses are subdued, whose intellect is concentrated, whose mind is at rest, and who has the desire of knowing him.

The third Vallī treats on the relation between the infinite Brahma and the world in general, and with special reference between Brahma and the individual soul.

There are two souls in this world, the embodied or finite soul, and the unembodied or infinite soul.1 The embodied soul is endowed with senses, their objects, the mind and intellect, and is the ruler and enjoyer. Among them the objects are higher, that is to say, more comprehensive and subtle than the senses ; the mind higher than the objects ; the intellect (buddhi) higher than the mind ; the great soul (mahātmā) higher than the intellect ; higher than the great (mahat) the unmanifested (avyakta) ; higher than the unmanifested, the soul, which is without limit, and which is the last aim. This soul, concealed in all beings, is not manifest, but it becomes so to concentrated intellect ; to know one’s self as gradually depending upon intellect, the great soul, the placid soul, is to advance to the knowledge of Brahma, by the acquiring of which true immortality is gained.

The fourth Vallī is, according to Śankara, to show that the great obstacle to a knowledge of the soul is ignorance. However, it appears rather to give an answer to the question :—How can the soul be known, if it is concealed, which was maintained at the end of the third Vallī ? The answer is :—When the senses are withdrawn from their objects and enjoyments, the soul is known by every one’s own soul ; for by this all sensual and other qualities, in the state of awaking as well as in dream, are perceived, known ;

1 There may be here a doubt, what is meant by the “ two who drink the due reward from their works in this world,” whether the individual soul and universal soul, which is the totality of the individual souls, or the individual soul and Brahma in his real nature as separate from all worldly relations. The latter is evidently the sense of the passage ; for with regard to the universal soul the same necessity would exist to know itself as the infinite soul, and therefore no contrast could exist between the individual and universal soul ; and, secondly, this meaning is borne out by the further exposition, where first the nature of the individual soul is described, and afterwards that of the infinite Brahma, while no allusion is made to the notion of an universal soul.

THE KAṬHA UPANISHAD.

nothing remains unknown to it ; it is knowledge itself, and thereby the same with the supreme Brahma. Then follows a description of the different relations of the soul like that in the third Vallī. The individual soul is the same as infinite soul ; it is also Hiraṇyagarbha, the first emanation of the universal soul, as also the soul in the creatures, where, together with all the senses, it dwells in the cavity of the heart. There is no real difference between the supreme Brahma and the individual soul ; both are the same, and this knowledge is immortality.

In the fifth Vallī an attempt is made to prove the existence of the soul as a principle different from the body, and to show how the one soul can be also manifold. The soul is the ruler of the senses, and all the functions of life depend upon its existence. When the soul has left the body, these functions cease. Life does not proceed from any of the vital functions ; therefore it proceeds from something else, different from them, upon which it is founded. How the one soul can be manifold, is shown merely by comparisons. As one and the same fire by its coming into contact with various things becomes various, or as water, though of one nature, appears of many forms, when in connection with other things, so appears the soul various by its various relations. In all these relations, however, the soul is not affected by the imperfections of the various things, as the sun is not sullied by the defects of the eye, in which it is reflected ; for it is not only within, but also without the creatures.

The question at the end of the fifth Vallī :-How can I know Brahma, does he manifest or not ? and which is answered there,— Nothing can manifest the infinite Brahma, because all is manifested by him, —is again taken up in the sixth Vallī. First, the answer is supplied by a comparison. The world is like a fig-tree, whose root is upwards, and whose branches go downwards. Then a description is given, which we already know (from the third Vallī), of the soul in its relations to worldly existence, viz., that the mind is above the senses, intellect above the mind, the great soul above intellect, the unmanifested above the great soul, and the soul (purusha) above the unmanifested, and which is apparently intended to show the instruments by which the soul might be possibly comprehended. The soul is not known by the senses, nor by the mind ; it becomes known through intellect by thinking ; it is apprehended from the existence of its effect, the world, which, like a tree to its root, points to its cause. The cause is afterwards to be considered in its independent nature, by which the true notion of Brahma is obtained. The chief means by which this thinking is produced, is the Yoga, which denotes a state, by which the senses and the mind are withdrawn from their objects, and the intellect is directed only to Brāhma.

16

THE UPANISHADS.

The question,—How we know of the infinite Brahma ?—is in the Katha Upanishad more fully treated than in most of the others, and as the standing point of the Upanishads depends entirely upon this answer, viz., whether they claim to be founded upon revelation or upon philosophical thinking, it is worth while to ascertain it in this case. From such passages as :—“ It (the soul) is difficult to be known, it is very subtle ” (1, 21), “ A wonderful teacher is required ” (2, 7), “ The soul, more subtle than what is subtle, is not to be obtained by arguing ” (2, 8—9), it may at first appear that revelation is the source of that knowledge ; for if the soul cannot be known by arguing (nor by perception), there remains no other means to know it but tradition, and it is expressly asserted that a teacher is necessary. His knowledge is derived from another teacher, and so on, until we come to a last teacher, who must know it by immediate revelation from Brahma. However, the whole Upanishad is against this supposition. First, a knowledge of Brahma is impossible by the Veda, which is considered as the ordinary source of revelation. “ The soul cannot be gained by knowledge of the Veda, not by the understanding of its meaning, not by manifold science ” (2, 23). Secondly, the soul is immaterial, and cannot be apprehended by the senses, and therefore not by tradition. “ The soul’s nature is not placed in what is visible, none beholds it by the eye ” (6, 9). “ It is not gained by word, not by the mind, not by the eye ” (6, 12). “ With regard to him (Brahma) the sun does not manifest, not the moon, not the stars . . . . When he is manifest, all after him becomes manifest; by his manifestation this whole world becomes manifest ” (5, 15). These passages deny even the possibility of a revelation. Thirdly, the knowledge of the soul is independent of everything else ; it can be obtained merely by the soul itself. “ By the soul which is chosen, it (the soul) can be gained. His (everybody’s) soul reveals its own truth ” (2, 23). “ Who behold this (soul) as dwelling in their own body ” (5, 12). Fourthly, it is clearly stated by what means a knowledge of the soul is gained, viz., by thinking. “ The soul must be thought of in various ways ” (2, 8). “ The wise thinking him (Brahma) by union of intellect with the soul ” (2, 12). “ He is beheld by the attentive, subtle intellect of men of subtle sight ” (3, 12). “ None beholds him by the eye; by the heart (intellect) through thinking (manasā) he becomes manifest ” (6, 9). Moreover, not only the instrument of our knowledge of Brahma (the intellect) is pointed out, but also the peculiar process of thinking by which that knowledge is obtained, viz., in the passage :—“ He is not to be gained by word, not by the mind, not by the eye, how could he be perceived by any other than by him who declares that he exists ? The soul is to be perceived by existence as well as by its true

notion, that is to say, by both, when it is perceived by existence,

its true notion becomes manifest" (6, 12—13), that is to say,

Brahmā will be known as the cause of the world, as the world is

an effect and must have a cause ; if this notion has been

produced, the independent nature of Brahmā will be also com-

prehended. Here the notion of Brahmā is clearly based upon

argument. And, lastly, it is asserted of the soul, that it can

arrive at the knowledge of Brahmā by its own nature ; for the

soul is Brahmā, is knowledge in the highest sense. " His soul

reveals its own truth " (2, 23) ; nothing remains unknown to the

soul by which one knows of form, &c. (4, 3). Hence the world

denoting the perception of Brahmā is knowledge, while every

other perception is ignorance.

From this exposition it is evident that, according to the

Kaṭha Upanishad, the knowledge of Brahmā depends upon a

process of thinking, that is to say, that it is derived from

philosophy, not from revelation. By reflection upon the world

and the soul, by discrimination, the nature of Brahmā becomes

manifest, and it would have been rather surprising, if those bold

and original thinkers, the results of whose enquiries are deposited

in the Upanishads, had not been aware of the manner in which

they arrived at the notion of Brahmā, which is so far removed

from common thinking and the conception of the Vedas. In

later times, when the process of thinking by which that idea

was formed had been forgotten, and original thought had been

abandoned for the formulas of the schools, the attempt was

made to assign the origin of their leading notion to another

source than from what it was actually derived ; and we may find

in the Katha already some traces of this in the value which is

attached to the Yoga, according to which not the perspicuity,

order, and mutual determination of the ideas lead to truth, but a

state in which the senses and the mind by some artificial means

are withdrawn from their objects, a state, therefore, in which, if

it were possible, every thought would cease.

The standing point of the Kaṭha is on the whole that of the

Vedānta. It is the absolute spirit which is the foundation of the

world, and it is the object of true science to know him as the

same with all creatures, especially with one's own soul, which by

this knowledge attains its final aim,— absorption into Brahmā. In

the order of manifestations or emanations from the absolute spirit

it deviates, however, from that adopted by other Upanishads and

by the later Vedānta, and is evidently more closely allied to the

Sānkhya. The order is here :—The unmanifested (avyakta), the

great soul (mahātmā or mahat), intellect (buddhi), mind, the

objects of the senses and the sense. The same order is followed

by the Sānkhya, with the exception, that they have not between

the unimanifested and intellect the intervening “ mahat,” which with them is equivalent to intellect. The manas (mind) has here also the same function as in the Sānkhya the ahankāra (self-consciousness). Hence it is probable, that this Upanishad was written at a time when the Sānkhya had already been founded, and with a view of conciliating part of the Sānkhya, especially the followers of the Yoga, by some concessions ; for while it disputed against them as to its assumption of many souls, and urges that by mere thinking (tarka) the absolute spirit cannot be comprehended, it adopts, on the other hand, almost the whole order of their emanations as well as some of their technical names (mahat, avyakta, purusha) and recognises the necessity of the Yoga. Besides the Sānkhya, the Kaṭha seems also to refer to the doctrine of the Buddhists; for they, if not the Chārvākas, are probably referred to in the passage (1, 20)—“ There is an enquiry. Some say, the soul exists after the death of man, others say, it does not exist,”—since the Sānkhya cannot be meant thereby, which, as well as the Vedānta, maintains the independent existence of the soul.

Of the Kaṭha several versions exist. It was translated into English first by Rām Mohun Roy, and again in the “ Tattvabodhini Patrikā ” (vol. i, pp. 316–27), where also a Bengalee version is given (vol. i, 423—56). Into the German it has been translated by Windischmann (in the work of his father “ Die Philosophie im Fortgang der Weltgeschichte,” pp. 1706—17), and by Poley in the appendix to his translation of Colebrooke’s Treatise on the Vedas (pp. 113 to 128). Dr. Weber has commented on some of its parts in his “ Indische Studien” (vol. ii, pp. 125—207.)1

1 Vide also his remarks on the Kaṭha in his “ Indische Literaturgeschichte,” (pp. 151—52).

KAṬHA UPANISHAD.

FIRST CHAPTER.

FIRST VALLI.1

1. Once desirous (of heaven) the son of Vājaśrava (Gautama)

gave away all his property.2 He had a son, Nachiketas by name.

2. When the presents3 were brought, filial anxiety (about

the welfare of his father) penetrated the youth. He thought :-

3. (A sacrificer) who bestows (cows) which have drunk their

water, eaten their grass, given their milk, and which are barren,

goes verily to the worlds of unhappiness.

4. 4He said to his parent :-O father, to whom wilt thou

give me ? (He said so) a second and a third time. (Enraged) he

answered him :-To Death I will give thee.

5. (Nachiketas thought) :-Among many (sons) I am the

first, among many the middle, (but not among the bad, therefore)

is there any work of Yama, which he will perform to-day through

me ?

6. (Nachiketas5 said) :-Remember, how former men (our

forefathers) acted ; consider, how the present (good men) act.6

Like corn, the mortals get ripe, like corn they are born again.7

7. 8A Brāhmaṇa guest enters a house like Vaiśvānara (fire).

For him (the good) make this peace-offering.9 Take the water, O

son of Vaivasvat (the sun).

8. Hope, expectation, meeting (with the good), friendly

words, sacrifices, pious gifts, sons and cattle,—all this loses the

1 Creeper, a kind of plant, in the sense of chapter.

2 In the Visvajit sacrifice ; a sacrifice which was generally performed by kings,

when they returned from their expeditions to conquer the earth (digvijaya), but

which, as appears, could be also performed by Brāhmaṇas.

3 The cows, intended as presents for the priests, officiating at the sacrifice.

4 With the intention to prevent this calamity by offering himself—

5 When the father told him, that he had only spoken in anger, and that he did

not require his self-sacrifice, after reflecting that the word of a father should on no

account become broken—

6 Viz., they never break their word.

7 Therefore one ought never to speak falsely on account of this transient world.

8 To save his veracity, the father sent him to the abode of Yama, where, in the

absence of the latter, he remained for three nights. Having returned, Yama was

thus admonished by his counsellors or wives.—S.

9 Viz., water for the feet, a seat, &c.

man of little sense in whose house a Brāhmaṇa dwells without taking food.

9. (Yama speaks) :—O Brāhmaṇa, because thou, a venerable guest, hast tarried in my house for three nights, without taking food, therefore be salutation to thee, and welfare to me; moreover, choose three boons instead (the three nights thou wast here without hospitable reception).

10. (Nachiketas speaks) :—O death, that Gautama be appeased in thought, and composed in mind, that his anger towards me may have gone, and that he may salute me, liberated by thee, remembering (me as his son), this I chose as the first of the three boons.

11. (Yama speaks) :—Through my favour, Audālaki, the son of Āruni', will remember thee with love as before ; he will sleep happily at night ; free from anger he will see thee, when released from the mouth of death.

12. (Nachiketas speaks) :—In the place of heaven there is no fear of any kind; thou art not there, none fears decay. Without either hunger or thirst, beyond all grief (all) rejoices in the place of heaven.

13. Thou hast, O Death, a recollection of the heavenly fire², make it known to me (also) who have faith. The dwellers in heaven³ enjoy immortality ; this I choose as the second boon.

14. (Yama speaks) :—I will tell thee : do thou attend to this my word. I know the heavenly fire, O Nachiketas. Know that the fire, which is the cause of acquiring infinite worlds, which again is the foundation (of the universe), is placed in the cavity (of the heart).

15. He then explained to him that fire, which is the first⁴ of the worlds, the nature of the bricks,⁵ and their number, and in what way (the rite of that fire is to be performed). Nachiketas also repeated it in the same manner as it was explained to him. Then thereby pleased, Death again said :—

16. Satisfied, magnanimous, Death spoke to him :—I grant thee now another boon again. After thy name shall be named that fire. Take also this many-coloured chain.

1 Weber, " Ind. Literaturgeschichte," p. 152, says about these names:—Two other names (beside that of Āruni) which are given to the father of Nachiketas (a fourth name is Gautama), viz., Audālaki and Vājaśravasa, are at variance with the other accounts. Vājaśravasa is also found in the corresponding passage of the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa; whether also Audālaki, I do not know. Vide "Ind. St," vol. ii, pp. 201—3.

2 Of the fire by which heaven is gained.

3 Those who by the fire-sacrifice have obtained heaven.

4 The fire is here equivalent to the Virāt, the first production of Brahma.—Ś.

5 Deposited every day after the fire-offering (to show the number of ceremonies) performed during the year.

17. Whoever performs three times the sacrifice of the Nāchiketa fire, when he has received advice from the three, (viz., the mother, the father and the teacher,) who has done the three works (offering, reading of the Vedas, and liberality),—overcomes birth and death. Whoever knows and judges well, (that fire) which sprung from Brahma, and is wise, which is divine, and worthy of praise, obtains that everlasting peace.

18. Whoever offers three times by the Nāchiketa fire, when he knows its threefold nature, leaves before (the death of the body) the chains of death, and without grief rejoices in the place of heaven.

19. This is the heavenly fire, which, thou, O Nachiketas, chooseth for thee by the second boon. Men will call this fire even after thee. Choose the third boon, O Nachiketas.

20. (Nachiketas speaks) :—There is this enquiry : some say (the soul) exists after the death of man,1 others say it does not exist. This I should like to know, instructed by thee, such is the third of the boons.

21. (Yama speaks) :—With reference to this (question) there was enquired of old even by the gods; for it is not easy to understand it, subtle is its nature. Choose another boon. O Nachiketas, do not compel me to this;2 release me from this (boon).

22. (Nachiketas speaks) :—Even by the gods verily was enquired (into this question), and as to what thou sayest, O Death, “that it is not easy to understand it,” there is no other speaker to be found like thee, there is no other boon like this.

23. (Yama speaks) :—Choose sons and grandsons who may live a hundred years, choose herds of cattle, choose elephants and gold and horses, choose the wide-expanded earth, and live thyself as many years thou listeth ;

24. Or if thou knowest a boon like this, choose it together with wealth, and far-extending life. Be (a king), O Nachiketas, on the wide earth, I will make thee the enjoyer of all desires.

25. All those desires that are difficult to gain in the world of mortals, all those desires ask thou according to (thy) pleasure,—these fair ones (of heaven) with their cars, with their musical instruments ; for the like as they are not to be gained by men. Be attended by them, I will give them to thee; (but) do not ask (the question of the state of the soul after) death.

26. (Nachiketas speaks) :—(All those enjoyments) are of yesterday;3 they wear out, O thou end of man, the glory of all the senses.

1 It exists separate from body, senses, mind, and intellect.—S.

2 To fulfil this, like a debtor is compelled by his creditor to pay his debt.—S.

3 Literally, of to-morrow.

And more, the life of all is short. With thee remain thy horses

and the like, with thee dance and song.

27. Man rests not satisfied with wealth. If we should

obtain wealth and behold thee, we would (only) live as long as

thou shalt sway. The boon, which I have to choose, is what I said.

28. Which man living in this lower world, who knows that

he decays and dies, while going to the undecaying immortals, (he

shall obtain some exceeding bliss,) who is aware of (the nature of

the Apsaras and the like who) rejoice in beauty and love, can be

pleased with a long life?

29. Tell us, O Death, what it is which they inquire into, as

to the great question, concerning the next world. Nachiketas

asks for no other boon, but that (concerning the soul) of which

the knowledge is hidden.

SECOND VALLI.

1. (Yama speaks):—Another thing is what is good, another

what is pleasant. Both, having different objects, chain man.

Blessed is he who between them takes the good (alone), but he

who chooses what is pleasant, loses the (last) object (of man).

2. What is good, and what is pleasant, take hold of man;

the sage comprehending them, distinguishes (their nature); the

sage chooses even the good, because it exceeds (in value) what is

pleasant; but the dull man chooses what is pleasant for acquiring

and preserving.

3. But thou, considering the objects of desire, whether they

are pleasant (as a son, &c.), or of pleasant shape (as the heavenly

nymphs), hast abandoned them, O Nachiketas. Thou hast not

chosen the road of wealth, on which so many men perish.

4. Those two, ignorance1 and knowledge,2 are known to be

far asunder, and to lead to different goals.3 I think thee, O

Nachiketas, desirous of knowledge, because (even) many objects

of desire did not attract thee.

5. Those* who live in the midst of ignorance, but fancy

themselves wise and learned (pandita) go round and with erring

step, deluded, as blind people led by a blind.

6. The necessary causes for gaining the next world are not

apparent to the careless youth, who is foolish by the delusion of

wealth. Believing this world exists, and not the other, he is

again and again subject to my sway.

1 Whose object is what is pleasant.

2 Whose object is what is good.

3 One being the cause of transmigration, the other of liberation. Vide Svet.

U. 5, 1, and Vāj. S. U. 10.

4 The same verse occurs in the Mund. U. i., 2, 8, only that here, instead of

“dandramyamānā,” is read “janghamyamānā.”

7. Of the soul,—which is not gained by many, because they do not hear of it, and which many do not know, although they hear of it,—of the soul is wonderful the speaker, ingenious the receiver, wonderful the knower, instructed by an ingenious (teacher).1

8. That soul, declared by an inferior man,2 is not easily to be known, as it is to be thought of in various ways, (but) when it is declared by a teacher, who beholds no difference,3 there is no doubt concerning it, (otherwise) the soul being more (subtle than what is subtle), is not to be obtained by arguing.4

9. That knowledge, O dearest, (for which thou hast asked,) is not to be gained by argument ; (but) it is easy to understand it, when declared by a teacher who beholds no difference.5 Thou art persevering as to the truth. May there be for us an (other) enquirer like thee, O Nachiketas.

10. I know worldly happiness is transient,5 for that firm one is not obtained by what is not firm. Hence the Nāchiketa fire7 (is established) by me through transient things ; (thereby) I obtained the permanent (place of Yama).

11. Thou, O Nachiketas, although thou hast beheld the fruit of sacrifice, the eternal place (of Prajāpati), where all desires are fulfilled, the world is founded, where every fear ceases, which is praiseworthy and great, of wide-extended sphere, and the abode (of the soul),—yet, wise by firmness, thou hast abandoned it, O Nachiketas.

12. The wise by means of the union (of the intellect) with the soul8 thinking him, whom it is difficult to behold, who is unfathomable and concealed, who is placed in the cavity,9 whose abode is impervious, who exists from times of old,—leaves both grief and joy.

13. Having heard this (nature of Brahma), comprehended it, having distinguished the (soul, as) endowed with qualities (dharma), (from the body,) obtained it in its subtle nature, the mortal rejoices ; for he has obtained what is a cause for rejoicing. (Thee), O Nachiketas, I believe a house, whose door is open (for Brahma.)

14. (Nachiketas speaks):—(Then) make known to me the (being) which thou beholdest different from virtue, different from

1 Vide Bhag. G, 2, 29. 2 Fide 3rd Munḍ. 2, 4. 3 "Ananyena." or whose soul is not differeni from the supreme soul. 4 Viz., not by arguing, founded upon our own understanding.—S. 5 Or:—The knowledge, which it is easy to understand, when declared by a teacher . . . cannot be destroyed by argument (Nāpa-netaryā, na hantavyā).—S. 6 But then, says Weber, the long a in "apaneya " is not explained. 7 Which is the effect of works which are transient.—S. 8 Adhyātmयोग, by withdrawing the mind from external things, and fixing the intellect on the soul above. 9 In the cavity, the ether of the heart, in intellect.

vice, different from this whole of effects and causes, different from past, from future (and present time).

15. (Yama speaks) :-The word of which all the. Vedas1 speak, which all the works of penance proclaim, of which desirous they live as Brahma-students, this word I will briefly tell thee; it is “Om.”

16. This sound means Brahma,2 this sound means the supreme3. Whoever knows this sound, obtains whatever† he wishes.

17. This means is best, this means is supreme;5 whoever knows this means, is adored in the place of heaven.6

18. The knowing7 (soul) is not born, nor does it die, it was not produced from any one, nor was any produced from it ; unborn, eternal, without decay, ancient as it is, it is not slain, although the body is slain.

19. If the slayer thinks I slay, if the slain thinks I am slain, then both of them do not know well. It (the soul) does not slay, nor is it slain.

20. The soul, which is subtler than what is subtle, greater than what is great,8 is seated in the cavity of the living being.9 He, who is free from desire and without grief, beholds by the tranquillity of his senses that majesty of the soul.

21. Sitting, it (the soul) goes afar, sleeping, it goes every-where.10 Who else (therefore), save myself, is able to comprehend the God11 who rejoices and not rejoices ?

22. Thinking the soul as unbodily among the bodies, as firm among the fleeting things, as great and all-pervading, the wise casts off all grief.

23. The soul12 cannot be gained by knowledge,13 not by understanding,14 not by manifold science It can be obtained by the soul by which it is desired. His soul15 reveals its own truth.

1 Namely, a part of the Ve3as, the Upanishads.—Ā.

2 The inferior Brahmā.—S.

3 The supreme Brahma, Brahma in his own absolute nature.

4 Whether it be the supreme or the inferior Brahma.—S.

5 Or not supreme, as its object is either the supreme or the inferior Brahma.

6 Viz., being Brahma, either the supreme or the inferior, he is adored accordingly.—S.

7 Verses 18 and 19 occur in Bhag. G. 2, 19, 20. Verse 20 is also found in the Svet. U. 3, 20.

8 Because the whole world is placed upon it.—S.

9 From Brahma down to inanimate matter.—S.

10 Vide a similar passage, Vāj. S. U. 5.

11 The soul, which is represented here under contradictory attributes to show the difficulty of comprehending it.

12 The same idea as in verses 7—9. It occurs also in Munḍ. U. iii., 2, 3.

13 And performance of the rites of the Veda.—S. Vide Svet. U. 4, 8.

14 The meaning of the Veda.—S.

15 The soul of him who is desirous of knowing his own soul.

24. Whoever has not ceased from wicked ways, is not subdued (in his senses), not concentrated (in his intellect), and not subdued in mind, does not obtain it, (the true soul), not even by knowledge.1

25. Who is able to know in this manner, where that soul is whose food is both the Brahma and Kshattra, and whose condiment is death ?

THIRD VALLI.

1. (The supreme and inferior souls) drinking2 the due reward from their works3 in this world,4 entered both the cave, the highest place of the supreme (soul). The knowers of Brahma call them shadow and sunlight, thus also the performers of the five-fold fire,5 and the sacrificers of the three Nāchiketa fires.

2. We are able (to understand both) the Nāchiketa fire, which is the bridge of all sacrificers (to cross unhappiness), and the indestructible Brahma, the place where all fear disappears, the refuge of those who are desirous of crossing (the ocean of the world).

3. Know the soul (the embodied soul) as the rider, the body as the car, know intellect as the charioteer, and mind again as the reins.6

4. They say the senses are the horses, and their objects are the roads. The enjoyer is (the soul) endowed with body, sense and mind ; thus say the wise.

5. Whoever is unwise with reins never applied, has the senses unsubdued, like wicked horses of the charioteer.

6. But whosoever is wise with the mind always applied, has the senses subdued, like good horses of the charioteer.

7. Whoever is unwise, unmindful, always impure, does not gain that goal,7 (but) descends to the world (again).

8. But whosoever is wise, mindful, always pure, gains the goal from whence he is not born again.

9. But the man, whose charioteer is wise, (and) the reins of

1 By knowledge of Brahma.—Ś.

"Pibantau," although only the worldly soul obtains the reward from its work, and therefore the singular number should have been employed, the dual number is here used on account of the connection of the worldly with the supreme soul.—Ś.

"Sukritau," literally "good work," here generally for their works.

"Loka" means here, according to Śankara, "body."—Ś.

The house-holders.—Ś.

Vide Śvet. U. 2, 9, where a similar comparison is used.

Mentioned in the second verse.

whose mind are well applied, obtains the goal of the road, the highest place of Vishṇu.1

10. Higher indeed than the senses are their objects, higher than their objects is the mind, intellect higher than the mind, higher than intellect the great soul.

11. Higher than the great one the unmanifested, higher than the unmanifested the soul (purusha), higher than the soul is nought ; this is the last limit and the highest goal.

12. Being the hidden nature of all beings, it is not manifest- ed ; but it is beheld by the attentive subtle intellect of men of subtle sight.

13. Let the wise subdue his speech by mind, subdue his mind by that nature which is knowledge (by intellect), subdue his knowledge in the great soul, subdue this also in the placid soul.

14. Arise, awake, get the great (teachers) and attend. The wise say that the road to him is (as) difficult to go, as the sharp edge of a razor.

15. Whoever has understood (the nature of Brahma) which is without sound, without touch, without form, which does not waste, which is without taste, which is eternal, without smell, without beginning and without end, higher than the great one2 (intellect), which is firmly based,—escapes from the mouth of death.

16. The wise who says and hears the eternal tale, which Nachiketas received and Death related, is adored in the world of Brahma.

17. Whoever pure (in mind) explains this (work) of deep import, which (otherwise) should be concealed, in the assembly of the Brahmas or at the time of the śrāddha, obtains thereby3 infinite fruit, obtains thereby infinite fruit.

1 “ Tad Vishṇo” is explained by Śaṅkara “vyāpanaśilāsya brāhmaṇa : paramāt- mano vāśudevākhyāsya,” where Vishṇu is identified with the son of Vasudeva. We would rather take it in the Vedic meaning, or literally as the pervader, the penetrator, as there is no other trace in this Upanishad of the opinions of the Vishṇuites. Weber's “ Ind. Stud.,” pp. 200—1, says about this passage : “...and it appears, we have by the theos (god) of the author, according to 3, 9, perhaps to understand a form of Vishṇu, although, on the other hand, it is possible, that the term referred to as a recollection of the Veda (Rig V. 1, 22, 20, 21) should perhaps not be understood in its strict sense, because the Vedic Vishṇu is quite different from the later Vishṇu ; but even if it were a direct reference to Vishṇu, we should thereby not be authorized to ascribe the Upanishad to a Vishṇu sect, as it has nothing in common with a sectarian spirit, and, on the contrary, bears an unmixed Vedāntic character.”

2 Vide Muṇḍ. 2, 2.

3 Śaṅkara explains “ tad ” (thereby) with “ śrāddham,” his śrāddha bears infinite fruit, whilc in the above translation it refers to both the assembly and the śraddha,

KAṬHA UPANISHAD.

SECOND CHAPTER.

FOURTH VALLI.

1. The self-existent1 subdued2 the senses which turn to external objects ; therefore (man) sees the external objects, not the internal soul ; (but) the wise, with eye averted (from sensual objects) and desirous of immortal nature, beholds the absolute soul.

2. Idle youths follow desires turning to external objects ; they fall into Death's wide-extended net ; therefore the wise who know what is truly of an immortal nature do not ask (for any thing) here among the fleeting things.

3. To the (soul) by which (every one) knows of form, of smell, of sounds, of touch, of love, nothing remains (unknown). This is that (Brahma for which thou hast asked).

4. Thinking (the soul) by which he recognises both, what there is in dream, and what there is in awaking, thinking this as the great pervading soul, the wise does not grieve.

5. Whosoever knows this soul as the consumer of the fruit,3 as the bearer of life, as what is always near, as the ruler of the past, the future (and the present times)—does thence4 not try to conceal (the soul).5 This is that.

6. Whosoever beholds the first born6 from the penance7 (of Brahma) who was created before the waters,8 when he has entered the cave,9 and dwells (there) with (all) the beings,10 beholds that (Brahma for which thou hast asked).

7. Whosoever (beholds) Aditi,11 the nature of all gods, who through life (Hiranyagarbha) sprang forth (from the supreme Brahma), who was born together with (all) the beings, when she has entered the cave and dwells there, (beholds) that Brahma (for which thou hast asked).

1 The Supreme Ruler.—Ś.

2 “Vyatṛṇat,” hinsitavīn, hananam kritavān, as Śankara explains it, because he is self-dependent.

3 As the embodied soul, which is subject to the necessary effects of its works.

4 From the time of his knowledge.—Ś.

5 For he has no fear that the soul can be destroyed.

6 Hiraṇyagarbha.—Ś.

7 Penance, as characterised by knowledge, &c.—Ś.

8 And the other elements.—Ś.

9 The ether of the heart, after he has produced the bodies of the gods, etc.—Ś.

10 The products of causes and effects.

11 Aditi, the whole of the senses (Śabdādīnam adanād Aditi).—Ś.

8. As the fire is concealed within the two pieces of wood,1 as the embryo is hidden in the mother, so the fire—which is to be praised day after day by men, who are awake (careful to do their duties) and offer with clarified butter,—is that (Brahma for which thou hast asked).

9. From whom the sun rises, and in whom it sets again, him all the gods entered; from him none is separated. This is that.

10. What2 is even here, the same is3 there, and what is there, the same is4 even here. He proceeds from death to death, who beholds here‡ difference.

11. By the mind is this (Brahma) to be obtained, then there is no difference whatsoever. He proceeds from death to death, who beholds here difference.

12. The soul (purusha), which in the measure of a thumb5 dwells in the middle of the body (in the ether of the heart), is the ruler of the past, the future (and the present times). Hence from having this knowledge, the wise (does not desire to conceal) the soul (vide latter part of v. 5). This is that.

13. The soul, which is like light without smoke, the ruler of the past, future (and the present times), is even to-day, (and) will be verily to-morrow.

14. As water, when rained down on elevated ground, runs scattered off in the valleys, so even runs after difference a person who beholds attributes different (from the soul).6

15. As pure water, which is thrown down on pure ground, remains alike, so also, O Gautama, is the soul of the thinker (muni) who knows.7

FIFTH VALLI.

1. (The body is like) a town with eleven8 gates of (the soul) which has no birth and is of upright intellect. Adoring it (the

1 The two pieces of wood, from which fire is produced by rubbing.

2 The individual soul, which is considered as cause and effect, and endowed with worldly attributes by those who do not comprehend it in its essential being.—S.

3 The same, as it is in its own nature, which is eternal knowledge and separate from all worldly attributes.—S.

4 In Brahma.

5 Vide Svet. 3, 13.

6 That is, whoever sees the things as different from the soul, is, in accordance with his knowledge, born again in another body.—S.

7 That his soul is the same with the supreme Brahma.

8 Viz., the seven openings in the face, the navel, with two openings below and the opening on the middle of the head. See a similar comparison in Svet. U. 3, 18; and Bhag. G. 5, 13.

supreme ruler), (the wise) does not grieve, and liberated (from ignorance, &c.), he becomes liberated.1 This is that.

2. As Hansa2 (Āditya, sun) it dwells in the heavens, as Vasu (wind) it dwells in the atmosphere, as the invoker3 (of the gods) it dwells within the earth, as soma4 in the water jar ; it dwells in man, it dwells in truth, it dwells in the ether, it is born in the waters (as aquatic animals), it is born in the earth (as rice, &c.), it is born in the sacrifice, it is born on the mountains (as the rivers), it is truth, it is the great one (infinite).

3. Him, the dwarf,5 sitting in the middle (of the ether of the heart), who raises upwards (from the heart) the vital air that goes forwards, who dejects the vital air that goes downwards, him all gods (all the senses) adore.6

4. When the soul, which dwells in the body, departs and becomes separated from it, what else is left there?7 This is that.

5. No mortal whatsoever lives by the vital air that goes forwards, by the vital air that goes downwards (or by any sense) ; they live by another8 on which both (the two vital airs together with the senses) are founded.9

6. Now again I will declare to thee that eternal Brahma, who is to be concealed, and (her), O Gautama, (how by the knowledge of him all concern for the world ceases), and also, how (by not knowing him, the ignorant) obtaining death assumes a body (again).

7. Some enter the womb (again after death) for assuming a body ; others go inside a trunk, according to their works, according to their knowledge.10

8. The perfect one (purusha), who, building desire after desire, is awake in those that are asleep, is called even pure, is called Brahma, is called even immortal. Upon him all the worlds are founded ; none becomes different from him. This is that.

9. As the one fire, when entering the world, becomes to every

1 The soul, Parameśvara, the supreme ruler, is here represented as a king.—Ś.

2 Hansa is derived, according to Śankara, from hansati (he proceeds). This verse is taken from Rig Mund. 4, 40, 5. Vide Weber’s “ Ind St.”, vol. ii, p. 205.

3 Hotar, a name of Agni, as the invoker or sacrificer of the gods.

4 Atithi, according to Ś., either the god Soma, or in its literal meaning “guest,” and the sense would then be, “ it dwells as guest in the house,”

5 Vide v. 4. 12, where it is said “the soul, which is of the measure of a thumb.”

6 By bringing him offerings, viz., the different sensations of colour, &c., as the subjects serve a king.—Ś.

7 In all the vital airs, compound of senses, &c.

8 Different from the compound.

9 For, says Ś., the cause of life does not depend upon them, as they refer to other and other things on account of their composition; without something else which arranges them, it is impossible that things of themselves should form a compound, as the materials of a house do not form a house without somebody who brings them together.

10 Br. Ā. 2 adh. 2, 13.

nature of every nature,1 so the one soul, being of every nature to every nature, is the internal soul of all beings, and is also without them (in its own nature.)2

10. As the one air, when entering the world, becomes of every nature of every nature, so the one soul, being of every nature to every nature, is the internal soul of all beings, and is also without (them).

11. As the one sun,3 the eye of the whole world, is not sullied by the defects of the eye or of external things, so the soul, as the inner soul of all beings, is not sullied by the unhappiness of the world, because it is (also) without it.

12. He is one,4 the ruler, the inner soul of all beings, who renders (his) one nature manifold. The wise, who behold him as dwelling in their own selves, obtain eternal bliss, not others.

13. The wise who behold (the soul) as the eternal among what is transient, as the intelligent among those that are intelligent, which, though one, grants the desires of many (who behold it) as dwelling in their own selves, obtain eternal bliss, not others.

14. (Wise) think that supreme bliss, which cannot be described, to be this (individual soul). How then shall I know it? Does it manifest or does it not manifest?

15. There (with regard to Brahma) the sun does not manifest nor the moon and stars, there do not manifest those lightnings; how then should manifest this fire? When he is manifest, all is manifested after him; by his manifestation this whole (world) becomes manifest.

SIXTH VALLI.

1. It (the world)5 is like an eternal holy fig-tree, whose root is upwards, and whose branches go downwards. This6 is called even pure, this is called Brahma (all comprehensive); this is called even immortal; upon this all the worlds are founded; none becomes different from it. This is that.

2. This whole universe trembles within the life (the supreme Brahma); emanating (from it), it (the universe) moves on. It (Brahma) is a great fear, like an uplifted thunderbolt. Those who know it, become immortal.

1 Becomes manifold from the manifold fuel.

2 Br. Â. 2 adh. 5, 19.

3 Bhag. G. 13, 52.

4 Verses 12, 13, 15 occur, with a few variations, in the Svet. U. 6, 12, 15; v. 15, in the Muṇd. U. 2, 2, 10, and Bhag. G. 15, 6.

5 Vide Bhag. G. 15, 1—3.

6 “Tad,” according to Sankara, refers to “mūlam,” this root. The latter part of this verse is the same with part of 5, 8.

3. Through fear of him burns the fire, through fear of him burns the sun, through fear of him runs Indra, the wind, and Death as the fifth.1

4. If here (in this life) one is able to comprehend him (Brahmā) before the death of the body, (he will be liberated from the bondage of the world; if one is not able to comprehend him), he is destined for the assumption of a body.

5. As one is reflected in a looking-glass, so (the soul is) in the body; as in a dream, so in the world of the forefathers; as in water, so in the world of the Gandharvas; as in a picture and in the sunshine, so in the world of Brahmā.

6. Considering the different state of the senses which are produced one after another (from the mind) and their rise and setting,2 the wise do not grieve.

7. Higher than the senses (and their objects) is the mind, more excellent than the mind the intellect (sattvam); above the intellect soars the great soul, more excellent than the great one is the unmanifested.

8. But higher than the unmanifested is the soul (purusha), which is all-pervading and without cause. Knowing this, one gets liberated and gains immortality.

9. Its (the soul's) being (nature) is not placed in what is the ruler visible; none beholds it by the eye, by the heart (the intellect) of the mind, through thinking it gets manifest.3 Immortal become those who know it.

10. The state which ensues, when the five organs of knowledge remain (alone) with the mind, and the intellect does not strive, is called the highest aim.

11. This they call concentration (yoga) which is the firm keeping down of the senses. At that time (man) gets careful4; for concentration has as well its furtherance as its hindrance.

12. It (the soul) is not to be gained by word, not by the mind, not by the eye; how could it be perceived by any other than him who declares that it exists5?

13. (The soul) is to be perceived by (the notion of) existence;6 it is to be perceived by its true notion; (that is to say) by both of them; the true nature of the soul becomes manifest, when (first) it has been perceived by (the notion of) existence.

14. When all the desires cease which were cherished in his heart (intellect), then the mortal becomes immortal, then he obtains here Brahmā.

1 Also in Taitt. U. 2, 8.

2 Which is not the case with the soul.

3 Vide Svet. U. 4, 20.

4 When he places his mind entirely upon the contemplation of the soul.

5 Viz., as an existing cause from its existing effect, the world.

6 Without any relation to something else.

15. When all the bonds of the heart are broken in this life, then the mortal becomes immortal ; this alone is the instruction (of all the Vedas).

16. There are hundred and one arteries of the heart;1 the one of them (sushumnā) proceeds to the head. By this (at the time of death) rising upwards (by the door of āditya) a person gains immortality ; or the other (arteries) are of various course.

17. The spirit, the inner soul, which is of the size of a thumb, is always residing in the heart of men ; let a man with firmness separate it from his own body, as from a painter's brush a fibre. Let a man know it, which is pure, which is immortal ; let a man know it, which is pure, which is immortal.

18. Nachiketas, having gained that science declared by Death, and also the whole rule of concentration, obtained Brahma, and hence was without passion and immortal ; thus also any other (will obtain Brahma) who knows in the same manner the unchangeable soul.

19. May he2 protect us both3 at the same time, at the same time support us both; may both of us at the same time apply (our) strength ; may our reading be illustrious, may there be no hatred (amongst us). Om ! peace, peace, peace !4

1 Vide Praś. U. 3, 6.

2 The Supreme Ruler, taught in this Upanishad.—S.

3 The teacher and disciple.

4 This verse is the same with Taitt. U. 3, 1, and the latter half of 3, 6.

ĪŚA UPANISHAD.

INTRODUCTION.

This short Upanishad is composed for the purpose of exalting

the knowledge of the supreme spirit above every other object of

human aspiration. It appears to address the last advice of a

teacher to his disciples, after the course of their instruction is

completed, or to embody the sum total of human wisdom in a

few words for those who have attained it.

There are, according to the Vājasaneyi Sanhitā Upanishad,

two roads which may be followed by man, the one is knowledge

of Brahma, the other action in accordance with the precepts of

the Vedas. Those who are able to understand the nature of

Brahma should consider every thing, the greatest as well as

the smallest, as god ; for them every thing else should be

annihilated by the idea of god, and they should renounce every

desire of any worldly object. If he is known in his own nature,

as the one, infinite, unchangeable, incorporeal, all-wise, holy,

all-supporting and self-existent spirit, who is in every thing and

yet not defined by it, who is above the apprehension of the senses

and the mind ; if he is beheld in all beings, and all beings are

beheld in him,—then the highest aim of man is attained ; there

is no longer any grief or delusion.

On the other hand, those who cannot elevate their thoughts

to the perfection of his nature, should perform the works enjoin-

ed by the Vedas. This may be done in a threefold manner,

either by the practice of works alone, or the attainmert of know-

ledge alone, that is to say, of the inferior knowledge of Brahma,

when he is represented by worldly qualities or individual deities ; or,

lastly, by the practice of work together with knowledge of the

latter kind.

By the practice of any of those duties man will acquire after

death a state of happiness; but as he accomplishes his whole duty

only by practising both knowledge (the inferior knowledge) and

works, so he obtains thereby after death higher and higher worlds

and the objects of his worldly desires, and at the same time

becomes prepared for the reception of the most exalted knowledge.

However, all that he obtains, compared with the effect of the

knowledge of Brahma, is ignorance, transient and unsatisfactory ;

for in Brahma alone are absolute knowledge and bliss.

6

34

THE UPANISHADS.

This Upanishad which bears also the title, Īśāvāsyam, from its two first words, has been translated by Sir William Jones (Posthumous Works, Vol. VI.), and after him by Rām Mohun Roy, Poley, and by an anonymous author in the Tattvabodhini Patrikā (vol. I., pp. 339-45).

ĪŚĀ UPANISHAD

OF THE

VĀJASANEYI SANHITĀ.

1. 1 Whatever exists in this world, is to be enveloped by (the thought of) God (the Ruler).2 By renouncing3 it (the world), thou shalt save (thy soul).4 Do not covet the riches of any one.

2. Performing sacred works,5 let a man desire to live a hundred years. If thou thus (desirest), O man, there is no other manner, in which thou art not tainted by work.

3. To the godless6 worlds covered with gloomy darkness,7 go all the people, when departing (from this world), who are slayers of their souls.8

1 The first Mantra, according to Sankara, is addressed to those who strive for the knowledge of Brahma, or for their eternal emancipation, while the second gives advice to those who cannot yet liberate themselves from the bonds of the world ; or, as Ānanda briefly expresses it, the first Mantra lays down the rule for knowledge, the second for works.

2 "Īs," the supreme ruler, the supreme soul, independent of all relations to the world. "The whole world is to be considered under the idea of the soul, under the idea, that I, who am the same with the supreme soul, am the world, which in itself is unreal and gets only reality, when considered under the notion of the soul.

3 Sankara takes " tyaktena" not as participle, but as noun instead of "tyagena" (by renunciation) ; the sense, however, seems preferable, if it is treated as participle.

4 If the world is abandoned, nothing is left but the soul, and as the world is transient and unreal, there exists then no desire of any thing whatsoever.

5 The works enjoined by the Vedas, as the Agnihotra and other rites. Here are meant works which are to be done at certain prescribed periods ; or, as it has been explained, works, the performance of which does not procure any special fruit, but the omission of which produces sin.

6 Godless are here the worlds of the gods, and they are called godless, because, in comparison with the state of the supreme soul, also the most exalted worlds of the gods are godless.

7 Darkness is ignorance.

8 The slayers of their souls are such as are ignorant about the nature of them. They kill the same, because they do not obtain their immortal and unchangeable nature. On this account they assume one worldly form after another.

ĪŚĀ UPANISHAD.

4. He (the soul)1 does not move, is swifter than the mind ;2 not the gods ( the senses) did obtain him, he was gone before ; standing he outstrips all the other (gods, senses), how fast they run. Within him the Ruler of the atmosphere3 upholds the vital actions.

5. He moves, he does not move ; he is far, and also near ; he is within this all, he is out of this all.4

6. Whoever beholds all beings in the soul alone, and the soul in all beings,5 does hence not look down (on any creature).

7. When a man knows that all beings are even the soul, when he beholds the unity (of the soul), then there is no delusion, no grief.

8. He is all-pervading, brilliant, without body, invulnerable, without muscles, pure, untainted by sin ; he is all-wise, the Ruler of the mind, above all beings, and self-existent. He distributed according to their nature the things for everlasting years.6

9. Those who worship ignorance,7 enter into gloomy darkness, into still greater darkness those who are devoted to knowledge.

10. They say, different is the effect of knowledge, different is the effect of ignorance; thus we heard from the sages who explained (both) to us. (Vide Tāl. U. 13.)

11. Whoever knows both, knowledge and ignorance, together, overcomes death by ignorance, and enjoys immortality by knowledge.

1 In this Mantra the soul is described under opposite qualities, which yet form no contradiction, as the one set belongs to the soul, if considered in its own absolute nature, and the other is ascribed to it, if considered in its relation to the world.

2 “Swifter than the mind,” swifter than what is the swiftest, the thoughts of the mind, because the soul is either not comprehended by the mind, and has therefore escaped it, or where the mind arrives, there is already the soul, has arrived already before, and the mind can never be in advance of it.

3 Mātaris vā (the ruler of the atmosphere) is explained by Śankara “mātari, antarikshe śvasati, gacchatiiti vāyu:” he who moves in the mother, the atmosphere, that is to say, the wind, which in accordance to him is here the upholder of the whole world (the sūtrātma), Hiranyagarbha, the universal soul. Apas, literally waters, are here the actions of the living creatures, or the burning, heating, shining, and raining of the fire and the sun.

4 Vide Bhag. G. 13, 15.

5 Vide a similar passage in Bhag. G. 6, 30. Vide also Manu S. 12, 125.

6 The years, says Śankara, mean here the Prajāpatis (the creators) who are called years.

7 Ignorance, avidyā, means here Vedic work, if it is done alone without the knowledge of the worship of the gods, or of Brahma, considered under worldly attributes. Vidyā, knowledge, is here inferior knowledge, not the knowledge of the absolute Brahma, but of Brahmā, thought under relative attributes ; it is opposed to the highest knowledge, because it is also connected with works. The effect of either is :- By works alone the world of the Pitṛis, the forefathers, is obtained ; by knowledge (the inferior knowledge) the world of the gods. Both, however, inferior knowledge and works, are to be practised by man ; if both are performed, then by work death, that is to say, natural work and knowledge, is abandoned, and by knowledge the state of a deity obtained.

12. Those who worship uncreated nature,1 enter into gloomy darkness, into still greater darkness those who are devoted to created nature.

13. They say, different is the effect from (worshipping) uncreated nature, different from (worshipping) created nature.2 This we heard from the sages, who explained (both) to us.3

14. Whoever knows both, created nature and destruction4 together, overcomes death by destruction, and enjoys immortality by created nature.

15. To me whose duty is truth, open, O Pūshan, the entrance to the truth concealed by the brilliant disk,5 in order to behold (thee).

16. O Pūshan, Ṛishi thou alone, O dispenser of justice, (Yama), O sun, offspring of Prajāpati, disperse thy rays (and) collect thy light ; let me see thy most auspicious form ; (for) the same soul (which is in thee) am I.

17. Let my vital spark obtain the immortal air ; then let this body be consumed to ashes. Om ! O my mind, remember, O mind, remember, remember (thy) acts, remember, O mind, remember thy acts.

18. Guide us, O Agni, by the road of bliss to enjoyment, (guide us) O god, who knowest all acts. Destroy our crooked sin, that we may offer thee our best salutations.6

1 Uncreated nature, asambhūti, nature which has no cause, the same with avyakta, unmanifested nature.

2 Whoever worships Brahma in his effects, in any of the created substances, gets superhuman power (of eight kinds), whoerer worships him as uncreated nature, becomes dissolved into the same.—Ś.

3 This verse, although with some alterations, occurs Tait. U. 1, 3.

4 That is to say, uncreated nature, into which every thing is dissolved.

5 Brahma, here expressed as “the truth” is considered especially to abide in the disk of the sun. Pūshan, the nourisher, is another name for the deity of the sun.

6 The nine last Mantras (9 to 18) do not any longer describe the nature of the knowledge of Brahma and its effects, but the effects, resulting from the practice of Vedic works and the devotion towards God, when he is imperfectly comprehended under attributes which belong to him only in his relation to the world. The concluding prayer (15 to 18) must therefore be considered to be spoken at the time of his death by a person, who throughout his life has diligently performed the sacred works enjoined by the Vedas; for he justly has to remember his works, by which alone he can hope to obtain a comparative state of bliss in a next world, while the true knower of Brahma has only attained his knowledge by renouncing all works, together with their effects.

ŚVETĀŚVATARA UPANISHAD.

INTRODUCTION.

The Śvetāśvatara, no doubt, does not belong to the series of the more ancient Upanishads, or of those which preceded the foundation of philosophical systems; for it shows in many passages an acquaintance with them, introduces the Vedānta, Sānkhya, and Yoga, by their very names, mentions the reputed founder of the Sānkhya, Kapila, and appears even to refer (in the second verse of the first chapter) to doctrines which have been always considered as heterodox. It must have been composed at a time when the whole social and political system of the Brāhmans was completed, when the fiction of the great Kalpas had been adopted, and when the belief of the heroic times in the coequal power of the three great gods, Brahmā, Vishṇu, and Śiva, had already been abandoned for sectarian doctrines, which are characterized by assigning to one of these gods all the attributes of the others. Here, it is Śiva, or Rudra, who not only is declared the creator, preserver, and destroyer of religious belief, but is even identified with the Brahma or supreme spirit of philosophy.

As the mythological views of the Śvetāśvatara are those of a later time, when the worship of Śiva and of the divine Śaktis, or energies, had gained ground, in contradistinction to the ancient Upanishads, where only the gods of the Vedas are introduced, so also its philosophical doctrine refers to a more modern period.1 It presents a mixture of Vedānta, Sānkhya, and Yoga tenets. From these antecedents, however, it is impossible to make an inference as to any definite time of its composition. There are similar passages in the Bhagavad Gītā and the Śvetāśvatara, but whether the one took them from the other, or both derived them from a common source, I venture not to determine. Both compositions borrowed equally from various sources; the Śvetāśvatara has many passages from the Vedas and other Upanishads,

1 In the Brahma-Sūtras no allusion is made to this Upanishad. In the passage, referred to by Colebrooke (Miscellaneous Essays, vol. I., p. 348), it is only generally stated that several passages of the Upanishads, which, by the followers of the Sānkhya, are interpreted in favour of their tenets. have, in reality, a different meaning, but no passages are quoted by the Sūtras themselves. It is Śankara, who, in explanation of the text, gives examples of such passages, and quotes, among others, a passage of the Śvetāśvatara.

so also the Bhagavad Gītā, and hence the form of their composition leads to no conclusion. At any rate, the Śvetāśvatara preceded Śankara, who lived in the eighth century A.C., and from the peculiarity of its tenets it is probable that the interval between them was not considerable. To understand the precise nature and object of its doctrine, it is necessary to indicate the relation which the Sānkhya and Vedānta have to the Vedas. The Vedānta, although in many important points deviating from the Vedas, and although in its own doctrine quite independent of them, was yet believed to be in perfect accordance with them, and being adopted by the majority of the Brāhmans, it was never attacked on account of its orthodoxy. The same cannot be said of the Sānkhya ; for it was not only frequently in opposition to the doctrine of the Vedas, but sometimes openly declared so. Indeed, the Vedānta also maintained that the acquisition of truth is independent of caste or any other distinction, and that the highest knowledge cannot be imparted by the Vedas (vide Kath. 2, 23) ; yet it insisted that a knowledge of the Vedas was necessary to prepare the mind for the highest knowledge. This the Sānkhya denied altogether, and although it referred to the Vedas, and especially to the Upanishads, still it did so only when they accorded with its own doctrines, and it rejected their authority in a case of discrepancy. The Sānkhya in fact was a reform, not only in theory, but also in life, as is evident from the relation of Buddhism to it, which is nothing else but a practical application of the tenets of the Sānkhya.

At the time of the composition of the Śvetāśvatara, the Sānkhya was not a new system, which had to overcome the resistance of old received opinions, and the prejudices of men in power, whose interest might be opposed to the introduction of a doctrine, by which their authority could be questioned. It had found many adherents ; it was the doctrine of Manu, of some parts of the Mahābhārata, and to its founder divine honours had been assigned by general consent. It was a doctrine whose argumentative portion demanded respect, and as it was admitted by many Brāhmans, distinguished for their knowledge of the Vedas, it could not be treated as a heresy. The most learned and eminent of the Brāhmans were evidently divided among themselves with reference to the truth of the Sānkhya and Vedānta, and this must have afforded to the opponents of the Vedic system, a most powerful weapon for attacking the Vedas themselves. If both the Sānkhya and Vedānta are divine revelations, both must be true ; but if the doctrine of the one is true, the doctrine of the other is wrong ; for they are contradictory among themselves. Further, if both are derived from the Vedas, it is evident that also the latter cannot reveal the truth, because they would teach opposite opinions about one and

ŚVETĀŚVATARA UPANISHAD.

39

the same point. Such objections to the Vedas had been made already in ancient times, as is clear from the Upanishads, from several passages of Manu, from Yaska, &c., and under these circumstances it cannot be wondered at, if early attempts were made to reconcile the tenets of the Vedānta and Sānkhya to save the uniformity of the doctrine, and thereby the sacredness of the Vedas as the scriptures derived from the immediate revelation of god. So, for instance, it is recorded that Vyāsa, the reputed author of the Brahma-Sūtras, wrote also a commentary to Patanjali's Yoga-Sāstra, which is still extant under his name. In the same manner composed Gaudapāda, the eminent Vedāntist, and teacher of Śankara's teacher Govindā, a commentary to Īśvara Krishna's Sānkhya Kārikā, and the Bhagavad Gītā has also the same object.

The Śvetāśvatara is one of the most ancient attempts of this kind yet extant, and its author, in giving to his composition the name of Upanishad, tried thereby to clothe it in divine authority.

To show in what way the Śvetāśvatara endeavoured to reconcile the Vedānta and Sānkhya, we have to recall to mind the distinguishing doctrines of either.

The last principle of creation, according to the Vedānta, is Brahma, the supreme spirit, beside whom there is nothing else. He is the last cause, as well as regards the substance as the form of the world. Considered in his own independent nature, he is mere existence, thinking, and bliss. He is not the object of thinking or its subject or the act, in which both are united; for every difference with regard to him must be denied, nor is he individual existence in any conceivable form; for he is in every respect infinite, absolute, and perfect. The same is the case as to his blessedness, and the three predicates of existence, thinking, and bliss, are, in fact, not attributes of his nature which could be separated from each other, but, in reality, only different expressions of the same thing.1 Compared with him, all other things are not existing, and bear predicates opposite to his own. They are hence without consciousness and existence in themselves, the existence which they possess is only a derived one, and their first and absolute cause is god. The world then, or the thing which does not really exist, and which is without consciousness, is pervaded by him, and hence ensues the creation, or manifestation, of the universe, by which the differences, which exist already, although in an unmanifested state, become manifest.

1 Spinoza's Eth. I. prop. 7. School. "Substantia cogitans et substantia extensa una eademque est substantia, quæ jam sub hoc, jam sub illo attributo comprehenditur."

The Sānkhya is essentially dualistic; it is soul, or spirit, and matter, from which the creation proceeds. As to its substantial cause, the creation depends upon a principle, whose nature is activity. This is Mūlaprakriti, the first productive nature, matter without any distinction of form or qualities.1 It is one, infinite, active, and beyond the perception of the senses. It is the material cause from which all effects are produced. The soul, on the contrary, is merely perceiving, witnessing, thinking, without any object that is perceived. It does not act, nor is it acted upon; it is not self-conscious and has no other attribute than that of a mere spectator. It is not, as the Vedānta teaches, one, but there are innumerable souls or spirits. The creation takes place by the union of the two principles. Soul in itself, as mere spectator without activity, cannot create; nature as active, but blind, could create, but there would be no order, no arrangement, or final end for the various productions. As final ends are everywhere perceived in those productions, it is by the reflection of the soul, of the intelligent principle, upon nature, the active principle, that the creation of the world is effected. Here, in this point, viz., as to share of the soul in the creation, the Sānkhya is divided. According to some, there is a supreme soul, an all-wise and almighty ruler,2 who creates the universe by his decree; according to others, and as it appears the more ancient school, the idea of a god involves a contradiction; both, however, agree that there are many souls independent of each other in their existence, that nature is a self-existent principle, and that the material cause of the world is nature alone, and in all these notions both differ from the doctrine of the Vedānta.

There are, however, many points about which Vedānta and Sānkhya hold the same opinion. The principal of them are as follow: First, the order of creation, or of the productions, is in both systems almost the same. The gross material elements, or the elements which are perceived by the senses, proceed from the subtle elements which are imperceptible to the senses. These

1 It is true, it is maintained that nature consists of the three qualities of goodness, activity, and darkness, but they cannot be defined except by their effects, which again cannot be defined but by their relation to the soul, and further, they cannot be separated; for where the one is, are also the others. The Sānkhya, as well as the Vedānta, maintains that nature or ignorance cannot be distinguished, a view to which they were inevitably compelled; but again, in contradiction to this, they attempt to endow it with those distinctions, which is evidently the result of despairing to derive from one principle, in which there is no distinction whatever, the countless differences of existence.

2 Vide Ballantyne's "Aphorisms of the Yoga," p. 29. S. 24.—"The lord (Īśvara) is a particular spirit (purusha) untouched by troubles, works, fruits, or deserts;" and p. 31. S. 25.—"For him does the germ of the omniscient become infinite."

ŚVETĀŚVATARA UPANISHAD.

elements, according to the Sānkhya, are derived from nature as their last cause (omitting here the two intermediate causes of the Sānkhya, “self-consciousness” and “intellect”); according to the Vedānta, from ignorance. Secondly, the nature of the last cause of the productions is, with both, in almost all its attributes, essentially the same, for both “productive nature” and “ignorance” cannot be defined ; they have absolutely no differences of form, time, or space, and are possessed of the same qualities, viz., of goodness, activity, and darkness. Thirdly, the nature of the soul is by either described as the same. It is different from any thing material; it is pure knowledge without any distinctions; as the soul, according to the Sāṅkhya, is diametrically opposed to nature, the one being non-intelligent but active, the other non-active but intelligent, so it is according to the Vedānta to ignorance.

If there are so many points of agreement in both systems, the thought is not far, that there may be found a standing-point, where those differences altogether disappear.

This is the view from which the Śvetāśvatara starts, and it undertakes a reconciliation of the two systems by admitting all the minor points of the Sāṅkhya on the foundation of the Vedānta. It grants to the Sāṅkhya the order of its creation, the production of the elements from nature, intellect, and self-consciousness;1 it admits its terminology, and goes so far as to concede that the creation does not proceed from Brahma alone, but from Brahma in his connection with Māyā, delusion, or ignorance.2 But then there is, according to it, no difference between this and the productive principle of the Sāṅkhya; for Māyā is essentially the same with Prakriti, the first productive nature of the Sankhya.3 The soul (ātma) of the Vedānta does also not differ from the soul (purusha) of the Sāṅkhya; it is the

1 Ch. 4, 11. A person who comprehends the one, who superintends the first producer and the other producers, in whom this all is dissolved, and (from whom) it proceeds,—who comprehends him, the god who grants the wish of (liberation), the praiseworthy god, obtains everlasting peace.—Ch. 5, 2. He who, one alone, superintends every source of production, every form and all the sources of production, who endowed the first-born Kapila with every kind of knowledge, and who looked at him, when he was born.—Ch. 6, 3. Having created this work (the world), and preserving it, he causes the one principle (the scul) to be joined with the (other) principle (the principle of nature), and joins it (the soul) with one or two, or three or eight (principles).

2 Ch. 1, 3. They who followed abstract meditation and concentration, beheld (as the cause of the creation) the power (śakti) of the divine soul, concealed by its own qualities,—of the divine soul which alone superintends all those causes, of which time was the first, and soul (the individual soul) the last.

3 Ch. 4, 10. Know delusion (māyā) as nature (prakriti), him who is united with her as the great ruler (Maheśvara); this whole world, in truth, is pervaded by (powers which are) his parts.

42

THE UPANISHADS.

principle which is merely thinking and therefore non-active in itself.1 The soul, however, must be one and the same; for the creation of the world could not take place, if it depended upon a multitude of souls. That the creation proceeds from the soul is clear, because in all productions of nature unity of purpose is visible, which would be impossible, if nature alone, a blind principle, were the cause. It is also evident, that it must be one allmighty and all-wise spirit, from which it proceeds; for individual souls are troubled by their partaking of worldly misery, and want therefore the consummate wisdom to accomplish the creation (1, 2). It is therefore necessary that such a universal soul, the absolute cause of the world, exists, which is entirely independent of the world, and on which, on the other hand, the world wholly depends. This is Brahma, the supreme spirit. He is the first cause from which all proceeds, and the last, to which all returns.2

Upon the supreme spirit are founded nature or Māyā, the first cause of material production, and also the individual souls and the universal ruler. Nature is twofold, unmanifest and manifest. In its unmanifested state, nature (prakṛiti, pradhāna, ajā) is undestroyable, although it depends upon Brahma; in its manifested state it is not eternal; its productions commence and cease, until all is again absorbed into the cause from which it emanated; it is pervaded in all its parts by the power of god, and is made for the enjoyment of the individual souls. The latter, like the supreme ruler, are eternal; but they are bound by nature; the supreme ruler, on the other hand, is a mere witness, and it is by him that the creation is effected.

This is in general the view of the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad and we find it already prominently brought forward at the commencement in the two similes of a wheel and a river, in which the author tries to embody the chief points of his doctrine. Here is

1 Ch. 1, 9. They (the individual and the universal soul) are all-wise the one, and ignorant the other; both unborn; omnipotent the one, and without power the other; (nature) is even unborn and united with the enjoyer and objects of enjoyment; the soul is infinite, the universe its nature, and therefore without agency. Whoever knows this Brahma as the threefold (universe), (becomes liberated).

2That this is the fundamental view of the Upanishad, is evident from the tenor of the whole, and may be confirmed by a number of passages, of which we shall quote a few :-

"This is verily declared as the supreme Brahma. In him the three (the finite soul, the supreme ruler, and nature), are found." (1, 7). "For beside him there is nothing to be known. Knowing the enjoyer, the objects of enjoyment, and the dispenser, all the three kinds even as Brahma" (1, 12). "As fire is concealed in wood, butter in curds, as oil in mustard seed, so is concealed in every one soul" (1, 15). "He is the eye of all, the face of all, the arm of all, nay, the foot of all. He joins man with arms, the bird with wings, the one god, when creating the heaven and earth" (3, 3).

the foundation formed by the notion of the Vedānta of the one, supreme, all-pervading Brahma, while all the other points of resemblance are determined by Sāṅkhya notions.

It remains to be stated what part of the Yoga is admitted by this Upanishad. It is of course not the doctrine by which it is distinguished from the Sāṅkhya, for although the Yoga teaches that the cause of the world is an all-wise and almighty god, yet it assumes at the same time, in accordance with the Sāṅkhya, the independent existence of numberless other spirits. This is denied by the Śvetāśvatara, to which god is all in all, and it takes from the Yoga only part of the appliances by which man is to be prepared for the reception of the highest knowledge.

The chief end of man is to be liberated from the bonds of the world, to become free from the miseries of life and of the uninterrupted succession of births and deaths; and this can be only accomplished by that science, which teaches that Brahma is different from the world, that the world is created by him in his connection with Māyā or the ruling powers (Śaktis), and that man is essentially the same with the ruler and the supreme spirit. To attain to this knowledge, a previous subjugation of the senses and of the mind is required, for which several artificial means are advised, as keeping the body erect, taking and exhaling breath according to certain rules, selection of a quiet place, &c., &c. This is borrowed from the Yoga philosophy, although it must be acknowledged that a certain kind of this Yoga is found in the Vedānta, where a great number of rules are laid down to the same effect.

Whether the author of the Śvetāśvatara has succeeded in his attempt of reconciling the Vedānta and Sāṅkhya, is a question which we shall not discuss at length, and only observe that he has argued well for the supposition of an all-wise cause; but for the supposition, that the supreme Brahma is the only absolute cause, and that Māyā is the same with Prakriti, he assigns no reasons, and this was yet the chief point which ought to have been established. On the whole, we may admit that the reconciliation is not undertaken by a more acute thinking of the contrary notions in the two systems, but by passing over the differences without having weighed their true bearing.

In the form of its exposition this Upanishad is very loose. The great number of passages taken from the Vedas and other Upanishads shows that it is more a compilation than an original work, and that the author looks rather to authorities for support than to the justness of his ideas. The work has little of arrangement; for there are many repetitions without any apparent reason (unless it be, as Śaṅkara suggests, to enforce a view which it is difficult to understand),—and not only of the same

thought, but even of the same words, and a distribution of the various parts of the subject is not visible. On the whole, it is more poetical than philosophical; for it is not an exposition of the principal notions and their relations, but an illustration of the principal points of the doctrine by a number of unconnected images. This, however, is more or less a peculiarity of all Upanishads, in which the thought has not yet found its proper form.

Śankara,1 in his commentary of this Upanishad, generally explains its fundamental views in the spirit of the Vedānta. He is sometimes evidently wrong in identifying the views of some of the other Upanishads with the tenets of Vedānta, but he is perfectly right to do so in the explanation of an Upanishad, which appears to have been composed for the express purpose of making the principle of the Vedānta agreeable to the followers of the Sānkhya. The Śvetāśvatara Upanishad is translated by Anquetil (Oupn. Vol. II. Sataster, pp. 94-127). An English version of it has been published in the “Tattvabodhinī Pattrikā” (Vol. I., pp. 395-397 and 475-479), and Weber has rendered nearly the whole of it in his “Indische Studien” (Vol. I., pp. 421-439).

THE ŚVETAŚVATARA UPANISHAD

OF THE BLACK YAJUR VEDA.

FIRST CHAPTER.

1. The enquirers after Brahma converse (among each other). What cause is Brahma?2 Whence are (we) produced? By whom do we live, and where do we (ultimately) abide?3 By whom governed, do we walk after a rule in happiness and unhappiness, O ye knowers of Brahma?4

1 Śankara, against his custom, quotes several writings by name, the titles of which we shall here give on account of their historical interest. They are, besides Manu and part of the Vedas, Vishnudharma uttara, the Lingapurāṇa, Śivadharmā uttara, Sūtrakāra Vyāsa, Brahma Purāṇa, Vishṇu Purāṇa, Vāsishṭha, Yogavāsishṭha, Yājnavalkya, Parāśara, Kāvashegītā.

2 “Kim” is either the pronoun, and in this case it means “of what nature,” or it is merely the sign of a question, when it implies:—Is Brahma a cause, or not a cause, and if so, is it a substantial, or an instrumental cause, or both ?—Ś.

3 Ultimately, that is, at the time of the destruction of the world.

4 That is to say who is the cause of the creation, preservation, and destruction of the world ?—Ś.

ŚVETĀŚVATARA UPANISHAD.

2. Is time Brahma (as cause) or the own nature of things, or the necessary consequences of work, or accident, or the elements, or nature (yoni)1 or the soul? This must be considered. —It is not the union of them,2 because the soul remains ; the soul (the individual soul) also is not powerful (to be the author of the) creation since there is (independent of it) a cause of happiness and unhappiness (viz., work).3

3. They who followed abstract meditation (dhyāna) and concentration (yoga) beheld (as the cause of the creation) the power (śakti) of the divine soul,4 concealed by its own qualities, of the divine soul, which alone superintends all those causes, of which time was the first, and soul (the individual soul) the last.5

4. Him6 we consider as (a wheel) which has one circumference,7 which is covered by three8 (layers, of which the circumfer-

1 Śankara, who is well aware of the above explanation, yet in preference to it adopts another, which tallies better with Vedāntic doctrines, viz., he connects yoni (which means either origin, or cause) with all the members of the above series, so that the sense would be :—Is time the cause, or the own nature of the things or the necessary consequences from work, or accident, or the elements, or the soul? If this view were correct, yoni would probably not have been placed between two of the members of the series ; the explanation followed in our translation agrees also better with the doctrine and of the Sāṅkhya which, within the limits set forth in tne introduction, prevails throughout this Upanishad.

2 Here is, according to Śankara, an omission in the argument which he thus supplies :—If the mentioned things are the cause, they are so either individually or collectively, but not individually, because this would be at variance with our perception.

3 Hereby, then, all the above suppositions are denied. Brahma is neither cause, nor non-cause, nor both, that is to say, not by his own nature, how then can he be a cause ? The answer is given in the next verse.—Ś.

4 For Devātmaśaktim svagunaiṅnigudham, Śankara offers several explanations. —1, Devātmaśakti (deva-ātmáśakti) is either the own power of god, that is to say, a power which is dependent upon god. Here is the power (śakti), the'Māyā, delusion, or nature as the root of all things (prakriti, natura naturans), and its qualities are goodness (sattva), activity (rajas), and darkness (tamas) ;—or 2, Devātmaśakti (devātma-nā avasthitam-śaktim) is the power, which is constituted in the likeness with god. Here are the "own qualities" (svagunā) to be referred to god (deva), as his omnipotence, omniscience, &c.;—or 3, the power is of the same nature with god (deva), and his likeness with Brahmā, Vishṇu, and Śiva is the cause of the creation, preservation, and destruction of the world. The "own qualities" (svagunī) denote, according to this view, the three supreme deities, viz., goodness represents Brahmā, activity Vishṇu, and darkness Śiva, by which, however, the supreme god is concealed, not adequately expressed ;—or 4, Devātmaśakti (devā, ātma, sakti) means the supreme ruler, the individual soul, and nature, which represent the power of god, and the "own qualities" (svagunā) are the different allegations of a nature, &c., by which Brahma is concealed ;—or 5, Devātmaśakti (devātma sakti) is the power, the omnipotence of god, his overruling of the creation, preservation, and destruction of the world, which is concealed by his special qualities.

5 Viz. the causes named in verse 2.

6 "Him," who superintends all those causes, the universal soul.

7 The circumference (nemi) of the wheel, represents nature in its cause, either as unmanifested ether, or as Māyā (delusion), or first nature (prakriti), or as power (śakti), or as ignorance, &c., that is to say, the cause, upon which the whole creation depends.

8 The three layers are the three qualities of nature, goodness, activity, and darkness.

46

THE UPANISHADS.

ence is composed), which has sixteen end parts1 (probably the several pieces of wood, of which the circumference consists), which has fifty spokes2 and twenty counter-spokes,3 which has six times eight nails (appendants),4 which has one rope of various form,5 whose road is three-fold divided,6 and which has one revolution for two traces.7

5. Him we consider as a river, whose water is derived from five currents (the five senses of intellect), which is fearful and crooked, by its five sources (the five elements), whose waves are the five (vital) airs, whose origin is the producer of the five senses

1 These denote the sixteen productions of the Sānkhyā, by which the creation is completed, because no other productions en-sue from them (vide Ballantyne’s “ Lecture on the Sāṅkhya Philosophy,” p. 2.), viz., The eleven organs (the five organs of intellect, the five organs of action, and mind, the internal organs) and the five gross elements (earth, water, light, air and ether) l. c. pp. 13-15. Sankara, or the author of the commentary under his name, evidently knows the Tattva Samāsa, as he quotes passages from it almost literally.

According to another explanation the sixteen parts are the Virāṭ and Sūtrātma, as representing the totality of the creation of the supreme spirit and the fourteen worlds representing it in its parts.

2 These are the five classes of ignorance, viz. obscurity (tamas), illusion (moha), extreme illusion (mahāmoha), gloom (tāmisra), and utter darkness (andhatāmisra),—28 disabilities, viz., the depravity of the eleven organs, as deafness, insensibility, leprosy, blindness, loss of smell, dumbness, crippledeness, lameness, constipation, impotence, insanity, and the seventeen defects of intellect (vide Ballantyne’s “ Lecture on the Sāṅkhya Philosophy,” pp. 35-40),—nine kinds of acquiescence (this is indifference to the investigation of truth,—l. c. p. 39),—and eight perfections (viz., āśra, sutīrā, tārayantī, pramoda, pramoditā, pramodamānā, ramyakā and satpramoditā, the first of which, for instance, is the knowledge in regard to the principles, the conditions of intellect, and the elemental creation, which arises from hearing alone.—l. c. p. 42). Sankara states the eight kinds of perfection differently, viz., three kinds arising from perfection in the impressions of knowledge, with reference to nature, &c., which remain from a former birth, or from perfection in understanding a truth by hearing, or læstly from perfection in understanding a truth by study; three kinds arising from our indifference to the three-fold pain (viz., pain, arising from our own nature, or from other living creatures, or from other external causes), and two kinds arising from the acquisition of a friend and true liberality towards the teacher.

3 The twenty counterspokes (pieces of wooden bolts, firmly to secure the spokes) are, according to Sankara, the ten senses and the ten objects of them.

4 The first are the eight producers of the Sāṅkhya (nature, intellect, self-consciousness, and the five suṭtle elements of ether, air, light, water and earth) ; the second, the eight constituent parts of the body (the internal skin of sensation, the external skin, flesh, blood, fat, bones, marrow, and semen) ; the third, the eight kinds of superhuman power (viz., assumption of the smallest possible shape, of the greatest possible shape, of the heaviest form, of the lightest form, the power of obtaining everything, irresistible will, ruling of all and independency of all) ; the fourth, the eight states of intellect of the Sīṅkhya (viz. virtue, knowledge, dispassion, superhuman power, vice, ignorance, want of dispassion, and want of superhuman power) ; the fifth, the eight deities (Brahmā, Prajāpati, Devas, Gandharvas, Yakshas, Rīkshasas, Pitris, and Pisāchas) ; and the sixth, the eight virtues of the soul (compassion with all beings, forbearance, freedom from calumny, purity of mind, freedom from fatigue, prosperity, and freedom from poverty).

5 The rope is desire in all its varieties.

6 The three roads are those of virtue, of vice, and of knowledge.

7 One revolution, delusion, which is the cause of two, viz., of holiness and sin.

of intellect (the mind), which has five whirlpools (the objects of

the senses1), which is impelled by the velocity of the five kinds of

pain,2 which is divided by the five kinds of misery,3 and which has

five turnings.

6. In this wheel of Brahma, which is the support, as well as

the end of all beings,4 which is infinite, roams about the pilgrim

soul,5 when it fancies itself and the (supreme) ruler different ; it

obtains immortality, when it is upheld,6 by him (the supreme

ruler).

7. This7 is verily declared as the supreme Brahma. In him

the three8 (the enjoyer or finite soul, the objects of enjoyment and

the supreme ruler) (are found); (therefore he is) a good founder and

indestructible. The knowers of Brahma, knowing him in this

(universe)9 as different (from it), become free from birth,10 when

they are absorbed in Brahma and steady in abstract meditation.

8. The Ruler (the absolute soul) upholds this universe,

which in closest union is manifest and not manifest, destructible

and indestructible; but the soul, which is not the ruler, is

enchained by the condition of an enjoyer ; when it knows god

(the supreme ruler), it is liberated from all bonds.

9. They11 are all-wise the one, and ignorant the other,12 both

unborn, omnipotent the one, and without power the other;

(nature) is even unborn,13 and united with the enjoyer and objects

of enjoyment ;14 the soul is infinite, the universe its nature, and

1 The five objects of the senses,—sound, touch, colour, taste, and smell,—are

called whirlpools, because in them the individual souls are drowned.

2 The five kinds of pain, viz., the pain, arising from the state of an embryo,

from birth, age, illness and death.

3 In the text is given “Panchasadbhedam,” divided into fifty kinds, but

Śankara gives in his explanation the reading, “Panchaklesabhedam,” which I have

adopted in the translation, as it agrees better with the whole passage, where

a division into five members is followed throughout the verse.

4 In which all beings have their origin and their end.

5 Hansa, explained by Ś., by “hanti gachchhati adhvanamiti hansa” ; it is

called hansa, because it travels along the road.

6 This takes place, explains Ś., if a person thinks himself as one with him.

7 The absolute Brahma, who is without any qualities.

8 Vide verse 12.

9 The universe, viz., in its totality from the first creation of god down to the

creation of the gross elements.

10 Yonimuktā: free from all the evils incident on birth, old age, and death.

11 “They,” god does not only uphold the universe in its unmanifested and

in its manifested state, and the individual soul is not only enchained, but

they, &c.

12 One, the supreme ruler ; the other, the individual soul.

13 Ajā, the unborn, means nature, the producer of all, or Māyā, the power

of the supreme soul, whose modifications are the enjoyer, the enjoyment, and the

objects of enjoyment.—Ś.

14 Because god is endowed with this power of Māyā, therefore he appears to

have all those differences.

therefore without agency.1 When a person knows this Brahma as this threefold (world),2 (then he becomes liberated).

10. The first (nature, Pradhāna)3 is perishable, the destroyer (Hara ; god is called Hara, because he destroys all ignorance, &c.) is immortal and imperishable ; he, the only god, rules perishable (nature) and the (individual) soul. By meditation upon him, by uniting with him (the whole world), by again and again thinking one’s self as the truth, at last ensues cessation of every delusion, (or cessation of the delusion of the world).

11. By knowledge4 of god (deva) all the bonds (of ignorance, unhappiness, &c.) are destroyed ; birth and death cease with a decrease of pain of every kind. By the meditation (abhidhyāna) on him (in his relation to the world) the third state (of Brahma as Virāṭ, or as the cause of the world), whose power equals the universe, (is obtained) at the separation from the body. (By the meditation upon Brahma) in his own independent nature (free from every relation to the world), a person obtains all desires, (becomes Brahma in accordance with his real nature).

12. This (the absolute nature of Brahma) should be thought as eternal, and as abiding in one’s own soul (this may also be translated “ founded in its own majesty ”); for beside him there is nothing to be known. Knowing the enjoyer (the individual soul), the objects of enjoyment and the dispenser (the supreme ruler), (knowing) all these three kinds even as Brahma, (a person obtains liberation).

13. As the nature of fire, when concealed in its cause (the wood), is not perceived, nor also a destruction of its subtle body, as it is again (and again) perceived in its cause, the wood (by rubbing),—as both is (perceived and not perceived), so (the soul is perceived) within the body by the sacred word (Om).

14. Having made his own body the lower piece of wood, and the sacred word the upper piece, a person by practice of abstract

1 If the soul is infinite and the universe its nature, it is without agency, because agency is a worldly quality, which is included in its universality, for it does not create what it already possesses.

2 Threefold, as the enjoyer, the enjoyment and its objects.

3 Pradhāna, nature, the cause of all creations, is not perishable in itself ; on the contrary, it is without beginnings, as well according to the Vedānta as the Sāṅkhya, and it has been defined as unborn (ajā), even in the preceding verse. It is therefore called perishable, either to indicate the difference between god and nature, or what appears yet more in accordance with the view of this Upanishad, nature is perishable, because for him who obtains final emancipation, every part of nature must cease to existence

4 In this verse two kinds of meditation, with their effect, are described. By thinking on Brahma there is a cessation of pain ; if he is thought under attributes that belong to him in his relation to the world, the happiness of the Virāṭ, or the creator, is obtained ; if he is meditated upon according to his own nature without any distinguishing attributes, liberation is the consequence.

meditation, which serves as rubbing, will behold god, as the concealed (fire becomes visible to him by rubbing).

15. As oil in sesamé seed (is found bypressing it), butter in curds (by churning them), water in a river (by digging the ground), and fire in the two pieces of wood (by rubbing them),—so is that (absolute soul) perceived within his own self (soul) by a person who beholds him by truth and by austerity (characterized by the subduing of the senses and the mind).

16. (Who beholds) as the all-pervading soul, like butter contained in milk, as the root of the knowledge of the soul and of austerity, that Brahma, upon whom the last end1 is founded, upon whom the last end is founded.

SECOND CHAPTER.

1. Concentrating first2 the mind and the senses of intellect (upon Brahma) for the acquiring of truth,3 may Savitri, having seen the illuminating fire, bring it to the earth.

2. By the grace of the divine Savitri (let us) with concentrated mind (strive) according to our power for the attainment of heaven.

3. Having united the senses (devān) through which heaven is gained, with the mind (and) with intellect, let Savitri cause them to manifest the divine infinite ligt.

4. Great praise (is to be given) to the all-pervading, infinite, all-wise Savitri, the knower of (all) intelligent creatures, the one alone, who has arranged the sacrificial rites by the Brāhmaṇas who have concentrated their mind, who have concentrated their senses.4

5. I worship your ancient Brahma with reverence; (my) slokas will be praised as wise men on a good path ; all the sons of

1 Weber (I. S. vol. I., p. 424) instead of “ Upanishad-param ” reads “ Upanishad-padam ”; in this case the rendering of the passage is: “ That Brahma who is the last end of the Upanishads.” Sankara explains “ Upanishad param,” literally by “upanishanām asmin param, sreya iti.”

2 The second chapter describes the appliances, by which the concentration upon Brahma is effected. The first four verses contain, as a kind of introduction, the praise of Savitri (the god of the sun) for the accomplishment of concentration. They are almost literally taken from the Saṇhitā of the White Yajur Veda. — Vide Dr. Weber's White Yajur Veda, Vol. I., ii. 1-5.

3 Tattvāya, “for the acquirement of truth,” is the reading adopted by Sankara. Weber's edition of the White Yajur Veda gives instead of this “Tatvāya,” the Vedic gerund of the verb “tan,” which Mahīdhara in his commentary explains by “taritvā.” According to this reading the translation would be, “ Concentrating first the mind and expanding the senses of intellect, may Savitri,” &c.

4 The sense of these Mantras is very differently explained in this Upanishad and Mahīdhara's commentary. In the first they refer to Brahma, while according to the latter they describe sacrificial rites.

the immortal (Prajāpati, viz., the gods, his parts), who inhabit divine dwellings, hear (them).1

6. (As the sacrifice) where the fire is kindled, where (in the vessels appertaining to it) the wind is noisy, where the Soma-juice remains, (when it has been poured in the sacrificial cup), there mind does atterd.

7. Worship ye, the ancient Brahma by Savitri, the creator ; in him do thou make (the) entrance (which is characterized by concentration) ; for thy former work (ceremonial work) does not bind thee.

8. Keeping the upper parts (the chest, neck, and the head) erect2 and equal to the (other parts of the) body, subduing within the heart the senses together with the mind, let the wise by the raft of Brahma (Om) cross over all the fearful torrents (of the world).

9. Keeping down the senses (prānān), subduing his desires, and gently respiring by the nostrils, let the wise diligently attend to the mind, as (the charioteer) to a car, drawn by vicious horses.3

10. At a level place, free from pebbles, fire, and gravel, pleasant to the mind by its sounds, water and bowers, not painful to the eye, and repairing to a cave, protected from the wind, let a person apply (his mind to god).

11. These appearances precede the concentration by which the manifestation of Brahma is effected ; it (Brahma) assumes the form of frost, of smoke, of hot air, of wind, of fire, of fire-flies, of lightning, of crystal, and of the moon.

12. When (in the yogi's body) composed of earth, water, light, air and ether, the five-fold qualities which mark concentration (vide the next verse) are manifest, then there is no disease, or age, or pain for him, who has obtained the body burning with the fire of concentration.

13. When the body is light and without disease, the mind without desire, when the colour is shining, sweet the voice and pleasant the smell, when the excrements are few, they say, the first degree of concentration is gained.

1 That text in Weber's edition of the Yajur Veda is, with the following exceptions, the same as in the Upanishad : Instead of "Ślokīyanti" Weber reads "ślokā etu;" instead of "sūrā," "sūre"; and instead of "śrinvanti," "śrinvantu." To show in an example the difference of the explanation, I translate here this verse according to Mahīdhara's commentary "O you sacrificer and his wife, for your sake I perform (at present) with food (namobhir) the ancient (work called) Brahma (a kind of fire offering). (By Brahma the caste of the Brāhmanas may also be understood.) May the fame of the wise (of the sacrificer), reach the two worlds, as the oblation does. May all the sons of the immortal (Prajāpati), who inhabit divine dwellings, hear (the praise of the sacrificer).

2 See the similar passage in Bhag. G. 5 adh. 27, 3 and 6 adh. 11-13.

3 Vide Kaṭh. 3, 4 to 9.

14. As a piece (of gold or silver) covered with earth, when cleansed, shines like light, so the embodied soul, when beholding the true nature of the soul, (of itself) becomes one, obtains its true end, and every pain ceases.

15. When,1 absorbed in this concentration, (the yogī) sees by the true nature of his own self, which manifests like a light, the true nature of Brahma, which is not born, eternal and free from all effects of nature2 (or, as Sankara explains “tattva,” from the effects of ignorance), he gets released from all bonds.

16. For he (the yogī) is the god who is born before all the quarters and intermediate quarters (Hiranyagarbha), he is indeed within the womb, he is born, he will be born ; in the shape of all he dwells in every creature.

17. To the god who is in the fire, who is in the water, who entered the universe, who is in the annual herbs, and who is in the regents of the forest (the trees), to this god be reverence, to him be reverence.

THIRD CHAPTER.3

1. He, who is only one, possessed of delusion (Māyā), rules by his ruling powers, rules all the world by his ruling powers,—he, who is ever one—in their (the worlds’) origin and manifestation. They who know him, become immortal.

2. For it is one Rudra only4—(the knowers of Brahma) acknowledge not a second,—who rules these worlds with his ruling powers, who dwells within every man, and who, having created all the worlds (and being their) protector, gets wrathful at the time of the end (destroys them).

3. He is the eye of all, the face of all, the arm of all, nay the foot of all. He joins man with arm, the bird with wings, the one god, when creating the heaven and the earth.5

4. May Rudra, the lord of the universe, the all-wise

1 This verse, according to Dr. Weber, is taken from the Vājas. Taitt. Āraṇ. x. 1-3.

2 Tattva is a term of the Sāṅkhya, and means a principle, something from which something else is derived, the nature of a thing. It may also be translated, — “ free from the nature of all,” which “all” would, in this case, denote “ nature.”

3 This chapter generally shows in what way the absolute god becomes involved in the relation of the universal and individual soul. It must be understood that throughout the whole chapter the majesty of the supreme soul is displayed, and not of the universal ruler (Īśvara), whose attributes are contrary to those of the individual soul.

4 Rudra represents here the supreme spirit.

5 The supreme soul or Virāṭ is the creator of the world. This verse is taken from the Vāj. S. 13, 19.

(Maharshi), who produced the gods and gave them majesty, and who created at first Hiranyagarbha,—strengthen us with auspicious intellect.1

5. With thy form2, O Rudra, which is auspicious, which is not dreadful (or which is exceedingly dreadful), and which manifests what is holy, with that all-blessed form, O dispenser of happiness from the mountain, look upon us.

6. O dispenser of happiness from the mountain,3 make propitious the arrow, which thou holdest in thy hand to throw upon the creatures ; O guardian, do not injure man, or the world.

7. Those who know Brahma, who is greater than the universe, the great one, the infinite, who is concealed within all beings according to their bodies, the only pervader of the whole universe, the ruler,—become immortal.

8. I know that perfect, infinite spirit, who is like the sun after darkness. Thus knowing him, a person overcomes death ; there is no other road for obtaining (liberation).4

9. By him, than whom nothing is greater, than whom nothing more subtle, nothing older, who one alone stands in the heavens like an unshaken tree, by him, the perfect spirit (purusha). all this is pervaded.

10. Those who know him as different from the cause of that (world),5 as destitute of form and pain,6 become immortal ; again to the others unhappiness is allotted.

11. He is the face, the head, and neck of all ; he dwells in the cavity (of the heart) of all beings, pervades all, (and) is all-glorious ; therefore he is omnipresent, propitious.

12. He is the great, the lord in truth, the perfect one, the mover of all that is, the ruler of the purest bliss, he is light and everlasting.

13. He is the perfect spirit (purusha), of the measure of a thumb,7 the inner soul, who always abides in the heart of every man, the ruler of knowledge, who is concealed by the heart and mind. Those who know him become immortal.

1 Repeated 4, 12.

2 Vs. 5-6 are taken from the Vāj. S. 16, 2-3.

3 Mahīdhara, the commentator of the Vāj. S., gives the meaning of giriśanta in accordance with Śankara.

4 Taken from the Vāj. Sanh. 31, 8. The second distich of this verse is repeated, 6, 15, and the second part of the first distich is literally found in Bhag. G. 8, 9.

5 The cause of the world is undistinguishable, unmanifested nature, by which every thing else is manifested, or according to the author of this Upanishad, it is nature as identical with Māyā, or delusion.

6 The three-fold pain, either from one’s body, or any other organized body, or from inanimate matter.

7 Repeated 4, 17 ; vide Kaṭh. 3, 11 and 13, where v. 11 commences “angush-tamāttra: purushos-āntarātmā.”

14. The perfect spirit of thousand heads, of thousand eyes, and thousand feet, pervading everywhere (internally and externally) the world, dwells ten fingers above (the navel in the heart).

15. The perfect spirit is the Ruler of this all, of all that was, that is to be, and grows by food, yea, that is immortal.

16. Everywhere having his hands and feet, everywhere his eyes and face, everywhere his ears, he pervades all within the world (body).

17. He who shines forth with the qualities of all the senses,1 is devoid of all the senses. (They call him) the lord of all, the ruler of all, the infinite support.

18. Embodied in the town of nine gates,2 the soul (hansa)3 moves to things without, subduing the whole world, all that is immovable and movable.

19. Without hands and feet he speeds, he takes ; without eye he sees, without ear he hears. He knows all that is to be known, yet none is there that knows him. They call him the supreme, great soul (purusha).

20. He is more subtle than what is subtle, greater than what is great, the soul, dwelling in the cavity (of the heart) of this creature.4 He who sees by the grace of the creator, the glorious ruler as devoid of action,5 becomes free from grief.

21. I know him, the undecaying, ancient, the soul of all, omnipresent by his pervading nature, whom the knowers of Brahma call unborn, whom the knowers of Brahma call everlasting.

FOURTH CHAPTER.

1. He, who one alone, (and) without distinction, by his union with many powers (śakti) creates infinite distinctions, according to their necessity, and into whom the world at last (at the time of universal destruction) is dissolved, is God. May he grant us auspicious intellect.6

1 Of the external senses as well as the internal sense, the mind. These qualities are, for instance, sound, colour, &c.; doubt, determination, &c.

2 Vide Bhag. G. 5, 13, where the commencement is the same, "navadvāre-pure dehī."

3 Here derives Śaṅkara the word "Hansa" "hanti abhidyītmakam kāryam," he destroys the effect of the ignorance, while above he explains it by "hanti, gachchhate adhvānamiti hansa"; it is called hansa, because it travels along the road.

4 Of all animate beings.

5 This is a view of the Sāṅkhya. The whole verse is taken from the Kaṭha U. 2, 20, where, however, kratu is read instead of kratum, and ātmana instead of īśam.

6 Vide 3, 4.

2. He (the nature of Brahma) is even fire, he the sun (āditya), he the wind, he the moon, he even the brilliant (stars), he Brahma, he is the waters, he is Prajāpati.1

3. Thou art woman, thou art man, thou art the youth, and even the maid, thou art the old man trembling on his staff, thou art born, thy face is the universe.

4. Thou art the black bee, the green bird with red-coloured eye (the parrot), the cloud, in whose womb the lightning sleeps, the seasons, the seas ; without beginning thou embracest all ; for by thee are all the worlds created.

5. The one, unborn (the individual soul), for his enjoyment approaches the one, unborn (nature), which is red, white and black,2 of one form, and producing a manifold offspring; of the other, who is unborn,3 abandons her (nature) whose enjoyment he has enjoyed.

6. Two birds,4 (the supreme and the individual souls,) always united of equal name, dwell upon one and the same tree (the body). The one of them (the individual soul) enjoys the sweet fruit of the fig-tree, the other (the supreme soul) looks round as a witness.

7. Dwelling on the same tree (with the supreme soul) the deluded soul (the individual soul), immersed (in the relations of the world), is grieved by the want of power; but when it sees the other, the (long) worshipped ruler as different (from all worldly relations) and his glory, then its grief ceases.

8. Of what use are the hymns of the Rig to him that does not know him, the immortal letter of the Rig, (or the eternal meaning of the Rig,) the highest ether, in whom all gods abide? But those who know him, obtain the highest end.

9. The sacred metres, the sacrifices, offerings, expiations, what has been, what is to be, and what the Vedas declare, (all spring forth) from that (immortal letter).5—United with delusion

1 Ṣankara explains “Brahma” by “Hiraṇyagarbha,” that is to say, the universal soul, as pervading all subtle bodies, and Prajāpati by Virāṭ, or the universal soul, as pervading all gross bodies.

2 According to Ṣankara, this means nature which has the qualities of light, water, and food, that is to say, all qualities. It has, however, yet another meaning, if ajñ is taken in the sense of a goat, which it also denotes.

3 Another, who by the instruction of his teacher overcomes ignorance and gets thereby separated from nature and its enjoyment, becomes of the same being with the supreme spirit. “Ajñ,” “unborn.” There are two substances unborn, according to the doctrine of the Sāṅkhya, nature and the soul. By the union of both the world is produced; by the separation from nature through knowledge, a soul attains its last object—liberation.

4 This and the next verse are literally taken from the Muṇd. U. iii, 1—2.

5 Or, according to Ṣankara’s explanation : The sacred-metres, the sacrifices, offerings, expiations, what has been, and what is to be, all, according to the evidence of the Vedas, springs from that immortal letter.

(Māyā), he creates the universe ; to this the other (the individual) soul is chained by delusion (Māyā).

10. Know delusion (Māyā) as nature (prakṛiti), him1 who is united with her, as the Great Ruler (Maheśvara) ; this whole world in truth is pervaded by (powers which are) his parts.2

11. Whoever comprehends him who, one alone, superintends the first producer and the other producers 3 in whom this all goes together (is dissolved at the time of destruction) and goes out (is produced in various ways at the time of creation),—whoever comprehends him, the ruler who grants the wish (of liberation), the praiseworthy god, obtains everlasting (absolute) peace.

12. May Rudra,4 the lord of the universe, the all-wise, who produced the gods and gave them majesty, (and) who beheld the birth of Hiranyagarbha, strengthen us with auspicious intellect.

13. To the God who is the lord of the gods, in whom the worlds have their support, and who rules the bipeds and quadrupeds, let us bring an oblation.

14. Whoever knows him who is more subtle than what is subtle within that which is impervious (i.e., pervading the whole material creation), the creator of the universe, the many-shaped, the one penetrator of the universe, the all-blessed, gets everlasting peace.

15. Whoever knows him, who at the due time is the preserver of this world, who, concealed in all beings, is the lord of the universe, and with whom the Brahmārshis and the deities are united by concentration, cuts the bonds of death.

16. Whoever knows the blessed God, who, exceedingly subtle, like cream in clarified butter, is concealed in all beings, the one penetrator of the universe, gets liberated from all bonds.

17. That God, whose work is the universe, that supreme soul, who is always dwelling in the hearts of (all) beings, is revealed by the heart, discrimination (manīshā), and meditation (manasā). Those who know him, become immortal.5

18. When there is no darkness (when all ignorance has disappeared), then there is neither day nor night, neither existence, nor non-existence, (all differences have ceased) ; (then there is) the all-blessed even alone. He is everlasting, he is to be adored by

1 Attempt to reconcile the doctrine of the Vedānta with the Sāṅkhya.

2 Or, by the elements (the five great elements) which are his parts.

3 Again in accordance with the view of the Sāṅkhya; the first producer is nature ;-the derived producers are intellect, self-consciousness, and the five subtle elements. All other things, with the exception of the soul, are only productions.

4 Rudra, here identified with the Supreme Spirit. This verse is the same as 3, 4.

5 The latter half of this verse is taken from Kaṭh. 6. 9.

Savitṛi (the deity of the sun), from him alone has arisen the ancient knowledge (of Brahma).

19. None is able to comprehend him in the space above, in the space below, or in the space between. For him whose name is the glory of the universe (or infinite glory), there is no likeness.

20. Not in the sight abides his form, none beholds him by the eye. Those who know him dwelling in the heart (in the ether of the heart) by the heart (pure intellect) and mind, become immortal (vide v. 17).

21. " He is unborn "; thus thinking, some one perturbed (by misery of the world) may be found (to pray) : "Oh, Rudra, let thy auspicious (dakshina) ¹ face preserve me for ever.

22. Injure not our children, nor our grandchildren, nor our lives, nor our horses, nor slay in anger our valiant men; for with offerings we always invoke thee.²

FIFTH CHAPTER.

1. He, the immortal, infinite, supreme Brahma,³ in whom both knowledge and ignorance abide unmanifested,—ignorance verily is mortal, knowledge verily immortal,—and who again rules knowledge as well as ignorance, is different (from them).⁴

2. He, who one alone, superintends every source of production, (vide 4, 11,) every form, and all the sources of production, who endowed his son, the Rishi Kapila ⁵ at the commencement of the creation with every kind of knowledge,⁶ and who looked at him, when he was born,⁷

3. That God, having in various ways changed every kind (of

¹ "Dakshina," according to Śankara, means either "auspicious," or "southern" (right), that is, which is turned to the scuth.

² This verse, according to Weber, occurs in the Vāj. Sanh. xvi, 16, in the Taitt. S. v. 10, 11, and in the Rig. V. S. i. 114-18.

³ The compound "Bramhapare" means, either he who is greater than Brahma or Hiraṇyagarbha, or " the Supreme Brahma" (Parasmin va Bramhani.)

⁴ Again a view of the Sānkhya.

⁵ Śankara explains this passage very artificially. Kapila is, according to him, not the founder of Sāṅkhya, but another name of Hiraṇyagarbha, and he tries to prove this, first, from the name of "Kapila," which means brown, so that Kapila would be here an adjective, instead of "Kapila varṇam, the brown or golden-coloured," which thereby would refer to Hiraṇyagarbha ; and, secondly, from a passage of a Purāṇa ; the latter, however, proves the contrary ; for there Kapila is mentioned as the founder of the Sāṅkhya, and to praise him, he is identified with Hiraṇyagarbha.

⁶ With the four kinds of knowledge of the Sāṅkhya, viz., virtue, knowledge, enunciation of worldly desires, and superhuman power.

⁷ As a father does at his son after his birth.

ŚVETĀŚVATARA UPANISHAD.

existing principles) in that field (of Māyā),1 destroys it (at last) again ; having created the divine sages2 in the same manner (as at a former period of creation), the Ruler, the great soul, rules supreme over all.

4. As the sun, manifesting all parts of space, above, between, and below, shines resplendent, so over-rules the all-glorious, adorable God, one alone, all that exists in likeness with its cause.3

5. He, who, the cause of the universe, brings to maturity the nature (of all), who changes all beings which can be brought to maturity, who, one alone, over-rules this whole universe, and who distributes all the qualities (to the things to which they belong).

6. He is concealed in the Upanishads, that are concealed in the Vedas. Him Brahma knows as the source of the Vedas (or as the source of Hiranyagarbha). The former gods and sages who knew him, became indeed of his own nature, (became) immortal.

7. (The individual soul) who, endowed with qualities, is the performer of work for the sake of its fruit, is even also the enjoyer of these actions. Possessed of various forms, endowed with the three qualities, the chooser between the three roads (vide 1, 4), the lord of life, he proceeds from birth to birth by his actions.

8. He, who, of the measure of a thumb, resembling the sun in splendour, endowed with determination and self-consciousness, and with the quality of intellect and the quality of his body, is perceived even as another (different from the universal soul, although it is one with it) only like the iron thong at the end (of a whip).

9. The embodied soul is to be thought like the hundredth part of the point of a hair, divided into a hundred parts ; he is considered to be infinite.

10. He is not woman, he is not man, nor he is hermaphrodite ; he is kept by any body which he may assume.

11. As by the use of food and drink the body grows, so the individual soul, by volition, touch, sight, and delusion, assumes successively forms in accordance with its action in the various places (of production).

12. The individual soul chooses (assumes) by its qualities (by the impressions remaining from its former actions) manifold, gross, or subtle forms. By the qualities of its actions, and by the

1 The world.

2 The divine sages, according to Śankara, Marīchi, and the other divine Ṛishis.

3 Yoni svabhābān (all that exists in likeness with its cause, viz., the five elements, which are the same with its cause--nature) may be also rendered "Yoni : svabhābān " he (Brahma) the cause (of the whole world) rules all (the elements), which partake of his nature.

qualities of its body it appears, although it is without any difference, the cause of union with those forms.

13. Whoever knows the God who is without commencement, without end, who within this impervious (world) is the creator of the universe, who is of an infinite form, the one penetrator of the universe, becomes liberated from all bonds. 1

14. Those who know the God, who is to be comprehended by thought (purified intellect), who is incorporeal (immaterial), who is the cause of existence and non-existence, who is all-blessed, and the cause of the origin of the (sixteen) parts, relinquish their bodies.

SIXTH CHAPTER.

1. From delusion some sages say that the own nature of things (is the cause of the universe), others, that time it is;2 but it is the glory of God in the world, by which (glory) this wheel of Brahma revolves.

2. For over-ruled by him, by whom this all is eternally pervaded, who is all-wise, the lord of time, possessed of (all) qualities, omniscient, turns round the creation, which is to be thought as earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

3. Having created this work (the world), and reflecting on it again, he causes principle (the soul) to be joined with principle (the principle of nature), viz., with one, or two, or three, or eight (principles),3 also with time and with the subtle qualities of intellect (ātma).

4. Whoever, after he has performed works endowed with (their) qualities, places them and all his fondness (upon God),— (for), if they (the works) exist not, the effects also cease,—obtain by the cessation of work that which is different from the principles (of nature).4

5. He is the commencement (of all), the origin of the causes, by which (the body) is united (with the soul); beyoud the three-fold-divided time, he appears also without time. Whosoever worships in his mind the adorable God, whose nature is the universe, who is the true origin and abides in his own heart, (obtains what is different from the principles of nature).

1 Vide 4, 14.

2 Vide 1, 2.

3 The eight principles are the eight producers of the Sāṅkhya, viz., nature, the root of all, intellect, self-consciousness, and the five subtle elements of matter. Saṅkara quotes a passage, probably of a Purāṇa, in which “mind” is substituted for nature as root of all.—The one principle, to which the soul is joined, is nature, the two are perhaps nature and intellect, and the three, nature, intellect and self-consciousness.

4 That is to say, he becomes like Brahma.

6. Whoever knows him, who is greater than the1 forms of the tree (of the world) and of time, and different (from either), establisher of virtue, and the destroyer of sin, the lord of all glory who abides in one's self, and is immortal, (obtains that which is different from the material principles of creation).

7. We know him, the supreme great Ruler of all rulers, the supreme deity of all deities, the lord of lords, greater than what is greatest, the resplendent, the praiseworthy Ruler of the worlds.

8. There is no effect for him, or a cause,3 there is none perceived that is like him or superior to him. The supreme power of him is declared to be various ; (viz.) it is dependent upon himself, and acting according to (his) knowledge and power.

9. There is in the world no lord of him, nor a ruler, nor also a cause ;4 he is the cause, the sovereign of the sovereign of cause ; for him there is no producer, no sovereign.

10. May the one God, who, like the spider, through his own nature, encases himself with many threads, which are produced by the first (cause, pradhāna, nature), grant us identity with Brahma,—

11. The one God, who is concealed in all beings, who pervades all, who is the inner soul of all beings, the ruler of all actions, who dwells in all beings, the witness, who is mere thinking,5 and without qualities,6—

12. The only self-dependent among the many (souls) which are not active,7 who makes manifold the one seed.8 The wise, who perceive him as placed within their own selves, obtain eternal bliss, not others.

13. He is the eternal one among those that are eternal,9 the conscious one among those that are conscious,—the one among the many who dispenses desirable objects. Whoever knows this cause,

1 Vide Kath. 6, 1.

2 From creation to preservation and destruction, from destruction to creation.

3 “Effect” means, according to Sankara, “body,” and “cause” an “organ.”

4 Sankara explains “linga” by a sign, on whose cogency his existence could be inferred.

5 That is to say, thinking without any special thought.

6 The triad of qualities, goodness, activity, and darkness.

7 Nature only, according to the Sānkhya, is active, and not the soul, which is merely witnessing.

8 Either the first nature, or, as Sankara explains, the subtle elements of matter.

9 That is among the souls. This view of the Sānkhya, adopted by the author, entirely deviates from the Vedānta. Sankara tries to guard against this interpretation by stating that the souls are said to be eternal by partaking of the eternity of the supreme spirit.

the God who is to be comprehended by the Sānkhyā and Yoga, is liberated from all bonds.

14. There (with regard to Brahma) does not manifest the sun, nor the moon and stars, there do not manifest those lightnings,— how then should manifest this (earthly) fire ? When he is manifest (by himself), all gets manifest after him. By his manifestation this whole (world) becomes manifest.1

15. He is the one Hansa2 in the midst of this world, he is even fire, entered into water.3 Knowing him, one overcomes death ; there is no other road for obtaining (the last end of man.)

16. He creates the universe, and knows the universe, he is the soul (of all) and the origin (of all), the sovereign of time, endowed with (all) qualities (of perfection); he is omniscient, the lord of the first cause (pradhāna, the first form of creative nature) and of the conscious embodied being, the Ruler of the (three) qualities, and the cause of the liberation, existence and bondage with reference to the world.

17. He is like himself,4 immortal, and abiding in the form of Ruler, all-wise, omnipresent, the preserver of this world ; he rules eternally this world ; there is no other cause of the dominion (of the world).

18. Let me, desirous of liberation, approach the protection of the God, the manifester of the knowledge of himself, who at first (at the commencement of the creation) created Brahmā, and who gave him the Vedas ;—

19. Who is without parts, without action, who is tranquil, blameless, without spot, the last bridge to immortality, (brilliant) like fire when it consumes the wood.

20. Until man is able to compress the ether like leather, there will be no end of misery, except through the knowledge of God.

21. The sage Svetásvatara, by the power of his austerity and the grace of God, has verily declared to the most excellent of the four orders, the supreme holy Brahma, who is adored as all in all by all the Risbis.

22. The deepest mystery of the Vedānta is not to be declared to a son, nor again to a pupil, whose (mind or senses) are not subdued.

23. To the high-minded who has an absolute reliance in God, and as in God, also in the teacher, reveal themselves the meanings, declared (in this Upanishad), reveal themselves those meanings.

1 This verse occurs also in the Kath. U. 5, 15 and in Mund ii., 2, 10.

2 "Hansa," destroyer of ignorance, according to Sankara.

3 That is, he has entered the heart, like fire, consuming all ignorance.

4 "Tanmaya" may be also rendered "like the world."

BṚIHADĀRANYAKA UPANISHAD.

This Upanishad is called Brihad, ‘great,’ on account of its length. Dr. Roer’s translation, with extracts from Sankarāchārya’s Commentary, occupies 318 pp., making a volume of itself. It forms the seventeenth book of the Śatapatha-Brāhmana of the White Yajur-Veda, and is divided into six adhyāyas or chapters. Other names given to it are Vājasaneya Brahma Upanishad, and Kāṇva Upanishad.

Śankara, in his “brief” commentary on this Upanishad, says that it is “composed for the sake of those who wish to liberate themselves from the world, in order that they may acquire the knowledge that Brahma and the soul are the same, a knowledge by which the liberation from the cause of the world (ignorance) is accomplished.”

The Upanishad abounds with wearisome repetitions like the following :—

8. He who dwelling in the heavens, is within the heavens, whom the heavens do not know, whose body are the heavens, who from within rules the heavens, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal.

9. He who dwelling in the sun, is within the sun, whom the sun does not know, whose body is the sun, who from within rules the sun, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal.

10. He who dwelling in the quarters, is within the quarters, whom the quarters do not know, whose body are the quarters, who from within rules the quarters, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal.

11. He who dwelling in the moon and stars, is within the moon and stars, whom the moon and stars do not know, whose body are the moon and stars, who from within rules the moon and stars, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal.

12. He who dwelling in the ether, is within the ether, whom the ether does not know, whose body is the ether, who from within rules the ether, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal.

13. He who dwelling in the darkness, is within the darkness, whom the darkness does not know, whose body is the darkness, who from within rules the darkness, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal.

14. He who dwelling in the light, is within the light, whom the light does not know, whose body is the light, who from within rules the light, is thy soul, the Inner Ruler, immortal. III. 7.

Only selections will be given, including some of the most important passages.

62

THE UPANISHADS.

The Upanishad commences as follows :—

BOOK I.

First Brāhmaṇa.

1. Om ! The dawn in truth is the head of the sacrificial horse. The sun is the eye ; the wind the breath ; the fire, under the name Vaiśvānara, the open mouth ; the year the body of the sacrificial horse. The heaven is the back ; the atmosphere the belly ; the earth the footstool (hoof) ; the quarters the sides; the intermediate quarters the bones of the sides ; the seasons the members ; the months and the half months are the joints ; day and night the feet ; the constellations the bones ; the sky the muscles ; the half digested food the sand ; the rivers, arteries and veins; the liver and spleen the mountains; the herbs and trees the various kinds of hair. The sun, as long as he rises, is the forepart of the body; the sun, as long as he descends, is the hind part of the body. The lightning is like yawning; the shaking of the members is like the rolling of the thunder; the passing of urine is like the rain of the clouds ; its voice is like speech.

2. The day is the Mahimā, placed before the horse ; its birthplace is the eastern sea ; the night, the other Mahimā, which is placed behind the horse ; its birthplace is the western sea ; these Mahimās are placed around the horse. The horse, under the name of Haya, carried the gods ; under the name of Vāji, the Gandharvas ; under the name of Arva, Asurṣ ; under the name of Aśva, men. The sea is its companion, the sea its birthplace.

Conclusion of the Third Brāhmaṇa.

28. Therefore afterwards, the rite of Abhyāroha¹ of the Pavamāna Stotras is defined. The praiser verily praises the Sāma. Where he praises it, there let him mutter these mantras : From the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness lead me to light, from death lead me to immortality.

In the words of the mantra: From the unreal lead me to the real, death is the unreal, the real immortality ; from death lead me to immortality, which implies render me immortal.

Further in the words: From darkness lead me to light, death is darkness, light immortality ; from death lead me to immortality, which implies render me immortal. In the last mantra : From death lead me to immortality, there is nothing concealed.

¹ This is a ceremony (the ascension) by which the performer reaches the gods or becomes a god. It consists in the recitation of three Yajus, and is here enjoined to take place when the Prastotri priest begins to sing his hymn.—Max Müller.

Therefore in those stotras he may choose a blessing. Whatever desire he may desire, the same he may choose ; viz., the Udgāta1 who thus knows. Whatever desire he may desire either for himself or the sacrificer, the same he accomplishes by the recital. This verily overcomes the worlds. There is verily no doubt to be worthy of the worlds for him who thus knows this Sāma ?

ACCOUNT OF CREATION.

Book I., Fourth Brāhmaṇa.

1. This was before soul bearing the shape of a man.2 Looking round he beheld nothing but himself. He said first, ‘This am I.’ Hence the name of I is produced. Therefore even now a man, when called, says first, ‘It is I,’ and tells afterwards any other name that belongs to him. And because he as the first of all of them consumed by fire all the sins, therefore he is called Purusha. He verily consumes him who before this strives to obtain the state of Prajāpati, he namely who thus knows.3

2. He was afraid ; therefore man, when alone, is afraid. He then looked round : Since nothing but myself exists, of whom should I be afraid ? Hence his fear departed ; for whom should he fear, since fear arises from another.

3. He did thus not feel delight. Therefore nobody when alone feels delight. He was desirous of a second. He was in the same state as husband (pati) and wife (patnī) are when in mutual embrace. He divided this two-fold. Hence were husband and wife produced. Therefore was this only a half of himself, as a split pea is of the whole. Thus verily has Yājnavalkya declared it. This void is thus completed by woman. He approached her. Hence men were born.

4. She verily reflected : How can he approach me, whom he has produced from himself ? Alas, I will conceal myself. Thus she became a cow, the other a bull. He approached her. Hence kine were born. The one became a mare and the other a stallion, the one a female ass, the other a male ass. He approached her. Hence the one-hoofed kind was born. The one became a female goat, the other a male goat, the one became a ewe, the

1 The priest who knows the Sāma Veda, who knows the life is identical with the soul.

2 “In the beginning that was self alone, in the shape of a person (purusha).”—Max Müller.

3 The soul is here defined as Prajāpati, the first born from the egg. Endowed with the recollection of his Vedic knowledge in a former birth, he said first, “ This am I,” viz., Prajāpati, the universal soul. “ Hence,” therefore, because from the recollection of his knowledge in a former world he called himself I, therefore his name is I. He is called Purusha, because he, Purvam Aushad (first burned.)

other a ram. He approached her. Hence goats and sheep were born. In this manner he created every living thing whatsoever down to the ants.

5. He knew : I am verily this creation ; for I created this all. Hence the name of creation is derived. Verily he who thus knows, becomes in this creation like him.

6. Then he churned.1 From his mouth, as the place of production, and from his hands he created the fire. Both therefore are inside without hair ; for the place of production is inside without hair.2

That they speak there this word : Sacrifice to this, sacrifice to this, hence sacrifice to the one or the other god, is not proper. His is really this creation ; for he verily is all the gods.3

Then whatsoever is moist, the same he created from his semen, this is the Soma. So much is this whole universe, either food, or the eater of food. Soma is the food, and Agni the eater of the food. This is the surpassing creation of Brahmā. Because he from the better parts created the gods, and also, because he, a mortal, created the immortals, therefore is it a surpassing creation. He who thus knows, becomes in this surpassing creation like Prajāpati.

11. Brahma verily was this before one alone.‡ Being one, he did not extend. He with concentrated power created the Kshatra of elevated nature, viz., all those Kshatras, who are protectors among the gods, Indra, Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Yama, Death and Īśāna. Therefore none is greater than the Kshatra ; thereupon the Brāhmaṇa, under Kshatriya, worships at the Rājasūya ceremony. The Kshatra alone gives him his glory. Brahma is thus the birthplace of the Kshatra. Therefore, although the king obtains the highest dignity, he at last takes refuge in the Brahma as in his birthplace. Whoever despises him, destroys his birthplace. He is a very great sinner, like a man who injures a superior.

12. He did not extend. He created the Viś. He is all those gods who, according to their classes, are called Vasus, Rudras, Ādityas, Viśvedevas, and Maruts.

13. He did not extend. He created the caste of the Śūdras as the nourisher. This earth is the nourisher ; for it nourishes all this whatsoever.

14. He did not extend ; he created with concentrated power justice5 of eminent nature. This justice is the preserver (Kshatra)

1 Produced fire by rubbing.—Max Müller. 2 The female organ. 3 Each god is but his manifestation.—Max Müller. 4 Verily in the beginning this was Brahman, one only.—Max Müller. 5 Law (Dharma).—Max Müller.

of the Kshatra. There is nought higher than justice. Even the weak is confident to defeat the more powerful by justice, as a householder by the king. Verily justice is true. Therefore they say of a person who speaks the truth, he speaks justice, or of a person who speaks justice, he speaks the truth, in this manner verily it is both.

15. This is the creation of the Brahmā, the Kshatra, the Viṭ and the Śūdra. He was in the form of Agni (fire) among the gods as Brahmā, he was the Brāhmana among men, in the form of Kshatriya, Kshatriya ; in the form of Vaisya, Vaisya ; in the form of Sūdra, Sūdra ; therefore among the gods the place (loka) is desired through Agni only, among men through the Brāhmaṇa, because in their forms Brahma became manifest.

16. Self (the soul) alone was this before ; he was even one. He desired : Let me have a wife ; again,—let me be born ; again,—let me have wealth ; again,—let me perform work. So far extends verily desire. For without desire one does not get more than this. Therefore also now a person, when alone, desires. Let me have a wife,—again, let me be born,—again, let me have wealth,—again, let me perform work. As long as he does not obtain one of them, so long he thinks himself incomplete. His completeness is this, that the mind is his self (soul) and speech his wife. Life is their offspring, the eye the wealth of men ; for by the eyes one obtains it,—the ear the wealth of the gods ; for by the ear one hears it ; self is even his work,—for by self one performs work.

The sacrifice is five-fold, the animal five-fold, the man five-fold, five-fold this all whatsoever. Whosoever thus knows, the same obtains this all.

THE MEANING OF PUTRA.

Book I., Fifth Brāhmaṇa.

17. Hence again the making over. When the father thinks he is to die, then he says to his son : “ Thou art Brahma, thou art the sacrifice, thou art the world.” The son repeats : “ I am Brahma, I am the sacrifice, I am the world.” Of all that has been read, is Brahma the identity. Of all the sacrifices that are to be performed, is sacrifice the identity. Of all the worlds that are to be conquered, is world the identity. Thus far extends verily all this. All this multitude preserves me from this world. Therefore they call a son who is instructed Lokya;1 therefore they instruct him. When he, having such a knowledge, departs from this world,

1 Procurer of the worlds.—Ś.

then he enters together with those lives the son. If by him anything through negligence remains undone, the son liberates him from all this. Hence the name of a son (putra).1 He continues by a son alone in this world. Then those divine immortal lives enter him.

ORIGIN OF THE VEDAS, Etc.

Book II., Fourth Brāhmaṇa.

10. As from fire, made of damp wood, proceed smoke, sparks, &c., of various kinds, thus, behold, is the breathing of this great Being, the Ṛig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sāma Veda, the Atharvāṅgirasa, the narratives (Itihāsa), the doctrines on creation (Purāṇa), the science (Vidyā), the Upanishads, the memorial verses (Ślokas), the aphorisms (Sūtras), the explanation of tenets (Anuvyākhyānāni), the explanation of Mantras (Vyākhyānāni), all these are his breathing.

QUESTIONS OF GĀRGĪ.

Book III., Sixth Brāhmaṇa.

1. Then asked him Gārgī, the daughter of Vāchaknu,—“ Yājnavalkya,” said she, “ all this (earth) is woven and rewoven on the waters ; upon what then are the waters woven and rewoven ?” (He replied), “ On the wind, O Gārgī.” “ On what then is woven and rewoven the wind ?” “ On the worlds of the atmosphere, Gārgī.” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of the atmosphere ?” “ On the worlds of the Gandharvas, O Gārgī.” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of the Gandharvas ?” “ On the worlds of Āditya, O Gārgī.” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of Āditya ?” “ On the worlds of the moon, O Gārgī.” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of the moon ?” “ On the worlds of the stars, O Gārgī.” “ On what then are the worlds of the stars woven and rewoven ?” “ On the worlds of the gods, O Gārgī.” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of the gods ?” “ On the worlds of Indra, O Gārgī.” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of Indra ?” “ On the worlds of Prajāpati, O Gārgī.” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of Prajāpati ?” “ On the worlds of Brahma, O Gārgī,” “ On what then are woven and rewoven the worlds of

1 The son liberates the father from anything left undone by completing it. Manu (ix. 138) explains putra as one who delivers from the hell into which childless men fall, called put.

BRIHADĀRAṆYAKA UPANISHAD.

67

Brahma?” “Gārgī,” said he, “do not ask an improper question,1 in order that thy head may not drop down. Thou askest the deity which is not to be questioned. Do not question, O Gārgī.” Thence Gārgī, the daughter of Vāchaknu, became silent.

NUMBER OF THE GODS.

Book III., Ninth Brāhmaṇa.2

1. Then asked him Vidagdha, the son of Śākala,—How many gods are there, O Yājnavalkya? He (answered),

This can be learnt from the Nivit;3 as many (gods) as are mentioned in the Nivit of the Vaiśvadeva (śāstra), (so many are there), (viz.,) “three and three hundred, and three and three thousand (3,306).”4 He said, “Om! How many gods are there, O Yājnavalkya?” “Thirty-three.” He said, “Om! How many gods are there?” He said, “Six.” He said, “Om! How many gods are there, O Yājnavalkya?” “Three.” He said, “Om! How many gods are there, O Yājnavalkya?” “Two.” He said, “Om! How many gods are there, O Yājnavalkya?” “Adhyardha.”5 He said, “Om! How many gods are there, O Yājnavalkya?” “One.” He said, “Om! Which are these three hundred, and three and three thousand?”

2. He said, “This is even for their glory ; thirty-three gods.” “Which are those thirty-three?” “Eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Ādityas. These are thirty-one ; besides Indra and Prajāpati. These are thirty-three.”

3. “Which are the Vasus?” “The fire, the earth, the wind, the atmosphere, the sun, the heavens, the moon, and the stars. These are the Vasus, for upon them this all is founded ; this means Vasu, therefore they are called Vasus.”

4. “Which are the Rudras?” “The ten organs (prāṇah) in man, and the soul as the eleventh. When they leave this body after death, they weep. Therefore, because they weep (rodayanti), they are called Rudras.”

1 Do not ask an improper question, because it cannot be decided by argument, but only by the Śāstra.—Ś.

2 The present Brāhmaṇa undertakes to show how the nature of Brahma as a witness, and as present, can be comprehended by the maximum and minimum numbers of the gods.—Ś.

3 The title of a set of Mantras, defining the number of deities.—Ś.

4 This is no doubt the amount of the number of the text, according to the explanation of Śaṅkara ; the number given in the Tīkā 3,336, is probably owing to the misapprehension of a copyist who added “triṅśat” (30).

5 Adhyardha, which is more than half, half of two would be one; to distinguish it from the next, this term appears to have been chosen; see the explanation, given in 9.

68

THE UPANISHADS.

5. "Which are the Ādityas?" "The twelve months of the

year are the Ādityas ; for taking all this1 they pass. Because

taking all this they pass (ādadānā yanti), therefore they are called

Adityas."

6. "Who is Indra, who is Prajāpati ?" "The cloud is Indra,

the sacrifice is Prajāpati." "Which is the cloud?" "The light-

ning." "Which is the sacrifice ?" "The animals."

7. "Which are the six?" "The fire (Agni), the earth, the

wind, the atmosphere, the sun and the heavens ;2 for they are six ;

for this all is six."

8. "Which are the three gods ?" "The three worlds,3 for

within them all those gods are (comprehended)." "Which are

the two gods ?" "Food and life."4 "Which is the Adhyardha ?"

"He who purifies."*

9. Here it is objected,—“He who purifies, is one even ; how

then is he Adhyardha ?”5 "Because all obtain increase in him,6

therefore is he Adhyardha." "Which is the one god ?" "Life ;

this is called Brahma, this what is beyond.

(The following extracts are supposed to be addressed to

Janaka, King of the Videhas, by Yājnavalkya.)

REBIRTHS.

3. As a leech when arrived at the top of a blade of grass, in

order to gain another place of support, contracts itself ; so the soul,

in order to gain another place of support, contracts itself, after

having thrown off this body and obtained (that state of) know-

ledge.7

4. As a goldsmith, taking a piece of gold, forms another

shape, which is more new and agreeable, so throwing off this body,

and obtaining (that state of) knowledge, the soul forms a shape

which is more new and agreeable, either suited to the world of

the forefathers, or of the Gandharvas, or of the gods, or of

Prajāpati, or of Brahma, or of other beings.

1 All this, the age of man and the fruit, derived from work.—S.

2 In this number the moon and the stars are omitted.

3 Earth and fire together are here considered as one god, the atmosphere and

the wind as the second, and the heavens and Āditja (the sun) as the third

god.—Ā.

4 The wind.

5 The objection seems to be made from the literal meaning of Adhyardha

which is “half.”

6 Adhyardhnotadhi ridhim prāpnoti.

7 Which is founded upon impressions as in a dream.

BṚIHADĀRAṆYAKA UPANISHAD.

69

THE CONDITION OF HIM WHO HAS OBTAINED

LIBERATION WHILE YET ALIVE.

22. This great unborn soul is the same which abides as the intelligent (soul) in all living creatures, the same which abides as ether1 in the heart ; in him it sleeps ; it is the subduer of all, the Ruler2 of all, the sovereign lord of all ; it does not become greater by good works, nor less by evil work. It is the Ruler of all, the sovereign lord of beings,3 the Preserver4 of all beings, the bridge,5 the Upholder of the worlds6 so that they fall not to ruin. In accordance with the word of the Vedas7 the Brāhmaṇas8 desire to comprehend him by sacrifice,9 gift. ascetic work10 and subduing of desires.11 One who knows him thus, becomes a Muni.12 Desiring him as (their) place, the wandering mendicants wander13 about. This is indeed the cause of the state of wandering mendicant, that the ancient sages did not desire offspring14 (thinking by themselves),—What shall we do by means of offspring? Those to whom, (like) us,15 the soul16 is the (supreme) place, lead the life of a religious mendicant, after they have abandoned the desire for a son, the desire for wealth and the desire for (heavenly) places ; for the desire for a son is the same as the desire for wealth ; the desire for wealth is the same as the desire for (heavenly) places ;

1 Ether, the abode of intellect and knowledge, or it may be, according to S., the ether, abiding in the internal organ at the time of profound sleep, that is to say, the supreme soul without attributes, whose nature is knowledge, his own nature. In this his own nature, or in the supreme soul which is called ether, he sleeps.

2 Of Brahmā, Indra, etc.—S.

3 From Brahmā down to inanimate matter.—S.

4 Of the rules of the castes and orders, etc.—S.

5 Vide Chh. U. 8, 4.

6 From the earth up to the Brahma world.—S.

7 That is to say, Mantras and Brīhmaṇas.—S.

8 The Brāhmaṇas indicates here the three first castes ; for there is no difference between them with regard to knowledge.—S.

9 Sacrifice, or ceremonial work in general, although not a direct means of producing the knowledge of Brahma, is necessary to purify the mind; when the mind is so purified, knowledge is possible, no obstacle opposing it.—S.

10 Ascetic work, as the Chāndrāyaṇa, says S., which is a kind of fasting for the expiation of sin.

11 Literally, abstaining from food. The three first obligations (sacrifice, gift and ascetic work) include all the permanent works, enjoined by the Vedas, and the last (fasting) or abstaining from desires. By those means, a desire to comprehend the soul is produced.—S.

12 Muni, mananat muni, a Yogi, who, while yet alive, has obtained liberation.—S.

13 That is to say, they have abandoned all works.—S.

14 Offspring indicates work and the knowledge of the inferior Brahmā as the cause of obtaining the three external worlds.—S.

15 Like us who have the true knowledge of the soul.—S.

16 In its own nature.

for both are even desires. The soul,1 which is not this, nor that, nor ought else, is intangible ; for it cannot be laid hold of, it is not to be dissipated, for it cannot be dissipated ; it is without contact, for it does not come into contact ; it is not limited ; it is not subject to pain nor to destruction ; those two2 do verily not subdue him ; therefore (he does not say,) I have done evil, or I have done good. He subdues them both ; neither good nor evil deeds agitate him.

23. The same3 is said in the following Rik,—“The eternal greatness of the Brāhman is neither increased by work,4 nor diminished.5 Let him even know the nature of that (greatness) ; knowing that (greatness), he is not stained by evil work.6 Therefore one who thus knows, who has subdued his senses,7 who is calm,8 free from all desires, enduring,9 and composed in mind,10 beholds the soul in the soul alone, beholds the whole soul ; sin does not subdue him ; he subdues sin ; sin does not consume him ; he consumes sin.11 He is free from sin, free from doubt, he is pure, he is the (true) Brāhman; this is the (true) world of Brahma, O king, of kings,” thus spoke Yājnavalkya. “I will give thee, O Venerable, the kingdom of the Videhas and my own self, to become thy slave.”

24. This soul12 is great, unborn, the consumer of food,13 the giver of wealth. Whoever thus knows, obtains wealth.

1 If it be admitted, that the soul is the place, why is there a means required for obtaining it, and for what reason is the state of wandering mendicant necessary, since it is said work should not be entered upon? The answer is, the soul, for whose desire one should enter the state of wandering mendicant, has no connection with works. Why? It evidently follows from such negations as, it cannot be seized. Because the soul thus comprehended, viz., independent of work, cause and effect, free from every worldly attribute, beyond every desire, not possessed of grossness and the like attributes, unborn, undecaying, immortal, beyond fear, like a lump of rock-salt, of one uniform nature which is knowledge, a self-shining light, one alone, without duality, without beginning, without end, not within, not without, because this is established by the Śruti and by discussion, especially by the conversation between Janaka and Yājnavalkya, therefore, it is also established, that no work is entered into, if the soul be thus comprehended.—Ś.

2 Sin and virtue.

3 The same, which has been said in the Brāhmaṇa, is also declared in a Mantra.—Ś.

4 By good work.

5 By evil work.

6 Or exalted by good work.

7 The external senses.—Ś.

8 Who has overcome the desires of the internal organ.—Ś.

9 Capable of bearing such opposite agents, as hunger and thirst, heat and cold, etc.—Ś.

10 Having fixed his attention upon one point only.—Ś.

11 He consumes sin by the fire of the knowledge of the soul.—Ś.

12 That is to say, the soul whose nature has been explained in the conversation between Janaka and Yājnavalkya.—Ś.

13 Abiding in all beings, consuming every food.

25. This1 great, unborn, undecaying, undying, immortal, fearless soul is Brahma ; Brahma is verily fearless ; he who thus knows becomes verily the fearless Brahma.

THE SUN NEARER THE EARTH THAN THE MOON.

Book V., Tenth Brāhmaṇa.2

When the Purusha3 proceeds from this world (to another), he comes to the air. The air opens there as wide for him as the aperture of a chariot-wheel. By this (aperture) he ascends, (and) comes to the sun. The same opens there for him as wide as the aperture of a Lambara.4 By this he ascends, and comes to the moon. The same opens there for him as wide as the aperture of a small drum. By this he ascends, and comes to the world,5 where there is no grief, where there is no sorrow ;6 there he dwells endless years.7

THE GĀYATRĪ.

Book V., Fourteenth Brāhmaṇa.

1. Bhūmi (earth), Antarīksha (the atmosphere), Dyau (the heavens) are eight syllables ; the first foot of the Gāyatrī consists of eight syllables ; this (foot) of the Gāyatrī is that (nature of the earth, of the atmosphere, and of the heavens). Whoever thus knows the (first) foot of the Gāyatrī, conquers all that is in the three worlds.

2. The Richah, Yajūnshi (and) Sāmāni are eight syllables ; the second foot of the Gāyatrī consists of eight syllables ; this (foot) of the Gāyatrī is that (nature of the three Vedas). Whoever thus knows, conquers all that is conquerable by the knowledge of three Vedas.

3. Prāṇa (the vital air which goes forward), Apāna (the vital air which descends), (and) Vyāna (the vital air which equalises), these are eight syllables ; the third foot of the Gāyatrī consists of eight syllables ; this (foot) of the Gāyatrī is that (nature of the three vital airs). Whoever thus knows the third foot of the (Gāyatrī) conquers all that has life. Again, the turīya (the fourth),

1 The meaning of the whole Āraṇyaka is expressed in the present section.—S.

2 In this Brāhmaṇa, the fruits, consequent upon the above mentioned kinds of meditation, are stated.—S.

3 The Purusha who has the knowledge before described.—S.

4 A kind of musical instrument, probably a large drum.

5 To the world of Prajāpati.—S.

6 Grief denotes mental pain, and sorrow pain arising from the body.—S.

7 Many Kalpas of Brahmā.—S.

the Darśata foot of the Gāyatrī, is the Paro Rājā,1 which sheds rays. What is (commonly called) chaturtha (the fourth), is (the same as) the “turīya.” It is, as it were, beheld (dadriśe) ; hence it is called the Darśata foot. (It is called) Paro Rājā, because it sheds rays upon all the dustborn creatures of the universe. Whoever thus knows that (foot of the Gāyatrī), is radiant with power and glory.

4. This Gāyatrī2 is founded upon the fourth, the Darśata foot, the Paro Rājā. This (fourth foot) is founded upon truth. The eye is verily truth ; for (that) the eye in truth (is evident). Hence, if at present two have entered upon a dispute (one saying), I have seen, (the other), I have heard, then we believe him, who has said, I have seen. Truth is founded upon power ; life is verily power. Upon this life (truth) is founded. Therefore it is said, power is stronger than truth.3 In the same manner the Gāyatrī is founded upon that which bears a relation to the soul, for this (Gāyatrī) preserves (tatre) the Gayas ; the vital organs (prānah) are the Gayas ; therefore, because it preserves the Gayas (gayāns tatre), it is called Gāyatrī. The Sāvitrī which he4 teaches, is this (Gayatrī) : it preserves the life of him to whom he has taught it.

5. Some5 call this Sāvitrī Anushṭubh, (saying), “Speech is Anushtubh ;” we repeat that speech is Anushṭubh.” Let none do so, let him call the Gāyatrī Sāvitrī. If one who thus knows, receive even many (gifts),6 yet he would not receive so much as is equal to one foot of the Gāyatrī.

6. If one receive the three worlds, full (of all their riches), he would obtain (no more than is equal to) the first foot. Again, if one receive as much as the science of the three Vedas extends, he would obtain (no more than what is equal to) the second foot. Again, if one receive as much as all that has life extends, he would obtain (no more than what is equal to) its third foot. Again, the fourth Darśata Paro Rājā foot of the Gāyatrī is never by any one obtainable.7 Hence how could he receive (an equivalent) which extends so far?

7. The praise of this Gāyatrī is given in the following Mantra :--Thou art of one foot,8 of two feet, of three feet, and of

1 Paro Rājā, Āditya, or the sun, the representative of Brahmā.

2 This Gāyatrī with its three feet representing the world in its twofold state, as being endowed with form, and as being without form.—Ś.

3 Vide Chh. U. 7, 8.

4 The teacher.

5 Some followers of Veda schools.

6 Many gifts, at the time of investiture, when the pupil begs for presents.

7 Obtainable by any wealth which may be given.

8 The first foot, representing the three worlds, the second representing the knowledge of the three Vedas, the third representing all living creatures.

four feet ; for thou are not obtained. Salutation to thy fourth

Darsāta Paro Rājā foot. May this (enemy of thine)1 not accom-

plish this (work).2 If (one who thus knows) hates any body (and

makes against him this invocation), “ This (man is my enemy) ;

may his wish not be accomplished,” then the wish of the latter

will verily not be accomplished, if he make against him the invoca-

tion, “ I have obtained his wish.”

Janak, the king of the Videhas, thus addressed Butīla, the son

of Āśvatara, “ (If) thy saying that thou knowest the Gāyatrī (be

true), then why hast thou become an elephant to carry (me) ? ”

He said, “ I did not know the mouth of the Gāyatrī, O king

of kings.” Its mouth is fire. Even much wood, thrown into

fire, is consumed by the same ; in the like manner, one who thus

knows, although committing many sins, consumes them all,

becomes clean and pure, and is without decay and immortal.

Fifteenth Brāhmaṇa.

Open, O Pūshan, the mouth of truth, concealed in the golden

vessel,3 to (me who have been) devoted to true piety, for the sake

of beholding (the truth). O Pūshan,4 thou sole Ṛishi,5 Yama,

Sūrya, son of Prajāpati, do withhold thy rays, diminish thy

splendour, that I may behold thy most auspicious form. I that

Purusha, am immortal. (Let) my vital air (join) the wind ; then,

(let) my body, when reduced to ashes, (join) the earth. Om !

Kratu, remember (my) acts, remember ! O Kratu, remember

my acts, remember ! Guide (me), O Agni, by the road of bliss to

enjoyment ; O god, who knowest all dispositions, deliver (me from)

crooked sin. Let us offer thee our best salutation.6

Book VI., Fourth Brāhmaṇa:

This chapter, treating of procreation, cannot bear translation

into English. Dr. Roer gives it mostly in Latin ; Max Müller in

Sanskrit.

1 Enemy, sin. The sentence is elliptical, but the above sense appears to be

intended ; which is corroborated by the explanation given by the Upanishad itseif.

2 By which he seeks to harm thee.

3 Sankara thus explains this passage : He who has performed both, acts of

knowledge and rites, prays to the sun at the time of his death, holding a golden vessel

in his hands. As a valuable thing is concealed in a vessel, so Brahma, who is

denoted as truth and who abides in the resplendent orb of the sun, is concealed

from him whose mind is not concentrated.

4 Pūshan from Poshanāt, because he upholds the world.

5 Ṛishi from Darśanāt, the sole beholder, or from ri to go. Sūrya, ekākī

charatīti ; Yama, jagatah sāmyāmanam tatkritam.—S.

6 The whole passage is nearly identical with Vājasaneva S. U. 15—18.

Directions are given about what should be eaten to obtain a white son, a reddish son, a dark son, or a learned daughter or son. After the child is born the father is to act as follows :

24. Let him light a fire, and placing it on his lap, and taking curdled milk mixed with clarified butter in a goblet, he offers repeatedly of the curdled milk and clarified butter, (saying), " May I, magnified (by this son), in this house support a thousand (men). When he has obtained offspring, let there be no loss of prosperities in offspring and in cattle. Svāhā ! I offer with my mind to thee my vital airs. Svāhā ! May the wise Agni who fulfils all desires right for us any work which ought not to have been done, or any work which ought to have been done in this rite."

25. Then putting (his mouth) near the child's right ear, he mutters three times, " Speech, speech !" Then, taking curdled milk, honey and clarified butter together with unmixed gold, he feeds it (saying), " I give thee the earth, I give thee the atmosphere, I give thee the heavens. I give thee all, earth, atmosphere and heavens. "

26. Then he gives him the name " Veda," which is his secret name.

CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD.

"The Chhāndogya Upanishad," says Max Müller, "belongs to the Sāma Veda. Together with the Brihadāranyaka, which belongs to the Yajur Veda, it has contributed the most important materials to what may be called the orthodox philosophy of India, the Vedānta, i.e., the end, the purpose, the highest object of the Veda. It consists of eight adhyāyas or lectures, and formed part of a Chhāndogya-Brāhmaṇa, in which it was preceded by two other adhyāyas."1

This Upanishad contains the celebrated sentences, "One without a second," "All this is Brahma."

ŚAṄKARA'S INTRODUCTION.

The Chhāndogya Upanishad comprises eight chapters, and commences with the words :—" Om, this letter, &c." Of this work a brief commentary according to the order of the text is compendiously given for the benefit of enquirers.2

Its connection.3 [The performance of] the ceremonies prescribed [in the Vedas], when conjoined with a knowledge of the gods, fire, life, and the rest, becomes the cause of transition to the Brahmaloka4 by a luminous path, (archirādi mārga); without such knowledge it leads to the Chandraloka (region of the moon) by a darksome path (dhūmādi mārga). Those who follow the impulses of their passions,5 losing both these paths, are doomed

1 "Sacred Books of the Earth," Vol. I., p. lxxvi.

2 The Chhāndogya Brāhmaṇa of the Sāma Veda, whereof this Upanishad forms a part, contains ten chapters (prapāṭhakas) ; of these the first two are called the Chhāndogya Mantra Brāhmaṇa; the rest constitute the Chhāndogya Upanishad. Śaṅkara, having commented upon the mantra portion, now begins with the Upanishad, which will account for the abruptness and brevity of this Introduction.

3 That is the relation subsisting between the Upanishad and the rituals of the Vedas, or, in other words, the scope and tendency of the work.

4 "The Vedāntic disclosure of a future state, considering the souls of men as ascending or descending according to their respective actions, treats of several worlds or stages of existence, the highest of which is Brahmaloka. The being of untainted piety and virtue obtains mukti or liberation from all changes of existence, becomes immortal, obtains God, revels in the enjoyment of Him, and, as says the Śvetāśva-tara Upanishad, 'has the Universe for his estate.'"—Tattvabodhini Pattrikā.

5 This part of the sentence may be rendered, "Those who follow nature (svabhāva)," &c., as an allusion to the Svabhāvika Buddhas, who deny the existence of immateriality ; and assert "that matter is the sole substance, which in its varied forms of concretion and abstraction, causes the existence and destruction of nature or palpable forms." Anandagiri, however, does not allude to the Svabhāvikas.

76

THE UPANISHADS.

to inextricable degradation. But as by neither of these two paths can absolute beatitude be obtained, and as a knowledge of the non-dual soul independent of ceremonies is necessary to destroy the cause of the threefold mundane transition, this Upanishad is revealed.

By a knowledge of the non-dual soul, and by no other means, is absolute beatitude obtainable; for it is said, "Those who believe otherwise (i.e., in duality) are not masters of their own selves, and inherit transient fruition;1 while he who acknowledges the reverse becomes his own king." Moreover, a believer in the deception of duality suffers pain and bondage (transmigration), as the guilty suffer from the touch of the heated ball;2 while a believer in the truthful soul without duality, like the not-guilty escaping unscathed from the touch of the said ball, absolves himself from all liability to pain and bondage: hence a knowledge of the non-dual cannot be co-existent with works.3

When a belief in such texts as, "The being one without a second;" "All this is the divine soul," once grows in the mind to annihilate all distinctions about action, actors and fruitions, nothing can withstand that belief.4 If it be said that a belief in ritual ordinances will prove prejudicial to it—this is denied: since rites are enjoined to one who is conscious of the nature of actor and recipient and is subject to the defects of envy, anger and the rest, he alone is entitled to their fruits. From the injunction of ceremonies to him who knows the Vedas, may it not be inferred that the conscient of the non-dual is also enjoined to (perform) ceremonies?—No; because the natural distinctive knowledge of actor, recipient and the rest, which is included in ceremony, is destroyed by [a proper understanding of] the Śrutis: "The being one without a second"; "All is the Divine soul," &c. Therefore actions are enjoined to him only who is ignorant, and not to the conscient of the non-dual. Accordingly it has been said, "All those (who are attached to ceremony) migrate to virtuous regions; he, who reposes in Brahma, attains immortality."

In this discourse on the knowledge of the soul without duality the object and exercise of the mind in both cases being the same, are also related certain auspicious forms of adoration (upāsanā), [1st such] the recompense of which closely approximates to salvation, [2nd such] the subject of which founded on the Śrutis,

1 The passage may be rendered: "They are dependent, and become of regions perishable, &c." The version above given is after Anandagiri.

2 An allusion to the ordeal by fire. For the manner in which men underwent this ordeal, see Macnaghten's Hindu Law, vol. i., p. 311.

3 That is, ceremony and knowledge are opposed to each other as light and darkness, and therefore cannot co-exist in the same recipient.—Anandagiri.

4 That is, when a knowledge of the true nature of soul shows the futility of ceremonies and their fruits, that impression cannot be undone by other causes.

" Om is mind," " Om is corporeal," is Brahma differing but slightly from the non-dual, [and 3rd such as] are connected with ceremony, although their recompense is transcendent.

The knowledge of the non-dual is an operation of the mind, and inasmuch as these forms of adoration are modifications of mental action, they are all similar ; and if so, wherein lies the difference between the knowledge of the non-dual and these forms of adoration ? The knowledge of the non-dual is the removing of all distinctive ideas of actor, agent, action, recompense and the rest engrafted by ignorance on the inactive soul, as a knowledge of the identity of a rope removes the erroneous notion of a snake under which it may be [at first] perceived ; while upāsanā (adoration) is to rest the mind scripturally upon some support, and to identify the same with the thinking mind ;—(a process) not much removed from this transcendent knowledge. Herein lies the difference.

Since these forms of adoration rectify (the quality of) goodness (sattva), display the true nature of the soul, contribute to the knowledge of the non-dual, and are easy of accomplishment from having supports, they are therefore primarily propounded ; and first of all, that form of adoration which is allied to ceremony, inasmuch as mankind being habituated to ceremony, adoration apart from it is, to them, difficult of performance.

SELECTIONS FROM THE CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD.

Om.1

Chapter I. Section 1.

1. Om ! this letter, the Udgītha, should be adored. Om is chanted :—its description :

1 ŚANKARA'S COMMENTARY.

Om ! this letter should be adored. The letter Om is the most appropriate (lit. nearest) name of the Deity (paramātma or supreme spirit). By its application, He becomes propitiated, as men by the use of favourite names. From its perfect applicability and definite and comprehensive character, the sound Om exclusively is here pointed out by the particle इति “the,” “this.” It is, further, emblematic of the divine soul, as images are of material objects. Being thus a designation and a representative of the Supreme Spirit, it is known in all the Vedāntas as the best means towards the accomplishment of his adoration. Its repeated use at the commencement and close of all

2. The earth constitutes the essence of all substances ; water

is the essence of the earth,1 and annual herbs of water; man

forms the essence of annual herbs, and speech is the essence of

man ; Ṛig is the essence of speech, Sāma of the Ṛig, and of the

Sāma, the Udgītha is the essence.

3. The Udgītha is the quintessence of all these essences ;

it is the Supreme, the most adorable, the eighth.

4. What? what is the Ṛig? What? what the Sāma?

What? what the Udgītha? These are questioned.

5. Ṛig is speech, Sāma is life, and Om, this letter, is the

Udgītha. Verily this and that, speech and breath (prāṇa)—

Ṛig and Sāma,—make a mithuna (couple).

6. The Mithuna unites with the letter Om, as couples

uniting together gratify each other's desires.

7. He verily becomes the gratifier of desires, who, knowing

it thus, adores the undecaying Udgītha.

8. Verily this is an injunctive term. Whatever is enjoined,

Om is surely repeated ; hence this injunction is called Prosper-

ity. He verily becomes the gratifier of desires, and promoter of

prosperity, who, knowing all this, adores the undecaying Udgītha.

9. 'Through its greatness and effects is the three-fold know-

ledge maintained ; for the worship of this letter is Om recited, Om

exclaimed, Om chanted.

10. Both those who are versed in the letter thus described,

and those who are not, alike perform ceremonies through this letter.

Knowledge and ignorance are unlike each other. What is per-

formed through knowledge, through faith, through Upanishad is

more effectual. This verily is the description of the letter.

prayers, Vedic recitations, establishes its pre-eminence ; and for these

reasons this eternal letter, denoted by the term Udgītha from its con-

stituting a part of the Udgītha should be adored ; to this Om, as the

substance of all actions and the representative of the Supreme, firm and

undeviating attention should be directed.

Max Müller has the following note :—“ The Chhāndogya Upani-

shad begins with recommending meditation on the syllable Om, a sacred

syllable that had to be pronounced at the beginning of each Veda and

of every recitation of Vedic hymns. As connected with the Sāma Veda

the syllable Om is called Udgītha. Its more usual name is Praṇava.

The object of the Upanishad is to explain the various meanings which

the syllable Om may assume in the mind of a devotee, some of them

being extremely artificial and senseless, till at last the highest meaning

of Om is reached, viz., Brahman, the intelligent cause of the

universe.'*

• "Sacred Books of the East," Vol. I., p. 1.

1 The supposed origin and dissolution of the earth from, and into, water.

SELECTIONS FROM THE CHHĀNDOGYA UPANISHAD.

79

THE UDGITHA AS RECITED BY A DOG.

CHAPTER I., SECTION 12.

1. Next the canine Udgītha. Verily, Vaka, son of Dālbhya or (alias) Glāba, son of Mitrā, had gone forth to study the Vedas.

2. (In mercy) to him appeared a white dog. Other dogs approached it and said, “O Lord, pray for abundance of food for us; we wish to consume the same.”

3. To them said the white dog: “Come ye here unto me to-morrow morning.” At the appointed time did Vaka, son of Dālbhya—(alias) Glāba, son of Mitrā,—act up to the injunction.

4. As those who wish to pray through the Vahishpavamāna (hymns), collecting together, proceed (to their work), so did they (the little dogs) come together and, taking their seats, bark out:

5. “Om ! Let us eat. Om ! Let us drink. Om ! may the resplendent sun, who showers on us rain and supports all animated beings, grant us food. O Lord of food, deign to bestow food unto us ; do deign to grant us food !”

HOW TO OBTAIN RAIN.

CHAPTER II., SECTION 3.

1. In rain should the five-formed Sāma be adored ; the forward wind as Hinkāra, whatever cloud collects as Prastāva, the raining (itself) as Udgītha, the lightning and rolling of clouds as Pratihāra and the cessation of the rain as Nidhāna.

2. He who, knowing thus, adores the five-formed Sāma by identifying it with rain, can command the rain to fall (at his pleasure), and for him doth rain pour (forth its treasures).

ADVANTAGES OF KNOWING THE GĀYATRA.

CHAPTER II., SECTION 11.

1. The mind is Hinkāra, speech Prastāva, the eyes Udgītha, the ears Pratihāra, and Prāna Nidhana : (thus) is this Gāyatral Sāma connected with life (Prāna).

2. He, who knows the Gāyatrá to be thus connected with Prāna, becomes possessed of life (Prāna), enjoy's the full limit of existence, his career becomes refulgent, he becometh great in dependants and cattle, and great in noble deeds ; and his duty is to be noble-minded.

1 A particular chapter of the Sāma Veda, so called from its verses being composed in the Gāyatri metre.

2 i.e., “Beneficent to his kind,” says Ānandagiri.

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THE UPANISHADS.

THE GĀYATRĪ.1

CHAPTER III., SECTION 12.

1. Verily all this creation is Gāyatrī. Speech is Gāyatrī ; by speech is all this creation recited and preserved.

2. That Gāyatrī is verily this earth. And on this earth are all creatures sustained ; that they exceed not.

3. That which is the earth is likewise the body of the animated creation. In that body are the animal functions sustained; that they exceed not.

4. That which is the body is likewise the heart which is within it. In it are the animal functions sustained ; that they exceed not.

5. That Gāyatrī is verily composed of four feet, and possesseth six characteristics. Regarding it has this verse been recited :

6. "They (the creations) constitute the glories of the Gāyatrī ; to which is the soul (Purusha2) superior. He has the creation for his first foot, and his own immortal self3 constitutes the other three."

7. That Brahma (i.e., the being indicated in the Gāyatrī) is verily the space which4 surroundeth mankind. That which surroundeth mankind is of a truth the space which existeth within mankind.

8. That which existeth within mankind is of a truth the space which existed within the heart. It is omnipresent and eternal. He who knoweth this attains eternal and all-sufficient treasures.

1 The Gāyatrī, taken from the third Maṇḍala of the Rig Veda, is as follow :— Tat Savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhīmahi dhiyo yo nah prachodayāt. iii. 62, 10.

It has been variously translated. Griffith renders it thus :—

"May we attain that excellent glory of Savitur the god : So may he stimulate our prayers."

Wilson says that it was "in its original use, a simple invocation of the sun to shed a benignant influence upon the customary offices of worship." It is thus extolled in the Skanda Purāṇa : "Nothing in the Vedas is superior to the Gāyatrī. No invocation is equal to the Gāyatrī, as no city is equal to Benāres. The Gāyatrī is the mother of the Vedas and of Brāhmans. By repeating it a man is saved. What is there indeed that cannot be effected by the Gāyatrī ? For the Gāyatrī is Vishṇu, Brahmā, and Śiva, and the three Vedas."

2 That which pervades all puranāḥ or abides in the hearty puraushayanāḥ.

3 The word is divi (lit. glorious), which in modern dictionaries is explained as heaven. Śankara explains it as above.

4 The word in the original is ākāśa. In common acceptation it means the sky, but the interpretation of Śankara gives an idea as if it meant space. The difficulty of rendering the term appositely gives a puerile air to the text.

SELECTIONS FROM THE CHHĀNDOGYA UPANISHAD.

"ALL THIS IS BRAHMA."1

CHAPTER III., SECTION 14.2

1. All this verily is Brahma, for therefrom doth it proceed, therein doth it merge, and thereby is it maintained. With a quiet and controlled mind should it be adored. Man is a creature of reflection, whatever he reflects upon in this life, he becomes the same hereafter ; therefore should he reflect (upon Brahma).

2. (Saying) "that which is nothing but mind, whose body is its life, whose figure is a mere glory, whose will is truth, whose soul is like space (Ākāśa), which performeth all things and willeth all things, to which belong all sweet odours and all grateful juices, which envelopes the whole of this (world), which neither speaketh nor respects any body.

3. "Is the soul within me? it is lighter than a corn, or a barley, or a mustard, or a canary seed, or the substance within it. Such a soul is within me, as is greater than this earth, and greater than the sky, and greater than the heaven, and greater than all these regions (put together).

4. "That which performeth all things, and willeth all things, to which belong all sweet odours and all grateful juices, which envelopes the whole of this (world), which neither speaketh nor respecteth any body, is the soul within me; it is Brahma ; I shall obtain it after my transition from this world." He who believeth this, and hath no hesitation, will verily obtain the fruit of his reflection ; so said Śāndilya—(the sage) Śāndilya.

SATYAKĀMA.3

CHAPTER IV., SECTION 4.

1. Satyakāma Jābālā enquired of his mother Jabālā: "I long to abide (by a tutor) as a Brahmachārin ; of what gotra am I?"

2. She said unto him, "I know not, child, of what gotra you are. During my youth when I got thee I was engaged in attending on many (guests who frequented the house of my husband and had no opportunity of making any enquiry on the subject). I know not of what gotra you are ; Jabālā is my name and Satyakāma thine ; say, therefore, of thyself, Satyakāma, son of Jabālā (when any body enquireth of thee)."

1 Sarvam khalvidam Brahma.

"This chapter is frequently quoted as the Śāndilya-vidyā, Vedāntasara, init ; Vedānta-Sūtra III. 3, 31.—Max Müller.

3 It was the custom among some nations in ancient time to place their wives at the disposal of guests. Very loose ideas of female chastity still prevail among the Nayars of Travancore, and descent is traced through the mother.

3. He repaired to Hāridrumata of the Gautama gotra and said, “I approach your venerable self to abide by your worship as a Brahmachārin.”

4. Of him enquired he [the tutor] : “Of what gotra are you, my good boy ?” He replied : “I know not of what gotra I am. I enquired about it of my mother and she said, ‘In my youth when I got thee I was engaged in attending on many, and know not of what gotra you are ; Jabālā is my nāma and Satyakāma thine ;’ I am that Satyakāma, son of Jabālā.”

5. Unto him said the other, “None but a Brāhman can say so. You have not departed from the truth, and I shall invest you (with the brāhmanical rites). Do you collect, child, the necessary sacrificial wood ?” Having ordained him, he selected four hundred head of lean and weakly cows and said, “Do you, child, attend to these.” While leading the cows, he (the neophyte) said, “I shall not return until these become a thousand.” Thus he passed many years, until the cattle had multiplied to a thousand.

CREATION OF THE VEDAS.

Chapter IV., Section 17.

1. Prajāpati reflected on regions, and from the reflected, extracted their essences, viz., Fire from the earth, Air from the sky, and the Sun from heaven.

2. He reflected on the three gods, Fire, Air and the Sun, and from the reflected extracted their essences, viz., the Ṛig from Agni, the Yajus from Vāyu (air), and the Sāma from the Sun.

3. He reflected on the three-fold knowledge, and from the reflected extracted its essences, viz., (the word) Bhū from the Ṛig, (the word) Bhuvah from the Yajus, and (the word) Sva from the Sāma.

TRANSMIGRATION.

Chapter V., Section 10.

7. Thereof he, whose conduct is good, quickly attains to some good existence, such as that of a Brāhmaṇa, a Kshatriya or a Vaiśya. Next, he who is viciously disposed, soon assumes the form of some inferior creature, such as that of a dog, a hog, or a Chaṇḍāla.

ONE ONLY WITHOUT A SECOND.

Chapter VI., Section 2.

1. “Before, O child, this was a mere state of being1

1 This state is best indicated by the to on, “that which is,” of the ancients ; and we have therefore used its English equivalent “being,” and its periphrasis—as the nearest, though not the most elegant, version of the Sanskrit sat. The

(sat),1 one only, without a second.2 Thereof verily others say, ' Before this was non-being, one alone, without a second ; from that non-being proceeds the state of being.'

2. He continued, "But of a truth, O child, how can this be? Before, O child, this was only being, one only, without a second.

3. " 'It willed, ' I shall multiply and be born.' It created heat. That heat willed, 'I shall multiply and be born.' It created water.

" Therefore whenever and whenever any body is heated or perspires, it is from heat, and water is produced.

4. "The water willed, 'I shall multiply and be born.' It created aliment. Therefore wherever and whenever rain falls, much aliment is produced ; verily it is from water that aliment is produced.'"3

"THOU ART THAT."

Chapter VI., Section 9.

1. " As the bees, my child, intent upon making honey, collect the essence of various trees from different quarters and reduce them to one uniform fluid,

2. "Which no longer retains the idea of its having belonged to different trees ; so, my child, created beings, when dead, know not that they have attained the Truth.

3. "They are born again in the form in which they lived before, whether that be of a tiger, a lion, a wolf, a bear, a worm, an insect, a gnat, or a mosquito.

4. " That particle which is the Soul of all this is Truth ; it is the universal Soul. O Svetaketu, thou art that." * "Will it please, my Lord, to explain it again unto me?" " Be it so, my child," replied he.

Upanishad here enters upon the most important ontological question—a belief in to on as opposed to to onta—in one and not in many fundamental principles of things, and a correct appreciation of the term, therefore, is of the utmost consequence.

1 Sat is that substance which ismere being or existence ; it is invisible (sūkshma) indistinct, all-pervading, one only, without defect, without members, knowledge itself, and that which is indicated by all the Vedāntas,—S.

2 "One alone," that is, one unconnected with every thing that might relate to it. "Without a second ;" in the case of a pitcher or other earthen vessel, there is beside the clay, the potter, &c, who give it shape, but in the case of the being in question the epithet " without a second" precludes all co-adjutors or co-efficients. " Without a second" (consequently means) that nothing else existed along with it.—S.

3 The object of this chapter is to show that a knowledge of the whole of the Vedas proves worthless, unless accompanied by a knowledge of the Deity.—S.

4 The celebrated Tat tvam asi.

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THE UPANISHADS.

THE MOON ESCAPING FROM RĀHU.

CHAPTER VIII., SECTION 13.

1. “From blackness I attained multicolor, from multicolor I attain blackness. Like unto the horse which shakes off all dust from its coat, or the moon which escapes from the mouth of Rāhu,

I shall purify my body, and becoming free (by the aid of dhyāna), attain, verily attain—the uncreate Brahmaloka.”1

CLAIMED AUTHORSHIP OF THE UPANISHAD.

CHAPTER VIII., SECTION 15.

1. Verily this was related by Brahmā to Prajāpati, by Prajāpati to Manu, and by Manu to mankind. Having studied the Veda in the house of a tutor, and having paid to the Guru what is his due, one should dwell with- his family in a healthy country, reading the Vedas, bringing up virtuous sons and pupils,

devoting himself with all his senses to the Universal Soul, and injuring no created being. Having lived thus as long as life lasts, he attains the Brahmaloka. Thence he never returns, verily thence he never returns.

1 The commentator explains that śyāma, blackness, means the all-pervading Brahma, by acquiring a knowledge of which through dhyāna,we attain the region of Brahma (sabara) and there we attain the nature of Brahma ब्रह्मभावं. Max Müller says this chapter is supposed to contain a hymn of triumph.

EXAMINATION OF THE UPANISHADS.

The foregoing pages enable the reader to form his own estimate of the Upanishads. Three of the principal have been quoted in full, while there are copious extracts from two others. The latter scarcely give a fair idea of the whole, for only the most interesting passages are chosen, while the wearisome unmeaning repetitions are omitted.

Some European Estimates.—Before expressing any opinion of the general character of the Upanishads, reference may be made to the extravagant eulogies on Hindu philosophy of some European scholars, chiefly Germans.

The Rev. Isaac Daniel, B.A., thus explains the German predilection for Hindu philosophy:

“The mind of the typical German is purely speculative and not practical, and the ancient Hindu philosopher was exactly of the same caste of mind.

“The great contrast between Germans and the English is this, that while the former are self-centred, dreamy, dogmatic, and speculative, the latter are philanthropic, practical, and mindful of truth.”1

The opinion of Schopenhauer is especially quoted. It is thus given by Max Müller :

“In the whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Upanishads. It has been the solace of my life, it will be my solace in death.”2

Max Müller adds that Schopenhauer was “certainly not a man given to deal in extravagant praise of any philosophy but his own.” This is quite true, but his “extravagant praise ” of the Upanishads arose from the fact that he thought he was praising “his own philosophy.” Schopenhauer has been called the “founder of modern Pessimism,” that every thing in nature is the worst, that life is essentially an evil, and the duty of man is to seek extinction of being. This is Hinduism. Its grand enquiry is not, What is truth ? but how to cut short the 84 lakhs of births.

Schopenhauer defined himself as a “despiser of men.” “Study,” he wrote in his note-book, “to acquire an accurate and connected view of the utter despicability of mankind in general, then of your contemporaries and of German scholars in

1 Indian Church Quarterly Review. July, 1891, pp. 287, 288.

2 “Lectures on the Vedānta Philosophy,” p. 8.

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THE UPANISHADS.

particular." His own opinion of himself was very different. He

writes to the publisher of his work that its " worth and impor-

tance are so great that I do not venture to express it even towards

you, because you could not believe me," and proceeds to quote a

review " which speaks of me with the highest praise, and says

that I am plainly the greatest philosopher of the age, which is

really saying much less than the good man thinks."1 "In woman

he saw only a wayward, mindless animal—ugly too he said—

existing solely for the propagation of the species, an end which

perpetuated the woe of the world."2

Schopenhauer claimed that the study of the Upanishads was

" beneficial and elevating." It certainly failed to produce that

effect on himself. His character is thus described: " His dis-

position was heavy and severe, dark, mistrustful and suspicious,

preventing him from entering into permanent trustful relations

with men or women."3 After the death of his father, he treated

his mother with such insolence, that she could not live in the

same house with him.

Professor Deussen, of Keil, says :

" The Vedānta in its unfalsified form is the strongest support of

pure morality, is the greatest consolation in the sufferings of life and

death,—Indians, keep to it."

Deussen, like Schopenhauer, extols the Vedānta, because

he thinks it substantially the same as his own philosophy.

There is no material world, all is māyā, illusion. This will

be noticed later.

To the above may be added Max Müller, who corroborates

Schopenhauer. His qualifications, however, ought likewise to be

remembered. In the Preface to the " Sacred Books of the East,"

he says :

" Scholars also, who have devoted their lives either to the editing

of the original texts or to the careful interpretation of some of the

sacred books, are more inclined, after they have disinterred from a

heap of rubbish some solitary fragments of pure gold, to exhibit these

treasures only than to display all the refuse from which they had to

extract them. I do not blame them for this, perhaps I should feel that

I am open to the same blame myself."

A similar opinion is expressed in his lectures on the Vedānta :

" I know I have often been blamed for calling rubbish what to the

Indian mind seemed to contain profound wisdom, and to deserve the

highest respect . . . Every attempt to discover reason in what is

unreasonable is accepted as legitimate so long as it enables us to keep

what we are unwilling to part with. Still it cannot be denied that the

1 From Miss Zimmern's Life.

2 Chambers's " Encyclopædia," vol. ix., p. 221.

3 Ibid.

EXAMINATION OF THE UPANISHADS.

87

Sacred Books of the East are full of rubbish, and that the same stream which carries down fragments of pure gold carries also sand and mud, and much that is dead and offensive" (pp. 112, 113).

General Character of the Upanishads.—The opinions of some Indian scholars, who have carefully studied them, will now be given.

Pandit Nehemiah Goreh has the following remarks :-

" The pandits manifest their wrong habits of mind, that when they set about considering a subject, they do not, first of all, soberly ask themselves what the facts are, bearing on it, which they and others are acquainted with. Such is the spell over their minds, and, from prepossession towards what they wish to believe, such is the partiality of their contemplation, that they adopt maxims which are baseless, as if they had no imperfection, and accept defective illustrations in place of proof, and reason on the strength of them; nor do they reflect whether their arguments are cogent or futile, or whether they may not be met by counter-arguments. And so they go on, rearing one thing upon another, utterly regardless of the preposterousness of their conclusions.

" One more defect of their intellectual constitution is this, that they fail to enquire what things are within the range of human reason, and what are beyond it. With the short cord of human wit, they vainly essay to measure the profundities of God's fathomless perfections, and to determine their limits. He who will act thus cannot but stumble, and at last fall disastrously;

" People who follow the dictates of common sense steer clear for the most part of such errors. Common sense is that sense which is shared by the generality of mankind. By its aid, even the illiterate and rustics are able, in their daily occasions and transactions, to judge between the true and the false, and between the useful and the harmful. When any one, abandoning it, sets about adducing grand argument in support of his favourite notions, he is very apt to get lost in a wilderness of nonsense, and to think that the ground is above his head and the sky beneath his feet. But, to obey the admonitions of common sense, is not the way of the pandits ; and so we see how such wonderful dogmas as they profess came to be suggested to them."1

The late Rev. Krishna Mohun Banerjea, Examiner in Sanskrit to the Calcutta University, was one of ablest Indian scholars of modern times. He translated into English part of the Brahma Sūtras, with the commentary of Śankarāchārya, and his " Dialogues on the Hindu Philosophy " shows deep research. What is his estimate ?

" Sciences, distinct in themselves, were blended together. Objects which surpassed the limits of the human understanding, were pursued with the same confidence and eagerness with which the easiest questions were investigated. The philosophers professed to have solved problems

1 "A Rational Refutation of Hindu Philosophy," pp. 106, 107.

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THE UPANISHADS.

really out of the range of our knowledge, while they threw doubts on matters which every body believed, and which none could deny without belying his nature."

"The authors began to dogmatize in the very infancy of philosophical speculation. They drew general conclusions before they had collected facts. They worked up their own ideas without sufficient attention to external phenomena. They delivered obscure sūtras to exercise the ingenuity of their followers."1

The late Mr. Ram Chandra Bose, M.A., author of two excellent treatises on Hindu philosophy, says :

"Transitions of the harshest kind from one pronoun to another, from one figure of speech to another, from one train of thought to another, and from one line of reasoning to another, along with the elliptical nature of the sentences in general, throw an air of obscurity over many of the passages on which the main argument hinges ; while metaphors and allegories both incongruous and far-fetched add to the mystification. But the most repellent features of the disquisitions embodied are tiresome repetitions, phonetic analogies, grotesque flights of the imagination, and inaccurate reasonings."2

Contradictions in the Upanishads.—Max Müller has the following remarks on this point :

"The early Hindus did not find any difficulty in reconciling the most different and sometimes contradictory opinions in their search after truth ; and a most extraordinary medley of oracular sayings might be collected from the Upanishads, even from those which are genuine and comparatively ancient, all tending to elucidate the darkest points of philosophy and religion, the creation of the world, the nature of God, the relation of man to God, and similar subjects. That one statement should be contradicted by another seems never to have been felt as any serious difficulty."3

To Swami Vivekānanda the contradictions between theism and atheism, monotheism and polytheism, are only "apparent."4

The German Philosopher Hegel, when dying, is said to have exclaimed that only one man understood his philosophy, and, correcting himself, he said, "even he does not understand it." There are the same conflicting views about Hindu philosophy.

The "Notice" prefixed to the English translation of Nehemiah Pandit's work says :

"It is well known that there are material differences in the representations given by some of the profoundest Oriental scholars of the peculiar tenets of the leading schools of Hindu Philosophy—especially those of the Vedānta."

1 "Dialogues on Hindu Philosophy," p. 72.

2 "Hindu Philosophy," pp. 18, 19.

3 "Ancient Sanskrit Literature," pp. 320, 321.

4 "Chicago Address."

CLAIMED AUTHORSHIP OF THE UPANISHADS.

89

Of this the following is an illustration :

Max Müller was one of the most eminent Orientalists of his day, though the Vedas were his chief field of study. Colonel Jacob, another Oriental scholar, resided in India for 37 years, and made Hindu Philosophy his specialty. He has published an edition of the “ Vedānta Sāra ” with copious notes, and compiled a concordance to the Upanishads. In The Academy he thus notices some points in Max Müller’s “ Lectures on the Vedānta Philosophy. ”

“ The great philosopher Śankara gives clear definitions of God and Brahman, but, not infrequently, as I have shown in my recent edition of the text of the “ Vedānta Sāra,” he ignores the distinction between them, although that distinction is one of the main features of his system. Amongst us, at any rate, to avoid confusion, the term Brahman (neuter) should be strictly confined to the pure, unassociated, Brahman ; whilst God is Brahma-associated-with-ignorance. In the work before us Prof. Max Müller has not preserved this distinction with sufficient care. We read :

‘ The self can never be known as objective, but can only be itself, and thus be conscious of itself . . . it knows, but it cannot be known ’ (p. 67). ‘ Whose very being is knowing, and whose knowing is being ’ (p. 70). ‘ The only attributes of this Brahman, if attributes they can be called, are that he is, that he knows, and that he is full of bliss ’ (p. 71). ‘ The soul or self has but three qualities. It is, it perceives, and it rejoices ’ (p. 94). ‘ Brahman was before the creation of the world and had always something to know and think upon ’ (p. 139).

“ Now a Vedāntist of Śankara’s school would take exception to every one of these statements, and rightly so ; for to attribute to pure Brahman perception, knowing, thinking, rejoicing, or even consciousness, is to destroy his system of non-duality. ”

If the most celebrated Hindu philosophers differed among themselves and were inconsistent, it is not surprising that Europeans should not agree on some points.

A few of the principal doctrines of the Upanishads will now be examined.

CLAIMED AUTHORSHIP OF THE UPANISHADS.

The Chhāndogya Upanishad gives the following account of its origin :-

“ Verily this was related by Brahmā to Prajāpati, by Prajāpati to Manu, and by Manu to mankind. ” (See p. 84).

Virtually, from the place of the Upanishads among the Smṛiti, the same claim is made on behalf of all. This will now be tested.

It is granted that some noble truths are to be found in the Upanishads ; but it is asserted that they also contain deadly error, disproving their claim to a divine origin, and showing that

12

they are most unsafe guides. A dish of curry and rice may contain some wholesome ingredients, but if even a single poison is mixed with it, the whole must be rejected. Evidence will now be given that this applies to the Upanishads.

False Science in the Upanishads.

The writers of the Upanishads had the usual views of science current among Hindus in ancient times, which are more fully set forth in the Vishṇu Purāṇa and some other works.

Incorrect Account of the Human Body.—The Kaṭha Upanishad contains the following:—

"16. There are hundred and one arteries of the heart; the one of them (suṣumnā) proceeds to the head. By this (at the time of death) rising upwards (by the door of Āditya) a person gains immortality; or the other (arteries) are of various course."1

A similar statement is made in the Chhāndogya Upanishad.

"There are a hundred and one arteries issuing from the heart; one of them penetrates the crown of the head. The man, who departs this life through that artery, secures immortality. The rest of the arteries lead to various transitions,—they lead to various transitions." VIII. 6, 6.

The Praśna Upanishad gives the following additional details:

"For the (ether of the) heart is verily that soul. There (arise) the hundred and one (principal) arteries; each of them is a hundred times divided; 72,000 are the branches of every branch artery; within them moves the circulating air." III. 6.

The whole number of arteries is therefore 727,200,000!

The slightest examination of the heart shows that all this is purely imaginary. There are just two branches of a large artery from the heart, containing impure blood, leading to the lungs, and one great artery, which, afterwards, subdivided, conveys pure blood, to the whole body. In like manner, there are two great veins carrying impure blood to the heart from the whole body, and four veins, containing pure blood, leading from the lungs to the heart.

The Praśna Upanishad says that "within the arteries moves the circulating air." Arteries mean air-pipes. They were thought to contain only air, because after death they are empty. When a person is alive, blood flows through them. This is proved by the fact that if one of them is cut, blood gushes out. When a person dies, the heart loses its power to send out blood, and the arteries are found empty.

1 Sixth Valli, 16. See page 32.

DIVINE ORIGIN CLAIMED FOR CASTE.

91

It is plain that God who made the body cannot have inspired the Upanishads, for He cannot give a false account of the human body.

Incorrect Astronomy.—The Purusha leaving the body first passes through the air ; next it comes to the sun, and from the sun it ascends to the moon.1 This is according to the Hindu idea that the sun is a lakh of yojanas from the earth, while the moon is two lakhs distant (see Vishṇu Purāṇa, Book II., Chapter 7). On the contrary, the sun is about 920 lakhs of miles from the earth, while the moon is only about 2½ lakhs of miles distant.

In the Chhāndogya Upanishad, Chapter VIII., Section 13, the comparison is used like “ the moon which escapes from the mouth of Rāhu.” 2 The writer evidently believed in the explanation given in the sacred books of the Hindus about eclipses—that they were caused by Rāhu and Ketu, great Asurs, trying to seize the sun and moon. It is now well known that eclipses of the moon are caused by the earth’s shadow, and that eclipses of the sun are caused by the moon coming between it and the earth. There are no such beings as Rāhu and Ketu.

Account of Creation.

The Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad, Chap. I., Brāhmaṇa 4,3 gives an account of creation which carries absurdity on the face of it, and is dishonouring to God. The mere reading of it, by any man of intelligence, proves that the book containing it is not inspired.

Divine Origin claimed for Caste.

In the account of creation noticed above, it is asserted that Brahmā created the Kshatra, Viṭ, and Śūdra. (See page 65). Fuller details are given in other sacred books of the Hindus. In the Rig-Veda hymn, called the Purusha Sukta, it is said, “ The Brāhman was his mouth ; the Rajanya was made his arms ; the Vaiśya was his thighs ; the Śūdra sprang from his feet.” Manu, Book I, 31, gives a similar account :

“ That the world might be peopled, he caused the Brāhman, the Kshatriya, the Vaiśya, and the Śūdra to issue from his mouth, his arms, his thighs, and his feet.”

In the Bhagavad Gītā, Chap. IV, 13, “ The Deity said, The fourfold division of castes was created by me according to the apportionment of qualities and duties.”

1 Brihadāraṇyaka Upanishad, V.10. See page 71. 2 See page 84. 3 See pp. 63-5.

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THE UPANISHADS.

In the Upanishads, as in other sacred books of the Hindus, a divine origin is claimed for caste. The gross injustice of its laws might easily be shown by quotations from Manu. Divine honours are blasphemously claimed for some, while others are degraded below the brutes. Sir H. S. Maine has well described it, in " Ancient Law," as " the most disastrous and blighting of human institutions." Principal Caird says, " The system of caste involves the worst of all wrongs to humanity—that of hallowing evil by the authority and sanction of religion." Sherring calls it " a gigantic conspiracy against the Brotherhood of Man." The accounts of its supposed divine origin are fictions.

ORIGIN OF THE VEDAS.

According to the Brihadāranyaka Upanishad the Vedas, &c., " are the breathing " of Brahmā (see page 66). The Chhāndogya Upanishad gives a different account.

2. " He (Prajāpati) reflected on the three gods, Fire, Air and the Sun, and from the reflected extracted their essences, viz., the Rig from Agni, the Yajus from Vāyu (air), and the Sāma from the Sun."1 IV. 17.

Dr. John Muir, in his learned work on " The Vedas, Opinions of their Authors and of later Indian writers of their Origin, Inspiration, and Authority," shows that at least fourteen contradictory accounts are given by the sacred books of the Hindus with regard to their origin.2 If fourteen witnessess give contradictory evidence in a court of justice, doubt is thrown upon their testimony. In opposition to such statements, the authorship of many of the hymns is distinctly claimed by persons whose names are given. Dr. Muir gives 57 extracts in proof of this. The hymns themselves show that they were written when the Aryans were entering India, and were engaged in continual wars with the aborigines.

THE GĀYATRĪ.

The Gāyatrī is a prayer to the sun taken from the Rig-Veda, iii., 62, 10. It is quoted at page 80. The 14th Brāhmana of Chapter V. Brihadāranyaka Upanishad, and Section 12, Chapter III., Chhāndogya Upanishad, are intended to unfold its glory.

These sections may " seem to the Indian mind to contain profound wisdom and to deserve the highest respect," while Max Müller calls them " twaddle " and " rubbish." But the best epithet which can be applied to them is that used by one of the most

1 See page 82.

2 These with Sanskrit quotations, will be found in " Who Wrote the Vedas ? " a pice paper sold at the Christian Literature Depôt, Madras.

eminent citizens of Calcutta, Dr. Mohendralal Sircar. Addressing

a public meeting a few years ago he said :-

" You must have observed a retrograde movement going on in our

midst which I fear is calculated to retard the progress of the Hindu

race. I mean a return towards superstitions and idolatries which lie

as the blackest blot upon this part of the world. The crude words and

hazy conceptions of the sages are looked upon as absolute truth. No

man is allowed to differ from them, however much they may have

differed from one another, or however much they may differ from

modern science. Indeed, if we are to believe these reactionaries, it is

so much the worse for modern science if she will not conform her

doctrines to the transcendental nonsense of the sages." The Epiphany,

November 5th, 1887.

" Transcendental1 nonsense " may be applied to a large portion

of the contents of the Upanishads.

To retain the hymns of the Vedas in their own hands, the

Brāhmans would not write them. They also tried to frighten any

from using them, by asserting that the mispronunciation of a

word would bring down the wrath of the gods, and prove fatal to

the person by whom it was uttered.

Different metres were supposed each to exert a mystic in-

fluence. The Gāyatrī, consisting of three times eight syllables,

was to be used by those who wished to acquire sacred knowledge.

The Trishtubh, consisting of four times eleven syllables, was to

be used by any one desiring power. The Ushnih metre of 28

syllables was to be employed by a person wishing for longevity,

for 28 is the symbol of life. The Jagatī, a metre of 48 syllables,

expresses the idea of cattle, and should be used by persons wishing

wealth in cattle, &c.

In verse 7, Brāhmana 14, Chap. V. of the Brihadāranyaka

Upanishad a mantra is given to be employed against an enemy.

The Hindu belief in the power of mantras is baseless. They have

no power whatever to do either good or harm. The Burmese

have charms supposed to protect them from drowning. Although

a man drowned may have such a charm attached to his body, the

belief of the Burman in its power remains unchanged.

The remarks about the Gāyatrī apply largely to the sacred

syllable Om. (See pp. 77-9.)

The Soul.

The soul is generally supposed to be of the size of the thumb

and to dwell in the heart, but it is considered also both infinitely

1 Here used in the sense of what is vague and illusive in philosophy.

small and infinitely great, as will be shown by the following quotations :

12. The soul (purusha), which in the measure of a thumb dwells in the middle of the body (in the ether of the heart), is the ruler of the past, the future (and the present times). Hence from having this knowledge, the wise (does not desire to conceal) the soul. This is that.1

13. He is the perfect spirit (purusha), of the measure of a thumb, the inner soul, who always abides in the heart of every man, the ruler of knowledge, who is concealed by the heart and mind. Those who know him, become immortal.2

14. He, who, of the measure of a thumb, resembling the sun in splendour, endowed with determination and self-consciousness, and with the quality of intellect and the quality of his body, is perceived even as another (different from the universal soul, although it is one with it) only like the iron thong at the end (of a whip).

15. The embodied soul is to be thought like the hundredth part of the point of a hair, divided into hundred parts ; he is considered to be infinite.3

16. “Is the soul within me? it is lighter than a corn, or a barley, or a mustard, or a canary seed, or the substance within it. Such a soul is within me, as is greater than this earth, and greater than the heaven, and greater than all these regions (put together.)4

The Vaiśeshika school maintains that the soul is diffused everywhere through space. “Akāśa, in consequence of its universal pervasion, is infinitely great ; and so likewise is soul.” VII. 22.

The soul of the righteous is supposed at death to proceed upwards by the artery Sushumnā to the top of the head, from which it escapes. To facilitate this, the skull after death is sometimes cracked. The soul of the wicked, on the other hand, leaves by a lower aperture of the body.

The foregoing, taken in connection with the account of the body, is an excellent illustration of the defects of Hindu philosophers. They speculate instead of investigating. Their first duty should have been to examine the actual structure of the heart. Their speculations about the soul show the error pointed out by Dr. Banerjea : “Objects which surpassed the limits of the human understanding were pursued with the same confidence and eagerness with which the easiest questions were investigated.”

Sir A. C. Lyall has thus defined Hinduism :

“A mere troubled sea, without shore or visible horizon, driven to and fro by the winds of boundless credulity and grotesque invention.”5

1 Kaṭha Upanishad, II. 4, 12. See page 28.

2 Śvetāśvatara Upanishad, III. 13. See page 52.

3 Ibid., V. 8, 9. See page 57.

4 Chhāndogya Upanishad, III. 14. 3. See page 81.

5 “Asiatic Studies,” p. 3.

Pandit Nehemiah Goreh well remarks, “Those who can believe that the soul of a mosquito fills heaven and earth, and that there are oceans of milk, ghee, sugar-cane juice, &c., can believe anything!”1

The most monstrous claim of all with regard to the soul will be noticed under another head.

TRANSMIGRATION.

This is taught in many places in the Upanishads. The Kaṭha Upanishad, 5, 7, says :

7. Some enter the womb (again after death) for assuming a body; others go inside a trunk, according to their works, according to their knowledge. (See page 29.)

The Br̥hadāraṇyaka Upanishad, 4, 4, says :

4. As a goldsmith, taking a piece of gold, forms another shape, which is more new and agreeable, so throwing off this body, and obtaining (that state of) knowledge, the soul forms a shape which is more new and agreeable, either suited to the world of the forefathers, or of the Gandharvas, or of the gods, or of Prajāpati, or of Brahma, or of other beings. (See page 68.)

The Chhāndogya Upanishad, 5, 10, says :–

7. “Thereof he, whose conduct is good, quickly attains to some good existence, such as that of a Brāhmaṇa, a Kshatriya or a Vaiśya. Next, he who is viciously disposed, soon assumes the form of some inferior creature, such as that of a dog, a hog, or a Chaṇḍāla (see page 82).

Deussen says, “ No life can be the first, for it is the fruit of previous actions, nor the last, for its actions must be expiated in a next following life.”2

Karma fails to explain the origin of things. Before there could be merit or demerit, beings must have existed and acted. The first in order could no more have been produced by karma than a hen could be born from her own egg. Śankarāchārya ridicules the idea of an eternal succession of works and creations as a troop of blind leaders of the blind.

Deussen says :

“ I need not point out, in particular here in India, the high value of this doctrine of Samsāra as a consolation in the distresses, as a moral agent in the temptations of life.”

The Hindu, the leading Indian journal in South India, forms a different estimate of this “ consolation in distresses.” “The

1 Indian Church Quarterly Review, 1891, p. 160.

2 “Elements of Metaphysics,” p. 329.

96

THE UPANISHADS.

contentment of our people is the result of moral death during centuries." It is the belief of the Hindus that all things happen according to karma, and there is a common proverb, "Who can alter the decrees of fate?" The tendency, therefore, is to submit to misfortunes, instead of trying to remedy them.

Poverty and sickness are by the Hindus attributed to sins in former births, and no adequate efforts are made to remove their causes. On the contrary, the former is often the result of their extravagant marriage expenses ; while the latter generally originates in bad water, filth, and other insanitary conditions in which they are content to live.

The pernicious moral effects of a belief in karma are thus shown by Dr. Kellogg :

"Even when, over-constrained by the testimony of conscience, the Hindu will speak as if moral good and evil were to be rewarded and punished by a personal God, still that doctrine of karma remains, and is no less fatal to the idea of responsibility. For if I am not free, if all my actions are determined by a law of physical necessity entirely beyond my control, then assuredly I am not responsible for them. Let it be observed again that these are not merely logical consequences attached to the system by an antagonist which the people will refuse to admit. The Hindus themselves, both in their authoritative books and in their common talk, argue that very conclusion. In the Purāṇas again and again those guilty of the most flagitious crimes are comforted by Krishna, for example, on this express ground, that whereas all was fixed by their karma, and man therefore has no power over that which is to be, therefore in the crime they were guilty of no fault. And so among the people one wearies of hearing the constant excuse for almost every thing which ought not to be, 'What can we do? It was our karma.'"1

Thus even condemned murderers often view their crimes with stolid indifference.2

THE POLYTHEISM OF THE UPANISHADS.

There are numerous references to the Vedic Gods, as Yama (page 19) ; Aditi (page 27) ; Pūshan (page 36) ; Agni (page 36) ; Savitrī (page 49) ; Rudra (page 51) ; Indra, Varuṇa, Soma, Rudra, Parjanya, Viśvadevás, Maruts (page 64). In the dialogue on the "number of the gods" (see page 67), it is true that the 3306 are represented as one, but this was a later idea when pantheistic notions prevailed. As a rule the authors of the Vedic hymns believed in the separate existence of the deities whom they addressed, as do the bulk of Hindus at present.

1 For additional remarks under this head, see Pice Paper on "Karma." Sold at the Christian Literature Depôt, Madras.

2 Indian Evangelical Review, April, 1885.

PANTHEISM.

Monotheism, a belief in one God, is now accepted by all enlightened nations of the world, and educated Hindas are gradually adopting the same belief. The gods above mentioned and the other deities of the Hindu pantheon have no existence ; they are mere names, not realities.

PANTHEISM.

Ekam evādvitīyam. ' One without a second.'1

Sarvam kalvidam Brahma. 'All this (universe) is Brahma.'2

Pantheism is unmistakably taught in the Upanishads. The above are two celebrated quotations from the Chhāndogya Upanishad maintaining it. The first does not mean that there is only one God, but that nothing else exists, which is a very different doctrine.

Brahma is both the material and efficient cause of creation—that is, he forms it out of himself. The following illustrations are given :

" 20. As the spider proceeds along with its web, as little sparks proceed from fire, so proceed from that soul all organs, all worlds, all the gods, all beings."3

" 7. As the spider casts out and draws in (its web), as on the earth the annual herbs are produced, as from living man the hairs of the head and body spring forth, so is produced the universe from indestructible (Brahma)."4

" 1. This is the truth : As from a blazing fire in thousand ways similar sparks proceeded, so, O beloved, are produced living souls of various kinds from the indestructible (Brahma) and they also return to him."5

Souls are compared to the web which the spider forms out of its own body, to sparks from a fire. "The common people," says Dr. Kellogg, "speak of the soul as being 'a part of God.' It is a portion of the supreme Ruler as a spark is of fire. Yet in the same breath they will affirm that God is akhand, indivisible, whence it follows that each soul is the total Divine Essence, and that is precisely the strict Vedāntic doctrine !"

Bishop Caldwell has the following remarks on the pantheism of the Upanishads as expressed by the above quotations :

" God is the soul of the world ; its material cause as well as its efficient cause. The world is his body, framed by himself out of himself. A consequence of this doctrine, a consequence which is distinctly

1 See page 83. 2 See page 81.

3 Ḅrihadāranyaka Upanishad, Chap. II. Brāhmaṇa 1.

4 Muṇḍaka Upanishad, I. 1.

5 Muṇḍaka Upanishad, II. 1.

taught again and again, is that God is all things, as containing all things. Every thing that exists is a portion of God, and every action that is performed is an action of God. The doctrine knows no limitations, and is incapable of being exaggerated. The basest animals that creep on the face of the earth have not merely been created by God for some good purpose, but are divine, inasmuch as they are portions of God's material form ; and the most wicked actions which men, vainly fancying themselves free agents, are ever tempted to perform, are not only permitted by God, but are actually perpetrated by him, inasmuch as they are performed by his power and will, working out their ends through the human constitution, which is a part of himself.

"This doctrine differs, it is true, from the Advaita doctrine, to which alone the name of Vedāntism is popularly given, that the Supreme Spirit alone really exists and that the world is unreal ; but it may be regarded as questionable whether the unreality of phenomena be not preferable to the doctrine that their reality consists in their inclusion in God as parts of his totality."

Pantheism strikes at the root of all religious feeling. The essence of religion is to love, honour, and obey God, to pray to Him, to worship Him. If I am God, why should I worship myself?

The following remarks on this subject are from Professor Flint :—

"The mystical piety of India, when strictly pantheistic, knows nothing of the gratitude for Divine mercy and the trust in Divine righteousness which characterise evangelical piety. Instead of love and communion in love, it can only commend to us the contemplation of an object which is incomprehensible, devoid of all affections, and indifferent to all actions. When feelings like love, gratitude, and trust are expressed in the hymns and prayers of Hindu worship, it is in consequence of a virtual denial of the principles of pantheism, it is because the mind has consented to regard as real what it had previously pronounced illusory, and to personify what it had declared to be impersonal. Hinduism holds it to be a fundamental truth that the absolute Being can have no personal attributes, and yet it has not only to allow but to encourage its adherents to invest that Being with these attributes, in order that by thus temporarily deluding themselves they may evoke in their hearts at least a feeble and transient glow of devotion. It has even been forced, by its inability to elicit and sustain a religious life by what is strictly pantheistic in its doctrine, to crave the help of polytheism, and to treat the foulest orgies and cruellest rites of idolatry as acts of reasonable worship paid indirectly to the sole and supreme Being. It finds polytheism to be the indispensable supplement of its pantheism. It is the personal gods of Hindu polytheism, and not the impersonal principle of Hindu pantheism, that the Hindu people worship. No people can worship what they believe to be entirely impersonal. Even in the so-called religions of

nature the deified natural powers are always personified. It is only as persons that they are offered prayers and sacrifices."1

The pernicious effects of pantheism on Indian polytheism are thus shown by Professor Flint:

"I have said that the ability of pantheism to ally itself with polytheism accounts for its prevalence in certain lands; but I must add that, although a power, this ability is not a merit. It is a power for evil—power which sustains superstition, corrupts the system which possesses it, deludes and degrades the human mind and heart, and arrests social progress. Educated Hindus are often found to represent it as an excellence of Brahmanism, that it not only tolerates but embraces and incorporates the lower phases of religion. They contend that it thereby elavates and purifies polytheism, and helps the mind of men to pass from the lowest stage of religious development gradually up to the highest. The opinion may seem plausible, but neither reason nor experience confirms it. Pantheism can give support to polytheism and receive support from it, but only at the cost of sacrificing all its claims to be a rational system, and of losing such moral virtue as it possesses. If it look upon the popular deities as mere fictions of the popular mind, its association with polytheism can only mean a conscious alliance with falsehood, the deliberate propagation of lies, a persistent career of hypocrisy . . . India alone is surely sufficient proof that the union of pantheism with polytheism does not correct but stimulate the extravagances of the latter. Pantheism, instead of elevating and purifying Hindu polytheism, has contributed to increase the number, the absurdity, and the foulness of its superstitions."

Māyā.—As already mentioned, there are differences of opinion among Orientalists as to the time when the illusion theory of later Vedāntism first appears in the Upanishads. The Rev. Lal Behari Day has the following remarks on this doctrine:-

"1. It is impossible to prove that all human beings are under the influence of the 'eternal Māyā,' the universal illusion. For if all men are hopelessly deluded, who is to find out that they are all deluded? If I am hopelessly deluded in all my acts of self-consciousness and perception, how is it possible for me to discover that I am in a state of delusion, for that discovery itself must be delusive? To discover that I am under delusion argues at least a partial dissolution of the delusion. How have the Vaidāntika philosophers found out that they and the whole human race are under the influence of universal and eternal Māyā? Are they conscious of such an influence? But on the supposition of the reign of universal and eternal delusion is not that consciousness itself delusive? If it be said that the fact has been discovered by divine revelation, must not the perception of that revelation as well as the comprehension of its import, on the supposition of a universal and eternal delusion, be also delusive?

1 "Antitheistic Theories," pp. 388, 389.

100

THE UPANISHADS.

" 2. The argument proves too much. If all men are encompassed

in the net of Māyā, if the whole universe be unreal, then was Vedavyās

unreal, the Vaidāntika writings are unreal, the Śāriraka Sūtras, and the

Upanishads are unreal, and the holiest mantras of the Vedas are un-

real.

" 3. The Vaidāntika books say that it is Brahma who has put the

whole human race under the universal influence of the 'eternal Māyā,'

and in consequence of this act of his he is termed Māyāvī Brahma!

How unworthy is such an opinion of the spotless and infinitely pure

God ! Can it be conceived for a moment that He delights in deceiving

mankind ? Can the idea be entertained in the mind that the holy God

is, like a potent juggler, perpetually deceiving the whole human race ? '"1

Deussen's extravagant praise of Hindu philosophy arises from

the fact that he believes the Advaita Vedānta, with its doctrine

of Māyā, to be his own creed. He says :

" Kant has demonstrated that space, time and causality are not

objective realities, but only subjective forms of our intellect, and the

unavoidable conclusion is this, that the world, as far as it is extended

in space, running on in time, ruled throughout by causality, in so far is

merely a representation of my mind and nothing beyond it."2

Deussen will be further noticed under the next head.

THE " GREAT SENTENCES" OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY.

Tat tvam asi, 'It thou art.'

Brahmāsmi, 'I am Brahma.'

The above express the ultimate aim, the goal of Hindu philoso-

phy, of the 'jnāna mārga.' With reference to this claim

Gauda-purnānanda says:

" Thou art verily rifted, O thou animal soul, of thy understanding,

by this dark theory of Māyā, because like a maniac, thou constantly

ravest, 'I am Brahma.' Where is thy divinity, thy sovereignty, thy

omniscience ? O thou animal soul ! Thou art as different from Brahma

as is a mustard seed from Mount Meru. Thou art a finite soul, He is

infinite. Thou canst occupy but one space at a time, He is always

everywhere. Thou art momentarily happy or miserable, He is happy

at all times. How canst thou say 'I am He?' Hast thou no shame?"3

Rāmānuja, another celebrated Hindu writer, argues against it

similarly :-

The word tat (it) stands for the ocean of immortality, full of

supreme felicity. The word tvam (thou) stands for a miserable per-

son, distracted through fear of the world. The two cannot therefore be

one. They are substantially different. He is to be worshipped by the

1 Tract on "Vedāntism." 8vo. ½ Anna. Sold at the Christian Literature

Depôt, Madras.

2 "Elements of Metaphysics," p. 332.

3 Banerjee's Dialogues," p. 379.

THE " GREAT SENTENCES " OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY. 101

whole world. Thou art but His slave. How could there be an image or

reflection of the infinite and spotless One? There may be a reflection

of a finite substance; how could there be such a thing of the Infinite ?

How canst thou, oh slow of thought! say, I am He, who has set up

this immense sphere of the universe in its fulness? Consider thine

own capacities with a pure mind. Can a collection of infuriated ele-

phants enter into the stomach of a mosquito?

Most High a little understanding has been committed to thee, it is not

for thee, oh perverse one, to say, therefore I am God. Some sophists,

sunk in a sea of false logic, addicted to evil ways, labouring to bring

about the destruction of the world by false statements, themselves

deceived and deceiving the world, say I am God, and all this universe

is God. Their wicked device is now abundantly exposed."1

Taking the words in their plain meaning, the climax of

Hindu philosophy is a blasphemous falsehood, too horrible almost

to think of—for a puny, ignorant, proud, sinful mortal to say,

" I am God "! Yet, according to Hindu philosophy, he is the only

wise man! How true are the words, " Professing themselves to

be wise, they became fools."

Deussen's Basis of our Duty to others.—In his " Elements

of Metaphysics " he professes to explain this as follows :

" You shall love your neighbour as yourselves—because you are

your neighbour, and mere illusion makes you believe that your neigh-

bour is something different from yourselves. Or in the words of the

Bhagavad Gītā : he, who knows himself in everything and everything

in himself, will not injure himself by himself, na hinasti ātmān

ātmānām. This is the sum and tenor of all morality, and this is the

standpoint of a man knowing himself as Brahman. He feels himself

as everything,—so he will not desire anything, for he has whatever can

be had; he feels himself as everything,—so he will not injure anything,

for nobody injures himself " (p. 336).

Deussen is evidently an incarnation of Ribhu, described in

the 16th Chapter of the Second Book of the Vishnu Purāna.

Nidāgha is represented as standing afar off, waiting till a prince

should enter the city.

" Tell me," said Ribhu, " which is here the king, and which is

any other man." " The king," answered Nidāgha, " is he who is seated

on the elephant; the others are his attendants." " Tell me, venerable

sir, which is the king and which is the elephant ?" " The elephant,"

answered Nidāgha, " is underneath, the king is above him." To this

Ribhu rejoined, " What is meant by underneath, and what is termed

above ?" Upon this Nidāgha jumped upon Ribhu and said, " I am above

like the Rāja; you are underneath like the elephant." " Very well,"

said Ribhu, " tell me which of us two is you; which is I ?"

1 " Banerjee's Dialogues," p. 408.

"When Nidāgha heard these words, he immediately fell at the feet of the stranger and said, 'Of a surety, thou art my saintly preceptor Ribhu ; the mind of no other person is so fully imbued with the doctrine of unity as that of my teacher.'"

Deussen is unable to discriminate, which is you, which is I; he asserts that we are both one.

We are to love others because they are ourselves ; we need not desire anything for what others have we have ; we will not injure others for nobody injures himself !

This is sheer nonsense, based on a falsehood, which will not for a moment bear the scrutiny of common sense.

The Bible rests the command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," not upon any such fictitious supposition, but upon the fact, that we are all children of the same Great Father in heaven, and should love as brethren.

Hindu Philosophy Tried by its Fruits.

This is an excellent test, easily applied. The following remarks are from Bishop Caldwell :-

"The soundness or unsoundness of this philosophy and the probability or otherwise of its divine origin and authority may be estimated, like the characteristics of a tree, by its fruits. What are the visible, tangible fruits of this philosophy ? What has it done for India the land of its birth ?

"Has it promoted popular education, civilization, and good government ? Has it educated the people in generous emotions ? Has it abolished caste or even mitigated its evils ? Has it obtained for widows the liberty of remarriage ? Has it driven away dancing girls from the temples ? Has it abolished polygamy ? Has it repressed vice and encouraged virtue ? Was it this philosophy which abolished female infanticide, the meriah sacrifice, and the burning of widows ? Is it this which is covering the country with a network of railways and telegraphs ? Is it this which has kindled amongst the native inhabitants of India the spirit of improvement and enterprise which is now apparent ? Need I ask the question ? All this time the philosophy of quietism has been sound asleep or 'with its eyes fixed on the point of its nose,' according to the directions of the Gītā, it has been thinking itself out of its wits.

This philosophy has substantially been the creed of the majority of the people for upwards of two thousand years ; and if it had emanated from God, the proofs of its divine origin ought long ere this to have been apparent ; but it has all this time been too much absorbed in 'contemplating self by means of self' to have had any time or thought left for endeavouring to improve the world. What could be expected of the philosophy of apathy, but that it should leave things to take their course ? There is much real work now being done in India in the way of teaching truth, putting down evil, and promoting the public welfare ;

HINDU PHILOSOPHY TRIED BY ITS FRUITS.

103

but that work is being done, not by Vedāntists or quietists of any

school, but by Christians from Europe whose highest philosophy is to

do good, and by those natives of India who have been stimulated by

the teaching and example of Europeans to choose a similar philosophy.'

" The remarks of Lord Macaulay in his Essay on Lord Bacon on

the Stoical philosophy of the ancients as contrasted with the modern

Baconian philosophy, which is developed from and leavened by the

practical teaching of the Christian Scriptures, will illustrate the un-

profitableness of the Vedāntic philosophy better than can be done by

any words of mine. I commend the study of that brilliant Essay to

the youthful Hindu. If Sanskrit words be substituted for the Greek

technical terms quoted by Macaulay, every word that he says respecting

the philosophy of Zeno may be said with equal truth of the philosophy

of the Gītā."

A few extracts are given below from Macaulay's Essay :-

" The chief peculiarity of Bacon's philosophy seems to us to have

been this, that it aimed at things altogether different from those which

his predecessors had proposed to themselves.

" What then was the end which Bacon proposed to himself? It

was, to use his own emphatic expression, 'fruit.' It was the multi-

plying of human enjoyments and the mitigating of human sufferings.

It was ' the relief of man's estate.'

" Two words form the key of the Baconian doctrines, Utility and

Progress. The ancient philosophy disdained to be useful, and was

content to be stationary. It dealt largely in theories of moral perfection,

which were so sublime that they never could be more than theories ; in

attempts to solve insoluble enigmas ; in exhortations to the attainment

of unattainable frames of mind. It could not condescend to the

humble office of ministering to the comfort of human beings.

" The ancient philosophy was a treadmill, not a path. It was

made up of revolving questions, of controversies which were always

beginning again. It was a contrivance for having much exertion and

no progress. It might indeed sharpen and invigorate the brains of

those who devoted themselves to it ; but such disputes could add

nothing to the stock of knowledge. There was no accumulation of

truth, no heritage of truth acquired by the labour of one generation and

bequeathed to another, to be again transmitted with large additions to

a third.

" The same sects were still battling with the same unsatisfactory

arguments, about the same interminable questions. There had been

plenty of ploughing, harrowing, reaping, threshing. But the garners

contained only smut and stubble.

" Words and more words, and nothing but words, had been all the

fruit of all the toil of all the most renowned sages of sixty generations.

The ancient philosophers promised what was impracticable ; they

despised what was practicable; they filled the world with long words and

long beards ; and they left it as wicked and ignorant as they found it.

" We have sometimes thought that an amusing fiction might be

written, in which a disciple of Epictetus and a disciple of Bacon, should

104

THE UPANISHADS.

be introduced as fellow-travellers. They come to a village where the small-pox has just begun to rage, and find houses shut up, intercourse suspended, the sick abandoned, mothers weeping in terror over their children. The Stoic assures the dismayed population that there is nothing bad in the small-pox, and that to a wise man disease, deformity, death, the loss of friends, are not evils. The Baconian takes out a lancet and begins to vaccinate. They find a shipwrecked merchant wringing his hands on the shore. His vessel, with an inestimable cargo, has just gone down, and he is reduced in a moment from opulence to beggary. The Stoic exhorts him not to seek happiness in things which lie without himself. The Baconian constructs a diving-bell, goes down in it, and returns with the most precious effects from the wreck. It would be easy to multiply illustrations of the difference between the philosophy of thorns and the philosophy of fruit, the philosophy of words and the philosophy of works.

Much more do the foregoing remarks apply to Hindu philosophy. It is notorious that the men most steeped in it, the pandits, are, of all classes, the most narrow-minded, bigoted, and the greatest enemies of social progress. Judged by its fruits, Hindu philosophy, when tested, is found wanting.

CAUSES OF THE FAILURE OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY.

Some of these are the following :-

1. Starting with False Premises.—Two of the principal have already been mentioned :

(1) That God is a being somewhat like ourselves, and that as we cannot create, God cannot create.

(2) That the soul is eternal. Hence the weary round of transmigration.

Mr. Bose says of Hindu philosophers : “They had an intellect keen and argumentative, and their writings are fitted to raise the puzzling question, so well put by Lord Macaulay, viz., how men, who reason so closely and so consecutively from assumed premises fail so miserably to see the utter groundlessness of the assumptions on which their ably conducted arguments are based.”

2. A proneness to dwell on subtle distinctions instead of grasping a subject as a whole.—The Hindu mind resembles that of Hudibras,

“ He could distinguish and divide A hair 'twixt south and south-west side.”

One great difference between a good and a bad lawyer is that the latter takes up some subordinate point, while he fails to see the main issue on which the case turns. Sir Monier Williams says that a Hindu disputant has captious propensities, leading him to be quick in repartee, and ready with specious objections to the most conclusive argument. Mr. R. C. Bose says, even of the

CAUSES OF THE FAILURE OF HINDU PHILOSOPHY.

Hindu master-minds, that they were defective in the following respects :—

“A view broad and comprehensive, an investigation calm and persevering, a thorough sifting of evidence, and a cautious building up of generalisations, in a word for all those processes of research and reasoning which are the basis of reliable science.”1

3. A tendency to Speculate instead of Investigate.—This is a radical defect of the Hindu mind. Mr. Bose gives the following illustrations :—

“The Hindu geographer does not travel, does not explore, does not survey ; he simply sits down and dreams of a central mountain of a height greater than that of the sun, moon, and stars, and circular oceans of curds and clarified butter. The Hindu historian does not examine documents, coins, and monuments, does not investigate historical facts, weigh evidence, balance probabilities, scatter the chaff to the winds and gather the wheat in his garner ; he simply sits down and dreams of a monster monkey who flies through the atmosphere with huge mountains resting on the hairs of his body, and constructs thereby a durable bridge across an arm of an interminable ocean. The Hindu biographer ignores the separating line between history and fable, invents prodigious and fantastic stories, and converts even historical personages into mythical or fabulous heroes. The Hindu anatomist does not dissect, does not anatomize, does not examine the contents of the human body ; he simply dreams of component parts which have no existence, multiplies almost indefinitely the number of arteries and veins, and speaks coolly of a passage through which the atomic soul effects its ingress and egress.”

“The Hindu metaphysician does not analyze the facts of consciousness or enquire into the laws of thought, does not classify sensations, perceptions, conceptions, and judgments, and cautiously proceed to an investigation of the principles which regulate the elaboration of thought and processes of reasoning; he simply speaks of the mind as an accidental and mischievous adjunct of the soul, and shows how its complete extinction may be brought about by austerity and meditation.”2

“The country has had enough of poetic and speculative intellect, and what it needs now to enable it to march alongside of the foremost nations of the world is a little of that cast of mind which may be called scientific.”

4. A want of Common Sense.—There are men who are well styled “learned fools.” They possess a great amount of knowledge, but seem incapable of making any wise use of it.

Hindu philosophers framed certain theories, and then proceeded to draw from them a long train of conclusions. They did not think of testing their reasoning, where practicable, by the evidence of the senses, nor by its application to the affairs of ordinary life. Indeed, as Sir Monier Williams says, “the more

1 “Heterodox Philosophy,” p. 7. 2 Ibid., pp. 8-10.

evidently physical and metaphysical speculations are opposed to

common sense, the more favour do they find with some Hindu

thinkers. Common sense tells an Englishman that he really

exists himself and that everything he sees around him really

exists also. He cannot abandon these two primary convictions.

Not so the Hindu Vedāntist."

5. Accepting Illustration for Argument.—One illustration may

appear to prove one thing, but another may be adduced leading to

an opposite conclusion. It is sometimes said, “As there is only

one sun in the sky, so there is only one God.” This is a great

truth, but the reasoning is no better than the following, “As

there are innumerable stars in the sky, so the number of gods is

countless.”

The main proof adduced for the doctrine of Māyā is that a

rope may be mistaken for a snake, or that in a dream things

appear to be real. This has been considered under “Māyā.” See

pages 41, 42. Dr. Robson says :

“I once asked a pandit to state logically his argument that man's

spirit was sinless, which he did as follows :

Man's spirit is sinless,

Because it is distinct from the sin which man commits;

For all things are distinct from that which they contain, as

the water of a muddy stream is distinct from the mud which

it contains;

But so is the spirit of man distinct from the sin which it may

be said to contain :

Therefore it is sinless.

“This was an attempt to put into a logical form the stock argument

used by the Hindus—Spirit is free from sin as water is distinct from

all the dirt which may be mingled with it.”1

6. Its proud Dogmatism.

Dr. Murray Mitchell notices “the hard dogmatism and the un-

bounded self-assertion of all the schools. It would be an immense

relief if one word betokening distrust of their own wisdom were uttered

by those teachers—such as we have heard occasionally proceeding from

the Vedic poets ; but there is no such word. Each theorist moves with

head erect, possessed of absolute faith in his own omniscience. It

never occurs to him either that there are matters with which the

human mind had no faculties to deal, or that Truth unveils her

treasures only to the humble.”

Their vagaries are even asserted to have a divine origin.

“The Hindu philosopher,” says Mr. Bose, “claims prophetic

functions, pretends to either miraculous insight or preternatural

A PRAYER OF THE UPANISHADS.

107

intercourse with superior beings, and brings out his excogitation as

revelation to be implicitly believed in; not as results of philosophic

inquiry to be tested by the ordinary appliances of the logical

science. He is the guru, heaven-appointed or self-raised teacher,

and his utterances must be accepted as divine revelations; while

all sorts of woes are pronounced upon those impious wretches who

have the audacity to call in question a jot or tittle of his sayings.'

Pope calls pride the 'never-failing vice of fools,' and asserts

that it is one of the chief causes of wrong judgments :

"Of all the causes which conspire to blind

Man's erring judgment, and misguide the mind,

What the weak head with strongest bias rules

Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools."

7. It failed, like all other attempts, to solve the insoluble by

mere human reason.

Europe has had its succession of philosophers, from the days

of Pythagoras downwards, who have indulged in speculations like

those of Kanāda and Kapila. Lewes, in his 'Biographical History

of Philosophy,' makes the following confession : 'Centuries of

thought had not advanced the mind one step nearer to the solution

of the problems with which, child-like, it began. It began with a

child-like question ; it ended with an aged doubt. Not only did it

doubt the solution of the great problem which others had at-

tempted; it even doubted the possibility of any solution. It was

not the doubt which begins, but the doubt which ends inquiry ; it

had no illusions.' It is also admitted 'as a saddening contempla-

tion,' that the 'failures of the philosophy of the ancient world

were only repeated with parallel experience by the modern.'

It may, however, be said that of all attempts to solve the

riddle of the universe, that of Hindu philosophy is the maddest

and most blasphemous.

The Bible well says, 'Canst thou by searching find out God ?

Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection ? It is high as

heaven, what canst thou do ? It is deeper than hell, what canst

thou know?'

A revelation from God Himself is needed.

A PRAYER OF THE UPANISHADS.

The epithet applied by Dr. Mohendra Nath Sircar to Hindu

philosophy, 'transcendental nonsense,' expresses its general

character. Max Müller characterises the bulk of the Upanishads

as 'rubbish,' 'twaddle.' On the Brāhmanas he is still more

severe: 'These works deserve to be studied as the physician

studies the twaddle of idiots and the ravings of madmen.'1

1 "Ancient Sanskrit Literature," p. 390.

108

THE UPANISHADS.

But, as Max Müller says, there are “ fragments of gold” amid the heaps of rubbish. Perhaps in the whole range of the Upani-

shads there is nothing more touching than the following from the

Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad :

" From the unreal lead me to the real;

From darkness lead me to light;

From death lead me to immortality."

The above words, in their true sense, should express the most intense desire of our hearts ; they contain petitions which should

be earnestly offered by every human being.

The question arises, To whom should such prayer be addressed ?

Should it be to the Nirguṇa Brahma of Hindu philosophy ?

He is represented as existing in a state of dreamless repose ; the most earnest cries do not reach him.

Should it be addressed to the Saguṇa Brahmā, endued with sattva, rajas, and tamas ?

Both representations are deeply dishonouring to God ; they are both unreal ; the fictions of ignorant men, who imagined gods

after their own hearts.

The real is the one true God, the great Creator of the uni-

verse, worshipped by the Aryans before they entered India as Dyaush Pitar, Heaven Father. Let our prayer be addressed to

Him as our Father in heaven, who first breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, and by whom we are preserved every moment.

We live upon His earth ; every thing we have belongs to Him.

What is the duty of a child to a father? He should love him ; he should delight in his presence, he should often speak to

him ; he should obey him cheerfully, honour him, and seek in all things to please him.

Have we thus acted towards our Father in heaven? Alas, no.

We have been disobedient, rebellious children, giving the honour due to Him to others. Though we deserve to be shut out for

ever from His holy presence, He yearns over us with a father's love, and earnestly invites us to return to Him. Jesus Christ

taught this by the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son.

A son asked from his father the portion of goods that fell to him. As soon as he had received it, he went to a far country,

where he soon spent all he had among wicked companions. He was so poor that he was sent to take care of swine, and so hungry

that he would gladly have filled his belly with some of the food that the swine did eat.

Afterwards he thought that while he was starving, his father's servants had enough and to spare. Then he said to himself, “ I

will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have

sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” As soon as his father saw him coming, he ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him. Then the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.’ He also ordered them to make ready the daintiest food. Full of joy, he said, “This my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Luke xv.

This parable is a faint emblem of God’s willingness to receive repenting sinners.

But God is more than our Father; He is also our King. Satisfaction is needed for His broken law. This was given by the death of Jesus Christ, and now pardon is freely offered to all who seek it in His name.

Repentant children are drawn far more closely to God than those who are merely His children by creation. They are His redeemed children; Jesus Christ is their Elder Brother. What will He do for them?

They will have a father’s eye to watch over them. Wherever they are, by day or by night, they can never be out of His sight. They will have the ear of a father to listen to their requests. An earthly parent cannot always give his child what he needs, but God has all power. They will have a father’s hand to guide and protect them. Earthly parents, even though wise, may err; they may be too weak to deliver from danger. Not so with God. They will have a father’s home to receive them at last. All who love God here will be taken to the “many mansions” prepared for them above, there to dwell for ever.

Oh the happiness of having God for a Father! The greatest king could not do for you what God can; His wealth can never fail; His power can never become weak; His love knows no decay.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the truth and spotless (nishkalank) Avatāra, says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”; “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Read His wondrous history as recorded in the New Testament, and then you may well exclaim, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.”

Humbly making the confession to God, “Father, I have sinned and am no more worthy to be called Thy son,” take refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ, accepting His gracious offer. Then He will fulfil the prayer—

‘From the unreal lead me to the real; From darkness lead me to light; From death lead me to immortality.’

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