Hillebrandt points out that it is spoken of in R.V. as being new, "as not having hitherto existed," and as "coming into being from the fathers." It originates from the seat of the @Rta, springs forth at the sound of the sacrifice, begins really to exist when the soma juice is pressed and the hymns are recited at the savana rite, endures with the help of the G.o.ds even in battle, and soma is its guardian (R.V. VIII. 37. I, VIII. 69. 9, VI. 23. 5, 1. 47. 2, VII. 22.
9, VI. 52. 3, etc.). On the strength of these Hillebrandt justifies the conjecture of Haug that it signifies a mysterious power which can be called forth by various ceremonies, and his definition of it, as the magical force which is derived from the orderly cooperation of the hymns, the chants and the sacrificial gifts [Footnote ref 3]. I am disposed to think that this meaning is closely connected with the meaning as we find it in many pa.s.sages in the [email protected] and the [email protected] The meaning in many of these seems to be midway between
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[Footnote 1: Ait. [email protected] II 1-3.]
[Footnote 2: Keith"s _Translation of Aitareya aranyaka_.]
[Footnote 3: Hillebrandt"s article on Brahman, _E.R.E._.]
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"magical force" and "great," transition between which is rather easy. Even when the sacrifices began to be replaced by meditations, the old belief in the power of the sacrifices still remained, and as a result of that we find that in many pa.s.sages of the [email protected] people are thinking of meditating upon this great force "Brahman" as being identified with diverse symbols, natural objects, parts and functions of the body.
When the main interest of sacrifice was transferred from its actual performance in the external world to certain forms of meditation, we find that the understanding of particular allegories of sacrifice having a relation to particular kinds of bodily functions was regarded as Brahman, without a knowledge of which nothing could be obtained. The fact that these allegorical interpretations of the Pancagnividya are so much referred to in the [email protected] as a secret doctrine, shows that some people came to think that the real efficacy of sacrifices depended upon such meditations.
When the sages rose to the culminating conception, that he is really ignorant who thinks the G.o.ds to be different from him, they thought that as each man was nourished by many beasts, so the G.o.ds were nourished by each man, and as it is unpleasant for a man if any of his beasts are taken away, so it is unpleasant for the G.o.ds that men should know this great truth. [Footnote ref 1].
In the Kena we find it indicated that all the powers of the G.o.ds such as that of Agni (fire) to burn, Vayu (wind) to blow, depended upon Brahman, and that it is through Brahman that all the G.o.ds and all the senses of man could work. The whole process of [email protected] thought shows that the magic power of sacrifices as a.s.sociated with @Rta (unalterable law) was being abstracted from the sacrifices and conceived as the supreme power.
There are many stories in the [email protected] of the search after the nature of this great power the Brahman, which was at first only imperfectly realized. They identified it with the dominating power of the natural objects of wonder, the sun, the moon, etc. with bodily and mental functions and with various symbolical representations, and deluded themselves for a time with the idea that these were satisfactory. But as these were gradually found inadequate, they came to the final solution, and the doctrine of the inner self of man as being the highest truth the Brahman originated.
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[Footnote 1: [email protected] I. 4. 10.]
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The meaning of the word [email protected]
The word [email protected] is derived from the root _sad_ with the prefix _ni_ (to sit), and Max Muller says that the word originally meant the act of sitting down near a teacher and of submissively listening to him. In his introduction to the [email protected] he says, "The history and the genius of the Sanskrit language leave little doubt that [email protected] meant originally session, particularly a session consisting of pupils, a.s.sembled at a respectful distance round their teacher [Footnote ref 1]." Deussen points out that the word means "secret" or "secret instruction," and this is borne out by many of the pa.s.sages of the [email protected] themselves. Max Muller also agrees that the word was used in this sense in the [email protected] [Footnote ref 2]. There we find that great injunctions of secrecy are to be observed for the communication of the doctrines, and it is said that it should only be given to a student or pupil who by his supreme moral restraint and n.o.ble desires proves himself deserving to hear them. S"ankara however, the great Indian exponent of the [email protected], derives the word from the root _sad_ to destroy and supposes that it is so called because it destroys inborn ignorance and leads to salvation by revealing the right knowledge. But if we compare the many texts in which the word [email protected] occurs in the [email protected] themselves it seems that Deussen"s meaning is fully justified [Footnote ref 3].
The composition and growth of diverse [email protected]
The oldest [email protected] are written in prose. Next to these we have some in verses very similar to those that are to be found in cla.s.sical Sanskrit. As is easy to see, the older the [email protected] the more archaic is it in its language. The earliest [email protected] have an almost mysterious forcefulness in their expressions at least to Indian ears. They are simple, pithy and penetrate to the heart.
We can read and read them over again without getting tired.
The lines are always as fresh as ever. As such they have a charm apart from the value of the ideas they intend to convey. The word [email protected] was used, as we have seen, in the sense of "secret doctrine or instruction"; the [email protected] teachings were also intended to be conveyed in strictest secrecy to earnest enquirers of high morals and superior self-restraint for the purpose of achieving
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[Footnote 1: Max Muller"s _Translation of the Upanishads, S.B.E._ vol.
I.p. lx.x.xi.]
[Footnote 2: _S. B.E._ vol. I, p lx.x.xi.]
[Footnote 3: Deussen"s _Philosophy of the Upanishads,_ pp. 10-15.]
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emanc.i.p.ation. It was thus that the [email protected] style of expression, when it once came into use, came to possess the greatest charm and attraction for earnest religious people; and as a result of that we find that even when other forms of prose and verse had been adapted for the Sanskrit language, the [email protected] form of composition had not stopped. Thus though the earliest [email protected] were compiled by 500 B C., they continued to be written even so late as the spread of Mahommedan influence in India. The earliest and most important are probably those that have been commented upon by S"ankara namely [email protected]@nyaka, Chandogya, Aitareya, Taittiriya, is"a, Kena, Katha, Pras"na, Mundaka and Mandukya [Footnote ref 1]. It is important to note in this connection that the separate [email protected] differ much from one another with regard to their content and methods of exposition. Thus while some of them are busy laying great stress upon the monistic doctrine of the self as the only reality, there are others which lay stress upon the practice of Yoga, asceticism, the cult of S"iva, of Visnu and the philosophy or anatomy of the body, and may thus be respectively called the Yoga, S"aiva, Visnu and S"arira [email protected]
These in all make up the number to one hundred and eight.
Revival of [email protected] studies in modern times.
How the [email protected] came to be introduced into Europe is an interesting story Dara Shiko the eldest son of the Emperor Shah Jahan heard of the [email protected] during his stay in Kashmir in 1640. He invited several Pandits from Benares to Delhi, who undertook the work of translating them into Persian. In 1775 Anquetil Duperron, the discoverer of the Zend Avesta, received a ma.n.u.script of it presented to him by his friend Le Gentil, the French resident in Faizabad at the court of Shuja-uddaulah.
Anquetil translated it into Latin which was published in 1801-1802.
This translation though largely unintelligible was read by Schopenhauer with great enthusiasm. It had, as Schopenhauer himself admits, profoundly influenced his philosophy. Thus he
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[Footnote 1: Deussen supposes that Kausitaki is also one of the earliest.
Max Muller and Schroeder think that [email protected] also belongs to the earliest group, whereas Deussen counts it as a comparatively later production. Winternitz divides the [email protected] into four periods. In the first period he includes [email protected]@nyaka, Chandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kausitaki and Kena. In that second he includes [email protected], is"a, S"vetas"vatara, [email protected], Mahanarayana, and in the third period he includes Pras"na, [email protected] and [email protected] The rest of the [email protected] he includes in the fourth period.]
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writes in the preface to his _Welt als Wille und Vorstellung_ [Footnote ref 1], "And if, indeed, in addition to this he is a partaker of the benefit conferred by the Vedas, the access to which, opened to us through the Upanishads, is in my eyes the greatest advantage which this still young century enjoys over previous ones, because I believe that the influence of the Sanskrit literature will penetrate not less deeply than did the revival of Greek literature in the fifteenth century: if, I say, the reader has also already received and a.s.similated the sacred, primitive Indian wisdom, then is he best of all prepared to hear what I have to say to him....I might express the opinion that each one of the individual and disconnected aphorisms which make up the Upanishads may be deduced as a consequence from the thought I am going to impart, though the converse, that my thought is to be found in the Upanishads is by no means the case." Again, "How does every line display its firm, definite, and throughout harmonious meaning! From every sentence deep, original, and sublime thoughts arise, and the whole is pervaded by a high and holy and earnest spirit....In the whole world there is no study, except that of the originals, so beneficial and so elevating as that of the Oupanikhat. It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death! [Footnote ref 2]" Through Schopenhauer the study of the [email protected] attracted much attention in Germany and with the growth of a general interest in the study of Sanskrit, they found their way into other parts of Europe as well.
The study of the [email protected] has however gained a great impetus by the earnest attempts of our Ram Mohan Roy who not only translated them into Bengali, Hindi and English and published them at his own expense, but founded the Brahma Samaj in Bengal, the main religious doctrines of which were derived directly from the [email protected]
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[Footnote 1: Translation by Haldane and Kemp, vol. I. pp. xii and xiii.]
[Footnote 2: Max Muller says in his introduction to the Upanishada (_S.B.E._ I p. lxii; see also pp. lx, lxi) "that Schopenhauer should have spoken of the Upanishads as "products of the highest wisdom"...that he should have placed the pantheism there taught high above the pantheism of Bruno, Malebranche, Spinoza and Scotus Erigena, as brought to light again at Oxford in 1681, may perhaps secure a more considerate reception for those relics of ancient wisdom than anything that I could say in their favour."]
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The [email protected] and their interpretations.
Before entering into the philosophy of the [email protected] it may be worth while to say a few words as to the reason why diverse and even contradictory explanations as to the real import of the [email protected] had been offered by the great Indian scholars of past times. The [email protected], as we have seen, formed the concluding portion of the revealed Vedic literature, and were thus called the Vedanta. It was almost universally believed by the Hindus that the highest truths could only be found in the revelation of the Vedas. Reason was regarded generally as occupying a comparatively subservient place, and its proper use was to be found in its judicious employment in getting out the real meaning of the apparently conflicting ideas of the Vedas. The highest knowledge of ultimate truth and reality was thus regarded as having been once for all declared in the [email protected] Reason had only to unravel it in the light of experience. It is important that readers of Hindu philosophy should bear in mind the contrast that it presents to the ruling idea of the modern world that new truths are discovered by reason and experience every day, and even in those cases where the old truths remain, they change their hue and character every day, and that in matters of ultimate truths no finality can ever be achieved; we are to be content only with as much as comes before the purview of our reason and experience at the time. It was therefore thought to be extremely audacious that any person howsoever learned and brilliant he might be should have any right to say anything regarding the highest truths simply on the authority of his own opinion or the reasons that he might offer. In order to make himself heard it was necessary for him to show from the texts of the [email protected] that they supported him, and that their purport was also the same. Thus it was that most schools of Hindu philosophy found it one of their princ.i.p.al duties to interpret the [email protected] in order to show that they alone represented the true Vedanta doctrines. Any one who should feel himself persuaded by the interpretations of any particular school might say that in following that school he was following the Vedanta.
The difficulty of a.s.suring oneself that any interpretation is absolutely the right one is enhanced by the fact that germs of diverse kinds of thoughts are found scattered over the [email protected]
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which are not worked out in a systematic manner. Thus each interpreter in his turn made the texts favourable to his own doctrines prominent and brought them to the forefront, and tried to repress others or explain them away. But comparing the various systems of [email protected] interpretation we find that the interpretation offered by [email protected] very largely represents the view of the general body of the earlier [email protected] doctrines, though there are some which distinctly foreshadow the doctrines of other systems, but in a crude and germinal form. It is thus that Vedanta is generally a.s.sociated with the interpretation of [email protected] and [email protected]"s system of thought is called the Vedanta system, though there are many other systems which put forth their claim as representing the true Vedanta doctrines.
Under these circ.u.mstances it is necessary that a modern interpreter of the [email protected] should turn a deaf ear to the absolute claims of these exponents, and look upon the [email protected] not as a systematic treatise but as a repository of diverse currents of thought--the melting pot in which all later philosophic ideas were still in a state of fusion, though the monistic doctrine of [email protected], or rather an approach thereto, may be regarded as the purport of by far the largest majority of the texts. It will be better that a modern interpreter should not agree to the claims of the ancients that all the [email protected] represent a connected system, but take the texts independently and separately and determine their meanings, though keeping an attentive eye on the context in which they appear. It is in this way alone that we can detect the germs of the thoughts of other Indian systems in the [email protected], and thus find in them the earliest records of those tendencies of thoughts.
The quest after Brahman: the struggle and the failures.
The fundamental idea which runs through the early [email protected] is that underlying the exterior world of change there is an unchangeable reality which is identical with that which underlies the essence in man [Footnote ref 1]. If we look at Greek philosophy in Parmenides or Plato or at modern philosophy in Kant, we find the same tendency towards glorifying one unspeakable ent.i.ty as the reality or the essence. I have said above that the [email protected] are
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[Footnote 1: [email protected] IV. 4. 5. 22.