A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.72

c11.72

The first half of chapter v. is almost identical with the beginning of chapter vi. of the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka*. It is chiefly noteworthy for the theory of transmigration which it contains. The second half of the chapter is important as the earliest statement of the doctrine that the manifold world is unreal. The *sat* by desire produced from itself the three primary elements, heat, water, food (the later number being five—ether, air, fire, water, earth). As individual soul (*jīva-ātman*) it entered into these, which, by certain partial combinations called "triplication," became various products (*vikāra*) or phenomena. But the latter are a mere name. *Sat* is the only reality, it is the Ātman : "Thou art that." Chapter vii. enumerates sixteen forms in which Brahma may be adored, rising by gradation from *nāman*, "name," to *bhūman*, "infinity," which is the all-in-all and the Ātman within us. The first half of the last chapter discusses the Ātman in the heart and the universe, as well as how to attain it. The concluding portion of the chapter distinguishes the false from the true Ātman, illustrated by the three stages in which it appears—in the material body, in dreaming, and in sound sleep. In the latter stage we have the true Ātman, in which the distinction between subject and object has disappeared.