The History of Indian Literature c8.473.6

c8.473.6

The former treats at the outset of what makes a *Bráhmaṇa* a *Bráhmaṇa*; it is not *játi* (birth), *varṇa* (colour), *páṇḍitya* (learning); but the *Brahmavid* (he who knows Brahman) is alone a *Bráhmaṇa*.† Then it passes to the different definitions of *moksha* (liberation), stating the only correct one to be the perception of the oneness of *jíva* (the individual soul) and *parameśvara* (the All-Soul), and lastly, distinctly rejecting all sects, it expounds the two highly important words *tat* (the Absolute) and *tvam* (the Objective). The *Tripurí* treats of the relation of Átman to the world, and stands as fourth *prakaraṇa* in a series of seven little Vedánta writings attributed to Śaṃkara.¹⁷⁸ The *Sarvopanishatsáropanishad* (31), in prose, may be considered as a kind of catechism of these doctrines; its purpose is to answer several queries prefixed to it as an introduction.¹⁷⁹ The same is the case with the *Nirálam-bopanishad* (32),¹⁸⁰ which, however, exhibits essentially the Yoga standpoint. The *Átmopanishad* (33), in prose, contains an inquiry by Aṅgiras into the three factors (*purushas*), the body, the soul, and the All-Soul.∗ The *Práṇágnihotropanishad* (34), in prose, points out the relation of the parts and functions of the body to those of the sacrifice, whence by implication it follows that the latter is unnecessary.