Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government c2.s1.212

Language: English

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⁵⁴ The distinction of births in JB. I. 17 corresponds exactly to that of John III. 6 *quod natum est carne, caro est: et quod natum est ex spiritu, spiritus est*, and Gal. VI. 8 *Qui seminat in carne sua, de carne et metet corruptionem: qui autem seminat in spiritu, de spiritu metet vitam aeternam*. The "two selves" of the Sanskrit texts, Plato's "mortal and immortal parts of the soul," are the Outer and Inner Man, is *qui foris est* and is *qui intus est* of II Cor. IV. 16: of which St. Thomas Aquinas remarks *In homine duo sunt* (an echo of Plato's δύο φαμὲν αὐτῷ ἀναγκαῖον εἶναι, *Republic* 604 B), *scilicet natura spiritualis et natura corporalis. Per hoc autem homo dicitur diligere seipsum, quod diligit se secundum naturam spiritualem* (*Sum. Theol.*, II-II. 26. 4, as in BU. IV. 5, etc.). It is with reference to the corporeal self or "life,"—the Buddhist "petty self" (*appātumo*) "which is not my (real) self," *na me so atta*, *passim*—that Christ says *Si quis venit ad me, et non odit ... suam animam, non potest meus discipulus esse* (Luke XIV. 26), and with reference to their division (Plato's katharsis, the "separating of soul from body, so far as that is possible," *Phaedo* 67C) that St. Paul affirms that the Word of God (sc. all *śruti*) extends to the sundering of soul from spirit (Heb. IV. 12). The distinction is that which is drawn by Philo (*Quaestiones in Genesis*, II. 59 and *De Cherub.* 113 f., as cited by Goodenough, *By Light, Light*, pp.

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374, 375) between "us" and "that which was before our birth" and will be (cf. BG. II. 12) "when we, who in our junction with our bodies, are mixtures, shall not exist, but shall be brought into the rebirth," i. e. "born again" of the Divine Womb in the sense of JB. I. 17 and John III. 3. The "two selves" are, again, the *proprium* and the *suum* (*le moi* and *le soi*) of St. Bernard. We "naturally" identify "ourselves" with the *proprium*, "our" individuality as known by "name and aspect" (*nāmarūpa*), "this man" to which we return from the sacrificial deification thinking: "Now am I he who I really am" (*aháṁ yá evásmi sàsmi*, ŚB. I. 9. 3. 23), and to which the King returns with the same words at the end of the Rājasūya in which he had been made a Brāhman (AB. VII. 24); which comings back to one self are in the most technical sense of the word "desecrations." In thus returning we are forgetting that the *proprium* to which we return is not our real Self, not really an essence at all, but only a process. It is, on the other hand, with reference to our essence, St. Bernard's *suum*, that it is said "That art thou" (CU. VI. 8. 7 f.), and with reference to that Self, "the Overlord and King of all beings" (BU. II. 5. 15), that the Oracle enjoins, γνῶθι σεαυτόν.

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When Philosophia enquires of Boethius what he is, and he answers "a reasoning and mortal animal," she tells him that he has "forgotten" who he is and warns him: "If thou knowest not thyself, depart" (*De consol.*, prose vi and *Cant.* I. 8). and Upaniṣads, "Which self?" (*kataraḥ sa ātmā*, AA. II. 6; *katamā ātmā*, BU. IV. 3. 7, MU. II. 1; and similarly *ken’attanā*, Sn. 508) and "In whom, when I go forth hence, shall I be going forth?" (*kasmin . . . utkrānto bhaviṣyāmi*, Praśna U. VI. 3) with the answer in CU. III. 14. 4 "in Brahma." The true answer to the question "Who art thou?" (*kas tvam asi*), viz. "What thou art, that light am I" (*ko ’ham asmi suvas tvam*), is the password that opens the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven and wins the welcome "Come in, O myself" (JUB. III. 14. 1-5; Kauṣ. U. I. 5-6; Rūmī, *Mathnawī*, I. 3062 f.). Incidentally, I am convinced that the Delphic γνῶθι σεαυτόν and E are a question (*signum*) and an answer (*responsum*) asked and given at the door (certainly a "Sundoor") of Apollo’s shrine; "Know thyself" implying "Who art thou," and E = EI meaning (1) Apollo and (2) "thou art" (these are two of Plutarch’s interpretations, *Moralia* 392 A), the answer to the question "Who art thou" (seeking admittance) taking the form "The Sun thou art" (that am I). "‘That thou art, thus may I be,’ he says in effect. . . . Verily, he invokes this blessing" (TS. I. 5. 7. 6). Cf. my "The ‘E’ at Delphi" in *Review of Religion*, Nov. 1941.