History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.202
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.202
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The above Upaniṣad passages are enough to show how the doctrine of transmigration was being moulded in the Upaniṣad period. The Ṛgveda knows the two paths of Devayāna and Pitṛyāna and also that in heaven there were joys and delights but the Ṛgveda does not say how long the joys of Heaven were to last and makes no clear and definite statement on the doctrine of transmigration. In the Brāhmaṇa period the two paths were often referred to and the conception had dawned upon the minds of thinkers that man might have to pass through death several times (*punarmṛtyu*) But even then there is hardly any definite theory of punarjanma based on good or bad deeds. The clearest statements (and probably earliest) of the origin of the doctrine of transmigration are the two passages (*Bṛ. Up.* III. 3. 13 and IV 4. 5-7) in which Yājñavalkya is concerned and is the instructor and emphasizes that it is man's own works and conduct that lead a man to new births. In both those passages the Devayāna and Pitṛyāna paths are not mentioned at all. But the *Bṛ. Up.* VI. 2. 16 and *Chān. Up.* V. 10 relate the two paths to transmigration and speak of a third place for those born as worms and flies. This is an addition to the doctrine of the two paths, but they make a further departure. The *Chān. Up.* V. 10.
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5 states that those that perform sacrifices, works of public utility and charity go to the moon and when the results of their actions are exhausted after staying in the moon they have to return to this world by the path they went (i. e. from the Moon to ether, then to Vāyu, smoke, mist, cloud and rain and they may be born from a mother's womb.²⁵¹⁵ This shows that a double retribution awaits those who perform sacrifices &c. viz. stay in the moon for a time and their rebirth on this earth. Other Upaniṣads follow the Chān. Up. in the theory of double retribution e.g. the Praśna has the following passage in prose ²⁵¹⁶ "The year indeed is Prajāpati, there are two parts thereof, the southern and the northern. Now those who believe in sacrifice and gifts for public utility as work that must be done, secure the moon only as their (future) world and it is they who return to this world. Therefore, the ṛṣis who desire offspring resort to the southern (path). That path of the Fathers is indeed treasure (or wealth). But those who, after having sought the Ātman by austerities, (sexual) abstinence, faith and knowledge go by the northern path to the Sun. This is the home of the vital spirits, it is immortal, free from fear, it is the highest (or final) end. Thence they do not return, that is a check to other things On this there is a verse (Ṛg I. 164.
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12) 'some call him the father with five feet (the five seasons) and with twelve forms (twelve months), the giver of rain in the highest of heaven; others again say that the sage is placed in the lower half, in the chariot with seven wheels (horses or rays of sun) and six spokes'". This verse of the Ṛgveda is probably quoted here in support of the conception of the two paths symbolically represented as two parts of the year, as the Ṛg. verse (first half) appears to refer to the Sun, placed in highest half of heaven and as the second half seems to refer to a lower (*upare*) half of heaven with six spokes (i. e. the six months of Dakṣiṇāyana). Deussen (Ph. Up. p. 338) is positive that Ṛg. I. 164. 12 has nothing to do with with the subject (of the two paths). But what is there to prevent an ancient sage of the Upaniṣadic times from holding that the verse in its two halves refers (figuratively or symbolically) to two paths, particularly when even in the Ṛgveda times paths called Devayāna and Pitṛyāna were well-known as shown below? It should be noted that in the preceding verse (I. 164. 11) the wheel of ṛta (the year or the sun) is Dvādaśāra (with twelve spokes, viz. months) and therefore when saḍare (with six spokes) is mentioned in I. 164. 12 a period of six months could well have been intended or could very well be got by interpretation.