The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c10.4

c10.4

As regards the time when higher religious motives appear, I would remind my hearers of the indefinite and relative character of Vedic chronology. The older Upanishads, the Vedic texts which profess higher religion or theosophy, are written in about the same language and style as the so-called Brāhmana texts. These latter, as you may remember,¹ are prose works which, quite like the Hebrew Talmud, define the sacrifice with minute prescript and illustrative legend. And the older Upanishads are part of the Brāhmanas; the majority of the older Upanishads, through the medium of the Āranyakas, join their theosophic speculations right on to the dead ritual. To some extent the bones of the ritual skeleton rattle about in early theosophy in quite a lively fashion. The Upanishads and theosophy are part of the Veda; neither Hindu believer nor western critic has ever doubted that. Now the thought of the Upanishads has its forerunners in all parts of Vedic literature clear back to the Rig-Veda; in the Atharva-Veda it even shows signs of at least temporary going to seed.¹ We cannot expect the family-books of the Rig-Veda, or the ninth, *soma* book to break out in theosophy. These books are collections of hymns addressed to the gods at a definite sacrifice: to that business they attend. It does not follow that what they do not mention does not exist at that time. We must beware of too straight-lined a view of these matters, one type following another like a row of bricks, or like different troops of the same army. I am not wise enough to say when the following stanza was pronounced: “They call (it) Indra, Mitra, Varuna, and Agni, or the heavenly bird Garutmant (the Sun). The sages call the One Being in many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariçvan.”