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The Philosophy of the Upanishads c10.s2: VII. Brahman as Preserver and Ruler

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c10.s2

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VII. Brahman as Preserver and Ruler

1. Brahman as Preserver of the Universe

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Since in reality the âtman alone exists, and the universe, so far as it has a general existence, is essentially only the âtman, it follows that the things of this universe, so far as we may concede to them a reality at all, can only hold it in fee from the âtman. They are related to the latter as the sparks to the fire whence they leap forth, and with which they are essentially identical in nature:—"As the tiny sparks leap forth from the fire, so from this âtman all vital spirits spring forth, all worlds, all gods, all living creatures."¹ This illustration is expanded in greater detail in Muṇḍ. 2. 1. 1:—

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¹ Bṛih. 2. 1. 20; cp. Kaush. 4. 20.

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As from the well-kindled fire the sparks,
Essentially akin to it, leap forth a thousandfold,
So, my dear sir, from the imperishable
The varied living creatures come forth,
And return into it again.

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All the things of the universe are, as this passage asserts, "essentially akin to it,"² are the âtman himself, and it is he alone who lies outspread before our eyes as the entire universe:—

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² *sarûpa*, or *svarûpa*, "having its form."

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Fire is his head, sun and moon his eyes,
His ears the regions of the sky,
His voice is the revelation of the Veda,
Wind is his breath, the world his heart, from his feet arises the earth,
He is the inner self in all creatures.³

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³ Muṇḍ. 2. 1. 4.

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How the one âtman is expanded into the manifold universe remains a mystery, and can only be explained by illustrations. Thus in Chând. 6. 12 the teacher causes a fruit of the Nyagrodha tree (whose shoots grow downwards and strike new roots in the earth, so that a whole grove springs up from one tree), to be brought and opened, and after the student has found in it only a quite small kernel, and within this nothing at all, the teacher addresses him:—"The subtle essence, which you do not observe, my dear sir, from this subtle essence in truth this great Nyagrodha tree has sprung up. Be confident, my dear sir, whatever this subtle essence is, of which this universe is a subsistence (a 'having this as its essence,' aitadâtmyam), that is the real, that is the soul, that art thou, O S'vetaketu."

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The expansion of the unity into plurality is elucidated also by the frequently misunderstood comparison of Kâṭh. 6. 1:—

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With its root on high, its shoots downwards,
Stands that eternal fig-tree.

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All who here take mûla in ûrdhvamûla as plural, and render "die Wurzeln," "the roots," "les racines," etc., have failed to grasp the meaning of the comparison, which consists precisely in showing how from the one Brahman as root the multiplicity of the phenomena of the universe arises. The universe therefore is likened to an as'vattha tree, in the case of which, like our own linden, from the one root the rich variety of its branches and shoots springs. The difference is that in the as'vattha which represents the universe the one root Brahman is above, and the many shoots of its manifestations are here below on the earth. It is altogether misleading to think here of the Nyagrodha tree (ficus indica), which sends its shoots into the earth where they strike new roots. The as'vattha (ficus religiosa) is entirely distinct from it in growth and foliage. It is interesting to see that the passage of the Kâṭhaka discussed is to all appearance already referred to in S'vet. 3. 9.¹ When it is said in this passage:—"rooted in heaven like a tree the One stands,”¹ the explanation is found in the passage Kâṭh. 6. 1, and only there.

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¹ As also Mahânâr. 10. 20.

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¹ cp. also the tree of the universe in Śvet. 6. 6.

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From the universal diffusion of the âtman its omnipresence in the phenomenal forms of the universe results, as is described in Kâṭh. 5. 2, where use is made of the verse Ṛigv. IV. 40. 5:²—

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² Mahânâr. 10. 6, cp. the further references there.

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In the ether he is the swan of the sun, in the air Vasu,
The priest at the altar, the guest on the threshold,
He dwells in man and at a distance, in law, in space,
He as supreme Right springs forth from the waters, from cattle, right,
and the hills.

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With a reference to the verse Vâj. Saṃh. 32. 4, the divine omnipresence is depicted in Śvet. 2. 16–17:—

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He is god in all the regions of the universe,
Born of older time and in the body of a mother;
He was born, and will be born,
Is present in men, and omnipresent.
The god, who is in the fire and in the water,
Who has entered into the entire universe,
Who dwells in vegetables and in trees,
To this god be honour, be honour!

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It is a consequence of the omnipresence of the âtman that all creatures share in the bliss which is his essence (sup. p. 140 ff.):—“From a small portion only of this bliss other creatures have their life”;³ “for who could breathe, who live, if that bliss were not in the âkâśa; for it is he who creates bliss.”⁴ Therefore longing for the âtman is innate in all beings, and equally for him who knows himself as the âtman:—“His (Brahman’s) name is ‘longing for him’ (tadvanam), as ‘longing for him’ ought he to be worshipped. He who knows himself as such, for him assuredly all beings long.”⁵

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³ Bṛih. 4. 3. 32.

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⁴ Taitt. 2. 7.

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⁵ Kena, 31; cp. the saying of Aristotle, κινεῖ δὲ ὡς ἐρώμενον.

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Every effect in the universe is wrought by the âtman :—" It is he who causes the man whom he will lead on high from these worlds to do good works, and it is he who causes the man whom he will lead downwards to do evil works."¹ Even the gods do their work only by virtue of the power which he confers on them; no blade of grass can be consumed by Agni, or swept away by Vâyu, apart from the will of Brahman.²

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¹ Kaush. 3. 8.

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² Kena, 17-23.

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The most beautiful picture of the omnipotence of the imperishable one, *i.e.* the âtman, is found, partly dependent on the hymn to Prajâpati in Ṛigv. X. 121, in Yâjñavalkhya’s discourse with Gârgî, Bṛih. 3. 8. 9 :—

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"At the bidding of this imperishable one, O Gârgî, sun and moon are kept asunder; at the bidding of this imperishable one, O Gârgî, heaven and earth are kept asunder; at the bidding of this imperishable one, O Gârgî, the minutes and the hours are kept asunder, the days and nights, the fortnights, the months, the seasons and the years; at the bidding of this imperishable one, O Gârgî, the streams run from the snow-mountains, some to the east and others to the west, whithersoever each goes; at the bidding of this imperishable one, O Gârgî, men praise the bountiful givers, the gods desire the sacrificer, the fathers the offerings to the dead."

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This passage, in which all dispositions in space and time, as well as every effect in nature and every desire of men, gods, and manes are ascribed to the âtman, has been often imitated. The comparison of the âtman in Bṛih. 4. 4. 22³ to a *setu*, a word that denotes not only the (connecting) "bridge," but also the (separating) "dike," depends probably upon its first part which speaks of the power of the âtman to keep asunder :—" he is the Lord of the universe, he is the ruler of living beings, he is the protector of living beings; he is the bridge which (the dike which) keeps asunder these worlds, to prevent their clashing together.” The last words recur in Chând. 8. 4. 1 :—“The âtman, he is the bridge (the dike) that keeps asunder these worlds to prevent their clashing together.” When however it is further said:—“This bridge neither day nor night cross, nor old age, nor death, nor suffering,” etc., we have, with a sudden change of the point of view, in place of the dike that separates the relative parts of the universe, a bridge that connects the present with the future world. And this circumstance affords probably a reliable proof of the important conclusion that the similarly sounding words are derived from Bṛih. 4. 4. 22, and their original meaning being lost were reproduced in Chând. 8. 4. 1. The conception thus modified of the bridge of immortality is then further taken over, apparently from Chând. 8. 4. 1, by S'vet. 6. 19 and Muṇḍ. 2. 2. 5. The entire preceding paragraph in Muṇḍ. 2. 1 is in reality an interweaving of the passage quoted¹ with Ṛigv. X. 90 and other additions.²

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³ Quoted in Maitr. 77.

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¹ Bṛih. 3. 8.

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² See Deussen, Upan., p. 550 f.

2. Brahman as Ruler of the Universe

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When it is said in the words quoted from Bṛih. 4. 4. 22, and also in Kaush. 3. 8 (probably in imitation of this passage):—“He is the protector of the universe, he is the ruler of the universe,” two things are implied: (1) that the âtman as protector of the universe maintains things in their condition. This point has been already discussed,—and (2) that he as ruler of the universe guides the creatures in their action. For this latter statement the principal chapter to be considered, together with several that have been already quoted, is Bṛih. 3. 7, which treats of the âtman as the antaryâmin, i.e. the “inner guide.” Yâjñavalkhya begins his instruction on this subject in Bṛih. 3. 7. 3 with the words:—“He who dwelling on the earth is distinct from the earth, whom the earth knows not, whose body the earth is, who rules the earth from within, he is thy soul, the inner guide, the immortal.” What is here asserted of the earth is then further affirmed, with continual repetition of the same formula, of eleven other natural phenomena (water, fire, atmosphere, wind, sky, sun, heavenly regions, moon and stars, ether, darkness and light), then of all living creatures, and finally of the eight organs (breath, speech, eye, ear, manas, skin, intellect, seed); all these natural phenomena, living creatures, and organs are thus the body of the âtman, but are distinct (antara) from him, do not know him, and yet are ruled by him from within. The passage also is frequently used in the sequel. This is especially the case in Mâṇḍûkya 6, and in its reproduction in Nrisiṁhap. 4. 1, Nrisiṁhott. 1, Râmott. 3; also Brahmop. 1 and Bâshkala. A (worthless) definition of the Antaryâmin is given in Sarvopanishatsâra No. 19 :— “ When the âtman as the cause of the natural constitution of compounds endowed with the supreme (consciousness) etc., appears in all bodies, like the string threaded through the store of pearls, he is then called the inner guide” (antaryâmin). In the Vedântasâra § 43 the antaryâmin is identified with Îśvara. A similar place is held by it in the system of Râmânuja.

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To the antaryâmin of Bṛih. 3. 7 there corresponds in the “honey-doctrine” of Bṛih. 2. 5 the “mighty immortal spirit” (tejomaya amṛitamaya purusha), who dwells in all cosmical and psychical phenomenal forms, and therefore renders possible their mutual influence. Here also the valuable fundamental thought is presented in a form which for us has little attraction, in that the same stereotyped formula is repeated fourteen times in succession, a different idea being employed each time :—“This earth,” so the section begins, “is the honey of all living creatures, is the honey of all living creatures ; but that which on the earth that mighty immortal spirit is, and that which in relation to the self that corporeal mighty immortal spirit is, it is even that which is the soul (âtman) here. This is the immortal, this is Brahman, this the universe.” The same which is here affirmed of earth and body is then further affirmed, with invariable repetition of the same formula, of water and seed, fire and speech, wind and breath, sun and eye, etc. The eye is nourished (exists) by the sun, and the sun by the eye (it would not be there if no eye beheld it), and this mutual dependence is only possible because in both the same mighty immortal spirit, *i.e.* the âtman, dwells.¹

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¹ In the introduction to our translation of this paragraph (*Upan.*, p. 420) we have already called attention to the similar teaching of Kant of the “affinity of phenomenal forms,” which is possible only through the “synthetic unity of apperception,” *i.e.* through the knowing subject.

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By the side of these leading passages it will be sufficient merely to make brief mention of the twelve or sixteen purushas put forward as Brahman by Bâlâki Gârgya in Bṛih. 2. 1, Kaush. 4, with which Ajâtas'atru contrasts the âtman as he “who is the creator of all those spirits, whose work this universe is.”² Just as the eight purushas regarded as the âtman by Vidagdha S'akalya in Bṛih. 3. 9. 10–18, 26 (corporeality, desire, the sun, hearing, the shadow, the mirror, water, the son), with which Yâjñavalkhya contrasts the “spirit of the Upanishad doctrine” (*aupanishada purusha*), “who impelling asunder these spirits, and driving them back, steps over and beyond them,” *i.e.* who spurs them on to their work, recalls them from it, and is pre-eminent over them.³

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² Kaush. 4. 19.

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³ Bṛih. 3. 9. 26.

3. Freedom and Constraint of the Will

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In connection with the doctrine of Brahman as ruler of the universe, we propose briefly to consider the question of the freedom and constraint of the human will. Since the entire universe, so far as in general it has any existence, is only the self-manifestation of the âtman, there can be as little question in the Upanishads as with Spinoza of a freedom of the will within the range of nature. Such a freedom would assume a different character of the âtman. The standpoint of the Upanishads therefore is a rigid determinism :¹—" Man is altogether fashioned out of desire (*kâma*); according to his desire is his discernment (*kratu*); according to his discernment he does his work (*karma*)." ² "At the bidding of this imperishable one, O Gârgî, men praise the bountiful givers, the gods desire the sacrificer, the fathers the offerings to the dead." ³ They all, men, gods and fathers, cannot act otherwise than is in harmony with their nature. "For just as men here below pursue the aim after which each aspires, as though it were done at command, whether it be a kingdom or an estate, and live only for that (so in their aspiration for heavenly reward they are the slaves of their desires)." ⁴

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¹ Bṛih. 4. 4. 5.

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² Compare the similar remark in S'atap. Br. X. 6. 3, and Chând. 3. 14. 1.

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³ Bṛih. 3. 8. 9.

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⁴ Chând. 8. 1. 5.

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The words that immediately follow stand in sharp contrast to this statement. Just as Kant, after having in the most decisive manner affirmed the empirical constraint of the will by the eclipse of the sun which may be calculated beforehand, forthwith asserts in the very same line "that man is free," ⁵ so it is said further on in the passage quoted :—" Therefore he who departs from this world without having known the soul or those true desires, his part in all worlds is a life of constraint; but he who departs from this world after having known the soul and those true desires, his part in all worlds is a life of freedom." ⁶ The meaning of this contrast is evident; as sharers in the continuity of nature we are, like it, subject to necessity; but we are free from it as soon as, by virtue of the knowledge of our identity with the âtman, we are set free from this continuity of nature. That the âtman is exempt from the constraint of causality we have already seen (p. 154 ff.). Each of us is this eternally free âtman. We do not first become the âtman, but we are it already, though unconscious of the fact. Accordingly we are already free in reality, in spite of the absolute necessity of our acts, but we do not know it. “Just as he who does not know the hiding-place of a treasure of gold does not find it, although he may pass over it again and again, so none of these creatures find the world of Brahman, although they daily enter into it (in deep sleep); for they are constrained by unreality.”¹ “Those therefore who find this world of Brahman by Brahmacâryam (a life spent as a Brahman student in study and self-mortification), of such is this world of Brahman, and such have part in all worlds in a life of freedom.”² The constraint of the will, absolute as it is, yet belongs entirely to the great illusion of the empirical reality, and vanishes with it. The phenomenal form is under constraint, but that which makes its appearance in it, the âtman, is free. The real consistency of the two points of view is expressed in the words:—“It is he who causes the man whom he will lead on high out of these worlds to do good works, and it is he who causes the man whom he will lead downwards to do evil works.”³ How this thought assumes the form of a doctrine of predestination, in proportion as the âtman is conceived as a personal god, has been already shown (p. 172 ff.). But the entire doctrine of predestination, like the theism on which it depends, is in the Upanishads only an attempt to express in empirical forms what is essentially foreign to them. The eternally free âtman, who determines our doing and abstaining, is not another, contrasted with us, but our own self. Therefore it is said of the âtman :—" He fetters himself by himself (*nibadhnâti âtmanâ âtmânam*), like a bird by its nest."¹ And in Pras'na 3. 3 the answer to the question, how the âtman enters into this body is given :—" he enters into this body *manokṛitena*," which if we follow S'ankara would here mean "by the action of his will," although grammar requires a different conception (as *mano-'kṛitena*, "unconsciously"), an objection which (in spite of Ṛigv. I. 187. 7) it is difficult to pass by with a *sandhir ârshaḥ* (as Anandajñâna says).

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⁵ Krit. d. prakt. Vernunft, p. 120, Kehrb.

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⁶ Chând. 8. 1. 6; cp. the similar statements in Chând. 7. 25. 2, 8. 5. 4.

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¹ Chând. 8. 3. 2.

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² Chând. 8. 4. 3.

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³ Kaush. 3. 8.

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¹ Maitr. 3. 2.

4. Brahman as Providence

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While the control of the universe may be ascribed to an impersonal principle (acting as *antaryâmin*, "inner guide"), Providence implies a personal God. In harmony with this in the ancient Upanishads we see a belief in Providence, like theism, make its appearance only here and there as a poetical form of representation. It is only in the later Upanishads that with the personification of the âtman belief in a divine providence also acquires a firmer consistency. The conception of Ait. 1. 2 is mythical throughout, describing how the deities, (*i.e.* the organs of sense and the corresponding nature gods), produced by the âtman from the purusha, plunge into the ocean, suffer hunger and thirst, and then receive from the âtman mankind allotted to them as a domicile, in which they may enjoy food, which they are then however compelled to share with the demoniac powers of hunger and thirst. The "well-being" also (*i.e.* probably "adaptability") which in Taitt. 2. 7 is declared to be the essence of the universe, and (by means of a play on the words *sukṛita* and *svakṛita*) is deduced from the fact that the universe is only a self-manifestation of the Brahman who is essentially bliss, can only be regarded as the first germ of a belief in a providence that guides to ends. Such a providence appears more clearly as early as Kâṭh. 5. 13 :—

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He who as the eternal creates the temporal,
Himself pure bliss, as spirit creates the spirits, as one the many,
He who, the wise, sees them dwell in himself,
He alone and no other has eternal peace.

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The concession which the first half of this verse makes to theism is retracted in the second half, and it is characteristic that in the reproduction of this verse in S'vet. 6. 13 the second half is altered in a theistic sense :—

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He who by examination (*sânkhyam*) and devotion (*yoga*)
Knows this primeval one as god, is freed from all fetters.¹

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¹ According to some, the author here, as a foundation for his theism appeals to the atheistic Sânkhya system !

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A significant advance in the direction of theism and belief in providence is found in the thought which is repeated from Kâṭh. 5. 13 in Îs'â 8, where it is said (word for word) :—" The wise, thoughtful, all-comprehending, self-existent one has assigned ends *yâthâtathyato* for all time." The word *yâthâtathyato*, interpolated later as the metre shows, gives evidence of a further advance upon the original verse; "in proportion to the quality," *i.e.* according to (*yathâ*) the works of the individual soul, so (*tathâ*) has the wise thoughtful one (*kavir manîshî*) determined beforehand the ends (the fruit of actions, the doing and suffering of each soul). This is already, unless we have read too much into the verse, the part which îs'vara plays in the later Vedânta. The works of the soul are the seed-corn, which in close correspondence with its quality is made to grow by god as the rain ; just as by the seed the plant, so by the works of the earlier existence the future life is determined both as regards its doing and its suffering. A clear distinction between these two is not to be found even in the later Vedânta. In general this later Vedânta standpoint is anticipated by the S'vetâs'vatara Upanishad, which in harmony with its theistic colouring depicts the âtman as “the overseer of actions,”¹ “the only free one, who multiplies the one seed of many who are by nature free from actions,”² who apportions to each his qualities,³ who executes justice, restrains the evil, allots good fortune,⁴ “who, himself colourless, but endowed abundantly with powers, assigns the numerous colours to appointed ends,”⁵ who brings to maturity the actions of the soul:—

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¹ S'vet. 6. 11.

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² S'vet. 6. 12 ; in reality the soul is actionless like the âtman, which it is.

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³ S'vet. 6. 4.

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⁴ S'vet. 6. 6.

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⁵ S'vet. 4. 1.

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When every birth comes to maturity with his being,
Whatever is to ripen, he makes it all to grow;
He as one, guides here all and each,
Apportioning to each his peculiar gifts.⁶

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⁶ S'vet. 5. 5.

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It is moreover characteristic of this Upanishad (which we compared above to a *codex palimpsestus*), that the ancient Upanishad thought ever and anon makes itself apparent through this elaborate theistic doctrine of recompense; by virtue of which it is God Himself who fetters Himself as soul to continually new forms corresponding to the actions that have been committed:—

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As soul he chooses many forms both gross
And subtle, corresponding to his virtue;
And that which bound him by the power of his work and of himself
To this, binds him also to another.⁷

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⁷ S'vet. 5. 12.

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We see therefore the thinkers of the Upanishads, after they have wandered in obedience to the empirical determination of their intellect, into realistic modes of representation, constantly returning to the original idealism.

5. Cosmography of the Upanishads

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The views that are found in the Upanishads with regard to the universe and its parts are scanty in detail, and possess little consistency.

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As concerns, to begin with, the geographical horizon, it is seen to be essentially limited by the ranges of the Himâlaya and Vindhya on the north and south,¹ and by the river basins and mouths of the Indus and Ganges on the west and east. Day is born in the ocean towards the east, night in the ocean towards the west.² “These streams, my dear sir, flow in the east towards the morning, and in the west towards the evening; from ocean to ocean they flow (uniting together), they become open sea.”³ What lies beyond these limits appears to be unknown. Only in a quite late Upanishad that is founded upon the Râmâyaṇa is mention made of Laṅkâ in (sic) Ceylon⁴ and similar names. But even the country of the Indus appears as almost unknown. Noble steeds are brought thence,⁵ perhaps salt also;⁶ the people of Gandhâra (west of the Indus, and south of Peshawar) appear in Chând. 6. 14 as distant; the Brahman students penetrate in their wanderings as far as the Madras (on the Hyphasis).⁷ Just as Yâjñavalkhya appears as the greatest personality in the Upanishads, so Janaka appears as the centre of the intellectual life of the court that surrounds him; he is king of Videha (north-east of Patna), where in Bṛih. 3. 1. 1 the Brâhmans also of the Kurus and Pañcâlas (who dwell farther west, between the Ganges and the Jumna) gather together to the great argumentative contest described in Bṛih. 3. 1–9. Together with these, reference is made to the courts of Ajātaśatru, king of Kāśi (around Benares),¹ and of Jīvala, king of the Pañcālas.² The Kekayas, on the upper course of the Hydraotes, as repositories of the knowledge stored up in the Upanishads, seem to belong to the far north-west; whose king Aśvapati imparts instruction on the Vaiśvānara to the six Brāhmans who approach him.³ Apart from these, in the enumeration in Kaush. 4. 1 of the peoples who have sought the renowned Vedic scholar Gārgya Bālāki, are named probably all the tribes who took an active part in the intellectual life of the period. They are these:—the Uśīnaras, Satvans, and Matsyas, west of the Jumna; the Kurus and Pañcālas between the Jumna and Ganges; the Kāśīs east of the latter, and still farther east the Videhas. No common name for the Āryan races or their country is found in the ancient Upanishads. In Nādabindu 12 for the first time *Bhāratam varsham* occurs as a name of Āryan India. The “five races of five”⁴ appear to denote merely the indefinite multitude⁵ of all the races of mankind.

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¹ Kaush. 2. 13.

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² Bṛih. 1. 1. 2.

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³ Chând. 6. 10. 1; whether we are to think here with S'ankara in loc. of a return of the water of the sea into the rivers by means of clouds and rain is in view of the wording of the text very questionable; cp. Chând. 2. 4. 1.

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⁴ Râmapûrvat. 43. 45.

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⁵ Bṛih. 6. 1. 13.

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⁶ Bṛih. 2. 4. 12, 4. 5. 13; cp. Maitr. 6. 35.

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⁷ Bṛih. 3. 3. 1, 3. 7. 1.

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¹ Bṛih. 2. 1, Kaush. 4.

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² Chānd. 5. 3–10, Bṛih. 6. 2 ; for whom in Kaush. 1 Cītra Gāngyāyana is introduced.

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³ Śatap. Br. 10. 6. 1, Chānd. 5. 11–24.

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⁴ *pañca pañcajanāḥ*, Bṛih. 4. 4. 17 ; cp. the remark there.

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⁵ cp. *pañcanadam*, *Allgemeine Einleitung*, p. 73.

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The earth is surrounded by water.⁶ According to a late text, it has oceans, mountains, and seven islands or continents.⁷ The conception of heaven and earth as the two halves of the egg of the universe recurs.⁸ A similar view appears to lie at the basis of the cosmography described in Bṛih. 3. 3. Here the same concentric arrangement holds in the universe as in the different layers in an egg, viz.—(1) in the middle the (inhabited)

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⁶ Chānd. 3. 11. 6.

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⁷ Nṛisimhap. 1. 2, 5. 2.

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⁸ Chānd. 3. 19.

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world, (2) around this the earth, (3) around this again the sea. The world is in breadth 32 days' journey of the chariot of the sun, the earth 64, the sea 128; according to which measurement the diameter of the egg of the universe would amount to 416 courses of the sun. "There," *i.e.* where heaven and earth as the two layers of the egg of the universe meet one another, "is a space as broad as the edge of a razor or the wing of a fly" (between the two layers), through which access is obtained to the place where the offerers of the horse-sacrifice are, *i.e.* probably to the "back of heaven" (*nâkasya prishṭham*) mentioned in other passages as being "free from suffering,"¹ where according to Taitt. Âr. 10. 1. 52 union with Brahman is obtained,² but according to Vâj. Saṁh. 15. 50 recompense for good works, and the latter according to Muṇḍ. 1. 2. 10³ is transitory. A second scheme of cosmography, though put forward by Yâjñavalkhya in Bṛih. 3. 6 in the same context, is irreconcilable with that mentioned in Bṛih. 3. 3. According to this theory the universe inwoven with the water is besides "inwoven and interwoven" with ten other layers, *i.e.* is overlaid by them, or, perhaps more correctly, is altogether surrounded by them. These ten layers (the worlds of the wind, the atmosphere, the Gandharvas, the sun, moon, stars, the gods, Indra, Prajâpati and Brahman) recall the degrees of bliss of Bṛih. 4. 3. 33 and Taitt. 2. 8, as well as the stations of the way of the gods.⁴ The difference is that in these, as we shall see later, measurements of time and space are co-ordinated together, exactly as in Chând. 2. 10. 5 similar terms are added together without consideration.⁵

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¹ *nâkam* = *na akam*, Chând. 2. 10. 5.

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² *brahma salokatâ*; cp. also Mahânâr. 1. 1, 10. 21, 63. 5.

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³ cp. Kâṭh. 3. 1.

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⁴ Chând. 4. 15. 5, 5. 10. 1–2, Bṛih. 6. 2. 15, and especially Kaush. 1. 3.

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⁵ cp. also Bṛih. 1. 1.

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The prevailing view in the Upanishads is the traditional one, according to which there are three world-regions, earth, air and heaven, to which Agni, Vâyu and Âditya correspond as rulers.¹ The fragment of a verse also which is inserted in Chând. 8. 5. 3 is to be interpreted in this sense (that this is so is shown by Atharvav. 5. 4. 3 also):—*tritîyasyâm ito divi*. The reference is not here, as often elsewhere, to three heavens, but the words mean,—"In the heaven, which is (reckoned) the third from here." According to Ait. 1. 1. 2 the primeval waters extend above and below the three regions (earth, air and heaven). Bṛih. 3. 8. 4 teaches that all three are inwoven in the âkâśa, as the latter in Brahman. Very often earth, air and heaven are denoted by the three mystic syllables of the sacrifice (*vyâhṛitis*) *bhûr, bhuvaḥ, svar*. In Taitt. 1. 5 a fourth *mahas* is added to them, denoting probably Brahman. Later, three higher worlds, *janas, tapas*, and *satyam*, were imposed above these four, and so the number seven was obtained, the first mention of which as far as our knowledge goes is in Muṇḍ. 1. 2. 3, and the first enumeration of them in Taitt. Âr. 10. 27–28. Later lists are given in Nâdabindu 3–4, Nṛisimhap. 5. 6. In course of time a distinction was drawn between *bhûr, bhuvaḥ, svar, mahas, jana(s), tapas*, and *satyam* as the seven upper worlds, and *atala, pâtâla, vitala, sutala, rasâtala, mahâtala, talâtala*² as the seven lower. Even this number was exceeded, and in Atharvas'iras 6 nine heavens, nine atmospheres, and nine earths are reckoned.

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¹ Chând. 1. 3. 7, 2. 21. 1, 3. 15. 5, Bṛih. 1. 2. 3, 1. 5. 4, 3. 9. 8, Pras'na 5. 7, etc.

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² Âruṇeya Up. 1; cp. Vedântasâra § 129.

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The number also of the heavenly regions is differently given. In Chând. 4. 5. 2 four are enumerated (east, west, south and north; five in Bṛih. 3. 9. 20–24; six in Bṛih. 4. 2. 4, Chând. 7. 25; eight (four poles, and four intermediate between the poles) in Maitr. 6. 2, Râmap. 71–72, 87, 89.

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Astronomical conceptions are only slightly developed in the Upanishads. Sun and moon enter principally into consideration, in so far as they form stations for the soul on its journey to the other world, a subject that will later demand treatment. If the texts of Chând. 4. 15. 5, 5. 10. 2 are to be followed, the sun is nearer to us than the moon. The red white and black aspects of the sun depend, according to Chând. 3. 1 f., on the juices of the different Vedas dissolved in it. According to Chând. 6. 4. 2–3, sun and moon also, like everything else in the universe, consist of the three elements; the red in them of fire, the white of water, the black of earth. The sun moves in winter and summer alternately for six months to the south and six to the north.¹ It is disc-shaped (*maṇḍalam*).² The purusha of the sun dwells therein, who is usually hidden by the rays,³ but by these same rays is brought into connection with the purusha in the eye,⁴ or with the veins of the heart.⁵ The moon is (as in Ṛigv. X. 85. 5) the soma cup of the gods, which is alternately drained by them and again filled;⁶ on the other hand, the waxing and waning of the moon depend on the arrival of the dead therein and their return.⁷ The two conceptions are combined in Bṛih. 6. 2. 16. According to Bṛih. 1. 5. 14, the moon is Prajâpati as prâṇa, whose fifteen parts alternately disappear and are again restored. At an eclipse the moon is held in the jaws of *Râhu*.⁸ All night long the moon holds on her course among the other constellations (*nakshatram*), on which she depends like the Sâman on the Ṛic.⁹ The same 27 constellations are traversed, according to Maitr. 6. 14, by the sun on his yearly journey, and therefore on each of the twelve months 27/12 aksha tras, i.e. nine quarters (navâṁs'akam) of them are covered. The planets (grahâḥ) are first mentioned in Maitr. 6. 16. In a very late text¹ their number is given as nine, and therefore together with sun and moon Râhu and Ketu also (the head and tail of the dragon) are reckoned with them. S'ukra, Venus,² and S'ani, Saturn are especially mentioned with Râhu and Ketu.³ Of movements affecting the cosmos there are mentioned in Maitr. 1. 4:—"the drying up of great seas, shattering of mountains, oscillations of the pole-star (dhruva), straining of the ropes of the wind (which bind the constellations to the pole-star), sinkings of the earth, and overthrow of the gods from their place."

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¹ Chând. 4. 15. 5, 5. 10. 1–3, Bṛih. 6. 2. 15–16.

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² Bṛih. 2. 3. 3, 5. 5. 2–3, Mahânâr. 13.

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³ Bṛih. 5. 5. 2, 5. 15, Îś'â 16.

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⁴ Bṛih. 5. 5. 2.

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⁵ Chând. 8. 6. 2.

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⁶ Chând. 5. 10. 4.

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⁷ Kaush. 1. 2, 2. 8; differently in 2. 9.

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⁸ Chând. 8. 13. 1.

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⁹ Chând. 1. 6. 4.

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¹ Râmottarat. 5.

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² Maitr. 7. 3.

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³ Maitr. 7. 6.

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As curiosities of natural science we will cite further that the rain has its origin from the sun,⁴ while heat occasions storm and rain,⁵ just as indeed in men warmth draws forth sweat and heat tears of pain;⁶ also that according to Maitr. 6. 27 "a piece of iron buried in the earth enters forthwith into the substance of the earth." The anatomical and physiological views of the Upanishads will later on be discussed.⁷

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⁴ Mahânâr. 63. 16, Maitr. 6. 37; cp. Manu 3. 76.

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⁵ Chând. 7, 11. 1.

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⁶ Chând. 6. 2. 3.

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⁷ Chap. XII, 6.

Linked texts (22)