The Philosophy of the Upanishads c10.s2.t2.4

c10.s2.t2.4

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