The Philosophy of the Upanishads c11.s2.t5.9

c11.s2.t5.9

The same is true of the leading passage for both doctrines,⁴ where it is said of the soul as it departs and hastens to a new birth :—“In truth, this self is Brahman, consisting of knowledge, manas, life, eye and ear, consisting of earth, water, wind and ether, consisting of fire and not of fire, of desire and not of desire, of anger and not of anger, of justice and not of justice, consisting of all. Exactly as a man in this life consists of this or of that, exactly as he acts, exactly as he moves, so will he be born ; he who does good will be born good, he who does evil will be born evil, he becomes holy by holy deeds, evil by evil.” If we leave out of consideration the addition “and not by fire” which is wanting in the Mâdhyandina recension, and from which a satisfactory meaning can only with difficulty be extracted, the passage enumerates as permanent companions of the soul the organs and five elements, as changing factors the moral qualities. We see here the theories of the subtle body and the ethical qualification growing up side by side. The following verse is appended :—