The Philosophy of the Upanishads c12.s1.t2: 2. Ancient Vedic Eschatology

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c12.s1.t2

Language: English

c12.s1.t2.65 — 4 parts

2. Ancient Vedic Eschatology

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In no Vedic text earlier than the Upanishads can the doctrine of the soul’s transmigration be certainly traced, although the Upanishads themselves ascribe it even to the Rigveda. The artificial manner however in which this is done is in favour of the view that we have to do with a doctrine of recent origin, for which a confirmation was sought in the ancient sacred texts. Three passages have to be considered.

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In Bṛih. 1. 4. 10 it is said of Vâmadeva, the poet of Rigveda IV., that he (by virtue of a *śâstra-dṛishṭi*, an inspired conception, as Bâdarâyaṇa says,¹ quoting this instance) recognised himself as Brahman; and as a proof of his knowledge of Brahman alleged his acquaintance with his former births as Manu and Sûrya :—" Knowing this, Vâmadeva the ṛishi began :²—

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¹ I. 1. 30.

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² Rigv. IV. 26. 1.

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I was once Manu, I was once the sun."

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More clearly in Ait. 2. 4 the authority of Vâmadeva is invoked in order to prove that a third birth after death follows on the first birth (as a child), and the second birth (by spiritual education) :—" After he has completed what he has to do, and has become old, he departs hence; departing hence, he is once more born; this is his third birth. Therefore says the ṛishi :³—

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³ Rigv. IV. 27. 1.

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While yet tarrying in my mother's womb,
I have learnt all the births of these gods;
Had a hundred iron fortresses held me back,
Yet like a hawk of swift flight I had escaped away.

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So Vâmadeva spake though he still lay thus in his mother's womb." The quotation from the hymn of Vâmadeva admits of interpretation here only if we understand by the hawk the soul, and by the iron fortresses the bodies through which it wanders.¹

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¹ cp. Bṛih. 2. 5. 18.

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That neither quotation of Vâmaveda has anything to do with the doctrine of the soul’s transmigration, needs no elaborate proof. In the first Indra glorifies his magical power, which enables him to assume all manner of forms.² In the second is depicted the cunning hawk of Indra already in his mother’s womb, as he leaves his fortified dwelling-place, in order to fetch the soma from heaven; or perhaps the wise soma itself relates how it, borne away by the hawk from its iron strongholds, “as a hawk” (i.e. carried by it) comes down to earth.

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² cp. Ṛigv. VI. 47. 18, *Indro mâyâbhiḥ pururûpa’ îyate*.

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At first sight the doctrine in question appears to be more closely related to a third quotation. In the great transmigration text it is said in a reference to the way of the gods :³—“And thou hast indeed failed to comprehend the word of the seer, who speaks thus:—

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³ Bṛih. 6. 2. 2.

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Two ways, I heard, there are for men,
The way of the fathers and the way of the gods;
On the latter everything meets
That moves between father and mother.”

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This translation is correct in the sense of the Upanishad, but not in the sense of the original, which is found in Ṛigv. X. 83. 15 (overlooked by all former translators) in a hymn celebrating Agni in his twofold character as sun by day and fire by night. In view of this connection, it can hardly be doubtful that by the two ways that unite all that moves between earth and heaven day and night are to be understood, and thus the passage is to be rendered:—“I have heard from my forefathers that there are two ways alike for gods and men.” They are all subject to the laws of day and night.

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The hymns of the Rigveda therefore know nothing yet of a migration of the soul, but teach for the good a continued existence with the gods under the control of Yama, for the evil a journey only dimly indicated into the abyss. The standpoint of the Atharva hymns and of the Brāhmaṇas is the same; only that the conception of a recompense for works is carried out in detail. This recompense however lies always solely in the future, and in the Upanishads for the first time is transferred into the present. A brief glance at the ancient Vedic eschatology will confirm this.

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Immortal life with the gods is represented in many hymns of the Rigveda, especially the older, as a peculiar gift of the grace of the gods, to confer which Agni,¹ the Maruts,² Mitra-Varuṇa,³ Soma,⁴ and other gods are entreated, and which is offered in particular to the generous worshipper.⁵ Later on it is Yama, the first man, who has found the way for many descendants to that glorious height, and who there sits enthroned as the gatherer together of men.⁶ In order to attain to him, the soul must successfully pass by the two spotted four-eyed broad-nosed dogs of Yama,⁷ which apparently guard the entrance to the heavenly world and do not admit everyone. Here is probably to be found the first trace of a judgement of the dead, as it is put into practice by Yama in the late Indian eschatology. Elsewhere⁸ to these dogs is assigned the office of wandering up and down amongst men, and dragging off those appointed to die. According to X. 165. 4 the dove (kapota) is Yama's messenger of death. Mention is made also⁹ of the fetters or the catch-net (paḍbiś'am) of Yama, so that for the singers of the Ṛigveda he already represents also the terrors of death. Usually however in these older times Yama is conceived as the ruler in the kingdom of the blessed, as he sits enthroned afar,¹ in the midst of heaven,² in the bosom of the ruddy morning,³ in the highest heaven,⁴ in eternal light.⁵ There he sits, drinking with the gods, under a tree with fair foliage,⁶ there the dead gather around him, in order to see Yama, or Varuṇa;⁷ they leave imperfection behind them, and return to their true home,⁸ to the pasturage of which no one will again rob them,⁹ where the weak is no longer subject to the strong,¹⁰ where in immortal life in association with Yama they “delight themselves at the banquet” with the gods.¹¹ Stress has frequently been laid on the sensuous character which is thus borne by the ancient Vedic pictures of the future life. But on this point it may be remarked that a conception of the joy of heaven on the analogy of that of earth is natural to man and inevitable (so far as he shrinks from an absolute denial of its existence); that even Jesus represents the kingdom of heaven as a festal gathering, where they sit down to table,¹² and drink wine;¹³ and that even a Dante or a Milton could not choose but borrow all the colours for their pictures from this world of earth. In other respects great differences are shown in the ancient Vedic descriptions of the other world, varying indeed according to the individual character of the poet,—from the fancy of the poet of Atharvav 4. 34, that runs riot in a vulgar sensuality (who indeed already sufficiently reveals his disposition by the manner in which he praises his rice-pap and the gift of it to the Brâhmans; the whole might almost be regarded as a parody), to the more spiritual perception of the beautiful verses, Rigv. IX. 113. 7–11, of which we give a rendering with the omission of the refrain :—

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¹ I. 31. 7.

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² V. 55. 4.

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³ V. 63. 2.

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⁴ I. 91. 1.

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⁵ yaḥ priṇāti sa ha deveshu gac'chati, etc., I. 125. 5–6.

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⁶ saṅgamano janānām, X. 14. 1 f.

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⁷ X. 14. 10.

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⁸ X. 14. 12.

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⁹ X. 97. 16.

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¹ I. 36. 18.

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² X. 15. 14.

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³ X. 15. 7.

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⁴ Vâj. Saṃh. 18. 51, Atharvav. 18. 2. 48.

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⁵ IX. 113. 7.

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⁶ X. 135. 1.

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⁷ X. 14. 7.

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⁸ hitvâya avadyam punar astam ehi, X. 10. 8.

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⁹ X. 14. 2.

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¹⁰ Atharvav. 3. 29. 3.

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¹¹ sadhamâdam madanti, Ṛigv. X. 14. 10, Atharvav. 18. 4. 10, etc.

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¹² Matt. 8¹¹.

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¹³ Matt. 26²⁹.

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7. The kingdom of inexhaustible light,
Whence is derived the radiance of the sun,
To this kingdom transport me,
Eternal, undying.

8. There, where Yama sits enthroned as king,
Among the holiest of the heavenly world,
Where ever living water streams,
There suffer me to dwell immortal.

9. Where we may wander undisturbed at will,
Where the third loftiest heaven spreads its vault,
Where are realms filled with light,
There suffer me to dwell immortal.

10. Where is longing and the consummation of longing,
Where the other side of the sun is seen,
Where is refreshment and satiety,
There suffer me to dwell immortal.

11. Where bliss resides and felicity,
Where joy beyond joy dwells,
Where the craving of desire is stilled,
There suffer me to dwell immortal.

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There also “the fathers” dwell in company with the gods, and like them are invoked to draw near and partake of the sacrifice. To the fathers as well as to the gods are ascribed the wonders of creation,¹ the adornment of the sky with stars,² the bringing forth of the sun,³ etc. They therefore stand generally on an equality with the gods, and though occasionally there is found as early as the Rigveda⁴ an indication of a different abode of the fathers, no distinction of different degrees of blessedness, such as a later text assumes for the fathers, the unbegotten gods and the gods of creation,¹ is as yet recognised.

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¹ Rigv. VIII. 48. 13.

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² X. 68. 11.

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³ X. 107. 1.

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⁴ X. 15. 1–2.

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¹ Bṛih. 4. 3. 33, Taitt. 2. 8.

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Of the fate of the wicked obscure indications only are contained in the Rigveda. They are "predestined for that abysmal place,"² are hurled by Indra and Soma into the pit,³ or into bottomless darkness,⁴ into the grave,⁵ or into the outer darkness.⁶ Perhaps also the expression should be quoted "the blind darkness" (*andham tamas*) frequently employed by the Upanishads,⁷ into which already, according to Rigv. X. 89. 15, 103. 12, the demons are to be plunged. They however do not understand by the "joyless regions veiled in blind darkness" into which the ignorant pass after death an imaginary hell, but this world in which we live.

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² *idam padam ajanata gabhîram*, Rigv. IV. 5. 5.

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³ *vavra*, VII. 104. 3.

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⁴ *anârambhanam tamas*, *ib.*

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⁵ *karta*, IX. 73. 8.

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⁶ X. 152. 4.

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⁷ Bṛih. 4. 4. 10 f., Îsâ 3. 9. 12; cp. Kâṭh. 1. 3.

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The eschatological views of the Rigveda meet us further developed in the hymns of the Atharvaveda and in the Brâhmaṇas. More exact accounts are given of the fate of the good and the wicked. Verses such as Atharvav. 5. 19. 3, 13 remind us already of the later descriptions of hell:—

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Those who spit at Brâhmans,
Or cast on them the mucus of the nose,
They sit there in pools of blood,
Chewing their hair for food.

The tears that rolled down from his eyes,
Bewailing himself, tormented,
Which the gods quaff as their drink,
Such are appointed for thee, torturer of Brâhmans.

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In greater detail the Brâhmaṇas describe "the world of the pious" (*sukṛitâm loka*).⁸ These rise again in the other world, their body complete with all its limbs and joints (*sarvatanu, sarvânga, sarvaparus*).¹ This new body is stronger, and in the other world in proportion to the faithfulness with which they have observed the rites of sacrifice, many of the pious need to take food once only in fourteen days, in four, six or twelve months, or a hundred years, or finally they are able altogether to dispense with it.² Thus they live in perpetual intercourse, in fellowship with the worlds and with living beings (*sâyujyam, salokatâ, sarûpatâ*), with the gods, with Âditya,³ with Agni, Varuṇa and Indra,⁴ or even with the impersonal Brahman.⁵ In S'atap. Br. 10. 5. 4. 15 indeed it is said already of the wise:—“He himself is free from desires, has gained all that he desires, no longer does desire (entice) him to anything. Concerning this is the verse:—

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⁸ The expression occurs only once in the Rigveda, X. 16. 4, but afterwards, characteristically, becomes more and more common, Vâj. Saṃh. 18. 52, Atharvav. 3. 28. 6, 9. 5. 1, 11. 1. 17, 18. 3. 71, etc.

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¹ Atharvav. 11. 3. 32, S'atap. Br. 4. 6. 1. 1, 11. 1. 8. 6, 12. 8. 3. 31. ² S'atap. Br. 10. 1. 5. 4. ³ Ait. Br. 3. 44, Taitt. Br. 3. 10. 9. 11. ⁴ S'atap. Br. 2. 6. 4. 8. ⁵ S'atap. Br. 11. 4. 4. 2. ⁶ As Weber assumes, *Zeitschr. d. D. M. G.*, ix. 139.

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By knowledge they climb upwards,
Thither, where desire is quenched,
No sacrificial gift reaches thither,
Nor penance of the ignorant.

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For that world cannot be won by sacrificial gifts nor by asceticism by the man who does not know this; for only to him who knows this does that state belong.” Here already in place of works and asceticism knowledge makes its appearance, and in harmony with this emancipation instead of the glory of heaven. Transmigration therefore is not presupposed,⁶ for there is no mention of transmigration earlier than the Upanishads. Probably however the germs of it are latent already in the Brâhmaṇas, as we propose now to show.

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3. The Germs of the Doctrine of Transmigration

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The chief aim of the Brâhmaṇas is to prescribe the acts of ritual, and to offer for their accomplishment a manifold reward, and at the same time sufferings and punishment for their omission. While they defer rewards as well as punishments partly to the other world, in place of the ancient Vedic conception of an indiscriminate felicity of the pious, the idea of recompense is formulated, involving the necessity of setting before the departed different degrees of compensation in the other world proportionate to their knowledge and actions. Since however the oldest form of punishment among all peoples in a natural state is revenge, this recompense also consists originally in the doing to us in the other world of the very same good and evil which we have done to anyone in this. This theory is realistically expressed in the words of S'atap. Br. 12. 9. 1. 1:—"For whatever food a man eats in this world, by the very same is he eaten again (praty-atti) in the other." A second proof is furnished by the narrative in S'atap. Br. 11. 6. 1 of the vision of the punishment in the other world which was permitted to Bhṛigu; and we may entirely assent to the view of Weber,¹ who was the first to discuss this question, when he explains the liturgical interpretation of this vision as a subsequent addition of the Brâhman author. Removing this there is left as the kernel, that Bhṛigu in the different regions sees men shrieking aloud, by whom other men shrieking are hewn in pieces limb by limb, chopped up and consumed with the words:—"Thus have they done to us in yonder world, and so we do to them again in this world." When the vision concludes with the black man with yellow eyes and the judge's staff in his hand, at whose side stand beautiful and ugly women (good and evil works), assuredly no doubt is left as to its original meaning.

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¹ Zeitsch. d. D. M. G., ix. 237 f.

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From the primitive doctrine of retribution, as this extract preserved accidentally in a later Brāhmaṇa text exhibits it, the idea of an equalising justice may have been developed by degrees, as it appears in S'atap. Br. 11. 2. 7. 33 :—"For they lay it (the good and evil) on the scales in yonder world; and whichever of the two sinks down, that will he follow, whether it be the good or the evil." Not all, according to a somewhat different view, find the way to the heavenly world:¹—"Many a man may fail to find his place when he departs hence, but bewildered by the fire (at the corpse burning), and clouded by the smoke, he fails to find out his place." Others are kept at a distance from the world of the fathers for a longer or shorter time by their misdeeds:²—"Whosoever threatens (a Brāhman) he shall atone for it with a hundred (years); he who lays violent hands on him with a thousand; but he who sheds his blood shal! not find the world of the fathers for as many years as the grains of dust number that are moistened by its streams. Therefore men should not threaten a Brāhman, or lay hands on him, or shed his blood, for there is involved in it so great an offence." Here the "world of the fathers" seems still, as in the Rigveda, to present itself before the mind as the highest goal.

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In course of time however a distinction arose between the way of the gods and the way of the fathers,³ and similarly between the world of the gods as the abode of the blessed and the world of the fathers as the place of retribution. Precisely again as in the later doctrine of transmigration it is said that the entrance to the heavenly world lies in the north-east,⁴ and the entrance to the world of the fathers in the south-west,¹ a distinction which is of all the more importance because it is found in two different passages, and is therefore not to be ascribed to an incidental process of systematising. Every man is born in the world fashioned by himself.² We hear of an “immortality” which lasts only a hundred years;³ and that he who sacrifices to the gods “does not gain so great a world as he who sacrifices to the âtman.”⁴ In another text it is said that “day and night (time) consume in yonder world the worth (of good works) for him who does not know this”;⁵ and Naciketas solicits as his second wish the imperishableness (akshiti) of good works.⁶ With especial frequency do we meet with the fear that, instead of the hoped for immortality (amṛitatvam, the “not-dying-any-more-ness”) a renewed death (punarmṛityu, death over again) may await man in the other world, and to avoid this all kinds of means are provided. “He who builds up or knows the Naciketas fire;

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he escapes renewed death.”⁷ “He who celebrates the day of the equinox, he overcomes hunger and renewed death.”⁸ “He therefore who knows this escape from death in the agnihotram is delivered from renewed death”;⁹ “The yajamâna, who builds up the fire, becomes the divinity of the fire, and vanquishes thereby renewed death.”¹⁰ “He who knows how hunger flees before food, thirst before drink, misfortune before happiness, darkness before light, death before immortality, before him all these flee, and he escapes renewed death.”¹¹ A like escape is his who builds up the fire in the appointed way,¹² offers an appointed sacrifice,¹³ in the appointed way studies the Veda.¹ Thus “escape from renewed death” becomes finally a stereotyped formula,² which is occasionally employed even where it seems to give no meaning.³ We meet it even in the texts of the older Upanishads :—He escapes recurrent death who knows that death is his own self,⁴ that sacrifices to the âtman avail,⁵ that there is a water to quench the fire of death,⁶ that the wind is the sum and substance of all.⁷ That this renewed death is to be understood of a repeated dying in the other world is taught especially by two passages :—“Accordingly he brings his fathers, who are mortal, to a condition of immortality, and causes them who are mortal to rise again from out of the condition of immortality ;

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in truth, he who knows this averts renewed death from his fathers.”⁸ “They then who know this or do this work rise again after death, and when they rise again they rise to immortality ; but they who do not know this or fail to do this work rise again after death, and become again and again its prey.”⁹ From the parallel which this passage draws between immortality and recurrent death it is clear that the latter also is not to be understood as transmigration, but only of a resurrection and repeated death in the other world. It was only necessary however to transfer that renewed death from an imaginary future world into the present in order to arrive at the doctrine of transmigration. This takes place first in the Upanishads, and the reasons that led to this last step will not evade us. Here it is only necessary to remark further that not all the Upanishad texts know or recognise a transmigration of souls, and when it is said in Bṛih. 1. 5. 16,—“The world of men is to be gained only through a son, not at all by works; by works the world of the fathers is gained, by knowledge the world of the gods," this text also knows nothing as yet of a transmigration, unless it is to be considered as a protest against the new up-start dogma. Similarly passages like Bṛih. 1. 4. 15 (good works come at last to nought) and 3. 8. 10 (sacrifice and asceticism win only finite reward) are still to be understood of an exhaustion of the value of works in the other world.

Cites (13)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Śatapathabrāhmaṇa — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Śuklayajurvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇa — Kauṣītaki, Sanskrit
Kṛṣṇayajurvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit
Kaṭhopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Taittirīyopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Aitareyopaniṣad — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit
Īśopaniṣad — Sanskrit

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c12.s1.t2: 2. Ancient Vedic Eschatology

Contents

2. Ancient Vedic Eschatology

Cites (13)