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The Philosophy of the Upanishads c7.s1: 1. The Fundamental Conception of the Upanishads

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c7.s1

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1. The Fundamental Conception of the Upanishads

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All the thoughts of the Upanishads move around two fundamental ideas. These are (1) the Brahman, and (2) the âtman. As a rule these terms are employed synonymously. Where a difference reveals itself, Brahman appears as the older and less intelligible expression, âtman as the later and more significant; Brahman as the unknown that needs to be explained, âtman as the known through which the other unknown finds its explanation; Brahman as the first principle so far as it is comprehended in the universe, âtman so far as it is known in the inner self of man. We may take as an example the passages from S'atap. Br. 10. 6. 3, Chând. 3. 14,¹ whose sole fundamental thought consists in this, that the universe is Brahman (*sarvam khalu idam brahma*), and the Brahman the âtman within us (*esha ma' âtmâ antar hṛidaye, etc.*).² Another example is furnished by the story of Gârgya (Bṛih. 2. 1, Kaush. 4), who endeavours in vain to define the Brahman, until finally he is referred by the king to the âtman for its

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¹ Translated in I. 1 pp. 264, 336.

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² Böhtlingk maintains * that I had "not known(!) that esha ma' âtmâ antar hṛidaye is everywhere subject." He himself, however, involuntarily bears testimony to the correctness of my translation, when, immediately after his rendering in § 3, "this my Self in my innermost heart," in § 4 where the same phrase recurs he translates precisely as I do, "this is my Self in my innermost heart."

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* *Berichte der Sächs. G. d. W., 1897, p. 84.

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explanation. The difference between Brahman and âtman emerges most clearly where they appear side by side with one another in brief sayings. The passage Bṛih. 4. 4. 5 may serve as example :—"truly the Brahman is this Âtman" (sa vâ' ayam âtmâ brahma).

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If for our present purpose we hold fast to this distinction of the Brahman as the cosmical principle of the universe, the âtman as the psychical, the fundamental thought of the entire Upanishad philosophy may be expressed by the simple equation :— Brahman = Âtman.

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That is to say—the Brahman, the power which presents itself to us materialised in all existing things, which creates, sustains, preserves, and receives back into itself again all worlds, this eternal infinite divine power is identical with the âtman, with that which, after stripping off everything external, we discover in ourselves as our real most essential being, our individual self, the soul. This identity of the Brahman and the âtman, of God and the soul, is the fundamental thought of the entire doctrine of the Upanishads. It is briefly expressed by the "great saying" tat tvam asi, "that art thou" (Chând. 6. 8. 7 f.); and aham brahma asmi, "I am Brahman" (Bṛih. 1. 4. 10). And in the compound word brahma-âtma-aikyam, "unity of the Brahman and the âtman," is described the fundamental dogma of the Vedânta system.

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If we strip this thought of the various forms, figurative to the highest degree and not seldom extravagant, under which it appears in the Vedânta texts, and fix our attention upon it solely in its philosophical simplicity as the identity of God and the soul, the Brahman and the âtman, it will be found to possess a significance reaching far beyond the Upanishads, their time and country; nay, we claim for it an inestimable value for the whole race of mankind. We are unable to look into the future, we do not know what revelations and discoveries are in store for the restlessly inquiring human spirit; but one thing we may assert with confidence,—whatever new and unwonted paths the philosophy of the future may strike out, this principle will remain permanently unshaken, and from it no deviation can possibly take place. If ever a general solution is reached of the great riddle, which presents itself to the philosopher in the nature of things all the more clearly the further our knowledge extends, the key can only be found where alone the secret of nature lies open to us from within, that is to say, in our innermost self. It was here that for the first time the original thinkers of the Upanishads, to their immortal honour, found it when they recognised our âtman, our inmost individual being, as the Brahman, the inmost being of universal nature and of all her phenomena.

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