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The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s2.t1: 1. The Âtman (Brahman) as the Unity

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s2.t1

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1. The Âtman (Brahman) as the Unity

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As early as the times of the Ṛigveda a perception of unity had been reached, to which expression was given in hymns like Ṛigv. I. 164, X. 129. After this, however, there remained the further task of defining more closely the eternal unity which underlies all the phenomena of nature. Of such inquiry the hymn Ṛigv. X. 121 is the chief example, which, to the nine times repeated question, " Who is the god to whom we are to offer sacrifice ? " in the tenth verse gives the answer : " *Prajâpati*! It is thou and no other, who holdest in thy embrace all that has come to be." We have already traced in detail¹ how this search was prosecuted through the period of the Brâhmaṇas, how Prajâpati was gradually displaced by Brahman, and how finally the most definite expression for the object of man's search was found in the conception of the âtman. Âtman is the Indian expression for that which we are accustomed to call "first principle," and is distinguished from the latter only by its defining in a clearer and more striking manner than any Western equivalent the one eternal problem of all philosophical research; for it invites us to lay hold of the individual self of man, the self of the universe, and to strip off from man and from nature everything which does not approve itself as this self, as the peculiar, most profound, and ultimate essence of things. At the same time, the less definite Brahman is often enough employed to express the first principle. This is the case in the passages to be discussed immediately, Bṛih. 2. 1. 1 (Kaush. 4. 1), Bṛih. 4. 1. 2–7, Chând. 5. 11. 1. Similarly S'vet. 1. 1 opens with the question,—"What is the first beginning, what is Brahman?"—and according to Pras'na 1. 1 and in the Ârsheya Upanishad, wise men come together in order to search for "Brahman."

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¹ *Einleitung und Philosophie des Veda*, p. 132 f.

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The terms Brahman and âtman both denote, therefore, the first principle of the universe, and in this sense are ordinarily employed in the Upanishads as synonymous, and are interchanged with one another in the same text or stand side by side, as in the question proposed in Chând. 5. 11. 1:—*ko na' âtmâ, kim brahma?* where S'ankara remarks that Brahman denotes the term to be defined, *vis'eshyam*, and âtman that which defines it, *vis'eshanam*, (which is true in general, if not precisely so here), that by Brahman the limitation implied in âtman is removed, and by âtman the conception of Brahman as a divinity to be worshipped is condemned. Both expressions however are, as this remark already shows, of indefinite connotation. The conception of Brahman is very complex, and the conception of the âtman is a negative and relative idea, which declares to us rather wherein the essence of man and of the universe is not to be sought, than affords us any positive information as to its real nature. Precisely in this its philosophical value consists. For the essence of things remains, as far as its nature is concerned, eternally unknown; and every attempt to make it an object of knowledge compels us to impose upon it definitions which are borrowed from that sphere of experimental knowledge that alone is accessible to our intelligence, and these again do not penetrate to the essential reality of things. From this realistic tendency the many false or imperfect attempts to explain Brahman and the âtman arise, which are rejected by the teachers of the Upanishads themselves, and which we have now to discuss.

Cites (7)