Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s3.t1: 1. Introduction and Classification

The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s3.t1

Language
English

1. Introduction and Classification

c9.s3.t1.1

By a symbol (σύμβολον) the ancient writers understood the visible sign of an invisible object or circumstance. The word itself may be derived from the piecing together (συμβάλλειν) of a broken ring or the like carried by guests, messengers, etc., as their authorisation, to the other half that has been laid by, or simply from the mutual understanding (συμβάλλειν) on which the recognition of this visible token depended. An illustration lying very near to hand for the conception of a symbol is furnished by the words which language uses. These are to be regarded collectively as the visible signs of the invisible ideas which they represent, and therefore Aristotle pertinently remarks:—τῶν δὲ ὀνομάτων ἕκαστον σύμβολόν ἐστιν:² and ἔστι μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐν τῇ φωνῇ τῶν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ παθημάτων σύμβολα, καὶ τὰ γραφόμενα τῶν ἐν τῇ φωνῇ.³ So also the Church calls its sacraments and doctrinal formulæ symbols. They are the external tokens of adhesion to its fellowship.

c9.s3.t1.2

² De Sensu I. p. 437.

c9.s3.t1.3

³ De Interp. I. p. 16.

c9.s3.t1.4

The Indian word for symbol, *pratīkam*, depends upon a similar conception. It denotes originally (from *prati-añc*) the side “turned towards” us, and therefore visible, of an object in other respects invisible. In this sense the teachers of the Vedānta often speak of symbols (*pratīkāni*) of Brahman. They understand by the term definite representations of Brahman under some form perceptible by the senses, *e.g.* as name, speech, etc.,⁴ as *manas* and *âkâśa*,¹ as *âditya*,² as the fire of digestion,³ or even as *om*,⁴ which for the purpose of worship are regarded as Brahman, and are related to the latter as the images of the gods (*pratimâ, arcâ*) to the gods that they represent.⁵ As early as Bâdarâyaṇa⁶ the distinction is drawn between the worshippers of Brahman under such symbols and the worshippers of Brahman “endowed with attributes” (*saguṇa*). The latter possess a knowledge of Brahman, and pass accordingly by the *devayâna*, which leads to Brahman; while the worshippers of the symbol are by it hindered from discerning Brahman,⁷ and hence they receive as fruit only the reward specified for each symbol.⁸ In the sequel this distinction is not consistently maintained. The worship of Brahman by means of the syllable *om* leads, according to Pras'na 5. 5, by the *devayâna* to Brahman, and the worship of Brahman as *prâṇa* is usually assigned to that branch of knowledge which concerns itself with qualities, and only exceptionally⁹ to the symbolical worships, to which, nevertheless, it belongs according to passages like Bṛih. 4. 1. 3 (*prâṇa* by the side of *vâc*, *manas*, etc.), 2. 3. 4 (with *âkâśa*), Chând. 3. 18. 4 (subordinated to *manas*, by the side of *vâc*, etc.).

c9.s3.t1.5

⁴ Chând. 7.

c9.s3.t1.6

¹ Chând. 3. 18.

c9.s3.t1.7

² Chând. 3. 19.

c9.s3.t1.8

³ Bṛih. 5. 9, Chând. 3. 13. 8.

c9.s3.t1.9

⁴ Chând. 1. 1.

c9.s3.t1.10

⁵ cp. S'ankara on Brahmasûtra, pp. 147. 14, 189. 8, 217. 10, 835. 9, 1059. 6; on Chândogya, pp. 9. 8, 10. 1, 21. 3.

c9.s3.t1.11

⁶ Sûtram 4. 3. 15–16, cp. 4. 1. 4.

c9.s3.t1.12

⁷ P. 1135. 7, *pratîka-pradhânatvâd upâsanasya*.

c9.s3.t1.13

⁸ E.g. Chând. 7. 1–14.

c9.s3.t1.14

⁹ E.g. on Brahmasûtra 4. 1, 5.

c9.s3.t1.15

Nevertheless the definite conception of the symbol is wanting in the Upanishads, just as the word *pratîkam* in this sense is not there found. When, however, in the extracts discussed in the preceding chapter¹⁰ certain concrete representations of Brahman are rejected as inadequate, though they are acknowledged to be meritorious, as is shown by the promise of a reward, we are able, as is the case with so many doctrines of the later Vedânta, to trace in passages like those quoted the earliest rise of the conception of the symbol.

c9.s3.t1.16

¹⁰ Bṛih. 4. 1; Chând. 5. 12–17, 7. 1–14.

c9.s3.t1.17

By symbol in a wider sense we understand all the representations conceived with a view to the worship of Brahman, himself incapable of representation, under some one of his phenomenal forms; and therefore especially as *prâna* and *vâyu*, as *âkâśa*, *manas*, and *âditya*, as the fire of digestion and the syllable *om*. To the discussion of these symbols in the present chapter must further be added the symbolical interpretations of ritualistic conceptions, and finally the substitution for liturgical practices of others which are related to the âtman doctrine.

Cites (4)