Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c9: The Fourth Part of the Vedânta System: Samsâra The Doctrine of the Transmigration

The System of the Vedânta according to Bâdarâyana's Brahma-Sûtras and Çankara's Commentary c9

Language
English

Contents

The Fourth Part of the Vedânta System: Samsâra The Doctrine of the Transmigration

c9.1

SAMSÂRA

c9.2

OR

c9.4

OF THE SOUL.

XXIX. The Eschatology of the Vedânta

1. The main Phases of Indian Eschatology

c9.s1.t1.1

IN general we can distinguish three stages of development in the views of the Indians as to the condition of the Soul after death.

c9.s1.t1.2

1. The oldest view, that which prevails in the hymns of the Rigveda, knows as yet of no transmigration of the soul. The souls of the good pass after death into Yama's heaven of light where they lead a blissful life in the company of the Fathers (*pitaraḥ*);¹²³ the wicked are shut out from it and pass (according to a less definite and perhaps already secondary view) into the "nether darkness."¹²⁴ A return either of the former or of the latter to a new earth-life does not occur.

c9.s1.t1.3

¹²³ Rigv. 10, 14, 10: *athâ pitṝn suvidatrân upchi, Yamena ye sadhamâdam madanti.* compare St. Matthew's Gospel viii, 11: πολλοὶ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δυσμῶν ἥξουσι καὶ ἀνακλιθήσονται μετὰ ᾿Αβραὰμ καὶ ᾿Ισαὰκ καὶ ᾿Ιακὼβ ἐν τῇ βασι- λείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν.—26, 29: οὐ μὴ πίω ἀπάρτι ἐκ τούτου τοῦ γενήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου, ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης, ὅταν αὐτὸ πίνω μεθ’ ὑμῶν καινὸν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ πατρός μου.

c9.s1.t1.4

¹²⁴ Rigv. 10, 152, 4: *yo asmân abhidâsati, adharaṃ gamayâ tamaḥ.* Atharvav. 9, 2, 4: *nudasva Kâma, praṇudasva Kâma;* *avartiṃ* (the downward way) *yantu, mama ye sapatnâḥ;* *teṣâṃ nuttânâm adhamâ tamâṃsi* *Agne vâstûni [anu-]nirdaha tvam!*

c9.s1.t1.5

2. According to the doctrine of transmigration in the Upanishads, as we shall become more closely acquainted with it in the next chapter, there are three Paths. The Wise, after death, will be carried ever higher and higher upon the *Devayâna* (sc. *panthâ*) that is the "Path of the Gods," onwards into Brahman, whence there is no return. The doers of works go upwards by the Pitriyâna, the "Path of the Fathers," into the luminous realm on the moon, enjoy there the fruit of their works and then descend once more into a new incarnation, differing according to the moral character of the previous life. Finally, those who possess neither knowledge nor works come to the "third place," that is, they are reborn as lower animals or [Kâth. 5, 7] plants, without having tasted bliss on the moon.

c9.s1.t1.6

3. According to the esoteric Vedânta doctrine, which already finds expression in the Upanishads, the soul is identical with Brahman and the entire existence of the manifold world is an illusion. For him who sees through this illusion, there is neither a migration of the soul nor an entering into Brahman, but "Brahman is he, and into Brahman he is resolved," as is said in Brih. 4, 4, 6 (translated above p. 194); compare with this, as also with what follows, the section of Çankara's Commentary, p. 1132—1133, translated under the title of "Esoteric Eschatology" above p. 114 ff.

2. Exoteric and Esoteric Eschatology

c9.s1.t2.1

Our system is a combination of all the three views just stated. It retains, from the first stage of development, the doctrine of reward and punishment in the Beyond and unites this with the second theory in such a way as to assume a double retribution for the good and the evil: the one after death in the Beyond, the other through a descent to new incarnation following thereon and through the particular form of that incarnation. Opposed to the transmigration of the Pitriyâna is the liberation of the Devayâna; but both, the Path of the Fathers and the Path of the Gods, are valid only in the exoteric, lower knowledge. Only for him, to whom this whole world still appears as real, can the two Paths into the Beyond be real too: the Pitriyâna, which leads back again to earth-life, and the Devayâna, which, as reward for the lower exoteric knowledge and the accompanying worship (upâsanâ) of the lower (aparam, saguṇam) Brahman, leads the soul to him. In contradiction with the chief passage in the Upanishads on transmigration, the system regards this liberation attained through the *Devayâna* as being not yet complete. It becomes so only when those, who through the lower knowledge have entered into the *saguṇam brahma*, there obtain perfect knowledge, the *samyagdarśanam*. For only the latter, that is the knowledge of the identity of one's own Soul with Brahman, brings about absolute liberation, or rather is in itself already that liberation: hence, as soon as that knowledge dawns, even here on earth, liberation is accomplished and the persistence of corporeality till death is only an illusion of the senses, which when once true knowledge is attained, can no longer deceive us, even though we are unable to remove its appearance.—Thus a man suffering from a disease of the eyes sees the moon double and cannot prevent himself from doing so; but he knows that there is really only one moon there.

3. No Transmigration from the Esoteric Standpoint

c9.s1.t3.1

From what has been said it is clear that, in the Theory of Liberation to which our last part will be devoted, we shall again meet with the twofold doctrine that we have followed out in detail as the lower and higher knowledge in Theology, and as the empirical and metaphysical standpoint in Cosmology and Psychology; while in the present part, on the contrary, which deals with transmigration we shall encounter only the lower, exoteric, not the higher, esoteric doctrine which puts precisely in the place of this pilgrimage of the soul, the knowledge of the soul's identity with Brahman, through which liberation is gained at once, so that from the standpoint of the higher knowledge there can be no question of anything like transmigration. Accordingly the reality of the *Saṃsâra* stands or falls with the empirical reality of the world: as the latter is a mere illusion, so also are the ideas as to the former not so much, as with Plato, εἰκότες μῦθοι, but rather a continuation of that illusion into the domain of transcendent; the question remains open however how far our author's mind, deeply embued as it was with belief in transmigration according to the general views of his people, reached a clear, scientific consciousness of the mythical character of this doctrine of transmigration. It is true that he declares often enough, that neither the world, nor the individual wandering soul in truth exists; but this did not prevent him, as we have seen, from putting forward a detailed theory of world-creation; and with the same earnestness he treats of the doctrine of Saṃsāra, according to the Vedic revelation and in close connection with those passages of the Upanishads which treat of transmigration; amongst which we must specially single out the Pañcâgnividyâ from Bṛih. 6, 2 and Chând. 5, 3—10; then the Paryaṅkavidyâ in Kaush. 1; together with the Upakosalavidyâ, Chând. 4, 10—15 (translated above p. 164 ff.), the Daharavidyâ, Chând. 8, 1—6 (above p. 158 ff.); further Kâṭh. 5, 7, Praçna 5 (above p. 198 ff.), and other passages.

c9.s1.t3.2

These and other passages we shall make use of according to the requirements of our present task; one only among them need be placed before the reader *in extenso*, because not only is it the most extensive monument from Vedic times of the doctrine which more than any other has dominated the entire thought of the Indians, but also because it underlies in general as well as in particular all the explanations of Bâdarâyaṇa and Çaṅkara in this and our last part: this is the Pañca-agnividyâ, that is "the Doctrine of the Five Fires," which is found in Bṛih. 6, 2 and Chând. 5, 3—10 in two recensions, which generally agree verbally, and yet again diverge materially from each other. Moreover, Bṛih. is simpler, more beautiful, more ancient, Chând. smoother, more modern, more detailed towards the end, so that the two stand to each other very much in the same relation as the many parallel passages in the Gospels according to *St. Matthew* and *St. Luke*. The additions in Chând. are such that, as we shall see, a further development of the doctrine is recognizable in them. For this reason and because our Vedânta authors take their stand chiefly on Chând., we shall take that version as our basis and make use of Bṛih. only when the latter is of special interest.

XXX. The Vedic Doctrine of the Five Fires

c9.s2.1

Chândogya-Up. 5, 3—10 (Bṛihadāraṇyaka-Up. 6, 2).

1. Introduction

c9.s2.t1.1

Çvetaketu, the son of Āruṇi (cf. above p. 262), comes to the assembly of the Pañcālas. There king Pravāhaṇa, son of Jibala, asks him five questions:

c9.s2.t1.2

1. "Knowest thou whither the creatures go from hence?"
2. "Knowest thou how they return hither again?"
3. "Knowest thou the parting of the two ways, the Path of the Gods and the Path of the Fathers?"
4. "Knowest thou why that world does not become full?"
5. "Knowest thou how at the fifth offering the waters speak with human voice?"

c9.s2.t1.3

To all these questions Çvetaketu knows no answer. Downcast, he comes to his father and complains that he has been inadequately taught by him. The latter declares that he himself is unable to answer the questions asked. Both then set out and come to the king who grants Āruṇi a boon. As this boon Āruṇi chooses the solution of the questions asked, and after some resistance the king consents to impart the following instructions to him and says he is the first Brahman who had received them (cf. above p. 18).

2. The Five Sacrificial Offerings

c9.s2.t2.1

As in the sacrifice the offerings are thrown into the fire to come forth from it again in a spiritualised form, so too the fire, wherein the corpse is burnt, is a sacrificial fire, through which man passes to come forth out of it again "in a luminous form" (Bṛih.). This conception of the rising from the body as an offering, is also applied by the section under discussion to the descent of the soul into the body from the Beyond: this descent is a passing through five transformations, which are spoken of as five successive sacrificial acts and are described in detail.

c9.s2.t2.2

The first sacrificial fire, through which man passes, is the other world; its elements (fuel, smoke, flame, coals, sparks) are the sun, its rays, the day, the moon, and the stars. In this fire the Gods offer Faith, and from this offering goes forth King Soma.

c9.s2.t2.3

The second sacrificial fire, consisting of wind, vapour, thunderbolt, and hail, is Parjanya, that is, here: the storm cloud; in this fire the Gods offer king Soma, and from this offering goes forth Rain.

c9.s2.t2.4

The third sacrificial fire, consisting of the year (that is time), space, night, and the cardinal points is the Earth (Bṛih.: this world); in this fire the Gods offer rain, and from this offering goes forth Food.

c9.s2.t2.5

The fourth sacrificial fire, consisting of speech, breath, tongue, eye, ear, is Man; in this fire the Gods offer Food, and from this offering goes forth the Seed.

c9.s2.t2.6

The fifth sacrificial fire, consisting of the generative organs and functions of woman, is Woman; in this fire the Gods offer the seed, and from this offering goes forth the Embryo.

c9.s2.t2.7

"Thus it happens that at the fifth offering the waters [one may understand by this either the subtle body or the moral character; of this, later] speak with human voice. Then when this embryo, surrounded by its chorion, has lain for ten months or however long it may be, in the womb, it is born. After it is born, it lives as long as may be. Then when it dies, it is borne away to its destination in the fire, even thither whence it came, whence it arose."

3. The Path of the God (devayāna)

c9.s2.t3.1

"Those now who know this, and those others who practise "faith and penance (Bṛih.: Truth) in the forest, enter into the "flame, [of the funeral pyre] from the flame into the day, from "the day into the light half of the month, from the light half “of the month into the summer months [literally: into the six “months in which the sun journeys northwards], from the “months into the year, from the year into the sun (Bṛih.: the “world of the Gods), from the sun into the moon, from the “moon into the lightning—there indeed is a man, who is not “as a human being, he leads them to Brahman.” (Addition in Bṛih.: “there in the world of Brahman they dwell far, far “away. For such there is no return.”) “This is the Path of the Gods.”

4. The Path of the Fathers (pitṛiyâna)

c9.s2.t4.1

“On the other hand, those who [only] practise sacrifices, “pious deeds, and alms-giving in the village (Bṛih.: who “through offerings, alms, and penance gain heaven), these “enter into the smoke [of the funeral pyre], from the smoke “into the night, from the night into the other [dark] half of “the month, from the other half of the month into the six “winter months [literally: the six months, in which the sun “journeys southwards]; these do not reach the year, but pass “from the months into the world of the Fathers, from the “world of the Fathers into the Âkâça, from the Âkâça into “the moon, who is King Soma, therefore he is the sustenance “of the Gods, him the Gods enjoy.” (Otherwise Bṛih.: “When “they have attained to the moon, they become food; in that “place, just as one enjoys King Soma with the words: ‘swell “up and shrink,’¹²⁵ so also are they enjoyed by the Gods.”)

c9.s2.t4.2

¹²⁵ 1. The Soma-plant is placed in water which makes it swell; then it is pressed, which makes it shrink and the Soma-drink trickles out.—2. To this earthly Soma corresponds as a heavenly Soma the moon, which decreases when the Gods drink it, and then increases again; Rigv. 10, 85, 5: *yat tvâ, deva, prapibanti, tata’ âpyâyase punaḥ*.—3. The increase and decrease of the moon is however on the other side conditioned by the rising of the dead to the moon, where they enjoy the fruit of their works, and their subsequent re-descent to a new life upon earth.—4. A combination of these ideas gives us the concept, that the dead, in virtue of their works, rise to the moon, where they, that is, their works, are enjoyed by the Gods (according to Atharva-V. 3, 29, 1, the Gods take only ¹/₁₆ of the works as tribute), until they are consumed. The being-enjoyed by the Gods is on the other hand an enjoying of the fruit of

c9.s2.t4.3

“—After they have dwelt there, so long as any residuum is left, they return by the way they came, back again into the Âkâça, from the Âkâça into the wind; after they have become wind, they become smoke, after becoming smoke, vapour, after becoming vapour, cloud, after becoming cloud, they descend as rain; these same are born here below as rice and barley, as herbs and trees, as sesame and beans. Thence truly it is more difficult to escape; for only the man who eats him as food, who emits him as seed, only his increase (descendant) does he become.—(The following down to the end only in Chând.) Now those whose conduct here was fair, for them there is the prospect that they will come into a fair womb, the womb of a Brahman, or a Kshatriya or a Vaiçya;—those, however, whose conduct here was foul, for them there is the prospect that they will come into a foul womb, a dog's womb, a swine's womb, or (even) into the womb of a Caṇḍâla,”

c9.s2.t4.4

5. The third Place.

c9.s2.t4.5

(Chândogya-Up.) “But upon neither of these two ways are to be found those minute, ever-returning beings, who originate and pass away, as quickly as one says it bites. This is the third place.— “Therefore that world grows not full.”

c9.s2.t4.6

(Bṛihadâraṇyaka-Up.) “But those who know not these two paths, those are the worms, birds, and whatsoever bites.”

c9.s2.t4.7

6. Epilogue (only in Chândogya-Up.).

c9.s2.t4.8

“Therefore should one beware! — On this there is this verse:

c9.s2.t4.9

works on the part of the dead; just as, when a man enjoys a woman, so the woman on her side enjoys the man (Çank. on Chând. p. 343, 10). The person and his works melt into one another in these fancies; more of this, later.

c9.s2.t4.10

“The thief of gold and drinker of strong drinks, “The slayer of a Brahman, and he who defiles his teacher’s bed, “These four perish and fifthly he who goes with them.”

c9.s2.t4.11

“But on the other hand, he who thus knows these five fires, “he verily consorts not with them and is not stained with their “evil, but remains pure and unspotted in the world of the “pure, he who knows this, who knows this.”—

c9.s2.t4.12

7. On the two Recensions of the Doctrine of the Five Fires.

c9.s2.t4.13

The difference between these two passages cited from Brih. and Chând. is, in spite of all verbal agreement, very considerable. Penance (*tapas*) according to Brih. does not liberate but according to Chând. it does liberate; further the whole system of the three paths after death is essentially modified and much confused by the additions in Chând.; their confusion is increased in the Vedânta-sûtras since they go back generally to Chând., but also to Brih., so that it is hardly possible to obtain a uniform and consistent view.

c9.s2.t4.14

The conception in Brih. is perfectly clear: the wise by the *Devayâna* enter into liberation, the performers of pious works rise on the *Pitriyâna* to the moon, and thence descend, as it seems, only into human bodies. Those who possess neither knowledge nor works are shut out from both paths and enter as punishment into the bodies of animals.

c9.s2.t4.15

It is otherwise in Chând.; here too the Path of the Fathers according to the opening words, is destined for those who have practised pious works. But this determination is quite lost sight of in the addition at the end, which distinguishes, among those who return upon the *Pitriyâna*, between those of fair conduct and those of foul conduct and accordingly destines the former to life in one of the three higher castes and the latter either to animal life or to existence in a lower caste. Through this “the third place” properly becomes superfluous and is left to low and short lived animals, which accordingly, as it seems, remain entirely shut out from ascent and descent in the transformation of the soul, quite contrary to the drift of the Vedânta system.—It is a further inconsistency, that Chând. recognises both reward and punishment for those who go by the Pitriyâna on their return to earth-life, but in the Beyond on the contrary reward only; this inconsistency our system removes by inserting, as contrast to the reward on the moon, the pains of hell in the Beyond also. How it further finds a way through the contradictions of its Vedic sources, we shall see further on.

c9.s2.t4.16

We turn now to an examination of the single phases of transmigration; and in this we shall give the remaining Vedic texts in their proper places, assuming on the other hand that the main passage translated in the present chapter is always present in the reader's mind.

XXXI. The Passing of the Soul from the Body

1. The Vedic Basis

c9.s3.t1.1

The doctrine of the passing of the soul, which is the same for all, except those who possess the *Samyagdarçanam*, (that is, for the ignorant and for the worshippers of Brahman possessed of attributes, who follow the lower knowledge), bases itself partly on the conceptions contained in the previous chapter of the Waters, which speak with human voice in the fifth offering, and of Faith, which the Gods offer in the first sacrificial fire, partly on the following passage from Chând. 6, 8, 6 (translated with the context above p. 264):

c9.s3.t1.2

“When now, O dear one, man departs hence, speech
“enters into Manas, Manas into life, life into heat,
“heat into the highest God-head.”

2. The Involution of the Organs

c9.s3.t2.1

Sûtras 4, 2, 1—5.

c9.s3.t2.2

¹ At death, according to the passage just quoted, speech first of all enters into *Manas* (p. 1087, 6); under speech here the remaining nine *Indriyas* (above p. 329) are included, for another passage says (*Praçna* 3, 9): “therefore, when his “splendour is extinguished, he passes to rebirth together with “his senses, which have entered into *Manas*” (p. 1089, 5). Are we now to understand by the senses, for example, speech, the sense itself or only its function (*vritti*) (p. 1087, 8)?—This question appears strange, after our author, as we saw above p. 332, has already stated p. 715, 10 that the organs (*karaṇam*)

c9.s3.t2.3

are only functions (*vritti*), as indeed we can understand under the *Indriyas*, which depart hence with the soul, naturally not the material organs, but only functions conceived as independently existent potencies. In this sense it is a matter of course that only the function (*vritti*) of the *Indriyas* enters (*sampadyate*) into Manas, while the bodily organ perishes with the body. The question here raised on the other hand, as is apparent from the way it is answered, must be understood in the sense that by *vritti* are not to be understood these functions themselves, but only their activity, and by their *sampatti* not their entering into Manas, but their complete dissolution (*pravilaya* p. 1088, 1, *upaçama* p. 1088, 4). Accordingly we must interpret the question under discussion to be: whether at death the sense organ (the *vritti*, according to p. 715, 10) attached to the soul, when it enters (*sampadyate*) into Manas, is, on this entering in, dissolved (*sampadyate*) only in its functional activity (*vritti*) or in its very essence? The answer is that only the functional activity, not the *Indriyam* perishes (*vâg-vrittir manasi sampadyate* p. 1088, 1), in the first place, because otherwise complete non-separateness (*avibhâga*) would ensue, and the condition of non-separateness, according to 4, 2, 16, belongs only to the liberated and not to others (p. 1088, 5); again, because the perception which shows how the activity of the senses dies out at death, while that of Manas (consciousness) persists for some time longer, only gives us the right to speak of an extinction of the functional activity, not of that of the agent (p. 1088, 10); finally, because a thing, according to its essence, can only enter into that from which it arose, as a pot into clay, but according to its functional activity, it can enter into something else, as for instance the functional activity of fire springs from fuel and is extinguished in water, although both are different from it (p. 1088, 14). If, notwithstanding, the passage says that speech enters into Manas, this depends on usage (*upacâra*), which does not distinguish between the action and the agent (p. 1089, 3).—The ambiguity displayed by the author in the use of these expressions *vritti* and *sampadyate* is to us unintelligible.

c9.s3.t2.4

2. The second act at death, according to Chând. 6, 8, 6, is that *Manas* enters into *Prâna* (as the principle of unconscious life, above p. 333 ff.). Here the same question repeats itself. One might think that *Manas* as an organ enters into *Prâna*, because it is said, in Chând. 6, 6, 5 (above p. 263), that *Manas* is formed from food, and *Prâna* from water, while again it is said (above p. 235) that food, that is, the earth, arose from water (p. 1090, 4). But here too it seems rather to be the fact that only the function (functional activity) of *Manas* is to be understood as entering (dissolving into) *Prâna*; for it is only the function of *Manas* that we can observe coming to rest (p. 1090, 9) in *Prâna* in one who falls asleep and in one desirous of liberation (cf. Kâth. 3, 13); and again we cannot conclude from the mediate (*pranâlika*, found only here as *adj.*) arising of *Manas* from *Prâna* that the former must re-enter into the latter, since otherwise it would also follow that *Manas* must dissolve itself in food, food in water, and *Prâna* in water (p. 1090, 13). Here too therefore we must understand by *Manas* only its functional activity, not the agent, since usage does not distinguish between them (p. 1091, 1).

c9.s3.t2.5

3. When further it is said in Chând. 6, 8, 6 that *Prâna* merges into heat (*tejas*), we must note that, in the first place, it enters not into heat but into the overseer (*adhyaksha*) by which is to be understood "the overseer of the cage of the "body and the organs," that is, the individual soul (*jîva*) (p. 1091, 6); the latter (*jîva*) is defined on this occasion as "self of knowledge endowed with the limitations (*upâdhi*) of "knowledge, works and previous experience" (p. 1091, 9), by which, as we shall show immediately, the moral character is to be understood. With the latter the soul seems to be more closely united than with its organs; for while these must first enter into it, the moral character clings to the soul of itself.—Even though in the successive stages of the entering in the fundamental passage Chând. 6, 8, 6, does not mention the individual soul, yet its insertion between *Prâna* and *Tejas* is justified by another scriptural passage (Brịh. 4, 3, 38, translated above p. 192) in which it is said that at death all the *Prânas* enter into the soul, and that, when the latter departs, life and with it all the organs of life,¹²⁶ depart with it (p. 1091, 12).

c9.s3.t2.6

¹²⁶ That the soul takes the Prâṇas with it depends on the fact that without them the soul can neither move nor enjoy in the life after death (p. 745, 5); therefore when it is said (*Bṛih.* 3, 2, 13) that the Prâṇas at death go to the Gods, the eye to the sun, the breath to the wind, etc., this is only a metaphorical (*bhâkta, gauṇa*) expression (p. 745, 1), which means that at death the Gods withdraw (p. 745, 8) their assistance from the organs (above p. 337 ff.).

c9.s3.t2.7

4. Only after the Prâṇas have entered into the soul which is accompanied by the moral character, does the soul enter with them into heat, by which here, as will shortly be further shown, are to be understood the other elements also, as well as heat (*tejas*), in that sublimated form, in which they constitute the seed of the body (p. 1092, 2). This absorption of the Prâṇas into the soul, of the soul into heat, does not contradict the words of the fundamental passage, according to which the Prâṇas enter into heat; for if a man goes from *Çrughna* to *Mathurâ* and from *Mathurâ* to *Pâṭaliputram*, he has thereby gone from *Çrughna* to *Pâṭaliputram* (p. 1093, 2).

3. The subtle Body

c9.s3.t3.1

*Sûtras* 4, 2, 6—11. 3, 1, 1—6; cf. 1, 4, 1—7.

c9.s3.t3.2

The soul with the organs of conscious and unconscious life (*Indriyas, Manas, Prâṇa*) which have entered into it, further needs in order to be able to withdraw from the body a vehicle (*âçraya*) of material nature, since without such, without a material basis, as experience shows, nothing living can move or stand (p. 744, 9). This basis is the subtle body, *sûkṣmam çarîram* (p. 341, 3. 1097, 14), or, as Çaṅkara usually paraphrases it: *deha-vijâni bhûta-sûkṣmâṇi* (p. 740, 8. 741, 3. 744, 2; cf. 1095, 10. 1092, 10), that is, "the fine parts of the elements which form the seed of the body."¹²⁷ In order hereafter to attain a body consisting of the different elements, the soul must take with it the seed of this body, and this seed, not of heat alone, but of all the elements, is to be understood, when in the fundamental passage, Chând. 6, 8, 6, it is said: Life enters into heat. For the scripture says (Brih. 4, 4, 5): "(this "soul is) of the nature of earth, water, air, ether, heat" (p. 1093, 12), and the Smriti (Manu 1, 27) declares:

c9.s3.t3.3

¹²⁷ Cf. *bhûta-sûkṣmam* 206, 1. 207, 1. 341, 6. (plur.) 743, 1; and *bhûta-mâtrâḥ* 740, 13. 14; the expression *tanmâtrâṇi* is, so far as we know, not yet to be found in Çaṅkara's Commentary.—These fine parts of the elements, which form the seed of the body, are of like nature with the seed from which the world after its destruction comes forth anew each

c9.s3.t3.4

"The infinitely minute parts of the Five,
"From which arises all in order."

c9.s3.t3.5

Now these elementary germs of the future body, embraced by which the soul leaves the body (p. 741, 3), are also to be understood in the explanations in 3, 1, 1—6 by the term waters, which according to the doctrine of the Five Fires speak with human voice at the fifth offering, after having been offered five times in succession,—as Faith, Soma, Rain, Food, and Seed,—by the Gods in the Fires of Heaven, the Atmosphere, the Earth, Man, and Woman (p. 741, 6). True, only water is there spoken of (p. 742, 11), but under that name the germs of all the elements are to be understood (p. 744, 2) and these are called water, first, because according to p. 240 above water contains in itself (p. 743, 4) all elements (of which here, following Chând. 6, 2, three only are named; on this see p. 231 above), then because in the body, which likewise consists of them all (above p. 240ff.), water preponderates (p. 743, 9).

c9.s3.t3.6

These waters then, representing the totality of the elementary germs, are thus what forms the bridge from one human existence to another by being offered successively as Faith, Soma, Rain, Food, and Seed. The description of the last four as water is readily explained from the preponderance of the water element in these materials (p. 746, 1); but by faith,

c9.s3.t3.7

time (above p. 70, 228); they are both regarded as being alluded to by the avyaktam of Kâth. 3, 11 and the aksharam of Mund. 2, 1, 2; p. 341, 12 jagad idam anabhivyakta-nâmarûpam, vîja-âtmakam, prâg-avastham avyakta-çabda-arham—, tad-âtmanâ ca çarîrasya (that is, of the subtle body) api avyakta-çabda-arhatvam; and p. 206, 1: the aksharam is avy-âkritam, nâmarûpa-vîjaçakti-rûpam bhûtasûkshamam, îçvara-âçrayam (the material substratum in the creation of the world), tasya eva upâdhi-bhû-tam (only an Upâdhi of the Îçvara, not a pradhânam independent of him).

c9.s3.t3.8

which appears as the sacrificial element in the first offering the same waters are equally to be understood (p. 746, 6), first, because only in that way can question and answer harmonise with each other (p. 746, 10), then, because the first offering, being the cause of the subsequent ones as its effects, cannot be essentially different in nature from them (p. 746, 13). “Further it is not possible, in so far as Faith, being an idea (pratyaya), is a quality of Manas or the soul, to tear it away from the substance in which it inheres, like the heart, etc. of a sacrificial victim, to use it as an offering. By the word ‘Faith’ therefore the waters are to be understood” (p. 747, 1—3). This designation corresponds to the usage of the Veda (Taitt. saṃh. 1, 6, 8, 1: śraddhā vā’ āpaḥ), and is explained by the fact, that the waters as seeds of the body assume a subtlety like that of faith (p. 747, 5), somewhat as one might call a hero of lion-like courage, a lion (p. 747, 6).—We shall see shortly, how our author brings himself into palpable contradiction with this express explanation of “faith” as the elementary seed of the body.

c9.s3.t3.9

This “subtle body,” forming the seed of the body,—subtle, because it departs through the veins (p. 1097, 7)—has, according to its essential nature, on one hand extension (tanutvam) and so the capacity of locomotion (p. 1097, 8), on the other, however, transparency (svacchatvam), in virtue of which it meets with no obstacle in departing and also is not seen by those standing round (p. 1097, 8). The bodily warmth proceeds from it (p. 1097, 14; otherwise Chānd. 3, 13, 8, translated above p. 169); hence during life the body feels warm to the touch, after death on the contrary cold, while in other respects the body is yet unchanged (p. 1098, 1). Finally, it is owing to the subtle nature of this body, that it is not also injured when the (gross) body is injured: for example (p. 1097, 11) by burning (by which we must naturally not think of the burning of the corpse).

c9.s3.t3.10

Sūtram 4, 2, 8: “Until the entrance, because of the declaration as to Saṃsāra.”—Commentary: “When further on in the text (Chānd. 6, 8, 6, above p. 367) it is said: ‘the heat enters into the highest Godhead,’ this means that the “above-mentioned heat [meaning the subtle body] accompanied “by the Onlooker, by Prâna, and the host of the organs and “united with the other elements, enters at death into the “highest Godhead. But of what kind is this entrance? this “is to be considered. One might think it to be a final dis- “solution of the own being in the highest Godhead, from “which it came forth; for the origin of all existence, of all “that has become bodily is, as we have established, the highest “Godhead; and thus also this entering into non-separateness “would be final.—To this we reply: this subtle body formed “out of heat, etc., as it is the bearer of the organs, ear, etc., “continues to exist until the entrance, until liberation from “Samsâra, as that liberation follows upon the perfect know- “ledge; because of the declaration as to Samsâra, as it is given “in the words (Kâth. 5, 7):

c9.s3.t3.11

“The one attains a mother’s womb and takes a human form,
“Another animates a plant, as deeds and knowledge fate.”

c9.s3.t3.12

“For otherwise mere dying would be for everyone a dissolution “of the Upâdhis and a final entrance into Brahman; but then “the Canon of Law would be purposeless, and equally so the “Canon of Knowledge. But bondage has its ground in false “knowledge and can therefore be loosed in no other way than “by perfect knowledge. Hence, in spite of its origin from it, “this entrance of the soul there into the Existent, like that in “deep sleep and at the dissolution of the world, is such that “a seed remains over and persists” (p. 1096, 3—1097, 3).

c9.s3.t3.13

—In reality this entrance into Brahman, retained for the sake of the Vedic texts, is a mere passing through Brahman, and not even that: for the system, as such, knows nothing of it, but makes the souls pass immediately after death either by the Pitriyâna to the moon, or into hell, or finally by the Devayâna into the (lower) Brahman.

c9.s3.t3.14

Upon all these Paths the soul is accompanied by the subtle body: for the latter, as we saw, continues to exist as long as Samsâra, but Samsâra has existed from Eternity (above p. 280) and endures until liberation, whence it follows that as the soul is clothed from all eternity with the organs (above p. 312) so also it is clothed with the subtle body and so it remains until it gains perfect knowledge, that is, esoteric knowledge. On the other hand, the exoteric knowledge, as it leads upwards into the lower Brahman by the *Devayâna*, does not free the soul from the subtle body. True, as this subtle body is a support of the soul by the elements, this support is for the purpose of rebirth, but rebirth no longer takes place in one who has (exoteric) knowledge, since according to the scripture he attains immortality (which means that he is no longer subject to death, above pp. 149, 287), for these reasons one might think that only the Ignorance (p. 1094, 12) departs (clothed with the subtle body); but this is not so: rather it is exactly the same in the case of the ignorant and of the possessor of (exoteric) knowledge except the difference of the Paths which they respectively take; the ignorant passes with the subtle body to new embodiment, the (exoteric) knower passes on his own special path to immortality (p. 1095, 10); true, immortality in the full sense of the word is not the sojourn in a given place and thus requires no going thither and therefore no material substratum (p. 1095, 13); but the immortality of the (exoteric) knower, with which we are here concerned, is only relative (*âpekshika*), since he has not yet burned up all Ignorance; hence for it a going, and, in order that this may be possible, a subtle body as material vehicle, are required, as without it no going can occur (p. 1096, 1).

c9.s3.t3.15

4. Moral Determination of the transmigrating Soul.
(a) Prefatory Remark.

c9.s3.t3.16

All the Upâdhis hitherto discussed, clothed with which the soul departs (namely, *indriyâni*, *manas*, *mukhya prâna*, *sûkshmam çarîram*), are purely neutral, not individually determined principles, and the soul itself is the same, as, according to its nature, it is identical with Brahman and is only apparently different from him through its being clothed with the said Upâdhis. Thus the soul with all its organs is entirely neutral, bearing in itself no moral distinction,—quite consistently with the Indian and, indeed, with every other standpoint, which, like it, places the essential nature of the soul in Knowing not in Willing.

c9.s3.t3.17

But whence then the moral determinations, which condition the differences of character, the differences of Paths in the Beyond, the contrast of reward and punishment in the other world, and the form of the subsequent rebirth in this world?—

c9.s3.t3.18

We must assume for the departing soul, besides the just described elementary substratum (*bhūta-āśraya*) a second, viz. a moral substratum (*karma-āśraya*), and these two are expressly distinguished by Śaṅkara (p. 1094, 5) under these names.

c9.s3.t3.19

Now in what does this moral substratum consist, which conditions all differences of character and of destiny?

c9.s3.t3.20

Like all moral points, this important question is very inadequately dealt with by Śaṅkara (for reasons indicated above p. 59), and all that we find about it consists in occasional references to certain passages of scripture, which therefore we are to follow, according to the intentions of our author.

c9.s3.t3.21

(b) The Karma-āśraya

c9.s3.t3.22

Sūtram 4, 2, 6, p. 1094.

c9.s3.t3.23

In Bṛih. 3, 2, 13, the son of Ritabhāga questions Yājñavalkya: “‘Yājñavalkya,’ he said: ‘when after a man dies his speech enters into fire, his breath into the wind, his eye into the sun, his Manas into the moon, his ear into the cardinal points, his body into the earth, his Ātman into the Ākāśa, the hair on his body into plants, the hair on his head into trees, his blood and seed into water,—where then does the man remain?’—Then spake Yājñavalkya: ‘Take me, Ārtabhāga, dear one, by the hand; upon this we two must speak alone together, not here in the assembly.’—Then the two went out and conversed together; and what they spoke of, that was work, and what they praised, that was work.—Verily, through good work one becomes good, through evil work, evil.”

c9.s3.t3.24

“Then the son of Ritabhāga was silent.”

c9.s3.t3.25

Upon this remarkable passage, in which we seem to have the very birth of the doctrine of transmigration before our eyes, Śaṅkara merely remarks (p. 1094, 6), that it only lays stress upon works and does not thereby exclude the other, material-substratum of the soul, the *bhûta-âçraya*, that is, the subtle body, which is spoken of loc. cit. The contradiction that the organs, according to this passage, enter into the forces of nature, while in our system the soul withdraws them into itself, he puts aside in the manner indicated in note 126, above p. 370.—In another respect the circumstance that besides the *çarîram* the *âtman* also (according to Çaṅkara, it would be indeed the *âtma-adhishṭhânam hṛidaya-âkâçam*) dissolves, while the *karman* persists, is very remarkable, in its bearing on Buddhism.

c9.s3.t3.26

(c) Vidyâ-karma-pûrvaprajñâ

c9.s3.t3.27

Sûtram* 3, 4, 11.

c9.s3.t3.28

Of the soul after death it is said in Bṛih. 4, 4, 2 (translated above p. 193): "then their knowledge and their works "and their newly gained experience take them by the hand," —the last, as we read *apûrvaprajñâ* and find here already the conception of the *apûrvam*, which will be further spoken of shortly. Çaṅkara, indeed, reads (p. 740, 4. 1091, 9) *pûrva-prajñâ*, "previous experience" (which in the Com. on Bṛih. p. 843, he understands as *pûrva-anubhûta-vishayâ prajñâ*, "the "consciousness of what has been experienced before"). The contrast between knowledge and works he explains 3, 4, 11 at first following the Sûtram to mean that the former (those who go by the *Devayâna*) are taken by the hand by knowledge, the latter (those for whom the soul's transmigration continues by the *Pitṛiyâna*), are taken by the hand by works (p. 984, 4); but then he remembers that here it is not yet a question of liberation (to which the *Devayâna* also leads), but only of Saṃsâra, in harmony with his commentary on Bṛih. 4, 4, 2 that the question is only one of knowledge concerning Saṃsâra, that therefore by *Vidyâ* is to be understood here "ordained and forbidden knowledge" (Govinda cites as an example of the former the *Udgîtha*, of the latter *nagna-strî-darçanam*), as by *karman* the doing what is ordained and what is forbidden (p. 984, 9). By *Pûrvaprajñâ* in Bṛih. *l. c.* he understands, as already observed, "previous experience"

c9.s3.t3.29

and explains it as impressions (*vâsanâ*) which things leave behind in the soul, and upon which depend inborn gifts for artistic work (he gives as an example talent for painting) and perhaps also for moral conduct,128—the last if we may thus understand *vishaya-upabhogeshu* and *karmani* (on Bṛih. p. 844, 5, 7) where however this idea, so important for us, of an inborn determination of the moral character is only touched on casually, not distinctly developed.

c9.s3.t3.30

(d) The *Apûrvam*. Sûtras 3, 2, 38—41. 3, 1, 6.

c9.s3.t3.31

In the endless chain of transmigration, every new life is conditioned in its doing and suffering by the works of the preceding life; these therefore bring about the changes in the soul’s destiny, and these changes interpose as a new moment, as “something which was not there before” (*apûrvam*), (although they too, consistently with the system, cf. above p. 322, are necessitated by the life preceding them). This conception of the *Apûrvam* 129 belongs to the *Karmamîmânsâ* school and is for it the metaphysical link between work and its retribution, that which persists when work has passed away and its fruit has not yet appeared. The opinion of Jaimini is thus summarised on p. 841, 6 of our work: “It is not possible that “previous work should bear within it the fruit as yet hidden “in the future, unless it causes a given *Apûrvam* to proceed “from itself. Therefore certain subtle persisting elements of “the work, or preparatory elements of its fruit, are termed “*Apûrvam*.” Now this conception of the *Apûrvam* is disputed by Śaṅkara in the passage cited, in so far as the Vedânta places retribution in the hand of God (cf. on this point above pp. 279, 323); the Apûrvam is something non-spiritual and cannot therefore act without being moved by something spiritual (p. 840, 2); hence the fruit cannot be explained by the mere Apûrvam (p. 842, 1); “whether therein God has regard to the action, or to the Apûrvam, in either case the fruit comes from Him” (p. 842, 2).

c9.s3.t3.32

¹²⁸ On Bṛih. p. 844, 2—8: *Dṛiçyate ca keshâñcit kâsucit kriyâsu citra-karma-âdi-lakshaṇâsu vinâ eva iha-abhyâsena janmata’ eva kauçalam; kâsucid atyanta-saukarya-yuktâsu api akauçalam keshâñcit; tathâ vishaya-upabhogeshu svabhâvata’ eva keshâñcit kauçala-akauçale dṛiçyete; tac ca etat sarvam pûrvaprajñâ-udbhava-anudbhava-nimittam. Tena pûrvaprajñayâ vinâ karmani vâ phala-upabhoge vâ na kasyacit pravrittir upapadyate.*

c9.s3.t3.33

¹²⁹ Besides the passages cited above we find the *Apûrvam* only on p. 1139, 5 (on p. 1020, 6 it occurs in its etymological meaning). On the nearly allied conception of the *Adrishtam* compare pp. 697, 4. 9. 697, 12. 15. 698, 7. 699, 3. 7. 8. 703, 1. 2. 754, 10. 819, 10. 521, 2. 968, 8. 1074, 2.

c9.s3.t3.34

We must not see in this passage an unconditional rejection of the Apûrvam, if we do not wish to place ourselves in contradiction with 3, 1, 6, where the Apûrvam makes its appearance directly as a well known and admitted conception, in order to explain the Faith which, according to the doctrine of the Five Fires, is offered in the first fire, and this indeed in quite another way than that which we have considered in Chapter XXXI, 3, above p. 371.

c9.s3.t3.35

(e) The Çraddhâ. Sûtras 3, 1, 2. 5. 6.

c9.s3.t3.36

The explanation of Faith (çraddhâ) given above p. 372 as “the waters, as these represent the subtle parts of the elements which form the seed of the body,” appears indeed very forced; first, because, so far as we can see, the conception of the subtle body accompanying the soul, has as yet no existence whatever in Bṛih., Chând. or any of the older Upanishads; then because the Indian çraddhâ (just as, though wrongly most probably, by Lactant. inst. 4, 28 the Latin religio) is etymologically traced back to the conception of knitting together and means the link between man and the Beyond, thus appearing to require a moral explanation. Such an explanation is offered without forcing the meaning: for it is quite natural to understand by çraddhâ (which Śaṅkara, on Praçna, p. 250, 6 defines as çubha-karma-pravṛitti-hetu) in Bṛih. and Chând. loc. cit., the works of man produced by faith, as they condition his weal and woe in the Beyond; and this very explanation is also offered by Śaṅkara, whereby he brings himself into irreconcilable contradiction with himself. For after he has, on p. 747, given the explanation of Faith, quoted above on p. 372, as the Waters, meaning the subtle body, he then immediately on p. 747, 7 ff. explains Faith as the Waters, rising upwards in the sacrifice, they are the bearers of the works conditioned by Faith;—thus in the one case they were the garment of the dead, here they are the moral treasure, which the still living performers of the sacrifice lay up for themselves in heaven: "thus the Waters consisting of the sacrificial libations wherein "inheres the work conditioned by faith, these waters in the "form of the Apūrvam clothe the souls which bring the sacri"fice and lead them, to receive their reward, into the other "world" (p. 748, 10); in the same manner Çankara explains çraddhā, p. 743, 16 as the karma-samavāyinya' āpas and again two lines afterwards as the deha-vijāni bhūta-sūkshmāni. By this all the explanations in 3, 1, 1—6 are rendered very far from clear and the impression is produced not so much that they originated from two different hands, as rather that a single hand had endeavoured to preserve two mutually irreconcilable interpretations and work them up into an apparent whole.

5. The Path into the Beyond

c9.s3.t4.1

Sūtram 4, 2, 7.

c9.s3.t4.2

After the soul has drawn back into itself its perceptive powers, the organs, in the way just described, it then (according to Bṛih. 4, 4, 1) enters into the heart (in which, however, according to p. 311 above it already is); "thereupon the point of "the heart becomes luminous; from this, after it has become "luminous, the soul departs, either through the eye, or through "the skull, or through other parts of the body" (Bṛih. 4, 4, 2, above p. 192 f.); up to the moment when the point of the heart becomes luminous and thereby lights up the way (p. 1104, 9), everything is the same for the ignorant and for the (exoteric) knower; here, however, the way divides, in that the knowers depart through the head, the ignorant through other parts of the body (p. 1104, 10), for thus says the Scripture (Chānd. 8, 6, 6 = Kāṭh. 6, 16):

c9.s3.t4.3

“One hundred and one are the veins of the heart,
“Of these the one leads upward to the head,
“Who upward mounts by that, has conquered death;
“The others serve to lead the soul elsewhere.”

c9.s3.t4.4

While the knower thus mounts by the 101st vein ¹³⁰ to tread the Path of the Gods, which, as the exoteric Path to Liberation, will occupy us further in the following part, the others depart through other veins (p. 1105, 3). The further stages of the Pitṛyâna, upon which Bâdarâyaṇa and Çaṅkara give no further details, are according to the doctrine of the Five Fires, the following, in their order: (1) Smoke, while the Devayâna leads through Flame. Originally in both cases the smoke and flame of the funeral pyre seem to have been meant (although already in Chând. 4, 15, 5, translated above p. 166, the entrance into the arcis, ray or better flame, is made independent of the performance of the funeral ceremony); in our work, which makes the departure of the soul occur, not on the burning, but already on the growing cold of the corpse (p. 402), Çaṅkara explains the “flame” (arcis), as we shall see here after, as “the Godhead presiding over the flame,” and in accordance with this, in the Commentaries on Bṛih. 1059, 11. Chând. p. 341, 13, “Smoke” is also taken to mean the Godhead of the smoke.—The following stages also are referred to the Gods presiding over these phenomena: (2) Night, (3) the halves of the month wherein the moon decreases, (4) the halves of the years wherein the days decrease. We must here think of these not as phases of time, but spatially as planes one above another, through which the soul mounts upward, in order to reach the following stages; these are: (5) the world of the Fathers, (6) (only Chând.) the Ether, (7) the Moon, upon which retribution takes place, subject to the limitations, of which we have now to treat.

c9.s3.t4.5

¹³⁰ This artery is called suṣhumnâ Maitri-Up. 6, 21; as also in the Commentaries on Bṛih. p. 877, 8, on Praçna p. 190, 8, on Taitt. p. 25, 14, on Kâṭh. p. 157, 5 and in the gloss to Çaṅkara’s Commentary on the Brahmasûtras p. 1104, 24. In the latter itself, on the other hand, we do not yet find this name but in place of it paraphrases such as that also employed on Chând. 529, 7. 563, 6. 570, 5,—: mûrdhanyâ nâḍî (cf. especially p. 1105, 1).

XXXII. The Destinies of the Soul in the Beyond

1. Contradictions of the Vedic Texts

c9.s4.t1.1

1. According to Bṛih. 6, 2 those who have obtained knowledge pass by the *Devayâna* into Brahman, the performers of works ascend by the *Pitṛiyâna* to the moon and, having received their reward, descend, and become men (Bṛih. 6, 2, 16, p. 1062, 1); those who have neither knowledge nor works become worms, birds and "whatever bites;" by the last expression seem originally to have been understood not "gnats and flies," as the scholiast has it, but, correspoding to the ascending scale indicated in the first-named classes of animals, higher, in particular perhaps fierce animals, or snakes etc.

c9.s4.t1.2

2. These plain and clear facts are entirely distorted in the parallel passage, Chând. 5, 3—10, as was remarked above (Chap. XXX, 7), by an addition distinguishing, among those who return by the *Pitṛiyâna*, between those of fair conduct who are reborn in one of the three higher castes, and those of foul conduct and who go into the bodies of animals or Caṇḍâlas. Thus on the one hand there arises the question, quite overlooked by Chând.: since reward upon the moon is the lot of those of fair conduct only, what is the fate in the other world of those whose conduct is foul? Moreover, if the wicked also go along the *Pitṛiyâna*, then the "third place" (first so named by Chând.) becomes superfluous; and accordingly suppressing the words in Bṛih.: "those who know not "these two Paths," this "third place" is abandoned to the lowest animals, who quickly come into existence and as quickly perish, while the problem whether any transition between them and human existence is possible, remains undiscussed.

c9.s4.t1.3

3. To increase the confusion, a passage from the Kaushîtaki-Up. 1, 2, is cited (p. 763, 2) which expressly says: "all who depart from this world, all go together to the moon," and teaches a return thence to all kinds of human and animal bodies.

c9.s4.t1.4

4. This last difficulty our work gets rid of very easily, by interpreting the passage of the Kaushitaki, without regard to its context, in the sense that only "all who are called thereto (adhikrita)" are to be understood. The difficulty previously mentioned, however, is disposed of on the one hand by means of a passage dragged in from the Kaṭhaka-Upanishad (2, 6) in which, as a contrast to the reward of the good upon the moon, the pains of hell are added in the other world for the evil, while on the other hand the "third place" is pointed to as the place of punishment. These two are not, however, connected by coordinating the pains of hell and the third place, but remain unconnected beside each other (p. 62, 7, too gives no help), so that it is difficult here to escape from the impression that different hands have worked at the Sûtras as well as on the Commentary.

First 94 of 174 passages. Read on

Linked texts (15)