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The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c9.s1: XXIX. The Eschatology of the Vedânta

The System of the Vedânta according to Bâdarâyana's Brahma-Sûtras and Çankara's Commentary c9.s1

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XXIX. The Eschatology of the Vedânta

1. The main Phases of Indian Eschatology

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

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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.

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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.

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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!*

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

Cites (7)