The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c34.s1.11

v2.c34.s1.11

Naturally enough there is abundant evidence of the simple views which suggest the theory of the spirit: the phenomena of loss of the senses, which is recorded in the Rigveda, is also recorded of the ancient Bhṛgu, who in this condition went to the other world and had experiences of interest there.⁵ The view that in the case of a dream the soul might be outside the body and moving about freely at will, which is a common belief of many peoples, is proved by the reference to such a case in the Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa,⁶ which warns us of the danger of waking the sleeper too hurriedly, lest the soul should thus fail to find its way back into the body. It appears also that dreams about the dead were deemed to be due to the souls of the dead moving thus about. At least this belief would explain the fact that, on going away from a festival for the dead, the partaker in the rite should rub himself with the Apāmārga plant and ask it to wipe away evil dreams.⁷ The danger of the spirit escaping through yawning seems suggested by the rule that in such a case one should say, ‘In me be strength and wisdom’.⁸ The shadow also is here and there found as being in some way connected with man: if one cannot see his reflection it is an omen of death, and the reflection of one whose mind is gone can be used in a spell to restore his mind to him.⁹ All these elements can be supposed to have been steadily at work in Vedic India, and the result is the conception of the spirit as some more or less impalpable substance. It is not *asu* entirely nor mind: it is also breath, and it is very often regarded as *asu* and mind :¹ or it appears as mind or as *asu*, as in the frequent phrase *asunīti*, ‘*asu* leading’,² which is applied both to the process by which the spirits are led from the earth to their home in the sky, and the reverse process by which they are brought back by Agni, as the conveyer of souls, from the heaven in which they live to the offerings made to them on earth. It is, however, of importance that mind is assumed to be with the spirit when it is away from the body : the Fathers of the Vedic creation are thus creatures who are perfectly gifted for intellectual action of all kind, to know, to perceive, to enjoy, and to will. But the view as to exactly what it was which departed at death was never quite clearly settled by the thought of India : the Upaniṣads inclined to regard it as the Ātman, the Buddhist in one view as consciousness, Vijñāna,³ and later there developed more precise views of the psychic apparatus which transmigrated, but the views of the populace were probably as vague as those of Vedic India itself.