The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s1.3

v2.c39.s1.3

It is, however, another question whether we can acquiesce in the theory of Deussen² that the Brāhmaṇas in various places are conscious of higher philosophical views, which they ignore and turn to ritual purposes. The proofs which he adduces of his theory are far from carrying conviction. In his view the account of the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa³ of the origin of the Naciketas fire is really posterior in order of conception to the account in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad. It is there told that Vājaçravasa made an offering, at which he gave to the priests all his goods, retaining, however, his son, Naciketas, as the ritual prescribes; the boy, however, insisted that he should also be given,⁴ and his father in just irritation at his persistence gave him to death. The young man goes, in the true spirit of fairy tale, to the house of Yama, who is away, and who, therefore, for three nights fails in the important duty of the due reception of guests. He must, therefore, on his return make atonement, and he gives the lad three boons. Naciketas chooses the kind reception of him by his father on his return, the imperishableness of his due reward for his sacrifices and gifts to the priests,¹ and the freedom from repeated death—not in this world, in all probability. In the two latter cases the god teaches the boy the way of piling the Naciketas fire. To this Deussen takes exception, and thinks that originally the means to the third wish must have been the knowledge of the eternal redemption from the bonds of death, and he holds, therefore, that in the Brāhmaṇa we have the expression of a polemical attitude to the more philosophical doctrine. The idea appears, however, to be one wholly unjustifiable. The aim of the ritual is simply to assert the value of this fire, and the repetition of the fire as the means of knowledge of the end desired is perfectly natural and simple. That the boy asked for the grant of final release is nowhere hinted at: what he fears, according to the language used, is simply that, as is often threatened in the later Brāhmaṇas, he may fall in due course, even in the next world, under the control of death.