The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s2.13

v2.c39.s2.13

There is nothing particularly valuable or serious in these attempts, though they merit mention. More interesting are efforts to explain the nature of Prajāpati, and to dispose thus of him. The position of Prajāpati as decider of disputes leads to the view that he intervenes in the great dispute of the mind and speech as to which should be given the higher rank, a dispute settled by Prajāpati in favour of mind.² The connexion of speech and mind³ as elements in Prajāpati himself is expressed by the figure of union between the two within him, and either is occasionally made into the final entity of the world: thus mind is identified with Brahman, with Prajāpati, and even with the first principle, which is neither being nor not-being, of the hymn of creation.⁴ Similarly Vāc, ‘speech’, is identified with Prajāpati, or even placed above Prajāpati, identified with Viçvakarman, with the whole world, and with Indra.⁵ These identifications are, however, despite their interest, of no importance for Indian philosophy: the will or the intellect as such does not in fact become the essential reality of any Indian orthodox philosophy. Prajāpati is also the sacrifice,⁶ and sacrifices himself to the gods, for, as we have seen, the order of the world is constantly compared with the sacrifice, and Puruṣa by being sacrificed creates the universe: he is also the year,⁷ or both,⁸ and these identifications are of great importance in connexion with the theory of sacrifice to which we shall return.