The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s5.24

v2.c39.s5.24

With thinking still so undeveloped, it would be impossible to expect any serious advance in the construction of categories to aid in the comprehension of the world. The distinction between what has and what has not life and power of action is not made; the gods, demons, men, plants, beasts of all kinds, are no more alive than the atmosphere, wind, rain, storm, minerals, the sacrifice and its utensils, numbers, metres, qualities or emotions. The holy power and the lordly power are concrete activities, like the strength (*vīrya*) of a man; his greatness (*mahiman*) is even said along with his Ātman to constitute him.³ The anguish caused to the victim in the slaying adheres to the roasting spit, and if placed on earth will penetrate to the earth; guilt (*enas*, *āgas*) is a substance which the god can carry with him; a man’s good deeds are within the altar, his evil deeds without it.⁴ Equally substantial are conceptions such as right, asceticism, evil, death, immortality, truth, falsehood, space and time. These two are normally represented by the cardinal points and the year; gradually we find the development of Ākāça, which denotes the vacancy between objects,⁵ such as the Antarikṣa between heaven and earth, but it is also material, as the Upaniṣads frankly recognize, and of Kāla, which primarily means the suitable moment for any thing, but becomes regarded as a cosmic power, similar to the year, in the Atharvaveda.