The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s10.45

v2.c40.s10.45

The appended verse is interpreted by Çaṅkara to refer to the fact that the soul is not merely rewarded by being transferred to another body, but before that period undergoes reward or punishment for its deeds in the appropriate place. The question of its precise meaning is not important: it may mean¹ merely that he transmigrates after completing one life. But the important fact is that, with the doctrine of action as determining the future life of man, there comes to be combined the doctrine of reward in heaven or punishment elsewhere, which is already seen in the Rigveda and more clearly in the Atharvaveda, and which we need not doubt was a popular belief, and this combination is already found in the two main texts which are our sources for the transmigration doctrine. Of these the Bṛhadāraṇyaka² version is found in the sixth book which occurs in the appendix, and this fact alone indicates its later date. The other version is in the Chāndogya,³ and here as always that Upaniṣad shows its dependence in the case of common material on the Bṛhadāraṇyaka. A somewhat corrupt version is also given in the second Pariśiṣṭa of the Nirukta.