The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s12.1

v2.c40.s12.1

In comparison with the intellectual activity of the Brahmans the ethical content of the Upaniṣads must be said to be negligible and valueless.⁶ The total impression conveyed by the Upaniṣads is that of an intellectual exercise, whose aim was the attainment partly of immediate goods, partly of the highest good, normally the happiness of heaven which was often materially enough conceived, and there is made no attempt to make the theoretical philosophy a ground of morality of any sort. There are, here and there, moral maxims enunciated, but these are of no consequence and rise in no way above popular morality. On the contrary, the essential fact is expressed by Indra in his dialogue with Pratardana:⁷ the possession of knowledge makes a man independent of all morality, the slaying of an embryo, the murder of a father or of a mother. It is, of course, true that these statements are not meant seriously, and that we may console ourselves by supposing that the priest did not hold that these crimes could really be disposed of in this way, though of that we cannot be certain as the same results can be attained by ritual practices. But they must have felt an exaggerated value to attach to their speculations, and have completely failed to see that morality is the most objective and essential part of philosophy, and is something other than sacrificial activity or intellectual gymnastics.