The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s6.59

v2.c40.s6.59

In the later systems of India it is an essential principle that, in accordance with the doctrine of transmigration, there can never be an origin of the world in time, and, since, on the other hand, the origination of the world was an accepted doctrine, the difficulty was overcome by the theory of the periodic destruction and regeneration of the world. This doctrine, which has been wrongly seen in the Atharvaveda, is certainly not to be found in any older Upaniṣad, and must be regarded as a definite sign of late date. It is found in the Çvetāçvatara Upaniṣad¹ when the god, who puts forth many times one net after another in space, is compared to a spider. It is also made clear that it is the actions of the soul which result in the activity of the creator in apportioning to each person all their attributes. The later Upaniṣads² recognize frankly the destruction of the universe by periodic fire. The only idea in the older texts³ which affords the slightest analogy is the mere mention of the fact that into the Brahman the individual must fall on death, an idea which has no logical connexion with the developed theory. The latter may have arisen as a mere desire to apply to all the worlds what applied to the individual: more probably perhaps it is due to the needs of the doctrine of transmigration.