The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s7.t3.69

v2.c40.s7.t3.69

This view has been accepted as regards the origin of the theory of soul by Prof. Stcherbatsky,¹ who holds that the fact that the theory was new was the ground why it was so bitterly assailed by the Buddhists. He admits that the idea of a surviving personality is not unknown in the Veda, and that its essence and its relation to the Brahman are the main topic of discussion in the Upaniṣads. ‘But this self is a psychological entity, different explanations of its nature are proposed, and materialistic views are not excluded.² The idea of an immortal soul in our sense, a spiritual monad, a simple, uncomposite, eternal, immaterial substance is quite unknown in the Veda inclusive of the older Upaniṣads.’ Most regrettably neither Prof. Jacobi nor Prof. Stcherbatsky has pointed out the passages in the middle or younger Upaniṣads in which this new idea of an immortal soul is to be found, as contrasted with those in the older Upaniṣads; and it appears to me wholly impossible to find any such distinction as real. The idea that at this period in the history of Indian thought the conception of an immortal soul was first introduced appears wholly without warrant, and to misunderstand entirely the course of development of Indian philosophy.