Indian Philosophy v1.c8.s5.2

v1.c8.s5.2

The Vedic thinkers were not unmindful of the philosophical problems of the origin and nature of the world. In their search for the first ground of all changing things, they, like the ancient Greeks, looked upon water, air, etc., as the ultimate elements out of which the variety of the world is composed. Water is said to develop into the world through the force of time, saṃvatsara or year, desire or kāma, intelligence or puruṣa, warmth or tapas.¹ Sometimes water itself is derived from night or chaos, tamas, or air.² In x. 72 the world ground is said to be the asat, or the non-existent, with which is identified Aditi, the infinite. All that exists is diti, or bounded, while the a-diti, the infinite, is non-existent. From the infinite, cosmic force arises, though the latter is sometimes said to be the source of the infinite itself.³ These theories, however, soon related themselves to the non-physical, and physics by alliance with religion became metaphysics.