A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c4.s3.4

c4.s3.4

the Full moon, and the New moon, for the fulfilment of some specific desires. Paingya seems to have been the henchman of Kaushītaki in his doctrine that Prāṇa was the lord of the Senses as well as the Mind. Pratardana was a free-thinker of antiquity, disbelieving in the efficacy of external ritualism, advocating the doctrine of the inner sacrifice which is always going on within us, and contributing to thought, probably, the doctrine of Prajñātman, a bio-psycho-metaphysical conception. Śushkabhṛingāra seems to have taught that if a man regarded the Ṛigveda as supreme, all beings would worship him (archante) ; if he regarded the Yajurveda as supreme, all would join (yujyante) to prove his supremacy ; and that if he regarded the Sāmaveda as supreme, all would bow down to him (samnamante). This is a philologico-philosophical contribution of Śushkabhṛingāra made under Brāhmaṇic influence. Finally, the sage Jaivali seems to have held that the Universe exhibits at every stage the principle of sacrifice. “When we cast our glance at the sky, he said, we see that the heaven is a great altar in which the sun is burning as fuel, his rays being the smoke, the day being the light of the sacrificial fire, the quarters the coals, and the intermediate quarters the sparks of the fire ; from the oblation that is offered in this sacrifice, namely Śraddhā, rises the Moon. If we look at the sky again, we see that “parjanya” is the great altar in which the year is burning as fuel, the clouds being the smoke, the lightning being the light of the sacrificial fire, the thunderbolt the coals, and the rumbling of the clouds the sparks of the sacrificial fire ; from the oblation offered in this sacrifice, namely the Moon, rises Rain. Then again, the whole world is a great altar in which the earth burns as fuel, fire being the smoke, night being the light, the moon being the coals, and the stars the sparks of the fire ; from the oblation offered in this sacrifice, namely Rain, rises Food. Fourthly, man himself is a great altar in which the opened mouth is the fuel, the breath the smoke, the tongue the light, the eyes the coals, the ears the sparks; from the oblation offered in his sacrifice, namely Food, rises Seed. Finally, woman herself is a great altar, in which Seed being offered as an oblation, rises Man. In this very peculiar way does Jaivali’s philosophy connect the Śraddhā libation with the Moon, the Moon with Rain, the Rain with Food, the Food with Seed, and finally the Seed with Man. This is his celebrated Doctrine of Five Fires. Finally, when a Man is cremated, from out of the fire of cremation which serves as altar, a lustrous person arises, who goes either to the World of the Gods, or to the World of the Fathers, as his qualifications enable him to proceed”.