A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c5.10

Language: English

c5.10.1

9. After the conception of Not-Being as the "archē" of things we come to the conception of Being. A passage from the Chhāndogyopanishad tells us directly that Being alone existed at the beginning of things. It takes to task those who suppose that the primeval Existent must be regarded as Not-Being, and that Being must be regarded as having been produced therefrom. "How could it possibly be so," asks the Upanishad, "how could Being come out of Not-Being, existence from non-existence? It is necessary for us to suppose that at the beginning verily all this was Being, and it was alone and without a second. This Primeval Being reflected, let me be many, let me produce; having bethought thus to itself, it produced fire. Fire thought, let me be many, let me produce; and it produced water. Water thought, let me be many, let me produce; and it produced the Earth (food or matter)" (S. 10. a). "The Primeval Being then thought, verily I am now these three deities. Let me enter into them by my Self, and unfold both Name and Form. Let me make each of them three-fold and three-fold" (S. 10. b). "It thus comes about that what we call the red colour in a flame belongs really to fire. Its white colour is that of water and its black colour belongs to the earth. Thus does vanish the flame-ness of a flame. The flame is indeed only a word, a modification and a name, while what really exists is the three colours.

c5.10.2

What we call the red colour in the Sun, is really the colour of fire, its white colour is the colour of water, its black colour is the colour of the earth. Thus verily vanishes the sunness of the Sun. The Sun is only a word, a modification and a name. What really exists is the three colours. Thus likewise does depart the moon-ness of the moon, and the lightning-ness of the lightning. What really exists is the three colours only" (S. 10. c). It is interesting to note in these passages, in the first place, that the primeval existent is regarded as Being, and is described as being one without a second. In the second place, we see how from this primeval Being is produced the three-fold Prakṛti which we might call "tejobannātmikā" Prakṛti, that is consisting of fire, water, and earth. Then, thirdly, it must be noted that the Chhāndogyopanishad teaches us definitely the doctrine of "trivṛitkaraṇa" which is the Upanishadic prototype of the "pañchīkaraṇa" of later Vedānta.

c5.10.3

Just as in the Vedāntic theory of pañchīkaraṇa, out of the five original elements, fire, air, water, earth, and space, half of each element was regarded as being kept intact, while the other half was regarded as being divided into four equal different parts, four such parts from the different elements one after another going to make up a half, which in combination with the half of the original element made up one transformed evolute of the original element, similarly, in the case of the Upanishadic trivṛitkaraṇa each of the three original elements namely fire, water and earth is to be regarded as being divided into two equal portions, one half being kept intact, while the other half is divided into two equal portions, the two quarters of the two other elements in combination with the one-half of the original element making up a transformed evolute of the original element. This idea of the mixture of the elements in the Upanishads is a very interesting one from the point of view of its analogy with a similar idea in the philosophy of Anaxagoras who taught that there was a portion of everything in everything, and thus that the elements came to be mixed with each other and gave rise to transformed products.

c5.10.4

Then, fourthly, we must remember that the Chhāndogyopanishad tells us that there are three different colours belonging to the three different elements namely the red, the white and the black, which it must be noted were later borrowed by the Sāmkhya philosophy and made to constitute the three different colours corresponding to the three different qualities of the Sāmkhya Prakriti. Finally, the Chhāndogyopanishad tells us that what really exists is the three different colours, or the three different elements, while all such objects of nature as, the sun, the moon, and the lightning, which are constituted out of the three original elements or colours are merely words or names or modificatory appearances of the original elements. In the spirit of an extreme nominalism, the Chhāndogyopanishad tries to reduce all later products to mere semblance or appearance, while it keeps the door open for the real existence of the three elements alone, all of them having been born from the Primeval Being—a sort of a philosophical trinitarian monism!