A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c8.s5.49

c8.s5.49

1. After a discussion in the last chapter of the central metaphysical position reached in the Upanishads, and after a suggestion that that position is to be attained more by the way of mysticism than by the way of thought, it would behove us for a while to bestow our attention on the moral problem in the Upanishads, which might easily be seen to be connected with their metaphysics on the one hand, and mysticism on the other. The problem of the relation of metaphysics and morality has been a much-debated problem from very ancient times; nor is the problem of the relation of morality and mysticism in any way a less important problem. For, just as it is hard to decide as to which of the two—metaphysics and morality—should receive the primacy in the discussion of the development of man's consciousness as a whole, similarly, it is equally hard to decide which of the two—morality and mysticism—plays a more important part in that development. If we take into account, however, the integrity of man's consciousness as a whole, it would seem absolutely impossible, in the interest of the highest development of which man's consciousness is capable, to sunder the intellectual from the moral, as the moral from the mystical element. Intelligence without the moral backbone might only degenerate into the cleverest forms of chicanery, and a mystic without morality, if such a one were possible, might only be a hideous creature who is a blot on the spiritual evolution of man. And, again, just as morality, to be ratiocinative, must be firmly linked to the intellect, similarly for its consummation, it must end in the mystical attitude, which alone is the goal and end of the life of man. In short, Metaphysics, Morality and Mysticism are as inseparable from each other in the interest of the highest spiritual development of man, as intellect, will, and emotion are inseparable for his highest psychological development. It would thus seem necessary for a while to linger on the discussion of the moral problem in the Upanishads, as the connecting link between the metaphysical position reached therein and the final mystical realisation taught in the Upanishads.