Body and SJUI, in an In^Ilied Manner

chftpttr IY> 161 IMMA t DSVBLOPMSWT OF 1HE COHGBPT IN fflB UPANISADS. Introductory t From the ^gveda, down to the Upanisads, there is a gradual evolution of the thought. This can be - proved by the chronological survey of the thought-con tent of the Vedas C Samhita ), which, as already observ ed, contain the concept of discrimination ( 'Viveka' ) in its germinal form. In tiie prayers to various Deities of the Samhita, there luife now and then the philosophi cal references to Truth and Untruth, Sternal and Non- eternal, Body and SJUI, in an inîlied manner. In the Atharvaveda, in ooms of its hymns of metaphysical character, we find the development of iiie philosophi cal thou,ght and the conception of reality is made more and more clear - which is often termed as *Purusa', sometimes as 'Atman', and at times as 'Brahman', In the Brahmanas, vîlch represent th« transitional phase, in the midst of the ceremonialism and the ritualism pertaining to Sacrifice, the development is still going on, !nius, the 'Agnirahasya' of the Satapatha Brahmana clearly indicates the worship of 4gni as the eternal principle where again it is symbolised as 'Purusa'. Even in the subtle philosophy of the Sacrifice, thatocaursB at times in the Brahmanas and in some of the stories that occur there, we come across the conception of Truth and Untruth, the supremacy of truth and its 102 discrimination from untruth. The conceptions of •Brahman' and *Atman* occur in prose for tiie first time and their importance is never lost sight of as the back-ground of the v/hole ceremonialism. The same link is continued in the Upanisadts with a difference. It was inevitable that thlp philo sophical portion should have been developed at great length, to the exclusion of the external part of the physical Bacriflce. It was the need of the times. Ihis was, so to say, a revolt against the formation in the SamhltS and the Brahrnanas, but certainly not exclusively a revolt of a reactionary character, because the Upani- sadas not only presuppose the SaftihitS and the Brahmanas, but also owe their debt to them for the crucial part of thought that they contain, %© tb«e. I'hay refer to Saifthita-portion now and then, In support of their philosophical quest for truth; with gteat reverence, they use the Deities with reference to the final truth, they advise various kinds of devotions and use the terminology of sacrifice for the quest they were engaged in. Some Upanisadas i.e. ^>4^- & cKaô. are the final portions of the BrShmanas and contain material similar to them in character. In the Mandakopanisad, we come across the description - al most a glorious one - of the sacrifice, at the very outset; but later on, its limitations are also laid Acaax. bare, implying tiiat the s^xttk spirit of sacrifice is all that matters, though the gross form may be permissible in some form or another. *Agnlcayana' 103 which occurs in Yiajurveda and referred to in the BrShmanas is connected with tiiG Upanisads. In the Kathopanisad, for example, reference is made to the Agnicayana.'^nT^-.^yf^Rxr and ^.«£rwxv3RAT in the Upanisads refer to the same - aspect and show the link. Ihus, it is proper to say that the Upanisads are the natural and gradual growth and development of the crucial thought that was implied in the Vedas {, Samhitas ) and the Brahmanas, though apparently ttiey appear ( and are to some extent, in a sense) to be a revolt and a reaction, Thus, the late Dr» R.D. Ranade remarks in this connection, in the initial diaptar of his 'Const ructive Survey of the Upanisads' - " In the first place, we must note that the Rgveda is a grsat hymnology to the personified forces of the nature, and thus represents the earliest phase in the evolution of religi/ûs con sciousness, namely, the objective phase of religion. The Upanisads, on the other hand, make the subj«cti'?e phase of religion. In other words, we may say that as we go from the Vedic period to the Upanisadic period, there Is visi ble at every stage the process of a transference of inte rest from God to Self... In the Upanisads, we pass from prayer to philosophy, from hymnology to reflection, from hcnotheistic polytheism to monotheistic mystjrficism,. We may say that a beginning was made even at this Rgvedic period of the real philosophical inûlse which passing through the Br&hmanic period, was to gather force at the beginning of tiie Upanisadic period. ... From the paycholo- 104 glcal point of view, we may say that vrtiile the Rgveda may be regarded as a great work of emotion and imagina tion, the Upanisads may be regarded as a work of thought and reason." The conventional division of the Vedic Lite rature into (1) Philosophy of Works ( cB^gsr^:^ ) and (2) Philosophy of Knowledge ( îrsr^-rus- ), though empha- siêg in general the character of the Sa&hita - Brfih- nanas and the Upanisads respectively, is not wholly true. Thus, Sri M,P, Pandit, following the line of thought indicated by the late Shrl Aurobindo observes t " And yet, we cannot forget that the original fount from ^\rl'iich flowed all this heterogeneous mass of literature, is the Mantras, The BrShmanas were more or less exegetical developments with stress on the ceremo nial aspect of ths Vedic Religion of worship and sacri fice i.e. on its externals, while the Upanisads were a development and enlargement on som<i of the esoteric aspects," Ws must not forget that liia Samhitas, the Brahiianas and the Upanisads are traditionally regarded as Srti, i.G, revelations; and hence there cannot be unending wars amongst theia. The significance of the t>«rra 'Vsdanta* as applied to %lm Upanisads throws light on liiis Vs-ry nature of the Vedic literature viz, indicat ing tiis growtii of Intuitive ttiought. Thus Vedanta means the 'end of the Vedas' as also the 'essence', ttie supreme secrex of the Vsdas, Both these interpretations apply lOS rightly to Ihs Upanisads and allow aielr crowning achieve ment in the fivld of revealed thought. This revolutionary process, as indicated above, in the three important branches of the Vedic literature is highly significant for tracing tlie development of the concept of •discrlsntnetion* ( Veveka ) in this literature. In fact, it forms the basis of and presuppose? the dlgcuss- \on that follows. In the foregoing Chapters, we have traced the origin of the concept of 'Viveka' and its nature as re vealed in tiie Vedic Samhita and the Brahnanas, -?his chapter is specifically devoted to the nature of the concept as it finds place in liie later portions of the Vedas, viz, the Upanisads, H-;rp, we shall try to find out its ax^taJe exact nature and its development, if at all there is any. For our present purpose, vre have taken into conuideration only thirteen principal Bpanisads, Our aim, thnefors, here will be to present the various steges tr-rough %rfiich the concept of 'Viveka* has passod and to shot/ i.tisthcr it has reached lt« culmination. The philosophical, poetic and discursive method of the %± Upanisads appears to be favourable for such a study. That is \ihy thlrs chapter will be the pivot • 1, I?a, 2, iCrHB.. 3. Katha. 4, Prasna, 5, '".iinSaka. 6, MSndukya. 7. Talttirlya 8, Aitarsya, 9. Chandogya, 10. BrahadSranyaka. 11. Kaitrl. 12. Svetasvatara, 13, Kausitaki 106 of our whole thesis. As we have undertaken the Pre-iiiankara Vedanta as the material for our research, so far as the ooncept of Viveka is concerned, the Upanlsads form the very badc-bone of tiiis study. Ihough the Upanlsads are ( proverbially ) considered as 'tiie loose sallies of tha mind', it cannot be ignored that they are cefinlte expressions of intuitive thoughts of the ancient ttiinkers. They are not terse, like the Brahraasutras of Sadarayaija. They have a good deal to say about the Ultimate Real ity and the way to it. We shall presently turn to our prt»«»* purpose viz* the concept of viveka, as it finds expression in the Upanlsads, 2 Ihe word 'Viveka* occurs only once in the Upanlsads* It is used there In the sense of 'choice' or 'discrimination'. It must, however, ha noted that the word is used firstly, as it occurs in the dally parlance, and then its philosophical import is suggest ed. But elsewhere in the Upanlsads, we come across • ftr+>J~f^ • used in ttie philosophical sense, from which ttie vjord is derived. Thus in the Katha, we have 3 the form •fk^^..T%' In this very sense. It means 'dis- 2. - ,r<" Ca^^;)-^-4rr a-^ s^ i^^<^ c^rW^s ^g^^-crr^ •C^^^-^ " - Ghand. VI, 9, 2. ^ 3, Katha, 1,2, 2, .s^âr^ter ^rsc'ar JT-iT^^^n^cT•. 107 criminates, • In the same Upanisad, • •^T-t-NTfT^ i 4 is used In the ssnc sense In the forms * '^f'S^ • 5 and • -sf^^^ *. So also In the same Upanisad, »"R4-'4-'*ra- I i2 uag<| in ^Q gaoQ sense in the form This merely indicates ttiat a good deal of thinking, in this direction, must have already taken place before this term, or such words are used. Of all the Upanlsads, Kalâ uses such words in a bold manner. In other Upanlsads, ve do not come across this yord, II,. IHB CONCEPT OF VIVEKA 'ihers are various approaches through which 7 Plan arrives at tfce Ultimate Reality, As Dr, Galrd has put it, " He can look out-ijard upon fee world around him; he can look inxvsrd upon ths sQlf within hlmj and he can look upvjard to ths God abovs him; to tiie Being vho unites the out«^>jard and ln\jard -worlds, and viho 8 manifests himself in both," He further addsi ''îan looks In-ward, and he looks Inisard tefore he looks up ward." I'ne initial approach is, therefore, essentially 4, Katha.

Load more