English
A passage for editorial review. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], [p. 1][p. 2][p. 3][p. 4] The Wisdom of the East Series EDITED BY L. CRANMER-BYNG Dr. S. A. KAPADIA FIRST EDITION, November 1907 Reprinted, October 1911 BRAHMA-KNOWLEDGE AN OUTLINE OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE VEDANTA AS SET FORTH BY THE UPANISHADS AND BY S'ANKARA By L. D. BARNETT, M.A., LITT.D. PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET [1911] ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Scanned, proofed and formatted at sacred-texts.com, January 2009. This text is in the public domain in the US because it was published prior to 1923. Click to enlarge Front Cover and Spine Click to enlarge Title Page Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com [p. 5] [p. 6] CONTENTS INTRODUCTION <page 9> PART I AN ACCOUNT OF THE VEDANTA VEDaNTA, THE VEDAS' END <page 11> THE FOUR VEDAS <page 11> THE UPANISHADS <page 12> FOUNDATIONS OF UPANISHADIC IDEAS <page 13> BRAHMA AND PRaNA <page 15> DOCTRINE OF TRANSMIGRATION AND WORKS <page 17> ATMa, SELF OR SPIRIT <page 17> UPANISHADIC PRINCIPLES <page 18> ORIGIN OF UNIVERSE FROM BRAHMA <page 20> BRAHMA IS ABSOLUTE BEING <page 23> BRAHMA IS THOUGHT <page 23> BRAHMA IS ATMa <page 24> BRAHMA IS INCOGITABLE <page 33> PARMENIDES <page 34> PHASES OF THE SELF <page 35> MaYa <page 38> RELATION OF UNIVERSAL TO INDIVIDUAL SOUL <page 40> ORGANISM OF SOUL <page 42> THE SUBTLE BODY <page 45> KARMA <page 46> FREEDOM OF WILL <page 47> GOD <page 47> BRAHMA THE DESTROYER <page 49> SALVATION <page 50> THE AFTER LIFE <page 52> PART II SOME TEXTS OF THE VEDANTA APPENDIX I., THE SAMBANDHAS <page 109> APPENDIX II., LIST OF CHIEF UPANISHADS AND ABBREVIATIONS <page 111> BIBLIOGRAPHY <page 112> Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com [p. 7] [p. 8] EDITORIAL NOTE THE object of the Editors of this series is a very definite one. They desire above all things that, in their humble way, these books shall be the ambassadors of good-will and understanding between East and West--the old world of Thought and the new of Action. In this endeavour, and in their own sphere, they are but followers of the highest example in the land. They are confident that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the nation of another creed and colour. L. CRANMER-BYNG. S. A. KAPADIA. NORTHBROOK SOCIETY, 21, CROMWELL ROAD, KENSINGTON, S.W. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com [p. 9] INTRODUCTION THE following pages sketch in outline--and therefore inadequately--the most important elements in the series of ideas which, under the general name of Vedanta, have been in one form or another the basis of all Indian thought worthy of the name. No attempt is made here either to justify or to refute them. Their philosophic weakness is obvious; no less patent is the intensity of the longing for an intellectual resting-place, a "Rock of Ages," which has driven millions of the most thoughtful Hindus to drown their soul's disquiet in the utterly blank abstraction of "Brahma." In the main the Vedanta agrees with the teaching of Parmenides and the early Eleatics of his school, and has many points of contact with Plato's idealism. But whereas the Greek philosophers were only professors, the Vedanta has always had a deep practical significance. Like the early Christian Church, it preached as highest consummation the renunciation of the world and [p. 10] of self, passing in some of its phases into a religious self-surrender fully equal in completeness, if not superior, to that of European monasticism; and even as a purely intellectual force it has had an incalculable influence upon the minds and characters of millions of Hindus in nearly every station of civilised life. To discuss this issue is beyond the province of our book; it must suffice to point to it. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com [p. 11] PART I AN ACCOUNT OF THE VEDANTA section 1. VEDaNTA, THE VEDAS' END.--The Sanskrit word Vedanta (veda-anta) signifies "end" or "bound of the Vedas." It was originally given, at a somewhat advanced stage of their development, to the works called Upanishads, and subsequently to the various philosophies claiming to be based upon them. Besides the Upanishads, one of these philosophies will be noticed in the following pages, namely the system promulgated in the ninth century by S'ankara in his great commentary (S'ariraka-bhashya) upon the epitome of Upanishadic doctrine commonly known as the Brahma-sutra, or "Aphorisms of Brahma," and traditionally ascribed to one or the other of the legendary sages Badarayana and Vyasa. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com section 2. THE FOUR VEDAS.--The hymns of the Rig-veda, composed by various authors some three thousand years ago, are almost the only monument of the first period of Indian thought; for the collections known as the Yajur-veda and [p. 12] [paragraph continues] Sama-veda are for the most part merely adaptations of the Rig-veda for special liturgical purposes, while the Atharva-veda, which was not admitted until much later into the Vedic canon, combines Rig-vedic hymns selected for ritual objects with a mass of various incantations of little or no philosophic and literary merit. The study of these hymn-collections in their liturgical application by the Brahman schools bore as fruit the bulky volumes known generically as Brahmanas. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com section 3. THE UPANISHADS. [*1]--The earlier Upanishads, a series of philosophic tracts of varying length and character, arose in the schools of the Brahmanas, and especially were attached to the sections of the latter styled Aranyakas. The Hindus class together Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads under the general title of "Veda" (knowledge) or "Revelation" (s'ruti, "hearing"). The Vedas and Brahmanas are the handbooks of a crude naturalistic ritualism; but the Aranyakas ("Forest-books"), apparently intended [p. 13] for the study of anchorites in the woods, where the more elaborate liturgies were suspended, deal more with the theory of ritual, chiefly from an allegorical point of view. Hence they lead over to the earlier Upanishads, which express a series of generally cognate metaphysical and psychological ideas, at first by allegorical interpretation of Vedic ritual and myth, later with increasing independence of method. Their relation towards Vedic ritualism was at first one of opposition; preaching the saving grace of knowledge alone, they regarded as inadequate the actual liturgies, which admittedly aimed only at worldly welfare. Later their attitude became more conciliatory, and we find them styling themselves Vedanta (first Mund. III. ii. 6, S'vet. VI. 22). Footnotes ^12:1 The etymology of the word Upanishad is not clear. European scholars generally regard it as from the root sad (compare Latin sedeo), so that it would mean "a sitting before," i.e. a lesson; but native tradition interprets it as "mystery," and the enigmatic formulae in which the older Upanishads sometimes convey their theories lend some support to this view (see Deussen, Philosophy of Upanishads, English translation, pp. 10 ff.). Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com section 4. FOUNDATIONS OF UPANISHADIC IDEAS.--The Rig-veda contains many strata of religious and philosophic thought. Its oldest element is a worship of nature-deities, such as the Sky-Father, Earth-Mother, Dawn, etc., who were inherited from the time before the division of the Indo-European stocks. These figures, however, are not as a rule living forces in religion; for the most part they are kept alive merely by conservatism and poetic convention. The most real gods of the Vedic pantheon are peculiarly Indian. Often indeed a distant connection can be traced between them and nature-deities in the other Indo-European races; but their myths and [p. 14] legends have undergone a long process of development on Indian soil, by which they have acquired the characteristic stamp of the Hindu genius. But even in the naturalistic polytheism of this mythology we can trace in the Rig-veda, especially in its later parts, a tendency towards a pantheism merging all being into a Supreme Spirit of vaguely defined character, a primal Infinite. Thus "there is one Existence, sages call it by many names" (Rig-veda, I. clxiv. 46; cf. x. cxiv. 5). The primitive spirit and source of being is called Hiranya-garbha ("Germ of Gold"), or Praja-pati ("Lord of Creatures"), x. cxxi.; as his own firstborn he enters the universe created by him (x. lxxii., lxxxii., etc.). In x. cxxix. the first Being is neither existent nor non-existent, a watery void, from which arose a primal Unity, whence sprang Desire as first bond between being and non-being. Another poet (x. xc.