English
These potential forces, which relatively to one another are of infinite variety but intrinsically are strictly determinate, include not only the germinal principles of all phenomena but also the empiric souls (jiva) as such; and collectively they constitute the "powers" or s'aktis, i.e. the eternal demiurgic potencies of Brahma, which in the intervals between the creations of the worlds lie dormant in a deep sleep of illusion as a sum of merely potential energies, waiting for the next creation to arise in cosmopoeic activity (on I. iii. 30, IV. 9, II, i. 30 f., etc.). Thus the Upanishadic theory of a single creation is replaced by a doctrine of beginningless and endless successions of emergence and reabsorption of the phenomenal world (see section 23). The force that moves the absolute Idea to conceive itself as a plurality of determinate subjects and objects of empiric thought is, according to S'ankara, Ignorance, which, though itself strictly negative, is the basis of that positive illusion, the phenomenal world (see section 16). Ignorance creates "determinations," upadhi, modes of thought limiting the self-conception of the absolute Brahma, and Ignorance causes the empiric soul thus produced to confuse Brahma with the determinations [p. 29] falsely imposed upon him, so that Brahma is imagined variously as individual soul, a world of experience, and a personal God. The "determinations" that play the most important part in S'ankara's system are those which form the structure of individual consciousness by constituting the idea of an embodied individual soul, jiva. These are the pranas, or "breaths," the "works," the "subtle body," the gross body, and sometimes also the sensations and phenomenal perceptions (see section 18). A favourite metaphor by which Sankara illustrates his theory of upadhis is that of a jar. The space enclosed within a certain jar is really the same as the infinite space filling the universe, and the conception of it as limited by the jar nowise limits the infinitude of space itself; and so the conception of the Self as determined by the forms of embodied existence nowise excludes the identity of the embodied Self with the absolute Brahma. The soul itself, says S'ankara (on II. iii. 40), is totally incapable of (empiric) action, whether as subject or object; its apparent activity, e.g. in desire, grief, etc., is based merely upon Ignorance, for the activity arises because the soul falsely ascribes to itself the properties of "determinations" (cf. the definitions of the individual soul given on IV. ii. 4 as "the intelligent self, vijnanatma, having the determinations of ignorance, works, and previous experience"). The Vedantic schools which followed S'ankara [p. 30] theorised more schematically on the origin of the phenomenal world. They regard Ignorance as a cosmic sum of forces including all finite powers, causes, and effects, which has two characteristic properties, viz. "obscuration" (avarana), causing the Absolute Idea to conceive itself as distinct individual egos, and "distention" (vikshepa), arousing in the Self the illusive idea of an external world of phenomena. Accepting the Sankhya's division of matter into the three gunas or modes of sattva ("goodness" or "truth"), rajas ("passion"), and tamas ("gloom"), they identify matter with Cosmic Ignorance, or the sum of individual Ignorances, which acts as a "determinant" to the Supreme Self or Absolute Thought. The latter as "determined" in Cosmic Ignorance acts as a world-soul, directing the universal order of phenomena with supreme power and knowledge, and hence is called Is'vara, "the Lord." The Cosmic Ignorance is hence called "Is'vara's body," and also "Deep Sleep" (sushupti), for in it the force of Ignorance investing Thought is almost wholly inoperative, and the phenomenal world exists only in potentiality. This sphere of being is called the "sheath of Bliss," ananda-maya kos'a. To it corresponds a stage of existence in the individual soul, in which the Self or Thought (here styled Prajna) is "determined" by individual Ignorance. From Is'vara as "determined" by Cosmic Ignorance arise the subtle [p. 31] elements ( section 18) and thence both the "subtle bodies" ( section 19) and gross elements. The "subtle bodies" in the aggregate determine the Self into a mode called Prana, Sutratma, or Hiranyagarbha; individually they determine it into the mode called Taijasa. These combinations of matter with the Self form three successive phases of being for the individual soul: (1) the "sheath of understanding," vijnana-maya kos'a, composed of intelligence (buddhi) and the "organs of knowledge" ( section 18), which constitutes the real agent in empiric experience; (2) the "sheath of mind," mano-maya kos'a, formed of manas and the organs of action, thus constituting the instrument of empiric experience; and (3) the "sheath of the breaths," prana-maya kos'a, formed of vital breaths and organs of action, and constituting the effect of experience. These three phases of being are together called "Dream-Sleep," as in them arise the subtle or elementary forms of phenomena and the reflection of them upon the "determined" Self. The gross elements which arise from the subtle collectively "determine" the Self into the phase called Vais'vanara or Virat; individually they "determine" it into Vis'va. This lowest determination is called anna-maya kos'a, the "sheath of food," or the state of Waking, for into it the forms of both gross and subtle phenomena are displayed to the Self, as in waking both memory and sense-perception are active. [p. 32] The scheme is thus as follows: 1. Individual Gross Body, determinant of Vis'va, in state of Waking. Sheath of Food. Cosmic Gross Body determinant of Virat, in state of Waking. 2. Individual Subtle Body, determinant of Taijasa, in state of Dreaming. (1) Sheath of Breaths. (2) Sheath of Mind. (3) Sheath of Understanding. Cosmic Subtle Body, determinant of Prana, in state of Dreaming. 3. Individual Causal Body, determinant of Prajna, in state of Dreamless Sleep. Sheath of Bliss. Cosmic Causal Body, determinant of Is'vara, in state of Dreamless Sleep. Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com [p. 33] section 13. BRAHMA IS INCOGITABLE.--Brahma or Atma, being an absolute Reality, the supreme Thing-in-Itself, is therefore inconceivable by the reason, and only capable of being comprehended by an inspired intuition. The Self, whether universal or individual, is a single subject of thought, and so cannot be an object of thought; and it is by nature absolute, above all conditions of finite determination. This negative conception is most forcibly expressed by the famous formula ascribed to Yajnavalkya, neti neti, "not so, not so," a denial of all possible predicates to the Self (B.A. IV. ii. 4, IV. 22, v. 15, etc.), and also by frequently describing Brahma or Atma in contradictory terms as limitless, infinitely extended and yet immeasurably limited in space and time, and denying to it all activity as cause or effect. See also B.A. II. iv. 14, III. iv. 2, vii. 23, viii. 11, Ch. III. xiv. 2, VII. xxiv. 1, Kena. III., XI., Kath. VI. 12 f. S'ankara (on Brahma-sutra II. iii. 29) explains these contradictions in the description of the size of the Self by asserting that the mention of it as immeasurably small refers to its condition as empiric soul, when it is limited by "determinations" ( section 12) and is conceived under the attributes of the "determination" of intelligence, buddhi ( section 18). S'ankara (on Brahma-sutra III. ii. 17) tells a tale of a sage who, on being asked to teach the doctrine of Brahma, remained silent, and on the request [p. 34] being thrice repeated said simply, "I have told you, but you understand not; this Self is still" (cf. Ch. III. xiv. 1). Brahma Knowledge, by L. D. Barnett, [1911], at sacred-texts.com section 14. PARMENIDES.--The opportunity here presents itself to point to the singularly close parallel between Upanishadic thought and the doctrines of the early Eleatic philosophers, and especially Parmenides, who may well have been contemporary with the authors of some of the most important Upanishads. Following Xenophanes, who had defined God as eternal, one, and neither in motion nor immobile, Parmenides asserts a single universal Being which is identical with thought. Existence is a whole indivisible in space and time; non-being does not exist. "Thus there remains but one way to tell of, namely that Being is. There are many tokens to show that it is unborn and imperishable, whole, only-begotten, unshakeable, and endless. Never was it nor will it be, for it exists entirely in present time, one and indivisible... Thus it must exist either absolutely or not at all. The power of belief can never admit that from non-being anything else (but non-being) could arise... And it (viz., being) is not divisible, for it is identical throughout; nor is there any higher (being) that could prevent its uniformity, nor any less; it is entirely full of being. So it is wholly uniform, for being unites with being. But it is immobile in the limitations of mighty bonds, beginningless [p. 35] and endless; for birth and destruction have been driven very far away, right conviction has rejected them. It abides the same in the same and by itself, and thus remains constantly in its place... Thought and the object of thought are the same, for you cannot find thought without the existent thing in which it is expressed. There is and can be nothing except being, for fate has bound it down to be whole and immobile. Thus all (ideas) that men have set up, believing them to be true--birth and death, being and non-being, change of place, and alteration of bright hue--are mere words" (fragment 8, ed. Diels); cf.