The Philosophy of the UpanishadsMotilal Banarsidass Publ., 1999 - 429 pages This treatise on the Upanishads illustrates the teaching of the ancient Indian seers and is presented in the clearest light, and claims the sympathetic study of all lovers of truth. It discussed the philosophy of the Upanishads, the culminating point of the Indian doctrine of the universe. Divided into five parts entitled: introduction to the philosophy of the Upanishads; Part I: theology, or the doctrine of Brahman; Part II: cosmology, or the doctrine of the universe; Part III: psychology, or the doctrine of the soul; Part IV: eschatology, or the doctrine of transmigration and emancipation, including the way thither (practical philosophy). |
Contents
| 16 | |
| 23 | |
| 33 | |
| 38 | |
| 44 | |
| 74 | |
THE SEARCH FOR BRAHMAN | 85 |
SYMBOLICAL REPRESENTATIONS OF BRAHMAN | 97 |
THE UNREALITY OF THE UNIVERSE 226239 | 226 |
THE ORIGIN OF THE SANKHYA SYSTEM 239255 | 239 |
PSYCHOLOGY OR THE DOCTRINE | 256 |
THE ORGANS OF THE SOUL 263296 | 263 |
Manas and the ten Indriyas | 271 |
The Subtle Body and its ethical Qualification | 280 |
THE STATES OF THE SOUL 296312 | 296 |
ESCHATOLOGY OR THE DOCTRINE OF TRANS | 313 |
Other Symbols of Brahman | 113 |
Interpretations of and Substitutes for Ritual Practices | 119 |
THE ESSENTIAL BRAHMAN | 126 |
BRAHMAN AND THE UNIVERSE | 157 |
BRAHMAN AS CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE 180201 | 180 |
BRAHMAN AS PRESERVER AND RULER 202219 | 202 |
BRAHMAN AS DESTROYER OF THE UNIVERSE 219226 | 219 |
EMANCIPATION 338361 | 338 |
PRACTICAL PHILOSOPH Y 361395 | 361 |
The Yoga | 382 |
RETROSPECT OF THE UP ANISHADS AND THEIR TEACHING 396412 | 396 |
SUBJECTS | 413 |
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Common terms and phrases
according âkâs'a already Amritab ancient apâna appears Aranyaka asceticism Atharva Atharvaveda âtman âtman doctrine becomes bliss body Brahman breath Brih Chând comprehended conception consciousness death deep sleep dependent desire Deussen earth elements emancipation empirical entered eternal existence explained expression fire further gods grihastha heart heaven Hiranyagarbha immortal individual soul indriyas instruction Îs'â Kanth Kâth Kaush Kena knowing subject knowledge Kshatriyas later Upanishads lingam mahân Mahânâr Maitr manas means moon Mund Mundaka nature object organs original pantheism passage philosophy plurality Prajapati prajña prakriti prana Pras'na primeval principle purusha quoted recognise regard Rigv Rigveda ritual S'âkhâs S'ankara S'atap S'vet sacrifice Sânkhya Sannyasa satyam secret sense side sole reality space speech spirit subtle body supreme symbolical Taitt tapas teaching texts theism thought three older Vedas tion transmigration truth Upan Upani Veda Vedanta Vedic verse words worship Yâjñavalkhya yoga
Popular passages
Page 206 - He who eternally restrains this and the other world, and all beings therein, who standing in the earth is other than the earth, whom the earth knows not, whose body the earth is, who interiorly restrains the earth, the same is thy soul, and the Internal Check immortal.
Page 49 - Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" is the requirement of the Bible. But on what grounds is this demand to be based, since feeling is in myself alone and not in another ? " Because," the Veda here adds in explanation, " thy neighbour is in truth thy very self, and what separates you from him is mere illusion.
Page 281 - In truth, this self is Brahman, consisting of knowledge, manas, life, eye and ear, consisting of earth, water, wind and ether, consisting of fire and not of fire, of desire and not of desire, of anger and not of anger, of justice and not of justice, consisting of all. Exactly as a man in this life consists of this or of that, exactly as he acts, exactly as he moves, so will he be born ; he who does good will be born good, he who does evil will be born evil, he becomes holy by holy deeds, evil by...
Page 45 - Upanishads in its Relation to Religion : "The thought referred to, common to India, Plato, and Kant, that the entire universe is only appearance and not reality, forms not only the special and most important theme of all philosophy, but is also the presumption and conditio sine qua non of all religion. All great religious teachers therefore, whether in earlier or later times, nay even all those at the present day whose religion rests upon faith, are alike unconsciously followers of Kant. This we...
Page 40 - If ever a general solution is reached of the great riddle, which presents itself to the philosopher in the nature of things all the more clearly the further our knowledge extends, the key can only be found where alone the secret of nature lies open to us from within, that is to say, in our innermost self. It was here that for the first time the original thinkers of the Upanisads, to their immortal honour, found it when they recognised our atman, our inmost individual being, as the Brahman, the inmost...
Page 74 - ... character. It was negative in so far as no experimental knowledge led to a knowledge of Brahman; and it was positive in so far as the consciousness was aroused that the knowledge of empirical reality was an actual hindrance to the knowledge of Brahman. The conception of avidya was developed from the negative idea of mere ignorance to the positive idea of false knowledge. The experimental knowledge which reveals to us a world of plurality, where in reality only Brahman exists, and a body where...
Page 45 - The necessary premises of all religion are, as Kant frequently expounds: — (1) The existence of God, (2) the immortality of the soul, (3) the freedom of the will (without which no morality is possible). These three essential conditions of -man's salvation — God, immortality, and freedom — are conceivable only if the universe is mere appearance and not reality (mere maya and not the atman), and they break down irretrievably should this empirical reality, wherein we live, be found to constitute...
Page 57 - Samaveda, the Atharvaveda as fourth, the epic and mythological poems as fifth Veda, grammar, necrology, arithmetic, divination, chronology (?), dialectics, politics (?), theology, the doctrine of prayer (?), necromancy, the art of war, astronomy, snakecharming (?), and the fine arts — these things, most reverend Sir, have I studied ; therefore am I, most reverend Sir, learned indeed in the scripture [Mantra-vid) but not learned in the Atman (Atma-vid).
Page 227 - ... treatment philosophy from the very beginning has endeavoured to find the essential nature, or as it is usually expressed, the first principle of the universe. This search moreover always assumes the consciousness, even if still quite undefined, that this first principle, this essence of things, is not given already in the objects themselves, as they present themselves to our eyes in space and time ; that, in other words, the entire aggregate of experience, external and internal, always shows...
Page 49 - As surely as the Will and not the Intellect is the centre of a man's nature, so surely must the pre-eminence be assigned to Christianity, in that its demand for a renewal of the Will is peculiarly vital and essential. But as certainly as man is not mere Will but Intellect besides, so certainly will that Christian renewal of the Will reveal itself on the other side as a renewal of knowledge, just as the Upanishads teach.