Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • On The One and Only Transmigrant PDF

    Uploaded by

    tchouang_zu
    555 views11 pages

    Original Title

    On the One and Only Transmigrant.pdf

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    555 views11 pages

    On The One and Only Transmigrant PDF

    Uploaded by

    tchouang_zu

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 11
    OB On the One and Only Transmigrant Man is born once; 1 have been born many times. Rimi Bei Gatte werden mur die Geter angenommen. ‘Angelus Silesius Liberation is for the Gods, nat jor men. GebbardLenrange Aimery evopitita, stra by ete sere cham bhevanti BU t47 Nahi hoci stto yo imane kaya anyom Kayan sorkamati Mil 73, oh 46 I Sapkaricirya's dictum, “Verily, there is no other transmigrant but the Lord” (satyam, nefvardd anyah samsiri, BrSBh 1.5), startling as it may appear to be at first sight, for it denies the reincarnation of individual ‘essences is amply supported by the older, and even the oldest texts, and is by no means an exclusively Indian doctrine, For it is not an individual soul that Plato means when he says: “The soul of man is immoctal, and at one time comes to an end, which is called dying away, and at anothec is born again, but never perishes ... and having been born many times hhas acquired che knowledge of all and everything”s* or that Plotimus ‘means when he says: “There is really nothing strange in that reduction (This study was published in supplement No. 3 to the Journal of she American Oriental Society, Yoxa—t0] CL TAG. Reo, Elements of Hinde Iconography, W (Madsas, 1514-1916), 405, "When Tivara aboris in himself, he i known a the Purug, and a5 Samsitt ‘when he has manilested himsel.” Ch. 65 Meno fine, where this is ted as che doctrine of leemed priets and priestess, and is approved by Socraus, Of die sume wrt is Agn’s omnisciense as [tavedas "Knower of Birds” and the Buddha, whose abliaad extends to all “former bodes" He who is “where every where and every when is focused” (Dante) ean- fot bot have knowledge of every thing. CI ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT. (of all selves) to One; though it may be asked, How can there be only ‘One, the same in many, entering into all, but never itself divided up"? cor hy Hermes who says that “He who docs all these chings is One,” and speaks of Him as “bodiless and having many bodies, of rather present in all bodies." ‘The “Lord” of whom Sankardcirya speaks is, of course, the Supreme and Solar Self, Atman, Brahma, Indra, “of all beings Overlord, of alt beings King,” whose omniformity is timeless and whose omnipresence ‘enables us to understand that He must be omniscient (sarednubhith, BU 11545, 19, of. $22 and AA xm); Death, the Person in the Sun, Indra and Breath of Life, “One as he is Person there, and many as he is im his children. here,” and at whose departure “we” die (SB x52.13, 26); the Solar Self of all cat is in motion or at rest (RV 1.1151); our Im- ‘mortal Self and Inner Controller “other than whom there is ao sec, heater, thinker or knower” (BU 17.23, m18.11); the solar Indza of whom itis said that whoever speaks, hears, thinks, etc, does so by his ray (JUB 1.28, 29); Braha, of whom itis said that our powers “are merely the names of dis acts” (BU 1.4.7, cf. 15.21); the Self, from whom all action stems (BU 1.63 BG mts); the Self that knows everything (MU viz). Whether as Sarya, Savitr, Atman, Brahma, Agni, Prajipati, Indra, Vayu of madhyama Priga—yadrg eva dadrie sddrg ucyate (RV v.g6)*—this Lord, from within the heat here," is our mover, driver and actuator (fri 'Plotinus,ww94, 5 (condemned); cf ty parm. Ia our Self, che spiritual Sell of All beings, ail these selves and their doings are one simple act af beings hence i is ot the separated selves and acts, but rather the Real Agent that one shovld seek. to know (BU 24.7, Kaus. Up. +8, Hermes, Lib, xt.a.tza). Thou hast seen the ket ts of though abviling; consider also che fee!” (Mashnaw} ¥.2902) ‘Hlermes, Lib. von (ef. BU 1521), and su2tas (ef KU m2). In “Recollection, Indian and Platonic" [the preceding exay in ths volume—e0), wwe have shown that cimeless omnipresence and providential omriacionce are inter: ependent and inseparable notions. The related thesis of tbe present article ig that the omnipresent omniscient is “ibe only transenjgran,” and chat in the last analysis this “eransmigration” is nothing bu: his knowledge of himself expressed in. terms of 4 duration. Ti there were really “others” or aay discontinuity within the ity, ‘ach “other” or "parc" would not be omnipresent to the rest, and the concept of an ‘omniscience would be inconcevable. $°HHe is given names that correspond exactly to the forme in which He is ap. rcliended.” Cf. “Al names are names of Him, who has no mame, for that he & Uheie common Father," Hermes, Lib. V0 Who takes up his stand in every heart” (Ard sersanya adhitisthan, BG xutt7): "“Quesi ei cor metal & permotore, ques Ia terra im = stings ed adma;" Dante, Paradiso 1316—aringe, a8 in 8B vin 7.3430, ee. o MAJOR ESSAYS tah; codayitr? karayitr) and whole source of the evanescent conscious ness (cetana = sarpjsina)"* that begins with our birth and ends with our death (MU u.60, an.3)."* We do nothing of ourselves and are merely his vehicles, and instruments (as for Philo, passim). ‘This “highee” (para) Brahma is that “One, the Great Self, who takes up his stand in womb after womb (0 yonim yoni adhisiehat® eka mahitma) ... as the omniform Lord of the Breaths (vifeariipab wets Bo Bt at ci Sea aR a? lg aan te en ‘Sonata SP RS UM Ac ayes ace fete Peiyati . .. na sa paiyati, BG xvin.26), whereas “He sees indeed, who sees the Over: api ae ‘Self is indestructible (BU 1.5.14: BG w.13), but “consciousness” in terms of sub tina, ie , oom edt alae ae arene st Teme fa na a le ee sing the ° ‘ "SRE sg Se geminata ina Mina) stm ag sno Sedma tn 3) tt ln (tis nl Pay sect ame «Faso ge ope gan ain emerge ig esata ch Sr lt A nr ii, tn RU ae 6 ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT. prinédhipah)"* he wanders about (samcarati = samsarati)™* by his own actions, the fruition of which he enjoys (upabhoker),!* and, being asso- ciated with eonceptuality and the notion ‘I am,’ is kaown as the ‘lower’ (apare)..... Neither male nor female nor neuter, whatever body he as- Noi, a underiod by Deusen and Hume, the “individual soul” which is noc 2 "Lord but compound ofthe Breaths ar Benge tha are the subject (1038) ofthe CGeeat Being: Breath fromm shih they aise ad into which they ecorm (JUB 1.72 MU 1, Beitagena). K'wosld bean avinomy w describe the compose individual sou, sobjeet to persuasion, asa sovereiga power, “The Lord of the Breaths” who i “the Leader of the Breath and of the bay" (prdaaierbenctr, Mund. Up. n-28) ds mush ether the Being and Breath chat i “Lac of all (pip ah... bhitéh sirens. Charis, AV we4t0)) the "Lord of the gods {powers ofthe sol) who enters the ‘womb andi ‘horn agin" (sonim ait 0 fyate pena ve deviare ad ipatr babs fa? AV xana.as) of "Lord of Beings" (Bhitaninsadhipaih, AV W841; TS Vutltoi MU va), key the inperal Breath on whose bell the “oer Breaths” funcdon 35 snininers (Prsioa Up. nia), and dhe Brahuna whom all chings bil as king (BU 1.3.9). The "Lord ofthe Breath" (Prnidipoh) isthe Breath whose superiority to Bl the other Hzeathe pranah = dens, bhigée) 6 agsin and again lnsiged pon in the contests ofthe Brent for supremacy CIehmoas and Upansads, pass), and ber thon the sbjeced elemental self (hitatran) thats 3 host of beings (BA (gana, MU tng), The Lord of the Brest, "nether male nor female,” the Breath hus described in AA 18s, in whom all she gos (Breaths of powers of he sul) ace unified (AA 1 Kase, Up. mgr ck BU 47), the Breath that roosnts the bodily ‘hile and i regularly identified with the Sua, Brauma, Auman, Vamadeva Indra, che This Lor ofthe Breath i ikewie the Inet Peson(onvahpurara = annariiman fof Seet Up. it3, KU vgrts, viz) who wanders (cra) from bay to body une erin by the frit of the ations thet determine the aughty or nughy woxabs ia which dhe elomenal self alone sofers (MU ut.-3} ie a dh hs St mele (BU 4, tc) Sp eéqe droordvnos rei osparog (Pitints #9.)—then “we” arena. more Thesis, weqgi CU wii et), "we who in our junction with our bodies are com pres and fave quaies sal aot ei, bux stall be brought into te regoneaion Bp which, becoming joined to immaterial things, we shal become inompesive and wishout qualities” (Philo, De cherulin 1138 cf Plato, Phaedo 781), CE no. 2, 40 13 Upabhontt — Bhokty in KU tg (Atnan) and MU 1 (Prjipat). This frie dom dacs not ncexarily iavolve a sbjecuon: snsofac asi remaine a spcitor (abhi tikes, RV 1164305 probands, MU uj, Pali wpetlaks), or in other words die incereedly enjoys only the favor of life (okiro «ravens sptah, AV x44), the fovcening and immortal Self ofthe elf of Toner Sei (amo “pitméyantartman, femainetmumune (KU v.35; MU i, ee). Ax Expeviene (AhoQir) this immanent Pees (Puraga ‘wathoh) i hinsel without qalies (migune), wile the eemen sal sf (Bhiarman) with is three qualities (iguza)-Ley th individual soul is fie “ood” (annary, MU vite) ‘The concerplave Experen: is both the Givee- stbeing and a Mighey Lord (Ohokse ce prabhur eve ex» » Bhakti maberearah, 8G inag, 13 23): the Allsoul thar “wolfe no hurt whatever by forishing the bad withthe power to exitenee™ (Plosinus, wz: et KU vat and BO atte). ° MAJOR ESSAYS sumes, therewith he is connected (ynjyate)*" through the delusions of concept, touch, and sight, there is birth and growth of the Sclf by the rain of food and drink; the embodied Self (desi) assumes functional forms in their stations in regular order (Rarmanugany antekramena debi sthinesu ritpény abhisampadyate)” . .. and because of conjunction with For, as Meiser Eckhart says, “With the love with which God leaves Himsell, He loves all creators, nota eestes but more: creatures 26 God. «God tastes (Ske Bhuie) birselt i all things... Men a ecatures tase as afl creates in measores land quantities, as wine and bread and meat But my inner man tases not as a feature, but more: a # gift of God. But my innermost man does not taste it as a sit of God, but more: as cients” (Peifer ed, 180). 7 Yajyate, like samjoga below, 28 im BG 128, where every bith is sid co depend upon @ “connection” or “yoking” omyoge) of the Knower of the Feld with the Field, Conversely, azamyoga, “liberation,” “ungoking.” MU viat. ‘2 Ye nourishment of sens perception’ which he (whe author of Gen 2:5) figura tively calla "ain™™ (Philo, Legum allegariae, 148). Here with reference to the {aleondaught Soma, andthe "Shower of Wealth (raror dra)” *Touch,” because “all experience is contacthoen” (BG vat); ef, Coomarsswams, “Note on the Stckfast Moti” 104g. 2 The embodied Self (dei) of BG n.x8/L, and quick et ibrane{wipait) Self of KU ua, 19, hat ncver becomes anyone, but pases aver trom body to body, and is not slain when the body is lin, unborn though it ean be thought of 3s continually born and cantinally dying. ‘This is precisely che doctrine of che un- mortal Sool, which Plaw cites as tha: of learned priests and priestess: “They say that the soul of man is immortal, and atone ime cds, which they cll ‘dying away” and at anther is born agai, but never perishes” (Meno ian). The embotied Sef (dehi, paramndzma .. faviathab) ‘8 t be distinguished feora the elemental self (Ghiitman, bhitagaou, MU wi, 3)- The former is the unpesihiog(avinaiet) Self of CU wnns.3 and BG x27, the later arses out of the elements and perishes (crnaiyai) with them (BU i141). These words desribe the entry of the Self into any one body and its extension therein inthe form of the Intelligences (Breaths, powers of the son!) that work through the doors of the sense, atin MTU 1.6, te, Kerranupar, “corresponding ° the varies of acGens to be performed,” ax in BU nar, “Tam going to speak began the Voice” te The powers of speaking, sing thinking, ete, “are just cht ames of His acu (BU 14.7)—not “our (BO m2). “Sropefed by che notion Of aT that ae the self beives that T am the ator": similarly, countess Bud hints tex: ef. Philo, Ecgum allearie. 178, "T deem nothing 40 shamefal a5 t0 fuppose that T? know and? perecive. My own invellece the author of its own imellgieing, bow could that be?” Anukromenu, like yarhiyatanem in Kau, Up. 30-3 and Ait Up. m3, and yechakremene in MU via6, “As ays from Sun, 40 for bien (ismanent Brahma, Fite of Life) his Breaths and the rest come forth eootizully here in the world in due otder (tenis Prinidayo vai punar ena tasmid abkyue- ‘coraniha ythikramens)” Sthines, "i shee placcs;” ax ia Praioa Up ta, thie tam, Ripini, “orm,” Le, “Prajapats breath forme” (Primary Siyana on RV $290.6, and as in BU usar, where the Breaths ae the “form” of the median Breath and called afer him similarly in Praésa Up. w.12). m ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT the qualities, both his own and of action, he seems to be ‘another'™ (sesame samyogahetur aparo™ ‘pi drstah, Svet. Up. v.1-13, condensed). ‘This transmigrating “Lord of the Breaths” is the Breath (Prana), “the most excellent (vasistha, BU vin, 14),""* Brahma, Prajépati, he who di vides himself five- and manifold to support and sustain the body, to awaken his children, to fill these worlds (Pragna Up. 33 MU 116, v1.26), remaining nevertheless undivided in things divided (BG xut6, xvitt20). ‘To him as Prajapati it is said, “ "Tis thou, thyself, chat art counterbora (peat to thee all thy children (prajah = raimayah, prandh, de- wih, bhaeéni) being wibure (balm haranti),* O Breath” (Prafoa Up. 1 par, owes” of “ober” as ia MU ca (Atman), and to be eontrased with pare (Brabrma) in vere 1 = pore (Atman) of Praica Up. 1.7 For the “one et Sence and two nates of Bratima see BU a3, Praina Up. v2, MU vx3, 22, 23 and ‘uua1, devitibhio). This is the doctrine of Hermes, viz. that to say that "God both Ore and Al! does not mean thatthe One it two, but that the two are One” (Lib. x13). Similarly Plotinus, 1.4.10, “The ofdzringandgoversinaprinple (x0 oor pate = Plow, Phacdo anes Baxoonsr re rai resvay airs) i ewotold, one tat fre call Demiurge and one the Soul of All (rod rarrbs poyd): we speak of Zs sometimes 38 Deminrge (Creazor) and sometimes a the Leader ofall (yeni rob trav7és)"; which i as much 28 to say that we speak of Varuna sometimes a5 soch nd sometimes at Mitra or Savitr (net, RV v0.1 = prinaierirancr, Mund. Up. Tea = amano tnd netimrtathyah, MU 61.2), ef Brahma a pardpara,deinipa and deatibhing, of Agui as Indraga’, and of Peaipati a parimitéparimia, niraktni- ‘kta, ct, in the same way imputing (wo contrasted atures (9 one and sume ts See. An just sin one ofthese nates the det i nmoral and impassible and inthe other moral and passibe, 50 in the one he without needs and inthe other fas ends to be attained, At the same time, in him these are not sw, bat one simple fstence; the ditnction fi "logical but not real” So Nicholas of Cosa speaks of the “wall of Paradise” tha conceals Ged from ou sight a constted ofthe “coincidence of opposites" and ofits gate as guarded by "the highest spieit of reason, who bars the vay unc he has been overcome” (De usione Bex, x1)--as in JUB 15, 2 Implying Agni who atthe “Fre of Life” isthe “Breath of Life,” cf Heracles, f&, 20, and Coomaraswamy, “Measures of Fire" [in this volume—ao]. {SRD a.28 pratrdo ‘adj iaates ef. Svt. Up 31.16, vt, The Self isthe Father of the Breath and consebstanial (MU vit); like the human father and son, in scand- ance with the norma! doctrine thatthe father hime is reborn in his progeny (RV bate, vena BD vengn: AB vair3, AA m5; BG w7, 8 et), the only Indian Gactrine af rebirth om earth. Tt isa character tha i thn echorn: itis in his “other self shar the father depars at death: and we are often reminded (SB passim) that the dead have departed “once forall” The heredity of vocation is connected with the wadional (or itis not only Indian) doctrine of progenitve rebirth. In the same way in divine, the Pather i reborn a5 che Son; cf the Christian Alma redemp- toris Mater bu quae Genii ture sanctom Resitorem, 2 Of AV x78, 3, 2885, 21420: SB vit: JU wa37, wagst—7; BU wa.t3; Kaas Up. uct. The various namics by which the recipient and the (i referred tain these conten all imply the Breath and the Breaths, i, Under various aspect Hence “All these gods are in me” UB 114 n MAJOR ESSAYS, 147). By this Prsjfpati this body of ours is set up in possession of con- sciousness (cctandvat), he as its driver passing on from body to body (pratitariresu caratt), unovercome by the bright and dark fruit of his acts, or rather those acts of which he, as our Inner Man (antah pursa)” is the actuator (Aarayitr) and spectator (prefsake) rather than the doer (MU n16-s113). This Prajipati is likewise “the divine Breath who, whether ‘or not transmigrating (samcarans casamcarant ca), is neither injuced nor distressed, and whom ail beings serve,” and with respect to whom itis farther said that “however his children may suffer, that pertsins to them alone, good only goes to him, evil does not reach the gods” (BU 15.20). ‘Thus this One, spoken of by many names, is everywhere born and re- born. “Uaseen, Prajipati moves in the womb (carati garbhe antah) and is multifariously born” (Bahudhd wi jayate, AV x8.13, ef. Mund. Up. 1126); “The Person expires” and suspires in the womb, and then is he [AA mas, ctc). The prj of AV 2419 (Ike Praina Up. 7) are not “human bes ings" (Whieney), bt the “raya” by which “we” are eosouled and energized (JUB a8, 20), the Viivederdb (TS 3.1.26), These rays ate wichdrawn at ou death (BU v5'2t AA m4, ex), vie. when Death himeet, che Breath, withdeaws his “feat” from our heart and "we" are cutoff (SH x5213); forthe Breaths eanant live without him (BU vit3 = CU vata). Iris te that we are children of the Sun in the sense that our life depenis upon him who is our ceal Father (JOB mato; SB vit3213, e.), but we ate naturally sons of our own fathers, and und we have scquired a second self or Self, born of the sacrifice (B37, ef. John noe “cally become the immoral children of Prajapai" (SB v2.11, 14), sons (SB 123314), or himself (SB 1.61.5) “That ar chou" i sways tr, but nly potenialy for vs, for 30 long a8 we ate “this man, Sands.” We are ensuled and quickened by the rays of the Sun, the Breaths che AlL-Gods, bu it can only be sid of the perfected that they are those eas of the Sun (SB 19.310, c€. RV 1409.7), his sons (JUB 125.20) B The prurujo ‘masrhah of MU vio: purasch servis pire puriayah of BU 138; sarecsim.bhitesam ontahparusah of AA wig, desrbed as the voseen tad as “unbowed” (anwta), iz, onabhibhiae ws in MU siz; Vamadeva Jaydaah of AA 55 Agni ¢ yah purom narminim adider « . Stata of RV 149.3. For the distinction of this Tnner Man from our outer man (the ee- imental self, bem) ef. 11 Car. 2:16, “Is qui fori es power homo eberumpieor amen is qui inus st renovatur de dein diem,” ike MU 2, Undoubsedly John 1:14 should be understood 10 read “And the Word wat made Resh, aud dwelt in 1s” (@ Sys) rather than “amongst us,” by which “amongst” the Incarnation woald be considered only historically Me, whether immanent or tramseendent; whether he ‘wanders in the Field, teh wa bi (ee sme sara, See Up 9 ot The descent into the Mind darkness of the wom, into bell (niraya, MU 1-4): fromm which one comes inxo being again, being saved from that fist death by the n ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT born again when thou, O Breath, givest life” (AV x14.14 cf. JUB 18.10- 1x.2)5 “Thou alone, O Sun, ert born about the whole world” (eko vi pari Bhima jayase, AV x01.2.3); "One God indwelling the mind, of old ‘was he bora and is even now in the womb” (AV x828 = JUB m.to.42). Similar texts could be cited at greater length, but it will suffice for the present to observe the emphasis laid upon the fact that itis always One that is diversely and recurrently bora: He, that is, who is “undivided in, though as it were divided by his presence in divided beings” (BG 1011.6 and xvin20), being “One as he is in himself, and many as he is in his children” (SB x522.16), who are not Beings independently, but Beings by participation.* All this is also the oldest Samhit& doctrine, where it is the Sun or Fire that enters into the womb and cransmigrates:” chus RV x72.9, where Aditi “beacs Martanda unto repeated birth and death (prajdyai mrtyave seat punah)”; v1n.439, “Thou, O Agni, being in the womb, are born again (garbhe sun jayase punch)”; x5.1, where Agni is “of many births (bhdr- janma)"s 1811.20, where as Jatavedas he is “set down in birth after bisth (janmaf-janman nibitab),” ie, as Siyana adds, “in all these human be- ings.” As Jatavedas he is omniscient of births (1zo.t, 11892, v1.15), and necessarily so because, as $B 1.5.68 paraphrases, “he finds birch again and again (jdtam jdtamr vindate).” In the same way “filling the (three) light-realms of this the mobile and immobile, he cometh mani foldly into being, the Sire in these wombs” (purutrd yad abhavat, sir ahaibbyo garbhebhyab, RV 1.14641, 5), “yet ia one semblance manifold, 2s Biverof being to all ty people™ (cio vited anu prabhuh, RV van.t18).” Sun (JOB mugs, mise). CE Se Bernard, pias movin naycitrd (De grad. Aumiltais 30). AN apinati = JOB migae. "Wo asthe serial Person “was posted out upon the earth fom Bast ro West” (ety arcyta picid Bhiin ato purah, RV 005) "Er jypenietera ina te et idk ee omnino cise nee oaine non et: ee ‘idem, quoniam abs te sunt non ee autem, quaniam id quod aon sunt” (St Avgostine, Confessions vu.ts). This “is and isnot” i esentally the Buddhiee doc. trie of sat, “existence.” ‘Throughout the present article and cewhere we are cael co distnguih ‘rananigrtin frm teincarnation; the forme implying 2 wand from one state of being to ancter, the later wo the wankmaission or renewal of «former sate of being, Cf. n. 23, and Coomaraswamy, “Measies of Fire” "Ley as Prjigat divides ial fil these word, 5 Vis is, Vitvedevih, Marv, pratuh, prandeneysh circaly and beace 10 ‘ininah, “ving beings" indices. Viseam ray dhirayatefaminam «peas B MAJOR ESSAYS ‘It need not be demonstrated here that the Sambitis do not know of “eincarnation” (individual rebirth on earth) since it is generally accepted that even the Brihmanas know nothing of such a doctrine (cf. the Keith edition of AA, Introduccion, p. 44)—except, of course, in the normal progenitive sense of rebirth in one’s offspring (RV v4.10, v1.03) AB sang; AA 115). Our concera is rather to poinc out that the Veda speaks both of transmigration and of 2 one and only transmigrant, and distin juishes “liberation” from “coming back again” (vimueam néertam punah, RV va46.t). Our argument is that the expressions parnarmrtyu and pena janma which occur already in RV and che Brahmanas do aot in the later scripzures acquise the new meanings of “dying again” (elsewhere) and “being born again" (here) that are generally read into thera. In the mjor- ity of cases the references of “repeated death” and “repeated birch” are to this present life or “becoming,” as in AB vit.as, sarvam dyer eti, na puenar mriyate, and SB v4.1.1, servis... nrtytin atimucyate, where itis the rela- tive immorality of not dying prematurely that is involved, and there is rho question of never dying at all. In “becoming” (Bhava, yéveas) we die and are reborn every day and night, and in chis sense “day and aight are recurrent deaths” (punarmirtya . .. yad ahorisre, YB 111), Panarmartyw is not some one other death to be dreaded as ending a future cxistence but, together with prenarbhava or janma, the condition of any form or type cof contingent existence; and itis from this process this wheel of becoming (bhavacakra, 5 rpoxés riis-yerécews in James 3:6) here o¢ hereafter, and not from any one death only, that liberation is sought.”” We have so far considered the Transmaigrant, Parijman, only as the ‘Great Catalyst who remains unaffected by the actions he empowers. The Supreme Lord and Self who is seated one and the same in all beings’ hearts (BG x20, x10127), the citizen in every “city” (BU 115,18; Philo, tatra yore vite ‘myco’si, MET vig. “La circular natura, ch’ sugello alla cera mortal, fa ben sua arte, ma non distingue Fun dall'aluro oselie;” Dante, Paradiso v.13 129 (ontllo = mvs, exp in the Pali Buddhisc expression pubbeniedsan anustaran). “One Divine Life, mov'd, shie', sounded in and theo' all” Peter Sterry (V. de Sola Play, Peter Sterry, Platomist and Puritan, Cambridge, 1934, 6.161). SCE Coomararwemy, Spininal Auchority and Teroparal Power, 1943, 0. 35. On James 3:6, oR. Eisler, “Orphisch-Dionysische Mysteien Gedaaken in der christ. Hiehen Anke,” in Porznige der Bib. Warburg Wl (1932-1623), 864 P. Deusen, Vier philocophische Texte det MakiBhiratam (Leipzig, 108), 272; Plato, Sophia 2485, Timzeus age (conuast yévente 20d oivia); and O. Keen, Orphicorim frag rents, f. 32 (1922), wihov 3 iLérray Bapurerdios Sgyadowo, ” ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT De cherubim 121), participating in action not because of any need on his part but only sacrficially and to maintain the world process (BG m9, 22), wherein as it were disporting (BrSBh 11.1.3, 33)* he remains undivided amongst divided beings and indestructible amongst the destructible (BG 111.16, 27). So long as he (Makha, the Sacrifice) is One, they cannot over- come him (TA v.t.3); but as One he cannot bring his creatures to life, and must divide himself (MU x16). We are repeatedly told, indeed, that he, Prajpati, “desired (akdmayat)” to be many, and so, as it seems 0 us, i is not quite disinterestedly** but “with ends not yet attained and with a view to enjoying the objects of the senses” that he sets us agoing (MU 6d). But this isa dangerous entempris, for being their experient, he is carried away by the flood of the qualities of the primary matter (preftair gunaih) with which he operates; and as the corporeal (Sarira) clemental self (bhsiat- (CE. Coomarsswamy, "LI," 1048, and “Play and Seriousness” roga [both in (his volume—ts.]. Cf. Dante, Purgatorio xxv11.95, 06: Per sua difala in pianto ed in affanno cambid onesza tio e dolee gioco sed Matha 11787, 17881 “Thou didet catrive chic “I” and “we" in order that ‘Thou mightest play the game of worship with Thyself, That all "T's and “thoo" should become one lite When, a+ in MU Gu, we speak of Him as having ends ail 10 be stained, ‘we alto conedive that He is aught in the net, and that He is liberated again, and ‘his isthe truth in terms of human chinking, But tke ail else that pertains ca the vin afirmative, this i a truth 0 be finally denied. Por the oiar, sec MU w.6. % Whenever we explain the existence of the world not diecly by God's being, for by His knowledge of Himself, bu as a consequence of His Will, ie, “oF expres son,” as here, o when iti said that "Prajipasi desired (ehimeyat), May I be many” (BrShesasas, persim), we ae speaking metaphorically aif He really had ends o be stained, as is explicit in MU 16, and, just asin dividing effect from eause, we im [pose our duration upon His eternity. More tuly, “There is nothing whatever that might obtain dhat | am not already possessed of (na... me himeane anaviptom ‘eudptavyam, BG 11.22): “Non per aver a st di beae acquisto, chsser nom pul” (Dame, Paradiso xxr.13, 24). So Pentheus conceives that Diongsius ean be bound; bet He declares that “OF himself the Daimon shall release me when ¥ will” and later, that “I myself myself di save fll eotly and psinletly” (Buripides, Bacehae 498, 613). The "Daimon” is, ‘Just 25 the Man (deBpumros), Sou of the Father, ig seduced by the teflesion of the divine beauty in the mieror of Nature, and loving it becomes involved in. i (Blermes, 48. 1.14, 153 TS v.22.15 AB un.33; PB vin6.t). The “Hood of qualities by which the soul is swept away” (ewraughair rhyamanah) corresponds ro Plato® “river of sensations” (Timacur 431); to the “erossing over" (Bueropeia = tarana) % MAJOR ESSAYS. ‘man),*" knowing subject over against ostensibly external objects of petcep- tion, and composite ofall desives (sarvukima-maya)."* he is bemused and docs not see the bountiful Giverofbeing and Actuator within him. “but ‘conccives that ‘this is” and ‘that is mine,’ and therewith binds himself by himself like a bird in the net (jalencva kbacarah)" and so wanders around (paribhramati = samnsarati, semcarati) in wombs both aughty and of which therein reference in Epinomis Bape: ato Phil ver of the objets of Sense tat swamp and drowns the so under she Belo the pains wnt “aco” (vote) crosses it (Legum alicgoriac ntr8 and De gigantibus xnt). CL St. Aue tines cur trance anima nor agnor, gave ret sine absentia (Conenions x7) "WA in CU minza, cited above. 38 “The Persom of desires composite” (hémamayam evdyam purnsam), BU wW.45- Apart irom whom the soul botnd “reste of 8 enogment” (hohe, Sreu Up. 18), deadly for thee who carve cha he expences thei ow, "A lle Bed op by the Log wth Sings often Pere and weet rei sal... Thur a Soul Bat ins Siligrneipe = ic watched down by eh Sting Of Ss whch es itt the Ground” Pere Srey (de Sols Pinto, Peer Story, fe 460), "Tomb in my selfs ny self my grave «My sl even so my sll x sove™ (Phineas Fletcher) —“the prisoner himself being the main occasion of his own im- Pritonnen” (Diao, Phordo By, ch. Mathnow 15), “The net (or spiders web, Set, Up, valor Mand. Up 17: KB ta, te) chat he imeif has spread (ye eho arin, See Up. at), the one and only ne that he Imanyaise tare and “in-which field he wanders” (amet, Set Up. 3, 7 fe, tamara, “rangngrate” ates than Deals “wieder eetiet” or Home “deaws it together"). Insofar a the Only Transmigran is overcome by the ations “This is * and “Those ace oes” he Bird's coecply oe of many, and no longer “the One Conteler of the erst’ many” Swee Up. 13), a6 wey who are oreeminendy subjet 0 thee deliion, speak ofthe Hotton of splay of individuals, es “Many ar the csere that are bound by wanting, like 2 bird inthe net (eh badd ba puthusated piscna sakuni yarki, to” {S 1.44). “That “A being ie» Bx, aston sis potng ove (cto samuiram dpi, kom- sar tie paripaam, S13, cf adarad yori dpadste, MUI ra) ken together wrth Mil a. There co paricuar exence (aah ect wate) that nena (imaraki: kaya afiham kayam sankamati),” means that there is no constant indi- Yiduahiy chat ueads the ound: as how might thee be, when even today ovr pe sonality is “other” than it was yesterday (S 11.95, 96)? It is not a life, but the fire of Iie that is raamzod (Sh q55 MA 71s ck eral 20). The Compre Iensor ofthe Bud's caching wil nota himself cher Whar was “Tce Wat shall“ become? (S 026, 2p ‘cca som liealy “slr; the is anagoiclly Brahman as vated “Space” (abide, quintessentia), or réxos, as im Brace Codex, C. A. Baynes, tr, 4 Coptic Gnotie Tredive (Cambie, 193), 3 CE BU 6, CO 191.1279, 104, coer, v.43 and Coomaraewamy, “Ri and Other Words Denoting Zo? 3 Connon with the Indian Meaphsisof Space” [inthis vlurme—en]- 76 ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT naughty (sadasat)," overcome by the fruits of actions and by the pairs of “opposites” (MU nna, veto). There is, indeed, a corrective (pratividhi) for this elemental self viz. in the study and mastery of the wisdom of the Vedes and in the fulfilment of one’s own duty (seadharma)" in its regular stages (drama, MU 1). “By the knowledge of Brahman, by ardor (tapas) and contemplation (Gintd = dhyéna) he gexeth everlasting bliss, yea, when this ‘man in the cart’ (rathitoR)" is liberated from those things with which he was filled up* and by which he was overcome, then he attains to conjunction with the Spirit (arman eva séynjam upaiti, MU w4)," ie, “being very Brahma enters into Brahma (brabmaiva san brabmapyeti, BU w.46),™* and thus “authentically Brahma-become, abides (brakmabhitena attend wiharati, A snatt).” That is Nicholes of Cusa's deificatio, for which the sine qua non is an ablatio omnis alteritatis et diversixatis.? “For the movement of the Kosmas vars the Ki of thing, and goes tha si or that gos fos with cil the br of some and puree wich good the bite of others” (Hermes, Lid, 9.5). iat as "evil? hete and ewhere, cemespnds exacly to Engh “naughs,” in asrordance with the principle ene et Ponum coneetant. *Sconvenely, “verted fram the pate of opposite” (8G x5, ef v7), and “becoming bid the scrifcer gorse he wold of heaven” (PB v3, chm) With this whole conte cf Plt Berands ui, especially 12, “atin BG nna, mgr. Thi ithe 1b fared epirvay, card dw tha Plato makes bis ype of htce “* Apparently pp. of rath, not otherwise known as a verb, and signifying “em- touiza” (RU tag wi22A friar rathom; MU rg Sato iesetmars ta dr ram). That ce cared about” i teaitiooalpunshinene an digrce involving loss of honor and fog! right x eoraphysclly significant, and corresponds tothe sthietion of she fre pint tthe boty and senses while conven itt 3 royal Brocton when the apc dees che hil oa evnaion tat it sel wil (an [th wan). On the Ros! Road Philo, De potertate Ci, nd on how one sary, Lepr lego, 1 “The izominy (like that of erifvion) 8 one wo which the Solar Hero may fave vo condesetnd in his pars ofthe imprisoned Psyche; ant Lancelot “hese tio” inthe Cher de fa harreteeorepends to Agnis reluctance to become the chavoter of the Sarfce (RV 5), the Buddhas hesiston wo “wirn the whee” and Chit’ "May this cup be ken from me” = Yaik paripirah, asin CU r¥t03 spadhiblch pipirns “om, “Lam filed wp with dieaes™ For "the body fill up with loves and pasion and all Kinds a itages and fly that, a they sy, every and veilly prevents our ever understand ing anything” (Pio, Phceo 6c); Eom which pletiora we ough to puriy our selves a far as porble “andl the God himself deiven ue” (Phacdo Ga). Qi swtem thaees Demin, nue spare,» Co. 6:7 *°5€ you cannot equate youre with God, you cannec ew Him; for Rie 3s known by like” (Hermes, Lb 20), ” MAJOR ESSAYS. Otherwise stawed, Prajapati “desires (am, man)” to become sany, to “express (s7/)” his children, and having done so is spilled and falls dawn ‘unsteung (Brihmanas, passim). Ie is “with love (prend)” that he enters into them, and then he cannot come together (sambhi!) again, whole and complete, except by the sacrifciat eperation (TS v2.1); he cannot from hhis disjointed parts put himself together (samhan), and can only be hhealed through the sacrificial operations of the gods ($B 1.63336 ete.) It is sufficiently well known, and needs no demonstration here, that the final purpose of this operation in which the sacrificer symbolically sacrifices ‘himself is to build up together again, whole and complete, both the sacri- ficer and the divided deity at one and the samme time. It is evident that the possibility of such a simultaneous regeneration rests upon the theoretical identity of the sacrificer’s reat being with that of the immanent deity, postulated in the dictum, “That art thou.” To sicrfice our self is to Iiberate the God within 1s. In still another way we can illustrate the thesis by referring to those texts in which the immanent deity is spoken of as a “citizen” of the body politic in which he is, as it were, confined, and from which he also liber- ates himself when he remembers himself and we forget our selves. That the human body is called a “city of God (purant .. . Brahmanah, AV x2.28; brakmapura, passim)" is well known;* and he who as a bird (pokg bhatud) becomes a citizen in ell these cities (seredsw piirsn puri Jayah) is hermencutially purusa (BU 1.5.8). The Solar Man or Person ‘who thus inhabits us and is the Friend of Alls also the beloved Vainadeva, the Breath (prana), “who set himself in the midst of all that is (sa yad jidaro saream madhyato" dadhe) ... and protected all that is from evil" (AK nai); and being in the womb (garbhe .. . san) is the knower of all the births of the gods (Breaths, Tatelligences, powers of the soul) who serve him (RV 1.27.1; KU ¥3,etc.). He says of himself that “although a Inundred cities hetd me fast"? forth I sped with falcon speed” (RV *8Just at also for Plato, man is a “body politic” (édus = pur). [Ck Coomarae swamy, “What is Chilization?” 1945—x0.) “© The immancat Breath is repeatedly referred to as “median” (madhyama), ic with respect 10 the Breaths, by whom itis surrounded and served. As ia Philo, Legum allgoriar $1, whece "Ged extends the power that is from him by means of the median teeath (Bid 708 poor mespares) until it reaches the subject.” om hich it stamps the powers that are within the scope of icy undersanding, chat (ibid. 50) ensouling what was soulless. Ae in BU 137. ‘Probably the hundred years of a mans life, daring which rime the Breath shines pon him (AA 152). When he departs, we die ($B 252.13, etc.) for "as a mighey " ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT 27.1), and that “I was Mana and the Sun” (RV waa; BU 14.10, atc.) “Forth 1 sped’... thus spake Vimadeva incarnate (garbhe Jaydnah = purifayah). "The Comprehensor thereof, when separation from the body takes place, forth-striding upwards (ardhew utkramye)* and obtaining all desires in yonder world, has come together (camabhavet),}* immortal" (AA 1.55 ef. 138, conclusion), Vamadeva is here equated with that “other self (itora dima)”"* which, being all in act (Artakytyah)™ stallion might pull ont the pegs of hit hobbies all at once, even so he polls up dhe Beeaths all together” (BU 143, ef rg.a6; CU v.ra)—dhus recollecting hime (0 wa). #8°°Nor knowing himuel™ (Siyana); "besome a Stranger ro hime" Peter Steecy (de Sola Pint, 9. 16). 58 "Kaowing himself (Siyana). "Now that | see in Mind, 1 see myself to be the All. Tam in heaven and on earth, in water and in cits Tam in beasts and planes: id one that ir mot yet conceived, and one chat kas besa Tam present everywhere” (Hermes, 148. xmuia cf. xt2208; ef. AV xi4.20, RY mans, ee). With °T wat Many and the Sua” may be compared the verses of Amergin| (Oxford Book of English Myatica! Verse, ed. DIMS. Nicholson and AFLE. Lee, Oxford, 1926, ». +) and thore af Taliesin (Jobin Guerogveya Evans, Pocms from the Book of Talisin, Tremvae, 1915; Robert Douglas Scott, Tae Thumb of Kuawiedge 4x Legend of Finn, Sigurd and Taliesin, New York, 293, pp. 124). For example, Amergia: “Tam the wind which blows o'er the sea, lam the wave of the ocean. ‘a beam of the sun... the point of the lance in batl, the God who erestes in the head the fte” and Taliesin: "T have sung of whac 1 passed through » «Tsing of true lineage... T was in many guise before 1 was disenchanted... 1 as the hhero in trouble... I'am old, 1 am young .. » [am universal, Tam possessed of penesrating wi.” There is no deettine of “teincarnation™ here, but of the ermal ‘towtarana 20d srvajeana of the “Immortal Soul" (Spicit) of Meno 8r and Agni Titavedas of the Indian texts. ‘8 When Death, the Person in the Sen, the Breath, abandons his stand in the heart san strides off (wehrimati), we are “cut off” Henee, with reference to the to selves of AA 1, ety the quertion of Praia Up, #3, "When I go forth, bx which ‘hall be going forth (uthrantab)” Somabhavat is more than just “became”: i is rather “came together, whole and complete” Contrast TS v.51, where Prajipati "eannoc come rogetheragpin (pazar sambhavivum ne iakot) oof his children” until the Sacrifice has been performed, fof which the sacrifice is hora again in the sense of AA 138, amrtam cvatminans athisambheoat,rambharat, "is regenerated, yex reborn 3¢ (or united with) the Ie ‘octal Sef" In the same contest Keith misinderstands dtminam samekurate, which is aot “adorns this qwunk™ (as Vasrocana might have supposed, CU vur8s) but ‘nvegrates, or completes, bimelé" as in AB w.27, where Kei’ “perfects himsel™ i quite accepuble. Contrast TS v5.21 punch camBhavitum SF*Ouhec (and “dearer” BU ta) than the prychophsical self chat ie reborn jn the normal course of progenitive reincarnation "for the perpetuation of these worlds and the doing of the holy cake" (AA u5)—“ihs providing servants np MAJOR ESSAYS. ‘when “old age is reached (vayogatah), departs (praifi) and is regenerated (punar jéyate = samabhavat),” i, ceborn for the thicd and last time. ‘The escape of this “Dwarf,” Vimana, the superineendene of the city (puram ... anusphiya), enthroned in the middle (madhye .. .dsinam), and whom the Vive Devah (Breaths, functional powers of the soul) attend upon (upacate),"° is further described in KU v.t-g, where it is asked, “When this immanent unstrung body-dweller is released from the body (asya visransamanasya" darirasthasya dehinah dehid mucyamde rnasya), what survives (kim parifryate)?” and answered: “That,” viz. Brahma, Atman—the predicate of the dictum “That art thow.”™* Thus “At- ‘man means that which remains if we take away from our person all that is Notself":® our end is to exchange our own limited manner of being “So-and-so” for God's unlimited manner of being simply—“Ego, daz wort ich, ist nieman eigen denne gote alleine in siner einekeit."™* A consideration of all that has been said so far will enable us to approach such a text as that of BU 141-7 without falling into the error of sup- Gmjperat) for God in our own stead, and this we do by leaving behind us eile reals children” (Plato, Laxr 773¢)—to whorn our character and responsibilities are both naturally and ritoally transmitted (BU 15 1741, of Kaus. Up. HHis tsk performed”; a in MU v.30, el, TS 18.30 dharma hrtog, and the corresponding Aatam Revaniyam in the Buddhist Achat formula, param. Hence “all in acy” without revidve af potential “0'The third birth char takes place from the funeral pyce (le ‘musembharai ‘pring v evs, JUB 1.109) and is che trae Resurrection, Vidor deod upazate corresponds to RV vm.5pit vidve devih . . adadanta & Decssen’s “nach des Lees Finfll” is impossible, because both eimamsamanarys and ferirasthasya ate qualifications of dehingh. Hlume’s "when this incorporate one is disolved” ir inappropriate becatwe dhe dehin is imperichable and indissluble (BG 1.23, 24, ec.)- On the other hand, the ineanate principle can be spoken of sa “onsiting” in the same way that we are repeatedly told that Prajipat, having cxpressed his children and thus beeome many, is “unstrung” (eyzsransata) and fille down (AA on.26 and posi). ° Similarly in answer tothe questions asked or implied, kim atfryat or avaiipat, in CU nut03, vin, and BU v.. The Endlew (Ananta) Residue (Sesa) i that Brahm, Aksara, etc, who was originally ophidian (gpd) and endless (AV x8.21; BU m8; Mund. Up. 28; MU v.t7) and qow that all semblance of osher- nese ix discarded remains the same World Serpent “ences, for that both hie ends meet (ananten: . .. entabar ed samante, AV x8.12)"; this Sega being the Uechigta ‘of AV x17 and Pirram of AV £8.29, See also Coomaraswamy, “dimaysj80,” Ap- pendix It [in this volume—ao]. 8 F. Denssen, Ouains of Indian Philosophy (Berlin, 1907), 30, Asin Buddhist pro- ‘cedure, where cach of the fre factors of the peychosphysieal personality is dismissed ‘with the words, “That is noc my Self (ma me 50 até)" * Meister Eckhart, Pleifler ed, p. 261. 3). ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT posing that the “land leech” of verse 3 is an individual and definitely characterized “soul” that passes over from one body to another. Rather, it is the undivided and never individualized Self that having now recok lected itself (étminam upasemharati, c£. BG 158), and free from the “ignorance” af the body (with which it no longer identifies itself), trans- ‘migrates; this re-ollected Self is the Brahma that takes on every form and ‘quality of existence, both good and evil according to its desires and activities (verse 5); if itis still atrached (sakeah), sell desicous (Réma- yamanah}, this Self (ayam, ie, ayars dima) returns (punar siti) from that world to this world, but if without desire (akdma-yamdnaf), if it loves only itself (demekamah, cf. w.32r), then “Being very Brahms, it enters into Brahma (brahmaiva san brakmipyeti),” then “the mortal be- comes the immortal” (verses 6, 7). The meaning of these passages is dis- torred, and given a teincarnationist sense, by all those translators (eg, Hume and Swirai Madhavinianda) who translate ayam of verse 6 by “he” or “the man,” overlooking that this ayam is nothing but the ayam dima Jrahma of the preceding verse. The distinction is not of one “man” from another, but of the two forms of Brahma-Prajpati “mortal and immor- tal," desirous and undesitous, citeumscribed and unciscumscribed, etc. (SB 1752; BU 113; MU v136, cc.), and of the “two minds, pure and impure” (MU v1.346), from one another.” If we were in any doubt tom this pong itis made very clear by the words of BU 1v.335-38, “Here 6% As in MU onan cra... setynrtopebhogirthik ecitibKévo mabitminah, “The Great Sef having cwo natures, process (moves, crclates, rannmigrates) ‘with intent to experience both the true and the false” “On dhe inverpreation of this wyar, cf, Sankaricirya on BU 14.t0, “One mast rot chink that the word ‘Brabma’ here means ‘a man who will Become Brahma,’ for that would involve an antinomy, ... 1 the abjection be made that fom BU 213 punyena harman’ Bharati “by good deed one becomes good. it fllows that there must be a ttansmigrating self other than and distinguishable from the Supreme (Peraimad silakarna 'nysh saris’), we yy No ~. » for one thing sannot ‘become another.” Tt ean oniy become wit its. Tide acne: Werde was ub ERY 1164.38 emarzya martyena sayonib. On thee ewo selves (Plato's moral and Jimmoral sole that dwell together in us) soe Coomaraswarny, Spiiual Authority and Temporal Power, 1092, Dp. 72 ‘Pore, “by disconnection with desire” jmpure “by contaminasion with desi ‘The pure Mind isthe deivart manar of BX 15.10, identified with Beshna in BU 1.16 (mano vai semrit paramans irakrna) and with Prajipat in TS vib.10%, $B ‘4.142, and passim. This is Plato's unchangeable Min “ia which only the Gode land but few men participa” ae distinguithed fromm izaional Opinion, subject to persuasion (Timacus 510s). Cf, Coomaraswamy, “On Being in One's Right Mind,” 942. a ‘MAJOR ESSAYS comes Brahmal”, that itis not an individual but God himself that comes and goes when “we” are born or die, Tt would be an antinomy to apply to myself—this man, So-and-so—or to any other someone amongst others the words, “That art thou,” of to think of myself, le moi, as the “I” of Swami Nirbhyinanda’s 1am the bird caught in the net of illusion, am he who bows dowa the head ‘And the One to whom he bows: alone exist, there is neither seeker nor sought.” When at last] realized Unity, then 1 knew what had been unknown, ‘That 1 had always been in union with Thee. ‘When the soul-bird at last escapes from the net of the fowler (Psalms 124:7) and finds its King, then the apparent distinction of immanent from transcendent being dissolves in the light of day, and it hears and speaks with a voice that is at once its own and its King’s, saying I was the Sin that from Myself rebel’: I the remorse that tow'cd Myself compelld Pilgrim, Pilgrimage and Road Was but Myself toward Myself: and Your ‘Arrival but Myself at my own door."* 0 thas been, we chink, suficieatly shown thatthe scriptures of the Vedinta, from the Rg Veda to the Bhagavad Gitd, know of but One Transmigrant. Such a doctrine follows, indeed, inevitably from the word Advaita. The argument, “Brahma is only metaphorically called a ‘life’ Give, living be- ing) on account of his connection with accidental conditions, the actual existence of any one such ‘life’ lasting for only so long as He continues to * The eternal procesion isthe revelation of Himself to Hitmself. The knower boeing that which is known” (Meister Fekhart, Evans ed 1, 394). ‘Te knew Ieself, ‘that ‘am Brahma, therewith i became the All” (BU 14.10). 791 know these lines only feom H. P. Shastri, Indian Myatic Verse (London, ton). Faridwrd-Dia “Apeic, Mancign’t-Tary cf, Rink, Methnawi, 13056-3065, and TUB mtgt5. 2 ‘ONE AND ONLY TRANSMIGRANT, be bound by any one set of accidents” (Sankardcirya on BrSBh 10.2.10), is only an expansion of the implications of the logos, “That art thou.” We have also indicated more briefly the Suohoyéa of the Indian and Platonic traditions, and have alluded to the Islamic parallels: rather to make the doctrine more comprehensible than to imply any derivation. Prom the same point of view we have still co refer to the Judaic and Chris- tian doctrines. In the Old Testament we find that when we die and give up the ghost, “Then shall the dust return to the dust as i¢ was: and the spirit (rua) shall return to God who gave it" (Ecel. 12:7). OF this, D. B. Macdonald remarks, the Preacher “is heartily glad, for it means a final ‘escape for man.”"* To be “glad” ofthis can be thought of only for one who hhas known who he is and in which self he hopes to go hence. For the Jews, who did not anticipate a “personal immortality,” the soul (nefes) always implies “the lower, physical nature, che appetites, the psyche of St. Panl”*—all that in Buddhist terms “is not my Self’—and they must therefore have believed, as Philo assuredly did, in a “soul of the soul,” the avefja of St. Paul Hebrew Philocophical Geviar, Péineeton and Oxford, 1936, p, 136. "3rbid.,p. 139. So in Islam, og, Rimi, Machnawi, «395, "This carael self (najt) ie" Hell, and Hell is 2 Dragon... To God (alone) helangs this foor (the power) to kill jt; ca2y4, "When the Soul of the soul (finn = God, 11781) ‘withdraws from the soul, the soul becomes even as the soulless body, know hit"; cL JUB wa, "Mind ie «fll, xpecch i a ell sight i 2 hel” ete. The intenal con- fice of Reason ('agl = yx) with the carnal soul (nafs) is compared wo that of ‘man and woman living together ip one house (did, 1.2616 4). As Jahangir said in his memoirs apropos of Gosain Jadciip, Tasswwut and Vedanta are the same. As R.A Nicholon (on Mathnawi 1283) puts it, the SOA doctrine is thac "God is the extence of all existences -... [while] everything in the world of contingency 's separated from che Abrolute [ouly} by individualieation. ‘The prophes were sent the particulars with the Universal” 7+ With reference w the doctrine elsewhere, A. H. Gebhard-Leswrange states very correctly shat "the transmigration of souls ie generally misinterpreted as the passing ‘f a soul from one person to another... What actualy cakes place is chat the In vidual [ized] Ged Sool incarnares again and again until It attains the aim of Incarnating at # Seeker who wil go upon the Quest and evenrually lose individuality and become one with the feeed God Soul” (The Tradition of Siienee in Myth and Legend, Boston, 1940, p. 63). Notable fepudiations of reinezenationist interpreta. ‘ion will be found in’ Hisroeles om she Golden Verses of Pythagoras, wt. N. Rowe (Condos, 1996), v.83; in Hermes, Lib, xig-ass and ia Manito Ficino, who held, in the words of Kristeller, chat "whereves Plato seems (o speak of a transmigration ff the human soul into otber naturat species, we must understand by ic the di fecent forms and habite of human life” (Paul O. Kristeller, The Philosophy af Mar ‘lio Fisino, New York, 1963, p. 118), Cl, Esler, “Oxphisch-Dionyssche Mysterien- ‘Gedanken.” p. 295. B MAJOR ESSAYS Tn Christianity theze is a doctrine of arma (the operation of mediate causes) and of a fate that lies in the created causes themscives, but 20 doctrine of reincarnation. No stronger abjections of the “soul” are any- where to he found than are met with ia the Christian Gospels. "No man can be my disciple who hateth not . . his own soul” (éaurad danciy, Luke 14:26); that soul which “he who hateth in this world shall keep it unto life eternal” (John 12:25), but which “whoever seeks to save, shall lose” (Luke 9:25). Compared with the Disposer (conditor = samdhatr), other beings “are neither beautiful, nor good, nor are at all” (nee sunt, ‘St, Augustine, Confessions x14). The central doctrine has to do with the “descent” (avatarana) of a Soter whose evemnal birth was “before Abraham" and “through whom all things were made.” This One him- self declares that “no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Soa of Man which is in lcaven” (John 323)5 and says, moreover, “Whither I go, ye cannot come” (John 8:21), and that “IE any man would follow me, let him deny himself” (Mark fag) “The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two- ‘edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul (yo) from spirit (wvetja, Hed. 4:12)." When St. Paul, who distinguishes the Inner and the Outer Man (tt Cor. 4:15; Eph. 3:16), says of himself, “I live, yee nor 1, but Christ in me” (Gal. 2:20)" he has denied himself, has lost his soul to sive ic and knows “in whom, when he departs hence, he will be departing"; what survives (atifisyate) will not be “this man,” Paul, but—the Savier himself. In Safi terms, “St. Paul” is “a dead man walking.” When the Savior's visible presence is withdrawn he is represented in 8 °Man should strive for tis, that be tura his thoughts away from emself and sil creatures and know no faker but Cod alone” (Meister Eckhart, Peifer ed, p. 421). Much more is implied than a merely ethical “self

    You might also like