Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

YOGIC TRANCE IN THE OLDEST UPANIṢADS

Author(s): Fernando Tola and Carmen Dragonetti
Source: Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 68, No. 1/4,
RAMAKRISHNA GOPAL BHANDARKAR 150TH BIRTH-ANNIVERSARY VOLUME (1987), pp.
377-392
Published by: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
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 YOGIC TRANCE IN THE OLDEST UPANISADS

By

Fernando Tola and Carmen Dragonetti

1. The Yoga, as the method to attain yogic or mystic trance, did exist at
the epoch of the oldest Upanisadsf although not in the complete and systematic
form in which it is presented in the classical work of Patañjali.

In the oldest Upanisads 1 exist many passages that contain isolated2

references to qualities or virtues and practices that afterwards would be essential
elements of the yogic system. We mention the most remarkable ones :

a ) The Chãndogya 8. 4. 3 refers to brahmacarya , which traditionally

comprised the study of sacred tèxts, services rendered to the teacher, and chastity.
The Kena 4. 8 mentions self-control ( dama ). The Brhadäranyalca 4. 4. 22
mentions renouncement and 4. 4. 23 enumerates several characteristics that must
be possessed by the person who desires to reach Brahman : he must be calm
(santa), self-controlled (danta), indifferent ( uparata ), patient (titikm)t
concentrated ( samähita ). All these virtues would have great importance in the
Yoga of later epoch.

b ) The tapas ( ascetism ) occupies an important place in the practices of

classical Yoga and constitutes an element of its discipline. Patañjali refers to it
iq several aphorisms ( Yogasütra II. 1, 32, 43 and IV. 1 ). The oldest Upa-
nisads contain numerous references to tapas . Let us indicate those in which
tapas is related to the knowledge of the Absolute and is presented as a practice

1. The Upanisads may be classified in fche following way :

a) the oldest Upanifads ( 800-550 B. C. ) : Brhadäranyalca , Chãndogya , Taittiñyai
Aitareya , Kauñtaki and Kena» All fchese Upanisads can be considered previous fco the birfch
of Buddhism.

b) the intermediate Upanisads ( 550- Î B.C.) : Katha , J/ã, Svetãfvatara , Muniaha%

Mahãnãrãyana , Pra f na, Maiirl , Maniaky*. These Upanisads are posterior to those of fche
first group, but it is difficult to determine the terminus ad quem of their composition.
c) the late Upanisads . It is impossible to determine the date of the Upanisads
belonging to this group. The only thing to be said is that they are posterior to the inter-
mediate Upanisads , and that some of them were written even after the beginning of Chris-
tian era. See P. Deussen, The Philosophy, p. 26, and Sechzig Upanishaďs , pp. XII-XV.
2. The references to Yoga become very numerous in the intermediate and lafce
Upanisads. See P. Deussen, The Philosophy} pp. 385-395.
RGJ3...48

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378 ÀBORI' ß. G. Bhandarkar 150th Birth- Anniversary Volums

necessary for the person that tries to acquire that knowledge : Brhadãranyaka
4. 4. 22. Taittirlya 3. 1-5. Kena 4. 8.

c) In the Brhadãranyaka there is a passage ( 1. 5. 23 ) which probably

alludes to the practice of breath-control that in classical Yoga will receive the
name of prãnãyãma (Patañjali, Yogamira IL 49).

d) The Chãndogya 8. 15 refers to the practice of sense- control ( ãtmani

saruendriyãni sampratisthàpya), which in classical Yoga will be named
pratyãhãra ( Yogasûtra II. 54).

e) The word dhyãna means in Patañjali 11 meditation " and constitutes

an important element of his Yoga system. This word appears in Chãndogya 7
6. 1 and undoubtelly we must understand that it refers to the yogic practice of
meditation. So it is interpreted by Saňkara ad locum and the greater number of
authors translate it by " meditation " or interpret it as such, as Deussen,
Sechzig Upanishad's p. 171, Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads,
Hauer, Der Yoga, p. 95, Mitra-Cowell, The Twelve Principal Upanisads , III.
p. 228. note 1, Max Müller, The Upanisads , p. 114. note 1. Another Upanisadic
passage which refers to meditation is Brhadãranyaka 2. 4. 5 which expresses
that it is necessary to see the atinan , to hear about it, to think of it, to meditate
on it ( ãtmã vã are drastavyah srotavyo mantavyo nididhyäsitavyo ... ).

f ) The Chãndogya 8. 2. 1 expresses that the person who knows the

ãtman , when he becomes desirous of anything, by his mere thought, can give rise
to it. Perhaps we have here a reference to an effect of the Yoga, the sensation of
presence, which can be produced by a profound and prolonged concentration of
mind on some idea.

Let us also indicate that the word yoga appears for the first time in
Taittirlya 2. 4. but it is not possible to establish with certainty what is to be
understood by that term. Šaňkara interprets it yuktih samãdhãnam.

2. The oldest Upanisads do not mention the yogic trance. The word
samãdhi does not appear in them. But, taking into account the reasons that we
expose in the following paragraphs, it is possible to affirm not only that the oldest
Upanisads knew the yogic trance, but also that they considered it as the state in
which the individual Self ( ãtman ) realizes its identity with the Absolute,
Brahmant or the union of both takes place, or, in other words, the knowledge of
Brahman occurs.

3. The extra-ordinary nature of the knowledge of the Upanisadic

Absolute requires the existence of an equally extra-ordinary means to get it.

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 Tola - Dragonetti : Yogic trance in the oldest Upanisads 379

The knowledge of Brahman is an extra-ordinary, a sui generis

knowledge,3 in regard to which even the word " knowledge " should not be
employed. It is not knowledge through senses. It is not rational, discursive
knowledge, neither any of the rational processes, as inference, argumentation
etc. Of course it is not erudition, the accumulation of information and data.
The Upanisadic knowledge is that state in which the Self liberates itself from
everything that is alien to it and recovers its own and authentic nature, is
Brahman . We are in an ontological level, knowledge is equal to being,
cognoscere - esse. The Muridaka 3. 2. 9 which belongs to the group of inter-
mediate Upanisads says clearly that he who knows Brahman becomes Brahman
(sayo vai tat paramam brahma veda brahmaiva bhavati). This affirmation
appears also in the oldest Upanisads although without the clearness and precision
of the quoted text of the Mundaka.

The knowledge of Brahman must be an extra-ordinary, a sui generis

knowledge since its " object " ( so to say ), Brahman , is also an extra-ordinary,
a sui generis absolute principle, totally trascendent, totally " heterogeneous aß
R. Otto denominates one of the most important characteristics of the numinous4
-diverse and different from anything man may know and imagine, diverse and
different from empirical reality in all its forms.

The knowledge of Brahman cannot be the normal knowledge also because

the Self, who " knows " Brahman , and Brahman who " is known are the
same according to a fundamental teaching of the Upanisads ( cf. Brhad •
ãrariyaka 2. 5. 1 and ff., 2. 5. 19) and normal knowledge cannot exist without
the duality of a knowing subject and a knowable object. This is a principle of
the general theory of knowledge which the Upanisads affirm many times
( Brhadärariyaka 2. 4. 14; 4. 3. 21 ; 4. 3. 31 ).

As we have said at the beginning of this section the extra-ordinary

knowledge of Brahman requires an equally extra- ordinary means to get it.

4 We think it is not possible to accept that, for the Upanisads , the

means to reach the knowledge of Brahmani the state in which the identification
of the Self with Brahman , or the union of both takes place, is deep sleep, as
many authors affirm, as for instance Deussen, The philosophy of the Upa -
nishads , p. 309; von Glasenapp, Die Philosophie der Inder , p. 152; Ranade,
A constructive survey , p. 90; Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy I. p. 160;
Belvalkâr and Ranade, History of Indian Philosophy, The creative period,
p. 236; Oldenberg, Die Lehre der Upanishaden , pp. 78-80, 122, 125, 225,

3. See Iamblichus, De mysteriis Aegyptiorum I, 3.

4. The Idea of the Holy , pp. 39- 44.

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380 AS ORI i Ã. G. Shandarkar 160ťh Birth- Anniversary Volunte

Deep sleep indeed cannot be considered an extra-ordinary means to get an

extra-ordinary aim. Moreover if the simple deep sleep was, in the opinion of the
oldest Upanisads , the means to reach Brahmani even only for a transitory
moment of time, then how could be explained that the Upanisads required that
the person, who desired to reach Brahmani should lead an ascetic life of
renouncement, if Brahman could be reached in any moment by any sleeping
person ? How could be explained the mystery, the secrecy, the esoterism with
which the ancient Upanisadic masters concealed their teachings, whose nucleus
was the knowledge of Brahman , if Brahman could be reached in the trivial
experience of deep sleep ? Finally it seems that the triviality of deep sleep
goes against the exalted position, the transcendency, the sacrality so to say of
that extra-ordinary moment in which the Self reaches Brahman .

5. On the contrary we think it is necessary to maintain that the

Upanisads considered the yogic trance as the only appropriate extra-ordinary
means to acquire the knowledge of Brahman , to reach that extraordinary state
of the identification or union of the Self with Brahman . Our reasons for this
opinion are the following ones.

a ) The trance was known in India before the oldest Upanisads and
after them, in the intermediate and recent Upanisads , it is considered as the
means to reach Brahman .

Before the oldest Upanisads the trance existed in India5 as a constituent

part of 44 shamânistic " practices. Shamanism is à magical -religious pheno-
menon that is characteristic of all archaic societies. The shamãn is the wizard
who knows magic and through it dominates the spirits and controls the hidden
forces of nature. He is also the medicine man who possesses the secret of healing
plants ànd knows the adequate mágic-therapeutic ceremonies. But he is also
the man who owns the technique to produce the trànce, he is a technician of
trance, a specialist of trance, as Mircea Eliade calls him.6 Yoga relates itself
with this last aspect of shamanism. Yoga is a development, a transformation,
än elaboration of the original methods of shamanism. Of course, the methods,
to which the shamans had access had not the depuration of the method that
Patañjali describes. And besides that the interpretation of trance by the

5. For the existence of ecstatic experiences or trance in ancient India, before the
Upanifad8t see J. W. Hauer, Die Anfänget pp. 61-156 and 189-202, Der Yoga , p. 19 ; M.
Eliade, Le Chamanisme , Chapter XI^ Yoga} pp. 101-105 ; H. Oldenberg, Die Religion , pp. 398-
410; A. Hillebrandt, Mtîiil-Litteratur, p. 125; R. Garbe, Sãmkhya und Yoga , pp. 34-35.
6. M.Eliade, Le Ghamanisme , Chapter I, and Conclusions. Eliade reduces the
meaning of the terms shamanism " and '* shaman " to this last aspect, which is in his
opinion the most characteristic one.

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 Tola - Dragonetti : Yogic trance in the oldest Upanisads 381

shâmans corresponded to rudimentary forms of thought : during trance the soul

of the shaman abandons his body and comes into contact with the spirits and
gathers information useful for his activities ; and this interpretation lacks the
philosophical profundity and richness of Yoga system, derived form Sãmkhya.

There exists in Rgvedci (X, 136) an hymn dedicated to the ascetic

( muni ) of long hair. The hymn describes the trance of that ascetic. He
imagines that gods penetrate into him, that he is flying through the air, that his
spirit leaves his body, that he has the power to help gods, that he dwells in
both oceans, that he follows the path of apsaras and gandharvas and that he
knows the intentions of other beings. In stanza 7 it is said that the ascetic,
together with god Rudra, drunk the " poison ". Without doubt we have in this
hymn the description of a shamanic trance. The ascetic described in it is the far
predecessor of the classical yogin.7 He experiences a trance during which he has
several extraordinary sensations. Of course, as we have already indicated, the
interpretation of the trance by the ascetic corresponds to his cultural level. In
this interpretation we do not find any of the philosophical element that will enrich
later interpretations of trance. The hymn makes a reference to a means to
produce trance : the poison, which reminds us the drugs recommended by Patañ-
jali ( Yogasütra IV, 1 ) and referred to by Vyãsa and Vacaspati Misra ad locum.
Let us mention another point of contact between the Vedic ascetic and the classi-
cal yogin : the magical powers enumerated by Patañjali in III» 45 and his
commentators.

After the oldest Upanisads , in the intermediate and recent Upanisads , we

find explicitly expressed the doctrine that it is in the yogic trance that the
knowledge of Brahman is produced, that it is there that the realization of the
identity of ãtman and Brahman takes place or their union does occur. Cf.
MãridUkya and Gaudapäda's kãrikãs ; Maitrï 6. 18-20 and 7. 11. 7; Mundaka
2.2.4; 2.2.6; 3.1.8; Katha 6.8-10; Nrsimhottaratãpaniya 2 and 8;
Brahma 2; Sarva-upanisat-sãra .

If before and after the oldest Upanisads trance was known and considered
as the means to transcend human nature and to come into contact with realities
to which man has no access in normal conditions, then it is not possible to think
that trance was not integrated by the oldest Upanisads into their system as the
sole experience, of an extra-ordinary nature, which allows man to get the know-
ledge of the Absolute and to realize the identity of the Self with Brahman or the
union of both. Otherwise we should have in the tradition a rupture of continuity
difficult to be explained.

7. See H. Olden berg, Die Religion , p. 406; M. Eliade, Le Chamanieme, Chapter XI,
Yoga , p. 118.

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382 ABORl : iř. G. Bhandarkar 150th Birth- Anniversary Volume

b ) In general all mystical teachings contain the following doctrines :

1. the existence of a transcendent and heterogeneous principle, more or less
personalized, the Absolute; 2. the existence of a spiritual principle in the indivi-
dual, the soul or spirit ; 3. that the Absolute cannot be known through reason nor
expressed by words; 4. that it is possible for man that his soul come into
relation with that Absolute; 5. that it is only through an extra-ordinary
experience, the trance, that the soul can come into relation with that Absolute,
and 6. that the ascetic discipline, including moral norms, renunciation and
meditation, is the means that allows the trance to be produced.

The Upanisads have been always considered as a mystical teaching.8

And rightly, we think, because it is admitted that, since the oldest Upanisadst
we find in them five of the six above mentioned elements ; 1 . the Absolute
j Brahman', 2. a spiritual principle in the individual, the ãtman ; 3. the impossi-
bility to know the Absolute, Brahman , through reason or to express it by means
of words ; 4. the possibility for man to come into relation with that Absolute ; ánd
6. the ascetic discipline, including ethical norms, renunciation and meditation. It
is difficult to think that the authors of the oldest Upanisads, after having
introduced in their teachings the aforesaid elements, were not induced to include
in their teachings also the fifth element, trance, as the sole means capable to lead
man towards Brahman . The existence of this fifth element, trance, derives
almost automatically from the existence of the other ones and, as we have already
said, trance was known in India before the oldest Upanisads .

6. The arguments expounded in point 4 against deep sleep and in point

5 in favour of trance as being the means to reach Brahman are fully corrobo-
rated by the analysis of the texts of the oldest Upanisads that have relation to
the theme that ocqupies us.

a. The texts of the oldest Upanisads , that deal with deep sleep, do not
give to this phenomenon any transcendent meaning. These texts are :

I. BrhadãranyaJca , 2. 1. 17-19. When man sleeps, the person

( purusa ) made of consciousness ( vijnãnamaya ). taking with itself
together with its own consciousness the consciousness of the senses
( präna ), rests in that space which exists inside the heart. Then
the breath, speech, the eye, the ear, the mind are restrained. Where-
ver the person moves about in dream, these are his worlds. Taking
with himself the senses ( prãqa), he moves about in the body at his
own will. But, whrn one sleeps deeply ( susupta ) and knows

8. See 1' Heiler, Die Mystik ; II. Ohlenberg, Die Lehre , pp.171 ff.; N. Maenicol in
ERE, Vol. IX, pp. 115-116,

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 Tola - Dragonetti : Yogic trance in the oldest Upanisads 38Î

nothing whatsoever, the person rests in the pericardium, reaching

the summit of bliss.

II. Chandogya 8. 6. 3. When man sleeps deeply, completely

serene ( samprasanna ) and knows no dream, it is because he has
entered into the arteries of the heart. No evil can touch him for then
he has obtained the fire ( or light ) element.

HI. Chandogya 4.3.3. When one sleeps ( svapiti ), breath

absorbs speech, sight, hearing, mind.

IV. Kausxtaki 3. 3. When the person {purusa) sleeps and

sees no dream whatever, then he becomes unified ( ekadhã bhavati )
in that breath ( prãna ), which is the intelligence ( prajnã ). And
speech, eye, ear and mind go into it ( i. e. the pram ).

Texts I and II express that, during deep sleep, person ( purusa ) made of
consciousness ( vijnãnamaya ) or simply man rests in a determined part of the
body, the pericardium or the arteries of the heart.

Texts III and IV have recourse to the absorption theory to explain, the
first one, the act of sleeping and, the second, the mechanism of deep sleep : senses
are absorbed into breath, which is identified by the IVth text with intelligence.
The explanation of these two texts is similar to the explanation given by other
texts ( Brhadãrartyaka 4. 3. 35-38 ; Chandogya 6. 8. 6, and Kausttaki 3.3)
about mechanism of death.

For all these four texts the rest and the process of absorption take place
within the limits of the body ; the person ( piirusa ), that goes into rest, and the
breath, that absorbs all senses, do not leave the body.

As it is seen, these four texts do not establish any conexion between deep
sleep and knowledge of or identification or union with Brahman ; moreover they
give an explanation of deep sleep in a level that can be qualified as physiologic.

b. The texts of the oldest Upanisads which deal with that state in which
the knowledge of or the identification or union with Brahman takes place refer to
yogîc trance and not to deep sleep. These texts are :

V. Brhadãrartyaka 4. 3. 9-34. During sleep with dreams

the person ( purusa ) abandons the body, emits from himself an own
oniric world with roads, ponds, rivers, wanders from one place to
another, enjoys with women or even beholds fearful sights (para?
graphs 9-14).

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384 ABOBl : Ä. G. Bhandarkar 150th Birth-Anniversary Volume

After having enjoyed and wandered in the state of profound calm

( samprasada ) and after having seen good and evil, the person
returns to his starting point, the sleep with visions. After having
enjoyed and wandered in that state of sleep with dreams and after
having seen good and evil, the person returns to his starting point,
the state of waking. And finally, after having enjoyed and wandered
in the waking state and after having seen good and evil, the person
returns to his starting point, the state of sleep with dreams ( para-
graphs 15-18 ).

This text with the word " profound calm " ( samprasada ) refers to deep
sleep. It is surprising that the text expresses that during deep sleep the person,
as in the dreaming and waking states, " enjcys, wanders, sees good and evil1'.

We find no transcendent meaning given to deep sleep In this text.

Paragraphs 19 and 20 say literally : "The person hastens to

that state in which, sleeping ( supto ), he desires no desire, sees no
dream ... When it seems that they kill him, that they force him, that
an elephant pursues him, that he falls into a pit, he is imagining there
( in his dream ), through ignorance, whatever fearful thing he saw
while in the waking state. But, when as a god or as a king, he
imagines that he is the universe, all, that is his supreme world

Paragraph 21, after expressing that then the person is free from
desires, from evil and fear, adds that he is " embraced by the ãtman
made of intelligence ( prãjnenãtmanã ) and knows nothing within or
without." In that state all qualifications cease to be; the father is
no more the father, gods are no more gods etc. ( paragraph 22 ). In
this state all duality has disappeared, since there is nothing different
from the person and consequently all forms of knowledge have
ceased. The person is the " seer, unique, without a second. This
state is the world of Brahman ... his supreme world, his supreme
bliss" ( paragraph 32 ). The bliss of the world of Brahman is
infinitely superior to human bliss and the bliss of gods (para-
graph 33 ).

This text describes a determinate state whose nature we shall establish

later on. It indicates as characteristics of that state the following ones :
1. Man is asleep ( paragraph 1 9 ) ; 2. Absence of all oniric vision (19);
3. Absence of all desire (19); 4. Consciousness of being identical with the
universe (26); 5. Man is embraced by the ãtman , whose essence is intelli-
gence. is united to it, absorbed in it (21); 6. Absence of all consciousness

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 Tola - Dragonetti : Yogic trance in the oldest Upanisads 385

( different from that of 4 ) ; 7. Absence of all qualification ( 22 ) ; 8. Dis-

appearance of all duality ( 23-32 ) ; 9. This state is the world of Brahman
( 32 ) and 10. In this state man possesses an infinite bliss ( 33 ).

This text is, without doubt, the most important for the doctrine of the
knowledge of Brahmßn. Generally, translators and commentators ( for instance
Deussen, Sechzig Upanishads des Veda , p. 464; Radhakrishnan, The Principal
Upanisads , p. 261; Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanisads , p. 136 etc. )
consider that the state described in this text is that of deep sleep, in which knowle-
dge of Brahman is attained, in which the identification or union with it takes
place. But in our opinion the state to which this text refers is the trance because
of the following reasons.

In relation to the first characteristic possessed by that state, the word

supta derives from SVAP which means "to sleep". It is probable that the
ancient Upanisads applied this word to normal sleep ( profound or with dreams )
as to trance-sleep. Taking into account the apparent similitude between trance-
sleep and deep-sleep it is not surprising that the ancient Upanisads confounded
both, identified them and did not perceive the subtle differences that exist between
them. This was natural, since yogic speculation was in its beginnings. Even
many centuries later that confusion remained, which obliged Indian thinkers
like Aniruddha to indicate explicitly the differences between trance and deep
sleep.9 Even up to the middle of last century, hypnotic trance ( similar in some
of its aspects to yogic trance ) was confounded with normal sleep, applying to it a
name that was derived from the Greek word hýpnos which means sleep. People
stick to this confusion some times even now.10

The characteristics 2 ( absence of all oniric vision ), 3 ( absence of desires )

and 6 ( absence of consciousness ) as well as its consequences indicated in
characteristics 7 ( absence of qualifications ) and 8 ( disappearance of duality )
can be applied so much to deep sleep as to trance, which carries with itself the
suppression of all mental state.

Characteristic 4 ( consciousness of identity with the universe ) can be only

a characteristic of trance. Extraordinary sensations, as the sensations that one
is all, that one has become identified with the Absolute, that one is the Absolute,
that one has united with God etc., accompany many mystical experiences of
Vedänta or bhakti type. They are common in the descriptions that Indian and

9. See J. Sinha, Indian Psychology II, p. 24.

10. See S. Edmunds, Hypnotism , pp. 11-12.
RGB.. .49

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386 ABORI' Ä. G. Bhandarhar Í50th Birth- Anniversary Volume

Western mystics give of their experiences.11 These kinds of sensations are foreign
to deep sleep.

Characteristic 10 ( sensation of infinite bliss ) equally accompanies trance

in mystical experiences of diverse types.12 This sensation is totally different in
intensity from the bliss that man can feel in normal conditions. Although a
pleasant sensation normally accompanies deep sleep, it is not an extraordinary
bliss, such as mystics affirm to enjoy and such as describsd in papagraph 33 of
the Upanisad.

Characteristic 5 ( absorption of oneself in Absolute ) and 9 ( this state is

the world of Brahman ) are mere theoretical-mystical interpretations of the state
experienced by the Upanisadic mystic according to the philosophical principles of
his own doctrines.

Concluding : although in the description of the state, to which the present

text refers, we find some characteristics that are common to deep sleep and to
trance ( what is natural taking into account the similitudes that exist between
them ), anyhow there are two characteristics, consciousness of identity with the
universe ( 4 ) and sensation of infinite bliss ( 10 ), that can only apply to trance.

Moreover, characteristics 4 (consciousness of identity with the universe),

5 (absorption of oneself in the absolute ), 9 ( identification of the described state
with the world of Bra hman ) and 10 (sensation of infinite bliss) have not been
mentioned in any of the texts that describe deep sleep ( I-IV ). This circumstance
can serve as an argument for the present text being a description of a state
different from deep sleep.

VI. Chãndogya 8, 3, 2 and 4. Paragraph 2 says : ... evam eve-

mäh sarväh prajä ahar ahar gacchantya etam brahmalokam na
vindanty anrtena hi pratyúdhãh

Most of the translators ( Hume, Deussen, Radhakrishnan, Max Müller )

understand that creatures go every day to the Brahma- world but do not find ȣ.
This is the simplest interpretation ; any other one is far-fetched and has no support
in the text. In the same way translators consider that the act of going into the
JSraftma-world takes place during deep sleep. It is also thought that the Brahma -
world is the small space inside the heart, which nevertheless is so vast as the

11. See J. G. Arintero, La evolución mistica, Part II, Chapter V : <c La deífica
unión transformativa pp. 481-559 passim ; Cuestiones Místicas, Cuetión VII, articulo lo.:
<ť La union transformativa pp. 618-639 passim ; E. Underhill, Mysticism , Part II, Chapter
X : The unitive life, pp. 413-443 passim .
12. See J. G. Arintero, La evolución mistica^ pp. 354, 441-480 passim; E. Underbill,
Mysticism} pp. 437-443.

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 Tola - Dragonetti : Yogic trance in the oldest Üpaniqads 387

cosmic space, referred to in Chãndogya 1. 1. 1. This opinion is only a free

interpretation without basis in the present text, Anyhow, if this interpretation
is accepted, we have for the person ( purusa ) another resting-place ( in the space
inside the heart), besides the pericardium ( Brhadaraiiyaka 2. 1. 19) and the
arteries of the heart ( Chãndogya 8. 6. 3 ). So we can say that according to
this paragraph, men, every day, in the course of deep sleep, go to or towards the
world of Brahman but do not find it . It is clear that this paragraph denies so
the possibility to find the Brahma-vtovld , or simply Brahman , during deep sleep.
This paragraph does not give thus any transcendent value to deep sleep. The
text indicates the reason why men do not find the Brahma- world : because they
are separated from it by falsehood, whose existence eliminates the possibility to
reach Brahman .

To the deep sleep state referred to in paragraph 2, paragraph 4 opposes

another state. This paragraph says :

Atha ya esa samprasãdo • smãc charlrãt samutthäya param jyotir

upasampadya svena ruperiãbhinispadyate esa ãtmeti hovãcaitad
amrtam abhayam etad brahmeti.

This text affirms that " profound calm " ( sampr asäda ) emerging from
the body, reaching the highest light, appears in its own form and then says that
this " profound calm " is the ãtman, the immortal, the fearless, Brahman. This
samprasãda state - described in this paragraph as emerging from the body, reach*
ing the highest light, appearing in its own form and being the ätman , Brahman -
is different from the deep sleep state, because, according to paragraph 2, during
deep sleep man does not reach the Brahma- world and thus deep sleep has no
transcendent value, while, according to this paragraph, the samprasãda -state
realizes a transcendant process and is endowed with a transcendent meaning. It
is worthy to be observed that the expressions, with which samprasãda is describ-
ed, are not employed in texts I-IV which without doubt refer to deep sleep. We
think that this samprasãda- state is the trance, different from deep sleep, although
having many similarities with it, what justifies the use of some terms in common
for both.

VII. Chãndogya 8. 11. 1. Prajãpati, in his teaching regarding

the ãtman , given to Indra, says " When man sleeps, in profound
calm ( samprasanna ), and sees no dream ... that is the immortal,
the fearless, that is Brahman ".

This teaching of Prajãpati, which identifies ãtman with deep sleep, is not
accepted by Indra, since it produces the destruction of consciousness and conse-
quently the loss of individual personality (paragraph 2), Prajãpati, after

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 388 AÖORI : R. G. Bhandarkar lõõth Êirth- Anniversary Volume

imposing to Indra several conditions, agrees to teach to him the true doctrine
( paragraph 3 ).13 This teaching is given in the following paragraphs.

Chandogya 8. 12. 1-3. The body is mere support of the ãtrnan .

Only while the ätman is united to the body, it is affected by good
and evil ( 1 ). As the wind, the clouds, lightning, thunder are bodi-
less ; and, when they reach the highest light, appear each with their
own form ( 2 ), " even so that profound calm ( sampräsada ), emerg-
ing from the body, reaching the highest light, appears in its own
form. It is the supreme person ( purum ) " ( 3 ).

We think that Prajäpati in this passage is describing trance, as in Chan-

dogya 8. 3. 4. In both texts we have the same progress of thought : firstly it is
not admitted that during deep sleep takes place a transcendent phenomenon ( find-
ing Brahma-world in Chandogya 8. 3. 2 and 4, and realizing ätman1 s nature in
8. 12. 3) and then in opposition to that doctrine, another state is described, in
which a transcendent phenomenon takes place and which consequently cannot be
deep sleep. Both texts employ the same expressions to describe this second state.
These expressions are not employed with reference to deep sleep in texts I-IV.
We think that samprasâda in this text designates trance.

VIII. Chandogya 6. 2. 3. 8 and 15. These texts expose cosmogonie14

and physiologic theories and have nothing to do with the knowledge of Brahmani
the identification or union with it.

Before dealing with them, we must indicate the meaning of the word sat
that is used by both. It designates pure existence, mere being, being in the most
abstract form, without diversity, differences, qualifications.15

6. 2 and 3. In the beginning " this " ( idam ), i.e. the world*
empirical reality, was sat , one, without a second. This primordial
reality desired to be multiplicated and emitted from itself the fire
( tejas ), fire emitted the water and the water emitted the food. The
primordial reality, penetrating into the fire, water and food, produced

13. For the traditional interpretation the teaching of Prajäpati which follows does
not constitute a new doctrine - the true one - but only an enlargement of the previous
doctrine with the purpose of meeting Indra's objection and giving consciousness to the Ätman ,
identified with deep sleep. But the progress of the text indicates that we have here a new
teaching.
14. This is another cosmogonie theory besides the other ones sustained by the
UpanisadSy according to which the origin of everything is Brahman ( Brhadãranyaha 1, 4,
10), the Ãtman {ibidem, 1,4,1), non-baing ( Taittiriya 2, 7), the water ( Brhadãranyaha
5,5,1).
15« Bee Stuik&ra, Commentary ad Ohãndogya , 6; 2, 1.

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 Ïola - Dragonetti : Yogic trance in the oldest Upanisads 389

diversity. These three elements are present in all the manifestations

of the world.

6. 8. When man sleeps ( svapiti )lfl he has reached being ( sat ). The
text, giving the " etymology " of svapiti , adds that man then goes to
his own ( svam apito bhavati).

Explaining the mechanism of hunger and thirst the text teaches

that the body has as its root food, food has as its root water, water
has as its root fire and fire has as its root sat : " all creatures have
being ( sat ) as their root, have being as their abode, have being as
their support

6. 15. In relation to death, this text teaches that when man

departs, " his voice goes into his mind, his mind into his breath, his
breath into fire ( tejas ) and fire into the highest divinity ".

The text ends expressing that sat is the essence of all reality.

The aim of 6. 2 and 3 is simply to explain the origin of the world and the
mechanism of some physiological processes. The cosmogonie theory is that in
the beginning the world existed under the form of pure existence, devoid of all
diversity. From that primordial reality, which was only being, the world origina-
ted through a process of auto-division. That primordial reality is the essence of
all. For this text sat is the arché .

The text contained in 6, 8 and 15 explains the physiological phenomena of

sleep, hunger, thirst and death according to that cosmogonie theory. In the case
of sleep ( 6, 8, 1 ), as in the case of death (6. 15. 1-2 ), man returns to that
primordial essence, to sat . It is not possible to think that 6. 8. 1 considers
that the return to sat during sleep is a transcendent process, in which man
reaches Brahman , is identified, united to it, because that same return occurs
also in death, which Indian thought never did consider as a means to reach
Brahman . Death is only a stage in the process of existences. If this return
to sat takes place in death and as such has no transcendent meaning, neither
can it have any transcendent meaning when it takes place in sleep.

Moreover it is possible to consider that the present text expounds a mate-

rialistic theory which posits a material entity, sat , as the origin of our reality and

16, This texb refers to the process of sleeping {svapiti ), without making clear with
the usual expressions whether we have in this case sleep with dreams or deep sleep. Accord-
ing to Sfankara this would be a reference to deep sleep, since only in this one the unioq
with sat, the entrance in oneself, can be produced.

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390 ABORI : R. G. Bhandarkar 160th Birth-Ànniversary Volume

as that into what all merges in sleep, in death. This interpretation is maintained
by the Sõmkhya and is admitted by several modern scholars.17

If this interpretation is accepted then we must conclude that the present

text has nothing to do with the problem about the means to reach that spiritual
principle which is Brahman.

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