All these forced explanations to which the commentators have recourse, arise from the shifting views held by various authorities with regard to the value of works. Our Upanishad seems to me to propound the doctrine that works, though in themselves useless, or even mischievous, if performed with a view to any present or future rewards, are necessary as a preparatory discipline. This is or was for a long time the orthodox view. Each man was required to pass through the 4sramas, or stages of student and householder, before he was admitted to the freedom of a Sannydsin. As on a ladder, no step was to be skipped. Those who attempted to do so, were considered to have broken the old law, and in some respects they may indeed be looked upon as the true precursors of the Buddhists.

Nevertheless the opposite doctrine, that a man whose mind had become enlightened, might at once drop the fetters of the law, without performing all the tedious duties of student and house- holder, had strong supporters too among orthodox philosophers. Cases of such rapid conversion occur in the ancient traditions, and Badarayaza himself was obliged to admit the possibility of freedom and salvation without works, though maintaining the superiority of the usual course, which led on gradually from works to enlighten- ment and salvation’. It was from an unwillingness to assent to the decided teaching of the [s4-upanishad that Sankara attempted to explain vidya, knowledge, in a limited sense, as knowledge of the gods, and not yet knowledge of Brahman. He would not admit that knowledge without works could lead to darkness, and even to greater darkness than works without knowledge. Our Upanishad seems to have dreaded libertinism, knowledge without works, more even than ritualism, works without knowledge, and its true object was to show that orthodoxy and sacrifice, though useless in themselves, must always form the preparation for higher enlightenment.

How misleading Sankara’s explanation may prove, we can see from the translation of this Upanishad by Rammohun Roy. He followed Sankara implicitly, and this is the sense which he drew from the text :—

‘9. Those observers of religious rites that perform only the worship of the sacred fire, and oblations to sages, to ancestors,

1 Vedanta-sftras III, 4, 36-39.

320 VAGASANEYI-SAMHITA-UPANISHAD.

to men, and to other creatures, without regarding the worship of celestial gods, shall enter into the dark region: and those practisers of religious ceremonies who habitually worship the celestial gods only, disregarding the worship of the sacred fire, and oblations to sages, to ancestors, to men, and to other creatures, shall enter into a region still darker than the former.

‘xo. It is said that adoration of the celestial gods produces one consequence; and that the performance of the worship of sacred fire, and oplations to sages, to ancestors, to men, and to other creatures, produce another: thus have we heard from learned men, who have distinctly explained the subject to us.

‘rz. Of those observers of ceremonies whosoever, knowing that adoration of celestial gods, as well as the worship of the sacred fire, and oblations to sages, to ancestors, to men, and to other creatures, should be observed alike by the same individual, per- forms them both, will, by means of the latter, surmount the obstacles presented by natural temptations, and will attain the state of the celestial gods through the practice of the former.

‘12. Those observers of religious rites who worship Prakriti alone (Prakrzti or nature, who, though insensible, influenced by the Supreme Spirit, operates throughout the universe) shall enter into the dark region: and those practisers of religious ceremonies that are devoted to worship solely the prior operating sensitive particle, allegorically called Brahma, shall enter into a region much more dark than the former.

‘13. It is said that one consequence may be attained by the worship of Brahma, and another by the adoration of Prakriti. Thus have we heard from learned men, who have distinctly ex- plained the subject to us.

‘14. Of those observers of ceremonies, whatever person, know- ing that the adoration of Prakrzti and that of Brahm4 should be together observed by the same individual, performs them both, will by means of the latter overcome indigence, and will attain the state of Prakrsti, through the practice of the former.’

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Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 15 — The Upanishads, Part II (Muller, page scans)