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THE BRAHMANICAL DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION
return.25 Radhakrishnan remarks:
"Karma is a blind unconscious principle governing the whole universe. It is not subject to the control even of God... It is an expression of the nature of reality. It renders impossible any arbitrary interference with moral evolution . . . . there is no doctrine that is so valuable in life and conduct as the karma theory. Whatever happens to us in this life we have to submit in meek resignation, for it is the result of our past doings. Yet the future is in our power, and we can work with hope and confidence, karma inspires hope for the future and resignation to the past."'28
THE NOTION OF BRAHMAN
The chief doctrine of the Upanisads centres round the conception of brahman. It is described as the ultimate reality, the essence of all that exists. In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Upaniṣad, Yājñavalkya in the course of his dialogue with Śakalya reduces several thousand gods to one and that one is called brahman. And brahman is described as knowledge and bliss. 27 In the Chandogya-Upanisad, brahman is identified with breath, pleasure and ether.28 In the Taittiriya-Upaniṣad, we read the following:
"That from whence these beings are born, that by which, when born, they live, that into which they enter at their death, try to know that. That is brahman."29
139
Brahman is thus the source of creation. Brahman is frequently identified with atman. The Bṛhadaranyaka Upanisad illustrates the notion of creation out of atman in the following words:
"As a spider comes out with its thread, or as small sparks come forth from fire, thus do all senses, all worlds, all devas, all beings come forth from self.""30
The brahman or ātman is called the truth of truths, the light of lights, the reality of realities. Often it is described negatively as when Yajnavalkya points out that it is unknowable, unthinkable and
Praśna Upanisad, I. 10.
S. Radhakrishnan, op. cit., vol. I. pp. 248-9. Bṛhadaranyaka Upanisad, III. 9. 1.
25.
26.
27.
28. Chandogya Upaniṣad, IV 10. 5.
29.
Taittiriya Upanisad, III 1; Max Müller's translation. Bṛhadaranyaka Upanisad, II. 2. 20; Max Müller's translation.
30.
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