Outlines of Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Paul Deussen
Publisher: Crest Publishing House

Page 22

PHILOSOPHY OF THE RIGVEDA
13
Who then shall tell us whence these things arose?
7. He who hath moulded and called forth the world,
Whether he hath created it or not, Who gazeth down on it from heaven's heights,
He knoweth it; or dot' he know it not?
Attempts to determine the Unity
6. The great thought of the unity of all things having been conceived, the next task was to find out what this unity was. For the attempt to determine it the hymn X. 121, is especially typical which, starting apparently from the hymn x. 129, or a similar peice of work, seeks a name for that unknown god who was the last unity of the universe. In first eight verses the poet points out the wonders of creation and concludes each verse by asking "Who is that god, that we may worship him? In the ninth verse he finds a name for that new and unknown deity, calling it Prajapati (lord of the creatures). This name in striking contrast to the names of the old Vedic gods, is evidently not of popular origiin but the creation of a philosophical thinker. Henceforth Prajâpati occupies the highest position in the pantheon, until he is displaced by two other, more philosophical conceptions -- Brahman and Atman. These three names, Prajâpati, Brahman and Âtman dominate the whole philosophical development from the Rigveda to the Upanishads. The oldest term Prajapati is merely mythological and the transition from it to the term Atman (which, as we shall see, is highly