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THE BRAHMAŅA ATTITUDE
Being. In the beginning this was non-existent. From it was born what exists.' In the Brhadāranyaka also we find 'In the beginning there was nothing here whatsoever. By death indeed all this was concealed.'2 Again, in the same Upanişads, we find that Being (sat) is the ultimate source of existence. How can existence come out of the Nought?
'In the beginning, my dear, there was that only which is, one only, without a second. Others say, in the beginning there was that only which is not, one only, without a second ; and
from that which is not, that which is was born. ' But how could it be thus, my dear?' the father continued.
'How could that which is be born of that which is not? No, my dear, only that which is was in the beginning, one only,
without a second.'3 Without going into further details which can be found lucidly delineated elsewhere we can sum up our enquiry thus: There was controversy regarding the exact nature of the ultimate source of creation, and that some thought it to have come out of Non-being or Nothing while others conceived it to have originated out of Being. There is of course controversy regarding the interpretation of Non-being' (asat). According to Sankara, it means, 'what is opposite of one defined by particular name and form'," in one word, what is undefined. "Non-being', according to him, refers to Brahman in its primary unrevealed state. But if this interpretation is correct, what is the necessity of the refutation of the theory 'In the beginning there was that only which is not,'s which we have quoted above? It is more on the side of fact to admit that there were originally two separate and mutually contradictory ways of thought which were reconciled or rather reinterpreted into a third which regarded reality as inexpressible (anirvacaniya). This third speculation is found in such passages as 'He who knows the bliss of that Brahman, from whence all speech, with the mind, turns away unable to reach it, he never fears.'s 'The eye does not go thither, nor the organ of speech, nor mind. We do not know, we do not understand, how anyone can teach it. It is different from the known, it is also above the unknown, thus we have heard from those of old, who taught us this. That which is not expessed by speech and by which
l asad vă idam agra äsīt. tato vai sad ajāyata.-TUP. II. 7; also see CHUP. III. 19. I. 2 I. 2. I.
CUP, VI. 2. 1-2. SBE translation. . Cf. asad iti vyäkrta-nāma-rupa-višeşa-viparitarūpam avikstam brahmo 'cyate-SBh on TUP. II. 7; also, asad avyäkrta-nāmarūpam-SBh on ChUp, III. 19. I.
s asad eve 'dam agra åsit. 6 yato väco pivartante apräpya manasa saha
anandam brahmaṇo vidvan na bibheti kadăcana.---TUP. II. 4.
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