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CHAPTER IX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF
In addition to this, there are other descriptions all differing from,
each other in the Rg-Veda itself as to how the entire universe
came into being out of one visible Element, e. g., : — in the
beginning of the world, there was the Golden Embryo (hiranya-
garbha), of which both death and immortality are shadows, and.
It later on created the entire world [1] ; or, that,
a Virata-formed Purusa existed at first, and from him the
entire world was created by means of a sacrifice [2]: or,
that there was apa (water) at first, and in that water Prajapati
came into existence [3] ; or, that rta and
satya first came into existence, and afterwards, darkness ; and
after that, water (samudra), the year etc. came into existence
[4]. These Fundamental Elements mentioned in
the Rg-Veda have been later on referred to as follows :— (1) in
the Taittiriya Brahmana, water has been referred to as the
Fundamental Element as : "apo va idam agre salilam asit" [5], i. e., "all this was liquid water in the beginning";
(2) in the Taittirlyopanisad, asat has been mentioned as the
Fundamental Element, as : "asad va idam agra asit" [6],
i. e., "all this was asat in the beginning" ; (3) in the
Chandogyopanisad, sat has been mentioned as the Fundamental
Element, as : "sad eua saumyedam agra asit" [7], i. e.,
"all this was sal in the beginning" ; or, (4) ether is said to be
such Element, as : "akasah parayanam"[8], i. e.,
"ether was the root of everything" ; (5) in the Brhadaranyaka,
death (mrtyu) is mentioned as the Fundamental Element, as :
"naiveha kimcanagra asin mrtyunaivedam aurtam asit" [9],
i. e., "in the beginning, there was nothing whatsoever ; every-
thing was covered by death" ; and (6) in the Maitryupanisad,
darkness (tamas) has been mentioned as the Fundamental
Element, as : "tamo va idam agra asid ekam" [10], i. e.,
"this entire universe was in the beginning tamas ( tamoguni,
darkness)", and sattva and rajas afterwards came into existence
out of it. In the same way, the Manu-Smrti contains the
following description of the commencement of the universe,
consistent with these descriptions in the Vedas: —
asid idam tamodbhutam aprajnatam alaksanam I
apratarkyam avijneyam prasuptam iva sarvatah II
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