Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/277

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The Final PhilosoPhy of the Veda 261:

Later in the same tract1 Yajnavalkya describes the departure of the soul from. the body and its conse— quences to man: “Then his knowledge and his works and his previous experience take him by the hand. As a caterpillar which has wriggled to the tip of a blade of grass draws itself over to (a new blade), so does this man, after he has put aside his body, draw himself over to a new existence. . . Now verily they say: ‘Man is altogether desire (items); as is his desire so is his insight (Mata); as is his insight so is his deed (karma); as is his deed so is his destiny.’ ”

More than one Western reader, when he ponders the doctrine of transmigration as rooted in desire and deed, is likely to ask the question why the Hindus did not rest content with its outcome. The bulk of their spiritual energy in Brahmanism, as well as in Buddhism and the other Hindu sects, is ex— pended in the effort to break the chain that ties man to existence. Why is this so? The Western man, if I gauge him aright, is willing to tarry in the life garden of will, desire, and deed, plucking its fruits and ﬂowers at the risk of an occasional prick from its thorns, or sting from its noxious insects. We want more life, fuller life. Here are some of the points connected with transmigration that are naturally sympathetic to Western minds:

1 Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4. 4. 3; we also Brahma Upanishad, chapter the ﬁrst.