Part 3.2 - Jyotiḥśāstra in the Upaniṣad Period

i. Nakṣatras

Nakṣatravidyā as a branch of study is already established in the period of the Upaniṣads.^[1] The classification of Nakṣatra as Puṇya (auspicious) and Pāpa (inauspicious), also male and female exists in the Upaniṣads.^[2] Aparāvidyā The identify of Jyotiṣa as one amongst the aparāvidyās is an important development of this period.^[3] Upaniṣads aimed for higher knowledge and as the Vedic study advanced for the understanding of the nature of Ātman^[4] supreme as well as individual, the probe for its immutable form (Parābrahman) was the foremost as one leading to emancipation and thereby a topic of persuasion.

ii. Symbolic and Phenomenal Brahman

Brahman as all pervasive^[5] and being veiled by reality (empirical) is made apprehensible through various symbols. Brahman is addressed as the Sun of the universe.^[6] The fire element is one of the innumerous aspects through which Brahman is made understandable^[7]

Apart from being merely symbolic the conception extends to project Brahman in a phenomenal form expressed as the one under whose control the luminaries as well as the Time divisions as seasons, years and such stood apart.^[8] Amongst the material and the immaterial forms of Brahman, its essence is made known in the physical nature as the Sun and in the human body the eye with respect to its material form whereas in case of its immaterial form its essence is expressed as the Puruṣa in the Sun and the eye this being an illustration in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad which blends symbolism with reality.^[9]

In an effort to explain the unity of the Brahman and the Ātman, the identification of the bodily warmth of the man as the Ātman as also Brahman as the light in the cosmos is actively expressed. (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad IV.3.1,Chāndogya-upaniṣad 3.13.8.) Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad 3.1.5.)

The cosmogonism of the Upaniṣads make mind in the human and the Moon (amongst the gods) the supports through which the sacrificer reaches heaven. (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad III.1.6.) whereas the Sun is an expression of the luminosity of the mind (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad I.5.12.) the Moon has a vital role as the luminous organ of the vital force which extends infinitely.^[10] The study of the cosmic form in terms of Prajāpati structured as of fifteen digits and a sixteen constant one through which he permeates the entire living world (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad I.5.14) is perhaps an extension beyond symbolism.

Also the connection of Moon with the pitṛs is an accepted dogma in the Upaniṣads (Kauṣitaki-upaniṣad 1.2, 2.8.). Certain other astronomical conception as the eclipse of the Moon and later his becoming free from the jaws of Rāhu is a simile to the state of the Jivātman prior and later to acquiring true knowledge.

iii. Dream State

A probe on dreams in the Upaniṣads make dream state a state of the Ātman (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad IV.3.4,5.13.). The Aitareya-upaniṣad I.3.12. considers the waking state as a dream. The Chāndogya-upaniṣad VIII.7-12, explains the dream state as a condition in which the existence is in a self created world it also contrasts the dreamless sleep where the self enters fullest light. Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad (II.1.18.) explains dream state as a kind of perception. It is a subject of Jyotiṣa on account of its quality for perception and is connected as a resultant of past actions.

iv. Nature of Kāla

Kāla continues in the Upaniṣads as ‘time in general’^[11] and also as ‘proper time’^[12] for performance of auspicious actions as in Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas.

Kāla as ‘appointed time’ in relation with death of a person occurs in the Upaniṣads.^[13] Prior to the Upaniṣads, Kāla comes in connection either with a deity or with a rite^[14] whereas in the Upaniṣads it is associated with human being. Kāla is equated with finish or end (Chāndogya-upaniṣad II.13.1.).

Already Kāla is the first principle or the creator of beings in the Atharvaveda,^[15] the idea extends in the Upaniṣads expressing Kāla as the source or cause of creation. The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad^[16] mention Kāla amongst one of the factors responsible for the creation and sustenance of beings.

As an efficient cause

Kāla is projected as an efficient cause for a certain happening or event. With the agency of Kāla is projected the transformation of the seed, the cause of origin of Virāj into an year or Prajāpati.^[17]

v. Divisions of Time

The subject-matter of Upaniṣads project Kāla as an efficient cause of beings. In an effort to establish the principle existing behind the entire universe certain projections as the origin of Kāla itself by one who is intelligent and omniscient as well^[18] appear which tend to extend the conception of god or Oṃkāra^[19] beyond the three times. As a unit of measurement, Kāla exists in the Upaniṣads as minute divisions and also in the form of long time periods. The winking of the eye, a product of the supreme being who is brilliant as an illustration of the minute divisions of Time expressed as Nimeṣa occur prior in the Vājasaneya-Saṃhitā and is a repetition in the Upaniṣads.^[20] The term Pakṣa also occur in the Chāndogya-Upaniṣad IV. 15.5 and Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Upaniṣad III. 1.5.

The combining of the concept of finite Brahman and the idea of recurrent creation and destruction of the universe operated by long time periods as Kalpa, Yuga, Mahāyuga seemingly lies in the Upaniṣads which later formulated in a theory in the Purāṇas and the later Philosophy of the literature.^[21]

As of Kāla without parts the formless nature of time is made more nearer or almost equivalent to the ultimate Brahman. Time as a formation of parts as past, present and future is inferior to Brahman. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad VI.5.6.) The rise and merging of Sun in Kāla (with parts) is known priorly (Atharvaveda 19.54.1) and in the Upaniṣads the idea advances to place the impartite time as prior to the rising of the Sun.^[22] Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad III. 8.9 explain Kāla as derived from Brahman, the formed part of Kāla rotate below Brahman (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad IV.4.16.). The qualitative world is an attribute of time with parts and Brahman is declared as the lord of all that has been and will be (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad IV.4.15).Such ideas extend the conception of Kāla in connection with Brahman.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad VII. 1.2., VII.7.1.

[2]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad VI. 3.1.

[3]:

Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad I. 1.5.

[4]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad IV. 4.22. declare Veda studies in the form of sacrifices and such as a pre-conditional phase for the knowledge of Brahma.

[5]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad VII.24.1

[6]:

Chāndogya-upaniṣad III. 11.5.

[7]:

Aitareya-upaniṣad III.2. 131

[8]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad III. 8.9.

[9]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad II. 3.

[10]:

[...] Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad I. 5.13.

[11]:

Śvetāṣvatara-upaniṣad VI. 5. Expresses the First Principle as beyond three times.

[12]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad I. 2.4.

[13]:

[...] Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad II. 1.10. Z¡Zṃ nwam H mbmÝ_ÑË‘wamJÀN{V& Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad II. 1.12. Zmo Ed ṭd‘ṃ Zmṭ‘āOm nwam H mbmËgṃ_moh_o{V& Kauṣitaki-upaniṣad IV. 12. Zmo Ed ṭd‘ṃ Zmṭ‘āOm nwam H mbmËā_r‘Vo& Kauṣitaki-upaniṣad IV. 13.

[14]:

Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa I. 7.3.3.

[15]:

Atharvaveda XIX. 53.10. as First Principle Atharvaveda XIX. 53 & 54.

[16]:

[...] Śvetāṣvatara-upaniṣad I. 2.

[17]:

Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad I. 2.4.

[18]:

[...] Śvetāṣvatara-upaniṣad VI. 2.

[19]:

[...] Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad.

[20]:

[...] Vājasaneya-saṃhitā 32.2 and Mahānārayaṇa Upaniṣad I. 8.

[21]:

Time divisions in terms of day of Brahma, Viṣṇu Purāṇa VI. 3.11-12.; G tā IV. 8. as the recreation of the Supreme Form in every Yuga.

[22]:

Maitrāyaṇī-upaniṣad VI. 14-15.