THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"DEVELOPMENT OF ITS CONCEPTION 63from the Atman. 1 There is of course a famouspassage on the unknowableness of the Atman.yato vaco nivartante aprapya manasa saha,anandam brahmano vidvan na bibheti kadacana."ii.4 and ii. 9.(Trans.)Whence words return with the mind without having reachedit, knowing the bliss of that Brahman, one never fears.So, too, the Ait. Up. has verylittle to contributethe Atmanto the subject. /In one place (iii. 1-3)is denned as consciousness (prajnana), and thenelephants, cows, men, trees, animals, etc., are calledthe names (namadheyani) of consciousness, whichis identified with Brahman (prajnanam Brahma).This means that all things exist only so far as theyare my consciousness, which is a unity ;hencethe multiplicity which seems to exist independentof my consciousness is not real, but only a mere name. \The Katha Up., one of the comparatively lateUpanisads, is one of the finest productions on thethat are fresubject, and contains many passagesquently quoted bythe modern Indian Vedantists.It is attractive moreover owing to the peculiarlyfascinating and interesting legend of Naciketa,meant to expound the lore of the Atman so as tobe acceptable even to those who are tired too soonof abstract conceptions and want something to1 Cf. Taitt Up. ii. I, ii. 6, iii. i, etc.