Klaus Klostermaier's A SURVEY OF HINDUISM, pgs: 137-8,
149-50.
== "In the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad we read a dialogue in which
Yajnavalkya is asked the crucial question: _Kati devah_, how many
are the devas [gods]? His first answer is a quotation from a Vedic text:
'Three hundred and three and three thousand and three." Pressed
on, he reduces the number first to thirty-three, then to six, then to
three, to two, to one-and-a-half and finally to One. 'Which is the
one deva [god]?' And he answers: "The prana (breath, life). The
Brahman. He is called _tyat_ (that).' Though the devas still figure in
sacrificial practice and religious debate, the question 'Who is God?' is
here answered in terms that has remained the Hindu answer ever since.==
What follows a rather biting caricature of the creation story of the
Brhadaranyaka Upanishad that pre-dates the Buddha.
There are, Bhaggava, some ascetics and Brahmins who declare as their
doctrine that all things began with the creation by a god [issara, or
ishvara, skt], or Brahma. I have gone to them and said: "Reverend sirs,
is it true that you declare that all things began with the creation by a
god, or Brahma?" "Yes", they replied. Then I asked: "In that case, how
do the reverend teachers declare that this came about?" But they could
not give an answer, and so they asked me in return. And I replied:
'There comes a time, monks, sooner or later after a long period, when
this world contracts. At a time of contraction, beings are mostly reborn
in the Abhassara Brahma world. And there they dwell, mind-made,'
feeding on delight," self-luminous, moving through the air, glorious -
and they stay like that for a very long time.
'But the time comes, sooner or later after a long period, when this world
begins to expand. In this expanding world an empty palace of Brahma"
appears. And then one being, from exhaustion of his life-span or of
merits, falls from the Abhassara world and arises in empty Brahma-
palace. And there he dwells, mind-made, feeding on delight, self-
luminous, moving through the glorious - and he stays like that for a very
long time.
'Then in this being who has been alone for so long there arises unrest,
discontent and worry, and he thinks: "Oh, if only some other beings
would come here!" And other beings, from exhaustion of their life-span
or of their merits, fall from the Abhassara world and arise in the
Brahma-palace as companions for this being. And there they dwell,
mind-made,... and they stay like that for a very long time.
'And then, monks, that being who first arose there thinks: "I am
Brahma, the Great God, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Organizer,
the Protection, the Creator, the Most Perfect Ruler, the Designer and
Orderer, the Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be, He by Whom
we were created, He is permanent, Constant, Eternal, Unchanging, and
I will remain so for ever and ever."
These beings were created by me. How so? Because I first had this
thought: 'Oh, if only some other beings would come here!' That was my
wish, and then these beings came into this existence!" But those beings
who arose subsequently think: "This, friends, is Brahma, the Great God,
the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Organizer, the Protection, the
Creator, the Most Perfect Ruler, the Designer and Orderer, the Father
of All That Have Been and Shall Be, He by Whom we were created, He
is permanent, Constant, Eternal, Unchanging, and He will remain so for
ever and ever."
How so? We have seen that he was here first, and that we arose after
him."
'And this being that arose first is longer-lived, more beautiful and more
powerful than they are. And it may happen that some being falls from
that realm and arises in this world. Having arisen in this world, he goes
forth from the household life into homelessness. Having gone forth, he
by means of effort, exertion, application, earnestness and right attention
attains to such a degree of mental concentration that he thereby recalls
his last existence, but recalls none before that. And he thinks: "That
Brahma,...he made us, and he is permanent, stable, eternal, not subject
to change, the same for ever and ever. But we who were created by
that Brahma, we are impermanent, unstable, short-lived, fated to fall
away, and we have come to this world."
-- Digha Nikaya 24
Also from the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad"
== 10. Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman. It knew only itself
(atmanam): "I am Brahman!" Therefore it became the All. Whoever of
the gods became awakened to this, he indeed became it; likewise in the
case of seers (rsi), likewise in the case of men. Seeing this, indeed, the
seer Vamadeva began:-
I was Manu and the sun (surya)!
This is so now also. Whoever thus knows "I am Brahman!" becomes this
All; even the gods have not power to prevent his becoming thus, for he
becomes their self (atman).
So whoever worships another divinity [than his Self], thinking "He is
one and I another," he knows not. He is like a sacrificial animal for the
gods. Verily, indeed, as many animals would be of service to a man,
even so each single person is of service to the gods. If even one animal
is taken away, it is not pleasant. What, then, if many? Therefore it is
not pleasing to those [gods] that men should know this.
11. Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman, one only. ==
The Buddha responds (SN IV 16):
== "Monks, I will teach you the all. And what is the all? The eye and forms, the
ear and sounds the nose and odors, the tongue and tastes, the body and touch,
the mind and mental phenomena. This is called the all. If anyone, monks,
should speak thus: ' Having rejected this all, I shall make known another all'
-- that would be a mere empty boast." ==