Jiva

MIND, MATTER AND GOD : JIVA, JADA AND ISVARA
M.M.NINAN
in a large number of early writings. The earliest direct quote from Brihaspati's lost
writings is found in the text Sarvasiddhantasamgraha. Here are a few quotes which
gives us an insight into the philosophy.
The fire is hot, the water, cold, refreshing cool the breeze of morn;
By whom came this variety? From their own nature was it born?
And all this has been said by Brhaspati–
“There is no heaven, no final liberation, nor any soul in another world,
nor do the actions of the four castes, orders, etc., produce any real effect.
The Agnihotra [fire sacrifice], the three Vedas,
the ascetics three staves and smearing oneself with ashes
were made by nature as the livelihood of those destitute of knowledge and manliness.
If a beast slain in the Jyotishtoma rite will itself go to heaven?
why then does the sacrificer not offer his own father immediately?…
While life remains let a man live happily,
let him eat ghee [clarified butter] even if he runs into debt.
When the body turns into ashes, how can it ever return again?
He who departs from the body goes to another world,
how is it that he does not come back again, restless because of his love for his kindred?
Hence it is a means of livelihood that the Brahmin priests have established
lf these ceremonies for the dead- there is no fruit anywhere.
The three authors of the Vedas were buffoons, knaves and demons"
“Chastity and other such ordinances are laid down by clever weaklings; gifts of gold
and land, the pleasure of invitations to dinner, are devised by indigent people with
stomachs lean with hunger.
The building of temples, houses for water-supply, tanks, wells, resting places, and the
like, pleases only travelers, not others.
The Agnihotra rituals, the three Vedas, the triple staff, the ash-smearing, are the ways
of gaining a livelihood for those who are lacking in intellect and energy.
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