So that, in fact,
notwithstanding the illogical emanation theory, He was the only real
Being, the All in All.
[Sidenote: Illustration from the Upanishads.]
[Sidenote: Monism.]
Thus, one section of the Khandogya Upanishad[4] consists entirely of
instructions given by a father, Uddalaka, to his son, Svetaketu, who had
gone through the ordinary courses of study in the Vedas, but who, in the
father's view, had failed to reach the true significance of life.
Accordingly, Uddalaka inquires: "Have you ever asked for that
instruction by which we hear what cannot be heard, by which we perceive
what cannot be perceived, by which we know what cannot be known?"[5] The
youth, more accustomed than we are to teaching by paradox, expresses no
surprise at this mode of putting things, but simply asks: "What is that
instruction, sir?" The father then proceeds to give an explanation of
what in these days is called "Monism," that is, the absolute singleness
of ultimate Being, and traces all that is, or seems to be, up to one
ultimate Essence. Now, whether in the form given by Uddalaka to his
exposition, his theory can properly be called Pantheism, according to
the definition of it assumed above, is perhaps questionable. But that it
was intended to be Pantheism there can be no doubt. "In the beginning,"
says Uddalaka, "there was that only which is ([Greek: to hon]); one
only, without a second.
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