Sacrifice and the Self:

 The Upanisadic Rejection of Vedic Sacrificial Ritual

Susie Bjork

RE 480: Senior Seminar

Professor David Weddle

March 13, 2002

HCU:_________________

My intention in this piece is to explore the development of the concepts of brahman and atman in ancient Indian culture.  I intend to examine the role of the Upanisads in Vedic society and to investigate their abandonment of Vedic sacrificial ritual.  I contend that the writers of the Upanisads turned towards a mystical path away from society in order to explore a viable alternate way of living that did not involve sacrificial ritual.  Although the only record we have of this shift in thought is a set of philosophical discourses, I suggest that this was not solely an intellectual move.  Rather, there were emotional reasons as well as logical reasons that these groups of people moved away from Vedic society in pursuit of brahman.  This was a slow process that evolved over many years and although it did not banish sacrifice from Indian culture, it laid the foundation for later non-violent religious movements in India.  In attempting to apply Rene Girard and Gil Bailie’s theory of acknowledgement of the victim to an ancient Indian phenomenon, I intend to show that the Upanisadic rejection of Vedic sacrificial ritual was a significant move away from the sacrificial system upon which humanity relies so heavily.

Vedic Sacrifice: Maintenance of the Universe

The sacrificial system of ancient India was founded on a worldview that placed humanity in an allegorical relationship with the divine realm.  The physical world of humans was seen as a smaller, mirror image of the greater world of the gods.  The fundamental role of religion was to assign and perform the appropriate rites to maintain proper order in the universe. The gods required regular offerings and appeasement.  Thus, a relationship with the gods required maintenance that was provided by the sacrificial ritual. 

            Fire ceremonies and the ritual giving of offerings to the gods were common practices for the Aryan tribes that invaded the Indian sub-continent in approximately 1500 BCE. [1]   Their simpler, private offering ceremonies eventually evolved into the more codified, communal, elaborate sacrificial rituals of classical Vedic culture as this new society began to grow and change. 

Fire itself was of central importance to this civilization and all of these rituals focused around the offertory fire.   It is logical, then, that the Aryans eventually personified the fire itself and deemed it divine.  Agni, the god of fire, became the central figure in this early ritual.  Although gods other than Agni were often the receivers of the sacrificial offerings, Agni was the one who mediated between humanity and the other gods.  It was the fire (Agni) that consumed the offerings and carried them to the divine realm. [2]  

            As the sacrificial ritual grew and developed in terms of ceremonial actions, the words of sacrifice also gained a more central role in the ritual.  The priests who oversaw that the ritual was physically carried out correctly also played the role of poets who would praise the gods with hymns.  Through their words, they hoped to evoke the gods’ good favor.  These hymns often contained mythical material relating to the gods they addressed.  The poetry expressed tones of reverence, fear, or other emotions depending on the god that was receiving the offering.

            As these rituals gained complexity and the number of hymns increased, the method for choosing hymns to be used in rituals became more codified and only certain priests could participate in the process.  The general consensus in Vedic society was that the priests who sung the sacrificial hymns did not create them.  Rather, the priests were rishis (seers) who “heard” the primordial sound of Sanskrit and thus were able to deliver to the public the divinely inspired hymns they discovered. [3]

            Certain families of priests compiled many of these hymns into books (mandalas).  Within these books, the hymns were organized into groups according to the god addressed.  These books were eventually brought together to form the Rig Veda.  This and the Atharvaveda, Samaveda, and Yajurveda (which contain hymns and ritual procedures) make up the corpus of Vedic religious writings. [4]   A portion of one such hymn from the Rig Veda is as follows:

With words sent forth in holy hymns, Agni we supplicate, the Lord

Of many families who duly serve the Gods, yea him whom others also praise.

Men have won Agni, him who makes their strength abound: we with oblations, worship thee.

Our gracious-minded Helper in our deeds of might, be thou, O Excellent, this day.

Thee for our messenger we choose, thee, the Omniscient, for our Priest.

The flames of thee the mighty are spread wide around: thy splendor reaches to the sky.

The Gods enkindle thee their ancient messenger, - Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman.

That mortal man, O Agni gains through thee all wealth, who hath poured offerings unto thee. [5]

            It was not uncommon for householders at this time to perform their own, smaller scale rituals and offerings for the benefit of themselves and their families.  These were probably residual practices of the early Aryan offering ceremonies.  Wealthy patrons, however, often paid priests to perform larger, more elaborate rituals that required the appropriate priestly ritual knowledge.  These rituals were seen as dangerous if not conducted in the proper manner by the proper priest.  In return for sponsorship of the ritual, the patron was promised physical rewards on earth and in heaven.  In Hubert and Mauss’s terms, the priest was the sacrificer and the patron was the sacrifier. [6]   As Thomas Hopkins states, “Only the gods could give health, long life, a prosperous family with many sons, and wealth in cattle, but priests were the agents whose skill induced the gods to grant human requests.” [7]   Consequently, the most qualified priests were in high demand and would travel great distances at times to perform rituals for those who could afford to pay for them. 

            During this time, the rituals themselves became more and more detailed.  Sacrificial skills and the appropriate mantras and hymns were passed down from one generation of priests to the next.  Priestly rules for ritual structure influenced the domestic sphere as well and the simple domestic rituals began to conform to the formulas prescribed by the priesthood.  The domestic rites did, however, remain confined to those that could be performed by the householder and consisted predominantly of simple offering ceremonies. 

            The communal sacrifices continued to become more and more elaborate as time went on.  The ceremonies eventually reached a level of complexity that they required several priests to officiate over them.  The various ritual duties were generally divided up among several priests who specialized in a certain aspect of the sacrifice.  Therefore, training for future priests also became more specialized and specific, rather than allowing one priest to be educated in the performance of a ceremony in its entirety. 

            As the ritual of sacrifice gained importance in Vedic culture, the significance of the gods actually decreased.  For a time the god Indra became the focus of worship and took on some of the attributes and functions of other deities.  This, however, was only a transitional state in Vedic religion.  More and more emphasis was placed on the sacrifice alone as the fundamental expression of the religious imagination. 

Agni, because of the central role of fire in the sacrificial ceremony, continued to gain prominence and was given status above other gods.  Agni was even identified with Indra and became the preeminent sacrificial deity.  The sacrificial fire alone connected the earthly realm with the heavens.  Agni both transmitted the offerings to the heavens and received them at the same time.  Agni was the unifier of all realms of existence and the supreme mechanism for this unification of heaven and earth was the sacrifice. 

            The sacrificial ritual itself was believed to hold the creative power of the universe.  As Hopkins states, “Once a hospitality rite and celebration of the devas, the sacrifice came to be viewed as a power in its own right.  Centuries of priestly concentration on the sacrificial ritual brought about a new view of reality.” [8]   The ritual itself took precedence over all else (including the gods), and therefore, the way it was performed was of utmost importance. 

            The Sanskrit hymns and mantras already had an important place in the sacrifice prior to this time.  As the ritual gained cosmic power, so did the hymns and mantras that accompanied it.  Speech itself was raised to divine status as the goddess, Vac. [9]   The sacrificial mantras and hymns were believed to contain ultimate, unifying truth that was brought out through the speaking and singing of them.  The very sound of Sanskrit expressed the underlying element of primordial, eternal truth that supports the universe and maintains being against the threat of non-being.  This understanding of mantra was a fundamental step in the development of the concept of brahman, which would later be identified as the underlying, unified, essence of all.  The concept of brahman would eventually help lead some people within this society away from the sacrificial ritual in an attempt to seek ultimate spiritual unity with the infinite. 

            This increase in the power of words aided in the increase of sacrificial power.  The sacrifice gained so much capability at this time that it became the most essential element in the maintenance of the universe.  The sacrifice was “reality, or the principal manifestation of reality...the One expressed in name and sound.” [10]   The power of the sacrifice was so strong that it became the principal mode of creation and the principal conveyor of universal truth.  At this point in Indian history, the sacrifice was virtually the sole form of religious expression.

            As the sacrificial ritual became more focused on creation, Vedic culture became more concerned with the origin of the universe and how the sacrifice related to that original event.  The sacrifice, in a sense, reenacted the cosmic origin of the world, thus allowing human beings to have an integral, active role in creation.  Not only did the sacrifice maintain the natural world, but it also maintained the social structures of Vedic society.  For example, sacrifice was a common feature in the initiation of new monarchs.  In the Vedic mindset, “the primary act of creation is the creation of the sacrifice; that being created, all else is formed from it.” [11]

            An important element necessary to the understanding of the creative power of the sacrifice is the Vedic creation myth, the Purusa Sukta, found in the Rig Veda.  Purusa is the primordial person or cosmic being from whom all beings come.  Purusa is essentially the universe, personified.  The Rig Veda states that “A thousand heads hath Purusa, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.  On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide.” [12]   Purusa contains the earth and the heavens within his cosmic body.  “All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths eternal life in heaven.” [13]  

            Creation of the physical world as we know it, as well as the world of the gods, occurred when Purusa was sacrificed.  The body of Purusa was divided into segments and from each segment, the created world sprung forth.  “The moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the sun had birth; Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vayu from his breath.” [14]   The caste system, fully formulated, was created by the sacrifice of Purusa as well.  “The Brahman was his mouth, of both his arms was the Rajanya [or Ksatriya] made.  His thighs became the Vaisya, from his feet the Sudra was produced.” [15]   Thus, all celestial and worldly order was constructed by this original sacrifice. 

            The sacrifice of Purusa held the ultimate creative power of the universe.  By reenacting this original sacrifice during the Vedic sacrificial ritual, Vedic society was able to tap into this original creative power.  Human beings were thus given control over the natural world.  The physical world and the social domain could only be maintained through the sacrificial mechanism. 

            This idea was later formulated more fully in the idea of the god Prajapati, who essentially took on the identity of Purusa.  Having exerted himself, Prajapati created the universe and then fell apart into many pieces.  Prajapati called on Agni to rebuild him and promised that from that point on he would be called by Agni’s name rather than remain Prajapati.  The sacrificial ritual, through the help of the divine fire (Agni), served to rebuild Prajapati and therefore maintained the universe. [16]

            A crucial element in the creative power of the sacrifice was the power of tapas (heat or fervor).  The tapas was seen as the most fundamental source of creative energy.  It was what was behind the sacrifice that allowed it to be so effective.  By increasing tapas, the efficacy of the ritual was increased.  The physical heat of the priest and the intensity with which he performed the ritual was seen as evidence of the presence of tapas.  For this reason, priests would often partake in ascetic practices prior to the ritual in hopes to increase his tapas. [17]

            As time went on, more and more attention was paid to the idea that there was some type of unifying, underlying power beneath the sacrifice.  The power of the mantras and hymns, the power of tapas, and the power of the sacrificial actions performed during the ceremony were all connected in some way.  This underlying reality came to be known as brahman.  Brahman is the very essence of the cosmos and is what lay beneath the surface of ritual.

The sustaining power of the universe is what was being dealt with in the sacrifice.  Brahman was not to be treated lightly.  For this reason, the standards for ritual knowledge and ritual purity reached an apex.  Without proper knowledge of the intricate workings of the sacrifice and proper procedures for purification, the ritual risked either ineffectiveness or dangerous consequences.  It was imperative then that the priests were meticulously attentive to detail in carrying out the sacrifice.

The specific roles of the various priests became even more codified and a specific priest was assigned as the brahman priest.  His principal role was to utter mantras throughout the ceremony that were believed to protect the brahman and assure the potency of the ritual.  He was removed from the physical actions of the ritual, but he held the power of brahman in his words. [18]  

At this time there were several types of rituals that varied in degree of complexity and violence.  Probably the most elaborate of all Vedic rituals was the horse sacrifice.  It involved a great deal of time to plan because the chosen horse (or horses) was to roam the countryside for one year before it was ritually slaughtered.  It was quite violent because it involved the blood sacrifice of a large animal.  It also required a considerable amount of space to perform all of the necessary ritual actions.  This was certainly a great divergence from the simple offering ceremonies that had been conducted by the early Aryans centuries before.  Meticulously planned, elaborately performed sacrifices had become the quintessential religious expression of Vedic society. 

Around 800 BCE there began to be a shift in Indian religious thought.  No one doubted the power of the sacrifice to maintain the worldly order; however, some people began to wonder if earthly gain was the ultimate goal.  Hopkins states that “the ability of the ritual to bring results was never questioned, but the value of those results was increasingly uncertain.” [19]   Some began to think of the earthly realm as more of a trap from which we must be liberated than that which should be maintained.  Material gain prohibited one from seeing the ultimate truth, the ground of reality, brahman.  Material wealth would eventually disappear and the physical world was in constant flux.  Brahman was the only thing constant and it became the goal beyond the material world.  Only by the attainment of brahman would one gain immortality, release from the trap of the physical world, and ultimate, unified peace. 

The Upanisads: Discovery of the Self as Absolute Reality

As some individuals became dissatisfied with the earthly gains of the sacrifice, they began to retreat into the forest in an attempt to seek out permanent truth in a more internal way.  These groups of individuals produced a number of writings that we now know as the Upanisads.  The Upanisads are essentially philosophical reflections on the Vedas.  The Upanisads do not form a unified philosophy, however.  Rather, they show a slow progression and increasing complication of thought towards an understanding of reality devoid of sacrificial ritual.  For the writers of the Upanisads, knowledge came to be the epitome of religious practice instead of ritual.  Private mental recitation of mantras or meditative contemplation became far more important than the external, public performance of the sacrifice.  By leading a simple, austere life and contemplating brahman these forest-dwellers sought release from the physical world.  Brahman was no longer simply the power behind the sacrifice, it was the essential, eternal nature of reality.  Attainment of brahman became the ultimate goal.

            The most significant element in this new understanding of reality is the acknowledgement of the self, the atman.  The atman is the essential nature of every being.  Our atman is our true identity apart from physical characteristics and mental insecurities.  Our atman is what connects us to ultimate reality because atman is brahman.  The true nature of every being is ultimate reality itself.  Every being is connected to one another because we are all brahman.  Only by acknowledging that we are atman/brahman can we transcend the physical realm and attain ultimate liberation, peace, and pure consciousness. 

            This understanding of reality did not occur suddenly, however.  There were many intermediate steps before these groups of forest dwellers dismissed the ritual of the sacrifice in favor of internal contemplation.  One of the first steps in this process was an attempt to allegorically interpret the sacrifice.  One of the earliest Upanisads, the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad expresses this allegorical interpretation most fully.  “The head of the sacrificial horse, clearly, is the dawn – its sight is the sun; its breath is the wind; and its gaping mouth is the fire common to all men.” [20]   Here the horse becomes a symbol for the entire universe.  Its body encompasses the essential elements of the cosmos.  Due to this interpretation of the sacrifice, the physical horse becomes secondary to its allegorical interpretation.  The actual sacrifice has become less important than its deeper meaning.

            Alternative understandings of creation are also present in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad.  Brahman takes on a significant role as the instigator of creation and the essence of reality.  “In the beginning this world was only brahman, and it knew itself (atman) thinking: ‘I am brahman.’  As a result, it became the Whole.” [21]   The author of the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad manages to de-emphasize the original sacrifice of Purusa by replacing it with an emphasis on brahman.

            More and more emphasis is placed on atman as the essential nature of all beings.  It is by acknowledging our own atman, acknowledging the atman of others, and knowing that they are one in the same that we feel true connection to other beings and understand our true identity as brahman.  “One holds beings dear, you see, not out if love for beings; rather, it is out of love for oneself (atman) that one holds beings dear.” [22]   The true nature of all beings (regardless of caste or even species) is atman. 

This does propose a dualism between the physical body and the true self (atman).  This may sound as though physical life is unimportant relative to the true life found in attainment of brahman.  That is true to some extent because the ultimate goal is to be released from the cycle of death and rebirth into the physical world (samsara); however, it also recognizes the continuity between all living things.  We are all of the same eternal, pure, absolute essence.  This understanding of non-physical reality is a crucial element in the inward journey of the Upanisads away from the outward, physical nature of the Vedic sacrifice.

There is an ineffable quality about atman/brahman that the writers of the Upanisads acknowledge.  “About this self (atman), one can only say ‘not—, not—.’  He is ungraspable, for he cannot be grasped.  He is undecaying, for he is not subject to decay.  He has nothing sticking to him, for he does not stick to anything.  He is bound; yet he neither trembles in fear nor suffers injury.” [23]   There is no mistake that the attainment of brahman is a difficult task.  If brahman/atman is not something we can accurately talk about, then release from the cycle of death and rebirth is no simple goal.  Nonetheless, it is what the Upanisads urge us to strive for. 

The importance of mantra as an expression of reality surfaces again in the Upanisads.  In the Vedic ritual, mantra held the underlying power of the sacrifice.  The Chandogya Upanisad uses that theme to identify sound with the very ground of reality.  The Chandogya Upanisad devotes considerable attention to a discussion of the significance of the syllable OM.  “A man who utters this syllable...enters this very syllable, the sound that is immortal and free from fear.  As the gods became immortal by entering it, so will he.” [24]   Essentially, brahman is found in OM.  As in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, the Chandogya Upanisad finds an allegorical relationship between the words of sacrifice and the truth of reality they express.  Again, it is the power of brahman found beneath the words that is of utmost importance.

The Chandogya Upanisad eventually becomes less reliant on analogies to ritual and discusses atman/brahman on it own terms as ultimate reality.  In a discussion between a man, Aruni and his son, Svetaketu who had taken up the life of a celibate student, Aruni states, “the finest essence here –that constitutes the self of this whole world: that is the truth; that is the self (atman).  And that’s how you are, Svetaketu.” [25]  

The atman/brahman concept continued to be the focus of all of these writings.  We become increasingly aware that it is only through acknowledging our atman that we will attain ultimate liberation.  The Upanisads constantly struggle with how one comes to truly know the self (atman).  It is apparent that we are blinded by the material world and it is our ignorance that prevents us from attaining brahman.  Knowledge is what will lead us out of the false perception of reality found in the physical world.  But how is this knowledge attained? 

Contemplation seems to be a key factor in this journey inward.  The Katha Upanisad states that “when a man has understanding, is mindful and always pure; he does reach that final step, from which he is not reborn again.” [26]   It is necessary that we become detached from the desires of the material world.  Only when one’s sole desire is the self, can one break the cycle of samsara. 

The writers of the Upanisads also warn against a false sense of understanding, however.  We must remain humble in our search for brahman.  After all, it is only in the final release from the cycle of death and rebirth that we will truly attain brahman.  The Kena Upanisad states, “If you think ‘I know it well’- perhaps you do know ever so little the visible appearance of brahman; there is that part of it you know and there is the part that is among the gods.  And so I think what you must do is to reflect on it, on that unknown part of it.” [27]

In the later Upanisads there is trend towards an idea of theistic grace that aids one in the attainment of brahman.  The Katha Upanisad states, “Without desires and free from sorrow, a man perceives by the creator’s grace the grandeur of the self.” [28]   Brahman itself essentially becomes deified in the Svetasvatara Upanisad.  Liberation is found in God who “rules over both the perishable and the self.  By meditating on him, by striving towards him, and further, in the end by becoming the same reality as him, all illusion disappears.” [29]   Brahman is still the ultimate goal, but in this case, Brahman is personified.

By this point in the evolution of the Upanisads, the focus had turned entirely away from ritual sacrifice, including internal forms of the ritual as expressed through mantras and allegorical interpretations of the ritual actions.  The only goal that one must pursue is brahman.  Some imagine brahman as God and some as a more abstract reality.  Nonetheless, the method for attaining brahman always involves the acknowledgement of one’s own atman, one’s brahman nature. 

The most frontal attack on the Vedic sacrificial system is found in the Mundaka Upanisad.  The author draws a distinction between higher and lower knowledge.  The physical knowledge of the sacrifice is in conflict with the ultimate goal of that which is beyond the physical and will provide release from the physical realm.  “Deeming sacrifices and gifts as the best, the imbeciles know nothing better.  When they have enjoyed their good work atop the firmament, they return to this abject world.  But those in the wilderness, calm and wise, who live a life of penance and faith, as they beg their food; through the sun’s door they go, spotless, to where that immortal Person is, that immutable self.” [30]   The sacrifice is seen as a pointless endeavor because it dwells in the material and absolute truth is only gained through perceiving truth beyond the physical.  The knowledge of atman and the attainment of brahman is incompatible with the sacrificial mechanism.  Ritual, specifically sacrifice, serves to trap one in samsara.

Another important achievement of the Upanisads is the beginnings of the concept of karma.  Karma defined literally simply means action.  The Upanisads, however, begin to discuss karma as our actions, thoughts, and lessons we have learned that determine our place in this life and in the next.  Our actions have cosmic significance because they help determine what form we are reborn into and when we are finally able to attain absolute liberation.  Our actions are linked to our atman.  In response to the question of what happens to the atman after death, the Katha Upanisad states, “some enter a womb by which an embodied self obtains a body, others pass into a stationary thing – according to what they have done, according to what they have learned.” [31]   In short, our actions stay with us (with our atman) throughout our many lives.  It is by our karma that we work our way through life in the physical realm and ultimately become ready for liberation from death and rebirth.  The ultimate goal then, is to only act in ways that move one closer to the ultimate goal of release into brahman. 

It is logical that given the increase in the significance of the self and the self’s actions that the importance of individual experience increased as well during this time.  As we have already investigated, personal contemplative practice and simple living, especially away from society in the forest, were common ways in which people sought liberation and truth.  Individual practice continued to become even more important in Indian culture at this time, especially within branch movements that broke away from Vedic culture such as Buddhism and Jainism.

Along with this increasing importance of atman and karma, began what would come to full flower in the Jain and Buddhist movements, ahimsa.  Ahimsa (non-violence or non-injury) was not a cohesive concept in the Upanisads; however, there are slight traces of it within them.  It is quite logical that a non-violent approach to life would be the next step in this progression away from sacrificial ritual, towards individual practice that values the self and one’s every action.  The first example of this pseudo-non-violence of the Upanisads is found in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad.  In the midst of a discussion on the regenerative, creative power of the new moon, it states, “on that night a man should not take the life of any being that sustains life, not even that of a lizard.” [32]   This example relates more to the creative power of the universe than to atman and karma, but it does demonstrate an increasing appreciation for the value of life, even the lives of lizards. 

The Chandogya Upanisad also contains the beginnings of non-violence.  At the very end of the Upanisad, it states that one who “does his daily vedic recitation in a clean place, rears virtuous children, draws in all his sense organs into himself, and refrains from killing any creature except for a worthy person” [33] will attain brahman.  Obviously this is problematic in that it is not a truly non-violent statement since it tolerates the killing of a “worthy person.”  Nonetheless, it does show an increase in the value of the lives of other creatures, which is incompatible with a sacrificial system that regularly took the lives of animals. 

Although these examples do not form a cohesive concept of ahimsa, it is evident that the beginnings of non-violence are present in the Upanisads.  The gradual movement away from the sacrificial system of the Vedas left room for non-violence in the growing Indian worldview of the latter half of the first millennium BCE.  The concept of the self (atman) and the concept of karma lent themselves to a growing awareness of how one must act in relation to other living beings.  Since one’s actions were of cosmic import, it is understandable that non-violent action would eventually emerge.  In addition, the increasing importance of private spiritual practice and individual experience in the pursuit of brahman and the liberation from death and rebirth that it would bring, made the physical world-maintenance of the sacrificial system less necessary.  For the forest-dwelling authors of the Upanisads, life did not depend on social solidarity maintained within the material world.  Life depended on the very essence of reality, the absolute nature of being, brahman. 

Recognizing the Victim: Unraveling the Sacrificial System

For the groups of forest-dwelling people who wrote the Upanisads, the sacrificial system was no longer an acceptable way of life.  This is not to say that the Upanisads completely upset the Vedic world that relied on the sacrifice.  They did not.  Vedic sacrifice was still the norm in mainstream society for quite some time and remnants of it still remain in modern Hinduism today.  Nonetheless, for those individuals who felt compelled to follow the path towards brahman and ultimate liberation, sacrifice was not a necessary part of their lives or communities. 

            Rene Girard and Gil Bailie argue that cultures are founded on collective, sacred violence.  It is only by choosing a scapegoat and allowing ritualized violence to be taken out on that individual that people come together and form cohesive social communities.  Bailie argues that “cultures have forever commemorated some form of sacred violence at their origins and considered it a sacred duty to reenact it in times of crisis.” [34]   This analysis is quite accurate when assessing the function of sacrifice in Vedic society.  The sacrifice was the maintaining mechanism of the natural and social orders. 

            The question that naturally arises, then, is why certain groups of people became dissatisfied with the sacrificial system (even though it was believed to still produce material results) and felt that it was necessary to move beyond it in a search for deeper truth and meaning.  Bailie argues that the only insight that has allowed human beings to denounce the violence of the sacrificial system is the recognition of the victim.  Once we see that the victim is an innocent who has become a scapegoat for the larger community, we can no longer condone the use of violence to maintain social solidarity.

Bailie argues that the “New Testament account of the crucifixion reproduces the myths and mechanisms of primitive religion only to explode them, reveal their perversities, and declare allegiance to the Victim of them.” [35]   Bailie views the gospel account of the life of Jesus as the quintessential example of a revelation of the innocence of the victim.  It is the dramatic story of one who directly challenged the violence of his world by willingly succumbing to that violence and at the same time forgives his persecutors.  If we understand the gospel message in this way, we feel intense empathy for Jesus and see the evil in the systematic violence that killed him.  Bailie argues that “by acclaiming the victim as Lord, the Gospels slowly begin to awaken an empathy for victims everywhere.” [36]   The message here is a radical departure from that of sacred violence.  Not only was Jesus innocent, but all victims are innocent.  Crime or no crime, no one should become a scapegoat in the system of sacrifice.  Violence is violence.  One cannot draw a line between sacred violence and profane violence or good violence and bad violence. 

This is not to say that all systems of violence broke down and the world became peaceful after the gospel revelation.  Obviously, it did not.  On the contrary, Bailie argues that we are now caught in a cycle of violence that cannot control itself because the distinction between sacred violence and profane violence has been destroyed.  We are far away from any solution to this problem.  Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that something about systematic violence has broken down.  Due to the acknowledgement of the victim, we can no longer be satisfied with the system of sacrifice. 

My question, then, is why did the writers of the Upanisads become dissatisfied with the sacrificial system of their culture?  Five hundred or more years before the life of Jesus, in an entirely different culture, these groups directly denounced the sacrificial system and pursued ultimate truth in a very different way.  Why was this?  Is it possible that these individuals recognized the victim in a different way?  They were not exposed to the drama of Christ’s passion, but they were well accustomed to the Vedic sacrifices that took place frequently in their society.  They sought to found new communities in the forests not on sacrificial violence, but on a common pursuit of brahman. 

At the time of the Upanisads, the sacrifice had become a well-established, central element in Vedic culture.  It was at this time that it reached its greatest level of complexity and codification.  The priesthood had a very central role in this culture as the ones who had the power to maintain reality.  The horse sacrifice, which was probably the most extensive, ostentatious, violent form of the sacrifice was a common practice at this time.

With this increase in grandeur and violence, is it unlikely that some people within this society would see problems with this system?  Is it unlikely that there would be some dissenting feelings on violence as a necessary method for maintenance of the material world?  Is it not possible that some individuals felt compelled by their dissatisfaction with sacrificial violence to seek out a more permanent reality?  It seems quite likely in fact, that the authors of the Upanisads had emotional reasons as well as intellectual reasons for deserting the sacrificial system in favor of another worldview. 

We are lacking evidence of the emotional aspects of the shift towards inner contemplation found in the Upanisads.  These documents are simply more philosophical and cerebral than emotive in nature.  We have already discussed the intellectual shift away from sacrifice in terms of the increasing importance of brahman and atman.  This intellectual shift took a considerable amount of time.  It was a slow evolution over many years and by many different groups of people.  This was a less sudden revelation than the one Bailie finds in the Gospel.  The rejection of sacrificial violence found in the Upanisads may have been a result of personal reactions to the sacrificial ritual and personal decisions to pursue truth in ways that did not require violent ritual. 

Although we are lacking evidence of the emotional responses to the sacrifice, it is quite likely that emotion played a role in the shift away from Vedic sacrifice.  Sidney Callahan states that “the human emotional system is a universal component of human functioning, the primary motivating system of all activity, including of course, thinking about ethical dilemmas.” [37]   Our emotions are generally our first alert to something that we must confront.  Most of our decisions as human beings are not just intellectual decisions.  Most of our decisions combine our emotional sensitivities with our intellectual reasoning.  It is quite possible that emotional responses in the form of empathy for the victim helped instigate a shift away from Vedic sacrifice for the authors of the Upanisads.  As Callahan states, “Many moral revolutions have been initiated by empathy felt for previously excluded groups: slaves, women, workers, children, the handicapped, experimental subjects, patients in institutions.  As I emotionally respond to another person or group, I may be forced to confront a conflicting moral attitude concerning the group.” [38]   Empathy for the victim of a sacrificial system falls into this category as well. 

The intense drama of the passion of Christ may have caused the breakdown of the cycle of sacrificial violence in the West, but a subtler, smaller scale, slower shift occurred in ancient India.  Maybe seeing the absurdity of the horse sacrifice and an accompanying sense of the superficiality of the material rewards of the sacrifice, were enough to cause the writers of the Upanisads to leave society and seek brahman.  They abandoned the violence just the same and formed peaceful communities that together sought truth and unity with the infinite. 

The newfound importance of atman in the Upanisads is quite significant in investigating this move away from sacrifice.  As I stated earlier, the idea of the self and its connection to ultimate reality was a shift from the material nature of the sacrifice.  The concept of atman allowed for community and continuity between all beings regardless of caste or even species.  It seems quite possible that the concept of atman was the intellectual development that accompanied an emotional response to the sacrifice.  In short, if one acknowledges that he or she is essentially the same as the victim of the sacrifice (we are both atman/brahman), then it is much harder for that individual to scapegoat and kill that victim.  In my opinion, the concept of atman not only makes sacrifice unnecessary because it is superficial and dwells in the material realm; it also makes sacrifice unacceptable on moral grounds. 

I suggest that the shift from the material rewards of Vedic sacrifice to the focus on the absolute reality of atman/brahman found in the Upanisads was probably a result of both empathy for the victim and the intellectual pursuit to find an alternative to reinforce that empathetic response.  It is unlikely that it was solely an intellectual operation. 

This insight did not effect permanent change to the whole of Vedic culture.  Nonetheless, it did allow for a life without sacrifice for the individuals who chose to follow the contemplative journey towards brahman and it did lay the groundwork for the concept of nonviolence that would come to the fore in Buddhist and Jain philosophies. 

Bailie argues that the only event in history that can loosen the hold of the sacrificial system and the scapegoat mechanism is the crucifixion of Jesus.  I would urge him, however, to look seriously at this gradual change in the worldview of ancient India.  It is quite evident that although they were not the majority, there were small groups of people who dismissed the sacrificial system long before the birth of Jesus.  Maybe it is because the Paraclete, as Girard says, was “called on behalf of the prisoner, the victim, to speak in his place and in his name, to act in his defense.” [39]   Whether or not we call it the spirit, the power of brahman, the guiding capability of human intuition, or something else may be a matter of preference.  Nonetheless, something was at work in those individuals that allowed them to acknowledge the victim, seek truth beyond the material universe, and live in community with one another without having to resort to violence.  The Upanisads represent the important first step away from a powerful sacrificial system that held Vedic culture together for centuries. 

Bibliography

Books

Bailie, Gill. Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads. New York: Crossroad,

1995.

Girard, Rene. The Sacpegoat. Trans. Yvonne Freccero. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins

University Press, 1986.

Hopkins, Thomas J. The Hindu Religious Tradition. Encino: Dickenson, 1971.

Hubert, Henri and Marcel Mauss. Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function. Trans. W.D. Halls.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.

Mahony, William K. The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious

Imagination. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998.

Powell, Barbara. Windows into the Infinite: A Guide to the Hindu Scriptures. Fremont:

Asian Humanities Press, 1996.

Sharma, Baldev Raj The Concept of Atman in the Principal Upanisads. New Delhi:

Dinesh, 1972.

The Hymns of the RgVeda. Trans. Ralph T.H. Griffith. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1976.

Upanisads. Trans. Patrick Olivelle. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Articles

Callahan, Sidney. “The Role of Emotion in Ethical Decisionmaking.” Hastings Center

Report. 18.3 (1988): 9-14.

Maitra, Romain. “From Selfhood to Salvation.” UNESCO Courier. 50.4 (1997): 28-31.

Smith, Noel W. “The Evolution of Psychophysical Dualism In Ancient India: From Rig

Veda to the Sutras.” Mankind Quarterly 31.1-2 (1990): 3-16.

Werner, Karel. “Indian Conceptions of Human Personality.” Asian Philosophy. 6.2

(1996): 93-108.

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Mahony, William K. “Upanisads.” Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. 16 vols.

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