The passage of the Indian mind from the Brâhmanic to the
Upani@sad thought is probably the most remarkable event in the
history of philosophic thought. We know that in the later Vedic
hymns some monotheistic conceptions of great excellence were
developed, but these differ in their nature from the absolutism of
the Upani@sads as much as the Ptolemaic and the Copernican

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[Footnote 1: Garbha Upani@sad, Âtman Upani@sad, Pras'na Upani@sad, etc.
There were however some exceptions such as the Mâ@n@dûkya, Jâbâla,
Pai@ngala, S'aunaka, etc.]

32

systems in astronomy. The direct translation of Vis'vakarman or
Hira@nyagarbha into the âtman and the Brahman of the Upani@sads
seems to me to be very improbable, though I am quite willing
to admit that these conceptions were swallowed up by the âtman
doctrine when it had developed to a proper extent. Throughout
the earlier Upani@sads no mention is to be found of Vis'vakarman,
Hira@nyagarbha or Brahma@naspati and no reference of such a
nature is to be found as can justify us in connecting the Upani@sad
ideas with those conceptions [Footnote ref l]. The word puru@sa no doubt
occurs frequently in the Upani@sads, but the sense and the association
that come along with it are widely different from that of the
puru@sa of the Puru@sasûkta of the @Rg-Veda.

When the @Rg-Veda describes Vis'vakarman it describes him
as a creator from outside, a controller of mundane events,