in the person of one’s descendants, who are virtually one’s self in another body:  dehatvam ev[=a]’nyat, “only the body is different” (ib) 2.  As to cosmogony it is stated to be (not the emanation of an [=a]tm[=a]) but the “emission (creation) of the Father-god and of the seers” (the latter being visible as stars, ib. 13, 14).  In this there is plainly a received popular opinion, which reflects the Vedic and Brahmanic stage, and is opposed to the philosophical views of the Upanishads, in other words of the first Vedantic philosophy; while it is mixed up with the late doctrine of the cataclysms, which ruin each succeeding^ creation.  The equal annihilation of the wicked (dhvamsanti) and unorthodox (dhvamsate) is to be noticed.  They are here subject neither to hell nor to rebirth, but they “become dust and perish” (ib. 8. 9).

Throughout the whole legal literature one will find this same antithesis of views in regard to the fate of good and bad, although it is seldom that annihilation is predicated of the latter.  Usually hell or rebirth are their fate—­two views, which no one can really reconcile.  They are put side by side; exactly as in priestly discussion in India and Europe it still remains an unsettled question as to when the soul becomes immortal.[25] Occidental experience teaches how easy it is for such views to stand together unattacked, although they are the object of speculation.  This passage is perhaps, historically, the most satisfactory (as it is philosophically unsatisfactory) that can be cited in answer to the questions that were posed above.  But from other parts of legal literature a few more statements may be culled, to illustrate still further the lack of uniformity not only in popular belief, but in the teaching provided for the public.  First from the same work of [=A]pastamba, in 2. 11. 29. 9-10 it is said that if a witness in court perjure himself he shall be punished by the king, “and further, in passing to the next world, hell” (is his portion); whereas “(the reward) for truth is heaven, and praise on the part of all creatures.”  Now, let one compare first ib. 2. 5. 11. 10-11:  “Men of low castes are reborn in higher castes in successive births, and men of high castes in low castes, if they respectively perform and neglect their duties.”  And then this Vedantic passage of the same author (1. 8. 22 ff.):  “Let one (as penance for sin) devote himself to the Yoga (mental discipline) which has to do with the highest [=a]tm[=a] ...  Nothing is known higher than the acquisition of [=a]tm[=a].  We shall (now) cite some [=a]tm[=a]-acquisition-verses, viz.:  All living creatures (are) the citadel of him that rests in secret, the indestructible one, the immaculate one.  Immortal they that devote themselves to the moveless one who has a movable dwelling ... the great one whose body is light, universal, free ... the eternal (part) in all creatures, the wise,