Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/261

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The Beginnings of Hindu Theosophy
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as Kāla, "Time," "Father Time"; of Kāma, "Love," "Eros"; of Prāna "Breath of Life"; and others even more faint and tentative. The conception of Eros we have met above as the first movement in The One after it had come into life; its deification is never very pronounced. Prāna, or "Breath of Life," is an almost universal cosmic principle; it will occupy our attention in connection with the final shaping of Hindu theosophy. The most transcendental of these personifications is that of "Time" — namely: Prajāpati, "the lord of creatures," at first an abstraction, is readily associated with the generative power of nature. Now this generative power is revealed particularly in the cycle of the year. By easy association Prajāpati is next boldly identified with year: "Prajāpati reflected, 'This verily, I have created as my counterpart, namely, the year.' Therefore they say, 'Prajāpati is the year,' for as counterpart of himself he did create the year." Thus the prose Brāhmana texts naively, yet closely, reason. And out of some such reasoning "Time" itself emerges as a monotheistic conception, in whose praise the Atharva-Veda sings two hymns[1]:

"Time runs, a steed with seven reins, thousand-eyed, ageless, rich in seed. The seers thinking holy thoughts, mount him; all the beings are his wheels.

  1. ↑ 19. 53 and 54.
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