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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1is capable, and that the world of Brahman to which his know- ledge enables him to proceed denotes the highest state which he can ever reach, the state of final release, if we choose to call it by that name. — Kh. Up. V, 10 says, c Those who know this (viz. the doctrine of the five fires), and those who in the forest follow faith and austerities go to light/ &c. — Kh. Up. IV, 15 is manifestly intended to convey the true knowledge of Brahman ; Upako,?ala's teacher himself represents the instruction given by him as superior to the teaching of the sacred fires. — Kh. Up. VIII, 6, 5 quotes the old i*loka which says that the man moving upwards by the artery penetrating the crown of the head reaches the Im- mortal.— Kaush. Up. I, % — which gives the most detailed account of the ascent of the soul — contains no intimation whatever of the knowledge of Brahman, which leads up to the Brahman world, being of an inferior nature. — Mund. Up. I, 2, 9 agrees with the ATMndogya in saying that ' Those who practise penance and faith in the forest, tranquil, wise, and living on alms, depart free from passion, through the sun, to where that immortal Person dwells whose nature is imperishable,' and nothing whatever in the context coun- tenances the assumption that not the highest knowledge and the highest Person are there referred to. — Bri. Up. IV, 4, 8 quotes old jlokas clearly referring to the road of the gods (' the small old path '), on which ' sages who know Brahman move on to the svargaloka and thence higher on as entirely free. — That path was found by Brah- man, and on it goes whoever knows Brahman/ — Bri Up. VI, 2, 15 is another version of the Pa^agnividya, with the variation, * Those who know this, and those who in the forest worship faith and the True, go to light,' &c. — Pra^na Up. 1, 10 says, ' Those who have sought the Self by penance, abstinence, faith, and knowledge gain by the northern path Aditya, the sun. There is the home of the spirits, the im- mortal free from danger, the highest. From thence they do not return, for it is the end.' — Maitr. Up. VI, 30 quotes INTRODUCTION. C1X jlokas, ' One of them (the arteries) leads upwards, piercing the solar orb : by it, having stepped beyond the world of Brahman, they go to the highest path/ All these passages are as clear as can be desired. The soul of the sage who knows Brahman passes out by the sushum?z&, and ascends by the path of the gods to the world of Brahman, there to remain for ever in some bliss- ful state.
2go to the highest path/ All these passages are as clear as can be desired. The soul of the sage who knows Brahman passes out by the sushum?z&, and ascends by the path of the gods to the world of Brahman, there to remain for ever in some bliss- ful state. But, according to Sankara, all these texts are meant to set forth the result of a certain inferior knowledge only, of the knowledge of the conditioned Brahman. Even in a passage apparently so entirely incapable of more than one interpretation as Br/. Up. VI, 2, 15, the 'True/ which the holy hermits in the forest are said to worship, is not to be the highest Brahman, but only Hira/zyagarbha ! — And why ? — Only because the system so demands it, the system which teaches that those who know the highest Brahman become on their death one with it, without having to resort to any other place. The passage on which this latter tenet is chiefly based is Bri. Up. IV, 4, 6, 7, where, with the fate of him who at his death has desires, and whose soul therefore enters a new body after having departed from the old one, accompanied by all the pra//as, there is contrasted the fate of the sage free from all desires. ' But as to the man who does not desire, who not desiring, freed from desires is satisfied in his desires, or desires the Self only, the vital spirits of him (tasya) do not depart — being Brahman he goes to Brahman/ We have seen above (p. lxxx) that this passage is referred to in the important Sutras on whose right interpretation it, in the first place, depends whether or not we must admit the Sutrakara to have acknowledged the distinction of a para and an apari vidya\ Here the passage interests us as throwing light on the way in which Sankara systematises. He looks on the preceding part of the chapter as describing what happens to the souls of all those who do not know the highest Brahman, inclusive of those who know the lower Brahman only. They pass out of the old bodies followed by all pra^as and enter new bodies. He, on the other hand, section 6 continues, who knows the true Brahman, does not pass out of the body, but becomes one with Brahman then CX VEDANTA-S^TRAS. and there. This interpretation of the purport of the entire chapter is not impossibly right, although I am rather in- clined to think that the chapter aims at setting forth in its earlier part the future of him who does not know Brahman at all, while the latter part of section 6 passes on to him who does know Brahman (i. e.
3not impossibly right, although I am rather in- clined to think that the chapter aims at setting forth in its earlier part the future of him who does not know Brahman at all, while the latter part of section 6 passes on to him who does know Brahman (i. e. Brahman pure and simple, the text knowing of no distinction of the so-called lower and higher Brahman). In explaining section 6 5ankara lays stress upon the clause 'na tasya pra/za utkramanti/ c his vital spirits do not pass out,' taking this to signify that the soul with the vital spirits does not move at all, and thus does not ascend to the world of Brahman ; while the purport of the clause may simply be that the soul and vital spirits do not go anywhere else, i. e. do not enter a new body, but are united, somehow or other, with Brahman. On vSahkara's interpretation there immediately arises a new difficulty. In the .rlokas, quoted under sections 8 and 9, the description of the small old path which leads to the svargaloka and higher on clearly refers — as noticed already above — to the path through the veins, primarily the sushum^a, on which, according to so many other pas- sages, the soul of the wise mounts upwards. But that path is, according to 6ankara, followed by him only who has not risen above the lower knowledge, and yet the ^lokas have manifestly to be connected with what is said in the latter half of 6 about the owner of the para vidya. Hence 6ankara sees himself driven to explain the ^lokas in 8 and 9 (of which a faithful translation is given in Professor Max Muller's version) as follows : 8. < The subtle old path (i. e. the path of knowledge on which final release is reached ; which path is subtle, i. e. difficult to know, and old, i. e. to be known from the eternal Veda) has been obtained and fully reached by me. On it the sages who know Brahman reach final release (svarga- loka^abda^ samnihitaprakara/zat mokshabhidhayaka/^). 9. * On that path they say that there is white or blue or yellow or green or red (i. e. others maintain that the path to final release is, in accordance with the colour of the arteries, either white or blue, &c. ; but that is false, for the INTRODUCTION. CXI paths through the arteries lead at the best to the world of Brahman, which itself forms part of the sa^sara); that path (i. e. the only path to release, viz. the path of true knowledge) is found by Brahman, i. e. by such Brahma^as as through true knowledge have become like Brahman,5 &c.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1is capable, and that the world of Brahman to which his know- ledge enables him to proceed denotes the highest state which he can ever reach, the state of final release, if we choose to call it by that name. — Kh. Up. V, 10 says, c Those who know this (viz. the doctrine of the five fires), and those who in the forest follow faith and austerities go to light/ &c. — Kh. Up. IV, 15 is manifestly intended to convey the true knowledge of Brahman ; Upako,?ala's teacher himself represents the instruction given by him as superior to the teaching of the sacred fires. — Kh. Up. VIII, 6, 5 quotes the old i*loka which says that the man moving upwards by the artery penetrating the crown of the head reaches the Im- mortal.— Kaush. Up. I, % — which gives the most detailed account of the ascent of the soul — contains no intimation whatever of the knowledge of Brahman, which leads up to the Brahman world, being of an inferior nature. — Mund. Up. I, 2, 9 agrees with the ATMndogya in saying that ' Those who practise penance and faith in the forest, tranquil, wise, and living on alms, depart free from passion, through the sun, to where that immortal Person dwells whose nature is imperishable,' and nothing whatever in the context coun- tenances the assumption that not the highest knowledge and the highest Person are there referred to. — Bri. Up. IV, 4, 8 quotes old jlokas clearly referring to the road of the gods (' the small old path '), on which ' sages who know Brahman move on to the svargaloka and thence higher on as entirely free. — That path was found by Brah- man, and on it goes whoever knows Brahman/ — Bri Up. VI, 2, 15 is another version of the Pa^agnividya, with the variation, * Those who know this, and those who in the forest worship faith and the True, go to light,' &c. — Pra^na Up. 1, 10 says, ' Those who have sought the Self by penance, abstinence, faith, and knowledge gain by the northern path Aditya, the sun. There is the home of the spirits, the im- mortal free from danger, the highest. From thence they do not return, for it is the end.' — Maitr. Up. VI, 30 quotes INTRODUCTION. C1X jlokas, ' One of them (the arteries) leads upwards, piercing the solar orb : by it, having stepped beyond the world of Brahman, they go to the highest path/ All these passages are as clear as can be desired. The soul of the sage who knows Brahman passes out by the sushum?z&, and ascends by the path of the gods to the world of Brahman, there to remain for ever in some bliss- ful state.
2go to the highest path/ All these passages are as clear as can be desired. The soul of the sage who knows Brahman passes out by the sushum?z&, and ascends by the path of the gods to the world of Brahman, there to remain for ever in some bliss- ful state. But, according to Sankara, all these texts are meant to set forth the result of a certain inferior knowledge only, of the knowledge of the conditioned Brahman. Even in a passage apparently so entirely incapable of more than one interpretation as Br/. Up. VI, 2, 15, the 'True/ which the holy hermits in the forest are said to worship, is not to be the highest Brahman, but only Hira/zyagarbha ! — And why ? — Only because the system so demands it, the system which teaches that those who know the highest Brahman become on their death one with it, without having to resort to any other place. The passage on which this latter tenet is chiefly based is Bri. Up. IV, 4, 6, 7, where, with the fate of him who at his death has desires, and whose soul therefore enters a new body after having departed from the old one, accompanied by all the pra//as, there is contrasted the fate of the sage free from all desires. ' But as to the man who does not desire, who not desiring, freed from desires is satisfied in his desires, or desires the Self only, the vital spirits of him (tasya) do not depart — being Brahman he goes to Brahman/ We have seen above (p. lxxx) that this passage is referred to in the important Sutras on whose right interpretation it, in the first place, depends whether or not we must admit the Sutrakara to have acknowledged the distinction of a para and an apari vidya\ Here the passage interests us as throwing light on the way in which Sankara systematises. He looks on the preceding part of the chapter as describing what happens to the souls of all those who do not know the highest Brahman, inclusive of those who know the lower Brahman only. They pass out of the old bodies followed by all pra^as and enter new bodies. He, on the other hand, section 6 continues, who knows the true Brahman, does not pass out of the body, but becomes one with Brahman then CX VEDANTA-S^TRAS. and there. This interpretation of the purport of the entire chapter is not impossibly right, although I am rather in- clined to think that the chapter aims at setting forth in its earlier part the future of him who does not know Brahman at all, while the latter part of section 6 passes on to him who does know Brahman (i. e.
3not impossibly right, although I am rather in- clined to think that the chapter aims at setting forth in its earlier part the future of him who does not know Brahman at all, while the latter part of section 6 passes on to him who does know Brahman (i. e. Brahman pure and simple, the text knowing of no distinction of the so-called lower and higher Brahman). In explaining section 6 5ankara lays stress upon the clause 'na tasya pra/za utkramanti/ c his vital spirits do not pass out,' taking this to signify that the soul with the vital spirits does not move at all, and thus does not ascend to the world of Brahman ; while the purport of the clause may simply be that the soul and vital spirits do not go anywhere else, i. e. do not enter a new body, but are united, somehow or other, with Brahman. On vSahkara's interpretation there immediately arises a new difficulty. In the .rlokas, quoted under sections 8 and 9, the description of the small old path which leads to the svargaloka and higher on clearly refers — as noticed already above — to the path through the veins, primarily the sushum^a, on which, according to so many other pas- sages, the soul of the wise mounts upwards. But that path is, according to 6ankara, followed by him only who has not risen above the lower knowledge, and yet the ^lokas have manifestly to be connected with what is said in the latter half of 6 about the owner of the para vidya. Hence 6ankara sees himself driven to explain the ^lokas in 8 and 9 (of which a faithful translation is given in Professor Max Muller's version) as follows : 8. < The subtle old path (i. e. the path of knowledge on which final release is reached ; which path is subtle, i. e. difficult to know, and old, i. e. to be known from the eternal Veda) has been obtained and fully reached by me. On it the sages who know Brahman reach final release (svarga- loka^abda^ samnihitaprakara/zat mokshabhidhayaka/^). 9. * On that path they say that there is white or blue or yellow or green or red (i. e. others maintain that the path to final release is, in accordance with the colour of the arteries, either white or blue, &c. ; but that is false, for the INTRODUCTION. CXI paths through the arteries lead at the best to the world of Brahman, which itself forms part of the sa^sara); that path (i. e. the only path to release, viz. the path of true knowledge) is found by Brahman, i. e. by such Brahma^as as through true knowledge have become like Brahman,5 &c.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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