Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 34 — The Vedanta-Sutras, Part I (Sankara/Thibaut, page scans)

be admitted that barley-grains themselves have a certain size which is merely rendered manifest through their being connected with a prastha measure ; while the highest Lord himself does not possess a size to be rendered manifest by his connexion with the heart. Still the remembrance (of the Lord by means of the mind) may be accepted as offering a certain foundation for the vSruti passage concerning him who is measured by a span.— Or else1 the Sutra may be interpreted to mean that the Lord, although not really measured by a span, is to be remembered (meditated upon) as being of the measure of a span ; whereby the passage is furnished with an appropriate sense. — Thus the passage about him who is measured by a span may, according to the opinion of the teacher Badari, be referred to the highest Lord, on account of remembrance.

31. On the ground of imaginative identification
(the highest Lord may be called pradesamatra),
Gairnini thinks ; for thus (Scripture) declares.

Or else the passage about him who is measured by a span may be considered to rest on imaginative combination.— Why? — Because the passage of the Va^asaneyip. 152brahma/za which treats of the same topic identifies heaven, earth, and so on- — which are the members of Vauvanara viewed as the Self of the threefold world — with certain parts of the human frame, viz. the parts comprised between the upper part of the head and the chin, and thus declares the imaginative identity of Vaiivânara with something whose measure is a span. There we read, 'The Gods indeed reached him, knowing him as measured by a span as it were. Now I will declare them (his members) to you so as to identify him (the Vauvanara) with that whose measure is a span; thus he said. Pointing to the upper part of the head he said : This is what stands above (i. e. the heavenly world) as Vauvanara (i. e. the head of Vauvanara 1). Pointing to the eyes he said : This is he with good light (i. e. the sun) as Vauvanara (i. e. the eye of V.). Pointing to the nose he said : This is he who moves on manifold paths (i. e. the air) as Vauvanara (i. e. the breath of V.). Pointing to the space (ether) within his mouth he said : This is the full one (i. e. the ether) as Vauvanara. Pointing to the saliva within his mouth he said : This is wealth as Vauvanara (i. e. the water in the bladder of V.). Pointing to the chin he said: This is the base as Vauvanara (i. e.

1 Parima^asya hrz'dayadvararopitasya smaryama/ze katham aropo vishayavishayitvena bhedad ity a^ahkya vyakhyantaram aha prade^eti. Ananda GirL

mouth he said : This is the full one (i. e. the ether) as Vauvanara. Pointing to the saliva within his mouth he said : This is wealth as Vauvanara (i. e. the water in the bladder of V.). Pointing to the chin he said: This is the base as Vauvanara (i. e. the feet of V.).' — Although in the Va^asaneyi-brahma^a the heaven is denoted as that which has the attribute of standing above and the sun as that which has the attribute of good light, while in the -Oandogya the heaven is spoken of as having good light and the sun as being multiform ; still this difference does not interfere (with the unity of the vidya)2, because both texts equally use the term ' measured by a span,' and because all jakhâs intimate the same. — The above explanation of the term ' measured by a span/ which rests on imaginative identification, the teacher £aimini considers the most appropriate one.

32. Moreover they (the £&balas) speak of him

1 Atra sarvatra vai^vanara^abdas tadangapara^. Go. An.

2 Which unity entitles us to use the passage from the *Sat. Brl for the explanation of the passage from the Kh. Up.

I ADHYAYA, 2 PAD A, 32. 1 53

(the highest Lord) in that (i. e. the interstice between the top of the head and the chin which is measured by a span).

Moreover the Cabalas speak in their text of the highest Lord as being in the interstice between the top of the head and the chin. ' The unevolved infinite Self abides in the avimukta (i.e. the non-released soul). Where does that avimukta abide? It abides in the Vara;za and the Nasi, in the middle. What is that Vara^a, what is that Nasi ? ' The text thereupon etymologises the term Vara/za as that which wards off (varayati) all evil done by the senses, and the term Nâsi as that which destroys (nlrayati) all evil done by the senses ; and then continues, ' And what is its place ? — The place where the eyebrows and the nose join. That is the joining place of the heavenly world (represented by the upper part of the head) and of the other (i. e. the earthly world represented by the chin).5 (Cabala Up. I.) — Thus it appears that the scriptural statement which ascribes to the highest Lord the measure of a span is appropriate. That the highest Lord is called abhivimana refers to his being the inward Self of all. As such he is directly measured, i. e. known by all animate beings. Or else the word may be explained as ' he who is near everywhere — as the inward Self — and who at the same time is measureless ' (as being infinite).

o his being the inward Self of all. As such he is directly measured, i. e. known by all animate beings. Or else the word may be explained as ' he who is near everywhere — as the inward Self — and who at the same time is measureless ' (as being infinite). Or else it may denote the highest Lord as him who, as the cause of the world, measures it out, i. e. creates it. By all this it is proved that Vai^vanara is the highest Lord.

p. 154

THIRD PADA.

Reverence to the highest Self !

i. The abode of heaven, earth, and so on (is Brahman), on account of the term * own/ i. e. Self.

We read (Mu. Up. II, 2, 5), ' He in whom the heaven, the earth, and the sky are woven, the mind also with all the vital airs, know him alone as the Self, and leave off other words ! He is the bridge of the Immortal.' — Here the doubt arises whether the abode which is intimated by the statement of the heaven and so on being woven in it is the highest Brahman or something else.

The purvapakshin maintains that the abode is something else, on account of the expression, ' It is the bridge of the Immortal.' For, he says, it is known from every-day experience that a bridge presupposes some further bank to which it leads, while it is impossible to assume something further beyond the highest Brahman, which in Scripture is called c endless, without a further shore ' (Br/. Up. II, 4, 12). Now if the abode is supposed to be something different from Brahman, it must be supposed to be either the pradhana known from Smrzti, which, as being the (general) cause, may be called the (general) abode ; or the air known from vSruti, of which it is said (Br/. Up. Ill, 7, 3, ' Air is that thread, O Gautama. By air as by a thread, O Gautama, this world and the other world and all beings are strung together'), that it supports all things; or else the embodied soul which, as being the enjoyer, may be considered as an abode with reference to the objects of its fruition.

Against this view we argue with the sutrakara as follows: —

* Of the world consisting of heaven, earth, and so on, which in the quoted passage is spoken of as woven (upon something), the highest Brahman must be the abode.5 — Why? — On account of the word ' own,' i. e. on account of the word

* Self.' For we meet with the word ' Self ' in the passage, ' Know him alone as the Self.' This term 'Self isp. 55 thoroughly appropriate only if we understand the highest Self and not anything else.