Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1It might perhaps be said that the veins and rays are connected during the day, so that the soul of a person who dies during the day may follow those rays ; but not the soul of one who dies by night when the connexion of the veins and rays is broken. — But this is a mistaken assumption, because the connexion of rays and veins lasts as long as the body exists. This scripture also declares, ' They (the rays) stretch out from yonder sun and slip into these veins ; they stretch from these veins and slip into yonder sun ' {KJi. Up. VIII, 6, 2). We moreover observe that the rays of the sun continue to exist in the nights of the summer season ; for we feel their warmth and other effects. During the nights of the other seasons they are difficult to perceive because then few only continue to exist; just as during the cloudy days of the cold season. — This the following scriptural passage also shows, ' Day he makes in the night.' — If, moreover, he who dies at night mounted upwards without following the rays, the following of the rays would be generally meaningless. For the text gives no special direction to the effect that he who dies by day mounts upwards by means of the rays, while he who dies by night mounts without them. — Should, on the other hand, even he who knows be prevented from mounting upwards, by the mere mischance of dying by night, knowledge would in that case produce its fruit eventually only, and the consequence would be that— as the time of death is not
2380 VEDANTA-SIjTRAS. fixed — nobody would apply himself to knowledge. — If, again, a man dying at night should wait for the dawn (to mount upwards), it might happen that, owing to the action of the funeral fire, &c., his body would, at the time of daybreak, not be capable of entering into connexion with the rays. Scripture moreover expressly says that he does not wait, ' As quickly as he sends off the mind he goes to the sun ' {I\]i. Up. VIII, 6, 5). — For all these reasons the soul follows the ra}'s by night as well as by day. 20. And for the same reason (the departed soul follows the rays) also during the southern progress of the sun.
3For the same reason, viz. because waiting is impossible, and because the fruit of knowledge is not a merely eventual one, and because the time of death is not fixed, also that possessor of true knowledge who dies during the southern progress of the sun obtains the fruit of his knowledge. Because dying during the northern progress of the sun is more excellent, and because Bhishma is known to have waited for that period, and because scripture says, ' From the light half of the month (they go) to the six months when the sun goes to the north,' it might be thought that the northern progress of the sun is needful for dying. This notion the Sutra refutes. The greater excellence of the sun's northern progress applies to those only who do not possess the highest knowledge. — Bhishma's waiting for the sun's northern progress was due to his wish of upholding good customs and of showing that by the favour of his father he could choose the time of his death. — And the sense of the scriptural passage quoted will be explained under IV, 3, 4. — But we have the following Smr/ti-text, ' At w^hat times the Yogins depart either not to return or to return, those times I will declare to thee' (Bha. Gita VIII, 23), which determines specially that to die by day and so on causes the soul not to return. How then can he who dies by night or during the sun's southern progress depart not to return ? Concerning this point the next Sutra remarks : IV ADHYAYA, 2 PADA, 2 1. 38 1
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.
1It might perhaps be said that the veins and rays are connected during the day, so that the soul of a person who dies during the day may follow those rays ; but not the soul of one who dies by night when the connexion of the veins and rays is broken. — But this is a mistaken assumption, because the connexion of rays and veins lasts as long as the body exists. This scripture also declares, ' They (the rays) stretch out from yonder sun and slip into these veins ; they stretch from these veins and slip into yonder sun ' {KJi. Up. VIII, 6, 2). We moreover observe that the rays of the sun continue to exist in the nights of the summer season ; for we feel their warmth and other effects. During the nights of the other seasons they are difficult to perceive because then few only continue to exist; just as during the cloudy days of the cold season. — This the following scriptural passage also shows, ' Day he makes in the night.' — If, moreover, he who dies at night mounted upwards without following the rays, the following of the rays would be generally meaningless. For the text gives no special direction to the effect that he who dies by day mounts upwards by means of the rays, while he who dies by night mounts without them. — Should, on the other hand, even he who knows be prevented from mounting upwards, by the mere mischance of dying by night, knowledge would in that case produce its fruit eventually only, and the consequence would be that— as the time of death is not
2380 VEDANTA-SIjTRAS. fixed — nobody would apply himself to knowledge. — If, again, a man dying at night should wait for the dawn (to mount upwards), it might happen that, owing to the action of the funeral fire, &c., his body would, at the time of daybreak, not be capable of entering into connexion with the rays. Scripture moreover expressly says that he does not wait, ' As quickly as he sends off the mind he goes to the sun ' {I\]i. Up. VIII, 6, 5). — For all these reasons the soul follows the ra}'s by night as well as by day. 20. And for the same reason (the departed soul follows the rays) also during the southern progress of the sun.
3For the same reason, viz. because waiting is impossible, and because the fruit of knowledge is not a merely eventual one, and because the time of death is not fixed, also that possessor of true knowledge who dies during the southern progress of the sun obtains the fruit of his knowledge. Because dying during the northern progress of the sun is more excellent, and because Bhishma is known to have waited for that period, and because scripture says, ' From the light half of the month (they go) to the six months when the sun goes to the north,' it might be thought that the northern progress of the sun is needful for dying. This notion the Sutra refutes. The greater excellence of the sun's northern progress applies to those only who do not possess the highest knowledge. — Bhishma's waiting for the sun's northern progress was due to his wish of upholding good customs and of showing that by the favour of his father he could choose the time of his death. — And the sense of the scriptural passage quoted will be explained under IV, 3, 4. — But we have the following Smr/ti-text, ' At w^hat times the Yogins depart either not to return or to return, those times I will declare to thee' (Bha. Gita VIII, 23), which determines specially that to die by day and so on causes the soul not to return. How then can he who dies by night or during the sun's southern progress depart not to return ? Concerning this point the next Sutra remarks : IV ADHYAYA, 2 PADA, 2 1. 38 1
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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