In so far as the highest Self abides, for the purpose of devout
meditation, in the heart of the devotee--which heart is of the measure
of a thumb--it may itself be viewed as having the measure of a thumb.
The individual soul also can be said to have the measure of a thumb only
in so far as dwelling within the heart; for scripture directly states
that its real size is that of the point of a goad, i.e. minute. And as
men only are capable of devout meditation, and hence alone have a claim
on scripture, the fact that the hearts of other living creatures also,
such as donkeys, horses, snakes, &c., have the same size, cannot give
rise to any objection.--The discussion of this matter will be completed
later on [FOOTNOTE 326:1].
25. Also beings above them (i.e. men), Bâdarâyana thinks, on account of
possibility.
In order to prove that the highest Brahman may be viewed as having the
size of a thumb, it has been declared that the scriptural texts
enjoining meditation on Brahman are the concern of men. This offers an
opportunity for the discussion of the question whether also other
classes of individual souls, such as devas, are qualified for knowledge
of Brahman. The Pûrvapakshin denies this qualification in the case of
gods and other beings, on the ground of absence of capability. For, he
says, bodiless beings, such as gods, are incapable of the accomplishment
of meditation on Brahman, which requires as its auxiliaries the seven
means enumerated above (p. 17)--This must not be objected to on the
ground of the devas, and so on, having bodies; for there is no means of
proof establishing such embodiedness. We have indeed proved above that
the Vedânta-texts may intimate accomplished things, and hence are an
authoritative means for the cognition of Brahman; but we do not meet
with any Vedânta-text, the purport of which is to teach that the devas,
and so on, possess bodies. Nor can this point be established through
mantras and arthavâda texts; for these are merely supplementary to the
injunctions of actions (sacrificial, and so on), and therefore have a
different aim. And the injunctions themselves prove nothing with regard
to the devas, except that the latter are that with a view to which those
actions are performed. In the same way it also cannot be shown that the
gods have any desires or wants (to fulfil or supply which they might
enter on meditation of Brahman). For the two reasons above we therefore
conclude that the devas, and so on, are not qualified for meditation on
Brahman.--This view is contradicted by the Sûtra. Such meditation is
possible in the case of higher beings also Bâdarâyana thinks; on account
of the possibility of want and capacity on their part also. Want and
wish exist in their case since they also are liable to suffering,
springing from the assaults, hard to be endured, of the different kinds
of pain, and since they also know that supreme enjoyment is to be found
in the highest Brahman, which is untouched by the shadow even of
imperfection, and is a mass of auspicious qualities in their highest
perfection. 'Capability', on the other hand, depends on the possession
of a body and sense-organs of whatever degree of tenuity; and that the
devas, from Brahma downward, possess a body and sense-organs, is
declared in all the Upanishads, in the chapters treating of creation and
the chapters enjoining meditation. In the Chândogya, e.g. it is related
how the highest Being having resolved on creation, evolved the aggregate
of non-sentient matter with its different kinds, and then produced the
fourfold multitude of living creatures, each having a material body
corresponding to its karman, and a suitable name of its own. Similarly,
all the other scriptural accounts of creation declare that there are
four classes of creatures--devas, men, animals, and non-moving beings,
such as plants--and the difference of these classes depends on the
individual Selfs being joined to various bodies capacitating them to
experience the results of their works, each in that one of the fourteen
worlds--beginning with the world of Brahmâ--which is the suitable place
for retribution. For in themselves, apart from bodies, the individual
Selfs are not distinguished as men, gods, and so on. In the same way the
story of the devas and Asuras approaching Prajâpati with fuel in their
hands, staying with him as pupils for thirty-two years, &c. (Ch. Up.
VIII, 7 ff.), clearly shows that the devas possess bodies and sense-
organs. Analogously, mantras and arthavâdas, which are complementary to
injunctions of works, contain unmistakeable references to the corporeal
nature of the gods ('Indra holding in his hand the thunderbolt'; 'Indra
lifted the thunderbolt', &c.); and as the latter is not contradicted by
any other means of proof it must be accepted on the authority stated.
Nor can it be said that those mantras and arthavâdas are really meant to
express something else (than those details mentioned above), in so far,
namely, as they aim at proclaiming or glorifying the action with which
they are connected; for those very details subserve the purpose of
glorification, and so on, and without them glorification is not possible.
For we praise or glorify a thing by declaring its qualities; if such
qualities do not exist all glorification lapses. It cannot by any means
be maintained that anything may be glorified by the proclamation of its
qualities, even if such qualities do not really exist. Hence the
arthavâdas which glorify a certain action, just thereby intimate the
real existence of the qualities and details of the action. The mantras
again, which are prescribed in connexion with the actions, serve the
purpose of throwing light on the use to be derived from the performance
of the actions, and this they accomplish by making statements as to the
particular qualities, such as embodiedness and the like, which belong to
the devas and other classes of beings. Otherwise Indra, and so on, would
not be remembered at the time of performance; for the idea of a divinity
presents itself to the mind only in connexion with the special
attributes of that divinity. In the case of such qualities as are not
established by other means of proof, the primary statement is made by
the arthavâda or the mantra: the former thereby glorifies the action,
and the latter proclaims it as possessing certain qualities or details;
and both these ends are accomplished by making statements as to the gods,
&c., possessing certain qualities, such as embodiedness and the like.
In the case, again, of certain qualities being already established by
other means of proof, the mantras and arthavâdas merely refer to them
(as something already known), and in this way perform their function of
glorification and elucidation. And where, thirdly, there is a
contradiction between the other means of knowledge and what mantras and
arthavâdas state (as when, e.g. a text of the latter kind says that 'the
sacrificial post is the sun'), the intention of the text is
metaphorically to denote, by means of those apparently unmeaning terms,
certain other qualities which are not excluded by the other means of
knowledge; and in this way the function of glorification and elucidation
is again accomplished. Now what the injunction of a sacrificial action
demands as its supplement, is a statement as to the power of the
divinity to whom the sacrifice is offered; for the performance which
scripture enjoins on men desirous of certain results, is itself of a
merely transitory nature, and hence requires some agent capable of
bringing about, at some future time, the result desired as, e.g. the
heavenly world. 'Vâyu is the swiftest god; he (the sacrificer)
approaches Vâyu with his own share; the god then leads him to
prosperity' (Taitt. Samh. I, 2, 1); 'What he seeks by means of that
offering, may he obtain that, may he prosper therein, may the gods
favourably grant him that' (Taitt. Br. III, 5, 10, 5); these and similar
arthavâdas and mantras intimate that the gods when propitiated by
certain sacrificial works, give certain rewards and possess the power to
do so; and they thus connect themselves with the general context of
scripture as supplying an evidently required item of information.
Moreover, the mere verb 'to sacrifice' (yaj), as denoting worship of the
gods, intimates the presence of a deity which is to be propitiated by
the action called sacrifice, and thus constitutes the main element of
that action. A careful consideration of the whole context thus reveals
that everything which is wanted for the due accomplishment of the action
enjoined is to be learned from the text itself, and that hence we need
not have recourse to such entities as the 'unseen principle' (apûrva),
assumed to be denoted by, or to be imagined in connexion with, the
passages enjoining certain actions. Hence the dharmasâstras, itihâsas,
and purânas also, which are founded on the different brâhmanas, mantras
and arthavâdas, clearly teach that Brahma and the other gods, as well as
the Asuras and other superhuman beings, have bodies and sense-organs,
constitutions of different kinds, different abodes, enjoyments, and
functions.--Owing to their having bodies, the gods therefore are also
qualified for meditation on Brahman.
[FOOTNOTE 326:1. The 'pramitâdhikarana' is resumed in Sûtra 41.]
26. If it be said that there results a contradiction to work; we deny
this, on account of the observation of the assumption of several
(bodies).
An objection here presents itself. If we admit the gods to have bodies,
a difficulty arises at the sacrifices, as it is impossible that one and
the same corporeal Indra--who is at the same time invited by many
sacrificers 'come, O Indra', 'come, O Lord of the red horses,' &c.--
should be present at all those places. And that the gods, Agni and so on,
really do come to the sacrifices is proved by the following scriptural
text: 'To whose sacrifice do the gods go, and to whose not? He who first
receives the gods, sacrifices to them on the following day' (Taitt. Samh.
I, 6, 7, 1). In refutation of this objection the Suûtra points out that
there is seen, i.e. recorded, the assumption of several bodies at the
same time, on the part of beings endowed with special powers, such as
Saubhari.
27. If it be said (that a contradiction will result) with regard to
words; we say no, since beings originate from them (as appears) from
perception and inference.
Well then let us admit that there is no difficulty as far as sacrifices
are concerned, for the reason stated in the preceding Sûtra. But another
difficulty presents itself with regard to the words of which the Veda
consists. For if Indra and the other gods are corporeal beings, it
follows that they are made up of parts and hence non-permanent. This
implies either that the Vedic words denoting them--not differing therein
from common worldly words such as Devadatta--are totally devoid of
meaning during all those periods which precede the origination of the
beings called Indra and so on, or follow on their destruction; or else
that the Veda itself is non-permanent, non-eternal.--This objection is
not valid, the Sûtra points out, for the reason that those beings, viz.
Indra and so on, again and again originate from the Vedic words. To
explain. Vedic words, such as Indra and so on, do not, like the word
Devadatta and the like, denote, on the basis of convention, one
particular individual only: they rather denote by their own power
particular species of beings, just as the word 'cow' denotes a
particular species of animals. When therefore a special individual of
the class called Indra has perished, the creator, apprehending from the
Vedic word 'Indra' which is present to his mind the class
characteristics of the beings denoted by that word, creates another
Indra possessing those very same characteristics; just as the potter
fashions a new jar, on the basis of the word 'jar' which is stirring in
_his_ mind.--But how is this known?--'Through perception and inference,'
i.e. through Scripture and Smriti. Scripture says, e.g. 'By means of the
Veda Prajâpati evolved names and forms, the being and the non-being';
and 'Saying "bhûh" (earth) he created the earth; saying "bhuvah" he
created the air,' and so on; which passages teach that the creator at
first bethinks himself of the characteristic make of a thing, in
connexion with the word denoting it, and thereupon creates an individual
thing characterised by that make. Smriti makes similar statements;
compare, e. g. 'In the beginning there was sent forth by the creator,
divine speech--beginningless and endless--in the form of the Veda, and
from it there originated all creatures'; and 'He, in the beginning,
separately created from the words of the Veda the names and works and
shapes of all things'; and 'The names and forms of beings, and all the
multiplicity of works He in the beginning created from the Veda.' This
proves that from the corporeality of the gods, and so on, it follows
neither that the words of the Veda are unmeaning nor that the Veda
itself is non-eternal.