As the quality, inhering in all things, of being ruled by the highest
Self, is eternal and definitely fixed by being connected with his
essential nature, it is an unavoidable conclusion that the rule of the
soul and of the divinities over the organs depends on the will of the
highest Self. The text, 'Having sent forth this he entered into it,
having entered into it he became sat and tyat' (Taitt. Up. II, 6), shows
that the entering on the part of the highest Person into all things, so
as to be their ruler, is connected with his essential nature. Similarly
Smriti says, 'Pervading this entire Universe by a portion of mine I do
abide' (Bha. Gî. X, 42).--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'the rule of
Fire and the rest.'
15. They, with the exception of the best, are organs, on account of
being so designated.
Are all principles called prânas to be considered as 'organs'
(indriyâni), or is the 'best,' i.e. the chief prâna, to be excepted?--
All of them, without exception, are organs; for they all are called
prânas equally, and they all are instruments of the soul.--Not so, the
Sûtra replies. The 'best' one is to be excepted, since only the prawas
other than the best are designated as organs. Texts such as 'the organs
are ten and one' (Bha. Gî. XIII, 5) apply the term 'organ' only to the
senses of sight and the rest, and the internal organ.
16. On account of scriptural statement of difference, and on account of
difference of characteristics.
Texts such as 'from him is born prâna, and the internal organ, and all
organs' (Mu. Up. II, 1, 3) mention the vital breath separately from the
organs, and this shows that the breath is not one of the organs. The
passage indeed mentions the internal organ (manas) also as something
separate; but in other passages the manas is formally included in the
organs, 'the (five) organs with mind as the sixth' (Bha. Gî. XV, 7).
That the vital breath differs in nature from the organ of sight and the
rest, is a matter of observation. For in the state of deep sleep the
function of breath is seen to continue, while those of the eye, and so
on, are not perceived. The work of the organs, inclusive of the manas,
is to act as instruments of cognition and action, while the work of
breath is to maintain the body and the organs. It is for the reason that
the subsistence of the organs depends on breath, that the organs
themselves are called prânas. Thus Scripture says, 'they all became the
form of that (breath), and therefore they are called after him prânas'
(Bri. Up. I, 5, 21). 'They became its form' means--they became its body,
their activity depended on it.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'the
_organs_.'
17. But the making of names and forms (belongs) to him who renders
tripartite, on account of scriptural teaching.
The Sûtras have shown that the creation of the elements and organs in
their collective aspect (samashti) and the activity of the individual
souls proceed from the highest Self; and they have also further
confirmed the view that the rule which the souls exercise over their
organs depends on the highest Self. A question now arises with regard to
the creation of the world in its discrete aspect (vyashti), which
consists in the differentiation of names and forms (i.e. of individual
beings). Is this latter creation the work of Hiranyagarbha only, who
represents the collective aggregate of all individual souls; or,
fundamentally, the work of the highest Brahman having Hiranyagarbha for
its body--just as the creation of water e.g. is the work of the highest
Brahman having sire for its body?--The Pûrvapakshin maintains the former
alternative. For, he says, the text 'Having entered with this living-
soul-self (anena jîvenât-manâ), let me differentiate names and forms'
(Ch. Up. VI, 3, 2), declares the jîva-soul to be the agent in
differentiation. For the resolve of the highest deity is expressed, not
in the form 'let me differentiate names and forms by myself (svena
rûpena), but 'by this soul-self,' i.e. by a part of the highest Self, in
the form of the individual soul.--But on this interpretation the first
person in 'vyâkaravâni' (let me enter), and the grammatical form of
'having entered,' which indicates the agent, could not be taken in their
literal, but only in an implied, sense--as is the case in a sentence
such as 'Having entered the hostile army by means of a spy, I will
estimate its strength' (where the real agent is not the king, who is the
speaker, but the spy).--The cases are not analogous, the Pûrvapakshin
replies. For the king and the spy are fundamentally separate, and hence
the king is agent by implication only. But in the case under discussion
the soul is a part, and hence contributes to constitute the essential
nature of, the highest Self; hence that highest Self itself enters and
differentiates in the form of the soul. Nor can it be said that the
instrumental case ('with this soul-self') has the implied meaning of
association ('together with this soul-self'); for if a case can be taken
in its primary sense, it is not proper to understand it in a sense which
has to be expressed by means of a preposition. But the third case,
jîvena, cannot here be understood even in its primary sense, i.e. that
of the instrument of the action; for if Brahman is the agent in the acts
of entering and differentiating, the soul is not that which is most
suitable to accomplish the end of action (while yet grammar defines the
_instrumental_ case--karana--on this basis). Nor can it be said that the
activity of the soul comes to an end with the entering, while the
differentiation of names and forms is Brahman's work, for the past
participle (pravisya) indicates (according to the rules of grammar) that
the two actions--of entering and differentiating--belong to the same
agent. And although the soul as being a part of the highest Self shares
in its nature, yet in order to distinguish it from the highest Self, the
text by means of the clause 'with _that_ living Self refers to it as
something outward (not of the nature of the Self). The agent in the
action of differentiation of names and forms therefore is Hiranyagarbha.
Smriti texts also ascribe to him this activity; cp.'he in the beginning
made, from the words of the Veda, the names and forms of beings, of the
gods and the rest, and of actions.'
Against this view the Sûtra declares itself. The differentiation of
names and forms belongs to him who renders tripartite, i.e. the highest
Brahman; since it is assigned by Scripture to the latter only. For the
text 'That divinity thought, let me, having entered these three beings
with this living-soul-self, differentiate names and forms--let me make
each of these three tripartite,' shows that all the activities mentioned
have one and the same agent. But the rendering tripartite cannot belong
to Brahma (Hiranyagarbha), who abides within the Brahma-egg, for that
egg itself is produced from fire, water, and earth, only after these
elements have been rendered tripartite; and Smriti says that Brahmâ
himself originated in that egg, 'in that egg there originated Brahmâ,
the grandfather of all the worlds.' As thus the action of rendering
tripartite can belong to the highest Brahman only, the differentiation
of names and forms, which belongs to the same agent, also is Brahman's
only.--But how then does the clause 'with that living-soul-self' fit in?--
The co-ordination 'with that soul, with the Self,' shows that the term
'soul' here denotes the highest Brahman as having the soul for its body;
just as in the clauses 'that fire thought'; 'it sent forth water';
'water thought,' and so on, what is meant each time is Brahman having
fire, water, and so on, for its body. The work of differentiating names
and forms thus belongs to the highest Brahman which has for its body
Hiranyagarbha, who represents the soul in its aggregate form. On this
view the first person (in 'let me differentiate') and the agency
(conveyed by the form of 'pravisya') may, without any difficulty, be
taken in their primary literal senses; and the common agency, implied in
the connexion of pravisya and vyâkaravâni, is accounted for. The view
here set forth as to the relation of Brahman and Hiranyagarbha also
explains how the accounts of Hiranyagarbha's (Brahmâ's) creative
activity can say that he differentiated names and forms.
The whole passus beginning 'that divinity thought,' therefore has the
following meaning--'Having entered into those three beings, viz. Fire,
Water, and Earth, with my Self which is qualified by the collective soul
(as constituting its body), let me differentiate names and forms, i.e.
let me produce gods and all the other kinds of individual beings, and
give them names; and to that end, since fire, water, and earth have not
yet mutually combined, and hence are incapable of giving rise to
particular things, let me make each of them tripartite, and thus fit
them for creation.'--The settled conclusion then is, that the
differentiation of names and forms is the work of the highest Brahman
only.
But, an objection is raised, the fact that the differentiation of names
and forms must be due to the same agent as the rendering tripartite,
does not after all prove that the former is due to the highest Self. For
the rendering tripartite may itself belong to the individual soul. For
the text relates how, after the creation of the cosmic egg, a process of
tripartition was going on among the individual living beings created by
Brahmâ. 'Learn from me, my friend, how those three beings having reached
man become tripartite, each of them. The earth when eaten is disposed of
in three ways; its grossest portion becomes feces, its middle portion
flesh, its subtlest portion mind,' and so on. Similarly, in the
preceding section, it is described how the process of tripartition goes
on in the case of fire, sun, moon, and lightning, which all belong to
the world created by Brahmâ, 'the red colour of burning fire is the
colour of fire,' &c. And the text moreover states the original
tripartition to have taken place after the differentiation of names and
forms: 'That divinity having entered into these three beings
differentiated names and forms. Each of these (beings) it rendered
tripartite.'--To this objection the next Sûtra replies.
18. Flesh is of earthy nature; in the case of the two others also
according to the text.
The view that the description of tripartition, given in the passage
'each of these he made tripartite,' refers to a time subsequent to the
creation of the mundane egg and to the gods created by Brahmâ, cannot be
upheld. For from it there would follow that, as in the passage 'earth
when eaten is disposed of in three ways,' &c., flesh is declared to be
more subtle than feces, and mind yet subtler, it would have to be
assumed--in agreement with the nature of the causal substance--that
flesh is made of water and manas of fire [FOOTNOTE 581:1]. And similarly
we should have to assume that urine--which is the grossest part of
water drunk (cp. VI, 5, 2)--is of the nature of earth, and breath, which
is its subtlest part, of the nature of fire. But this is not admissible;
for as the text explicitly states that earth when eaten is disposed of
in three ways, flesh and mind also must be assumed to be of an earthy
nature. In the same way we must frame our view concerning 'the two
others,' i.e. water and fire, 'according to the text.' That means--the
three parts into which water divides itself when drunk, must be taken to
be all of them modifications of water, and the three parts of fire when
consumed must be held to be all of them modifications of fire. Thus
feces, flesh and mind are alike transformations of earth; urine, blood
and breath transformations of water; bones, marrow and speech
transformations of fire.
This moreover agrees with the subsequent statement (VI, 5, 4), 'For,
truly, mind consists of earth, breath of water, speech of fire.' The
process of tripartition referred to in VI, 3, 4, is not therefore the
same as the one described in the section that tells us what becomes of
food when eaten, water when drunk, &c. Were this (erroneous) assumption
made, and were it thence concluded that mind, breath and speech--as
being the subtlest created things--are made of fire, this would flatly
contradict the complementary text quoted above ('mind consists of earth,'
&c.). When the text describes how earth, water and fire, when eaten,
are transformed in a threefold way, it refers to elements which had
already been rendered tripartite; the process of tripartition must
therefore have taken place before the creation of the cosmic egg.
Without such tripartition the elements would be incapable of giving rise
to any effects; such capability they acquire only by being mutually
conjoined, and that is just the process of tripartition. In agreement
herewith Smriti says, 'Separate from each other, without connexion,
those elements with their various powers were incapable of producing
creatures. Bul having combined completely, entered into mutual
conjunction, abiding one within the other, the principles--from the
highest Mahat down to individual things--produced the mundane egg.'--
When the text therefore says (VI, 3, 3) 'The divinity having entered
into those three beings with that soul-self differentiated names and
forms; he made each of these tripartite,' the order in which the text
mentions the activities of differentiation and tripartition is refuted
by the order demanded by the sense [FOOTNOTE 583:1].--The text then
proceeds to exemplify the process of tripartition, by means of burning
fire, the sun and lightning, which indeed are things contained within
the mundane egg (while yet the tripartition of elements took place
before the egg, with all its contents, was created); but this is done
for the information of Svetaketu, who himself is a being within the
mundane egg, and has to be taught with reference to things he knows.
But, a final objection is raised, as on this view of the matter the
elements--earth, water and fire--which are eaten and drunk, are already
tripartite, each of them containing portions of all, and thus are of a
threefold nature, how can they be designated each of them by a simple
term--_earth_, _water_, _fire_?--To this the next Sûtra replies.
[FOOTNOTE 581:1. I.e. if the tripartition of earth (i. e. solid food)
when eaten, which is described in VI, 5, 1, were the same tripartition
which is described in VI, 3, 3-4, we should have to conclude that the
former tripartition consists, like the latter, in an admixture to earth
of water and fire.]
[FOOTNOTE 583:1. That means--in reality the tripartition of the elements
came first, and after that the creation of individual beings.]
19. But on account of their distinctive nature there is that designation,
that designation.
Each element indeed is of a threefold nature, owing to the primary
tripartition; but as in each mixed element one definite element prevails--
so that each element has a distinctive character of its own--a definite
designation is given to each.--The repetition (of 'that designation') in
the Sûtra indicates the completion of the adhyâya.--Here terminates the
adhikarana of 'the fashioning of names and forms.'