1. In obtaining another of that, it goes enveloped, (as appears) from
question and explanation.
That the Vedânta-texts establish as the proper object of meditation, on
the part of all men desirous of Release, the highest Brahman, which is
the only cause of the entire world, which is not touched by even a
shadow of imperfection, which is an ocean, as it were, of supremely
exalted qualities, and which totally differs in nature from all other
beings--this is the point proved in the two previous adhyâyas; there
being given at the same time arguments to disprove the objections raised
against the Vedânta doctrine on the basis of Smriti and reasoning, to
refute the views held by other schools, to show that the different
Vedânta-texts do not contradict each other, and to prove that the Self
is the object of activities (enjoined in injunctions of meditation, and
so on). In short, those two adhyâyas have set forth the essential nature
of Brahman. The subsequent part of the work now makes it its task to
enquire into the mode of attaining to Brahman, together with the means
of attainment. The third adhyâya is concerned with an enquiry into
meditation--which is the means of attaining to Brahman; and as the
motive for entering on such meditation is supplied by the absence of all
desire for what is other than the thing to be obtained, and by the
desire for that thing, the points first to be enquired into are the
imperfections of the individual soul--moving about in the different
worlds, whether waking or dreaming or merged in dreamless sleep, or in
the state of swoon; and those blessed characteristics by which Brahman
is raised above all these imperfections. These are the topics of the
first and second pâdas of the adhyâya.
The first question to be considered is whether the soul, when moving
from one body into another, is enveloped by those subtle rudiments of
the elements from which the new body is produced, or not. The
Pûrvapakshin maintains the latter alternative; for, he says, wherever
the soul goes it can easily provide itself there with those rudiments.
Other reasons supporting this primâ facie view will be mentioned and
refuted further on.--The Sûtra states the view finally accepted, 'In
obtaining another "of that" it goes enveloped.' The 'of that' refers
back to the form, i.e. body, mentioned in II, 4, 17. The soul when
moving towards another embodiment goes enveloped by the rudiments of the
elements. This is known 'from question and explanation,' i.e. answer.
Question and answer are recorded in the 'Knowledge of the five fires'
(Ch. Up. V, 3-10), where Pravâhana, after having addressed to Svetaketu
several other questions, finally asks 'Do you know why in the fifth
libation water is called man?' In answer to this last question the text
then explains how the Devas, i.e. the prânas attached to the soul, offer
into the heavenly world, imagined as a sacrificial fire, the oblation
called sraddhâ; how this sraddhâ changes itself into a body con sisting
of amrita, which body is called moon; how the same prânas offer this
body of amrita in Parjanya, imagined as a fire, whereupon the body so
offered becomes rain; how the same prânas throw that rain on to the
earth, also imagined as a sacrificial fire, whereupon it becomes food;
how this food is then offered into man, also compared to fire, where it
becomes seed; and how, finally, this seed is offered into woman, also
compared to a fire, and there becomes an embryo. The text then goes on,
'Thus in the fifth oblation water becomes purushavakas,' i.e. to be
designated by the term _man_. And this means that the water which, in a
subtle form, was throughout present in the previous oblations also, now,
in that fifth oblation, assumes the form of a man.--From this question
and answer it thus appears that the soul moves towards a new embodiment,
together with the subtle rudiments from which the new body springs.--But
the words, 'water becomes purushavakas,' only intimate that water
assumes the form of a man, whence we conclude that water only invests
the soul during its wanderings; how then can it be held that the soul
moves invested by the rudiments of all elements?--To this question the
next Sûtra replies.
2. But on account of (water) consisting of the three elements; on
account of predominance.
Water alone could not produce a new body; for the text Ch. Up. VI, 3, 4,
'Each of these he made tripartite,' shows that all the elements were'
made tripartite to the end of producing bodies. That the text under
discussion mentions water only, is due to the predominance of water; and
that among the elements giving rise to a new body water predominates, we
infer from the fact that blood and the other humours are the
predominating element in the body.