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INTRODUCTION.
lv
Sûtras 26-29 resume the question already mooted under Sûtra 18, viz. in what relation the soul as knowing agent (gñatri) stands to knowledge (gñana).-In order to decide between the conflicting claims of these two interpretations we must enter into some details.—Sankara maintains that Sûtras 19-28 state and enforce a parvapaksha view, which is finally refuted in 29. What here strikes us at the outset, is the unusual length to which the defence of a mere prima facie view is carried ; in no other place the Satras take so much trouble to render plausible what is meant to be rejected in the end, and an unbiassed reader will certainly fcel inclined to think that in 19-28 we have to do, not with the preliminary statement of a view finally to be abandoned, but with an elaborate bona fide attempt to establish and vindicate an essential dogma of the system. Still it is not altogether impossible that the pûrvapaksha should here be treated at greater length than usual, and the decisive point is therefore whether we can, with Sankara, look upon Sūtra 29 as embodying a refutation ol the pûrvapaksha and thus implicitly acknowledging the doctrine that the individual soul is all-pervading. Now I think there can be no doubt that Sankara's interpretation of the Sutra is exceedingly forced. Literally translated (and leaving out the non-essential word 'prågñavat') the Sûtra runs as follows: But on account of that quality (or" those qualities ;” or else" on account of the quality—or qualities of that ") being the essence, (there is) that designation (or “the designation of that ").' This Sankara maintains to mean, Because the qualities of the buddhi are the essence of the soul in the samsâra state, therefore the soul itself is sometimes spoken of as anu.' Now, in the first place, nothing in the context warrants the explanation of the first 'tat' by buddhi. And—which is more important in the second place, it is more than doubtful whether on Sankara's own system the qualities of the buddhi - such as pleasure, pain, desire, aversion, &c.-can with any propriety be said to constitute the essence of the soul even in the samsara state. The essence of the soul in whatever state, according to Sankara's system, is knowledge or intelligence; whatever is due to its
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| SR No. | 007673 |
| Book Title | Zend Avesta Part 03 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | L H Mills |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1887 |
| Total Pages | 2618 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 49 MB |