Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
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

Page 1683

INTRODUCTION.
1xxxi
dying sage,' viz. in the passage Bri. Up. III, 2, 11, where Yâgñavalkya instructs Årtabhaga that, when this man dies, the prânas do not depart from it (asmât; the context showing that asmat means 'from it,' viz. from the body, and not from him,' viz. the giva).—The same view is, moreover, confirmed by Smriti passages.
According to Râmânuga the three Sûtras forming Sankara's sixth adhikarana do not constitute a new adhikarana at all, and, moreover, have to be combined into two Sutras. The topic continuing to be discussed is the utkranti of the vidvan. If, Sūtra 12 says, the utkranti of the prânas is not admitted, on the ground of the denial supposed to be contained in Bri. Up. IV, 4, 5; the reply is that the sense of the tasya there is ' sârîrât' (so that the passage means, ' from him, i.e. the giva, the prânas do not depart'); for this is clearly shown by the reading of some, viz. the Mâdhyandinas, who, in their text of the passage, do not read 'tasya' but 'tasmât.'—With reference to the instruction given by Yagñavalkya to Artabhaga, it is to be remarked that nothing there shows the 'ayam purusha 'to be the sage who knows Brahman.—And, finally, there are Smriti passages declaring that the sage also when dying departs from the body.
Adhik. VII and VIII (15, 16) teach, according to Sankara, that, on the death of him who possesses the higher knowledge, his pränas, elements, &c. are merged in Brahman, so as to be no longer distinct from it in any way.
According to Râmânuga the two Sûtras continue the teaching about the prânas, bhůtas, &c. of the vidvan in general, and declare that they are finally merged in Brahman, not merely in the way of conjunction (samyoga), but completely
Adhik. IX (17).-Sankara here returns to the owner of the aparâ vidyâ, while Râmânuga continues the description of the utkranti of his vidvân.-The giva of the dying man
i When the giva has passed out of the body and ascends to the world of Brahman, it remains enveloped by the subtle body until it reaches the river Vigara. There it divests itself of the subtle body, and the latter is merged in Brahman.
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