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 1878

148
VEDÂNTA-SOTRAS.
vånara to make statements not concerning the highest Lord, but merely concerning the gastric fire, there would be no possibility of specifications such as contained in the passage
His head is Sutegas,' &c. That also on the assumption of Vaisvanara being either the divinity of fire or the elemental fire no room is to be found for the said specifications, we shall show under the following Satra.—Moreover, if the mere gastric fire were meant, there would be room only for a declaration that it abides within man, not that it is man. But, as a matter of fact, the Vågasaneyins speak of him-in their sacred text--as man, 'This Agni Vaisvânara is man; he who knows this Agni Vaisvânara as man-like, as abiding within man,'&c. (Sat. Brå. X, 6, 1, 11). The highest Lord, on the other hand, who is the Self of everything, may be spoken of as well as man, as abiding within man. Those who, in the latter part of the Satra, read 'man-like' (purushavidham) instead of 'man' (purusham), wish to express the following meaning: If Vaisvånara were assumed to be the gastric fire only, he might be spoken of as abiding within man indeed, but not as man-like. But the Vågasaneyins do speak of him as man-like, 'He who knows him as man-like, as abiding within man.'-The meaning of the term man-like is to be concluded from the context, whence it will be seen that, with reference to nature, it means that the highest Lord has the heaven for his head, &c., and is based on the earth ; and with reference to man, that he forms the head, &c., and is based on the chin (of the devout worshipper 1).
27. For the same reasons (the Vaisvanara) cannot be the divinity (of fire), or the element (of fire).
The averment that the fanciful attribution of members contained in the passage 'His head is Sutegas,' &c. may apply to the elemental fire also which from the mantras is seen to be connected with the heavenly world, &c., or else to the divinity whose body is fire, on account of its power, is refuted by the following remark: For the reasons
I.e. that he may be fancifully identified with the head and so: on of the devout worshipper.
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