Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 1101

I KÂNDA, 9 ADHYAYA, 3 BRAHMANA, II.
269
the Vishnu-strides. Now it is indeed from this (earth) that most (beings) go (upwards).
10. Hence (he strides thrice) with the texts (Vậg. S. II, 25 a-c), 'On the earth Vishnu strode by means of the gâyatri metre: excluded therefrom is he who hates us, and whom we hate!' 'In the air Vishnu strode by means of the trishtubh metre: excluded therefrom is he who hates us, and whom we hate!' * In the sky Vishnu strode by means of the gagati metre: excluded therefrom is he who hates us, and whom we hate! When one has thus ascended these worlds, that is the goal, that the safe refuge: the rays of him (the sun) who burns there, are the righteous (departed)"; and what highest light there is 2, that is Pragâpati or the heavenly world. Having then in this way ascended these worlds, he reaches that goal, that safe refuge. Now he who wishes to give instructions from hence, should come hitherwards from above. Twofold is the reason why he should come hitherwards from above:
11. By (or, from) the escape (of the enemies) s indeed the conquering gods formerly gained first the sky, and then this aërial expanse; and there
1 In VI, 5, 4, 8 we shall meet with the statement, that 'the stars (nakshatra) are the lights of righteous men who go to the heavenly world. In the same passage, however (as in others), the nakshatras (lunar mansions) are represented as divine female beings (with unclipped wings; cf. Vâg. S. XI, 61), with whom, in IX, 4, 1, 9, the moon is said to live together, as the Gandharvas with the Apsaras.
• See par. 16 with note. The Kânva text reads, "yat param bhâti.'
I Apasaranatah; i. e. by allowing the enemies to escape, viz. first from the sky to the air, and then from the air to the earth. It also, however, has the meaning of from escape;' that is, the gods drove the enemies to the earth, whence there was no escape for them.
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