Satapatha Bramhana Part 05

SR No.: 007680
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1900
Total Pages: 2017
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 44 MB

Page 1304

96
· VEDÂNTA-SÛTRAS.
purport of the entire sastra. The passage, further, Of that Self although it exists in one's own and in other bodies, the knowledge is of one kind' (Vi. Pu. II, 14, 31 ff.), refers to that view of duality according to which the different Selfs-although equal in so far as they are all of the essence of knowledge—are constituted into separate beings, gods, men, &c., by their connexion with different portions of matter all of which are modifications of primary matter, and declares that view to be false. But this does not imply a denial of the duality which holds good between
on the one hand and Self on the other : what the passage means is that the Self which dwells in the different material bodies of gods, men, and so on, is of one and the same kind. So the Holy one himself has said, ' In the dog and the low man eating dog's flesh the wise see the same': 'Brahman, without any imperfection, is the same' (Bha. Gí. V, 18, 19). And, moreover, the clause of the Self although existing in one's own and in other bodies' directly declares that a thing different from the body is distributed among one's own and other bodies.
Nor does the passage If there is some other (para) different (anya) from me,' &c. (Vi. Pu. II, 13, 86) intimate the oneness of the Self; for in that case the two words para' and 'anya' would express one meaning only (viz. other' in the sense of distinct from '). The word 'para' there denotes a Self distinct from that of one's own Self. and the word 'anya' is introduced to negative a character different from that of pure intelligence: the sense of the passage thus is 'If there is some Self distinct from mine, and of a character different from mine which is pure knowledge, then it can be said that I am of such a character and he of a different character'; but this is not the case, because all Selfs are equal in as far as their nature consists of pure knowledge.—Also the sloka beginning "Owing to the difference of the holes of the Aute' (Vi. Pu. II, 14, 32) only declares that the inequality of the different Selfs is owing not to their essential nature, but to their dwelling in different material bodies; and does not teach the oneness of all Selfs. The different portions of air, again, passing
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