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VEDANTA-SOTRAS.
'all,' according to which it denotes all invited Brahmanas. In our case on the other hand there is no reason whatever for narrowing the meaning of all.'-Hence the word 'all' includes all pränas without exception. Nothing on the other hand prevents the enumeration of seven prânas being taken as illustrative only. It is therefore an established conclusion, resting on the number of the effects as well as on Vedic statement, that there are eleven prânas.
7. And (they are) minute.
The author of the Satras adds another characteristic quality of the prânas. The pranas under discussion must be viewed as minute. By their minuteness we have to understand subtilty and limited size; but not atomic size, as otherwise they would be incapable of producing effects which extend over the whole body. They must be subtle ; for if they were big the persons surrounding a dying man would see them coming out from the body at the moment of death, as a snake comes out of its hole. They must be limited; for if they were all-pervading the scriptural statements as to their passing out of the body, going and coming, would be contradicted thereby, and it could not be established that the individual soul is the essence of the qualities of that' (i. e. the manas; cp. II, 3, 29). Should it be said that they may be all-pervading, but at the same time appear as functions (vritti) in the body only, we rejoin that only a function can constitute an instrument. Whatever effects perception, may it be a function or something else, just that is an instrument for us. The disagreement is therefore about a name only, and the assumption of the instruments (pranas) being all-pervading is thus purposeless. Hence we decide that the pranas are subtle and of limited size.
8. And the best (i.e. the chief vital air). • The Satra extends to the chief vital air (mukhya prana) a quality already asserted of the other pränas, viz. being an effect of Brahman.—But, an objection may be raised, it has already been stated of all pränas without difference that they are effects of Brahman; e.g. the passage, 'From him
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| SR No. | 007682 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1894 |
| Total Pages | 2240 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 38 MB |