Vinaya Texts

SR No.: 007684
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2523
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 726

SVETASVATARA-UPANISHAD.
256
further created the lords1, thus carries on his lordship over all.
4. As the car (of the sun) shines, lighting up all quarters, above, below, and across, thus does that god, the holy, the adorable, being one, rule over all that has the nature of a germ2.
5. He, being one, rules over all and everything, so that the universal germ ripens its nature, diversifies all natures that can be ripened3, and determines all qualities*.
6. Brahmâ (Hiranyagarbha) knows this, which is hidden in the Upanishads, which are hidden in the Vedas, as the Brahma-germ. The ancient gods
Self, or whether great would not be sufficient. The whole verse is extremely difficult.
1 From Hiranyagarbha to insects; or beginning with Marîki. 2 Cf. IV, 11; V, 2.
MS. B. has prâkyân, and explains it by pûrvotpannân.
This is again a very difficult verse. I have taken visvayonih as a name for Brahman, possessed of that devâtmasakti which was mentioned before, but I feel by no means satisfied. The commentators do not help, because they do not see the difficulty of the construction. If one might conjecture, I should prefer paket for pakati, and should write parinâmayed yat, and viniyogayed yat, unless we changed yakka into yas ka.
This verse admits of various translations, and requires also some metrical emendations. Thus Vigñânâtman explains vedaguhyopanishatsu very ingeniously by the Veda, i. e. that part of it which teaches sacrifices and their rewards; the Guhya, i. e. the Aranyaka, which teaches the worship of Brahman under various legendary aspects; and the Upanishads, which teach the knowledge of Brahman without qualities. These three divisions would correspond to the karmakânda, yogakânda, and gñânakânda (Gaimini, Patangali, Bâdarâyana). See Deussen, Vedânta, p. 20. Mr. Gough and Dr. Roer take Brahmayoni as 'the source of the Veda,' or as the source of Hiranyagarbha. The irregular form vedate may be due to a corruption of vedânte.
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