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VII PRAPATHAKA, 11.
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imperfect knowledge, fancying themselves alone wise and learned, they wander about floundering and deceived, like the blind led by the blind".
10. The gods and the demons, wishing to know the Self, went into the presence of Brahman (their father, Pragâpati)? Having bowed before him, they said: 'O blessed one, we wish to know the Self, do thou tell us.' Then, after having pondered a long while, he thought, these demons are not yet self-subdued3; therefore a very different Self was told to them (from what was told to the gods). On that Self these deluded demons take their stand, clinging to it, destroying the true means of salvation (the Veda), preaching untruth. What is untrue they see as true, as in jugglery. Therefore, what is taught in the Vedas, that is true. What is said in the Vedas, on that the wise keep their stand. Therefore let a Brâhman not read what is not of the Veda, or this will be the result.
II. This is indeed the nature of it (the Veda), the supreme light of the ether which is within the heart. This is taught as threefold, in the fire, in the sun, in the breath. This is indeed the nature of it, the syllable Om, of the ether which is within the heart. By it (by the Om) that (light) starts, rises, breathes forth, becomes for ever the means of the worship and knowledge of Brahman. That (light, in the shape of
See Kath. Up. II, 5.
Cf. Khând. Up. VIII, 8. 8 I prefer ayatâtmânah, though it is the easier (sugama) reading, as compared with anyatâtmânah, those who seek for the Self elsewhere, namely, in the body. It seems to me to refer to those who, without having subdued the passions of their body, wish to obtain the knowledge of the Highest Self. Possibly, however, the author may have intended a climax from anyatâtmânah to anyatamam.
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| SR No. | 007684 |
| Book Title | Vinaya Texts |
| 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 |