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264
SVETASVATARA-UPANISHAD.
pervading, the self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver", the only one, free from qualities.
122. He is the one ruler of many who (seem to act, but really do not act 3; he makes the one seed manifold. The wise who perceive him within their self, to them belongs eternal happiness, not to others.
134. He is the eternal among eternals, the thinker among thinkers, who, though one, fulfils the desires of many. He who has known that cause which is to be apprehended by Sânkhya (philosophy) and Yoga (religious discipline), he is freed from all fetters.
1 All the MSS. seem to read ketâ, not ketta. 2 See Katha-upanishad V, 12-15.
3 Sankara explains that the acts of living beings are due to their organs, but do not affect the Highest Self, which always remains passive (nishkriya).
4 I have formerly translated this verse, according to the reading nityo 'nityânâm ketanas ketanânâm, the eternal thinker of noneternal thoughts. This would be a true description of the Highest Self who, though himself eternal and passive, has to think (givâtman) non-eternal thoughts. I took the first ketanah in the sense of kettâ, the second in the sense of ketanam. The commentators, however, take a different, and it may be, from their point, a more correct view. Sankara says: "He is the eternal of the eternals, i. e. as he possesses eternity among living souls (gîvas), these living souls also may claim eternity. Or the eternals may be meant for earth, water, &c. And in the same way he is the thinker among thinkers.'
Sankarananda says: 'He is eternal, imperishable, among eternal, imperishable things, such as the ether, &c. He is thinking among thinkers.'
Vigñânâiman says: “The Highest Lord is the cause of eternity in eternal things on earth, and the cause of thought in the thinkers on earth. But he allows another construction, namely, that he is the eternal thinker of those who on earth are endowed with eternity and thought. In the end all these interpretations come to
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