Book Title: Dhammapada
Author(s): Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford

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Page 2506
________________ VI PRAPATHAKA, 16. 317 if the parts (the twinklings, &c.) can be distinguished from the whole (time"). For thus it is said: 'As many portions of time as there are, through them the sun proceeds: he who worships time as Brahman, from him time moves away very far.' And thus it is said : 'From time all beings flow, from time they grow; in time they obtain rest; time is visible (sun) and invisible (moments).' 15. There are two forms of Brahman, time and non-time. That which was before the (existence of the) sun is non-time and has no parts. That which had its beginning from the sun is time and has parts. Of that which has parts, the year is the form, and from the year are born all creatures; when produced by the year they grow, and go again to rest in the year. Therefore the year is Pragapati, is time, is food, is the nest of Brahman, is Self. Thus it is said: Time ripens and dissolves all beings in the great Self, but he who knows into what time itself is dissolved, he is the knower of the Veda. 16. This manifest time is the great ocean of creatures. He who is called Savitri (the sun, as begetter) dwells in it, from whence the moon, stars, planets, the year, and the rest are begotten. From them again comes all this, and thus, whatever of good or evil is seen in this world, comes from them. Therefore Brahman is the Self of the sun, and a man should worship the sun under the name of time. Some say the sun is Brahman, and thus it is said : 1 Thus, the commentator says, the existence of the lamp can be proved by the light of the lamp, as the existence of time is proved by what we see, the rising of the sun. All this is very obscure. Digitized by Google

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