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I ADIIYAYA; 3 PÂDA, 13.
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reply, have in common the terms 'highest' (or 'higher,' para), and person.' And it must not by any means be supposed that the term gîvaghana' refers to that highest person which, considered as the object of meditation, had previously been introduced as the general topic. For the consequence of that supposition would be that that highest person which is the object of sight would be different from that highest person which is represented as the object of meditation. We rather have to explain the word givaghana as 'He whose shape 2 is characterised by the gîvas;' so that what is really meant by that term is that limited condition of the highest Self which is owing to its adjuncts, and manifests itself in the form of gîvas, i.e. individual souls; a condition analogous to the limitation of salt (in general) by means of the mass of a particular lump of salt. That limited condition of the Self may itself be called 'higher,' if viewed with regard to the senses and their objects.
Another (commentator) says that we have to understand by the word 'givaghana' the world of Brahman spoken of in the preceding sentence (by the Sâman verses he is led up to the world of Brahman'), and again in the following sentence (v. 7), which may be called 'higher,' because it is higher than the other worlds. That world of Brahman may be called givaghana because all individual souls (giva) with their organs of action may be viewed as comprised (sanghâta =ghana) within Hiranyagarbha, who is the Self of all organs, and dwells in the Brahma-world. We thus understand that he who is higher than that givaghana, i.e. the highest Self, which constitutes the object of sight, also constitutes the object of meditation. The qualification, moreover, expressed in the term 'the highest person' is in its place only if we understand the highest Self to be meant. For the name, 'the highest person,' can be given only to the highest Self, higher than which there is nothing. So another scriptural passage also says, 'Higher than the person there is nothing—this is the goal, the highest road.' Hence the
1 Translated above by of the shape of the individual soul.' 9 Panini III, 3, 77, mørttan ghanah.
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