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196
VEDÂNTA-SOTRAS.
be the highest Lord.-Why On account of the term
lord of the past and of the future.' For none but the highest Lord is the absolute ruler of the past and the future.—Moreover, the clause this is that' connects the passage with that which had been enquired about, and therefore forms the topic of discussion. And what had been enquired about is Brahman, That which thou seest as neither this nor that, as neither effect nor cause, as neither past nor future, tell me that' (I, 2, 14).-'On account of the term,' i. e. on account of the direct statement, in the text, of a designation, viz. the term "Lord,' we understand that the highest Lord is meant?. -But still the question remains how a certain extension can be attributed to the omnipresent highest Self.—The reply to this is given in the next Satra.
25. But with reference to the heart (the highest Self is said to be of the size of a span), as men are entitled (to the study of the Veda).
The measure of a span is ascribed to the highest Lord, although omnipresent with reference to his abiding within the heart; just as to ether (space) the measure of a cubit is ascribed with reference to the joint of a bamboo. For, on the one hand, the measure of a span cannot be ascribed directly to the highest Self which exceeds all measure, and, on the other hand, it has been shown that none but the highest Lord can be meant here, on account of the term 'Lord,' and so on.-But-an objection may be raisedas the size of the heart varies in the different classes of living beings it cannot be maintained that the declaration
1 This last sentence is directed against the possible objection that 'sabda,' which the Satra brings forward as an argument in favour of the highest Lord being meant, has the sense of sentence' (vâkya), and is therefore of less force than linga, i.e. indicatory or inferential mark which is represented in our passage by the angushthamâtrata of the purusha, and favours the giva-interpretation. Sabda, the text remarks, here means sruti, i. e. direct enunciation, and sruti ranks, as a means of proof, higher than linga.
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