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VEDÂNTA-SÛTRAS.
about. The question relative to the fire sacrifice is contained in the passage (Ka. Up. I, 1, 13), 'Thou knowest, O Death, the fire sacrifice which leads us to Heaven; tell it to me, who am full of faith.' The question as to the individual soul is contained in I, 1, 20, 'There is that doubt when a man is dead, some saying, he is; others, he is not. This I should like to know, taught by thee; this is the third of my boons. And the question about the highest Self is asked in the passage (I, 2, 14), 'That which thou seest as neither this nor that, as neither effect nor cause, as neither past nor future, tell me that.'--The corresponding answers are given in I, 1, 15, Yama then told him that fire sacrifice, the beginning of all the worlds, and what bricks are required for the altar, and how many ;' in the passage met with considerably later on (II, 5, 6; 7), Well then, O Gautama, I shall tell thee this mystery, the old Brahman and what happens to the Self after reaching death. Some enter the womb in order to have a body as organic beings, others go into inorganic matter according to their work and according to their knowledge;'and in the passage (I, 2, 18), The knowing Self is not born nor does it die,' &c. ; which latter passage dilates at length on the highest Self. But there is no question relative to the pradhana, and hence no opportunity for any remarks on it.
Here the Sânkhya advances a new objection. Is, he asks, the question relative to the Self which is asked in the passage, .There is that doubt when a man is dead,' &c., again resumed in the passage, 'That which thou seest as neither this nor that,' &c., or does the latter passage raise a distinct new question? If the former, the two questions about the Self coalesce into one, and there are therefore altogether two questions only, one relative to the fire sacrifice, the other relative to the Self. In that case the Satra has no right to speak of questions and explanations relating to three subjects. If the latter, you do not consider it a mistake to assume a question in excess of the number of boons granted, and can therefore not object to us if we assume an explanation about the pradhâna in excess of the number of questions asked.
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