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APPENDIX.
tion has been changed from a literal to
sense.
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the creator of good and evil, the simple adrishta, conceived perhaps in the mind of a forest recluse not particularly noted for his philosophical acumen, has now that its metaphysical origin has been lost sight of in the din and fury of a hot controversy concerning its nature and existence, become the repository of all kinds of discrepancies and incongruities, some of which were noticed by us in the earlier chapters of this book. It could not even be otherwise, for being conceived in the imagination of man as the solitary source of all movement and function, it could not well refuse to accept responsibility for the different kinds of activities-karmic, functional and the like, In more recent times the adrishta has also come to be associated with the ideal of the soul, which is conceived to consist in becoming absorbed in the godhead. Thus, the original metaphysical concept of ultimate force now represents at least four different things namely, (1) the mechanical side of nature, (2) the function of pure spirit and other substances, (3) the force of karma and (4) the final goal of the soul. It is the combination of these four distinct and irreconciliable notions, loosely formed by a metaphysically inclined mind, which is the fruitful source of error and dispute in reference to the personification of adrishta as the supreme ruler of the world.
* Cf. the following from Deussen's System of the Vedanta (English translation by Charles Johnston, p. 8) :
it is the fact that in them [the aranyakas] we meet abundantly a wonderful spiritualising of the sacrificial cult in place of the practical carrying out of the ceremonies, comes meditation upon them, and with a symbolical change of meaning, which then leads on farther to the loftiest thoughts. Let the opening passage of the Brihad-aranyakam (which is intended for the Adhvaryu), in which the Horse Sacrifice is treated, serve as an example:
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"Om!-Dawn verily is the head of the sacrificial horse, the sun is his eye, the wind his breath, his mouth is the all-pervading fire, the ear is the body of the sacrificial horse; heaven is his back, space is his belly, the earth is his foot-stool (Cank.). The poles are his loins, the intermediate quarters are his ribs, the seasons are his limbs, months and half-months are his joints, day and night are his
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