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VEDANTA-SOTRAS.
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passages quoted above; the earlier part of which-' free from sin,' up to 'free from thirst'-denies of Brahman all evil qualities, while its latter part-'whose wishes are true,' and so on-asserts of its certain excellent qualities. As thus there is no contradiction between the two classes of texts, there is no reason whatever to assume that either of them has for its object something that is false.--With regard to the concluding passage of the Taittirîya-text, 'from whence all speech, together with the mind, turns away, unable to reach it,' we point out that with the passage From terror of it the wind blows,' there begins a declaration of the qualities of Brahman, and that the next section one hundred times that human bliss,' &c., makes statements as to the relative bliss enjoyed by the different classes of embodied souls; the concluding passage 'He who knows the bliss of that Brahman from whence all speech, together with the mind, turns away unable to reach it,' hence must be taken as proclaiming with emphasis the infinite nature of Brahman's auspicious qualities. Moreover, a clause in the chapter under discussion-viz. 'he obtains all desires, together with Brahman the all-wise' (II, 1) which gives information as to the fruit of the knowledge of Brahman clearly declares the infinite nature of the qualities of the highest all-wise Brahman. The desires are the auspicious qualities of Brahman which are the objects of desire; the man who knows Brahman obtains, together with Brahman, all qualities of it. The expression 'together with' is meant to bring out the primary importance of the qualities; as also described in the so-called dahara-vidyâ (Kh. Up. VIII, 1). And that fruit and meditation are of the same character (i. e. that in meditations on Brahman its qualities are the chief matter of meditation, just as these qualities are the principal point in Brahman reached by the Devotee) is proved by the text According to what a man's thought is in this world, so will he be after he has
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1 Which passage appears to refer to a nirguza brahman, whence it might be inferred that the connected initial passage—' Satyam gianam,' &c.—has a similar purport.
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