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VEDÂNTA-SOTRAS.
characteristic attributes of the chief vital air. Hence there is here no 'multitude of attributes belonging to the Self.'-The latter part of the Satra refutes this objection. The highest Self is called by these different terms in order to teach threefoldness of devout meditation ; viz. meditation on Brahman in itself as the cause of the entire world; on Brahman as having for its body the totality of enjoying (individual) souls; and on Brahman as having for its body the objects and means of enjoyment.--This threefold meditation on Brahman, moreover, is met with also in other chapters of the sacred text. Passages such as "The True, knowledge, infinite is Brahman,' Bliss is Brahman,' dwell on Brahman in itself. Passages again such as 'Having created that he entered into it. Having entered it he became sat and tyat, defined and undefined,' &c. (Taitt. Up. II, 6), represent Brahman as having for its body the individual souls and inanimate nature. Hence, in the chapter under discussion also, this threefold view of Brahman is quite appropriate. Where to particular indi. vidual beings such as Hiranyagarbha, and so on, or to particular inanimate things such as prakriti, and so on, there are attributed qualities especially belonging to the highest Self; or where with words denoting such persons and things there are co-ordinated terms denoting the highest Self, the intention of the texts is to convey the idea of the highest Self being the inner Self of all such persons and things.—The settled conclusion, therefore, is that the being designated as Indra and Präna is other than an individual soul, viz. the highest Self.
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