________________
I ADHYAYA, 2 PÂDA.
255
SECOND PÅDA. THE contents of the first Pada may be summed up as follows :-It has been shown that a person who has read the text of the Veda; who further, through the study of the Karma-Mîmamsa, has acquired a full knowledge of the nature of (sacrificial and similar) works, and has recognised that the fruits of such works are limited and non-permanent; in whom there has arisen the desire for the highest aim of man, i.e. Release, which, as he has come to know in the course of reading the Vedanta portions of scripture, is effected by meditation on the nature of Brahman—such meditation having an infinite and permanent result; who has convinced himself that words are capable of conveying information about accomplished things (not only about things to be done), and has arrived at the conclusion that the Vedanta-texts are an authoritative means of knowledge with regard to the highest Brahman ;-that such a person, we say, should begin the study of the Såriraka-Mimamsa which indicates the method how Brahman is to be known through the Vedanta-texts.
We next have shown that the text "That from which these creatures are born,' &c., conveys the idea of the highest Brahman as that being which in sport, as it were, creates, sustains, and finally reabsorbs this entire universe, comprising within itself infinite numbers of variously constituted animated beings—moving and non-moving-, of objects of enjoyment for those beings, of means of enjoyment, and of abodes of enjoyment; and which is the sole cause of all bliss. We have established that this highest Brahman, which is the sole cause of the world, cannot be the object of the other means of knowledge, and hence is to be known through scripture only. We have pointed out that the position of scripture as an authoritative means of knowledge is established by the fact that all the Vedantatexts connectedly refer to the highest Brahman, which, although not related to any injunctions of action or absten
Digitized by
Digitized by Google
