Book Title: Satapatha Bramhana Part 05
Author(s): Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford


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Page 1477
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I ADHYAYA, 2 PÂDA, 12.
269
being represented as the object of meditation and attainment, and the individual Self as the meditating and attaining subject. The passage 'When he has known and understood that which is born from Brahman, the intelligent, to be divine and venerable, then he obtains everlasting peace' (I, 1, 17) refers to the meditating individual soul which recognises itself as being of the nature of Brahman. On the other hand, I, 2, 3, .That which is a bridge for sacrificers, the highest imperishable Brahman for those who wish to cross over to the fearless shore, the Nakiketa, may we be able to know that,' refers to the highest Self as the object of meditation ; Nakiketa' here meaning that which is to be reached through the Nakiketa-rite. Again, the passage 'Know the Self to be sitting in the chariot and the body to be the chariot' (1, 3, 3) refers to the meditating individual soul; and the verse, I, 3, 9, 'But he who has understanding for his charioteer, and holds the reins of the mind, he reaches the end of his journey, and that is the highest place of Vishnu,' refers to the embodied and the highest Selfs as that which attains and that which is to be attained. And in the text under discussion also (1, 3, 1), the two Selfs are distinctly designated as light and shade, the one being all-knowing, the other devoid of knowledge.
But, a new objection is raised, the initial passage, I, 1, 29, That doubt which there is when a man is dead some saying, he is; others, he is not,' clearly asks a question as to the true nature of the individual soul, and we hence conclude that that soul forms the topic of the whole chapter.-Not so, we reply. That question does not spring from any doubt as to the existence or non-existence of the soul apart from the body; for if this were so the two first boons chosen by Nakiketas would be unsuitable. For the story runs as follows: When the sacrifice offered by the father of Nakiketas-at which all the possessions of the sacrificer were to be given to the priests--is drawing towards its close, the boy, feeling afraid that some deficiency on the part of the gifts might render the sacrifice unavailing, and dutifully wishing to render his father's sacrifice complete by giving his own person also, repeatedly asks
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