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


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Page 1517
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I ADHYAYA, 3 PÅDA, 9.
309
other means of proof or of Scripture, the former meaning presents itself to the mind first, and hence there is no reason why such meaning should not be accepted.-But how do you know that the ether of the text is not ether in the ordinary sense ?-From the description, we reply, given of it in the text,. That above the heavens,' &c. There it is said that all created things past, present and future rest on ether as their basis; ether cannot therefore be taken as that elementary substance which itself is comprised in the sphere of things created. We therefore must understand by 'ether' matter in its subtle state, i.e. the Pradhana; and the Imperishable which thereupon is declared to be the support of that Pradhana, hence cannot itself be the Pradhana.-Nor is there any force in the argument that a sense established by some other means of proof presents itself to the mind more immediately than a sense established by Scripture; for as the word 'akshara' (i. e. the non-perishable) intimates its sense directly through the meaning of its constituent elements other means of proof need not be regarded at all.
Moreover Yagñavalkya had said previously that the ether is the cause and abode of all things past, present and future, and when Gârgi thereupon asks him in what that ether is woven,' i.e. what is the causal substance and abode of ether, he replies the Imperishable.' Now this also proves that by the 'Imperishable 'we have to understand the Pradhana which from other sources is known to be the causal substance, and hence the abode, of all effected things whatsoever.
This primâ facie view is set aside by the Satra. The •Imperishable' is the highest Brahman, because the text declares it to support that which is the end, i.e. that which lies beyond ether, viz. unevolved matter (avyåkritam). The ether referred to in Gârgi's question is not ether in the ordinary sense, but what lies beyond ether, viz. unevolved matter, and hence the 'Imperishable' which is said to be the support of that'unevolved' cannot itself be the 'un. evolved,' i.e. cannot be the Pradhana. Let us, then, the Purvapakshin resumes, understand by the 'Imperishable,
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