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


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Page 1538
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330
VEDÂNTA-SÛTRAS.
at some future time, the result desired as, e.g. the heavenly world. Vayu is the swiftest god; he (the sacrificer) approaches Vayu with his own share; the god then leads him to prosperity' (Taitt. Samh. I, 2, 1); •What he seeks by means of that offering, may he obtain that, may he prosper therein, may the gods favourably grant him that' (Taitt. Br. III, 5, 10, 5); these and similar arthavadas and mantras intimate that the gods when propitiated by certain sacrificial works, give certain rewards and possess the power to do so; and they thus connect themselves with the general context of scripture as supplying an evidently required item of information. Moreover, the mere verb to sacrifice' (yag), as denoting worship of the gods, intimates the presence of a deity which is to be propitiated by the action called sacrifice, and thus constitutes the main element of that action. A careful consideration of the whole context thus reveals that everything which is wanted for the due accomplishment of the action enjoined is to be learned from the text itself, and that hence we need not have recourse to such entities as the
unseen principle' (apūrva), assumed to be denoted by, or to be imagined in connexion with, the passages enjoining certain actions. Hence the dharmasastras, itihasas, and puränas also, which are founded on the different brâhmanas, mantras and arthavadas, clearly teach that Brahma and the other gods, as well as the Asuras and other superhuman beings, have bodies and sense-organs, constitutions of different kinds, different abodes, enjoyments, and functions. — Owing to their having bodies, the gods therefore are also qualified for meditation on Brahman.
26. If it be said that there results a contradiction to work; we deny this, on account of the observation of the assumption of several (bodies).
An objection here presents itself. If we admit the gods to have bodies, a difficulty arises at the sacrifices, as it is impossible that one and the same corporeal Indra-who is at the same time invited by many sacrificers come,
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