________________
VEDANTA-SUTRAS.
362
general instruction received, questions again in order to receive clearer information on those three matters, 'What thou seest as different from dharma and different from adharma, as different from that, from that which is done and not done, as different from what is past or future, tell me that'; a question referring to three things, viz. an object to be effected, a means to effect it, and an effecting agent-each of which is to be different from anything else past, present, or future1. Yama thereupon at first instructs him as to the Pranava, 'That word which all the Vedas record, which all penances proclaim, desiring which men become religious students; that word I tell thee briefly-it is Om'-an instruction which implies praise of the Pranava, and in a general way sets forth that which the Pranava expresses, e. g. the nature of the object to be reached, the nature of the person reaching it, and the means for reaching it, such means here consisting in the word 'Om,' which denotes the object to be reached. He then continues to glorify the Pranava (I, 2, 16-17), and thereupon gives special information in the first place about the nature of the attaining subject, i. e, the individual soul, 'The knowing Self is not born, it dies not,' &c. Next he teaches Nakiketas as to the true nature of the object to be attained, viz. the highest Brahman or Vishnu, in the section beginning The Self smaller than small,' and ending 'Who then knows where he is?' (I, 2, 20-25). Part of this section, viz. 'That Self cannot be gained by the Veda,' &c.,
1 The commentary proposes different ways of finding those three objects of enquiry in the words of Nakiketas. According to the first explanation, 'that which is different from dharma' is a means differing from all ordinary means; 'adharma' 'not-dharma' is what is not a means, but the result to be reached: hence that which is different from adharma' is a result differing from all ordinary results. What is different from that' is an agent different from that'; i. e. an ordinary agent, and so on. (Sru. Prakâs. p. 1226.)
The syllable 'Om,' which denotes Brahman, is a means towards meditation (Brahman being meditated upon under this form), and thus indirectly a means towards reaching Brahman.
Digitized by Google
