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II ADHYÂYA, I PÂDA, 15.
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it was not strong enough. It created the most excellent Kshattra, viz. those Kshattras among the Devas—Indra, Varuna, Soma, Rudra, Parganya, Yama, Mrityu, I såna'(Bri. Up. I, 4, 11); 'In the beginning all this was Self, one only; there was nothing whatsoever else blinking. He thought, shall I send forth worlds' (Ait. År. II, 4, 1, 1, 2);
There was in truth Narayana only, not Brahmå, not Isana, nor heaven and earth, nor the nakshatras, nor the waters, nor Agni, nor Soma, nor Surya. Being alone he felt no delight. Of him merged in meditation' &c. (Mahầna. Up. I, 1)-these and other texts prove that the highest cause is the Lord of all Lords, Narayana. For as the terms 'Being,' 'Brahman,' 'Self,' which are met with in sections treating of the same topic, are in one of those parallel sections particularised by the term 'Narayana,' it follows that they all mean Narayana. That the Lord only is the universal cause is shown by the following text also, ' He the highest great lord of lords, the highest deity of deities—he is the cause, the lord of the lords of the organs, and there is of him neither parent nor lord' (Svet. Up. VI, 7, 9). Similarly the Manu Smriti, “Then the divine Self-existent (Brahma)- desirous to produce from his own body beings of many kind-first with a thought created the waters and placed his seed in them' (Ma. I, 6-8). Itihåsas and Puranas also declare the Supreme Person only to be the universal cause, “ Narayana, of whom the world is the body, of infinite nature, eternal, when desirous to create sent forth from a thousandth part of himself the souls in two divisions.' 'From Vishnu the world originated and in him it abides.'
Nor is it possible to hold that the Lord is pure 'Being' only, for such · Being' is admitted to be an element of the Lord; and moreover all 'Being' has difference. Nor can it be maintained that the Lord's connexion with all his auspicious qualities — knowledge, bliss, and so on-is occasional (adventitious) merely; it rather is essential and hence eternal. Nor may you avail yourself of certain texts-viz. 'His high power (sakti) is revealed as manifold, as essential, and (so) his knowledge, strength and action'
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