________________
II ADHYAYA, 2 PÂDA; 36.
521
earring, the head-jewel, ashes, and the sacred thread are called the six mudrås. He whose body is marked with these is not born here again.'-Similarly the Kalamukhas teach that the means for obtaining all desired results in this world as well as the next are constituted by certain practices such as using a skull as a drinking vessel, smearing oneself with the ashes of a dead body, eating the flesh of such a body, carrying a heavy stick, setting up a liquorjar and using it as a platform for making offerings to the gods, and the like. "A bracelet made of Rudraksha-seeds on the arm, matted hair on the head, a skull, smearing oneself with ashes, &c.'-all this is well known from the sacred writings of the Saivas. They also hold that by some special ceremonial performance men of different castes may become Brahmanas and reach the highest asrama : ‘by merely entering on the initiatory ceremony (diksha) a man becomes a Brahmana at once ; by undertaking the kåpåla rite a man becomes at once an ascetic.' : With regard to these views the Satra says 'of pati, on account of inappropriateness.' A 'not' has here to be supplied from Sutra 32. The system of Pasupati has to be disregarded because it is inappropriate, i.e. because the different views and practices referred to are opposed to one another and in conflict with the Veda. The different practices enumerated above, the wearing of the six mudrás and so on, are opposed to each other; and moreover the theoretical assumptions of those people, their forms of devotion and their practices, are in conflict with the Veda. For the Veda declares that Narayana who is the highest Brahman is alone the operative and the substantial cause of the world, Narayana is the highest Brahman, Narayana is the highest Reality; Narayana is the highest light, Narayana is the highest Self'; 'That thought, may I be many, may I grow forth' (Kh. Up. VI, 2, 3); 'He desired, may I be many, may I grow forth'(Taitt. Up. II, 6, 1), and soon. In the same way the texts declare meditation on the Supreme Person, who is the highest Brahman, to be the only meditation which effects final release ; cp. 'I know that great Person of sunlike lustre beyond the
Digitized by Google
Digitized by
