________________
526
VEDÂNTA-SÓTRAS.
in many ways,' and it is this birth-consisting in the volun. tary assumption of bodily form, due to tenderness towards its devotees—which the Bhagavata system teaches ; hence there lies no valid objection to the authoritativeness of that system. And as Sankarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha are the beings ruling over the individual souls, internal organs and organs of egoity, there can be no objection to their being themselves denoted by those latter terms, viz. individual soul, and so on. The case is analogous to that of Brahman being designated, in some texts, by terms such as ether, breath, and the like.
43. And on account of contradiction.
The origination of the giva is, moreover, distinctly controverted in the books of the Bhagavatas also. Thus in the Parama-samhita 'The nature of Prakriti consists therein that she is non-sentient, for the sake of another, eternal, ever-changing, comprising within herself the three guras, and constituting the sphere of action and experience for all agents. With her the soul (purusha) is connected in the way of inseparable association; that soul is known to be truly without beginning and without end.' And as all Samhitâs make similar statements as to the eternity of the soul, the Pañkaratra doctrine manifestly controverts the view of the essential nature of the giva being something that originates. How it is possible that in the Veda as well as in common life the soul is spoken of as being born, dying, &c., will be explained under SQ. II, 3, 17. The conclusion, therefore, is that the Bhagavata system also denies the origination of the soul, and that hence the objections raised on this ground against its authoritativeness are without any force. Another objection is raised by some. Sandilya, they argue, is said to have promul. gated the Pankarâtra doctrine because he did not find a sure basis for the highest welfare of man in the Veda and its auxiliary disciplines, and this implies that the Pañkaratra is opposed to the Veda.-This objection, we reply, springs from nothing else but the mere unreasoning faith of men who do not possess the faintest knowledge
Digitized by Google
Digitized by