________________
II ADHYÂYA, 3 PÂDA, 15.
537
Brahman, name, form, and food' (Mu. Up. I, 1, 9); 'From that Self there sprang ether' (Taitt. Up. II, 1, 1); 'It (i.c. that which is) sent forth fire' (Kh. Up. VI, 2, 3)—(which seems to teach the direct origination from Brahman of the different elements, and so on)-may be interpreted on the understanding of Brahman being their mediate cause also.This primâ facie view the next Satra disposes of. •
14. But he; from the inferential mark supplied by their reflection.
The 'but' indicates the setting aside of the prima facie view raised. Of all effected things, the Mahat, and so on, the highest Person himself, in so far as embodied in the immediately preceding substance, is the direct cause.How is this known ?- From the inferential mark supplied by the reflection of them. By reflection' the Satra means the resolve expressed in the recurring phrase, “May I be many'; `That fire thought, may I be many'; 'That water thought, may I be many' (Kh. Up. VI, 2, 3; 4). As these texts declare that there was thought-in the form of a resolve of self-multiplication which thought can belong to a Self only, we conclude that also the Mahat, the ahankära, the Ether, and so on, accomplish the sending forth of their respective effects only after similar thought, and such thought can belong only to the highest Brahman embodied in the Mahat, ahankära, and so on. That the highest Brahman is embodied in all beings and constitutes their Self, is directly stated in the antaryamin-brâhmana, "He who abiding in the earth ; abiding in water; abiding in fire,' &c. &c. (Bri. Up. III, 7, 3 ff.); and likewise in the Subala-Up., 'Whose body is the earth,' &c. &c., up to • Whose body is the Unevolved.'—The Purvapakshin had maintained that the creation, from Brahman, of breath, and so on, which is declared in texts such as 'From him are born breath, mind,' &c., may be understood as a mediate creation. This point is taken up by the next Satra.
15. But the order of succession (which is stated) in reverse order (of the true one) is possible, (only
Digitized by
Digitized by Google