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III ADHYAYA, 3 PÂDA, 55.
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54. Or there is no contradiction as in the case of mantras and the rest.
The 'or' here has the sense of 'and.' The "and the rest' comprises generic characteristics, qualities, number, similarity, order of succession, substances, and actions. As there is nothing contrary to reason in mantras and the rest, although mentioned in the text of one såkhá only, finding, on the basis of such means of proof as direct statement, and so on, their application in all så khås, since the sacrifice to which they belong is one and the same in all sakhås ; So there is likewise no contradiction in the meditations under discussion being undertaken by members of all såkhås.--Here terminates the adhikarana of what is connected with constituent elements of the sacrifice.'
55. There is pre-eminence of plenitude, as in the case of the sacrifice; for thus Scripture shows.
The sacred text (K 1. Up. V, 12 ff.) enjoins a meditation on Vaisvånara, the object of which is the highest Self, as having for its body the entire threefold world, and for its limbs the heavenly world, the sun, the wind, and so on. The doubt here arises whether separate meditations have to be performed on the highest Being in its separate aspects, or in its aggregate as well as in its distributed aspect, or in its aggregate aspect only.-In its separate aspects, the Purvapakshin maintains; since at the outset a meditation of that kind is declared. For on the Rishis in succession telling Asvapati the objects of their meditation, viz. the sky, the sun, and so on, Asvapati explains to them that these meditations refer to the head, eye, and so on, of the highest Being, and mentions for each of these meditations a special fruit. And the concluding explanation 'he who worships Vaisvånara as a span long, &c.,' is merely meant to gather up into one, as it were, the preceding meditations on the parts of Vaisvånara.—Another Parvapakshin holds that this very concluding passage enjoins a further meditation on Vaisvanara in his collective aspect, in addition to the previously enjoined meditations
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