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CHAPTER XXXV, 42.
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that the great self is of the nature of seed and a product. Egoism is of the nature of seed and a product also again and again. And the five great elements are verily of the nature of seed and products. The objects of the five elements are of the nature of seed', but they do not yield products. Learn about their properties. Now space has one quality, air is said to have two qualities; it is said that light has three qualities; and water, too, is of four qualities; and earth, abounding with movables and immovables, the divine source of all entities, full of examples of agreeable and disagree able (things), should be understood to be of five qualities. Sound, touch, colour likewise, taste, and smell as the fifth-these, O best of the twice-born! should be understood to be the five qualities of earth. Smell always belongs to the earths; and smell is stated to be (of) numerous descriptions. I will state at length the numerous qualities of smell“. Smell is agreeable or disagreeable, sweet, sour, and bitter likewise, diffusive and compact also, soft, and rough, and clear also —thus should
This is not clear, unless product' above means productive, and seed means a product, it being a product of the ankura or sprout. Nilakantha says, 'seed=cause; product=effect. The unperceived is an effect, and so the contrary doctrine of the Sankhya is here shown to be wrong. The objects are causes, as their enjoyment causes an impression.
• See pp. 285, 286 supra. • That is to say, smell is the special property of the earth only, the other qualities are common to it with the other elements. The word in the original is guma or quality everywhere.
• See Santi Parvan (Moksha Dharma), chap. 184, st. 37.
• Bitter, Nilakantha exemplifies by the smell of the chili, apparently interpreting kalvi, as it may be interpreted, to mean sharp; diffusive=overcoming all other smells, like Asafoetida; compact= made up of many smells. Nilakantha adds, that soft is like that of
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