Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 15.djvu/88

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but the higher knowledge is that by which the Indestructible (Brahman) is apprehended."

6. That which cannot be seen, nor seized, which has no family and no caste[1], no eyes nor ears, no hands nor feet, the eternal, the omnipresent (all-pervading), infinitesimal, that which is imperishable, that it is which the wise regard as the source of all beings."

7. As the spider sends forth and draws in its thread, as plants grow on the earth, as from every man hairs spring forth on the head and the body, thus does everything arise here from the Indestructible.

8. The Brahman swells by means of brooding (penance)[2]; hence is produced matter (food); from matter breath[3], mind, the true[4], the worlds (seven), and from the works (performed by men in the worlds), the immortal (the eternal effects, rewards, and punishments of works).

  1. I translate varna by caste on account of its conjunction with gotra. The commentator translates, "without origin and without qualities." We should say that which belongs to no genus or species.
  2. I have translated tapas by brooding, because this is the only word in English which combines the two meanings of warmth and thought. Native authorities actually admit two roots, one tap, to burn, the other tap, to meditate; see commentary on Parâsara-smriti p. 39 b (MS. Bodl.), Tapah krikkhrakandrâyanâdirûpenâhâravarganam. Nanu Vyâsena tapo 'nyathâ smaryate, tapah svadharma-vartitvam saukam sanganibarhanam iti; nâyam doshah, krikkhrâder api svadharmaviseshât. Tapa samtâpa ity asmâd dhâtor utpannasya tapah-sabdasya dehasoshane vrittir mukhyâ... Yat tu tatraivoktam, ko 'yam mokshah kathham tena samsâram pratipannavân ity âlokanam arthagñâs tapah samsanti panditâ iti so 'nya eva tapahsabdah, tapa âlokana ity asmâd dhâtor utpannah.
  3. Hiranyagarbha, the living world as a whole. Comm.
  4. Satya, if we compare Kath. VI, 7 and III, 10, seems to mean buddhi. Here it is explained by the five elements.