Philosophies of India

SR No.: 007309
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd
Publication Year: 1953
Total Pages: 709
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 34 MB

Page 431

BRAHMANISM
the gross and subtle bodies that serve as its temporary abode and vehicle. The blind one, without fingers, neck, or voice, carries on the life-process of the self-conscious creature that is its garb. It is the real actor of all the deeds, and yet, simultaneously, remains unconcerned with whatever happens to the individual in the way of either suffering or joy. What for the latter constitutes the reality of life-life with its numberless and exceedingly various visible and tangible features-for the anonymous superindividual are simply "names," so many unsubstantial words.
Words (i.e., Names), words only, nothing but words are with me. I am no-man, yet I am man and woman; I am rooted in the soil, yet I move freely; I am now performing sacrifices, I did perform sacrifices, and I shall
perform sacrifices. The living beings, through me, perform sacrifices; The living beings are my beasts of sacrifice; And I am the beast of sacrifice, tied with the rope, filling the
entire world. 131
What this means is that the divine life-force that pervades the universe and inhabits every crcature, the anonymous faceless essence behind the numberless masks, is our sole interior reality. Stones, hills, trees and other plants, are “rooted in the soil" and devoid of motion; animals, men, and superhuman beings "move frecly" through space: the divine life-force in the form of the lifc-ionads dwells within and vivifies them all simultaneously. Nevertheless, whatever the forms that it puts on and fills, it ever remains indifferent to them, unharmed in them, and uninvolved.
The supreme orthodox religious duty of man with respect to the gods and ancestors has always been to offer sacrifice. The inhabitant of the body, presiding over the works of the indi181 Ib. 1. 11. 3-4.
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