Questions of King Milinda Part 02

SR No.: 007682
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2240
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

Page 1418

IV ADHYAYA, 4 PÂDA, 1.
405
FOURTH PÅDA. REVERENCE TO THE HIGHEST SELF! 1. (On the soul's) having entered (into the highest light), there is manifestation (of its own nature); (as we infer) from the word 'own.'
.Thus does that serene being, having risen out of this body and entered into the highest light, manifest itself by its own nature' (Kh. Up. VII, 12, 3). Regarding this text a doubt arises whether the Self? manifests itself through some adventitious distinction—as the Self (of him who possesses the lower knowledge only) does in the world of the gods and other abodes of enjoyment-or only through its own Self.— The purvapakshin maintains that, as in other places, here also the manifestation takes place through some adventitious characteristic; because release also is a fruit (like other fruits, e.g. svarga), and because manifestation' means as much as origination. If the manifestation took place only through the Self's own nature, it would already appear in the Self's former states; for a thing's own nature is never absent from it. The Self therefore manifests itself by means of some adventitious distinction.
To this we make the following reply. It manifests itself through its Self only, not through any other attribute.Why so ?-On account of the word 'own' in the clause by its own nature.' For on the other view the qualification conveyed by 'own' would be unmeaning.–But may not the term own' merely indicate that that form belongs to that which manifests itself ?—Not so, we reply. This is a point which would not require to be stated. For as in
Samprati katurthe pâde paravidyâphalaikadeso brahmabhâvâvirbhâvah, sagunavidyâphalam ka sarvesvaratulyabhogatvam avadhârayishyate, tatraparavidyâprâpyam uktvå paravidyâprâpyam âha sampadyeti. Ân. Gi.
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