Mr. Colebrooke on the Philosophy of the Hindus. 1 1 



' In the sequel of the first chapter* questions are raised upon divers passages 

 of the vedas, alluded to in the text, and quoted in tlie scholia, where minor 

 atti'ibutes are seemingly assigned to the world's cause ; or in which 

 subordinate designations occur, such as might be supposed to indicate an 

 inferior being, but are shown to intend the supreme one. 



The cases {adhicaranas') or questions arising on them are examined and 

 resolved concisely and obscurely in the sutras, fully and perspicuously in the 

 scholia. 



• The omnipotent, omniscient, sentient cause of the universe, is {ananda- 

 mayd) essentially happy .t He is the brilliant, golden person, seen xvithin 

 (untar) the solar orb and the human eye.t He is the etherial element 

 (dcdsa), from which all things proceed and to which all return.§ He is the 

 breath {prdiia) in which all beings merge, into whicii they all rise.H He is 

 the light (Jybtisli) which shines in heaven, and in all places high and low, 

 every where throughout the world, and within the human person. He is the 

 breath {^prand) and intelligent self, immortal, undecaying, and happy, with 

 which Indra, in a dialogue with Pratardana, identifies himself.'^ 



Tlie term prdiia, which is the subject of two of the sections just quoted 

 (§ 9 and 11), properly and primarily signifies respiration, as well as certain 

 other vital actions (inspiration, energy, expiration, digestion, or circulation 

 of nourishment) ; and secondarily, the senses and organs.** But, in the 

 passages here referred to, it is employed for a different signification, in- 

 tending the supreme Brahme ; as also in divers other texts of the vedas : 

 and, among the rest, in one where the senses are said to be absorbed into it 

 during profound sleep ;tt for ' while a man sleeps without dreaming, his soul 

 is with Brahme.' 



Further cases of the like nature, but in which the indications of the true 

 meaning appear less evident, are discussed at length in the second and third 

 chapters of the first book. Those in which the distinctive attributes of the su- 

 preme being are more positively indicated by the passage whereon a question 

 arises, had been considered in the foregoing chapter : they are not so clearly 

 denoted in the passages now examined. Such as concern God as the object 

 of devout meditation and worship, are for the most part collected in the 



• §6 to §11. f Taitliriya. % Ch'handogyn, 1. 



§ Ck'handngya, 1. || Udgit'/m. ^ Caushi'laci. 



•• Br. S'utr. 2. 4. § 1, 6. (§ 1, 13.) ft Sane. &c. on Br. Sulr. 1. 1. § 9. 



C Q 



