426 ON THE ve'das, 



iron chains, hold nie down : yet, like a falcon, I 

 swiftly rise." Thus spoke Va'made'va, reposing 

 in the womb : and possessing this [intuitive] know- 

 ledge, he rose, after bursting that corporeal con- 

 finement; and, ascending to the blissful region of 

 heaven*, he attained every wish and became 

 immortal. He became immortal.' 



§ VI. 'What is this soul? that we may wor- 

 ship him. Which is the soul? Is it that by which 

 [a man sees]? by which he hears? by which he 

 smells odours? by which he utters speech? by 

 ■which he disci iminates a pleasant or unpleasant 

 taste? Is it the heart [or understanding]? or the 

 mind [or will]? Is it sensation? or power? or dis- 

 crimination? or comprehension? or perception ? or 

 retention? or attention? or application? or haste 

 [or pain]? or memory? or assent? or determina- 

 tion? or animal action I? or wish? or desire? 



* All those are only various names of apprehen- 

 sion. But this [soul, consisting in the faculty of 

 apprehension,] is Brahma'; heislNDRA; he is 

 (Praja'pati) the lord of creatures: these gods 

 are he ; and so are the five primary elements, earth, 

 air, the etherial fluid, water and light J: these, 

 and the same joined with minute objects and other 

 seeds [of existence], and [again] other [beings] pro- 



* Swarga: or place of celcslial bliss. 



t Asu: the unconscious volition, which occasions an act ne- 

 cessary to the support of life, as breathing;, &c. 



I Brahma'' (in the mascaliue gender) here denotes, accordinsf 

 to commentators, the inte!lii:cnt spirit, whose birth was in the 

 mundane egg; from which is named Hiran'yagaubha. In- 

 DRA is the chief of the gods, or subordinate deities ; meaning 

 the elements and planets. Praja'pati is the first embodied 

 spirit, called Vira'j, and dtscrrbed in the preceding part of this 

 extract. The gods are fire, and the rest as there slated. 



