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G. S. Leonard— -The Mythic History of the God Viraj. [No. 2, 
cient, omnipotent, &c., that is, lie lias all the attributes of the Creator and 
ruler of the world, and is called in this respect I'svara [the ruler]”. “ God 
in his relation to special ignorance is the individual soul, the defective 
intelligence Prajna.” “ Here again, the subtle body is either a totality or 
an individuality. The soul or god as pervading the totality, is called the 
iSutrdtma or Hiranyagarbha, as pervading an individuality, and Taijaslia 
[the resplendent]. Both, however, are in reality one.” Again, “From 
the subtle elements further proceed the gross elements, and from the gross 
elements the different worlds and different bodies &c.” “ The soul as abid¬ 
ing in the totality of gross bodies is called Vaisvdnara, Virat, &c., as abiding 
in an individual body Visva.” The definitions of some of these modes of 
the divine soul are differently given in different works, as for instance the 
Mandukya Upanishad describes Prajna as omniscience instead of ignorance, 
as stated in the Vedanta Sara. Thus, “ His third condition is Prajna 
[who completely knows] who has become one, whose knowledge is uniform 
alone, whose nature is bliss, &c.” “ He [the Prajna] is lord of all: he is 
omniscient, he is the internal ruler, &e.,” [ vide idem, verses 5 and 6]. 
These quadruple conditions of divine spirit are incased in four differ¬ 
ent sheaths of the soul, which I give here in the words of Dr. Iioer. 
1st. “ The intellect with the internal organs forms the intellectual 
sheath. 2nd. Mind, with the organs of action, the mental sheath. 3rd. 
The vital airs, together with the organs of action, for the vital sheath. 
4tli. The three sheaths when united are the subtle body of the soul &c.” 
“ The gross body is called the nutrimentitious sheath (Annamaya Kosha), and 
as it is the place where gross objects are enjoyed, it is called awake.” All 
these four conditions of the soul are perceptible in four different states of 
human life, namely, the intellectual, in deep sleep, when the intellects are 
awake, notwithstanding the dormancy of the other faculties ; the mental, 
in the dreaming state, when the mind acts in absence of bodily functions ; 
the concrete, consisting of Vaisvanara, Viraj and Vaisva, in the waking 
state, when we perceive all sensible objects by means of external organs. 
“ The totality of the gross, the subtle and the causal bodies, forms one 
great world, and the soul from the pervader to the ruler is one soul.” 
Hence these triple orders of intelligences, are of the same essence, inasmuch 
as they are all intellects, admitting only of the difference in point of bound¬ 
lessness and limitation, otherwise called universality and individuality. 
They are modifications of the selfsame spirit of god and are equally objects 
of worship, and that of Viraj is the most important as the most conspicu¬ 
ous among them. Meditation of these modes of Brahma’s existence is said 
to be the most rational and profound worship of god, and it is necessary to 
commence with the mode or state in which reflection first rises, and is con¬ 
cluded with the last result to which that reflection has attained. 
