| 3. Brahman is
the Imperishable (Akshara), the Supreme. The Ego is said to be the Individual
Self (Adhyatma), He who dwells in the body), The offering which causes the
origin of physical beings is called action (Karma). Brahman is the Akshara,
the Imperishable, the Supreme Self (Paramatman) ; the sruti says O Gargi,
it is at the command of this Akshara, the imperishable Paramatman, that
heaven and earth remain, held in their places. Akshara does not here mean
the syllable Om ; for, the latter is subsequently specified thus: Uttering
the syllable Om, the Brahman (viii. 13). And the epithet supreme applies
better to Brahman, the Imperishable, who transcends all, (than to the syllable
Om ).The same Supreme Brahman existing as the Ego, as the Innermost Self,
as the Pratyagatman, in every individual body, is said to be Adhyatma: that
which first shows itself as the Innermost Self in the body and turns out
in the end to be identical with the Supreme Reality, the Brahman, is known
by the term Adhyatma. The sacrificial act which consists in offering cooked
rice, cakes sod the like to the Gods (Devatas)· and which causes the origin
of all creatures, is known by the term Karma ; for, it forms the seed as
it were of all beings ; it is in virtue of this act that all beings, animate
and inanimate, come into existence, after passing through rain and other
regions of life |
