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CHAPTER IX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF
These qualities which are imagined to exist
in the Paramesvara are more or less comprehensive or more or
less sattvika according to the merit of the worshipper, and'
everyone gets the result of his worship in the measure of his
faith. It is stated in the Chandogyopanisad (3. 14. 1) that
"man (purusa) is the embodiment of his determination (i.e., he
is kratumaya), and he gets his need after death, according to his-
'kratu' (determination)" ; and it is also stated in the Bhagavad-
gita that : "those who worship deities are merged in the deities,
and those who worship ancestors are merged in the ancestors
[1] or "yo yacchraddhah sa eva sah", that is, "every, one
obtains results according to his own faith (17. 3). Necessarily,
therefore, different qualities of the imperceptible Paramesvara.
to be worshipped have been, described in the Upanisads
according to the difference in the spiritual merit of the wor-
shipper. This portion of the Upanisads is technically called,
'VIDYA’ Vidya means the path (in the form of worship) of
reaching the Isvara, and any chapter in which such path is
described has the suffix 'vidya' placed at the end of its name.
Many forms of worship are described in the Upanisads
such as Sandilya-vidya [2], Purusa-vidya [3], Paryamka-vidya (Kausi. 1),Pranopasana (Kausi. 2) etc,
etc., and all these forms have been dwelt upon in the third,
section of the third chapter of the Vedanta-Sutras. In these
chapters, the imperceptible Paramesvara has been described
as qualityful in the following terms : e. g., ' manomaya ' (mind-
embodied), ' prayasarira ' (embodiment of Vital Force), ' bharupa "
(of shining .appearance), ' satyasamkalpa' (Truth-formed),
akasatma' (ether-like), sarvakarma (all-capable), 'sarvakama'
(fulfiller of all desires), ' sarvagandha ' (embodiment , of all
scents), and ' sarvarasa ', i.e., embodiment of all tastes[4]; and in the Taittriayopanisad[5] the;
worship of the Brahman in a rising scale has been described,
as the worship of food, life, mind, practical knowledge,
(vijnana), and joy (ananta); and in the Brhadaranyaka, Gargya
Balaki has prescribed to Ajatasatru tie worship of the Spirit
in the Sun, the Moon, ether, the air, fire, water, or the cardinal
points, as being the form of the Brahman ; but Ajatasatru has
told him that the true Brahman is beyond all these, and
ultimately maintained that the worship of Vital Force
(pranopasana) is the highest. But this list does not end here.
All the forms of the Brahman mentioned above are technically
called 'pratlka' (symbols), that is to say, an inferior form of
the Brahman adopted for worship, or some sign indicating
the Brahman ; and when this form is kept before the eyes in
the shape of an idol, it becomes a 'pratima' (icon). But all
the Upanisads lay down the doctrine that the real form of the
Brahman is different from this[6].
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