The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48
Religion
The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48
Vedanta
results of his merit or demerit--being at one time crowned a king,
having at another time his head cut off, and so on--is possible in so
far as there is created for him another body in every way resembling the
body resting on the bed.
The case of the white shell being seen as yellow, explains itself as
follows. The visual rays issuing from the eye are in contact with the
bile contained in the eye, and thereupon enter into conjunction with the
shell; the result is that the whiteness belonging to the shell is
overpowered by the yellowness of the bile, and hence not apprehended;
the shell thus appears yellow, just as if it were gilt. The bile and its
yellowness is, owing to its exceeding tenuity, not perceived by the
bystanders; but thin though it be it is apprehended by the person
suffering from jaundice, to whom it is very near, in so far as it issues
from his own eye, and through the mediation of the visual rays, aided by
the action of the impression produced on the mind by that apprehension,
it is apprehended even in the distant object, viz. the shell.--In an
analogous way the crystal which is placed near the rose is apprehended
as red, for it is overpowered by the brilliant colour of the rose; the
brilliancy of the rose is perceived in a more distinct way owing to its
close conjunction with the transparent substance of the crystal.--In the
same way the cognition of water in the mirage is true. There always
exists water in connexion with light and earth; but owing to some defect
of the eye of the perceiving person, and to the mysterious influence of
merit and demerit, the light and the earth are not apprehended, while
the water _is_ apprehended.--In the case again of the firebrand swung
round rapidly, its appearance as a fiery wheel explains itself through
the circumstance that moving very rapidly it is in conjunction with all
points of the circle described without our being able to apprehend the
intervals. The case is analogous to that of the perception of a real
wheel; but there is the difference that in the case of the wheel no
intervals are apprehended, because there are none; while in the case of
the firebrand none are apprehended owing to the rapidity of the movement.
But in the latter case also the cognition is true.--Again, in the case
of mirrors and similar reflecting surfaces the perception of one's own
face is likewise true. The fact is that the motion of the visual rays
(proceeding from the eye towards the mirror) is reversed (reflected) by
the mirror, and that thus those rays apprehend the person's own face,
subsequently to the apprehension of the surface of the mirror; and as in
this case also, owing to the rapidity of the process, there is no
apprehension of any interval (between the mirror and the face), the face
presents itself as being in the mirror.--In the case of one direction
being mistaken for another (as when a person thinks the south to be
where the north is), the fact is that, owing to the unseen principle (i.
e.
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