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Collection: Part 10 · VIDEHA MITHILA MAITHILI DISCUSSION CRITICISM SERIES PART 10
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0:00–0:10मैब्रामिन, विच्ग्रज़ी दिस्ट्रोईज बगिनिंग लिस इग्नरण्ज.
0:10–0:15in which an intense and avenue bliss shimmers, and upon the first descent to whose level
0:15–0:20of awareness the desire to enjoy every other delightful object falls still, shine forth
0:20–0:26before you. When the benediction is over, the director speaks.
0:26–0:28Reflecting
0:28–0:30Looking Ahead
0:30–0:36Shame, shame. The actor's livelihood is truly contemptible, an unending uproar
0:36–0:45of gross pretence and deceit. Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Sages, Kings, Brutish Fools, Libertines,
0:45–0:50Cowards, Heroes, the Happy and the Miserable without the least embarrassment before the
0:50–0:56public and actor assumes every one of these forms. In truth merely to fill his stomach
0:56–1:02he relies upon the craft of impersonation. It would be better to abandon this base art
1:02–1:09whose reward is small, whose hardship is great, and whose humiliation is greater still.
1:09–1:14I shall attach myself to a teacher's household in some hermitage and strive for the highest
1:14–1:17human goal, the ending of every sorrow.
1:17–1:23But before I depart, to whom shall I entrust the wretched burden of my destitute family?
1:23–1:27First I must learn what my assistant thinks.
1:27–1:31The assistant enters, looks at the director, and says,
1:31–1:33Approaching.
1:33–1:37Why does disillusionment make his face look so dejected today?
1:37–1:39I shall ask him.
1:39–1:42Sir, why is there such sorrow on your face?
1:42–1:46Surely the commentator's pupils have not assigned you some task.
1:46–1:52The director repeats what he has said, down to the ending of every sorrow.
1:52–1:55Do not give way to disillusionment, there is no need.
1:55–2:02Among gods, human beings, or animals, who has ever escaped deception and illusion and attained the highest state.
2:02–2:09From brahmer down to the beasts, this whole multitude of creatures wanders through existence only because of illusion.
2:09–2:11How is your condition worse than theirs?
2:11–2:19Since the conduct of the entire world, deluded by illusion and ultimately unreal, is what it is, how could our conduct be different?
2:19–2:27Friend, you speak truly. Yet even if my conduct is no worse than theirs, I find it impossible
2:27–2:28to continue it.
2:28–2:31Why so, sir?
2:31–2:37Friend, have I not laboured to stage the ten kinds of drama taught by the sage Bharata?
2:37–2:43But now the respected Bhattajanta has arrived. Because he wrote an exegetical work on grammar
2:43–2:49while still a child, he is also famous as the commentator. His circle of pupils has ordered
2:49–2:56me to stage their teacher's new work, an extraordinary play called Much Ado About Religion. But how
2:56–3:03am I to stage it? It is not founded on a worldly plot, it does not follow the rules of dramaturgy,
3:03–3:09and it has never been performed before. I therefore think it best to abandon this wretched livelihood.
3:09–3:16Do not speak so, sir. It is useless to oppose the command of these honourable pupils of the
3:16–3:21commentator. You are worried that the play does not follow the rules, but is that the director's fault.
3:22–3:25The poet composes without the least regard for Baratheer's teaching,
3:25–3:29nevertheless, his pupils promote the work, and those same pupils will be your audience.
3:30–3:35So stage it. Why would any other impartial person trouble to search for faults in it?
3:35–3:39I am not concerned about public criticism.
3:39–3:43Then are you frightened by some threat from the king?
3:43–3:45Smiling.
3:45–3:47Not that either.
3:47–3:49Then why delay?
3:49–3:55Assign the actors their separate parts as Buddhists, Jains, and so forth.
3:55–4:01Friend, I can no longer endure this actor's livelihood, filled with deception and illusion.
4:01–4:07Let the poem break the rules or obey them, let people be angry or pleased, I have become
4:07–4:09detached from it all.
4:09–4:14This very day I shall abandon the profession and set out on pilgrimage.
4:14–4:18Either support my impoverished family, or come with me.
4:18–4:21I myself long to know the truth.
4:21–4:26Let us enter this great monastery nearby, where hundreds of monks free from passion reside
4:26–4:30and show the path to final liberation.
4:30–4:32They both exit.
4:32–4:34End of the prologue
4:34–4:42A Buddhist monk in a red robe enters, seated on a low stool, with his lay disciple before
4:42–4:43him.
4:43–4:45Monk with detachment.
4:45–4:50Alas! such is the course of this beginningless round of existence.
4:50–4:55A deluded creature is born, then dies, dying, it is born again.
4:55–4:59A wise person who sees this road of suffering should turn the mind toward that state in
4:59–5:03which both birth and death come to an end.
5:03–5:08Venerable Sir, what is this state beyond the workings of birth and death, and by what means
5:08–5:10is it attained?
5:10–5:17Intelligent Friend, if you truly wish to know, now try to understand the Four Noble Truths.
5:17–5:22Venerable Sir, what are those Four Noble Truths?
5:22–5:26Intelligent Friend, they are suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering,
5:26–5:29and the path.
5:29–5:34Sir, that much has not opened my understanding. Please explain it fully.
5:35–5:42Monk, noble friend, I shall explain. First, everything that exists is suffering, the opposite
5:42–5:48of pleasure and personal experience. That from which suffering arises is its cause, namely the
5:48–5:54power of delusion. Nirvana, the ending of all affliction, is cessation. Those who reason
5:54–6:00correctly call the means by which Nirvana is attained the path.
6:00–6:04Venerable Sir, by what means does the self overcome these deep waters of suffering, which
6:04–6:08have flowed without interruption for so long and are so difficult to cross, and come to
6:08–6:11rest in Nirvana?
6:11–6:14Good man, you have not understood.
6:14–6:19In truth, there is no entity called a self that escapes the crisis of suffering and
6:19–6:21reaches Nirvana.
6:21–6:26The firm pillar that keeps standing the prison of worldly existence, where cruel torments
6:26–6:31are endured, is precisely the insistence upon a permanent self.
6:31–6:37Understand this, a creature who thinks, this is I, will inevitably think, this is mine.
6:37–6:45A dull mind caught in the notions of, I, and, my, will not abandon its harmful desires.
6:45–6:50For one whose craving has not been pacified, the practice of detachment is far away, and
6:50–6:55Without the practice of detachment, how can the ocean of existence be crossed?
6:55–7:02Venerable sir, if there truly is no permanent self, who experiences the suffering of worldly existence,
7:02–7:07or who rises above it and reaches the realm of nirvana.
7:07–7:09Smiling
7:09–7:15Child, if there were a permanent self, then cessation, nirvana, the highest good, or perfection
7:15–7:19would be even more impossible, since what is permanent cannot cease.
7:19–7:25Therefore this world is consciousness alone, stained by its many forms such as pleasure
7:25–7:30and pain, and assuming innumerable forms in accordance with the various latent impressions
7:30–7:34active in its beginningless stream.
7:34–7:38When this path of meditation on selflessness and the rest removes the many stains produced
7:38–7:43by clusters of adventitious qualities and establishes consciousness in its pure state
7:43–7:49alone, then whether the stream continues or the stream itself is cut off, therein lies the
7:49–7:51swift road to Nirvana.
7:51–7:57Venerable sir, if there is no permanent self, who in the next world experiences the results
7:57–7:59of his own actions?
7:59–8:02And in this world, to whom belong activities based on memory?
8:02–8:06Monk, I shall explain it properly.
8:06–8:12A permanent entity can possess causal efficacy neither successively nor all at once.
8:12–8:15Once it lacks efficacy, it is not ultimately real.
8:15–8:20The wise say, only that which has the capacity to perform a causal function is ultimately
8:20–8:22real.
8:22–8:26Listen further, whether or not this pot is by nature perishable, it cannot be destroyed
8:26–8:29by a hammer or any other cause.
8:29–8:33Such a cause would be either pointless or powerless, and if that cause were absent
8:33–8:37for an age, the pot would not be destroyed.
8:37–8:41Therefore an entity perishes the very moment it comes into being, yet because it remains
8:41–8:44within a single continuum it appears real.
8:44–8:48Because there is a continuum, one can readily imagine a permanent agent who is himself the
8:48–8:55experiencer of the fruits of that agent's actions and the basis of memory and other activities.
8:55–8:59If all entities are momentary and do not endure into a second moment, how does consciousness
8:59–9:01make one of them its object?
9:01–9:07Plainly, the object must be illuminated by cognition either simultaneously with cognition
9:07–9:08or after it.
9:08–9:13Or even if it produces cognition, it cannot be made an object until cognition has become
9:13–9:16delimited and assumed some form.
9:16–9:20Otherwise, the direct perception of a momentary object cannot be explained.
9:20–9:26Monk, noble friend, when the matter is seen clearly, no entity at all becomes an object
9:26–9:28of cognition.
9:28–9:33Consciousness itself appears patterned with blue, yellow, and other forms.
9:33–9:34You ask why?
9:34–9:40A person does not experience cognition and its object as two distinct forms at the same time.
9:40–9:45And if an insensient object were grasped by self-luminous cognition, the act of grasping
9:45–9:50would be apprehended first, just as the light of a lamp is seen first.
9:50–9:54Yet cognition without form cannot be grasped.
9:54–9:58Therefore cognition itself shines forth in different forms.
9:58–10:01How could there be some other external object?
10:01–10:05For this reason everything is empty, everything is momentary, everything lacks a permanent
10:05–10:08essence, and everything is suffering.
10:08–10:13By meditating in this way, a person attains nirvana.
10:13–10:16A wooden gong sounds offstage.
10:16–10:18Listening.
10:18–10:22Venerable sir, that must be the wooden gong announcing the time for the community of
10:22–10:24monks to assemble.
10:24–10:27Please decide what we should do now.
10:27–10:31They rise, begin to leave, and look around.
10:31–10:34Then let us make sure we are not late.
10:34–10:40A young Brahmin is approaching, a sacred thread as white as lotus fiber across his dark chest,
10:40–10:43and a bamboo staff in his hand.
10:43–10:48Let us act appropriately, or he will make us miss the appointed time.
10:48–10:54Venerable sir, this young Brahmin has been standing here for a long while.
10:54–10:59He arrived at the very moment you sat beneath this tree, but you did not notice him.
10:59–11:04Hidden behind the tangle of vines, he has heard your entire teaching.
11:04–11:06Be that as it may.
11:06–11:10Why should such a man delay us now?
11:10–11:15The monk exits with his disciple.
11:15–11:20Sankarsana, the graduate, and the boy enter as described.
11:20–11:22He walks on.
11:22–11:28I have studied the Veda according to rule, mastered the six ancillary sciences, and examined
11:28–11:29Mimamsa as well.
11:29–11:33Thus I have fulfilled the duties proper to a twice-born man.
11:33–11:38Yet all my labor and study will seem fruitless until I humble those enemies of the Veda,
11:38–11:43who ceaselessly foul their speech by brandishing the deadly weapons of false reasoning.
11:43–11:48And these foolish disciples of Shuddhodana's son stand foremost among those who tear the
11:48–11:49Veda apart.
11:49–11:53Therefore, when punishment is dealt out as to thieves, they shall come first.
11:54–11:58Sir, I have brought the things for your bath. You were on your way to bathe.
11:59–12:00So what?
12:01–12:07The circumstances do not seem favorable. All these people on the road must be going toward the monastery.
12:08–12:12Then let us first observe the monks in this monastery. We shall bathe afterward.
12:13–12:14As you command, sir.
12:15–12:16They walk on.
12:16–12:26Looking ahead. Ah, what a delightful monastery. For here are lofty temple spires rivaling Himalayan
12:26–12:32peaks gleaming in moonlight, dense mango groves, charming vine-bowers carpeted with grass, and
12:32–12:37bees, their bodies reddened by lotus pollen, hovering over a lotus pond whose water,
12:37–12:45thrilled by emerging lotus shoots, imitates the autumn sky. He looks toward the lotus pond.
12:45–12:53Reflections of the trees along the bank, branches pointing downward and spreading roots upward adorn the water of the pond.
12:53–13:00In the water I can see birds perched upon branches, their beaks open as they eat pieces of fruit.
13:00–13:07Sir, look at the abundance of offerings, flowers, incense, sandalwood, camphor, saffron, and musk paste.
13:07–13:14All are offered to golden images of the Buddha, richly coloured and ornamented, from which a dense and immense region spores.
13:14–13:19The images stand in temples as high as Mount Meru, adorned with many colored banners trembling
13:19–13:20in the gentle wind.
13:20–13:22Ah, wonderful.
13:22–13:25Looking.
13:25–13:28This is plainly no training ground for ascetics.
13:28–13:30It is a royal pleasure garden.
13:30–13:31What times?
13:31–13:32What customs?
13:32–13:38Wealthy people, plundered by licentious guides, have wandered entirely onto a feudal path
13:38–13:42and are throwing their varied riches at an unworthy object.
13:42–13:47Even if this religion were not a fraud, such a perfusion of amusements, fit for restless
13:47–13:51people, would be pointless for those who claim to have turned their minds away from sensual
13:51–13:57pleasure, devote themselves repeatedly to meditation, and sustain life by the barest
13:57–13:58means.
13:58–14:00Sir, look, look.
14:00–14:05On the terrace of that whitewashed building, the Buddhist devotees seem ready to die.
14:05–14:09Clouds of perfume, flowers, and incense fill all ten directions.
14:09–14:15Observed. If they see us, these monks may restrain their conduct. Let us therefore hide in this
14:15–14:22vinebower and watch their behavior for a while. They do so. Watching eagerly.
14:23–14:29Astonishing. In their haste to eat the monastery meal, not one of them has performed bathing
14:29–14:34or any other purification. Never mind bathing. They have not even changed their clothes.
14:34–14:41looking closely. Their method of purification by sipping water is like that of chudras.
14:42–14:48People of all four social classes and those of mixed birth are eating in the same row.
14:48–14:54What delightful discipline this monastery has. Sir, look further. These full-bodied
14:54–14:58serving women are ready to distribute the food and their darting glances hold the monks' ice
14:58–15:02captive. And some drink is being served in spotless vessels.
15:03–15:07Here is wine under the name of fruit juice and meat pronounced
15:07–15:10suitable for vegetarians. Ah, what rigorous austerity.
15:11–15:15Sir, look, look at that monk. Though thirsty, he drinks less
15:15–15:18with his tongue from the cup in which blue lotuses float than
15:18–15:20with his eyes from the clear faces of the serving women.
15:21–15:24Enough. We have seen the monastic discipline of those who
15:24–15:25are free from passion.
15:25–15:31A home in a pleasure garden, drink and food readily available, and no new sense of rules,
15:31–15:34lest are those who become Buddhists.
15:34–15:35Enough mockery.
15:35–15:39The famous and greatly learned Buddhist monk Dharmadara is approaching.
15:39–15:44Having finished his meal, he is coming down from the palace to sit on a grassy place
15:44–15:45in the shade of a tree.
15:45–15:47Come, let us approach him.
15:47–15:52The Buddhist monk and his disciple enter as before.
15:52–15:58Noble friend, have you held in your heart the teaching of the supremely compassionate Lord Bodhisattva?
15:59–16:02Venerable sir, please favour me with it once again.
16:03–16:06The young Brahmin we saw earlier is still here.
16:07–16:10His face shows that he is eager to speak.
16:11–16:12Approaching
16:13–16:17Monk, are you well? I hope there has been no obstacle to your religious practice.
16:18–16:19Welcome.
16:19–16:24This grassy place is not impure. Please sit.
16:24–16:26Sitting.
16:26–16:32But what have you, as his teacher, just taught him that you were asking whether he understood?
16:32–16:34To the disciple.
16:34–16:37Answer his question.
16:37–16:42What an insult. Disciple answer him. Boy, listen to what he says.
16:42–16:47Brahmin, the correct construction should be, learn from him.
16:47–16:52My dear Red-robed Man, that grammatical rule does not apply to such ravings.
16:52–16:58When instruction is properly given, the noun denoting the teacher takes the ablative case.
16:58–17:04Look, the only suitable construction here is, he listens to an actor in the genitive case.
17:04–17:08Ah, what bitter speech from this twice-born man!
17:08–17:14He regards the teaching of the supremely compassionate Lord Buddha, soul master of the three worlds,
17:14–17:17as raving.
17:17–17:24the disciple. Now tell me, what has he taught you? My teacher taught me the four noble truths,
17:24–17:28suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path.
17:29–17:36Smiling. Is that the teaching of the supremely compassionate one? And is it not raving to glorify
17:36–17:44the realization of selflessness as the path that grants liberation? Brahmin. To people such as you,
17:44–17:48Instruction in ultimate truth will indeed seem raving.
17:49–17:58Your intelligence has been polluted by practicing the doctrine that killing animals and other living beings offered in sacrifice to Agni and Soma is a means of attaining liberation.
18:00–18:02Looking around with delight.
18:03–18:10What? This fallen Buddhist even finds fault with Vedic injunctions. What shall I do? Before whom can I state my case?
18:10–18:32This monastery is filled only with a community of enemies of Dharma. Excellent! As the fruit of my merit, Vishwarupa and these many respected teachers have arrived, eager to see the monastery garden. They will readily serve as arbiters for me. Good! An opportunity has arisen to punish these offenders. As many arbiters as the production permits enter.
18:32–18:35They take a few steps toward the assembly.
18:35–18:46From the radiance of their faces alone, we can tell that this graduate, Sankashana, and this Buddhist monk, Dhammatara, are disputing with one another.
18:46–18:49Come, let us see.
18:49–18:52He indicates the grassy place.
18:52–18:57Welcome, gentlemen. Please sit here.
18:57–19:00Sitting, to the monk.
19:00–19:03What subject are you discussing?
19:03–19:08This wearer of the sacred thread calls the Bodhisattvas teaching raving.
19:08–19:13Here I am. Here is the monk, and here are you discerning arbiters.
19:13–19:18What better opportunity could there be to weigh the strong and weak sides of an argument?
19:18–19:24If your discourse is truthful, restrained, and founded upon established fact,
19:24–19:32if you avoid speech crowded with deceitful disputation, futile rejoinders, points of defeat, and noisy fallacies,
19:32–19:38fallacies, if there is not the least envy in your hearts, harshness in your words, or frowning
19:38–19:43on your faces. If this is to be a learned debate among honorable men, then we are always ready
19:43–19:51to serve as examiners. As the gentleman command. Which of you first stated his proposition?
19:52–19:57The monk, while instructing his pupil, has already presented the prima facie position.
19:57–20:01to s-a-n-k-a-r-s-h-a-n-a.
20:01–20:03Did you hear it?
20:03–20:05Yes, I heard it.
20:05–20:07Then repeat it.
20:07–20:11Certainly. I shall state it briefly.
20:11–20:17Suffering, its cause, and its cessation, together with the path by which cessation is attained,
20:17–20:23called the Realization of Selflessness, are all established when momentariness is proved.
20:23–20:29Entities are momentary because they exist and no cause is required for their destruction.
20:29–20:34Memory and similar activities are possible through causal relations within a continuum.
20:34–20:39Yet an external object, being momentary, cannot become an object of cognition.
20:39–20:45It is consciousness alone that shines forth, patterned in countless forms.
20:45–20:49Therefore everything is empty, everything is momentary, everything lacks a permanent
20:49–20:52essence, and everything is suffering.
20:52–20:56Through meditation in this manner, nirvana is attained.
20:56–20:58To the monk.
20:58–21:00Is that correct?
21:00–21:01Contemptuously.
21:01–21:05Yes, in brief.
21:05–21:07Now it is my turn.
21:07–21:10We are listening attentively.
21:10–21:15Even if the path to the highest good described above existed once momentariness had been
21:15–21:21proved, a close examination of entities reveals that they do not conform to momentariness
21:21–21:22in the slightest.
21:22–21:25Why not?
21:25–21:28Simply because there is no sound reason supporting it.
21:28–21:32But a reason has been given because they exist.
21:32–21:37The reason that you Buddhists call existence cannot be directly shown to pervade the property
21:37–21:44to be proved, namely, momentariness, as smoke is pervaded by fire because no example supporting
21:44–21:46it can be found.
21:46–21:48Therefore this reason is futile.
21:48–21:54of that. Even if the pervasion is ascertained through negative concomitance, it is still
21:54–22:00ascertained. Since existence is excluded from a permanent entity because such an entity has
22:00–22:06no causal efficacy either successively or simultaneously, and since existence can be
22:06–22:12found nowhere else, it must take its place in momentary entities.
22:12–22:17Existence is excluded from your momentary entity even more thoroughly than from a permanent
22:17–22:22because the momentary entity too cannot possess the inseparable property in question.
22:22–22:27Consider, if an entity acted after it had arisen, it would no longer be momentary.
22:27–22:34But if death swallowed at the instant it arose, how could it ever receive a second opportunity to act?
22:34–22:38The causal relation between momentary entities is nothing more than this,
22:38–22:46after cognition A, cognition B occurs, in other words, one cognition arises following the previous one.
22:46–23:11Much more could be said on this subject, but let it rest for now. I maintain that in this doctrine, the condition of being a cause is itself unreal, since an entity is a material cause in relation to some particular effect. In that case, all transactions dependent on causation would fail. For example, the capacity of each cognition in a continuum to experience the fruit of its own former action.
23:11–23:16relation, or suppose some kind of causal relation does exist here. Exactly the same relation
23:16–23:21would then hold with a different moment of cognition arising in another continuum. The
23:21–23:25monk lowers his eyes and draws lines on the ground.
23:25–23:30Or even if we grant that the causal relation is genuinely established, since cognitions
23:30–23:36remain mutually distinct, who would experience the fruit of whose action. And in the inference,
23:36–23:41An entity is momentary because it exists, the reason is contradictory, for it proves the
23:41–23:45opposite of the property intended to be proved.
23:45–23:47How so?
23:47–23:51It has been shown that a momentary entity cannot be causally effective.
23:51–23:57A permanent entity, however, can act successively or simultaneously together with auxiliary
23:57–23:58causes.
23:58–24:03That is precisely what causal efficacy means, and thus its permanence is proved.
24:03–24:05The monk remains silent.
24:05–24:10Just as the production of an entity depends upon a cause, so does its destruction, because
24:10–24:14the positive and negative concomitants are the same in both cases.
24:14–24:20The effect is present when the cause is present, and absent when the cause is absent.
24:20–24:24But in the case of a cause of destruction, positive and negative concomitants are established
24:24–24:29differently, because it is the cause of a different continuum.
24:29–24:33In the case of a cause of production, positive and negative concomitants cannot be established
24:33–24:40in that way because there is no other kind of effect.
24:40–24:43Do you say this from attachment or from aversion?
24:43–24:48Some thinkers hold that it is difficult to say there is no other kind of effect since
24:48–24:51manifestation and the like are possible.
24:51–24:57No effect has ever been observed to arise without a productive cause.
24:57–25:01Have you ever observed an effect perish without a destructive cause?
25:01–25:06Even if no destructive cause were present, a pot would not perish even after an age had
25:06–25:08passed.
25:08–25:11Sarcastically
25:11–25:12Have mercy.
25:12–25:16If a pot became eternal, ordinary life would cease.
25:16–25:20Mankind would be ruined, and the everlasting death of a world consisting of pots alone
25:20–25:22would hover above our heads.
25:22–25:27Let what has no cause of destruction, such as space, remain eternal.
25:27–25:29What harm is there in that?
25:29–25:33What a composite entity does have a cause of destruction, since the separation of its
25:33–25:36parts and similar events are inevitable.
25:36–25:41And fool, even if we accepted your doctrine, would the continuum of pot moments not also
25:41–25:43remain indestructible?
25:43–25:48If a cause belonging to a different continuum arose within it, then on my doctrine a destructive
25:48–25:51cause would arise in precisely the same way.
25:51–25:54The sequence of reasoning is identical.
25:54–25:59Such, then, is the true condition of the doctrine of momentariness.
25:59–26:01The monk sits in shame.
26:01–26:03You contemptible Brahmin.
26:03–26:06How dare you insult the venerable master.
26:06–26:08You mongrel.
26:08–26:10Is that how you speak to my teacher?
26:10–26:13They separate the two.
26:13–26:15Whose teacher is he?
26:15–26:17Only this camel-faced brats.
26:17–26:22The boy leaps up in anger and moves to slap the disciple across the face.
26:22–26:27Sangh karshana, monk, and arbiters, peace.
26:27–26:33Recognition, which apprehends a lasting object in the form, this is that very same thing.
26:33–26:35Also refutes this reason.
26:35–26:37Or leave recognition aside.
26:37–26:41The direct perception of a person who does not blink, which apprehends an object as
26:41–26:46having uninterrupted existence, undoubtedly contradicts it as well.
26:46–26:51In spite of such perception, certain fools say, perception grasps the separate moments
26:51–26:53of an object.
26:53–26:58This claim is plainly refuted because a single moment cannot endure for a long time and in
26:58–27:02that case apprehension of this kind could never occur.
27:02–27:04Do not go into greater detail now.
27:04–27:10Graduate, our ears have been delighted by the chain of reasoning you presented.
27:10–27:14The doctrine of momentariness has thereby been refuted.
27:14–27:19Now say something about the doctrine that consciousness alone is real.
27:19–27:26monk. Let us grant that an object and the cognition that apprehends it are not perceived simultaneously.
27:26–27:32When you say, the form of cognition appears, does cognition reveal its own form, or the form of
27:32–27:38something else? No cognition occurs in the form, I am blue. What accords with the facts is a cognition
27:38–27:45that knows an object as that distinct from itself. Therefore, an external knowable object must exist.
27:45–27:49If it exists, why is it not experienced?
27:49–27:55Who said it is not experienced? It is certainly experienced in the form, this is blue.
27:55–28:01Good man, that is an appearance of cognition, because cognition is luminous by nature.
28:01–28:06It is not an appearance of the object, because the object is insensient.
28:06–28:11And you yourself said that the two cannot appear simultaneously.
28:11–28:17When cognition appears, it too appears not as its own light, but as the illumination of
28:17–28:18another object.
28:18–28:24Because this illumination is the illumination of what is illuminated, not merely the illumination
28:24–28:28of illumination, such as the manner of lamps and other lights.
28:28–28:33It has been said, the three lights illuminate themselves and other things.
28:33–28:36Yet at that time cognition itself does not in fact appear.
28:36–28:39Blue and the other forms appear.
28:39–28:42And blue and the other forms are not cognition.
28:42–28:47Because their nature as cognition has not been established by positive and negative concomitance,
28:47–28:49as cowhood is.
28:49–28:54The monk remains silent, lowers his eyes, and draws lines on the ground.
28:54–28:59Honorable arbiters, tell us, which of the two positions is superior?
28:59–29:01Why ask us?
29:01–29:06By remaining silent, the monk himself supports your position.
29:06–29:11the monk. Then I shall now go to bathe. Forgive me, you
29:11–29:16have seen the spectacle. Do whatever you consider proper. Monks, if your effort is meant to secure
29:16–29:22a better next world, stop and abandon it, for its result is the opposite. But if all this
29:22–29:28labor, supported by heaps of hypocrisy and imposter, is merely to earn a living, continue
29:28–29:36as you please. All exit. End of Act 1.
29:36–29:45The servant enters. He walks, looks at the path and reflects. He takes a few steps, looks
29:45–29:50ahead and brightens. He watches for a while.
29:50–29:53In this comfortless promen household I can neither drink chilled wine, nor make love
29:53–29:59with serving women, nor readily obtain a dish of meat. What am I to do? A man born a slave
29:59–30:04has no path open to him if he turns away from his master, that is certain. Every errand
30:04–30:09master devices and sends me upon is such that I cannot even stop to eat or drink as I run.
30:09–30:13Just now he ordered me, Kolu, go and see whether the sage generaixata is in the
30:13–30:19Jain ascetics retreat. I do not even know where their retreat is. The crown here is
30:19–30:23modeled with uprooted specks of dust and scattered clumps of hair like the bristles of crane.
30:23–30:28So the Jain ascetics retreat must be somewhere in this wood. This must certainly be it.
30:29–30:33There, beneath the tree in the darkness of a thick tangle of vines, a mendicant seems to be
30:33–30:39trying to placate an angry nun. That demoness of a nun must be furious. The young mendicant
30:39–30:44fell at her feet, yet she shook him off and went away. The poor man's face looks miserable, too.
30:45–30:49A giant mendicant enters carrying a peacock feather whisk.
30:50–30:53Weeping. Wiping his eyes.
30:55–31:00Alas, the wretched me. In the futile hope of a better next world, I first became a
31:00–31:07Then I fell from that path, now both my present and my future are ruined.
31:07–31:12I fell at her feet, yet that demoness of a nun would not yield.
31:12–31:15Go away, you demonic bitch.
31:15–31:18Can I not find another nun besides you?
31:18–31:21Reflecting
31:21–31:23Looking at his body
31:23–31:27He changes costume and looks around
31:27–31:29Looking ahead with delight
31:29–31:31He does so.
31:31–31:36Before this mannequin sees me, I shall dress as a Jane Nun and make sport of him.
31:36–31:41My ears are certainly long, no beard has begun to grow upon my face, and would expect a Jane
31:41–31:43Nun to have a lock of hair on her head.
31:43–31:46I can easily pass as one.
31:46–31:49Now I need only a peacock feather whisk to look like a Jane Nun.
31:49–31:50Excellent.
31:50–31:53The Nun left behind the whisk she had been carrying.
31:53–31:55I shall take it and approach him.
31:55–31:58Sir, my respects.
31:58–32:03I am very tired. Please tell me where the venerable sage Jnarekshita is now.
32:03–32:06Delighted, aside.
32:06–32:08Allowed.
32:08–32:12It seems fortune will no longer turn her back on me.
32:12–32:14Another young man has arrived.
32:14–32:19Young man, what business have you with the sage Jnarekshita?
32:19–32:21You look exhausted.
32:21–32:25Sit for a while and rest in this secluded to cool vine bough.
32:25–32:28I have always been miserable and unfortunate.
32:28–32:31How could I ever find rest?
32:31–32:33Tenderly.
32:33–32:38You are still a child, yet already you have cause for sorrow.
32:38–32:40Sighing.
32:40–32:44Sir, let me not waste words upon my shameful story.
32:44–32:46Please tell me where the sage generaxita is.
32:46–32:54Child, the sage generaxita is inside a beneath a banyan tree preaching to his disciples.
32:54–32:59But sit for one moment and tell me the cause of your renunciation.
32:59–33:01Sitting and sighing.
33:01–33:02He weeps.
33:02–33:09Sir, what use is there now in telling the accumulated shame of a girl crushed by life?
33:09–33:11Wiping the servant's eyes.
33:11–33:14Tell me, little one.
33:14–33:18Dear girl, my heart is not separate from yours.
33:18–33:19Precious me.
33:19–33:23I became an unwhiler was still a very young girl.
33:23–33:28Then, when the tender signs of youth were just beginning to appear and I was still unacquainted
33:28–33:33with the taste of love, a young mendicant violated my chastity against my will.
33:33–33:41Joyfully, aside, allowed, I have found a river of nectar.
33:41–33:44Dear girl, such is the way of life.
33:44–33:50And then, Sir, when little by little I had become acquainted with the taste of love,
33:50–33:55mendicant abandoned me and became infatuated with another, a miserly old nun.
33:55–34:00Lakuna in the source.com let us support each other like the proverbial layman and the blind
34:00–34:01man.
34:01–34:05He puts an arm around the servant's neck and kisses him by force.
34:05–34:09The servant pretends to be shy and sits with lowered eyes.
34:09–34:13Dear girl, why will you not look at me?
34:13–34:15How can I?
34:15–34:18You two will abandon me and go to someone else.
34:18–34:22He places a hand on the servant's chest.
34:22–34:25Dear girl, do not say that.
34:25–34:27I shall remain your slave.
34:27–34:30Have your breasts not yet developed.
34:30–34:33Coily.
34:33–34:36He raises his hand to slap the servant.
34:36–34:38Alas, wretched me!
34:38–34:40What can I do?
34:40–34:44The Jane Menican slides his hand below the servant's navel, discovers his male organ,
34:44–34:47and cries in shame in fury, demu, felon.
34:47–34:50You have deceived me outrageously.
34:50–34:52You letcher as ascetic.
34:52–34:57Say another word and I shall expose all your secrets before the sage generic shitter.
34:57–35:02After a moment's thought, falling at the servant's feet.
35:02–35:05Tell no one about this little joke of ours.
35:05–35:08What will you pay for my silence?
35:08–35:11The Jain mendicant takes something from the handle of his peacock feather whisk and gives
35:11–35:13it to the servant.
35:13–35:16As he walks away, he looks ahead.
35:16–35:20I had my joke, gained a coin, and learned where the sage is.
35:20–35:23Now I shall go and report to my master.
35:23–35:25Your luck is open today.
35:25–35:27Here comes your beloved.
35:27–35:30The real giant nun enters.
35:30–35:36Seeing the servant dressed as a giant nun, she speaks with jealousy and anger.
35:36–35:38You wicked female ascetic.
35:38–35:42Where are you going with another woman's whisk?
35:42–35:44He exits.
35:44–35:47Here, madam, take it.
35:47–35:50This mannequin tricked me against my will in that fine bow.
35:50–35:53I am blameless.
35:53–35:55Approaching the giant mendicant.
35:55–35:58She beats him with the whisk handle.
35:58–36:03You wicked lecher, casting lustful eyes upon female ascetics.
36:03–36:08I had dropped my whisk and came back for it, in the few moments since then, you had
36:08–36:11already begun embracing Vanadana.
36:11–36:16Now taste the fruit of your spiritual practice.
36:16–36:19He falls at the endu ends feet.
36:19–36:22Madam, I do not misunderstand.
36:22–36:26Could you not see that it was a servant dressed as a woman who came to mock me?
36:26–36:29The villain has made you angry.
36:29–36:32I swear that this is the whole truth.
36:32–36:37How can truth come from the mouth of a man with such self-control?
36:37–36:40Alarmed.
36:40–36:43That wicked servant may devise another trick.
36:43–36:46Come, madam, let us go somewhere else.
36:46–36:49Abromen is coming this way.
36:49–36:52Quickly, madam, let us go.
36:52–36:57They both exit.
36:57–37:00Sankashana and the boy enter.
37:00–37:05First I held a swift debate to calm the arrogant excitement of those red-robed men, who consider
37:05–37:06themselves wise.
37:06–37:11This time I should like to amuse myself a little with the pitiable and foolish naked aesthetics
37:11–37:12as well.
37:12–37:17For you, sir, it is entertainment, for those poor men, it is the destruction of everything
37:17–37:19they possess.
37:19–37:21Smiling.
37:21–37:28While said, cattle, family, house, property, farming, and trade, ordinary people can lose
37:28–37:29all these things.
37:29–37:35But what is everything to a sky-clad Jane Monk who lives beneath a tree on alms?
37:35–37:37Listen, I shall tell you.
37:37–37:42For the sake of a better next world, the poor men practice very severe austerities.
37:42–37:44Then they are caught in the torrent of your speech.
37:44–37:49Thus, when their religion is crushed, their entire spiritual labor becomes fruitless.
37:49–37:51Bravo!
37:51–37:52Look at your compassion.
37:52–37:53Very well.
37:53–37:56To please you, I shall test my power upon them gently.
37:56–37:59Come, we have reached their retreat.
37:59–38:00Let us enter.
38:00–38:03They walk on.
38:03–38:10ahead. The Jain sage Jinnarakshita is seated here in the shade of a banyan tree. He seems
38:10–38:14to be preaching on some subject, and many disciples sit at his feet.
38:14–38:25Jinnarakshita enters as described. J-I-N-A-R-A-K-S-H-I-T-A, aside. Alas, it is exceedingly difficult
38:25–38:30to escape the turning wheel of existence. Though I restrain it by force, the mind
38:30–38:35and still longs for those very objects of the senses, without considering the many faults
38:35–38:40that will arise in the fruits of action. I do not know what to do. The mind will not
38:40–38:47take the wholesome path. This goddess of beginningless ignorance will not release me.
38:47–38:51Reflecting Be that as it may, I must discipline these
38:51–38:54wretched monks day and night as far as I am able. Allowed
38:54–39:01Munks. The hunter called Fate continually shoots his arrows. The noose of the snare called
39:01–39:06worldly existence is terrible. How will the deer that is the self cross this blazing forest
39:06–39:13of sorrow? Or rather. For one in whom meditation upon Lord Gina's teaching has awakened the
39:13–39:19power of the naturally pure and perfected self, what harm can angry, miserable Fate
39:19–39:26do. Fate torments only the helpless. Therefore now, contemplate the Gina's words and make
39:26–39:33the body lean through ascetic observances. This alone is the entire secret of the teaching.
39:33–39:36Plant it deep within your minds.
39:36–39:40As the Venerable Master commands.
39:40–39:42Approaching respectfully.
39:42–39:47Is the Venerable Master well, and is your circle of disciples well?
39:47–39:57Having defeated the Buddhists, this graduate Sankarshana has now come eager to humiliate
39:57–39:58us.
39:58–40:01It is best to withdraw on this occasion.
40:01–40:06His force is irresistible, and his eloquence and intelligence are unequaleded.
40:06–40:09Welcome, noble sir.
40:09–40:10Please sit here.
40:10–40:12Are you well?
40:12–40:15What subject has been chosen today?
40:15–40:19What in this forest of worldly existence is worth choosing?
40:19–40:23Only a means of escaping it, if one can be found.
40:23–40:27Sankashana, the means has certainly been found.
40:27–40:34Consider no violence, no faucet, no attachment to home, property, or clothing, no engagement
40:34–40:37in any action that bears immediate fruit in this world.
40:37–40:42And this faultless, severe austerity filled with vows and restraints, what other road
40:42–40:46to freedom from worldly existence could there be.
40:46–40:52Prajapati has fashioned tongues for men like you, noble sir, that are extraordinarily skilled
40:52–40:54in speaking sweet words.
40:54–41:00Nevertheless, tell me, sage, upon what subject did you begin to preach?
41:00–41:03Is curiosity draining the life from you?
41:03–41:08The doctrine of many-sided reality is the distinctive teaching of our giant tradition,
41:08–41:11and that is precisely what we are discussing now.
41:11–41:15Sankashana, sage, there is a celebrated saying,
41:15–41:19the nature of one thing is the nature of all things.
41:19–41:22The nature of all things is the nature of one thing.
41:22–41:28Whoever sees one thing as it truly is has seen all things as they truly are.
41:28–41:32Then tell me this, if the nature of one thing is the nature of all things,
41:32–41:37what means would a person with a purpose employ and toward what object?
41:37–41:40If things are ordered according to their respective functions,
41:40–41:44One thing cannot possess the nature of all things.
41:44–41:50Even though things may share certain common forms, each thing still has its own particular nature.
41:50–41:55But if the order of things were as you say, which I do not accept,
41:55–42:01no one would ever begin any action for a reward either in the next world or in this one.
42:01–42:04Jinnarakshita signals to a disciple.
42:04–42:06Deliberately.
42:06–42:13Venerable Master, the monks submit, the Venerable Master is being delayed, and the time for our present duty is passing.
42:14–42:18To S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A.
42:19–42:25Noble Sir, the monk's duty is being obstructed. Decide, therefore, as you think proper.
42:26–42:28Sage, do as you please.
42:29–42:30To the disciple.
42:31–42:36Run and tell the monks to remain attentive in their respective places for one moment.
42:36–42:38I am coming now.
42:38–42:41Generak Sheda exits with his disciples.
42:41–42:45Boy, did you see the sky-clad Jain sages' cleverness?
42:45–42:48Sir, who could stand before you in the battle of debate?
42:48–42:51By fleeing on that pretext, he saved his life.
42:51–42:53Odd I'd have punished him.
42:53–42:56It was necessary to learn the facts, and I learned them.
42:56–43:01Yet only out of regard for you did I refrain from taking a severe position in the matter.
43:01–43:05Sir, though your words are gentle, they tear open the hearts of disputants.
43:05–43:09of disputants fish cast upon the bank lacuna in the source.
43:09–43:11Where shall we go now boy?
43:11–43:13Why not go to bathe?
43:13–43:16Smiling.
43:16–43:18Looking upward.
43:18–43:19Why are you hungry?
43:19–43:21How could it be time to bathe yet?
43:21–43:25We had better remain here for a while in the grove of the Jane Monk's retreat.
43:25–43:27Very well.
43:27–43:30They rise and walk on.
43:30–43:32Looking ahead in wonder.
43:32–43:40Ah, how delightful this place is, and how suitable for rest. For, this would give deep, cool shade,
43:40–43:45it has grassy ground and water, the breeze is fragrant with clusters of flowers,
43:45–43:51deer leap and play in every direction, and the birds cries mingle with waves of many melodies.
43:52–43:58Reflecting. If a follower of Vedanta were to live in this sacred wood, quiet every desire of
43:58–44:03of the self and restrain the multitude of mental fluctuations, then in only a few days
44:03–44:09he would surely attain a marvellous, supreme, radiant state eternally blissful and free
44:09–44:12from the haste and labour of the worldly road.
44:12–44:15A Voice Offstage
44:15–44:20It is difficult to grasp the heart of Vedanta's teaching. The long and elaborate narratives
44:20–44:27of the three Vedas produce confusion. High-born people deliberate upon the grave question,
44:27–44:31As the self exist or not, keep them far from me.
44:31–44:36To abandon the unbearable pain of worldly existence, embrace the brief and lucid scripture taught
44:36–44:38by the great sage Gina.
44:38–44:44Sir, an ascetic in red robes is hurrying this way, muttering something of that kind.
44:44–44:46An ascetic enters.
44:46–44:51The ascetic walks on, reciting, it is difficult to grasp the heart of Vedanta's teaching.
44:51–44:52Astonishing.
44:52–44:56Does this man still follow the teaching of the Gina?
44:56–45:02the ascetic. Leave it boy. What does that matter? I shall ask him something else.
45:02–45:04Ascetic are you well? Where are you going in such haste?
45:05–45:12You are plainly a Brahmin. How, then, can you fail to understand the sensation of hunger?
45:13–45:18Sir, have you set out to eat? What else? Where are you going?
45:20–45:25Right here. There is a great feast today in the homage of the sage-genarakshita.
45:26–45:29What is the occasion for the feast?
45:29–45:35A nobleman who has received the genie teacher's instruction is feeding people here today.
45:35–45:37Thousands of ascetics have assembled.
45:37–45:43They are being served heaps of porridge, jars of sesame oil, bowls of sauer grouin, little
45:43–45:47pots of molasses, and mountains of food cooked in sesame oil.
45:47–45:54Ascetic, tell me, among so many dishes, will there be no curds, milk, clarified butter,
45:54–45:56anything of that kind.
45:56–45:58Or, no.
45:58–46:01Such conduct is fit for you Brahmans.
46:01–46:07We ascetics use nothing obtained from an animal, not in food or drink, not in clothing, not
46:07–46:12for bedding or seats, and not for any other adornment of the body.
46:12–46:16Do you not see these sandals of mine made from tree bark?
46:16–46:18Now leave this talk.
46:18–46:21I am late for the feast.
46:21–46:22Tell me the way too.
46:22–46:25I should like to see the splendor of the ascetics.
46:25–46:27Come, come.
46:27–46:29Please follow me.
46:29–46:31Or walk on.
46:31–46:36Ascetic, if you follow the Gina's teaching, why do you wear red robes?
46:36–46:38Is your Gina a Sugata too?
46:38–46:41Smiling.
46:41–46:42Smiling.
46:42–46:43Aside.
46:43–46:44Allowed.
46:44–46:51Lord Gina is also a Sugata for us, and Sugata too is called a Gina Teacher.
46:51–46:54How fortunate we follow us of the Ahata.
46:54–47:00Somewhere only the sky, somewhere only back, somewhere red cloth, and some white.
47:00–47:02Look.
47:02–47:05The sky-clad monks are coming.
47:05–47:09Because of their devotion to mercilessly plucking out their hair, the roots are visible and
47:09–47:13tiny drops of blood are trickling from them.
47:13–47:19Here come the wearers of back rags, whose soft back garments are aged with lacuna in the sauce.
47:19–47:25Here come celibate ascetics, whose robes are the color of atom pots just fired in a keon.
47:25–47:31Here come the white-clad monks, the hems of their robes as white as swan's wings, fluttering
47:31–47:33in the gentle wind.
47:33–47:37How meritorious is the nobleman whom all of them will favor today?
47:37–47:43Sankarshana, he is called Maritorious, not a maker of calamity.
47:43–47:49He takes no thought for elephants, horses, swords, roads, tax collection, divisions of
47:49–47:52the army, camels, or the like.
47:52–47:57He squanders the substance of his wealth on affairs of this kind and evades royal service,
47:57–48:00the king will surely confiscate his estate.
48:00–48:04How peaceful and delightful this hermitage is.
48:04–48:09The world seems filled with tranquility, and the earth herself appears to be observing a
48:09–48:10vow.
48:10–48:14Here it truly seems that the chain of snares of worldly existence binding the embodied
48:14–48:18self has been broken into pieces.
48:18–48:23We have seen ascetics clothed in air, barb, red robes, and white robes.
48:23–48:27Now look at these people in black blankets approaching from this direction.
48:27–48:30Looking ahead in astonishment.
48:30–48:32Looking closely.
48:32–48:39the ascetic. Good heavens, this is a new form of austerity. A woman and a man wrapped in
48:39–48:46the same black garment are entertaining themselves by singing an extraordinarily sweet song. What?
48:46–48:51There seem to be whole groups of such couples. Surely the earth has sunk and the three Vedas
48:51–48:56have been uprooted. Ascetic, are you acquainted with this novel and astonishing method of spiritual
48:56–48:58practice?
48:58–49:00He exits.
49:00–49:04I do not know what charming religious observance this is.
49:04–49:08I suppose some people had talk of the feast and are hovering here merely from greed for
49:08–49:09food.
49:09–49:12Leave their story there.
49:12–49:15I shall go and join my coreliginist.
49:15–49:20A woman and a man enter wrapped in one black garment and singing, or, if the production
49:20–49:25permits, several such couples enter singing the following song, Victory to the Lordly
49:25–49:30sage of the black blanket, who dispels attachment to limited life.
49:30–49:36O Lord, whoever follows your new teaching drinks the incomparable delight of nectar.
49:36–49:42In this world he delights in love-play with women, and in the next he attains liberation.
49:42–49:47The body fulfills its purpose, and freedom from worldly existence is one.
49:47–49:51Do not trust other sects, where the body is dried up completely and liberation still
49:51–49:54remains uncertain.
49:54–49:57What is gained by the practice of discipline?
49:57–50:00A man only ends as a slave.
50:00–50:04Even a great store of merit merely deprives a person of pleasure.
50:04–50:07Whoever enfolds this union, Lakuna.
50:07–50:13If every couple understands in this way Lakuna, then pleasure without making his butt fruitful,
50:13–50:17where can a person wander in a human body, and where will he arrive?
50:17–50:22Whether this world is a transformation of the Supreme Self or a transformation of world
50:22–50:26how can any of it be achieved without the ending of ignorance?
50:26–50:31Lacuna understands that all other religions are footless.
50:31–50:37Follow the sage of the black blanket and find happiness in both this world and the next.
50:37–50:40After listening to the song for a while
50:40–50:48Boy, this is low-grade disputation, composed by someone under the guise of a song, in order to revile every philosophy.
50:48–50:53philosophy. Yet I do not dare begin a conversation with these villains, because I have no wish
50:53–50:59to perform the penitential purification that would be required afterward. The woman and the man repeat
50:59–51:06the song. Boy, observe. Their speech has no purity, and their loathsome bodies are unclean.
51:06–51:12Their minds are always undiscriminating, delighting in utterly reprehensible conduct. Whose heart is
51:12–51:18so fearless of the next world that he would undertake this meritorious and marvelous austerity.
51:18–51:23Or is there any conduct of mankind that does not bring disgrace? And look further,
51:23–51:29rhythmic songs, repeated at will, resound throughout the day, casting off every restraint,
51:29–51:35they drink sweet wine whose flavor is mingled with a lover's saliva. Their bodies move wantonly,
51:35–51:40hidden beneath a woven cloth as they ceaselessly excite one another, who would not adopt such
51:40–51:42an intensely erotic vow.
51:42–51:45Sir, it is exactly so.
51:45–51:48I think this is a new and modern great vow.
51:48–51:54If the account in their song spreads widely, the established conduct of the social classes
51:54–51:57and stages of life will be destroyed without limit.
51:57–52:00Surely the path of the three Vedas is being shattered.
52:00–52:06For when faithful wives see this austerity, praised by novices and abolishing every
52:06–52:10restraint. They too will not remain long in their husband's homes.
52:11–52:12Smiling.
52:13–52:19Why should you worry, sir? You are not yet married. My own case lies even further in the future.
52:20–52:23But your revered mother is still alive, is she not?
52:24–52:28The poor old woman is almost as good as dead, so she is surely safe from this calamity for now.
52:29–52:35Enough joking. A great evil has arisen here. Boy, consider what remedy is there.
52:35–52:44Sir, I do not know. You surely do. But the power of the Kali Age is growing these days. How can such a disaster be countered?
52:44–52:46Reflecting.
52:46–52:52Even so, it is not right to sit inert without making an effort. Yes, there is a remedy.
52:52–52:54What is it?
52:54–53:23His Majesty King Shankar Averman himself. He is the Emperor consecrated to protect the three worlds and the teacher of the lawful boundaries of social class and stage of life. Therefore he will certainly know the remedy. Above all, the honorable Bat Dejanta, who has mastered all the scriptures of Shiva, is with him. Yes, I shall inform him. In a crisis there is no place for delay. Boy, send these singing women and men toward the feast.
53:23–53:30Asetics, listen. It is time for your meal in the Hermitage. Why delay?
53:30–53:32All exit.
53:32–53:34End of Act 2.
53:34–53:39A first shaver, adept enters.
53:39–53:42Looking about fearfully.
53:42–53:44He walks and looks ahead.
53:44–53:49The horned moon, the emblem of Mahadeva, has already set.
53:49–53:52The sky is as empty and dark as my heart.
53:52–53:58There could be no better time to slip away unseen. Where is my dearest friend
53:58–54:04Shmashin Abasma, with whom I am to flee? There is Shmashin Abasma. He seems to be
54:04–54:12coming this way. A second shaver adept enters. He walks, then listens.
54:12–54:19Listening closely. Taking courage and approaching. This is my friend
54:19–54:25cankelavages shelter. I can just make it out even in this darkness. I shall place my feet
54:25–54:32carefully and move forward. I thought I heard footsteps. Good heavens, the city watch seems
54:32–54:38to be coming this way. If they catch me, they will take me for a thief and throw me into
54:38–54:47prison and pale me or hang me from a tree. No matter. Lord Byratha is my refuge. That
54:47–54:50That seemed to be my friend Khankhalavija's voice.
54:50–54:53Friend Khankhalavija, I have found you.
54:53–54:57I was afraid you were a city guard.
54:57–55:00Shmash in a basma, is that you?
55:00–55:01Good that you have come.
55:01–55:04Come, let us move quickly.
55:04–55:09While it remains dark, we can both escape unseen.
55:09–55:14Are you afraid the city guard will mistake you for a thief and kill you?
55:14–55:16Not that fear.
55:16–55:19Even if I had it, it is gone now.
55:19–55:22But another disaster has arisen.
55:22–55:24Agitated.
55:24–55:26How?
55:26–55:29The story is everywhere, have you not heard?
55:29–55:34These days this wretched kingdom has changed completely.
55:34–55:35My heart is pounding.
55:35–55:39Friend, tell me everything quickly.
55:39–55:43King Shankaravarman's severity is well known.
55:43–55:47His Brahmin minister, the wicked Janta, is harsher still.
55:47–55:52On the charge of being outside Vedic religion, they seized all the black blanket ascetics,
55:52–55:56beat them half to death, and expelled them from the kingdom.
55:56–56:02Now, if any other ascetic outside Vedic religion is caught, he will be beaten, killed, thrown
56:02–56:04into prison, or executed.
56:04–56:07Do we not belong to that same class?
56:07–56:11We drink wine, eat meat, and keep women.
56:11–56:15Do we not follow the same sort of religious practice as the black blankets?
56:15–56:20So let us hide our robes as adepts and move swiftly through the darkness without being
56:20–56:22seen.
56:22–56:24Terrified.
56:24–56:27Let us do exactly that.
56:27–56:29They walk on.
56:29–56:34Friend kankalavaja, how did this calamity arise?
56:34–56:35Listen.
56:35–56:41First, that graduate Brahmin named Sankarshana saw countless black blanket couples singing
56:41–56:45and enjoying themselves in the forest of the sage Jinnarakshada.
56:45–56:47And then?
56:47–56:50He informed Janta.
56:50–56:53Janta told the king everything.
56:53–56:55And then?
56:55–56:59Then the king summoned that graduate Brahmin Sankarshana, arranged his marriage, granted
56:59–57:04him special privileges, the right to wear a ceremonial turban, and the title, highly
57:04–57:09honored, and made him superintendent of religious affairs throughout the kingdom.
57:09–57:12He kindled the fire.
57:12–57:15Say rather that the wicked jaunt to kindled it.
57:15–57:19Be that as it may, such is our condition.
57:19–57:21Where shall we go now?
57:21–57:27We must present ourselves before Prahliyagnishaka, the mistress of mantra practice.
57:27–57:32I hope that in these evil times no disaster will befall us there.
57:32–57:35Has she obtained protection these days?
57:35–57:42the king's chief queen, Queen Saganah, mistress of the whole inner palace, will shelter her
57:42–57:45because she is a woman.
57:45–57:48Even if she herself is safe, can she keep us safe?
57:48–57:50I know the answer.
57:50–57:55Let us go to some distant country surrounded by forest.
57:55–57:57You are right, friend.
57:57–58:00Let us hurry on before daybreak.
58:00–58:02They do so.
58:02–58:08Mashin Abasma, you speak well. But after dawn it will be difficult to take even one step
58:08–58:11in this wretched kingdom.
58:11–58:13Why?
58:13–58:18In every district, every town, every village, the sound of Vedic recitation splits one's
58:18–58:23ears, the smell of clarified butter stabs the nose, and the smoke of sacrifices fills
58:23–58:30the eyes with tears. We shall therefore have to cross this wretched kingdom only at night.
58:30–58:33By day we must remain deep in the forest.
58:33–58:35Exactly.
58:35–58:38There is also the fear of Sankarshana.
58:38–58:44We shall travel only at night, and spend the days unseen in the jumble.
58:44–58:46They walk on.
58:46–58:52Smash in a basma, the directions are becoming visible and the stars are gradually pailing.
58:52–58:54Dawn has come.
58:54–58:56What shall we do now?
58:56–59:01stage after the beating of a drum, citizens and villagers, here.
59:01–59:07By command of His Majesty King Shankar Averman, the highly honored Bhattasankar Shana announces,
59:07–59:11let upright people who, caught in the beginningless stream of existence, profess different religions
59:11–59:18remain as they are, observing the practices prescribed by their respective religious disciplines.
59:18–59:22But criminal false ascetics who destroy the established social and religious order must
59:22–59:26leave the kingdom at once, or the king will punish them like thieves.
59:26–59:34Both, listening in terror. Our living death, the man called Sankarsana, has truly arrived.
59:34–59:44Come, let us hurry elsewhere. They both exit. The highly honored Sankarsana enters, no longer
59:44–59:49dressed as a graduate but in the attire appropriate to a married royal official, accompanied
59:49–59:53by the boy and as many attendants as the production permits.
59:53–59:58Boy, are people condemning us for expelling the black blankets?
59:58–1:00:00Have no such fear, sir.
1:00:00–1:00:04The order of the threefold Vedic religion, truly defeated and destroyed by corrupt false
1:00:04–1:00:07ascetics, has been restored by you.
1:00:07–1:00:11Say that King Shankar Averman caused it to be restored.
1:00:11–1:00:15But are there no other false ascetics openly roaming the kingdom in imitation of the
1:00:15–1:00:18black blankets, deserving expulsion?
1:00:18–1:00:22Sir, until recently a few depraved ascetics who called themselves followers of Shiva could
1:00:22–1:00:25be seen indulging in their games.
1:00:25–1:00:29But because of your energetic measures they have fallen into disrepute and now very few
1:00:29–1:00:30remain.
1:00:30–1:00:32Sankarshana, well said.
1:00:32–1:00:33I too have seen them.
1:00:33–1:00:35They deserve banishment.
1:00:35–1:00:364.
1:00:36–1:00:38What do they regard as unfit to drink?
1:00:38–1:00:40Only what is not liquid.
1:00:40–1:00:42What can they not eat?
1:00:42–1:00:45Only what is bitter or cannot be broken by the teeth.
1:00:45–1:00:50If any creature with breast is unfit for intercourse, it must be either unborn or dead.
1:00:50–1:00:53What place in the world is suitable for their austerity?
1:00:53–1:00:56A tavern, perhaps?
1:00:56–1:00:58You speak truly, sir.
1:00:58–1:01:04Boy, this is also a grave assault upon the order of social classes and stages of life.
1:01:04–1:01:08It is a disgrace as well to those who conduct their business by misusing Shiva's name and
1:01:08–1:01:11call themselves his followers.
1:01:11–1:01:12Exactly boy.
1:01:12–1:01:15The king is right to attend to their expulsion.
1:01:15–1:01:21Moreover, these villains, proclaiming the Lord's name and saying, we follow Shiva's teaching,
1:01:21–1:01:23are damaging his pure religions.
1:01:23–1:01:29If the King properly restrains them and establishes them on an undefiled path, how could that
1:01:29–1:01:33harm the praiseworthy protection of the earth or his fame?
1:01:33–1:01:35Precisely so.
1:01:35–1:01:36Be at ease.
1:01:36–1:01:38I have received the King's command in this matter.
1:01:38–1:01:41Order the patrols to search for them.
1:01:41–1:01:44He exits and re-enters.
1:01:44–1:01:49As you command, sir. Sir, they have fled the kingdom. But an anxious messenger has come
1:01:49–1:01:53looking for you. What is your command?
1:01:53–1:01:56Bring him in. The boy signals for him to enter.
1:01:56–1:01:59Entering in agitation.
1:01:59–1:02:03Victory to my lord. As soon as the Sha'eeva followers, devoted to eating meat, drinking
1:02:03–1:02:07wine, and coupling with serving women, heard the news about the black blankets, every
1:02:07–1:02:11one of them vanished from the kingdom. But other ascetics of pure conduct have also
1:02:11–1:02:16become frightened and begun to depart. What does my Lord command?
1:02:16–1:02:18To the messenger.
1:02:18–1:02:24Boy, to stop the upright people, we must quickly and respectfully appoint leaders for their
1:02:24–1:02:27communities. Go with him and show him the way.
1:02:27–1:02:29He exits.
1:02:29–1:02:31As my Lord commands.
1:02:31–1:02:34Ah, sir, your resolve has wavered.
1:02:34–1:02:40Boy, it is not right to cause anxiety among people of pure religion who live within the
1:02:40–1:02:47beginningless stream of existence. King Shankar Averman is supremely devoted to Shiva and compassionate
1:02:47–1:02:52toward every religious community. Come, let us go directly to the revered Dharmasheva's
1:02:52–1:03:00monastery and calm these groundless fears. As you command, sir. They walk on.
1:03:00–1:03:07Assetics, why are you worried and afraid? The king, protector of every religious community,
1:03:07–1:03:13is not your enemy. His Majesty has expelled from the kingdom those who nearly destroyed
1:03:13–1:03:18you under the covering of fraudulent vows. Sir, that must be the community leader you
1:03:18–1:03:22appointed, making the announcement to the people along the road.
1:03:22–1:03:27They walk on. Well recognized, boy, let us hurry. Boy,
1:03:27–1:03:32we must have reached the revered Darmashiva's monastery, for gray with a coating of sacred
1:03:32–1:03:38ash, capable of kindling the fire of incense, and having just drunk the pure nectar of flowers
1:03:38–1:03:44used in the worship of Shiva, conqueror of the triple city, whom does this blessed breeze
1:03:44–1:03:49of the Shaiva monastery not enchant. It delights in loosening the knots of the ascetics' matted
1:03:49–1:03:54hair, and making their mendicant robes perform a gentle, graceful dance.
1:03:54–1:03:59You speak truly, sir. This hermitage seems peaceful and delightful to me.
1:03:59–1:04:02He acts out entering.
1:04:02–1:04:05Come, let us enter.
1:04:05–1:04:10Ah, the revered Abba Darmashiva himself is coming forward into the courtyard.
1:04:10–1:04:13The radiance of his asceticism surpasses all.
1:04:13–1:04:16His beautiful face smiles beneath its sacred ash.
1:04:16–1:04:20His forehead is purified by the holiness of Ganges water.
1:04:20–1:04:24Ascetics like Shiva's attendants run to serve and worship him.
1:04:24–1:04:29His stainless spirit continually rejoices in a fame bright as camphor.
1:04:29–1:04:35Shiva rejoices with renowned Gauri and the moon. By the mere sight of him, this man who resembles
1:04:35–1:04:42Shiva Shrikantha truly brings welfare to living beings. And further, entering the precincts of
1:04:42–1:04:48this monastery, which dispels the many stains of the Kali age, I tell the truth. It seems to me
1:04:48–1:04:54that I have come to a revived world of Shiva through the three eyes of Shiva, the smiling enemy of
1:04:54–1:04:56of the God of Love.
1:04:56–1:05:01So it seems to me as well. I see myself taking flight to dissolve into Brahmin.
1:05:01–1:05:06The revered Dhamashiva enters as described, seated on a low stool and accompanied by as
1:05:06–1:05:10many followers as the production permits.
1:05:10–1:05:15Dhamashiva, thoughtfully, the fame of this king's virtues has spread through the whole
1:05:15–1:05:21world and his attention is fixed solely upon the social and religious order. This minister,
1:05:21–1:05:27Hunter too never tires as he wanders through the vast forest of philosophies and scriptures.
1:05:27–1:05:31I do not believe they will take any measure contrary to their fame.
1:05:31–1:05:34Let the ascetics remain as before.
1:05:34–1:05:35Why worry?
1:05:35–1:05:39Or what fear could arise for men such as us?
1:05:39–1:05:41Looking ahead.
1:05:41–1:05:42What is this?
1:05:42–1:05:44Has the graduate come here?
1:05:44–1:05:47Now everything is clear.
1:05:47–1:05:48They approach.
1:05:48–1:05:51Come, boy, let us salute the abbot.
1:05:51–1:05:58Homage to the revered abbot, the very form of Lord Maheshvara manifest before us.
1:05:58–1:05:59Welcome, noble sir.
1:05:59–1:06:00Are you well?
1:06:00–1:06:03Please sit upon the seat.
1:06:03–1:06:04There is no need for a seat.
1:06:04–1:06:07I shall sit upon the grass.
1:06:07–1:06:12Venerable sir, religious austerities are proceeding without obstruction according to the established
1:06:12–1:06:13rules.
1:06:13–1:06:14Are they not?
1:06:14–1:06:16Or what obstruction could exist here?
1:06:16–1:06:21Maheshvara himself worships himself through his own person. Please therefore explain to the
1:06:21–1:06:26ascetics that they should feel no anxiety because of the rumors circulating among the people.
1:06:26–1:06:32The king has removed only what obstructed true austerity. The king himself is following behind
1:06:32–1:06:40us to receive the sight of your venerable person. Smiling. Why should I or the ascetics be anxious?
1:06:40–1:06:45As long as His Majesty King Shankar Averman rules, His acquired kingdom in accordance with
1:06:45–1:06:52Dharma, the Kingdom truly belongs to honorable people. He merely protects it. This is not
1:06:52–1:06:56merely today's experience. It has been hours for a long time.
1:06:57–1:07:00Throwing aside the curtain and entering in agitation.
1:07:02–1:07:08Victory to the Abbot. An elderly scholar surrounded by many pupils has arrived displaying
1:07:08–1:07:17arrogance mocking the monastery and lacuna in the sauce venerabosa tell me what to do smiling
1:07:19–1:07:22let the poor man come in i have no objection
1:07:23–1:07:31radambi enters as described he takes a few steps and looks elsewhere approaching
1:07:32–1:07:35saying this he sits on the grass with his pupils
1:07:35–1:07:43Astonishing. What a great calamity King Shankarava Man has engendered. He allows Vedic priests,
1:07:43–1:07:50forest dwellers, renunciants, celibate students, and all these Shaivars, Pashupitas, Pankaratrikas,
1:07:50–1:07:56Ajayins, Sankyas, Buddhists, and others to consume the kingdom's boundless wealth without hindrance.
1:07:56–1:08:02How can he live long in such circumstances? At present he looks like a wishful feeling tree
1:08:02–1:08:08surrounded by emptiness. I shall take this opportunity to eliminate God, set aside the
1:08:08–1:08:12next world, demolish the authority of the Vader, and thus turn the king from the wrong
1:08:12–1:08:17road and establish him on the proper one, so that by attending to worldly prosperity
1:08:17–1:08:22he may enjoy royal power for a long time. I have heard that many self-styled scholars
1:08:22–1:08:27have assembled in this Shaiva monastery. Before them I shall make this Shaiva teacher
1:08:27–1:08:32an object of ridicule. There is the Shoaiva teacher, learned in the philosophies of Kaneda,
1:08:32–1:08:37Lokshapada and others that there is the great Mimamsika Sankarshana, and here are many
1:08:37–1:08:43scholars from different branches of learning. Good, thyshal approach.
1:08:43–1:08:45Asetic, are you well?
1:08:45–1:08:48Brahmin, greetings.
1:08:48–1:08:55Smiling. He looks at S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A.
1:08:55–1:08:58Disrespect from the very beginning.
1:08:58–1:09:03Venerable sir, you have understood correctly. Let us see what follows.
1:09:03–1:09:08Why spend such a miserable life enduring hundreds of pointless hardships?
1:09:08–1:09:13Asterity is merely a form of torture, self-restraint is merely a means of cheating oneself of pleasure,
1:09:13–1:09:19and sacrificial rites such as the fire offering seem to me no more than children's games.
1:09:19–1:09:24What can we do? The Lord God impels us to perform such acts.
1:09:24–1:09:31But who is this Lord God? The son of a barren woman is passing by, freshly bathed in the
1:09:31–1:09:36water of a mirage, wearing a garland of skyflowers upon his head and caring about maid from a
1:09:36–1:09:38hares horn.
1:09:38–1:09:40Laughing Lightly
1:09:40–1:09:48Stop this abuse. He is the Lord of the whole universe, its Creator and destroyer. He supervises,
1:09:48–1:09:54according to their proper fields, the accumulated actions active within the endless multitude
1:09:54–1:10:01of souls and bearing their varied fruits. He is the eternal, blissful, omniscient, compassionate
1:10:01–1:10:03Supreme Lord.
1:10:03–1:10:09Vrithambi. Look at the foolish vision of fools whose sight is blocked by the blindness of
1:10:09–1:10:15devotion and who see nothing. How can this be possible? How can people regard God as
1:10:15–1:10:22the supreme agent? Consider, was it compassion, play, the caprice of sovereignty, impulse,
1:10:22–1:10:27nature, a means of acquiring merit, or his commitment to truth.
1:10:27–1:10:34Who knows what made an ancient sage, without desire and already possessing everything, conceive
1:10:34–1:10:36the creation and destruction of the world.
1:10:36–1:10:41How can one who has no desire for a complex of instrumental and other causes, and who
1:10:41–1:10:47is also without auxiliary causes, be the cause of preserving, destroying and creating
1:10:47–1:10:54worlds when neither he nor anyone else gains any particular benefit from it. Further, grant
1:10:54–1:11:00that he is a creator. What rule ensures that, exactly as you say, he will create only three
1:11:00–1:11:07worlds and not some different or greater number? Darmashiva. Stop laboring to produce fault-finding
1:11:07–1:11:12arguments. On the one hand, fault-finding reasoning is useless concerning something
1:11:12–1:11:15with no basis in a means of valid knowledge.
1:11:15–1:11:22On the other hand, concerning something established by valid knowledge, it must be rejected entirely.
1:11:22–1:11:27Therefore, disputants should cease the clamour of fault-finding arguments about this supersensible
1:11:27–1:11:31subject and seek reasoning that supports the proof.
1:11:31–1:11:32Smiling.
1:11:32–1:11:38If that is your view, present the means of knowledge that proves God.
1:11:38–1:11:43I tell you, inference proves his existence.
1:11:43–1:11:45Smiling
1:11:45–1:11:50To call the same thing both inference and a means of valid knowledge is mere wishful thinking.
1:11:50–1:11:55A thing's capacity changes with differences of condition, place, and time, therefore verifying
1:11:55–1:11:58reality by inference is exceedingly difficult.
1:11:58–1:12:04Moreover, one who relies upon inference readily falls like a blind man running over an uneven
1:12:04–1:12:07road and feeling his way with his hands.
1:12:07–1:12:13And again, a clever logician infers some proposition with great labour, but another still more capable
1:12:13–1:12:17logician explains the same matter in a different way.
1:12:17–1:12:19Stop this elaboration.
1:12:19–1:12:24I know perfectly well this characteristic of the materialist household.
1:12:24–1:12:30But tell me, do they accept sensory perception alone as the only means of valid knowledge?
1:12:30–1:12:33Yes, they do.
1:12:33–1:12:37An ordinary daily conduct is impossible for them.
1:12:37–1:12:39How so?
1:12:39–1:12:44Poor fellow, when hunger torments you, you seek rice, not sand.
1:12:44–1:12:48When you are thirsty, you seek water, not fire.
1:12:48–1:12:51Yes, but what do you wish to prove by that?
1:12:51–1:12:58Friend, that a particular thing is the best means for a specific purpose is not an object
1:12:58–1:12:59of the senses.
1:12:59–1:13:05It is determined through the positive and negative concomitance of entities, and positive and
1:13:05–1:13:10negative concomitance are the chief marks of an inferential sign.
1:13:10–1:13:16Presence in the subject belongs to every reason observed in a particular subject.
1:13:16–1:13:21Positive concomitance, negative concomitance, and presence in the subject.
1:13:21–1:13:25In these resides the life of inference.
1:13:25–1:13:30In daily conduct, like that of animals, it proceeds merely from natural instinct, determining
1:13:30–1:13:33what brings pleasure and what brings pain.
1:13:33–1:13:35Do not say so.
1:13:35–1:13:40A tendency is so called when the particular cause of the validity of the cognition is not
1:13:40–1:13:41known.
1:13:41–1:13:47Here the causes positive concomitance, negative concomitance, and the rest are known.
1:13:47–1:13:51And what is self-evident cannot be denied.
1:13:51–1:13:55Even when you think you understand the cause, in fact you do not because you cannot apprehend
1:13:55–1:13:58an invariable relation.
1:13:58–1:14:02Therefore daily life feels pleasant only when it is not examined.
1:14:02–1:14:06That alone is real, so say those who know reality.
1:14:06–1:14:11This is laziness or else you refuse to retreat even one step.
1:14:11–1:14:16The learned men present here are examining the matter on this very occasion.
1:14:16–1:14:19Such examination is impossible.
1:14:19–1:14:23There are infinitely many individual cases of smoke with fire and of absence of smoke
1:14:23–1:14:25with absence of fire.
1:14:25–1:14:30Unless one has directly perceived all things in the three worlds, a positive and negative
1:14:30–1:14:33concomitance cannot be determined.
1:14:33–1:14:36And what need would an omniscient being have of inference?
1:14:36–1:14:42First, positive concomitance can be apprehended by resorting to universals.
1:14:42–1:14:48The infinity of individual cases does not invalidate inference, because smokiness
1:14:48–1:14:53is one and fireness too is one. In accordance with apprehending the agreement of positive
1:14:53–1:14:59universals, the agreement of their absences can also be apprehended. That is called negative
1:14:59–1:15:05concomitance. The coexistence of two things is positive concomitance. The coexistence
1:15:05–1:15:12of their absences is regarded as negative concomitance. The poor inferential signs presence in the
1:15:12–1:15:18subject can readily be understood, because without a locus one cannot determine a reason
1:15:18–1:15:24as a property. Thus, when the cause of validity has been easily ascertained, even animals,
1:15:24–1:15:30like knowledgeable people, conduct themselves with the aid of means of valid knowledge.
1:15:30–1:15:36The commentator says, Therefore the activities of gods, human beings, and animals are possible
1:15:36–1:15:42in this manner with the help of these means of knowledge, and not otherwise.
1:15:42–1:15:46That may hold regarding a thing already established in the world, cognition of which has already
1:15:46–1:15:51arisen, but it is impossible regarding something yet to be known.
1:15:51–1:15:55Ordinary people, unless deceived by logicians, do not come to know God from effects such
1:15:55–1:15:59as the earth in the way they know fire from smoke.
1:15:59–1:16:05Women, children, cowherds, and even you yourself undoubtedly infer one thing from another
1:16:05–1:16:07particular thing.
1:16:07–1:16:12Through the force of invariable concomitance, a conscious maker can successfully be inferred
1:16:12–1:16:17from an effect, just as fire is inferred from smoke.
1:16:17–1:16:22An effect such as a pot whose manufacture can be imagined is one kind of thing, mountains
1:16:22–1:16:27and the like are wholly different, for there is a great difference between them.
1:16:27–1:16:32The smoke rising in small form in a kitchen is one kind, and the smoke of a mountain
1:16:32–1:16:37spreading through the main and intermediate directions of the sky is very different.
1:16:37–1:16:42you are eating scraps left by those red-robed Buddhists. When a particular kind of arrangement
1:16:42–1:16:47and the like is established by positive and negative concomitance with the existence of
1:16:47–1:16:52a controller, then from that kind of arrangement the existence of a controller may properly
1:16:52–1:16:58be inferred. In truth, the process of inference depends upon a particular property. Where
1:16:58–1:17:03is complete similarity ever found between the subject possessing the property to be
1:17:03–1:17:06proved and the example?
1:17:06–1:17:08Smiling.
1:17:08–1:17:14In other cases there is a real universal, but here the similarity is nominal only, not real.
1:17:14–1:17:20To apply inference on the basis of a merely nominal similarity would entail the fault of overextension.
1:17:20–1:17:25Dhamma Shiva, how could there be a real universal in a Buddhist household?
1:17:25–1:17:33We see that ordinary daily conduct depends upon some universal, whether produced by the intellect, external, real or conventional.
1:17:33–1:17:42Many things are effects and yet are not mutually alike. I therefore do not understand the purpose of saying that particular kind.
1:17:42–1:17:47But products such as the earth are exceedingly exceptional.
1:17:47–1:17:51Then accept an exceedingly exceptional craftsman.
1:17:51–1:17:54I cannot accept an unknown entity.
1:17:54–1:17:58And I cannot speak of an effect without a maker.
1:17:58–1:18:01What is to be done in such a case?
1:18:01–1:18:10Which alternative should we abandon? Is the extraordinary nature of the Maker difficult? Or an effect without a Maker?
1:18:10–1:18:21In choosing between these alternatives, the general rule is, what is unseen is admitted in order to explain what is seen, but what is seen cannot be denied.
1:18:21–1:18:27Therefore, rather than deny the effects character as an effect, it is proper to tolerate the
1:18:27–1:18:32extraordinary character of the maker, since the effect itself is extraordinary, for it
1:18:32–1:18:38Hamby draws lines on the ground. Further, from the perception of color we infer the faculty of
1:18:38–1:18:44sight as an instrument, just as we infer a sickle from the act of cutting and an axe from the
1:18:44–1:18:50act of splitting. What property does the faculty of sight share with a sickle and an axe?
1:18:50–1:18:55Let it not be inferred either. What concern is that of mine?
1:18:55–1:19:00But without the faculty of sight, how would color be seen?
1:19:00–1:19:04Very well, let us admit some kind of instrument.
1:19:04–1:19:09Then in exactly the same way admit some kind of maker.
1:19:09–1:19:15I cannot accept a maker. But how could an action occur without an instrument?
1:19:15–1:19:32How could an effect occur without a maker? The word effect is not a mere arbitrary name like Ditha. What has been made is an effect. If something has been made and yet has no maker, who made it? I do not know.
1:19:32–1:19:36Therefore you must endure this incurable headache of inferring God.
1:19:36–1:19:38What other remedy is there?
1:19:38–1:19:42Fridhambi draws lines on the ground.
1:19:42–1:19:47And you must also endure the cruel suffering of worldly existence.
1:19:47–1:19:50Not while I remain alive.
1:19:50–1:19:52Then you will die very soon.
1:19:52–1:19:55How so?
1:19:55–1:19:59Consciousness cannot be a quality of the material elements, because it does not remain
1:19:59–1:20:05throughout the lifetime of the substance and because it knows itself. And if you adopt a doctrine of a
1:20:05–1:20:12stream of consciousness, activities such as memory and desire are impossible without a unifying entity.
1:20:13–1:20:19Then I shall accept some such entity as an awe. But what proves that it continues to exist after
1:20:19–1:20:26the body is cremated? Good man, no additional proof is required for that. Why not?
1:20:26–1:20:34Because we hold that a thing's destruction is not part of its nature. Furthermore, we never
1:20:34–1:20:40experience the production or destruction of the knower, or any cause of such production or destruction.
1:20:40–1:20:46Nor can we suppose its destruction because it has parts as cloth is destroyed when the
1:20:46–1:20:51conjunction of its threads is broken. Therefore, only the essential form of this
1:20:51–1:20:57real entity called the knower is perceived, not its production or destruction. Hence,
1:20:57–1:21:03if the knower exists, it must be eternal. If it is eternal, it is that very entity which
1:21:03–1:21:08passes through worldly existence. Why then do the materialists say,
1:21:08–1:21:14�There is no entity that transmigrates, and therefore there is no transmigration?�
1:21:14–1:21:20Consider further, the joy, fear, grief, desire for milk, and other states of a newborn
1:21:20–1:21:26child cannot be said to be innate in the sense of causeless, accidental, or produced merely
1:21:26–1:21:27by instinct.
1:21:27–1:21:32On this basis also, the self must be accepted as eternal.
1:21:32–1:21:37But in the context of proving God to what is gained by examining transmigration.
1:21:37–1:21:44This, if transmigration exists, then the creation of the material world must occur
1:21:44–1:21:47because of individual actions.
1:21:47–1:21:49What follows from that?
1:21:49–1:21:54Action is also a cause of the creation of bodies and the rest.
1:21:54–1:21:56And then,
1:21:56–1:21:59Action is unconscious.
1:21:59–1:22:02Even so, what follows?
1:22:02–1:22:08An unconscious thing can become a cause only when controlled by a conscious superintendent.
1:22:08–1:22:12The conscious agents of those very actions will supervise them.
1:22:12–1:22:17They cannot because people with different intentions cannot coordinate.
1:22:17–1:22:20What then, Ndof Carpenters?
1:22:20–1:22:21Why Carpenters?
1:22:21–1:22:27Though there are many, do they not build one house?
1:22:27–1:22:32Not independently, they follow the intention of a single architect.
1:22:32–1:22:37What then, Ndof the agreement of bromance in an assembly?
1:22:37–1:22:43There too, the assembly follows the intention of one chairman who is an expert in the subject.
1:22:43–1:22:48But here the single body of a king or minister becomes the cause of the pleasure and pain
1:22:48–1:22:52of thousands of beings by helping or harming them.
1:22:52–1:22:56It must therefore arise from their combined actions.
1:22:56–1:23:01Those for whom the king's body causes suffering do not rejoice at its birth.
1:23:01–1:23:07Therefore such an immense mass of action must be supervised by the Lord God alone.
1:23:07–1:23:13Once this is fully established, the proof of God's existence becomes unassailable.
1:23:13–1:23:18aside immense and immeasurable products such as the earth, oceans, and mountains.
1:23:18–1:23:25In the same sequence, we can infer God even from a small, emaciated body like mine.
1:23:25–1:23:30Heaps of sand built on a riverbank by unconscious, unskilled bodies or wild vegetation such as
1:23:30–1:23:37grass, vines, and shrubs growing on mountains in caves, forests, and thickets also depend
1:23:37–1:23:41upon the actions of living beings because they cause their pleasure and pain.
1:23:41–1:23:44This action therefore requires a superintendent.
1:23:44–1:23:48The maker of these things cannot be unconscious.
1:23:48–1:23:51Fred Hamby draws lines on the ground.
1:23:51–1:23:54Leave aside other gross or subtle effects.
1:23:54–1:24:00The daily activities of people like us farming, service, trade, even sleeping, sitting, walking,
1:24:00–1:24:04eating, and the like produce pleasure and pain by benefitting or harming many living
1:24:04–1:24:06beings.
1:24:06–1:24:12By the preceding reasoning, these activities therefore depend upon those beings' actions.
1:24:12–1:24:14Action is unconscious.
1:24:14–1:24:18Its agents are many and mutually opposed, and so cannot agree.
1:24:18–1:24:24Consequently, these activities too are produced by those actions under the superintendence
1:24:24–1:24:25of the Lord.
1:24:25–1:24:28For this reason, the sage Vyasas says,
1:24:28–1:24:33This living being is ignorant and not the master of its own pleasure and pain.
1:24:33–1:24:39Impelled by the Lord, it may go to heaven or straight to hell.
1:24:39–1:24:41I shall consider this matter.
1:24:41–1:24:43For now, I am leaving.
1:24:43–1:24:49The Mashi'vah's ascetic followers mock with humbly and insult him in various ways.
1:24:49–1:24:54Restraining them to V.R.I.D.D.H.A.M.B.H.I.
1:24:54–1:24:55Where are you going?
1:24:55–1:25:00Endure for one moment the suffering produced by your own actions.
1:25:00–1:25:05We also know God's existence from the authority of Scripture.
1:25:05–1:25:07Scripture means of valid knowledge.
1:25:07–1:25:10That is a bold claim indeed.
1:25:10–1:25:14To S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A.
1:25:14–1:25:16I am tired.
1:25:16–1:25:18Would you please explain it to him?
1:25:18–1:25:24As the revered Abbot wishes, I need make no effort to establish the authority of Scripture
1:25:24–1:25:28because its validity belongs to it by nature.
1:25:28–1:25:31The validity of scripture belongs to it by nature.
1:25:31–1:25:33How can you say so?
1:25:33–1:25:37The Veda is not authoritative merely because it is eternal.
1:25:37–1:25:43Are other eternal things such as space regarded as means of valid knowledge?
1:25:43–1:25:47Or who disputes the validity of perception and the rest which are not eternal?
1:25:47–1:25:53Sankarshana, good man, I do not say that the Veda is authoritative because it is eternal.
1:25:53–1:25:58I say it is authoritative because it produces cognition.
1:25:58–1:26:02A sentence sometimes produces cognition even when it contradicts reality.
1:26:02–1:26:08For example, if someone says, there is an elephant on the tip of my finger.
1:26:08–1:26:12Even there, the meanings denoted by the words joined in the sentence do not make verbal
1:26:12–1:26:14cognition impossible.
1:26:14–1:26:19What is impossible is the availability of any other means of knowledge confirming the
1:26:19–1:26:21asserted state of affairs.
1:26:21–1:26:26A verbal sentence operates concerning an object known through another means of knowledge.
1:26:26–1:26:31Therefore, when it conflicts with reality, on your own view verbal testimony itself should
1:26:31–1:26:32be invalid.
1:26:32–1:26:33Agreed.
1:26:33–1:26:39When the subject matter of words enters the domain of another means of knowledge, the
1:26:39–1:26:41words may be refuted.
1:26:41–1:26:46But how could this subject matter of an injunction, that is, a command, ever come within reach
1:26:46–1:26:48of another means of knowledge?
1:26:48–1:26:53By its nature, another means of knowledge cannot enter that field, so the injunction is unaffected
1:26:53–1:26:56by either its support or its injury.
1:26:56–1:27:01If another means of knowledge supports verbal testimony, that is mere repetition, if it
1:27:01–1:27:03contradicts it, it is false.
1:27:03–1:27:09But when both are impossible, why should verbal testimony not be a means of valid knowledge?
1:27:09–1:27:14For a word to convey a meaning, the relation between word and meaning is indispensable, and
1:27:14–1:27:17that relation is made by human beings.
1:27:17–1:27:22But how can such a relation be possible concerning something beyond anyone's reach?
1:27:22–1:27:28The relation is simply the words power, and that power belongs to it by nature.
1:27:28–1:27:33Without words already capable of conveying meaning, a person could not establish any
1:27:33–1:27:34conventional relation.
1:27:34–1:27:40The relation in an injunctive sentence, whose meaning is available only through words,
1:27:40–1:27:44can be learned from usage when the cause of another person's activity appears in oneself
1:27:44–1:27:46in the same way.
1:27:46–1:27:50Another means of knowledge, whose subjects are bound by time, cannot enter the timeless
1:27:50–1:27:52meaning of the sentence.
1:27:52–1:27:54Let him do this.
1:27:54–1:27:57Then how is the injunction land?
1:27:57–1:28:00I have already told you, but you did not understand.
1:28:00–1:28:05Looking within, we see that knowledge of an impelling factor precedes our activity.
1:28:05–1:28:10Seeing another person act after hearing an optative verbal ending, we infer that he
1:28:10–1:28:12too has known an impelling factor.
1:28:12–1:28:18Just as we experience the self within ourselves, so we experience the nature of that impelling
1:28:18–1:28:19factor.
1:28:19–1:28:23But it cannot be shown to another with the words, it is like this, as a visible object
1:28:23–1:28:24can.
1:28:24–1:28:28Other people experience it too, but no one can display it.
1:28:28–1:28:33Thus, it is established that even in an injunctive sentence, unknowable through other means
1:28:33–1:28:37of knowledge, the relation between word and meaning can be learned.
1:28:37–1:28:40Elderly people learned it in childhood in the same way.
1:28:40–1:28:48the world has no beginning. Is that much sufficient to prove the authority of Vedic injunctions?
1:28:48–1:28:52What more do you want? A statement of Scripture unsupported by another
1:28:52–1:28:58means of knowledge cannot be authoritative. It merely conveys a meaning, it gives no assurance
1:28:58–1:29:03that reality is actually so. Something that conveys a meaning can indeed
1:29:03–1:29:09produce cognition. Every means of valid knowledge does know more than produce cognition. It
1:29:09–1:29:13It does not tie a rope around the knowable object's neck and drag it before us like a
1:29:13–1:29:14pot.
1:29:14–1:29:19A person who makes validity depend upon confirmation by another means of knowledge will not reach
1:29:19–1:29:24the end of the chain of means of knowledge even in hundreds of cosmic ages.
1:29:24–1:29:30There are two causes of falsity, contradiction, or a defect in the cause of cognition.
1:29:30–1:29:34Neither exists in the Veda, therefore its validity is established.
1:29:34–1:29:37That handbeat draws lines on the ground.
1:29:37–1:29:39Saint Karshana's followers laugh at him.
1:29:39–1:29:41Saint Karshana restrains them.
1:29:41–1:29:46Whether we should rely upon your method of establishing the Vedas' authority, or follow
1:29:46–1:29:51the reasoning that sacred tradition is authoritative because it is his word, and because its speaker
1:29:51–1:29:56is trustworthy, it is authoritative like a mantra or a medical treatise that is
1:29:56–1:29:59an internal dispute among us.
1:29:59–1:30:00Leave it aside.
1:30:00–1:30:04First, refute completely these atheists who hate the Veda.
1:30:04–1:30:09As the revered Abbot commands, an uproar is heard offstage.
1:30:09–1:30:11What is that?
1:30:11–1:30:14The uproar surely announces the King's arrival.
1:30:14–1:30:16I shall go to welcome him.
1:30:16–1:30:21Prepare the Articles of Honor for the King according to the prescriptions of your scripture.
1:30:21–1:30:23Very well, noble sir.
1:30:23–1:30:28San Khurshana, and let me remind the venerable master once more.
1:30:28–1:30:33We certainly do not hate Lord Shiva, whose power and majesty are incomparable.
1:30:33–1:30:40He alone is the cause of the preservation, destruction, and creation of the worlds.
1:30:40–1:30:44He is Rudra, Brahma, Hari, or some other person beyond them.
1:30:44–1:30:47This entire universe depends upon him.
1:30:47–1:30:54Therefore let the Shaivas, Pashupadas, Kalamukhas, and great Vow ascetics remain at ease.
1:30:54–1:31:00The knowledge received from your teachers also seems to dispel delusion, but let its domain
1:31:00–1:31:06remain limited to precisely that range within which it is rationally established.
1:31:06–1:31:08Exactly so, noble sir.
1:31:08–1:31:10All exit.
1:31:10–1:31:14End of Act 3.
1:31:14–1:31:18A Vedic efficient and a Vedic teacher enter.
1:31:18–1:31:21Agitated.
1:31:21–1:31:22What a terrible blow.
1:31:22–1:31:27I expected one thing, and something entirely different has happened.
1:31:27–1:31:32I hope that once all non-Vedic religions had been censured, the whole country would fall
1:31:32–1:31:35comfortably under our control.
1:31:35–1:31:39Instead, the heretical religions remain as widespread as before.
1:31:39–1:31:47Shaivas, Pashupatas, Pankaratrikas, Sankyas, Buddhists, Skyclad Giants, and all the rest
1:31:47–1:31:49continue unchanged.
1:31:49–1:31:53Shame on the graduates, useless learning.
1:31:53–1:31:57But friend, he is now a royal official.
1:31:57–1:32:00The king is supremely devoted to Shiva,
1:32:00–1:32:06so Sankarsana must remain entirely intent upon worshipping him.
1:32:06–1:32:12For a servant close to a king always repeats the king's own words like an echo,
1:32:12–1:32:15in eagerness for his own advantage,
1:32:15–1:32:19he does not distinguish good from bad.
1:32:19–1:32:25You are right friend. Who would abandon self-interest and attend impartially to Dharma alone?
1:32:25–1:32:31But how shall we pass our time? Our occupations officiating at sacrifices, teaching,
1:32:31–1:32:34and the rest are connected solely with the Veda.
1:32:35–1:32:42Friend, we shall pass the future as we passed the past, content if we receive enough to eat
1:32:42–1:32:51and wear. For without merit one finds no assembly free from the talk of rogues, no beloved free
1:32:51–1:32:56from pride and anger, and no wealth free from the claims of others."
1:32:57–1:33:02Well said. What can we do? Yet another matter annoys me even more.
1:33:04–1:33:05What is it?
1:33:06–1:33:12These pancreatrica Bhagavadas adopt the conduct of Brahmins. They mix freely with Brahmins
1:33:12–1:33:17and feel no hesitation in using forms of greeting suitable only between equal brahmins.
1:33:18–1:33:24Imitating Vedic recitation, they read the Pankarachra scriptures with special arrangements of raised
1:33:24–1:33:31and lowered accents. They say of themselves, We are brahmins, and make others call them so as well.
1:33:32–1:33:37Look at Shaivas and the rest. They do not belong within the system of four social classes.
1:33:37–1:33:43They reject the stages of life prescribed by Veda and sacred tradition, and they keep
1:33:43–1:33:46apart by adopting different doctrines.
1:33:46–1:33:51But these people say, By birth and through a long line of ancestors,
1:33:51–1:33:56we are true Brahmins, and similarly imitate the system of the four stages of life.
1:33:56–1:33:58This is a great torment.
1:33:58–1:34:02Teacher, friend, how is this torment so great?
1:34:02–1:34:07In officiating at sacrifice, teaching, marriage alliances, and every other matter, Brahmins
1:34:07–1:34:12learned in the Veda keep sufficient distance from Pankratrikas.
1:34:12–1:34:18They're calling themselves Brahmins, is merely an internal custom of their own community.
1:34:18–1:34:21Is that a small disturbance?
1:34:21–1:34:24How is it great?
1:34:24–1:34:30They will never gain the right to study Veda, sacred tradition, or mimasa, or to
1:34:30–1:34:37perform solemn and domestic Vedic rites. And if one of them marries a Brahman woman who
1:34:37–1:34:44has strayed beyond the boundaries, he will earn the disgrace of a reverse order marriage.
1:34:44–1:34:51Even if, after gaining a little knowledge of the Vedic ancillary sciences, they are not
1:34:51–1:34:58excluded from certain places, there is no need for anger. Leave the matter. But I
1:34:58–1:35:02But I have heard something.
1:35:02–1:35:03What?
1:35:03–1:35:09Today the Honourable Sankarshana has gone to the temple of Vishnu, which is filled with
1:35:09–1:35:16hundreds and thousands of Bhagavatas, expressly to examine their religion.
1:35:16–1:35:21Thousands of Brahman scholars have also assembled on Brahmadvipa.
1:35:21–1:35:24There will be a vast conference.
1:35:24–1:35:27Let us go there.
1:35:27–1:35:30We have already seen Sankarshan as enthusiasm.
1:35:30–1:35:34He supports the doctrine that all religions are authoritative.
1:35:34–1:35:38On the other hand, it is said that Queen Sugandha is especially sympathetic toward these
1:35:38–1:35:40people.
1:35:40–1:35:45There is also talk that a royal official supports the Sivathas.
1:35:45–1:35:48Do not always expect disaster.
1:35:48–1:35:54If something opposes established custom, they will not be able to bend even a blade
1:35:54–1:35:56of grass.
1:35:56–1:36:03Come let us go and see how the heretical religions, repeatedly plunged into the ocean of a mimasakas
1:36:03–1:36:09flowing eloquence, struggle in many different ways.
1:36:09–1:36:17They both exit. The honorable Sankarsana enters with the boy and has many attendants
1:36:17–1:36:19as the production permits.
1:36:19–1:36:24Boy, I have fallen into a difficult crisis. For how can I say with my own tongue that
1:36:24–1:36:30philosophy of those who follow Lord Vishnu Nuryana, whose mind is absorbed in performing the divine
1:36:30–1:36:36play that transforms the conditions of the world, its preservation, creation, and destruction,
1:36:36–1:36:42is false. Yet if I do not say it, how can I stand before scholars whose minds are wholly immersed in
1:36:42–1:36:48the Three Vedas? Alas, sir, you truly face a dilemma. Yet the customs established long ago
1:36:48–1:36:55continue exactly as before. Why be agitated about this matter? Look now upon this place filled with
1:36:55–1:37:01hundreds and thousands of pancreatricas and other great scholars. Walking, then looking ahead in
1:37:01–1:37:11astonishment. Reflecting for a moment, aside. Allowed. Good heavens, what an immense gathering
1:37:11–1:37:17of scholars. The tremendous clamour of competing debates spreads through every direction. In this
1:37:17–1:37:22This assembly are mimimsakas who have examined the various processes by which sentences convey
1:37:22–1:37:23meaning.
1:37:23–1:37:27Grammarians who have investigated the roots of nouns and verbs.
1:37:27–1:37:31Logicians whose intelligence is sharp in determining the perversion of reasons.
1:37:31–1:37:36And senior teachers of sacred tradition, political science, the Puranas, and other
1:37:36–1:37:37disciplines.
1:37:37–1:37:38Ah, wonderful.
1:37:38–1:37:43The kingdom of the holy and renowned King Yashavarmadeva now seems exactly like the
1:37:43–1:37:45world of Brahma.
1:37:45–1:37:49His heart is devoted to Shiva, destroyer of the triple city.
1:37:49–1:37:54He is an ocean of enviable virtues, adorns his ears by listening to the precious instruction
1:37:54–1:37:58of scholars, and fulfills the desire of every good person.
1:37:58–1:38:03How should I conduct myself among these people, who follow the guidance and teaching of diverse
1:38:03–1:38:06and mutually contradictory learned works?
1:38:06–1:38:11What shall I do on this difficult road of opposition to the Veda, where even experts
1:38:11–1:38:12cannot reach a decision?
1:38:12–1:38:14I understand.
1:38:14–1:38:19Lord Vishnu, bearer of bow, discus, and conch, is my refuge.
1:38:19–1:38:20Very well.
1:38:20–1:38:23First I shall immediately take refuge in the Lord Himself.
1:38:23–1:38:26Boy, the Lord's temple is near.
1:38:26–1:38:32We shall bow to Lord Vishnu Ranasvaman, refuge of all, and then take our seats in the assembly.
1:38:32–1:38:35As you command.
1:38:35–1:38:37They walk on.
1:38:37–1:38:41Sankarsana, acting out his entrance and kneeling.
1:38:41–1:38:46Homage to Vishnu, upon whose strides the manifold three worlds depend, and within an atom of
1:38:46–1:38:51one corner of whose belly the universe rests dissolved.
1:38:51–1:38:56Homage to the Discus bearer, in whose palms conch and discus shine, who shows the true
1:38:56–1:39:00path to liberation and reveals the stainless highest good.
1:39:00–1:39:05Homage to the chariot wheel bearer, cause of final nirvana.
1:39:05–1:39:12listening, then speaking with delight. From this auspicious sound of the conch I infer.
1:39:12–1:39:18Manjira. This is a very great danger to the order of social classes and stages of life.
1:39:18–1:39:23Therefore, when the Chief Minister Brahma, Khashar submitted the matter, the Queen prepared
1:39:23–1:39:28to summon these respected Brahmins. Returning from there, she told the Chief Minister that
1:39:28–1:39:33the following request had been made to her. In this dispute between scholars of the three
1:39:33–1:39:38Vedas and teachers of other religions, everyone accepts as Arbiter the great Naya philosopher
1:39:38–1:39:44Bhattasahara, famous as Dhariarasi. Please appoint him mediator in this disputed case.
1:39:44–1:39:51Therefore, noble sir, please do not depart. I ask you to remain present in the debating assembly
1:39:51–1:39:58without presenting your own position. Friend Manjara, come. Let us enter the assembly together.
1:39:58–1:40:00They walk on.
1:40:00–1:40:02A voice offstage.
1:40:02–1:40:16Born in a distinguished family of celebrated dignity, extraordinarily fortunate, he removes every doubt of people holding opposing views, and thus scholars attain one shared vision of the highest reality.
1:40:16–1:40:22The honorable Sahata was born as a true ornament of the world, almost the equal of the Supreme
1:40:22–1:40:23Lord.
1:40:23–1:40:30Not ordinary virtues, but great virtues raised him so high that no one can confront him.
1:40:30–1:40:32They are praising the approaching Deer-e-Rashi.
1:40:32–1:40:34Plainly the people favor him.
1:40:34–1:40:38Their sympathy is justified, for he is exactly as described.
1:40:38–1:40:43Friend Manjira, through your kindness I have escaped a difficult crisis and can remain
1:40:43–1:40:45apart from such a subject.
1:40:45–1:40:50When the deathless and eternal Supreme Lord is with you, noble sir, what difficulty can
1:40:50–1:40:53arise in your lifelong mission of helping the people?
1:40:53–1:40:57Sir, this is your seat in the present assembly.
1:40:57–1:40:59Please enter.
1:40:59–1:41:05Colleague Munjara, enter first and announce the royal command to the members of the assembly.
1:41:05–1:41:07He walks forward.
1:41:07–1:41:08Very well.
1:41:08–1:41:13Scholars, you have taken your respective places, please attend.
1:41:13–1:41:18There is a keen-minded speaker, deeply honored by good people, an ocean into which the rivers
1:41:18–1:41:23of learning flow, who has won great fame in learned society as the foremost scholar.
1:41:23–1:41:28Today, by royal command and at the request of the religious teachers, he has been a
1:41:28–1:41:31pointed mediator in this case.
1:41:31–1:41:36Let everyone be at ease, abandon factional difference, and rejoice.
1:41:36–1:41:42DiRioRashi enters as described, accompanied by as larger group of disputants as the
1:41:42–1:41:46production permits. Astonished!
1:41:46–1:41:52What a marvellous confluence of learning! Wonderful!
1:41:52–1:41:58Here in Baratavarsha on the continent of Jambadvipa, I see the city of the Supreme Person.
1:41:58–1:42:03For the fourteen seats of learning are firmly established here, diverse customs are present,
1:42:03–1:42:09there are many vows and restraints, and austerity, pure by nature, proceeds peacefully and
1:42:09–1:42:14without obstruction. The king is plainly Brahma embodied, what could be greater?
1:42:15–1:42:23Looking ahead, the honorable Sankarsana equal to the sages of the Puranas is present. Good,
1:42:23–1:42:28I shall salute him. He bows. Embracing him closely.
1:42:29–1:42:34Your embrace is like a ritual bath in the waters of every sacred fort. All sit.
1:42:34–1:42:35respect.
1:42:35–1:42:40Respected scholars of Dharma, your intricate doubts seem already cut away.
1:42:40–1:42:47By royal command, the living Akshapada, Duryarashi, worthy to be called the Prajapati of Philosophy,
1:42:47–1:42:50is present among us.
1:42:50–1:42:55Not by royal command, but at the request of the religious teachers.
1:42:55–1:42:58To Duryarashi.
1:42:58–1:43:03Ornament of logicians, you must already know the facts of the matter under consideration.
1:43:03–1:43:07Therefore, as you are moved, pronounce whatever decision you consider proper.
1:43:07–1:43:13Noble Sir, I know only this, the disputants here disagree about whether the Pankaratra
1:43:13–1:43:17and other scriptures are authoritative.
1:43:17–1:43:21But with you present, what right has a man like me to speak?
1:43:21–1:43:26Only with your permission can I say something like your child.
1:43:26–1:43:27Why speak so?
1:43:27–1:43:29You are the one who gives the command.
1:43:29–1:43:32Every disputant places his trust in you alone.
1:43:32–1:43:37speak. To the D-I-S-P-U-10-T-S.
1:43:37–1:43:42Respected gentlemen, I have listened to and understood the arguments you have presented
1:43:42–1:43:48on both sides, they are complete. Therefore, while I deliver my statement without interruption,
1:43:48–1:43:55say nothing in between. Very well, noble sir. Unless asked, we shall
1:43:55–1:44:02say nothing to interrupt your words. Then listen attentively.
1:44:02–1:44:04await every word.
1:44:04–1:44:10First, the Mimamsakas say that the Veda is intrinsically a means of valid knowledge because
1:44:10–1:44:13it produces cognition.
1:44:13–1:44:18The Darba-gras of beginninglessness has swept away the dust of both objections raised against
1:44:18–1:44:20its authorship and its validity.
1:44:20–1:44:26Accordingly, they say, every cognition of ours is intrinsically valid because it informs
1:44:26–1:44:29us of its proper object.
1:44:29–1:44:33But when contradiction arises, or when the instrument of cognition is understood to be
1:44:33–1:44:37defective, it ceases to be valid.
1:44:37–1:44:42In the case of the eternal Veda, both objections are inapplicable, while its production of
1:44:42–1:44:44cognition is established.
1:44:44–1:44:51Or, if a super sensible subject is to be proved, there is still less room for objection.
1:44:51–1:44:56People can determine whether a perceptible object is or is not so.
1:44:56–1:45:01But what means do they possess regarding a super-sensible object?
1:45:01–1:45:06Therefore the Veda is intrinsically authoritative because it produces cognition and because neither
1:45:06–1:45:10of the two obstacles to validity is present.
1:45:10–1:45:15My response is this, this route to establishing the Veda's authority is certainly straight
1:45:15–1:45:17and simple.
1:45:17–1:45:20Yet it does not win my heart.
1:45:20–1:45:25Where is an arrangement of words and meanings ever seen without a person?
1:45:25–1:45:29Recreation 2 must somewhere have begun for the first time.
1:45:29–1:45:34You may imagine when this first occasion of the Veda occurred.
1:45:34–1:45:41For even if its components are eternal, this arrangement of the Veda cannot itself be eternal.
1:45:41–1:45:46Admit that sound is eternal, composition does not exhibit that nature.
1:45:46–1:45:51In our world, composition certainly depends upon a composer.
1:45:51–1:45:58You may object, the Vedas author is not remembered, whereas Vyasa and others are remembered.
1:45:58–1:45:59Come now.
1:45:59–1:46:02This charge is not dangerous.
1:46:02–1:46:07The extraordinary nature of the author makes him imperceptible.
1:46:07–1:46:13We ordinary people can remember only an object or person who comes within our field of perception.
1:46:13–1:46:19Furthermore, from ancient times people have said that Hirani Agarba is the author of the
1:46:19–1:46:25abundant Vedic revelation. If you say, this tradition arose from eulogistic passages,
1:46:25–1:46:30you will be unable to present even a grain of evidence establishing such a distinction.
1:46:31–1:46:36Further, just as you say that a Vedic statement must always be inferred as the basis of remembered
1:46:36–1:46:42observances such as the Ashutaka writes, so the author of the Veda must always be inferred,
1:46:42–1:46:48otherwise state the difference. You may ask, what would be impossible without the thing to be
1:46:48–1:46:55inferred. Then what would be impossible without inferring a Vedic statement? If you say the
1:46:55–1:47:00memory of a prescribed right would be impossible, my answer is that composition would be impossible.
1:47:01–1:47:06If remembered tradition is in the nature of an effect, composition is of the same kind.
1:47:08–1:47:13You will object, without a Vedic statement as its basis, Manu's teaching would be false.
1:47:13–1:47:20false. Why imagine a source of authority merely to suit your own purpose? Or rather, let
1:47:20–1:47:25man is teaching be false, yet we cannot infer a Vedic sentence that exists nowhere and is
1:47:25–1:47:30found in the mouth of not a single person who studies hundreds of Vedic branches.
1:47:30–1:47:34If, out of respect for those learned in the Veda, we accept a Vedic sentence as its
1:47:34–1:47:39basis, then we must also accept an author as the cause of a composition such as the
1:47:39–1:47:46ordered sequence of Vedic words. The reason, regular study of the Veda presupposes regular
1:47:46–1:47:53study from a teacher, because the expression Vedic study signifies just that, is inconclusive.
1:47:53–1:47:58It is laughable that you yourself say such a reason is ineffective and at that very moment
1:47:58–1:48:03employ it. An ancient composition renowned through a tradition whose origin is not
1:48:03–1:48:09error plainly had an author at the beginning, even if that author is no longer remembered.
1:48:09–1:48:14If the Veda was composed, why do good people perform its rights, which possess abundant
1:48:14–1:48:18wealth, even though the author is not remembered?
1:48:18–1:48:23In such a case, even after inferring an author, the learned person's effort is entirely
1:48:23–1:48:28proper, just as your effort to perform Ashutaka and other rights prescribed in sacred tradition
1:48:28–1:48:32is proper when based upon an inferred Vedic sentence.
1:48:32–1:48:38The Veda also has an author for the following reason, and that author must always be.
1:48:38–1:48:44Inferred, in the Sarvajit sacrifice, although no specific result is explicitly mentioned
1:48:44–1:48:49in the Vedic statement, a particular result is properly supplied because an expectation
1:48:49–1:48:52arises from the ritual injunction.
1:48:52–1:48:55Who is the one who expects a result there?
1:48:55–1:49:00The expressed meaning in the expressive word are surely not conscious.
1:49:00–1:49:06If you say it is a special feature of cognition, whose cognition is it?
1:49:06–1:49:08Cognition is not independent.
1:49:08–1:49:14If you say it is our cognition, then the Vedas author is proved to be human.
1:49:14–1:49:19Whenever we understand meaning, we know the intention of a knowing speaker.
1:49:19–1:49:22Whose intention is present here?
1:49:22–1:49:25Not the words, not the meanings.
1:49:25–1:49:29The one whose expectation is accepted is the reason for treating something as an
1:49:29–1:49:33element or result of a right is the author of that right.
1:49:33–1:49:38Apart from him, whose expectation could it be?
1:49:38–1:49:42Therefore the Veda must have an author, even if that author must always be inferred, because
1:49:42–1:49:46without him no Vedic activity is possible.
1:49:46–1:49:51The statement the author is not remembered should be analyzed as follows, authors such
1:49:51–1:49:55as Veso and Balmiki, who can be remembered in this world, have limited bodies and move
1:49:55–1:49:59within the range of sight of people like us.
1:49:59–1:50:04The author of the Veda may have the sky itself as his body, may assume many forms, or may
1:50:04–1:50:06be holy bodiless.
1:50:06–1:50:13In such a case, how could God, the author of the Veda, become an object of memory?
1:50:13–1:50:17For this reason the learned form various conceptions of this author.
1:50:17–1:50:23In reality he is one, capable of bringing welfare to the three worlds.
1:50:23–1:50:27Many gods with the same intention cannot be admitted.
1:50:27–1:50:32Being intentions cannot all be fulfilled simultaneously, therefore some of them would plainly cease
1:50:32–1:50:34to be gods.
1:50:34–1:50:38Thus there is one omniscient person alone.
1:50:38–1:50:44If the world had many administrators, either it would never be created, or even if somehow
1:50:44–1:50:48created, it would not endure long, like a kingdom under misgovernment.
1:50:48–1:50:53Many people construct a building only by following the direction of one architect,
1:50:53–1:50:57therefore the world must have been created by one maker.
1:50:57–1:51:04Many people bustling about could not construct this world even in hundreds of cosmic ages.
1:51:04–1:51:09But it is reasonable that one pure-minded person, whose resolve is always fulfilled,
1:51:09–1:51:12accomplishes it in a single moment.
1:51:12–1:51:17And it has been said, because of his relation to the constituent parts of his function,
1:51:17–1:51:22creation, preservation, and destruction, the unique, marvelous, unborn, supremely
1:51:22–1:51:26powerful person, cause of the emanation of the entire universe, is known by the
1:51:26–1:51:33names Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra. Just as this soul of the universe is the creator of all
1:51:33–1:51:39worlds, so that pure-minded being is also the author of the Veda. Just as the arrangements
1:51:39–1:51:44of the three worlds depend upon one another, so the Veda declares injunctions that are
1:51:44–1:51:50mutually connected. The order observed in mutually connected subjects or words cannot
1:51:50–1:51:55be possible otherwise. We therefore maintain the following, the soul composer of the
1:51:55–1:52:01Vedas spread through many branches and showing the path to incomparable happiness is one
1:52:01–1:52:04pure-minded sage, the marvelous ancient God.
1:52:04–1:52:10In the same way, except the Lord is the sole author of all scriptures, for, as already
1:52:10–1:52:14said, it is not easy to imagine many authors.
1:52:14–1:52:16You may say, Ah!
1:52:16–1:52:21All scriptures without exception contradict one another, since no shared subject is seen
1:52:21–1:52:23among them.
1:52:23–1:52:26How can they be considered the work of one person?
1:52:26–1:52:32Or, since they refute one another, how can they be authoritative?
1:52:32–1:52:37First we shall examine your statement, how can there be authority when mutual contradiction
1:52:37–1:52:39exists?
1:52:39–1:52:43How do you prevent mutual contradiction within the Veda?
1:52:43–1:52:48If you say the Veda is eternal awe, you have become entangled in a story from your
1:52:48–1:52:50own household.
1:52:50–1:52:55If you avoid contradiction in Vedic statements by distinguishing their subjects, employ the
1:52:55–1:52:59same process with statements in other scriptures.
1:52:59–1:53:04The Veda prescribes an offering of jambu fruit for one who desires long life, and recites
1:53:04–1:53:08the Sarvasvara rite for one who desires death.
1:53:08–1:53:12If you remove the contradiction between these Vedic statements by distinguishing the people
1:53:12–1:53:18for whom they are prescribed, you must apply the same method to the teachings of other
1:53:18–1:53:24religions. Thus, even though mutually opposed, the teachings of other sacred works have no
1:53:24–1:53:31greater fault than Vedic injunctions. Or rather, there is no contradiction among the scriptures
1:53:31–1:53:37concerning the highest human goal, since all teach the same result, liberation.
1:53:37–1:53:41Different paths to liberation have nevertheless been taught according to the understanding
1:53:41–1:53:47of being's fit to receive grace. The omniscient Lord saw, these people can reach the highest
1:53:47–1:53:53good by this path suited to their inclination, and therefore taught diverse means.
1:53:53–1:53:57Just as a crowd entering one fortress or great building passes through different gates, so
1:53:57–1:54:01people who seek liberation enter the supreme abode.
1:54:01–1:54:06On this very matter there is a wise saying by the brilliant janta, master of the essence
1:54:06–1:54:11of every science, knower of reality, free from error, the many means taught by different
1:54:11–1:54:16scriptural paths converge upon one highest human goal, as the streams of the Ganges
1:54:16–1:54:22converge upon the ocean. The objection, how can contradictory scriptures have one author,
1:54:22–1:54:28has also been answered, the Veda is not intrinsically authoritative, it is authoritative because it was
1:54:28–1:54:34uttered by God. And, on the other hand, there is no reasoning that supports many gods.
1:54:35–1:54:42References to different authors are explained in another way. The one, he assumes various bodies
1:54:42–1:54:47created by His will and teaches every kind of scripture for the welfare of all beings,
1:54:47–1:54:52therefore those forms bear the different names by which they are famous throughout the world.
1:54:52–1:54:59Shiva, Pashapathy, Kapila, Vishnu, Divine Sankarsana, the Jina Sage, the Buddha, and Manu are all
1:54:59–1:55:06one. Only the names, and perhaps the bodies, differ, there is no multiplicity in the undivided
1:55:06–1:55:08Supreme Self.
1:55:08–1:55:13Even if some extraordinary great person were distinct from God, he would bear the Lord's
1:55:13–1:55:14splendor.
1:55:14–1:55:20Krishna has said, whatever being is powerful, prosperous, or magnificent, understand that
1:55:20–1:55:24it has arisen from a portion of my splendor.
1:55:24–1:55:29Or let the Jina and the other celebrated sages be distinct in intent upon promoting different
1:55:29–1:55:31religions.
1:55:31–1:55:36Even then, through the pure and imperishable vision obtained by devoted meditation upon
1:55:36–1:55:41the supremely holy one, they would discern means leading to the highest good.
1:55:41–1:55:46There is only this difference between a yogi and the supreme lord, the supreme lord's
1:55:46–1:55:50knowledge belongs to him by nature, whereas the yogi's knowledge is acquired through
1:55:50–1:55:53the practice of meditation.
1:55:53–1:55:58In sum, those who hold that the Veda is the composition of a trustworthy person establish
1:55:58–1:56:00its authority in this way.
1:56:00–1:56:05The chain of reasoning is the same concerning the authority of each scripture, such as
1:56:05–1:56:11the Pankaratra. Whether its author is one in the Lord or many trustworthy persons who know the
1:56:11–1:56:16different paths, in either case these works composed by him or by them do not lose their
1:56:16–1:56:21authority any more than the Veda does. Or grant that the Veda is beginningless and is
1:56:21–1:56:28intrinsically authoritative. Very well, the injunctive statements of the Pankaratra and
1:56:28–1:56:34the rest can be authoritative in the same way. Here too we have no clear memory of an author.
1:56:35–1:56:37Divine Sankarshana and others
1:56:38–1:56:41are the promulgators of these teachings
1:56:42–1:56:45as Katha and others are of Vedic branches
1:56:46–1:56:50but someone may object, people know perfectly well
1:56:50–1:56:53that the Vedas are only four
1:56:53–1:56:55in the case of the histories
1:56:55–1:56:57and puranas
1:56:58–1:56:59the word Veda
1:57:00–1:57:02is used only figuratively
1:57:02–1:57:09In the clear understanding of meanings, this is Veda, this is Brahmana, this is water,
1:57:09–1:57:13this is fire, this is earth, attentive elders are the authority.
1:57:13–1:57:18What child, then, however rash, would call the Pankaratra Veda?
1:57:18–1:57:23Or who would call a follower of that doctrine a Brahmin merely because he looks like a sage?
1:57:23–1:57:27I do not say that there are five or six Vedas.
1:57:27–1:57:30Their number is famously fixed at four.
1:57:30–1:57:33But each is divided into many branches.
1:57:33–1:57:37Let the pankaratra be one distinctive branch.
1:57:37–1:57:39Someone may object.
1:57:39–1:57:43Those who know Vedic injunctions say that one and the same duty, a sacrifice such as
1:57:43–1:57:48the soma rite or an animal offering, is learned from all branches.
1:57:48–1:57:53Tell us, have you ever seen any Vedic rite connected with the pankaratra?
1:57:53–1:57:55I answer.
1:57:55–1:58:00Though numerous, sentences that teach one right furnished with many subsidiary acts have a
1:58:00–1:58:06shared application. Certain rules of this extensive right are said to be prescribed in particular
1:58:06–1:58:12branches. Regard precisely this as their mutual connection.
1:58:12–1:58:19One scripture with a definite subject cannot be questioned by another scripture. Even within
1:58:19–1:58:26the Veda, which contains differing injunctions. There is such an arrangement. The prescription
1:58:26–1:58:35for using a vessel of liquor is restricted solely to the Sortramani. Sacrifice, it certainly
1:58:35–1:58:43has no relation to other rites. Do the different meritorious acts taught in Veda and sacred
1:58:43–1:58:51tradition. For the different stages of life become confused with one another. At the same
1:58:51–1:59:00time non-violence, truthfulness, contentment, purity, restraint of the senses, generosity,
1:59:00–1:59:08compassion and the rest have always been praised by people as common duties in every sacred
1:59:08–1:59:17tradition. On this point these traditions agree with Veda and sacred tradition. When people
1:59:17–1:59:24call the Pankaratra texts Veda, the word indicates some other.
1:59:24–1:59:33Sense. A final decision on the matter. Cannot rest upon ordinary usage. Or why become entangled
1:59:33–1:59:40in asking whether the name is true or false, is not the same usage found in names, such
1:59:40–1:59:48as Ayurveda and Danavida. Although a follower of this teaching receives a separate and distinctive
1:59:48–1:59:56name from the method of worshipping Lord Vishnu, people commonly call him a Brahmin, just
1:59:56–2:00:03Just as wandering mendicants are commonly called Brahmins.
2:00:03–2:00:07Everyone knows that they are designated by the word Brahmin.
2:00:07–2:00:11People use general and particular names as they please.
2:00:11–2:00:16Scholars disagree about class universals such as Brahminhood.
2:00:16–2:00:20Some say that the system of four classes is based on words alone.
2:00:20–2:00:25Is a class universal such as Brahminhood directly perceived like cowhood or in some
2:00:25–2:00:32other way. Such reflection upon the real situation is irrelevant, it makes no difference. The
2:00:32–2:00:37existing order established in every doctrine and among all people should not be disturbed
2:00:37–2:00:43by speculation of any kind. Therefore leave aside the question whether class exists or
2:00:43–2:00:49not. I continue the present subject. Whether all these sacred scriptures are beginningless
2:00:49–2:00:55like the Vader or ultimately mere compositions, good people should not revile them. The
2:00:55–2:00:59The slightest reviling of them would be equivalent to reviling the Veda.
2:00:59–2:01:03The fool who hunts for their defects incurs sin.
2:01:03–2:01:08Or put it this way, the statements of sacred works such as the Pankaratra are authoritative
2:01:08–2:01:14because, like the remembered teachings of Manu and others, they are based upon the Veda.
2:01:14–2:01:19Every effect determines a sufficient cause for its establishment, as smoke determines
2:01:19–2:01:20fire.
2:01:20–2:01:26cause must be accepted, for memory of a subject without direct experience of the thing has
2:01:26–2:01:33never been seen or heard. Greed, delusion, the deception of people, or a chain of insubstantial
2:01:33–2:01:39human statements cannot serve as the basis of an undisputed fact. Here there is no refuting cause
2:01:39–2:01:45because capable people accept these teachings. Those who hold that the Veda is beginningless
2:01:45–2:01:51cannot ground the authority of scripture upon yogic perception. Therefore only the Veda
2:01:51–2:01:57remains as the basis of pankaratra statements. Someone will object, hear no similarity between
2:01:57–2:02:03the authors is observed, and without it an inference of a Vedic statement is improper.
2:02:03–2:02:09I answer. Very well, because the authors are different, their practices may not be
2:02:09–2:02:15alike. Yet an effect is certainly sufficient to justify inferring an adequate cause.
2:02:16–2:02:22Someone may object. Because members of the first three social classes have a theoretical
2:02:22–2:02:28possibility of access, a connection with the Veda may be admitted. But the source of an effect
2:02:28–2:02:34is merely its cause, and here it might have arisen from any cause whatever.
2:02:34–2:02:41Dharma. We shall answer. In the sphere of Dharma, the Veda alone is authoritative, and nothing
2:02:41–2:02:46else. For this reason the Veda is called the source here, not because of any similarity
2:02:46–2:02:52among authors. For the same reason there is no need for a doctrine of yogic perception.
2:02:52–2:02:57Whether the authors here are the same or different, in every case the sole source of
2:02:57–2:03:02this duty called Dharma is the Veda. If the basis of the genus, capillars, or the
2:03:02–2:03:07Buddha's teaching and all such instruction is neither yogic perception nor veda, how
2:03:07–2:03:12could delusion produce their immeasurable extent, accepted by many noble people?
2:03:12–2:03:16In some places complete agreement is even found.
2:03:16–2:03:21Delusion can sustain something for a few days, but to say that such delusion endures
2:03:21–2:03:24age after age would be an extraordinary invention.
2:03:24–2:03:30You may ask, who knows whether Buddhists even existed in ancient times?
2:03:30–2:03:35Even who knows whether Brahmins learned in the Veda existed in ancient times, or if you
2:03:35–2:03:40say greed and similar motives are plainly the source here, the heretics will reply that
2:03:40–2:03:44the Veda too is merely a means of livelihood.
2:03:44–2:03:50On the other hand, if the chain of abuse, babbling from followers of Brahaspati's
2:03:50–2:03:57doctrine, is removed in the case of the Veda because exemplary people accept it.
2:03:57–2:04:05Even in the case of the teachings of other scriptures it may be removed in the same way because
2:04:05–2:04:10it is said that wise people accept them too.
2:04:10–2:04:18However many kinds of argument and however many arguments of each kind you present to
2:04:18–2:04:26prove the authority of the Vader they possess equal force regarding other religious doctrines.
2:04:26–2:04:32Your statement, the world has always been as it is now, is made in the same way by other
2:04:32–2:04:34people too.
2:04:34–2:04:38Those religions also have always existed.
2:04:38–2:04:40But let me shorten the discussion.
2:04:40–2:04:46A person who speaks too much becomes unpleasant.
2:04:46–2:04:52Therefore I shall now restrain the excessive chatter of my tongue.
2:04:52–2:04:56These scriptures are authoritative because they were spoken by truthful and trustworthy
2:04:56–2:05:04persons or they are intrinsically authoritative because they are beginningless like the Vader
2:05:04–2:05:12or like Manu's teaching because they conform to Vedic tradition
2:05:12–2:05:19All scriptures are authoritative so say those versed in statecraft
2:05:19–2:05:25You may object. By this fault of improper overextension, the earth's social and religious
2:05:25–2:05:31order will be utterly destroyed. Name one proposition, however meaningless, about which
2:05:31–2:05:34the same claim could not be made.
2:05:34–2:05:39The answer to this objection is as follows. This method of establishing authority may
2:05:39–2:05:44be applied only to a scripture that has a widely accepted and unbroken tradition,
2:05:44–2:05:49with which noble people do not feel disgust at associating or discussing, whose accepted
2:05:49–2:05:55practice is neither antisocial nor dangerous, which has not suddenly arisen just now, and
2:05:55–2:06:01which is not founded upon a madman's babbling, a bizarre fantasy, or greed alone. It may not
2:06:01–2:06:07be applied to every work. Only of such a scripture can it be said that it was spoken by a trustworthy
2:06:07–2:06:13person, is beginningless, or is based upon Vedic tradition, not in every case. And this
2:06:13–2:06:19excellent arbiter will not accept as authoritative any scripture that teaches a loathsome duty,
2:06:19–2:06:25as intercourse with a forbidden woman or eating impure substances. Having finished his statement,
2:06:25–2:06:31Dharirashi remains silent for a moment, then turns toward S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A.
2:06:33–2:06:37Noble Sir, I have spoken to the best of my intelligence's ability.
2:06:38–2:06:43Now let us ask these respected disputants, in the order in which they are seated,
2:06:43–2:06:45whether my words have won their hearts.
2:06:46–2:06:47Joyfully
2:06:47–2:06:55Turning to the D.I.S.P. U10 TS. Honorable Deer Yirashie, be at ease.
2:06:55–2:07:00Through this fresh river of learning that has flowed from you, we feel as though revived,
2:07:00–2:07:04as though we have attained the highest good, become purified and nourished,
2:07:04–2:07:10and experience the purpose of this worldly life. Ah, wonderful! What subtle intelligence,
2:07:10–2:07:15what flowing speech, what mastery of philosophy and scripture, what a stainless mind,
2:07:15–2:07:18free from envy and other faults.
2:07:18–2:07:21Or what virtue in this man has not reached its highest limit.
2:07:21–2:07:26People have always said that no second equal of Sahada has ever been born.
2:07:26–2:07:30These teachers too are capable of recognizing excellence. How?
2:07:30–2:07:33Then, could you fail to win their hearts?
2:07:33–2:07:34Shall we ask?
2:07:34–2:07:38Respected teachers, have Deer Yirash's words won your hearts?
2:07:38–2:07:43Noble sir, at the very least, his learning is beyond human.
2:07:43–2:07:49Sankarshana Trudy's words of the Honourable Dhirayashi, your understanding will remain
2:07:49–2:07:54forever pure, like that of Brahman sages.
2:07:54–2:07:59His statement posts an inexhaustible stream of political wisdom, with incomparable fluency
2:07:59–2:08:01and no hatred.
2:08:01–2:08:07Nevertheless, you are reminded again, good gentleman, you must certainly observe two
2:08:07–2:08:09rules.
2:08:09–2:08:12What two rules?
2:08:12–2:08:16As has been said, these religious traditions are not to be blended with one another.
2:08:16–2:08:20Each remains in its own field and in its own established form.
2:08:20–2:08:24Gentlemen, take constant care that they are not mixed.
2:08:24–2:08:30Noble Sir, one need be said of universal duties such as non-violence, taught by mono and
2:08:30–2:08:34inherited true tradition within each of our doctrines.
2:08:34–2:08:40Apart from those, however, from fear of acting against the words of our own scriptures,
2:08:40–2:08:47avoid mixing the distinct rights specifically prescribed for us. Thus the first rule is settled.
2:08:48–2:08:54What is the second? Do not admit into your religion those who merely utter your name with their
2:08:54–2:09:00mouths while overturning both scripture and dharma through their wicked conduct. That too shall be
2:09:00–2:09:08ensured. But it does not lie within our power alone. You and the royal officers can bring it about.
2:09:08–2:09:15You speak truly. As majesty, teacher of the established rules of social class and stage of life,
2:09:15–2:09:20will certainly seize this opportunity. Keep yourselves apart from such people and show
2:09:20–2:09:24them no sympathy. SU COMMAND, NOBLE SIR.
2:09:24–2:09:31Now let us rise and attend to our respective duties. Let each person follow his religion
2:09:31–2:09:37according to established custom. Honorable Dirirashi, come. We shall report to our master how the
2:09:37–2:09:44matter has unfolded. All exit. End of Act 4.

Plain text

मैब्रामिन, विच्ग्रज़ी दिस्ट्रोईज बगिनिंग लिस इग्नरण्ज. in which an intense and avenue bliss shimmers, and upon the first descent to whose level of awareness the desire to enjoy every other delightful object falls still, shine forth before you. When the benediction is over, the director speaks. Reflecting Looking Ahead Shame, shame. The actor's livelihood is truly contemptible, an unending uproar of gross pretence and deceit. Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Sages, Kings, Brutish Fools, Libertines, Cowards, Heroes, the Happy and the Miserable without the least embarrassment before the public and actor assumes every one of these forms. In truth merely to fill his stomach he relies upon the craft of impersonation. It would be better to abandon this base art whose reward is small, whose hardship is great, and whose humiliation is greater still. I shall attach myself to a teacher's household in some hermitage and strive for the highest human goal, the ending of every sorrow. But before I depart, to whom shall I entrust the wretched burden of my destitute family? First I must learn what my assistant thinks. The assistant enters, looks at the director, and says, Approaching. Why does disillusionment make his face look so dejected today? I shall ask him. Sir, why is there such sorrow on your face? Surely the commentator's pupils have not assigned you some task. The director repeats what he has said, down to the ending of every sorrow. Do not give way to disillusionment, there is no need. Among gods, human beings, or animals, who has ever escaped deception and illusion and attained the highest state. From brahmer down to the beasts, this whole multitude of creatures wanders through existence only because of illusion. How is your condition worse than theirs? Since the conduct of the entire world, deluded by illusion and ultimately unreal, is what it is, how could our conduct be different? Friend, you speak truly. Yet even if my conduct is no worse than theirs, I find it impossible to continue it. Why so, sir? Friend, have I not laboured to stage the ten kinds of drama taught by the sage Bharata? But now the respected Bhattajanta has arrived. Because he wrote an exegetical work on grammar while still a child, he is also famous as the commentator. His circle of pupils has ordered me to stage their teacher's new work, an extraordinary play called Much Ado About Religion. But how am I to stage it? It is not founded on a worldly plot, it does not follow the rules of dramaturgy, and it has never been performed before. I therefore think it best to abandon this wretched livelihood. Do not speak so, sir. It is useless to oppose the command of these honourable pupils of the commentator. You are worried that the play does not follow the rules, but is that the director's fault. The poet composes without the least regard for Baratheer's teaching, nevertheless, his pupils promote the work, and those same pupils will be your audience. So stage it. Why would any other impartial person trouble to search for faults in it? I am not concerned about public criticism. Then are you frightened by some threat from the king? Smiling. Not that either. Then why delay? Assign the actors their separate parts as Buddhists, Jains, and so forth. Friend, I can no longer endure this actor's livelihood, filled with deception and illusion. Let the poem break the rules or obey them, let people be angry or pleased, I have become detached from it all. This very day I shall abandon the profession and set out on pilgrimage. Either support my impoverished family, or come with me. I myself long to know the truth. Let us enter this great monastery nearby, where hundreds of monks free from passion reside and show the path to final liberation. They both exit. End of the prologue A Buddhist monk in a red robe enters, seated on a low stool, with his lay disciple before him. Monk with detachment. Alas! such is the course of this beginningless round of existence. A deluded creature is born, then dies, dying, it is born again. A wise person who sees this road of suffering should turn the mind toward that state in which both birth and death come to an end. Venerable Sir, what is this state beyond the workings of birth and death, and by what means is it attained? Intelligent Friend, if you truly wish to know, now try to understand the Four Noble Truths. Venerable Sir, what are those Four Noble Truths? Intelligent Friend, they are suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path. Sir, that much has not opened my understanding. Please explain it fully. Monk, noble friend, I shall explain. First, everything that exists is suffering, the opposite of pleasure and personal experience. That from which suffering arises is its cause, namely the power of delusion. Nirvana, the ending of all affliction, is cessation. Those who reason correctly call the means by which Nirvana is attained the path. Venerable Sir, by what means does the self overcome these deep waters of suffering, which have flowed without interruption for so long and are so difficult to cross, and come to rest in Nirvana? Good man, you have not understood. In truth, there is no entity called a self that escapes the crisis of suffering and reaches Nirvana. The firm pillar that keeps standing the prison of worldly existence, where cruel torments are endured, is precisely the insistence upon a permanent self. Understand this, a creature who thinks, this is I, will inevitably think, this is mine. A dull mind caught in the notions of, I, and, my, will not abandon its harmful desires. For one whose craving has not been pacified, the practice of detachment is far away, and Without the practice of detachment, how can the ocean of existence be crossed? Venerable sir, if there truly is no permanent self, who experiences the suffering of worldly existence, or who rises above it and reaches the realm of nirvana. Smiling Child, if there were a permanent self, then cessation, nirvana, the highest good, or perfection would be even more impossible, since what is permanent cannot cease. Therefore this world is consciousness alone, stained by its many forms such as pleasure and pain, and assuming innumerable forms in accordance with the various latent impressions active in its beginningless stream. When this path of meditation on selflessness and the rest removes the many stains produced by clusters of adventitious qualities and establishes consciousness in its pure state alone, then whether the stream continues or the stream itself is cut off, therein lies the swift road to Nirvana. Venerable sir, if there is no permanent self, who in the next world experiences the results of his own actions? And in this world, to whom belong activities based on memory? Monk, I shall explain it properly. A permanent entity can possess causal efficacy neither successively nor all at once. Once it lacks efficacy, it is not ultimately real. The wise say, only that which has the capacity to perform a causal function is ultimately real. Listen further, whether or not this pot is by nature perishable, it cannot be destroyed by a hammer or any other cause. Such a cause would be either pointless or powerless, and if that cause were absent for an age, the pot would not be destroyed. Therefore an entity perishes the very moment it comes into being, yet because it remains within a single continuum it appears real. Because there is a continuum, one can readily imagine a permanent agent who is himself the experiencer of the fruits of that agent's actions and the basis of memory and other activities. If all entities are momentary and do not endure into a second moment, how does consciousness make one of them its object? Plainly, the object must be illuminated by cognition either simultaneously with cognition or after it. Or even if it produces cognition, it cannot be made an object until cognition has become delimited and assumed some form. Otherwise, the direct perception of a momentary object cannot be explained. Monk, noble friend, when the matter is seen clearly, no entity at all becomes an object of cognition. Consciousness itself appears patterned with blue, yellow, and other forms. You ask why? A person does not experience cognition and its object as two distinct forms at the same time. And if an insensient object were grasped by self-luminous cognition, the act of grasping would be apprehended first, just as the light of a lamp is seen first. Yet cognition without form cannot be grasped. Therefore cognition itself shines forth in different forms. How could there be some other external object? For this reason everything is empty, everything is momentary, everything lacks a permanent essence, and everything is suffering. By meditating in this way, a person attains nirvana. A wooden gong sounds offstage. Listening. Venerable sir, that must be the wooden gong announcing the time for the community of monks to assemble. Please decide what we should do now. They rise, begin to leave, and look around. Then let us make sure we are not late. A young Brahmin is approaching, a sacred thread as white as lotus fiber across his dark chest, and a bamboo staff in his hand. Let us act appropriately, or he will make us miss the appointed time. Venerable sir, this young Brahmin has been standing here for a long while. He arrived at the very moment you sat beneath this tree, but you did not notice him. Hidden behind the tangle of vines, he has heard your entire teaching. Be that as it may. Why should such a man delay us now? The monk exits with his disciple. Sankarsana, the graduate, and the boy enter as described. He walks on. I have studied the Veda according to rule, mastered the six ancillary sciences, and examined Mimamsa as well. Thus I have fulfilled the duties proper to a twice-born man. Yet all my labor and study will seem fruitless until I humble those enemies of the Veda, who ceaselessly foul their speech by brandishing the deadly weapons of false reasoning. And these foolish disciples of Shuddhodana's son stand foremost among those who tear the Veda apart. Therefore, when punishment is dealt out as to thieves, they shall come first. Sir, I have brought the things for your bath. You were on your way to bathe. So what? The circumstances do not seem favorable. All these people on the road must be going toward the monastery. Then let us first observe the monks in this monastery. We shall bathe afterward. As you command, sir. They walk on. Looking ahead. Ah, what a delightful monastery. For here are lofty temple spires rivaling Himalayan peaks gleaming in moonlight, dense mango groves, charming vine-bowers carpeted with grass, and bees, their bodies reddened by lotus pollen, hovering over a lotus pond whose water, thrilled by emerging lotus shoots, imitates the autumn sky. He looks toward the lotus pond. Reflections of the trees along the bank, branches pointing downward and spreading roots upward adorn the water of the pond. In the water I can see birds perched upon branches, their beaks open as they eat pieces of fruit. Sir, look at the abundance of offerings, flowers, incense, sandalwood, camphor, saffron, and musk paste. All are offered to golden images of the Buddha, richly coloured and ornamented, from which a dense and immense region spores. The images stand in temples as high as Mount Meru, adorned with many colored banners trembling in the gentle wind. Ah, wonderful. Looking. This is plainly no training ground for ascetics. It is a royal pleasure garden. What times? What customs? Wealthy people, plundered by licentious guides, have wandered entirely onto a feudal path and are throwing their varied riches at an unworthy object. Even if this religion were not a fraud, such a perfusion of amusements, fit for restless people, would be pointless for those who claim to have turned their minds away from sensual pleasure, devote themselves repeatedly to meditation, and sustain life by the barest means. Sir, look, look. On the terrace of that whitewashed building, the Buddhist devotees seem ready to die. Clouds of perfume, flowers, and incense fill all ten directions. Observed. If they see us, these monks may restrain their conduct. Let us therefore hide in this vinebower and watch their behavior for a while. They do so. Watching eagerly. Astonishing. In their haste to eat the monastery meal, not one of them has performed bathing or any other purification. Never mind bathing. They have not even changed their clothes. looking closely. Their method of purification by sipping water is like that of chudras. People of all four social classes and those of mixed birth are eating in the same row. What delightful discipline this monastery has. Sir, look further. These full-bodied serving women are ready to distribute the food and their darting glances hold the monks' ice captive. And some drink is being served in spotless vessels. Here is wine under the name of fruit juice and meat pronounced suitable for vegetarians. Ah, what rigorous austerity. Sir, look, look at that monk. Though thirsty, he drinks less with his tongue from the cup in which blue lotuses float than with his eyes from the clear faces of the serving women. Enough. We have seen the monastic discipline of those who are free from passion. A home in a pleasure garden, drink and food readily available, and no new sense of rules, lest are those who become Buddhists. Enough mockery. The famous and greatly learned Buddhist monk Dharmadara is approaching. Having finished his meal, he is coming down from the palace to sit on a grassy place in the shade of a tree. Come, let us approach him. The Buddhist monk and his disciple enter as before. Noble friend, have you held in your heart the teaching of the supremely compassionate Lord Bodhisattva? Venerable sir, please favour me with it once again. The young Brahmin we saw earlier is still here. His face shows that he is eager to speak. Approaching Monk, are you well? I hope there has been no obstacle to your religious practice. Welcome. This grassy place is not impure. Please sit. Sitting. But what have you, as his teacher, just taught him that you were asking whether he understood? To the disciple. Answer his question. What an insult. Disciple answer him. Boy, listen to what he says. Brahmin, the correct construction should be, learn from him. My dear Red-robed Man, that grammatical rule does not apply to such ravings. When instruction is properly given, the noun denoting the teacher takes the ablative case. Look, the only suitable construction here is, he listens to an actor in the genitive case. Ah, what bitter speech from this twice-born man! He regards the teaching of the supremely compassionate Lord Buddha, soul master of the three worlds, as raving. the disciple. Now tell me, what has he taught you? My teacher taught me the four noble truths, suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path. Smiling. Is that the teaching of the supremely compassionate one? And is it not raving to glorify the realization of selflessness as the path that grants liberation? Brahmin. To people such as you, Instruction in ultimate truth will indeed seem raving. Your intelligence has been polluted by practicing the doctrine that killing animals and other living beings offered in sacrifice to Agni and Soma is a means of attaining liberation. Looking around with delight. What? This fallen Buddhist even finds fault with Vedic injunctions. What shall I do? Before whom can I state my case? This monastery is filled only with a community of enemies of Dharma. Excellent! As the fruit of my merit, Vishwarupa and these many respected teachers have arrived, eager to see the monastery garden. They will readily serve as arbiters for me. Good! An opportunity has arisen to punish these offenders. As many arbiters as the production permits enter. They take a few steps toward the assembly. From the radiance of their faces alone, we can tell that this graduate, Sankashana, and this Buddhist monk, Dhammatara, are disputing with one another. Come, let us see. He indicates the grassy place. Welcome, gentlemen. Please sit here. Sitting, to the monk. What subject are you discussing? This wearer of the sacred thread calls the Bodhisattvas teaching raving. Here I am. Here is the monk, and here are you discerning arbiters. What better opportunity could there be to weigh the strong and weak sides of an argument? If your discourse is truthful, restrained, and founded upon established fact, if you avoid speech crowded with deceitful disputation, futile rejoinders, points of defeat, and noisy fallacies, fallacies, if there is not the least envy in your hearts, harshness in your words, or frowning on your faces. If this is to be a learned debate among honorable men, then we are always ready to serve as examiners. As the gentleman command. Which of you first stated his proposition? The monk, while instructing his pupil, has already presented the prima facie position. to s-a-n-k-a-r-s-h-a-n-a. Did you hear it? Yes, I heard it. Then repeat it. Certainly. I shall state it briefly. Suffering, its cause, and its cessation, together with the path by which cessation is attained, called the Realization of Selflessness, are all established when momentariness is proved. Entities are momentary because they exist and no cause is required for their destruction. Memory and similar activities are possible through causal relations within a continuum. Yet an external object, being momentary, cannot become an object of cognition. It is consciousness alone that shines forth, patterned in countless forms. Therefore everything is empty, everything is momentary, everything lacks a permanent essence, and everything is suffering. Through meditation in this manner, nirvana is attained. To the monk. Is that correct? Contemptuously. Yes, in brief. Now it is my turn. We are listening attentively. Even if the path to the highest good described above existed once momentariness had been proved, a close examination of entities reveals that they do not conform to momentariness in the slightest. Why not? Simply because there is no sound reason supporting it. But a reason has been given because they exist. The reason that you Buddhists call existence cannot be directly shown to pervade the property to be proved, namely, momentariness, as smoke is pervaded by fire because no example supporting it can be found. Therefore this reason is futile. of that. Even if the pervasion is ascertained through negative concomitance, it is still ascertained. Since existence is excluded from a permanent entity because such an entity has no causal efficacy either successively or simultaneously, and since existence can be found nowhere else, it must take its place in momentary entities. Existence is excluded from your momentary entity even more thoroughly than from a permanent because the momentary entity too cannot possess the inseparable property in question. Consider, if an entity acted after it had arisen, it would no longer be momentary. But if death swallowed at the instant it arose, how could it ever receive a second opportunity to act? The causal relation between momentary entities is nothing more than this, after cognition A, cognition B occurs, in other words, one cognition arises following the previous one. Much more could be said on this subject, but let it rest for now. I maintain that in this doctrine, the condition of being a cause is itself unreal, since an entity is a material cause in relation to some particular effect. In that case, all transactions dependent on causation would fail. For example, the capacity of each cognition in a continuum to experience the fruit of its own former action. relation, or suppose some kind of causal relation does exist here. Exactly the same relation would then hold with a different moment of cognition arising in another continuum. The monk lowers his eyes and draws lines on the ground. Or even if we grant that the causal relation is genuinely established, since cognitions remain mutually distinct, who would experience the fruit of whose action. And in the inference, An entity is momentary because it exists, the reason is contradictory, for it proves the opposite of the property intended to be proved. How so? It has been shown that a momentary entity cannot be causally effective. A permanent entity, however, can act successively or simultaneously together with auxiliary causes. That is precisely what causal efficacy means, and thus its permanence is proved. The monk remains silent. Just as the production of an entity depends upon a cause, so does its destruction, because the positive and negative concomitants are the same in both cases. The effect is present when the cause is present, and absent when the cause is absent. But in the case of a cause of destruction, positive and negative concomitants are established differently, because it is the cause of a different continuum. In the case of a cause of production, positive and negative concomitants cannot be established in that way because there is no other kind of effect. Do you say this from attachment or from aversion? Some thinkers hold that it is difficult to say there is no other kind of effect since manifestation and the like are possible. No effect has ever been observed to arise without a productive cause. Have you ever observed an effect perish without a destructive cause? Even if no destructive cause were present, a pot would not perish even after an age had passed. Sarcastically Have mercy. If a pot became eternal, ordinary life would cease. Mankind would be ruined, and the everlasting death of a world consisting of pots alone would hover above our heads. Let what has no cause of destruction, such as space, remain eternal. What harm is there in that? What a composite entity does have a cause of destruction, since the separation of its parts and similar events are inevitable. And fool, even if we accepted your doctrine, would the continuum of pot moments not also remain indestructible? If a cause belonging to a different continuum arose within it, then on my doctrine a destructive cause would arise in precisely the same way. The sequence of reasoning is identical. Such, then, is the true condition of the doctrine of momentariness. The monk sits in shame. You contemptible Brahmin. How dare you insult the venerable master. You mongrel. Is that how you speak to my teacher? They separate the two. Whose teacher is he? Only this camel-faced brats. The boy leaps up in anger and moves to slap the disciple across the face. Sangh karshana, monk, and arbiters, peace. Recognition, which apprehends a lasting object in the form, this is that very same thing. Also refutes this reason. Or leave recognition aside. The direct perception of a person who does not blink, which apprehends an object as having uninterrupted existence, undoubtedly contradicts it as well. In spite of such perception, certain fools say, perception grasps the separate moments of an object. This claim is plainly refuted because a single moment cannot endure for a long time and in that case apprehension of this kind could never occur. Do not go into greater detail now. Graduate, our ears have been delighted by the chain of reasoning you presented. The doctrine of momentariness has thereby been refuted. Now say something about the doctrine that consciousness alone is real. monk. Let us grant that an object and the cognition that apprehends it are not perceived simultaneously. When you say, the form of cognition appears, does cognition reveal its own form, or the form of something else? No cognition occurs in the form, I am blue. What accords with the facts is a cognition that knows an object as that distinct from itself. Therefore, an external knowable object must exist. If it exists, why is it not experienced? Who said it is not experienced? It is certainly experienced in the form, this is blue. Good man, that is an appearance of cognition, because cognition is luminous by nature. It is not an appearance of the object, because the object is insensient. And you yourself said that the two cannot appear simultaneously. When cognition appears, it too appears not as its own light, but as the illumination of another object. Because this illumination is the illumination of what is illuminated, not merely the illumination of illumination, such as the manner of lamps and other lights. It has been said, the three lights illuminate themselves and other things. Yet at that time cognition itself does not in fact appear. Blue and the other forms appear. And blue and the other forms are not cognition. Because their nature as cognition has not been established by positive and negative concomitance, as cowhood is. The monk remains silent, lowers his eyes, and draws lines on the ground. Honorable arbiters, tell us, which of the two positions is superior? Why ask us? By remaining silent, the monk himself supports your position. the monk. Then I shall now go to bathe. Forgive me, you have seen the spectacle. Do whatever you consider proper. Monks, if your effort is meant to secure a better next world, stop and abandon it, for its result is the opposite. But if all this labor, supported by heaps of hypocrisy and imposter, is merely to earn a living, continue as you please. All exit. End of Act 1. The servant enters. He walks, looks at the path and reflects. He takes a few steps, looks ahead and brightens. He watches for a while. In this comfortless promen household I can neither drink chilled wine, nor make love with serving women, nor readily obtain a dish of meat. What am I to do? A man born a slave has no path open to him if he turns away from his master, that is certain. Every errand master devices and sends me upon is such that I cannot even stop to eat or drink as I run. Just now he ordered me, Kolu, go and see whether the sage generaixata is in the Jain ascetics retreat. I do not even know where their retreat is. The crown here is modeled with uprooted specks of dust and scattered clumps of hair like the bristles of crane. So the Jain ascetics retreat must be somewhere in this wood. This must certainly be it. There, beneath the tree in the darkness of a thick tangle of vines, a mendicant seems to be trying to placate an angry nun. That demoness of a nun must be furious. The young mendicant fell at her feet, yet she shook him off and went away. The poor man's face looks miserable, too. A giant mendicant enters carrying a peacock feather whisk. Weeping. Wiping his eyes. Alas, the wretched me. In the futile hope of a better next world, I first became a Then I fell from that path, now both my present and my future are ruined. I fell at her feet, yet that demoness of a nun would not yield. Go away, you demonic bitch. Can I not find another nun besides you? Reflecting Looking at his body He changes costume and looks around Looking ahead with delight He does so. Before this mannequin sees me, I shall dress as a Jane Nun and make sport of him. My ears are certainly long, no beard has begun to grow upon my face, and would expect a Jane Nun to have a lock of hair on her head. I can easily pass as one. Now I need only a peacock feather whisk to look like a Jane Nun. Excellent. The Nun left behind the whisk she had been carrying. I shall take it and approach him. Sir, my respects. I am very tired. Please tell me where the venerable sage Jnarekshita is now. Delighted, aside. Allowed. It seems fortune will no longer turn her back on me. Another young man has arrived. Young man, what business have you with the sage Jnarekshita? You look exhausted. Sit for a while and rest in this secluded to cool vine bough. I have always been miserable and unfortunate. How could I ever find rest? Tenderly. You are still a child, yet already you have cause for sorrow. Sighing. Sir, let me not waste words upon my shameful story. Please tell me where the sage generaxita is. Child, the sage generaxita is inside a beneath a banyan tree preaching to his disciples. But sit for one moment and tell me the cause of your renunciation. Sitting and sighing. He weeps. Sir, what use is there now in telling the accumulated shame of a girl crushed by life? Wiping the servant's eyes. Tell me, little one. Dear girl, my heart is not separate from yours. Precious me. I became an unwhiler was still a very young girl. Then, when the tender signs of youth were just beginning to appear and I was still unacquainted with the taste of love, a young mendicant violated my chastity against my will. Joyfully, aside, allowed, I have found a river of nectar. Dear girl, such is the way of life. And then, Sir, when little by little I had become acquainted with the taste of love, mendicant abandoned me and became infatuated with another, a miserly old nun. Lakuna in the source.com let us support each other like the proverbial layman and the blind man. He puts an arm around the servant's neck and kisses him by force. The servant pretends to be shy and sits with lowered eyes. Dear girl, why will you not look at me? How can I? You two will abandon me and go to someone else. He places a hand on the servant's chest. Dear girl, do not say that. I shall remain your slave. Have your breasts not yet developed. Coily. He raises his hand to slap the servant. Alas, wretched me! What can I do? The Jane Menican slides his hand below the servant's navel, discovers his male organ, and cries in shame in fury, demu, felon. You have deceived me outrageously. You letcher as ascetic. Say another word and I shall expose all your secrets before the sage generic shitter. After a moment's thought, falling at the servant's feet. Tell no one about this little joke of ours. What will you pay for my silence? The Jain mendicant takes something from the handle of his peacock feather whisk and gives it to the servant. As he walks away, he looks ahead. I had my joke, gained a coin, and learned where the sage is. Now I shall go and report to my master. Your luck is open today. Here comes your beloved. The real giant nun enters. Seeing the servant dressed as a giant nun, she speaks with jealousy and anger. You wicked female ascetic. Where are you going with another woman's whisk? He exits. Here, madam, take it. This mannequin tricked me against my will in that fine bow. I am blameless. Approaching the giant mendicant. She beats him with the whisk handle. You wicked lecher, casting lustful eyes upon female ascetics. I had dropped my whisk and came back for it, in the few moments since then, you had already begun embracing Vanadana. Now taste the fruit of your spiritual practice. He falls at the endu ends feet. Madam, I do not misunderstand. Could you not see that it was a servant dressed as a woman who came to mock me? The villain has made you angry. I swear that this is the whole truth. How can truth come from the mouth of a man with such self-control? Alarmed. That wicked servant may devise another trick. Come, madam, let us go somewhere else. Abromen is coming this way. Quickly, madam, let us go. They both exit. Sankashana and the boy enter. First I held a swift debate to calm the arrogant excitement of those red-robed men, who consider themselves wise. This time I should like to amuse myself a little with the pitiable and foolish naked aesthetics as well. For you, sir, it is entertainment, for those poor men, it is the destruction of everything they possess. Smiling. While said, cattle, family, house, property, farming, and trade, ordinary people can lose all these things. But what is everything to a sky-clad Jane Monk who lives beneath a tree on alms? Listen, I shall tell you. For the sake of a better next world, the poor men practice very severe austerities. Then they are caught in the torrent of your speech. Thus, when their religion is crushed, their entire spiritual labor becomes fruitless. Bravo! Look at your compassion. Very well. To please you, I shall test my power upon them gently. Come, we have reached their retreat. Let us enter. They walk on. ahead. The Jain sage Jinnarakshita is seated here in the shade of a banyan tree. He seems to be preaching on some subject, and many disciples sit at his feet. Jinnarakshita enters as described. J-I-N-A-R-A-K-S-H-I-T-A, aside. Alas, it is exceedingly difficult to escape the turning wheel of existence. Though I restrain it by force, the mind and still longs for those very objects of the senses, without considering the many faults that will arise in the fruits of action. I do not know what to do. The mind will not take the wholesome path. This goddess of beginningless ignorance will not release me. Reflecting Be that as it may, I must discipline these wretched monks day and night as far as I am able. Allowed Munks. The hunter called Fate continually shoots his arrows. The noose of the snare called worldly existence is terrible. How will the deer that is the self cross this blazing forest of sorrow? Or rather. For one in whom meditation upon Lord Gina's teaching has awakened the power of the naturally pure and perfected self, what harm can angry, miserable Fate do. Fate torments only the helpless. Therefore now, contemplate the Gina's words and make the body lean through ascetic observances. This alone is the entire secret of the teaching. Plant it deep within your minds. As the Venerable Master commands. Approaching respectfully. Is the Venerable Master well, and is your circle of disciples well? Having defeated the Buddhists, this graduate Sankarshana has now come eager to humiliate us. It is best to withdraw on this occasion. His force is irresistible, and his eloquence and intelligence are unequaleded. Welcome, noble sir. Please sit here. Are you well? What subject has been chosen today? What in this forest of worldly existence is worth choosing? Only a means of escaping it, if one can be found. Sankashana, the means has certainly been found. Consider no violence, no faucet, no attachment to home, property, or clothing, no engagement in any action that bears immediate fruit in this world. And this faultless, severe austerity filled with vows and restraints, what other road to freedom from worldly existence could there be. Prajapati has fashioned tongues for men like you, noble sir, that are extraordinarily skilled in speaking sweet words. Nevertheless, tell me, sage, upon what subject did you begin to preach? Is curiosity draining the life from you? The doctrine of many-sided reality is the distinctive teaching of our giant tradition, and that is precisely what we are discussing now. Sankashana, sage, there is a celebrated saying, the nature of one thing is the nature of all things. The nature of all things is the nature of one thing. Whoever sees one thing as it truly is has seen all things as they truly are. Then tell me this, if the nature of one thing is the nature of all things, what means would a person with a purpose employ and toward what object? If things are ordered according to their respective functions, One thing cannot possess the nature of all things. Even though things may share certain common forms, each thing still has its own particular nature. But if the order of things were as you say, which I do not accept, no one would ever begin any action for a reward either in the next world or in this one. Jinnarakshita signals to a disciple. Deliberately. Venerable Master, the monks submit, the Venerable Master is being delayed, and the time for our present duty is passing. To S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A. Noble Sir, the monk's duty is being obstructed. Decide, therefore, as you think proper. Sage, do as you please. To the disciple. Run and tell the monks to remain attentive in their respective places for one moment. I am coming now. Generak Sheda exits with his disciples. Boy, did you see the sky-clad Jain sages' cleverness? Sir, who could stand before you in the battle of debate? By fleeing on that pretext, he saved his life. Odd I'd have punished him. It was necessary to learn the facts, and I learned them. Yet only out of regard for you did I refrain from taking a severe position in the matter. Sir, though your words are gentle, they tear open the hearts of disputants. of disputants fish cast upon the bank lacuna in the source. Where shall we go now boy? Why not go to bathe? Smiling. Looking upward. Why are you hungry? How could it be time to bathe yet? We had better remain here for a while in the grove of the Jane Monk's retreat. Very well. They rise and walk on. Looking ahead in wonder. Ah, how delightful this place is, and how suitable for rest. For, this would give deep, cool shade, it has grassy ground and water, the breeze is fragrant with clusters of flowers, deer leap and play in every direction, and the birds cries mingle with waves of many melodies. Reflecting. If a follower of Vedanta were to live in this sacred wood, quiet every desire of of the self and restrain the multitude of mental fluctuations, then in only a few days he would surely attain a marvellous, supreme, radiant state eternally blissful and free from the haste and labour of the worldly road. A Voice Offstage It is difficult to grasp the heart of Vedanta's teaching. The long and elaborate narratives of the three Vedas produce confusion. High-born people deliberate upon the grave question, As the self exist or not, keep them far from me. To abandon the unbearable pain of worldly existence, embrace the brief and lucid scripture taught by the great sage Gina. Sir, an ascetic in red robes is hurrying this way, muttering something of that kind. An ascetic enters. The ascetic walks on, reciting, it is difficult to grasp the heart of Vedanta's teaching. Astonishing. Does this man still follow the teaching of the Gina? the ascetic. Leave it boy. What does that matter? I shall ask him something else. Ascetic are you well? Where are you going in such haste? You are plainly a Brahmin. How, then, can you fail to understand the sensation of hunger? Sir, have you set out to eat? What else? Where are you going? Right here. There is a great feast today in the homage of the sage-genarakshita. What is the occasion for the feast? A nobleman who has received the genie teacher's instruction is feeding people here today. Thousands of ascetics have assembled. They are being served heaps of porridge, jars of sesame oil, bowls of sauer grouin, little pots of molasses, and mountains of food cooked in sesame oil. Ascetic, tell me, among so many dishes, will there be no curds, milk, clarified butter, anything of that kind. Or, no. Such conduct is fit for you Brahmans. We ascetics use nothing obtained from an animal, not in food or drink, not in clothing, not for bedding or seats, and not for any other adornment of the body. Do you not see these sandals of mine made from tree bark? Now leave this talk. I am late for the feast. Tell me the way too. I should like to see the splendor of the ascetics. Come, come. Please follow me. Or walk on. Ascetic, if you follow the Gina's teaching, why do you wear red robes? Is your Gina a Sugata too? Smiling. Smiling. Aside. Allowed. Lord Gina is also a Sugata for us, and Sugata too is called a Gina Teacher. How fortunate we follow us of the Ahata. Somewhere only the sky, somewhere only back, somewhere red cloth, and some white. Look. The sky-clad monks are coming. Because of their devotion to mercilessly plucking out their hair, the roots are visible and tiny drops of blood are trickling from them. Here come the wearers of back rags, whose soft back garments are aged with lacuna in the sauce. Here come celibate ascetics, whose robes are the color of atom pots just fired in a keon. Here come the white-clad monks, the hems of their robes as white as swan's wings, fluttering in the gentle wind. How meritorious is the nobleman whom all of them will favor today? Sankarshana, he is called Maritorious, not a maker of calamity. He takes no thought for elephants, horses, swords, roads, tax collection, divisions of the army, camels, or the like. He squanders the substance of his wealth on affairs of this kind and evades royal service, the king will surely confiscate his estate. How peaceful and delightful this hermitage is. The world seems filled with tranquility, and the earth herself appears to be observing a vow. Here it truly seems that the chain of snares of worldly existence binding the embodied self has been broken into pieces. We have seen ascetics clothed in air, barb, red robes, and white robes. Now look at these people in black blankets approaching from this direction. Looking ahead in astonishment. Looking closely. the ascetic. Good heavens, this is a new form of austerity. A woman and a man wrapped in the same black garment are entertaining themselves by singing an extraordinarily sweet song. What? There seem to be whole groups of such couples. Surely the earth has sunk and the three Vedas have been uprooted. Ascetic, are you acquainted with this novel and astonishing method of spiritual practice? He exits. I do not know what charming religious observance this is. I suppose some people had talk of the feast and are hovering here merely from greed for food. Leave their story there. I shall go and join my coreliginist. A woman and a man enter wrapped in one black garment and singing, or, if the production permits, several such couples enter singing the following song, Victory to the Lordly sage of the black blanket, who dispels attachment to limited life. O Lord, whoever follows your new teaching drinks the incomparable delight of nectar. In this world he delights in love-play with women, and in the next he attains liberation. The body fulfills its purpose, and freedom from worldly existence is one. Do not trust other sects, where the body is dried up completely and liberation still remains uncertain. What is gained by the practice of discipline? A man only ends as a slave. Even a great store of merit merely deprives a person of pleasure. Whoever enfolds this union, Lakuna. If every couple understands in this way Lakuna, then pleasure without making his butt fruitful, where can a person wander in a human body, and where will he arrive? Whether this world is a transformation of the Supreme Self or a transformation of world how can any of it be achieved without the ending of ignorance? Lacuna understands that all other religions are footless. Follow the sage of the black blanket and find happiness in both this world and the next. After listening to the song for a while Boy, this is low-grade disputation, composed by someone under the guise of a song, in order to revile every philosophy. philosophy. Yet I do not dare begin a conversation with these villains, because I have no wish to perform the penitential purification that would be required afterward. The woman and the man repeat the song. Boy, observe. Their speech has no purity, and their loathsome bodies are unclean. Their minds are always undiscriminating, delighting in utterly reprehensible conduct. Whose heart is so fearless of the next world that he would undertake this meritorious and marvelous austerity. Or is there any conduct of mankind that does not bring disgrace? And look further, rhythmic songs, repeated at will, resound throughout the day, casting off every restraint, they drink sweet wine whose flavor is mingled with a lover's saliva. Their bodies move wantonly, hidden beneath a woven cloth as they ceaselessly excite one another, who would not adopt such an intensely erotic vow. Sir, it is exactly so. I think this is a new and modern great vow. If the account in their song spreads widely, the established conduct of the social classes and stages of life will be destroyed without limit. Surely the path of the three Vedas is being shattered. For when faithful wives see this austerity, praised by novices and abolishing every restraint. They too will not remain long in their husband's homes. Smiling. Why should you worry, sir? You are not yet married. My own case lies even further in the future. But your revered mother is still alive, is she not? The poor old woman is almost as good as dead, so she is surely safe from this calamity for now. Enough joking. A great evil has arisen here. Boy, consider what remedy is there. Sir, I do not know. You surely do. But the power of the Kali Age is growing these days. How can such a disaster be countered? Reflecting. Even so, it is not right to sit inert without making an effort. Yes, there is a remedy. What is it? His Majesty King Shankar Averman himself. He is the Emperor consecrated to protect the three worlds and the teacher of the lawful boundaries of social class and stage of life. Therefore he will certainly know the remedy. Above all, the honorable Bat Dejanta, who has mastered all the scriptures of Shiva, is with him. Yes, I shall inform him. In a crisis there is no place for delay. Boy, send these singing women and men toward the feast. Asetics, listen. It is time for your meal in the Hermitage. Why delay? All exit. End of Act 2. A first shaver, adept enters. Looking about fearfully. He walks and looks ahead. The horned moon, the emblem of Mahadeva, has already set. The sky is as empty and dark as my heart. There could be no better time to slip away unseen. Where is my dearest friend Shmashin Abasma, with whom I am to flee? There is Shmashin Abasma. He seems to be coming this way. A second shaver adept enters. He walks, then listens. Listening closely. Taking courage and approaching. This is my friend cankelavages shelter. I can just make it out even in this darkness. I shall place my feet carefully and move forward. I thought I heard footsteps. Good heavens, the city watch seems to be coming this way. If they catch me, they will take me for a thief and throw me into prison and pale me or hang me from a tree. No matter. Lord Byratha is my refuge. That That seemed to be my friend Khankhalavija's voice. Friend Khankhalavija, I have found you. I was afraid you were a city guard. Shmash in a basma, is that you? Good that you have come. Come, let us move quickly. While it remains dark, we can both escape unseen. Are you afraid the city guard will mistake you for a thief and kill you? Not that fear. Even if I had it, it is gone now. But another disaster has arisen. Agitated. How? The story is everywhere, have you not heard? These days this wretched kingdom has changed completely. My heart is pounding. Friend, tell me everything quickly. King Shankaravarman's severity is well known. His Brahmin minister, the wicked Janta, is harsher still. On the charge of being outside Vedic religion, they seized all the black blanket ascetics, beat them half to death, and expelled them from the kingdom. Now, if any other ascetic outside Vedic religion is caught, he will be beaten, killed, thrown into prison, or executed. Do we not belong to that same class? We drink wine, eat meat, and keep women. Do we not follow the same sort of religious practice as the black blankets? So let us hide our robes as adepts and move swiftly through the darkness without being seen. Terrified. Let us do exactly that. They walk on. Friend kankalavaja, how did this calamity arise? Listen. First, that graduate Brahmin named Sankarshana saw countless black blanket couples singing and enjoying themselves in the forest of the sage Jinnarakshada. And then? He informed Janta. Janta told the king everything. And then? Then the king summoned that graduate Brahmin Sankarshana, arranged his marriage, granted him special privileges, the right to wear a ceremonial turban, and the title, highly honored, and made him superintendent of religious affairs throughout the kingdom. He kindled the fire. Say rather that the wicked jaunt to kindled it. Be that as it may, such is our condition. Where shall we go now? We must present ourselves before Prahliyagnishaka, the mistress of mantra practice. I hope that in these evil times no disaster will befall us there. Has she obtained protection these days? the king's chief queen, Queen Saganah, mistress of the whole inner palace, will shelter her because she is a woman. Even if she herself is safe, can she keep us safe? I know the answer. Let us go to some distant country surrounded by forest. You are right, friend. Let us hurry on before daybreak. They do so. Mashin Abasma, you speak well. But after dawn it will be difficult to take even one step in this wretched kingdom. Why? In every district, every town, every village, the sound of Vedic recitation splits one's ears, the smell of clarified butter stabs the nose, and the smoke of sacrifices fills the eyes with tears. We shall therefore have to cross this wretched kingdom only at night. By day we must remain deep in the forest. Exactly. There is also the fear of Sankarshana. We shall travel only at night, and spend the days unseen in the jumble. They walk on. Smash in a basma, the directions are becoming visible and the stars are gradually pailing. Dawn has come. What shall we do now? stage after the beating of a drum, citizens and villagers, here. By command of His Majesty King Shankar Averman, the highly honored Bhattasankar Shana announces, let upright people who, caught in the beginningless stream of existence, profess different religions remain as they are, observing the practices prescribed by their respective religious disciplines. But criminal false ascetics who destroy the established social and religious order must leave the kingdom at once, or the king will punish them like thieves. Both, listening in terror. Our living death, the man called Sankarsana, has truly arrived. Come, let us hurry elsewhere. They both exit. The highly honored Sankarsana enters, no longer dressed as a graduate but in the attire appropriate to a married royal official, accompanied by the boy and as many attendants as the production permits. Boy, are people condemning us for expelling the black blankets? Have no such fear, sir. The order of the threefold Vedic religion, truly defeated and destroyed by corrupt false ascetics, has been restored by you. Say that King Shankar Averman caused it to be restored. But are there no other false ascetics openly roaming the kingdom in imitation of the black blankets, deserving expulsion? Sir, until recently a few depraved ascetics who called themselves followers of Shiva could be seen indulging in their games. But because of your energetic measures they have fallen into disrepute and now very few remain. Sankarshana, well said. I too have seen them. They deserve banishment. 4. What do they regard as unfit to drink? Only what is not liquid. What can they not eat? Only what is bitter or cannot be broken by the teeth. If any creature with breast is unfit for intercourse, it must be either unborn or dead. What place in the world is suitable for their austerity? A tavern, perhaps? You speak truly, sir. Boy, this is also a grave assault upon the order of social classes and stages of life. It is a disgrace as well to those who conduct their business by misusing Shiva's name and call themselves his followers. Exactly boy. The king is right to attend to their expulsion. Moreover, these villains, proclaiming the Lord's name and saying, we follow Shiva's teaching, are damaging his pure religions. If the King properly restrains them and establishes them on an undefiled path, how could that harm the praiseworthy protection of the earth or his fame? Precisely so. Be at ease. I have received the King's command in this matter. Order the patrols to search for them. He exits and re-enters. As you command, sir. Sir, they have fled the kingdom. But an anxious messenger has come looking for you. What is your command? Bring him in. The boy signals for him to enter. Entering in agitation. Victory to my lord. As soon as the Sha'eeva followers, devoted to eating meat, drinking wine, and coupling with serving women, heard the news about the black blankets, every one of them vanished from the kingdom. But other ascetics of pure conduct have also become frightened and begun to depart. What does my Lord command? To the messenger. Boy, to stop the upright people, we must quickly and respectfully appoint leaders for their communities. Go with him and show him the way. He exits. As my Lord commands. Ah, sir, your resolve has wavered. Boy, it is not right to cause anxiety among people of pure religion who live within the beginningless stream of existence. King Shankar Averman is supremely devoted to Shiva and compassionate toward every religious community. Come, let us go directly to the revered Dharmasheva's monastery and calm these groundless fears. As you command, sir. They walk on. Assetics, why are you worried and afraid? The king, protector of every religious community, is not your enemy. His Majesty has expelled from the kingdom those who nearly destroyed you under the covering of fraudulent vows. Sir, that must be the community leader you appointed, making the announcement to the people along the road. They walk on. Well recognized, boy, let us hurry. Boy, we must have reached the revered Darmashiva's monastery, for gray with a coating of sacred ash, capable of kindling the fire of incense, and having just drunk the pure nectar of flowers used in the worship of Shiva, conqueror of the triple city, whom does this blessed breeze of the Shaiva monastery not enchant. It delights in loosening the knots of the ascetics' matted hair, and making their mendicant robes perform a gentle, graceful dance. You speak truly, sir. This hermitage seems peaceful and delightful to me. He acts out entering. Come, let us enter. Ah, the revered Abba Darmashiva himself is coming forward into the courtyard. The radiance of his asceticism surpasses all. His beautiful face smiles beneath its sacred ash. His forehead is purified by the holiness of Ganges water. Ascetics like Shiva's attendants run to serve and worship him. His stainless spirit continually rejoices in a fame bright as camphor. Shiva rejoices with renowned Gauri and the moon. By the mere sight of him, this man who resembles Shiva Shrikantha truly brings welfare to living beings. And further, entering the precincts of this monastery, which dispels the many stains of the Kali age, I tell the truth. It seems to me that I have come to a revived world of Shiva through the three eyes of Shiva, the smiling enemy of of the God of Love. So it seems to me as well. I see myself taking flight to dissolve into Brahmin. The revered Dhamashiva enters as described, seated on a low stool and accompanied by as many followers as the production permits. Dhamashiva, thoughtfully, the fame of this king's virtues has spread through the whole world and his attention is fixed solely upon the social and religious order. This minister, Hunter too never tires as he wanders through the vast forest of philosophies and scriptures. I do not believe they will take any measure contrary to their fame. Let the ascetics remain as before. Why worry? Or what fear could arise for men such as us? Looking ahead. What is this? Has the graduate come here? Now everything is clear. They approach. Come, boy, let us salute the abbot. Homage to the revered abbot, the very form of Lord Maheshvara manifest before us. Welcome, noble sir. Are you well? Please sit upon the seat. There is no need for a seat. I shall sit upon the grass. Venerable sir, religious austerities are proceeding without obstruction according to the established rules. Are they not? Or what obstruction could exist here? Maheshvara himself worships himself through his own person. Please therefore explain to the ascetics that they should feel no anxiety because of the rumors circulating among the people. The king has removed only what obstructed true austerity. The king himself is following behind us to receive the sight of your venerable person. Smiling. Why should I or the ascetics be anxious? As long as His Majesty King Shankar Averman rules, His acquired kingdom in accordance with Dharma, the Kingdom truly belongs to honorable people. He merely protects it. This is not merely today's experience. It has been hours for a long time. Throwing aside the curtain and entering in agitation. Victory to the Abbot. An elderly scholar surrounded by many pupils has arrived displaying arrogance mocking the monastery and lacuna in the sauce venerabosa tell me what to do smiling let the poor man come in i have no objection radambi enters as described he takes a few steps and looks elsewhere approaching saying this he sits on the grass with his pupils Astonishing. What a great calamity King Shankarava Man has engendered. He allows Vedic priests, forest dwellers, renunciants, celibate students, and all these Shaivars, Pashupitas, Pankaratrikas, Ajayins, Sankyas, Buddhists, and others to consume the kingdom's boundless wealth without hindrance. How can he live long in such circumstances? At present he looks like a wishful feeling tree surrounded by emptiness. I shall take this opportunity to eliminate God, set aside the next world, demolish the authority of the Vader, and thus turn the king from the wrong road and establish him on the proper one, so that by attending to worldly prosperity he may enjoy royal power for a long time. I have heard that many self-styled scholars have assembled in this Shaiva monastery. Before them I shall make this Shaiva teacher an object of ridicule. There is the Shoaiva teacher, learned in the philosophies of Kaneda, Lokshapada and others that there is the great Mimamsika Sankarshana, and here are many scholars from different branches of learning. Good, thyshal approach. Asetic, are you well? Brahmin, greetings. Smiling. He looks at S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A. Disrespect from the very beginning. Venerable sir, you have understood correctly. Let us see what follows. Why spend such a miserable life enduring hundreds of pointless hardships? Asterity is merely a form of torture, self-restraint is merely a means of cheating oneself of pleasure, and sacrificial rites such as the fire offering seem to me no more than children's games. What can we do? The Lord God impels us to perform such acts. But who is this Lord God? The son of a barren woman is passing by, freshly bathed in the water of a mirage, wearing a garland of skyflowers upon his head and caring about maid from a hares horn. Laughing Lightly Stop this abuse. He is the Lord of the whole universe, its Creator and destroyer. He supervises, according to their proper fields, the accumulated actions active within the endless multitude of souls and bearing their varied fruits. He is the eternal, blissful, omniscient, compassionate Supreme Lord. Vrithambi. Look at the foolish vision of fools whose sight is blocked by the blindness of devotion and who see nothing. How can this be possible? How can people regard God as the supreme agent? Consider, was it compassion, play, the caprice of sovereignty, impulse, nature, a means of acquiring merit, or his commitment to truth. Who knows what made an ancient sage, without desire and already possessing everything, conceive the creation and destruction of the world. How can one who has no desire for a complex of instrumental and other causes, and who is also without auxiliary causes, be the cause of preserving, destroying and creating worlds when neither he nor anyone else gains any particular benefit from it. Further, grant that he is a creator. What rule ensures that, exactly as you say, he will create only three worlds and not some different or greater number? Darmashiva. Stop laboring to produce fault-finding arguments. On the one hand, fault-finding reasoning is useless concerning something with no basis in a means of valid knowledge. On the other hand, concerning something established by valid knowledge, it must be rejected entirely. Therefore, disputants should cease the clamour of fault-finding arguments about this supersensible subject and seek reasoning that supports the proof. Smiling. If that is your view, present the means of knowledge that proves God. I tell you, inference proves his existence. Smiling To call the same thing both inference and a means of valid knowledge is mere wishful thinking. A thing's capacity changes with differences of condition, place, and time, therefore verifying reality by inference is exceedingly difficult. Moreover, one who relies upon inference readily falls like a blind man running over an uneven road and feeling his way with his hands. And again, a clever logician infers some proposition with great labour, but another still more capable logician explains the same matter in a different way. Stop this elaboration. I know perfectly well this characteristic of the materialist household. But tell me, do they accept sensory perception alone as the only means of valid knowledge? Yes, they do. An ordinary daily conduct is impossible for them. How so? Poor fellow, when hunger torments you, you seek rice, not sand. When you are thirsty, you seek water, not fire. Yes, but what do you wish to prove by that? Friend, that a particular thing is the best means for a specific purpose is not an object of the senses. It is determined through the positive and negative concomitance of entities, and positive and negative concomitance are the chief marks of an inferential sign. Presence in the subject belongs to every reason observed in a particular subject. Positive concomitance, negative concomitance, and presence in the subject. In these resides the life of inference. In daily conduct, like that of animals, it proceeds merely from natural instinct, determining what brings pleasure and what brings pain. Do not say so. A tendency is so called when the particular cause of the validity of the cognition is not known. Here the causes positive concomitance, negative concomitance, and the rest are known. And what is self-evident cannot be denied. Even when you think you understand the cause, in fact you do not because you cannot apprehend an invariable relation. Therefore daily life feels pleasant only when it is not examined. That alone is real, so say those who know reality. This is laziness or else you refuse to retreat even one step. The learned men present here are examining the matter on this very occasion. Such examination is impossible. There are infinitely many individual cases of smoke with fire and of absence of smoke with absence of fire. Unless one has directly perceived all things in the three worlds, a positive and negative concomitance cannot be determined. And what need would an omniscient being have of inference? First, positive concomitance can be apprehended by resorting to universals. The infinity of individual cases does not invalidate inference, because smokiness is one and fireness too is one. In accordance with apprehending the agreement of positive universals, the agreement of their absences can also be apprehended. That is called negative concomitance. The coexistence of two things is positive concomitance. The coexistence of their absences is regarded as negative concomitance. The poor inferential signs presence in the subject can readily be understood, because without a locus one cannot determine a reason as a property. Thus, when the cause of validity has been easily ascertained, even animals, like knowledgeable people, conduct themselves with the aid of means of valid knowledge. The commentator says, Therefore the activities of gods, human beings, and animals are possible in this manner with the help of these means of knowledge, and not otherwise. That may hold regarding a thing already established in the world, cognition of which has already arisen, but it is impossible regarding something yet to be known. Ordinary people, unless deceived by logicians, do not come to know God from effects such as the earth in the way they know fire from smoke. Women, children, cowherds, and even you yourself undoubtedly infer one thing from another particular thing. Through the force of invariable concomitance, a conscious maker can successfully be inferred from an effect, just as fire is inferred from smoke. An effect such as a pot whose manufacture can be imagined is one kind of thing, mountains and the like are wholly different, for there is a great difference between them. The smoke rising in small form in a kitchen is one kind, and the smoke of a mountain spreading through the main and intermediate directions of the sky is very different. you are eating scraps left by those red-robed Buddhists. When a particular kind of arrangement and the like is established by positive and negative concomitance with the existence of a controller, then from that kind of arrangement the existence of a controller may properly be inferred. In truth, the process of inference depends upon a particular property. Where is complete similarity ever found between the subject possessing the property to be proved and the example? Smiling. In other cases there is a real universal, but here the similarity is nominal only, not real. To apply inference on the basis of a merely nominal similarity would entail the fault of overextension. Dhamma Shiva, how could there be a real universal in a Buddhist household? We see that ordinary daily conduct depends upon some universal, whether produced by the intellect, external, real or conventional. Many things are effects and yet are not mutually alike. I therefore do not understand the purpose of saying that particular kind. But products such as the earth are exceedingly exceptional. Then accept an exceedingly exceptional craftsman. I cannot accept an unknown entity. And I cannot speak of an effect without a maker. What is to be done in such a case? Which alternative should we abandon? Is the extraordinary nature of the Maker difficult? Or an effect without a Maker? In choosing between these alternatives, the general rule is, what is unseen is admitted in order to explain what is seen, but what is seen cannot be denied. Therefore, rather than deny the effects character as an effect, it is proper to tolerate the extraordinary character of the maker, since the effect itself is extraordinary, for it Hamby draws lines on the ground. Further, from the perception of color we infer the faculty of sight as an instrument, just as we infer a sickle from the act of cutting and an axe from the act of splitting. What property does the faculty of sight share with a sickle and an axe? Let it not be inferred either. What concern is that of mine? But without the faculty of sight, how would color be seen? Very well, let us admit some kind of instrument. Then in exactly the same way admit some kind of maker. I cannot accept a maker. But how could an action occur without an instrument? How could an effect occur without a maker? The word effect is not a mere arbitrary name like Ditha. What has been made is an effect. If something has been made and yet has no maker, who made it? I do not know. Therefore you must endure this incurable headache of inferring God. What other remedy is there? Fridhambi draws lines on the ground. And you must also endure the cruel suffering of worldly existence. Not while I remain alive. Then you will die very soon. How so? Consciousness cannot be a quality of the material elements, because it does not remain throughout the lifetime of the substance and because it knows itself. And if you adopt a doctrine of a stream of consciousness, activities such as memory and desire are impossible without a unifying entity. Then I shall accept some such entity as an awe. But what proves that it continues to exist after the body is cremated? Good man, no additional proof is required for that. Why not? Because we hold that a thing's destruction is not part of its nature. Furthermore, we never experience the production or destruction of the knower, or any cause of such production or destruction. Nor can we suppose its destruction because it has parts as cloth is destroyed when the conjunction of its threads is broken. Therefore, only the essential form of this real entity called the knower is perceived, not its production or destruction. Hence, if the knower exists, it must be eternal. If it is eternal, it is that very entity which passes through worldly existence. Why then do the materialists say, �There is no entity that transmigrates, and therefore there is no transmigration?� Consider further, the joy, fear, grief, desire for milk, and other states of a newborn child cannot be said to be innate in the sense of causeless, accidental, or produced merely by instinct. On this basis also, the self must be accepted as eternal. But in the context of proving God to what is gained by examining transmigration. This, if transmigration exists, then the creation of the material world must occur because of individual actions. What follows from that? Action is also a cause of the creation of bodies and the rest. And then, Action is unconscious. Even so, what follows? An unconscious thing can become a cause only when controlled by a conscious superintendent. The conscious agents of those very actions will supervise them. They cannot because people with different intentions cannot coordinate. What then, Ndof Carpenters? Why Carpenters? Though there are many, do they not build one house? Not independently, they follow the intention of a single architect. What then, Ndof the agreement of bromance in an assembly? There too, the assembly follows the intention of one chairman who is an expert in the subject. But here the single body of a king or minister becomes the cause of the pleasure and pain of thousands of beings by helping or harming them. It must therefore arise from their combined actions. Those for whom the king's body causes suffering do not rejoice at its birth. Therefore such an immense mass of action must be supervised by the Lord God alone. Once this is fully established, the proof of God's existence becomes unassailable. aside immense and immeasurable products such as the earth, oceans, and mountains. In the same sequence, we can infer God even from a small, emaciated body like mine. Heaps of sand built on a riverbank by unconscious, unskilled bodies or wild vegetation such as grass, vines, and shrubs growing on mountains in caves, forests, and thickets also depend upon the actions of living beings because they cause their pleasure and pain. This action therefore requires a superintendent. The maker of these things cannot be unconscious. Fred Hamby draws lines on the ground. Leave aside other gross or subtle effects. The daily activities of people like us farming, service, trade, even sleeping, sitting, walking, eating, and the like produce pleasure and pain by benefitting or harming many living beings. By the preceding reasoning, these activities therefore depend upon those beings' actions. Action is unconscious. Its agents are many and mutually opposed, and so cannot agree. Consequently, these activities too are produced by those actions under the superintendence of the Lord. For this reason, the sage Vyasas says, This living being is ignorant and not the master of its own pleasure and pain. Impelled by the Lord, it may go to heaven or straight to hell. I shall consider this matter. For now, I am leaving. The Mashi'vah's ascetic followers mock with humbly and insult him in various ways. Restraining them to V.R.I.D.D.H.A.M.B.H.I. Where are you going? Endure for one moment the suffering produced by your own actions. We also know God's existence from the authority of Scripture. Scripture means of valid knowledge. That is a bold claim indeed. To S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A. I am tired. Would you please explain it to him? As the revered Abbot wishes, I need make no effort to establish the authority of Scripture because its validity belongs to it by nature. The validity of scripture belongs to it by nature. How can you say so? The Veda is not authoritative merely because it is eternal. Are other eternal things such as space regarded as means of valid knowledge? Or who disputes the validity of perception and the rest which are not eternal? Sankarshana, good man, I do not say that the Veda is authoritative because it is eternal. I say it is authoritative because it produces cognition. A sentence sometimes produces cognition even when it contradicts reality. For example, if someone says, there is an elephant on the tip of my finger. Even there, the meanings denoted by the words joined in the sentence do not make verbal cognition impossible. What is impossible is the availability of any other means of knowledge confirming the asserted state of affairs. A verbal sentence operates concerning an object known through another means of knowledge. Therefore, when it conflicts with reality, on your own view verbal testimony itself should be invalid. Agreed. When the subject matter of words enters the domain of another means of knowledge, the words may be refuted. But how could this subject matter of an injunction, that is, a command, ever come within reach of another means of knowledge? By its nature, another means of knowledge cannot enter that field, so the injunction is unaffected by either its support or its injury. If another means of knowledge supports verbal testimony, that is mere repetition, if it contradicts it, it is false. But when both are impossible, why should verbal testimony not be a means of valid knowledge? For a word to convey a meaning, the relation between word and meaning is indispensable, and that relation is made by human beings. But how can such a relation be possible concerning something beyond anyone's reach? The relation is simply the words power, and that power belongs to it by nature. Without words already capable of conveying meaning, a person could not establish any conventional relation. The relation in an injunctive sentence, whose meaning is available only through words, can be learned from usage when the cause of another person's activity appears in oneself in the same way. Another means of knowledge, whose subjects are bound by time, cannot enter the timeless meaning of the sentence. Let him do this. Then how is the injunction land? I have already told you, but you did not understand. Looking within, we see that knowledge of an impelling factor precedes our activity. Seeing another person act after hearing an optative verbal ending, we infer that he too has known an impelling factor. Just as we experience the self within ourselves, so we experience the nature of that impelling factor. But it cannot be shown to another with the words, it is like this, as a visible object can. Other people experience it too, but no one can display it. Thus, it is established that even in an injunctive sentence, unknowable through other means of knowledge, the relation between word and meaning can be learned. Elderly people learned it in childhood in the same way. the world has no beginning. Is that much sufficient to prove the authority of Vedic injunctions? What more do you want? A statement of Scripture unsupported by another means of knowledge cannot be authoritative. It merely conveys a meaning, it gives no assurance that reality is actually so. Something that conveys a meaning can indeed produce cognition. Every means of valid knowledge does know more than produce cognition. It It does not tie a rope around the knowable object's neck and drag it before us like a pot. A person who makes validity depend upon confirmation by another means of knowledge will not reach the end of the chain of means of knowledge even in hundreds of cosmic ages. There are two causes of falsity, contradiction, or a defect in the cause of cognition. Neither exists in the Veda, therefore its validity is established. That handbeat draws lines on the ground. Saint Karshana's followers laugh at him. Saint Karshana restrains them. Whether we should rely upon your method of establishing the Vedas' authority, or follow the reasoning that sacred tradition is authoritative because it is his word, and because its speaker is trustworthy, it is authoritative like a mantra or a medical treatise that is an internal dispute among us. Leave it aside. First, refute completely these atheists who hate the Veda. As the revered Abbot commands, an uproar is heard offstage. What is that? The uproar surely announces the King's arrival. I shall go to welcome him. Prepare the Articles of Honor for the King according to the prescriptions of your scripture. Very well, noble sir. San Khurshana, and let me remind the venerable master once more. We certainly do not hate Lord Shiva, whose power and majesty are incomparable. He alone is the cause of the preservation, destruction, and creation of the worlds. He is Rudra, Brahma, Hari, or some other person beyond them. This entire universe depends upon him. Therefore let the Shaivas, Pashupadas, Kalamukhas, and great Vow ascetics remain at ease. The knowledge received from your teachers also seems to dispel delusion, but let its domain remain limited to precisely that range within which it is rationally established. Exactly so, noble sir. All exit. End of Act 3. A Vedic efficient and a Vedic teacher enter. Agitated. What a terrible blow. I expected one thing, and something entirely different has happened. I hope that once all non-Vedic religions had been censured, the whole country would fall comfortably under our control. Instead, the heretical religions remain as widespread as before. Shaivas, Pashupatas, Pankaratrikas, Sankyas, Buddhists, Skyclad Giants, and all the rest continue unchanged. Shame on the graduates, useless learning. But friend, he is now a royal official. The king is supremely devoted to Shiva, so Sankarsana must remain entirely intent upon worshipping him. For a servant close to a king always repeats the king's own words like an echo, in eagerness for his own advantage, he does not distinguish good from bad. You are right friend. Who would abandon self-interest and attend impartially to Dharma alone? But how shall we pass our time? Our occupations officiating at sacrifices, teaching, and the rest are connected solely with the Veda. Friend, we shall pass the future as we passed the past, content if we receive enough to eat and wear. For without merit one finds no assembly free from the talk of rogues, no beloved free from pride and anger, and no wealth free from the claims of others." Well said. What can we do? Yet another matter annoys me even more. What is it? These pancreatrica Bhagavadas adopt the conduct of Brahmins. They mix freely with Brahmins and feel no hesitation in using forms of greeting suitable only between equal brahmins. Imitating Vedic recitation, they read the Pankarachra scriptures with special arrangements of raised and lowered accents. They say of themselves, We are brahmins, and make others call them so as well. Look at Shaivas and the rest. They do not belong within the system of four social classes. They reject the stages of life prescribed by Veda and sacred tradition, and they keep apart by adopting different doctrines. But these people say, By birth and through a long line of ancestors, we are true Brahmins, and similarly imitate the system of the four stages of life. This is a great torment. Teacher, friend, how is this torment so great? In officiating at sacrifice, teaching, marriage alliances, and every other matter, Brahmins learned in the Veda keep sufficient distance from Pankratrikas. They're calling themselves Brahmins, is merely an internal custom of their own community. Is that a small disturbance? How is it great? They will never gain the right to study Veda, sacred tradition, or mimasa, or to perform solemn and domestic Vedic rites. And if one of them marries a Brahman woman who has strayed beyond the boundaries, he will earn the disgrace of a reverse order marriage. Even if, after gaining a little knowledge of the Vedic ancillary sciences, they are not excluded from certain places, there is no need for anger. Leave the matter. But I But I have heard something. What? Today the Honourable Sankarshana has gone to the temple of Vishnu, which is filled with hundreds and thousands of Bhagavatas, expressly to examine their religion. Thousands of Brahman scholars have also assembled on Brahmadvipa. There will be a vast conference. Let us go there. We have already seen Sankarshan as enthusiasm. He supports the doctrine that all religions are authoritative. On the other hand, it is said that Queen Sugandha is especially sympathetic toward these people. There is also talk that a royal official supports the Sivathas. Do not always expect disaster. If something opposes established custom, they will not be able to bend even a blade of grass. Come let us go and see how the heretical religions, repeatedly plunged into the ocean of a mimasakas flowing eloquence, struggle in many different ways. They both exit. The honorable Sankarsana enters with the boy and has many attendants as the production permits. Boy, I have fallen into a difficult crisis. For how can I say with my own tongue that philosophy of those who follow Lord Vishnu Nuryana, whose mind is absorbed in performing the divine play that transforms the conditions of the world, its preservation, creation, and destruction, is false. Yet if I do not say it, how can I stand before scholars whose minds are wholly immersed in the Three Vedas? Alas, sir, you truly face a dilemma. Yet the customs established long ago continue exactly as before. Why be agitated about this matter? Look now upon this place filled with hundreds and thousands of pancreatricas and other great scholars. Walking, then looking ahead in astonishment. Reflecting for a moment, aside. Allowed. Good heavens, what an immense gathering of scholars. The tremendous clamour of competing debates spreads through every direction. In this This assembly are mimimsakas who have examined the various processes by which sentences convey meaning. Grammarians who have investigated the roots of nouns and verbs. Logicians whose intelligence is sharp in determining the perversion of reasons. And senior teachers of sacred tradition, political science, the Puranas, and other disciplines. Ah, wonderful. The kingdom of the holy and renowned King Yashavarmadeva now seems exactly like the world of Brahma. His heart is devoted to Shiva, destroyer of the triple city. He is an ocean of enviable virtues, adorns his ears by listening to the precious instruction of scholars, and fulfills the desire of every good person. How should I conduct myself among these people, who follow the guidance and teaching of diverse and mutually contradictory learned works? What shall I do on this difficult road of opposition to the Veda, where even experts cannot reach a decision? I understand. Lord Vishnu, bearer of bow, discus, and conch, is my refuge. Very well. First I shall immediately take refuge in the Lord Himself. Boy, the Lord's temple is near. We shall bow to Lord Vishnu Ranasvaman, refuge of all, and then take our seats in the assembly. As you command. They walk on. Sankarsana, acting out his entrance and kneeling. Homage to Vishnu, upon whose strides the manifold three worlds depend, and within an atom of one corner of whose belly the universe rests dissolved. Homage to the Discus bearer, in whose palms conch and discus shine, who shows the true path to liberation and reveals the stainless highest good. Homage to the chariot wheel bearer, cause of final nirvana. listening, then speaking with delight. From this auspicious sound of the conch I infer. Manjira. This is a very great danger to the order of social classes and stages of life. Therefore, when the Chief Minister Brahma, Khashar submitted the matter, the Queen prepared to summon these respected Brahmins. Returning from there, she told the Chief Minister that the following request had been made to her. In this dispute between scholars of the three Vedas and teachers of other religions, everyone accepts as Arbiter the great Naya philosopher Bhattasahara, famous as Dhariarasi. Please appoint him mediator in this disputed case. Therefore, noble sir, please do not depart. I ask you to remain present in the debating assembly without presenting your own position. Friend Manjara, come. Let us enter the assembly together. They walk on. A voice offstage. Born in a distinguished family of celebrated dignity, extraordinarily fortunate, he removes every doubt of people holding opposing views, and thus scholars attain one shared vision of the highest reality. The honorable Sahata was born as a true ornament of the world, almost the equal of the Supreme Lord. Not ordinary virtues, but great virtues raised him so high that no one can confront him. They are praising the approaching Deer-e-Rashi. Plainly the people favor him. Their sympathy is justified, for he is exactly as described. Friend Manjira, through your kindness I have escaped a difficult crisis and can remain apart from such a subject. When the deathless and eternal Supreme Lord is with you, noble sir, what difficulty can arise in your lifelong mission of helping the people? Sir, this is your seat in the present assembly. Please enter. Colleague Munjara, enter first and announce the royal command to the members of the assembly. He walks forward. Very well. Scholars, you have taken your respective places, please attend. There is a keen-minded speaker, deeply honored by good people, an ocean into which the rivers of learning flow, who has won great fame in learned society as the foremost scholar. Today, by royal command and at the request of the religious teachers, he has been a pointed mediator in this case. Let everyone be at ease, abandon factional difference, and rejoice. DiRioRashi enters as described, accompanied by as larger group of disputants as the production permits. Astonished! What a marvellous confluence of learning! Wonderful! Here in Baratavarsha on the continent of Jambadvipa, I see the city of the Supreme Person. For the fourteen seats of learning are firmly established here, diverse customs are present, there are many vows and restraints, and austerity, pure by nature, proceeds peacefully and without obstruction. The king is plainly Brahma embodied, what could be greater? Looking ahead, the honorable Sankarsana equal to the sages of the Puranas is present. Good, I shall salute him. He bows. Embracing him closely. Your embrace is like a ritual bath in the waters of every sacred fort. All sit. respect. Respected scholars of Dharma, your intricate doubts seem already cut away. By royal command, the living Akshapada, Duryarashi, worthy to be called the Prajapati of Philosophy, is present among us. Not by royal command, but at the request of the religious teachers. To Duryarashi. Ornament of logicians, you must already know the facts of the matter under consideration. Therefore, as you are moved, pronounce whatever decision you consider proper. Noble Sir, I know only this, the disputants here disagree about whether the Pankaratra and other scriptures are authoritative. But with you present, what right has a man like me to speak? Only with your permission can I say something like your child. Why speak so? You are the one who gives the command. Every disputant places his trust in you alone. speak. To the D-I-S-P-U-10-T-S. Respected gentlemen, I have listened to and understood the arguments you have presented on both sides, they are complete. Therefore, while I deliver my statement without interruption, say nothing in between. Very well, noble sir. Unless asked, we shall say nothing to interrupt your words. Then listen attentively. await every word. First, the Mimamsakas say that the Veda is intrinsically a means of valid knowledge because it produces cognition. The Darba-gras of beginninglessness has swept away the dust of both objections raised against its authorship and its validity. Accordingly, they say, every cognition of ours is intrinsically valid because it informs us of its proper object. But when contradiction arises, or when the instrument of cognition is understood to be defective, it ceases to be valid. In the case of the eternal Veda, both objections are inapplicable, while its production of cognition is established. Or, if a super sensible subject is to be proved, there is still less room for objection. People can determine whether a perceptible object is or is not so. But what means do they possess regarding a super-sensible object? Therefore the Veda is intrinsically authoritative because it produces cognition and because neither of the two obstacles to validity is present. My response is this, this route to establishing the Veda's authority is certainly straight and simple. Yet it does not win my heart. Where is an arrangement of words and meanings ever seen without a person? Recreation 2 must somewhere have begun for the first time. You may imagine when this first occasion of the Veda occurred. For even if its components are eternal, this arrangement of the Veda cannot itself be eternal. Admit that sound is eternal, composition does not exhibit that nature. In our world, composition certainly depends upon a composer. You may object, the Vedas author is not remembered, whereas Vyasa and others are remembered. Come now. This charge is not dangerous. The extraordinary nature of the author makes him imperceptible. We ordinary people can remember only an object or person who comes within our field of perception. Furthermore, from ancient times people have said that Hirani Agarba is the author of the abundant Vedic revelation. If you say, this tradition arose from eulogistic passages, you will be unable to present even a grain of evidence establishing such a distinction. Further, just as you say that a Vedic statement must always be inferred as the basis of remembered observances such as the Ashutaka writes, so the author of the Veda must always be inferred, otherwise state the difference. You may ask, what would be impossible without the thing to be inferred. Then what would be impossible without inferring a Vedic statement? If you say the memory of a prescribed right would be impossible, my answer is that composition would be impossible. If remembered tradition is in the nature of an effect, composition is of the same kind. You will object, without a Vedic statement as its basis, Manu's teaching would be false. false. Why imagine a source of authority merely to suit your own purpose? Or rather, let man is teaching be false, yet we cannot infer a Vedic sentence that exists nowhere and is found in the mouth of not a single person who studies hundreds of Vedic branches. If, out of respect for those learned in the Veda, we accept a Vedic sentence as its basis, then we must also accept an author as the cause of a composition such as the ordered sequence of Vedic words. The reason, regular study of the Veda presupposes regular study from a teacher, because the expression Vedic study signifies just that, is inconclusive. It is laughable that you yourself say such a reason is ineffective and at that very moment employ it. An ancient composition renowned through a tradition whose origin is not error plainly had an author at the beginning, even if that author is no longer remembered. If the Veda was composed, why do good people perform its rights, which possess abundant wealth, even though the author is not remembered? In such a case, even after inferring an author, the learned person's effort is entirely proper, just as your effort to perform Ashutaka and other rights prescribed in sacred tradition is proper when based upon an inferred Vedic sentence. The Veda also has an author for the following reason, and that author must always be. Inferred, in the Sarvajit sacrifice, although no specific result is explicitly mentioned in the Vedic statement, a particular result is properly supplied because an expectation arises from the ritual injunction. Who is the one who expects a result there? The expressed meaning in the expressive word are surely not conscious. If you say it is a special feature of cognition, whose cognition is it? Cognition is not independent. If you say it is our cognition, then the Vedas author is proved to be human. Whenever we understand meaning, we know the intention of a knowing speaker. Whose intention is present here? Not the words, not the meanings. The one whose expectation is accepted is the reason for treating something as an element or result of a right is the author of that right. Apart from him, whose expectation could it be? Therefore the Veda must have an author, even if that author must always be inferred, because without him no Vedic activity is possible. The statement the author is not remembered should be analyzed as follows, authors such as Veso and Balmiki, who can be remembered in this world, have limited bodies and move within the range of sight of people like us. The author of the Veda may have the sky itself as his body, may assume many forms, or may be holy bodiless. In such a case, how could God, the author of the Veda, become an object of memory? For this reason the learned form various conceptions of this author. In reality he is one, capable of bringing welfare to the three worlds. Many gods with the same intention cannot be admitted. Being intentions cannot all be fulfilled simultaneously, therefore some of them would plainly cease to be gods. Thus there is one omniscient person alone. If the world had many administrators, either it would never be created, or even if somehow created, it would not endure long, like a kingdom under misgovernment. Many people construct a building only by following the direction of one architect, therefore the world must have been created by one maker. Many people bustling about could not construct this world even in hundreds of cosmic ages. But it is reasonable that one pure-minded person, whose resolve is always fulfilled, accomplishes it in a single moment. And it has been said, because of his relation to the constituent parts of his function, creation, preservation, and destruction, the unique, marvelous, unborn, supremely powerful person, cause of the emanation of the entire universe, is known by the names Brahma, Vishnu, and Rudra. Just as this soul of the universe is the creator of all worlds, so that pure-minded being is also the author of the Veda. Just as the arrangements of the three worlds depend upon one another, so the Veda declares injunctions that are mutually connected. The order observed in mutually connected subjects or words cannot be possible otherwise. We therefore maintain the following, the soul composer of the Vedas spread through many branches and showing the path to incomparable happiness is one pure-minded sage, the marvelous ancient God. In the same way, except the Lord is the sole author of all scriptures, for, as already said, it is not easy to imagine many authors. You may say, Ah! All scriptures without exception contradict one another, since no shared subject is seen among them. How can they be considered the work of one person? Or, since they refute one another, how can they be authoritative? First we shall examine your statement, how can there be authority when mutual contradiction exists? How do you prevent mutual contradiction within the Veda? If you say the Veda is eternal awe, you have become entangled in a story from your own household. If you avoid contradiction in Vedic statements by distinguishing their subjects, employ the same process with statements in other scriptures. The Veda prescribes an offering of jambu fruit for one who desires long life, and recites the Sarvasvara rite for one who desires death. If you remove the contradiction between these Vedic statements by distinguishing the people for whom they are prescribed, you must apply the same method to the teachings of other religions. Thus, even though mutually opposed, the teachings of other sacred works have no greater fault than Vedic injunctions. Or rather, there is no contradiction among the scriptures concerning the highest human goal, since all teach the same result, liberation. Different paths to liberation have nevertheless been taught according to the understanding of being's fit to receive grace. The omniscient Lord saw, these people can reach the highest good by this path suited to their inclination, and therefore taught diverse means. Just as a crowd entering one fortress or great building passes through different gates, so people who seek liberation enter the supreme abode. On this very matter there is a wise saying by the brilliant janta, master of the essence of every science, knower of reality, free from error, the many means taught by different scriptural paths converge upon one highest human goal, as the streams of the Ganges converge upon the ocean. The objection, how can contradictory scriptures have one author, has also been answered, the Veda is not intrinsically authoritative, it is authoritative because it was uttered by God. And, on the other hand, there is no reasoning that supports many gods. References to different authors are explained in another way. The one, he assumes various bodies created by His will and teaches every kind of scripture for the welfare of all beings, therefore those forms bear the different names by which they are famous throughout the world. Shiva, Pashapathy, Kapila, Vishnu, Divine Sankarsana, the Jina Sage, the Buddha, and Manu are all one. Only the names, and perhaps the bodies, differ, there is no multiplicity in the undivided Supreme Self. Even if some extraordinary great person were distinct from God, he would bear the Lord's splendor. Krishna has said, whatever being is powerful, prosperous, or magnificent, understand that it has arisen from a portion of my splendor. Or let the Jina and the other celebrated sages be distinct in intent upon promoting different religions. Even then, through the pure and imperishable vision obtained by devoted meditation upon the supremely holy one, they would discern means leading to the highest good. There is only this difference between a yogi and the supreme lord, the supreme lord's knowledge belongs to him by nature, whereas the yogi's knowledge is acquired through the practice of meditation. In sum, those who hold that the Veda is the composition of a trustworthy person establish its authority in this way. The chain of reasoning is the same concerning the authority of each scripture, such as the Pankaratra. Whether its author is one in the Lord or many trustworthy persons who know the different paths, in either case these works composed by him or by them do not lose their authority any more than the Veda does. Or grant that the Veda is beginningless and is intrinsically authoritative. Very well, the injunctive statements of the Pankaratra and the rest can be authoritative in the same way. Here too we have no clear memory of an author. Divine Sankarshana and others are the promulgators of these teachings as Katha and others are of Vedic branches but someone may object, people know perfectly well that the Vedas are only four in the case of the histories and puranas the word Veda is used only figuratively In the clear understanding of meanings, this is Veda, this is Brahmana, this is water, this is fire, this is earth, attentive elders are the authority. What child, then, however rash, would call the Pankaratra Veda? Or who would call a follower of that doctrine a Brahmin merely because he looks like a sage? I do not say that there are five or six Vedas. Their number is famously fixed at four. But each is divided into many branches. Let the pankaratra be one distinctive branch. Someone may object. Those who know Vedic injunctions say that one and the same duty, a sacrifice such as the soma rite or an animal offering, is learned from all branches. Tell us, have you ever seen any Vedic rite connected with the pankaratra? I answer. Though numerous, sentences that teach one right furnished with many subsidiary acts have a shared application. Certain rules of this extensive right are said to be prescribed in particular branches. Regard precisely this as their mutual connection. One scripture with a definite subject cannot be questioned by another scripture. Even within the Veda, which contains differing injunctions. There is such an arrangement. The prescription for using a vessel of liquor is restricted solely to the Sortramani. Sacrifice, it certainly has no relation to other rites. Do the different meritorious acts taught in Veda and sacred tradition. For the different stages of life become confused with one another. At the same time non-violence, truthfulness, contentment, purity, restraint of the senses, generosity, compassion and the rest have always been praised by people as common duties in every sacred tradition. On this point these traditions agree with Veda and sacred tradition. When people call the Pankaratra texts Veda, the word indicates some other. Sense. A final decision on the matter. Cannot rest upon ordinary usage. Or why become entangled in asking whether the name is true or false, is not the same usage found in names, such as Ayurveda and Danavida. Although a follower of this teaching receives a separate and distinctive name from the method of worshipping Lord Vishnu, people commonly call him a Brahmin, just Just as wandering mendicants are commonly called Brahmins. Everyone knows that they are designated by the word Brahmin. People use general and particular names as they please. Scholars disagree about class universals such as Brahminhood. Some say that the system of four classes is based on words alone. Is a class universal such as Brahminhood directly perceived like cowhood or in some other way. Such reflection upon the real situation is irrelevant, it makes no difference. The existing order established in every doctrine and among all people should not be disturbed by speculation of any kind. Therefore leave aside the question whether class exists or not. I continue the present subject. Whether all these sacred scriptures are beginningless like the Vader or ultimately mere compositions, good people should not revile them. The The slightest reviling of them would be equivalent to reviling the Veda. The fool who hunts for their defects incurs sin. Or put it this way, the statements of sacred works such as the Pankaratra are authoritative because, like the remembered teachings of Manu and others, they are based upon the Veda. Every effect determines a sufficient cause for its establishment, as smoke determines fire. cause must be accepted, for memory of a subject without direct experience of the thing has never been seen or heard. Greed, delusion, the deception of people, or a chain of insubstantial human statements cannot serve as the basis of an undisputed fact. Here there is no refuting cause because capable people accept these teachings. Those who hold that the Veda is beginningless cannot ground the authority of scripture upon yogic perception. Therefore only the Veda remains as the basis of pankaratra statements. Someone will object, hear no similarity between the authors is observed, and without it an inference of a Vedic statement is improper. I answer. Very well, because the authors are different, their practices may not be alike. Yet an effect is certainly sufficient to justify inferring an adequate cause. Someone may object. Because members of the first three social classes have a theoretical possibility of access, a connection with the Veda may be admitted. But the source of an effect is merely its cause, and here it might have arisen from any cause whatever. Dharma. We shall answer. In the sphere of Dharma, the Veda alone is authoritative, and nothing else. For this reason the Veda is called the source here, not because of any similarity among authors. For the same reason there is no need for a doctrine of yogic perception. Whether the authors here are the same or different, in every case the sole source of this duty called Dharma is the Veda. If the basis of the genus, capillars, or the Buddha's teaching and all such instruction is neither yogic perception nor veda, how could delusion produce their immeasurable extent, accepted by many noble people? In some places complete agreement is even found. Delusion can sustain something for a few days, but to say that such delusion endures age after age would be an extraordinary invention. You may ask, who knows whether Buddhists even existed in ancient times? Even who knows whether Brahmins learned in the Veda existed in ancient times, or if you say greed and similar motives are plainly the source here, the heretics will reply that the Veda too is merely a means of livelihood. On the other hand, if the chain of abuse, babbling from followers of Brahaspati's doctrine, is removed in the case of the Veda because exemplary people accept it. Even in the case of the teachings of other scriptures it may be removed in the same way because it is said that wise people accept them too. However many kinds of argument and however many arguments of each kind you present to prove the authority of the Vader they possess equal force regarding other religious doctrines. Your statement, the world has always been as it is now, is made in the same way by other people too. Those religions also have always existed. But let me shorten the discussion. A person who speaks too much becomes unpleasant. Therefore I shall now restrain the excessive chatter of my tongue. These scriptures are authoritative because they were spoken by truthful and trustworthy persons or they are intrinsically authoritative because they are beginningless like the Vader or like Manu's teaching because they conform to Vedic tradition All scriptures are authoritative so say those versed in statecraft You may object. By this fault of improper overextension, the earth's social and religious order will be utterly destroyed. Name one proposition, however meaningless, about which the same claim could not be made. The answer to this objection is as follows. This method of establishing authority may be applied only to a scripture that has a widely accepted and unbroken tradition, with which noble people do not feel disgust at associating or discussing, whose accepted practice is neither antisocial nor dangerous, which has not suddenly arisen just now, and which is not founded upon a madman's babbling, a bizarre fantasy, or greed alone. It may not be applied to every work. Only of such a scripture can it be said that it was spoken by a trustworthy person, is beginningless, or is based upon Vedic tradition, not in every case. And this excellent arbiter will not accept as authoritative any scripture that teaches a loathsome duty, as intercourse with a forbidden woman or eating impure substances. Having finished his statement, Dharirashi remains silent for a moment, then turns toward S-A-N-K-A-R-S-H-A-N-A. Noble Sir, I have spoken to the best of my intelligence's ability. Now let us ask these respected disputants, in the order in which they are seated, whether my words have won their hearts. Joyfully Turning to the D.I.S.P. U10 TS. Honorable Deer Yirashie, be at ease. Through this fresh river of learning that has flowed from you, we feel as though revived, as though we have attained the highest good, become purified and nourished, and experience the purpose of this worldly life. Ah, wonderful! What subtle intelligence, what flowing speech, what mastery of philosophy and scripture, what a stainless mind, free from envy and other faults. Or what virtue in this man has not reached its highest limit. People have always said that no second equal of Sahada has ever been born. These teachers too are capable of recognizing excellence. How? Then, could you fail to win their hearts? Shall we ask? Respected teachers, have Deer Yirash's words won your hearts? Noble sir, at the very least, his learning is beyond human. Sankarshana Trudy's words of the Honourable Dhirayashi, your understanding will remain forever pure, like that of Brahman sages. His statement posts an inexhaustible stream of political wisdom, with incomparable fluency and no hatred. Nevertheless, you are reminded again, good gentleman, you must certainly observe two rules. What two rules? As has been said, these religious traditions are not to be blended with one another. Each remains in its own field and in its own established form. Gentlemen, take constant care that they are not mixed. Noble Sir, one need be said of universal duties such as non-violence, taught by mono and inherited true tradition within each of our doctrines. Apart from those, however, from fear of acting against the words of our own scriptures, avoid mixing the distinct rights specifically prescribed for us. Thus the first rule is settled. What is the second? Do not admit into your religion those who merely utter your name with their mouths while overturning both scripture and dharma through their wicked conduct. That too shall be ensured. But it does not lie within our power alone. You and the royal officers can bring it about. You speak truly. As majesty, teacher of the established rules of social class and stage of life, will certainly seize this opportunity. Keep yourselves apart from such people and show them no sympathy. SU COMMAND, NOBLE SIR. Now let us rise and attend to our respective duties. Let each person follow his religion according to established custom. Honorable Dirirashi, come. We shall report to our master how the matter has unfolded. All exit. End of Act 4.

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