(only) remember (the words), men who follow (the teaching of the texts) surpass those who (merely) know (their meaning).

104. Austerity and sacred learning are the best means by which a Brâhmana secures supreme bliss; by austerities he destroys guilt, by sacred learning he obtains the cessation of (births and) deaths.

105. The three (kinds of evidence), perception, inference, and the (sacred) Institutes which comprise the tradition (of) many (schools), must be fully understood by him who desires perfect correctness with respect to the sacred law.

106. He alone, and no other man, knows the sacred law, who explores the (utterances) of the sages and the body of the laws, by (modes of) reasoning, not repugnant to the Veda-lore.

(Medh., Nâr.), 'who have not studied the Veda' (Nand.), means according to Gov. and Kull., 'those who have learned a little.' Granthinah, (forgetful) students' (Kull., Nand.), means according to Medh. and Gov., students who learn the texts alone, but do not take very great trouble with them;' according to Nâr., ' men who know the text only.' Dhârinah, 'those who remember (the texts)' (Kull., Nand.), are according to Medh. and Gov., 'men who are very persevering in studying;' according to Nâr., ' those who know the meaning of the texts.' Nâr. takes gñânin,' he who knows (the meaning of the texts),' in the sense of 'he who knows the Soul or Self.'

104. Yâgn. I, 200.

105. Sâstram, 'the (sacred) Institutes,' i.e. 'the Veda, which has many Sâkhâs' (Gov., Nâr.), or 'the Veda and the Smriti ' (Medh.), or 'the Smriti' (Kull.). Nand. reads siddhim, 'a complete knowledge or accurate performance,' instead of suddhim. The Puna copy of Nâr. stops with this verse, the remaining leaves being lost. 106. The utterances of the sages,' i. e. 'the Veda.' 'The body of the laws, ', i. e. the Smriti.' The modes of reasoning' are, according to Medh. and Kull., the Mîmâmsâ of Gaimini; according to 'others' quoted by Medh., all the philosophical schools, excepting

107. Thus the acts which secure supreme bliss have been exactly and fully described; (now) the secret portion of these Institutes, proclaimed by Manu, will be taught.

108. If it be asked how it should be with respect to (points of) the law which have not been (specially) mentioned, (the answer is), 'that which Brâhmaṇas (who are) Sishtas propound, shall doubtlessly have legal (force).'

109. Those Brâhmanas must be considered as Sishtas who, in accordance with the sacred law, have studied the Veda together with its appendages, and are able to adduce proofs perceptible by the senses from the revealed texts.

those which, like the Bauddhas, Nirgranthas, and Lokâyatikas, deny the authority of the Vedas.

108-115. Âp. II, 29, 13-14; Gaut. XXVIII, 48–51; Vas. III, 20; Baudh. I, 1, 5-13, 16; Yâgñ. I, 9–10.

109. In accordance with the sacred law,' i.e. while observing the rules prescribed for a student.' The expression srutipratyakshahetavah, who are able to adduce proofs perceptible by the senses from the revealed texts,' is variously interpreted. According to Medh. it means either those who possess the revealed texts, (proof through) perception and argument' (srutipratyakshe hetus ka srutipratyakshahetavah), or those for whom the revealed texts which are perceptible by the senses, are the reason for distinguishing between virtue and sin' (athavâ sruteh pratyakshasruteh pratyakshasabdah sraute pratyaye pratyakshatulyatvât prayuktah | sa ka hetur dharmâdharmaparigñâne kâranam yeshâm ta evam ukyante); according to Gov., 'who are the cause of the teaching of the subjects perceptible in the Veda' (vedagokarapadârthopadesakâranabhûtâh); according to Kull., ' who are the causes of making the revealed texts perceptible, by reciting the revealed texts;' and according to Nand., 'those for whose knowledge and exposition of the law hearing and perception by means of the senses are the causes' (yeshâm sravanam pratyaksham ka dharmagñânavakanayor hetus te). The appendages,' i. e. 'the Itihâsas and Purânas' (Medh. according to the Mahâbhârata,

110. Whatever an assembly, consisting either of at least ten, or of at least three persons who follow their prescribed occupations, declares to be law, the legal (force of) that one must not dispute.

III. Three persons who each know one of the three principal Vedas, a logician, a Mîmâmsaka, one who knows the Nirukta, one who recites (the Institutes of) the sacred law, and three men belonging to the first three orders shall constitute a (legal) assembly, consisting of at least ten members.

112. One who knows the Rig-veda, one who knows the Yagur-veda, and one who knows the Sâma-veda, shall be known (to form) an assembly consisting of at least three members (and competent) to decide doubtful points of law.

113. Even that which one Brâhmana versed in the Veda declares to be law, must be considered (to have) supreme legal (force, but) not that which is proclaimed by myriads of ignorant men.

114. Even if thousands of Brâhmanas, who have

Nand.), or 'the Angas, Mîmâmsâ, the law-books, the Purânas, and so forth' (Gov., Kull.).

110. Medh. and Gov. read vikârayet instead of vikâlayet (Kull., Nand.).

III. 'Three men belonging to the first three orders,' i. e. 'a student, a householder, and a hermit' (Gov., Kull., Nand.). Medh. says that some think 'a student, a householder, and an ascetic' to be meant, because the hermit must not enter a village, and because Gautama, in the enumeration of the castes, places the ascetic before the hermit, while others refer the words to Manu's first three orders. The reading traividyo, which all the commentaries give, is probably incorrect. It ought to be traividyam, tisrinâm vidyânâm samâhârah; see Yâgй. I, 9, and compare kâturvidyam, kâturvaidyam, Baudh. I, 1, 1, 8, and Vas. III, 20.

114. Avratânâm, 'who have not fulfilled their sacred duties,' i. e. 'who have not fulfilled the vows incumbent on a student' (Gov., Kull.).

not fulfilled their sacred duties, are unacquainted with the Veda, and subsist only by the name of their caste, meet, they cannot (form) an assembly (for settling the sacred law).

115. The sin of him whom dunces, incarnations of Darkness, and unacquainted with the law, instruct (in his duty), falls, increased a hundredfold, on those who propound it.

116. All that which is most efficacious for securing supreme bliss has been thus declared to you; a Brahmana who does not fall off from that obtains the most excellent state.

117. Thus did that worshipful deity disclose to me, through a desire of benefiting mankind, this whole most excellent secret of the sacred law.

118. Let (every Brâhmana), concentrating his mind, fully recognise in the Self all things, both the real and the unreal, for he who recognises the universe in the Self, does not give his heart to unrighteous

ness.

115. Nand. gives yad for yam, instead of tamobhûtâh, ‘incarnations of Darkness,' the reading of the Dharma-sûtras, tamomûdhâh, 'perplexed by Darkness or ignorance.'

118. Sampasyet, 'let (every Brâhmana) fully recognise,' i. e. 'let him clearly realise in his mind' (sâkshâtkuryât, Medh., Kull.), through devotional exercises (upâsanâ, Medh.), or through deep meditation (Kull.), or 'let him vow to be solely intent on that one object of knowledge, to the exclusion of the knowledge of all other knowable objects' (gñeyântaravishayanirâkaranena tadekagñeyanishthâm anubrûyât, Medh.). Âtmani, 'in the Self,' i. e. 'in the Supreme Self' (Kull., Nand.), or 'in his own individual Self' (Gov.). Medh. remarks that the learned dispute regarding the meaning of the term âtman, and that besides the two explanations already given a third was proposed by some, according to which it meant the corporeal Self.' Medh. himself considers the first explanation to be the correct one. Sadasat, 'the real and the unreal,' i.e. either 'the

119. The Self alone is the multitude of the gods, the universe rests on the Self; for the Self produces the connexion of these embodied (spirits) with actions.

120. Let him meditate on the ether as identical with the cavities (of the body), on the wind as identical with the organs of motions and of touch, on the most excellent light as the same with his digestive organs and his sight, on water as the same with the (corporeal) fluids, on the earth as the same with the solid parts (of his body);

121. On the moon as one with the internal organ, on the quarters of the horizon as one with his sense of hearing, on Vishnu as one with his (power of) motion, on Hara as the same with his strength, on Agni (Fire) as identical with his speech, on Mitra as identical with his excretions, and on Pragâpati as one with his organ of generation.

122. Let him know the supreme Male (Purusha, to be) the sovereign ruler of them all, smaller even than small, bright like gold, and perceptible by the intellect (only when) in (a state of) sleep(-like abstraction).

123. Some call him Agni (Fire), others Manu, the

products and the causes,' or 'the intelligent and the non-intelligent' (Nand.), means according to Gov., 'that which possesses a shape of certain proportions and its opposite' (mûrtam prithivyâdi yakkâmûrtam âkâsâdi). Medh. proposes two other explanations, 1. 'that which is both existent and non-existent, i. e. comes into existence and perishes; 2. 'that which like the hare's horn is non-existent, and that which like ether is eternal.' The word samâhitaḥ, 'concentrating himself,' may have, as Medh. thinks, a technical meaning, and refer to the Samâdhi, mentioned in the Yoga and Vedanta systems. 119. In this verse Gov., too, explains âtmâ by paramâtmâ. 120. Medh. explains snehe, 'on the (corporeal) fluids,' by on the viscous substances,' e. g. ' the brain and so forth.'