Eight Adhyaya, Eighth Khanda (5 mantras)

Mantra 8.8.1.

1. ‘Having looked at your body in a vessel of water, tell me what you do not understand of this Self.’ They looked into the pan of water. Then Prajāpati said to them ‘what do you see?’ They said ‘Sir we both see our full body in it up to the hairs and nails, a complete picture.’—560.

Note.—Prajāpati now wants to teach them that the visible reflection of the body is not Brahman; for it changes according to the change of the body, If the body is well-dressed and smart it looks well-dressed and smart. Prajāpati wanted them to draw the opposite conclusion also, that if the body is badly dressed, and is sloven and sluggish, the reflection would appear badly dressed, sloven and sluggish. Prajāpati in fact wanted them to learn the mistake of the reflection theory of Vedanta. The Pratibimba-vāda says that soul (Jīva) is a reflection of Brahman, meaning thereby that it is really Brahman though appearing separate. The separation is a mere illusion or māyā. This māyā or pratimba-vāda is the doctrine which finds favour with Asuric natures like that of Virocana They are not materialists, for Virocana was not a materialist but believed in an after-life and taught it to the Asuras. But he did not believe in a deity separate from his self or Jīva.

Mantra 8.8.2.

2. Prajāpati said to them ‘adorn yourself well, dress yourself well and being well-shaved look into the pan of water.’ They adorned themselves well, dressed themselves well and becoming neat and clean, looked into the pan of water. Prajāpati then asked them ‘what do you see?’—561.

Note.— This also shows that the reflection depends upon its creator the original: and is not the original. The Lord Hari creates the reflection, the Jīvas. But the Jīvas are not the Lord, but His creatures, His shadows. Those who take the reflection for the Lord and deny a separate Lord, are like Virocana who hold that the worshipping the Jīvātman is the highest end. Such persons always speak of humanity and never of divinity.

Mantra 8.8.3.

3. They then said ‘as the bodies of ours, O Sir, are well-adorned, well-dressed and well-cleansed, that verily Sir, we find here also well-adorned, well-dressed and well-cleansed.’ Prajāpati said ‘this is the Ātman, this is the Immortal, the Fearless, this is Brahman.’ Then they both went away, well-satisfied in their hearts.—562.

Note.—Prajāpati, of course, meant that the Lord is the Creator of this universe, as the body creates its reflection in the water. As the reflection in the water is not the body, but a faint simulacra of it, similarly this universe is not the Lord, but separate from Him. But Virocana, being not advanced enough to understand the enigmatical sense of Prajāpati, understood the reflection to be the Brahman, and thought that in worshipping one’s own body, one would worship Brahman. Had he reflected a little, he would have found that the reflection in the water was not self-dependent, but changed with the change of the original: and so could not be Brahman free from death and decay and sorrow.

Mantra 8.8.4.

4. Prajāpati looking after them said (within their hearing) ‘without understanding the Ātman and without preceiving [perceiving?] it, they are going away. Any one of these two, whether Devas or Asuras, who would follow this doctrine would become destroyed.’ Now Virocana (not hearing this warning, but) well-satisfied in his heart, went to the Asuras; and taught them this doctrine, namely that the Jīva is to be worshipped, that the Jīva alone is to be served, and he who worships the Jīva alone and serves the Jīva alone, attains both the worlds, this and the next.—563.

Note.—Thus Virocana taught the false doctrine that the Jīva was Brahman and there was no other Brahman than the Jīva. That Virocana was not a Lokāyata or materialist appears from the fact that he believes in the next world; and teaches the Asuras how to get it. He believes in “both worlds”—ubhau lokau—but does not believe in any God other than his own Self. Even while he was going, Prajāpati cried out “without understanding the Ātman they are going away.” Virocana, did not pay heed to his warning. Indra, however, on hearing it, stopped and began to think out what it meant.

Mantra 8.8.5.

5. Therefore, even now, here a man who does not give alms or who has no faith or who does not sacrifice is called an Asura, for this is the doctrine of the Asuras. They adorn the body of the dead with dresses and ornaments, obtained by begging, thinking that by thus (worshipping the Jīva and its casket the body) they will conquer the next world (as well as this).—564.

[Note.—Aśraddadhānam—One who does not give alms, one who does not give charity in the name of the Lord, but only for the sake of the Jīva.]

Note:—Since the Jīva is the God of the Asuras they preserve this body, even when the Jīva has left it, because it had come in contact with God, and therefore they carefully guard it.

Madhva’s commentary called the Bhāṣya:

Any person of small understanding would have found out that the reflection in the water could not be the unchangeable Lord. For this reflection changed with the change of the body, if the body was well-dressed, it appeared well-dressed, and so on. But Virocana could not understand this simple truth. This showed that he was one of the eternally damned souls, one of the ineligibles.

To demonstrate that eligibility is the stronger factor (in understanding the Truth), and to show the faults of the picture-theory, Prajāpati told them to look at their reflection in the water, after having adorned the body with ornaments, etc. (He meant to teach that the reflection was not Brahman) because as it gets all the good qualities of the body, when the body is well-adorned, etc., similarly it gets all its bad qualities, when the body is bad. But Virocana, owing to the impurity of his heart, misunderstood the drift of Brahmā’s teaching, and went away well-satisfied in his heart, thinking that the reflection had all the attributes of the Supreme Brahman (i.e., that the Jīva was Brahman): not realising that the reflection (Jīva) had no qualities of its own but what was given to it by the Supreme Lord.

Prājapati [Prajāpati?] the Grand-father of mankind, in order to remove the doubts of the Asuras, and to show his impartiality told them also that this was not a true doctrine (as understood by Virocana), for it would lead the ignorant to destruction. Brahmā said this, again and again, in a loud voice, to warn the Asuras; but he knew that the minds constituted like that of Virocana would not understand the true doctrine, and fall into which he had fallen. Still owing to the impurity of his heart, Virocana went away without knowing the truth, and having gone to his Asuras, taught them that the Supreme Brahman is nothing but the reflection, namely that the Jīva was Brahman. He taught them, that by adorning the body, Brahman is adorned; as one can easily see. Therefore, the Asuras do not give alms, nor do they worship any one else than their own self. They all also hold the doctrine that in indulgence alone there is Supreme satisfaction. Owing to this Self-belief they hold the doctrine that they themselves are Brahman, and say “we are Brahman.” Being destroyed, they fall into blinding darkness, where they suffer continually.