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That embodiment in non-moving beings is the result of evil deeds Smriti declares: 'Owing to those defects of work which are due to the body, a man becomes a non-moving being. From all this it follows that the souls embody themselves in plants to the end of enjoying the fruits of their works. To this the Sutra replies it is not so, on account of scriptural statement.
Of this view the Sutra disposes by saying 'that which abides in the moving and the non-moving, &c. The meaning is the terms which abide in, i.e. are connected with, the different moving and non-moving things, and hence denote those things, possess with regard to Brahman a denotative power which is not 'bhakta, i.e. secondary or figurative, but primary and direct.
We next have shown that the text 'That from which these creatures are born, &c., conveys the idea of the highest Brahman as that being which in sport, as it were, creates, sustains, and finally reabsorbs this entire universe, comprising within itself infinite numbers of variously constituted animated beings moving and non-moving , of objects of enjoyment for those beings, of means of enjoyment, and of abodes of enjoyment; and which is the sole cause of all bliss.
Hence the souls of those who have performed sacrifices, and so on, which contain an element of evil, at first experience in the heavenly world that result which is to be enjoyed there, and then embodying themselves in non-moving things such as plants, experience the fruit of that part of their actions which is of a harmful nature.
As the one air, according as it undergoes in the body different modifications, acquires a new name, new characteristics, and new functions, being then called prana, apana, and so on; thus the one Brahman becomes the world, with its manifold moving and non-moving beings. The non-difference of the world from Brahman, the highest cause, is thus fully established.
With exceptions on both sides, we find that the non-moving microbes generally feed on inorganic matter, which they convert into plasm; the moving microbes generally feed on ready-made plasm on the living non-movers, on each other, or on particles of dead organic matter. Now, inorganic food is generally diffused in the waters, so that the vegetal feeders have no incentive to develop mobility.
For, he says, in the case of things to be apprehended through words we must accept that sense of the word which, proved by etymology, is immediately suggested by the word. We therefore conclude from the passage that the well-known Ether is the cause of the entire aggregate of things, moving or non-moving, and that hence Brahman is the same as Ether.
Vishnu, who is the cause of the origination, subsistence, and final destruction of the universe. Up. Moreover the clause 'to whom death is a condiment' shows that by the Brahmans and Kshattriyas, mentioned in the text, we have to understand the whole universe of moving and non-moving things, viewed as things to be consumed by the highest Self.
Similarly, all the other scriptural accounts of creation declare that there are four classes of creatures devas, men, animals, and non-moving beings, such as plants and the difference of these classes depends on the individual Selfs being joined to various bodies capacitating them to experience the results of their works, each in that one of the fourteen worlds beginning with the world of Brahma which is the suitable place for retribution.
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