(i.e. the shape of
the highest Lord as described by Sm/ri/ti) is an inference (i.e. an
indicatory mark from which we infer the meaning of /S/ruti).

The highest Lord only is Vai/s/vanara, for that reason also that
Sm/ri/ti ascribes to the highest Lord only a shape consisting of the
threefold world, the fire constituting his mouth, the heavenly world his
head, &c. So, for instance, in the following passage, 'He whose mouth is
fire, whose head the heavenly world, whose navel the ether, whose feet
the earth, whose eye the sun, whose ears the regions, reverence to him
the Self of the world.' The shape described here in Sm/ri/ti allows us
to infer a /S/ruti passage on which the Sm/ri/ti rests, and thus
constitutes an inference, i.e. a sign indicatory of the word
'Vai/s/vanara' denoting the highest Lord. For, although the quoted
Sm/ri/ti passage contains a glorification[155], still even a
glorification in the form in which it there appears is not possible,
unless it has a Vedic passage to rest on.--Other Sm/ri/ti passages also
may be quoted in connexion with this Sutra, so, for instance, the
following one, 'He whose head the wise declare to be the heavenly world,
whose navel the ether, whose eyes sun and moon, whose ears the regions,
and whose feet the earth, he is the inscrutable leader of all beings.'

26. If it be maintained that (Vai/s/vanara is) not (the highest Lord) on
account of the term (viz. Vai/s/vanara, having a settled different
meaning), &c., and on account of his abiding within (which is a
characteristic of the gastric fire); (we say) no, on account of the
perception (of the highest Lord), being taught thus (viz. in the gastric
fire), and on account of the impossibility (of the heavenly world, &c.
being the head, &c. of the gastric fire), and because they (the
Vajasaneyins) read of him (viz. the Vai/s/vanara) as man (which term
cannot apply to the gastric fire).

Here the following objection is raised.--Vai/s/vanara cannot be the
highest Lord, on account of the term, &c., and on account of the abiding
within. The term, viz. the term Vai/s/vanara, cannot be applied to the
highest Lord, because the settled use of language assigns to it a
different sense. Thus, also, with regard to the term Agni (fire) in the
passage (/S/at. Bra. X, 6, 1, 11), 'He is the Agni Vai/s/vanara.' The
word '&c.' (in the Sutra) hints at the fiction concerning the three
sacred fires, the garhapatya being represented as the heart, and so