also which are above
men, viz. gods, and so on.--On what account?--On the account of
possibility.--For in their cases also the different causes on which the
qualification depends, such as having certain desires, and so on, may
exist. In the first place, the gods also may have the desire of final
release, caused by the reflection that all effects, objects, and powers
are non-permanent. In the second place, they may be capable of it as
their corporeality appears from mantras, arthavadas, itihasas,
pura/n/as, and ordinary experience. In the third place, there is no
prohibition (excluding them like /S/udras). Nor does, in the fourth
place, the scriptural rule about the upanayana-ceremony annul their
title; for that ceremony merely subserves the study of the Veda, and to
the gods the Veda is manifest of itself (without study). That the gods,
moreover, for the purpose of acquiring knowledge, undergo discipleship,
and the like, appears from such scriptural passages as 'One hundred and
one years Indra lived as a disciple with Prajapati' (Ch. Up. VIII, 11,
3), and 'Bh/ri/gu Varu/n/i went to his father Varu/n/a, saying, "Sir,
teach me Brahman"' (Taitt. Up. III, 1).--And the reasons which have been
given above against gods and /ri/shis being entitled to perform
religious works (such as sacrifices), viz. the circumstance of there
being no other gods (to whom the gods could offer sacrifices), and of
there being no other /ri/shis (who could be invoked during the
sacrifice), do not apply to the case of branches of knowledge. For Indra
and the other gods, when applying themselves to knowledge, have no acts
to perform with a view to Indra, and so on; nor have Bh/ri/gu and other
/ri/shis, in the same case, to do anything with the circumstance of
their belonging to the same gotra as Bh/ri/gu, &c. What, then, should
stand in the way of the gods' and /ri/shis' right to acquire
knowledge?--Moreover, the passage about that which is of the size of a
thumb remains equally valid, if the right of the gods, &c. is admitted;
it has then only to be explained in each particular case by a reference
to the particular size of the thumb (of the class of beings spoken of).

27. If it be said that (the corporeal individuality of the gods
involves) a contradiction to (sacrificial) works; we deny that, on
account of the observation of the assumption (on the part of the gods)
of several (forms).

If the right of the gods, and other beings superior to men, t