t in the word only[217]; for word (denoting) and thing
(denoted) are different. He therefore who admits the authoritativeness
of the scriptural word has no right to deny that the shape of Indra, and
the other gods, is such as we understand it to be from the mantras and
arthavadas.--Moreover, itihasas and pura/n/as also--because based on
mantra and arthavada which possess authoritative power in the manner
described--are capable of setting forth the personality, &c. of the
devas. Itihasa and pura/n/a can, besides, be considered as based on
perception also. For what is not accessible to our perception may have
been within the sphere of perception of people in ancient times.
Sm/ri/ti also declares that Vyasa and others conversed with the gods
face to face. A person maintaining that the people of ancient times were
no more able to converse with the gods than people are at present, would
thereby deny the (incontestable) variety of the world. He might as well
maintain that because there is at present no prince ruling over the
whole earth, there were no such princes in former times; a position by
which the scriptural injunction of the rajasuya-sacrifice[218] would be
stultified. Or he might maintain that in former times the spheres of
duty of the different castes and a/s/ramas were as generally unsettled
as they are now, and, on that account, declare those parts of Scripture
which define those different duties to be purposeless. It is therefore
altogether unobjectionable to assume that the men of ancient times, in
consequence of their eminent religious merit, conversed with the gods
face to face. Sm/ri/ti also declares that 'from the reading of the Veda
there results intercourse with the favourite divinity' (Yoga Sutra II,
44). And that Yoga does, as Sm/ri/ti declares, lead to the acquirement
of extraordinary powers, such as subtlety of body, and so on, is a fact
which cannot be set aside by a mere arbitrary denial. Scripture also
proclaims the greatness of Yoga, 'When, as earth, water, light, heat,
and ether arise, the fivefold quality of Yoga takes place, then there is
no longer illness, old age, or pain for him who has obtained a body
produced by the fire of Yoga' (/S/vet. Up. II, 12). Nor have we the
right to measure by our capabilities the capability of the /ri/shis who
see the mantras and brahma/n/a passages (i.e. the Veda).--From all this
it appears that the itihasas and pura/n/as have an adequate basis.--And
the conceptio