To all this, we, the Vedântins, make the following reply:--The preceding
reasoning is not valid, on account of the different nature of the fruits
of actions on the one side, and of the knowledge of Brahman on the other
side. The enquiry into those actions, whether of body, speech, or mind,
which are known from /S/ruti and Sm/ri/ti, and are comprised under the
name 'religious duty' (dharma), is carried on in the Jaimini Sûtra,
which begins with the words 'then therefore the enquiry into duty;' the
opposite of duty also (adharma), such as doing harm, &c., which is
defined in the prohibitory injunctions, forms an object of enquiry to
the end that it may be avoided. The fruits of duty, which is good, and
its opposite, which is evil, both of which are defined by original Vedic
statements, are generally known to be sensible pleasure and pain, which
make themselves felt to body, speech, and mind only, are produced by the
contact of the organs of sense with the objects, and affect all animate
beings from Brahman down to a tuft of grass. Scripture, agreeing with
observation, states that there are differences in the degree of pleasure
of all embodied creatures from men upward to Brahman. From those
differences it is inferred that there are differences in the degrees of
the merit acquired by actions in accordance with religious duty;
therefrom again are inferred differences in degree between those
qualified to perform acts of religious duty. Those latter differences
are moreover known to be affected by the desire of certain results
(which entitles the man so desirous to perform certain religious acts),
worldly possessions, and the like. It is further known from Scripture
that those only who perform sacrifices proceed, in consequence of the
pre-eminence of their knowledge and meditation, on the northern path (of
the sun; Ch. Up. V, 10, 1), while mere minor offerings, works of public
utility and alms, only lead through smoke and the other stages to the
southern path. And that there also (viz. in the moon which is finally
reached by those who have passed along the southern path) there are