ception of duality is once uprooted by the conception of absolute
unity, it cannot arise again, and so no longer be the cause of Brahman
being looked upon as the complementary object of injunctions of
devotion. Other parts of the Veda may have no authority except in so far
as they are connected with injunctions; still it is impossible to impugn
on that ground the authoritativeness of passages conveying the knowledge
of the Self; for such passages have their own result. Nor, finally, can
the authoritativeness of the Veda be proved by inferential reasoning so
that it would be dependent on instances observed elsewhere. From all
which it follows that the Veda possesses authority as a means of right
knowledge of Brahman.

Here others raise the following objection:--Although the Veda is the
means of gaining a right knowledge of Brahman, yet it intimates Brahman
only as the object of certain injunctions, just as the information which
the Veda gives about the sacrificial post, the ahavaniya-fire and other
objects not known from the practice of common life is merely
supplementary to certain injunctions[69]. Why so? Because the Veda has
the purport of either instigating to action or restraining from it. For
men fully acquainted with the object of the Veda have made the following
declaration, 'The purpose of the Veda is seen to be the injunction of
actions' (Bhashya on Jaimini Sutra I, 1, 1); 'Injunction means passages
impelling to action' (Bh. on Jaim. Su. I, 1, 2); 'Of this (viz. active
religious duty) the knowledge comes from injunction' (part of Jaim. Su.
I, 1, 5); 'The (words) denoting those (things) are to be connected with
(the injunctive verb of the vidhi-passage) whose purport is action'
(Jaim. Su. I, 1, 25); 'As action is the purport of the Veda, whatever
does not refer to action is purportless' (Jaim. Su. I, 2, 1). Therefore
the Veda has a purport in so far only as it rouses the activity of man
with regard to some actions and restrains it with regard to others;
other passages (i.e. all those passages which are not directly
injunctive) have a purport only in so far as they supplement injunctions
and prohibitions. Hence the Vedanta-texts also as likewise belonging to
the Veda can have a meaning in the same way only. And if their aim is
injunction, then just as the agnihotra-oblation and other rites are
enjoined as means for him who is desirous of the heavenly world, so the
knowledge of Brahman is enjoined as a means for hi