Manava Dharmashastra 1.1.5

1.1.5

maharṣayaḥ | ṛṣirvedaḥ tadadhyayanavijñānatadarthānuṣṭhānātiśayayogāt puruṣe'pyṛṣiśabdaḥ | mahāntaśca te ṛṣayaśca-teṣāmeva guṇānāmatyantātiśayena mahānto bhavanti | yathā "yudhiṣṭhiraḥ śreṣṭhatamaḥ kuruṇāmiti" | athavā tapoviśeṣāt pūjākhyātiviśeṣādvā mahāntaḥ | idaṃ vacanamabruvan | ucyate'neneti vacanam -vakṣyamāṇaṃ dvitīyaślokapraśnavākyamiti | tadeva pratyāsannatvādidamiti pratinirdiśati | yeṣāmapi pratyakṣavastupratinirdeśaka idaṃśabdasteṣāmapi buddhisthatvāt praśnasya pratyakṣatā | athavocyata iti vacanaṃ pṛcchyamānaṃ vastvabruvan | vākyapakṣa idaṃ vākyamuccāritavantaḥ | karmasādhane tu vacanaśabda idamapṛcchan | dvikarmakaśca tadā brūñ akathitakarmaṇā manunā | tisṛṇāṃ kriyāṇāṃ manuḥ karma | abhigamya pratipūjya kimabruvannityapekṣāyāṃ dvitīyaḥ ślokaḥ- 16) | tena gṛhyate | tathā ca bhagavānvyāsaḥ—'naivāsau cakṣuṣā grāhyo na tu śiṣṭairapīndriyaiḥ | manasā tu prasannena gṛhyate sūkṣmadarśibhiriti' || 'prasannena' rāgādidoṣairakaluṣitena, tadupāsanāparatvena labdhasūkṣmadarśanaśaktibhiḥ | sūkṣma iva sūkṣmo'ṇuḥ | na hyasāvaṇusthūlādivikalpanāmāśrayaḥ | sarvavikalpātīto hyasau | uktaṃ ca— 'yaḥ sarvaparikalpānāmābhāse'pyanavasthitaḥ | tarkāgamānumānena bahudhā parikalpitaḥ | vyatīto bhedasaṃsargādbhāvābhāvau kramākramau | satyānṛte ca viśvātmā sa vivekātprakāśata iti' | sūkṣmatvādvyaktaḥ sanātanonyaktasvābhāvikenārnādinidhanenaiśvaryeṇa yuktaḥ | yeṣāmapi karmaprāpyaṃ hairaṇyagarbhaṃ padaṃ tanmate'pi sanātanatvaṃ satyapyādimattve 'ntatvābhāvāt |

The great sages.— The word ‘ṛṣi’ means the Veda; and the word ‘ṛṣi’ is applied also to a person, by virtue of his possessing excellent knowledge of the Veda and all that is prescribed therein and acting up to these. The Ṛṣis, sages, who approached Manu, were great; the said persons become ‘great,’ when the above-mentioned qualities become developed in them to a very high degree; just as Yudhiṣṭhira is called the ‘greatest of the Kurus’ (because he possessed, jn a very high degree, the qualities that distinguished the members of the Kuru-race).—Or the sages may be regarded as ‘great,’ by virtue of their superior austerities, or of the great respect and fame enjoyed by them.

‘They addressed these words’—‘Vacana’ is that by which something is spoken of; this refers to the question formulated in the second verse; these being the nearest ‘words’ are what are referred to by the pronoun ‘these.’ Some people have held that the pronoun ‘this’ always refers to something directly perceived at the time; for these people also the question may bo regarded as ‘perceived,’ on account of its being present in the mind.—Or ‘vacana,’ may mean that which is spoken of; and in that case it would stand for the subject-matter questioned about. If it be taken as referring to the sentence (and, not to the subject-matter), then the meaning would be that ‘they pronounced this sentence.’—If the term ‘vacana’ means that which is spoken of, the sense is that ‘they asked the following question’; and in that case the verb ‘abruvan,’ ‘addressed,’ would have two objects,—‘Manu’ being the indirect object. In fact, Manu is the object of all the three verbs in the sentence (approach, pay respects to and address).—(1).