History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.246.4

v7.c91.246.4

the one Dawn illumines all this (physical) world, One became all this (assumes various forms)'. No secrecy was observed about this fundamental truth and it was proclaimed in mantras that can be understood even by an ordinary man of to-day who knows a little Sanskrit. Because we of these recent centuries cannot understand some mantras, that does not mean that the ancient seers were guilty of a subterfuge and purposely composed mantras with two meanings. They might have indulged in the pastime of two meanings (express and metaphorical) in a few cases as poetic devices.¹⁶¹² It is no fault of the sages, if we cannot understand their meaning, just as a blind man, who does not see a wooden post and comes to grief by dashing against it, should not blame the post, but should blame himself; we are to blame ourselves and should not foist upon the ancient sages a stratagem created by our own imagination or lack of knowledge (Nir. I. 16).¹⁶¹³