The highest Lord only is Vai/s/vanara, for that reason also that Sm/ri/ti ascribes to the highest Lord only a shape consisting of the threefold world, the fire constituting his mouth, the heavenly world his head, &c.  So, for instance, in the following passage, ’He whose mouth is fire, whose head the heavenly world, whose navel the ether, whose feet the earth, whose eye the sun, whose ears the regions, reverence to him the Self of the world.’  The shape described here in Sm/ri/ti allows us to infer a Sruti passage on which the Sm/ri/ti rests, and thus constitutes an inference, i.e. a sign indicatory of the word ‘Vai/s/vanara’ denoting the highest Lord.  For, although the quoted Sm/ri/ti passage contains a glorification[155], still even a glorification in the form in which it there appears is not possible, unless it has a Vedic passage to rest on.—­Other Sm/ri/ti passages also may be quoted in connexion with this Sutra, so, for instance, the following one, ’He whose head the wise declare to be the heavenly world, whose navel the ether, whose eyes sun and moon, whose ears the regions, and whose feet the earth, he is the inscrutable leader of all beings.’

26.  If it be maintained that (Vai/s/vanara is) not (the highest Lord) on account of the term (viz.  Vai/s/vanara, having a settled different meaning), &c., and on account of his abiding within (which is a characteristic of the gastric fire); (we say) no, on account of the perception (of the highest Lord), being taught thus (viz. in the gastric fire), and on account of the impossibility (of the heavenly world, &c. being the head, &c. of the gastric fire), and because they (the Vajasaneyins) read of him (viz. the Vai/s/vanara) as man (which term cannot apply to the gastric fire).

Here the following objection is raised.—­Vai/s/vanara cannot be the highest Lord, on account of the term, &c., and on account of the abiding within.  The term, viz. the term Vai/s/vanara, cannot be applied to the highest Lord, because the settled use of language assigns to it a different sense.  Thus, also, with regard to the term Agni (fire) in the passage (Sat.  Bra.  X, 6, 1, 11), ‘He is the Agni Vai/s/vanara.’  The word ‘&c.’ (in the Sutra) hints at the fiction concerning the three sacred fires, the garhapatya being represented as the heart, and so on, of the Vai/s/vanara Self (Ch.  Up.  V, 18, 2[156]).—­Moreover, the passage, ’Therefore the first food which a man may take is in the place of homa’ (Ch.  Up.  V, 19, 1), contains a glorification of (Vai/s/vanara) being the abode of the oblation to Pra/n/a[157].  For these reasons we have to understand by Vai/s/vanara the gastric fire.—­Moreover, Scripture speaks of the Vai/s/vanara as abiding within.  ’He knows him abiding within man;’ which again applies to the gastric fire only.—­With reference to the averment that on account of the specifications contained in the passage, ‘His head is Sutejas,’ &c., Vai/s/vanara is to be explained as the highest