सा वा एषा देवता दूर्नाम, दूरं ह्यस्या मृत्युः; दूरं ह वा अस्मान्मृत्युर्भवति य एवं वेद ॥ ९ ॥
sā vā eṣā devatā dūrnāma, dūraṃ hyasyā mṛtyuḥ; dūraṃ ha vā asmānmṛtyurbhavati ya evaṃ veda || 9 ||
9. This deity is called Dūr, because death is far from it. Death is far from one who knows thus.
Objection: One may think that the purity of the vital force is not a proved fact.
Reply: Has this not been refuted by the statement that the vital force is free from the attachment that the organ of speech and the rest betray by utilising their power of fine speaking etc. for themselves?
Objection: True, but since as Āṅgirasa it is spoken of as the self of the organ of speech etc., it may be impure through contact with the latter, just as one touched by another who has touched a corpse is impure.
Reply: No, the vital force is pure. Why? Because this deity is called Dūr. ‘This’ refers to the vital force, reaching which the Asuras were shattered like a clod of earth hitting a rock. It is the deity within the present sacrificer’s body whom the gods concluded as their saviour saying, ‘Here he is within the mouth.’ And the vital force may well be called a deity, being a part[14] of the act of meditation as its object. Because the vital force is called Dūr, i.e. is well known as Dūr —to be ‘called’ is synonymous with being ‘celebrated as’—therefore its purity is well known, from this name of Dūr. Why is it called Dūr? Because Death, the evil of attachment, is jar from it, this deity, vital force. Death, although it is close to the vital force, is away from it, because the latter is ever unattached. Therefore the vital force is well-known as Dūr. Thus its purity is conspicuous. The results accruing to a knower of this are being stated: Death is far from one who knows thus, that is, who meditates upon the vital force endowed with purity, which is the topic of the section. Meditation is mentally approaching the form of the deity or the like as it is presented by the eulogistic portions of the Vedas relating to the objects of meditation, and concentrating on it, excluding conventional notions, till one is as completely identified with it as with one’s body, conventionally regarded as one’s self. Compare such Śruti passages as, ‘Being a god, he attains the gods’ (IV. i. 2), and ‘What deity are you identified with in the east?’ (III. ix. 20).
It has been stated, ‘This deity is called Dūr… Death is far from one who knows thus.’ How is death far from one who knows thus? Being incongruous with this knowledge. In other words, the evil due to the attachment of the organs to contact with the sense-objects is incongruous with one who identifies oneself with the vital force, for it is caused by the identification with particular things such as the organ of speech, and by one’s natural ignorance; while the identification with the vital force comes of obedience to the scriptures. Hence, owing to this incongruity, it is but proper that the evil should be far from one who knows thus. This is being pointed out: