Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1kalpas the Lord retracts the whole world, i.e. the whole material world is dissolved and merged into non-distinct Maya, while the individual souls, free for the time from actual connexion with up&dhis, lie in deep slumber as it were. But as the INTRODUCTION. XXV11 consequences of their former deeds are not yet exhausted, they have again to enter on embodied existence as soon as the Lord sends forth a new material world, and the old round of birth, action, death begins anew to last to all eternity as it has lasted from all eternity. The means of escaping from this endless sa/^sara, the way out of which can never be found by the non-enlightened soul, are furnished by the Veda. The karmaki^^a indeed, whose purport it is to enjoin certain actions, cannot lead to final release ; for even the most meritorious works necessarily lead to new forms of embodied existence. And in the gnknakiinda. of the Veda also two different parts have to be distinguished, viz., firstly, those chapters and passages which treat of Brahman in so far as related to the world, and hence characterised by various attributes, i. e. of l^vara or the lower Brahman; and, secondly, those texts which set forth the nature of the highest Brahman tran- scending all qualities, and the fundamental identity of the individual soul with that highest Brahman. Devout medi- tation on Brahman as suggested by passages of the former kind does not directly lead to final emancipation; the pious worshipper passes on his death into the world of the lower Brahman only, where he continues to exist as a distinct individual soul — although in the enjoyment of great power and knowledge — until at last he reaches the highest knowledge, and, through it, final release. — That student of the Veda, on the other hand, whose soul has been enlightened by the texts embodying the higher know- ledge of Brahman, whom passages such as the great saying, ' That art thou/ have taught that there is no difference between his true Self and the highest Self, obtains at the moment of death immediate final release, i.e. he withdraws altogether from the influence of Mayd, and asserts himself in his true nature, which is nothing else but the absolute highest Brahman. Thus vSahkara.— According to Ramanu^a, on the other hand, the teaching of the Upanishads has to be summarised as follows. — There exists only one all-embracing being called Brahman or the highest Self or the Lord. This being is xxviii vedanta-s6tra$. not destitute of attributes, but rather endowed with all imaginable auspicious qualities.
2panishads has to be summarised as follows. — There exists only one all-embracing being called Brahman or the highest Self or the Lord. This being is xxviii vedanta-s6tra$. not destitute of attributes, but rather endowed with all imaginable auspicious qualities. It is not ' intelligence,' — as 6ankara maintains, — but intelligence is its chief attribute. The Lord is all-pervading, all-powerful, all-knowing, all- merciful ; his nature is fundamentally antagonistic to all evil. He contains within himself whatever exists. While, accord- ing to 5ankara, the only reality is to be found in the non- qualified homogeneous highest Brahman which can only be defined as pure ' Being' or pure thought, all plurality being a mere illusion ; Brahman — according to Ramanu^a's view — ' comprises within itself distinct elements of plurality which all of them lay claim to absolute reality of one and the same kind. Whatever is presented to us by ordinary experience, viz. matter in all its various modifications and the individual souls of different classes and degrees, are essential real constituents of Brahman's nature. Matter and souls (a£it and £it) constitute, according to Rctmanu^a's terminology, the body of the Lord ; they stand to him in the same relation of entire dependence and subserviency in which the matter forming an animal or vegetable body stands to its soul or animating principle. The Lord pervades and rules all things which exist — material or immaterial — as their antaryamin; the fundamental text for this special Ramanu^a tenet— which in the writings of the sect is quoted again and again — is the so-called antaryamin brah- mana. (Brz. Up. Ill, 7) which says, that within all elements, all sense organs, and, lastly, within all individual souls, there abides an inward ruler whose body those elements, sense-organs, and individual souls constitute. — Matter and souls as forming the body of the Lord are also called modes of him (prakara). They are to be looked upon as his effects, but they have enjoyed the kind of individual exist- ence which is theirs from all eternity, and will never be entirely resolved into Brahman. They, however, exist in two different, periodically alternating, conditions. At some times they exist in a subtle state in which they do not possess those qualities by which they are ordinarily known, and there is then no distinction of individual name and form. Matter in that state is unevolved (avyakta) ; the INTRODUCTION. XXIX individual souls are not joined to material bodies, and their intelligence is in a state of contraction, non-manifestation (sanko>£a).
3re is then no distinction of individual name and form. Matter in that state is unevolved (avyakta) ; the INTRODUCTION. XXIX individual souls are not joined to material bodies, and their intelligence is in a state of contraction, non-manifestation (sanko>£a). This is the pralaya state which recurs at the end of each kalpa, and Brahman is then said to be in its causal condition (kara;zavastha). To that state all those scriptural passages refer which speak of Brahman or the Self as being in the beginning one only, without a second. Brahman then is indeed not absolutely one, for it contains within itself matter and souls in a germinal condition; but as in that condition they are so subtle as not to allow of individual distinctions being made, they are not counted as something second in addition to Brahman. — When the pralaya state comes to an end, creation takes place owing to an act of volition on the Lord's part. Primary unevolved matter then passes over into its other condition ; it becomes gross and thus acquires all those sensible attributes, visibility, tangi- bility, and so on, which are known from ordinary experience. At the same time the souls enter into connexion with material bodies corresponding to the degree of merit or demerit acquired by them in previous forms of existence ; their intelligence at the same time undergoes a certain expansion (vika^a). The Lord, together with matter in its gross state and the ' expanded' souls, is Brahman in the condition of an effect (karyavastha). Cause and effect are thus at the bottom the same ; for the effect is nothing but the cause which has undergone a certain change (pari- /zama). Hence the cause being known, the effect is known likewise. Owing to the effects of their former actions the indi- vidual souls are implicated in the sa//zsara, the endless cycle of birth, action, and death, final escape from which is to be obtained only through the study of the gnawa.- kanda. of the Veda. Compliance with the injunctions of the karmaka^a does not lead outside the sa^sara ; but he who, assisted by the grace of the Lord, cognizes — and meditates on — him in the way prescribed by the Upani- shads reaches at his death final emancipation, i.e. he passes through the different stages of the path of the gods up to the world of Brahman and there enjoys an XXX VED ANTA-SU TR AS. everlasting blissful existence from which there is no re- turn into the sphere of transmigration.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1kalpas the Lord retracts the whole world, i.e. the whole material world is dissolved and merged into non-distinct Maya, while the individual souls, free for the time from actual connexion with up&dhis, lie in deep slumber as it were. But as the INTRODUCTION. XXV11 consequences of their former deeds are not yet exhausted, they have again to enter on embodied existence as soon as the Lord sends forth a new material world, and the old round of birth, action, death begins anew to last to all eternity as it has lasted from all eternity. The means of escaping from this endless sa/^sara, the way out of which can never be found by the non-enlightened soul, are furnished by the Veda. The karmaki^^a indeed, whose purport it is to enjoin certain actions, cannot lead to final release ; for even the most meritorious works necessarily lead to new forms of embodied existence. And in the gnknakiinda. of the Veda also two different parts have to be distinguished, viz., firstly, those chapters and passages which treat of Brahman in so far as related to the world, and hence characterised by various attributes, i. e. of l^vara or the lower Brahman; and, secondly, those texts which set forth the nature of the highest Brahman tran- scending all qualities, and the fundamental identity of the individual soul with that highest Brahman. Devout medi- tation on Brahman as suggested by passages of the former kind does not directly lead to final emancipation; the pious worshipper passes on his death into the world of the lower Brahman only, where he continues to exist as a distinct individual soul — although in the enjoyment of great power and knowledge — until at last he reaches the highest knowledge, and, through it, final release. — That student of the Veda, on the other hand, whose soul has been enlightened by the texts embodying the higher know- ledge of Brahman, whom passages such as the great saying, ' That art thou/ have taught that there is no difference between his true Self and the highest Self, obtains at the moment of death immediate final release, i.e. he withdraws altogether from the influence of Mayd, and asserts himself in his true nature, which is nothing else but the absolute highest Brahman. Thus vSahkara.— According to Ramanu^a, on the other hand, the teaching of the Upanishads has to be summarised as follows. — There exists only one all-embracing being called Brahman or the highest Self or the Lord. This being is xxviii vedanta-s6tra$. not destitute of attributes, but rather endowed with all imaginable auspicious qualities.
2panishads has to be summarised as follows. — There exists only one all-embracing being called Brahman or the highest Self or the Lord. This being is xxviii vedanta-s6tra$. not destitute of attributes, but rather endowed with all imaginable auspicious qualities. It is not ' intelligence,' — as 6ankara maintains, — but intelligence is its chief attribute. The Lord is all-pervading, all-powerful, all-knowing, all- merciful ; his nature is fundamentally antagonistic to all evil. He contains within himself whatever exists. While, accord- ing to 5ankara, the only reality is to be found in the non- qualified homogeneous highest Brahman which can only be defined as pure ' Being' or pure thought, all plurality being a mere illusion ; Brahman — according to Ramanu^a's view — ' comprises within itself distinct elements of plurality which all of them lay claim to absolute reality of one and the same kind. Whatever is presented to us by ordinary experience, viz. matter in all its various modifications and the individual souls of different classes and degrees, are essential real constituents of Brahman's nature. Matter and souls (a£it and £it) constitute, according to Rctmanu^a's terminology, the body of the Lord ; they stand to him in the same relation of entire dependence and subserviency in which the matter forming an animal or vegetable body stands to its soul or animating principle. The Lord pervades and rules all things which exist — material or immaterial — as their antaryamin; the fundamental text for this special Ramanu^a tenet— which in the writings of the sect is quoted again and again — is the so-called antaryamin brah- mana. (Brz. Up. Ill, 7) which says, that within all elements, all sense organs, and, lastly, within all individual souls, there abides an inward ruler whose body those elements, sense-organs, and individual souls constitute. — Matter and souls as forming the body of the Lord are also called modes of him (prakara). They are to be looked upon as his effects, but they have enjoyed the kind of individual exist- ence which is theirs from all eternity, and will never be entirely resolved into Brahman. They, however, exist in two different, periodically alternating, conditions. At some times they exist in a subtle state in which they do not possess those qualities by which they are ordinarily known, and there is then no distinction of individual name and form. Matter in that state is unevolved (avyakta) ; the INTRODUCTION. XXIX individual souls are not joined to material bodies, and their intelligence is in a state of contraction, non-manifestation (sanko>£a).
3re is then no distinction of individual name and form. Matter in that state is unevolved (avyakta) ; the INTRODUCTION. XXIX individual souls are not joined to material bodies, and their intelligence is in a state of contraction, non-manifestation (sanko>£a). This is the pralaya state which recurs at the end of each kalpa, and Brahman is then said to be in its causal condition (kara;zavastha). To that state all those scriptural passages refer which speak of Brahman or the Self as being in the beginning one only, without a second. Brahman then is indeed not absolutely one, for it contains within itself matter and souls in a germinal condition; but as in that condition they are so subtle as not to allow of individual distinctions being made, they are not counted as something second in addition to Brahman. — When the pralaya state comes to an end, creation takes place owing to an act of volition on the Lord's part. Primary unevolved matter then passes over into its other condition ; it becomes gross and thus acquires all those sensible attributes, visibility, tangi- bility, and so on, which are known from ordinary experience. At the same time the souls enter into connexion with material bodies corresponding to the degree of merit or demerit acquired by them in previous forms of existence ; their intelligence at the same time undergoes a certain expansion (vika^a). The Lord, together with matter in its gross state and the ' expanded' souls, is Brahman in the condition of an effect (karyavastha). Cause and effect are thus at the bottom the same ; for the effect is nothing but the cause which has undergone a certain change (pari- /zama). Hence the cause being known, the effect is known likewise. Owing to the effects of their former actions the indi- vidual souls are implicated in the sa//zsara, the endless cycle of birth, action, and death, final escape from which is to be obtained only through the study of the gnawa.- kanda. of the Veda. Compliance with the injunctions of the karmaka^a does not lead outside the sa^sara ; but he who, assisted by the grace of the Lord, cognizes — and meditates on — him in the way prescribed by the Upani- shads reaches at his death final emancipation, i.e. he passes through the different stages of the path of the gods up to the world of Brahman and there enjoys an XXX VED ANTA-SU TR AS. everlasting blissful existence from which there is no re- turn into the sphere of transmigration.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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