The Vedânta-Sûtras with the Commentary of Râmânuja, Part III — SBE Vol. 48 (trans. George Thibaut, 1904)

35 I purposes. The * and so on ' in the Sutra refers to the Brahma-hood, Self-hood, and immortality mentioned in the text (' That is the Brahman, the Immortal, the Self). For Brahma-hood, i. e. greatness, and so on, in their unconditioned sense, belong to the highest Self only. It is thus clear that the ether is the highest Brahman. — Nor is the Purvapakshin right in maintaining that a clause immediately preceding (' shaking off all evil ') introduces the individual soul as the general topic of the section. For what the part of the text immediately preceding the passage under discussion does introduce as general topic, is the highest Brahman, as shown by the clause ' I obtain the Brahmaworld/ Brahman is, it is true, represented there as the object to be obtained by the released soul ; but as the released soul cannot be the evolver of names and forms, &c, we must conclude that it is Brahman (and not the released soul), which constitutes the topic of the whole section. Moreover (to take a wider view of the context of our passage) the term ' ether ' prompts us to recognise here the small ether (mentioned in the first section of the eighth book) as the general topic of the book ; and as the teaching of Pra^apati is meant to set forth (not the individual soul by itself but) the nature of the soul of the meditating devotee, it is proper to conclude that the text under discussion is meant finally to represent, as the object to be obtained, the small ether previously inculcated as object of meditation. In conclusion we remark that the term ' ether ' is nowhere seen to denote the individual Self. — The ether that evolves names and forms, therefore, is the highest Brahman.

But, an objection is raised, there is no other Self different from the individual Self ; for scripture teaches the unity of all Selfs and denies duality. Terms such as ' the highest Self/ ' the highest Brahman/ ' the highest Lord/ are merely designations of the individual soul in the state of Release. The Brahma-world to be attained, therefore, is nothing different from the attaining individual soul ; and hence the ether also that evolves names and forms can be that soul only. — To this objection the next Sutra replies.

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43. On account of difference in deep sleep and departing.

— To this objection the next Sutra replies.

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43. On account of difference in deep sleep and departing.

We have to supply f on account of designation ' from the preceding Sutra. Because the text designates the highest Self as something different from the individual Self in the state of deep sleep as well as at the time of departure, the highest Self is thus different. For the Va^asaneyaka, after having introduced the individual Self in the passage ' Who is that Self? — He who consisting of knowledge is among the pra/zas/ &c. (Br/. Up. IV, 3, 7), describes how, in the state of deep sleep, being not conscious of anything it is held embraced by the all-knowing highest Self, ' embraced by the intelligent Self it knows nothing that is without, nothing that is within' (IV, 3, 21). So also with reference to the time of departure, i. e. dying ' Mounted by the intelligent Self it moves along groaning ' (IV, 3, 35). Now it is impossible that the unconscious individual Self, either lying in deep sleep or departing from the body, should at the same time be embraced or mounted by itself, being all-knowing. Nor can the embracing and mounting Self be some other individual Self; for no such Self can be all-knowing. — The next Sutra supplies a further reason.

44. And on account of such words as Lord.
That embracing highest Self is further on designated by

terms such as Lord, and so on. * He is the Lord of all, the master of all, the ruler of all. He does not become greater by good works, nor smaller by evil works. He is the lord of all, the king of beings, the protector of beings. He is a bank and a boundary so that these worlds may not be confounded. Brahma^as seek to know him by the study of the Veda. He who knows him becomes a Muni. Wishing for that world only, mendicants leave their homes ' (IV, 4, 22). ' This indeed is the great unborn Self, the strong, the giver of wealth, — undecaying, undying, immortal, fearless is Brahman ' (IV, 4, 24 ; 25). Now all the qualities here declared, viz. being the lord of all, and so on, cannot possibly belong to the individual Self even in the state of Release ; and we thus again arrive at the conclusion thatp. 353 the ether evolving forms and names is something different from the released individual soul. The declarations of general Unity which we meet with in the texts rest thereon, that all sentient and non-sentient beings are effects of Brahman, and hence have Brahman for their inner Self. That this is the meaning of texts such as { All this is Brahman,' &c, we have explained before. And the texts denying plurality are to be understood in the same way. — Here terminates the adhikara^a of 'the designation of something different, and so on/

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354 vedanta-s6tr as.

FOURTH PADA.

I. If it be said that some (mention) that which rests on Inference ; we deny this because (the form) refers to what is contained in the simile of the body; and (this the text) shows.

FOURTH PADA.

I. If it be said that some (mention) that which rests on Inference ; we deny this because (the form) refers to what is contained in the simile of the body; and (this the text) shows.

So far the Sutras have given instruction about a Brahman, the enquiry into which serves as a means to obtain what is the highest good of man, viz. final release ; which is the cause of the origination, and so on, of the world ; which differs in nature from all non-sentient things such as the Pradhana, and from all intelligent beings whether in the state of bondage or of release ; which is free from all shadow of imperfection ; which is all knowing, all powerful, has the power of realising all its purposes, comprises within itself all blessed qualities, is the inner Self of all, and possesses unbounded power and might. But here a new special objection presents itself. In order to establish the theory maintained by Kapila, viz. of there being a Pradhana and individual souls which do not have their Self in Brahman, it is pointed out by some that in certain branches of the Veda there are met with certain passages which appear to adumbrate the doctrine of the Pradhana being the universal cause. The Sutras now apply themselves to the refutation of this view, in order thereby to confirm the theory of Brahman being the only cause of all.

We read in the Ka^a-Upanishad, * Beyond the senses there are the objects, beyond the objects there is the mind, beyond the mind there is the intellect, the great Self is beyond the intellect. Beyond the Great there is the Unevolved, beyond the Unevolved there is the Person. Beyond the Person there is nothing — this is the goal, the highest road ' (Ka. Up. I, 3, 11). The question here arises whether by the ' Unevolved ' be or be not meant the

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Pradhana, as established by Kapila's theory, of which Brahman is not the Self. — The Purvapakshin maintains the former alternative. For, he says, in the clause ' beyond the Great is the Unevolved, beyond the Unevolved is the Person/ we recognise the arrangement of entities as established by the Sankhya-system, and hence must take the { Unevolved ' to be the Pradhana. This is further confirmed by the additional clause ' beyond the Person there is nothing/ which (in agreement with Sankhya principles) denies that there is any being beyond the soul, which itself is the twenty-fifth and last of the principles recognised by the Sankhyas. This prima facie view is expressed in the former part of the Sutra, ' If it be said that in the jakhas of some that which rests on Inference, i. e. the Pradhana, is stated as the universal cause.'