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

four stages of life, are intent on the different ends of life, viz. religious observances, wealth, pleasure, and final release; and recognising that the Vedas — which teach the truth about his own nature, his glorious manifestations, the means of rendering him propitious and the fruits of such endeavour — are difficult to fathom by all beings other than himself, whether gods or men, since those Vedas are divided into Rik, Ya^iis, Saman, and Atharvan ; and being animated by infinite pity, tenderness, and magnanimity ; with a view to enable his devotees to grasp the true meaning of the Vedas, himself composed the Pa/z£aratra-.rastra, The author of the Sutras (Vyasa) — who first composed the Sutras, the purport of which it is to set forth the arguments establishing the Vedanta doctrine, and then the Bharata-sa/^hita (i.e. the Mahabharata) in a hundred thousand jlokas in order to support thereby the teaching of the Veda — himself says in the chapter called Mokshadharma, which treats of knowledge, ' If a householder, or a BrahmaMrin, or a hermit, or a mendicant wishes to achieve success, what deity should he worship ? ' and so on ; explains then at great length the Pa^aratra system, and then says, * From the lengthy BMrata story, comprising one hundred thousand dokas, this body of doctrine has been extracted, with the churning-staff of mind, as butter is churned from curds — as butter from milk, as the Brahma^a from men, as the Ara- Tzyaka from the Vedas, as Amrita. from medicinal herbs. — This great Upanishad, consistent with the four Vedas, in harmony with Sankhya and Yoga, was called by him by the name of Pa^aratra. This is excellent, this is Brahman, this is supremely beneficial. Fully agreeing with the Rtk, the Ya^us, the Saman, and the Atharvangiras, this doctrine will be truly authoritative.' The terms Sankhya and Yoga here denote the concentrated application of knowledge and of works. As has been said, ' By the application of knowledge on the part of the Sankhya, and of works on the part of the Yogins.' And in the Bhishmaparvan we read, 'By Brahma^as, Kshattriyas, Vaijyas and 6udras, Madhava is to be honoured, served and worshipped — he who was proclaimed by Sankarsha/zap. 529 in agreement with the Satvata law/ — How then could these utterances of Badaraya^a, the foremost among all those who understand the teaching of the Veda, be reconciled with the view that in the Sutras he maintains the non-authoritativeness of the Satvata doctrine, the purport of which is to teach the worship of, and meditation on, Vasudeva, who is none other than the highest Brahman known from the Vedanta-texts ?

But other passages in the Mahabharata, such as ' There is the Sankhya, the Yoga, the Pa#£aratra, the Vedas, and the Pampata doctrine; do all these rest on one and the same basis, or on different ones ? ' and so on, declare that the Sankhya and other doctrines also are worthy of regard, while yet in the ►Sariraka Sutras those very same doctrines are formally refuted. Why, therefore, should not the same hold good in the case of the Bhagavata doctrine ? — Not so, we reply. In the Mahabharata also Badaraya^a applies to the Sankhya and other doctrines the same style of reasoning as in the Sutras. The question, asked in the passage quoted, means ' Do the Sankhya, the Yoga, the Paiiipata, and the Pa^aratra set forth one and the same reality, or different ones? If the former, what is that reality? If the latter, they convey contradictory doctrines, and, as reality is not something which may be optionally assumed to be either such or such, one of those doctrines only can be acknowledged as authoritative, and the question then arises which is to be so acknowledged ? ' — ■ The answer to the question is given in the passage beginning, ' Know, O royal Sage, all those different views. The promulgator of the Sankhya is Kapila/ &c. Here the human origin of the Sankhya, Yoga, and Pa^upata is. established on the ground of their having been produced by Kapila, Hira^yagarbha, and Pampati. Next the clause ' Aparantatamas is said to be the teacher of the Vedas ' intimates the non-human character of the Vedas ; and finally the clause ' Of the whole Pa^aratra, Naraya/za himself is the promulgator ' declares that Naraya//a himself revealed the Pa^aratra doctrine. The connected purport of these different clauses is as follows. As the systems [48] M m

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The connected purport
of these different clauses is as follows. As the systems
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of human origin set forth doctrines mutually contradictory, and, moreover, teach what is in conflict with the matter known from the Veda — which, on account of its non-human character, is raised above all suspicion of error and other imperfections — they cannot be accepted as authoritative with regard to anything not depending on human action and choice. Now the matter to be known from the Veda is Naraya?za, who is none other than the highest Brahman. It hence follows that the entities set forth in those different systems — the pradhana, the soul (purusha), Pa^upati, and so on — have to be viewed as real only in so far as Naraya^a, i.e. the highest Brahman, as known from the Vedantatexts, constitutes their Self. This the text directly declares in the passage, ' In all those doctrines it is seen, in accordance with tradition and reasoning, that the lord Naraya/za is the only basis.' This means — ' To him who considers the entities set forth in those systems with the help of argumentation, it is evident that Naraya^a alone is the basis of all those entities.' In other words, as the entities set forth in those systems are not Brahman, any one who remembers the teaching of texts such as 'all this indeed is Brahman,5 ' Naraya/za is all/ which declare Brahman to be the Self of all, comes to the conclusion that Naraya^a alone is the basis of those entities. As thus it is settled that the highest Brahman, as known from the Vedantatexts, or Naraya/za, himself is the promulgator of the entire Pa#£aratra, and that this system teaches the nature of Naraya/za and the proper way of worshipping him, none can disestablish the view that in the Pa^aratra all the other doctrines are comprised. For this reason the Mahabharata says, * Thus the Sankhya-yoga and the Veda and the Ara^yaka, being members of one another, are called the Pa«£aratra/ i.e. the Sankhya, the Yoga, the Vedas, and the Ara^yakas, which are members of one another because they are one in so far as aiming at setting forth one Truth, together are called the Pa&£aratra. — The Sankhya explains the twenty-five principles, the Yoga teaches certain practices and means of mental concentration, and the Ara/zyakas teach that all the subordinate

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