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

Up. VI, 1, 4); 'for if he makes but
the smallest distinction in it there is fear for him ' (Taitt.
Up. II, 7); — the two following Vedanta-sutras : III, 2, 11 ;
III, 2, 3 — the following passages from the Vish^u-pura^a :

p. 21

' In which all difference vanishes, which is pure Being, which is not the object of words, which is known by the Self only — that knowledge is called Brahman ' (VI, 7, 53) ; ' Him whose essential nature is knowledge, who is stainless in reality'; ' Him who, owing to erroneous view, abides in the form of things' (I, 2, 6); cthe Reality thou art alone, there is no other, O Lord of the world ! — whatever matter is seen belongs to thee whose being is knowledge ; but owing to their erroneous opinion the non-devout look on it as the form of the world. This whole world has knowledge for its essential nature, but the Unwise viewing it as being of the nature of material things are driven round on the ocean of delusion. Those however who possess true knowledge and pure minds see this whole world as having knowledge for its Self, as thy form, O highest Lord ! ' (Vi. Pu. I, 4, 38 ff.).— < Of that Self, although it exists in one's own and in other bodies, the knowledge is of one kind, and that is Reality ; those who maintain duality hold a false view' (II, 14, 31); i If there is some other one, different from me, then it can be said, " I am this and that one is another'" (II, 13, 86); 'As owing to the difference of the holes of the flute the air equally passing through them all is called by the names of the different notes of the musical scale ; so it is with the universal Self (II, 14, 32) ; ' He is I ; he is thou ; he is all : this Universe is his form. Abandon the error of difference. The king being thus instructed, abandoned the view of difference, having gained an intuition of Reality' (II, 16, 24). 'When that view which gives rise to difference is absolutely destroyed, who then will make the untrue distinction between the individual Self and Brahman?' (VI, 7, 94). — The following passages from the Bhagavad-Gita : ' I am the Self dwelling within all beings ' (X, 20) ; ' Know me to be the soul within all bodies ' (XIII, 2) ; ' Being there is none, movable or immovable, which is without me' (X, 39). — All these and other texts, the purport of which clearly is instruction as to the essential nature of things, declare that Brahman only, i. e. non- differenced pure intelligence is real, while everything else is false.

p. 2

The appearance of plurality is due to avidy&.

— All these and other texts, the purport of which clearly is instruction as to the essential nature of things, declare that Brahman only, i. e. non- differenced pure intelligence is real, while everything else is false.

p. 2

The appearance of plurality is due to avidy&.

( Falsehood ' (mithyatva) belongs to what admits of being terminated by the cognition of the real thing — such cognition being preceded by conscious activity (not by mere absence of consciousness or knowledge). The snake, e. g. which has for its substrate a rope or the like is false ; for it is due to an imperfection (dosha) that the snake is imagined in (or ' on ') the rope. In the same way this entire world, with its distinctions of gods, men, animals, inanimate matter, and so on, is, owing to an imperfection, wrongly imagined in the highest Brahman whose substance is mere intelligence, and therefore is false in so far as it may be sublated by the cognition of the nature of the real Brahman. What constitutes that imperfection is beginningless Nescience (avidya), which, hiding the truth of things, gives rise to manifold illusions, and cannot be defined either as something that is or as something that is not. — ' By the Untrue they are hidden; of them which are true the Untrue is the covering' (Kk. Up. VIII, 3, 1) ; 'Know Maya to be Prakrzti, and the great Lord him who is associated with Maya' (Svet. Up. IV, 10); ' Indra appears manifold through the Mayas' (Bri. Up. II, 5, 19); ' My Maya is hard to overcome ' (Bha. Gi. VII, 14) ; ' When the soul slumbering in beginningless Maya awakes ' (Gau. Ka. I, 16). — These and similar texts teach that it is through beginningless Maya that to Brahman which truly is pure non-differenced intelligence its own nature hides itself, and that it sees diversity within itself. As has been said, ' Because the Holy One is essentially of the nature of intelligence, the form of all, but not material; therefore know that all particular things like rocks, oceans, hills and so on, have proceeded from intelligence 1. But when, on

1 In agreement with the use made of this passage by the Purvapakshin, vi^ana must here be understood in the sense of avidya. VigTzanasabdena vividha/rc £?zayate*neneti karawavyutpattya^vidya xbhidhryate. .Sru. Pra.

p. 23

But when, on

1 In agreement with the use made of this passage by the Purvapakshin, vi^ana must here be understood in the sense of avidya. VigTzanasabdena vividha/rc £?zayate*neneti karawavyutpattya^vidya xbhidhryate. .Sru. Pra.

p. 23

the cessation of all work, everything is only pure intelligence in its own proper form, without any imperfections ; then no differences — the fruit of the tree of wishes — any longer exist between things. Therefore nothing whatever, at any place or any time, exists apart from intelligence : intelligence, which is one only, is viewed as manifold by those whose minds are distracted by the effects of their own works. Intelligence pure, free from stain, free from grief, free from all contact with desire and other affections, everlastingly one is the highest Lord — Vasudeva apart from whom nothing exists. I have thus declared to you the lasting truth of things — that intelligence only is true and everything else untrue. And that also which is the cause of ordinary worldly existence has been declared to you ' (Vi. Pu. II, 12, 39, 40, 43-45).

Avidy& is put an end to by true Knowledge.

Other texts declare that this Nescience comes to an end through the cognition of the essential unity of the Self with Brahman which is nothing but non-differenced intelligence. ' He does not again go to death ; ' ' He sees this as one ; ' ' He who sees this does not see death ' {Kh. Up. VI, 27); 'When he finds freedom from fear and rest in that which is invisible, incorporeal, undefined, unsupported, then he has obtained the fearless ' (Taitt. Up. II, 7) ; 'The fetter of the heart is broken, all doubts are solved and all his works perish when he has been beheld who is high and low ' (Mu. Up. II, 2, 8) ; ' He knows Brahman, he becomes Brahman only' (Mu. Up. Ill, 2, 9); c Knowing him only a man passes over death ; there is no other path to go ' (Svet. Up. Ill, 8). In these and similar passages, the term ' death ' denotes Nescience ; analogously to the use of the term in the following words of Sanatsu^ata, ' Delusion I call death ; and freedom from delusion I call immortality ' (Sanatsug*. II, 5). The knowledge again of the essential unity and non-difference of Brahman — which is ascertained from decisive texts such as 'The True, knowledge, the Infinite is Brahman ' (Taitt. Up. II, 1) ; ' Knowledge, bliss is

p. 24