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

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The Sutra may also be explained in a somewhat different way, viz. * there is a multitude of connexions belonging to the highest Self, i. e. of attributes special to the highest Self, in that, viz. section.' The text at first says, * Choose thou that boon for me which thou deemest most beneficial to man ' — -to which the reply is, ' Meditate on me.' Here Indrapra^a is represented as the object of a meditation which is to bring about Release ) the object of such meditation can be none but the highest Self. — c He makes him whom he wishes to lead up from these worlds do a good deed ; and him whom he wishes to lead down from these worlds he makes do a bad deed.' The causality with regard to all actions which is here described is again a special attribute of the highest Self. — The same has to be said with regard to the attribute of being the abode of all, in the passage about the wheel and spokes, quoted above ; and with regard to the attributes of bliss, absence of old age and immortality, referred to in another passage quoted before. Also the attributes of being * the ruler of the worlds, the lord of all/ can belong to the highest Self only. — The conclusion therefore is that the being called Indra and Pra^a is none other but the highest Self. — But how then can Indra, who is known to be an individual person only, enjoin meditation on himself? — To this question the next Sutra replies.

31. The instruction (given by Indra about himself) (is possible) through insight based on Scripture, as in the case of Vâmadeva.

The instruction which, in the passages quoted, Indra gives as to the object of meditation, i. e. Brahman constituting his Self, is not based on such an insight into his own nature as is established by other means of proof, but on an intuition of his own Self, mediated by Scripture. ' Having entered into them with this living Self let me evolve names and forms ' (Kh. Up. VI, 3, a) ; * In it all that exists has its Self {Kk. Up. VI, 8, 7); < Entered within, the ruler of creatures, the Self of air (Taitt. Ar. Ill, 21) ; 'He who dwelling in the Self is different from the Self/ &c. (Bri. Up.

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Up. VI, 3, a) ; * In it all that exists has its Self {Kk. Up. VI, 8, 7); < Entered within, the ruler of creatures, the Self of air (Taitt. Ar. Ill, 21) ; 'He who dwelling in the Self is different from the Self/ &c. (Bri. Up.

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III, 7, 2%) — from these and similar texts Indra has learned that the highest Self has the individual souls for its body, and that hence words such as ' I ' and * thou,' which denote individual beings, extend in their connotation up to the highest Self; when, therefore, he says, ' Know me only/ and * Meditate on me,' he really means to teach that the highest Self, of which his own individual person is the body, is the proper object of meditation. * As in the case of Vamadeva/ As the Rzshi Vamadeva perceiving that Brahman is the inner Self of all, that all things constitute its body, and that the meaning of words denoting a body extends up to the principle embodied, denotes with the word ' I ' the highest Brahman to which he himself stands in the relation of a body, and then predicates of this ' I ' Manu Surya and other beings — c Seeing this the i^'shi. Vamadeva understood, I am Manu, I am Surya ' (Bri. Up. I, 4, 10). Similarly Prahlada says, ' As the Infinite one abides within all, he constitutes my " I " also ; all is from me, I am all, within me is all.' (Vi. Pu. I, 19, 85.) The next Sutra states, in reply to an objection, the reason why, in the section under discussion, terms denoting the individual soul, and others denoting non-sentient things are applied to Brahman.

32. If it be said (that Brahman is not meant) on account of characteristic marks of the individual soul and the chief vital air ; we say no, on account of the threefoldness of meditation ; on account of (such threefold meditation) being met (in other texts also) ; and on account of (such threefold meditation) being appropriate here (also).

An objection is raised. ' Let none try to find out what speech is, let him know the speaker ' ; * I slew the threeheaded son of Tvash/rz ; I delivered the Arunmukhas, the devotees, to the wolves ' ; these passages state characteristic marks of an individual soul (viz. the god Indra). — ' As long as Pra^a dwells in this body, so long there is life ' ; ' Pra^a alone is the conscious Self, and having laid hold of this body, it makes it rise up/- — These passages again mention

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the god Indra). — ' As long as Pra^a dwells in this body, so long there is life ' ; ' Pra^a alone is the conscious Self, and having laid hold of this body, it makes it rise up/- — These passages again mention

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characteristic attributes of the chief vital air. Hence there is here no c multitude of attributes belonging to the Self.' — The latter part of the Sutra refutes this objection. The highest Self is called by these different terms in order to teach threefoldness of devout meditation ; viz. meditation on Brahman in itself as the cause of the entire world ; on Brahman as having for its body the totality of enjoying (individual) souls ; and on Brahman as having for its body the objects and means of enjoyment. — This threefold meditation on Brahman, moreover, is met with also in other chapters of the sacred text. Passages such as * The True, knowledge, infinite is Brahman,' * Bliss is Brahman/ dwell on Brahman in itself. Passages again such as ' Having created that he entered into it. Having entered it he became sat and tyat, defined and undefined,' &c. (Taitt. Up. II, 6), represent Brahman as having for its body the individual souls and inanimate nature. Hence, in the chapter under discussion also, this threefold view of Brahman is quite appropriate. Where to particular individual beings such as Hira^yagarbha, and so on, or to particular inanimate things such as prakrzti, and so on, there are attributed qualities especially belonging to the highest Self; or where with words denoting such persons and things there are co-ordinated terms denoting the highest Self, the intention of the texts is to convey the idea of the highest Self being the inner Self of all such persons and things. — The settled conclusion, therefore, is that the being designated as Indra and Prd//a is other than an individual soul, viz. the highest Self.

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SECOND PADA.

The contents of the first Pada may be summed up as follows :— It has been shown that a person who has read the text of the Veda ; who further, through the study of the Karma-Mima/^sa, has acquired a full knowledge of the nature of (sacrificial and similar) works, and has recognised that the fruits of such works are limited and non-permanent ; in whom there has arisen the desire for the highest aim of man, i. e. Release, which, as he has come to know in the course of reading the Vedanta portions of scripture, is effected by meditation on the nature of Brahman— such meditation having an infinite and permanent result ; who has convinced himself that words are capable of conveying information about accomplished things (not only about things to be done), and has arrived at the conclusion that the Vedanta-texts are an authoritative means of knowledge with regard to the highest Brahman ;— that such a person, we say, should begin the study of the Sariraka-MimaMsa which indicates the method how Brahman is to be known through the Vedanta-texts.