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

Nor is there any contradiction between such identity with the world on Brahman's part, and the fact that Brahman treasures within itself glorious qualities antagonistic to all evil ; for theI ADHYAYA, 2 PADA, 2. 26 1 imperfections adhering to the bodies, which are mere modes of Brahman, do not affect Brahman itself to which the modes belong. Such identity rather proves for Brahman supreme lordly power, and thus adds to its excellences. Nor, again, can it rightly be maintained that of the individual soul also identity with the world can be predicated ; for the souls being separate according to the bodies with which they are joined cannot be identical with each other. Even in the state of release, when the individual soul is not in any way limited, it does not possess that identity with the world on which there depends causality with regard to the world's creation, sustentation, and reabsorption ; as will be declared in Sutra IV, 4, 17. Nor, finally, does the Purvapakshin improve his case by contending that the individual soul may be the cause of the creation, &c, of the world because it (viz. the soul) is due to karman ; for although the fact given as reason is true, all the same the Lord alone is the cause of the Universe. — All this proves that the being to which the text refers as Brahman is none other than the highest Self.

This second alternative interpretation of the Sutra is preferred by most competent persons. The Vrzttikara, e.g. says, 'That Brahman which the clause "All this is Brahman " declares to be the Self of all is the Lord.'

2. And because the qualities meant to be stated are possible (in Brahman).

The qualities about to be stated can belong to the highest Self only. ' Made of mind, having breath for its body/ &c. ' Made of mind ' means to be apprehended by a purified mind only. The highest Self can be apprehended only by a mind purified by meditation on that Self, such meditation being assisted by the seven means, viz. abstention, &c. (see above, p. 17). This intimates that the highest Self is of pure goodness, precluding all evil, and therefore different in nature from everything else ; for by the impure minded impure objects only can be apprehended.— ' Having the vital breath for its body ' means — being the supporter of all life in the world. To stand in

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To stand in

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the relation of a body to something else, means to abide in that other thing, to be dependent on it, and to subserve it in a subordinate capacity, as we shall fully show later on. And all ' vital breath ' or * life ' stands in that relation to the highest Self. ' Whose form is light ' ; i. e. who is of supreme splendour, his form being a divine one of supreme excellence peculiar to him, and not consisting of the stuff of Prakrzti. — ' Whose purposes are true ' ; i. e. whose purposes realise themselves without any obstruction. * Who is the (or " of the ") Self of ether ' ; i. e. who is of a delicate and transparent nature, like ether ; or who himself is the Self of ether, which is the causal substance of everything else ; or who shines forth himself and makes other things shine forth. — ' To whom all works belong'; i.e. he of whom the whole world is the work ; or he to whom all activities belong. — ' To whom all wishes belong ' ; i. e. he to whom all pure objects and means of desire and enjoyment belong. ' He to whom all odours and tastes belong ' ; i. e. he to whom there belong, as objects of enjoyment, all kinds of uncommon, special, perfect, supremely excellent odours and tastes ; ordinary smells and tastes being negatived by another text, viz. * That which is without sound, without touch, without taste/ &c. (Ka. Up. Ill, 15). — ' He who embraces all this ' ; i. e. he who makes his own the whole group of glorious qualities enumerated. — c He who does not speak/ because, being in possession of all he could desire, he c has no regard for anything ' ; i. e. he who, in full possession of lordly power, esteems this whole world with all its creatures no higher than a blade of grass, and hence abides in silence. — All these qualities stated in the text can belong to the highest Self only.

3. But, on account of impossibility, not the embodied soul.

Those who fully consider this infinite multitude of exalted qualities will recognise that not even a shadow of them can belong to the individual soul — whether in the state of bondage or that of release — which is a thing as insignificant as a glow-worm and, through its connexionp. 263 with a body, liable to the attacks of endless suffering. It is not possible therefore to hold that the section under discussion should refer to the individual soul.

4. And because there is (separate) denotation of the object and the agent.

The clause ' When I shall have departed from hence I shall obtain him ' denotes the highest Brahman as the object to be obtained, and the individual soul as that which obtains it. This shows that the soul which obtains is the person meditating, and the highest Brahman that is to be obtained, the object of meditation : Brahman, therefore, is something different from the attaining soul.

5. On account of the difference of words.

This shows that the soul which obtains is the person meditating, and the highest Brahman that is to be obtained, the object of meditation : Brahman, therefore, is something different from the attaining soul.

5. On account of the difference of words.

The clause ' That is the Self of me, within the heart ' designates the embodied soul by means of a genitive form, while the object of meditation is exhibited in. the nominative case. Similarly, a text of the Va^asaneyins, which treats of the same topic, applies different terms to the embodied and the highest Self, ; Like a rice grain, or a barley grain, or a canary seed, or the kernel of a canary seed, thus that golden Person is within the Self ' (5at. Br. X, 6, 3, a). Here the locative form, ' within the Self/ denotes the embodied Self, and the nominative, ' that golden Person,' the object to be meditated on. — All this proves the highest Self to be the object of meditation.

6. And on account of Smrzti.

' I dwell within the hearts of all, from me come memory and knowledge, as well as their loss ' ; * He who free from delusion knows me to be the highest Person ' ; ' The Lord, O Ar^una, is seated in the heart of all Beings, driving round by his mysterious power all beings as if mounted on a machine; to him fly for refuge' (Bha. Gi. XV, 15, 19 ; XVIII, 61). These Smrzti-texts show the embodied soul to be the meditating subject, and the highest Self the object of meditation.

7. Should it be said that (the passage does) not

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(refer to Brahman) on account of the smallness of the abode, and on account of the denotation of that (viz. minuteness of the being meditated on) ; we say no, because (Brahman) has thus to be meditated upon, and because (in the same passage) it is said to be like ether.