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

— It is thus a settled conclusion that the text under discussion refers to that Brahman which was introduced in the passage ' Ka is Brahman,' and that hence the Person abiding within the eye is the highest Self.

But — an objection is raised — how do you know that the passage ' Ka (pleasure) is Brahman, Kha (ether) is Brahman ' really refers to the highest Brahman, so as to be able to interpret on that basis the text about the Person within the eye? It is a more obvious interpretation to take the passage about Ka and Kha as enjoining a meditation on Brahman viewed under the form of elemental ether and of ordinary worldly pleasure. This interpretation would, moreover, be in agreement with other similarly worded texts (which are generally understood to enjoin meditation on Brahman in a definite form), such as * Name is Brahman/ ' Mind is Brahman.5

1 6. For that very reason that (ether) is Brahman.

Because the clause * What is Ka the same is Kha ' speaks of ether as characterised by pleasure, the ether which is denoted by ' Kha ' is no other than the highest Brahman. To explain. On the Fires declaring ' Breath is Brahman, Ka is Brahman, Kha is Brahman/ Upakojala says, * I understand that breath is Brahman, but I do not understand Ka and Kha.' The meaning of this is as follows. The Fires cannot speak of meditation on Brahman under the form of breath and so on, because they are engaged in giving instruction to me, who am afraid of birth, old age, death, &c, and desirous of final Release. What they declare to me therefore is meditation on Brahman itself. Now here Brahman is exhibited in co-ordination with certain well-known things, breath and so on. That Brahman should be qualified by co-ordination with breath is suitable, either from the point of view of Brahman having the attribute of supporting the world, or on account of Brahman being the ruler of breath, which stands to it in the relation of a body. Hence Upako^ala says, ' I understand that

I ADHYAYA, 2 PADA, I J . 2"JJ

Hence Upako^ala says, ' I understand that

I ADHYAYA, 2 PADA, I J . 2"JJ

breath is Brahman.' With regard to pleasure and ether, on the other hand, there arises the question whether they are exhibited in the relation of qualifying attributes of Brahman on the ground of their forming the body of Brahman, and hence being ruled by it, or whether the two terms are meant to determine each other, and thus to convey a notion of the true nature of Brahman being constituted by supreme delight. On the former alternative the declaration of the Fires would only state that Brahman is the ruler of the elemental ether and of all delight depending on the sense-organs, and this would give no notion of Brahman's true nature; on the latter alternative the Fires would declare that unlimited delight constitutes Brahman's true nature. In order to ascertain which of the two meanings has to be taken, Upako^ala therefore says, ' I do not understand Ka and Kha.' The Fires, comprehending what is in his mind, thereupon reply, ' What is Ka the same is Kha, what is Kha the same is Ka,5 which means that the bliss which constitutes Brahman's nature is unlimited. The same Brahman therefore which has breath for its attribute because breath constitutes its body, is of the nature of unlimited bliss ; the text therefore adds, 6 They taught him that (viz. Brahman) as breath and as ether.' What the text/ Ka is Brahman, Kha is Brahman,' teaches thus is Brahman as consisting of unlimited bliss, and this Brahman is resumed in the subsequent text about the Person seen within the eye. That Person therefore is the highest Self.

1 7. And on account of the statement of the way of him who has heard the Upanishads.

Other scriptural texts give an account of the way — the first station of which is light — that leads up to the highest Person, without any subsequent return, the soul of him who has read the Upanishads, and has thus acquired a knowledge of the true nature of the highest Self. Now this same way is described by the teacher to Upako^ala in connexion with the instruction as to the Person in the eye, ' They go to light, from light to day,' &c. This alsop. 2 proves that the Person within the eye is the highest Self.

1 8. Not any other, on account of non-permanency of abode, and of impossibility.

This also

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proves that the Person within the eye is the highest Self.

1 8. Not any other, on account of non-permanency of abode, and of impossibility.

As the reflected Self and the other Selfs mentioned by the Purvapakshin do not necessarily abide within the eye, and as conditionless immortality and the other qualities (ascribed in the text to the Person within the eye) cannot possibly belong to them, the Person within the eye cannot be any Self other than the highest Self. Of the reflected Self it cannot be said that it permanently abides within the eye, for its presence there depends on the nearness \ to the eye of another person. The embodied Self again \has its seat within the heart, which is the root of all sensejprgans, so as to assist thereby the activities of the different senses ; it cannot therefore abide within the eye. And with regard to the divinity the text says that 'he rests with his rays in him, i. e. the eye ' : this implies that the divine being may preside over the organ of sight although itself abiding in another place ; it does not therefore abide in the eye. Moreover, non-conditioned immortality and similar qualities cannot belong to any of these three Selfs. The Person seen within the eye therefore is the highest Self.

We have, under Su. I, 2, 14, assumed as proved that the abiding within the eye and ruling the eye, which is referred to in Brt. Up. 111,7, 18 (' He who dwells in the eye/ &c), can belong to the highest Self only, and have on that basis proved that the Self within the eye is the highest Self. — Here terminates the adhikara/za of that c within.' — The next Sutra now proceeds to prove that assumption.

1 9. The internal Ruler (referred to) in the clauses with respect to the gods, with respect to the worlds, &c. (is the highest Self), because the attributes of that are designated.

The Va^-asaneyins, of the Ka//va as well as the Madhyandina branch, have the following text : ' He who

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