The Vedânta-Sûtras, Part II, with the Commentary by Sankarâkârya — SBE Vol. 38

THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

[38]

Bonbon

HENRY FROWDE

Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner, E.G.

MACMILLAN & CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUE

THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

TRANSLATED

BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS

AND EDITED BY

F. MAX MULLER

VOL. xxxviir

^..^i-'

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1896

[/i// rz^Ais reserved "l

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS

BY HORACE HART, PR:^^rER TO THE UNIVERSITY

THE

vedAnta-sOtras

WITH THE COMMENTARY BY

'^ _ A

5ANKARA^ARYA

TRANSLATED BY

GEORGE THIBAUT

PART II

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1896

[^// rights reserved~\

B

p. 151

CONTENTS.

VEDANTA-StTRAS WITH THE COMMENTARY
BY ^ANKARAi^ARYA.

Adhyaya II.

PAGE

Pada III 3

PadalV 74

Adhyaya III.

Pada I loi

Pada II 133

Pada III 184

Pada IV 285

Adhyaya IV.

Pada I -331

Pada II ......... . 364

Pada III 382

Pada IV ......... . 405

Indexes by Dr. M. Winternitz : —

Index of Quotations to Volumes XXXIV (i) and

XXXVIII (ii) 421

Index of Sanslcrit Words to Volumes XXXIV (i) and

XXXVIII (ii) 431

General Index to Volumes XXXIV (i) and XXXVIII (ii) 441

Corrigenda 503

Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East . . . 505

VEDANTA-SUTRAS

WITH

5ANKARA BHASHYA.

[38]

SECOND ADHYAYA.

THIRD PADA.

Reverence to the highest Self !

I. Ether ^ (does) not (originate), on account of the absence of scriptural statement.

In the Vedanta-texts we meet in different places with different statements concerning the origination of various things. Some of those passages declare that ether originated ; some do not. Some record the origination of air; others do not. Other passages again make analogous statements concerning the individual soul and the vital airs. — Similarly we obser\^e that other scriptural texts contradict one another concerning order of succession and the like. — Now, as we ourselves have inferred the worthlessness of other philosophical doctrines from their mutual contradictions, a suspicion might arise that our doctrine is equally worthless, owing to its intrinsic contradictions. Hence a new discussion is begun in order to clear from all doubt the sense of all those Vedanta-texts which refer to creation, and thus to remove the suspicion alluded to.

Here we have to consider in the first place the question

* Here, as generally in the preceding parts of this translation, akaja is rendered by ' ether.' There is no doubt that occasionally the appropriate — and in some cases the only possible — rendering is not ' ether ' but ' space ; ' but the former rendering, after all, best agrees with the general Vedantic \iew of aka^a. The Vedantins do not clearly distinguish between empty space and an exceedingly fine matter filling all space, and thus it happens that in many cases where we speak of the former they speak of aka^a, i.e. the all-per\-ading substratum of sound; which howsoever attenuated is yet one of the material elements, and as such belongs to the same category as air, fire, water, and earth.

E 2

VEDANTA-SUTRAS.