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

21. If it be said that (the soul is) not atomic, on account of scriptural statements about what is not that (i.e. what is opposed to atomic size); we deny

^ Going is known to be an activity inherent in the agent, from the fact of its producing effects inherent in him, such as his conjunction with— or disjunction from — other things.

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that, on account of the other one (the highest Self) being the subject-matter (of those passages).

Nevertheless, it may be objected, the soul cannot be of atomic size, because there are scriptural statements of what is not that, i.e. because there are scriptural statements of its size being the opposite of atomic size. So that by accepting the alternative of atomic size we should place ourselves in opposition to scriptural passages such as the following, ' He is that great unborn Self who consists of knowledge, is surrounded by the Pra;/as, the ether within the heart ' (Br/. Up. IV, 4, 22) ; ' Like the ether he is omnipresent, eternal ; ' ' Truth, knowledge, infinite is Brahman ' (Taitt. Up. II. i).

This objection, the purvapakshin replies, is not valid ' on account of the other one forming the subject of discussion.' For those statements about a size different (from the atomic one) occur under the heading of the highest Self which on account of its pre-eminence constitutes the general object of knowledge in all Vedanta-texts ; and moreover the passage, ' It is spotless, beyond the ether ' (Brz. Up. IV, 4, 20), specially proves that the highest Self constitutes the subject-matter (in the passage quoted above from the Brz. Up.). Thus with regard to the other passages also. — But from the expressions, 'consisting of knowledge, surrounded by the pra/zas,' it appears that the embodied Self only (not the highest Self) is designated as connected with greatness. — That designation, the purvapakshin replies, is founded on an intuition, vouched for by scripture, as in the case of Vamadeva^. — As therefore the statements of a different size refer to the highest Self (pra^/za), they do not militate against the view of the individual soul being of atomic size.

22. And also on account of direct statement, and of inference.

The soul is of atomic size for that reason also that scripture contains a direct statement to that effect, ' By

^ "Who ' paramarthadr/sh/ya ' identifies himself with everything in the universe. (i?/g-veda Sawhita IV, 26. i fF.).

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thought is to be known that atomic Self into which breath has entered fivefold' (Mu. Up. Ill, i, 9). That the Self spoken of there as atomic is the living Self, i.e. the individual soul, we see from its connexion with breath. — Inference also favours the conclusion that the soul is of atomic size ; i.e. we infer that from such passages as 'That living soul is to be known as part of the hundredth part of the point of a hair divided a hundred times ^ (Sve. Up. V, 9), and, ' That lower one also is seen small even like the point of a goad.' — But, an objection may here be raised, if the soul is assumed to be of atomic size, and therefore to occupy one point of the body only, the fact of sensation extending over the whole body would appear contrary to reason. And yet it is a matter of experience that men bathing in the Ganges or in a pond experience the sensation of cold over their whole bodies, and again that in summer people feel hot all over the body. — To this objection the following Sutra replies.

23. There is no contradiction, as in the case of sandal-ointment.