Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 34 — The Vedanta-Sutras, Part I (Sankara/Thibaut, page scans)

' Have you ever asked for that instruction by which that which is not heard becomes heard ; that which is not perceived, perceived ; that which is not known, known ?' (Kh. Up. VI, 1, 3.) This passage intimates that through the cognition of one thing everything else, even if (previously) unknown, becomes known. Now the knowledge of everything is possible through the cognition of the material cause, since the effect is non-different from the material cause. On the other hand, effects are not non-different from their operative causes ; for we know from ordinary experience that the carpenter, for instance, is different from the house he has built. — The illustrative example referred to is the one mentioned (Kh. Up. VI, 1,4),* My dear, as by one clod of clay all that is made of clay is known, the modification (i. e. the effect) being a name merely which has its origin in speech, while the truth is that it is clay merely;' which passage again has reference to the material cause. The text adds a few more illustrative instances of similar nature, ' As by one nugget of gold all that is made of gold is known ; as by one pair of nail-scissors all that is made of iron is known.' — Similar promissory statements are made in other places also, for instance, ' What is that through which if it is known everything else becomes known?' (Mu. Up. I, 1, 3.) An illustrative instance also is given in the same place, ' As plants grow on the earth ' (I, 1, 7). — Com- pare also the promissory statement in Br/. Up. IV, 5, 6, 'When the Self has been seen, heard, perceived, and known, then all this is known ; ' and the illustrative instance quoted (IV, 5, 8), ' Now as the sounds of a drum if beaten cannot be seized externally, but the sound is seized when the drum is seized or the beater of the drum.' — Similar promissory statements and illustrative instances which are to be found in all Vedanta-texts are to be viewed as proving, more or less, that Brahman is also the material cause of the world. The ablative case also in the passage, ' That from whence (yata/£) these beings are born,' has to be considered as indicating the material cause of the beings, according to the grammatical rule, Pa«. I, 4, 30. — That Brahman is at the same time the operative cause of the

286 VEDANTA-S^JTRAS.

world, we have to conclude from the circumstance that there is no other guiding being. Ordinary material causes, indeed, such as lumps of clay and pieces of gold, are dependent, in order to shape themselves into vessels and ornaments, on extraneous operative causes such as potters and goldsmiths; but outside Brahman as material cause there is no other operative cause to which the material cause could look ; for Scripture says that previously to creation Brahman was one without a second. — The absence of a guiding principle other than the material cause can more- over be established by means of the argument made use of in the Sutra, viz. accordance with the promissory state- ments and the illustrative examples. If there were ad- mitted a guiding principle different from the material cause, it would follow that everything cannot be known through one thing, and thereby the promissory statements as well as the illustrative instances would be stultified. — The Self is thus the operative cause, because there is no other ruling principle, and the material cause because there is no other substance from which the world could originate.

24. And on account of the statement of reflection (on the part of the Self).

The fact of the sacred texts declaring that the Self reflected likewise shows that it is the operative as well as the material cause. Passages like ' He wished, may I be many, may I grow forth,' and ' He thought, may I be many, may I grow forth,' show, in the first place, that the Self is the agent in the independent activity which is preceded by the Self's reflection ; and, in the second place, that it is the material cause also, since the words ' May I be many ' intimate that the reflective desire of multiplying itself has the inward Self for its object.

25. And on account of both (i.e. the origin and
the dissolution of the world) being directly de-
clared (to have Brahman for their material cause).

This Sutra supplies a further argument for Brahman's

I Adhyaya, 4 Pad a, 26. 287

being the general material cause. — Brahman is the material cause of the world for that reason also that the origination as well as the dissolution of the world is directly spoken of in the sacred texts as having Brahman for their material cause, 'All these beings take their rise from the ether and return into the ether ' (Kk. Up. I, 9, 1). That that from which some other thing springs and into which it returns is the material cause of that other thing is well known. Thus the earth, for instance, is the material cause of rice, barley, and the like. — The word ' directly ' (in the Sutra) notifies that there is no other material cause, but that all this sprang from the ether only. — Observation further teaches that effects are not re-absorbed into anything else but their material causes.

26. (Brahman is the material cause) on account
of (the Self) making itself; (which is possible) owing
to modification.

Brahman is the material cause for that reason also that Scripture — in the passage, ' That made itself its Self ' (Taitt. Up. II, 7) — represents the Self as the object of action as well as the agent. — But how can the Self which as agent was in full existence previously to the action be made out to be at the same time that which is effected by the action ? — Owing to modification, we reply. The Self, although in full existence previously to the action, modifies itself into some- thing special, viz. the Self of the effect. Thus we see that causal substances, such as clay and the like, are, by under- going the process of modification, changed into their pro- ducts.— The word 'itself in the passage quoted intimates the absence of any other operative cause but the Self.

The word ' pari^amat ' (in the Sutra) may also be taken as constituting a separate Sutra by itself, the sense of which would be : Brahman is the material cause of the world for that reason also, that the sacred text speaks of Brahman and its modification into the Self of its effect as co-ordinated, viz. in the passage, ' It became sat and tyat, defined and undefined ' (Taitt. Up. II, 6).

288 ved anta-s6tr as.

27. And because Brahman is called the source. Brahman is the material cause for that reason also that it

is spoken of in the sacred texts as the source (yoni); compare, for instance, ' The maker, the Lord, the person who has his source in Brahman ' (Mu. Up. Ill, 1, 3) ; and c That which the wise regard as the source of all beings ' (Mu. Up. I, 1, 6). For that the word ' source ' denotes the material cause is well known from the use of ordinary language ; the earth, for instance, is called the yoni of trees and herbs. In some places indeed the word yoni means not source, but merely place ; so, for instance, in the mantra, ' A yoni, O Indra, was made for you to sit down upon ' {Rik. Sawn. I, 104, 1). But that in the passage quoted it means ' source' follows from a complementary passage, * As the spider sends forth and draws in its threads,' &c. — It is thus proved that Brahman is the material cause of the world. — Of the ob- jection, finally, that in ordinary life the activity of operative causal agents only, such as potters and the like, is preceded by reflection, we dispose by the remark that, as the matter in hand is not one which can be known through inferential reasoning, ordinary experience cannot be used to settle it. For the knowledge of that matter we rather depend on Scripture altogether, and hence Scripture only has to be appealed to. And that Scripture teaches that the Lord who reflects before creation is at the same time the material cause, we have already explained. The subject will, more- over, be discussed more fully later on.

28. Hereby all (the doctrines concerning the
origin of the world which are opposed to the
Vedinta) are explained, are explained.

The doctrine according to which the pradhana is the
cause of the world has, in the Sutras beginning with I,
1, 5, been again and again brought forward and refuted.
The chief reason for the special attention given to that
doctrine is that the Vedanta-texts contain some passages
which, to people deficient in mental penetration, may
appear to contain inferential marks pointing to it. The

I Adhyaya, 4 Pada, 28. 289

doctrine, moreover, stands somewhat near to the Vedanta doctrine since, like the latter, it admits the non-difference of cause and effect, and it, moreover, has been accepted by- some of the authors of the Dharma-sutras, such as Devala, and so on. For all these reasons we have taken special trouble to refute the pradhana doctrine, without paying much attention to the atomic and other theories. These latter theories, however, must likewise be refuted, as they also are opposed to the doctrine of Brahman being the general cause, and as slow-minded people might think that they also are referred to in some Vedic passages. Hence the Sutrak&ra formally extends, in the above Sutra, the refutation already accomplished of the pradhana doctrine to all similar doctrines which need not be demolished in detail after their great protagonist, the pradhana doctrine, has been so completely disposed of. They also are, firstly, not founded on any scriptural authority ; and are, secondly, directly contradicted by various Vedic passages. — The repetition of the phrase ' are explained ' is meant to in- timate that the end of the adhyaya has been reached.

SECOND ADHYAYA. FIRST PADA.

Reverence to the highest Self!

i. If it be objected that (from the doctrine ex-
pounded hitherto) there would result the fault of
there being no room for (certain) Smrztis ; we do
not admit that objection, because (from the rejection
of our doctrine) there would result the fault of want
of room for other Smrztis.

It has been shown in the first adhyaya that the omniscient Lord of all is the cause of the origin of this world in the same way as clay is the material cause of jars and gold of golden ornaments ; that by his rulership he is the cause of the subsistence of this world once originated, just as the magician is the cause of the subsistence of the magical illusion ; and that he, lastly, is the cause of this emitted world being finally reabsorbed into his essence, just as the four classes of creatures are reabsorbed into the earth. It has further been proved, by a demonstration of the connected meaning of all the Vedanta-texts, that the Lord is the Self of all of us. Moreover, the doctrines of the pradhana, and so on, being the cause of this world have been refuted as not being scriptural. — The purport of the second adhyaya, which we now begin, is to refute the objections (to the doctrine established hitherto) which might be founded on Smrzti and Reasoning, and to show that the doctrines of the pradhana, &c. have only fallacious arguments to lean upon, and that the different Vedanta-texts do not contradict one another with regard to the mode of creation and similar topics. — The first point is to refute the objections based on Smriti.

Your doctrine (the purvapakshin says) that the omniscient

Ii Adhyaya, I Pada, I. 29 1

1 The Smn'ti called Tantra is the Sahkhyajastra as taught by Kapila ; the Smrz'ti-writers depending on him are Asuri, Fankasikha, and others.

2 Mimawsa Su. I, 1, 2 : £odanalaksha#o*rtho dharma^. Com- mentary : £odana iti kriyaya^ pravartakaw va^anam dhuA

3 Purushartha; in opposition to the rules referred to in the preceding sentence which are kratvartha, i.e. the acting according to which secures the proper performance of certain rites.

4 It having been decided by the Purva Mima^sa already that Smrrtis contradicted by -Sruti are to be disregarded.

292 VED ANTA-Sti TRAS.