With reference to the cause denoted by the word c Sat,' Scripture says, ' When a man sleeps here, then, my dear, he becomes united with the Sat, he is gone to his own (Self). Therefore they say of him, " he sleeps " (svapiti), because he is gone to his own (svam apita)/ \Kh. Up. VI, 8, 1.) This passage explains the well-known verb ' to sleep/ with refer- ence to the soul. The word, ' his own,' denotes the Self which had before been denoted by the word Sat ; to the Self he (the individual soul) goes, i.e. into it it is resolved, according to the acknowledged sense of api-i, which means ' to be resolved into.' The individual soul (givs) is called awake as long as being connected with the various external objects by means of the modifications of the mind — which thus constitute limiting adjuncts of the soul — it apprehends those external objects, and identifies itself with the gross body, which is one of those external objects1. When, modified by the impressions which the external objects have left, it sees dreams, it is denoted by the term 'mind2.5 When, on the cessation of the two limiting adjuncts (i. e. the subtle and the gross bodies), and the consequent absence of the modi- fications due to the adjuncts, it is, in the state of deep sleep, merged in the Self as it were, then it is said to be asleep (resolved into the Self). A similar etymology of the word ' hrzdaya ' is given by .sruti, ' That Self abides in the heart. And this is the etymological explanation : he is in the heart (hrtdi ayam)/ (Kh. Up. VIII, 3, 3.) The words a^anaya and udanya are similarly etymologised : ' water is carrying away what has been eaten by him ; ' ' fire carries away what has been drunk by him ' (Kh. Up. VI, 8, 3 ; 5). Thus the passage quoted above explains the resolution (of the soul) into the Self, denoted by the term ' Sat/ by means of the etymology of the word 'sleep/ But the intelligent
1 So according to the commentators, not to accept whose guidance in the translation of scholastic definitions is rather hazardous. A simpler translation of the clause might however be given.
2 With reference to Kh. Up. VI, 8, 2.
6o VEDANTA-S^JTRAS.
Self can clearly not resolve itself into the non-intelligent pradhana. If, again, it were said that the pradhana is denoted by the word ' own/ because belonging to the Self (as being the Self's own), there would remain the same ab- surd statement as to an intelligent entity being resolved into a non-intelligent one. Moreover another scriptural passage (viz. ' embraced by the intelligent — prAgna, — Self he knows nothing that is without, nothing that is within,' Bri. Up. IV, 3, 3i) declares that the soul in the condition of dream- less sleep is resolved into an intelligent entity. Hence that into which all intelligent souls are resolved is an intelligent cause of the world, denoted by the word ' Sat,' and not the pradhana. — A further reason for the pradhana not being the cause is subjoined.
10. On account of the uniformity of view (of the
Vedinta-texts, Brahman is to be considered the
cause).
If, as in the argumentations of the logicians, so in the Vedanta-texts also, there were set forth different views con- cerning the nature of the cause, some of them favouring the theory of an intelligent Brahman being the cause of the world, others inclining towards the pradhana doctrine, and others again tending in a different dif ectkm ; ' then it might perhaps be possible to interpret such passages as those, which speak of the cause of the world as thinking, in such a manner as to make them fall in with the pradhana theory. But the stated condition is absent since all the Vedanta-texts uni- formly teach that the cause of the world is the intelligent Brahman. Compare, for instance, ' As from a burning fire $parks proceed in all directions, thus from that Self the pra^as proceed each towards its place ; from the pra^as the gods, from the gods the worlds ' (Kau. Up. Ill, 3). And 'from that Self sprang ether' (Taitt. Up. II, 1). And 'all this springs from the Self (Kk. Up. VII, 26, 1). And 'this pr&^a is born from the Self (Pr. Up. Ill, 3); all which passages declare the Self to be the cause. That the word 'Self denotes an intelligent being, we have already shown.
I ADHYAYA, I pAdA, II. 6 1
And that all the Vedanta-texts advocate the same view as to an intelligent cause of the world, greatly strengthens their claim to be considered a means of right knowledge, just as the corresponding claims of the senses are strengthened by their giving us information of a uniform character re-f garding colour and the like. The all-knowing Brahman is'; therefore to be considered the cause of the world, 'on account of the uniformity of view (of the Vedanta-texts)/— A further reason for this conclusion is advanced*
ii. And because it is directly stated in Scripture
(therefore the all-knowing Brahman is the cause of
the world).
That the all-knowing Lord is the cause of the world, is also declared in a text directly referring to him (viz. the all-knowing one), viz. in the following passage of the man- tropanishad of the 6Veta.svataras (VI, 9) where the word * he ' refers to the previously mentioned all-knowing Lord, 'He is the cause, the lord of the lords of the organs, and there is of him neither parent nor lord.' It is therefore finally settled that the all-knowing Brahman is the general cause, not the non-intelligent pradhctna or anything else.
In what precedes we have shown, availing ourselves of appropriate arguments, that the Vedanta-texts exhibited \ under Sutras 1, 1-11, are capable of proving that the all- ; knowing, all-powerful Lord is the cause of the origin, subsistence, and dissolution of the world. And we have explained, by pointing to the prevailing uniformity of view (1, 10), that all Vedanta-texts whatever maintain an intelli- gent cause. The question might therefore be asked, ' What reason is there for the subsequent part of the Vedanta- sutras?' (as the chief point is settled already.)
To this question we reply as follows : Brahman is appre- hended under two forms ; in the first place as qualified by limiting conditions owing to the multiformity of the evolu- tions of name and form (i. e. the multiformity of the created world); in the second place as being the opposite of this, i. e. free from all limiting conditions whatever. Compare
62 VEDANTA-SUTRAS.
the following passages: Bri. Up. IV, 5, 15, 'For where there is duality as it were, then one sees the other; but when the Self only is all this, how should he see another ? ' Kh. Up. VII, 24, 1, 'Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else, that is the greatest. Where one sees something else, hears something else, under- stands something else, that is the little. The greatest is immortal; the little is mortal;' Taitt. Ar. Ill, 12, 7, 'The wise one, who having produced all forms and made all names, sits calling (the things by their names x) ; ' Sv. Up. VI, 19, ' Who is without parts, without actions, tranquil, without faults, without taint, the highest bridge of immor- tality, like a fire that has consumed its fuel;' "Bri. Up. II, 3, 6, 'Not so, not so;5 Bri. Up. Ill, 8, 8, c It is neither coarse nor fine, neither short nor long ; ' and ' defective is one place, perfect the other.' All these passages, with many others, declare Brahman to possess a double nature, accord- ing as it is the object either of Knowledge or of Nescience. As long as it is the object of Nescience, there are applied to it the categories of devotee, object of devotion, and the like2. The different modes of devotion lead to different results, some to exaltation, some to gradual emancipation, some to success in works ; those modes are distinct on account of the distinction of the different qualities and limiting conditions3. And although the one highest Self only, i. e. the Lord distinguished by those different qualities constitutes the object of devotion, still the fruits (of devotion) are distinct, according as the devotion refers to different qualities. Thus Scripture says, 'According as man wor- ships him, that he becomes;' and, 'According to what his thought is in this world, so will he be when he has departed
1 The wise one, i.e. the highest Self; which as givatman is con- versant with the names and forms of individual things.
2 I. e. it is looked upon as the object of the devotion of the individual souls ; while in reality all those souls and Brahman are one.
3 Qualities, i. e. the attributes under which the Self is meditated on ; limiting conditions, i. e. the localities — such as the heart and the like — which in pious meditation are ascribed to the Self.
I Adhyaya, I Pada, Ii. 63
this life' (Kh. Up. Ill, 14, 1). Smrzti also makes an analo- gous statement, ' Remembering whatever form of being he leaves this body in the end, into that form he enters, being impressed with it through his constant meditation' (Bha. GitaVIII, 6).
Although one and the same Self is hidden in all beings movable as well as immovable, yet owing to the gradual rise of excellence of the minds which form the limiting conditions (of the Self), Scripture declares that the Self, although eternally unchanging and uniform, reveals itself1 in a graduated series of beings, and so appears in forms of various dignity and power; compare, for instance (Ait. Ar. II, 3, 2, 1), ' He who knows the higher manifestation of the Self in him V &c. Similarly Smriti remarks, ' Whatever being there is of power, splendour or might, know it to have sprung from portions of my glory ' (Bha. Gita X, 41) ; a passage declaring that wherever there is an excess of power and so on, there the Lord is to be worshipped. Accordingly here (i. e. in the Sutras) also the teacher will show that the golden person in the disc of the Sun is the highest Self, on ac- count of an indicating sign, viz. the circumstance of his being unconnected with any evil (Ved. Su. 1, 1,20) ; the same is to be observed with regard to 1, 1, 22 and other Sutras. And, again, an enquiry will have to be undertaken into the meaning of the texts, in order that a settled conclusion may be reached concerning that knowledge of the Self which leads to instan- taneous release ; for although that knowledge is conveyed by means of various limiting conditions, yet no special con- nexion with limiting conditions is intended to be intimated, in consequence of which there arises a doubt whether it (the
1 Ananda Giri reads avish/asya for avishkr/tasya.
2 Cp. the entire passage. All things are manifestations of the highest Self under certain limiting conditions, but occupying differ- ent places in an ascending scale. In unsentient things, stones, &c. only the satt&, the quality of being manifests itself; in plants, animals, and men the Self manifests itself through the vital sap ; in animals and men there is understanding; higher thought in man alone.
64 VEDANTA-S^TRAS.
knowledge) has the higher or the lower Brahman for its object ; so, for instance, in the case of Sutra I, i, 1 2 1. From all this it appears that the following part of the 6astra has a special object of its own, viz. to show that the Vedanta- texts teach, on the one hand, Brahman as connected with limiting conditions and forming an object of devotion, and on the other hand> as being free from the connexion with such conditions and constituting an object of knowledge. The refutation, moreover, of non-intelligent causes different from Brahman, which in I,- 1 , 10 was based on the uniformity of the meaning of the Vedanta-texts, will be further detailed by the Sutrakara, who, while explaining additional passages relating to Brahman, will preclude all causes of a nature opposite to that of Brahman.
12. (The Self) consisting of bliss (is the highest
Self) on account of the repetition (of the word "bliss/
as denoting the highest Self).