Vedanta-Sutras Part I · 22 of 103

Adhyaya I: Pada I (Part 3)

5:4 Translated according to the Bhâmatî. We deny, the objector says, the possibility of adhyâsa in the case of the Self, not on the ground that it is not an object because self-luminous (for that it may be an object although it is self-luminous you have shown), but on the ground that it is not an object because it is not manifested either by itself or by anything else.--It is known or manifest, the Vedântin replies, on account of its immediate presentation (aparokshatvât), i.e. on account of the intuitional knowledge we have of it. Ânanda Giri construes the above clause in a different way: asmatpratyayâvishayatves#py aparokshatvâd ekântenâvishayatvâbbâvât tasminn ahankârâdyadhyâsa ity arthah. Aparokshatvam api kaiskid âtmano neshtam ity âsankyâha pratyagâtmeti.

6:1 Tatraivam sati evambhûtavastutattvâvadhârane sati. Bhâ. Tasminn adhyâse uktarîtyâ#vidyâvmake sati. Go. Yatrâtmani buddhyâdau vâ yasya buddhyâder âtmano vâdhyâsah tena buddhyâdinâ#tmânâ va kritenâ#sanayâdidoshena kaitanyagunena kâtmânâtmâ vâ vastuto na svalpenâpi yugyate. Ânanda Giri.

6:2 Whether they belong to the karmakândâ, i.e. that part of the Veda which enjoins active religious duty or the gñânakânda, i.e. that part of the Veda which treats of Brahman.

7:1 It being of course the function of the means of right knowledge to determine Truth and Reality.

7:2 The Bhâmatî takes adhishthânam in the sense of superintendence, guidance. The senses cannot act unless guided by a superintending principle, i.e. the individual soul.

7:3 If activity could proceed from the body itself, non-identified with the Self, it would take place in deep sleep also.

7:4 I.e. in the absence of the mutual superimposition of the Self and the Non-Self and their attributes.

9:1 The Mîmâmsâ, i.e. the enquiry whose aim it is to show that the embodied Self, i.e. the individual or personal soul is one with Brahman. This Mîmâmsâ being an enquiry into the meaning of the Vedânta-portions of the Veda, it is also called Vedânta mîmâmsâ.

9:2 Nâdhikârârtha iti. Tatra hetur brahmeti. Asyârthah, kim ayam athasabdo brahmagñânekkhyâh kim vântarnîtavikârasya athavekkhâviseshanagñânasyârambhârthah. Nâdyah tasyâ mîmâmsâpravartikâyâs tadapravartyatvâd anârabhyatvât tasyâs kottaratra pratyadhikaranam apratipâdanât. Na dvitîyo#thasabdenânantaryoktidvârâ visishtâdhikâryasamarpane sâdhanakatushtayâsampannânâm brahmadhîtadvikârayor anarthitvâd vikârânârambhân na ka vikâravidhivasâd adhikârî kalpyah prârambhasyâpi tulyatvâd adhikârinas ka vidhyapekshitopâdhitvân na tritîyah brahmagñânasyânandasâkshâtkâratvenâdhikâryatve#pyaprâdhânyâd athasabdâsambandhât tasmân nârambhârthateti. Ânanda Giri.

10:1 Any relation in which the result, i.e. here the enquiry into Brahman may stand to some antecedent of which it is the effect may be comprised under the relation of ânantarya.

11:1 He cuts off from the heart, then from the tongue, then from the breast.

11:2 Where one action is subordinate to another as, for instance, the offering of the prayâgas is to the darsapûrnamâsa-sacrifice, or where one action qualifies a person for another as, for instance, the offering of the darsapûrnamâsa qualifies a man for the performance of the Soma-sacrifice, there is unity of the agent, and consequently an intimation of the order of succession of the actions is in its right place.

12:1 The 'means' in addition to sama and dama are discontinuance of religious ceremonies (uparati), patience in suffering (titikshâ), attention and concentration of the mind (samâdhâna), and faith (sraddhâ).

12:2 According to Pânini II, 3, 50 the sixth (genitive) case expresses the relation of one thing being generally supplementary to, or connected with, some other thing.

13:1 In the case of other transitive verbs, object and result may be separate; so, for instance, when it is said 'grâmam gakkhati,' the village is the object of the action of going, and the arrival at the village its result. But in the case of verbs of desiring object and result coincide.

14:1 That Brahman exists we know, even before entering on the Brahma-mîmâmsâ, from the occurrence of the word in the Veda, &c., and from the etymology of the word we at once infer Brahman's chief attributes.

15:1 The three last opinions are those of the followers of the Nyâya, the Sânkhya, and the Yoga-philosophy respectively. The three opinions mentioned first belong to various materialistic schools; the two subsequent ones to two sects of Bauddha philosophers.

15:2 As, for instance, the passages 'this person consists of the essence of food;' 'the eye, &c. spoke;' 'non-existing this was in the beginning,' &c.

2. (Brahman is that) from which the origin, &c. (i.e. the origin, subsistence, and dissolution) of this (world proceed).

The term, &c. implies subsistence and re-absorption. That the origin is mentioned first (of the three) depends on the declaration of Scripture as well as on the natural development of a substance. Scripture declares the order of succession of origin, subsistence, and dissolution in the passage, Taitt. Up. III, I, 'From whence these beings are born,' &c. And with regard to the second reason stated, it is known that a substrate of qualities can subsist and be dissolved only after it has entered, through origination, on the state of existence. The words 'of this' denote that substrate of qualities which is presented to us by perception and the other means of right knowledge; the genitive case indicates it to be connected with origin, &c. The words 'from which' denote the cause.

The full sense of the Sûtra therefore is: That omniscient omnipotent cause from which proceed the origin, subsistence, and dissolution of this world--which world is differentiated by names and forms, contains many agents and enjoyers, is the abode of the fruits of actions, these fruits having their definite places, times, and causes 1, and the nature of whose arrangement cannot even be conceived by the mind,--that cause, we say, is Brahman. Since the other forms of existence (such as increase, decline, &c.) are included in origination, subsistence, and dissolution, only the three latter are referred to in the Sûtra.

As the six stages of existence enumerated by Yâska 2 are possible only during the period of the world's subsistence, it might--were they referred to in the Sûtra--be suspected that what is meant are not the origin, subsistence, and dissolution (of the world) as dependent on the first cause. To preclude this suspicion the Sûtra is to be taken as referring, in addition to the world's origination from Brahman, only to its subsistence in Brahman, and final dissolution into Brahman.

The origin, &c. of a world possessing the attributes stated above cannot possibly proceed from anything else but a Lord possessing the stated qualities; not either from a non-intelligent prâdhana 3, or from atoms, or from non-being, or from a being subject to transmigration 1; nor, again, can it proceed from its own nature (i.e. spontaneously, without a cause), since we observe that (for the production of effects) special places, times, and causes have invariably to be employed.

(Some of) those who maintain a Lord to be the cause of the world 2, think that the existence of a Lord different from mere transmigrating beings can be inferred by means of the argument stated just now (without recourse being had to Scripture at all).--But, it might be said, you yourself in the Sûtra under discussion have merely brought forward the same argument!--By no means, we reply. The Sûtras (i.e. literally 'the strings') have merely the purpose of stringing together the flowers of the Vedânta-passages. In reality the Vedânta-passages referred to by the Sûtras are discussed here. For the comprehension of Brahman is effected by the ascertainment, consequent on discussion, of the sense of the Vedânta-texts, not either by inference or by the other means of right knowledge. While, however, the Vedânta-passages primarily declare the cause of the origin, &c., of the world, inference also, being an instrument of right knowledge in so far as it does not contradict the Vedânta-texts, is not to be excluded as a means of confirming the meaning ascertained. Scripture itself, moreover, allows argumentation; for the passages, Bri. Up. II, 4, 5 ('the Self is to be heard, to be considered'), and Kh. Up. VI, 14, 2 ('as the man, &c., having been informed, and being able to judge for himself, would arrive at Gandhâra, in the same way a man who meets with a teacher obtains knowledge'), declare that human understanding assists Scripture 3.

Scriptural text, &c. 4, are not, in the enquiry into Brahman, the only means of knowledge, as they are in the enquiry into active duty (i.e. in the Pûrva Mimâmsâ), but scriptural texts on the one hand, and intuition 1, &c., on the other hand, are to be had recourse to according to the occasion: firstly, because intuition is the final result of the enquiry into Brahman; secondly, because the object of the enquiry is an existing (accomplished) substance. If the object of the knowledge of Brahman were something to be accomplished, there would be no reference to intuition, and text, &c., would be the only means of knowledge. The origination of something to be accomplished depends, moreover, on man since any action either of ordinary life, or dependent on the Veda may either be done or not be done, or be done in a different way.

A man, for instance, may move on either by means of a horse, or by means of his feet, or by some other means, or not at all. And again (to quote examples of actions dependent on the Veda), we meet in Scripture with sentences such as the following: 'At the atirâtra he takes the shodasin cup,' and 'at the atirâtra he does not take the shodasin cup;' or, 'he makes the oblation after the sun has risen,' and, 'he makes the oblation when the sun has not yet risen.' Just as in the quoted instances, injunctions and prohibitions, allowances of optional procedure, general rules and exceptions have their place, so they would have their place with regard to Brahman also (if the latter were a thing to be accomplished).

But the fact is that no option is possible as to whether a substance is to be thus or thus, is to be or not to be. All option depends on the notions of man; but the knowledge of the real nature of a thing does not depend on the notions of man, but only on the thing itself. For to think with regard to a post, 'this is a post or a man, or something else,' is not knowledge of truth; the two ideas, 'it is a man or something else,' being false, and only the third idea, 'it is a post,' which depends on the thing itself, falling under the head of true knowledge. Thus true knowledge of all existing things depends on the things themselves, and hence the knowledge of Brahman also depends altogether on the thing, i.e. Brahman itself.--But, it might be said, as Brahman is an existing substance, it will be the object of the other means of right knowledge also, and from this it follows that a discussion of the Vedânta-texts is purposeless.--This we deny; for as Brahman is not an object of the senses, it has no connection with those other means of knowledge. For the senses have, according to their nature, only external things for their objects, not Brahman.

If Brahman were an object of the senses, we might perceive that the world is connected with Brahman as its effect; but as the effect only (i.e. the world) is perceived, it is impossible to decide (through perception) whether it is connected with Brahman or something else. Therefore the Sûtra under discussion is not meant to propound inference (as the means of knowing Brahman), but rather to set forth a Vedânta-text.--Which, then, is the Vedânta-text which the Sûtra points at as having to be considered with reference to the characteristics of Brahman?--It is the passage Taitt. Up.