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The Vedanta Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja

T >> Trans. George Thibaut >> The Vedanta Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja




For this conclusion the next Sûtra supplies a further argument.




27. And thus also, because (thus only) the designation of the beings,
and so on, being the (four) feet is possible.

The text, moreover, designates the Gâyatrî as having four feet, after
having referred to the beings, the earth, the body, and the heart; now
this has a sense only if it is Brahman, which here is called Gâyatrî.




28. If it be said that (Brahman is) not (recognised) on account of the
difference of designation; (we say) not so, on account of there being no
contradiction in either (designation).

In the former passage, 'three feet of it are what is immortal in heaven,'
heaven is referred to as the abode of the being under discussion;
while in the latter passage, 'that light which shines above this heaven,'
heaven is mentioned as marking its boundary. Owing to this discrepancy,
the Brahman referred to in the former text is not recognised in the
latter.--This objection the Sûtra disposes of by pointing out that owing
to the essential agreement of the two statements, nothing stands in the
way of the required recognition. When we say, 'The hawk is on the top of
the tree,' and 'the hawk is above the top of the tree,' we mean one and
the same thing.--The 'light,' therefore, is nothing else but the most
glorious and luminous highest Person. Him who in the former passage is
called four-footed, we know to have an extraordinarily beautiful shape
and colour--(cp., e.g., 'I know that great Person of sunlike colour
beyond the darkness' (Svet. Up. III, 9))--, and as hence his brilliancy
also must be extraordinary, he is, in the text under discussion, quite
appropriately called 'light.'--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'light.'

It has been shown that the being endowed with supreme brilliance, called
'Light,' which the text mentions as something well known, is the highest
Person. The Sûtrakâra will now show that the being designated as Indra
and Prâna, which the text enjoins as an object of meditation, for the
reason that it is the means for attaining immortality--a power which is
inseparable from causal power--, is likewise the highest Person.




29. Prâna is Brahman, on account of connexion.

We read in the Pratardana-vidyâ in the Kaushîtaki-brâhmana that
'Pratardana, the son of Divodâsa, came, by fighting and strength, to the
beloved abode of Indra.' Being asked by Indra to choose a boon he
requests the God to bestow on him that boon which he himself considers
most beneficial to man; whereupon Indra says, 'I am prâna (breath), the
intelligent Self, meditate on me as Life, as Immortality.' Here the
doubt arises whether the being called Prâna and Indra, and designating
itself as the object of a meditation most beneficial to man, is an
individual soul, or the highest Self.--An individual soul, the
Pûrvapakshin maintains. For, he says, the word 'Indra' is known to
denote an individual God, and the word 'Prâna,' which stands in
grammatical co-ordination with Indra, also applies to individual souls.
This individual being, called Indra, instructs Pratardana that
meditation on himself is most beneficial to man. But what is most
beneficial to man is only the means to attain immortality, and such a
means is found in meditation on the causal principle of the world, as we
know from the text, 'For him there is delay only so long as he is not
delivered; then he will be perfect' (Ch. Up. VI, 14, 2). We hence
conclude that Indra, who is known as an individual soul, is the causal
principle, Brahman.

This view is rejected by the Sûtra. The being called Indra and Prâna is
not a mere individual soul, but the highest Brahman, which is other than
all individual souls. For on this supposition only it is appropriate
that the being introduced as Indra and Prâna should, in the way of
grammatical co-ordination, be connected with such terms as 'blessed,'
'non-ageing,' 'immortal.' ('That Prâna indeed is the intelligent Self,
blessed, non-ageing, immortal,' Kau. Up. III, 9.)




30. If it be said that (Brahman is) not (denoted) on account of the
speaker denoting himself; (we say, not so), because the multitude of
connexions with the inner Self (is possible only) in that (speaker if
viewed as Brahman).

An objection is raised.--That the being introduced as Indra and Prâna
should be the highest Brahman, for the reason that it is identical with
him who, later on, is called 'blessed,' 'non-ageing,' 'immortal'--this we
cannot admit. 'Know me only, I am prâna, meditate on me as the
intelligent Self, as life, as immortality'--the speaker of these words
is Indra, and this Indra enjoins on Pratardana meditation on his own
person only, the individual character of which is brought out by
reference to certain deeds of strength such as the slaying of the son of
Tvashtri ('I slew the three-headed son of Tvashtri,' &c.). As thus the
initial part of the section clearly refers to an individual being, the
terms occurring in the concluding part ('blessed,' 'non-ageing,'
'immortal') must be interpreted so as to make them agree with what
precedes.--This objection the Sûtra disposes of. 'For the multitude of
connexions with the Self'--i.e. the multitude of things connected with
the Self as its attributes--is possible only 'in that,' i.e. in that
speaker viewed as the highest Brahman. 'For, as in a car, the
circumference of the wheel is placed on the spokes, and the spokes on
the nave, thus are these objects placed on the subjects, and the
subjects on the prâna. That prâna indeed is the intelligent Self,
blessed, non-ageing, immortal.' The 'objects' (bhûtamâtrâh) here are the
aggregate of non-sentient things; the 'subjects' (prajñâmâtrâh) are the
sentient beings in which the objects are said to abide; when thereupon
the texts says that of these subjects the being called Indra and Prâna
is the abode, and that he is blessed, non-ageing, immortal; this
qualification of being the abode of this Universe, with all its non-
sentient and sentient beings, can belong to the highest Self only, which
is other than all individual souls.

The Sûtra may also be explained in a somewhat different way, viz. 'there
is a multitude of connexions belonging to the highest Self, i.e. of
attributes special to the highest Self, in that, viz. section.' The text
at first says, 'Choose thou that boon for me which thou deemest most
beneficial to man'--to which the reply is, 'Meditate on me.' Here Indra-
prâna is represented as the object of a meditation which is to bring
about Release; the object of such meditation can be none but the highest
Self.--'He makes him whom he wishes to lead up from these worlds do a
good deed; and him whom he wishes to lead down from these worlds he
makes do a bad deed.' The causality with regard to all actions which is
here described is again a special attribute of the highest Self.--The
same has to be said with regard to the attribute of being the abode of
all, in the passage about the wheel and spokes, quoted above; and with
regard to the attributes of bliss, absence of old age and immortality,
referred to in another passage quoted before. Also the attributes of
being 'the ruler of the worlds, the lord of all,' can belong to the
highest Self only.--The conclusion therefore is that the being called
Indra and Prâna is none other but the highest Self.--But how then can
Indra, who is known to be an individual person only, enjoin meditation
on himself?--To this question the next Sûtra replies.




31. The instruction (given by Indra about himself) (is possible) through
insight based on Scripture, as in the case of Vâmadeva.

The instruction which, in the passages quoted, Indra gives as to the
object of meditation, i.e. Brahman constituting his Self, is not based
on such an insight into his own nature as is established by other means
of proof, but on an intuition of his own Self, mediated by Scripture.
'Having entered into them with this living Self let me evolve names and
forms' (Ch. Up. VI, 3, 2); 'In it all that exists has its Self (Ch. Up.
VI, 8, 7); Entered within, the ruler of creatures, the Self of all'
(Taitt. Ar. III, 21); 'He who dwelling in the Self is different from the
Self,' &c. (Bri. Up. III, 7, 22)--from these and similar texts Indra has
learned that the highest Self has the indiviual souls for its body, and
that hence words such as 'I' and 'thou,' which denote individual beings,
extend in their connotation up to the highest Self; when, therefore, he
says, 'Know me only', and 'Meditate on me', he really means to teach
that the highest Self, of which his own individual person is the body,
is the proper object of meditation. 'As in the case of Vâmadeva.' As the
Rishi Vâmadeva perceiving that Brahman is the inner Self of all, that
all things constitute its body, and that the meaning of words denoting a
body extends up to the principle embodied, denotes with the word 'I' the
highest Brahman to which he himself stands in the relation of a body,
and then predicates of this 'I' Manu Sûrya and other beings--'Seeing
this the Rishi. Vâmadeva understood, I am Manu, I am Sûrya' (Bri. Up. I,
4, 10). Similarly Prahlâda says, 'As the Infinite one abides within all,
he constitutes my "I" also; all is from me, I am all, within me is all.'
(Vi. Pu. I, 19, 85.) The next Sûtra states, in reply to an objection,
the reason why, in the section under discussion, terms denoting the
individual soul, and others denoting non-sentient things are applied to
Brahman.




32. If it be said (that Brahman is not meant) on account of
characteristic marks of the individual soul and the chief vital air; we
say no, on account of the threefoldness of meditation; on account of
(such threefold meditation) being met (in other texts also); and on
account of (such threefold meditation) being appropriate here (also).

An objection is raised. 'Let none try to find out what speech is, let
him know the speaker'; 'I slew the three-headed son of Tvashtri; I
delivered the Arunmukhas, the devotees, to the wolves'; these passages
state characteristic marks of an individual soul (viz. the god Indra).--
'As long as Prâna dwells in this body, so long there is life'; 'Prâna
alone is the conscious Self, and having laid hold of this body, it makes
it rise up.'--These passages again mention characteristic attributes of
the chief vital air. Hence there is here no 'multitude of attributes
belonging to the Self.'--The latter part of the Sûtra refutes this
objection. The highest Self is called by these different terms in order
to teach threefoldness of devout meditation; viz. meditation on Brahman
in itself as the cause of the entire world; on Brahman as having for its
body the totality of enjoying (individual) souls; and on Brahman as
having for its body the objects and means of enjoyment.--This threefold
meditation on Brahman, moreover, is met with also in other chapters of
the sacred text. Passages such as 'The True, knowledge, infinite is
Brahman,' 'Bliss is Brahman,' dwell on Brahman in itself. Passages again
such as 'Having created that he entered into it. Having entered it he
became _sat_ and _tyat_, defined and undefined,' &c. (Taitt. Up. II, 6),
represent Brahman as having for its body the individual souls and
inanimate nature. Hence, in the chapter under discussion also, this
threefold view of Brahman is quite appropriate. Where to particular
individual beings such as Hiranyagarbha, and so on, or to particular
inanimate things such as prakriti, and so on, there are attributed
qualities especially belonging--to the highest Self; or where with words
denoting such persons and things there are co-ordinated terms denoting
the highest Self, the intention of the texts is to convey the idea of
the highest Self being the inner Self of all such persons and things.--
The settled conclusion, therefore, is that the being designated as Indra
and Prâna is other than an individual soul, viz. the highest Self.




SECOND PÂDA.

THE contents of the first Pâda may be summed up as follows:--It has been
shown that a person who has read the text of the Veda; who further,
through the study of the Karma-Mîmâmsa, has acquired a full knowledge of
the nature of (sacrificial and similar) works, and has recognised that
the fruits of such works are limited and non-permanent; in whom there
has arisen the desire for the highest aim of man, i.e. Release, which,
as he has come to know in the course of reading the Vedânta portions of
scripture, is effected by meditation on the nature of Brahman--such
meditation having an infinite and permanent result; who has convinced
himself that words are capable of conveying information about
accomplished things (not only about things to be done), and has arrived
at the conclusion that the Vedânta-texts are an authoritative means of
knowledge with regard to the highest Brahman;--that such a person, we
say, should begin the study of the Sârîraka-Mîmâmsâ which indicates the
method how Brahman is to be known through the Vedânta-texts.

We next have shown that the text 'That from which these creatures are
born,' &c., conveys the idea of the highest Brahman as that being which
in sport, as it were, creates, sustains, and finally reabsorbs this
entire universe, comprising within itself infinite numbers of variously
constituted animated beings--moving and non-moving--, of objects of
enjoyment for those beings, of means of enjoyment, and of abodes of
enjoyment; and which is the sole cause of all bliss. We have established
that this highest Brahman, which is the sole cause of the world, cannot
be the object of the other means of knowledge, and hence is to be known
through scripture only. We have pointed out that the position of
scripture as an authoritative means of knowledge is established by the
fact that all the Vedânta-texts connectedly refer to the highest Brahman,
which, although not related to any injunctions of action or abstention
from action, by its own essential nature constitutes the highest end of
man. We have proved that Brahman, which the Vedânta-texts teach to be
the sole cause of the world, must be an intelligent principle other than
the non-sentient pradhâna, since Brahman is said to think. We have
declared that this intelligent principle is other than the so-called
individual soul, whether in the state of bondage or that of release;
since the texts describe it as in the enjoyment of supreme bliss, all-
wise, the cause of fear or fearlessness on the part of intelligent
beings, the inner Self of all created things, whether intelligent or non-
intelligent, possessing the power of realising all its purposes, and so
on.--We have maintained that this highest Being has a divine form,
peculiar to itself, not made of the stuff of Prakriti, and not due to
karman.--We have explained that the being which some texts refer to as a
well-known cause of the world--designating it by terms such as ether or
breath, which generally denote a special non-sentient being--is that
same highest Self which is different from all beings, sentient or non-
sentient.--We have declared that, owing to its connexion with heaven,
this same highest Self is to be recognised in what the text calls a
'light,' said to possess supreme splendour, such as forms a special
characteristic of the highest Being. We have stated that, as we
recognise through insight derived from scripture, that same highest
Person is denoted by terms such as Indra, and so on; as the text
ascribes to that 'Indra' qualities exclusively belonging to the highest
Self, such, e.g., as being the cause of the attainment of immortality.--
And the general result arrived at was that the Vedânta-texts help us to
the knowledge of one being only, viz. Brahman, or the highest Person, or
Nârâyana--of whom it is shown that he cannot possibly be the object of
the other means of knowledge, and whom the possession of an unlimited
number of glorious qualities proves to differ totally from all other
beings whatsoever.

Now, although Brahman is the only object of the teaching of the Vedânta-
texts, yet some of these texts might give rise to the notion that they
aim at setting forth (not Brahman), but some particular being comprised
within either the pradhâna or the aggregate of individual souls. The
remaining Pâdas of the first Adhyâya therefore apply themselves to the
task of dispelling this notion and proving that what the texts in
question aim at is to set forth certain glorious qualities of Brahman.
The second Pâda discusses those texts which contain somewhat obscure
references to the individual soul; the third Pâda those which contain
clear references to the same; and the fourth Pâda finally those texts
which appear to contain even clearer intimations of the individual soul,
and so on.




1. Everywhere; because there is taught what is known.

We read in the Chândogya, 'Man is made of thought; according to what his
thought is in this world, so will he be when he has departed this life.
Let him form this thought: he who consists of mind, whose body is breath,
whose form is light,' &c. (III, 14). We here understand that of the
meditation enjoined by the clause 'let him form this thought' the object
is the being said to consist of mind, to have breath for its body, &c. A
doubt, however, arises whether the being possessing these attributes be
the individual soul or the highest Self.--The Pûrvapakshin maintains the
former alternative. For, he says, mind and breath are instruments of the
individual soul; while the text 'without breath, without mind,'
distinctly denies them to the highest Self. Nor can the Brahman
mentioned in a previous clause of the same section ('All this indeed is
Brahman') be connected as an object with the meditation enjoined in the
passage under discussion; for Brahman is there referred to in order to
suggest the idea of its being the Self of all--which idea constitutes a
means for bringing about that calmness of mind which is helpful towards
the act of meditation enjoined in the clause 'Let a man meditate with
calm mind,' &c. Nor, again, can it be said that as the meditation
conveyed by the clause 'let him form this thought' demands an object,
Brahman, although mentioned in another passage, only admits of being
connected with the passage under discussion; for the demand for an
object is fully satisfied by the being made of mind, &c., which is
mentioned in that very passage itself; in order to supply the object we
have merely to change the case-terminations of the words 'manomayah
prânasarîrah,' &c. It having thus been determined that the being made of
mind is the individual soul, we further conclude that the Brahman
mentioned in the concluding passage of the section ('That is Brahman')
is also the individual soul, there called Brahman in order to glorify it.

This primâ facie view is set aside by the Sûtra. The being made of mind
is the highest Self; for the text states certain qualities, such as
being made of mind, &c., which are well known to denote, in all Vedânta-
texts, Brahman only. Passages such as 'He who is made of mind, the guide
of the body of breath' (Mu. Up. II, 2, 7); 'There is the ether within
the heart, and in it there is the Person, consisting of mind, immortal,
golden' (Taitt. Up. I. 6, 1); 'He is conceived by the heart, by wisdom,
by the mind. Those who know him are immortal' (Ka. Up. II, 6, 9); 'He is
not apprehended by the eye nor by speech, but by a purified mind' (Mu.
Up. III, 1, 8); 'The breath of breath' (Bri. Up. IV, 4, 183); 'Breath
alone is the conscious Self, and having laid hold of this body it makes
it rise up' (Kau. Up. III, 3); 'All these beings merge into breath alone,
and from breath they arise' (Ch. Up. I, 11, 5)--these and similar texts
refer to Brahman as consisting of mind, to be apprehended by a purified
mind, having breath for its body, and being the abode and ruler of
breath. This being so, we decide that in the concluding passage, 'my
Self within the heart, that is Brahman,' the word 'Brahman' has to be
taken in its primary sense (and does not denote the individual soul).
The text which declares Brahman to be without mind and breath, merely
means to deny that the thought of Brahman depends on a mind (internal
organ), and that its life depends on breath.

Or else we may interpret the Vedic text and the Sûtra as follows. The
passage 'All this is Brahman; let a man meditate with a calm mind on
this world as originating, ending, and breathing in Brahman,' conveys
the imagination of meditation on Brahman as the Self of all. The
subsequent clause 'Let him form the thought,' &c., forms an additional
statement to that injunction, the purport of which is to suggest certain
attributes of Brahman, such as being made of mind. So that the meaning
of the whole section is 'Let a man meditate on Brahman, which is made of
mind, has breath for its body, &c., as the Self of the whole world.'--
Here a doubt presents itself. Does the term 'Brahman' in this section
denote the individual soul or the highest Self?--The individual soul,
the Pûrvapakshin maintains, for that only admits of being exhibited in
co-ordination with the word 'all.' For the word 'all' denotes the entire
world from Brahmâ down to a blade of grass; and the existence of Brahmâ
and other individual beings is determined by special forms of karman,
the root of which is the beginningless Nescience of the individual soul.
The highest Brahman, on the other hand, which is all-knowing, all-
powerful, free from all evil and all shadow of Nescience and similar
imperfections, cannot possibly exist as the 'All' which comprises within
itself everything that is bad. Moreover we find that occasionally the
term 'Brahman' is applied to the individual soul also; just as the
highest Lord (paramesvara) may be called 'the highest Self' (paramâtman)
or 'the highest Brahman.' That 'greatness' (brihattva; which is the
essential characteristic of 'brahman') belongs to the individual soul
when it has freed itself from its limiting conditions, is moreover
attested by scripture: 'That (soul) is fit for infinity' (Svet. Up. V,
9). And as the soul's Nescience is due to karman (only), the text may
very well designate it--as it does by means of the term 'tajjalân'--as
the cause of the origin, subsistence, and reabsorption of the world.
That is to say--the individual soul which, in its essential nature, is
non-limited, and therefore of the nature of Brahman, owing to the
influence of Nescience enters into the state of a god, or a man, or an
animal, or a plant.

This view is rejected by the Sûtra. 'Everywhere,' i.e. in the whole
world which is referred to in the clause 'All this is Brahman' we have
to understand the highest Brahman--which the term 'Brahman' denotes as
the Self of the world--, and not the individual soul; 'because there is
taught what is known,' i.e. because the clause 'All this is Brahman'--
for which clause the term 'tajjalân' supplies the reason--refers to
Brahman as something generally known. Since the world springs from
Brahman, is merged in Brahman, and depends on Brahman for its life,
therefore--as the text says--'All this has its Self in Brahman'; and
this shows to us that what the text understands by Brahman is that being
from which, as generally known from the Vedânta texts, there proceed the
creation, and so on, of the world. That the highest Brahman only, all-
wise and supremely blessed, is the cause of the origin, &c., of the
world, is declared in the section which begins. 'That from which these
beings are born,' &c., and which says further on, 'he knew that Bliss is
Brahman, for from bliss these beings are born' (Taitt. Up. III, 6); and
analogously the text 'He is the cause, the lord of lords of the organs,'
&c. (Svet. Up. VI, 9), declares the highest Brahman to be the cause of
the individual soul. Everywhere, in fact, the texts proclaim the
causality of the highest Self only. As thus the world which springs from
Brahman, is merged in it, and breathes through it, has its Self in
Brahman, the identity of the two may properly be asserted; and hence the
text--the meaning of which is 'Let a man meditate with calm mind on the
highest Brahman of which the world is a mode, which has the world for
its body, and which is the Self of the world'--first proves Brahman's
being the universal Self, and then enjoins meditation on it. The highest
Brahman, in its causal condition as well as in its so-called 'effected'
state, constitutes the Self of the world, for in the former it has for
its body all sentient and non-sentient beings in their subtle form, and
in the latter the same beings in their gross condition. Nor is there any
contradiction between such identity with the world on Brahman's part,
and the fact that Brahman treasures within itself glorious qualities
antagonistic to all evil; for the imperfections adhering to the bodies,
which are mere modes of Brahman, do not affect Brahman itself to which
the modes belong. Such identity rather proves for Brahman supreme lordly
power, and thus adds to its excellences. Nor, again, can it rightly be
maintained that of the individual soul also identity with the world can
be predicated; for the souls being separate according to the bodies with
which they are joined cannot be identical with each other. Even in the
state of release, when the individual soul is not in any way limited, it
does not possess that identity with the world on which there depends
causality with regard to the world's creation, sustentation, and
reabsorption; as will be declared in Sûtra IV, 4, 17. Nor, finally, does
the Pûrvapakshin improve his case by contending that the individual soul
may be the cause of the creation, &c., of the world because it (viz. the
soul) is due to karman; for although the fact given as reason is true,
all the same the Lord alone is the cause of the Universe.--All this
proves that the being to which the text refers as Brahman is none other
than the highest Self.

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