The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48
Religion
The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48
Vedanta
in it--, therefore all non-intelligent things, bodies human and divine,
hills, oceans, &c., spring from his knowledge, i.e. have their root in
the actions springing from the volitions of men, gods, &c., in whose
various forms the fundamental intelligence manifests itself. And since
non-intelligent matter is subject to changes corresponding to the
actions of the individual souls, it may be called 'non-being,' while the
souls are 'being.'--This the next sloka further explains 'when knowledge
is pure,' &c. The meaning is 'when the works which are the cause of the
distinction of things are destroyed, then all the distinctions of bodies,
human or divine, hills, oceans, &c.--all which are objects of fruition
for the different individual souls--pass away.' Non-intelligent matter,
as entering into various states of a non-permanent nature, is called
'non-being'; while souls, the nature of which consists in permanent
knowledge, are called 'being.' On this difference the next sloka insists
(41). We say 'it is' of that thing which is of a permanently uniform
nature, not connected with the idea of beginning, middle and end, and
which hence never becomes the object of the notion of non-existence;
while we say 'it is not' of non-intelligent matter which constantly
passes over into different states, each later state being out of
connexion with the earlier state. The constant changes to which non-
intelligent matter is liable are illustrated in the next sloka, 'Earth
is made into a jar,' &c. And for this reason, the subsequent sloka goes
on to say that there _is_ nothing but knowledge. This fundamental
knowledge or intelligence is, however, variously connected with manifold
individual forms of being due to karman, and hence the text adds: 'The
one intelligence is in many ways connected with beings whose minds
differ, owing to the difference of their own acts' (sl 43, second half).
Intelligence, pure, free from stain and grief, &c., which constitutes
the intelligent element of the world, and unintelligent matter--these
two together constitute the world, and the world is the body of Vâsudeva;
such is the purport of sloka 44.--The next sloka sums up the whole
doctrine; the words 'true and untrue' there denote what in the preceding
verses had been called 'being' and 'non-being'; the second half of the
sloka refers to the practical plurality of the world as due to karman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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