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
Now all these slokas do not contain a single word supporting the
doctrine of a Brahman free from all difference; of a principle called
Nescience abiding within Brahman and to be defined neither as that which
is nor as that which is not; and of the world being wrongly imagined,
owing to Nescience. The expressions 'that which is' and 'that which is
not' (sl 35), and 'satya' (true) and 'asatya' (untrue; sl 45), can in no
way denote something not to be defined either as being or non-being. By
'that which is not' or 'which is untrue,' we have to understand not what
is undefinable, but that which has no true being, in so far as it is
changeable and perishable. Of this character is all non-intelligent
matter. This also appears from the instance adduced in sl 42: the jar is
something perishable, but not a thing devoid of proof or to be sublated
by true knowledge. 'Non-being' we may call it, in so far as while it is
observed at a certain moment in a certain form it is at some other
moment observed in a different condition. But there is no contradiction
between two different conditions of a thing which are perceived at
different times; and hence there is no reason to call it something
futile (tuchcha) or false (mithyâ), &c.
Scripture does not teach that Release is due to the knowledge of a non-
qualified Brahman.--the meaning of 'tat tvam asi.'
Nor can we admit the assertion that Scripture teaches the cessation of
avidyâ to spring only from the cognition of a Brahman devoid of all
difference. Such a view is clearly negatived by passages such as the
following: 'I know that great person of sun-like lustre beyond darkness;
knowing him a man becomes immortal, there is no other path to go' (Svet.
Up. III, 8); 'All moments sprang from lightning, the Person--none is
lord over him, his name is great glory--they who know him become
immortal' (Mahânâ. Up. I, 8-11). For the reason that Brahman is
characterised by difference all Vedic texts declare that final release
results from the cognition of a qualified Brahman. And that even those
texts which describe Brahman by means of negations really aim at setting
forth a Brahman possessing attributes, we have already shown above.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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