The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Ramanuja: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 48 — John Shaqi
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
(According to the principle of the oneness of purport of the different
sâkhâs) all these texts must be viewed as agreeing in meaning with the
injunction of meditation contained in the passage quoted from the Bri.
Up.; and what they enjoin is therefore meditation. In the first and
second passages quoted, the words 'having known' and 'having searched
out' (vijñâya; anuvidya) contain a mere reference to (not injunction of)
the apprehension of the meaning of texts, such apprehension subserving
meditation; while the injunction of meditation (which is the true
purport of the passages) is conveyed by the clauses 'let him practise
meditation' (prajñâm kurvîta) and 'he knows it.' In the same way the
clause 'the Self is to be heard' is a mere anuvâda, i.e. a mere
reference to what is already established by other means; for a person
who has read the Veda observes that it contains instruction about
matters connected with certain definite purposes, and then on his own
account applies himself to methodical 'hearing,' in order definitely to
ascertain these matters; 'hearing' thus is established already. In the
same way the clause 'the Self is to be reflected upon' is a mere anuvâda
of reflection which is known as a means of confirming what one has
'heard.' It is therefore meditation only which all those texts enjoin.
In agreement with this a later Sûtra also says, 'Repetition more than
once, on account of instruction' (Ve. Sû. IV, I, I). That the knowledge
intended to be enjoined as the means of final release is of the nature
of meditation, we conclude from the circumstance that the terms
'knowing' and'meditating' are seen to be used in place of each other in
the earlier and later parts of Vedic texts. Compare the following
passages: 'Let a man meditate on mind as Brahman,' and 'he who knows
this shines and warms through his celebrity, fame, and glory of
countenance' (Ch. Up. III, 18, 1; 6). And 'He does not know him, for he
is not complete,' and 'Let men meditate on him as the Self (Bri. Up. I,
4, 7). And 'He who knows what he knows,' and 'Teach me the deity on
which you meditate' (Ch. Up. IV, 1, 6; 2, 2).
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