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
Svetaketu, who is desirous of final release, is at first--by means of
the clause 'Thou art that'--instructed to meditate on himself as having
his Self in that which truly is; and thereupon the passage 'for him
there is delay' only as long as 'I shall not be released, then I shall
be united' teaches that for a man taking his stand upon that teaching
there will be Release, i.e. union with Brahman--which is delayed only
until this mortal body falls away. If, on the other hand, the text would
teach that the non-intelligent Pradhâna is the general cause, it could
not possibly teach that meditation on this Pradhâna being a man's Self
is the means towards his Release. A man taking his stand on such
meditation rather would on death be united with a non-sentient principle,
according to the scriptural saying, 'According as his thought is in this
world, so will he be when he has departed this life' (Ch. Up. III, 14,
1). And Scripture, which is more loving than even a thousand parents,
cannot possibly teach such union with the Non-sentient, which is
acknowledged to be the cause of all the assaults of suffering in its
threefold form. Moreover, those who hold the theory of the Pradhâna
being the cause of the world do not themselves maintain that he who
takes his stand upon the Pradhâna attains final release.
The Pradhâna is not the cause of the world for the following reason also:
8. And because there is no statement of its having to be set aside.
If the word 'Sat' denoted the Pradhâna as the cause of the world, we
should expect the text to teach that the idea of having his Self in that
'Sat' should be set aside by Svetaketu as desirous of Release; for that
idea would be contrary to Release. So far from teaching this, the text,
however, directly inculcates that notion in the words 'Thou art that.'--
The next Sûtra adds a further reason.
9. And on account of the contradiction of the initial statement.
The Pradhâna's being the cause of the world would imply a contradiction
of the initial statement, viz. that through the knowledge of one thing
all things are to be known. Now, on the principle of the non-difference
of cause and effect, this initial statement can only be fulfilled in
that way that through the knowledge of the 'Sat', which is the cause,
there is known the entire world, whether sentient or non-sentient, which
constitutes the effect. But if the Pradhâna were the cause, the
aggregate of sentient beings could not be known through it--for sentient
beings are not the effect of a non-sentient principle, and there would
thus arise a contradiction.--The next Sûtra supplies a further reason.
10. On account of (the individual soul) going to the Self.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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