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
its Self in Brahman--there takes place an evolution, infinite in extent,
of all their particular names and forms; and that everything different
from Brahman has its root and abode in that, is moved by that, lives by
that, rests on that. All the different points--to be learned from
Scripture only--which are here set forth agree with what numerous other
scriptural texts teach about Brahman, viz. that it is free from all
evil, devoid of all imperfection, all-knowing, all-powerful; that all
its wishes and purposes realise themselves; that it is the cause of all
bliss; that it enjoys bliss not to be surpassed. To maintain then that
the word 'that,' which refers back to the Brahman mentioned before, i.e.
a Brahman possessing infinite attributes, should aim at conveying
instruction about a substance devoid of all attributes, is as unmeaning
as the incoherent talk of a madman.
The word 'thou' again denotes the individual soul as distinguished by
its implication in the course of transmigratory existence, and the
proper sense of this term also would have to be abandoned if it were
meant to suggest a substance devoid of all distinctions. And that, in
the case of a being consisting of non-differenced light, obscuration by
Nescience would be tantamount to complete destruction, we have already
explained above.--All this being thus, your interpretation would involve
that the proper meaning of the two words 'that' and 'thou'--which refer
to one thing--would have to be abandoned, and both words would have to
be taken in an implied sense only.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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