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
Brahman thus being the Self with regard to the whole universe of matter
and souls, the universe inclusive of intelligent souls is the body of
Brahman.--Other scriptural texts teach the same doctrine; cp. 'Entered
within, the ruler of beings, the Self of all' (Taitt. Âr. III, 24);'He
who dwelling in the earth is within the earth--whose body is the earth,'
& c., up to 'he who dwelling within the Self is within the Self, whom
the Self does not know, of whom the Self is the body, who rules the Self
from within, he is thy Self, the Ruler within, the Immortal' (Bri. Up.
III, 7, 3-22; Mâdhyand. Sâ.); 'He who moves within the earth, of whom
the earth is the body, &c.--who moves within the Imperishable, of whom
the Imperishable is the body, whom the Imperishable does not know; he
the inward ruler of all beings, free from evil, the divine, the one god,
Nârayana' (Subâ. Up. VII). All these texts declare that the world
inclusive of intelligent souls is the body of the highest Self, and the
latter the Self of everything. Hence those words also that denote
intelligent souls designate the highest Self as having intelligent souls
for his body and constituting the Self of them; in the same way as words
denoting non-sentient masses of matter, such as the bodies of gods, men,
& c., designate the individual souls to which those bodies belong. For
the body stands towards the embodied soul in the relation of a mode
(prakâra); and as words denoting a mode accomplish their full function
only in denoting the thing to which the mode belongs, we must admit an
analogous comprehensiveness of meaning for those words which denote a
body. For, when a thing is apprehended under the form 'this is such,'
the element apprehended as 'such' is what constitutes a mode; now as
this element is relative to the thing, the idea of it is also relative
to the thing, and finds its accomplishment in the thing only; hence the
word also which expresses the mode finds its accomplishment in the
thing. Hence words such as 'cow', 'horse', 'man', which denote a mode,
viz. a species, comprise in their meaning also that mass of matter which
exhibits the characteristics of the species, and as that mass of matter
constitutes the body and therefore is a mode of a soul, and as that soul
again, so embodied, is a mode of the highest Self; it follows that all
these words extend in their signification up to the highest Self. The
meaning of all words then is the highest Self, and hence their co-
ordination with words directly denoting that highest Self is a primary
(not merely 'implied') one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account