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
An objection is raised. 'Let none try to find out what speech is, let
him know the speaker'; 'I slew the three-headed son of Tvashtri; I
delivered the Arunmukhas, the devotees, to the wolves'; these passages
state characteristic marks of an individual soul (viz. the god Indra).--
'As long as Prâna dwells in this body, so long there is life'; 'Prâna
alone is the conscious Self, and having laid hold of this body, it makes
it rise up.'--These passages again mention characteristic attributes of
the chief vital air. Hence there is here no 'multitude of attributes
belonging to the Self.'--The latter part of the Sûtra refutes this
objection. The highest Self is called by these different terms in order
to teach threefoldness of devout meditation; viz. meditation on Brahman
in itself as the cause of the entire world; on Brahman as having for its
body the totality of enjoying (individual) souls; and on Brahman as
having for its body the objects and means of enjoyment.--This threefold
meditation on Brahman, moreover, is met with also in other chapters of
the sacred text. Passages such as 'The True, knowledge, infinite is
Brahman,' 'Bliss is Brahman,' dwell on Brahman in itself. Passages again
such as 'Having created that he entered into it. Having entered it he
became _sat_ and _tyat_, defined and undefined,' &c. (Taitt. Up. II, 6),
represent Brahman as having for its body the individual souls and
inanimate nature. Hence, in the chapter under discussion also, this
threefold view of Brahman is quite appropriate. Where to particular
individual beings such as Hiranyagarbha, and so on, or to particular
inanimate things such as prakriti, and so on, there are attributed
qualities especially belonging--to the highest Self; or where with words
denoting such persons and things there are co-ordinated terms denoting
the highest Self, the intention of the texts is to convey the idea of
the highest Self being the inner Self of all such persons and things.--
The settled conclusion, therefore, is that the being designated as Indra
and Prâna is other than an individual soul, viz. the highest Self.
SECOND PÂDA.
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