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
This primâ facie view is set aside by the Sûtra. The being made of mind
is the highest Self; for the text states certain qualities, such as
being made of mind, &c., which are well known to denote, in all Vedânta-
texts, Brahman only. Passages such as 'He who is made of mind, the guide
of the body of breath' (Mu. Up. II, 2, 7); 'There is the ether within
the heart, and in it there is the Person, consisting of mind, immortal,
golden' (Taitt. Up. I. 6, 1); 'He is conceived by the heart, by wisdom,
by the mind. Those who know him are immortal' (Ka. Up. II, 6, 9); 'He is
not apprehended by the eye nor by speech, but by a purified mind' (Mu.
Up. III, 1, 8); 'The breath of breath' (Bri. Up. IV, 4, 183); 'Breath
alone is the conscious Self, and having laid hold of this body it makes
it rise up' (Kau. Up. III, 3); 'All these beings merge into breath alone,
and from breath they arise' (Ch. Up. I, 11, 5)--these and similar texts
refer to Brahman as consisting of mind, to be apprehended by a purified
mind, having breath for its body, and being the abode and ruler of
breath. This being so, we decide that in the concluding passage, 'my
Self within the heart, that is Brahman,' the word 'Brahman' has to be
taken in its primary sense (and does not denote the individual soul).
The text which declares Brahman to be without mind and breath, merely
means to deny that the thought of Brahman depends on a mind (internal
organ), and that its life depends on breath.
Or else we may interpret the Vedic text and the Sûtra as follows. The
passage 'All this is Brahman; let a man meditate with a calm mind on
this world as originating, ending, and breathing in Brahman,' conveys
the imagination of meditation on Brahman as the Self of all. The
subsequent clause 'Let him form the thought,' &c., forms an additional
statement to that injunction, the purport of which is to suggest certain
attributes of Brahman, such as being made of mind. So that the meaning
of the whole section is 'Let a man meditate on Brahman, which is made of
mind, has breath for its body, &c., as the Self of the whole world.'--
Here a doubt presents itself. Does the term 'Brahman' in this section
denote the individual soul or the highest Self?--The individual soul,
the Pûrvapakshin maintains, for that only admits of being exhibited in
co-ordination with the word 'all.' For the word 'all' denotes the entire
world from Brahmâ down to a blade of grass; and the existence of Brahmâ
and other individual beings is determined by special forms of karman,
the root of which is the beginningless Nescience of the individual soul.
The highest Brahman, on the other hand, which is all-knowing, all-
powerful, free from all evil and all shadow of Nescience and similar
imperfections, cannot possibly exist as the 'All' which comprises within
itself everything that is bad. Moreover we find that occasionally the
term 'Brahman' is applied to the individual soul also; just as the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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