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 view is set aside by the Sûtra. The Ruler within, who is spoken of
in the clauses marked in the text by the terms 'with respect of the gods,'
'with respect of the worlds,' &c., is the highest Self free from all
evil, Nârâyana. The Sûtra purposely joins the two terms 'with respect to
the gods' and 'with respect to the worlds' in order to intimate that, in
addition to the clauses referring to the gods and beings (bhûta)
exhibited by the Kânva-text, the Mâdhyandina-text contains additional
clauses referring to the worlds, Vedas, &c. The inward Ruler spoken of
in both these sets of passages is the highest Self; for attributes of
that Self are declared in the text. For it is a clear attribute of the
highest Self that being one only it rules all worlds, all Vedas, all
divine beings, and so on. Uddâlaka asks, 'Dost thou know that Ruler
within who within rules this world and the other world and all beings?
&c.--tell now that Ruler within'; and Yâjñavalkya replies with the long
passus, 'He who dwells in the earth,' &c., describing the Ruler within
as him who, abiding within all worlds, all beings, all divinities, all
Vedas, and all sacrifices, rules them from within and constitutes their
Self, they in turn constituting his body. Now this is a position which
can belong to none else but the highest Person, who is all-knowing, and
all whose purposes immediately realise themselves. That it is the
highest Self only which rules over all and is the Self of all, other
Upanishad-texts also declare; cp. e.g. 'Entered within, the ruler of
creatures, the Self of all'; 'Having sent forth this he entered into it.
Having entered it he became sat and tyat,' &c. (Taitt. Up. II, 6).
Similarly the text from the Subâla-Up., which begins, 'there was not
anything here in the beginning,' and extends up to 'the one God,
Nârâyana,' shows that it is the highest Brahman only which rules all, is
the Self of all, and has all beings for its body. Moreover, essential
immortality (which the text ascribes to the Ruler within) is an
attribute of the highest Self only.--Nor must it be thought that the
power of seeing and so on that belongs to the highest Self is dependent
on sense-organs; it rather results immediately from its essential
nature, since its omniscience and power to realise its purposes are due
to its own being only. In agreement herewith scripture says, 'He sees
without eyes, he hears without ears, without hands and feet he grasps
and hastes' (Svet. Up. III, 19). What terms such as 'seeing' and
'hearing' really denote is not knowledge in so far as produced by the
eye and ear, but the intuitive presentation of colour and sound. In the
case of the individual soul, whose essentially intelligising nature is
obscured by karman, such intuitive knowledge arises only through the
mediation of the sense-organs; in the case of the highest Self, on the
other hand, it springs from its own nature.--Again, the clause 'there is
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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