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
no other seer but he' means that there is no seer other than the seer
and ruler described in the preceding clauses. To explain. The clauses
'whom the earth does not know,' &c., up to 'whom the Self does not know'
mean to say that the Ruler within rules without being perceived by the
earth, Self, and the other beings which he rules. This is confirmed by
the subsequent clauses, 'unseen but a seer', 'unheard but a hearer,' &c.
And the next clauses, 'there is no other seer but he,' &c., then mean to
negative that there is any other being which could be viewed as the
ruler of that Ruler. Moreover, the clauses 'that is the Self of thee,'
'He is the Self of thee' exhibit the individual Self in the genitive
form ('of thee'), and thus distinguish it from the Ruler within, who is
declared to be their Self.
20. And not that which Smriti assumes, on account of the declaration of
qualities not belonging to that; nor the embodied one.
'That which Smriti assumes' is the Pradhâna; the 'embodied one' is the
individual soul. Neither of these can be the Ruler within, since the
text states attributes which cannot possibly belong to either. For there
is not even the shadow of a possibility that essential capability of
seeing and ruling all things, and being the Self of all, and immortality
should belong either to the non-sentient Pradhâna or to the individual
soul.--The last two Sûtras have declared that the mentioned qualities
belong to the highest Self, while they do not belong to the individual
soul. The next Sûtra supplies a new, independent argument.
21. For both also speak of it as something different.
Both, i.e. the Mâdhyandinas as well as the Kânvas, distinguish in their
texts the embodied soul, together with speech and other non-intelligent
things, from the Ruler within, representing it as an object of his rule.
The Mâdhyandinas read, 'He who dwells in the Self, whom the Self does
not know,' &c.; the Kânvas, 'He who dwells within understanding', &c.
The declaration of the individual Self being ruled by the Ruler within
implies of course the declaration of the former being different from the
latter.
The conclusion from all this is that the Ruler within is a being
different from the individual soul, viz. the highest Self free from all
evil, Nârâyana.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'the internal Ruler'.
22. That which possesses the qualities of invisibility, &c., on account
of the declaration of attributes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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