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
To this primâ facie view the Sûtra replies that the object of seeing is
He, i.e. the highest Self, on account of designation. The text clearly
designates the object of seeing as the highest Self. For the concluding
sloka, which refers to that object of seeing, declares that 'by means of
the Omkâra he who knows reaches that which is tranquil, free from decay,
immortal, fearless, the highest'--all which attributes properly belong
to the highest Self only, as we know from texts such as 'that is the
Immortal, that is the fearless, that is Brahman' (Ch. Up. IV, 15, i).
The qualification expressed in the clause 'etasmâj_ _jîva.--ghanât,' &c.
may also refer to the highest Self only, not to Brahmâ Katurmukha; for
the latter is himself comprehended by the term 'jîvaghana.' For that
term denotes all souls which are embodied owing to karman; and that
Katurmukha is one of those we know from texts such as 'He who first
creates Brahmâ' (Svet. Up. VI, 18). Nor is there any strength in the
argument that, since the Brahma-world mentioned in the text is known to
be the world of Katurmukha, as it follows next on the world of the
atmosphere, the being abiding there must needs be Katurmukha. We rather
argue as follows--as from the concluding clause 'that which is tranquil,
free from decay,' &c., we ascertain that the object of intuition is the
highest Brahman, the Brahma-world spoken of as the abode of the seeing
devotee cannot be the perishable world of Brahmâ Katurmukha. A further
reason for this conclusion is supplied by what the text says about 'him
who is freed from all evil being led up by the Sâman verses to the world
of Brahman'; for the place reached by him who is freed from all evil
cannot be the mere abode of Katurmukha. Hence also the concluding sloka
says with reference to that Brahma-world 'that which the wise teach':
what the wise see and teach is the abode of the highest, of Vishnu; cp.
the text 'the wise ever see that highest abode of Vishnu.' Nor is it
even strictly true that the world of Brahmâ follows on the atmosphere,
for the svarga-world and several others lie between the two.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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