The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1
Religion
The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya: Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1
Vedanta
consisting of bliss also is a different one in each body. Brahman, on
the other hand, does not differ according to bodies; for the mantra at
the beginning of the chapter declares it to be true Being, knowledge,
infinite, and another passage says, 'He is the one God, hidden in all
beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings' (/S/v. Up. VI, 11).
Nor, again, does Scripture exhibit a frequent repetition of the word
'anandamaya;' for merely the radical part of the compound (i.e. the word
ananda without the affix maya) is repeated in all the following
passages; 'It is a flavour, for only after seizing flavour can any one
seize bliss. Who could breathe, who could breathe forth, if that bliss
existed not in the ether? For he alone causes blessedness;' 'Now this is
an examination of bliss;' 'He who knows the bliss of that Brahman fears
nothing;' 'He understood that bliss is Brahman.' If it were a settled
matter that Brahman is denoted by the term, 'the Self consisting of
bliss,' then we could assume that in the subsequent passages, where
merely the word 'bliss' is employed, the term 'consisting of bliss' is
meant to be repeated; but that the Self consisting of bliss is not
Brahman, we have already proved by means of the reason of joy being its
head, and so on. Hence, as in another scriptural passage, viz. 'Brahman
is knowledge and bliss' (B/ri/. Up. III, 9, 28), the mere word 'bliss'
denotes Brahman, we must conclude that also in such passages as, 'If
that bliss existed not in the ether,' the word bliss is used with
reference to Brahman, and is not meant to repeat the term 'consisting of
bliss.' The repetition of the full compound, 'consisting of bliss,'
which occurs in the passage, 'He reaches that Self consisting of bliss'
(Taitt. Up. II, 8), does not refer to Brahman, as it is contained in the
enumeration of Non-Selfs, comprising the Self of food, &c., all of which
are mere effects, and all of which are represented as things to be
reached.--But, it may be said, if the Self consisting of bliss, which is
said to have to be reached, were not Brahman--just as the Selfs
consisting of food, &c. are not Brahman--then it would not be declared
(in the passage immediately following) that he who knows obtains for his
reward Brahman.--This objection we invalidate by the remark that the
text makes its declaration as to Brahman--which is the tail, the
support--being reached by him who knows, by the very means of the
declaration as to the attainment of the Self of bliss; as appears from
the passage, 'On this there is also this /s/loka, from which all speech
returns,' &c. With reference, again, to the passage, 'He desired: may I
be many, may I grow forth,' which is found in proximity to the mention
of the Self consisting of bliss, we remark that it is in reality
connected (not with the Self of bliss but with) Brahman, which is
mentioned in the still nearer passage, 'Brahman is the tail, the
support,' and does therefore not intimate that the Self of bliss is
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