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
To this reasoning the Sutra replies, 'The one within, on account of his
qualities being declared.' The person referred to in the passages
concerning the person within the sun and the person within the eye is
not a transmigrating being, but the highest Lord. Why? Because his
qualities are declared. For the qualities of the highest Lord are
indicated in the text as follows. At first the name of the person within
the sun is mentioned--'his name is Ut'--and then this name is explained
on the ground of that person being free from all evil, 'He has risen
above all evil.' The same name thus explained is then transferred to the
person in the eye, in the clause, 'the name of the one is the name of
the other.' Now, entire freedom from sin is attributed in Scripture to
the highest Self only; so, for instance (Ch. Up. VIII, 7, 1), 'The Self
which is free from sin,' &c. Then, again, there is the passage, 'He is
/Ri/k, he is Saman, Uktha, Yajus, Brahman,' which declares the person in
the eye to be the Self of the /Ri/k, Saman, and so on; which is possible
only if that person is the Lord who, as being the cause of all, is to be
considered as the Self of all. Moreover, the text, after having stated
in succession /Ri/k and Saman to have earth and fire for their Self with
reference to the Devas, and, again, speech and breath with reference to
the body, continues, '/Ri/k and Saman are his joints,' with reference to
the Devas, and 'the joints of the one are the joints of the other,' with
reference to the body. Now this statement also can be made only with
regard to that which is the Self of all. Further, the passage,
'Therefore all who sing to the Vina sing him, and from him also they
obtain wealth,' shows that the being spoken of is the sole topic of all
worldly songs; which again holds true of the highest Lord only. That
absolute command over the objects of worldly desires (as displayed, for
instance, in the bestowal of wealth) entitles us to infer that the Lord
is meant, appears also from the following passage of the Bhagavad-gita
(X, 41), 'Whatever being there is possessing power, glory, or strength,
know it to be produced from a portion of my energy[116].' To the
objection that the statements about bodily shape contained in the
clauses, 'With a beard bright as gold,' &c., cannot refer to the highest
Lord, we reply that the highest Lord also may, when he pleases, assume a
bodily shape formed of Maya, in order to gratify thereby his devout
worshippers. Thus Sm/ri/ti also says, 'That thou seest me, O Narada, is
the Maya emitted by me; do not then look on me as endowed with the
qualities of all beings.' We have further to note that expressions such
as, 'That which is without sound, without touch, without form, without
decay,' are made use of where instruction is given about the nature of
the highest Lord in so far as he is devoid of all qualities; while
passages such as the following one, 'He to whom belong all works, all
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