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
The attributes of consisting of mind, and so on, cannot belong to the
embodied Self for that reason also, that there is a (separate)
denotation of the object of activity and of the agent. In the passage,
'When I shall have departed from hence I shall obtain him' (Ch. Up. III,
14, 4), the word 'him' refers to that which is the topic of discussion,
viz. the Self which is to be meditated upon as possessing the attributes
of consisting of mind, &c., as the object of an activity, viz. as
something to be obtained; while the words, 'I shall obtain,' represent
the meditating individual Self as the agent, i.e. the obtainer. Now,
wherever it can be helped, we must not assume that one and the same
being is spoken of as the agent and the object of the activity at the
same time. The relation existing between a person meditating and the
thing meditated upon requires, moreover, different abodes.--And thus for
the above reason, also, that which is characterised by the attributes of
consisting of mind, and so on, cannot be the individual soul.
5. On account of the difference of words.
That which possesses the attributes of consisting of mind, and so on,
cannot be the individual soul, for that reason also that there is a
difference of words.
That is to say, we meet with another scriptural passage of kindred
subject-matter (/S/at. Bra. X, 6, 3, 2), 'Like a rice grain, or a barley
grain, or a canary seed or the kernel of a canary seed, thus that golden
person is in the Self.' There one word, i.e. the locative 'in the Self,'
denotes the embodied Self, and a different word, viz. the nominative
'person,' denotes the Self distinguished by the qualities of consisting
of mind, &c. We therefrom conclude that the two are different.
6. And on account of Sm/ri/ti.
Sm/ri/ti also declares the difference of the embodied Self and the
highest Self, viz. Bha. Gita XVIII, 61, 'The Lord, O Arjuna, is seated
in the heart of all beings, driving round by his magical power all
beings (as if they were) mounted on a machine.'
But what, it may be asked, is that so-called embodied Self different
from the highest Self which is to be set aside according to the
preceding Sutras? /S/ruti passages, as well as Sm/ri/ti, expressly deny
that there is any Self apart from the highest Self; compare, for
instance, B/ri/. Up. III, 7, 23, 'There is no other seer but he; there
is no other hearer but he;' and Bha. Gita XIII, 2, 'And know me also, O
Bharata, to be the kshetiaj/n/a in all kshetras.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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