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
Here the doubt arises whether the mind (buddhi) and the individual soul
are referred to, or the individual soul and the highest Self. If the
mind and the individual soul, then the individual soul is here spoken of
as different from the aggregate of the organs of action, (i.e. the
body,) among which the mind occupies the first place. And a statement on
this point is to be expected, as a question concerning it is asked in a
preceding passage, viz. I, 1, 20, 'There is that doubt when a man is
dead--some saying he is; others, he is not. This I should like to know
taught by thee; this is the third of my boons.' If, on the other hand,
the passage refers to the individual soul and the highest Self, then it
intimates that the highest Self is different from the individual soul;
and this also requires to be declared here, on account of the question
contained in the passage (I, 2, 14), 'That which thou seest as different
from religious duty and its contrary, from effect and cause, from the
past and the future, tell me that.'
The doubt to which the passage gives rise having thus been stated, a
caviller starts the following objection: neither of the stated views can
be maintained.--Why?--On account of the characteristic mark implied in
the circumstance that the two are said to drink, i.e. to enjoy, the
fruit of their works in the world. For this can apply to the intelligent
individual soul only, not to the non-intelligent buddhi. And as the dual
form 'drinking' (pibantau) shows that both are drinking, the view of the
two being the buddhi and the individual soul is not tenable. For the
same reason the other opinion also, viz. of the two being the individual
soul and the highest Self, cannot be maintained; for drinking (i.e. the
fruition of reward) cannot be predicated of the highest Self, on account
of the mantra (Mu. Up. III, 1, 1), 'The other looks on without eating.'
These objections, we reply, are without any force. Just as we see that
in phrases such as 'the men with the umbrella (lit. the umbrella-men)
are walking,' the attribute of being furnished with an umbrella which
properly speaking belongs to one man only is secondarily ascribed to
many, so here two agents are spoken of as drinking because one of them
is really drinking. Or else we may explain the passage by saying that,
while the individual soul only drinks, the Lord also is said to drink
because he makes the soul drink. On the other hand, we may also assume
that the two are the buddhi and the individual soul, the instrument
being figuratively spoken of as the agent--a figure of speech
exemplified by phrases such as 'the fuel cooks (the food).' And in a
chapter whose topic is the soul no two other beings can well be
represented as enjoying rewards. Hence there is room for the doubt
whether the two are the buddhi and the individual soul, or the
individual soul and the highest Self.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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