Brahma-Sūtra 1.4.13

English of translation of Brahmasutra 1.4.13 by Roma Bose:

“(The number five is to be completed) by light, food being non-present (i.e. not mentioned) (in the tent) of some.”

Nimbārka’s commentary (Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha):

“Food being non-present (i.e. non-mentioned)”, on the other hand, in the complementary passage of the Kāṇvas^[1], the number five is to be completed “by light”, mentioned in the beginning.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

Apprehending the objection, viz. Let the vital-breath and the rest, five in number, be the ‘five-people’ on the ground of the complementary passage, subsequent to the sacred text about the ‘five-people’ in the Mādhyandina branch. In the Kāṇva branch, too, there is a text about the ‘five-people’. There the word ‘food’ is not found in the complementary passage. Hence, how can the number five be completed here?—the author replies here.

It has been said that the Mādhyandinas complete the number five by means of food. But “there being the absence or non-mention of food” in the reading “of some”, i.e, of the Kāṇvas, the number five is completed “by light”, mentioned in the introductory passage; ‘That the gods worship as the light of lights’ (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 4.4.16),—this is the sense. Hence, it is established that pradhāna, devoid of any connection with Brahman, is not an object to be known from Scripture.

Here ends the section entitled ‘The collection of number’ (3).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Viz. Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 4.4.18, which omits ‘annasya annam’.