Brahma Sutras (Shankara Bhashya)
by Swami Vireshwarananda | 1936 | 124,571 words | ISBN-10: 8175050063
This is the English translation of the Brahma-sutras including the commentary (Bhashya) of Shankara. The Brahma-sutra (or, Vedanta-sutra) is one of the three canonical texts of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy and represents an early exposition the Vedantic interpretation of the Upanishads. This edition has the original Sanskrit text, the r...
Chapter I, Section I, Adhikarana III
Adhikarana summary: Brahman cognisable only through the scriptures
Brahma-Sutra 1.1.3: Sanskrit text and English translation.
शास्त्रयोनित्वात् ॥ ३ ॥
śāstrayonitvāt || 4 ||
śāstrayonitvāt—The scripture being the means of right knowledge.
3. The scriptures (alone) being the means of right knowledge (with regard to Brahman, xhe proposition laid in Sutra 2 becomes corroborated).
This Sutra makes the idea expressed in Sutra 2 clearer. If any doubt has been left regarding the fact that Brahman as the origin etc. of the world is established by scriptural authority and not by inference etc. independently of it, this Sutra makes it clear that Srutis alone are proof about Brahman.
Objection: Brahman is an already existing thing like a pot, and so It can be known by other means of right knowledge independently of the scriptures.
Answer: Brahman has no form etc. and so cannot be cognized by direct perception. Again in the absence of inseparable characteristics, as smoke is of fire, It cannot be established by inference or analogy (Upamana). Therefore, It can be known only through the scriptures. The scriptures themselves say, “One who is ignorant of the scriptures cannot know that Brahman”. No doubt, as already referred to in the previous Sutra, these means of right knowledge also have a scope, but it is only after Brahman is established by the scriptures—as supplementary to them and not independent of them.