Chapter III, Section III, Adhikarana XXXIII

Adhikarana summary: Vidyas like the Sandilya Vidya, Dahara Vidya, etc.

Adhikarana XXXIII - Various Vidyas like the Sandilya Vidya, Dahara Vidya, and so on are to be kept separate and not combined into one entire Upasana.

Brahma-Sutra 3.3.58: Sanskrit text and English translation.

नाना, शब्दादिभेदात् ॥ ५८ ॥

nānā, śabdādibhedāt || 58 ||

nānā—Different; śabdādi-bhedāt—owing to difference of words etc.

58. (Various Vidyas like the Sandilya, Dahara, etc. are) different owing to difference of words etc.

In the last Sutra it was shown that though the Sruti mentions meditations on parts of the cosmic form, yet the meditation on the entire form is what is intended by the Sruti. Following this argument the opponent says that as the object of meditation is the one Lord, we are to combine all the different Vidyas like the Sandilya Vidya, Dahara Vidya, Satya Vidya, and so on into one composite meditation on the Lord. This Sutra refutes that view and says that these different Vidyas are separate, because the Sruti prescribes them using different words, ‘He knows’, ‘Let him meditate’, ‘Let him form the idea’, etc. and this difference of terms is acknowledged to be a test of the difference of acts by Purva Mimamsa. ‘Etc.’ refers to other reasons like the difference in qualities. Though the object of meditation is the one Lord, yet owing to the difference in qualities that are imagined in different Upasanas He is different. Moreover, it is an impossibility to combine all the various Vidyas into one. So the different Vidyas are to be kept separate, and not combined into one general meditation.