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 III, Section III, Adhikarana XXXV
Adhikarana summary: Meditations yielding special desires may or may not be combined according to liking
Sutra 3,3.60
काम्यास्तु यथाकामं समुच्चीयेरन्न वा, पूर्वहेत्वभावात् ॥ ६० ॥
kāmyāstu yathākāmaṃ samuccīyeranna vā, pūrvahetvabhāvāt || 60 ||
kāmyāḥ—Vidyas for particular desires; tu—but; yathākāmaṃ—according to one’s desire; samuccīyeran—one may combine; na vā—or not; pūrva-hetu-abhāvāt—on account of the absence of the preceding reason.
60. But Vidyas for particular desires may be combined or not according to one’s desire on account of the absence of the reason (mentioned in the) previous (Sutra).
In the last Sutra it was said that any one of the Vidyas about Brahman should be taken up, and that more than one at a time should not be taken up, because each Vidya was quite sufficient and more than one would distract the mind. Now there are various Vidyas which are practised not for the realization of Brahman, but to yield some particular desire. As, for example, in the Chhandogya 3. 15. 2; 7. 1. 5. The question is whether one is to restrict oneself to only one of these Vidyas, or can practise more than one at a time. This Sutra says that as the results are different, unlike that of the Brahma Vidyas, one can take up more than one Vidya or not according to one’s pleasure.