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 IV, Section I, Adhikarana IV
Adhikarana summary: In meditations on symbols the latter are to be viewed as Brahman and not in the reverse way
Sutra 4,1.5
ब्रह्मदृष्टिः, उत्कर्षात् ॥ ५ ॥
brahmadṛṣṭiḥ, utkarṣāt || 5 ||
brahmadṛṣṭiḥ—Viewing as Brahman; utkarṣāt—on account of the elevation.
5. (The symbol is) to be viewed as Brahman (and not in the reverse way), on account of the elevation (of the symbol thereby).
In meditations on symbols as in, “The mind is Brahman”, “The sun is Brahman” the question is whether the symbol is to be regarded as Brahman, or Brahman as the symbol. The Sutra says that the symbols, the mind and the sun, are to be regarded as Brahman and not vice versa. Because it is only by looking upon an inferior thing as a superior thing that we can progress, and not in the reverse way. Inasmuch as our aim is to get rid of the idea of differentiation and see Brahman in everything, we have to meditate upon these symbols as That.