Sūtra 1.1.11

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Sūtra 1.1.11:

श्रुतत्वाच् च

śrutatvāc ca

śrutavāt–because of being described in the Vedas; ca–and.

“[There is only one kind of Brahman: Nirguṇa Brahman], because Nirguṇa Brahman is described throughout the Vedic literatures.” (11)

Sūtra pagination:
Adhyāya 1:
  The subject matter of all Vedic literatures is Brahman;
Pāda 1:
  Words which, taken by themselves, would not necessarily refer to Brahman, but in the Vedic context certainly refer to Brahman.;
Adhikaraṇa 5:
  Brahman is Knowable by the Descriptions of the Vedas.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s commentary (Govinda-bhāṣya)

Nirguṇa Brahman alone is described in the statements of the Vedic literature:

ओं तद् विष्णोः परमं पदं सदा
पश्यन्ति सूरयो दिवीव चक्षुर् आततम्
तद् विप्रासो विपन्यवो जागृवाम्षः
समिन्धते विष्णोर् यत् परमं पदम्

oṃ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṃ padaṃ sadā
paśyanti sūrayo divīva cakṣur ātatam
tad viprāso vipanyavo jāgṛvāmṣaḥ
samindhate viṣṇor yat paramaṃ padam

“Just as those with ordinary vision see the sun’s rays in the sky, so the wise and learned devotees always see the supreme abode of Lord Viṣṇu. Because those highly praiseworthy and spiritually awake brāhmaṇas can see that abode, they can also reveal it to others.” [Ṛg Veda 1.22.20]

एको देवः सर्व-भूतेषु गूढः सर्व-व्यापी सर्व-भूतान्तरात्मा
कर्माध्यक्षः सर्व-भूताधिवासः साक्षी चेता केवलो निर्गुणश् च

eko devaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ sarva-vyāpī sarva-bhūtāntarātmā
karmādhyakṣaḥ sarva-bhūtādhivāsaḥ sākṣī cetā kevalo nirguṇaś ca

“The Personality of Brahman manifests Himself as the all-pervading Superconscious living entity, the witness present in the hearts of all living entities. He witnesses all activities of the living entity. He is the supreme living force. He is transcendental to all material qualities.” [Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.11]

एकस् त्वम् एव सद् असद् द्वयम् अद्वयं च
स्वर्णं कृताकृतम् इवेह न वस्तु-भेदः
अज्ञानतस् त्वयि जनैर् विहितो विकल्पो
यस्माद् गुण-व्यतिकरो निरुपाधिकस्य

ekas tvam eva sad asad dvayam advayaṃ ca
svarṇaṃ kṛtākṛtam iveha na vastu-bhedaḥ
ajñānatas tvayi janair vihito vikalpo
yasmād guṇa-vyatikaro nirupādhikasya

“My dear Lord, Your Lordship alone is the cause and the effect. Therefore, although You appear to be two, You are the Absolute One. As there is no difference between the gold of a golden ornament and the gold in a mine, there is no qualitative difference between the cause and effect [of the universal cosmic manifestation]; both of them are the same. Only because of ignorance do people concoct differences and dualities. You are free from material contamination, and since the entire cosmos is caused by You and cannot exist without You, it is an effect of Your transcendental qualities. Thus the conception that Brahman is true and the world false cannot be maintained.” [Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 8.12.8]

Thus Nirguṇa Brahman alone is described in the śruti-śāstra. The śruti-śāstra does not say that it is impossible to describe Brahman. Some say that Brahman may be understood not from the direct statements of the Vedic literatures but only indirectly, or from hints found in the Vedic texts. This is an incorrect understanding, for if the Vedic scriptures had no power to describe Brahman directly, then they would also lack the power to describe or hint about Him indirectly. The Vedic literature may say that Brahman has no contact with guṇas [materialistic qualities, or the three modes of material nature], and it certainly says that He cannot be seen by material eyes [adṛśya], still it does not say that the words of the Vedas have no power to describe Him.

At this point someone may raise the following objection: “Is it not said in the Vedas that Brahman has no guṇas [qualities]? Your statement that Brahman has qualities contradicts the description of the scriptures.”

To this I reply: This is not true. You can only say this because you do not understand the confidential meaning of the word nirguṇa. Because the Supreme Brahman is all-knowing and possess many transcendental qualities, when the scriptures say that He is nirguṇa, it should be understood to mean that He has no [niḥ] contact with the three modes of material nature [guṇa]. Brahman’s qualities are all transcendental, therefore it is a fact that He has no material qualities.

This is confirmed by the following statements of smṛti-śāstra:

सत्त्वादयो न शान्टिशे यत्र चाप्रकृता गुणाः

sattvādayo na śānṭiśe yatra cāprakṛtā guṇāḥ

“The Personality of Brahman, who possesses numberless transcendental qualities, is eternally free from the touch of the three modes [guṇas] of material nature: goodness, passion, and ignorance.”

समस्त-कल्याण-गुणात्मको ‘सौ

samasta-kalyāṇa-guṇātmako ‘sau

“The Personality of Brahman possesses all auspicious qualities.”

For all these reasons it should be accepted that the Vedic literatures have the power to describe the perfect, pure, complete Supreme Brahman. When it is said by the scriptures that the Supreme Brahman has no names, forms or qualities, it should be understood that the Supreme Brahman has no material names, forms or qualities; and that His spotless transcendental names, forms and qualities are limitless and beyond the accounting of limited conscious living entities.

At this point someone may object, saying that “The literal interpretation of the Vedic statements is that Brahman is without qualities [nirguṇa], and your interpretation of the word nirguṇa as having only transcendental qualities is wrong.”

To this objection I reply: Does this description that Brahman has no qualities help to positively understand Brahman? If you say yes, then you have to admit that the Vedas do have the power to describe Brahman; and if you say no, then you have to admit that your careful studies of the scientific literature and religious scriptures have been a great waste of time, for you remain wholly ignorant of Brahman’s real transcendental nature and qualities.

शब्दा वाचकतां यान्ति यन्त्रानन्दमयादयः
विभुम् आनन्द-विज्ञानं तं शुद्धं श्रद्दधीमहि

śabdā vācakatāṃ yānti yantrānandamayādayaḥ
vibhum ānanda-vijñānaṃ taṃ śuddhaṃ śraddadhīmahi

“Let us place our faith in the Personality of Brahman, who is supremely pure, all-powerful, all-knowing and full of transcendental bliss. He is perfectly described in the ānandamaya-sūtra and the other statements of Vedānta-sūtra.”

Generally there are six great philosophers in Indian literature: Kaṇāda, the author of Vaiśeṣika philosophy; Gautama, the author of Nyāya [logic]; Patañjali, the author of mystic yoga; Kapila, the author of Sāṅkhya philosophy; Jaimini, the author of Karma-mīmāṃsā; and Vyāsadeva, the author of Vedānta-darśana. Five of these are atheistic philosophies:

1. The Mīmāṃsaka philosophers, following Jaimini, stress fruitive activity and say that if there is a God, He must be under the laws of fruitive activity. In other words, if one performs his duties very nicely in the material world, God is obliged to give one the desired result. According to these philosophers, there is no need to become a devotee of God; if one strictly follows moral principles, one automatically will be recognized by the Lord, who will give the desired reward. Such philosophers do not accept the Vedic principle of bhakti-yoga. Instead, they give stress to following one’s prescribed duty.
2. Atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophers like Kapila analyze the material elements very scrutinizingly, and thereby come to the conclusion that material nature is the cause of everything. They do not accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the cause of all causes.
3. Nyāya philosophers like Gautama and Kaṇāda accept the combination and interaction of atoms as the original cause of the creation, and inductive logic can arrive at the Absolute Truth. This philosophy is very similar to modern materialistic science.
4. Māyāvādī philosophers say that everything is an illusion. Headed by philosophers like Aṣṭāvakra and Śaṅkara, they stress the impersonal Brahman effulgence as the cause of everything.
5. Philosophers following the precepts of Patañjali practice rāja-yoga. Their process of self-realization is to imagine a form of the Absolute Truth within many forms.

All five kinds of atheistic philosophers understand that impersonal Brahman is without material qualities, but they believe that when the Personality of Godhead appears, He is contaminated and covered by the material qualities. For them, Nirguṇa Brahman means “the impersonal Absolute Truth without any material qualities” and Saguṇa Brahman means “the Absolute Truth accepts a form of contaminated material qualities.” All these types of philosophical speculation are varieties of Māyāvāda philosophy; they reject the predominance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and strive to establish their own philosophical theories.

So atheism and materialism are not new; they have existed in various forms, under different names and teachers, for many millennia. The fact is, however, that the Absolute Truth never has anything to do with material qualities because He is transcendental. He is always complete with full spiritual qualities. By writing Vedānta-sūtra, emphasizing the essence of all Vedic literature, Śrīla Vyāsadeva established the supremacy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, defeating the five kinds of atheistic philosophy. Because Vyāsadeva is the original Vedic authority, he is known as Vedavyāsa. Only his philosophical explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra is accepted by the intelligent devotees.

As Kṛṣṇa confirms in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.15):

सर्वस्य चाहं हृदि सन्निविष्टो
मत्तः स्मृतिर् ज्ञानम् अपोहनं च
वेदैश् च सर्वैर् अहम् एव वेद्यो
वेदान्त-कृद् वेद-विद् एव चाहम्

sarvasya cāhaṃ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo
mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṃ ca
vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyo
vedānta-kṛd veda-vid eva cāham

“I am seated in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas, I am to be known; indeed, I am the compiler of Vedānta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.”

From the 12^th sūtra [ānandamaya] to the end of this First Adhyāya, Śrīla Vyāsadeva will prove that the statements of the Vedic literatures are intended to describe Brahman. The First Pāda of Vedānta-sūtra discusses those words of the Vedic literatures which, taken by themselves, would not necessarily refer to Brahman, but which in their Vedic context certainly do refer to Brahman. These transcendental terms are actually qualitatively identical with Brahman, because they help to describe Brahman.

Thus śabda-brahma is a special ontological class of nomenclature that, although composed of ordinary words, is actually transcendental sound vibration because the subject matter it describes is Brahman alone. Since the ultimate purpose of the Vedas is to reveal Brahman to the inquiring soul, actually the entire Vedic literature falls into this category of transcendental sound, even though substantial portions of it describe material subjects, such as religious sacrifices. Not only is it possible for the Vedas to describe Brahman, but because they emanate from Him and because describing Him is their main purpose, they are qualitatively identical with Him. Therefore association with śabda-brahma, the transcendental sound vibration of the Vedas, leads to realization of Brahman and liberation of the living entity from material existence. This is seen and also personally experienced by the faithful devotee who takes complete shelter of such transcendental sound.