Sūtra 4.4.21

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Sūtra 4.4.21:

भोग-मात्र-साम्य-लिङ्गाच् च

bhoga-mātra-sāmya-liṅgāc ca

bhoga – enjoyment; mātra – only; sāmya – equality; liṅgāt – by the sign; ca – also.

“Also because of the indication that the equality is only in enjoyment.” (21)

Sūtra pagination:
Adhyāya 4:
  The Results of Transcendental Knowledge;
Pāda 4:
  The Glories of the Liberated Souls;
Adhikaraṇa 10:
  The Liberated Soul has not the Power to Create the World.

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa’s commentary (Govinda-bhāṣya)

The word ca [also] is used here for emphasis. As a frog jumps, so the word na [not] should jump into this sūtra from Sūtra 4.4.18.

In the Taittirīya Upaniśād [2.1.1] it is said:

सो ‘श्नुते सर्वान् कामान् सह ब्रह्मणा विपश्चिता

so ‘śnute sarvān kāmān saha brahmaṇā vipaścitā

“The liberated soul enjoys all transcendental pleasures in the company of the all-knowing Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

The meaning here is that the Upaniṣad’s statement that the liberated soul is equal to the Lord applies only to the soul’s enjoyment of transcendental happiness. The liberated soul is not equal in nature to the Supreme Lord. That is the meaning. This objection was previously refuted in Sūtra 2.3.19. In this way it is proved that the equality of the Supreme and the individual spirit soul is in the matter of enjoyment only, that their natures are different, and that difference is real.