Brahma-Sūtra 1.2.5

English of translation of Brahmasutra 1.2.5 by Roma Bose:

“On account of the difference of words.”

Nimbārka’s commentary (Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha):

That which possesses the attributes of ‘consisting of mind’ and the like is the Highest Self, different from the embodied soul, because in the text: ‘This soul of mine within the heart’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 3.14.3, 4^[1]) the individual soul and the Highest Self are denoted by different words, viz. the genitive and the nominative respectively.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

For this reason, too, that which possesses the attributes of consisting of mind and so on, is the highest self, different from the embodied soul. Why? “On account of the difference of words”, i.e. because of another scriptural passage of kindred subject-matter, viz. ‘Like a grain of rice, or a barley-corn, or a grain of millet, or the kernel of a grain of millet, such is the Golden Person within the self’ (Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa 10.6.3.2), there is “difference of words”, viz. the locative ‘within the self’ denotes the embodied self, while the nominative ‘the Golden Person’ denotes the Highest self.^[2]

Comparative views of Śrīkaṇṭha:

Reading same, interpretation different, viz. (‘Brahman, viz. Śiva, is other than and superior to Nārāyaṇa) on account of a particular word (or scriptural passage) (to that effect’).^[3]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted by Rāmānuja and Baladeva.

[2]:

Note that Nimbārka and Śrīnivāsa refer to two different passages here.

[3]:

Brahma-sūtras (Śrīkaṇṭha’s commentary) 1.2.5. (Pp. 324-25, Part 4.)