Brahma-Sūtra 1.2.12

English of translation of Brahmasutra 1.2.12 by Roma Bose:

“And on account of specification.”

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

The individual soul and the Supreme Being alone are understood here as entered into the cave, because in this section those two alone are specified as the object to be worshipped and the worshipper, as the object to be known and the knower, and so on, in the texts: ‘By knowing the knower of what is born from Brahman,^[1] the deity to be worshipped, by revering (him), he goes to everlasting peace’ (Kaṭha 1.17^[2]), ‘The bridge for sacrifices’ (Kaṭha 3.2^[3]) and so on.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

The individual soul and the Supreme Soul are to be understood as entered within the cave “also because of the specification” of those two alone. The sense is that in this treatise (viz. the Kaṭha-upaniṣad), the individual soul and the Supreme Soul alone are specified as that which approaches and the goal approached, as the thinker and the object thought, in the passages: ‘Know the soul to be the charioteer, and the body the chariot’ (Kaṭha 3.3), ‘He reaches the end of the road, that supreme place of Viṣṇu’ (Kaṭha 3.9), ‘Him, who is difficult to be seen, who has entered into the hidden, who is hidden in a cave, who dwells in the abyss, ancient,—by thinking him God, through the study of the Yoga of what relates to the self, the wise man discards joy and sorrow’ (Kaṭha 2.12) and so on. Hence, it is established that the individual soul and the Supreme Soul alone are to be understood here as entered into the cave, and not buddhi and the individual soul.

Here ends the section entitled ‘The cave’ (3).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Correct quotation: ‘Brahmaja-jña’. Vide [Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series] ed., p. 8. ‘Brahmaja-jña’ may be interpreted also as ‘Brahmajaś cāsau jñaśceti’.

[2]:

Quoted by Rāmānuja

[3]:

Op. cit.